(LYRCD 6010)

BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 Ama Deus Ensemble

Valentin Radu, Conductor Tatyana Galitskaya, Soprano Tatyana Rashkovsky, Mezzo-Soprano Kenneth Garner, Tenor Ed Bara, Bass

I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso II. Molto vivace (Scherzo) III. Adagio molto e cantabile IV. Presto: O Freunde, nicht diese Töne! Allegro assai: Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium (from Schiller’s Ode to Joy)

PROGRAM NOTE The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 “Choral” is the last complete symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the Ninth Symphony is one of the best-known works of the Western repertoire, considered both an icon and a forefather of Romantic music, and one of Beethoven’s greatest masterpieces. The

1 composer struggled for more than ten years before completing the work, and turned to the mighty Missa Solemnis while he considered his final symphony. Using voices in an orchestral symphony had never been attempted before. Beethoven finally decided to incorporate part of the Ode an die Freude (“Ode to Joy”), a poem by Friedrich Schiller, with text sung by soloists and a chorus in the new symphony’s last movement. It is, indeed, the first example of a major composer using the human voice on the same level with instruments in a symphony, creating a work of a grand scope that sets the tone for the Romantic symphonic form. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

TRACKS AND TIMINGS:

CD ONE (61:55) Symphony No. 9 (“Choral”) in D Minor, Op. 125

1 I. Allegro ma non troppo (13:19) 2 II. Molto vivace (Scherzo) (12:45) 3 III. Adagio molto e cantabile (13:19) 4 IV. Presto (5:54) 5 Recitative: “O Freunde” (9:58) 6 “Freude, schöner” (6:35)

CD TWO (36:10) Die Ruinen von Athen The Ruins of Athens Op. 113 1 Overture (4:43) 2 Chorus: “Tochter des mächtigen Zeus” (3:01) 3 Duet: “Ohne Verschulden” (4:15) 4 Chorus: “Du hast in deines Ärmels” (2:22) 5 Turkish March (2:05) 6 Scene Music (1:53) 7 March/Chorus: “Schmu.ckt die Altäre” (6:07) 8 Recitative: “Mir reger Freude” (1:46) 9 Chorus: “Wir tragen” (2:24) 10 Aria/Chorus: “Will unser Genius “/”Er ist’s” (3:52) 11 Chorus: “Heil unserm König” (3:39)

2 WORDS IN ENGLISH:

ODE TO JOY O friends, no more these sounds! Let us sing more cheerful songs, more full of joy! Joy, bright spark of divinity, Daughter of Elysium, Fire-inspired we tread Thy sanctuary. Thy magic power re-unites All that custom has divided, All men become brothers Under the sway of thy gentle wings. Whoever has created an abiding friendship, Or has won a true and loving wife, All who can call at least one soul theirs, Join in our song of praise; But any who cannot Must creep tearfully Away from our circle. All creatures drink of joy At nature’s breast. Just and unjust alike taste of her gift; She gave us kisses and the fruit of the vine, A tried friend to the end. Even the worm can feel contentment, And the cherub stands before God! Gladly, like the heavenly bodies Which he set on their courses Through the splendour of the firmament; Thus, brothers, you should run your race, As a hero going to conquest. You millions, I embrace you. This kiss is for all the world! Brothers, above the starry canopy There must dwell a loving Father. Do you fall in worship, you millions? World, do you know your Creator? Seek Him in the heavens; Above the stars must He dwell.

WORDS IN GERMAN ODE: “AN DIE FREUDE” O Freunde, nicht diese töne! Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen und freudenvollere! Freude, schöner Götterfunken,

3 Tochter aus Elysium, Wir betreten feuertrunken,Himmlische, dein Heiligtum! Deine Zauber binden wieder, Was die Mode streng geteilt; Alle Menschen werden Bru.der, Wo dein sanfter Flu.gel weilt. Wem der große Wurf gelungen, Eines Freundes Freund zu sein, Wer ein holdes Weib errungen, Mische seinen Jubel ein! Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund! Und wer’s nie gekonnt, Der stehle weinend sich aus diesem Bund. Freude trinken alle Wesen An den Brusten der Natur; Alle Guten, alle Bösen folgen ihrer Rosenspur. Kusse gab sie uns und Reben, Einen Freund, gepruft im Tod; Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben, Und der Cherub steht vor Gott! Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen Durch des Himmels prächt’gen Plan, Laufet, Bruder, eure Bahn, Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen. Seid umschlungen, Millionen. Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt! Bru.der! Über’m Sternenzelt Muß ein lieber Vater wohnen. Ihr sturzt nieder, Millionen? Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt? Such’ ihn uber’m Sternenzelt! Über Sternen muß er wohnen.

RUINEN VON ATHEN/THE RUINS OF ATHENS PROGRAM NOTE In 1811, Beethoven was commissioned to write music to inaugurate a theatre in the city of Pest—two brief masques, with texts by German poet August von Kotzebue. The principal work was Die Ruinen von Athen, based on the poet’s fanciful notion of Greek gods revisiting that city thousands of years after its classical heyday, only to discover the glorious temples in ruins, thanks to Roman and Turkish invasions. Minerva is joined by Mercury, who assures her that the modern city of Pest—appropriate for the occasion— has replaced ruined Athens as a center of high art and culture.

4 Die Ruinen von Athen has really only been known for its delightful overture and, of course, the brief Turkish March. Typical of the Singspiel and Nachspiel of the early 19th century, the work is a series of short musical selections interspersed with spoken dialogue— mostly long laments by the goddess and contrived arguments of Mercury. It is Beethoven’s music which reveals the work as the gem that it is. Following the Overture (TRACK 1), an unseen chorus awakens Minerva, hailing her as the “Daughter of Mighty Zeus” (TRACK 2). She is transported to Athens, and encounters a Greek man and woman who lament their fate as slaves of the Turks, and the state to which their masters have reduced their once proud land (TRACK 3). This is interrupted by the approach of Turkish Dervishes (TRACK 4). Next, menacing Turkish troops march across the stage to the best-known tune in the score. Beethoven had used his “Turkish March” (TRACK 5) two years earlier in a set of piano variations. Mercury tells the distraught Minerva that learning and culture blossom only in the German woods and on the shores of the Danube. He transports them to a town square in Pest, where they meet a citizen who describes the good fortune of his people—peaceful life and the blessings of nature and art under their enlightened ruler. Maidens and priests enter to the strains of a cheerful march, “Schmu.ckt die Altäre” (TRACK 7). A high priest sings of the noble aims of the spiritual life, leading to a chorus of dedication (TRACKS 8-10). The final number is an energetic chorus “Heil, unserm König!” saluting the Emperor (TRACK 11).

DIE RUINEN VON ATHEN, OP. 113 (The Ruins of Athens)

WORDS IN GERMAN

CHORUS Die Ruinen von Athen Tochter des mächtigen Zeus! erwache! Sein Ruf ertönt! Geschwunden sind die Jahre der Rache! Er ist versöhnt!

SOPRANO/BASS DUET Ohne Verschulden Knechtschaft dulden, harte Noth! Alle Tage neue Plage um das bischen liebe Brot! Von den Zweigen winkt der Feigen su.sse Frucht, Nicht dem Knechte der sie pflegte, Nur dem Herren, dem er flucht! Hingegeben wilden Horden, Tiefgebeugt in ihre Hand, ach! Was ist aus die geworden, Armes, armes Vaterland!

5 CHORUS Du hast in deines Ärmels Falten Den Mond getragen, ihn gespalten. Kaaba! Mahomet! Du hast den strahlenden Borak bestiegen Zum siebenten Himmel aufzufliegen, Großer Prophet! Kaaba!

CHORUS Schmuckt die Altäre!— Sie sind geschmu.ckt. Streuet Weihrauch!— Er ist gestreut. Pflu.cket Rosen!— Sie sind gepflu.ckt. Harret der Kommenden!— Wir harren der Kommenden. Seid bereit!— Wir sind bereit.

BASS SOLO (High Priest) Mit reger Freude, die nie erkaltet, empfangt das holde Schwesterpaar, Denn wo mit hohem Ernst die Muse sittlich waltet, Da opfert auch der Weise gem auf ihrem Altar.

Was, mit dem Schicksal kämpfend, Grosse Seelen litten, Das hat Melpomene uns warnend aufgestellt, Indess Thalia, wachend u.ber die Sitten, Zu ernsten Lehren muntern Spott gesellt. Wohlthätig wirkt der Musen geistig Spiel, Der Sterblichen Veredlung ist ihr Ziel.

CHORUS Wir tragen empfängliche Herzen im Busen, Wir geben uns willig der Täuschung hin! Drum weilet gern, ihr holden Musen, Bei einem Volke mit offenem Sinn.

BASS SOLO (High Priest) Will unser Genius noch einen Wunsch gewähren, Durch eines Volkes fromme Bitten bewegt, O so erhebe zwischen diesen Altären Sich noch ein dritter, der sein Bildnis trägt! Es steh’ in seiner Kinder Mitte, Erblicke sich geliebt, geehrt!

BASS SOLO AND CHORUS Er ist’s! Wir sind erhört. O Vater Zeus! Gewährt ist uns’re Bitte!

6 Heil unserm König! Heil! Vernimm uns Gott! Dankend schwören wir auf’s Neue Alte ungarische Treue bis in den Tod!

WORDS IN ENGLISH

CHORUS Daughter of Mighty Zeus! Awake! Her name resounds! The years of wrath are past! We are reconciled!

SOPRANO/BASS DUET To suffer slavery, though guiltless, is misery! Every day new sorrow to get our scrap of bread! On its branch shines the fig tree’s sweet fruit, not for the slave that tended it but for the cursed master! The people oppressed, bent low by his hand, ah — what has befallen you, my poor fatherland!

CHORUS In the folds of your sleeves you have carried the moon and shattered it. Ka’abah! Muhammad! You mounted the radiant Borakand, flew up to seventh heaven, great Prophet! Ka’abah!

CHORUS Bedeck the altars!— They are bedecked. Swing the censers.— They have been swung. Gather roses!— They have been gathered. Await the priestesses!— We await them. Stand ready!— We stand ready.

BASS SOLO (High Priest) With lively and ardent joy welcome the two holy sisters, for where the Muse gravely presides we gladly sacrifice at her altar.

What great souls have suffered, struggling with fate,

7 Melpomene, as warning, sets before us; while Thalia, keeping watch upon our ways, instructs us by use of merry jests. The Muses’ sport works to our benefit, for mortals’ ennoblement is their goal.

CHORUS We bear responsive hearts in our bosoms, we give ourselves gladly to illusion! Bide with us, ye holy Muses, with a people of open mind.

BASS SOLO (High Priest) If our guiding spirit will grant our wish, stirred by the people’s pious desires, then raise up between these two altars yet a third, bearing His portrait! Let it stand before his children to be seen with love and honor!

BASS SOLO AND CHORUS It is so! We have been heard. O Father Zeus! granted is our desire!

CHORUS Hail to our King! Hail! Hear us, God! In thanks we swear anew to old Hungarian royalty unto the death!

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BIOGRAPHIES

VALENTIN RADU Valentin Radu, Founder, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Ama Deus Ensemble, Camerata Ama Deus (Chamber Orchestra) and Vox Renaissance Consort, has led numerous orchestras and vocal ensembles in Europe and the U.S., including the Hungarian National Philharmonic, Bucharest, Arad, Oradea Philharmonics, the Budapest Chamber Orchestra and the Romania National Radio Orchestra. In 1996 he conducted the Bucharest Philharmonic in Handel’s Messiah, and in 1997 led the Romanian National Radio Orchestra in Handel’s Acis and Galatea (both English language premieres). He has conducted Vox Ama Deus in various programs ranging from motets and madrigals to authentically staged Renaissance operas performed on original instruments. Valentin Radu and the Ama Deus Ensemble have recorded for a number of labels, featuring such masterpieces as the Mozart and Verdi Requiems and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas for

8 Lyrichord; Handel’s Messiah, Acis and Galatea, Water Music and Royal Fireworks, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Magnificat and J.S. Bach’s B Minor Mass and Magnificat. Their discography also includes: A Baroque Christmas, A European Christmas, A Renaissance Noel on the PolyGram label, and Glad Tidings, released on both the Warner label and Sony Classics. Born in Romania, Valentin Radu began his music studies at age four. At six he made his first concert debut. In 1973, at 16, he won the prestigious Rome Piano Competition, and in 1979, the Saarbrucken Organ Competition. In1980, he won the silver medal at the Bach International Competition in Leipzig. Maestro Radu holds Doctoral and Masters degrees from the Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Bucharest Academy of Music. In 1976, he founded and conducted Juvenes Musici, a chamber orchestra under the auspices of the Bucharest Philharmonic. In 1980 he founded “The Juilliard Bach Players” chamber orchestra and initiated the “Bach at Juilliard” concert series at New York’s Lincoln Center. In 1984 Valentin Radu was invited to inaugurate and later (in 1985) make the first and only LP solo recording on the newly re- built organ of the Imperial Chapel of Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. The original instrument, built in 1721, was the one on which Mozart himself performed during his 12 years as Vienna’s Court Musician.

In addition to being a classical music scholar and artist, Valentin Radu is equally accomplished in jazz performance as a conductor and a solo performer. In December 1998, he conducted the 97-member Bucharest Philharmonic in a Gershwin Centennial Gala concert, featuring the Rhapsody in Blue (Dan Grigore, soloist), An American in Paris, and Porgy and Bess. In November 1999, Radu conducted the Arad Philharmonic in a centennial concert featuring works by Duke Ellington and George Gershwin. Since May 2000, Maestro Radu has conducted extraordinary jazz concerts in Bucharest, with his “Sound” jazz group, featuring singer Teodora Enache and Romanian jazz legend Johnny Raducanu. In May 1999, Radu participated in the historic visit to Romania of Pope John Paul II. In September 2004, he was invited to be the sole performer at a special U.N. gala in New Yorkhonoring the President of Romania. In December 1997, Radu was awarded the Golden Apple by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. In February 1999, the Romanian Music Critics’ Association named him “1998 Musician of theYear.” In April of 2003, Radu was bestowedthe title of Honorary Citizen of the City of Bucharest by the mayor of his native town,who is presently Romania’s President. On December 20, 2005, Valentin Radu received the highest civil award of Romania: The Grand Officer of the Order of Cultural Merit (Romanian equivalent of The French Legion of Honor or British Knighthood), in recognition of his life achievement in the arts and his efforts as “Cultural Ambassador” of Romania. Radu became the seventh, and youngest, recipient of this most prestigious award in the history of Romania.

QUOTES ABOUT VALENTIN RADU:

“...conductor Valentin Radu approached the work with an awareness of the tone painting, the drama and even theatricality of the writing… He built relationships to challenge the mind and ear.” THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

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“Volcanic… A fine connoisseur of the Baroque.” DIE PRESSE, Vienna

“Radu conducted his singers with a sure hand…” THE NEW YORK TIMES

TATYANA GALITSKAYA Soprano Tatyana Galitskaya received her musical education in Belarus. She graduated from the Republican Arts College, studying choral conducting and continued at the Belarus Academy of Music, studying vocal-choral literature with Professor Lubov Kasporskaya. In 1996 she joined The State Chamber Chorus in Minsk, Belarus, performing with this group as a soloist from1998-2002. During this time she toured Poland, Germany, Norway and Luxembourg. Her solo repertoire includes works from the Baroque and Classical periods such as Handel, Haydn and Schubert and the Verdi Requiem (recorded for Lyrichord with Ama Deus Ensemble and Valentin Radu.) Ms. Galitskaya also appeared as soprano soloist with Kapella Sonorus in Minsk and sang in Mozart Requiem and Kozlovsky’s Requiem in France, Spain and Italy. In 2003 she sang the title role in Juditta by F. Legar with the Belarus State Musical Theater in Minsk. Tatyana is equally at home in music theater, opera, chamber and folk music styles. She arrived in the United States in 2004 and currently performs with the Ama Deus Ensemble and The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, as well as singing solo recitals in the Philadelphia area.

TATYANA RASHKOVSKY Tatyana Rashkovsky, mezzo-soprano, was born in Moscow, where she received her Bachelor of Music Degree at the Musical College of Moscow State Conservatory. Her operatic debut, as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, was as a member of the Opera Studio of the Moscow Conservatory. Arriving in the United States, she enrolled at the University of Southern California where she performed the title role in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Cherubino in Figaro, and Conception in Ravel’s L’heure Espagnole. For the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, she appeared in Strauss’ Electra with Leonie Rysanek, in I Puritani with Placido Domingo conducting the UCLA Symphony Orchestra, in Cavalleria rusticana with Casa Italiana, The Magic Flute with San Jose Opera, Die Fledermaus and Rigoletto with Santa Barbara Grand Opera, and in Rigoletto with the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Ms. Rashkovsky’s oratorio engagements include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Santa Barbara Symphony and Handel’s Messiah with Delaware Valley Chorale. She is a prize winner of numerous competitions including the Luciano Pavarotti World Competition. She appears with the Ama Deus Ensemble on Lyrichord’s Dido and Aeneas and the Verdi Requiem.

KENNETH GARNER Oratorio tenor Kenneth Garner has been a member of the allprofessional core of The Philadelphia Singers since 1977, and is a frequent soloist with The Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, the Ama Deus Ensemble and The Philadelphia Chamber Chorus and has also appeared with The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, The Bach

10 Festival of Philadelphia, Choral Society of Montgomery County and other regional performing arts organizations. He is an acclaimed interpreter of the music of J. S. Bach, having performed solos in the Passions, B Minor Mass, Magnificat and many of the cantatas. Mr. Garner also specializes in the oratorios of Handel, Haydn and both Mozart and Verdi, whose Requiems he has recorded for Lyrichord with Vox Ama Deus. Since January 1980, he has been tenor soloist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Philadelphia. Ken Garner has also appeared in over thirty operatic roles with The Opera Company of Philadelphia, The Pennsylvania Opera Theatre, Lake George Opera, Chautauqua Opera Company, the Corfu International Festival and The Friends of French Opera in New York City.

ED BARA Ed Bara, bass, has performed in 14 countries in venues including Saint Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, The National Cathedral in Washington D.C., Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall, NY, and the Basilica of SS Peter and Paul, The Academy of Music, and with Vox Ama Deus at The Kimmel Center, Philadelphia. Mr. Bara’s opera highlights include the principal bass roles in Don Giovanni, La bohème, The Tales of Hoffmann, Rigoletto and Pirates of Penzance. He has been heard on the musical theater stage in Oliver!, Camelot, Two by Two, among many others, totaling over seventy roles of opera, theater, musical theater, and oratorio. His solo concert and oratorio performances have been described as “...dark, rich, expressive singing…powerful, but with enough grace as to understand every word.” The bass- baritone’s recordings including the Bach B Minor Mass, Mozart and Verdi Requiems (for Lyrichord), Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Handel Messiah, and the Dvorak Requiem. With his wife Jennifer, he is co-founder and director of an early music performing ensemble specializing in feasts of the Renaissance.

CHORUS SOPRANO: Laura Colleton, Kristen Conrad, Kimberly Cooper, Teresa D’Amico, Leah Golub, Sharon Gray, Julie-Ann Green, Allison Hirschmann, Darlene Kelsey, Bridget Libert, Susan Miller, Pamela Phelan, Andrea Smith, Clara Thorne, Adeline Tompkins

ALTO: Claudia Becker, Bronwyn Fix-Keller, Susan Garrison, Fran Bjorneby-Kraemer, MaryAnn Landmesser, Susan Mattison, Betty Prescod, Dianne Rotwitt, Sharon Voros, Tommie Borton Warder, Meghan Williams, Ruth Williams

TENOR: Peter de Mets, Jerel Frey, Michael Go, Frank Henzel, Dennis Kalup, Paul Marchesano, Robert Prater, Douglas Rowland, Franklin Zigman

BASS: James Abel, Michael Campbell, Gerald Escovitz, Timothy Gallen, Jacques Gordon, Brian Middleton, Charles Riale, Daniel Schauble, Mateush Tenev, Daniel Terrazas, John Wright, Matthew Zimnoch

ORCHESTRA VIOLIN I: Thomas DiSarlo, Concertmaster

11 Thomas Jackson, Linda Kistler, Daniela Pierson, Lawrence Major

VIOLIN II: Robert Spates, Sergei Nuissl, Cathleen Jeffcoat, Audrey Kress, Claudia Pellegrini

VIOLA: Patricio Diaz, Jennifer Myer, Geoffrey Baker, Lauren Alter

CELLO: Vivian Barton Dozor, Anthony Pirollo, Jie Jin

BASS: Marc Seidenberg, Joanne Bates

FLUTE: Nicole Lambert, Joan Spark

PICCOLO: Christine Hansen

OBOE: Sarah Davol, Tara Harvey

CLARINET: Terry Guidetti, Rie Suzuki

BASSOON: Norman Spielberg, Robert Grossman

CONTRABASSOON: Michael Pedrazzini

HORN: Paul Rosenberg, Daniel Wions, Kathryn Mehrtens, Aleks Ozolins

TRUMPET: Elin Frazier, Daniel Orlock

TROMBONE: Brian Pastor, Michael Purdy, David Cianci

TIMPANI: Randall Rudolph

PERCUSSION: Phillip O’Banion, Jason Markzon, Ryan DiLisi

AMA DEUS ENSEMBLE Valentin Radu, Artistic Director and Conductor

12 CREDITS Ama Deus Ensemble Valentin Radu Conductor John Ostendorf, Producer Stephen J. Epstein, Recording Engineer

Recorded Live in the Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania April 25, 2008

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