McCARTER THEATRE CENTER William W. Lockwood, Jr. Michael S. Rosenberg SPECIAL PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR MANAGING DIRECTOR presents NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF UKRAINE VOLODYMYR SIRENKO, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor OLGA KERN, piano THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21 in the Matthews Theatre There will be a 20–minute intermission. The taking of photographs and the use of recording equipment of any kind during performances is strictly prohibited. Made possible by funds from the McCarter’s 2019-2020 Music Series New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner sponsored by the Edward T. Cone Foundation agency of the National Endowment of the Arts THE PROGRAM NOTES ON THE PROGRAM By Aaron Grad Polonaise from Eugene Onegin, Op. 24 (1879) PYOTR IL’YICH TCHAIKOVSKY Polonaise from Eugene Onegin, Op. 24 Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky Born May 7, 1840 in Kamsko-Votkinsk, Russia Died November 6, 1893 in Saint Petersburg, Russia Tchaikovsky began working on the op- who professed her love in a letter (just era Eugene Onegin in 1877, during the as Tchaikovsky’s bride did). The loose, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23 build-up to his disastrous marriage to episodic structure of the story allowed a former student. Struggling with his Tchaikovsky ample room to elaborate the Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso – concealed homosexuality, and need- characters and dwell in festive scenes, Allegro con spirito ing the inheritance that his bride would like the ball from the third act where this Andantino semplice – Prestissimo bring into their union, Tchaikovsky went Polonaise appeared. Allegro con fuoco through with the sham wedding, but he soon made the suicidal gesture of wad- Taking its rhythmic template from a Polish Olga Kern, piano ing into the frigid Moscow River, followed folk dance, the Polonaise became one of the by a nervous breakdown and two weeks stylized dances that caught on among French spent unconscious in Saint Petersburg. and German composers in the Baroque era. –– INTERMISSION –– Within two months they agreed to a per- Its distinguishing characteristics were a manent separation. particular triplet meter and a procession- al quality, which Tchaikovsky’s example Eugene Onegin, based on Pushkin’s emphasizes by heralding its arrival with a popular novel in verse, bears an uncanny bright fanfare and continuing the brass- Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky resemblance to Tchaikovsky’s personal heavy rhythms under the galloping main (“Pathétique”) life, in which the worldly title charac- theme from the strings. ter inflicts suffering on a young woman Adagio – Allegro non troppo Allegro con grazia Allegro molto vivace Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23 (1874-75) Finale: Adagio lamentoso PYOTR IL’YICH TCHAIKOVSKY The piano concerto that Tchaikovsky he arranged to show the score to Nikolai composed during the winter of 1874-75 Rubinstein, the leading conductor and was his first work for soloist and orchestra. pianist in Moscow and a fellow faculty He was not a virtuoso pianist himself, so member at the Moscow Conservatory. Program subject to change Years later, Tchaikovsky summarized chords, but that grand gesture actually Symphony. In that interval, he wrote to special knack for dance music that served Rubinstein’s blunt feedback in a letter: turns out to be a form of accompaniment his friend and publisher Petr Jurgensen him so well in his ballets and operas. “My concerto, it turned out, was worth- to support a soaring melody from the vio- that the symphony “produced some less and unplayable.” lins. The notable (and sometimes baffling) bewilderment” among the audience, The third movement spins through a aspect of this work is that this priceless intro- and he thought it would help to add the dizzy introduction to reach a jolly march Tchaikovsky wasn’t always the most ductory material never returns. Instead, subtitle “Pathétique,” suggested by his tune that starts in the clarinets, setting self-confident composer, but this time the fast body of the movement strikes brother Modest. That French word—the a course that culminates in a bombastic he stood his ground, vowing to “publish up a melody that Tchaikovsky once heard same descriptor Beethoven applied to conclusion. Had this marked the end of the work exactly as it stands.” To secure a sung by a blind Ukrainian beggar. his Eighth Piano Sonata—suggests music the symphony, it would have put it in a first performance, Tchaikovsky went out- of deep feeling and pathos, without the class with Tchaikovsky’s Fourth and Fifth, side Rubinstein’s circle and solicited the The middle movement continues the stinging connotations of the English word which both progressed from fateful minor famous German conductor and pianist charming incongruities. It begins with a “pathetic.” The second performance, keys to valedictory major keys along the Hans von Bülow, who loved the work and graceful flute solo over pizzicato accom- staged weeks later at a memorial service, lines of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. But asked for a set of parts that he could take paniment, flowing at a relaxed tempo garnered a very different response. In the the Sixth Symphony charts a very different with him on tour. Thus it came to pass marked Andantino semplice. Flecks of wake of the composer’s abrupt and mys- path, reaching its emotional crest in a slow that this landmark Russian concerto first off-key harmonies prepare the antics of terious death at the age of 53, listeners and mournful finale. The first poignant reached the public in Boston, in October the manic contrasting section, speeding by began to project onto the music a tragic chords re-establish the brooding mood of 1875. at a breakneck Prestissimo pace and quot- personal narrative rife with suicidal over- from the symphony’s initial introduction, ing a popular French song. The finale also tones, associations that linger to this day. making that link explicit by returning to a Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto begins references outside music, with the bouncy texture of bassoon and strings. The melody with an audacious introduction, heralded main theme adapted from a Ukrainian The Sixth Symphony begins ominously, attempts a long climb into a more opti- by a four-note horn theme. The piano folksong. with a slow introduction featuring bas- mistic resolution in D major, only to snap soloist enters with a majestic series of soon and low strings. Their rising and falling back into B minor, and then the low brass motive morphs into the main theme of instruments intone a mournful knell. One the fast body of the movement, and later, last gasp of the descending melody fol- with the motive’s contours flipped to fall lows, fading to a whisper from the cellos Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 (“Pathétique”) (1893) first and then rise to a state of equilibrium, and basses. It’s no wonder that audiences PYOTR IL’YICH TCHAIKOVSKY it elongates into the contrasting theme, have clung to the idea that Tchaikovsky providing an island of repose within this was foreshadowing his death with this In 1892, Tchaikovsky endeavored to write Tchaikovsky explained that “the form of unsettled movement. symphony, since he couldn’t have written a “grand symphony” and nearly completed this symphony will have much that is new, a more impactful swansong. one in the key of E-flat before scrapping and by the way, the finale will not be a The Allegro con grazia second movement it that December and redirecting some noisy allegro, but on the contrary, a long features the irregular time signature of © 2019 Aaron Grad. material to the Third Piano Concerto. drawn-out adagio.” 5/4 (five quarter-notes per measure). He then started fresh in February 1893 This “limping waltz” flows with surprising with what became the Symphony No. Tchaikovsky died just nine days after smoothness and grace considering the 6 in B Minor. Addressing his nephew, he conducted the premiere of his Sixth irregular meter, attesting to Tchaikovsky’s Direct from Kiev, Ukraine Award in 2005. The CD of Bloch and favourable light when it gave its only Sydney THE NATIONAL SYMPHONY Lees’ Violin Concertos was nominated for concert during its Australian tour on Fri- a Grammy Award four years later. day. This is an orchestra with many vir- ORCHESTRA OF UKRAINE The NSOU has performed in success- tues. Its strings can conjure up a vibrant ful concert tours throughout Australia, songfulness; the woodwinds have a fruity, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Belarus, China, penetrating ripeness; the brass could en- Artistic Director & Chief Conductor Volodymyr Sirenko, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, danger the walls of Jericho; the percussion Theodore Kuchar, Conductor Laureate Germany, England, Hong Kong, Iran, might wake the dead...” Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, the –The Sydney Morning Herald Netherlands, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Formed by the Council of Ministers of Lyatoshynsky, Valentyn Silvestrov, Myroslav Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, and Since April of 1999, Volodymyr Sirenko Ukraine in November of 1918, the National Skoryk, and Evgen Stankovych. the United Arab Emirates. has been the Artistic Director and Chief Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine is considered Conductor of the NSOU. Since June of to be one of the finest symphony orchestras The Orchestra has gained internation- “... A program rich with energy and un- 2006, Alexander Hornostai has been its in Eastern Europe. Its first conductor was al recognition over a remarkably short usually adventurous placed the National Managing Director and Producer. Oleksander Horilyj. Natan Rachlin was period of time. After an appearance in Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine in a highly the Artistic Director of the Orchestra from Moscow, Dmitri Shostakovich comment- 1937 until 1962. Stefan Turchak, Volodymyr ed: “This orchestra has as distinguished Kozhuchar, Fedir Hlushchenko, Igor Blaz- a group of performers as one would be hkov and Theodore Kuchar consequently likely to find anywhere.