Simple Gifts. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Shaker Village

Transcription

1 Simple Gifts The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Shaker Village 1

2 Louis Moreau Gottschalk ( ) 1 The Union, Concert Paraphrase on National Airs for Piano, Op. 48 (1862) 7:20 Gilles Vonsattel, piano Antonín Dvořák ( ) Sonatina in G major for Violin and Piano, Op. 100 (1893) Arnaud Sussmann, violin Wu Han, piano 2 Allegro risoluto 6:10 3 Larghetto 4:11 4 Scherzo: Molto vivace 3:07 5 Finale: Allegro 6:33 Samuel Barber ( ) Souvenirs for Piano, Four Hands, Op. 28 ( ) Gilles Vonsattel, piano Wu Han, piano 6 Waltz 3:40 7 Schottische 2:07 8 Pas de deux 3:35 9 Two-Step 1:51 10 Hesitation Tango 3:27 11 Galop 2:37

3 Mark O Connor (b. 1961) 12 F.C. s Jig for Violin and Viola ( ) 3:48 Arnaud Sussmann, violin Paul Neubauer, viola Aaron Copland ( ) 13 Appalachian Spring Suite for Ensemble (1944) 24:41 Kristin Lee, Arnaud Sussmann, Adam Barnett-Hart, Aaron Boyd, violin Paul Neubauer, Pierre Lapointe, viola David Finckel, Brook Speltz, cello DaXun Zhang, double bass Tara Helen O Connor, flute David Shifrin, clarinet Peter Kolkay, bassoon Gilles Vonsattel, piano Stephen Foster ( ) Selections from The Social Orchestra for Ensemble (arr. Tara Helen O Connor) (1854) 14 Village Quadrille No. 1 1:29 15 Jeannie s Own Schottisch 1:31 16 Village Quadrille No. 4 1:13 Gilles Vonsattel, Wu Han, piano Adam Barnett-Hart, Arnaud Sussmann, Aaron Boyd, Kristin Lee, violin Pierre Lapointe, Paul Neubauer, viola Brook Speltz, David Finckel, cello DaXun Zhang, double bass Tara Helen O Connor, flute David Shifrin, clarinet Peter Kolkay, bassoon

4 introduction This recording captures a historic moment in American history: the first performance of Aaron Copland s iconic ballet score Appalachian Spring in the heart of an authentic Shaker village. Why historic? Because Copland adapted the famous Shaker song Simple Gifts as the centerpiece of his moving depiction of an Appalachian wedding, and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center proudly brought Copland s masterful realization of the tune home for the first time since its original composition by Elder Joseph Brackett in When that tune containing music and a message which have become universal sounded 4

5 in the hushed tobacco barn of the village, the communal emotional intensity hit a peak rarely experienced in a concert hall, a moment here captured for eternity, for all to share. These performances of Copland s original score and the accompanying American-inspired works speak for themselves, but we would be remiss without acknowledging the supreme skill of our musicians, the state-of-the-art engineering and producing of Da-Hong Seetoo, and the wholehearted support of Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, without which this extraordinary project would not have reached a pinnacle of artistic achievement. David Finckel and Wu Han Artistic Directors The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center 5

6 program notes Louis Moreau Gottschalk ( ) 1 The Union, Concert Paraphrase on National Airs for Piano, Op. 48 (1862) 7:20 Though little-known today, and unfairly relegated by history to the status of a parlor pianist, Louis Moreau Gottschalk was arguably America s first nationalistic composer, as well as a virtuoso pianist of considerable talent. Born and raised in New Orleans, Gottschalk was exposed to a wide variety of cultural and musical influences from Europe, North America, South America, and the Caribbean influences that he would later assimilate in his own compositions, and that in turn would lead to the development of ragtime, jazz, and blues in the late 1890s and early 1910s. Gottschalk played a tremendous role in the development of an authentic American 6

7 musical voice. Long before Charles Ives or Aaron Copland ever put pen to paper, Gottschalk was consciously incorporating echoes of daily life and culture in America during the 19th century into his compositions: from popular American folk songs, Afro-Caribbean tunes, rhythms, and Creole melodies, to the sounds of circus bands, horse races, banjos, and drums. He managed to fuse together these varied and multi-cultural musical influences in compositions written idiomatically for the piano with the skill of a true virtuoso, making his the most important pianistic output by an American of the mid-19th century. Composed in 1862, The Union: Concert Paraphrase on National Airs is nothing if not the greatest patriotic celebration in all of music: a triumphant, virtuosic musical firework display that celebrates the American spirit like no other. In it, Gottschalk weaves together several traditional tunes including Yankee Doodle, Hail, Columbia, and The Star-Spangled Banner (which at the time of The Union s composition was not yet the official anthem of the United States) to tremendous and dazzling effect. Antonín Dvořák ( ) Sonatina in G major for Violin and Piano, Op. 100 (1893) 2 Allegro risoluto 6:10 3 Larghetto 4:11 4 Scherzo: Molto vivace 3:07 5 Finale: Allegro 6:33 On September 26, 1892, Czech composer Antonín Dvořák arrived in New York City to take up the post of Director at the newly founded National Conservatory of Music. The hope was that Dvořák would not only lead the conservatory, but also guide a new generation of American composers in establishing a national musical identity. In contemplating the new American musical idiom that he had been tasked with fostering, Dvořák found exciting potential in Native and African American melodies, rhythms, and harmonies. As a result, we find in Dvořák s American-inspired chamber music (including the sonatina) the use of pentatonic scales and driving ostinati or syncopated 7

8 rhythms reminiscent of Native American drum beats. And while these features were already present in Dvořák s earlier music (the use of the pentatonic scale, for example, is common to other forms of music worldwide, including music from Dvořák s homeland of Bohemia), they acquired greater prominence in Dvořák s music during his stay in the New World. Dvořák certainly also drew inspiration from the natural beauty he found in the New World, especially around the town of Spillville, Iowa, an area with a large Czech population, where Dvořák vacationed during the summer of It was around this time that Dvořák also visited Minnehaha Falls in St. Paul, Minnesota. According to Dvořák: We went to the valley and saw little Minnehaha Falls, a place that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow celebrated in his famous poem 'The Song of Hiawatha.' It is not possible to express how bewitching it was. It was while standing amidst the spray of the waterfall that Dvořák was suddenly struck with inspiration, and where he hurriedly scribbled a musical theme on his shirt sleeve. That melody was to become the theme of the slow movement (Larghetto) of his Sonatina in G major, Op The sonatina was the last chamber music composition Dvořák wrote during his sojourn in America, and was intended as a gift for two of his children, his 15-year-old daughter Otilie and 10-year-old son Toník. In a letter to his publisher, Fritz Simrock, on January 2, 1894, Dvořák conceived the piece in the following terms: It is intended for youths (dedicated to my two children), but even grown-ups, adults, should be able to converse with it... Indeed, while the relative simplicity of the writing has made the work a favorite for performance by young musicians, the invigorating freshness, delicacy, and delightful joy of the sonatina has captured the inspiration and imagination of musicians and listeners of all ages. 8

9 Samuel Barber ( ) Souvenirs for Piano, Four Hands, Op. 28 ( ) 6 Waltz 3:40 7 Schottische 2:07 8 Pas de deux 3:35 9 Two-Step 1:51 10 Hesitation Tango 3:27 11 Galop 2:37 Perhaps more than any other composer of his time, Samuel Barber was the face of American music to the world, winning two Pulitzer Prizes, representing the United States in the first post-world War II international music festival, serving as vice-president of the International Music Council, attending the biennial Congress of Soviet Composers in Moscow in 1962, and being one of a select group of composers commissioned to write music for the opening of Lincoln Center. Ironically, this most American of American composers did not fall into the Americana mode of an Ives, Gershwin, or Copland. Barber was in spirit a neo-romantic, a quality that we immediately associate with his blockbuster hit, the Adagio for Strings, his Violin Concerto, or the evocative Knoxville: Summer of Souvenirs, however, shows us a different (and more personal) side of Barber light-hearted nostalgia and reflects, in the words of music critic Wilfrid Mellers, an awareness of adolescence [that] strikes deep into the American experience. According to biographer Barbara Heyman, Barber and his mother used to visit the Palm Court of the Plaza Hotel for tea while visiting New York City a fond memory from his youth that the composer tapped into when in 1951 he started a suite of six duets for piano, four hands, at the encouragement of his friend and student Charles Turner. Further inspiration came in the form of Barber and Turner s frequent visits to the chic Blue Angel Club, where they would listen to the piano duo of Edie and Rack play arrangements of Broadway show tunes and other popular music. Turner persuaded Barber to write something in a similarly light vein, and the result was Souvenirs, which they often played to great effect at parties and social gatherings. 9

10 Souvenirs stylishly surveys the following dance types: the waltz, schottische, pas de deux, two-step, "hesitation tango" (Barber's phrase), and galop. In the preface to the published score Barber wrote: One might imagine a divertissement in the setting of the Palm Court of the Hotel Plaza in New York, the year about 1914, epoch of the first tangos; Souvenirs remembered with affection, not in irony or with tongue in cheek, but in amused tenderness. Mark O Connor (b. 1961) 12 F.C. s Jig for Violin and Viola ( ) 3:48 a Violl at sea during the long journey west. Utie, as far as we know, holds the special distinction of being the first known fiddler to set foot on American soil. For years the fiddle was virtually the only instrument found on the frontier, and in the Appalachian hills of West Virginia and Kentucky it became a fixture in the homes of farmers and plantation owners. In the South it was used so widely that as early as 1736 we find written accounts of fiddle contests. The fiddle also took center-stage in dance bands, with the jig (which originated in Scotland and northern England in the 16th and 17th centuries), proving one of the From the plush setting of the Plaza Hotel in New York City circa 1914, we would have to go back some three hundred years to the arrival of the first settlers in the New World in order to trace the history of fiddle-playing and the origins of Mark O Connor s F.C. s Jig. In 1620, when the Francis Bonaventure sailed up the James River to Jamestown, Virginia, its precious cargo included a fiddle belonging to one John Utie, who had played 10

11 more popular dance forms of the day. In 1995, Mark O Connor, one of today s foremost fiddle virtuosos, teamed up with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and double bassist Edgar Meyer for the album Appalachia Waltz, which featured, among others, his composition, F.C. s Jig, for violin and cello, based on the third movement of his earlier Fiddle Concerto (hence F.C. ). O Connor himself explained: I retained the violin line from the score and adapted the entire symphonic orchestration into the second line. O Connor later arranged F.C. s Jig for violin and viola. The result is thrilling: a virtuoso duet filled with infectious energy and joy that remains true to O Connor s belief that American music sounds so optimistic because people actually do believe that tomorrow could be better here. Aaron Copland ( ) 13 Appalachian Spring Suite for Ensemble (1944) 24:41 The pioneering path Dvořák forged in developing an American musical identity enabled Aaron Copland, perhaps more than any other composer, to succeed in creating a distinctly American style of classical music by incorporating elements of American popular music such as jazz, folksong, cowboy songs, spiritual hymns, dance rhythms, big-city sounds, and Latin American elements into his compositions, most notably in works such as El Salón Mexico, Billy the Kid, and Rodeo. Copland s masterpiece, however, is Appalachian Spring, which perfectly captures the essence of an ideal America, one of vast landscapes and endless possibilities. In 1942, the influential dancer Martha Graham commissioned Copland to write a ballet with an American theme. Copland responded with a work simply titled Ballet for Martha, based on an abstract plot that describes a pioneer celebration in spring around a newly-built farmhouse in the Pennsylvania hills in the early part of the last century. Graham chose the title Appalachian Spring shortly before the work s premiere from a phrase that struck her in Hart Crane s 11

12 poem, The Dance. Following its premiere, While Billy the Kid and Rodeo made Copland was amused that people would explicit reference to American myth and compliment his music as brilliantly evok- incorporated actual folk songs, Copland's ing the pastoral beauty of Appalachia, even musical treatment in Appalachian Spring, as though he readily admitted that was not music writer Peter Gutmann points out, is his intention. I gave voice to that region far more subtle, and yet sounds completely without knowing I was giving voice to it, American. Musically the score is made up he later noted. of a wealth of diverse influences, including 12

13 open intervals, long melodic lines that seem to stretch time, wide spacing of instrumental parts, sections of great rhythmic energy contrasted by sections of great simplicity, and diatonic (and sometimes modal) harmonies reminiscent of the traditional songs and fiddle tunes inherited from Scotland and England. Appalachian Spring is also comprised of distinct sections, in contrast to the through-composed music of many German Romantic and early twentiethcentury composers, and other American composers trained in that tradition. The most famous extraneous musical influence in Appalachian Spring, however, and the emotional climax of the work, is Copland s use of a melody based on a traditional Shaker song, Simple Gifts, that was composed by Elder Joseph Brackett Jr. in the Shaker community at Alfred, Maine in The song wonderfully evokes the earnest, but good-natured piety of Shaker culture: 'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free, 'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be, And when we find ourselves in the place just right, 'Twill be in the valley of love and delight. When true simplicity is gain'd, To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd, To turn, turn will be our delight 'Till by turning, turning we come round right. In Appalachian Spring, Copland and Graham succeeded in distilling the essence of human aspiration by evoking an idealized image of the frontier and its eternal sense of opportunity, promise, and hope. Unlike The Union, Appalachian Spring contains no explicit patriotic content, yet at the time of its premiere and in the years following, it served to underscore the core values of the American people during the Second World War. Decades later, it still has, as Gutmann observed, the power to reaffirm established ideals of hope and optimism, and to speak straight to the hearts of listeners, regardless of nationality or religion. 13

14 Stephen Foster ( ) Selections from The Social Orchestra for Ensemble (arr. Tara Helen O Connor) (1854) 14 Village Quadrille No. 1 1:29 15 Jeannie s Own Schottisch 1:31 16 Village Quadrille No. 4 1:13 American musical nostalgia found its greatest voice in the songs of Stephen Collins Foster, known as the father of American music. His output of more than 200 songs, including such well-known tunes as Oh! Susanna, Camptown Races, Old Folks at Home, My Old Kentucky Home (Kentucky s official state song), Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair, Old Black Joe, and Beautiful Dreamer, have become an integral part of America s collective cultural conscience. As a composer, Foster, like Gottschalk, drew from the various music and cultural influences circulating in the immigrant populations of the new United States (his first hit, Oh, Susanna, for example, has a rhythmic profile similar to that of the polka, which originated in the middle of the 19th century in Dvořák s beloved Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic, and which swept the United States in popularity when it was introduced by immigrants to the United States in the 1840s). His intention was to write the people's music, using images and a musical vocabulary that would be widely understood by all groups. I think that Stephen Foster really did create popular music as we still recognize it today, and he did it because he took together all these strands of the American experience, noted writer Ken Emerson. He effectively merged other ethnic genres into a single music, and I think he merged them in a way that appeals to the multicultural mongrel experience of America in its history and culture. In addition to writing songs, Foster also wrote a half-dozen instrumental pieces in popular dance styles of the day, most probably with a view toward bringing his music before a wider public. The Social Orchestra, published in 1854, was a compendium of 73 arrangements for flute, violin, piano, and other instruments. The selections ranged from operatic including 13 melodies by Donizetti and classical Mozart 14

15 and Schubert to popular airs and dances, including his own (such as the three selections included here, arranged by flutist Tara Helen o Connor). The collection was ideal for informal entertainment at home and the arrangements lent themselves to various combinations and numbers of instruments. While The Social Orchestra proved to be very popular, it was not a money-maker for Foster. He received a flat fee of only $150 from the publisher, which may explain why this was his only venture into instrumental arranging. Program notes by: Adriaan Fuchs DiRECToR of ARTiSTiC PLAnninG AnD TouRinG The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center 15

16 ABOUT CMS The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) is one of eleven constituents of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the largest performing arts complex in the world. Along with other constituents such as the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, people to chamber music than any other organization of its kind. The artistic core of CMS is a multigenerational, dynamic repertory company of expert chamber musicians who form an evolving, international musical community. As part of that Lincoln Center Theater, and The Metropolitan Opera, the Chamber Music Society has its home at Lincoln Center, in Alice Tully Hall the finest hall in the world for chamber music. Called A jewel in this nation s musical David Finckel and Wu Han artistic directors Suzanne Davidson executive Director James P. O Shaughnessy Chairman, Board of Directors community, the CMS Two program discovers and weaves into the artistic fabric a select number of highly gifted young artists individuals and ensembles whose pairing with world-renowned senior musicians creates crown, CMS, through its performance of chamber music of every instrumentation and style, unparalleled national and international touring, multifaceted education programs, broad commissioning program, and recording/broadcast/ streaming/radio activities, draws more the electrifying performances that are the signature of CMS. CMS recordings are available on a number of labels, including the CMS Studio Recordings label, CMS Live! downloads, Deutsche Grammophon s DG Concerts series, and SONY Classical. 16

17 ABOUT SHAKER VILLAGE OF PLEASANT HILL Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill is the largest National Historic Landmark in Kentucky and is home to the country s largest private collection of original 19th-century buildings. Shaker Village s 34 historic structures are surrounded by a mixed-use nature preserve of conserved farmland, native prairies, forests, and wetlands. The Historic Centre, The Farm, and The Preserve provide points of departure for learning, and programs and events encourage engaged participation while building strong bonds to the past, the land, and our communities. 17

18 The Shakers chose a peaceful way of life, with an emphasis on equality and freedom from prejudice. A quest for simplicity and perfection is reflected in their fine designs and craftsmanship. Although the population peaked at almost 500 in the 1820s, the community thrived through the mid-19th century, acquiring more than 4,000 acres of farmland. However, after the 1860s, changing social attitudes and the Industrial Revolution signaled the community s decline. Ownership of the land passed into private hands from the early 1900s until 1961, when a groundswell of interest in saving these historic structures brought on the formation of an organization to acquire and restore them. Recently named a member of Discovery Destinations and a top hidden travel destination by BBC News, Shaker Village is a landmark destination that shares 3,000 acres of discovery in the spirit of the Kentucky Shakers. For more information, please visit shakervillageky.org. ABOUT LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER Simple Gifts was produced as a film for television by Live From Lincoln Center. Executive Producer: Andrew Carl Wilk Director: Habib Azar Producer: Douglas Chang Documentary Producer: Elliot Caplan Sound Designer: Da-Hong Seetoo Director of Photography: Ki S. Hwang Engineer in Charge: Sandor Bondorowsky Editors: Oriana Syed, Stephanie Kaznocha and Donald DuBois Coordinating Producer: Kristy Geslain Line Producer: Daisy Placeres Post Production Supervisor: Nick Palm Media Counsel: Danielle Schiffman 18

19 For four decades, Live From Lincoln Center has presented the world s greatest performing artists. Luciano Pavarotti, Beverly Sills, Leonard Bernstein, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Yo-Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Audra McDonald, and hundreds more have graced Lincoln Center s hallowed stages for concerts broadcast across the country. The pioneering series has been seen by hundreds of millions of viewers, and collected 14 Emmy Awards, including one for Outstanding Special Class Program for the broadcast of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, starring Bryn Terfel, Emma Thompson, and the New York Philharmonic. Simple Gifts: The Chamber Music Society at Shaker Village marks the first time the series has filmed an episode outside of New York City. It will air nationally on PBS. 19

20 Photos courtesy of Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Live From Lincoln Center, and David Finckel.