Mozart & Beethoven Treasures

Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 7:30 pm

Enmax Hall, Winspear Centre

Mozart & Beethoven Treasures

2011-12 Midweek Classics

  • William Eddins, conductor, organ, and piano
    Lucas Waldin, conductor
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Details

About this Concert
Infuse energy into your midweek as ESO Musical Director Bill Eddins takes on the baton and the ivory keys in an invigorating and energetic night featuring Mozart and Beethoven.

Featured Repertoire
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 21
BEETHOVEN: Seventh Symphony
MORAWETZ: Passacaglia on a Bach Chorale
BACH: Herzlich tut mich verlangen		 Next Midweek Classics
November 30, 2011
Berlioz, Respighi & Elgar

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Ticket Information

$65 Dress Circle (A)
$53 Terrace (B)
$39 Orchestra (C)
$25 Upper Circle (D)
$20 Orchestra Front (F)
Tickets subject to applicable service charges.
This performance part of the Midweek Classics series.

Program Info

Program

BACH
Herzlich thut mich verlangen, BWV 727 (3’)*
 
MORAWETZ
Passacaglia on a Bach Chorale (6’)*
 
MOZART
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K.467 (29’)*
Allegro
Andante
Allegro vivace assai
 
INTERMISSION
 
BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op.92 (35’)*
Poco sostenuto – Vivace
Allegretto
Presto – Assai meno presto
Allegro con brio
 
Program subject to change
*indicates approximate performance duration

Program Notes

Herzlich thut mich verlangen, BWV 727
Johann Sebastian Bach (b. Eisenach, Saxony, 1685 / d. Leipzig, 1750)
 
Simply put, a Chorale Prelude is a short organ composition, based on a choral theme. Bach wrote dozens of chorale preludes, most based on themes from larger sacred music he wrote throughout his career. The Chorale Prelude Herzlich thut mich verlangen (“My heart is filled with longing”) is based on a much older tune, and one which not only Bach favoured, but many other composers as well. Bach used the tune in his St. Matthew Passion (see below), but also in his Christmas Oratorio and several cantatas. As O Sacred Head Now Wounded (or the “Passion Chorale”), it has become a favourite hymn in churches the world over.
 
 
Passacaglia on a Bach Chorale
Oskar Morawetz (b. Světlá, Czechoslovakia, 1917 / d. Toronto, 2007)
 
First performed: 1964 in Toronto
Last ESO performance: February 1995
 
Of his work, legendary Canadian composer Oskar Morawetz wrote: “Shortly after the tragic death of President John Fitgerald Kennedy I thought of composing a work in his memory. It took me several months before deciding on the form and style of this composition. Eventually, I wrote a work which is a complete departure from my usual style: I took as the theme of the passacaglia the first four bars of one of the most moving traditional chorales, 'Be near me Lord when dying, O Part not Thou from me'. These words are sung in Bach's St. Matthew Passion after the Crucifixion. In order to retain the religious feeling of Bach's music, I decided to write my own composition in the style of that period but using the colours of a full symphonic orchestra.”
 
The chorale-tune upon which the work is based is Herzlich thut mich verlangen. This fragment of the chorale undergoes 15 variations which are joined so smoothly that the listener feels only two main sections: variations 1 to 8, where the extended melodic lines over the bass are mostly based on the theme itself, and, starting with variation 9, where the chorale is combined with Bach's Three Part Invention in C minor. From there a crescendo achieves dramatic proportions through many other contrapuntal devices, and grows in tension and content until the last bar. This work has a special place among Morawetz's compositions. He intentionally kept the harmonies of the Baroque period, but combines the emotional intensity of the Romantic period.
 
 
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K.467
Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (b. Salzburg, 1756 / d. Vienna, 1791)
 
First performed: March 10, 1785
Last ESO performance of the complete concerto was January 2002. The second movement has been performed on its own several times since then.
 
There’s was often a duality – a “yin and yang” – to Mozart’s compositions. Two works in a similar format would be composed within a relatively short span (for Mozart, that typically would mean within weeks), and while one would be bright, one would be dark; one hopeful, one filled with tension. Sometimes the happier work would come first, sometimes after. So it was with his 20th and 21st concertos for solo piano. The latter was written only a month after the former. In this case, the D minor 20th Concerto is the storm-tossed work counter-balanced by the sunshine of the C Major Concerto.
 
Mozart finished the concerto on March 9, 1785. It begins typically enough, with a march-like theme in the orchestra. A second subject is hinted at, only to have the march take over once again. When the piano enters, it seems a bit tentative, but then dominates with its own theme. The development section brings us briefly into a minor key episode, but the radiant feel is restored before the recapitulation.
 
The second movement is a beautiful, dream-like Andante, the main theme of which is first presented by the violins. Upon the piano’s entrance, however, it soon dominates, taking over the theme and rhapsodizing extensively upon it, while the muted lower strings in pizzicato (plucked, rather than bowed) maintain the processional rhythm. The work’s finale is a vivacious rondo – with a trippingly infectious recurring main theme countered by a number of light-hearted secondary themes, maintaining an almost constant air of grace and playfulness.
 
 
Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op.92
Ludwig van Beethoven (b. Bonn, 1770 / d. Vienna, 1827)
 
First performed: December 8, 1813 in Vienna
Last ESO performance: January 2008
 
Beethoven’s sketchbooks tell us that he actually began formulating ideas for what would become his Seventh Symphony even before the fifth and sixth, but he did not gather them into their final form until 1813. After the titanic architecture of the fifth and the personal salute to nature in the sixth, the A Major Symphony might be thought as almost impersonal – but that does it very little justice.
 
The two paramount features of this symphony are rhythm, and the relationship between the keys of A Major, F Major and C Major. The long, slow introduction establishes this tonal relationship, touching on all these keys. And when the A Major Vivace finally emerges, the underpinning rhythmic drive is irresistible. As with all the other movements, there is a steady, rhythmic ostinato prominently beating under this movement, interrupted only with the introduction of a beautiful, pastoral theme first presented by a solo flute. But as it is taken up by the orchestra, its pace quickens, and it also becomes part of the dance. These two melodic ideas dominate the rest of the movement.
 
The famous second movement, in the tonic minor, is so stately, ceremonial, and beautiful, it often accompanies such occasions as funerals. But it is marked Allegretto, so it is often slowed to a pace to which Beethoven might have viewed as overly slow. After a solemn chord, this movement’s obligato is introduced, a long-short-short-long-long pulse that is presented several times, soon complemented by a beautiful and deceptively straightforward theme in the violas and cellos. The passion builds, though the rhythm remains constant, until the opening obligato pulse is loudly proclaimed by the entire orchestra. The mood softens again, and the movement concludes quietly.
 
The third movement is a Scherzo and Trio in the key of F Major – recalling the key relationship from the symphony’s introduction. The Scherzo theme (again, listen for the rhythmic pattern over which the theme is played) is first heard in the oboe, for all the world sounding like it is laughing. The Trio, cast in D Major, is in a slower tempo, a syncopated three-note figure over held notes in the upper strings. The Trio repeats twice, and sounds as if it will return again, only to be interrupted rudely (and with rough good humour) by the Scherzo, which hastens the movement to its end.
 
The finale should, by all the “rules,” be in A Major – and it will be. But it doesn’t start there – we’re actually in C Major (completing the reference back to the introduction) and it is in high spirits and a lot of musical busy-ness that, with great propulsive energy, we eventually arrive at a thunderous theme in A Major, played first on the horns with strings underneath, then immediately after by the strings with the horns providing the pulse. This theme becomes the main one, though other ideas are presented briefly. So important is rhythm to this work that Wagner famously dubbed this symphony “the apotheosis of the dance.”
 
Notes on the Morawetz from OskarMorawetz.com, used with permission. All other program notes © 2011 by D.T. Baker.

Artist Info

William Eddins, conductor, organ and piano

william eddins

William Eddins is in his seventh season as Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure, he has made it a priority that he conduct performances in nearly every subscription series the orchestra has presented, as well as a wide variety of special concerts and galas.

Bill Eddins began playing the piano at age five, but was bitten by the conducting bug while in his sophomore year at the Eastman School of Music. In 1989, he decided to begin conducting studies with Daniel Lewis at the University of Southern California. Assistant Conductorships with both the Minnesota Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony (the latter under the leadership of Daniel Barenboim) honed his skills even further.

Mr. Eddins has many interests outside music. He is fond of biking, tennis, reading, pinball, and cooking. He recently completed building his own recording studio at his home in Minneapolis, where he lives with his wife Jen (a clarinetist), and their sons Raef and Riley. While conducting has been his principal pursuit, he continues to perform on piano in Edmonton and elsewhere. He accepts a limited number of guest appearances each year. In 2008, he conducted a rare full staging of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess for Opéra de Lyon, which won him great acclaim, leading to a repeat engagement in Lyon in July and September 2010, as well as Edinburgh in August 2010, and in London in September 2010. During August 2009, Bill toured South Africa, conducting three gala concerts with soprano Renée Fleming and the kwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Lucas Waldin, conductor

Lucas Waldin

The 2011/12 season marks the third for Lucas Waldin as Resident Conductor for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. This mentorship position is made possible through the Canada Council for the Arts and Enbridge. Mr. Waldin graduated in 2006 from the Cleveland Institute of Music with a Masters in Conducting. He has performed with L'Orchestre du Festival Beaulieu-Sur-Mer (Monaco), Staatstheater Cottbus (Brandenburg), and Bachakademie Stuttgart. Lucas was assistant conductor of the contemporary orchestra RED (Cleveland), director of the Cleveland Bach Consort, and a Discovery Series Conductor at the Oregon Bach Festival. In 2007, he was invited to conduct the Miami-based New World Symphony Orchestra in masterclasses given by Michael Tilson Thomas. In Lucerne in 2009, he also participated in a masterclass led by Bernard Haitink, with the Lucerne Festival Strings.

A native of Toronto, Lucas Waldin has spent summers studying in Europe, including studies at the International Music Academy in Leipzig, the Bayreuth Youth Orchestra, and the Acanthes New Music Festival in France. On this continent, he has studied under the renowned Bach conductor Helmut Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival, and has attended conducting masterclasses with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in Toronto. Mr. Waldin received a Bachelor of Music degree in flute performance from the Cleveland Institute, studying with Joshua Smith.

The ESO would like to thank Enbridge Pipelines for their commitment to the arts and this program by matching the funding provided by the Canada Council for the Arts.

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