the philharmonia orchestra of yale peter oundjian
Principal Conductor
March 31, 2017 • Friday at 7:30 pm Woolsey Hall
peter oundjian conductor martin bresnick The Way It Goes (2015) sergei prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 I. Andantino II. Scherzo. Vivace III. Intermezzo. Allegro moderato IV. Finale. Allegro tempestoso Yang Liu, piano intermission johannes br ahms Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 I. Allegro non troppo II. Andante moderato III. Allegro giocoso IV. Allegro energico e passionato
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Robert Blocker, Dean
p rog ra ram notes P m N otes
Martin Bresnick » b. 1946 The Way It Goes (2015)
softened the shock factor, but the concerto’s freshness and vitality remain today.
In Bertolt Brecht’s play The Exception and the Rule, an innocent unarmed man is shot and killed by a man with a gun. At the trial the armed man testifies that even though the other had no weapon he felt threatened and afraid. As usual, the armed man is found not guilty by reason of self-defense.
The work is in four movements. The first begins innocently enough, yet builds to incredible intensity. Following a brief, playful gesture in the clarinets and plucked strings, a lyrical, almost vocal melody emerges in the piano over undulating triplets (the composer even writes narrante or “spoken” in the solo part). A far more disjointed, sarcastic, and playful secondary theme interrupts, providing a sort of comic relief. When the primary, vocal theme returns, it does so with the piano now alone. Within a massive cadenza for the instrument — the composer writes “gigantic” — one almost forgets that there is an orchestra on stage. When the orchestra does return, however, it makes its presence clearly known. At the climactic moment of the movement, the playful pizzicato gesture from the opening few bars is transformed into a searing brass statement that vehemently engulfs the piano after its lengthy solo venture. This moment of great energy exhausts itself rather quickly, leaving the weary, sighing piano alone to once more brood upon its opening theme. The second and third movements, though more modest in scale than the first, are no less rich in character: the second is a whiplash scherzo with dizzying perpetual motion, like a musical counterpart to a game of soccer. The third, a sort of grotesque circus processional with playful dialogue between soloist and orchestra, might, with imagination, convey elephants and trapeze artists. The finale is on the same grand scale as the first movement. A distinctly Russian-sounding theme, mournful in tone and reminiscent of Mussorgsky’s folk-inspired melodies, provides moments of respite from the abruptly shifting, manic, and savage nature of this exciting and “tempestuous” movement. – Patrick Jankowski
At the conclusion of the play the actors address the audience directly, saying (in my paraphrase): Find unusual what is not unusual, Regard it as exceptional, even when it is the rule. When people say: “that’s the way it goes”, Recognize injustice. And where you find injustice Find a remedy! My work The Way It Goes is a musical trope, retelling that story. – Martin Bresnick Sergei Prokofiev » 1891–1953 Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 “A Babel of insane sounds heaped upon one another without rhyme or reason,” wrote one critic following the premiere of the first version of Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto in 1913. This version, written by an enfant terrible still in his early 20s, was lost in a fire during the Russian Revolution of 1917. When the composer revisited the work in 1924, after the premiere of his more popular and arguably less “offensive” Third Concerto, he yielded the version that remains today, noting that it was “so completely rewritten that it might almost be considered No. 4.” Prokofiev remarked on the athleticism of his First Concerto, referring to its “soccer quality”; with the Second, he would “strive for greater depth of content.” Few, however, would deny the athletic qualities of this work, which has come to be counted among the most demanding of Prokofiev’s music: his acrobatic piano writing, his intense projection of emotion into music, his wide variety of characters and styles, and his colorful, brilliant orchestral writing, which elevates the orchestra from the role of mere accompaniment to that of worthy companion or, occasionally, adversary to the piano. Its premiere left listeners “frozen with fright, hair standing on end,” according to one account. Time may have
Johannes Brahms » 1833–1897 Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 An anonymous critic writing in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik in 1855 wrote, “The creation of a symphony nowadays is a rock on which, with only a few exceptions, most composers suffer a complete shipwreck.” After Beethoven, the symphony was seen to require not only a certain grandiosity and nobility, but also a strong emphasis on thematic development and motivic unity. With the impossibly high standard of Beethoven as the measuring stick, most composers felt unequal to the task. For many years, Brahms was no different. He began work on a symphony many times, only to incorporate his ideas into other works such as the First Piano Concerto, Op. 15. At long last, in 1876, Brahms’ First Symphony appeared. With this work, he proved himself able to rise to the multifaceted challenges of the symphonic genre. In no composer since Beethoven had the ability to meld small-scale motivic development with large-scale formal unity and grandness of utterance shown itself so fully. Having ascended the summit once, Brahms’ remaining symphonies were completed relatively quickly: the Second a year later in 1877, the Third in 1883, and the Fourth in 1885. Even within a body of work celebrated for its musical erudition, Brahms’s Fourth Symphony stands out for its emphasis on unity, symmetry, and contrapuntal ingenuity. Brahms himself was concerned about the accessibility of the work, writing to his friend Hans von Bülow, “I’m really afraid that it tastes like the climate here. The cherries don’t ripen in these parts; you wouldn’t eat them!” Others within Brahms’ inner circle were equally aware of the deeply intellectual nature of the symphony. At a reading of the two-piano arrangement of the work before the premiere, the eminent critic Eduard Hanslick exclaimed after the first movement, “For the whole movement I had the feeling that I was being given a beating by two incredibly intelligent people.” The opening of the symphony is both understated in manner and bold in its simplicity. The first theme is constructed entirely of a chain of descending thirds (B–G–E–C–A–F#– D#–B), followed by a symmetrical chain of ascending thirds (E–G–B–D–F–A–C). Only octave displacements obscure the elemental identity of this statement. Other movements
evince a similar symmetry; for example, the opening theme of the second movement rises a third, and then falls a third. The boisterous scherzo has long been the most popular movement with audiences. Surrounded by the context of the otherwise solemn work, it is a welcome display of good cheer and sparkling wit (note the prominent triangle part). The final movement is one of the most remarkable creations in the whole of symphonic composition. Brahms brings the full force of his contrapuntal imagination to bear in a series of 30 variations on a theme. The form is that of a Baroque chaconne, in which the theme first appears in the bass before moving throughout the texture, but remaining ever-present. A writer for the Musikalisches Wochenblatt of Leipzig opined, “the effect of the whole is nonetheless of a continuous improvisation, the equal of which has never been heard in the area of the symphony.” Hanslick agreed: “It is like a dark well; the longer we look into it, the more brightly the stars shine back.” – Jordan Kuspa
a rtt i st st Profi p rofiles Ar le
Peter Oundjian, principal conductor
Yang Liu, piano
A dynamic presence in the conducting world, Toronto-born conductor Peter Oundjian is renowned for his probing musicality, collaborative spirit, and engaging personality. Oundjian’s appointment as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) in 2004 reinvigorated the orchestra with numerous recordings, tours, and acclaimed innovative programming, as well as extensive audience growth, thereby significantly strengthening the ensemble’s presence in the world. He recently led the TSO on a tour of Europe which included a sold-out performance at Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw and the first performance of a North American orchestra at Reykjavik’s Harpa concert hall.
Pianist Yang Liu attracts worldwide audiences with her profound musicianship and extraordinary virtuosity. “Her performance was incredibly expressive … effortlessly moving from delicate flourishes to pounding intensity,” the Toronto Star has opined. Since her concerto debut at the age of 14 with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, she has performed extensively throughout United States, Europe, and China. She has won many prestigious awards, including first prize at the Toronto International Piano Competition, second prize at the Serge and Olga Koussevitzky Young Artist Awards, and fourth prize at the Fifth International Frederick Chopin Competition for Young Pianists, among others.
Oundjian was appointed music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) in 2012. Under his baton, the orchestra has enjoyed several successful tours including one to China, and has continued its relationship with Chandos Records. This season, Oundjian and the RSNO opened the Edinburgh Festival with the innovative Harmonium Project to great critical and audience acclaim.
Ms. Liu has performed at many prominent venues, including Lincoln Center in New York, Koerner Hall in Toronto, the Forbidden City Concert Hall and Beijing Concert Hall in Beijing, and Château de Fontainebleau in France, among others. She has also been invited to participate and perform in numerous music programs and festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival and School, PianoTexas, International Piano Academy “Incontri col Maestro,” Jeunes Virtuoses de New York, the Fontainebleau Schools of Music, and others. Ms. Liu has performed in master classes with Murray Perahia, Richard Goode, Paul BaduraSkoda, Arie Vardi, Malcolm Bilson, and others. She will give her concerto debut in Canada with Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Toronto Concert Orchestra in the coming concert season.
Few conductors bring such musicianship and engagement to the world’s great podiums — from Berlin, Amsterdam, and Tel Aviv to New York, Chicago, and Sydney. He has also appeared at some of the great annual gatherings of musicians and music-lovers: from the BBC Proms and the Prague Spring Festival to the Edinburgh Festival and the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Mozart Festival, where he was artistic director from 2003 to 2005. Oundjian was principal guest conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2010 and artistic director of the Caramoor International Music Festival in New York between 1997 and 2007. Since 1981, he has been a visiting professor at the Yale School of Music, and in 2013 he was awarded the school’s Samuel Simons Sanford Award for distinguished service to music.
Ms. Liu was born in Fuzhou, Fujian, China. She showed her prodigious talents toward the arts in her youth and started to learn music when she was 6 years old. In 2007, Ms. Liu was admitted to the Pre-College Division of The Juilliard School and studied with Victoria Mushkatkol. In 2009, she entered the college division and has studied under the tutelage of Yoheved Kaplinsky since then. She received her bachelor of music and master of music degrees from The Juilliard School, and is currently pursuing her master of musical arts degree at the Yale School of Music with Melvin Chen.
A bo u t Ya l e Philharmo nia
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. Performances include an annual series of concerts in Woolsey Hall, as well as Yale Opera productions in the Schubert Theater. The Yale Philharmonia has also performed on numerous occasions in Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City and at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 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.
peter oundjian Principal Conductor philharmonia staff
jeffrey m. mistri Manager samuel bobinski Assistant Manager david yi Assistant Conductor
the philharmonia orchestra of yale violin i Sophia Mockler Sirena Huang Alyssa Blackstone Bora Kim Elliot Lee Marina Aikawa Laura Park Michael Tropepe Linda Lee Wynton Grant Suyoun Han Clement Luu violin ii Diomedes B. Saraza Jr. Rachel Ostler Marianne Di Tomaso TzuTi Chang Hyunjae Bae Kyung Min Lee Moon Joo Kim Manaka Matsumoto Chang Hoon Bae Je Young Kim viola Wei Peng Joshua Newburger Alexandra Simpson Yang Li Thomas Duboski Emily Brandenburg Josip Kvetek Florrie Marshall
cello Allan Hon Eric Adamshick Pall Quinn Kalmansson Samuel DeCaprio Ji Young Choi Yeji Yoo Jenny Kwak Nayeon Kim bass Mariya-Andoniya Andonova Lee Starovich Luke Stence Joshua DePoint Kaden Hall Henderson Erez Meyuhass flute Leo Sussman 1 Evan Fojtik 2 Felice Doynov 3 oboe Winona Van Alstyne 1,2 Noah Kay 3 clarinet Sam Boutris 1 Graeme Johnson 2 Eric Braley 3 bassoon Patrick Broder Francisco Bernard 1,2 Yang Mingyuan 3 Mathew Gregoire contrabassoon Mathew Gregoire horn Cody Halquist 1
Reese Farnell Antonia Chandler 2 Matthew Gray Scott Leger Joshua Thompson 3 trumpet Aaron Plourde 1 Ashley Hale Andrew Stadler 2 Nozomi Imamura 3 Theo Van Dyck trombone Alexander Walden 2 Hillary Simms 3 bass trombone Zachary Haas 2 Eliud Garcia 3 tuba Jacob Fewx timpani Georgi Videnov 1,2 Sam Um 3 percussion Matthew Keown Sam Seyong Um Georgi Videnov Principal on Bresnick Principal on Prokofiev 3 Principal on Brahms 1
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office assistant Valerie Sly music librarians Emily Brandenburg Sophie Cash-Goldwasser Antonia Chandler Allan Hon Bora Kim Laura Park Lauren Williams stage crew Lydia Consilvio Margaret Davis Thomas Duboski Reese Farnell Christopher Garwood Ashley Hale Nozomi Imamura Pall Kalmansson Matthew Keown Young Kyoung Lee Hillary Simms Andrew Stadler Sam Seyong Um Georgi Videnov Cheuk Yin Luu
U p co m ming Eventt s Upc i n g Even APRIL 5
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MELVIN CHEN, piano Horowitz Piano Series Faculty pianist and School of Music Deputy Dean Melvin Chen performs Couperin’s Quatrième Concert, Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin, M. 68, and Chausson’s Concerto for Piano, Violin, and String Quartet in D major, Op. 21, with violinist Juliette Kang and the Argus Quartet Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 7:30 pm Tickets start at $13 • Students $7 DAVID LANG, composer New Music New Haven A program featuring YSM faculty composer David Lang’s the so-called laws of nature, music by Jack Vees, and works by graduate-student composers Morse Recital Hall | Thursday | 7:30 pm Free Admission ARGUS QUARTET Yale School of Music Ensembles The Argus Quartet, the fellowship quartet-inresidence at the Yale School of Music, performs Leoš Janáček’s String Quartet No. 2, “Intimate Letters,” Garth Knox’s Satellites, and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132 Sudler Recital Hall | Thursday | 4:30 pm Free Admission
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