The Four Seasons

Sunday, October 3, 2010, 2:00 pm

Enmax Hall, Winspear Centre

The Four Seasons

2010-11 Sunday Showcase

  • William Eddins, conductor
    Ewald Cheung, violin
    Julianne Scott, clarinet
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Details

Edmonton’s Ewald Cheung performs Vivaldi's vibrant Four Seasons, and ESO Principal Clarinet Julianne Scott is featured in a delightful set of variations on a popular Mozart tune. One of Haydn's most famous symphonies caps off a fine afternoon.

Learn more about the performance at Symphony Prelude: 1:15 pm in the Upper Circle (Third Level) Lobby with D.T. Baker.

Stay in the main lobby post-performance for an informal Q & A with Lucas Waldin, William Eddins, Ewald Cheung and Julianne Scott.

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Danzi: Fantasie for Clarinet on Mozart’s “La ci darem la mano”
Haydn: Symphony No. 103 “Drumroll”

click for detailed seating mapTicket 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.

The next Sunday Showcase performance is Saint-Saëns’ First Cello Concerto on November 21, 2010.

Thank you to our series media sponsor: ckua

Program Information

Danzi: Fantasie on Mozart’s “Là ci darem la mano” (9')*
Julianne Scott, clarinet

Haydn: Symphony No. 103 in E-flat major, Hob I/103 “Drumroll”(29')*

Intermission

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons(40')*
William Eddins, conductor and harpsichord
Ewald Cheung, violin

*Indicates approximate performance duration

Program Notes

Fantasie on Mozart’s “Là ci darem la mano”
Franz Danzi (b. Schwetzingen, 1763 / d. Karlsruhe, 1826)
 
As a composer, Franz Danzi was more highly regarded during his lifetime than he seems to be these days – his modern reputation seems to rest on the friendship and guidance he provided to young Carl Maria von Weber, and a handful of shorter works.
 
An opera composer himself, Danzi was quite used to the fashion of his day of taking popular songs from other people’s operas, and writing virtuoso display vehicles out of variations of those tunes. So it was with the bravura set of variations based on Là ci darem la mano, a popular duet form Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni. Danzi had a special affinity for Mozart; he admired Mozart’s music, and used it as source material more than once, but also because his father, a cellist, had met the Salzburg genius during Mozart’s visit to Mannheim when Danzi himself was a boy of 14.
 
 
Symphony No. 103 in E-flat Major, Hob.I: 103 “Drumroll”
Franz Josef Haydn (b. Rohrau, Lower Austria, 1732 / d. Vienna, 1809)
 
It’s too bad more great composers couldn’t finish out their storied careers the way “Papa” Haydn did. The man who had made the court of Esterházy the cultural envy of European nobility retired from his post as Kapellmeister to more or less emeritus status, free to travel as he wished, and compose what he wised. He was especially celebrated in England, where he was brought twice by the impresario Peter Salomon, and where the symphonies he wrote for the English with such facility and invention were the toast of the land.
 
Because of this special connection, the last dozen symphonies Haydn wrote (he wrote 104 in total) are known as the “London Symphonies,” and the second to last, thanks to its dramatic percussion opening, is known as the “Drumroll” Symphony.
 
Following that unexpected beginning, the first movement is notable for its dramatic heft. Following the slow opening, the Allegro is full of loud and soft contrasts, often propelled along on the timpani. Unexpectedly, there is a pause, and following another drumroll, another slow section leads into a buoyant finish. The second movement adapts two old tunes from the Oedenburg region, in the Hungarian region of Austria-Hungary.
 
The Minuet and trio pits a rumbustious minuet – which itself has contrasting sections – against a trio of elegance and even delicacy. Horns usher in the finale, which begins quietly, but is soon a merry romp, based on another folk tune.
 
 
Le quattro stagioni (“The Four Seasons”)
Antonio Vivaldi (b. Venice, 1678 / d. Vienna, 1741)
 
So utterly ubiquitous have The Four Seasons become to modern culture, it’s hard to believe that these four treasured concertos really only regained a popular foothold in the early 20th century. Prior to that, Vivaldi’s music was almost forgotten – and even during his life, the Venetian master was known more for his sacred works and his operas than for the nearly 450 concertos we know that he wrote.
 
Most of the concertos were written for the students for whom Vivaldi was Master of Music – the foundling girls of the Ospedale della Pièta in Venice. They became renowned throughout Europe for the prowess on their instruments, and their skill was doubtless honed by the many works Vivaldi wrote as vehicles for them. A violinist himself, Vivaldi wrote nearly 250 of his concertos with a violin solo part, and often published anywhere from six to a dozen concertos in a single edition. His Opus 8 collection, for example, is a set of 12 he called Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione (“The contest between harmony and invention”). For the first four of the 12, Vivaldi provided descriptive sonnets about each concerto’s connection to one of each of the seasons of the year – and the music depicts many of the small scenes he paints. And since the advent of widely-available recorded music first brought these works to worldwide attention, The Four Seasons has become one of the most famous sets in music.
 
Spring begins with breezes, birds, and babbling brooks. A storm intrudes in the second movement, but the finale gives us a goatherd and his dog, and a bagpipe-accompanied dance of shepherds. Summer begins in the hot sun – listen for the violin to give us the sound of a cuckoo, a turtle dove, and a goldfinch. Another storm brews in the second movement – but also listen for the very effective imitation of summer insects buzzing. The storm arrives in the final movement, and the tired shepherd seeks shelter.
 
In Autumn, the harvest is a happy time – all is drinking and dancing. That is followed by sweet sleep in the middle movement, while the finale gives us a hunt, complete with horns (portrayed by strings in this all-strings work), horses, and dogs. Winter is a picture of icy wind and chattering teeth in the opening movement. The central movement is one of warmth at the fire, while in the final movement, we slip and fall on the ice, but we also take joy in the season.

Artist Information

Ewald Cheung, violin

Ewald Cheung began his studies at the age of four at the Suzuki School in Edmonton, and later studied with James Keene, former concertmaster of the Edmonton Symphony. Ewald is currently studying with renowned violinist, Jonathan Crow, at the McGill University, Schulich School of Music.  
 
Ewald has had success in many competitions. In 2005, Ewald won the Northern Alberta Concerto Competition, which led to a performance with the Edmonton Youth Orchestra. In 2006, he won the senior category of the Alberta Music Festival. Ewald is also a five time laureate of the Canadian Music Competitions from 2000 to 2004, winning in 2001 and 2003, which led to performances with the Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec, and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2007, Ewald was a laureate of the Standard Life Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal Competition. This past May, Ewald won the Shean Strings Competition in Edmonton. Ewald will be performing with the Edmonton Symphony Ochestra in the 2010-11 season. Ewald is also a recipient of the prestigious Lloyd-Carr Harris String Scholarship from McGill University, the Anne Burrows Scholarship, the Winspear Fund, and the Victoria Foundation.

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.

Julianne Scott

Julianne Scott, clarinet

A native of Calgary, Julianne Scott is the new Principal Clarinet of the Edmonton Symphony. This follows her tenure (2007-2009) as Principal Clarinet with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. Ms. Scott graduated from the University of Southern California with her Masters, where she studied with Yehuda Gilad. She attained her Bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto in 2006 under Joaquin Valdenpenas. Julianne Scott as spent summers participating in festivals including the Sunflower Music Festival, the Aspen Festival, the Spoleto Festival, touring with the Canadian Youth Orchestra, and the Music Academy of the West. She has appeared as a soloist with Colorado Springs Philharmonic.



 

Watch & Listen

Vivaldi Four Seasons Winter Sand Animation film Ferenc Cakó:

Comments  

 
0 # Anonymous 2010-10-02 13:23 my teacher, James Keene, Ewald's old teacher, said ewald was an impressive student. Reply | Reply with quote | Quote
 

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