PROGRAM NOTES

SAMUEL BARBER (1910-1981)

Medea’s Dance of Vengeance, op. 23a (1955)

Not long after her 1944 triumph with Aaron Copland in Appalachian Spring, dancer and choreographer Martha Graham was the creative nexus for another American masterpiece: Samuel Barber’s Medea. Premiering on May 10, 1946 in New York City, the ballet was initially called Serpent Heart, drawing on the ancient Greek tragedy of Medea and Jason by Euripides.

Barber’s music for the ballet was deemed “brilliant” but critical reviews of the dance and its drama prompted revision. The updated version, now titled Cave of the Heart, was first performed on February 27, 1947 in New York City. The ballet has remained in the Martha Graham Dance Company’s repertory ever since and was one of Graham’s favored works.

Barber extracted a concert suite from the ballet, which premiered on December 5, 1947, performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy. While Graham preferred Cave of the Heart as a title, Barber opted to name his concert suite after the tale’s central protagonist, Medea. A few years later, he reworked and condensed the music to a single movement called Medea’s Dance of Vengeance.

Searing drama calls for equally compelling music and Barber delivered a score well suited to the task. Whether conveying the rabid viciousness of Medea’s bleak mental state or the pained helplessness of the Greek chorus as they observe the unfolding tragedy, the music is by turns filled with rage, coolly calculated, agonizing, tender, ferocious and disconsolate. ETW

LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990)

Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium) (1954)

In the 1950s, Leonard Bernstein wanted and seemed to have it all: a burgeoning conducting career; composing for the concert hall, opera stage, film, and Broadway; a growing family; and opportunities beckoning in the new medium of television. It would be a prolific decade for him, in all respects. Bernstein’s mentor, longtime Boston Symphony conductor Serge Koussevitzky, had established the Koussevitzky Music Foundation in 1942 following the death of his wife Natasha. In 1951, Koussevitzky died and the foundation commissioned a work in his memory from Bernstein. Contending with the press of too much work and too few hours, Bernstein put off the commission. Among many commitments was the promise of writing a concerto for his friend, violinist Isaac Stern. Finally during the summer of 1954, Bernstein began working on the concerto as a way to fulfill the Koussevitzky commission. The work proceeded well as he and his family vacationed on the Massachusetts’ island of Martha’s Vineyard and was completed on August 7, 1954.

Our soloist today has a unique connection with the Serenade. Midori was a young Juilliard student when Bernstein requested that she perform the concerto with him and the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood on July 26, 1986. She had never played the work before and so Bernstein coached her on the piece at his Manhattan apartment before they rehearsed it with the symphony. At the concert, all was going well until the fifth movement when the E string on her violin snapped. Following protocol, she traded violins with the concertmaster and continued playing. Just moments later, the E string on this violin broke and another exchange of instruments took place. She finished the concerto using the associate concertmaster’s violin, garnering praise for her artistry — and composure. She performed the work again with Bernstein and the London Symphony Orchestra in Sapporo, Japan in 1990. In an interview with violinist Stefanos Melas, she commented:

This piece is fantastic for showcasing the violin. Bernstein really knows how to bring out so many potential ideas that we can accomplish on the instrument, as well as great emotional contrasts…Bernstein loved to dance, and so there are parts where the rhythm really takes off. There has to be a feeling of dance. ETW

IVÁN ENRIQUE RODRÍGUEZ (b. 1990)

Luminis (2015)

Luminis is a set of fantasy variations on original musical motifs. The Latin term “luminis” (singular genitive of “lumen” in English) represents the possession of Light. Throughout the piece, the original motifs remain relatively unchanged. However, the surrounding musical environment changes constantly. As the variations develop, they progressively describe the encirclement of light by darkness. Even when describing musically what could be total darkness, the original motifs remain relatively untouched. This is intended to give Light a ubiquitous quality to state that regardless of the conditions surrounding it, the energy emanating from this point—whatever it may symbolize for us individually—reinforces an inextinguishable radiancy and omnipresence. The tempi markings for the variations are:

•Muy brillate (very bright)

•Tenue, opaco, débil (Dim, opaque, weak)

•Rodeado de sombras (Surrounded by shadows)

•Total oscuridad (Total darkness)

•Poca luz, tenue, distante (Low light, dim, distant)

•Luz absoluta (Absolute Light)

As the two elements of light and darkness are opposite in that one is the absence of the other, the effect of no change on the original motifs despite the constant change of the musical variations might suggest that, although opposite in nature, they conceive their existence within the same vertex.

MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937)

Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé (1909-1912)

Maurice Ravel had completed several of his now best-known works when impresario Serge Diaghilev approached him for a ballet for his new Ballets Russes in 1909. The composer of Pavane pour une infante défunte, String Quartet, Rapsodie Espagnole, Miroirs, and Ma mère l’Oye was delighted at the prospect of working with Russian choreographer Michel Fokine to create a new work.

Fokine was enthusiastic about the notion of a ballet based on the ancient Greek story of Daphnis and Chloé. He and Ravel began with a retelling of Longus’ 2nd century C.E. tale by 16th century French poet Jacques Amyot. The fanciful plot involves infants Daphnis and Chloé abandoned by their respective families. A goatherd discovers Daphnis and raises him; a shepherd finds Chloé and raises her. The two grow up together, herding flocks for their respective foster parents. Of course, they fall in love due to the influence of the god Eros. Daphnis is taught lovemaking by a woman from the nearby city and there are several suitors for Chloé. She is abducted by pirates and Daphnis is disconsolate. Nymphs entreat the god Pan to save Chloé, which he does. The young couple consummates their love, are recognized by their birth parents, get married and live happily ever after in the countryside.

Ravel described his concept of Daphnis et Chloé as “a great choreographic symphony...a vast musical fresco, less scrupulous in questions of archeology than faithful to the Greece of my dreams, which identifies quite willingly with that imagined and depicted by late 18thcentury French artists. The work is constructed symphonically according to a strict tonal plan, by means of a small number of motifs, whose development assures the symphonic homogeneity of the work.”

— Iván Enrique Rodríguez

Ravel’s music is brilliantly atmospheric, evoking scenes through stunning orchestration. Each section is a kaleidoscope of shimmering orchestral colors and hypnotic rhythms. The travails and triumph of love are finely wrought in sensuous music. From the luxurious sunrise at the opening to the orgiastic closing bacchanal, the musical journey is utterly captivating. ETW