PROGRAM NOTES By Pam Davis, Assistant Concertmaster Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)_______________________________________________ Variaciones Concertantes, opus 23 (1953) Widely considered Argentina’s greatest composer, Alberto Ginastera started musical studies at age seven and enrolled in conservatory when he was twelve. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in the late 1930s, but the military junta prevented him from studying in the U.S. until after World War II, when he was able to attend composition classes taught by Aaron Copland at Tanglewood. Writing in all major genres, Ginastera’s early works were inspired by folk music, while his later works included many modern techniques. Translated as “Concerted Variations,” a commission from the Asociación Amigos de la Música in Buenos Aires, this work falls somewhere in the middle. Actual folk music is not quoted, but “these variations have a subjective Argentine character,” he wrote. With its formal construction and brilliant orchestration in twelve sections, the theme ensures unity, while the variations guarantee contrast. Each variation is assigned to a different solo instrument or group. A Ginastera trademark is in evidence at the outset, as the harp plays the common open strings of the guitar in the opening theme statement with the cello. After the theme statement we hear a string interlude, then variations featuring solos for flute, clarinet, viola, oboe and bassoon, trumpet and trombone, violin, and horn. Another interlude featuring the woodwinds leads to the main theme’s reprise, this time with the double bass instead of cello. Finally, the full orchestra finishes with a folk-like colorful rondo finale. __________________________________________________________________________ ♪ WORLD EVENTS: Zhou Long is born, Jonas Salk announces polio vaccine, Hilary and Norgay summit Mt. Everest ♪ FIRST PERFORMANCE: 1953, Buenos Aires ♪ MOST RECENT SSO PERFORMANCE: tonight is the SSO’s premiere Zhou Long (born 1953) _________________________________________________________ The Deep, Deep Sea (2004) Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his opera, Madame White Snake, Grammy nominee Zhou Long is a composer who brings together eastern and western musical concepts, embracing traditional Chinese music and American symphonic music. “His creative vision has resulted in a new music that stretches Western instruments eastward and Chinese instruments westward, achieving an exciting and fertile common ground.” Zhou studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and received his doctorate from Columbia University in New York. He is Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. A United States citizen since 1999, Zhou is married to composer-violinist Chen Yi. Dr. Zhou was asked by Lan Shui to transcribe Green, a 1984 piece originally scored for bamboo flute and pipa (sometimes called the Chinese lute), adapting it for a standard Western orchestra. The Deep, Deep Sea is for alto flute/piccolo, timpani, harp, and strings, with global environment and humanity as its themes. ___________________________________________________________________ ♪ WORLD EVENTS: Mark Zuckerburg launches Facebook, Athens Summer Olympics, Ronald Reagan dies ♪ FIRST PERFORMANCE: 2004, Singapore recording session ♪ MOST RECENT SSO PERFORMANCE: tonight is the SSO’s premiere Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)_______________________________________________ Finlandia, Opus 26 (1899) Already Finland’s greatest composer, this work’s universal appeal made Sibelius world-famous. He had agreed to compose something for a Helsinki political demonstration and contributed this short work. Finns took heart in this stirring nationalistic piece during their struggle for liberty from the Russians. In fact, for a time its performance was prohibited by the Czarist authorities because its forcefulness seemed to imply a rallying cry for revolution. _______________________________________________________________________ ♪ WORLD EVENTS: Zeppelin patents his “Navigable Balloon,” the Eiffel Tower opens, Oklahoma Land Rush begins ♪ FIRST PERFORMANCE: 1889, Helsinki ♪ MOST RECENT SSO PERFORMANCE: 2006 with Ron Spigelman Ludwig van Beethoven (1779-1827)_______________________________________________ Symphony No. 5, c minor, opus 67 (1808) Launched with the urgency and energy of those iconic first four notes, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony took four years to complete, time that was punctuated by several other compositions. It is said that the premiere was a disaster, due to temperature and the concert’s duration. The all- Beethoven concert included the fifth and sixth symphonies, Piano Concerto No.4, as well as some choral works. Composer J.F. Reichardt, later wrote “There we sat from 6:30 till 10:30 in the most bitter cold, and found by experience that one might have too much even of a good thing.” But the Fifth’s power and expressive range with its concise concentration soon made its mark. Many have assigned biographical overtones to the work, something Beethoven’s dramatic life certainly accommodated, with his advancing deafness, genius, eccentricity, and independent nature. About the familiar opening, legend has it the composer said, “Thus fate knocks at the door!” This theme, at times in rhythm only, dominates the entire movement, sometimes a roar, sometimes a whisper. The tension and suspense builds in characteristic Beethoven style. The recapitulation is mysteriously interrupted by an enigmatic mini-cadenza in the oboe. The second movement is a set of variations on two alternating, contrasting themes. The scherzo has a shadowy beginning until two horns deliver an assertive theme. The movement has little of the dance character of classic third movement minuets and scherzos. Instead of returning to the exact same beginning in the form, Beethoven returns a new pianissimo orchestration. As the suspense continues to build, eventually an insistent timpani C, coupled with a sudden crescendo, strides without pause into the heroic last movement. The long-silent trombones – Beethoven was the first to use them in a (still-performed) symphony - blare out the exultant main theme, soon joined by the horns and woodwinds. The first use of the contrabassoon also occurred in this work and movement. The development begins with a swirling triplet violin theme. The second theme is interrupted by a ghost of the scherzo’s transition passage. Ultimately the work closes in C Major, in a coda of immense power and excitement, hammering home the conquest. __________________________________________________________________________ ♪ WORLD EVENTS: Goethe’s Faust first published, first college orchestra founded at Harvard, first practical typewriter by Italian Turri ♪ FIRST PERFORMANCE: 1808, Vienna ♪ MOST RECENT SSO PERFORMANCE: 2009, the first concert of the 75th Anniversary season, with Apo Hsu, Charles Bontrager, and Ron Spigelman sharing the conducting duties .