Bra

••>' BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS JH&I Sunday, March 30, 2003, at 3 p.m. at Jordan Hall

BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS .:''< Malcolm Lowe, violin Jules Eskin, cello Haldan Martinson, violin Edwin Barker, double bass Steven Ansell, viola William R. Hudgins, clarinet with LUCY SHELTON, soprano LUDOVIC MORLOT, conductor and BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MEMBERS Elizabeth Ostling, flute Ann Hobson Pilot, harp Cathy Basrak, viola Timothy Genis, percussion

Martha Babcock, cello J. William Hudgins, percussion

DEAK The Ugly Duckling (Part I), for soprano and double bass LUCY SHELTON and EDWIN BARKER

BERIO , for soprano and seven instruments

1. Black is the color (USA) 7. Ballo (Italy)

2. I wonder as I wander (USA) 8. Motettu de tristura (Sardinia) 3. Loosin yelav (Armenia) 9. Malurous qu'o uno fenno

4. Rossignolet du bois (France) (Auvergne) 5. A la femminisca (Sicily) 10. Lo fiolaire (Auvergne) 6. La donna ideale (Italy) 11. Azerbaijan love song (Azerbaijan) LUCY SHELTON, soprano Ms. OSTLING, W.R. HUDGINS, Mr. ANSELL, Mr. ESKIN; Ms. HOBSON PILOT; Mr. GENIS and J.W. HUDGINS LUDOVIC MORLOT, conductor

Please note that texts are being distributed separately.

INTERMISSION

BRAHMS String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat, Opus 18 Allegro, ma non troppo Andante, ma moderato Scherzo: Allegro molto Rondo: Poco Allegretto e grazioso

Messrs. LOWE and MARTINSON; Mr. ANSELL and Ms. BASRAK; Mr. ESKIN and Ms. BABCOCK

Nonesuch, Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, RCA, and New World records Jon Deak (b.1943)

The Ugly Duckling (Part I), for soprano and double bass

Jon Deak is associate principal double bassist of the New York Philharmonic, and also serves as that orchestra's Creative Education Associate. He attended Oberlin College, the Juilliard School, and the University of Illinois, and received a Fulbright scholarship to study at Santa Cecilia in Rome. His music has been performed widely by such ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago, National, Cincinnati, Seattle, New Jersey, Atlanta, and Colorado symphony orchestras, and the Minnesota Orchestra, as well as by chamber groups and soloists. His discography includes recent releases on Centaur, CRI, Innova, and Cabrillo records. Mr. Deak was recently - in-residence with the Col- orado Symphony under the Meet The Composer Residencies Program, working also with the Colorado Children's Chorale and Denver Public Schools. He now teaches a composi- tion class in the New York Public Schools. Deak described the origins of The Ugly Duckling in his notes for a 1981 recording of the piece:

The Ugly Duckling has been heard by all kinds of audiences: black tie sophisticates, new music intellectuals, six-year-olds on Saturday mornings, and even at a home for the aged.

It has been variously described as an operatic scena, as fun music for adults, and as serious music for children. When we perform it for children I notice they respond at different points in the score than adults. "NO! NO! It's not a turkey!" kids yell to us. They seem to accept the combination of a bass fiddle and a soprano as completely natural, whereas adults often don't stop laughing at the incongruity. But everyone seems to get misty-eyed when

. the mother duck huskily sings to her duckling, "If only I didn't hatch you. . " Sometimes the bassist will say to the audience: "The soprano has to sing all the characters in this story, but guess who gets to play the ugly duckling."

People often ask me how I intend the piece to be taken, and I can only say that I like

the story. I've tried to set it as simply and directly as possible—much as I perceived it as a child: perhaps a bit lightheartedly and naively, but nonetheless sincerely for that.

One sweltering day in July 1980, Richard Hartsthorne and I sat down to do the text. He translated directly from the original (he happens to speak fluent Danish, among his other talents). Later, two weeks before his New York recital with the soprano Lucy Shelton, he

came down to the city to stand over my desk and make sure I was busy writing notes. (I was very busy that week—my concerto for the oboe d'amore virtuoso Tom Stacy was being pre-

miered by the New York Philharmonic.) Two days before the recital I managed to crank out

Part I. Richard and Lucy performed it beautifully. But how to finish the story? I couldn't imagine a bass fiddle turning into a convincing swan without the aid of a string quartet.

Fortunately, Mark Malkovich of the Newport Music Festival offered to commission Part II, and so Julia Lovett superbly sang that premiere with the Audubon String Quartet at New- port the following summer.

Luciano Berio (b.1925) Folk Songs, for soprano and seven instruments

One of the twentieth century's most fascinating artistic partnerships allied , the provocative Italian avant-garde composer, with , an equally adventurous American singer who explored ethnic techniques and other methods to extend the sonic vocabulary of the human voice (the two were married between 1950 and 1966). Berio wrote experimental works for Berberian, in some manipulating her voice on tape, in others uti- lizing inventive vocal sound effects. A quite different project united them in 1964, when he provided her with a group of eleven folk songs from varied nations, supplying accompa- HKIillfl

niments that teemed in pungent detail but respected the melodies' traditional origins. The journey begins with two American songs in tribute to Ms. Berberian's homeland, then shifts to the Armenia of her heritage, and goes on to encompass France (Nos. 4, 9, and 10), and Italy (6 and 7), also exploring Sicily (5) and Sardinia (8) before concluding with an Azerbaijan love song. Berio provided the following commentary:

In essence, it is an anthology of folk songs. . .found on old records, in old anthologies, or

sung by friends, which I have reinterpreted rhythmically, metrically and harmonically. The instrumental discourse serves to suggest and comment on what seemed to me to be

the expressive, i.e., cultural, roots of each song. These roots do not have to do only with the origins of the songs themselves, but also with the history of the uses that were made of them when men didn't try to destroy them and manipulate their meanings. Two of

these songs ("La donna ideale" and "Ballo") are folk songs only by intention. Actually, I

wrote them myself in 1947, the first on humorous lyrics by an anonymous Genovese, the second on a text by an anonymous Sicilian. —Benjamin Folkman

Johannes Brahms (18334897)

String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat, Opus 18

The shadow of Beethoven the symphonist loomed large over Brahms, who did not complete a first symphony of his own until 1876, when he was forty-three. Doubtless Beethoven's spectre also influenced Brahms in the realm of the string quartet. Though he began work- ing on them around 1865, the first two of his three quartets appeared only in 1873. But his first important chamber work for string ensemble appeared well before that: he worked on the first of his two sextets, Opus 18 in B-flat, in the years 1858-60, publishing it in 1862. (The second, Opus 36 in G, was published four years later.) Beethoven never wrote for this particular combination of instruments (two violins, two violas, and two cellos), which allows for an extraordinary range of contrapuntal variation and textural ingenuity on the composer's part. The presence of two cellos also allows for a particularly rich sound in the ensemble's lower range, evident from the very opening of the first movement, when the two cellos sing the main theme against the accompaniment of a single viola. When this theme returns at the recapitulation, it is made to sound quite dif- ferent, embedded within the texture over an unstable harmony. For his second movement, Brahms writes a theme-and-variations whose mood and manner may suggest the slow move- ment of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. But at the same time, this music is very much

Brahms 's own. At one point the suggestion of a Bach chaconne in the cello reflects Brahms's wide-ranging and inquisitive sense of musical style. Throughout, the shape and harmonic scheme of his theme permit striking moments of Brahmsian lyricism and warmth as relief from the generally moodier tone.

The scherzo's energy cannot help but suggest Beethoven; this movement is also extremely compact where the first and second are expansive. Brahms qualifies the tempo marking of his Rondo finale with the term "grazioso," a marking that appears frequently in this com- poser's music. The finale's duple meter contrasts strongly with both the opening movement and the immediately preceding scherzo. The tune is easy to follow, so the changes Brahms works upon it are readily recognized. As rondo form dictates, the theme alternates with a number of ingeniously contrasting episodes. Near the end, the use of pizzicato strings harks back to a similar effect at the end of the sextet's first movement. -Marc Mandel .

GUEST ARTISTS

Winner of two Walter W. Naumburg Awards—for and for solo singing—soprano Lucy Shelton enjoys an international career marked by frequent prestigious performances. Ms.

Shelton is recognized as one of the foremost interpreters of today's . More than 100 works have been written for her, including Elliott Carter's song cycle Of Challenge and Of Love, Oliver Knussen's Whitman Settings, Joseph Schwantner's Magabunda and Sparrows, Poul Ruders's

The Bells, Stephen Albert's Flower of the Mountain, and Robert Zuidam's Johanna's Lament. She pre- miered Grisey's L'Icone paradoxiale with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, performed Boulez's Le Vis- age Nuptial under the composer's direction in Los Angeles, Chicago, London, and , appeared in Vienna and Berlin with Kurtag's The Sayings of Peter Bornemisza with pianist Andras Schiff, and made her Aldeburgh Festival debut in the premiere of Goehr's Sing, Ariel. Ms. Shelton has exhibited special skill in dramatic works, including Berio's Passaggio with the Ensemble Inter-

Contemporain, Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage (for Thames Television), Dallapiccola's II prigioniero (her BBC Proms debut), Rands's Canti Lunatici, and staged performances of Schoen- berg's Pierrot Lunaire. Her diverse recordings showcase works of Albert, Benson, Carter, Crawford Seeger, Del Tredici, Goehr, Kim, Knussen, Messiaen, Schoenberg, Schwantner, and Stravin- sky. Ms. Shelton coaches privately at her studio in New York City and is on the vocal faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center. This August at Tanglewood she will be featured in the world pre- miere of Robert Zuidam's opera Rage d'amours, a Boston Symphony Orchestra commission.

Trained as a violinist, Ludovic Morlot first studied conducting as a pupil of the late Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School in Hancock, New Hampshire. He furthered his conducting studies at the Royal Academy of Music, London, under Sir Colin Davis, George Hurst, and Colin Metters, and participated in master classes given by Sir Charles Mackerras and Peter Eotvos. He received the Norman del Mar Conducting Fellowship from the Royal College of Music, London, to work with the London Royal Schools Opera under the guidance of John Carewe and as assis- tant conductor to Sir Colin Davis on their production of Don Giovanni. In 2001 Mr. Morlot received the Seiji Ozawa Fellowship to study conducting at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he was assistant conductor to Seiji Ozawa for the TMC production of Ravel's L'Heure espagnole, and where he conducted the world premiere of Robin de Raaff's Piano Concerto, the 2001 Fromm Commission piece, in the Festival of Contemporary Music. The following season, Mr. Morlot was invited to serve as cover conductor for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Seiji Ozawa, Sir Andre Previn, Rafael Friihbeck de Burgos, Neeme Jarvi, Jeffrey Tate, and Emmanuel Krivine. In addition, he appeared with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players in works by John Harbison and Yehudi Wyner. Following his work on Messiaen's Chronochromie for Reinbert De Leeuw at the New World Symphony, Mr. Morlot was invited by Michael Tilson Thomas to share the final concert of the 2002 season. In September 2002 he worked with Jessye Norman at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on the production of Schoenberg's Erwartung and Poulenc's La Voix humaine. As of October 2002, Mr. Morlot has been conductor in residence with the Orchestre National de Lyon, also returning as cover conductor for several series of pro- grams with the Boston Symphony this spring.

Coming Concert. .

April 27, 2003 with Emanuel Ax, piano • MOZART Trio in E-flat for clar- inet, viola, and piano, K.498, Kegelstatt • HARBISON Wind Quintet • DVORAK Piano Quintet in A, Opus 80

Single tickets at $30, $22, and $17 can be purchased at the Symphony Hall box office, by calling SymphonyCharge at (617) 266-1200, or at www.bso.org. On the day of the con- cert, tickets are available only at the Jordan Hall box office. LUCIANO BERIO "Folk Songs"

Black is the color (John Jacob Niles)

Black is the color of my true love's hair his lips are something rosy fair, the sweetest smile and the kindest hands,

I love the grass whereon he stands.

I love my love and well he knows,

I love the grass whereon he goes, if he no more on earth will be 'twill surely be the end of me.

I wonder as I wander (John Jacob Niles)

I wonder as I wander out under the sky how Jesus our Saviour did come for to die for poor ordn'ry people like you and like I

I wonder as I wander out under the sky.

When Mary birthed Jesus 'twas in a cow stall with wise men and farmers and shepherds and all but high from the Heavens a star's light did fall the promise of ages it then did recall.

If Jesus had wanted of any wee thing a star in the sky or a bird on the wing or all of God's angels in Heav'n for to sing he surely could have had it 'cause he was the king.

Loos in ye lav The moon has risen (Armenian folk text)

Loosin yelav en sareetz, The moon has risen over the hill, saree partzaer gadareetz, over the top of the hill,

shegleeg megleeg yeresov its red rosy face paervetz kedneen loosni dzov. casting radiant light on the ground.

Jan a loosin Jan ko loosin, O dear moon, with your dear light, Jan ko gaelor sheg yereseen. and your dear round rosy face.

Xavarn arten tchaekatzav Before, the darkness lay oo el kedneen tchaegatzav; spread upon the earth;

loosni loosov halatzvadz moonlight has now chased it ! moot amberi metch maenadz. into the dark clouds.

Jan a loosin Jan ko loosin, O dear moon, with your dear light, Jan ko gaelor sheg yereseen. and your dear round rosy face. Rossignolet du bois Little nightingale of the woods (French folk text)

Rossignolet du bois, Little nightingale of the woods, rossignolet sauvage, little wild nightingale, apprends-moi ton langage, teach me your sweet language, apprends-moi a parler. teach me how to speak like you. Apprends'moi la maniere Show me the way comment il faut aimer. to love aright.

Comment il faut aimer The way to love aright je m'en vais vous le dire, I can tell you straight away, faut chanter des aubades. you must sing serenades. Deux heures apres minuit, Two hours after midnight, faut lui chanter: "La belle You must sing to her: "My pretty one, c'est pour vous rejouir." this is for your delight."

On m'avait dit, la belle, They told me, my pretty one, que vous avez des pommes, that you have some apples, des pommes de renettes, some rennet apples, qui sont dans vot' jardin. growing in your garden. Permettez-moi, la belle, Allow me, my pretty one que j'y mette la main. To touch them.

Non, je ne permettrai pas No, I shall not allow you que vous touchiez mes pommes. to touch my apples. Prenez d'abord la lune First, hold the moon et le soleil en main, and the sun in your hands, puis vous aurez les pommes then you may have the apples

qui sont dans mon jardin. that grow in my garden. .

A la femminisca A Maid's Song (Sicilian folk text)

Signuruzzu miu faciti bon tempu, May the Lord send fine weather, ha iu l'amanti miu 'mmezzu lu mari. for my sweetheart is at sea. l'arvuli d'oru e li ntinni d'argentu. His mast is of gold, his sail of silver. La Marunnuzza mi Pav' aiutari, May Our Lady give me her help chi pozzanu arrivaeri 'nsarva mentu. so that they get back safely.

E comu arriva 'na littra ma fari And if a letter arrives, ci ha mittiri du duci paroli, may there be two sweet words written, comu ti l'ha passatu mari mari. telling me how it goes with you at sea.

La donna ideale The Ideal Woman (Genovese folk text) L'omo chi mojer vor piar When a man has a mind to take a wife de quatro cosse de espiar There are four things he should check: la primiera e comm'el e naa The first is her family, Paltra e se l'e ben accostumaa The second her manners, l'altra e como el e formaa The third is her figure, la quarta e de quanto el e dotaa The fourth is her dowry. se queste cosse ghe comprendi If she passes muster on these, a lo nome de Dio la prendi. Then in God's name, let him marry her. Ballo (Italian folk text)

Amor fa disviare li piu saggi Love makes even the wisest mad e chi piu I'ama meno ha in se misura. and he who loves most has least judgement.

Piu folle e quello che piu s'innamura The greater lover is the greater fool.

Amor non cura di fare suoi dannaggi. Love is careless of the harm he does.

Co li suoi raggi mette tal calura His darts cause such a fever che non puo raffreddare per freddura that not even coldness can cool it.

Motettu de tristura Song of Sadness (Sardinian folk text)

Tristu passirillanti, Sorrowful nightingale comenti massimbillas. how like me you are. Tristu passirillanti, Sorrowful nightingale, e puita mi consillas, console me if you can, a prangi po s'amanti. as I weep for my lover.

Tristu passirillanti, Sorrowful nightingale, cand'happess interrada. when I am buried. Tristu passirillanti, Sorrowful nightingale, faimi custa cantada, sing this song, cand'happess interrada. when I am buried.

Malurous qu'o uno fenno Wretched the man who has a wife (French folk text)

Malurous qu'o uno fenno, Wretched the man who has a wife, malurous que n'o cat! wretched the man without one! Que n'o cat n'en bou uno, He who hasn't got one wants one, que n'o uno n'en bou pas! he who has one doesn't! Tradera, laderi derero Tradera laderi derero ladera, laderi dera. ladera, laderi dera.

Urouzo lo fenno Happy is the woman Qu'o l'ome que li cau! who has the man she needs!

Urouz' inquero maito But happier still is she O quelo que n'o cat! who's managed to stay free! Tradera, laderi derero Tradera laderi derero ladera, laderi dera. ladera, laderi dera.

Lo fiolaire The Spinning Girl (French folk text)

Ton qu'ere pitchounelo, When I was a little girl,

Gordave loui moutous. I tended the sheep

Ti lirou lirou. . . la la diri tou tou la lara! Ti lirou. . . la la diri tou la lara!

Obio 'no counoulheto I had a distaff e n'ai pres u postrou. and I took a shepherd,

Ti lirou lirou. . . la la diri tou tou la lara! Ti lirou. . . la la diri tou la lara! Per fa l'obiroudeto For tending my sheep, Me domound' un poutou. he asked for a kiss,

Ti lirou lirou. . . la la diri tou tou la lara! Ti lirou. . . la la diri tou la lara!

E ieu soui pas ingrato, And as I'm not ungrateful,

En liet d'un n'in fau dous! I gave him two!

Ti lirou lirou. . . la la diri tou tou la lara! Ti lirou. . . la la diri tou la lara!

Azerbaijan love song

Da mos den bil de mos nos I realized what he said di di lam na nai ai na ni nai. without his having to speak. Ai na ni nai!

Go shadomo hey ma nomos Hey you girl yar go shadomo hey ma nomos. with your jewelry jingling, Sen ordan choxman boordan, hey. you are from here

Tcholoxo dish ma nomos, and I am from there. yar tcholoxo mo dish ma nomos, Don't enter my world sweetheart, koz be li nintche dira i nin tche don't enter my world. lebleri gontcho de ra i gontcho, koz be li ni ni je de ri nin tche, lebleri gontcha de le gontcha.

Na plitye korshis sva doi Girl, your hips are very slender. ax kroo gomshoo nyaka mo shi, Your lips, your voice, ax pastoi xanom pastoi are tender like a rosebud. jar doo shi ma nie patooshi. She carries a jug of water down among the reeds. Woman, take away the fire from my soul.

Go shadomo hey ma nomos Hey you girl yar go shadomo hey ma nomos. with your jewelry jingling, Sen ordan choxman boordan, hey. you are from here

Tcholoxo dish ma nomos, and I am from there. yar tcholoxo mo dish ma nomos, I think to myself, koz be li nintche dira i nin tche Don't go into the house. lebleri gontcho de ra i gontcho, My eyes see what will happen. koz be li ni ni je de ri nin tche, lebleri gontcha de le gontcha.

Nie didj dom ik di ri dit, In plain words boost ni dietz stayoo zaxa dit it doesn't matter. ootch to boo dit ai palam What will be, will be; syora die lim tche sti snova papalam! but half of me wants to go and the other half doesn't.