May 15, 2010, 8 P.M
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MUSICMUSIC OF THE VALLEVALLEYY Livermore-Amador Sym pho ny Arthur P. Barnes, Music Director & Conductor May 15, 2010, 8 p.m. Bankhead Theater, Livermore St. Paul’s Suite for String Orchestra Livermore-Amador GustavSymphon Holsty Jig: Vivace founded 1963 (1874–1934) Ostinato: Presto Intermezzo: Andante con moto Finale (The Dargason): Allegro Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra Alexander Arutiunian Allegro moderato (b. 1920) Andante sostenuto Allegro ma non troppo Tony Clements, soloist INTERMISSION Presentation of student awards by Jean King Symphony No. 1 in D Major Gustav Mahler Langsam, Schleppend (1860–1911) Kräftig bewegt Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen Stürmisch bewegt CONDUCTOR Jackie McBride STRING BASS BASS CLARINET BASS TROM BONE Arthur P. Barnes Virginia McFann Robert Cooper Phil Pollard Larry Dias Nissa Nack Principal BASSOON TUBA John Strader Elizabeth Foort ASSISTANT Jim Lockwood-Stewart Betsy Hausburg CON DUC TOR Alan Frank VIOLA Lynn Stasko Bob Wil l iams Nick James HARP Hazelle Miloradovitch Patty Lay HORN Wendy Tamis FIRST VIOLIN Principal Christine-Ann Kristina Anderson Frances Fischer FLUTE Immesoete TIMPANI Concertmaster Chair Marianne Beeler Helene Barnes April Nissen Kathi Allee Lynda Alvarez Diane Barton-Brown Adrienne Chambers Norman Back Marion Clark Nan Davies PERCUSSION Richard Lamb Paul Kasameyer Judy Eckart Audrey Horning PICCOLO Jim Tutt Peter Lalor Isabelle Heller Judy Sumerlin Nan Davies Bryan Waugh Marilyn Taylor Walter Nissen Jamison Klang OBOE Bob Williams Doug Morrison CELLO Eva Langfeldt Lana Patterson TRUMPET Nick Dargahi Jeanne Brown LIBRARIANS Laura Schildbach* Michael Portnoff Principal ENGLISH HORN Anthony Anderson The Horning Family SECOND VIOLIN Naomi Adams Larry George Hank Finn and Anne Les Ursula Goldstein Sharon Greene Brian Maddox Principal Joanne Lenigan CLARINET Stephanie Black Nancy O’Connell Kathy Boster TROMBONE Denise Leddon Dave Walter Eliza Brown Chuck Smith Mark Hil * Livermore High School student and winner of a scholarship from the LAS youth outreach program THE ROSE TRADITION CONTINUES! Everyone renewing their season tickets this evening will receive a rose. Forms for renewal are available in the lobby. St. Paul’s Suite Gustav Holst ing the “Festive Overture,” symphony, and piano concertino, continue for String Orchestra (1874–1934) the tradition of Khachaturian in their combination of a highly colorful, Known primarily for his magnifi cent symphonic poem, The decorative style with a tragic sense of pathos. His works from the Planets, Gustav Holst embraced a wide variety of musical models, 1960s and 1970s show an abandonment of dramatic elements in favor ranging from Edvard Grieg and Richard Wagner to the melodic of a clearer, more Classical style. Stylistic synthesis characterizes his simplicity of English folk music. Born in Cheltenham, England, in works of the 1980s and 1990s, such as the concertos for trombone 1874, Holst served as an organist and choirmaster at Gloucestershire and tuba (the latter of which we are treated to this evening) and the churches until neuritis in his right hand forced him away from the violin concerto Armenia–88, considered by many his masterpiece, in organs of western England. Instead of giving up music entirely, he which a rhetorical Baroque style, a Classical form, and a Romantic turned to the trombone and composition. Holst studied composition harmonic palette are employed in an incredibly balanced combination. at the Royal College of Music, where he would go on to teach for The Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra, written in 1992, is very a few years. In October 1905, he was appointed as the director of folklike and spritely—an unusual descriptor for tuba music, to say music at the St. Paul’s Girl’s School in Hammersmith, a small town the least. The melodies are originals by the composer yet have the outside of London, where he worked until his death in 1934, while distinct fl avor of Eastern European/Near Middle Eastern folk tunes. simultaneously holding other positions and teaching adult classes in the evenings. Interestingly, he was even briefl y a lecturer at Harvard University in 1932. Symphony No. 1 in D Major Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) Despite the arduous workload at St Paul’s, Holst managed to compose a large body of music. He never begrudged the hours lost to Gustav Mahler was born in Kalischt, Bohemia, on July 7, 1860, composition, though, stating: “In spite of the obvious drawbacks of and died in Vienna on May 18, 1911. He was one of the last great having to teach six hundred girls every week, I consider that I have fi gures of the late-Romantic movement while simultaneously acting learnt as much through my school teaching as I did as a trombone as one of the harbingers of 20th-century music. Mahler’s achievement player in the orchestra.” as a composer lay most exclusively in two areas: the symphony and the song with orchestral accompaniment. His nine symphonies are a St. Paul’s Suite, another of Holst’s better-known scores, was huge testament to how far the symphonic traditions had evolved from written in 1912–13 for the girls of St. Paul’s, whom Holst hoped to the fi rst Romantic symphonies of Beethoven (the 9th) and Schubert challenge with something more interesting than the usual rudimentary and are a staple in the canon of every major symphony today. material for academic instruction. His daughter, Imogen, herself an accomplished musician, later wrote that her father “must have had In the late 1880s, Mahler was building his reputation as a sym- considerable faith…that the day would ever come when a school phonic and operatic conductor; he had only limited time for compos- orchestra would be able to play the second movement up to time.” ing. It took him from 1883 to 1888 to fi nish the First Symphony for its premiere and another 11 years to have it ready for publication. This The opening jig is a compelling dance that accelerates toward symphony went through various incarnations. In November 1889, the end, making it irresistible. The second movement, the one Imogen Mahler premiered his Symphonic Poem in Two Parts in Budapest, Holst found so potentially daunting for young students, is an ostinato where he served at the time as director of the Royal Hungarian Opera. with a violin solo. The third-movement intermezzo begins pizzicato The fi ve-movement composition appears to have been greeted with before the solo violin presents the main theme; soon the strings together less-than-favorable reviews. Mahler set about revising the work, now echo the violin’s rising theme but give it, just momentarily, a strong calling it Titan: A Tone Poem in the Form of a Symphony. It was still fl avor of Moorish North Africa, perhaps harkening back to Holst’s fi ve movements in two parts, but each movement now had a specifi c visit to Algeria in 1908. The intermezzo contains solos for the viola, title. Mahler also provided some programmatic explanations, generally too, and the little pseudo-Algerian idea makes a comeback before quite minimal except for those about the innovative fourth movement, the two solo instruments join together for a short duet. We skip back the “funeral march” that had most puzzled the fi rst listeners. from North Africa to Hungary; the solo violin’s theme shows up in the strings, and a serene, chamberlike passage concludes the movement. The program for Mahler’s “Popular Concert” on October 27, The fi nale combines two old English tunes: “The Dargason” and the 1893, in Hamburg included the following: well-beloved English folk tune “Greensleeves,” which, in Holst’s clever Titan: A Tone Poem in the Form of a Symphony hands, serves as a counterpoint to “The Dargason.” Part I. From the Days of Youth: Flower-, Fruit-, and Thorn-Pieces Concerto for Tuba Alexander Arutiunian 1. “Spring without End” (Introduction and Allegro comodo) and Orchestra (b. 1920) The introduction presents the awakening of nature Armenian composer and pianist Alexander Arutiunian was from a long winter’s sleep. born in 1920 in Erevan, Armenia. Along with Aram Khachaturian, 2. “Blumine” (Andante) he is one of the best-known and respected Armenian composers. He studied piano and composition at the Komitas Conservatory in Erevan, 3. “Under Full Sail” (Scherzo) graduating in 1941, and continued his studies at the Moscow Conser- vatory, fi nishing in 1948. He then went on to become artistic director Part II. Commedia humana of the Armenian Philharmonic Society between 1954 and 1990. In 4. “Stranded!” (A Funeral March “in the manner of Callot”) 1965 he began to teach composition at the Erevan Conservatory and was appointed professor in 1977. Since then he has received numer- 5. “Dall’ Inferno [al Paradiso]” (Allegro furioso) ous awards for his compositions in Armenia, the U.S., and elsewhere. Mahler conducted this fi ve-movement Titan two times, in Although Arutiunian’s style has evolved smoothly and continu- Hamburg in 1893 and in Weimar the following year. In 1896, how- ously, distinct periods are discernible in his music. His compositions ever, he decided to drop the second movement, a lilting andante he from the 1940s and 1950s are characterized by thematic development had originally written as part of the incidental music to accompany and contain a high degree of emotional intensity. These works, includ- Joseph Viktor von Scheffel’s poem “Der Trompeter von Säkkingen” (“The Trumpeter of Säkkingen”). The work was now, as it is currently The following may serve as an explanation for movement 3: known, the Symphony in D Major. The inspiration for this piece of music came to the composer from the satirical picture, known to all Austrian children, “The Hunter’s “Blumine” was gone (it sometimes appears as a separate piece Funeral Procession,” from an old book of fairy tales.