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Sensational Scottish percussionist Colin Currie joins Bill Eddins for a magical night on the Masters. Of H.K. Gruber’s percussion concerto, Gramophone magazine wrote: “it is surprising Rough Music has not achieved greater prominence, as it has few equals for subtlety and resourcefulness.” Stravinsky’s ballet based on the music of Tchaikovsky is both delicate and wistful. And if it is possible that Beethoven also had an underestimated work, it is likely his surprisingly deep and rich Fourth Symphony.
Learn more about the performance at Symphony Prelude: 7:15 pm in the Upper Circle (Third Level) Lobby.
H.K. Gruber: Rough Music: Concerto for Percussion
Stravinsky: The Fairy’s Kiss: Divertimento
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4
Ticket Information
$71 Dress Circle (A)$61 Terrace (B)
$52 Orchestra (C)
$38 Upper Circle (D)
$28 Gallery (E)
$20 Orchestra Front (F)
Tickets subject to applicable service charges.
The next Landmark Classic Masters performance is Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony on February 26, 2011.
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Program Information
Stravinsky: Divertimento from Le baiser de la fée / The Fairy’s Kiss (25')*
H.K. Gruber: Rough Music - Concerto for Percussion(26')*
Colin Currie, percussion
Intermission
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Opus 60(34')*
*Indicates approximate performance duration
Program Notes
Divertimento from Le baiser de la fée (“The Fairy’s Kiss”)
Igor Stravinsky (b. Oranienbaum, 1882 / d. New York, 1971)
First performance of the ballet: November 27, 1928 in Paris
This is the ESO premiere of the piece
The greatest day of Stravinsky’s life, as he tells it, happened when, as a boy of 11, his mother took him to a performance of the opera Ruslan and Ludmilla in which Stravinsky’s father was singing a role. During one of the intermissions, as they strode the opera hall foyer, Stravinsky’s mother gripped the young boy’s arm, focusing his attention on a large, white-haired man nearby. “Look, Igor,” she whispered, “it’s Tchaikovsky.”
That anonymous brush with Russia’s most famous composer affected him deeply, and nearly 35 years to the day after that fateful encounter, Stravinsky paid the most direct musical homage to Tchaikovsky that he could. He adapted a number of Tchaikovsky’s songs and piano pieces into a ballet for Ida Rubinstein called Le baiser de la fée. In essence, it was similar to another ballet, Pulcinella, in which Stravinsky had metamorphosed music thought at the time to have been written by Pergolesi. But Tchaikovsky’s place in Russian music was that of sainthood, and Stravinsky’s reverence is much in evidence in the score. For while the music of the ballet certainly has those oddly syncopated rhythms and unexpected turns we are used to from Stravinsky, the warm, melodic romanticism of Tchaikovsky is unmistakable.
As a source for the ballet’s story, Stravinsky turned to another artist whose work he long admired: Hans Christian Andersen; specifically, his story The Ice Maiden. In it, a young boy separated from his mother is protected by a fairy’s kiss. Upon reaching the pinnacle of good fortune, and about to marry at the age of 20, the boy’s fate is sealed when the fairy returns and, with another kiss, takes him a way, “to a land beyond time and place,” to quote Stravinsky’s synopsis. In 1932, Stravinsky refashioned nearly half of the hour-long score into a Divertimento, and it is this version of his score we will hear tonight.
Rough Music – Concerto for Percussion
H.K. Gruber (b. Vienna, 1943)
First performance: October 30, 1983 in Vienna
This is the ESO premiere of the piece
Program note by the composer
Early in the 1970s my colleague Gerald Fromme, who is principal solo timpanist in the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra (ORF) suggested I write a concerto for him. The request fascinated me, but raised fundamental questions to which I had no immediate answer. One of the aspects of the dissolution of the 'tonal' system was the emancipation of rhythm and the consequent liberation of the percussion from its largely subordinate or even menial tasks. While on the one hand I welcomed this liberation, on the other I have always found that tonality is for me an indispensable means of expression.
Since my soloist would, by definition, have to have a decisive role in the development of themes, I was drawn to Alban Berg's idea of Hauptrhyhmus (“Leading rhythm”). The soloist would take command by a series of signals, based on rhythmic ideas and embracing metrical and formal structures, while the orchestra would form a kind of echo-chamber for developing the percussionist's material in intervallic and harmonic terms. But how was the interaction of soloist and orchestra to be defined, if not in terms of the concerto ideals of the past? The question continued to puzzle me for several years,
In 1981 the Austrian Radio, without knowing of our discussions, commissioned me to write a concerto for Fromme. Before I could start on it I had to write an orchestral piece, to which, on its completion, I gave the title Charivari. Curious about the origins of a word generally associated with the Parisian magazine in which Doré, Daumier and others satirized the Second Empire, I turned to the dictionaries and was astonished to discover that the medieval ritual to which it referred involved primitive forms of percussion. As a means of venting their disapproval on individuals who stepped out of line (generally out of the marital line) villagers would “serenade” the hapless sinner at midnight by banging pan lids, crashing tin trays, rattling bottles and even pulling the tails of cats which protruded from specially constructed boxes. The French exported Charivari to Canada and Louisiana, where it became known as Shivaree; the Basques knew it as Toberac (like Charivari an onomatopoeic word) and the English as “Rough Music” or “Skimmity riding”; while the Germans - who shared the French taste for tormenting cats - called it Katzenmusik.
What this deep-rooted custom seemed to offer was not an excuse for folkloric exploration, but a dramatic and formal basis for the concerto as concerto. The heterogeneous sound elements - tuned and untuned, aggressive and moderating - that are marshaled together by the demagogic “drummer” represent in the first place a concentration of forces which gradually find their allies and fellow-travelers in the orchestra.
The first movement, Toberac, is the simplest of the three, structurally, expressively, and instrumentally. The solo part begins with the Hauptrhythmus and is restricted to two melody instruments – xylophone and marimba.
In the second movement, Shivaree, the untuned percussion takes over, and is doubled by the orchestra, whose harmonic structures eventually give rise to the vibraphone's lyrical answer. Although there are no specifically American allusions in this movement just as there are no Basque ones in its predecessor the violence of its developments may serve as a reminder that the “innocent” revelry of Shivaree was not without relevance to the latter-day processions of the Ku Klux Klan.
While the first two movements may be heard as abstract manoeuvres, the third is concrete and specific. The subtitle “for Henri Sauguet, at the tomb of Mister the Poor Man” refers not only to the doyen of French composers - who was born in Bordeaux in 1901 - and to his mentor, Erik Satie, but to an aesthetic implicitly opposed to all forms of violence, whether physical or spiritual. From the “white” harmonies of the opening music there gradually emerges a ghostly outline of Satie's waltz-song Je te veux. Its untroubled mood and its purely formal implications govern the ensuing music and eventually allow for a second allusion - this time, to the waltz from Sauguet's ballet Les Forains. Rejoinders from the orchestra and from the soloist's arsenal become ever louder and more brutal until finally the two melodies are silenced ... and yet the echoes from them linger on, in the whiteness of their peaceable harmony.
Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op.60
Ludwig van Beethoven (b. Bonn, 1770 / d. Vienna, 1827)
First performance: March 15, 1807 in Vienna
Last ESO performance: January 2001
“The Greek-like slender one,” said Robert Schumann of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, a reputation further solidified due to its neighbours – the revolutionary “Eroica” Third Symphony, and the epochal Fifth. But if the Fourth does not have the reputation, or the fame, of its fellows, what strengths it does have earns it more performances than it gets.
Beethoven actually went straight on from completing the Third Symphony to sketching out notes for what would become the Fifth. As if he needed a break from the dimensions he had been dealing with, he turned to more classical lines and lighter moods to create an altogether different work. The Fourth is scored for a much smaller orchestra than for either of the bookend symphonies, and begins with a slow introduction of more drama and weight than any Beethoven symphony prior to the Ninth. It is followed by an Allegro vivace of great rhythmic drive – classical in dimension, but all muscular Beethoven in execution. A number of themes, each with its own distinctive rhythm, cross the first movement’s landscape. A series of varying keys heralds the close of the development, while the timpani’s steady, quiet roll on B-flat ushers in the long, elaborate recapitulation.
Rhythm is a key aspect in the slow second movement. The lovely melody in the strings is underpinned by a steady pulse, which flares to life at regular intervals. The clarinet introduces a secondary theme, also set to regularly undulating strings. There are major-minor contrasts through the Development section, and the regular, steady pulse returns as the Recapitulation restores the wide range of moods – and the clarinet melody – once again. But just as it seems like the movement will end quietly, the music takes a brief, detour – woodwinds and horns precede a suddenly dramatic flourish, and the movement concludes on two powerful chords.
The third movement is not in the usual three-part (Scherzo-Trio-Scherzo) format, but in five, bringing back both the trio and scherzo one more time. The Scherzo theme is a brusque, chugging tune, full of dynamic contrasts. The Trio is a gentler affair – a broad, triple-metre dance with a pastoral flavour. Musicians, by rights, ought to have seatbelts for the finale – a rush of sixteenth notes abound in this helter-skelter movement that pauses only occasionally to catch its breath. No instrument is spared the daunting – but jolly – pace which, even in its quieter moments, has at least some instruments prodding the relentless moto perpetuo-like movement.
Artist Information
Colin Currie, percussion
Percussionist Colin Currie has established a unique reputation for his charismatic and virtuosic performances of works by today’s leading composers, and has appeared with many of the world’s most important orchestras – the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra among them. Regularly commissioning and recording new works, he has made an inspirational and innovative contribution to the percussion repertoire.
At the age of fifteen Colin Currie won the Shell/LSO prize, and subsequently was the first percussion finalist in the BBC Young Musician competition. He was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award in 2002 for his outstanding role in contemporary music-making and was a Borletti-Buitoni Trust award winner in 2005. Currie was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist from 2003-2005, and as part of the scheme performed a variety of concerto and recital engagements with the BBC orchestras and in major festivals and concert halls. He is currently Visiting Professor of Solo Percussion at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague.
Currie is deeply committed to the development of new repertoire for percussion in its widest form, including orchestral, solo and chamber music. Most recently he has premiered concerti by Jennifer Higdon, Simon Holt and Kurt Schwertsik, as well as music by Alexander Goehr, Steve Martland, Steven Mackey, Joe Duddell and Dave Maric, a composer he collaborates with on a regular basis.
During the 2009/10 season, Currie performs the world premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s percussion concerto Incantations with the London Philharmonic and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, followed by performances with co-commissioners the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Tampere Philharmonic and Baltimore Symphony. Also in the US, he performs at Carnegie Hall with the St Louis Symphony and David Robertson in two concerti - Tan Dun’s Water Percussion Concerto and Bright Sheng’s Colors of Crimson - as part of the Ancient Paths, Modern Voices festival, which pays tribute to the vibrant culture and influence of China, as well as giving the North American premiere of Simon Holt’s a table of noises with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In Europe Currie performs in the opening concert of the 2009 Berlin Festival and at the BBC Proms in Xenakis’s Aïs, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and David Robertson, as well as concerts with the BBC Philharmonic and Malmö Symphony.
Currie performs extensively as recitalist and chamber musician, collaborating in particular with Hakan Hardenberger in a duo recital for trumpet and percussion, a piano-percussion duo with Nicolas Hodges, and with the Pavel Haas Quartet. Currie has also collaborated with artists such as Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Viktoria Mullova, the Labèque sisters, and jazz musicians Peter Erskine, Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor. Recital appearances over recent seasons have included concerts at the Settembre Musica Festival with Nicolas Hodges, and with Hakan Hardenberger at the Verbier Festival, Bridgewater Hall, Hamburg Musikhalle, LSO St Luke’s and in San Francisco. Highlights this season include a solo recital and chamber music concert with the Pavel Haas Quartet at the Beethovenfest Bonn, and Currie leading a percussion ensemble event centred on Steve Reich’s iconic work Drumming as part of the International Chamber Music Season at the Southbank Centre.
Colin Currie’s latest CD release features Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto conducted by Marin Alsop with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and this season he collaborates with the Pavel Haas Quartet in a studio recording of Alexander Goehr’s since brass…nor stone for the BBC New Generation Artists scheme. Currie’s recital disc Borrowed Time is available on the Onyx label, featuring music by British composer Dave Maric including solo percussion music and duos with trumpet and organ, and his first solo album, Striking a Balance, was released on EMI. He has also recorded concerti by James MacMillan and Michael Torke for Naxos.
William Eddins, conductor
William Eddins is in his sixth 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.
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