Robert Blocker, Dean
Yale Philharmonia Ryan Tani, conducting student with
Ji Su Jung, marimba
Peter Oundjian, principal conductor Friday, February 28, 2020 | 7:30 pm Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall
Program Sergei Prokofiev 1891–1953
Symphony No. 1, Op. 25, “Classical Symphony” I. Allegro II. Intermezzo. Larghetto III. Gavotte. Non troppo allegro IV. Finale. Molto vivace
Kevin Puts b. 1972
Marimba Concerto (1997) I. “...terrific sun on the brink” (Flowing) II. “...into the quick of losses” (Broad and Deliberate) III. “...logarithms, exponents, the damnedest of metaphors” (Presto non troppo) Ji Su Jung, marimba
intermission
Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 I. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio II. Larghetto III. Scherzo. Allegro – Trio IV. Allegro molto
As a courtesy to others, please silence all devices. Photography and recording of any kind is strictly prohibited. Please do not leave the hall during musical selections. Thank you.
Artist Profiles Ryan Tani, conducting student A driven and versatile conductor, Ryan Tani has been praised for his compelling musicianship in a wide range of symphonic and choral repertoire. Ryan currently serves as the Orchestral Conducting Fellow for the Yale Philharmonia, where he studies under the guidance of Peter Oundjian. He also serves as the Music Director of the Occasional Symphony in Baltimore. In 2015, he was declared the winner of the ACDA Undergraduate Student Conducting Competition at their national conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Ryan served as Assistant Conductor of the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra, where he was the principal conductor of the Preparatory Orchestra. He also served as Conducting Fellow for the Montgomery Philharmonic. During his tenure as Co-Founder and Music Director of the Concerto Chamber Orchestra from 2012–2015, Ryan helped positively shape the orchestral scene in the Los Angeles area by providing a medium for high-level performance opportunities to student musicians of all majors. Ryan is a graduate of the Peabody Institute where he studied conducting with Marin Alsop and Markand Thakar, and of the University of Southern California, where he studied voice with Gary Glaze. Ryan remains an active tenor in New Haven, and plays violin, jazz piano, and viola da gamba for enjoyment. Upcoming engagements include
performances with the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra and Occasional Symphony (Baltimore, MD). Ji Su Jung, marimba As an advocate for today’s modern solo percussion art, Ji Su Jung has a distinctive voice instantly recognizable for its lyricism and insight. Her breadth of skill carries her with equal ease from the solo marimba medium to multiple percussion solos and European theatrical works. Born in South Korea, Jung began her studies at the age of four. Her exceptional talent was recognized early on and led to recitals and concerto performances at such a young age that she needed a small platform to stand upon just to reach the keyboard of the instrument. That platform was soon left behind as her stature and musical voice matured. Numerous solo performances throughout her native country followed, eventually leading to her move to the United States in 2011. She completed her undergraduate studies at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University thanks to a generous grant from The Brookby Foundation in Wisconsin. Jung received her master of music degree from the Yale School of Music in 2019, and is currently an artist diploma candidate, studying with Robert van Sice. Jung has performed as concerto soloist with the Houston Symphony and the Romanian Orchestra, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and throughout the United States. Jung was the first prize winner of the 2018 Ima Hogg Competition,
Artist Profiles, cont.
Program Notes by Patrick Campbell Jankowski
as well as the Audience Choice award winner. In 2015, Jung was invited by NPR radio host Fred Childs to be a young artist in residence on his nationally syndicated program, Performance Today. Jung has presented master classes at the Peabody Conservatory, the Curtis Institute, New York University, The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and the Beijing Conservatory. In 2015, she was a laureate at the International Marimba Competition in Linz, Austria, that led to her joining an elite roster of solo artists endorsing the Adams line of concert marimbas. With the rapidly expanding repertoire for percussion with other instruments, Jung has also become an active chamber musician. In 2014, she was chosen through a national audition to be the percussionist at the renowned Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival. The following year she had the same honor at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Connecticut, where she gave the world premieres of small ensemble pieces by six of today’s finest emerging composers. Since 2018, Jung has appeared in performances throughout the U.S. and Asia with the Percussion Collective. Through her endorsement contract with the Vic Firth mallet and drumstick company, Jung has made numerous performance videos that have garnered over a half-million views on their website. Jung is also proud to represent Pearl/Adams as an artist endorser. Through this medium, her lyrical approach to the marimba has drawn accolades throughout the world from composers, percussionists, and general music lovers.
Classical Symphony prokofiev When Prokofiev dove into his first symphony in 1917, he was immersed in what we might call “deep work.” The 25-year-old was busy juggling several projects, relying largely on his innate musical creativity and skill at the piano to churn out a series of ambitious works. In response, he retreated from busy Leningrad to focus on new works, and specifically left his piano behind so that he could write organic musical themes born directly from his mind’s ear. Instead of a piano, he brought whatever sounds had housed themselves within his brain, which brings us to Haydn. That composer’s classical principles of formal balance, symmetry, proportion, logical design, and thematic variation, provided a life raft for Prokofiev as he freed himself from the piano. Immersed in the Classical “style,” Prokofiev was liberated to experiment and to grow as a composer. Though the symphony is an early work, Prokofiev had already developed a reputation as a modernist and bombastic radical. This unexpected yet genuine shift in style and process was radical in its own way. Most of the composer’s large-scale works for the rest of his career evolved from this radical departure. If we obsess over originality in art, we might dismiss Prokofiev’s work as conservative or copycatting. Instead, it is a selfless act on his part. He let ‘himself’ go, and imagined how Haydn might have composed if he were alive in his time. The Classical symphony borrows no themes from centuries before, though it alludes to their character. For instance, the composer modernizes
the idea of the Mannheim “rocket,” with its rapid ascent upward, propelled through arpeggios (the very first theme of the whole symphony begins this way). He includes the two-step Gavotte, a dance that began in the French countryside but was refined in courtly balls. Prokofiev’s version ticktocks, with a ghostly theme floating high above in the violins. The finale’s perpetual motion energy, with its flung-about pizzicatos and electrified flute writing, is just another country dance, albeit one sped up to the point of dizziness. Its conclusion, with brief conversational echoes of the dance theme, is straight from Haydn’s playbook, though the explosive finish is pure Prokofiev, bombast and all. Marimba Concerto puts The marimba has its origins on the continent of Africa, and the modern version that you will encounter in this concerto did not come around until the twentieth century. But what if it had somehow made it to western Europe centuries earlier? Would composers have embraced it? Would they have written solo works for it? Kevin Puts’ Marimba Concerto, in the composer’s words, “reflects my love of Mozart’s piano concertos,” and in it, he acknowledges the marimba as another kind of keyboard instrument, which it really is (albeit one in which the ‘hammers’ and the mechanisms of sound production are more visible and overtly physical). “The influence of Mozart,” Puts notes, “lies mainly in the relationship between the soloist and orchestra, one of near equality in which the marimba continually interacts with the instruments of
the orchestra.” This is the sort of thing we expect in a Mozart piano concerto, which, especially in his later iterations, contains numerous dialogues, sometimes intimate, or at times playful and cheeky, between the solo instrument and its companions. Mozart was known on occasion to add little notes, jokes, and even narratives to his manuscripts, especially when a work was dedicated to someone that he knew intimately. This personal connection of human to music was important to the composer, and it is true of Puts as well. He subtitles each of the three movements with excerpts from the poetry of his aunt Fleda Brown. “...terrific sun on the brink” accompanies the first movement, with its a flowing tempo and style. The central, slower movement, marked “Broad and Deliberate,” is adjoined to the subtitle “...into the quick of losses.” The quick and spirited finale bears perhaps the most playful and ambiguous of the titles, “...logarithms, exponents, the damnedest of metaphors.” Symphony No. 2 beethoven His first symphony had shocked audiences with the subtlety of its opening. A pizzicato and an unresolved harmony in the winds right at bar one? He had played with convention while simultaneously alluding to tradition, noting sarcastically at one point that he studied with Haydn yet learned nothing from him. So what does Beethoven do with his second symphony? The word of the day is “contrast.” Take the opening tutti strikes, followed immediately by a delicate, pastoral response. In the divergent introduction, the composer bounces
Program Notes, cont. between dramatic intensity and restrained elegance. The same might be said of the opening movement’s Allegro con brio, which wanders between major and minor, a cheeky little march motive in the winds, and a few excursions into more serious, even furious passages for the strings. At its climax, atop tremolo strings, the trumpets surge ecstatically over the rest of the orchestral soundscape. Of the songful Larghetto, Hector Berlioz wrote that it is “a ravishing picture of innocent pleasure which is scarcely shadowed by a few melancholy accents.” Here is a welcome period of unified calm following the fiery spontaneity of the opening movement. The subsequent Scherzo Berlioz called “as frankly gay in its fantastic capriciousness as the previous movement has been wholly and serenely happy.” Note the return of extreme contrasts of dynamic, though presented always with a kind of tongue-in-cheek attitude (shock for laughs rather than frights). His mercurial orchestration adds to this sense of bouncy unpredictability, via calls-andresponses between woodwinds, horns, and strings. The trio, as expected, leans heavily on the pastoral winds, though in its second phrase a strangely stormy excursion bubbles up in the strings, only to be resolved as effortlessly as it began. The finale, with its smeary-trill opening motive and jarring timpani strikes, is humorous in its overall demeanor. These little gracenote gestures remain a consistent theme throughout, and sound like the musical equivalent of a stuck-out tongue. Part way through the movement, insistent brass hold on to a pitch that becomes dissonant in its obstinance only because other instruments seem ready to move on. That attitude of
resistance and stubbornness, balanced by an ongoing pursuit of joy, is what came to define Beethoven the man, and if this symphony is any indication, Beethoven’s music as well.
Yale Philharmonia Peter Oundjian, principal conductor Violin I Cameron Daly Dustin Wilkes-Kim Jessie Chen Ariel Horowitz Yun Jae Choi Albert Yamamoto Max Yiming Mao Charissa Leung Elena Kawazu Boyu Li
Flute Brendan Dooley 1 David Lassila 3 Lucas Guedes Oliveira 2
Philharmonia Staff
Oboe Elise Conti 1 Laurel Wellman Soo Min Ha 2 Jillian Honn 3 Amelia Merriman
Assistant Manager Samuel Bobinski
Violin II Rebecca Benjamin James Poe Ye Jin Min Wei Zhu Michael Ferri Jisun Lee Ann Cho Yebeen Seo
Clarinet Amy Hur Ziqi Yue 2 3 Juan Martínez 1
Viola Arjun Ganguly Abby Elder Bethany Hargreaves Alex McLaughlin Rubina Lee Emma Wernig Cello Sein Lee Bo Bae Lee Sophie Yu Hye In Lee Harry Doernberg Yun Han double Bass Ziying Hu Ying-Yin Chia Seojin Kim
Bassoon Molly Murphy 1 3 Tamara Snyder 2 Horn Gabriel Mairson 1 3 Nathan Peebles 2 Trumpet Melissa Muñoz 3 Connor Jenkinson 1 2 Timpani Shiqi Zhong 1 3 xylophone Shiqi Zhong 2
Principal on Prokofiev Principal on Puts 3 Principal on Beethoven 1
2
Manager Jeffrey M. Mistri
Conducting student Ryan Tani Office Assistant Andrew Sledge Stage Crew Héloïse Carlean-Jones Gabriel Mairson Andrew Sledge Lucas Guedes Oliveira Arlo Shultis Cameron Daly Anna Leunis William Karceski Matt Peralta Michael Fleming Nathan Peebles Chris Rogers-Beadle Seojin Kim Tamara Snyder David Lassila Library Alex McLaughlin Aidan Zimmermann Jillian Honn Elise Conti Sam Zagnit Claudia Ng
Yale Philharmonia 2019–2020 Season MAR 8
Apr 3
English Musical Splendor: The Bach Choir, London, Yale Schola Cantorum, and Yale Philharmonia In celebration of the Yale School of Music’s 125th anniversary, David Hill, principal conductor of the Yale Schola Cantorum and The Bach Choir, will lead the ensembles in a performance of William Walton’s arresting oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast and music by Arnold Bax, Charles Villiers Stanford, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. 4:00 pm | Woolsey Hall free, no ticket required 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. 7:30 pm | Woolsey Hall Tickets start at $12, Yale faculty/ staff $8, students free* $3 surcharge at the door
Free Student Tickets Student tickets for the Yale Philharmonia are free for the entire season. Orchestra section only. Limit 2 student tickets per ID. For the Oneppo Chamber Music Series, Horowitz Piano Series, and Ellington Jazz Series, free student rush tickets will be offered at the box office for students with a valid ID. When available, tickets will be distributed starting thirty minutes before each concert. One ticket per ID, subject to availability.
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charles ives circle $600 & above Serena & Robert Blocker John Marsden Hunt Victor Vu paul hindemith circle $250–$599 Richard H. Dumas Edwin M. & Karen C. Duval Francesco Iachello Patty & Tom Pollard Julia Reidhead Mary-Jo Worthey Warren Ransom Wilson & Walter Foery horatio parker circle $125–$249 Cecle & Josef Adler Roger & Linda Astmann Henry & Joan Binder Derek & Jennifer Briggs Mindy & Stan Brownstein Leo Cristofar & Bernadette DiGiulian Cynthia Cummiskey Paul Gacek Dolores M. Gall Carolyn Gould Eduardo Groisman Lawrence Handler Judy Long Margaret Luberda Ann Marlowe Arthur T. Rosenfield & Wilma Ezekowitz
samuel simons sanford circle $50–$124 Anonymous (2) Helen & Blake Bidwell Mr. Vic G. Dvorak Saul & Sonya Goldberg Sally Katter Alan N. Katz James Mansfield Leonard J. Rutkosky Wilma R. Stahura Peter Uhrynowski Werner & Elizabeth Wolf Donna Yoo gustave j. stoeckel circle $25–$49 Marc S. Eisenberg, MD Jefferson & Landa Freeman Heidi Katter List as of February 26, 2020
English Music march 8–14 | East Coast Tour
David Hill conducts
The Bach Choir, London Yale Schola Cantorum Yale Philharmonia Sunday, March 8 | 4 p.m. |
Woolsey Hall,
Preconcert talk by Timothy Barringer | 3 p.m. |
Free; no tickets or reservations required Offered as part of the ensembles’ 2020 East Coast Tour
music.yale.edu/tour2020
John Martin, 1789–1854. Belshazzar's Feast. 1820. Yale Center for British Art.
cal Splendor in a performance of Walton’s oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast and music by Stanford, Bax, and Vaughan Williams with pianist and Yale School of Music Dean Robert Blocker & baritone and Yale School of Music alumnus David Pershall ’10MM ’11AD
500 College St, New Haven Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, 1 Prospect St, New Haven
Upcoming Events mar 4
Lucille Chung and Alessio Bax Horowitz Piano Series A performance of the piano fourhands arrangement of Stravinsky’s Petrushka, Debussy’s Petite Suite, and music by Lutoslawski and Poulenc. 7:30 pm | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $23, students $11
Bernie Williams Collective Ellington Jazz Series The former New York Yankees center fielder is a musician “whose talent as a guitarist is evident” (The Washington Post) and whose album Moving Forward was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award. 7:30 pm | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $22, Yale faculty/ staff $10, students $10 mar 6
mar 25 Wei-Yi Yang Horowitz Piano Series A program that in part follows Chopin’s musical language and influence into the works of Debussy and Scriabin, including one set of ‘Night music’ and another set of ‘Etudes’. 7:30 pm | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $15, students $7
mar 31 Pamela Frank and Emanuel Ax Oneppo Chamber Music Series Two of the most admired instrumentalists on the international chamber music scene perform Mozart’s Sonatas in G major, K. 379, and B-flat major, K. 454, and Beethoven’s Sonata No. 10, Op. 96. 7:30 pm | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $28, students $13 Apr 1
Smithsonian Chamber Players Collection of Musical Instruments Franz Schubert’s early Violin Sonata in G minor, D. 408, Sonata in A minor, D. 821, and “Rosamunde” String Quartet. 7:30 pm | 15 Hillhouse Ave Tickets $30, Museum Associates & Yale faculty/staff & seniors $25, students $15
apr 19 “Resounding Brass” Lecture-Concerts Collection of Musical Instruments Douglas Lundeen, natural and early valve horns 3:00 pm | 15 Hillhouse Ave John Hagstrom, trumpets from the Herseth Collection 7:30 pm | Sudler Recital Hall free, tickets required
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