Romantic Brahms Saturday, February 13, 2021 7:30 PM Livestreamed from Universal Preservation Hall Saratoga Springs, New York
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Romantic Brahms Saturday, February 13, 2021 7:30 PM Livestreamed from Universal Preservation Hall Saratoga Springs, New York David Alan Miller, conductor Lucy Fitz Gibbon, narrator Welcome to the Albany Symphony’s 2020-21 Season Re-Imagined! The one thing I have missed more than anything else during the past few months has been spending time with you and our brilliant Albany Symphony musicians, discovering, exploring, and celebrating great musical works together. Our musicians and I are thrilled to be back at work, bringing you established masterpieces and gorgeous new works in the comfort and convenience of your own home. Originally conceived to showcase triumph over adversity, inspired by the example of Beethoven and his big birthday in December, our season’s programming continues to shine a light on the ways musical visionaries create great art through every season of life. We hope that each program uplifts and inspires you, and brings you some respite from the day-to-day worries of this uncertain world. It is always an honor to stand before you with our extraordinarily gifted musicians, even if we are now doing it virtually. Thank you so much for being with us; we have a glorious season of life- affirming, deeply moving music ahead. David Alan Miller Heinrich Medicus Music Director Romantic Brahms Saturday, February 13, 2021 | 7:30 PM Livestreamed from Universal Preservation Hall David Alan Miller, conductor Lucy Fitz Gibbon, narrator Sir William Walton Facade: An Entertainment (1902-1983) I. Fanfare II. Hornpipe III. Long Steel Grass IV. Through Gilded Trellises V. Tango-Pasodoblé VI. Lullaby for Jumbo VII. Tarantella VIII. Country Dance IX. Polka X. Something Lies beyond the Scene XI. Valse XII. Jodelling Song XIII. Scotch Rhapsody XIV. Popular Song XV. Fox-Trot: 'Old Sir Faulk’ XVI. Sir Beelzebub Tyson Davis Distances (b. 2000) (World Premiere) Johannes Brahms Serenade in D, op. 11 (1833-1897) (nonet reconstructed by Alan Boustead) I. Allegro molto II. Adagio non troppo III. Minuet I - Minuet II IV. Rondo Concert Talks Sponsor: ROMANTIC BRAHMS - ORCHESTRA ROSTER Violin – Jill Levy Clarinet II – Pascal Archer Viola – Noriko Futagami Bassoon – Joshua Butcher Cello – Erica Pickhardt Alto Saxophone – Chad Smith Bass – Bradley Aikman Horn – Victor Sungarian Flute – Matthew Ross Trumpet – Eric Berlin Clarinet I / Bass Clarinet – Shen Liu Percussion – Matthew Gold Romantic Brahms – Program Notes Overview: Tonight’s program features, as did December’s concert, works by three young composers. In this case, the German Brahms was the oldest when he wrote his first serenade: 25. Englishman William Walton was only 22 when he composed Façade. But American Tyson Davis turns just 21 this year, and, as the promotional materials for the ASO indicate, he is the youngest person ever to have been commissioned by the organization. Perhaps we might say, as Emerson wrote to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass, “I greet you at the beginning of a great career.” William Walton William Walton (1902-1983) grew up in a musical home: his father was a choirmaster, and his mother sang. Formal musical education continued as a chorister at Christ Church Cathedral School at Oxford., where his talents were noted by Sir Hubert Parry His career was essentially made when he came into contact with the Sitwell family, a trio of wealthy siblings (Edith, Osbert, and Sacheverell), who hosted him at their homes and exposed him to creative people and new ideas of the day: Berg, Schoenberg, and Stravinsky, for example. The Sitwells were, in effect, his patrons for many years. But they were also writers themselves, and it was the poetry of Edith (1887-1964) that provided the inspiration for Walton’s first piece to achieve prominence: Façade. It started off as a work for speaker and six instruments, and the premiere was given at the Sitwells’ home for a small audience; but three years later Walton orchestrated the music, and today the music (and the arrangement of the poems) exist in numerous versions. Walton’s subsequent career produced a Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, a Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, two symphonies, the oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast (with Biblical selections chosen by Osbert Sitwell), and two movie scores from the 1940s nominated for Academy Awards (Henry V, Hamlet). William Walton- Façade: An Entertainment "Edith Sitwell wrote her Façade poems as studies in word-rhythms and onomatopoeia," writes Michael Kennedy, Walton's biographer. And the Poetry Foundation website says this about Sitwell: “Sitwell’s early work was often experimental, creating melody, using striking conceits, new rhythms, and confusing private allusions. Her efforts at change were resisted, but, as the New Statesman observed, ‘losing every battle, she won the campaign,’ and emerged the high priestess of 20th-century poetry.” While listening to a performance on YouTube, I found myself thinking of two other artistic experiences: the work of Lewis Carroll and rap. Why? Well, “Jabberwocky” is a poem that delights in sound, if not much logic; and Alice’s experiences through the looking-glass are strangely both nonsensical and disturbing. As for rap, one can almost feel Sitwell’s internal and end rhymes driving the poem forward, ideas springing from sound instead of sound springing from ideas. When one is searching for a rhyme, oftentimes the content emerges from the structure in unimaginable ways. Walton’s music, of course, distills the mood of each poem (I can’t imagine that he asked for an explanation of each line, and maybe Sitwell wouldn’t have been able to provide one anyway). Using all of the techniques available to a composer, the 21-year-old Walton must have been charmed to underscore these miniatures with his skill in rhythm, mode, tune, and orchestral color. The subtitle is “an entertainment.” Enjoy it as such. Because we’ll all be at home, we can sit and have a drink and a snack, as probably the first audience in the Sitwells’ home did. And, as Edith herself might have remarked, “In the main don’t strain your brain.” - Concert notes by Paul Lamar Lucy Fitz Gibbon Noted for her “dazzling, virtuoso singing” (Boston Globe), Lucy Fitz Gibbon is a dynamic musician whose repertoire spans the Renaissance to the present. She believes that creating new works and recreating those lost in centuries past makes room for the multiplicity and diversity of voices integral to classical music’s future. As such, Ms. Fitz Gibbon has given modern premieres of rediscovered works by Baroque composers Francesco Sacrati, Barbara Strozzi, and Agostino Agazzari, as well by 20th century composers including Tadeusz Kassern, Moses Milner, and Jean Barraqué. She has also worked closely with numerous others, premiering works by John Harbison, Kate Soper, Sheila Silver, David Hertzberg, Reena Esmail, Roberto Sierra, Anna Lindemann, and Pauline Oliveros, among many others. In helping to realize the complexities of music beyond written notes, the experience of working with these composers translates to all music: the commitment to faithfully communicate not only the score, but also the underlying intentions of its creator. As a recitalist Ms. Fitz Gibbon has appeared with her husband and collaborative partner, pianist Ryan McCullough, in such venues as London’s Wigmore Hall; New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Park Avenue Armory, and Merkin Hall; and Toronto’s Koerner Hall. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been recording from home and local concert halls for performances broadcast around the world. Their discography includes the CDs Descent/Return, featuring works by James Primosch and John Harbison (Albany Records, May 2020) and another alongside artists including Dawn Upshaw and Stephanie Blythe of Sheila Silver’s complete song repertoire (Albany Records, February 2021). The Wall Street Journal praised their recent appearance on PBS’ Great Performances as “breathtaking.” In concert, Lucy has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra; the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra; the Albany, Richmond, Tulsa, and Eureka Symphonies, and the American Symphony Orchestra in her Carnegie Hall debut. She has also premiered two major works by John Harbison and Shirish Korde with Boston Musica Viva, appeared in concert with the Aizuri Quartet, and will appear on tour with Musicians from Marlboro in such venues as Carnegie Hall and the Kimmel Center through the 21-22 season. Debuts with Seattle Opera and the Lexington and Kalamazoo Symphonies, as well an appearance with the Doric Quartet at the West Cork Festival in Ireland and a guest recital at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, to name but a few, were all delayed because of COVID-19. A graduate of Yale University, Ms. Fitz Gibbon also holds an artist diploma from The Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory and a master’s degree from Bard College-Conservatory’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program; her principal teachers include Monica Whicher, Edith Bers, and Dawn Upshaw. She has spent summers at the Tanglewood Music Center (2014-2015) and Marlboro Music Festival (2016-2019, 2021). She is currently Interim Director of the Vocal Program at Cornell University and on the faculty of Bard College-Conservatory’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program, and served as voice faculty for Kneisel Hall’s 2020 season. For more information, see www.lucyfitzgibbon.com. —February 2021— Tyson Davis Tyson Davis (b.2000) began composing at the age of eight years old. He entered the University North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) as a high school freshman, studying with Lawrence Dillon. He has taken advantage of numerous opportunities at the school, writing for Eighth Blackbird, the Attacca String Quartet, UNCSA Cantata Singers and the UNCSA Symphony Orchestra. In the summers, he attended Interlochen Summer Music Camp, where he had works for chorus and percussion ensemble premiered and earned the Fine Arts Award, and Curtis Summerfest, where he worked with David Ludwig.