Mostly Mozart Festival August 12–13, 2014
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08-12 Noseda_Gp 3.qxt 7/30/14 2:09 PM Page 1 July 25–August 23, 2014 Sponsored by Bloomberg Tuesday and Wednesday Evenings, August 12–13, 2014, at 7:00 Pre-concert Recital Amphion String Quartet Katie Hyun, Violin David Southorn, Violin Wei-Yang Andy Lin, Viola Mihai Marica, Cello BARBER String Quartet (1936) Molto allegro e appassionato Molto adagio Molto allegro (come prima) This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center. Avery Fisher Hall Please make certain your cellular phone, pager, or watch alarm is switched off. 08-12 Noseda_Gp 3.qxt 7/30/14 2:09 PM Page 2 Mostly Mozart Festival Note on the cellist of the Curtis String Quartet: “I have just finished the slow movement of my Pre-concert Recital quartet today—it is a knockout! Now for a by Christopher H. Gibbs Finale.” The last movement caused him a good deal of trouble and went through var- String Quartet (1936) ious revisions even after the work’s Ameri - SAMUEL BARBER can premiere at the Library of Congress in Born March 9, 1910, in West Chester, April 1937. (It had been performed the pre- Pennsylvania vious December at the American Academy Died January 23, 1981, in New York in Rome.) Approximate length: 18 minutes Barber had met Toscanini a few years ear- lier in Italy, and the conductor took an inter- Audiences do not often have the opportunity est in the young composer. Barber sent to hear Barber’s String Quartet, and yet the him the Adagio for Strings and his Essay work—or more precisely, the core of it—is for Orchestra, both of which Toscanini pre- one of the most famous pieces of the 20th sented in a nationally broadcast perfor- century: the Adagio for Strings, a staple of mance. Toscanini went on to perform the the orchestral repertoire, was composed Adagio for Strings on tour in South as the quartet’s elegiac middle movement. America and England, and recorded the Arturo Toscanini premiered Barber’s own work in 1942, further enhancing its fame. arrangement of the piece for full string Barber later made yet another arrangement orchestra with the NBC Symphony Orchestra of the piece, a choral version to which he in 1938, which catapulted the 28-year-old fitted the words of the Agnus Dei. composer to international renown. The first of the quartet’s three movements Slow movements, including the second calls upon traditional sonata form with a movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Sym - powerful first theme and more lyrical phony, seem particularly susceptible to second one. The beloved Adagio follows. such independent fame. Like the Adagietto It may not be surprising that Barber’s from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, Barber’s final reincarnation for the movement was Adagio entered popular culture through its religious; a solemn, even chant-like char- use in films. These compositions have also acter is evident from the start with the first been called upon in times of mourning and of a series of slow phrases consisting of a crisis; the Adagio for Strings was heard on stepwise diatonic melody accompanied by the radio just after the announcement of chords from the other strings. The music Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death in 1945. builds to a powerful climax—louder, more chromatic, and in the highest register of Barber’s original String Quartet dates from the instruments. After a grand pause the 1936. When he began composing it that music settles down with the calm return of summer in Europe, he had another ethe- the opening theme. A very brief finale con- real work—Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll—on cludes the work, bringing back material his mind. He remarked in a letter how “dif- from the first movement. ficult” it was writing a quartet, but by mid- September he reported to Orlando Cole, —Copyright © 2014 by Christopher H. Gibbs 08-12 Noseda_Gp 3.qxt 7/30/14 2:09 PM Page 3 July 25–August 23, 2014 Sponsored by Bloomberg Tuesday and Wednesday Evenings, August 12–13, 2014, at 8:00 Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra Gianandrea Noseda, Conductor Erika Grimaldi, Soprano (U.S. debut) Anna Maria Chiuri, Mezzo-soprano M|M Russell Thomas, Tenor Ildar Abdrazakov, Bass M|M Concert Chorale of New York James Bagwell, Director ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM Overture to The Consecration of the House (1822) Pause Symphony No. 9 in D minor (1822–24) Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso Scherzo: Molto vivace Adagio molto e cantabile— Presto—Allegro ma non troppo—Allegro assai (Choral Finale) M|M Mostly Mozart debut This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center. Avery Fisher Hall Please make certain your cellular phone, pager, or watch alarm is switched off. 08-12 Noseda_Gp 3.qxt 7/30/14 2:09 PM Page 4 Mostly Mozart Festival The Mostly Mozart Festival is sponsored by Upcoming Mostly Mozart Festival Events: Bloomberg. Thursday Night, August 14, at 10:00 The Mostly Mozart Festival is made possible by in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser, The Fan Fox and A Little Night Music Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc., Ann and Xavier de Maistre, Harp (New York debut) Gordon Getty Foundation, Charles E. Culpeper MOZART: Keyboard Sonata in C major Foundation, S.H. and Helen R. Scheuer Family LISZT: Le rossignol Foundation, and Friends of Mostly Mozart. FAURÉ: Impromptu And works by CAPLET, PESCETTI, Public support is provided by the New York State SMETANA, and TÁRREGA Council on the Arts. Friday and Saturday Evenings, August 15–16, Artist Catering is provided by Zabar’s and at 8:00 in Avery Fisher Hall Zabars.com. Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra Louis Langrée, Conductor MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center. Magali Mosnier, Flute (U.S. debut) Xavier de Maistre, Harp Bloomberg is the Official Sponsor of Lincoln Center GLUCK: Dance of the Furies, from Orphée et Eurydice Summer Programs. MOZART: Flute and Harp Concerto, K.299 BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique Movado is an Official Sponsor of Lincoln Center. Pre-concert lecture at 6:45 on August 15 by Peter Bloom United Airlines is the Official Airline of Lincoln Center. Pre-concert recital at 7:00 on August 16 by Magali Mosnier, flute, and Xavier de Maistre, harp WABC-TV is the Official Broadcast Partner of Lincoln Center. Saturday Evening, August 16, from 4:00–5:30 in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse William Hill Estate Winery is the Official Wine of Panel Discussion: Mozart and the Promise of Lincoln Center. Opera Bruce Alan Brown, Moderator “Summer at Lincoln Center” is sponsored by Diet With Edmund J. Goehring, Christopher Lynch, and Pepsi. Steven Machtinger Presented in association with the Mozart Society Time Out New York is Media Partner of Summer at of America Lincoln Center. For tickets, call (212) 721-6500 or visit MostlyMozart.org. Call the Lincoln Center Info Ildar Abdrazakov appears by kind permission of the Request Line at (212) 875-5766 to learn about Metropolitan Opera. program cancellations or request a Mostly Mozart brochure. Visit MostlyMozart.org for full festival listings. Join the conversation: #LCMozart We would like to remind you that the sound of coughing and rustling paper might distract the performers and your fellow audience members. In consideration of the performing artists and members of the audience, those who must leave before the end of the performance are asked to do so between pieces. The taking of photographs and the use of recording equipment are not allowed in the building. 08-12 Noseda_Gp 3.qxt 7/30/14 2:09 PM Page 5 Mostly Mozart Festival Welcome to Mostly Mozart I am delighted to welcome you to the 2014 Mostly Mozart Festival, where we explore the many facets of our namesake composer’s brilliance and invention. What better way to usher in that spirit than with an outdoor world premiere work by American composer John Luther Adams. Sila: The Breath of the World transforms Lincoln Center’s Hearst Plaza into a sonic stage before we rejoin Mozart in Avery Fisher Hall with the acclaimed Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. This summer, our Festival Orchestra reaches beyond many Mozart masterpieces to the signature works of some of his great successors: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Martin’s Polyptyque. We join with favorite soloists—Joshua Bell, Richard Goode, Christian Tetzlaff—and also introduce luminaries making their festival debuts, including pianists Yuja Wang and Steven Osborne, and bass Ildar Abdrazakov. We are always pleased to welcome the Mark Morris Dance Group to Mostly Mozart. This August, Mark Morris brings his unparalleled affinity for Handel to his newest creation, Acis and Galatea. The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the Emerson String Quartet delight us in Alice Tully Hall, while the International Contemporary Ensemble celebrates new music at Park Avenue Armory. And don’t forget to join us for music and wine in casual, intimate Little Night Music recitals at the Kaplan Penthouse. We all embrace the joy that celebrating Mozart’s music brings to New York in the summer. I hope to see you often here at Lincoln Center. Jane Moss Ehrenkranz Artistic Director 08-12 Noseda_Gp 3.qxt 7/30/14 2:09 PM Page 6 Mostly Mozart Festival Signature Works by Peter A. Hoyt The musicologists who first investigated Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) discovered that some pieces, written in his handwriting and long attributed to him, were actually composed by other musicians. Bach had omitted their names during the copying process, and the scholars—disturbed by this hint of plagiarism—were relieved to learn that the early 18th century was often indifferent to niceties of attribution.