yale philharmonia Peter Oundjian, Principal Conductor
Jean-Marie Zeitouni guest conductor
Friday, October 26, 2018 | 7:30 p.m. Woolsey Hall
Robert Blocker, Dean
Program Camille Saint-Saëns 1835–1921 Claude Debussy arr. Altinoglu 1862–1918
“Bacchanale” from Samson et Dalila, Op. 47
Suite from Pelléas et Mélisande (1902) North American premiere
intermission
Hector Berlioz 1803–1869
Symphonie fantastique, H. 48 (1830) I. Rêveries - Passions (Dreams and passions) II. Un bal (A ball): Valse. Allegro non troppo III. Scene au champ (Scene in the countryside). Adagio IV. Marche au supplice (March to the scaffold). Allegro non troppo V. Song d’une nuit du Sabbat (Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath)
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Artist Profiles Jean-Marie Zeitouni, guest conductor Recognized as one of the brightest young conductors of his generation for his eloquent yet fiery style, Jean-Marie Zeitouni is artistic director of the Orchestre de chambre I Musici de Montréal, and principal guest conductor of the Colorado Music Festival. He served as music director of the Columbus Symphony, music director of the Colorado Music Festival, assistant conductor and chorus master of the Opéra de Montréal (and music director of its artist-in-residence program) at the Opera as Theatre program at the Banff Centre, chorus master of the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and Opéra de Québec, and music director of Université Laval’s opera workshop and orchestra. With the Violons du Roy, he was conductor in residence, assistant conductor and principal guest conductor. He studied at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal under Maestro Raffi Armenian, and graduated in conducting, percussion, and composition. A regular at the international festivals of Lanaudière and Domaine Forget, Elora Festival, Parry Sound Festival and New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, he has also appeared at Round Top and Grant Park. Greatly appreciated as a lyrical director, he has conducted at the Opéra de Montréal, Opéra de Québec, Glimmerglass, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, and Opéra national de Lorraine, as well as productions in Banff, Calgary, Edmonton, Cincinnati, St. Louis, the Opéra Orchestre national de Montpellier and Orchestre national de Lorraine à Nancy.
In Canada, he has conducted the symphony orchestras of Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Halifax, Victoria, KitchenerWaterloo and London, as well as the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Arion Baroque Orchestra, and Club musical de Québec. Internationally, he has conducted the symphony orchestras of Houston, Oregon, Monterey, San Antonio, Seattle, Detroit, Omaha, Honolulu, Phoenix, Huntsville, Cincinnati, the Pacific Symphony, Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, Philharmonique de Marseille, Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony of Mexico, Arco Ensemble, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Moscow Philharmonic.
About the Yale Philharmonia The Yale Philharmonia 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 Shubert Theatre. 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.
Program Notes “Bacchanale” from Samson et Dalila Saint-Saëns Patrick Campbell Jankowski
Suite from Pelléas et Mélisande (1902) Debussy Patrick Campbell Jankowski
When you turn a Biblical narrative into an opera, you are playing with fire. Saint-Saëns initially set out to transform the story of the “invincible” Israelite Samson and seductive Philistine Delila into an oratorio, which had experienced a revival in the mid-nineteenth century and, at surface level, would have been the more suitable genre. Instead, librettist Ferdinand Lemaire convinced him to compose an opera, intensifying both the narrative’s theatrical elements and the plot’s sensuality. It took several years and much convincing to get the opera staged: in Britain, the Lord Chamberlain banned the opera for three decades. Part of the scandal may have arisen from the Bacchanale; here, Philistine priests dance before a ritual sacrifice. The orgiastic nature of the dance is implied in the continuously intensifying tempo and dynamics. Colorful writing for the winds and percussion, with ample use of triangle, cymbal, brass, and piccolo, recall the tropes of ‘Janissary’ music known to Europeans through the presence, welcome or not, of Ottoman peoples. In hearing it today, we should acknowledge the Orientalist implications of the work, wherein the east is depicted as seductive, feminine, immoral, and threatening. While the modal melodic writing may appear laughably cliché, and the implication of “philistines” as savages hard to swallow today, these very features allow us to understand cultural perspectives and Eastern-Western dichotomies. Samson and Delilah is not only melodically rich but historically enlightening.
The incidental music from which much of this suite is derived was composed in part by practical necessity. This was the glue that bound the seams of several scene changes in the opera. Like Wagner’s music dramas, which Debussy cautiously admired though avoided replicating, in Pelléas et Melisande you will hardly encounter individual arias, recitatives, and set pieces. Instead, the opera functions, quasi-cinematically, as prose in music. The text of a popular Symbolist play by Claude Maeterlinck provided Debussy with his subject. The story is surreal, ambiguous, and dreamlike in presentation, yet simple in terms of plot, functioning essentially as a fairy tale love triangle. Debussy set the text of Materlinck’s play almost verbatim, helping to further distance the work from the conventions of most operas. This revelatory work, of great importance to Debussy, was his only completed opera, and remains an iconic work of early modernism. Alain Altinoglu’s suite, which he premiered in 2017 with the Berlin Philharmonic, follows the storyline of the original opera, with his own transitions serving to bridge together Debussy’s transitional passages. As we might expect, the score is rich with Debussy’s lush sonorities and ungrounded harmonies, which provide a suitably mystical atmosphere for this dreamy tale.
Symphonie fantastique, H. 48 berlioz Liam Viney, ed. Aaron Levin Few compositions have come to epitomize the essence of a composer as Symphonie fantastique has for Berlioz. The work was premiered in Paris in 1830 to a surprisingly moderate, though generally positive, critical reception. The fact that this work dates to only three years after the death of Beethoven is startling: first impressions of Berlioz’s symphony suggest a world of difference between the two composers. The extent to which the program defines the musical narrative is of the most fundamental importance. In the printed program of the first performance, Berlioz provided an outline of the plot: the love-sick hero (presumably himself) is plagued by images of his beloved and troubled by a spiritual sickness. He finds himself in several unrelated settings including nature, balls, and towns, yet he is constantly visited by his beloved’s image, accompanied by extreme emotional reactions. Eventually, disillusionment sets in during the third movement, and he poisons himself with opium to assuage the anguish of his unrequited love. Delirium sets in, and he descends into the horrific dream world of the fourth and fifth movements. To create dramatic coherence as the narrative unfolds, Berlioz employs a novel organizing device throughout the symphony – the so-called idée fixe. Here, the idée fixe is a graceful melodic idea, first heard in the soaring violin and flute line immediately after the slow introduction of the first
movement. The idée fixe recurs in each movement and is transformed into various guises depending on the changes of mood and character suggested by the program. The first movement is set in sonata form, an overwhelming sense of fantasy distorting the aural landscape. The second movement is a waltz, the middle portion devoted to the idée fixe. The third movement is a slow, pastoral setting that includes distant thunder (sounded by the timpani) and a simulation of shepherd pipers. In the fourth movement, the hero dreams that he has killed his beloved, and is condemned, marched to the guillotine, and executed. This “March to the Scaffold” concludes with an evocative aural event – here, the clarinet’s recollection of the beloved’s theme is interrupted by the sounds of the guillotine: the thump of the blade, a head falling into a basket, and the cheers of the crowd. The finale is the apotheosis of the whole work. During this “Witches Sabbath,” the hero envisions his own funeral with a requiem in the form of a burlesque. Here, the idée fixe appears in its most grotesque incarnation; the clarinets caricature the beloved’s theme, representing its satanic transformation in the witches’ dance. The ominous Dies irae is heard, followed by low strings who announce the beginning of an [ironically] academic fugue: this is the round dance of the witches. The diabolical sounds include the strings playing with the wood of the bow, a bone-rattling col legno that evokes a macabre scene. The music rushes headlong to its conclusion as the Dies irae and idée fixe collide and collapse into each other in an orgiastic orchestral implosion.
Yale Philharmonia Peter Oundjian, principal conductor Violin I Ariel Horowitz Sirena Huang Jessy Kim Albert Yamamoto Matthew Woodard Beatrice Hsieh Yintong Liu Pei Wen Liao Eva Wetzel Jin Yoon Yoon Be Kim Lauren Bennett Violin II Marianne Di Tomaso Yun Jae Choi Bora Kim Cameron Daly Anna Leunis Yejin Min Dustin Wilkes-Kim Xiaofan Liu Jessie Chen Yebeen Seo Viola Rimbo Wong Abigail Elder Marta Lambert Alex McLaughlin Bethany Hargreaves Minji Kim Rayna Chou Minkyoung Lee Cello Valentina Crnjak Samuel Walter Sein Lee Harry Doernberg Ha Eun Song Hongli Diao Josephina Kim Yun Han Bass Amy Nickler Ross Wightman
Ying-Yin Chia Samuel Zagnit Kohei Yamaguchi Kelvin Ng Flute Maria Luisk 1 Hannah Creswell Brendan Dooley 2 Lucas Oliviera Amir Farsi 3 Piccolo Brendan Dooley 1 Maria Luisk 2, 3 Oboe Leonardo Ziporyn Amelia Merriman 1 Noah Kay 3 Lauren White Shawn Hutchison 2 English Horn Leonardo Ziporyn 1 Amelia Merriman 2 Lauren White 3 Clarinet Amy Hur Juan Martinez 2 Richard Adger 1 Giovanni Bertoni 3 Ziqi Yue E-flat Clarinet Giovanni Bertoni 3 Bass Clarinet Amy Hur 1 Bassoon Ethan Lippert 3 Philip McNaughton Eleni Katz Andrew Sledge 1, 2 Dana Brink
ContraBassoon Ethan Lippert 1 Horn Griffin Botts 1 Esteban Garcia 3 Stephen Newberry Antonia Chandler Nivanthi Karunaratne Gabriel Mairson Steven Harmon 2 Trumpet Oscar Mason Melissa Munoz 1 Eric Rizzo 2 Kenny Chauby Brian Garcia Rodriguez 3 cornet Kenny Chauby 1 Oscar Mason 3 trombone Danny Alford 1, 2 William Wortley 3 Ingram Lee Lyman McBride bass trombone Jordan Crimminger 1, 2 Daniel Vaitkus 3 tuba Jake Fewx 1, 2 Aidan Zimmerman 3 Timpani Arlo Shultis 1 Russell Fisher 2 Young Kyoung Lee 3 Percussion Young Kyoung Lee Russell Fisher Ji Su Jung Kevin Zetina Shiqi Zhong
Harp Anna Ellsworth 1, 2, 3 Margaret Davis Manager Jeffrey M. Mistri Assistant Manager/ Librarian Samuel Bobinski philharmonia office assistant Kristy Tucker Music Librarians Antonia Chandler Brandon Garbot Bora Kim Marta Lambert Gregory Lewis Alex McLaughlin Leonardo Ziporyn Stage Crew Héloïse Carlean-Jones Cameron Daly Jisu Jung YoungKyoung Lee Gabriel Mairson Lucas Oliveira Arlo Shultis Andrew Sledge Russel Thompson Daniel Vaitkus Rimbo Wong Aidan Zimmerman Principal on Saint-Saëns 2 Principal on Debussy 3 Principal on Berlioz 1
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Upcoming Events oct 30 The Sebastians Collection of Musical Instruments The Collection’s ensemble-inresidence performs works by Baroque and Classical composers. 7:30 p.m. | Collection of Musical Inst. Tickets $30, Yale staff and seniors and museum associates $25, students $15 nov 7 Wei-Yi Yang, piano Horowitz Piano Series Faculty pianist Wei-Yi Yang plays an all-Schumann program that includes Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, and the Fantasie. 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $15, students $7 nov 13 Escher String Quartet Oneppo Chamber Music Series The Escher String Quartet performs music by Mozart, Korngold, and Beethoven. 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $28, students $13
nov 15 Peter Oundjian, principal conductor Yale Philharmonia Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1, with Sophiko Simsive, and Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra. 7:30 p.m. | Woolsey Hall Tickets start at $12, Yale faculty/ staff $8, students $5 $3 surcharge at the door nov 28 Melvin Chen, piano Horowitz Piano Series Faculty pianist Melvin Chen performs an arrangement of Brahms’ Symphony No. 3, and works by Sibelius and Ravel. 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $15, students $7 dec 4 Emerson String Quartet Oneppo Chamber Music Series A performance by the legendary Emerson String Quartet, an ensemble The New Yorker has said is “as eminent as ever.” 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $28, students $13
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