Orpheus chamber orchestra Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Transcription

1 112 th Season Wednesday, October 15, pm At the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Second & State Streets, Troy, NY. Pre-concert talk at 7 pm, Rensselaer County Historical Soc., 57 2 nd St., Troy, NY. Orpheus chamber orchestra Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano HAYDN Symphony No. 59 in A Major ( Fire ) ( ) Presto Andante o piu tosto allegretto Menuetto Allegro assai PAUL MORAVEC (b. 1957) IBERT ( ) Brandenburg Gate (World Premiere, Commissioned by Orpheus as part of The New Brandenburgs) I. = 144 II. Pesante, = 60 III. = 190 Susan Palma-Nidel, flute; Alan Kay, clarinet; Louis Hanzlik, trumpet; and, Renée Jolles, violin Commissioned with support from the New York State Music Fund established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. INTERMISSION Hommage à Mozart SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 ( ) Andante sostenuto Allegro scherzando Presto Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano MetLife Foundation is the Official Tour and Radio Sponsor of Orpheus. Orpheus has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, EMI Classics, BMG/RCA Red Seal, Decca, Nonesuch, and Verve. Orpheus is represented in North America exclusively by Opus 3, in Europe by Konzert-direktion Schmid/Van Walsum Management, and in Japan by The Music Plant, Inc. Tickets: (518) All programs, dates and times are subject to change. All sales are final. Made possible with public funds from the NYS Council on the Arts and other public and private contributions. Media sponsor:

2 Notes on the Program By Aaron Grad Symphony No. 59 in A Major ( Fire ) [c. 1769] Franz Joseph Haydn Born 1732 in Rohrau, Austria. Died 1809 in Vienna. For orchestra consisting of 2 oboes, bassoon, 2 horns, continuo and strings. Approximately 21 minutes. Haydn s legacy as father of the symphony owes much to his detour as a young man into rural Hungary. In 1766, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy completed a sumptuous new palace he dubbed Eszterháza on the site of a former hunting lodge, and the prince expected his Kapellmeister to keep him well supplied with musical divertissement during his increasingly lengthy country sojourns. Far from the stimulus of Vienna, and working to satisfy an insatiable patron, Haydn himself acknowledged the impact of his surroundings, writing, In Eszterháza I was forced to become original. The next few years marked Haydn s maturation as a composer, seen in an increasingly dramatic style some call his Sturm und Drang period. One work from these years, the Symphony No. 59, was so advanced compared to Haydn s earlier language that musicologists mistakenly catalogued it with later works, at least 10 or 20 slots past its true place in the symphonic chronology. Scholars now accept 1769 as the likely date of composition. This also confuses the question of the nickname, since conventional wisdom held that a 1774 play produced at Eszterháza, Der Feuerbrunst, was the origin of the music as well as the Fire moniker. Parts of the symphony were performed with the play, but the work (despite its dramatic character) was not theatrical in origin. The opening movement of the Fire Symphony showcases some of Haydn s stylistic developments. The Presto tempo is unusually fast for a first movement, and bursts of repeated sixteenth-notes create further rhythmic intensity. The slow movement, set in the parallel minor key of A and constructed with irregular phrase lengths, displays Haydn s growing knack for tension and suspense. The second theme that enters after a unison summation is a gentle oasis in C Major, and its later re-entry upon a key change to A Major finally welcomes the long-suspended entrance of the winds. After a minuet and trio of typical charm, the finale enters with a daringly bare theme in the style of hunting horn calls. Brandenburg Gate [2008] Paul Moravec Born 1957 in Buffalo, New York. Currently resides in New York City. For trumpet, flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), solo violin and strings. Approximately 17 minutes. World Premiere, commissioned by Orpheus as part of The New Brandenburgs The Brandenburg Concertos are among Bach's most joyous creations. As part of the "New Brandenburg" series, I wanted to project a similar quality of convivial energy. The title, Brandenburg Gate, suggests a portal through which we enter Bach's world of exuberant invention. It also refers to the actual monument in Berlin, which I personally associate primarily with the astonishing images of the opening of the Berlin Wall on November 9, It seemed a joyous moment indeed not only for Berliners, but for all of us watching on television around the world. Among other things, this piece evokes the spirit of that historic moment, and does not intend to describe the events literally. There are three movements in this piece fast-slow-fast and they are played attacca, that is, without interruption between the movements. The name Bach, B-A-C-H, can be

3 represented in German musical notation as B-flat A C B-natural. Bach himself used this device occasionally in his own music, and various composers since then have followed his lead in tribute to the master. This piece is, among other things, a musical meditation and elaboration on the motive. As the B-A-C-H motive is a chromatic four-pitch collection, it well suits my characteristically chromatic harmonic language. Occasionally, the motive serves as the foundation of various twelve-tone rows treated in the general context of my own particular tonality. Brandenburg Gate is dedicated with great admiration and affection to the amazing musicians of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Paul Moravec Hommage à Mozart [1956] Jacques Ibert Born 1890 in Paris. Died 1962 in Paris. For orchestra consisting of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings. Approximately 5 minutes. Jacques Ibert was part of a generation of French composers who came of age during a cultural sea change in the early 20 th century. While his compatriots Milhaud, Poulenc and Honneger (three of Les Six ) followed Stravinsky and The Rite of Spring toward an exotic and primitive avant-garde, Ibert charted his own path toward a lighter and more traditional language. His Rome Prize in 1919 and eventual position as the Director of the Academy of France in Rome show that he was well-respected in his field, and a few of his works, most notably the Flute Concerto and Divertissement, entered the standard repertoire. He also found success writing music for film, including Orson Welles Macbeth from In 1956, Radiodiffusion Française commissioned Ibert to write a piece in celebration of Mozart s 200 th birthday. The resulting rondo for orchestra, Hommage à Mozart, is a fitting tribute to the composer of so many masterworks that started as light music for particular occasions. Ibert s musical language projects warmth and good cheer, with none of the irony or acidity that colored much mid-century music daring to reference the past. The extroverted main theme in D Major finds contrast in passages like the intimate flute solo (echoed more dramatically in a minor key by the strings) and a bright exchange between brass and winds. Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 [1868] Camille Saint-Saëns Born 1835 in Paris. Died 1921 in Algiers. For solo piano and orchestra consisting of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, optional percussion and strings. Approximately 24 minutes. The Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor is one of the earliest works by Saint-Saëns to remain in the repertoire. The prodigious and long-lived composer of more than 170 works was just a young man of 32 when he was asked to dash off this concerto on short notice. The occasion was that Anton Rubinstein, the Russian piano virtuoso, had just performed eight programs of concertos in Paris with Saint-Saëns conducting, and he did not want to return to Russia without first taking a turn on the podium himself. Saint-Saëns completed the new concerto in only three weeks, and then barely had time to learn his own piano part before the premiere. The concerto begins with a reference to Bach. Saint-Saëns, besides being a notable pianist, was one of the finest organists of his day, and the soloist s prelude over an extended pedal tone of G hearkens Bach s typical figurations. The tension builds, until finally the orchestra unleashes a ferocious G minor chord. The Andante sostenuto tempo is quite slow for an opening movement, preserving the somber restraint established from the outset by the prelude. The characteristic interval from the main theme, a descending fourth, finds new life

4 in the jocular second movement when the timpani takes its surprising solo turn to introduce an ascending fourth motive in E-flat Major. The bouncy middle movement lightens the air with hum-worthy tunes and playful dialogue. The Presto finale returns to G minor, this time in a dashing mood full of galloping triplets and twittering trills Aaron Grad. Paul Moravec Paul Moravec, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Music, has composed over ninety orchestral, chamber, choral, lyric, film, and electro-acoustic compositions. His music has been described as tuneful, ebullient and wonderfully energetic (San Francisco Chronicle), riveting and fascinating (NPR), and assured, virtuosic (Wall Street Journal). The New York Times recently praised his quartet, Vince & Jan: 1945, with, This masterly miniature conveyed warm nostalgia, buoyant swing and wartime unease. For the season, he will be the Artist-in-Residence with the Institute for Advanced Study, while continuing his tenure as University Professor at Adelphi University. Both positions are unique to their respective institutions. Mr. Moravec has been commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera to compose an opera entitled The Letter, with libretto by Terry Teachout, for premiere in July, He is also composing a commissioned work entitled Brandenburg Gate for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra to be premiered in fall 2008 at Carnegie Hall. In September, 2008, Mr. Moravec s evening-length oratorio, The Blizzard Voices, about the Great Plains blizzard of 1888, with text by Ted Koozer, will be premiered at Opera Omaha. Among Paul Moravec s numerous awards are the Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome, a Fellowship in Music Composition from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, a Camargo Foundation Residency Fellowship, two fellowships from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, as well as many commissions. A graduate of Harvard University and Columbia University, he has taught at Harvard, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Hunter College, as well as Adelphi University. Mr. Moravec is regularly sought out by leading performing artists and ensembles. Performance highlights this season include Songs of Love and War with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall, The Time Gallery at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and Tempest Fantasy with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Recent world premieres include Anniversary Dances with the Ying Quartet; Atmosfera a Villa Aurelia with the Lark Quartet; Mark Twain Sez with cellist Matt Haimovitz; Cornopean Airs with the American Brass Quintet; The Time Gallery with eighth blackbird at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Morph with the String Orchestra of New York (SONYC); Cool Fire and Chamber Symphony for the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival; Capital Unknowns for the Albany Symphony; Everyone Sang for Troy Cook and the Marilyn Horne Foundation; Parables for the New York Festival of Song, Vita Brevis, a song cycle for tenor Paul Sperry; Useful Knowledge, a cantata commissioned by the American Philosophical Society for Ben Franklin s tercentenary; No Words, commissioned by Concert Artist Guild for pianist James Lent and the Gay Gotham Chorus; and two works for the Elements String Quartet. Paul Moravec s discography includes Tempest Fantasy, performed by Trio Solisti with clarinetist David Krakauer, on Naxos American Classics; The Time Gallery, performed by eighth blackbird also on Naxos; Songs of Love and War for Chorus and Orchestra on a CD featuring The Dessoff Choirs & Orchestra; Sonata for Violin and Piano performed by the Bachmann/Klibonoff Duo for BMG/RCA Red Seal; Double Action, Evermore, and Ariel Fantasy, performed by the Bachmann/Klibonoff Duo on an Endeavour Classics CD entitled The Red Violin. ; Atmosfera a Villa Aurelia and Vince & Jan, performed by the Lark Quartet on an Endeavour Classics CD entitled Klap Ur Handz ; Morph, performed

5 by the String Orchestra of New York on an Albany disc, Spiritdance, an orchestral work on the Vienna Modern Masters label; an album of chamber compositions titled Circular Dreams on CRI; and Vita Brevis, with Paul Sperry, tenor, and the composer at the piano, on Albany Records. Source: 7/29/2008 Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Piano A masterful, brilliant, poetic, miraculous, breathtaking virtuoso: these are only a handful of the many accolades the press has used to describe pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. A charismatic and versatile musician acclaimed for his sensitivity and ranges of color and texture, he is sought after by today s foremost orchestras, festivals, conductors and collaborative musicians. In both live performance and recordings, he continues to uphold his reputation as one of the best pianists in the world. His ongoing relationships with world-renowned symphony orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra bring him to such destinations as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Concertgebouw on a regular basis. Last season alone, he played at Carnegie Hall three times: in solo recital, with the Boston Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony. The upcoming season takes Mr. Thibaudet to engagements on four continents around the world. His North America performances include recitals in Washington, D.C., Chicago, West Palm Beach, Portland (OR) and Vancouver (BC), and concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, and the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Dallas, and Nashville, among others. Highlights of his concerts abroad include recitals in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Spain, and performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (in Frankfurt), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (in Birmingham and Cologne), Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Orchester des WDR (Cologne), Spanish National Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, a five-city tour of the Netherlands with the Rossetti String Quartet, and another tour, with Orchestre National de Lyon, to Turkey, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria. Jean-Yves Thibaudet is an exclusive recording artist for Decca with over 30 released titles. His newest recording, entitled Aria-Opera Without Words, was released in February He was also the soloist on the 2005 Oscar-nominated soundtrack of Universal Pictures Pride and Prejudice. Also new in 2005 was his recording of Strauss Burleske with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Among Mr. Thibaudet s recent award-winning recordings are the box-set Satie: The Complete Solo Piano Music and Night Songs with soprano Renée Fleming. Mr. Thibaudet s diverse repertoire includes works by Gershwin, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Schumann, Liszt, Chopin, Grieg, Messiaen, Debussy, and Ravel. His enthusiasm for jazz has also resulted in popular recordings including Reflections on Duke: Jean-Yves Thibaudet plays the music of Duke Ellington and Conversations with Bill Evans. In 2002, selections from these recordings were merged into one CD, entitled DAYDREAMS: Reflections on Bill Evans and Duke Ellington and released in Australia to great acclaim. His recordings have garnered a Grammy nomination and many prizes over the years, including the Schallplatten Preis, the Diapason d Or, Choc de la Musique, Gramophone Award, two Echo awards, and the Edison Prize. Offstage, Mr. Thibaudet has appeared in Bruce Beresford s 2001 feature film Bride of the Wind and was featured on the soundtrack. He also performed two Schubert Impromptus on the movie soundtrack of the 1997 feature film Portrait of a Lady. On television, he was featured in the 2000 PBS/Smithsonian special, Piano Grand!, hosted by

6 Billy Joel to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the piano, and he has impacted the fashion world with concert attire designed by London fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. Of French and German heritage, Jean-Yves Thibaudet was born in Lyon, France, where he began his piano studies at age five and made his first public appearance at age seven. At age twelve, he entered the Paris Conservatory where he studied with Aldo Ciccolini and Lucette Descaves, a friend and collaborator of Ravel. At age fifteen he won the Premier Prix du Conservatoire, and three years later won the Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York. In 2001, the Republic of France awarded Mr. Thibaudet the Chevalier de l Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2002, he was awarded the Premio Pegasus from the Spoleto Festival in Italy for his artistic achievements and his longstanding involvement with the festival. In 2007, Jean-Yves Thibaudet received a lifetime career achievement award, Victoire d Honneur, the highest honor given by France s Victoire de la Musique. Renée Jolles, Violin Renée Jolles has been a member of Orpheus since Hailed as a "real star" by The New York Times for her New York concerto debut in Alice Tully Hall, Ms. Jolles has enjoyed a varied career as a solo artist and chamber musician. She has premiered hundreds of works, including the American premiere of Schnittke's Violin Concerto No. 2. Her concerto engagements have included orchestras such as The Philharmonic Orchestra of New Jersey, The Cape May Festival Orchestra, The Salisbury Symphony, and Orpheus. Besides Orpheus, Ms. Jolles is a member of The Jolles Duo, Continuum, The Roerich Quartet, and The New York Chamber Ensemble. She has performed at festivals such as Marlboro, Cape May, Rockport (Mass.), Norfolk, Taos, Riverrun, and The Chamber Music and Composers' Forum of the East. Committed to recording new music, she has recorded as a chamber artist for the Cambria, CRI, North/South Recordings, Albany Records, and New World Records labels. She can also be heard on three new albums appearing in the spring of 2009 which showcase the music of composers Oleg Felzer, Ushio Torikai, and Victoria Bond. Ms. Jolles is on the faculty of the Juilliard School of Music Pre-College Division, The Mannes School of Music Preparatory Division and the Bowdoin International Music Festival. Ms. Jolles received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Juilliard where, upon graduation, she was presented with the school's highest award, the William Schumann prize. While at Juilliard, she held teaching fellowships in chamber music (as an assistant to The Juilliard Quartet) and in ear-training. Her teachers have included Lewis Kaplan, Felix Galimir, and members of the Juilliard, Tokyo, and American String Quartets. Susan Palma-Nidel, Flute Susan Palma-Nidel has been a member of Orpheus since She has traveled with the orchestra throughout the world, often appearing as soloist, giving master classes and performing chamber music. Ms. Palma-Nidel is the principal flutist of the American Composers Orchestra and Naumberg award-winning Speculum Musicae with whom she has premiered countless works including compositions of Elliott Carter, Mario Davidovsky, Peter Maxwell Davies and Milton Babbitt. She has performed as principal flutist and soloist with the Paul Taylor and Martha Graham Dance Companies, the Stuttgart and Royal Ballets, the Bach Chamber Soloists, the Santa Fe Opera and Madeira and Oregon Bach Festivals. Since 1973 Susan Palma-Nidel has been the flutist of the North Country Chamber Players performing chamber music and participating in educational projects in New Hampshire. For the last two seasons Ms. Palma-Nidel has collaborated with the Borromeo String Quartet in concerts featuring works written for her and the quartet by Pablo Ziegler and Fred Cohen. Susan can be heard on more than 50 recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Columbia, Nonesuch, NewWorld, CRI, London and Bridge Records. Her recording of the Mozart Flute Concerto and Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto with harpist Nancy Allen and Orpheus

7 received wide acclaim and has been termed the finest recording of these works to date by Gramophone Magazine. A native of Midland, Michigan, Ms. Palma-Nidel received her musical training at the University of Michigan and the Juilliard School. She is presently on the faculty of Columbia University and Montclair State University, New Jersey. Susan is also a painter and lives in Manhattan with her husband, attorney and writer Richard Nidel. Alan Kay, Clarinet Based in New York City, clarinetist Alan R. Kay is among the most versatile and sought-after musicians of his generation. He has traveled worldwide with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, which he joined in 2002, and with his distinguished wind quintet, Windscape. He is Principal Clarinetist of New York s Riverside Symphony, the Little Orchestra Society, and the Queens Symphony, appearing regularly as a guest with the Orchestra of St. Luke s, the American Symphony, American Ballet Theater Orchestra, and the New York City Opera. Vastly experienced as a chamber musician, Mr. Kay appears frequently with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Trio Solisti, and with the Bravo! Vail Valley Music, Yellow Barn, and a wide variety of other summer festivals. His most recent album, an all-dvořák release on MSR Classics, is with Windscape. Mr. Kay teaches on the faculties of Juilliard, the Manhattan School of Music, and Stony Brook University. Louis Hanzlik, Trumpet Trumpeter Louis Hanzlik has established himself as an accomplished chamber musician, orchestral player, and educator. He has been a member of the Atlantic Brass Quintet since 2002 and was recently appointed a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Hanzlik also performs with the Orchestra of St. Luke s and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and serves as co-principal trumpet with the Riverside Symphony. In addition, Hanzlik serves as Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the University of Connecticut and maintains an international teaching presence with the Atlantic Brass Quintet s International Brass Quintet Seminars. March 2008 marked Hanzlik s solo debut at Carnegie Hall, performing Arutiunian s Concerto for Trumpet, with the University of Iowa Symphony Band. Performances for include regular appearances with the Orchestra of St. Luke s, Riverside Symphony, and Orpheus at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Caramoor. Hanzlik records with the Atlantic Brass Quintet for Summit Records. He can also be heard on the Naxos, Decca, Chandos, Arabesque, Bridge, New World, and Vanguard Classics labels. Hanzlik has recorded frequently for commercial radio and television and for numerous public radio and television features, such as Live from Lincoln Center and National Public Radio s Performance Today. Originally from Iowa, Hanzlik is a graduate of the University of Iowa and the Juilliard School.

8 VIOLIN Ronnie Bauch Martha Caplin Jonathan Chu Laura Frautschi Liang-Ping How Joanna Jenner Renée Jolles Harumi Rhodes Richard Rood Eriko Sato Calvin Wiersma VIOLA David Cerutti Timothy Deighton Christof Huebner Nardo Poy CELLO Eric Bartlett Julia Lichten Melissa Meell James Wilson BASS Peter Lloyd Kurt Muroki ORPHEUS Season Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Piano FLUTE Susan Palma-Nidel Susan Rotholz OBOE Randall Wolfgang Kelly Peral-Patterson CLARINET Alan Kay David Singer BASSOON Marc Goldberg Cynde Iverson HORN Chris Komer Lawrence Di Bello TRUMPET Carl Albach Louis Hanzlik TIMPANI Maya Gunji HARPSICHORD Paolo Bordignon