PROGRAM
notes
bassoon holding onto the pitch B.That note then rises a half step for the new key of C major for the second-movement Andante, which the soloist begins after a brief orchestral bridge passage.This movement is in three-part song form—most appropriate here because Mendelssohn has given the soloist one of his “songs without words.” The middle section interjects passionate agitation amid the lyricism. Another bridge provides harmonic and
tempo transition to the E major finale. Here we have one of Mendelssohn’s celebrated scherzos: a scampering romp for the soloist. Conjuring up the world of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the woodwinds are agile companions to the violin’s gambols. “Hallelujah” from Too Hot to Handel
George Frideric Handel Bob Christianson and Gary Anderson
Handel’s inspired oratorio Messiah played to
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Overture
its first audience on April 13, 1742 in Dublin, Ireland in a hall packed so full that the gentlemen were requested to leave their swords at home and ladies to forgo their crinolines so more could be crowded in. And that audience responded to the work with an enthusiasm that has not dimmed since its premiere. Almost exactly 250 years later in 1991, Marin Alsop wondered if this great sacred icon might “lend itself to a 20th-century remake—I could clearly imagine the ‘Hallelujah’ Chorus becoming a gospel number. ... Handel himself was receptive to singers and instrumentalists adding their own ornamentation and improvisation, and Mozart offered his own updated version of Messiah, so this concept didn’t seem completely off the wall to me.” To realize her vision,Alsop turned to two composer-friends with backgrounds in jazz and popular music whom she had met during her days as a freelance studio violinist in New York: Bob Christianson and Gary Anderson.“We went through every number to determine the new ‘feel.’ I wanted to keep the ‘bones’ intact.The melodies, lyrics, and form of each number would remain the same.That left the harmonization, the instrumentation, and the groove up for grabs ...We went from the original instrumentation of strings and a handful of winds to a rocking jazz rhythm section consisting of Hammond B3 organ, gospel piano, drums, electric guitar, Fender bass and acoustic bass, five saxophones, full brass, strings, timpani, and percussion.” Christianson and Anderson’s gospel-jazz-rock adaptation, Too Hot to Handel:The Gospel Messiah, made its debut on December 18, 1993 in New York City with Marin Alsop leading the Concordia Orchestra, the Morgan State University Choir and vocal soloists. It, too, was an instant hit and has now been performed by orchestras and choruses around the world, including several performances in recent years with the BSO and Morgan at the Meyerhoff. Tonight’s program will close with the immortal “Hallelujah” chorus from Too Hot to Handel, featuring a choir drawn from the Baltimore community.And the audience is invited to get on its feet, sing along, clap along, and feel the spirit! Notes by Janet E. Bedell, copyright 2011