Depaul Symphony Orchestra
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Saturday, November 5, 2016 • 8:00 P.M. DEPAUL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Daniel Boico, conductor DePaul Concert Hall 800 West Belden Avenue • Chicago Saturday, November 5, 2016 • 8:00 P.M. DePaul Concert Hall DEPAUL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Daniel Boico, conductor PROGRAM Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) Symphony No. 7 in C Major, Op. 60 “Leningrad” Allegretto Moderato (poco allegretto) Adagio attacca Allegro non troppo DEPAUL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • NOVEMBER 5, 2016 PROGRAM NOTES Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) Symphony No. 7 in C Major, Op. 60 “Leningrad” Duration: 75 minutes Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg on September 25, 1906 and died in Moscow on August 9, 1975. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonists of the 20th century. His 7th symphony, commonly called Leningrad Symphony, is famous (or perhaps infamous) for having been composed in the midst of the brutal siege of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). From 1941 to 1944 the city was encircled by Hitler’s Wehrmacht, in one of the longest sieges in history that may have killed as many as a million of the city’s inhabitants, mostly from starvation. Shostakovich began work on the symphony on July 19, 1941 in Leningrad, completing the first three movements by September 29 before being evacuated to Kuibyshev (now Samara), completing the fourth movement on December 27, 1941. There, it received its first performance on March 5, 1942 by the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra led by Samuil Samosud, and its rousing success prompted the rapid organization of a performance in Leningrad itself on August 9, 1942, by the Leningrad Radio Orchestra led by Karl Eliasberg. The American premiere was a concert broadcast on July 19, 1942 by the NBC Symphony Orchestra led by Arturo Toscanini. The symphony was performed more than 60 times across the United States that season. The origins and intentions of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 seem to have always been shrouded in mystery, and have certainly affected the waxing and waning of the symphony’s popularity outside of the iron curtain in the decades since its premiere. The ongoing escalation of the war – Hitler’s invasion of Western Europe in 1940 and his invasion of Russia in 1941, combined with the bombing of Pearl Harbor late that year – meant that when reports of this symphony, composed heroically under siege, were received in the West in 1942, arrangements were very quickly devised to have the score transported to the West for performances to be made. Contemporary reports detailed the incredible journey of the score: transferred to microfilm, flown to Tehran, driven across the Middle East to Egypt, flown to Brazil and finally transported by the Navy to New York, all while World War II was raging across virtually the entire world. In this context of global war against Hitler and his allies, the symphony was hailed as a representation of the Russian fighting spirit and of Shostakovich’s heroic artistic effort for its composition under siege. It served as international validation of the domestic US war propaganda effort that had been rapidly gaining steam since the attack on Pearl Harbor, despite isolationist policies of the US after the “Great War.” Similarly, in the USSR, the Leningrad Symphony was a monumental success for the Soviet propaganda machine, which promoted performances and promulgated its purported socialist slant all around the USSR. DEPAUL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • NOVEMBER 5, 2016 PROGRAM NOTES The ideological baggage of the Leningrad symphony therefore weighed on its artistic reputation and popularity in this country in the aftermath of WW II, as the USSR emerged as the primary adversary of Western democracy during the Cold War. The success of the Soviet propaganda machine in the West, together with oppression of artistic and critical voices in the USSR, had reduced the Leningrad to a piece of soviet programmatic (and propagandistic) music that represented the socialist ideals of the era, rather than a composition of artistic worth. In recent years, debate has raged on in scholarly circles about the true origins and programmatic intentions of the 7th symphony, as well as Shostakovich’s troubled relations with Soviet power and his true beliefs. In no small part, this was due to the publication of an alleged memoir of Shostakovich, titled Testimony, by reporter and musicologist Solomon Volkov. Volkov claims to quote the composer’s words: “Actually, I have nothing against calling the Seventh the Leningrad Symphony, but it’s not about Leningrad under siege, it’s about the Leningrad that Stalin destroyed and Hitler merely finished off.” Notes by Jianghai Ho. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR The individual movements were originally titled, and while the composer did remove the titles, they serve as useful guideposts to the structure of the piece. The first movement, which Shostakovich originally titled “War,” begins with a proud and strong opening theme that, as Shostakovich described in his program notes for the premiere, evoke “the simple, peaceful life lived before the war.” This is interrupted by the snare drum that signals a soft but pronounced entrance into the wartime music. This “invasion theme” repeats twelve times, growing louder and more frantic as the instrumentation expands. The core of the first movement, Shostakovich said, comes after the “invasion theme” in the form of a funeral march or a requiem for the fallen heroes. He continues, “After the requiem comes an even more tragic episode. I do not know how to characterize that music. Perhaps it is a mother’s tears or even the feeling that the sorrow is so great that there are no more tears left.” The movement ends with a final reiteration of the “invasion theme,” signaling its continued presence. The second and third movements, originally titled “Memories” and “The Country’s Wide Expanses” respectively, serve as “a lyrical respite,” as Shostakovich wrote, in the emotional symphony. He described the second movement as “recalling pleasant events and past joys” with an “atmosphere of gentle sadness and reverie,” and the third as “the dramatic center of the work,” evoking nature and the “joy of life.” The final movement was originally titled “Victory”, but the build to this victorious relief is slow, with a soft opening and the ominous return of familiar melodies from the first movement. It’s not until the final bars of the piece when the victorious C Major key is reached, but even then, it is punctuated with dissonances that draw it away from a pure triumphant sound. Notes by Susan Miller. DEPAUL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • NOVEMBER 5, 2016 BIOGRAPHY Described by critics as “Dynamic, vigorous, exciting and imaginative - an undisputed star who combines magnetic charisma with a skilled technique” conductor Daniel Boico is the newly appointed Associate Guest Conductor of the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra, Durban. His innate musical sensitivity paired with a keen ear and deep musicianship have produced exciting performances with orchestras in the U.S., Europe, Central and South America, Africa and Asia. As Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, 2009-2011, Boico lead all of the Philharmonic’s popular Young People’s Concerts, among other concerts, covering 30 weeks in each season, including all tours. His debut with the New York Philharmonic took place in 2009, sharing the podium with Riccardo Muti, and was followed by his subscription debut in April 2011, when he replaced Kurt Masur on short notice in what the New York Times called “a smoldering performance” of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Two Paths: A dedication to Mary and Martha for two violas and orchestra. Daniel Boico served as Cover Conductor on Chicago Symphony’s Asia tour to Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin and Seoul. Boico was editor, producer and conductor in a recording project of composer Karen LeFrak’s orchestral and chamber music, recorded at the old Melodiya recording studio in Saint Petersburg, Russia, with the Saint Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra. Earlier in his career, Boico was Music Director of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, Illinois, and the Skokie Concert Choir, as well as staff conductor at the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra and assistant conductor to Cliff Colnot with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Boico was also Visiting Professor and Director of Orchestras at Grand Valley State University, Michigan, and has served as cover conductor for the Milwaukee Symphony. Boico was an Apprentice Conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra where he worked closely with, and was assistant to then Music Director Daniel Barenboim as well as guest conductors Pierre Boulez and Zubin Mehta. Daniel Boico also has extensive experience in music administration, planning and programming, having worked as Manager of Artistic Administration of the New York Philharmonic, as executive assistant to Daniel Barenboim at the Chicago Symphony and Chicago Symphony Presents, as well as for the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Born in Israel to musician parents and raised in both Paris and the United States (Boico’s father, Fima Boico, was concertmaster of Orchestra de Paris and is the second violinist of the Fine Arts Quartet) Boico was initially trained as a singer before joining the class of legendary Russian conducting professor Ilya Musin at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, Russia. DEPAUL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • NOVEMBER 5, 2016 BIOGRAPHY Since 1995, Boico has performed in world renown halls such as the Philharmonie in Berlin, Avery Fisher Hall in New York, Chicago’s Symphony Center, War Memorial Opera House of San Francisco, Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, Meistersinger Halle in Nurnberg, Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace Auditorium, Mexico City’s Bellas Artes Palace and Nezahualcoyotl hall, and the Tchaikovsky Concert Halls in Moscow, with such orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Nürnberger Symphoniker, State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, National Orchestras of Mexico and Costa Rica, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and the KZN, Johannesburg and Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestras.