Tchaikovsky & The Mermaid

Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 7:30 PM Sunday, March 20, 2022 at 2:30 PM

Classic Series TCHAIKOVSKY & THE MERMAID

JoAnn Falletta, conductor Augustin Hadelich, violin

KENNETH FUCHS

TCHAIKOVSKY Point of Tranquility (world premiere)

Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra, Op.35

I. Allegro moderato

II. Canzonetta: Andante

III. Finale: Allegro vivacissimo Augustin Hadelich, violin

INTERMISSION

ZEMLINSKY The Mermaid

Learn about this program from the conductor and guest artists at Musically Speaking, one hour prior to the start of Saturday’s and Sunday’s concert. Patrons are asked to turn off all electronic devices. The use of cameras and recording devices is strictly prohibited.

AUGUSTIN HADELICH, VIOLIN

Augustin Hadelich is one of the great violinists of our time. From Bach to Brahms, from Bartók to Adès, he has mastered a wide-ranging and adventurous repertoire. He is often referred to by colleagues as a musician's musician. Named Musical America’s 2018 "Instrumentalist of the Year," he is consistently cited worldwide for his phenomenal technique, soulful approach, and insightful interpretations. Augustin’s 2020/21 season culminated in performances of the Brahms Violin Concerto with the San Francisco Symphony, their first live performances by the full ensemble in 15 months, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. In the summer of 2021 he appeared at the Aspen, Colorado, Grant Park and Verbier festivals, as well as at Bravo! Vail with the New York Philharmonic. Augustin’s 2021/22 season started off with stunning debut with the Berlin Philharmonic (Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2) with Gustavo Gimeno on the podium. Shortly thereafter, came the European premiere of a new violin concerto written for him by Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy. Other highlights of the 21/22 season include being named Artist-in-Residence with the Frankfurter Museumsorchester and continuing his residency as Associate Artist with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester (Hamburg), as well as debuts with Orchestre National de France, Prague Radio Symphony, and the Warsaw Philharmonic, and return engagements with the Danish National Orchestra, Finnish Radio Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Mozarteumorchester (Salzburg), Munich Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, and WDR Orchestra (Cologne). Augustin Hadelich has collaborated with a host of nationally and internationally-renowned conductors, and appeared with every major orchestra in North America, including the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony. In Europe he has performed with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra (Munich), Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Danish National Symphony, Orquesta Nacional de España, Oslo Philharmonic, the radio orchestras of Denmark, Finland, Norway, Cologne, Frankfurt, Saarbrücken, and Stuttgart, and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Engagements in the Far East include the Hong Kong Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony, NHK Symphony (Tokyo), Seoul Philharmonic, and Singapore Symphony. Augustin Hadelich is the winner of a 2016 Grammy Award – “Best Classical Instrumental Solo” – for his recording of Dutilleux’s Violin Concerto, L’Arbre des songes. A Warner Classics Artist, his most recent release is a Grammy-nominated double CD of the Six Solo Sonatas and Partitas of Johann Sebastian Bach. Born in Italy, the son of German parents, Augustin is now an American citizen. He holds an Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Joel Smirnoff. After winning the Gold Medal at the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, concerto and recital appearances on many of the world’s top stages quickly followed. Among his other distinctions are an Avery Fisher Career Grant (2009); a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in the UK (2011); the Warner Music Prize (2015); a Grammy Award (2016); as well as an honorary doctorate from the University of Exeter in the UK (2017). He has recently been appointed to the violin faculty at Yale School of Music. Augustin plays the violin "Leduc, ex-Szeryng" by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù of 1744, generously loaned by a patron through the Tarisio Trust. www.augustin-hadelich.com

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

This is one of our most beautiful programs this year! Zemlinsky's musical portrait of the Little Mermaid creates an undersea landscape that is gorgeous and glittery, filled with characters like the mermaid, the sea witch, and the king of the sea. Augustin Hadelich returns with the virtuosic Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (once pronounced "unplayable"!) The concert opens with a gift from my dear friend and superb composer Kenneth Fuchs - his evocative tone poem, Point of Tranquility. Thank you, Ken, for the privilege of this world premiere performance!

PROGRAM NOTES

Kenneth Fuchs (American; 1956)

Point of Tranquility (2020)

Composer Kenneth Fuchs received a doctorate from The Juilliard School and has since enjoyed a flourishing career, having five albums of his music released by Naxos, with a 2018 recording by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by JoAnn Falletta being awarded a Grammy for Best Classical Compendium. A 2020 release on the label recorded by the U.S. Coast Guard Band showcases his breadth, highlighting works written for wind band. Among the works is his 2020 Point of Tranquility, with the subtitle “Idyll for Wind Band after a Painting by Morris Louis.” Louis’ groundbreaking style is “color field painting,” abstract works with vibrant colors, portrayed in sound by Fuchs’ vibrantly orchestrated composition. Fuchs connects Louis’ atmospheric paintings to the vast tranquility of water, providing inspiration in this work he composed for the Coast Guard.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

(Russian; 1840-1893)

Concerto in D Major for Violin

and Orchestra, Op. 35 (1878) I. Allegro moderato II. Canzonetta: Andante III. Finale: Allegro vivacissimo

The body of standard and beloved orchestral repertoire is not fixed, but organic, always filtered through the wants and tastes of a given moment’s audiences and performers. Rare are the works and composers who, celebrated in their own life, receive persistent acknowledgement and an unbroken history of performance. More often, artists celebrated in their own time have works that fade from popularity, while many others are only appreciated with the help of time.

It can be surprising to learn that Tchaikovsky, who eventually found fame in his own life, would create works unappreciated by his contemporaries yet coming to stand the test of time. Such is the case for his beloved Violin Concerto, one of the most performed works in the instrument’s repertoire. Although he had achieved some sporadic success, he found himself recovering at a Lake Geneva resort battling depression and writer’s block, distracted by the disintegration of his marriage. He was accompanied by a composition student, the rising star violinist, Josef Kotek. The two very likely had a romantic relationship that Tchaikovsky desperately tried to conceal, despite whispers and rumors. During the retreat, the two collaborated on a new concerto, but Tchaikovsky was at pains not to dedicate the work to Kotek in order to suppress damaging gossip. A wounding rejection came from Tchaikovsky’s second choice, violinist Leopold Auer, who later maintained his distaste for the work, noting its unplayability. Kotek was miffed by Tchaikovsky’s dodge and their relationship fell apart.

A third potential soloist would be found in Adolph Brodsky, who performed the work in 1881 in Vienna. The work was panned for its pretentious length, its inelegant violin writing, and its blatant Russianness. While the poison pen of harsh critics would only figure as an inconsequential footnote for posterity, Tchaikovsky memorized the words of his detractors and was deeply hurt by the perspective of his peers. History slinked forward as the work gained momentum later in the decade, and the concerto would eventually gain an unshakable foothold in the repertoire. Whereas the composer was once slammed for his inflated talent and genius-obsession (paraphrasing one particularly memorable review), he is now celebrated for it. The brief Mozartian introduction uniquely features music that does not appear again. The violin enters with a brief cadenza, and the orchestra joins for a sweetly singing melody. The opening movement, lasting half the entire work, is structured in a standard sonata-allegro form, featuring a wide berth of creative manipulations of the initial theme. The violinist proceeds with virtuosic athleticism through irregular changes of mood and keys, leaving the orchestra behind for a massive cadenza. The return to the original lyrical melody is initially calming, turning into a vibrant foot race to the end.

The second half of the Concerto is two movements connected without break. The first part is a somber Andante, the tone set by a chorale of winds. The violinist presents a desperately lonesome aria in G minor, with a change in mood signaled by a shift to Eb, in which the soloist floats with confidence. A return to the opening melody reinforces an internal turmoil Tchaikovsky must have been experiencing. Delicate woodwinds return, joined by low strings for a somber transition. The finale enters with a surprising jolt. The violinist performs another brash cadenza, setting the Russian tone of the movement. Joining the orchestra, spitfire runs dance across the page for a brazen and unfettered finale. A lyrical section offers a twilight respite, but the excitement returns with a series of variations of increasing complexity and bombast.

Alexander Zemlinsky

(Austrian; 1871-1942)

The Mermaid(1902)

At the turn of the 20th century, a key aesthetic controversy raged around the divisive topic of “absolute” music (symphonies, for instance), and “program” music (narrativedriven works such as tone poems). During his own life, Brahms was certainly known as an absolute symphonist, but supported the development of a young Alexander von Zemlinsky, who himself would see the boundarypushing tone poems of Richard Strauss as just a jumping-off point. Zemlinsky had quite the education, attracting the attention of Brahms and Bruckner, and would develop an impressive studio of his own, notably being Arnold Schoenberg’s only formal teacher. Teaching him counterpoint, the two would form a lasting friendship, with Schoenberg marrying Zemlinsky’s sister.

He maintained an impressive international career as a conductor, but his 1899 conversion from Judaism to Protestantism would play no bearing in his need to flee Nazi Germany in 1928 for New York. While Schoenberg’s career flourished in Los Angeles, Zemlinsky fell into obscurity as his health failed him. After his 1942 death, his legacy was preserved by his much younger wife, Louise, and his entire portfolio found a home at the Library of Congress, including the final two movements of his tone poem Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid). It was not until the 1980s that the three movements of the work were reunited by some sleuthing Ph.D. students. While his marriage with Louise was a happy one, he was badly bruised by an earlier romantic tragedy with a student of his, Alma Schindler. In 1901, the two had a teasing affair, but she left him for Gustav Mahler. Soon after, and quite possibly as a result, he sourced the Hans Christian Andersen folktale “The Little Mermaid” for a new, massive orchestral work. The Mermaid was conceived with Arnold Schoenberg for a concert declaring the validity and power of “program” music,

and the work was paired with Schoenberg’s Pelleas und Melisande in a 1905 concert in Vienna with the composers conducting. Zemlinsky sought to musically depict the narrative set forth by Andersen, which tells the coming-of-age story of a mermaid who falls in love with a shipwrecked prince. Consulting with a sea witch, she trades her tongue for legs, and is only able to communicate through dancing. The prince however chooses a human bride, subjecting the mermaid to a grim fate. The loss of a detailed written program has forced speculation on various “plot-points” as they occur throughout the work, but he makes frequent use of recurring leitmotifs, or melodic fragments connected with characters and ideas. In the opening, Zemlinsky’s deft orchestration depicts the dark depths of the sea, from which emerges the richly haunting melodies of the mermaid. The movement climaxes with a violent shipwreck, but settles with a romantic scene. The central movement begins with ecstatic chaos, portraying the protagonist gleefully longing for her prince. The finale takes a dark turn as the mermaid is unsuccessful in wooing her beloved, but captures the positive spin presented by Andersen with peacefully resolving harmonies.

Chaz Stuart, 2022

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