About the Music

John Morris Russell, Music Director and Conductor

Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair

2021-2022 | 40TH SEASON Sunday, October 24, 2021 • 4:00 pm Monday, October 25, 2021 • 7:30 pm John Morris Russell, Conductor William Hagen, Violin

PROGRAM

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 Adagio molto – Allegro con brio Andante cantabile con moto Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace Finale: Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace

INTERMISSION

JEAN SIBELIUS Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 Allegro moderato Adagio di molto Allegro, ma non tanto

William Hagen, Violin

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Leonore Overture No. 3 in C major, Op. 72b

WILLIAM HAGEN

Photo: Matt Clayton

WILLIAM HAGEN

VIOLIN

Sibelius Violin Concerto October 24 & 25, 2021

“William also released his debut album, “Danse Russe,” with his good friend and frequent collaborator, pianist Albert Cano Smit.” The riveting 28-year-old American violinist, William Hagen, was the third-prize winner of the 2015 Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition, one of the highest-ranking Americans ever in the prestigious competition. Already a seasoned international performer who has won friends around the world, William has been hailed as a “brilliant virtuoso…a standout” (The Dallas Morning News) with “an intellectual command of line and score, and just the right amount of power” (violinist.com). In 2021, he makes his debuts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at the Rheingau Music Festival, and appears at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. William’s 2019-20 season featured performances with the Sacramento and Savannah Philharmonics, the North Carolina and Omaha Symphonies, and Symphoria, with recitals for the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and the Colburn School. William also released his debut album, “Danse Russe,” with his good friend and frequent collaborator, pianist Albert Cano Smit. In 2018-19 he performed under Carlos Kalmar, Peter Bay, Brett Mitchell, and Alexander Prior with the San Francisco Symphony. His 201718 season featured debuts with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach and the Seattle Symphony directed by Pablo Rus Broseta, and return engagements with the Utah Symphony under the direction of Matthias Pintscher and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra led by Andrew Gourlay.

William has performed with conductor Nicolas McGegan both at the Aspen Music Festival and with the Pasadena Symphony; made his debut with the Oregon Symphony under Carlos Kalmar; and performed with the Brussels Chamber Orchestra in Beijing and at the Aspen Music Festival with conductor Ludovic Morlot. He also played recitals in Paris, Brussels, and at the Ravinia Festival.

Collaborations include those with Steven Isserlis at the Wigmore Hall, with Tabea Zimmermann at the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, with Gidon Kremer, Steven Isserlis, and Christian Tetzlaff in Germany, and in New York City with the Jupiter Chamber Players. Since his debut with the Utah Symphony at age nine, William has performed with conductors such as Marin Alsop, Christian Arming, Placido Domingo, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Michel Tabachnik and Hugh Wolff. A native of Salt Lake City, William first heard the violin when he was 3 and began taking lessons at age 4 with Natalie Reed, followed by Deborah Moench. At age 10, he began studying with Robert Lipsett at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, where he studied until the age of 17. After studying at The Juilliard School for two years with Itzhak Perlman, William returned to Los Angeles to continue studying with Robert Lipsett at the Colburn Conservatory. He is currently enrolled at the Kronberg Academy in Germany, where he is a student of Christian Tetzlaff.

William is an alumnus of the Verbier Academy in Switzerland, the Perlman Music Program, and the Aspen Music Festival. He performs on the 1732 ‘Arkwright Lady Rebecca Sylvan’ Stradivarius, on generous loan from the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

by Jonathan Aceto

Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Beethoven launched into composing his first symphony sometime in the late 1790s, as evidenced by sketches found within counterpoint exercises he wrote for his teacher Johann Albrechtsberger. The symphony was premiered on April 2, 1800, at the K.K. Theater an der Burg (the Austrian National Theater) on a concert which was Beethoven’s Vienna debut.

Being such an early work, one can hear the influence of Haydn and Mozart; nevertheless, Beethoven’s genius and inventiveness shine through. The opening series of chords is an excellent example. Three times a dissonant harmony resolves into a consonant one, but each time it is the “wrong” harmony, leaving the listener rather confused. It is only after the third resolution that we finally get both a melody from the 1st violins and a firm sense of the actual key of the piece. Furthermore, all these chords have been sustained by the woodwinds, with strings merely adding a pizzicato sting to each chord. Altogether, this 12-measure adagio opening would have been something new and bizarre to the audience of turnof-the-century Vienna. Of course, Beethoven did not stop there. The first movement progresses along a standard sonataallegro form, with Beethoven splendidly using the color of each woodwind. The Andante cantabile opens with a delicate, swaying melody that is imitated throughout the orchestra and once again Beethoven uses the full color palate available to him. The Menuetto features Beethoven’s love of dynamic contrasts as it constantly shifts from pianissimo to fortissimo and back. Also on display are drastic key changes, a melody based on an upward scale, and an overall character that foreshadows his unique concept of the Scherzo. The opening to the Finale is just as remarkable as the first movement’s opening. After a jarring sforzando “G” from the whole orchestra, the first violins slowly and quietly play three notes of a scale. They start again and play up to the fourth note. Then again, and again, always adding a note and always changing the rhythm. It is one of the oddest and most suspenseful moments in all of orchestral repertoire. Finally, after the violins reach the seventh note, they explode forth with the entire scale and the Allegro molto is underway. It is a playful movement that explores all the fun a composer can have with a simple scale.

Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

Jean Sibelius is arguably the most famous composer of Finland and indeed his music was used to create a national identity when the Finnish people separated from the Russian Empire in 1917. Sibelius started playing the violin in 1875 at age 10 and soon began playing chamber music with his siblings and neighbors. Eventually, he attended the Helsinki Music Institute (currently named the Sibelius Academy) and later studied composition with Ferruccio Busoni, Robert Fuchs and Karl Goldmark. His career encompassed all of Europe, but Sibelius was a Scandinavian at heart and embraced much of the culture and literary works of his native Finland. In 1904, Sibelius wrote a violin concerto which was to be performed in Berlin by German violinist Willy Burmester. Sibelius, however, changed his mind and decided to premier the concerto in Helsinki, for which Burmester could not be present. The solo honor went to Victor Nováček, an illustrious teacher