PROGRAM NOTES
22 May 2009 Concert
OVERTURE
TO LA FORZA DEL DESTINO
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Verdi wrote La forza del destino (“The Force of Destiny”) on commission, and the opera received its première in St. Petersburg in 1862. Although the plot was criticized for its violence (by the end, nearly every important character is dead), it was nonetheless presented in several venues before the composer withdrew it for revision. The overture heard tonight dates from the reworking, premièred in 1869, in which forgiveness and the inevitability of fate somewhat lessen the effects of the unhappy conclusion. We first hear a series of energetic, ominous chords, followed by a slow and captivating theme prefiguring the lead soprano’s aria in Act Two, as well as themes from Acts Three and Four. Verdi’s gift for melody illuminates this introduction as it does the entire opera.
Maurice
Ravel (1875-1937)
This concert
rhapsody for violin and orchestra was originally composed for solo violin with
piano accompaniment. Ravel dedicated it to the renowned Hungarian violinist Jelly
d’Aranyi (1895-1966), a famous interpreter of contemporary music for whom
Bartók, Holst and Vaughan Williams also composed chamber and orchestral works.
Ravel’s Tzigane (the generic European
term for “gypsy”), which does not use any authentic ethnic melodies, represents
the Impressionistic style and flashy showmanship made popular by Paganini and
Sarasate during the late Romantic period. The first performance of the
orchestral version was in Paris on November 30, 1924.
T. E.
PIANO
CONCERTO IN A MINOR, Op. 16
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Grieg wrote this concerto in the summer of 1868 at the age of 25 while on vacation in Italy. The work was an immediate success. Edmund Neupert, the original soloist, wrote: “On Saturday your divine concerto resounded in the great hall of the Casino. The triumph I achieved was tremendous. Even as early as the cadenza in the first movement, the public broke into a real storm.” That enthusiasm has not ebbed: the riveting A-minor chords opening the Allegro molto moderato have helped to make this work popular with audiences ever since. Grieg never finished another concerto, but he is nonetheless remembered as one of the great 19th century Romantic composers for piano.
Bill Malcolm
PIANO
CONCERTO NO. 4 IN G MAJOR, Op. 58
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
The Fourth Concerto was the last such work Beethoven composed for his own use. He premièred it in March of 1807 during a private concert at the home of Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz. The public première did not occur until 22 December 1808 in Vienna, when Beethoven again took the stage as soloist. It was his last such appearance with an orchestra. The piece received a cool reception. The composer's innovative break with the traditional concerto format and content must have been a negative factor at the 1808 concert. In the opening movement, Beethoven replaced the traditional orchestral exposition with a lyrical and seemingly improvisatory solo piano. And whereas brilliance was the mood of Beethoven's three earlier piano concertos, this one had the mood of serenity. The solo piano opening is just long enough to announce that this is to be a different sort of concerto, with a conspicuously more introspective character than audiences were accustomed to, from Beethoven's own earlier concertos in particular. The work was neglected until 1836, when it was revived by Felix Mendelssohn and has remained a favorite among soloists and audiences.
B. M.
PIANO
CONCERTO NO. 2 IN F MAJOR , Op. 102
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Shostakovich grew up surrounded by piano music: his mother was a graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and his father was an accomplished amateur pianist. Both parents opposed systematic musical drills and encouraged young Dmitri’s eagerness to experiment during his daily keyboard practice. At the age of 13, Shostakovich entered the Conservatory and focused on piano performance until 1927, when he managed to impress the great conductor Bruno Walter with a keyboard rendition of his first symphony. Walter premièred the symphony in Berlin later that year, and Shostakovich was launched upon his career as composer. The Second Piano Concerto was written for his son Maxim’s 19th birthday, and Maxim premièred the piece at his graduation from the Moscow Conservatory in 1957. The opening Allegro movement is infectiously tuneful; the snare drum captures attention and adds to the sense of brightness and urgency. Thanks to YouTube, we can hear if not see a 1957 performance of this concerto by Shostakovich himself.
T. E.
NIGHT
ON BALD MOUNTAIN
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
Modest Mussorgsky was a fellow-member of Russian composers known as the “Mighty Five,” the others being Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui, Balakirev, and Borodin. They consciously worked to develop a national musical art by looking to Russian folk sources. Night on Bald Mountain (1867) includes pagan imagery that appears in such Russian folk music. As was the practice among the “Mighty Five,” Mussorgsky showed Night on Bald Mountain to Balakirev, who harshly criticized the work; for example, penciling markings such as “rubbish” in the margins of the manuscript. Dismayed, Mussorgsky reworked the piece, cutting it and altering some of the harmonic details that had offended Balakirev. This original version was not published until 1968. (“How could this be?” fans of the 1930’s Disney film Fantasia may wonder.)
The “Mighty Five” were not schooled as professional musicians and thus did not have the conservatory sophistication of someone like Tchaikovsky. Mussorgsky, in fact, eschewed such training. When Rimsky-Korsakov took a teaching position at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Mussorgsky was furious. He commented: “The ‘Mighty Five’ have hatched into a horde of soulless traitors.” It was therefore ironic that, after Mussorgsky’s death from alcoholism, Rimsky-Korsakov made his very free transcription of the work (1886–87), which is the version you will hear this evening (although Rimsky-Korsakov claimed to “preserve in it all that was best and [add] as little of mine as possible”). The version in Fantasia was orchestrated by Leopold Stokowski. No one will ever know which Mussorgsky would have liked best.
B. M.
This page last modified on
June 19, 2009.