Details

A powerful first half, featuring Rachmaninoff's perenially popular Second Piano Concerto, is followed by a solo recital in which Gabriela Montero will improvise. "When improvising," Gabriela says, "I connect to my audience in a completely unique way - and they connect with me." Gabriela recently performed with Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman at the inauguration ceremony for President Barack Obama.

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$53 Terrace (B)
$39 Orchestra (C)
$20 Orchestra Front (F)
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Program Information

Program

Lavallée: O Canada (arr. Gilliland) (1')*

Mussorgsky: Night on the Bare Mountain (12’)*

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18 (32’)*
Gabriela Montero, piano

Intermission

Gabriela Montero will present a solo recital of piano improvisations in the second half.

*Indicates approximate duration of work

Program Notes

A Night on the Bare Mountain (orch. Rimsky-Korsakov)
Modest Mussorgsky
(b. Karevo, Pskov district, 1839 / d. St. Petersburg, 1881)

First performance: October 26, 1886 in St. Petersburg
Last ESO performance: September 28, 2009

If Modest Mussorgsky’s internal demons had not proved to be at least as great as his musical gifts, he might have left the world a vast and impressive array of completed works. Instead, pursued by doubts, depression and alcoholism, he left many of his works incomplete by his death at 42. The work which began with the name St. John’s Night on Bare Mountain is a case in point. Mussorgsky actually finished the work in 1867, but the harsh assessment of it by his colleague Balakirev caused him to withdraw it. It was brought back in 1872, intended to be part of a collective stage work for the Imperial Theatre, combined with works by other composers. That project fell through. Still not giving up, Mussorgsky then intended to include it as part of an opera. For that version, he appended a tender, gentle ending – a strong contrast to the violence and power of the rest of the work. That ending was intended to illustrate the dawn, and the tolling chime of a church bell to drive the evil spirits away.

A Night on the Bare Mountain (often called A Night on Bald Mountain – either one a translation of the name of a real mountain near Kyiv, Ukraine) was, alas, never performed in Mussorgsky’s lifetime. His friend Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov took the version which included the beautiful, quiet ending, and orchestrated it, and it is this version which has made the work a standard part of the concert repertoire.


Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op.18
Sergei Rachmaninoff
(b. Oneg, Novgorod, Russia, 1873 / d. Beverly Hills, 1943)

First performance: October 27, 1901 in Moscow
Last ESO performance: Sobeys Symphony Under the Sky 2006

Following the spectacular failures of both his First Symphony and his First Piano Concerto, the already highly-sensitive Sergei Rachmaninoff was a wreck. He continued to play, but did not even attempt to compose. Friends and family took the drastic step, in 1900, of taking him to Dr. Nicolai Dahl, who specialized in motivation through a sort of hypnotic suggestion. Over and over, Dr. Dahl told Rachmaninoff, “You will begin to write your concerto,” “You will write with ease,” and “Your concerto will be a fine work.”

Strange medicine or not, it worked. In Moscow on October 14, 1901, Rachmaninoff premiered his Second Piano Concerto and it has become the most popular piano concerto of the 20th century. It was dedicated to Dr. Dahl. Awash with strong melodies, several pop songs have been drawn from its rich soil.

Piano chords, from soft to loud, begin the work, ushering the first sweeping melody on the strings. The entire movement is Moderato, never rushed, its piano passages (Rachmaninoff is widely maintained as a pianist without equal, his hands easily spanning elevenths) run a gamut from brilliant to introspective. The beautiful second movement (you might hear Eric Carmen’s song All By Myself in it) is a serene nocturne. The finale is one of the most recognizable in music. It consists of two dominant, contrasting themes. One is sweepingly romantic (and was adapted to the song Full Moon and Empty Arms), while the other is a lively, thoroughly Russian Allegro, rhythmic and dashing.

Program Notes © 2009 D.T. Baker

Program notes © 2009 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.

Artist Information

William Eddins, conductor

 

William Eddins is in his fourth season as Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. A native of Buffalo, New York, he currently resides in Minneapolis with his lovely wife Jen, a clarinetist, and their two boys Raef (AKA Raefster; Munchers) and Riley (AKA Squeaky; The Imp; Dr. No).

 

Bill has been playing piano since he was five when his parents bought a Wurlitzer Grand piano at a garage sale. He started conducting during his sophomore year at the Eastman School of Music, and most of the '80s were spent trying to decide whether to pursue a career in conducting or piano. The quandary was answered for him when he realized that the life of a poor, starving pianist was for the birds. In 1989 Bill decided to study conducting with Dan Lewis at the University of Southern California, from whence he managed to land assistant conductor posts with the Chicago Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra in 1992.

Bill has many non-musical hobbies including: cooking, eating, discussing food, and planning dinner parties. He is also quite fond of biking, tennis, reading, and pinball. Unfortunately, due to pianistic paranoia his days in the martial arts are long over.

Bill is committed to bringing classical music to the greater public. He has started a podcast – Classical Connections – which is dedicated to exploring the history of classical music and highlights live chamber music performances in which Bill has taken part (check it out for yourself at Bill Eddins' website). He has also produced a solo piano CD – Bad Boys, Volume I – which features Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" Sonata and Albright's Nightmare Fantasy Rag. His latest recording, on the Naxos label, features American music for cello and orchestra.

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Gabriela Montero, piano

 

Gabriela Montero’s visionary interpretations and unique improvisational gifts have won her a quickly expanding audience and devoted following around the world. Born in Caracas Venezuela, Ms. Montero gave her first public performance at the age of five. Aged eight she made her concerto debut with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra and was granted a scholarship from the Venezuelan Government to study in the USA. Her engagements include acclaimed performances with the New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Kennedy Center Washington DC, National Arts Centre Ottawa, Orchard Hall Tokyo and at the ‘Progetto Martha Argerich’ Festival in Lugano where she is invited annually.

In both recital and after performing a concerto, Gabriela Montero often invites her audience to participate in asking for a melody for improvisations. “Because improvisation is such a huge part of who I am, it is the most natural and spontaneous way I can express myself,” she has said. “I have been improvising since my hands first touched the keyboard.” Standing alongside inspired performances of core repertoire, improvisations plays as important a part in Gabriela Montero’s life as it did for Bach and Mozart and, to show the link, her EMI CD Bach and Beyond is a complete disc of improvisations on themes by Bach which topped the charts for several months. In February 2008, her follow-up EMI recording of improvisations, Baroque, was released with great critical acclaim receiving 5 star reviews from BBC Music Magazine and Classic FM. Gabriela’s Bach and Beyond was given the “Choc de la musique de l’année” award in 2006 from the French magazine Le Monde de la Musique. She rounded off her triumphant year with the Keyboard Instrumentalist of the Year at the ECHO Preis Award in Munich She has also been profiled on CBS’s 60 Minutes.

This is Ms. Montero’s ESO debut.

 

Media

Gabriela Montero improvises on "Happy Birthday":

Gabriela Montero performing at President Barack Obama's Inauguration:

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