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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA James Levine, Music Director Bernard Haitink, Conductor Emeritus Seiji Ozawa, Music Director Laureate 125th Season, 2005-2006 CHAMBER TEA I Friday, November 4, at 2:30 COMMUNITY CONCERT II Sunday, November 6, at 3, at First Baptist Church, Worcester This free concert is generously supported by the State Street Foundation. ELITA KANG, violin REBECCA GITTER, viola MIHAIL JOJATU, cello HANDEL Passacaglia, arranged for violin and viola by Johan Halvorsen MOZART Divertimento in E-flat for violin, viola, and cello, K.563 Allegro Adagio Menuetto: Allegro; Trio Andante Menuetto: Allegretto; Trio I; Trio II Allegro Week 5a George Friderick Handel (1685-1759) Passacaglia, arranged for violin and viola by Johan Halvorsen Following decades of inattention and oblivion, Baroque music was rediscovered by the mid-19th-century romantics, who relished its energy and drive, the irregularity of its phrase structures, and the passionate spirit of so much of the music. It was, of course, at precisely this time that Bach's music began to be published in the first scholarly complete edition known to European music history. One way of spreading the word about this music was for musicians to make arrangements for their own instruments of music they particularly admired, often romanticizing the work in the process, because the point was interpretation, not historical re-creation. Probably the best-known example of this approach is the so-called "Air on the G-string" created from the Aria in Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3. Handel's music, too, underwent this kind of transformation. The Passacaglia to be heard here is an arrangement by Johan Halvorsen, a contemporary of Grieg's, of the finale from Handel's Keyboard Suite No. 7 in G minor. (The suite now bears the number 432 in the modern thematic catalogue of Handel's works, which has its "HWV" numbers—for "Handel Werke Verzeichnis," or "Handel Works Index"—by analogy with the BWV numbers for Bach.) Halvorsen arranged this movement for violin with the accompaniment of either viola or cello; earlier in this century it was a favorite piece of Jascha Heifetz, who recorded it. In more recent years the concern with "historically correct" performance has denied us the chance of hearing these romantic tributes to an older "romantic" music which brought that long-lost music to light again with deep affection. Wolfgang Amade Mozart (1756-1791) Divertimento in E-flat for violin, viola, and cello During the summer of 1788, Mozart composed, in just over six weeks, his last three symphonies, one of the most astonishing achievements in the history of music. But constant debts and family worries left him prey to depression, and he sank for a time into illness. In the ten months after finishing the Jupiter Symphony, Mozart com- pleted only one work of lasting significance, and a most unusual one at that—his longest chamber music work, composed for one of his smallest ensembles. He entered it into his catalogue as "A Divertimento for one violin, one viola, and one cello: 6 movements." Mozart composed this divertimento for Michael Puchberg, a fellow Mason and one of the composer's staunchest friends, who time and time again responded to the composer's urgent pleas for a loan, even though Puchberg must eventually have come to realize that he would never see his money again. It is possible, indeed, that both parties recognized the divertimento to be something of a payment in kind. If that is the case, Puchberg was richly rewarded: the piece is one of Mozart's most remarkable, inventive, and affecting chamber compositions. The title rouses curiosity. Mozart had never used the term "divertimento" for a work for strings alone, and he had in any case not used it for more than ten years. Perhaps he simply used the term because he had cast the score in six movements, typical of a divertimento. Or possibly he intended at first to write a light piece, primarily designed for social enjoyment, as a gift to his friend. But if that had been f hOSrON ^ j SYMFHO.N \I ORClilORCHESTRA Tanglewood BOSTON iB><n>ir- y<- THE BSO ONLINE Boston Symphony and Boston Pops fans with access to the Internet can visit the orchestra's official home page (http://www.bso.org). The BSO web site not only provides up-to-the-minute information about all of the orchestra's activities, but also allows you to buy tickets to BSO and Pops concerts online. In addition to pro- gram listings and ticket prices, the web site offers a wide range of information on other BSO activities, biographies of BSO musicians and guest artists, current press releases, historical facts and figures, helpful telephone numbers, and information on auditions and job openings. Since the BSO web site is updated on a regular basis, we invite you to check in frequently. the case, there is no question that the music grew more profound as it flowed out of him. It is a serene and affirming work, with an amazing technical command that keeps the three players active in varied ways, so that there is an astonishing amount of contrast. The viola is not—as is so often the case in chamber music—stepchild to the violin and cello, but plays a fully equal role. This is perhaps less surprising when we leant that Mozart himself preferred to play the viola, and that he took part in at least three performances of the piece. Every movement is replete with happy discoveries. The Adagio (fourth movement) is one of Mozart's finest sets of varia- tions, and the work closes with a delicious rondo filled with gentle musical humor. —Notes by Steven Ledbetter Violinist Elita Kang joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the start of the 1997-98 season and was appointed an assistant concertmaster of the orchestra in February 2001. Ms. Kang received her bachelor of music degree from the Curtis Institute in 1997; while at Curtis she served as principal second violin and then as concertmas- ter of the school's symphony orchestra, and was also a substitute player with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Prior to her work at Curtis she studied at the Juilliard School's Pre-College Division, where she served for two years as orchestra concert- master. Her chamber music experience has included performances at the Curtis Institute and at the Taos School of Music. Ms. Kang twice won the Juilliard Concerto Competition and in 1992 won the Grand Prize in the ASTA Competition's pre- professional division. Her teachers included Arnold Steinhardt, Yumi Ninomiya- Scott, Pamela Frank, Felix Galimir, Norman Carol, and Louise Behrend. Elita Kang occupies the Edward and Bertha C. Rose Assistant Concertmaster Chair in the BSO's first violin section. Born in Canada, Rebecca Gitter began studying Suzuki violin at seven and viola at thirteen. In May 2001 she received her bachelor of music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she was a student of Robert Vernon, having previously studied in Toronto, Ontario. While at CIM she was the recipient of the Institute's Annual Viola Prize and the Robert Vernon Prize in Viola, and twice received honorable mention in the school's concerto competition, resulting in solo performances. Among other honors, she was the 2000 recipient of Toronto's Ben Steinberg Jewish Musical Legacy Award and, prior to her BSO appointment, was offered a position in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. She was a summer participant in the Taos School of Music, the Marlboro Festival, Ravinia's Steans Institute for Young Artists, and the National Academy and National Youth Orchestras of Canada. Ms. Gitter joined the viola section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in August 2001. Romanian-born cellist Mihail Jojatu joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2001 and became fourth chair of the orchestra's cello section at the start of the 2003-04 season, occupying the Sandra and David Bakalar Chair. Mr. Jojatu studied at the Bucharest Academy of Music before coming to the United States in 1996. He then attended the Boston Conservatory of Music, where he studied with former BSO cellist Ronald Feldman, and worked privately with Bernard Greenhouse o\ the Beaux Arts Trio. Through Boston University, he also studied with BSO principal cellist Jules Eskin. Mr. Jojatu has collaborated with such prestigious artists as Gil Shaham, Sarah Chang, Peter Serkin, Glenn Dicterow, members of the Juilliard and Muir string quartets, and Seiji Ozawa, who asked him to substitute for Mstislav Rostropovich in rehearsing the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. A winner of the concerto competition at Boston University School for the Arts (subsequently appearing as soloist with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra), he also won first prize in the Aria Concerto Competition at the Boston Conservatory and was awarded the Carl Zeise Memorial Prize in his second year as a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow. He has performed as guest soloist with the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Bucharest and has won numerous awards in Romania for solo and chamber music performance. Recent performances have included Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Berkshire Symphony and Longwood Symphony, and the Dvofak concerto with the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Bucharest under Sergiu Comissiona and the Indian Hill Symphony Orchestra under Bruce Hangen. Mihail Jojatu is also a member of the Triptych String Trio, which has just released its first compact disc. Give ti^e gift of an exciting musical experience! Gift Certificates may be used toward the purchase of tickets, Symphony Shop merchandise, or at the Symphony Cafe. To purchase, visit www.bso.org, the Symphony Hall Box Office, or call Sympho nyCharge at (617) 266-1200.

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