St. Louis Symphony Program - Sept. 27-28, 2013

7/29/2019 St. Louis Symphony Program - Sept. 27-28, 2013

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CONCERT PROGRAMSeptember 27-28, 2013

Stphane Denve, conductorLars Vogt, piano

PATRICK HARLIN Rapture (2011) (b. 1984)

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, op. 37 (1801-02) (1770-1827)

Allegro con brioLargoRondo: Allegro

Lars Vogt, piano

INTERMISSION

R. STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben, op. 40 (1897-98) (1864-1949)

The HeroThe Heros AdversariesThe Heros CompanionThe Heros Battleeld

The Heros Works o PeaceThe Heros Retreat rom the World and Fulllment

David Halen, violin


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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Stphane Denve is the Edna W. Sternberg Guest Artist.

Lars Vogt is the Robert R. Imse Guest Artist.

The concert of Friday, September 27, is underwritten in part by a generous giftfrom Ms. Lesley A. Waldheim.

Coffee and doughnuts are provided through the generosity of Krispy Kreme forthe Friday, September 27, concert.

The concert of Saturday, September 28, is underwritten in part by a generous gift

from Prof. Mary Sale.

Pre-Concert Conversations are sponsored by Washington University Physicans.

These concerts are presented by the Thomas A. Kooyumjian Family Foundation.

These concerts are part of the Wells Fargo Advisors Series.

Large print program notes are available through the generosity of Dielmann

Sothebys and are located at the Customer Service table in the foyer.


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FROM THE STAGEMike Walk, trumpet, on Strausss Ein Heldenleben: Its virtuosic and tuneful. Its got

love scenes and battle scenes and all sorts of orchestrational Straussisms.It contains his biggest themes, really an apotheosis of all that hed writtenbefore: the heros journey, and hes the hero of his own story. Its a big and nepiece to play. Everybody gets involvedfrom the concertmaster to the back row.Nobody gets bored.

In terms of the trumpets, it calls for ve of them, and it calls for some ofthe widest range of any Strauss work. You play the entire range of the trumpetin a short amount of time.

ScottFerguSon

Mike Walk


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TIMELINKS

1801-02BEETHOVENPiano Concerto No. 3 inC minor, op. 37Haydns The Seasons

premieres

1897-98R. STRAUSSEin Heldenleben, op. 40Gustav Klimt rebelsagainst academicpainting in Vienna

2011

PATRICK HARLINRaptureAnti-governmentprotests intensiy inEgypt

The notion of individual heroism has found

expression repeatedly in music, particularlyduring the era of 19th-century Romanticism.This theme was powerfully articulated byBeethoven in his Eroica, or Heroic Symphony,of 1803, a work of large scale, expanded tonallanguage, and dramatic weight worthy of its title.Far from being an isolated example, the EroicaSymphony soon paved the way for other heroicpieces: Beethovens opera Fidelio, his overture to

Goethes drama Egmont, and his Fifth and NinthSymphonies, all of which entailed dramaticexpression of struggle and triumph. And we ndan early hint of that development in the stormyopening of his Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor.

Later generations of composers would usethe devices of program musicthemes, motifs,and guration linked to specic ideas, events,objects, or personsto convey heroic dramas

even more vividly. The ultimate work of this kindis Richard Strausss tone poem Ein Heldenleben,which forms the second half of our concert.

Heroic struggle is no longer as popular asubject for contemporary composers, but thereare other ideas, emotions, and psychic states thatmusic can express. One is rapture, the inspirationfor the piece that opens our program.

PATRICK HARLINRapture

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE This season, in additionperforming classic works of the orchestralliterature, the St. Louis Symphony continuesto bring exciting music by living composers to

Powell Hall. Some of those composers, such asJohn Adams, Steve Reich, and Thomas Ads,have rmly established reputations and are wellknown to the musically informed public. But theSymphony also will present works by two youngcomposers just beginning their careers. Both tookpart in the Mizzou New Music Initiative, 2012International Composers Festival, sponsoredby the Sinqueeld Charitable Foundation. They

HEROISM AND RAPTUREBY PAUL SCHIAVO


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represent the future of orchestral music. We hearthis evening from one of these young composers,Patrick Harlin.

Harlin grew up in the Pacic Northwest,and he counts the world of nature, as well as

traditions of classical music and jazz, among hisinuences. In addition to his residency at theMizzou International Composers Festival, Harlinhas received a Charles Ives scholarship from theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters, the 2013Presser Music Award, and the rst Hermitageresidency at the Aspen Music Festival and School.He is currently completing a doctoral degree incomposition at the University of Michigan.

MUSIC OF RAPTURE Rapturewas inspired byan account of an expedition to reach the nadirof the Krubera Cave, the deepest cave on Earth.To plumb what has been described as the Mt.Everest of caving, members of the expeditionspent weeks underground, often in completedarkness. In Blind Descent, a book that chroniclesthe expedition, author James Tabor describes anexperience that all ultra-cavers undergo at somepoint, a phenomenon known as The Rapture.Deprived for weeks of light and normal circadianrhythms, climbers experience a near cripplingonset of emotion. The Rapture can be far worsethan a panic attack. It can also produce almostreligious experiences.

While this piece is neither about religion

nor super-caving, Harlin writes of Rapture, Iwanted to capture [something] of what I thinkis a universal human experience: the onset ofextreme emotion. Similar to extreme emotionalstates, elements in this piece are magnied andecho throughout. The works opening minutesreveal another inuence on Harlins musicalthinking: American minimalism, in the form ofshort repeating motifs and a vibrant rhythmic

pulse. Soon a longer thematic idea is heard,a gure with a descending melodic contour.Repeating in alternation with sustained chordalharmonies, it forms an episode that leads toa relaxed passage and, at length, a moment ofstillness and quiet. From here, the music regainsmomentum, with syncopated rhythms androbust scoring contributing to an extrovertedAmerican spirit at the close.

BornJuly 24, 1984, Salt Lake City

Now ResidesAnn Arbor

First PerformanceFebruary 20, 2011, Matt Dellconducted the Universityo Michigan PhilharmoniaOrchestra

STL Symphony PremiereThese concerts

Scoring

2 futespiccolo2 oboesEnglish horn2 clarinetsbass clarinet2 bassoonscontrabassoon4 horns3 trumpets3 trombonestubatimpanipercussionpianostrings

Performance Timeapproximately 8 minutes


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LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVENPiano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, op. 37

A NEW PATH Shortly after the turn of the 19thcentury, Beethoven, who was not yet 30 and still

seeking to establish a distinctive compositionalvoice, spoke to an acquaintance of his intentto pursue a new path in his music. He soonproceeded to do just that. In a series of remarkablyoriginal works Beethoven achieved a dynamicexpansion of virtually all aspects of his musicallanguage, including weightier sonorities, boldergestures, more thorough development ofthematic ideas and a greatly enlarged palette ofharmonic relationships. But his new path alsoentailed something less technical yet perhapsmore signicant: a heightened sense of musicaldrama. For Beethoven, who now was besetby the loss of his hearing, composition hadbecome no easy matter, and much of his musicfrom these years seems a record of his creativestruggles and triumphs. There is a heroic quality

to this music, and this, as much as its expressivemelodies and harmonies, may account for itsenduring popularity.

Beethovens heroic manner emerged fullyin his Third Symphony, the Sinfonia eroica, orHeroic Symphony, written in 1803. But theelements that would dene that manneraturbulent initial movement and exultant nale(together implying a drama of struggle and

triumph), a broader compositional canvas, moreemphatic sonorities, and generally more urgentexpressionbegan appearing in the composersmusic several years earlier. One of the works thatshows Beethoven starting down his new pathis the Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, op. 37,written in 1800.

TAUT DRAMA AND ROLLICKING FINALE Theconcertos long rst movement unfolds under thepervasive inuence of C minor, a key Beethovenassociated with pathos and desperate struggle.(Beethoven would return to C minor for hismost famous expression of strife and triumph,his Fifth Symphony.) A feeling of taut dramais present from the start. Beethoven forges theworks initial theme from two dramatically

BornDecember 16, 1770, Bonn

DiedMarch 26, 1827, Vienna

First PerformanceApril 5, 1803, in Vienna,Beethoven perormed thesolo part and conductedrom the keyboard

STL Symphony PremiereDecember 3, 1915, CarlFriedberg was soloist, withMax Zach conducting

Most Recent STL SymphonyPerformanceFebruary 7, 2010, Radu Lupuwas soloist, with DavidRobertson conducting

Scoringsolo piano2 futes2 oboes2 clarinets

2 bassoons2 horns2 trumpetstimpanistrings



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opposed ideas: in the rst four measures, the strings present a rather brusqueand ominous motif which, after being echoed a step higher by the winds, isfollowed at once by a more lyrical and impassioned idea. The coexistence ofsuch diverse and powerful elements, which occurs throughout the openingmovement, accounts for much of the energy and tension Beethoven achieves

here. Additional thematic material presented by the orchestra and the soloistenriches the complexion of this movement.

The ensuing Largo unfolds in the key of E major, a tonality remote fromthe rst movements C major and often thought of as serene in character.Following the stormy outbursts of the rst movement, the musics almostreligious tranquility is all the more moving.

With the nale, Beethoven returns to the sober sound of C minor, butnot to the dramatic struggles of the opening movement. The initial theme

sounds, rather, lively and somewhatalla turcathat is, it carries a hint of theTurkish exoticism popular in Vienna during the late 18th century. Alternatingwith episodes of more sunny music, this melody develops with an inventiveair characteristic of Beethovens best music. It forms the subject for a strikingcontrapuntal passage and later, transformed to bright C major contours andmerry triplet rhythms, launches the rollicking coda section that brings thework to a close.

RICHARD STRAUSSEin Heldenleben, op. 40

MUSICS HEROIC TRADITION The concept of the artist as hero was one of thecentral tenets of the Romantic movement, and its expression runs through19th-century music like a leitmotif. As mentioned above, Beethoven establisheda model followed by many other composers, using music to intimate dramasof struggle and eventual triumph in a number of his works, most notablyhis Third, Fifth, and Ninth Symphonies. These compositions exerted atremendous inuence on succeeding generations of musicians. Throughoutthe 19th century, the most ambitious composers sought in various ways toemulate Beethovens example, adopting something of his heroic mannerand writing orchestral works with thinly veiled autobiographical programs.Berliozs Symphonie fantastiqueand Tchaikovskys Fifth Symphony constituteparticularly famous, but by no means isolated, examples of this practice.

Even apart from the music they created, musicians provided the Romanticera with its most vivid examples of the artist-hero. Beethoven, who overcame

deafness and other hardships by dint of genius and perseverance, provided amodel for this new archetype. Hardly less inspiring, at least to their admirers,were those composers who struggled to assert their progressive artistic idealsagainst a hostile, conservative public: crusaders like Berlioz, Bruckner, andWagner. And the artist-hero found yet another manifestation in the careers ofvirtuoso performers such as Liszt and Paganini, whose feats on the concertstage conquered audiences to a degree matched only by the most popular rockstars of recent years.


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As the Romantic movement reached isculmination, the notion of the artist-hero receivedever more extravagant musical expression.Wagners operatic alter-ego Siegfried and theTitan of Mahlers admittedly autobiographical

First Symphony are notable in this regard. Butthe most unambiguous assertion of the conceptcame with Richard Strausss epic orchestral pieceEin Heldenleben (A Heros Life).

A SELF-PORTRAIT? Written in 1898, this wasthe last of a remarkable series of tone poemsStrauss composed during the nal decade

and a half of the 19th century. Several of thoseworks, particularly Don Juan and Also sprachZarathustra, already had implied certain typesof heroic gures and actions. But Strauss leftnothing implicit about the heroic theme of EinHeldenleben, nor about the identity of the herowhose story its music relatesor so it seemedto the works earliest critics. They immediatelycondemned the composition as a blatant and

immodest piece of self-aggrandizement, eventhough the composer provided no writtenprogram other than the titles of the scoressix sections. Faced with this criticism, Straussattempted to give a more general interpretationof the piece. It is enough to know there is ahero, he said, ghting his enemies. The music,however, offered rather conclusive evidencethat Strauss indeed fancied himself the titlegure: musical quotations from his own earliercompositions presented as emblems of theheros works of peace in the works fth section

From our present perspective, it seemshardly important whether or not the composerwas waving his own ag. Strauss was acontroversial artist, a radical composer in hisday, and he had suffered numerous critical

slings and arrows. If Ein Heldenleben is afantasy of self-vindication, it is hardly moreoffensive than Wagners conquest of his criticsin Die Meistersinger von Nrnberg, in which thehumble but true musician trumps his pedanticrival in a climactic singing contest and wins thegirl each desires. Moreover, it is a sentiment easyto identify with. Who, after all, has not indulgedin heroic fantasies?

BornJune 11, 1864, Munich

DiedSeptember 8, 1949, Garmish-Partenkirchen, Bavaria

First PerformanceMarch 3, 1899, in Frankurt,the composer, who was alsoan outstanding conductor,directed

STL Symphony PremiereFebruary 27, 1925, RudolGanz conducting

Most Recent STL SymphonyPerformanceMarch 22, 2009, DavidRobertson conducting

Scoring3 futespiccolo

4 oboesEnglish horn2 clarinetsE-fat clarinetbass clarinet3 bassoonscontrabassoon8 horns5 trumpets3 trombones

tenor tubabass tubatimpanipercussion2 harpsstrings



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Ein Heldenleben unfolds in six broad sections, played without pause. Therst introduces the hero of the works title in a soaring romantic melody. In thesecond part, Strauss depicts the heros enemies through carping woodwindgures and malevolent harmonies in the low strings. But the hero also hasa soul-mate, a Beloved, or Companion, represented in radiant passages for

solo violin in the third section. The fourth portion of the tone poem nds thehero confronted by his enemies in some of the most colorful battle music evercomposed. Emerging victorious, he now devotes himself to peaceful worksfor the benet of humanity. Quotations from Don Juan, Til Eulenspiegel, Deathand Transfguration, and several other Strauss compositions sound in this fthsection. Finally, his lifes work accomplished, the hero withdraws from theworld, serene in the knowledge of his virtues and accomplishments.

Program notes 2013 by Paul Schiavo

Drew

Farrell

Stphane Denve


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STPHANE DENVEEDNA W. STERNBERG GUEST ARTIST

Stphane Denve is Chief Conductor of StuttgartRadio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) and the

former Music Director of the Royal ScottishNational Orchestra (RSNO). Recognisedinternationally for the exceptional quality of hisperformances and programming, he regularlyappears at major concert venues with the worldsleading orchestras and soloists.

Recent engagements include his CarnegieHall debut with Boston Symphony, andappearances with Chicago Symphony,

Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic,Munich Philharmonic, , Deutsches SymphonieOrchester Berlin, London Symphony Orchestra,Philharmonia Orchestra, NDR SymphonyHamburg, and Swedish Radio Symphony. Withthe RSNO he has performed at Europes mostprestigious festivals and venues including the BBCProms, Edinburgh International Festival, ViennaKonzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, andThatre des Champs-Elyses.

Highlights of the current season includemajor tours of Europe and Asia including twoconcerts at Suntory Hall with the StuttgartRadio Symphony Orchestra (SWR); his debutwith the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; LesContes dHoffmann for the Gran Teatre del Liceu;and return visits to the Boston Symphony,

Philadelphia Orchestra, New World Symphony,Toronto Symphony, Sao Paulo Symphony, andBBC Symphony.

A graduate and prize-winner of the ParisConservatoire, Denve began his career as SirGeorg Soltis assistant with the Orchestre deParis and Paris National Opera. At home in abroad range of repertoire, he has a special afnityfor the music of his native France, and is also a

champion of new music.Stphane Denve enjoys close relationshipswith many of the worlds leading solo artists,and has performed with, among others, Leif OveAndsnes, Piotr Anderszewski, Emanuel Ax, LarsVogt, Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, Joshua Bell,Leonidas Kavakos, Hilary Hahn, Vadim Repin,and Gil Shaham.

For more information visit stephanedeneve.com.

Stphane Denve mostrecently conducted the

St. Louis Symphony inNovember 2011.

J.HenryFair


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LARS VOGTROBERT R. IMSE GUEST ARTIST

Born in the German town of Dren in 1970, LarsVogt rst came to public attention when he won

second prize at the 1990 Leeds InternationalPiano Competition. He has since gone on to giveperformances throughout Europe, Asia, Australia,and North and South America. His versatilityas an artist ranges from the core classicalrepertoire of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, andBrahms to the romantics Grieg, Tchaikovsky,and Rachmaninoff to the dazzling LutosawskiConcerto. A keen chamber musician, Vogt is now

increasingly working with orchestras both asconductor and directing from the keyboard.

Recent and upcoming performancehighlights in North America includeappearances with the Philadelphia andCleveland orchestras as well as with the LosAngeles Philharmonic, the Cincinnati andAtlanta symphonies, and the National ArtsCentre Orchestra in Ottawa; a recital at NewYorks 92nd St. Y; and duo recitals with violinistChristian Tetzlaff in the U.S. and Canada.

Internationally, during the 13-14 seasonVogt appears with the Royal ConcertgebouwOrchestra and Mariss Jansons both inAmsterdam and London, as well as with theRotterdam Philharmonic, City of BirminghamSymphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony in Tokyo,

and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin inBerlin, Vienna, and on tour in Asia. Vogts specialrelationship with the Berlin Philharmonic hascontinued with regular collaborations followinghis appointment as their rst ever Pianist inResidence in 2003-04.

During the 13-14 season, he plays trioconcerts with Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff inBerlin, Paris, Zurich, and Salzburg. Vogt is

also an accomplished and enthusiastic musiceducator; he was recently appointed Professorof Piano at the Hannover Conservatory of Musicand in 2005 founded Rhapsody in School,which has become a high prole educationproject across Germany.

Lars Vogt most recentlyperormed with the

St. Louis Symphony inOctober 2003.

FelixBroeDe


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KNOWING THESTORY:MIKE WALK, TRUMPET

Ein Heldenleben relates a substantialnarrative. The hero composer isintroduced, meets his enemies (mostlycritics), engages with his beloved,battles his enemies (mostly critics),defeats them, achieves a kind ofsaintliness, and is elevated beyond theearthly bounds in glory, fully satised

by what hes achieved. Strauss wasthinking about himself in this fantasy.Its probably not surprising that hewas a young man of 33 when hecreated this work.

Mike Walk knows the work, hasplayed it numerous times, and knows its story. But how essential is thatstory to the playing ofEin Heldenleben, with trumpets playing on and off

stage, the trumpeters playing the full range of their instruments, and somepretty intense rhythms and harmonies to pull off?Walk is succinct: Its helpful. But not a necessity.

A BRIEF EXPLANATIONYou dont need to know what andante means or what a glockenspiel is toenjoy a St. Louis Symphony concert, but its always fun to know stuff. What

is a tone poem?

Tone poem: an orchestral form in which a poem or program provides anarrative. Richard Strauss was especially inclined toward the tone poem,as found in such works as Don Quixote, Don Juan,Also sprach Zarathustra,Til Eulenspiegels Merry Pranks, Symphonia domestica, and this weeks EinHeldenleben, which many consider his greatest tone poem. Strauss likedstories, and since he was a composer, he told them through music.

Dan

DreyFuS

Mike Walk


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YOU TAKE IT FROM HEREIf these concerts have inspired you to learn more, here are suggested sourcematerials with which to continue your explorations.

Patrick Harlin, Rapturepatrickharlin.comThe composers website has a digitalrecording ofRapture.

Elliott Forbes, editor,Thayers Life of BeethovenPrinceton University Press

The essential English-languagebiography

Michael Kennedy,Richard Strauss: Man, Musician, EnigmaCambridge University PressA ne single-volume biography

Richardstrauss.orgA website devoted to the composerand his music

Read the program notes online atstlsymphony.org/planyourvisit/programnotes

Keep up with the backstage life of the St. Louis Symphony, as chronicled bySymphony staffer Eddie Silva, via stlsymphony.org/blog

The St. Louis Symphony is on


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CLASSICAL CONCERT:JOHN ADAMS SAXOPHONE CONCERTO

OCTOBER 5-6David Robertson, conductor; Timothy McAllister, saxophone;Jon Kimura Parker, piano

John Adams new work, his Saxophone Concerto, receives its St. Louispremiere. These performances will be recorded live by Nonesuch for afuture CD release, which will include the Symphonys February 2013performance of Adams City Noir. Saxophone virtuoso Timothy McAllistercalls the concerto, the most important work for saxophone in this young

century. McAllister hints that if you are a Stan Getz fan, you will love AdamsSaxophone Concerto. If you cant make it to Powell Hall, you may hear theSaturday night concert live on St. Louis Public Radio.

ScottFerguSon

David Robertson and John Adams


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intermission; Sunday concert days12:30pm through intermission.

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If you cant use your season tickets,simply exchange them for another

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POWELL HALL RENTALS

Select elegant Powell Hall for your nextspecial occasion.

Visit stlsymphony.org/rentalsfor more information.


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Documents

St. Louis Symphony Program - Sept. 27-28, 2013