Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony

June 4, 2011, 8:00 pm

Enmax Hall, Winspear Centre

Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony

2010-11 Landmark Classic Masters

  • William Eddins, conductor
    Pieter Wispelwey, cello
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Details

One of the finest cellists of his generation, Pieter Wispelwey plays Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto, a remarkable work which grants the soloist “self determination,” according to its composer. Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony, written in the final year of World War II, is modeled on classical lines, borrowing some of its melodies from his ballet Cinderella. Arthur Honegger’s Pacific 231 caused a sensation at its 1924 premiere – a work inspired by the power, raw energy, and mechanical marvel of a train engine.

Learn more about the performance at Symphony Prelude: 7:15 pm in the Upper Circle (Third Level) Lobby.

Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5
Lutoslawski: Cello Concerto
Honegger: Pacific 231

click for detailed seating mapTicket 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 Ravel's Daphnis & Chloé on June 18, 2011.

Thank you to our series sponsor: landmark classic homes
Thank you to our performance sponsor: angus watt advisory group 
Thank you to our series media sponsor: ckua

Program Info

Program

Honegger: Pacific 231 (Mouvement symphonique No. 1) (7')*

Lutoslawski: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra(24')*
Pieter Wispelwey, cello

Intermission

Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Opus 100 (43')*

*Indicates approximate performance duration
Program subject to change.

Program Notes

Pacific 231 (Mouvement symphonique No. 1)
Arthur Honneger (b. Le Havre, 1892 / d. Paris, 1955)
 
First performed: May 8, 1924 in Paris
Last ESO performance: April 1992
 
A member of the famous group of young French composers known as Les Six, Arthur Honegger was actually born in Switzerland. As with the other composers in his circle, Honegger was thrilled by the modern world, and not just what was musically modern. “I have always had a passionate liking for locomotives,” he once wrote about the powerful new engines that were transforming travel throughout the world, “for me they are living things.” And they inspired his brief “symphonic movement,” as he called it, named for a locomotive.
 
“What I have endeavoured to portray in Pacific (231) is not an imitation of the noises of the locomotive, but the translation into music of the visual impression made by it and the physical sensation of it.” Presented at a time and place when the machine age was the rage of the art world, Pacific 231’s vivid and excitingly dissonant noises made it a concert hall thrill from its 1924 premiere.
 
 
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
Witold Lutosławski (b. Warsaw, 1913 / d. Warsaw, 1994)
 
First performed: October 14, 1970 in London
This is the ESO premiere of the piece
 
Aside from Lutosławski himself, two artists figure prominently in the evolution of the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. The first is Mstislav Rostropovich, the great Russian cellist for whom the work was written and dedicated, and who gave its premiere. The second was American composer John Cage, and more specifically, his idea of “aleatorics.” As it is widely held that Lutosławski saw in this work the struggle of the individual (the cello) against the repressive Soviet state (the orchestra) under which Lutosławski and his fellow Poles lived, the use of “limited aleatoric technique” was a way of symbolizing the ability of the individual to think for him or herself.
 
Aleatorics can be thought of as chance elements – in the case of tonight’s work, the limited use of occasional choices made by the soloist for brief intervals within the concerto. In Lutosławski’s words, these random expressions, “grant the musicians a touch of self-determination within the otherwise hierarchical, authoritarian organization of conductor and orchestra.”
 
The concerto is in four movements with no pauses between them. The opening is an extended solo for the cello, in which a repeated note (D) is interrupted by clipped, terse phrases. After nearly four minutes, the orchestra finally enters as the second section begins, titled Four Episodes. Harsh, brass intrusions, sounding like derisive voices, open the second part, and  puncture the proceedings four times, as the cello engages in a call and response with the rest of the orchestra, as if shouting down the cello/protagonist. Each dialog of the cello and orchestra in the episodes is different in character from its fellows, as if different attempts at communication are being made. The third section is an extended Cantilena, featuring a long, languid cello line over top of a moody, rather ominous orchestral accompaniment. The final section emerges out of a riotous cacophony, and becomes almost a contest of wills between the individual and the state. What begins in agitated contention builds to a long-held note in the orchestra, following which the cello gets the last word – Lutosławski lets the hero have the day.
 
 
Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op.100
Sergei Prokofiev (b. Sontsovka, Ekaterinoslav, 1891 / d. Moscow, 1953)
 
First performed: January 13, 1945 in Moscow
Last ESO performance: October 2003
 
Sergei Prokofiev returned to Russia in 1932, his dreams of making it in Europe or the United States dashed. He found a way to make sure his music conformed to acceptable standards for the Soviet regime he chafed under, and earned enough favour from the powers that be to spend the summer and fall of 1944 in Ivanovo, a haven for artists set up by the Kremlin. It was there, with the spectre of the Second World War finally ebbing away, that he composed his Fifth Symphony.
 
The war had been horrific for the Russian people, so while this symphony deals in part with the victory visible on the horizon, it also bears the stamp that the war’s toll has taken. There is darkness to the work, though it is not black. There is tension and sharpness, but a conclusion that rings with triumph. Flute and bassoon open the formally-constructed opening movement, in which a series of short musical ideas (rather than an extended theme) are presented, then developed – followed by a second group, now in F Major.
 
The second movement is the work’s Scherzo, a march presented in a more or less rondo form. We get a little of Prokofiev’s “Age of Steel” past here, with the varying rhythms suggesting mechanization and the chugging of engines. The movement which follows is a total contrast. A long and detailed main theme is laid atop a comparatively simple underlying structure, and while it is beautiful, it is here that the sadness of the war’s price is given vent.
 
The final movement begins out of the preceding movement’s subdued tones, but after a reference to the opening movement, its joy cannot be held back, and the rest of the thrilling movement is cathartically joyous and triumphant.
 
Program Notes © 2011 by D.T. Baker

Artist Bios

Pieter Wispelwey, cello

pieter wispelweyPieter Wispelwey is among the first of a generation of performers who are equally at ease on the modern or the period cello. His acute stylistic awareness, combined with a truly original interpretation and a phenomenal technical mastery, has won the hearts of critics and public alike. Born in Haarlem, Netherlands, Mr. Wispelwey’s sophisticated musical personality is rooted in the training he received: from early years with Dicky Boeke and Anner Bylsma in Amsterdam to Paul Katz in the USA and William Pleeth in Great Britain. Highlights among future concerto performances include the Sydney Symphony, Japan Philharmonic, Sao Paulo Symphony, National Symphony of Ireland, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and in Belgium with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra.
 
Pieter Wispelwey has been the artistic director of the Beauvais Cello Festival in France since 2009, drawing together some of the finest cellists on the circuit for a week of cello recitals, concertos and chamber music, featuring an exciting range of new music for the instrument. His career spans five continents, appearing as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Boston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, St Paul’s Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Sapporo Symphony, London Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, and Camerata Salzburg. He has also established a reputation as one of the most charismatic recitalists on the circuit. Pieter Wispelwey’s discography, available on Onyx and Channel Classics, displays an impressive line up of over 20 recordings, six of which attracted major international awards. His next release will be a recital disc featuring the Mendelssohn cello sonatas and a selection of Chopin waltzes arranged for cello and piano, due out in May 2011 on Onyx. Pieter Wispelwey plays on a 1760 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini cello and a 1710 Rombouts baroque cello.
 
Mr. Wispelwey last appeared with the ESO in March 2009.

William Eddins, conductor

william eddins

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.

Multimedia

Pieter Wispelwey and Paolo Giacometti playing Chopin / Davidov Valse opus 64 no 2:

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