Symphonic Firsts and Yumi Hwang-Williams | Program Notes

SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 1

MASTERWORKS • 2014/15

SYMPHONIC FIRSTS AND YUMI HWANG-WILLIAMS

COLORADO SYMPHONY CRISTIAN MĂCELARU, conductor YUMI HWANG-WILLIAMS, violin

Friday, April 17, 2015 at 7:30 pmSaturday, April 18, 2015 at 7:30 pmSunday, April 19, 2015 at 1:00 pmBoettcher Concert Hall

HAYDN Symphony No. 1 in D major Presto Andante Presto

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10 Allegretto – Allegro non troppo Allegro Lento Allegro molto - Lento

— INTERMISSION —

BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 Allegro ma non troppo Larghetto Rondo: Allegro

Friday’s concert is grateFully dedicated to Mr. Jason subotky and Ms. anne akiko Meyers

saturday’s concert is grateFully dedicated to dr. Jody Mathie and Mr. John hoFFMan

PROGRAM 2 SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG

CRISTIAN MĂCELARU, conductor

Winner of the 2014 Solti Conducting Award, Cristian Măcelaru has established himself as one of the fast-rising stars of the conducting world.Recently appointed Conductor-in-Residence of The Philadelphia Orchestra, Măcelaru made an unexpected subscription debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra in April 2013. Since then, he has conducted Philadelphia in two further subscription programs in 13/14, and he will lead two subscription programs in 14/15. This season Măcelaru makes his Carnegie Hall debut on a program with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and

Anne-Sophie Mutter as violin soloist; he also conducts the orchestra in Denmark and on a German and U.S. tour, replacing the orchestra’s Chief Conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. Măcelaru came to public attention in February 2012 when he conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a replacement for Pierre Boulez in performances met with critical acclaim. This season Măcelaru also returns on subscription to Chicago and has subscription debuts with the Toronto, Baltimore, Houston, St. Louis, Seattle, Detroit, Milwaukee and Indianapolis symphony orchestras and Los Angeles Philharmonic in North America; the U.K.’s Hallé Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony; and the Hague’s Residentie Orkest in the Netherlands. An accomplished violinist from an early age, Măcelaru was the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Miami Symphony Orchestra. He played in the first violin section of the Houston Symphony for two seasons. After participating in the conducting programs of the Tanglewood Music Center and the Aspen Music Festival, Măcelaru received the Sir Georg Solti Emerging Conductor Award in 2012. He completed undergraduate studies in violin performance at the University of Miami and subsequently studied with Larry Rachleff at Rice University, where he received master’s degrees in conducting and violin performance.

More information on Cristian Măcelaru can be found at www.macelaru.comManagement for Cristian Măcelaru:Charlotte Lee, Primo Artists, New York, NY www.primoartists.com

MASTERWORKS BIOGRAPHIESSO

RIN

PO

PA

COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG | 303.623.7876 BOX OFFICE MON-FRI 10 AM - 6 PM T SAT 12 PM - 6 PM

Mahler Symphony No. 5APR 30 - MAY 1 & 3

THU-FRI 7:30 T SUN 1:00

Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg



Bronfman Plays BeethovenMAY 22-24 FRI-SAT 7:30 T SUN 1:00

Yefim Bronfman

YUMI HWANG-WILLIAMS, violin

Yumi Hwang-Williams made her debut at the age of fifteen as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, six years after having emigrated from South Korea. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, her exceptional musicianship has earned her a reputation as an artist who, in addition to her thoughtful and stylish interpretations of the classics, is known for her commitment to exploring and performing the works of contemporary composers. Featured in a Strings magazine cover article in 2008, she was described as a “Modern Prometheus” who has “emerged as a fiery

champion of contemporary classical music.” Her interpretations of works by Aaron Jay Kernis, Michael Daugherty and Christopher Rouse have earned unreserved approval from the composers as well as critical acclaim. She has performed Korean composer Isang Yun’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Basel Symphony Orchestra, Switzerland under the baton of Dennis Russell Davies who immediately invited her to play the concerto again with the Bruckner Orchester, in Linz, Austria in October 2009. Yumi Hwang-Williams has served as Concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony since 2000. She is also Concertmaster of the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, has performed as Guest Concertmaster for the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa, at the invitation of Music Director Pinchas Zukerman, and has been Guest First Violinist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She is a faculty member of the Lamont School of Music, University of Denver.

MASTERWORKS BIOGRAPHIES


MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTESFranz Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 1 in D minorFranz Joseph Haydn was born on March 31, 1732, in Rohrau, Lower Austria and died on May 31, 1809, in Vienna. His Symphony No. 1 is thought to have been composed around the year 1759. It is scored for two oboes, bassoon, two horns, strings, and continuo. The duration is approximately 11 minutes. This is the first performance by the orchestra.

The symphony has been the major genre for orchestra since the eighteenth century. While its viability seemed questionable as the twentieth century waned, it still has its adherents among contemporary composers, and will probably survive, though not with the same universality and vitality as before. As one can well imagine, from its roots in the early eighteenth-century opera overture to the extended and monumental works of late Romanticism, such a long gestation period, growth, and maturity would produce many “parents.” Haydn has popularly been known as the “father” of the symphony, but, of course, no one is. It must be said, though, that his contribution, at a critical time in its development was the most significant of anyone’s. He, who was responsible more than any other for what became known as “classical” musical style, created the most extended series of imaginative innovations and developments in the genre as it reached early maturity under the “big three,” Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

Haydn had the good fortune as a young man to secure an appointment to the court of the wealthy Esterházy family not far from Vienna out on the Hungarian plains. There, he was charged with oversight of a daunting variety of musical activities at the extensive estate of a succession of music-loving princes. In the midst of a vigorous artistic environment at Esterháza, with a full schedule of sacred, theatre, chamber music, ballet, and large ensemble performances weekly, Haydn was charged with composing the music for much of the festivities. Taking advantage of his relative isolation, he had decades of opportunities to develop his style and grow his musical reputation from total obscurity to worldwide fame as Europe’s greatest and most respected composer. One of the happy results was the creation of over 100 symphonies that collectively illustrate the evolution of the genre.

But before that epochal move out to Esterháza, after his ignominious dismissal from the choir school at St. Stephen’s cathedral, the impecunious young Haydn scuffled around the streets of Vienna earning a meager living as a teacher, and freelance violinist and organist. By about 1757 he finally gained employment in his first full time job in an established household—modest though it was. His employer, Count Morzin, had a country estate in Lukovice (now in the Czech Republic near the famed beer city of Plzeň) in which he maintained a small, but active, musical establishment, and young Franz Joseph joined it as music director. The orchestra, as was common, was small, less than a dozen members, and it was for this group that Haydn wrote his first symphonies. He had a plenitude of models for these works, for there was a thriving activity in their composition in centers in Mannheim, Milan, Dresden, Paris, and of course, Vienna. Composers such as Sammartini, Gossec, Wagenseil, and members of the Stamic family had already made important contributions when Haydn had entered the lists.

His early symphonies included many in three movements—the minuet was not yet requisite--light in mood and texture, and written primarily for eight parts: four strings, two oboes and two horns. Symphony No. 1 is typical in this regard, and—like so many early Austrian classical compositions—shows clear Italianate influences. The first movement is accordingly simple, but lacking nothing in the vivacity, charm (even the little dramatic pauses) for the mature Haydn is


MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES

famed. The sonata form that was almost requisite in the mature classical style is not present here, but a predecessor: a simple two-part form with a little diversion at the beginning of the second part. The movement starts with a “Mannheim Steamroller,” a single chord prolonged by a zippy ascending arpeggio and a crescendo. That little trick is also a useful recurrent guide as to where we are in the form of the movement. The second movement is marked “andante,” and a literal “walking along” it is—with a purposeful stride throughout. Typical of the times, the horns and oboes lay out of this one. The finale is a cheerful little romp in the three-to-a-beat time so common in Haydn’s early work. Like the two preceding movements, it’s in a simple two-part form and doesn’t take long to bring the affair to a sparkling conclusion. While the erstwhile first of over one hundred symphonies composed in a long artistic life, this little symphony displays early on the high spirits, creativity, penchant for surprise, and humor that characterized

Haydn’s oeuvre till the end.

oDmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10Dmitri Shostakovich was born on September 25, 1906, in St. Petersburg, Russia. He died in Moscow on August 9, 1975. The Symphony No. 1 was composed in 1924-1925. It is scored for three flutes (2nd and 3rd doubling piccolo), pairs of oboes, clarinets, and bassoons, four horns, two trumpets and alto trumpet, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, piano, and strings. The duration is approximately 28 minutes. The Symphony was last performed on January 27 and 28, 2006, with Edward Garner conducting.

Shostakovich is probably the most successful of those who sought to continue to write symphonies in the twentieth century — long after most had abandoned the form for other attractions. To be sure, others wrote symphonies as well during this time, but generally not with the long-term commitment or at the same high level of quality in a truly contemporary idiom as did Shostakovich. His artistic life is a case study in the tragic difficulty of being true to one’s own sense of artistic integrity and vision, while balancing that with the practical necessity of having any opportunity to exist at all--both as an artist, or even as a human being--in an oppressive totalitarian society. Accordingly, his compositions varied in their styles over the decades. Those of his early maturity were composed under the daily fear of his vanishing in Stalin’s purges of the 1930s; during the “Great Patriotic War” with the Nazi government, concerns elsewhere allowed artists a bit more latitude in their expressions. But the clamp down after the war produced understandable, but confusingly coöperative “artistic confessions” of his that lack sufficient sensitivity to collectivist politics. Thus, his long line of fifteen symphonies is marked by a few embarrassingly “populist” potboilers, as well as by the immortal masterpieces. Some works, such as the great Symphony No. 7 are a profound response to the conditions in his homeland, that is, the siege of Leningrad in 1941. Others, such as Symphony No. 12, a tribute to Lenin, hardly garner any artistic respect today. But, the complex interface between art and politics is obviously not restricted to the former Soviet Union. Some may remember that even a beloved American composition like Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, scheduled for performance


at Eisenhower’s inauguration concert, was quashed by the political ideologues for Copland’s putative “leftist” leanings. And so it goes.

Shostakovich entered the conservatory in Petrograd in 1919, at the age of 13, and his Op. 1, a scherzo for orchestra was completed that fall. He composed throughout his time there as a student and began work on his Symphony No. 1 in 1924 as a required project for graduation. Shostakovich’s personal, philosophic and political choices in his tenuous existence as an artist in a deadly totalitarian society find some origin in the events connected with the completion of this first symphony. As he was laboring with the finale, he was befriended by influential people, including a well-known marshal in the Red Army. They were executed in the purges of 1937-38, and his close friend and fellow student, Mikhail Kvadri, to whom the symphony was dedicated, perished as early as 1929. The symphony was given its first performance in 1925 by the Leningrad Philharmonic in a radio broadcast. It enjoyed an immediate success, and was widely praised, not only in the Soviet Union, but in the West, as well. Musical luminaries such as Toscanini, Klemperer, and Stokowski performed it in short order. All in all, it was an auspicious beginning for a young teenager--one who went on to become a major composer of the century,

but one whose inner artistic persona continues to be one of music’s major enigmas.

oLudwig van Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61Ludwig van Beethoven was born on December 15, 1770, in Bonn, Germany and died on March 26, 1827, in Vienna. His Violin concerto was composed in 1806 and is scored for flute, pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, and trumpets, timpani, and strings. The duration is approximately 42 minutes. The last performance by the orchestra on March 18 and 19, 2011 featured Augustin Hadelich as the violin soloist and Peter Oundjian conducting

By 1806 Beethoven had surmounted a series of significant distractions that had seriously affected his creative life. The difficulties that he had with writing his only opera, Fidelio, are well documented. Other factors were the misery of his ardent, but unsuccessful, personal relationship with the young widow, Josephine von Brunsvik, and, of course, dealing with the reality of his deafness. But, by 1806 he entered into a new period of inspiration and productivity. Significant compositions that are now central to his legacy stemmed from his sense of renewal in that year: the “Rasumovsky” quartets, the “Appassionata” piano sonata, the Fourth Symphony, and the Violin Concerto.

The concerto was written for the young Franz Clement, whom Beethoven had known for over ten years, having met him not too long after the composer had moved to Vienna. While Clement is almost totally unknown to concert audiences today, in his time he enjoyed a reputation for formidable musical talent and skill. A child prodigy on the violin, he was known for an incredible musical memory, as well as a penchant for public displays of what today would be deemed cheap, carnival tricks on his instrument. Nevertheless, Beethoven had great respect for him and valued his friendship. Clement had returned the favor with consultative advice on Fidelio, and helped in other ways, as well. As in the case of so many other famous compositions in music history, the concerto was finished so late that legend has it that Clement practically



sight-read the première performance in December of 1806. If one can imagine it, apparently, Clement also entertained the audience between movements of this now sacred composition by playing some impromptu variations with his fiddle held upside down. Times have changed.

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto has, of course, come to hold a central place in the repertoire of concert violinists. It was not always so, however, and it only slowly came to be appreciated for its genius. While a work of great difficulty, it is not at all a showy vehicle for technical prowess and virtuosity—a characteristic of not a few of our favorite violin concertos of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, the challenges are certainly there, and recent scholarly research has shown that there is more than a little of Clement’s signature passagework for violin that Beethoven adapted for use in his work. Beethoven obviously did not treat its composition lightly; the first movement was the longest that he had composed up to that time. Moreover, the whole work is one of lyricism, dignity, and seriousness of purpose. Its attractive melodies and leisurely tempos have stimulated more than one commentator to speak of its “Olympian nature,” “nobility,” and “dignity.” All of that it is.

The work begins unusually with five little taps in the timpani (they go on to appear again at important places and played by others, as well), followed immediately by the woodwind section playing the main theme in rich, full harmony. When we’re ready for the second main idea, rising scales soon herald our friends, the woodwinds, again, who introduce this theme, as well. The solo violin finally enters with a brief flourish, and then begins to explore the two ideas. Beethoven takes the time, and in such a context, it’s welcomed, to thoroughly examine the possibilities of his material, the violin regaling us with an ingratiating variety of figurations. The soft drum taps of the beginning herald the recapitulation, a noble and grand affair. Now time for the cadenza—usually a substantial one--and since Beethoven did not originally provide them, many have been written by numerous famous violinists. Tonight the soloist will be playing those by the great Fritz Kreisler. After the display, accompanied by soft, low string pizzicatos, the solo violin leads us quietly home with the second theme.

The second movement technically is a series of variations, but not one in the normal sense of clear figurations that gradually accumulate in activity. It’s rather a simple affair—not even a change of key—that sounds almost choral in nature. Beethoven has given us some wonderful examples of this in many compositions—even in his piano sonatas. He keeps our interest in this warm and regal simplicity by a series of color changes in the orchestration that carries on through the delicate filigree of the violinist’s embellishments. A short cadenza leads us without a break—not unusual in this period—directly into the last movement. The solo violin immediately plays the tune—which, if not already familiar, soon will be. It’s a rondo, meaning one easily recognized and usually cheerful idea is interspersed with a few contrasting sections, but with the main idea always coming back. And so, this little country tune, based upon a jaunty five-note figure, lopes and gallops to a rollicking conclusion, reminding us that Beethoven is not always storm and stress.

— Wm. E. Runyan©William E. Runyan


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