Masters Program Notes: Bach & Beethoven, Feb 20 & 21, 2009

Masters Program Notes: Bach & Beethoven, Feb 20 & 21, 2009

Bach & Beethoven
Friday, February 20 – 7:30 pm
Saturday, February 21 – 8 pm

William Eddins, conductor & harpsichord
Gary Kulesha, conductor
Jon Kimura Parker, piano
Martin Riseley, violin
Elizabeth Koch, flute

Buy Tickets

Following Friday's performance, join us for Afterthoughts, an informal discussion in the Main Lobby with William Eddins & Gary Kulesha.

Learn more about the performance on Saturday night at Symphony Prelude: 7:15 pm in the Upper Circle (Third Level) Lobby with Allan Gilliland & Gary Kulesha

BACH
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050  (23’)*
    Allegro
    Affetuoso
    Allegro
    William Eddins, harpsichord / Martin Riseley, violin / Elizabeth Koch, flute

KULESHA
Symphony No. 3  (21’)*
    Allegro moderato
    Andante
    Allegro
    Gary Kulesha, conductor

INTERMISSION

BEETHOVEN
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op.15  (38’)*
    Allegro con brio
    Largo
    Rondo: Allegro
    Jon Kimura Parker, piano

*indicates approximate performance duration

Program Notes

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050
Johann Sebastian Bach
(b. Eisenach, Saxony, 1685 / d. Leipzig, 1750)

First performance: It is not known when this work was first performed publicly
Last ESO performance: September 1998

“…a veritable syllabus of the art of Baroque instrumentation and a matchless demonstration of the varied textures and sonorities possible to the Baroque orchestra.”
Commentator and author Martin Bookspan, on the Brandenburg Concerti

In 1717, Johann Sebastian Bach moved from Weimar to Cöthen, where until 1723, he was in the employ of the court of Prince Leopold. During this time, Bach wrote a great deal of secular, instrumental music. In 1719, Bach received a commission to write music for the orchestra of Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg. It took Bach two years to fulfill the commission, and while it seems pretty clear that the Margrave was rather uninterested in the outcome of the commission (perhaps he lost interest waiting so long), posterity won in the long run, as we were given the six Brandenburg Concerti.

These six works represent the summit of the “concerto grosso” form. In this type of work, a smaller group of instruments (the “concertino”) stands out from a larger one (the “ripieno”). Each of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti (“concerti” is the proper Italian plural of “concerto”) features a distinct concertino unit. In the case of Concerto No. 5, it is made up of harpsichord, violin, and flute. But the harpsichord is given a special highlight – to the extent that music scholar and author Walther Kaempfer called the work, “the first harpsichord concerto in history.”

The first movement begins with a broad theme that dominates the entire movement, which repeats exactly at the movement’s conclusion. From the first entrance of the three solo instruments, the dominant nature of the harpsichord is apparent, and its role becomes more bravura as the movement unfolds. In fact, there is a detailed and ambitious cadenza for the harpsichord, which leads to the restatement of the opening.

In the second movement, the ripieno is silent, and only the three instruments of the concertino are heard. The movement is in B minor, tender and reflective. Two themes dominate, one heard first on the violin, then imitated by the flute; the second is introduced by the harpsichord. Each theme is also presented in an inverted form. The final movement is a brisk, dance-like movement, written in 2/4, but very much like a 6/8 gigue. There is more matching of the entire concertino against the ripieno, but still the harpsichord is “first among equals.”


Symphony No. 3
Gary Kulesha
(b. Toronto, 1954)

First performance: May 16, 2007 in Ottawa
This is the ESO premiere of the work

“The first and last of its three movements are ingenious and attractive, combining a lightness of touch with a seriousness of purpose. They are complex, but not in ways that tax the average listener unduly. The middle movement was pure loveliness and was played beautifully, especially by the first chair winds.”
from a review of the premiere of Symphony No. 3 by Richard Todd, Ottawa Citizen, May 17, 2007

(Program Note by the composer)
In the fall of 2004, I was at work on my Second Symphony (which was premiered by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in the winter of 2005). The Second is a dark work, and is built on long passacaglia-like basslines, giving it a grounded, chthonic (“dwelling beneath the surface of the earth”) quality. In October of 2004, I was at a concert of the National Arts Centre Orchestra where Bramwell Tovey conducted a piece of mine. The music on the second half of the concert was Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, No. 6. As I was listening to it, I suddenly had a flash of intuition, and knew immediately that this was the nature of my upcoming Third Symphony. For some time I considered calling it “Sinfonia Serenissima,” but the nature of the finale as it emerged during the composition process mitigated against that title, and I have not titled the piece.

Like Stravinsky, and many composers before, I often work on a new composition with clear models in mind. For the Second Symphony, it was Brahms’ Fourth. For this work, it was Beethoven 6 and 7, and I literally wrote the music with Beethoven’s scores open on my desk. Stravinsky’s own Symphony in C was also in my mind. After a long period of experimenting with different ways of making music, I found I had re-developed a craving for music based on traditional forms, with true, classically modeled development. The form of this work is a basic three-movement sonata, with two fast outer movements and slow middle movement.

I also found that I desperately needed to have more fun in the act of making music. Composition is a complex process, an alchemical blend of intellect and intuition, skill and inspiration. The Second Symphony was a complicated work of great detail, and was very taxing to compose. I wanted the new work to be the corollary – in a sense, the Third Symphony is my aerial symphony, in contrast to my chthonic Second Symphony.

Music can be dramatic and challenging, but can also be joyous and life-affirming. All too often, when composers try to compose music that is bright and positive, they turn backwards, and write poor imitations of older music, or, worse, they compose cheap music cynically calculated to “win over” an audience. I believe that we can move forward while at the same time recapturing the joyousness that drew us all, listener and musician alike, into music in the first place. This is what I have tried to do in this symphony.


Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op.15
Ludwig van Beethoven
(b. Bonn, 1770 / d. Vienna, 1827)

First performed: December 18, 1795 in Vienna
Last ESO performance: April 2005

"Paradoxically, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, which is usually the Beethoven concerto that every young pianist learns first, was the seventh Beethoven concerto that I learned (I am including both the "Triple" Concerto and the Choral Fantasy, both of which feature the piano in a solo role with orchestra). I love this concerto and I'm glad I saved it for last. It represents a perfect bridge from the early period Beethoven to a more assertive and singular personality. The A minor episode in the final movement is one of the quirkiest moments in all of music - it appears to have been spiced with Hungarian paprika! I last performed this masterwork several years ago in Honolulu. I have a vague recollection of the weather being a little different from a typical February in Edmonton..."
Jon Kimura Parker

Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto isn’t – the first, that is. Because of a delay in publishing his first two concerti, there was a mix-up, and his second, more mature effort, was published as No. 1. By the time of their publication, Beethoven had lived with both works for a long time, and his feelings about them had become ambivalent. It is believed that, unlike the period of time during which the B-flat Concerto (published as No. 2) was written, Beethoven had been exposed to the piano concerti of Mozart when he began writing the C Major Concerto. The scope of the C Major work is quite different than the other. The outer movements are both far longer, and the middle movement is in the remote key of A-flat.

The influence of Mozart is apparent in the opening, where the piano is given its own theme upon its entrance, separate from the material given the orchestra. Thereafter, it is the orchestra which continues to introduce the important thematic material, but the piano builds upon and embellishes the music, driving it forward, and performing, not one or two, but three separate cadenzas.

The slow movement is a very slow Largo. Again, the piano’s role is to ornament the orchestral material, and the broad artistic expressiveness shows Beethoven’s embrace of the emerging Romantic mood of the day. Listen also for a dialog near the end of the movement between the piano and clarinet.

The final movement is a rondo, and the playfulness with which it should be presented is suggested by the tempo marking of Allegro scherzando. Much of the good-natured fun is found in the contrast between the movement’s main theme and the contrasting secondary subjects, both rhythmically, and in contrasting keys.

Throughout his performing career, Beethoven continually wrested every dramatic and dynamic sound he could from the pianos of the day. As each newly-designed piano would expand the sonorous capabilities from the ones that had preceded it, Beethoven’s music accordingly grew in size and scope as well. In his revisions of his early concerti, Beethoven rewrote the cadenzas for them, and in the case of tonight’s work, it is worth noting that there is no way the pianos of the late 18th century could have performed the cadenzas you will hear tonight. He wrote them later, for pianos that were larger and sturdier than those of 1795.

Program Notes © 2008 D.T. Baker, except as noted

Program notes © 2008 by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and its respective annotators. All Rights Reserved. Program notes may not be printed in their entirety without the written consent of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra; excerpts may be quoted if due acknowledgment is given to the author and to the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. For reprint permission, contact D.T. Baker, Music Resource, by email, dave.baker@winspearcentre.com.
 
These notes appear in galley files prepared for Signature magazine, official publication of the ESO, and may contain typographical or other errors, or may differ from the final print version. Programs and artists subject to change without notice.