Bruckner's Third Symphony

THE PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA OF YALE ja n ua r y 13 , 2 0 12 · f rid ay, 8 pm · woolse y h all

Peter Oundjian, guest conductor

maurice ravel Alborada del Gracioso

pyotr ilyich tchaikovsky Francesca da Rimini, Op. 32

Intermission

anton bruckner Symphony No. 3 in D minor, “Wagner-Symphonie” Gemäßigt, mehr bewegt, misterioso

(also Sehr langsam, misterioso) Adagio. Bewegt, quasi Andante Scherzo. Ziemlich schnell (also Sehr schnell) Finale. Allegro (also Ziemlich schnell)

As a courtesy to others, please silence all cell phones and devices. Photography of any kind is strictly prohibited.

Please do not leave the hall during musical selections.

Thank you.

Robert Blocker, Dean

p ro g ram notes

Maurice Ravel » 1875–1937 Alborada del Gracioso Maurice Ravel is celebrated today as one of the greatest orchestrators in the history of Western music. His orchestral works, which include such well-known masterpieces as Bolero, Daphnis et Chloé, and La Valse, are distinguished by his encyclopedic understanding of the technical abilities of instruments and of the timbral nuances available to him in every musical situation. Many of Ravel’s most famous orchestral works are transcriptions of piano pieces, including La Valse and an orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

Alborada del gracioso also falls into this category.

Taken from the piano suite Miroirs (“Reflections”, composed 1904–1905), Alborada del gracioso (often translated as “Morning Song of a Jester”) was transcribed for orchestra by Ravel in 1918.

From the initial burst of plucked strings emulating a guitar, to the fanfare-like trumpet calls that erupt in transitional moments, to the soulful bassoon melody that evokes the plaintive song of a would-be lover, the work clearly evinces its Spanish inspirations. Cast in a threepart (fast-slow-fast) form, the outer sections feature a subtle rhythmic interplay between beat patterns in groups of twos and threes—a device Ravel also used in the famous second movement of the String Quartet in F major.

(Incidentally, both that piece and Alborada begin with plucked strings exclusively.)

Regarding Ravel’s painstaking and exacting working methods, Igor Stravinsky once referred to Ravel as “the most perfect of Swiss watchmakers.” Ravel himself acknowledged his working goal: “My objective, therefore, is technical perfection. I can strive unceasingly to this end, since I am certain of never being able to attain it. The important thing is to get nearer to it all the time.” Because of his extremely deliberate working pace, Ravel left only around sixty works completed upon his death, yet those that exist are all gems, crafted with Ravel’s trademark lapidary precision.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky » 1840–1893

Francesca da Rimini, Op. 32

In contrast with the slow and methodical working pace of Ravel, Tchaikovsky wrote Francesca da Rimini in three short weeks, after a journey to Bayreuth in August 1876. Tchaikovsky, who was decidedly not a fan of Wagner, was sent there to report on the premiere of Wagner’s Ring cycle. Despite Tchaikovsky’s antipathy towards the German composer’s music, the experience provided some inspiration to Tchaikovsky as he began work on this tale of doomed lovers. “Isn’t it strange,” he wondered, “that I should have fallen under the influence of a work of art for which I feel, on the whole, a marked antipathy?” However, it is Wagner’s contemporaneous colleague, Franz Liszt, who is the clearer progenitor for this work, with its programmatic structure, its stormy chromaticism, and its subject matter drawn from Dante’s Divine Comedy.

The 25-minute work tells the tale of Francesca da Rimini, an Italian noblewoman of the thirteenth century. Her story was immortalized in Canto V of Dante’s Inferno, and Tchaikovsky hewed closely to the epic poem’s text in structuring this work, which the composer called a “symphonic fantasy.” After beginning with a lugubrious depiction of the descent into Hell, the orchestra whips up a fiery vortex of sound representing the whirlwind of souls that Dante finds upon entering the second circle of Hell.

The second circle is reserved for those who have given in to sensual pleasure. There, he sees the beautiful Francesca, and asks to speak with her. (Francesca’s theme is first heard in the clarinet, after the storm seems to have died down.) She tells her tragic story to Dante: Forced into a politically expedient marriage with a deformed warlord, Francesca fell in love instead with his handsome brother, Paolo.

As they read the romance of Lancelot and Guinevere together, it inflamed their desire.

Francesca’s husband, catching them making love, murdered both. As eternal punishment, the star-crossed pair are made to endure the hurricane of souls, forever remembering the loss of the happy times they had spent together.

Anton Bruckner » 1824–1896 Symphony No. 3 in D minor, “Wagner-Symphonie” Anton Bruckner gained fame and success for his compositions relatively late in his life. For much of his career he was known primarily as a brilliant organist. If any of his compositional efforts were known, they were invariably examples of sacred music, often in a predominantly conservative style in which his prodigious talent as a contrapuntist was evident. (Until 1856, many of Bruckner’s scores included figured bass parts!) It was not until the mid-1860s, when Bruckner was forty years old, that the composer began to produce the large-scale masterworks for which he is known today: several brilliant masses and nine major symphonies.

Although Bruckner’s musical training had been largely focused on conservative traditions and sacred music, he developed a fervent love of Wagner’s music. In 1865, Bruckner traveled to Munich to meet Wagner for the first time, and he is believed to have attended every Wagnerian premiere from Tristan und Isolde onwards.

In August of 1873, Bruckner made the journey to Bayreuth to visit Wagner again. While there, he presented the older composer with both the Second and Third symphonies, asking which of the two Wagner would like to have dedicated to him. Wagner chose the Third Symphony, which is now widely known as the Wagner Symphony.

music, fled the hall during the performance, and the eminent critic Eduard Hanslick (who had briefly been a major supporter of Bruckner) wrote a scathing review. Yet Bruckner was accustomed to the rocky public reception of his works. He revised his symphonies tirelessly—the Third exists in at least three distinct revisions.

(Tonight the Philharmonia is performing the 1889 version, edited by Leopold Nowak.) It was not until the mid-1880s, and specifically the premiere of the Seventh Symphony on December 30 th, 1884, that Bruckner was finally afforded the public success that he had so long sought. Today, Bruckner enjoys a reputation as one of the most powerful and popular symphonists of the late-Romantic era.

The Third was premiered in Vienna in the Grosser Musikvereinssaal on December 16th, 1877. The performance was a disaster in multiple respects. The scheduled conductor, Johann von Herbeck, died a month before the concert, requiring Bruckner, who was not a competent orchestral conductor, to step in. The Vienna audience, not typically warm to Bruckner’s

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co n du c to r p ro file

Peter Oundjian guest conductor Toronto-born conductor Peter Oundjian, noted for his probing musicality, collaborative spirit, and engaging personality, has been an instrumental figure in the rebirth of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since his appointment as music director in 2004. In addition to conducting the orchestra in dynamic performances which have earned artistic acclaim, he has been greatly involved in a variety of new initiatives which have strengthened the ensemble’s presence in the community and attracted a young and diverse audience. Mr. Oundjian has also released four recordings on the orchestra’s self-produced record label, tsoLIVE. The award-winning documentary Five Days In September: The Rebirth of An Orchestra, chronicles Peter Oundjian’s first week as music director of the TSO. Peter Oundjian served as principal guest conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2010 and played a major role at the Caramoor International Music Festival between 1997 and 2007. He has served as a visiting professor at the Yale School of Music since 1981. In 2009, Mr. Oundjian received an honorary doctorate from the San Francisco Conservatory.

Peter Oundjian was educated in England, where he studied the violin with Manoug Parikian. He then attended the Royal College of Music in London, where he was awarded the Gold Medal for Most Distinguished Student and Stoutzker Prize for excellence in violin playing. He completed his violin training at the Juilliard School in New York, where he studied with Ivan Galamian, Itzhak Perlman, and Dorothy DeLay. Peter Oundjian was the first violinist of the renowned Tokyo String Quartet, a position he held for fourteen years.

a b o ut yal e p h ilharmonia

The Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale is one of America’s foremost music school ensembles. The largest performing group at the Yale School of Music, the Philharmonia offers superb training in orchestral playing and repertoire.

shinik hahm Conductor

Performances include an annual series of concerts in Woolsey Hall, as well as Yale Opera productions in the Shubert Performing Arts Center. The Yale Philharmonia has also performed on numerous occasions in Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The orchestra undertook its first tour of Asia in 2008, with acclaimed performances in the Seoul Arts Center, the Forbidden City Concert Hall and National Center for the Performing Arts (Beijing), and the Shanghai Grand Theatre.

roberta senatore Librarian

krista johnson Managing Director

kate gonzales Production Assistant yang jiao Assistant Conductor paolo bortolameolli Assistant Conductor

The Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale violin 1 Holly Piccoli Joo Hye Lim Brian Bak Geoffrey Herd Christian Sitzmann Won Young Jung Sung Mao Liang Yoon Won Song Jacob Ashworth Go Woon Choi Cordelia Paw Minhye Helena Choi Tammy Wang Piotr Filochowski violin 2 David Radzynski Tao Zhang Edson Scheid Hyun Sun Sul Edward Tan Nayeon Kim Seok Jung Lee Yuan Ma Shawn Moore Eun-young Jung Ji Hyun Kim Laura Keller Igor Pikayzen viola Eleanor James Dashiel Nesbitt On You Kim Colin Brookes Sara Rossi Timothy Lacrosse Jessica Li Heejin Chang Dan Zhang Min Jung Chun Leonard Chiang Jane Mitchell cello James Jeonghwan Kim Jinhee Park Soo Jin Chung Bo Zhang Ying Zhang Weipeng Liu

Qizhen Liu Christopher Hwang Joonhwan Kim Jia Cao Andrew Hayhurst Hae Yoon Shin double bass Michael Levin Gregory Robbins Paul Nemeth NaHee Song Matthew Rosenthal Jonathan McWilliams Nicholas Jones Asa Maynard flute Cho-Long Kang, piccolo 1, 2 Kyeong Hoon Seung 1*, 2, 3* Peng Zhou 1, 2, 3 oboe Kristin Kall, English horn 1, 2 Ji Hyun Kim 3* Rebecca Kim 3 Caroline Ross 1, 2 Kaitlin Taylor 1*, 2* clarinet Soo Jin Huh 1*, 3 David Perry 1, 2* Ashley Smith 2, 3* bassoon Elisabeth Garrett 1, 2 Yuki Katayuma 1*, 2* Meryl Summers 3 Scott Switzer, contrabassoon Lauren Yu 3* horn Craig Hubbard 2, 3 Lauren Hunt 2, 3 Jessica Lascoe 1*, 2 Andrew Mee 1, 2* Ian Petruzzi 1, 3 Mimi Zhang 1, 3* trumpet John Allen 1*, 2 John Ehrenburg 1, 3

Paul Futer 3* Jean Laurenz 2, 3 Gerado Mata 2* Gerald Villella 2 trombone Hana Beloglavec 1*, 2 Timothy Hilgert 2*, 3 Brittany Lasch 3* Matthew Russo 1, Benjamin Firer 1, 2, 3 tuba Landres Bryant 1*, 2* percussion Jonathan Allen Victor Caccese Michael Compitello Cristobal Gajardo-Benitez Leonardo Gorosito Adam Rosenblatt Christian Schmidt harp Kristan Toczko 1* Yue Guo 1, 2* 1 - Player in Ravel 2 - Player in Tchaikovsky 3 - Player in Bruckner * - Principal player assistant Benjamin Firer music librarians Cristobal Gajardo-Benitez Timothy Hilgert • Wai Lau Qizhen Liu • Rachel Perfecto Holly Piccoli • Matthew Rosenthal Kathryn Salfelder • Kaitlin Taylor stage crew John Allen • Jonathan Allen Colin Brookes • Landres Bryant Timothy Hilgert • Michael Levin Jonathan McWilliams • Matthew Rosenthal Aaron Sorensen • Gerald Villella

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JAN 19

Martin Suckling, composer

JAN 25

Wei-Yi Yang, piano

doctor of musical arts recital 8 pm | Sprague Hall | Free Admission horowitz piano series 8 pm | Sprague Hall | $12–22 • Students $6–9

Ravel: Miroirs and Valses nobles et sentimentales; Schubert: Sonata in A major, D. 959.

JAN 26 JAN 29

Matthew Barnson, composer doctor of musical arts recital 8 pm | Sprague Hall | Free Admission

Wendy Sharp, violin faculty artist series 4 pm | Sprague Hall | Free Admission

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With Marka Gustavsson, viola; Mimi Hwang, cello; and Melvin Chen, piano. Chamber music by Fauré, Ravel, and Milhaud.

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