yale philharmonia
Peter Oundjian principal conductor
Friday, September 20, 2019 | 7:30 pm Woolsey Hall
Robert Blocker, Dean
Program Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756–1791
Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major, K. 297b I. Allegro II. Adagio III. Andantino con variationi Stephen Taylor, oboe David Shifrin, clarinet Frank Morelli, bassoon William Purvis, horn
intermission
Gustav Mahler 1860–1911
Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor (1902) Part I 1. Trauermarsch 2. Stürmisch bewegt, mit größter Vehemenz Part II 3. Scherzo: Kräftig, nicht zu schnell Part III 4. Adagietto 5. Rondo. Finale
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Artist Profiles Peter Oundjian, principal conductor
Stephen Taylor, oboe
Toronto-born conductor Peter Oundjian 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 that have achieved significant artistic acclaim, he has been greatly involved in a variety of new initiatives that have strengthened the ensemble’s presence in the community and attracted a young and diverse audience.
Stephen Taylor, Lecturer in Oboe at the Yale School of Music, holds the Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III Solo Oboe Chair with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and is the principal oboist of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He is the solo oboist with the New York Woodwind Quintet, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, American Composers Orchestra, and New England Bach Festival. He was trained at The Juilliard School, where he is a member of the faculty. He is also on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.
In addition to his post in Toronto, from which he stepped down in 2018, 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 in New York between 1997 and 2007. In 2012 he was appointed Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Oundjian was the first violinist of the renowned Tokyo String Quartet, a position he held for fourteen years. Since 1981, he has been on the Yale School of Music faculty. He was awarded the School’s Samuel Simons Sanford Medal for distinguished service to music in 2013 and named Principal Conductor of the Yale Philharmonia in 2015. He is Professor (adjunct) of Music and Orchestral Conducting at the School of Music.
David Shifrin, clarinet Winner of the 2000 Avery Fisher Prize, clarinetist David Shifrin has appeared with the Philadelphia and Minnesota orchestras and the Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Denver symphonies. He has appeared in recital at Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and in venues around the world. A faculty member at the Yale School of Music since 1987, Shifrin is Professor in the Practice of Clarinet and Chamber Music, and serves as Artistic Director of the Oneppo Chamber Music Series and the Yale in New York concert series.
Frank Morelli, bassoon
Yale Philharmonia
Frank Morelli, the first bassoonist to be awarded a doctorate by The Juilliard School, has made nine appearances as soloist at Carnegie Hall, and has released several solo CDs on MSR Classics. A prolific chamber musician, Morelli has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on numerous occasions and has participated in major music festivals including Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Marlboro Music Festival, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and Music@Menlo. Morelli joined the Yale School of Music faculty in 1994. He also serves on the faculties of The Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
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.
William Purvis, horn William Purvis pursues a multifaceted career both in the United States and abroad as horn soloist, chamber musician, conductor, and educator. He is a member of the New York Woodwind Quintet, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Yale Brass Trio, and the Triton Horn Trio, and is an emeritus member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He is currently Professor in the Practice of Horn and Chamber Music at the Yale School of Music, where he is also Coordinator of Winds and Brasses, and serves as Director of the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments.
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 Sinfonia concertante MOZART Graeme Steele Johnson It is an unfortunate necessity that the sparkling Sinfonia concertante for winds, ostensibly Mozart’s, is plagued with discussions of its spurious authenticity before its wonderful music. Indeed, scholars have grown increasingly dubious of Mozart’s authorship since the score surfaced in 1870: by the 1960s it had been downgraded to an “attributed work,” and in 1988 Robert Levin published a 500-page volume under the title Who Wrote the Mozart Four-Wind Concertante? Levin posits that the orchestral parts come from an unknown hand while the solo parts are bona fide Mozart, but transcribed from their original scoring for flute, oboe, bassoon, and horn. This claim references Mozart’s circuitous journey to Paris nearly a century before the discovery of the extant work. After arriving in the French capital, Mozart wrote to his father that he was writing a concertante for newfound friends: a virtuoso hornist, and the principal flutist, oboist, and bassoonist of the Mannheim Orchestra. Mozart suspected foul play after the parts he sent to a copyist mysteriously vanished and his piece was never performed, but he assured his father, “I still have them fresh in my head, and as soon as I get home I shall write them down again.” It could be that Mozart didn’t get around to rehashing the piece until he settled in Vienna in the early 1780s, the same time and place that he became captivated by the playing of the clarinetist Anton Stadler, and then decided to trade the original flute for the clarinet.
The work shares its key of E-flat major with Mozart’s contemporaneous Sinfonia concertante for violin, viola, and orchestra, K. 364, as well as his later Quintet for piano and winds, K. 452, cast for the same four wind instruments that appear in the present version. But whereas those works find a more tender, introspective side of E-flat, the Sinfonia concertante for winds announces itself with a certain poise that bespeaks its alleged orchestral origins. That orchestral grandeur is matched by the proportions of the first movement’s expanded form, which sports three expositions (instead of the expected two) and an abundance of themes that reflects Mozart’s melodic facility. A delicate, lyrical Adagio follows before the buoyant variations of the Finale.
Symphony No. 5 mahler Graeme Steele Johnson In a letter to the music critic Max Kalbeck, staunch opponent of the Wagnerian coalition of “program music” composers, Mahler argued, “From Beethoven onwards, there is no modern music that has not its inner program.” Were it more widely known, Mahler’s assertion would be controversial even today. Just as Kalbeck and his crony Eduard Hanslick were quick to draw sharp boundaries between the so-called “absolute music” of Brahms and Beethoven versus Wagner’s “Music of the Future” with its extra-musical associations, so too do modern scholars often treat Mahler’s Fifth Symphony as an abrupt departure from the programmatic framework of his earlier, voice-bound symphonies. It is true that Mahler confined his Fifth Symphony to the purely instrumental canvas, whereas his earlier works in the genre announce their meanings in words — whether actually sung in performance, or alluded to through musical quotation. But with his vivid web of crossmovement relationships, Mahler achieves in the Fifth Symphony such a clear sense of a linear progression over the course of the work as to suggest an inner drama of its own. For the Mahler scholar Donald Mitchell, it is not that the programmatic symphony has vanished, “it has gone underground, rather, or inside.” It is telling that Mahler would invoke Beethoven in his letter to Kalbeck; the battlefield that frames the drama of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony is the tonal progress from the C-sharp minor of the
opening to the Finale’s triumphant D major — a triumph not unlike the journey from C minor to C major over the course of Beethoven’s own Fifth Symphony. Mahler seems to conjure Beethoven’s Fifth even more explicitly with the trumpet call that opens the present work and bears rhythmic resemblance to Beethoven’s knocking “fate” motive. Mahler’s remarkable variety of orchestration is one of the ways he distinguishes between characters in this self-contained symphonic drama of sorts. Indeed, solo voices are strikingly prevalent throughout this work scored for such a bloated orchestra of quadruple winds with robust brass and percussion sections. After the first movement’s lone trumpet erupts into a short-lived fanfare, the movement oscillates between snarling brass and a plaintive funeral march that calls on a familiar Viennese lilt. The vacillation between forces of varying sizes — spitting solo trumpet utterances or a mass of strings dragging the procession along — raises questions of who is speaking at any given time. The echoes of Beethoven come to life again in the Stürmisch bewegt (“Moving stormily”) second movement, whose flashes of brass and rumbling strings recall Beethoven’s literal depiction of a storm in his Pastoral Symphony. Toward the movement’s end, the clouds seem to peel away to reveal a glimpse of heaven in a glorious brass chorale — our would-be climax, if only it didn’t recede into the distance as suddenly as it arrived. We are cruelly left behind in the storm, which itself dissipates amid a pitter-patter of winds and brass, then the hushed tiptoe of sinking
Program Notes, cont. pizzicato, before finally, a lone timpani cooly punctuates the end of the movement. The middle movement Scherzo serves the greater arc of the symphony as sort of macro-development section. The movement highlights a solo, obbligato horn part throughout, reminding us of the earlier issues of a part versus a whole. The Scherzo also brings to the fore the idea of space as it rocks between the provincial Ländler dance with its heavy steps and horn calls, and the daintier waltz of ballrooms and sophisticates. In another striking move of orchestrational discipline, Mahler reserved the liquid gold lyricism of his Adagietto for harp and strings alone, offering a breathtaking sense of intimacy after the raucous conclusion of the previous movement. Words pale in the face of this portrait of Mahler’s love for his wife Alma; the composer himself could only come up with this short verse that he left his beloved to accompany the movement: In which way I love you, my sunbeam, I cannot tell you with words. Only my longing, my love and my bliss can I with anguish declare. A naked horn call heralds the start of the Finale, music of the outdoors. Woodsy chattering in the winds gradually joins in and confirms our location, more evidence of Mahler’s expert manipulation of the musical mise-en-scène without ever making it explicit. For a composer so habitually fixated on death, this movement stands out as a rare example of unfettered joy. When the gleaming brass chorale that was
defeated in the second movement finally triumphs in this movement, the ominous world of C-sharp minor where our journey began seems but a distant memory.
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Yale Philharmonia 2019–2020 Season oct 25
nov 21 Thu
jan 24
Ludovic Morlot, guest conductor Ludovic Morlot, whose recent leadership of the Seattle Symphony earned that ensemble Gramophone’s 2018 Orchestra of the Year award, conducts Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony, Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1, with Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition winner Jung Eun Kang. Peter Oundjian, principal conductor Nighttime is celebrated with a program that features Debussy’s Nocturnes with the treble voices of the Yale Schola Cantorum, Weber’s Bassoon Concerto, with Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition winner Eleni Katz, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral suite Scheherazade. Peter Oundjian, principal conductor The 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth is celebrated with a performance of the composer’s Choral Fantasy, with the Yale Glee Club and faculty pianist Robert Blocker, the Triple Concerto, with faculty artists, and the revolutionary Third Symphony, “Eroica.”
Feb 28
Philharmonia in Sprague YSM conducting student Ryan Tani leads the Yale Philharmonia, with percussionist Ji Su Jung, in a concert in Morse Recital Hall.
MAR 8 Sun 4 pm
David Hill, guest conductor David Hill leads the London Bach Choir, Yale Schola Cantorum, baritone David Pershall, faculty pianist Robert Blocker, and the Yale Philharmonia in a performance of Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on the “Old 104th” Psalm Tune, Stanford’s Song to the Soul, Op. 97b, and Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast.
Apr 3
Carlos Kalmar, guest conductor Carlos Kalmar, whose Carnegie Hall debut with the Oregon Symphony was described by The New Yorker’s Alex Ross as “one of the most gripping events” of that season, leads the Yale Philharmonia in a performance of faculty composer Aaron Jay Kernis’ “Too Hot” Toccata, Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2, with Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition winner Emily Switzer, and Schoenberg’s orchestral arrangement of Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor.
Fridays at 7:30 pm in Woolsey Hall unless noted music.yale.edu/philharmonia
Yale Philharmonia Roster Peter Oundjian, principal conductor Violin I Kate Arndt Elena Kawazu Cameron Daly Beatrice Hsieh Shenae Anderson Pei Wen Liao Yun Jae Choi Eva Wetzel Boyu Li Yiming Mao Anna Leunis Ye Jin Min Wei Zhu James Poe Violin II Ariel Horowitz Rebecca Benjamin Michael Ferri Hannah Tarley BingYang Li Hikaru Yonezaki Ann Cho Cheuk Ching Tse Charissa Leung Yebeen Seo Albert Yamamoto Yoon Be Kim Viola Chris Rogers-Beadle Minkyoung Lee Charlie Galante Arjun Ganguly Alexander McLaughlin Abigail Elder Bethany Hargreaves Minji Kim Harris Bernstein Emma Wernig
Cello Megan Yip Sein Lee Samuel Walter Bo Bae Lee Atticus Mellor-Goldman Yun Han Harry Doernberg Ha eun Song Bass Samuel Zagnit Ying-Yin Chia Zhenyuan Yao Seojin Kim Ziying Hu Matthew Peralta Flute Brendan Dooley 2 Jungah Yoon David Lassila Cameron Cullen Oboe Jillian Honn 1 Elise Conti Amelia Merriman 2 Soo Min Ha
Bassoon Eleni Katz 2 Mateen Milan Andrew Sledge Contrabassoon Andrew Sledge Horn Kyle Thompson 2 Henry Bond Griffin Botts 1 Olivia Martinez Nivanthi Karunaratne Gabriel Mairson Nathan Peebles Trumpet Kenny Chauby 2 Melissa Munoz Connor Jenkinson Connor Holland Trombone Danny Alford 2 Lyman McBride Bass Trombone Jordan Crimminger
English Horn Elise Conti
Tuba Michael Fleming
Clarinet Amy Hur 2 Claudia Ng Richard Adger
Timpani Arlo Shultis 2
Bass Clarinet Richard Adger
Percussion Kevin Zetina Zach Gutierrez Shiqi Zhong Harp Violetta Norrie
Manager Jeffrey M. Mistri Assistant Manager Samuel Bobinski Assistant Conductor Ryan Tani Philharmonia Office Assistant Andrew Sledge music librarians Alexander McLaughlin Aidan Zimmerman Jillian Honn Elise Conti Sam Zagnit Claudia Ng Stage Crew HĂŠloĂŻse Carlean-Jones Gabriel Mairson Andrew Sledge Lucas Oliveria Arlo Shultis Cameron Daly Anna Leunis William Karceski Matt Peralta Michael Fleming Nathan Peebles Chris Rogers-Beadle Seojin Kim Tamara Snyder David Lassila
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rincipal on Mozart P Principal on Mahler
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Upcoming Events sep 24 Brentano String Quartet Oneppo Chamber Music Series The Brentano String Quartet performs new music by Martin Bresnick and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132. 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $28, students $13 sep 27 Ignacio Berroa Trio Ellington Jazz Series “The only Latin drummer in the world in the history of American music who intimately knows both worlds: his native Afro Cuban music as well as jazz.” — Dizzy Gillespie 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $22, students $10 Robert Blocker, piano Horowitz Piano Series Bach’s Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, and works by Brahms, Mozart, Ravel, and faculty composer Christopher Theofanidis. 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $15, students $7 oct 2
oct 3 Hannah Lash & Christopher Theofanidis, faculty composers New Music New Haven Lash’s Folksongs for piccolo, harp and percussion, and two movements from Theofanidis’ Quintet for B-flat clarinet and string quartet 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall free oct 22 Akropolis Reed Quintet Oneppo Chamber Music Series New works by Jeff Scott and Steven Snowden, as well as arrangements of Rameau and Gershwin. 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $28, students $13 Nov 1-2 Fall Scenes Yale Opera A variety of scenes from beloved comic and tragic operas. 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $12, students $5
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