Serenade for Winds in E-flat major, Opus 7 (10’)*

 

Divertimento, Opus 86 (after F. Couperin) (17’)*

  I. La Visionnaire

  II. La Musète de Choisy - La fine Madelon - La douce Janneton - Le Sézile - Musette de Taverny

  III. Le Tic-Toc-Choc - La Lutine

  IV. Les Fauvetes plaintives

  V. Le Trophée - L'Anguille - Les jeunes Seigneurs - La Linorte effarouchée

 

Suite de Trois Morceaux in B-flat major for Flute, Opus 116 (11’)*

  1. Allegretto

  2. Idylle

  3. Valse

 

INTERMISSION

 

Flute Concerto No. 7 in E minor (19’)*

  I. Allegro

  II. Adagio

  III. Rondo

 

Symphony No. 85 in B-flat major, Hob I/85 “La Reine” (20’)*

  I. Adagio – Vivace

  II. Romance: Allegretto

  III. Menuetto: Allegretto

Richard Strauss (b. Munich, 1864 / d. Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 1949)

 

Because he was a conductor as well as a composer, Richard Strauss had a special regard for the music of the past. His own works showed this not only through inspiration (such as the stamp of Mozart that pervades his opera Der Rosenkavalier), but also by direct quotation and adaptation. In January 2009, the ESO presented Strauss’ Le bourgeois gentilhomme, an orchestration by Strauss of music by Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687). In 1923, Strauss took harpsichord pieces by François Couperin (1668-1733) and fashioned them into a Dance Suite. Strauss’ friend and fellow conductor Clemens Kraus, encouraged his colleague to do more with Couperin’s music, resulting in two more works – the second of which is tonight’s Divertimento (after Couperin), the premiere of which was presented by the Vienna Philharmonic with Kraus conducting, on January 31, 1943.

 

Sixteen of the over 200 solo harpsichord pieces by Couperin find their way into this remarkably cohesive work by Strauss. There is no attempt to create a period sound; in fact, Strauss deliberately treats the music anachronistically, with the wide range of both sonorities and dynamics available to him in an orchestral idiom. Nevertheless, there is an enchanting antique feel in the melodies, making the Divertimento a fascinating mix of new and old.

 

 

Benjamin Godard (b. Paris, 1849 / d. Cannes, 1895)

 

In his short life, French composer Benjamin Godard’s star rose and fell quickly. A gifted violin pupil of the famed Henri Vieuxtemps, Godard studied composition as well. Early success came with his opera Le Tasse, based on the life of poet Torquato Tasso. He was soon at the forefront of Parisian composers, a reputation which did not outlast his lifespan. Likely his most famous work today is the brief instrumental Berceuse from another of his operas, Jocelyn (1888).

 

His Suite de Trois Morceaux for flute was composed in 1890. “Its three movements glitter like musical vignettes of chic Parisian life during the belle époque,” wrote Edward Blakeman. The brief Allegretto first movement has a gentle lilt in pizzicato strings, over which the flute takes arpeggiating flight. The Idylle second movement begins with a brief string introduction, then a languid and lyrical flute passage dominates. Brief exchanges with the oboe are the only moments in which the flute is given a chance to pause. The brief suite concludes with a Valse (“Waltz”), a high-spirited and light affair, with many skipping and soaring phrases for the flute as the orchestra keeps time. The notes pile on as the waltz sweeps to its genial conclusion.

 

 

François Devienne (b. Joinville, Haute-Marne, 1759 / d. Paris, 1803)

 

Life was not easy for François Devienne, and today, he holds a small but important place in the history of French music. He was first a bassoonist who then took up the flute; he became a noted teacher (publishing an important book on the performance of the single-key flute), and was best known as a composer for his operas, but also for many concertos he wrote for himself to perform. Throughout his life, however, he struggled to find consistent employment. It is thought possible that among the orchestras for which he played bassoon, the Loge Olympique was one of them – the same group that engaged Haydn for what became known as the “Paris symphonies” (more below). The last job Devienne is known to have held was as a bassoonist in a less than reputable Paris theatre. He spent the last four months of his life in the insane asylum at Charenton; French music taste had already moved beyond him.

 

Yet many of his concertos remain popular in the repertiore, among flutists. The E minor Concerto was composed around 1787, and begins tempestuously as the orchestra sets the stage. The flute’s first statements are much more refined, joining the orchestra for a contrasting theme in E Major. The stormier music returns, giving the flute a dramatic platform upon which to play its true first solo passages, presenting yet another main theme to exchange with the orchestra. As the movement progresses, the flute’s passages become ever more ornate.

 

The Adagio middle movement is a leisurely unspooling melody in the flute, set to gentle accompaniment. The long lines in the solo instrument require much stamina from the player to maintain dynamic control. There is also a cadenza near the end of the movement. The final movement is a Rondo, begun in a measured pace. But as the orchestra’s accompaniment keeps time, listen for how the flute’s notes becoming increasingly quick and rapid-fire. After the breathing demands of the Adagio, the tonguing and fingering challenges of this movement are just as formidable.

 

 

Franz Josef Haydn (b. Rohrau, Lower Austria, 1732 / d. Vienna, 1809)

 

Around 1784, Claude-François-Marie Rigoley, Comte d’Ogny – a backer of the prominent Paris arts presenter Le concert de la Loge Olympique – asked the concertmaster of the orchestra to offer the celebrated Franz Josef Haydn a commission for six new symphonies. The price was astronomically large, and Haydn responded with three symphonies in 1785, and three more the following year. These six “Paris symphonies” are among Haydn’s greatest.

 

No manuscript survives for Symphony No. 85, but it is believed to be among the 1785 set. It was apparently a favourite of Marie Antoinette, queen of France at the time (though that time was rapidly running out in 1785), which is how the nickname “La Reine de France” (“the Queen of France”) was appended to the work. It is noteworthy that a work bearing such a regal nickname should have, except for the brief Adagio introduction, relatively quick tempos throughout, from Allegretto to Vivace to Presto.

 

There is a sense of imminence and ceremony to the slow (Adagio) introduction. When the Vivace main section begins, seamlessly out of the opening material, at times it seems to bristle, at other times seems a gently syncopated affair – it would not sound at all out of place as the overture to an opera of the day. These two “light and shadow” ideas alternate, each idea allowing the other to develop before returning back to the previous idea – an unusual twist on normal sonata form. The second movement is labeled a “romance,” a rarely used word in a Haydn symphonic movement. In a gently rocking Allegretto tempo, the delicate string texture is surprising resonant, contrasted by brief dramatic flashes intruding on the calm. Haydn plays with this texture – increasing the dynamic of the first part of the main subject, and greatly diminishing the second in the middle of the movement.

 

As befits a symphony written for the French, Haydn himself titled the main subject of the third movement with the French spelling “menuet,” and indeed, this dance is imbued with the dignity and lilt of a fine ballroom. The contrasting trio does not alter the mood as dramatically as many a Haydn trio does in such movements; while the orchestral colours and the rhythm are certainly different, the trio still has a polite air. The final movement, the shortest in the entire symphony, is set at a brisk Presto pace is an energetic and engaging rondo, requiring a strong verve but also very clean and detailed string playing.

 

Program notes © 2012 by D.T. Baker

 

In the fall of 2009, Jean-Philippe Tremblay conducted the inaugural concert of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Koerner Hall in Toronto and the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra (Venezuela), the National Orchestra of Spain, the National Arts Center Orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, the London Chamber, and the Chinese Philharmonic Orchestra for the inauguration concert of the 2010 World’s Fair in Shanghai. Mr. Tremblay and the OF record exclusively for Analekta: the 2010 recording Beethoven Live (Beethoven’s nine symphonies), a first by a Canadian Orchestra, received enthusiastic reviews at home and abroad.  The next recording will be Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. Jean-Philippe Tremblay studied viola, composition, and conducting at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Chicoutimi, followed by advanced studies in conducting at the Université de Montréal, the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Pierre Monteux School, and a fellowship at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center. He has studied under such renowned conducting pedagogues as Robert Spano, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn, Jorma Panula, and Michael Jinbo.

 

This is Mr. Tremblay’s debut with the ESO.

 

Susan Hoeppner was invited by music publisher Frederick Harris Music Company to serve as their Canadian representative to launch a new flute teaching series called "Overtones:A Comprehensive Flute Series" at the National Flute Association in California in August 2010.  She performed in presentation recitals of “Overtones” across North America. A graduate of The Juilliard School in New York, where she studied with Julius Baker, Ms. Hoeppner is now a member of the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music where, along with regular recital appearances, she teaches a class on performance.  An active teacher of gifted advanced students, Ms. Hoeppner was appointed to the faculty of the Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School in the fall of 2010. Ms. Hoeppner, "Sue" to her friends, enjoys swimming, power-walking, shoe-shopping, cooking, designing candles, and is a devoted animal lover.  She enjoys learning foreign languages, such as Japanese, French, and Spanish.