Depaul Symphony Orchestra

Friday, February 2, 2018 • 8:00 P.M. DEPAUL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Cliff Colnot, conductor DePaul Concert Hall 800 West Belden Avenue • Chicago Friday, February 2, 2018 • 8:00 P.M. DePaul Concert Hall DEPAUL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Cliff Colnot, conductor PROGRAM Moritz Moszkowski (1854-1925); arr. Carl Topilow Suite for 2 Violins and Orchestra, Op. 71 (1903) Allegro energico Allegro moderato Lento assai Moto vivace Ilya Kaler, violin Olga Dubossarskaya Kaler, violin Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Symphony No. in C Minor, Op. 67 (1808) Allegro con brio Andante con moto Scherzo: Allegro Allegro DEPAUL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • FEBRUARY 2, 2018 PROGRAM NOTES Moritz Moszkowski; arr. Carl Topilow Suite for 2 Violins and Orchestra, Op. 71 Duration: 22 minutes Of Moritz Moszkowski’s death in April 1925, a report declared, “So painful an announcement has not stricken the entire musical world since the deaths of Chopin, Rubinstein, and Liszt, of whom he was a worthy successor.” Yet how did the music of this man, included in such a legacy of composers, end up so little known today? One may not find the answer but instead can be encouraged to dig deep and unearth hidden treasures such as this one. Moszkowski was born in Breslau, Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland) and received musical lessons at home before training at conservatories in Dresden and Berlin, including the Stern Conservatory and Theodore Kullak’s Neue Akademie der Tonkunst. He was only seventeen when he accepted Kullak’s invitation to join the staff at this academy, where he taught for over twenty-five years. In 1873 he made his successful début in Berlin as a pianist and just two years later was invited by Liszt to give a concert together. Moszkowski was also a competent violinist, sometimes playing first violin in the academy orchestra. In this way, Suite for Two Violins and Piano highlights the major areas of Moszkowski’s life. By the mid 1880s, neurological problems in his arms gradually diminished Moszkowski’s performances in favor of composing, teaching, and conducting. However, Moszkowski received great acclaim in London and then moved to Paris in 1897, thriving with fame and wealth as a frequently sought-after teacher. Unfortunately, his health began to fail about twenty years later and his popularity faded as musical tastes changed. He stopped taking composition pupils because “they wanted to write like artistic madmen such as Scriabin, Schoenberg, Debussy, Satie.” He lost his wealth to a few bad investments and consequently spent his remaining years in poverty. Nearing the end of his life, some of his old friends in the USA arranged a testimonial concert for his benefit in Carnegie Hall. At this spectacular event, fourteen pianos were played simultaneously by some of the leading pianists of the day, including many of his students. As a composer, Moszkowski excelled in small but delightful piano compositions. While he also composed larger forms including a piano concerto, violin concerto, symphony, ballet and an opera, these works DEPAUL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • FEBRUARY 2, 2018 PROGRAM NOTES were received poorly. However, critics immediately hailed the Suite for Two Violins and Piano as a spectacular and brilliant piece, and for many years, it remained one of Moszkowski’s best-known compositions. With its original orchestration, the piece stands as chamber music and perhaps could be played with more intimacy and freedom. Indeed, there is a version for violin, cello, and piano (arr. Michael Press, 1872–1938). On the other hand, Carl Topilow’s arrangement for orchestra and two soloists adds layers of intrigue, virtuosity, and collaboration within a larger musical community. Topilow highlights the musical versatility embodied by Moszkowski’s career, the flexible relationship between compositions and arrangements, and even the varied use of performing forces in this specific piece. The opening Allegro energico blooms into lush, rich sound, while the ensuing Allegro moderato presents accompaniment from just the winds section in an elegant, lyrical waltz. The following Lento assai evokes an elegy or song without words in its slowly meandering lines and hushed color of the muted string accompaniment. In stark contrast, the high-spirited finale, buoyant and playful, races along to the end in a swingy, jazzy, fast gallop of fun. The work was an audience favorite from the beginning! Regretfully, together with most of Moszkowski’s output, it eventually disappeared from the concert stage. Let us hope to stimulate more performances of works by different composers and enjoy the musical variety the world has to bring, so long as we remain open to it. Program Note by Sofie Yang, MM Class of 2018 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Symphony No. in C Minor, Op. 67 (1808) Duration: 31 minutes In music past and present, listeners all over categorize the most beloved musicians according to stylistic classifications. Haydn and Mozart are said to be the epitome of classical music; Rossini and Verdi created the the sounds of Italian opera we know today, and even Beyoncé and Ed Sheeran are described as the hottest sounds of 2018 thus far. Yet one of the world’s most recognizable composers, Ludwig van Beethoven, eludes categorization and has managed to carve out a style of his own as Western music’s “rugged individual.” DEPAUL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • FEBRUARY 2, 2018 PROGRAM NOTES Perhaps the reason why much of Beethoven’s works do not fall under a specific umbrella is because the composer himself led quite the individual life. Beethoven never married, but instead pursued trivial and often scandalous relationships with a variety of women. While he did have dear friends, the closest actually lived countries away. He believed in a personal, all-forgiving God, but he did not fully identify with the Catholic church and even ascribed to aspects of other religions. The elements of life that were most true and constant to Beethoven were personal time lost in nature and thought. Beethoven even said, “No one can love the country as much as I do. For surely woods, trees and rocks produce the echo which man desires to hear.” Such inspiration from the outdoors influenced Beethoven’s compositions, namely his Sixth Symphony, originally titled, “Recollection of Country Life” (now known as the Pastoral Symphony). At its premier performance at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien in 1808, the Sixth Symphony (which was originally listed as his fifth) preceded his “Grand Symphony in C Minor,” which we know today as his Fifth Symphony. The two were meant to go hand in hand, with the elegant Pastoral Symphony leading into the epic “Grand Symphony.” While sonorously inspiring and able to stand the test of time, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 is relatively simple in nature. The whole work is founded on the trite “da-da-daduh” motive that lends itself to jokes and puns today. First heard in the symphony’s opening notes, this rhythmic motive appears again in the first movement as the horns boldly declare the second theme in a major key. In the Andante con moto, the motive is first heard in the lower voices of the orchestra and then serves as the ensemble’s fuel that elegantly propels the second theme of the double variation. The horns seize the powerful motive again as they pilot the orchestra through the driving Scherzo. The thematic motive finally takes on a softer, more subtle quality as it is played by the timpani in the dramatic transitional moments when the drums carefully deliver the orchestra into the triumphant conclusion. In this final Allegro, the steady rhythmic motive is transformed by the victorious nature of the movement and takes on a heroic quality in the ascending triplet figures of the second theme. As the simple four-note motive takes on a drastically different tone throughout each of the symphony’s four movements, it hints at the uncertain, volatile personality of its creator. While listeners today remember Beethoven for his unparalleled artistic excellence, what pervaded his work and mindset was not necessarily his genius but his handicap. As the young composer DEPAUL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • FEBRUARY 2, 2018 PROGRAM NOTES became increasingly aware of his deafness, he sunk into a lonely depression full of anxiety. Yet Beethoven miraculously channeled his frustration and discontentment into a drive to compose unlike any other. While he did not specify a programmatic element for the Fifth Symphony, listeners can use the piece as a vehicle for sympathizing with the composer’s deeply troubled life, internally characterized by a fateful element that inspires a plethora of emotions, yet finally producing a hero. Program Note by Sarah Christianson, MM Class of 2019 DEPAUL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • FEBRUARY 2, 2018 BIOGRAPHY In the past decade Cliff Colnot has emerged as a distinguished conductor and a musician of uncommon range. One of few musicians to have studied orchestral repertoire with Daniel Barenboim, Colnot has served as assistant conductor for Barenboim’s West- Eastern Divan Workshops for young musicians from Israel, Egypt, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries. Colnot has also worked extensively with the late Pierre Boulez and served as assistant conductor to Boulez at the Lucerne Festival Academy. He regularly conducts the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), with whom he recorded Richard Wernick’s The Name of the Game for Bridge Records, and he collaborates with the internationally acclaimed contemporary music ensemble eighth blackbird. Colnot has been principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s contemporary MusicNOW ensemble since its inception and was principal conductor of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, an orchestra he conducted for more than twenty-two years. Colnot also conducts Contempo at the University of Chicago, and the DePaul University Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. He has appeared as a guest conductor with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, and the Chicago Philharmonic.

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