OKC PHIL 2016-2017 program magazine, edition 1 by OKC Phil Program Magazine

WELCOME H

DEBBIE FLEMING, President Oklahoma Philharmonic Society, Inc. Welcome. We’re glad you’re here! The Philharmonic’s mission is to provide joy and inspiration through orchestral music… so whether you’re attending a Classics performance, a Pops concert, a Discovery Family Series Concert or The Christmas Show, we hope you are entertained and inspired by beautiful music. We’re exceptionally proud of our orchestra and musicians as they are recognized as one of the most successful orchestras in the country. This is our 28th season and we find ourselves in a time of transition. Joel Levine, our much-loved founding music director since 1988, has announced his intention to retire and we’re searching for a new Music Director. Guest candidates will conduct six of our Classics concerts this season and you will have the opportunity to help us in our evaluation following each concert. We have also transitioned to new offices located on the first floor of the new Arts District Garage. The Phil’s Board of Directors is grateful to you, our audience, as well as to all who help make our music happen - The Philharmonic musicians; our staff headed by executive director, Eddie Walker; our individual and corporate donors; endowment and foundation supporters. We are also very grateful to our volunteers including the Orchestra League and Associate Board. Your support and generosity make it possible for us to contribute to the vibrancy of Oklahoma City’s culture and lifestyle and to educate and expose young children to live orchestral music, often for the first time. Sit back, Listen and Enjoy! We hope this OKC Philharmonic performance is fun and inspiring and you will join us again soon for another Philharmonic experience.

JULIA HUNT, President Oklahoma City Orchestra League, Inc. On behalf of the Oklahoma City Orchestra League, let me welcome you to the 28th season of the OKC Philharmonic and express our gratitude to Maestro Joel Levine and our talented musicians for their gift of music! Orchestra League members are volunteers who share an appreciation for music and its gift to the human soul. We enjoy a unique relationship with the OKC Phil and together we work to provide programs that educate children and stimulate interest in orchestral music. The League also provides instrumental competitions, promoting our musicians of the future. We believe through education and awareness we can ensure the legacy of orchestral music. Providing support to the Phil and to our educational programs, the League members work throughout the year to bring fun and exciting events to the community. The popular Symphony Show House has been a spring tradition for over forty years! Our lavish fall event, the Maestro’s Ball, will be October 22nd. Join us by visiting www.okcorchestraleague.org. Thank you and enjoy the concert season!

CHRISTOPHER LLOYD, President Associate Board As the 28th season begins we once again have the opportunity to welcome something new. We have the chance to experience new sounds, new selections, new talent and for some develop a new love of orchestral music. As President of the Philharmonic’s Associate Board, it is my honor to welcome each of you and also celebrate the many talented musicians and hard-working staff and volunteers that are integral in the success of the Philharmonic. The function of the Associate Board is to engage young professionals into the mission and efforts of the Phil. The Phil is so much more than just concerts and we want the next generation to know. Additionally, through the Overture group, we hope to enhance relationships and community interaction through volunteer opportunities, networking events, concert attendance and hosting of the after-parties for selected performances. Thank you to each of you, not just for purchasing a ticket, but also for choosing to spend an evening with the incredible OKC Philharmonic!

MUSIC DIRECTOR

JOEL LEVINE Beginning his twenty-eighth season leading the Philharmonic, Joel Levine is the longest serving music director in our City’s history. Including his tenure with the Oklahoma Symphony, Maestro Levine is enjoying his thirty-eighth year on the podium at Civic Center Music Hall. Under his leadership, the orchestra has appeared on international, national and local television broadcasts and released several recordings. Maestro Levine’s reputation for exceptional musical collaboration has enabled the Philharmonic to present one of the country’s most distinguished series of world-renowned guest artists. He has collaborated with many of the greatest performing artists of our time and has been called a “remarkable musician and visionary” by Yo-Yo Ma. For three decades, Maestro Levine has conducted many of the city’s historic programs including “Porgy and Bess” with the legendary Cab Calloway, the Paris Opera Ballet starring Rudolf Nureyev, “Rodeo” for Ballet Oklahoma under the direction of Agnes DeMille, the Philharmonic’s 100th anniversary production of “La Boheme,” the State of Oklahoma’s official Centennial Celebration, and the National Memorial Service following the Oklahoma City bombing. He has also conducted Young People’s programs around the State for thousands of children, twenty-five OKC productions of “The Nutcracker” since 1980, and led programs featuring Oklahoma’s celebrated native stars including Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, Jimmy Webb, Patti Page, Blake Shelton, Toby Keith, Kristin Chenoweth, Kelli O’Hara, Megan Mullally, Sandi Patty, and Leona Mitchell. He has received international recognition for performances reflecting many different styles in the classical repertoire. His program of Schubert and Schumann symphonies with Germany’s Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra led the reviewer to write: “Joel Levine proved that he is an absolute master of his profession; the audience honored this impressive performance with much applause.” Engagements in the great European capitols include concerts with the Czech National Symphony in Prague’s Dvorák Hall, and the Symphony Orchestra of Portugal in Lisbon. Other international invitations have included orchestras in Spain, Israel, Belgrade, Bucharest, and an appearance with the Mexico City Philharmonic. Maestro Levine has conducted many of America’s major ensembles including three seasons with The National Symphony

Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the orchestras of St. Louis, Detroit, Minneapolis, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Seattle, Denver, Nashville and New Orleans. The national press has praised his performances: “the orchestra played with clarity and energy” (Los Angeles Times), “fine musicianship” (Washington Post), “Levine brings the needed sheen and rhythmic verve to the music” (Minneapolis Star), “Levine drew a crisp, bold and tonally lustrous account of the varied score from the orchestra and full-throated chorus” (Houston Post). His Detroit Symphony performances received “four stars” - the highest rating from the Detroit News. Known for his work with major artists in the world of classical dance, he has conducted for three of the greatest male dancers: Rudolf Nureyev, Edward Villella, and Peter Martins. For the Kansas City Ballet, he collaborated with famed choreographer, Alvin Ailey, and conducted the first contemporary performance of a “lost” Balanchine ballet, “Divertimento.” Maestro Levine’s résumé includes collaborations with many of the immortal names of jazz, musical theater, film and television. Several of his recordings with Mexico’s Xalapa Symphony Orchestra are in international release and have been broadcast on the BBC. Maestro Levine has taken an active role in the cultural life of Oklahoma City since he arrived in 1976 as music director for Lyric Theatre. He worked actively for the passage of MAPS 1 and played a key role in the renovation of our hall. For his work as a founder of the Orchestra, he received The Governor’s Arts Award (1989), was named Oklahoma Musician Of The Year (1991), is a 2008 “Treasures of Tomorrow” honoree of the Oklahoma Health Center Foundation, received the 2014 Stanley Draper Award for his contributions to downtown Oklahoma City, and has received an Honorary Doctorate in Music from Oklahoma City University.

“Levine brings the needed sheen and rhythmic verve to the music.” — Minneapolis Star

www.okcphil.org

E. L. & THELMA GAYLORD FOUNDATION PRESENTS

HAUNT THE PHIL SUNDAY, OCT 30, 2016 Come join us for a thrilling concert of Halloween music that will include such spooky selections as the Danse Macabre, A Night on Bald Mountain, and Ghostbusters! An afternoon filled with exciting tricks and treats for kids of all ages! Don’t forget to wear your favorite costume!

SUNDAY, JAN 29, 2017 Grammy Award winning Sugar Free Allstars will rock the house with your favorite, kid tunes with the positive messages we love! Don’t miss the fun as we rock with songs like Banana Pudding, Gotta Get Up, Ready to Give up Teddy, The Train Beat Song, He’s okay (The Spider Song), Monster Truck and More.

SUNDAY, MAR 26, 2017 The OKC Phil will present an energetic, fast-paced concert that highlights music and machines. From the driving rhythms of Beethoven, to musical depictions of trains, planes, automobiles, and MORE! This concert will take you on a wild ride and capture your inventive spirit as we explore how music and machines come together!

OKLAHOMA PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY, INC.

P R O V I D I N G

I N S P I R A T I O N

A N D

J O Y

T H R O U G H

O R C H E S T R A L

M U S I C .

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers

Lifetime Directors

Debbie Fleming President

Jane B. Harlow Patrick Alexander

Louise Churchill President Elect

Directors

Teresa Cooper Vice President Jeff Starling Treasurer Brent Hart Secretary Renate Wiggin Immediate Past President

Steve Agee Edward Barth Elliot Chambers Robert Clements Larry Davis Lori Dickinson Joseph Fleckinger Ryan Free Kirk Hammons Patricia Horn Julia Hunt Jane Jayroe Gamble Michael E. Joseph

Kathy Kerr Wesley Knight Brad Krieger Christopher Lloyd Carol McCoy David McLaughlin Don Rowlett Melissa Scaramucci John Shelton Glenna Tanenbaum Mark Taylor Donita Thomas Tony Welch Cheryl Brashear White

Honorary Directors Josephine Freede Mary Nichols Dick Sias

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Simone Alexander Customer Service

Daniel Hardt Finance Director

Judy Smedley Administrative Assistant

Katie Barrick Education Coordinator

Stephen Howard Database/Records Manager

Chris Stinchcomb Concert Operations and P.R. Coordinator

Tara Burnett Development Coordinator

Kris Markes General Manager

Eddie Walker Executive Director

Pam Glyckherr Planned Giving Director

Jennifer Owens Development Director

Susan Webb Marketing & P.R. Director

Ulises Serrano Customer Service

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Classical KUCO 90.1 Garman Productions Heritage Press

Oklahoma City Police Association Production Essentials, Inc. Reynolds Ford Ryan Audio Services, LLC.

Stubble Creative, Inc. The Skirvin Hotel Tuxedo Junction

THE OKLAHOMA PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY, INC. 424 Colcord Drive, Ste. B • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73102 Tickets: 405-842-5387 • Administration: 405-232-7575 • Fax: 405-232-4353 • www.okcphil.org

OKLAHOMA CITY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE, INC.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Julia Hunt Polly Worthington President Programs VP

Lisa Reed OCOL Executive Director, Ex-Officio

Carol McCoy Casey Hasenbeck President-Elect Membership VP

Eddie Walker Executive Director, Oklahoma City Philharmonic (Ex-Officio, Advisory)

Cinda Lafferty Judy Austin Governance VP & Secretary Ways & Means VP Sarah Sagran Deanna Pendleton Financial VP & Treasurer Past President, Ex-Officio

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Martha Pendleton Competitions Chair Linda Rowland-Woody Education Chair

Margaret Biggs Randy Buttram Rita Dearmon Jean Hartsuck Cheryl Hudak Dixie Jensen

Drake Keith Debbie Minter Judy Moore Pat Sholar Glenna Tanenbaum

Iva Fleck Priscilla Braun Susan Robinson Minna Hall Yvette Fleckinger June Parry Jean Hartsuck Grace Ryan Judy Austin LaDonna Meinders Dixie Jensen Lois Salmeron

Glenna Tanenbaum Debbie McKinney Anna McMillin Sue Francis Peggy Lunde Cathy Wallace Sharon Shelton Rhonda White Cindy Raby Debbie Minter Deanna Pendleton

PAST PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL Mary Ruth Ferguson Katherine Kirk Janelle Everest Lael Treat Josephine Freede Jane Harlow Jane Rodgers Joyce Bishop Ann Taylor Lil Ross Sandra Meyers Mona Preuss

ORCHESTRA LEAGUE OFFICE 3815 N. Santa Fe Ave., Ste. 105 • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73118 Phone: 405-601-4245 • Fax: 405-601-4278 Hours: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. • E-mail: orchleag@coxinet.net Website: www.okcorchestraleague.org

THE ORCHESTRA -

JOEL LEVINE, Music Director and Conductor EDDIE WALKER, Executive Director

FIRST VIOLIN

Gregory Lee, Concertmaster Gertrude Kennedy Chair Marat Gabdullin, Associate Concertmaster Densi Rushing, Assistant Concertmaster Sam Formicola Hong Zhu Beth Sievers James Thomson Megan McClendon Deborah McDonald Janet Gorton Ai-Wei Chang Lu Deng

SECOND VIOLIN

Katrin Stamatis, Principal McCasland Foundation Chair Catherine Reaves Sophia Ro Brenda Wagner Sarah Brown Mary Joan Johnston Angelica Pereira Cindy Zhang Laura Young Sarah McKiddy June McCoy Hannah Murray

VIOLA

Royce McLarry, Principal Mark Neumann Joseph Guevara Kelli Ingels Steve Waddell Joseph Young Donna Cain Brian Frew Shaohong Yuan Derek Mosloff

CELLO

Jonathan Ruck, Principal Orchestra League Chair Tomasz Zieba, Associate Principal

Meredith Blecha-Wells Valorie Tatge Emily Stoops Jim Shelley Angelika Machnik-Jones Jean Statham Dorothy Hays Rob Bradshaw

BASS

George Speed, Principal Anthony Stoops, Co-Principal Larry Moore Parvin Smith Mark Osborn Jesus Villarreal Christine Craddock Kara Koehn

FLUTE

CONTRABASSOON Barre Griffith

HORN

Kate Pritchett, Principal G. Rainey Williams Chair Nancy Halliday Mirella Gauldin Frank Goforth

TRUMPET

Karl Sievers, Principal Jay Wilkinson Michael Anderson

TROMBONE

John Allen, Principal Philip Martinson Noel Seals, Bass Trombone

Valerie Watts, Principal Parthena Owens Nancy Stizza-Ortega

TUBA

PICCOLO

PERCUSSION

Nancy Stizza-Ortega

OBOE

Ted Cox, Principal David Steffens, Principal Patrick Womack Roger Owens

Lisa Harvey-Reed, Principal Dan Schwartz Katherine McLemore

TIMPANI

ENGLISH HORN

HARP

Dan Schwartz

Gaye LeBlanc Germain, Principal

CLARINET

PIANO

Bradford Behn, Principal Tara Heitz James Meiller

BASS/E-FLAT CLARINET James Meiller

Lance Drege, Principal

Peggy Payne, Principal

PERSONNEL MANAGER/LIBRARIAN Michael Helt

PRODUCTION MANAGER Leroy Newman

BASSOON

Rod Ackmann, Principal James Brewer Barre Griffith Larry Reed

PLANNED GIVING

NCORE SOCIETY

O F

T H E

O K L A H O M A

P H I L H A R M O N I C

S O C I E T Y ,

I N C .

The Oklahoma Philharmonic Society, Inc. is honored to recognize its Encore Society members â€” visionary thinkers who have provided for the future of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic through their estate plans.

Anonymous (3)

Joel Levine

Steven C. Agee, Ph.D.

John and Caroline Linehan

Mr. and Mrs. Patrick B. Alexander

Mr. and Mrs. Marvin C. Lunde, Jr.

Gary and Jan Allison

Mrs. Jackie Marron

Dr. Jay Jacquelyn Bass

Mr. and Mrs. John McCaleb

William I. and Louise C. Churchill

Jean and David McLaughlin

Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Clements

R.M. (Mickey) McVay

Thomas and Rita Dearmon

Robert B. Milsten

Dr. and Mrs. James D. Dixson

W. Cheryl Moore

Paul Fleming

Carl Andrew Rath

Hugh Gibson

Mr. and Mrs. William J. Ross

Pam and Gary Glyckherr

Drs. Lois and John Salmeron

Carey and Gayle Goad

Mr. and Mrs. William F. Shdeed

Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Gowman

Richard L. Sias

Carol M. Hall

Doug and Susie Stussi

Ms. Olivia Hanson

Larry and Leah Westmoreland

Jane B. Harlow

Mrs. Martha V. Williams

Dr. and Mrs. James Hartsuck

Mr. John S. Williams

Mr. and Mrs. Michael E. Joseph

Mr. and Mrs. Don T. Zachritz

THANK YOU The Oklahoma Philharmonic Society, Inc. is grateful for the support of caring patrons who want to pass on a legacy of extraordinary music to future generations. You can join this special group of music enthusiasts by including a gift for the OKC Philharmonicâ€™s future in your own will or estate plan. For more information on how to become an Encore Society member, contact the Planned Giving Director at (405) 231-0146 or pam@okcphil.org.

NICHOLS HILLS PLAZA 63RD & N. WESTERN RMEYERSOKC.COM

405.842.1478

GIFTS TO THE PHILHARMONIC The Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the commitment and generosity of individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies that support our mission. To help us provide inspiration and joy to the community through performances and education programs, please contact the Philharmonic’s Development Office at (405) 232-7575. This Annual Fund recognition reflects the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 season. Contributions of $100 and above are listed through July 25, 2016. If your name has been misspelled or omitted, please accept our apologies and inform us of the error by calling the phone number listed above. Thank you for your generous support!

CORPORATIONS, FOUNDATIONS & GOVERNMENT Express their generous commitment to the community.

UNDERWRITER $40,000 & Above Allied Arts Foundation The Chickasaw Nation Devon Energy Corporation Inasmuch Foundation Kirkpatrick Foundation Inc. Oklahoma Arts Council Oklahoma City Orchestra League, Inc. The Oklahoman The Skirvin Hilton Hotel

Tyler Media Co./Magic 104.1FM and KOMA W&W Steel, LLC Williams Companies Wilshire Charitable Foundation

GOLD SPONSORS $5,000 - $9,999 The Crawley Family Foundation Garman Productions Mekusukey Oil Company, LLC

PLATINUM SPONSORS $10,000 - $39,999

SILVER SPONSORS $3,000 - $4,999

405 Magazine Ad Astra Foundation American Energy Partners American Fidelity Foundation Anschutz Family Foundation/ The Oklahoman Media Company BancFirst Bank of Oklahoma The Boeing Company E.L. and Thelma Gaylord Foundation Express Employment Professionals HSPG and Associates, PC Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Mathis Brothers Furniture Co., Inc. MidFirst Bank OGE Energy Corp. Presbyterian Health Foundation Tri-State Industrial Group, LLC

Clements Foods Foundation Globe Life and Accident Insurance Company Gordon P. and Ann G. Getty Foundation Great Plains Coca-Cola Bottling Company Linn Energy, LLC. OK Gazette The Friday

GOLD PARTNERS $1,250 - $1,749 Flips Restaurant, Inc. The Fred Jones Family Foundation Morningstar Properties Norick Investment Company RealTime Layout Solutions, LLP

SILVER PARTNERS $750 - $1,249 Charles M. Zeeck, CPM M-D Building Products, Inc.

BRONZE PARTNERS $300 - $749 The Kerr Foundation, Inc. The Reserve Petroleum Company

BUSINESS MEMBERS $100 - $299

BRONZE SPONSORS $1,750 - $2,999

Special Thanks for assistance with our office relocation:

Anthony Flooring Systems Inc. The Black Chronicle Oklahoma Allergy & Asthma Clinic Paycom

Kirkpatrick Family Fund E.L. & Thelma Gaylord Foundation Presbyterian Health Foundation Oklahoma City Philharmonic Foundation

MATCHING GIFT COMPANIES AND FOUNDATIONS Double the impact of an individual’s gift. American Fidelity Corporation Bank of America Matching Gifts Program Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation

Testers, Inc. Wells Fargo

ExxonMobil Foundation Inasmuch Foundation

GIFTS TO THE PHILHARMONIC MAESTRO SOCIETY Providing leadership support.

MAESTRO SOCIETY

Guarantor $10,000 and above Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Evans, II The Freede Family John and Claudia Holliman Jean and David McLaughlin Mary D. Nichols Nancy and George Records Mr. and Mrs. John Richels Mr. Richard L. Sias Mr. and Mrs. Richard Tanenbaum Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Wiggin

Benefactor $5,000 - $9,999 Steven C. Agee, Ph.D. Mr. and Mrs. Patrick B. Alexander Mrs. Ann S. Alspaugh Mrs. Betty D. Bellis-Mankin Marilyn and Bill Boettger Priscilla and Jordan Braun Molly and Jim Crawley Mr. and Mrs. Douglas R. Cummings Mr. and Mrs. John A. Frost Mrs. Jane B. Harlow Mrs. Janice C. Jenkins Mr. Albert Lang Ms. Veronica Pastel-Egelston Mr. H.E. Rainbolt Mr. and Mrs. Douglas J. Stussi

INDIVIDUALS Providing essential support for the Annual Fund. Patron $3,000 - $4,999 William I. and Louise Churchill Lawrence H. & Ronna C. Davis Mrs. Carlene Edwards Paul and Debbie Fleming Mrs. Bonnie B. Hefner Mr. Robert B. Milsten Mrs. Ruby C. Petty Ms. Kathleen J Weidley Mrs. Martha V. Williams Mr. and Mrs. Richard Young

Sustainer $1,750 - $2,999 Dr. and Mrs. Dewayne Andrews Dr. and Mrs. John C. Andrus Dr. John E. Beavers Mr. Larry Blackledge Mr. and Mrs. Mike Borelli Dr. and Mrs. L. Joe Bradley Mr. and Mrs. Russal Brawley Dr. and Mrs. Robert C. Brown Mr. and Mrs. David G. Bryant Phil and Cathy Busey Mrs. Teresa Cooper Mr. and Mrs. David C. DeLana

Mr. and Mrs. Sidney G. Dunagan Mrs. Patty Empie Mr. and Mrs. George Faulk Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Fleckinger Mr. Jerry A. Gilbert Mr. and Mrs. Carey Don Goad Mr. G. Curtis Harris Dr. and Mrs. James M. Hartsuck Mrs. Janice Singer Jankowsky and Mr. Joseph S. Jankowsky Tom and Cindy Janssen Kim and Michael Joseph Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Joseph Terry and Kathy Kerr Ms. Rita Lapham Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Levy, Jr. Cindy and Johnny McCharen Dr. and Mrs. Patrick McKee Mr. and Mrs. Herman Meinders Ms. Annie Moreau Mrs. Robert Z. Naifeh Mr. and Mrs. J. Larry Nichols Mr. and Mrs. Ronald J. Norick Mr. J. Edward Oliver Mr. and Mrs. William G. Paul Dr. Joseph H. Phillips Mr. and Mrs. Jerry W. Plant Drs. Gary and Mary Porter Mr. and Mrs. Ray H. Potts

Mr. Joshua Powell Kathryn and Robert Prescott Mr. and Mrs. Steven Raybourn Mrs. Don F. Rhinehart Mr. and Mrs. William J. Ross Mr. Donald Rowlett Lance and Cindy Ruffel Mr. and Mrs. Patrick J. Ryan Drs. Lois and John Salmeron Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Sanchez Mrs. Sally B. Saunders Ms. Jeanne Hoffman Smith Ms. Jane Smythe Mr. and Mrs. John E. Stonecipher Mr. & Mrs. Frederick K. Thompson Mrs. Billie Thrash William P. Tunell, M.D. Mrs. Janet Walker Ron and Janie Walker John and Lou Waller Mr. Tom L. Ward Mrs. Anne Workman Mrs. Carol Wright

Associate $1,250 - $1,749 Mrs. Richard E. Adams, Jr. Mr. Barry Anderson CONTINUED ON PAGE 57

GALA OPENING NIGHT September 10, 2016 8:00 P.M.

CONCERT PREVIEW SCHEDULE

CLASSICS YEFIM BRONFMAN, PIANO JOEL LEVINE, CONDUCTOR

SEPTEMBER 10, 2016:: Eddie Walker Executive Director, OKC Philharmonic OCTOBER 1, 2016:: Andrés Franco Guest Conductor NOVEMBER 19, 2016:: Alexander Mickelthwate Guest Conductor JANUARY 7, 2017:: David Lockington Guest Conductor

FALLA .......................... Interlude and Dance from La vida breve

ARNOLD ....................... English Dances, Second Set, Op. 33

Allegro non troppo Con brio Grazioso Giubiloso—Lento e Maestoso

STRAUSS, R. .................. Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), Op. 24

FEBRUARY 4, 2017:: Andreas Delfs Guest Conductor

MARCH 4, 2017::

TCHAIKOVSKY .............. Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, Op. 44

Daniel Hege Guest Conductor

MARCH 25, 2017:: Vladimir Kulenovic Guest Conductor

INTERMISSION

Allegro brillante Andante non troppo Allegro con fuoco

*First Oklahoma City Performance

Yefim Bronfman, piano

APRIL 15, 2017:: Joel Levine Music Director, OKC Philharmonic

THIS CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:

Text 95577 to get our new app keeping you up to date on the latest Philharmonic Info Listen to a broadcast of this performance on KUCO 90.1 FM on Wednesday, October 12 at 8 pm and Saturday, October 15 at 8 am on “Performance Oklahoma”. Simultaneous internet streaming is also available during the broadcast.

GUEST ARTIST C

YEFIM BRONFMAN Internationally recognized as one of today’s most acclaimed and admired pianists, Yefim Bronfman stands among a handful of artists regularly sought by festivals, orchestras, conductors and recital series. His commanding technique, power and exceptional lyrical gifts are consistently acknowledged by the press and audiences alike. To conclude last season’s residency with the Staatskapelle Dresden, conducted by Christian Thielemann in Dresden and on tour in Europe, November 2016 brings the partnership to Tokyo’s Suntory Hall for its 30th anniversary celebrations. Acknowledging a relationship of more than 30 years, Mr. Bronfman will also open the season with the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta in October and participate in the orchestra’s 80th birthday celebrations in December. As a regular guest, he will return to the orchestras of New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco, St. Louis, Houston, and Dallas among many others. A cross-country series of recitals will culminate in the spring with a program in the Isaac Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall. In Europe he will tour extensively in recital and with orchestras in cities including Berlin, Vienna, Rome, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Brussels, and Leipzig. Continuing his long-standing partnership with Pinchas Zukerman, the duo will appear in Copenhagen, Milan, Naples, Barcelona, Berlin, and St. Petersburg in March. Always keen to explore chamber music repertoire, Mr., Bronfman’s partners have also included Martha Argerich, Magdalena Kožená, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Emmanuel Pahud, and many others. Mr. Bronfman works regularly with an illustrious group of conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Alan Gilbert, Mariss Jansons, Vladimir Jurowski, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Franz Welser-Möst, and David Zinman. Summer engagements have regularly taken him to the major festivals of Europe and the US. He has also given numerous solo recitals in the leading halls of North America, Europe and the Far East, including acclaimed debuts at Carnegie Hall in 1989 and Avery Fisher Hall in 1993. In 1991 he gave a series of joint recitals with Isaac Stern in Russia, marking Mr. Bronfman’s first public performances there since his emigration to Israel at age 15. That same year he was awarded

the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest honors given to American instrumentalists. In 2010 he was honored as the recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane prize in piano performance from Northwestern University. Widely praised for his solo, chamber and orchestral recordings, Mr. Bronfman was nominated for a Grammy® Award in 2009 for his Deutsche Grammophon recording of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s piano concerto with Salonen conducting, and in 1997 he won a Grammy® Award, again with Salonen, for his recording of the three Bartók Piano Concerti and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His prolific catalog of recordings includes works for two pianos by Rachmaninoff and Brahms with Emanuel Ax, the complete Prokofiev concerti with the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, a Schubert/Mozart disc with the Zukerman Chamber Players and the soundtrack to Disney’s Fantasia 2000. His most recent CD releases are the 2014 Grammy® nominated Magnus Lindberg’s Piano Concerto No. 2 commissioned for him and performed by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert on the Da Capo label; Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Mariss Jansons and the Bayerischer Rundfunk; a recital disc, Perspectives, complementing Mr. Bronfman’s designation as a Carnegie Hall ‘Perspectives’ artist for the 2007-08 season; and recordings of all the Beethoven piano concerti as well as the Triple Concerto together with violinist Gil Shaham, cellist Truls Mørk, and the Tönhalle Orchestra Zürich under David Zinman for the Arte Nova/ BMG label. Now available on DVD are his performances of Liszt’s second piano concerto with Franz Welser-Möst and the Vienna Philharmonic from Schoenbrunn, 2010 on Deutsche Grammophon; Beethoven’s fifth piano concerto with Andris Nelsons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from the 2011 Lucerne Festival, and Rachmaninoff’s third concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle on the EuroArts label and both Brahms concerti with Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra (2015). Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union, Yefim Bronfman immigrated to Israel with his family in 1973, where he studied with pianist Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. In the United States, he studied at The Juilliard School, Marlboro School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music, under Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher, and Rudolf Serkin. He is a 2015 recipient of an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music. Yefim Bronfman became an American citizen in July 1989.

Interlude and Dance from the opera La vida breve Manuel de Falla First Performance: 3/17/1946 Conductor: Victor Alessandro Last Performance: 10/18/1997 Conductor: Kate Tamarkin Born: November 23, 1876, in Cádiz, Spain Died: November 14, 1946, in Alta Gracia, Argentina Work composed: The opera La vida breve was written from August 24, 1904, through (at latest) March 31, 1905. Work premiered: April 1, 1913, at the Casino Municipal de Nice, France, with M.J. Miranne conducting Instrumentation: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, castanets, glockenspiel, two harps, celesta, and strings

PROGRAM NOTES I

in harmony, counterpoint, and composition. Nonetheless, Falla’s first steps in his chosen profession were far from dynamic. Unable to scrape together a living by composing serious music and not quite a good enough pianist to find acclaim in the recital hall, he turned to the closest enterprise that might prove commercially viable, the composition of zarzuelas, peculiarly Spanish stage works that might be described as a regional variation on operetta. He composed six between 1900 and 1904; only one reached the stage, and it left him no better off financially than before. Still, those early experiences helped clarify his goals, and they prepared him to realize his first certifiable masterpiece, La vida breve (The Brief Life), a true opera, which he wrote in 1904-05. But plans to produce it fell through, and Falla, recognizing that Spain was too far off the beaten path of cutting-edge culture for his restless talent, left in 1907 for where the action was—Paris. He remained there until 1914, associating closely with Dukas, Debussy, and Ravel. During those years he refined his craft as a musical Impressionist without sacrificing the Spanish flavor that lay at the root of his inspiration. The outbreak of World War I forced his return to Spain, but this time Madrid proved more amenable to his talent. He arrived just in time to catch the Spanish premiere of La vida breve, a year after the work’s world premiere, which had taken place in Nice, in French translation—an ironic twist of fate for this quintessentially Spanish opera. Further stage works rich in Spanish flavor flowed from his pen, beginning with El amor brujo (1915), and in 1916 Falla heard the premiere of his first major symphonic work, Noches en los jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain). The ballet El sombrero de tres picos (The Threecornered Hat) followed in 1916-17, and the puppet opera El retablo de Maese Pedro (Master Peter’s Puppet Play) in 1919-22, after which he would spend two decades working on his final stage work, the “scenic cantata” Atlántida, which he left incomplete when he died, in 1946 in Argentina, where he had been stranded since the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

La vida breve was the 28-year-old composer’s winning submission to a competition for new Spanish works announced by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (Madrid) in 1904. Falla and his librettist, Carlos Fernández Shaw, wrote three prospective subjects on slips of paper and left the decision to the chance of the draw. La vida breve was picked, and they completed it in seven months. One of the other possibilities, El sombrero de tres picos, went on the back burner, to be realized more than a decade later. As a teenager, Manuel de Falla y Matheu set his sights on becoming an author, but by the time he was 20 he acquiesced instead to a consuming passion for music. His youthful piano studies paid off, and he advanced quickly through musical instruction, graduating in 1899 from the Madrid Conservatory with a first prize in piano and a thorough education

In La vida breve we have a notable Spanish entry in the annals of verismo opera, with a characteristic plot involving failed love, disreputable behavior, and a violent death, all set “in contemporary times” against the realistic sounds of an evocative, somewhat gritty locale—in this case, El Albaicín, which was the predominantly Gypsy neighborhood

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of Granada. Listening to Falla’s remarkable score one cannot help thinking that this is music by someone who admired Puccini, and particularly by someone deeply familiar with Tosca (premiered four years earlier), which La vida breve apes in certain musical details. Its libretto does what it has to do competently, even if Salud, the spurned heroine, is the only character revealed in much depth—and if her sudden dénouement seems implausible. Still, it was a signal achievement, and Falla declared in 1910: “What had been published before 1904 is worthless. … La vida breve is the first work I can count on and perhaps the one I prefer.” Salud is a young woman who has been Paco’s girlfriend but is unaware that he has become enamored of Carmela. Salud innocently stumbles across the festivities for Paco and Carmela’s impending wedding. She accuses Paco of deceiving and abandoning her, and finally demands that he kill her. When he refuses, she advances toward him and falls dead at his feet.

English Dances, Second Set, Op. 33 Malcolm Arnold First Performance: 11/18/1958 Conductor: Guy Fraser Harrison Last Performance: 11/15/2003 Conductor: Joel Levine Born: October 21, 1921, in Northampton, England Died: September 23, 2006, in Norwich, England Work composed: 1951 Work premiered: August 5, 1952, at a Henry Wood Promenade Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, with Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra Instrumentation: Three flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, celesta, harp, and strings

The popular concert extract known as the “Interlude and Dance” links two passages from the work’s second act, though in reverse order from how they appear in the opera. The interlude separates the act’s two scenes, standing at the point where Salud (accompanied by her uncle) enters the wedding banquet for her final, fatal confrontation with the man who has spurned her. The moody transition shifts restlessly among various emotions, sometimes calm, sometimes nervous. The music breaks into the vivacious dance, overflowing with Spanish flavor, which she had seen when she looked in at the guests in the preceding scene.

In the Composer’s Words Later in life Falla enumerated what motivated him when he composed La vida breve: I had four aims in mind while making La vida breve. 1. To make a Spanish opera in dramatic form, something which I could find no example of in the entire history of Spanish lyrical theatre. 2. To compose the music from a series of popular songs and dances. 3. To try, above and beyond all else, to evoke the feelings of fear and joy, of hope and torment, of life and death, of exultation and depression, all linked to certain personal images of place, moments, landscape, etc. 4. To notch up some money in order to carry on working.

If one had asked Malcolm Arnold which items in his vast catalogue he would most like to represent him in posterity, he would probably have pointed to his nine symphonies. They peppered his career at regular intervals from 1949, just when he committed to a full-time composing career, until 1986, by which time he was doing his best to reassemble a life that had been decimated by depression. These are the works in which Arnold grappled most overtly with personal, political, and strictly musical issues that interested him. They are also the compositions that most clearly connect him to the mainstream of the European tradition, and particularly to the composers he cited as wielding influence on his style: Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Sibelius, Vaughan Williams. Then, too,

PROGRAM NOTES All Over the Map One of the traits Malcolm Arnold shared with his forebear Vaughan Williams was a passion for folk music from throughout the British Isles, which he might incorporate into his original compositions through quotation or imitation. Among Arnold’s many folk-infused orchestral works we find not only his two sets of English Dances (1950-51), but also A Sussex Overture (1951), Four Cornish Dances (1966), Four Irish Dances (1986), Four Welsh Dances (1989), and A Manx Suite (1990). Scotland is represented in his catalogue not only by his Four Scottish Dances (1957) but also by his Tam o’Shanter Overture (1955). Asked in a 1991 interview about the populist streak in his music, Arnold replied: “All the concert music is meant for the largest possible audience that can be had. I say always, when I write music, the loneliest thing is to sit at a desk with a piece of manuscript paper in front of you, and no thought of an audience.” — JMK

he might have pointed to his twenty-odd concertos, which he conceived as musical portraits of the soloists for whom they were written, an A-list of instrumentalist friends that included the violinist Yehudi Menuhin, the oboist Leon Goossens, the clarinetist Benny Goodman, the horn-player Dennis Brain, and the guitarist Julian Bream. The listening public, however, is not likely to be dissuaded from pigeonholing Arnold as an unusually adroit master of light music. If most of his 130 film scores have been forgotten along with the movies to which they were attached, a handful live on as classics, including those for the David Lean trilogy The Sound Barrier (1952), Hobson’s Choice (1953), and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), an Oscar-winning score with an unforgettable march. British music-lovers of advancing maturity are sure to remember Arnold as a key collaborator of the tuba-playing humorist Gerard Hoffnung, for whom he produced his once famous A Grand Grand Overture (1956) for Organ, Three Vacuum Cleaners, Electric Floor Polisher, Four Rifles, and Orchestra— perfect ammunition for Hoffnung’s mock-serious skewering of musical pomposity.

the foot to earn a medical discharge. Although he actively encouraged composers who worked in the avant-garde, serialist vein that was nearly de rigueur in the post-War years, his own compositions inhabited an entirely tonal, melodious world that earned him the reputation of a reactionary. This nearly did him in. To quote from the 3000-word (!) obituary British Bandsman magazine ran in 2006: “The effects of a heavy work schedule, together with the apparent critical disdain of his serious works, caused Arnold to suffer a mental collapse. Like Elgar before him, he entered into deep depression and began to rely more and more upon liquid sustenance of an alcoholic nature. Several breakdowns and suicide attempts followed and, although he managed to continue writing substantial works, many of them … reveal a troubled inner world.” His various collections of dances from the British Isles, however, are innocent of such cares. His two sets of English Dances (Op. 27 and Op. 33) came about in response to a request from the English publishing house Alfred Lengnick & Co. The company derived the bulk of its business form being the sole British representative of the Simrock music publishers of Germany, whose imprint was rich in works by Brahms and Dvořák. The folks at Lengnick couldn’t help noticing that Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances qualified as “cash cows.” Since the firm was also developing a sideline publishing British composers in the years just after World War II, it asked a number of them to compose English counterparts to Dvořák’s evergreen sets. Arnold provided a group of four such pieces in 1950 and then the next year followed up with four more, that Second Set being the one performed here. The opening Allegro non troppo of the Second Set is the longest movement of the two collections, although even it runs only about three minutes. It opens with a perky tune spotlighting the flute section; when Arnold created an arrangement for brass band, he asked the players to whistle this opening melody, echoing what he had done in his famous Colonel Bogey March from The Bridge Over the River Kwai. The second movement is based on a jaunty jig-tune, which escalates in grandeur as brass and percussion instruments gradually swell the tempo. The relaxed Grazioso movement has a pastoral feel, at least at the beginning, its modal harmonies recalling the sound of Vaughan Williams at his most folksy. To conclude, Arnold offers a jubilant movement pumped up by a majestic trombone tune in the middle.

His life was a roller coaster marked by extreme behavior and emotional swings. He began his career as a trumpeter in the London Philharmonic. Declared ineligible for active service in World War II, he was assigned to play in a military band; he found the job so appalling that he shot himself through

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Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), Op. 24 Richard Strauss First Performance: 4/6/1952 Conductor: Guy Fraser Harrison Last Performance: 11/14/2009 Conductor: Joel Levine Born: June 11, 1864, in Munich, Bavaria, Germany Died: September 8, 1949, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Work composed: 1888-89, completed on November 18 of the latter year Work premiered: June 21, 1890, at the Eisenach Stadttheater in Germany, with the composer conducting Instrumentation: Three flutes, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, three timpani, tam-tam, two harps, and strings

born violinist and composer who fell in with the Liszt and Wagner circle, married a niece of Wagner’s, composed six symphonic poems of his own, and eventually acceded to the position of associate concertmaster of the Meiningen Court Orchestra, which was conducted by the eminent Hans von Bülow. In Meiningen he grew friendly with the young Richard Strauss, who von Bülow had brought in as an assistant music director in 1885. Strauss would later say that it was Ritter who revealed to him the greatness of the music of Wagner, Liszt, and Berlioz and, by extension, opened his eyes to the possibilities of the symphonic poem. In 1886, Strauss produced what might be considered his first symphonic poem, Aus Italien (it is more precisely a descriptive symphony), and he continued with hardly a break through the series of tone poems that many feel represent the genre at its height: Macbeth (1886-8), Don Juan (1888-89), Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration, also 1888-89), Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, 1894-95), Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1895-96), Don Quixote (1896-97), Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life, 1897-98), and Symphonia Domestica (1902-03). Eine Alpensymphonie (An Alpine Symphony, 1911-15) would become a late pendant to Strauss’ catalogue of symphonic poems. As a group, this remarkable series covers quite a spectrum of the human experience. Tod und Verklärung, however, deals exclusively with serious, metaphysical matters. As Strauss explained some years after the fact, he had set out “to represent the death of a person who had striven for the highest and most ideal goals, possibly an artist.” This was already an “evolved” choice for the basis of a symphonic poem, since the genre was understood to be a musical interpretation of a pre-existent literary work or perhaps a painting. In this case, Strauss simply worked from a general idea. Nonetheless, after he had composed the piece, an appropriate poem was supplied retroactively by none other than Alexander Ritter. The poem was printed in the program for the premiere and then was expanded for the published score. Ritter was apparently a better musician than poet, and in its ultimate version his long-winded text rather overstays its welcome.

The idea of the symphonic poem may trace its ancestry to the dramatic or depictive overtures of the early 19th century, such as Mendelssohn’s Fingal’s Cave Overture or Berlioz’s Waverley Overture, but it was left for Franz Liszt to mold it into a clearly defined genre. This he did through a series of dozen single-movement orchestral pieces composed in the 1840s and ’50s that drew inspiration from, or were in some way linked to, literary sources. The idea proved popular in Germany and elsewhere, and the repertoire quickly grew through contributions by such composers as Smetana, Dvořák, Musorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Franck, and— most impressively of all—Richard Strauss. Many lesser figures also jumped on the symphonic poem bandwagon. One of them was Alexander Ritter, an Estonian-

The progress of the action is quite clear for those who care to approach the work that way. In 1895, Strauss acquiesced to a friend’s request to provide an explanation of the piece’s action: The sick man lies in a bed asleep, breathing heavily and irregularly; agreeable dreams charm a smile onto his features in spite of his suffering; his sleep becomes lighter; he wakens; once again he is racked by terrible pain, his limbs shake with fever—as the attack draws to a close and the pain resumes, the fruit of his path through life appears to him, the idea, the Ideal which he has tried to realize, to represent in his art, but which he has been unable to perfect because it was not for any human being to perfect it. The hour of death approaches, the soul

PROGRAM NOTES leaves the body, in order to find perfected in the most glorious form in the eternal cosmos that which he could not fulfill here on earth. Strauss remained fond of this early tone poem throughout his career and quoted from it in several of his later works, including the song cycle Krämerspiegel (1918) and, most magically, in the song “Im Abendrot” (1946-48) from the Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs), where the horn sounds the “Artistic Ideal” motif at the point when the singer wonders “Can this perhaps be death?” (In Tod und Verklärung, first horn, third trumpet, two trombones, violas, and cellos sound the theme together.) In the context of the Vier letzte Lieder, Strauss suggested that the moment represented not just death, but also transfiguration, and he felt moreover that his musical theme held up well for the purpose, though it had been composed nearly six decades earlier. He confirmed his accuracy in the summer of 1949, when, on his deathbed, he declared to his daughter-in-law, “It’s a funny thing to say, but this business of dying, it’s just the way I composed it in Tod und Verklärung.”

Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, Op. 44 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky First Oklahoma City Performance Born: April 25 (old style)/May 7 (new style), 1840, in Votkinsk, Russia Died: October 25/November 6, 1893, in St. Petersburg, Russia Work composed: October 10/22, 1879, to April 28/May 10, 1880 Work dedicated: To Nikolai Rubinstein Work premiered: November 12, 1881, at New York’s Academy of Music, with Theodore Thomas conducting the New York Philharmonic and Madeline Schiller as soloist Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings, in addition to the solo piano

The Plot of Tod und Verklärung The episodes Strauss described in his précis of Tod und Verklärung are divided into four broad sections: the sick man and his dreams (Largo); the man’s struggle with death (Allegro molto agitato); the man seeing his life pass before him and giving himself over to death (Meno mosso, ma sempre alla breve); and the man’s redemption and transfiguration (Moderato). The tableaux are depicted with considerable subtlety. In the opening sections, for example, irregular breathing is represented by gentle syncopations and pain through an agitated orchestral outburst. The famous “Artistic Ideal” theme certainly possesses great nobility, and its octave leap is a Straussian fingerprint already at this early point in his career. But it is not necessary to follow the “plot” of Tod und Verklärung slavishly—or at all—in order to appreciate the piece. It would stand on its own perfectly well as a piece of non-programmatic music; Strauss himself stated at one point that the real reason he composed Tod und Verklärung was a “musical need … to write a piece that begins in C minor and ends in C major”—which is precisely what he did. — JMK

When music-lovers speak of “the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto,” they are referring to his First Piano Concerto, in B-flat minor, composed in 1874-75, revised through 1889, and ubiquitous on concert programs throughout the world. Tchaikovsky would go on to compose two further piano concertos, and the Second and Third are nearly as obscure as the First is famous. The First had given rise to a traumatic incident. The composer had asked Nikolai Rubinstein, his colleague on the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory, to read through the work and offer his thoughts on certain technical matters in the piano part. Rubinstein rendered a scathing assessment, not so much about the piano writing as about the piece in general. In truth, there was room for improvement and Tchaikovsky ended up revising the piece. Even before then, Rubinstein came around to its strengths, performed it as a pianist, led it as a conductor, and taught it to his students. Among the latter was the pianist-composer Sergei Taneyev, who had also been a pupil of Tchaikovsky’s.

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Whatever hurt the contretemps had engendered was smoothed over by the time Tchaikovsky wrote his Second Piano Concerto five years later and dedicated it to none other than Nikolai Rubinstein, in recognition of “his magnificent playing of my First Concerto and of my [G-major] Sonata which left me in utter rapture after he performed it for me in Moscow.” Again he submitted it for Rubinstein’s comments. At first word came back, via Taneyev, “that there’s absolutely nothing to change,” but before long he did offer some suggestions. Tchaikovsky related to his patron Nadezhda von Meck, “[Rubinstein] tells me in his opinion the piano part appears to be too episodic, and does not stand out sufficiently from the orchestra. … If he is right this will be very galling because I took pains precisely on this, to make the solo instrument stand out in as much relief as possible against the orchestral background.” Rubinstein was planning to the play the premiere, but he died before that could occur and the first performance instead took place in America, with Theodore Thomas conducting the New York Philharmonic. Taneyev played the Moscow premiere, with Nikolai Rubinstein’s brother Anton conducting. For listeners who judge a piece by its structural tightness, Tchaikovsky rarely stands as a model. Indeed, the Second Piano Concerto moves from paragraph to paragraph with an attitude that can seem rhapsodic, but once a listener becomes accustomed to its flow it is in no way illogical. The first movement includes an extended section in which the solo piano develops the melodic material at length—a sort of development section rather than a cadenza per se—and its concluding pages are splendid indeed, blossoming with striking harmonic invention and brilliant figuration. The tempo marking of the middle movement—Andante non troppo— implies a gait that is relaxed without being slow. Solo violin and cello play prominent roles in the texture, sometimes joining with the piano to prefigure, in a way, the A-minor Piano Trio of a decade later, one of the summits of the composer’s oeuvre. One might imagine some of the music of this leisurely movement as being plucked from a French lyric opera. The finale seems almost a brief afterthought in this concerto, compact in relation to the preceding movements and bringing the piece to its conclusion on a note of graceful good spirits and a full measure of charm.

A Competing Edition Another pianist got into the action of offering Tchaikovsky advice about revising this concerto: Alexander Siloti, his former pupil and now a friend. Tchaikovsky, however, resisted Siloti’s suggestions, saying that he “emphatically cannot agree with your cuts and especially with your re-ordering of the first movement.” But Siloti would not let the matter rest. Three months before Tchaikovsky died we find him writing to his publisher, Jurgenson, to emphasize that he did not agree with Siloti’s ideas. Nonetheless, Jurgenson issued a new edition of the piece in 1897, the title page of which declared that it was a “New edition revised and shortened following the instructions of the author, by A. Siloti.” That meant the piece was now competing with itself in two quite distinct versions, a state of affairs that did not help it in posterity. On the rare occasions when this concerto is played today, it is usually heard not in Siloti’s abbreviated re-writing but rather in the version Tchaikovsky wrote and sanctioned, as it is in this concert. — JMK

JAMES M. KELLER James M. Keller is Program Annotator of the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony. From 1990-2000 he wrote about music on staff at The New Yorker, and in 1999 he received the prestigious ASCAP–Deems Taylor Award for his feature writing in Chamber Music magazine, which he serves as Contributing Editor. The Falla, Strauss, and Tchaikovsky notes appeared in an earlier form in the programs of the New York Philharmonic and are reprinted with permission; © New York Philharmonic. Arnold note, © James M. Keller

OKLAHOMA PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY, INC. ASSOCIATE BOARD Christopher Lloyd , President Jenni Fosbenner, Past President Kevin Learned, VP of Fundraising Ashley Wilemon, VP of Events Lisa Perry, Treasurer Kate Cunningham, Secretary Robyn Berko Laura Cunningham Allison Goodman Danny O’Donnell Patrick Randall Marti Ribeiro Jessica Robins Michael Thomas Cyndi Tran Dwayne Webb Cheryl White

CLASSICS 2 October 1, 2016 8:00 P.M.

CLASSICS STEFAN MILENKOVICH, VIOLIN ANDRÉS FRANCO, GUEST CONDUCTOR

DVOŘÁK................................... Carnival Overture, Op. 92

SARASATE ............................... Concert Fantasies on Carmen, Op. 25

Stefan Milenkovich, violin

INTERMISSION

STRAUSS, J. JR. ..................... Overture to The Gypsy Baron (Der Zigeunerbaron)

*First performance on this series

STRAUSS, R. ........................... Der Rosenkavalier : Suite Op. 59 (1945)

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GUEST ARTIST C

STEFAN MILENKOVICH Honored as Serbia’s Artist of the Century (2002), Most Humane Person (2003), and Brand Personality of the Year (2010), Stefan Milenkovich enjoys a prolific career as an internationally sought-after soloist and recitalist. A protégé of Dorothy DeLay, the Serbian-Italian virtuoso is a unique artist with productive longevity, professionalism and creativity. His musical philosophy and lifestyle are a true definition of eclectic; exploring human musical heritage and experience, in order to connect directly with the audiences and provide fun, engaging and energetic performance. Milenkovich’s 2016-17 season includes performances with Orchestra Haydn Bolzano (Italy), Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra (Ukraine), Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana (Italy). Recent performances include collaboration with Utah Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Orchestra I Virtuosi Italiani, as well as performances with baritone Nathan Gunn and mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard. Milenkovich returns this season to perform at some of the Italy’s most renowned Opera Houses — Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, and Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova. His numerous appearances with orchestra include Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Aspen Chamber Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Radio-France, Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, National Orchestra of Belgium, Mexico State Symphony, Orquestra Sinfonica de Estado de São Paolo, and the Melbourne and Queensland Symphonies, and he has performed under the baton of such conductors as Sir Neville Marriner, Lorin Maazel, Vladimir Fedoseyev, and Daniel Oren. Milenkovich started his career at a very young age. He performed for U.S. President Ronald Reagan at a Christmas concert in Washington, DC, at age 10. The following year, he played for Mikhail Gorbachev in Belgrade, Serbia. At age 14, he played for Pope John Paul II and at age 16, Milenkovich gave his 1000th concert in Monterrey, Mexico. By age 17, he was the winner of The Young Concert Artists International Competition, as well as a prizewinner in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, the Queen Elisabeth Competition, Hannover Violin Competition, Tibor Varga

Competition, Rodolfo Lipizer Competition, Paganini Competition, Ludwig Spohr Competition, and the Yehudi Menuhin Competition. As a musician of broad stylistic interests, Milenkovich performed with five-time Grammy Nominee rock band Gorillaz in one of the world’s most renowned venues - Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City. The critically acclaimed performance was featured live on MTV. Recent collaborations include performances with Grammy Award Nominee lutist Edin Karamazov, as well as a musical partnership with guitarist Vlatko Stefanovski and his trio, where Milenkovich explored the realm of improvisation and acoustic-electric violin. An avid chamber musician, he performs frequently with the Jupiter Chamber Music Series in New York City, Manchester Music Festival in Vermont, High Peaks Chamber Music Festival in Catskill Mountains, and Zagreb Chamber Music Festival in Croatia. In 2012 Milenkovich accepted position of the Artistic Director of DoCha Chamber Music Festival in Champaign, Illinois. Deeply committed to international humanitarian causes, in 2002 Milenkovich received the Lifting Up the World With One Heart award for his humanitarian activities, handed to him personally by the guru Sri Chinmoy. He also participated in a number of gala concerts under the auspices of UNESCO in Paris with such artists as Placido Domingo, Lorin Maazel, Alexis Weissenberg, and Sir Yehudi Menuhin, and was active as the First Child Ambassador during the Balkan wars in the early 90’s. Milenkovich’s discography includes four commercial releases of the Italian label Dynamic, featuring J. S. Bach Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, Complete Music for Solo Violin – Nicolo Paganini 24 Capricci, N. Paganini Recital, and N. Paganini In cuor piu non mi sento. He also released numerous recordings for the Yugoslavian label, PGP. Milenkovich’s recent CD release includes a First Recording disc with the Manchester Music Festival of Vittorio Giannini’s Piano Trio and Piano Quintet. Firmly dedicated to pedagogical work, Milenkovich taught in collaboration with Itzhak Perlman at the Juilliard School in New York City, NY, and Perlman Music Program, before accepting his current position as an Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2012, he also accepted the position of a visiting professor at the University of Belgrade, Music Academy in Serbia.

GUEST CONDUCTOR

ANDRÉS FRANCO “... Franco articulated the sounds of each section, layer by layer ... he summoned a wave of woodwinds so smoothly that it seemed to be breaking on a remote shore ... The conductor brought out the urgency of the score, which was evident in every measure.” [Beethoven Symphony No. 3] Lake Forest Symphony I CHICAGO SUN-TIMES Recently completing highly successful first seasons as Music Director of Tulsa’s Signature Symphony at TCC, as well as Assistant Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Andrés Franco has established himself as a conductor to watch. While maintaining his roles as Principal Conductor of the multimedia project Caminos del Inka and Artistic Director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s summer festival “Concerts in the Garden,” he continues to delight audiences with his imaginative programming and energetic style. During the 2016/2017 season, Mr. Franco will make debuts with both the Boise Symphony and Oklahoma City Philharmonic. A frequent guest conductor in the U.S., Europe and South America, Andrés Franco has appeared with the Columbus, Elgin, El Paso, Eugene, Fort Worth, Houston, Lake Forest, Mississippi, Saginaw Bay, Springfield, St. Louis, and Stockton symphony orchestras, the Chicago Sinfonietta, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León/Spain, the National Symphony Orchestra of Peru, as well as with the National Symphony, Bogota Philharmonic, Medellin Philharmonic, and EAFIT Symphony Orchestra in Colombia. Festival appearances include the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the Wintergreen Music Festival in Virginia. This summer he will make his debut with the OK Mozart Festival in Bartlesville, and the Grant Park Festival in Chicago.

Mr. Franco formerly served as Music Director of the Philharmonia of Kansas City (2004-2010), as Associate and Resident Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony (2009-2014), and as Leonard Slatkin’s Assistant Conductor during the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (2013). A native of Colombia, Andrés Franco is dedicated to preserving and performing the music of the Americas. As Principal Conductor of Caminos del Inka, he has led many performances of works by Latin American composers, such as Jimmy López, Diego Luzuriaga, and the famous Argentine composer, Astor Piazzolla. Born into a musical family, Andrés Franco began piano studies with his father, Jorge Franco. An accomplished pianist, he studied with Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Jose Feghali and attended piano workshops with Rudolph Buchbinder in Switzerland and Lev Naumov in France. He studied conducting with Marin Alsop, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, the late Kurt Masur and Gustav Meier, Helmut Rilling, Gerard Schwarz, and Leonard Slatkin. Mr. Franco holds a bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia, as well as master of music degrees in Piano Performance and Conducting from Texas Christian University.

PROGRAM NOTES

Carnival, Op. 92 Antonín Dvořák First Performance: 3/10/1953 Conductor: Guy Fraser Harrison Last Performance: 5/21/2011 Conductor: Joel Levine Born: September 8, 1841, in Mühlhausen (Nelahozeves), Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) Died: May 1, 1904, in Prague, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) Work composed: From July 28 to September 12, 1891 Work dedicated: To the Czech University of Prague (in the composer’s manuscript, though not in the printed score) Work premiered: April 28, 1892, at the Rudolfinum in Prague, with the composer conducting the Orchestra of the National Theatre Instrumentation: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, tambourine, triangle, harp, and strings

The “Theme of Nature” Although the three overtures Dvořák envisioned as the triptych Nature, Life, and Love ended up assuming discrete identities, the composer did conceive of them as a cycle. The musical result is that, notwithstanding their very different characters, the three are connected through a shared theme, which the Dvořák scholar Otomar Šourek has credibly labeled the “Theme of Nature.” It serves as the principal theme of the first piece in the triptych, In Nature’s Realm, and then makes return visits in the other two works. In the relaxed middle section of Carnival we hear it briefly recalled by the clarinet, and then echoed a few bars later by the English horn. — JMK

of the Brahms circle, including the violinist Joseph Joachim and the conductors Hans Richter (to whom Dvořák would dedicate his Sixth Symphony) and Hans von Bülow (who made Dvořák’s Hussite Overture a mainstay of his repertoire).

Antonín Dvořák developed rather slowly as a composer and was still laboring in poverty and obscurity as he approached middle age. His lucky break came when the influential Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick took a shine to some of his pieces. In 1877, Hanslick encouraged the 36-year-old Czech composer to send some scores to Johannes Brahms, with whom Hanslick enjoyed warm relations. Brahms was so delighted with what he received that he recommended Dvořák to his own publisher, Fritz Simrock, who promptly published Dvořák’s Moravian Duets, commissioned a collection Slavonic Dances, and contracted a first option on all the composer’s new works. Dvořák and Brahms became personal friends, and Dvořák quickly gained the support of other important figures

Thus was launched the career of the man who would be embraced as the quintessential Bohemian composer, both in his native land and beyond Czech borders. In 1883, he was invited to conduct in London in what would prove to be the first of nine visits to England; during one of them, in July 1891, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University. This he added to a growing shelf of awards that already included the Austrian Order of the Iron Crown (bestowed in 1889) and an honorary doctorate from the Czech University of Prague (in 1890). In January 1891, he began teaching in the capacity of professor of composition and instrumentation at Prague Conservatory, and that June he was approached by Jeannette Thurber, a Paristrained American musician who was by then a New York philanthropist bent on raising American musical pedagogy to European standards. She had founded the National Conservatory of Music in New York, incorporated by special act of Congress in 1891, and she set about persuading Ç to serve as its director. She succeeded, and in September 1892, Dvořák and his family moved to New York. He remained until 1895, though spending summers elsewhere. Dvořák’s popular Carnival dates from this period when honors began falling on his shoulders, just as he was weighing Mrs. Thurber’s flattering offer. It was the second of a triptych of concert overtures meant to portray impressions of what a human soul might experience, in both positive and negative aspects. Nature, Life, and Love was his original name for the set, which was to be published under the single opus number 91, and it is in that form that the pieces were presented at

PROGRAM NOTES their joint premiere. But the composer soon decided to publish them with more distinct identities, and when they appeared in print it was as three separate pieces: In Nature’s Realm (with the opus number 91 all to itself, composed from March 31 to July 8, 1891), Carnival (Op. 92, written from July 28 to September 12), and Othello (Op. 93, begun that November and completed on January 18, 1892). Dvořák used the title Life (Carnival) in his sketches for the second of these pieces, and then gave it the provisional name A Czech Carnival, but later he opted for the more general Carnival. It does indeed depict the high-spirited tumult of a festive carnival setting—barkers and vendors, boisterous crowds, and even, in a gentle passage, what Dvořák said was “a pair of straying lovers.” In a letter to the publisher Simrock, Brahms judged this work to be “merry” and remarked that “music directors will be thankful to you” for publishing the overtures, which they are. Dvořák conducted the joint premiere of the three pieces in Prague in April 1892, and six months later he included them in the program he led at Carnegie Hall on October 21. That event was billed as a celebration (nine days late) of the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ “discovery” of America, but it was surely of more compelling interest for officially introducing musical New York to its distinguished new member.

who dedicated important works to him were Max Bruch (his Violin Concerto No. 2 and Scottish Fantasy), Camille SaintSaëns (Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 3, in addition to his Introduction et Rondo capriccioso), Edouard Lalo (Symphonie espagnole and Concerto in F minor), Henryk Wieniawski (Violin Concerto No. 2), and Antonín Dvořák (Mazurek, Op. 49). He was also immortalized by the painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler, who in 1884 painted his Arrangement in Black: Pablo de Sarasate. Ironically, his championing of such once-modern works has become somewhat overshadowed by his dismissal of the Brahms Violin Concerto. “So what am I doing standing up here with my violin in my hand while the oboe plays the only melody in the whole piece?” he famously inquired in connection to its second movement; and although he remained an enthusiast of Brahms’ string quartets, he left the composer’s concerto to others.

Concert Fantasies on Carmen, Op. 25 Pablo de Sarasate Single Performance: 10/16/2004 Violin: Philippe Quint Born: March 10, 1844, in Pamplona, in the Spanish province of Navarra Died: September 20, 1908, in Biarritz, in southwestern France Work composed: ca. 1882-83 Instrumentation: Two flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, tambourine, harp, and strings, in addition to the solo violin

Violinists who grow up to be renowned soloists usually start studying their instruments when very young. So it was with Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascuéz (called merely Pablo de Sarasate by those not given to strenuous exercise). He began violin lessons at the age of five and, encouraged by his musical father (who was a military band director), played his debut recital in his native Pamplona at the age of only eight. His exceptional talent inspired considerable interest in Spanish cultural circles and he was swept off to pursue advanced study first in Madrid, then at the Paris Conservatoire. He concluded his work at the latter in 1859, having garnered distinction in violin, solfège, and harmony, and he immediately embarked on the international concert circuit. It was slow going at first, but by the 1870s Sarasate earned a spot among the leading virtuosos of his day. What’s more, his profound preparation in the workings of compositions—rather than just in the intricacies of violin playing— endeared him to many leading composers. Among those

Sarasate was almost universally applauded as a performer, noted for silken bowing, impeccable intonation, and a certain elegant nonchalance that made him the toast of the salon set. These attributes are evident in the nine recordings he made in 1904, which occasionally are available in historic compilations. Their sound is rather distant, but one discerns magnificent, heartfelt performances all the same. The Concert Fantasies on Carmen is not among them but his famous Zigeunerweisen is; few virtuoso violinists have made it sound quite as easy as did Sarasate, who tosses it off with insouciant abandon. As a composer he tended towards lightness; yet, even if his works don’t invite detailed musical analysis, a surprising number of them remain in the essential canon of the violin repertoire. Of his 54 compositions, the first 19 were mostly negligible paraphrases on themes from favorite operas, though a few of his later works in that form, most notably Concert Fantasies on Carmen, remain exemplars of their type. CONTINUED ON PAGE 40

PROGRAM NOTES

Beginning in 1878, he turned to composing short works of considerable originality, most of them based on popular dance types of his native Spain. Along with jotas, boleros, habaneras, and zortzikos, we find more generalized Spanish dances. Those, of course, represent precisely the flavor that had helped boost Georges Bizet’s Carmen to triumph, although the opera’s success seemed far from assured when it was new. Many people assumed it would be quietly forgotten along with the rest of Bizet’s output. At the work’s premiere, in 1875 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, a group of fellow musicians crowded around Bizet after the first act to lavish praise on the piece they were hearing. Bizet responded, “You are the first to say such things, and I imagine you will be the last.” He was wrong, but unfortunately the tide turned too late for him to know it, and he died—of a broken spirit, some say—exactly three months later, at the age of 37. He could scarcely have imagined that a mere eight years later its melodies (or at least its Aragonaise, Habanera, Interlude, Seguidille, and Gypsy Dance) would be so celebrated that one of the world’s leading violinists would craft them into an elaborate virtuoso showpiece.

Overture to The Gypsy Baron (Der Zigeunerbaron) Johann Strauss, Jr. First Performance On This Series Born: October 25, 1825, in Vienna, Austria Died: June 3, 1899, in Vienna, Austria Works composed: 1885 Works premiered: October 24, 1885, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna Instrumentation: Two flutes (second doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, tubular bells, harp, and strings

From an Admirer Near the end of his life Camille Saint-Saëns penned a brief memoir of Sarasate: Years have now passed since there once called upon me Pablo de Sarasate, youthful and fresh-looking as the spring, and already a celebrity, though a dawning moustache had only just begun to appear. He had been good enough to ask me, in the most casual way imaginable, to write a concerto for him. Greatly flattered and delighted at the request, I gave him a promise and kept my word with the Concerto in A major …. Subsequently I wrote for him a Rondo capriccioso in the Spanish style and later on the Concerto in B minor. … Those who were in the habit of attending my Monday musical soirées have not forgotten the brilliant effect produced by my illustrious friend. This was so markedly the case that for several years afterwards no violinists could be prevailed upon to perform at my house, so terrified were they at the idea of inviting comparison. Nor did he shine by reason of his talent alone, but also because of his brilliant intellect and the inexhaustible animation of his conversation which was invariably interesting and suggestive. — JMK

Sorting out all the musical Strausses can take some perseverance. In the beginning was Johann Strauss (1804-1849, later known as Johann Strauss, Sr.). The son of a dance-hall proprietor, he developed into an accomplished violinist and then a terrifically successful orchestra leader and bandmaster, composing a multitude of waltzes, quadrilles, polkas, and other dances. He made up his mind that his three sons (Johann, Josef, and Eduard) should become businessmen or soldiers, and certainly not musicians. In this regard, and this regard only, he was a failure, since all three grew up to be successful composer-conductors; and his failure was perpetuated when Eduard’s son, Johann III, carried on the waltz profession until his death in 1939. The other famous musical Strausses were apparently sprung from separate family trees altogether: the waltzing Strausses, the eminent hornist Franz Strauss and his composer-son Richard (whom we meet later in this concert), and the operetta composer Oscar Straus (who dropped the final “s” that appears on his birth certificate to help differentiate his lineage)—these were three unconnected clans. Unconnected genealogically, that is. There were musical

PROGRAM NOTES A Glimpse of Strauss Ignaz Schnitzer, the librettist of The Gypsy Baron, spoke with a Viennese journalist about his experience collaborating with Johann Strauss, Jr., and provided a vivid glimpse into the composer’s private musical world: Strauss plays the piano mostly when guests are present, after supper. This is not done to make himself heard but simply because he feels the urge to make music. If one does not want him to play one has only to ask him not to do so. … When playing, he becomes so heated and involved in the music that one has to ask him to stop lest he become sick from nervous tension. … He mostly improvises on the piano and plays serious music such as fugues; seldom dance music. If an original idea comes to mind he notates it immediately in a handy notebook. … One comment [by Strauss] about the scoring of The Gypsy Baron is typical: “Look, all this I scored from memory; that’s the way I prefer to compose. Others get into the habit of composing at the piano; but then they do what the piano wants them to do, not what they want to do. He who doesn’t have it here—and he pointed to the heart—won’t be able to squeeze it out of the piano either. —JMK

connections, such as when Richard Strauss conducted Johann Strauss, Jr.’s Die Fledermaus in a 1920 Vienna production, or when he incorporated a theme by Eduard Strauss into his own opera Der Rosenkavalier. Johann Strauss, Jr. inhabits the sphere of lighter music, but that didn’t prevent him from being deeply admired by many more “serious” musicians of the day. Richard Strauss remarked that in an era “when everything surrounding him had already evolved towards the complex and the premeditated, [he] was one of the last to have primary inspiration.” Gustav Mahler (who had conducted Die Fledermaus in Hamburg) complimented Strauss’s waltzes for “their uniqueness and delightful inventiveness.” Johannes Brahms is said to have never missed a performance of Die Fledermaus. Jules Massenet observed that “Brahms is the spirit of Vienna, but Strauss is the perfume.” Johann Strauss, Jr. began achieving success as an orchestra leader at the age of 19, and he quickly achieved such popularity as to emerge as something of a rival to his more established father. Initial uneasiness over this situation

was overcome, and when Johann Sr. died in 1848, Johann Jr. merged his late father’s orchestra into his own. From 1863 to 1871 he served as director of Viennese court balls, just as his father had, and when he relinquished the position he merely handed off the reins to his brother Eduard. In addition to the nearly five hundred pieces of dance music he published, Johann Strauss, Jr. scored important successes as a composer of operetta and light opera. Die Fledermaus has proved the most enduring, but Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron) and Eine Nacht in Venedig (A Night in Venice) remain in the active repertoire even outside German-speaking lands. The three-act operetta The Gypsy Baron, to a libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer, sports a complicated plot. A young gentleman tries to reclaim his family’s ancestral landholdings, which had been confiscated by the government to punish his father for collaborating with the Turks. He is stymied, however, when he discovers that the properties have been homesteaded by Gypsies. While trying to deal with the situation he falls in love with a lovely Gypsy girl. One would think he would marry her and that would be that—but no. To everyone’s surprise, it turns out that she is of noble birth (the daughter of a Turkish Pasha, no less!), so now their class difference places her out of his orbit. He goes off to fight in a war against Spain, and distinguishes himself so heroically that he is ennobled, thus removing the obstacle preventing his marriage … and allowing him to restyle himself as the Gypsy Baron. The operetta’s overture is infused with an exotic flavor, employing evocative rhythms, unusual harmonic references, and colorful touches of orchestration to summon up the Hungarian-Danube world in which the action unrolls. But this is Johann Strauss, Jr., after all, so of course the music cannot resist wending its way to an ingratiating waltz.

Der Rosenkavalier Suite Richard Strauss First Performance: 4/2/1957 Conductor: Victor Alessandro Last Performance: 5/11/2013 Conductor: Joel Levine Born: June 11, 1864, in Munich, Bavaria, Germany Died: September 8, 1949, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Work composed: The opera Der Rosenkavalier, from which this suite is extracted, was written in 1909-10, being completed on September 26 of the latter year; the suite, by an unidentified arranger, dates from 1944. Work premiered: The opera was first presented on January 26, 1911, at the Dresden Court Opera; this suite was premiered at the Vienna KonzerthausSall on September 28, 1946, with Hans Swarowsky conducting. New York Philharmonic History: TK Instrumentation: Three flutes (third doubling piccolo), three oboes (third doubling English horn), two clarinets plus E-flat clarinet and bass clarinet (alternatively three clarinets with third doubling bass clarinet), three bassoons (third doubling contrabassoon), four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, tambourine, side drum, ratchet, cymbal, bass drum, celesta, two harps (the second ad. lib.), and strings CONTINUED ON PAGE 42

PROGRAM NOTES

is suggested by the use local dialect and seductive waltzes. The latter is an anachronism, since the action is set about a century before the “Waltz Era,” but, with music like this, who can seriously complain? The premiere of Der Rosenkavalier was one of the great events of operatic history. No pains had been spared by director Max Reinhardt and designer Alfred Roller in creating the most magical experience imaginable, and the Dresden Court Opera scheduled no fewer than 33 full-orchestra rehearsals totaling about a hundred hours. Critics were hostile: Hofmannsthal’s libretto was dismissed as humorless and Strauss’s music as superficial. One is surprised to find, as late as 1924, Cecil Gray writing in A Survey of Contemporary Music, “The divinely innocent and virginal Mozartean muse cannot be wooed and won like an Elektra or a Salome; all we find in Der Rosenkavalier is a worn-out, dissipated demi-mondaine, with powdered face, rouged lips, false hair, and a hideous leer.” Audiences, however, adored the piece, calling the performers to the stage for 10 curtain calls after the second act and 20 after the third. As a result,

Reassuring the Composer The fifth of Richard Strauss’ operas, Der Rosenkavalier instantly captured the hearts of opera-goers when it was unveiled, in 1911. The librettist, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, compared it to Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, much as he compared their opera Die Frau ohne Schatten to Die Zauberflöte. The allusion was apt; along with Le nozze di Figaro it stands as opera’s most delicate treatment of a universally sensitive subject—how youth and age do, or do not, mix in the arena of love. At the center of the plot, set in mid-18th-century Vienna, we find the Marschallin, a princess who, in the absence of her husband (a military man of some eminence), is having an affair with Octavian, an attractive young count. The Marschallin’s boorish cousin, Baron Ochs, hopes to ensnare Sophie, the lovely daughter of a nouveau riche gentleman with access to well-born circles. In an act of courtship, Octavian (disguised as a maid) is sent to offer Sophie a silver rose on behalf of Baron Ochs. But, when Octavian arrives to present the rose, he and Sophie fall in love with each other at first sight. After various complications, the ardor of youth wins out. Ochs withdraws his bid for Sophie and, with enormous dignity and insight, the Marschallin accepts that young Octavian is better suited to love Sophie than a woman of her own advancing years. Hofmannsthal’s libretto is the stuff of greatness—Strauss remarked that it practically set itself to music—but the addition of Strauss’s score turned Der Rosenkavalier into one of opera’s most enduring masterpieces. The Viennese setting

Strauss was worried that his score for Der Rosenkavalier, brimful as it is with complex motivic inter-connections (much in the spirit of his symphonic poems), might prove too subtle for theatergoers. When he expressed his concern to his librettist, Hofmannsthal wrote back in a spirit of complete reassurance, which would prove to be well founded: Its blending of the grotesque with the lyrical will to a great extent correspond with your artistic individuality to produce something which will be strong enough to keep its place in the repertoire for many years, perhaps decades. … Your fear lest the work should prove too subtle gives me no anxiety. The progress of the action is simple and intelligible enough for even the most unsophisticated public; a fat, elderly, self-satisfied suitor, favored by the lady’s father, supplanted by the handsome young fellow—surely that is the ne plus ultra of simplicity. But the working out must be, I fancy, as I have made it—entirely free from anything trivial and conventional; the lasting success of a piece depends upon its working of the coarser and finer elements of the public, for it is the latter which creates the prestige without which no piece can live, any more than it can without popular appeal. —JMK

Der Rosenkavalier was accepted as an operatic standard immediately, and in its first year it was given more than fifty performances in Dresden as well as productions in Nuremberg, Munich, Basel, Hamburg, Milan, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and Amsterdam. It has not shown the slightest sign of diminishing in the affection of opera-lovers in the century since. Strauss remained ever fond of it, partly on esthetic grounds and partly because his royalty payments earned him a fortune. The music was pressed to all sorts of uses through arrangements and transcriptions. The first orchestral suite appeared in 1911, directly on the heels of the premiere, and quite a few others were released in ensuing decades. Strauss himself created two separate “waltz sequences” using music from his opera, the first in 1911, the second in 1944. The Rosenkavalier Suite played here was mostly made by an unidentified arranger in 1944. It is widely held to be (at least in large part) the work of the conductor Artur Rodziński. Strauss approved this arrangement and it was published in 1945 by the firm of Boosey & Hawkes.

JAMES M. KELLER James M. Keller is Program Annotator of the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony. From 1990-2000 he wrote about music on staff at The New Yorker, and in 1999 he received the prestigious ASCAP–Deems Taylor Award for his feature writing in Chamber Music magazine, which he serves as Contributing Editor. Earlier forms of these notes appeared in the programs of the New York Philharmonic and are reprinted with permission; © New York Philharmonic.

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THE MUSIC OF THE ROLLING STONES NOVEMBER 4-5, 2016 8:00 P.M.

POPS RICHARD CARSEY, CONDUCTOR

WINDBORNE’S MUSIC OF

THE ROLLING

STONES

FEATURING GUEST CONDUCTOR RICHARD CARSEY

WITH VOCALIST BRODY DOLYNIUK

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GUEST ARTISTS P

RICHARD CARSEY Richard Carsey is a conductor, pianist and actor. In 2014-15, he toured the U.S. as Music Director of Cameron Mackintosh’s new production of The Phantom of the Opera. Other national tours include the Broadway revival of La Cage Aux Folles with George Hamilton, and the new musical Little House On The Prairie, featuring Melissa Gilbert. Internationally, he has performed as pianist and conductor in such exotic locales as Lima, Athens, Islamabad, and Kuwait. On Broadway he was the Music Supervisor of The House of Blue Leaves with Ben Stiller, and Musical Director for A Minister’s Wife at Lincoln Center Theater. He has a long association with the Skylight Opera Theatre in Milwaukee, WI as Principal conductor, and for nine seasons was Artistic Director. Highlights of his tenure include the world premiere and television broadcast of Richard Wargo’s opera Ballymore; PBS broadcast of The Mikado; and the world premiere of

the opera The Rivals by Kirke Mechem. As an actor he has appeared in 2 Pianos 4 Hands at many regional theaters including Dallas Theater Center, Actor’s Theater of Louisville, The Globe (Saskatchewan), Laguna Beach Playhouse, and Hartford Stage (Connecticut Critic’s Circle Award). Other acting highlights include The Boys In The Band (Harold); Twelfth Night (Malvolio); Souvenir (Cosme) and Old Wicked Songs (Mashkin). For six seasons he was the Principal Pops Conductor of the Racine Symphony, and has conducted Syracuse Opera, Sheboygan Symphony, and Lyric Opera Cleveland. Recently he was keyboard and Cover Conductor for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall in NYC.

BRODY DOLYNIUK Brody Dolyniuk remembers mimicking voices even as a child, listening to old records and tapes. He is a gifted, selftaught musician, capable of playing several instruments, with a particular knack for capturing the voices and mannerisms of classic characters from music, TV, and movies. His first professional gigs were at piano bars in several U.S. cities, where he learned to charm audiences and expand his musical repertoire. With a longing to perform the music of the many rock bands that inspired him, Brody assembled Yellow Brick Road, unquestionably Las Vegas’ most successful classic rock band. Since 1997, YBR has been reshaping the casino entertainment scene by bringing a rock concert atmosphere to showrooms previously reserved for Top-40style lounge acts. Along the way, Brody has made numerous radio and TV appearances, and earned a spot in the finals of

two national singing competitions, and even self-produced several large rock production-style shows utilizing multimedia, lasers, comedy and special effects. In 2007, Brody lent his vocal talents by singing several tracks on the mega-hit video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, and has already done several more for the new Konami game Rock Revolution. As a devout classic rock fan, Brody’s enthusiasm, vocal ability and on-stage energy are the perfect fit for The Music of the Rolling Stones show.

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CLASSICS 3 November 19, 2016 8:00 P.M.

CLASSICS ANDREW VON OEYEN, PIANO ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE, GUEST CONDUCTOR

ANNA CLYNE ............. Masquerade

*First performance on this series

SCHUMANN ................ Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54

Allegro affettuoso Intermezzo: Andante grazioso Allegro vivace

Andrew von Oeyen, piano

INTERMISSION

Jean Ann Hartsuck Vice President Douglas J. Stussi Treasurer Penny M. McCaleb Secretary DIRECTORS Steven C. Agee Patrick B. Alexander J. Edward Barth L. Joe Bradley Teresa Cooper Douglas R. Cummings T.A. Dearmon Paul Dudman Thomas J. Enis Misha Gorkuscha Jane B. Harlow Harrison Levy, Jr. Duke R. Ligon Michael J. Milligan Patrick J. Ryan Richard L. Sias Richard Tannenbaum

RACHMANINOFF ........ Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44

Lento—Allegro moderato—Allegro Adagio ma non troppo—Allegro vivace—Tempo come prima Allegro—Allegro vivace—Allegro

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GUEST ARTIST C

ANDREW VON OEYEN Hailed worldwide for his elegant and insightful interpretations, balanced artistry and brilliant technique, Andrew von Oeyen has established himself as one of the most captivating pianists of his generation. Since his debut at age 16 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mr. von Oeyen has excelled in a broad spectrum of concerto repertoire — Bartok, Barber, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Fauré, Ligeti, Liszt, Gershwin, Grieg, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Schumann, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky — with such ensembles as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, Grant Park Festival Orchestra, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Utah Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Marseille, Geneva Chamber Orchestra, Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, Slovenian Philharmonic and Slovak Philharmonic. As both soloist and conductor he has led concerti and orchestral works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel and Kurt Weill. On July 4, 2009, von Oeyen performed at the U.S. Capitol with the National Symphony in “A Capitol Fourth,” reaching millions worldwide in the multi-award winning PBS live telecast. Mr. von Oeyen has appeared in recital at Wigmore Hall and Barbican Hall in London, Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Boston’s Symphony Hall, Zürich’s Tonhalle, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Bolshoi Zal in St. Petersburg, Dublin’s National Concert Hall, Royce Hall in Los Angeles, Herbst Theater in San Francisco, Sala São Paulo, Teatro Olimpico in Rome, in Bucharest, Hanoi, Macau, and in every major concert hall of Japan and South Korea. Mr. von Oeyen’s recent engagements have included, among others, appearances with the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra

in St. Petersburg, Prague Philharmonia (on tour in Europe and China), Chicago’s Grant Park Festival Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, American Youth Symphony, Portland Symphony, the Brevard Music Center Orchestra and Winston-Salem Symphony. He has also appeared in recital throughout the US and Europe and recorded a concerto album with the Prague Philharmonia. Previous appearances have included the Prague Philharmonia, New Japan Philharmonic, Kyushu Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony, Slovak Philharmonic, an extensive recital tour of Japan, festival appearances at Ravinia, Mainly Mozart and Oregon Britt, and a survey of the five Beethoven piano concerti, conducted from the keyboard. On December 31, 2014, he appeared at the Royal Opera House, Muscat for the Sultanate of Oman’s New Year’s Eve Gala. Mr. von Oeyen released a critically acclaimed album of Debussy and Stravinsky piano works under the Delos Label (including two pieces written for him by composer, David Newman), following his 2011 award-winning album of Liszt works under the same label. 2013 saw the release of the Chopin-Debussy-Ravel digital album “Andrew von Oeyen: Live in Recital.” Mr. von Oeyen, of German and Dutch origin, was born in the U.S. He began his piano studies at age 5 and made his solo orchestral debut at age 10. An alumnus of Columbia University and graduate of The Juilliard School, where his principal teachers were Herbert Stessin and Jerome Lowenthal, he has also worked with Alfred Brendel and Leon Fleisher. He won the prestigious Gilmore Young Artist Award in 1999 and also took First Prize in the Leni Fe Bland Foundation National Piano Competition in 2001. Mr. von Oeyen lives in Paris and Los Angeles.

GUEST CONDUCTOR

ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE German conductor, Alexander Mickelthwate made his European debut with the Hamburg Symphony in April 2006. Since then, he has appeared with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Nurnberg Symphony, Bucharest Philharmonic, Orchestre Phillharmonique de Monte Carlo and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. In North America, Alexander has appeared as guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic, Brooklyn Philharmonic and symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Nashville, New Jersey, Oregon, Toronto and San Antonio. In 2011, Alexander made his debut in Australia with the Adelaide and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. Recent highlights include debuts with the Houston Symphony, the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and the Simon Bolivar Orchestra, a re-engagement with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and highly successful last-minute replacements with the Seattle Symphony, Atlanta Symphony and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the latter featuring Dawn Upshaw singing Barber’s Summer of Knoxville 1915. Following on from his tenure as Assistant Conductor with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, which he completed in 2004, Alexander Mickelthwate was Associate Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for three years, under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen. Now in his seventh season as Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Alexander has significantly developed the orchestra’s profile through active community engagement and innovative programming initiatives like the annual New Music Festival and the Indigenous Music Festival. Chosen to perform at the Carnegie Hall orches-

tra showcase in New York, 2014, the orchestra was the only Canadian ensemble in the showcase. Alexander has expanded the orchestra’s repertoire, initiating the first performances of Essiaen’s Turangalila Symphony, Penderecki’s Seven Gates of Jerusalem, George Crumb’s Star Child and inspired a new choreography based on First Nations’ elements to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. As well as significantly contributing to the New Music Festival and Indigenous Festival, Alexander lead the orchestra’s first out of province tour since 1979 to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, launched the International Conducting master-classes, the New Music Festival 2012 film project and played a major part in the acoustic overhaul of the Centennial Concert Hall. Alexander Mickelthwate has worked with Dame Evelyn Glennie, Dawn Upshaw, Plácido Domingo, Leila Josefowitz, Louis Lortie, James Ehnes, Janina Fialkowska, Alban Gerhardt, Anton Kuerti, Horatio Gutiérrez, John Kimura Parker, Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos; worked closely with composers Kaija Saariaho, John Corigliano, Valgeir Sigurdsson, Daniel Bjarnason, R. Murray Schafer, Steven Stucky, Gabriel Prokofiev, Unsuk Chin, Magnus Lindberg, Nico Muhly, John Adams; and conducted the world premieres of John Tavener, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Mason Bates and many Canadian composers, amongst them, Vincent Ho and Derek Charke. Always looking for a fresh approach and creative ways of crossing musical genres, Alexander Mickelthwate has collaborated with Iceland’s Bedroom Community, Wayne Shorter, Mark O’Connor, Belle and Sebastian, Jason Alexander, DJ P-Love, Canadian bands The Waking Eyes, The Liptonians and The Duhks.

PROGRAM NOTES

Masquerade Anna Clyne First Performance On This Series Born: March 9, 1980, in London, England Work composed: 2013 Work premiered: September 7, 2013, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, with Marin Alsop conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra Instrumentation: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, bass drum, suspended sizzle cymbal, castanets, three kazoos, snare drum, two cowbells (low and high), crash cymbals, motor horn, whip, tam-tam, suspended cymbal (with brushes), ratchet, vibraslap, triangle, harp optionally two harps), and strings

Sometimes just scanning the instrumentation list of an unfamiliar composition can prepare a music-lover for what lies in store. Persons studied in the craft often zero in on the percussion section … and what have we here?—a ratchet, a whip, three kazoos, and a motor horn, along with all sorts of other instruments that can be struck, scraped, or otherwise prodded into making interesting and amusing sounds. Before the conductor signals the downbeat, we have reason to suspect that Anna Clyne’s Masquerade will have us smiling by the time it ends five minutes later. The piece was made to order, commissioned to open the last night of the 2013 installment of the Proms Concerts in Londons, which is about as close as the classical-music world

gets to Halloween or Mardi gras. Last Night of the Proms concerts typically include some major works, but they also leave space for “light classics” and they make sure to stir British souls with a rich infusion of such national favorites as Arne and Elgar. The audience plays its part riotously, chanting and cheering before the music begins and long after, when the “Prommers” spill outside to continue their festivities in the surrounding neighborhood. The performances are broadcast on radio and television, and this leads to similar demonstrations springing up in cities around the United Kingdom. It was therefore an honor when BBC Radio 3 invited Anna Clyne to write Masquerade to serve as the opening piece for the Last Night in 2013. She is a native of London, although she has lived elsewhere for much of her career: in Scotland for her schooling at the University of Edinburgh, then in the United States, where she earned a master’s degree in composition at the Manhattan School of Music, became deeply involved with the New York Philharmonic’s and New York Youth Symphony’s programs to encourage young composers, and began to gain attention for music of unusual breadth and vibrancy. In the past few years her career has advanced by leaps and bounds. In 2015, her composition Prince of Clouds, for two violins and orchestra, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. In 2016 she was awarded the Hindemith Prize, a prestigious honor given by the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany; in bestowing the award, the Festival declared that her music “offers a wealth of tonal colors and her works often have a three-dimensional character.” She served as composer-inresidence for the Chicago Symphony from 2010-15 and for the Baltimore Symphony in 2015-16. She was also composerin-residence for the 21c Liederabend, a biennial festival of song at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival, and has been featured as a resident composer at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival. Clyne keeps her options open as a composer. Although she is principally involved in writing for acoustic instruments, she sometimes draws on electronic resources as well, and even on the resonant properties of the spaces in which her music is performed. She avidly collaborates with artists in other disciplines, including choreographers Nicolo Fonte, Kitty McNamee, and Matthew Neenan; pop musician Björk; artist Josh Dorman; sound artist Jody Elff; and visual artists Luke Dubois, Jon Niborg Speier, and Joshue Ott. Demand for her new compositions runs high, with recent commissions including works from Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Houston Ballet. In composing Masquerade, Clyne reached back to her roots as a Londoner—and, indeed, to London merry-making of an earlier era. Some of the city’s parks and gardens had been open to the public since the 17th century, but in the mid-18th century quite a few became money-making ventures, charg-

PROGRAM NOTES ing an admission fee that allowed visitors to stroll about, enjoy refreshments, take in performances of different sorts, and listen to music played and sung from bandstands and other pavilions. Vauxhall, Marylebone, and Ranelagh were perhaps the most famous of these 18th-century “pleasure gardens,” but more than 500 of them made up the industry from about 1635 through the Victorian era, earning descriptions from such literary eminences as Pepys, Addison, and Thackeray. Clyne sets out to evoke this distant world by incorporating two popular melodies from the period. Overall, though, the work does not aim to be antiquarian or precious in its gentility, veering instead in the direction of the rowdy celebrations of modern-day “Prommers.”

From the Composer

Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 Robert Schumann First Performance: 11/6/1951 Piano: Frank Sheridan Last Performance: 2/2/2008 Piano: Garrick Ohlsson Born: June 8, 1810, in Zwickau, Germany Died: July 29, 1856, in Endenich, Germany Work composed: Late May through July 31, 1845, drawing partly on material composed in 1841 Work premiered: December 4, 1845, at the Saal des Hôtel de Saxe in Dresden, with Clara Schumann as soloist and with Ferdinand Hiller (the work’s dedicatee) conducting the Orchester der Abonnementskonzerte (the Orchestra of the Subscription Concerts) Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings, in addition to the solo piano

Anna Clyne offers this comment about her Masquerade: Masquerade draws inspiration from the original mid-18th century promenade concerts held in London’s pleasure gardens. As is true today, these concerts were a place where people from all walks of life mingled to enjoy a wide array of music. Other forms of entertainment ranged from the sedate to the salacious with acrobatics, exotic street entertainers, dancers, fireworks and masquerades. I am fascinated by the historic and sociological courtship between music and dance. Combined with costumes, masked guises and elaborate settings, masquerades created an exciting, yet controlled, sense of occasion and celebration. It is this that I wish to evoke in Masquerade. The work derives its material from two melodies. For the main theme, I imagined a chorus welcoming the audience and inviting them into their imaginary world. The second theme, Juice of Barley, is an old English country dance melody and drinking song, which first appeared in John Playford’s 1695 edition of The English Dancing Master. — JMK

Robert Schumann and his music are so full of surprises that it seems unfair to codify his life and achievements in terms of rehashed truisms. And yet Schumann himself did characterize his musical personality as the duality of his sub-egos, the fiery Florestan and the dreamy Eusebius (along with a mediating Master Raro), and his music’s emotions can often be broadly reduced to those extremes. It is also true, as few commentators fail to mention, that Schumann dedicated himself almost exclusively to specific genres for extended periods, exploring their every facet before moving on to mine other lodes. He had already dedicated himself exhaustively to piano music during the 1830s and had delved deeply into the lied in 1840 before trying his hand at symphonies (in 1841) and embarking on an infatuation with chamber music, which occupied him from 1842 CONTINUED ON PAGE 54

PROGRAM NOTES

(starting with his three string quartets) until 1847 (when he produced his first two piano trios). Perhaps it was inevitable that, swept up in his chamber-music phase, Schumann should combine his earlier achievements in piano writing to his new discoveries about the art of the string ensemble. From this impetus grew two of chamber music’s greatest masterpieces: Schumann’s Piano Quintet (Op. 44) and Piano Quartet (Op. 47), both written in 1842. Schumann’s Piano Concerto traces its roots to about the time when the composer’s interest in symphonies was yielding to his experiments in piano-and-strings chamber music. The composer himself viewed the genre of the concerto as something of a crossroads. In 1839, he wrote to his thenfiancée Clara Wieck, “Concerning concertos, I’ve already said to you that I can’t write a concerto for virtuosi and have to think of something else.” At that time, piano concertos were nearly always what we would consider lightweight vehicles for showmanship, and most of their authors—Kalkbrenner, Thalberg, Herz, Pixis, and so on—have slipped to the fringe of the repertoire. Chopin’s two piano concertos (1829 and 1830) and Mendelssohn’s two (1831 and 1837) were to some degree exceptions to the rule, to the extent that they managed to accommodate more serious musical content to audience expectations for dazzling virtuosity. Between 1827 and 1839, Schumann made four stabs at piano concertos, but he left all of them in fragmentary form. His quest to find how his musical ideals might work in a piano concerto began in earnest in May 1841, when he composed a one-movement Phantasie for Piano and Orchestra. It received two private run-throughs that August, with Clara Schumann (now his wife) as soloist and with their friend Felix Mendelssohn conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. That was the last the Phantasie was heard in Schumann’s lifetime, and his attempts to publish it came to naught. It was not revived until the 1960s, and when it receives a rare performance today, audiences can be surprised by its high quality. There was enough good in the Phantasie to inspire still greater things. In the summer of 1845, Schumann set about revising the Phantasie into the first movement of a full-scale concerto. What he produced was not, in fact, a highly virtuosic piece—which is to say that, although great interpreters find much to explore in it, its demands are not overwhelmingly situated in the fingers themselves. Early listeners were struck by the extent to which the piano and the orchestra interacted, as opposed to the more standard turn-taking of the forces in standard virtuoso concertos of the day. This is a supremely “symphonic” concerto in the democratic way in which the soloist and the orchestra pursue their unified intent. Nonetheless, its rather transparent scoring stands in striking contrast to that of Schumann’s symphonies themselves, which can tend toward density in their textures.

There is more of dreamy Eusebius than of fiery Florestan in this concerto. But, despite its lack of superficial razzle-dazzle, Schumann’s only full-fledged Piano Concerto quickly became one of his most popular pieces, applauded not only at its Dresden premiere but also, in short order, at concerts in Leipzig, Prague, Vienna, and (before long) everywhere else.

Schumann on Piano Concertos In 1839, Schumann published an essay on the subject of piano concertos in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, which he had founded five years earlier: [The] separation of the piano from the orchestra is something we have seen coming for some time. Defying the symphony, contemporary piano-playing seeks to dominate by its own means and on its own terms. … This periodical has, from its beginning, reported on just about every new piano concerto that has come along. There can hardly have been more than 16 or 17, a small number in comparison with former days. Thus do times change. What once was regarded as an enrichment of instrumental forms, as an important discovery, is now voluntarily abandoned.. … And so we must await the genius who will show us in a newer and more brilliant way how orchestra and piano may be combined, how the soloist, dominant at the keyboard, may unfold the wealth of his instrument and his art, while the orchestra, no longer a mere spectator, may interweave its manifold facets into the scene. — JMK

The Schumann note appeared in an earlier form in the programs of the New York Philharmonic and are reprinted with permission; © New York Philharmonic. The Beethoven note appeared in an earlier form in the programs of The Juilliard School. Clyne and Beethoven notes, © James M. Keller

PROGRAM NOTES Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44 Sergei Rachmaninoff Only Performance: 3/28/1976 Conductor: Ainslee Cox Born: March 20 (old style)/April 1 (new style), 1873, in either Oneg or Semyonovo, Russia Died: March 28, 1943, in Beverly Hills, California Work composed: June 18, 1935, through June 30, 1936; revised 1938 Work premiered: November 6, 1936, in Philadelphia, with Leopold Stokowski conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra Instrumentation: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets and alto trumpet in F, three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, tambourine, snare drum, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, xylophone, celesta, two harps, and strings

Sergei Rachmaninoff was very nearly undone by the violent and mean-spirited criticism that greeted his First Symphony, unveiled in 1897—so much so that for the next three years he didn’t write a note. He worried that perhaps he was not cut out to be a composer after all; and yet, quite a few others had not judged him to be without talent. At first he had not been a standout at the Moscow Conservatory, but by the time he graduated, in 1892, he was deemed worthy of receiving the Great Gold Medal in composition, an honor that had been bestowed on only two students previously. Immediately following his graduation he had been signed to a publishing contract, and one of his first published pieces—his Prelude in C-sharp minor for piano—had become an instant hit. Tchaikovsky himself had warmly applauded the premiere of Rachmaninoff’s opera Aleko at the Bolshoi Theatre. But the premiere of the First Symphony was a disaster of Biblical

proportions—a review by the elder composer César Cui had, in fact, likened it to the seven plagues of Egypt all rolled into a single piece—and the fact that the performance was unquestionably sub-par (Alexander Glazunov, who conducted, was reputedly drunk at the podium) did little to dull the pain of the reviews. In the aftermath of this public failure, he turned to a different musical pursuit and focused for the next few years on conducting. Before long he also sought the help of a physician who was investigating psychological therapy through hypnosis, which helped steer him back on track. By 1906 he felt ready to confront whatever compositional demons might still be lingering, and he embarked on another symphony. That Second Symphony proved to be a hit with both audience and critics at its premiere in 1908. It remains today among Rachmaninoff’s most performed large-scale works, along with his Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 (premiered in 1901 and 1909), his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (1934), and his Symphonic Dances (1941). The gap between the earlier and later of those works is significant. Rachmaninoff, who was the scion of a land-owning family (though not very wealthy one), bolted from his homeland in 1917 as it teetered toward revolution. When not touring as a conductor or a concert pianist, he lived in the United States for the rest of his life, mostly in New York City until moving to Beverly Hills shortly before he died. His first decade in America again proved to be a disruption, and he composed practically nothing from 1917 until 1934. In the early 1930s, he built a villa in Switzerland, on the shore of Lake Lucerne. He began to spend his summers there, and that environment seems to have gotten his creative juices flowing again. There he produced both his Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini and, in 1935-36, his Third Symphony. Although Rachmaninoff certainly evolved as a composer through the course of his career, his voice was always conservative at heart. The Third Symphony stands far from the avant-garde of its day, and Rachmaninoff even seems to look backwards with a certain defiance—or maybe just stubbornness or self-indulgence. A number of ideas in this work send the listener’s mind in the direction of Tchaikovsky, who had encouraged Rachmaninoff’s early efforts. In the first movement, stentorian comments from the brass section trace their ancestry to Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, the Pathétique; and, in a structural sense, the idea of unifying a large-scale movement through the use of a motto motif, as Rachmaninoff does here, is familiar through a number of the earlier composer’s works. On the other hand, the sound is Rachmaninoff’s own, replete with the sort of yearning themes that keep people coming back, or sometimes alluding (as in the three-note motto motif) to Russian liturgical chants he remembered from his youth. The opening movement also makes some rather Wagnerian sounds, which is not something we expect from him—or perhaps the remnants of Wagnerian sounds as conveyed into the 20th century by Richard Strauss.

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PROGRAM NOTES

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR

The second movement compacts a slow movement and a scherzo into a single span, with the wistfully Romantic Adagio sections wrapped around the sprightly Allegro vivace portion. The finale also has a surprise concealed at its center: a witty fugue that is worked out at some length. Again, that is not something one particularly associated with Rachmaninoff, but he shows his truest colors not long afterwards in the form of a section based on the melody of the Dies irae, the funeral chant for the dead, which almost qualifies as a fingerprint in many of his scores.

NCORE SOCIETY M E M B E R S

Critical Reception Critics received Rachmaninoff’s Third Symphony respectfully but not ecstatically. Many voiced the opinion that much of what Rachmaninoff expressed he had already expressed before. “It is the creation of a genial mind laboring in a field well known and loved by it, but not seeking now to raise the fruits of heroic proportions,” mused W.J. Henderson in the New York Sun. Olin Downes, in the New York Times, made an admiring list of typical strengths the composer displayed but couldn’t go far beyond that: “It cannot be said, however, that in these pages Mr. Rachmaninoff says things which are new, even though his idiom is more his own than ever.” This lukewarm reception did nothing to encourage repeated programming of Rachmaninoff’s Third Symphony. It was recorded during its early years by such eminent conductors as Sir Malcolm Sargent (1953) and Sir Adrian Boult (1956), following Rachmaninoff himself (1939), but it remained something of a hard sell until recent decades, when many conductors and orchestras have championed it with growing enthusiasm. The “newness” of a work becomes less important with the passage of years, and as a work considered in its own terms, the Third Symphony does not need to make any apologies. — JMK

The Philharmonic would like to extend a very special thank you to members of its Encore Society – to each one of you whose passion for orchestral music has caused you to think and plan ahead in support of the Philharmonic’s future. Through your deferred gift included in your will or estate plan, you have expressed a shared vision to ensure that our music will continue far beyond your own lifetime, giving future generations the same opportunity to experience the extraordinary music you enjoy so much today. Our past Encore Society members continue to make an impact in the orchestra’s annual success. Their bequests received became a part of the Philharmonic’s Endowment Funds, and those funds have been continually re-invested, while only a small percentage of the earnings are distributed annually to help support the orchestra’s music and education programs – programs that provide inspiration and joy to over 135,000 in our community each season. The OKC Phil will be playing its music for decades to come, thanks in part to today’s music visionaries – our Encore Society members. We cannot thank you enough for the thoughtful and generous commitment you have made to your orchestra and its future!

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Mr. Joe A. McKenzie Ronald L. and D. Yvonne Mercer Dorman and Sheryl Morsman Mr. and Mrs. John Santore David Miller & Barbara Neas Mr. James Nix Larry and Deanna Pendleton Mike and Cathy Perri Mrs. Donald G. Preuss Gary and Tommie Rankin Dr. and Mrs. Laurance Reid Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon M. Reznik Shirley and Ben Shanker Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Specht Paula and Carl Stover Reta and Richard Strubhar Ms. Donita Thomas Mrs. Evelyn Margaret Tidholm Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Towell Mr. Curtis VanWyngarden Mr. and Mrs. Albert Weise Mr. and Mrs. John White Jim and Polly Worthington Ruth and Stanley Youngheim

Member $100 - $299 Carol and Kerry Alexander Mrs. Joan Allmaras Ms. Beth M. Alonso Dr. and Mrs. Henry M. Asin Mr. and Mrs. Earl Austin Mr. Paul D. Austin and Jane Ford Austin Mrs. Pamela S. Bale Judy Barnett Paul B. and Terry Bell Dr. Paul and Bonnie Benien Ms. Marcia M. Bennett Mar Ellen Benson Mrs. Lillian Boland Alan Booth and Debbie Kelly Harry S. and Elaine Boyd Rev. Thomas Boyer Dr. Reagan Bradford, Jr. Mrs. Betty L Brady Mrs. Carole S. Broughton Roger and Debbie Brown Ms. Judith Butler Ms. Kathryn Carey Mr. and Mrs. Jack Carpenter Dr. and Mrs. Don R. Carter Mr. Michael P. Cassidy Dr. and Mrs. Douglas C. Chancellor Ms. Henrie Close Mr. and Mrs. John Crittenden Mrs. Frances Daffer Ms. Carol A. Davito

Mr. James Dearner Mr. and Mrs. Sam Decker Mr. Jim T. Dennis Mr. James DeWarns Mr. W. Samuel Dykeman Mr. and Mrs. Richard Ehlers Ms. Elizabeth K. Eickman Dr. and Mrs. Robert B. Epstein Mr. Sam Escobedo Mrs. Barbara Eskridge Irving and Sandy Faught Mike and Deb Felice Mr. and Mrs. Mead Ferguson Mr. and Mrs. John Fischer Judge and Mrs. Stephen P. Friot Mr. Hugh Gibson Mr. and Mrs. M. Charles Gilbert Mr. and Mrs. Barry Golsen John and Judy Gorton Jesse and Jordan Gould Mr. and Mrs. Gary Graham Mr. Steven Graham and Ms. Vicky Leloie Kelly Mr. Bob Gregory Mr. and Mrs. John T. Greiner, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Barre Griffith Mr. and Mrs. John Gunter Mr. Allen K. Harris Mr. and Mrs. David Haskett Ms. Zoe Haskins Tom and Dorothy Hays Major and Mrs. John M. Heitz Mr. David C. Henderson Mr. Jerome A. Holmes Mrs. Julia Hunt Ms. Mary Lu Jarvis Mr. and Mrs. L.J. Johnson Mr. Bill Kemp Ms. Young Y. Kim Edith and Michael Laird Mrs. Patricia Legako Mr. Robert Leveridge David and Lynne Levy Bob and Kay Lewis Rosemary and Paul Lewis Roy and Sharon Love Mr. and Mrs. Paul J. Lutes Mr. and Mrs. Ronald M. Manning Mr. and Mrs. Bob Maples Mrs. Patricia Matthews Mrs. M. Geraldine Mayes Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth R. McAlister Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. McKown Ms. Ann McVey Lt. Col. Terry L. Mock Mr. L. E. Montgomery Ms. W. Cheryl Moore Mr. Cole Morgan

SPECIAL GIFTS Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Morrison Rudi Nollert and Mary Brodnax Ms. Sylvia Ochs Mr. Robert G. Oltmanns Dan and Chris Owens Mrs. Mildred B. Parsons Mr. and Mrs. Michael W. Penn Robert and Karen Petry Dr. and Mrs. Marvin D. Peyton Mr. William Powell Ms. Rhea Rath Ms. Lisa Reed Tom and Fran Roach Ms. Joanne M. Roan-Wismer Dr. and Mrs. Michael Fred Robinson Mr. Arthur J. Rus Ms. Carol Sander Ms. Carolyn Sandusky-Williams Hank and Anne Schank Ms. Gayle A. Scheirman Ms. Geraldine Schoelen Theresa Cunha and Kurt Schroeder Mr. and Mrs. A. Lee Segell Fred and Carolyn Selensky Mr. Robert R. Shaw Dr. and Mrs. Richard Shifrin Mr. and Mrs. Richard Shough Judy Smedley Mr. Robert E. Simmons Mr. and Mrs. R. Emery Smiser Mr. and Mrs. Lee Allan Smith Jody and Pat Smith Mr. Jay Smith Ms. Kathleen Starrett Mrs. Joyce J Statton Mr. Keith Stelting Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Stice Jonathan and Andrea Stone Ms. Xiao-Hong Sun and Mr. Xiaocong Peng Mrs. Ann Taylor Mr. and Mrs. Sammy Todd Ms. Pam Troup Juan and Elvia Vazquez LTC Ret. and Mrs. George B. Wallace Mr. and Mrs. Nate Webb Dr. and Mrs. D. A. Weigand Mr. and Mrs. Ted Wernick Mr. Don Wester Dr. Ellen Jayne Wheeler Mrs. Matha A. Wilkerson Ms. Ghita Williams Ms. Lonnie F. Williams Mr. and Mrs. R. Deane Wymer Lillian Yoeckel Ms. Julie Young

Honor loved ones, celebrate occasions, recognize achievements and support the Philharmonic’s mission. In Memory of Victor Alessandro Mr. Hugh Gibson In Memory of Charles R. Bale Mrs. Pamela S. Bale In Memory of Robert H. Brady Betty L. Brady In Memory of Ben and Marie Brandt Mr. and Mrs. Gary Graham

In Honor of Jane Harlow Dr. and Mrs. Roberts S. Ellis Mrs. Linda Kennedy Rosser and Mr. Ronald T. McDaniel In Honor of Miss Molly Haskett Mr. and Mrs. David Haskett In Memory of John and Suzanne Hebert Greg and Mary Joan Johnston

In Memory of Martin and Gladys Brechbill Ms. Janice B. Carmack

In Recognition of Mr. Karen Khanagov as a teacher, musician, and composer. Kim and Michael Joseph

In Memory of Bill Broughton Mrs. Carole S. Broughton

In Honor of Margaret and Drake Keith Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Cranford

In Memory of Jackson Cash Pam and Gary Glyckherr

In Memory of Aubrey K. McClendon Pam and Gary Glyckherr Kim and Michael Joseph

In Memory of William B. & Helen P Cleary Steven C. Agee, Ph.D. William I. and Louise Churchill Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Evans, II In Memory of Mary Clements Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Wiggin

In Memory of Wendell Miles Mr. Joe Howell and Ms. Jennifer Owens In Honor of Barbara Paul The Kerr Foundation, Inc

In Memory of James O. Edwards, Jr. Mrs. Carlene Edwards

In Memory of Ila Belle Raby Ms. Judith Butler Mrs. Patricia Legako

In Memory of Patricia Folmar Ms. Jo Harris

In Memory of Berta Faye Rex Mr. and Mrs. William F. Shdeed

In Memory of Jack Gunter Carol and Kerry Alexander Mr. and Mrs. Bob Bramlett Roger, Debbie, Grayson, and Seth Brown Ms. Carol C. Davis Mr. and Mrs. Sam Decker Mr. and Mrs. David Eischen J.M. and R.C. Hunt Colonel and Mrs. Dean C. Jackson Mr. and Mrs. Bob Maples Mr. and Mrs. Wayne M. Osmond Hollis Anne and Mark B. Price Ms. Rhea Rath Carole and Michael Read Ms. Joanne M. Roan-Wismer Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Rother Mr. and Mrs. L.C. Sleeper Ms. Genie Strakal Ms. Pam Troup Mr. Phillip Truss Mrs. Evelyn Wilcoxson

In Honor of Jeff and Nanette Shultz Ms. Elizabeth L. Shultz In Memory of Earl Statton Mrs. Joyce Statton In Memory of John A. “Jack” Taylor Mrs. Ann Taylor In Honor of Bart, Lola, Mart, and Ruth Woods John and Judy Gorton

ORCHESTRA LEAGUE UPDATE

Oklahoma City Orchestra League….Bringing the joy of music to thousands of Oklahomans each year.

Founded in 1948, the Oklahoma City Orchestra League continues a rich tradition of promoting and supporting philharmonic music that enhances the culture of our community. The League enjoys a long-standing partnership with the OKC Philharmonic and proudly provides financial support with funds raised annually. Orchestra League volunteers work year round to carry out 18 award-winning educational programs and instrumental competitions that touch the lives of thousands of children and adults in the Oklahoma City area and beyond. The Orchestra League plays an inspiring role in our city’s renaissance and sets the standard for orchestra leagues across the nation.

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY AND ENJOY: • • • • • •

Exclusive, members-only invitations to social events, including meet & greet opportunities with guest artists, designers, OKC Phil musicians, the maestro, director and more. Priority notification and pricing specials for OCOL events, including Symphony Show House and Maestro’s Ball. Monthly calendar of Orchestra League and OKC Phil meetings, classes, volunteer opportunities and events. Orchestra League news and exclusive OKC Phil updates through our quarterly publication, OPUS. A copy of and inclusion in the Orchestra League’s annual membership directory. Admission to four general membership meetings with meal or refreshments.

Join now at www.okcorchestraleague.org Check out our twitter and facebook locations : www.twitter.com/orchestraleague I www.facebook.com/orchestraleague Contact us at: 405.601.4245 or admin@okcorchestraleague.org

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HOUSE NOTES

RESTROOMS are conveniently located on all levels of the theater. Please ask your usher for guidance. LATECOMERS and those who exit the theater during the performance will be seated at intermission or during the first convenient pause as determined by the management. ELECTRONIC DEVICES must be turned off and put away before entering the theater (no calling, texting, photo or video use please). Cameras, recording devices and food are not permitted inside the theater. FOOD AND BEVERAGES: Bottled water is permitted in the theater at the Classics Series concerts. Beverages are permitted in the theater at the Pops Series concerts; however, bringing coffee into the theater is discouraged due to the aroma. Snacks, drinks and desserts are available at the Civic Center CafĂŠ and snack bar on the main floor. SMOKING in the Civic Center Music Hall is prohibited. The Oklahoma City Philharmonic promotes a fragrance-free environment for the convenience of our patrons. FIRE EXITS are located on all levels and marked accordingly. Please note the nearest exit for use in case of an emergency. ELEVATORS are located at the south end of the atrium of the Civic Center Music Hall. CHILDREN of all ages are welcome at the Philharmonic Discovery Family Series and Holiday Pops performances; however, in consideration of the patrons, musicians and artists, those under five years of age will not be admitted to evening Classics and Pops concerts unless otherwise noted. BOOSTER SEATS for children are available in the Civic Center event office. Please inquire at the ticket office. COLLEGE STUDENT RUSH TICKETS are $6 each and available with a college or university I.D. and email address at the box office 45 minutes prior to the start of each Philharmonic performance. Tickets are offered based on availability only and seats are located throughout the theater. VIDEO MONITORS are located in the lobby for your convenience. WHEELCHAIR AVAILABLE SEATING: Persons using wheelchairs or with walking and climbing difficulties will be accommodated when possible. Those wishing to use the designated wheelchair sections may purchase the wheelchair space and a companion seat. Please inform the Philharmonic Ticket Office staff of your need when ordering tickets so that you may be served promptly and appropriately. Please request the assistance of hall ushers to access wheelchair seating. LOST & FOUND is located in the Civic Center Office (405-297-2584) weekdays 8:30 a.m. â€“ 5:00 p.m. PHILHARMONIC TICKET OFFICE may be contacted by calling 405-TIC-KETS (405-842-5387) or you can visit the Philharmonic Ticket Office located on the first floor of the Arts District Garage at 424 Colcord Drive in Suite B. The Philharmonic Ticket Office is open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and concert Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. CIVIC CENTER TICKET OFFICE hours are Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and two hours prior to each performance. (405-297-2264) Programs and Artists are subject to change without notification.