Boston Symphony Orchestra , Music Director

Colin Davis, Principal Guest Conductor Joseph Silverstein, Assistant Conductor

Thursday, April 22, 1976, at 8:30 p.m. Friday, April 23, 1976, at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 24, 1976, at 8:30 p.m.

Symphony Hall, Boston Ninety-fifth Season

Baldwin Deutsche Grammophon Records Philips Records Program Program Notes

Seiji Ozawa conducting (1882-1971) Stravinsky: Circus Polka Composed for the Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey Circus in its origi- Movements for Piano and Orchestra nal scoring for wind band and percussion, the Circus Polka was first per- =110; meno mosso f =72 formed in New York's Madison Square Garden in the spring of 1942. The (interlude) f =52 composer later rescored the work for full orchestra and conducted its pre- = 52 miere in this form at a Boston Symphony concert in January, 1944. The present performance is the first by the Orchestra since then. (interlude) j` =72 John Ringling North wanted an elephant to show off the = 72 talent of his performing pachyderms, and he engaged George (interlude) f =80 Balanchine (then as famous for his Broadway work in On Your Toes =80 as he would later become with the ) to direct (interlude) f =52 the choreography—and to choose the music. Balanchine picked up the phone and called Stravinsky. = 52 Eric Walter White relates the following: " 'What kind of music?' asked the composer. 'A polka.' For whom?' Elephants."How Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments old?' Young."If they are very young, I'll do it.' They were very Largo; allegro young, so Stravinsky agreed." In the brief (four minutes) work that emerged, the time signature is 2/4 throughout, but what is com- Largo monly thought of as polka rhythm makes an overt appearance only Allegro once, and then with a quotation from Schubert's Marche Militaire as countersubject. Michel Beroff, piano For the record, the piece in its original form was given some 425 performances by the Circus, with "Fifty Elephants and Fifty Beau- tiful Girls in an Original Choreographic Tour de Force," and Vera Intermission Zorina shared honors with the star elephant Old Modoc on open- ing night in New York. The music was apparently not much to the Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps () animals' liking (nor, probably, was the costuming: tutu skirts Part One: The Adoration of the Earth around their middles). Elephants respond quickly and naturally to waltzes and military numbers, but Stravinsky's music made them Introduction; Auguries of Spring (Dances of the Young faintly uneasy; the bandmaster kept a Sousa march dose at hand Girls); Mock Abduction; Spring Khorovod (Round Dance); during every performance . . . just in case. Happily, it was never Games of the Rival Clans; Procession of the Wise Elder; needed. Adoration of the Earth (the Wise Elder); Dance of the Earth Part Two: The Sacrifice Introduction; Mystical Circles of the Young Girls; Glorifica- Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments tion of the Chosen Victim; The Summoning of the Ancients; The Concerto is scored for 3 flutes, 3 , 2 , 2 , Ritual of the Ancients; Sacrificial Dance (the Chosen Victim) 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 , tuba, and contrabasses, and is dedicated to Mme. Natalie Koussevitzky. Its American premiere was given Michel Beroff plays the Steinway Piano by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting, in January, 1925, with the composer as soloist. Stravinsky and Serge Koussevitzky first met in 1907 at the home The Thursday and Saturday programs will end at about 10:10 p.m., the Friday program at about 3:40 p.m. of the composer's teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov. Their ties were strengthened a few years later when L'Edition Russe de la Musique, Koussevitzky's publishing firm, issued . The man who was later to become Conductor of the Boston Symphony had throughout his career an uncanny knack for nosing out talent, and he continued to be closely involved with Stravinsky, both as composer and performer: Koussevitzky commissioned and pub- lished several of Stravinsky's works in subsequent years, con- ducted many premieres, and promoted his career as pianist and conductor. The Piano Concerto was finished early in 1924 for performance at one of Koussevitzky's Paris concerts the following May. Stravinsky had always been a competent pianist, and at the conductor's sug- gestion himself undertook to play the solo part at the premiere. The performance was so successful that the composer decided to launch himself seriously on a career as a performer of his own music. With the Boston Symphony he gave the American premiere the following January, Koussevitzky again conducting. The con- cert, incidentally, was devoted entirely to Stravinsky's work. Shortly before the performance at Symphony Hall, Stravinsky solo near the beginning, or the derivation of the three Fs announc- was interviewed by the Boston Post. He described the concerto as ing the last movement simply by knowing the original order, no "a sort of passacaglia or toccata." "It is quite in the style of the sev- matter how unique the combinatorial properties of this particular enteenth century," he continued, "that is, the seventeenth century series. . . . viewed from the point of view of today. You know no one else has "Each section of the piece is confined to a certain range of instru- played this concerto—I only can play it. That is, I won't let anyone mental timbre (another suggestion of ?), but the five else play it until I no longer want to." He reserved the exclusivity movements are related more by tempo than by contrasts of such for five years. things as timbre, "mood," "character"; in a span of only twelve When Stravinsky had used a piano in his earlier music, he had minutes, the contrast of an andante with an allegro would make lit- treated it rather as a percussion instrument. In the two outer move- tle sense; construction must replace contrast. Perhaps the most sig- ments of the Concerto the writing is similarly percussive. In the nificant development in the Movements, however, is the tendency first movement the piano has a theme in toccata style, somewhat toward anti-tonality—in spite of long pedal point passages such as reminiscent of the keyboard music of Scarlatti and Bach. Eric the trill at the end of the third movement, and the sus- Walter White, in his invaluable book on Stravinsky (published by tained string harmonics in the fourth movement. I am amazed at the University of California Press), writes that "the second move- this myself, in view of the fact that in simple triadic refer- ment, with its extremely slow, legato, rather viscous melody ences occur in every bar." accompanied by thick rich chords like folds of stiff drapery, comes as a complete change of mood." The final Allegro is more grotesque: the scheme is fragmentary, almost improvisatory in character. "The third movement," in Mr. Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) White's words, "produces an effect of disorder and disarray, and Stravinsky composed Le Sacre du Printemps in 1912 and 1913, as the balance of the Concerto is affected accordingly." music for Diaghilev's Ballet Russe. Its first performance, the most cele- —Andrew Raeburn brated musical premiere of the twentieth century, took place at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Paris, on May 29, 1913, in a production choreo- graphed by Nijinsky and conducted by Pierre Monteux. Within a year, Monteux conducted the work in concert form, and it is largely in that Movements for Piano and Orchestra manner that it has been heard ever since. Its first performance by the Boston Symphony was directed by Pierre Monteux in 1924; it was per- Stravinsky wrote Movements in 1958-59 and published it in 1960, formed most recently at Tanglewood in 1972, Michael Tilson Thomas directing its premiere at Town Hall, New York, on January 10, 1960. It is conducting. Its instrumentation is as follows: 3 flutes and alto flute, 2 pic- scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, , 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, colos, 4 oboes, 2 english horns, 3 clarinets and D clarinet, 2 bass clarinets, harp, celesta and strings. This is its first performance by the Boston 4 bassoons, 2 contra bassoons, 8 horns, 2 tenor tubas, 5 trumpets, 3 trom- Symphony. bones, 2 bass tubas, timpani (2 players), bass drum, tam tam, triangle, As early as 1952, while stating his own contentment with and tambour de basque, guero rape, antique cymbals, harp and strings. preference for the possibilities contained within "seven notes of The score is in two distinct sections: "The Adoration of the the scale" (i.e., diatonic or tonal music), Stravinsky said in an Earth" and "The Sacrifice." The various (including the interview that "the serial composers are the only ones with a dis- introductions to each part) are each an entity in itself. They are cipline that I respect." How much the advocacy of serial (twelve- played in continuous succession, but without preamble or tone) music by his amanuensis sparked or accelerated "bridge" passages. Stravinsky in this music is nothing if not direct the composer's interest in this technique is unclear, but it was and to the point. Much has been written about the influence of Le likely a major factor. Sacre upon the course of musical composition. One of its most Increasingly impressed by the works of Anton Webem, obvious effects was .to clear away the nineteenth-century verbiage Stravinsky edged closer to serial music throughout the 1950s. His of preparatory, mood-establishing measures, circuitous develop- first works in serial form were, as White says, "cautious experi- ment, and repetitious conclusions. Its influence as a development ments carried out within a framework of tonal music. This is partic- of rhythmic possibilities is obvious. ularly true of the Three Songs from William Shakespeare, the Canticum The introduction, which has been called "the mystery of the Sacrum (1955) and Agon (1953-57). Not until Threni (1957-58) and physical world in spring," is a slow and ceremonious music, open- the Movements . . . does one encounter completely serial works." ing in the unfamiliar top register of the bassoon, and weaving its Although Movements was originally conceived as a concerto, in way through the wind choir, with no more than a slight reinforce- its final form there is no real sense of soloist vs. ensemble; the ment in the strings. The curtain (in the original ballet) rises upon a piano is simply the principal instrument in a progression of various ritual dance of the adolescents, youths and maidens who perform a instrumental combinations. The five movements and four piano- ceremonial of earth worship, stamping to a forceful rhythm of dis- less bridging sections (the term "interlude" was dropped in the placed accents, which produce a pattern by their regular recur- published score) are distinguished from one another by the shift- rence. A mock abduction "Jeu de rapt" follows as part of the cere- ing groupings of instruments and by the tempi specified; each mony, a presto of even more complexity and interest of rhythm, "interlude" is both, by its instrumentation, a coda to the move- with changes of beat from measure to measure: 3/8, 5/8, 3/8, 4/8, ment immediately preceding and, by its change of tempo, a pre- 5/8, 6/8, 2/8, etc. There follows a round dance of spring ("Rondes lude to the movement that follows. Printanieres"), which begins, tranquillo, with a folk-like tune, after "I have discovered new (to me) serial combinations in the Move- ments . . . ," wrote Stravinsky in Memories and Commentaries, "and the Movements are the most advanced music from the point of view of construction of anything I have composed. No theorist could determine the spelling of the note order in, for example, the flute which a curious syncopated rhythmic figure works up to a furious climax and brings a return of the tranquillo measures. The games of the rival communities is a molto allegro, again in rapidly chang- ing rhythmic signatures. This introduces the "Procession of the Sage," the oldest member of the tribe, "the celebrant, whose func- tion it is to consecrate the soil for its coming renewal." The tubas introduce him with a ponderous theme. The first part ends with a "dance of the earth," prestissimo, a music of rising excitement, with intricate fanfares from the eight horns. The second part opens with a mysterious largo which Stravinsky is said to have described as "the Pagan Night," although the score bears merely the word "Introduction." It is largely a music of poignant shifting harmonies, pianissimo, from which rises in the strings a melody of haunting suggestion. "A deep sadness per- vades it," wrote Edwin Evans, "but this sadness is physical, not sentimental. . . . It is gloomy with the oppression of vast forces of Nature, pitiful with the helplessness of living creatures in their presence." This leads into the "Mysterious Circles of the Adoles- cents," andante, with a reference to the introduction, and a theme first set forth by the bass flute, with answer by two clarinets in con- secutive sevenths. "The Glorification of the Chosen One": again there are complex rhythms of increasing excitement. The "Evoca- tion of the Ancestors" moves through chords of a ponderous solemnity to the "Ritual of the Ancestors": a light and regular piz- zicato with a sinuous duet for English horn and bass flute to which other wind instruments are joined in increasing elaboration. "The Sacrificial Dance of the Chosen One": The dance is of extraordi- nary elaboration of rhythm, in which the orchestra is used more massively than before. "Now the elected victim, who has thus far remained motionless throughout these activities, begins her sacri- fice; for the final act of propitiation has been demanded, and she must dance herself to death. The music expresses the mystical rap- ture of this invocation of vernal fertility in rhythms of paroxysmal frenzy, reaching a delirious culmination as the victim falls dead." Pierre Monteux has written: "Le Sacre du Printemps was pre- sented in 1913 at the Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris, and cause a scandal it certainly did. The audience remained quiet for the first two minutes. Then came boos and cat-calls from the gal- lery, soon after from the lower floors. Neighbors began to hit each other over the head with fists, canes or whatever came to hand. Soon this anger was concentrated against the dancers, and then, more particularly, against the orchestra, the direct perpetrator of the musical crime. Everything available was tossed in our direc- tion, but we continued to play on. The end of the performance was greeted by the arrival of gendarmes. Stravinsky had disappeared through a window backstage, to wander disconsolately along the streets of Paris. "A year later at the Casino de Paris I was conducting the Con- certs Monteux, a series in which I introduced works by new com- posers. Here the music played was definitely the music of tomor- row. I suggested to Stravinsky that he arrange a concert version of the Sacre, and anxious himself to prove a few points, he readily agreed. The presentation was an instant success." —John N. Burk Michel Beroff Michel Beroff was born in Espinal-Vosges, France, in 1950 and began his piano studies at the age of seven. From 1959 to 1962 he was enrolled at the Conservatory in Nancy, where he took a First Prize and a Prix d' excellence . At the urging of the composer Olivier Messiaen, he then entered the Paris Conservatory, joining the piano classes of Pierre Sancan. At graduation in 1966 he received First Prize; his first Paris reci- tal, one year later, was broadcast by French National Television. He thereafter participated in many European music festivals, and played in Iran, Berlin, London, Milan, Florence, Bulgaria and South America. In 1971 he toured Europe with the BBC Orchestra under and the Orchestre de Paris under Seiji Ozawa. In 1972 he made his first appearance in the United States with Boulez and the New York Philharmonic. He has since played here with the Dallas Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the National Symphony of Washington as well as in recital, choosing for his New York recital debut works of Bach, Ravel, Prokofiev and Debussy. This season, besides his first appearance with the Boston Symphony, he is performing for the first time with the and the Detroit Symphony.

Seiji Ozawa, Music Director Seiji Ozawa became Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 1973 and is the thirteenth conductor to head the Orchestra since its founding in 1881. He was born in Hoten, Manchuria, in 1935, and graduated from the Toho School of Music in Tokyo with first prizes in composition and conducting. When he won first prize at the International Com- petition of Conducting at Besancon, France, shortly after his grad- uation, one of the judges of the competition was the late Charles Munch, then Music Director of the Boston Symphony, who invited him to study at Tanglewood during the following summer. Mr. Ozawa's association with the Orchestra began during that session of the Berkshire Music Center as a student of conducting in 1960. He was a guest conductor with the Orchestra first in 1964, and in 1970 became Artistic Director of the Berkshire Festival at Tanglewood. Beginning with the summer of 1964, Ozawa was for five seasons Music Director of the Ravinia Festival, and at the beginning of the 1965-66 season he became Music Director of the Toronto Sym- phony, a post he relinquished after four seasons in order to devote his time to study and guest conducting. Mr. Ozawa will resign his position as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, which he assumed in 1970, at the close of the 1975-76 season and will be Music Director only in Boston. He owns a home in the Boston area, where he lives with his wife, Vera, and two children, Seira andYuldyoshi.

BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 5E1)1 07AWA

First violins Cellos Contra bassoon Joseph Silverstein Jules Eskin Richard Plaster Concertmaster Philip R. Allen chair Charles Munch chair Martin Hoherman Horns Emanuel Borok Mischa Nieland Charles Kavaloski Max Hobart Jerome Patterson Helen Sagoff Slosberg chair Rolland Tapley Robert Ripley Charles Yancich Roger Shermont Luis Leguia Max Winder Carol Procter David Ohanian Harry Dickson Ronald Feldman Richard Mackey Gottfried Wilfinger Joel Moerschel Ralph Pottle Fredy Ostrovsky Jonathan Miller Leo Panasevich Martha Babcock Trumpets Sheldon Rotenberg Armando Ghitalla Alfred Schneider Basses Andre Come Stanley Benson William Rhein Rolf Smedvig Gerald Gelbloom Harold D. Hodgkinson chair Gerard Goguen Raymond Sird Joseph Hearne Ikuko Mizuno Bela Wurtzler Trombones Cecylia Arzewski Leslie Martin Ronald Barron Amnon Levy John Salkowski William Gibson John Barwicki Norman Bolter Second violins Robert Olson Gordon Hallberg Victor Yampolsky Lawrence Wolfe Personnel Managers Fahnestock chair Henry Portnoi Tuba William Moyer Marylou Speaker Chester Schmitz Harry Shapiro Michel Sasson Flutes Timpani Librarians Ronald Knudsen Doriot Anthony Dwyer Leonard Moss Everett Firth Victor Alpert Walter Piston chair Sylvia Shippen Wells chair Bo Youp Hwang James Pappoutsakis William Shisler Laszlo Nagy Paul Fried Percussion Michael Vitale Stage Manager Charles Smith Alfred Robison Darlene Gray Piccolo Arthur Press Ronald Wilkison Lois Schaefer Assistant timpanist Harvey Seigel Thomas Gauger Jerome Rosen Oboes Frank Epstein Sheila Fiekowsky Ralph Gomberg Gerald Elias Mildred B. Remis chair Harps Vyacheslav Uritsky John Holmes Bernard Zighera Wayne Rapier Ann Hobson Violas Burton Fine English Horn Charles S. Dana chair Laurence Thorstenberg Reuben Green Eugene Lehner Clarinets Harold Wright George Humphrey Ann S.M. Banks chair Jerome Lipson Pasquale Cardillo Robert Karol Peter Hadcock Bernard Kadinoff E - flat clarinet Vincent Mauricci Earl Hedberg Joseph Pietropaolo Felix Viscuglia Robert Barnes Michael Zaretsky Bassoons Boston Symphony Orchestra, Sherman Walt Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts 02115. Edward A. Taft chair (617) 266-1492. Roland Small Thomas D. Perry, Jr., Executive Director Matthew Ruggiero Who* who in the future.

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