Haimovitz Plays Bach

Transcription

1 Miller Theatre at Columbia University th Season Special Events Haimovitz Plays Bach Matt Haimovitz, cello Thursday, October 22, 8:00 p.m. Saturday, October 24, 8:00 p.m.

2 From the Executive Director This October has been such a full and rewarding month so far. We celebrated John Luther Adams, recipient of the William Schuman Award, with three New York premiere concerts that captivated audiences with soundscapes inspired by the Arctic. We also opened our Early Music series with a screening of La Passion de Jeanne d Arc accompanied by a medieval score devised and sung by the Orlando Consort. This week, Matt Haimovitz performs on the Miller stage and around Columbia s campus, bringing Bach and new works to audiences in a myriad of spaces, and it has been lovely to see students and professors stumble upon a cello suite on their walks to class. Matt and I share a passion for bringing classical music to new audiences, and watching Matt deliver these suites to the Columbia community has been inspiring. Haimovitz Plays Bach culminates here at Miller with the presentation of the complete Bach Cello Suites and six accompanying new overtures. Each overture is a unique reflection of the composer s experience with and interpretation of Bach. Next Tuesday, Ensemble Signal returns to continue our Pop-Up Concert series. This time, they ll present pieces that inspire them as artists with an amazing repertoire that features solos for violin and cimbalom. In a few weeks, we kick off November and our Jazz series with the return of the incomparable Anat Cohen. I m thrilled to welcome her back to our stage to perform a program of Brazilian jazz, and I can t wait to watch her infectious energy transform the theater. Thank you for joining us to hear Matt Haimovitz, a true master of his craft. It has been a joy to watch this project develop, and I m so proud to share it with you tonight. Melissa Smey Executive Director Please note that photography and the use of recording devices are not permitted. Remember to turn off all cellular phones and pagers before tonight s performance begins. Miller Theatre is ADA accessible. Large print programs are available upon request. For more information or to arrange accommodations, please call

3 Haimovitz Plays Bach Thursday, October 22, 8:00 p.m. Cello Suites III, IV & V Matt Haimovitz, cello Miller Theatre at Columbia University th Season Run Vijay Iyer (b. 1971) Suite III in C Major, BWV 1009 J.S. Bach ( ) Prelude Allemande Courante Sarabande Bourrées 1 & 2 Gigue La Memoria Roberto Sierra (b. 1953) Suite IV in E-flat Major, BWV 1010 Prelude Allemande Courante Sarabande Bourrées 1 & 2 Gigue Bach INTERMISSION Gabriel Mohammed Fairouz (b. 1985) Suite V in C minor, BWV 1011 Prelude Allemande Courante Sarabande Gavottes 1 & 2 Gigue Bach This program runs approximately 2 hours, including intermission.

4 Haimovitz Plays Bach Saturday, October 24, 8:00 p.m. Cello Suites I, II & VI Matt Haimovitz, cello Miller Theatre at Columbia University th Season Overture to Bach Philip Glass (b. 1937) Suite I in G Major, BWV 1007 J.S. Bach ( ) Prelude Allemande Courante Sarabande Menuets 1 & 2 Gigue The Veil of Veronica Du Yun (b. 1977) Suite II in D minor, BWV 1008 Prelude Allemande Courante Sarabande Menuets 1 & 2 Gigue Bach INTERMISSION Lili uokalani Luna Pearl Woolf (b. 1973) for solo cello piccolo Suite VI in D Major, BWV 1012 Prelude Allemande Courante Sarabande Gavottes 1 & 2 Gigue Bach This program runs approximately 2 hours, including intermission.

5 About the Program In 1890, when the cellist Pablo Casals was on the verge of his fourteenth birthday, he visited a music shop in Barcelona. There, amongst the stacks of sheet music, he saw the six suites for solo cello by Johann Sebastian Bach. The rest, as they say, is history. From our position in the early 21st century, it s difficult to imagine the cello suites considered anything less than masterpieces, and yet in the not so distant past, they were treated (for the most part) simply as exercises. They were pieces learned to bolster technique, or improve the agility and strength of the fingers. But Casals envisioned something else when he began to delve into the scores, and that was music worthy of the stage. By the early days of the new century, he was performing the suites in recitals, and over the course of a few years, starting in 1936, he made the first audio recordings of the suites. It would do for them what Glenn Gould would do for Bach s Goldberg Variations twenty years later. At the time, the cello repertoire didn t offer much from the Baroque period the 150 years between and for good reason. During that period, the violoncello was generally relegated to the bassline as part of the continuo (along with the harpsichord, which provided a sense of percussive rhythm). There are only a couple of works from that era specifically for the solo violoncello (or viola da gamba), among them the Seven Ricercars for solo cello by Domenico Gabrielli (c ), and the suites by Bach. Thus the suites were not only valuable for their beauty, but for their rarity. Why were the cello suites written, and for whom? No one knows for certain. In fact, the original manuscripts in Bach s hand have been lost to time. It is only thanks to his second wife, Anna Magdalena, and her effort to copy the suites around 1728 that we have any record of them at all. We can, however, make some guesses as to their origin and purpose. It is generally accepted that the suites were written between the years when Bach was employed as Kapellmeister for the court of Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen (presently in Northeast Germany), a principality located about nineteen miles away from Halle, the hometown of Bach s contemporary, George Frideric Handel. Leopold had a great love of culture and music, and he was apparently an amateur musician as well. According to Philipp Spitta, one of Bach s 19th century biographers, the prince...played not only the violin, but the viol-di-gamba and the

6 clavier; and he was also a very good bass singer. Bach, himself, said of him later that he had not merely loved music, but had understood it. The prince was also a Calvinist, and as Calvinists do not use instruments in their religious services, Bach found himself in the position of writing only music for court entertainment both public and private for the first and only time in his career. It follows that several of Bach s great secular works come from that period in Köthen, such as The Well-Tempered Clavier; the Clavier- Büchlein ( Little Clavier Book ) for his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann Bach; another similarly titled collection for Anna Magdalena; and the Brandenburg Concertos. One of Bach s duties as Kapellmeister would have been to provide chamber music, or music to be enjoyed privately in intimate settings. This is likely the origin of the cello suites. Not only did the prince apparently play the viola da gamba (or, the viol that you hold between the legs), the court musicians also included violoncellist Carl Bernhard Lienicke and Bach s great friend Christian Ferdinand Abel (their respective sons, Johann Christian Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel would later launch the first subscription concert series in London together). Any, or all, of these individuals (or others we don t have a record of ) could have performed the suites. Structurally, Bach organized the dances comprising all six suites in a precise order following an opening prelude: allemande, courante, sarabande, other, and gigue (easily remembered as PACSOG). The other dance varied depending on the suite: where one and two have minuets, three and four have bourrées, and five and six have gavottes. It appears that beginning around the 16th century, certain dances became frequently paired or grouped together, and often included a recherché (also ricercar, all variants meaning to search for or seek out ) or an unmeasured prelude, both of which would have been improvised. By Bach s time, the grouping of the inner three dances (allemande, courante, and sarabande) had become traditional across the continent and into England. One of the first written mentions of a suite proper in that so-called classical order was in It should be noted, however, that not all suites adhered to this traditional layout (and the preludes were no longer strictly improvised). Handel s Water Music of 1717 is one example contemporary to the cello suites. Bach s later Orchestral Suites also follow a different structure. The final two suites, numbers five and six, contain technical specificities worth mentioning in some detail. These days, the specifics are generally observed by performers on a case-by-case basis, though opting to adhere to them can make the physical production of the music less cumbersome and can sonically alter it, as well.

7 In the fifth suite, the manuscript version calls for re-tuning the strings of the cello, a technique called scordatura. With this method, the A string is tuned down a full step to G, changing the original tuning from A-D-G-C to G-D-G-C and lending a different sound-world to the instrument due to the change to open string sonorities. Another thing to note about the fifth suite in particular is that its sarabande is the only sarabande without multiple voices (double/triple stops). Bach s beloved first wife, Maria Barbara died suddenly while Bach and selected court musicians were away with Prince Leopold at the spa in Carlsbad, Bohemia (presently Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic). Bach only discovered this heartbreaking news when he returned and she was already buried. It is pure conjecture to wonder if Bach wrote this sarabande in response, but regardless it represents a profound, reverent sorrow that stands out amongst the other movements of any of the suites. Bach wrote the sixth suite for the 5-string cello piccolo, of which only a handful of these Baroque instruments remain. Giving the audience the rare opportunity to hear this suite as Bach intended, Mr. Haimovitz will perform on a cello piccolo for this concert. The main difference between a violoncello and the cello piccolo is that the latter is equipped with a high E string (giving the strings the layout E-A-D-G-C) that allowed Bach to expand the range of sound tremendously. On a practical level, performing this suite on its original instrument decreases the need for thumb positions and extensive shifting that modern cellists need to execute, and makes the triple and quadruple voicing that peppers this sarabande in particular much more comfortable to perform. For these performances, Mr. Haimovitz has commissioned new overtures to be performed before each suite from composers Philip Glass, Du Yun, Vijay Iyer, Roberto Sierra, Mohammed Fairouz, and Luna Pearl Woolf. (Woolf s piece, which introduces the sixth suite will also be performed on the cello piccolo.) Many suites of the Baroque period open with an overture, and the pairing of these commissions lends a nice tip of the hat to that tradition. It also affirms the value of Bach s works as an ongoing source of inspiration for our day, and for future generations who will, like cellist Pablo Casals, make new discoveries in something old. In addition to the cello piccolo, Mr. Haimovitz will be performing on his 1710 Matteo Goffriller cello, set up modern, and will alternate between modern bows (made by Francois Malo) and baroque bows (made by David Hawthorne). Program note by Kathryn J. Allwine Bacasmot About the Program

8 About the Artist Renowned as a musical pioneer, cellist Matt Haimovitz has inspired classical music lovers and countless new listeners by bringing his artistry to concert halls and clubs, outdoor festivals and intimate coffee houses, any place where passionate music can be heard. Haimovitz made his debut in 1984, at the age of 13, as soloist with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic and made his first recording at age 17, with James Levine and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, for Deutsche Grammophon. Haimovitz has since gone on to perform on the world s most esteemed stages, with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He was the first classical artist to play at New York s infamous CBGB club in a performance filmed by ABC News for Nightline UpClose that featured the cellist s own arrangement of Jimi Hendrix s Star-Spangled Banner. In 2006, Haimovitz received the Concert Music Award from ASCAP for his advocacy of living composers and pioneering spirit. In 2004, the American Music Center awarded Haimovitz the Trailblazer Award for his far-reaching contributions to American music. Haimovitz has also been honored with the Avery Fisher Career Grant (1986), the Grand Prix du Disque (1991), the Diapason d Or (1991) and he is the first cellist ever to receive the prestigious Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana (1999). Haimovitz studied at the Collegiate School in New York and at The Juilliard School, in the final class of Leonard Rose, after which he continued his cello studies with Ronald Leonard and Yo-Yo Ma. In 1996, he received a B.A. magna cum laude with highest honors from Harvard University. Haimovitz s recording career encompasses more than 20 years of award-winning work on Deutsche Grammophon and his own Oxingale Records, the trailblazing independent label he founded with composer/producer Luna Pearl Woolf.

9 About Miller Theatre Miller Theatre at Columbia University is the leading presenter of new music in New York City and one of the most vital forces nationwide for innovative programming. In partnership with Columbia University School of the Arts, Miller is dedicated to producing and presenting unique events, with a focus on contemporary and early music, jazz, and multimedia. Founded in 1988, Miller has helped launch the careers of myriad composers and ensembles, serving as an incubator for emerging artists and a champion of those not yet well known in the U.S. A fourtime recipient of the ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming, Miller continues to meet the high expectations set forth by its founders to present innovative programs, support new work, and connect creative artists with adventurous audiences. Advisory Committee Regula Aregger Mercedes I. Armillas Rima Ayas Paul D. Carter Mary Sharp Cronson Stephanie French Columbia University Trustees Jonathan D. Schiller, Chair A Lelia Bundles, Vice Chair Lisa Carnoy, Vice Chair Noam Gottesman, Vice Chair Mark E. Kingdon, Vice Chair Esta Stecher, Vice Chair Jonathan Lavine, Vice Chair Rolando T. Acosta Armen A. Avanessians Marcella Tarozzi Goldsmith Karen Hagberg Mark Jackson Eric Johnson Fred Lerdahl George Lewis Philip V. Mindlin Andrew F. Barth Lee C. Bollinger, President of the University William V. Campbell, Chair Emeritus Kenneth Forde Joseph A. Greenaway, Jr. James Harden Linda Nochlin Margo Viscusi Marian M. Warden Cecille Wasserman Janet Waterhouse Elke Weber Marc Holliday Benjamin Horowitz Ann F. Kaplan Charles Li Paul J. Maddon Vikram Pandit Michael B. Rothfeld Claire Shipman Kyriakos Tsakopoulos Columbia University School of the Arts Carol Becker Dean of Faculty Jana Hart Wright Dean of Academic Administration Miller Theatre Staff Melissa Smey Executive Director Brenna St. George Jones Director of Production Jen Gushue Marketing & Communications Associate Katherine Bergstrom Artistic Administrator Rhiannon McClintock Executive Assistant Charlotte Levitt Director of Marketing & Outreach James Hirschfeld Business Manager Megan Harrold Audience Services Manager Taylor Riccio Production Coordinator Aleba & Co. Public Relations The Heads of State Graphic Design

10 Thanks to Our Donors Miller Theatre acknowledges with deep appreciation and gratitude the following organizations, individuals, and government agencies whose extraordinary support makes our programming possible. $25,000 and above Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts Ernst von Siemens Foundation $10,000 - $24,999 The Aaron Copland Fund for Music Mary Sharp Cronson Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music at Columbia University $5,000 - $9,999 The Amphion Foundation Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Dow Jones Foundation The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation New York State Council on the Arts The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation The Evelyn Sharp Foundation Karen Hagberg and Mark Jackson CLC Kramer Foundation National Endowment for the Arts Margo and Anthony Viscusi H.F. (Gerry) Lenfest Craig Silverstein $1,000 - $4,999 Regula Aregger Barbara Batcheler Susan Boynton Paul D. Carter Consolate General of Denmark in New York Hester Diamond R.H. Rackstraw Downes Marcella Tarozzi Goldsmith $500 - $999 Oliver Allen Mercedes Armillas ASCAP Rima Ayas Elaine S. Bernstein Cedomir Crnkovic / Cavali Foundation Kristine and Joseph Delfausse $100 - $499 Gail and James Addiss Qais Al-Awqati, M.D. Edward Albee Roger Bagnall Jim Boorstein Elizabeth and Ralph Brown Caplan Family Foundation Rashmy Chatterjee Ginger Chinn and Reggie Spooner Gregory D. Cokorinos Norma Cote David Demnitz Vishakha Desai and Robert Oxnam Pamela Drexel Peter and Joan Faber Ruth Gallo Marc Gilman Christine and Thomas Griesa Donella and David Held Roger Lehecka Philip Mindlin Linda Nochlin Jeanine and Roland Plottel Jessie and Charles Price Peter Pohly Stephanie French Claude Ghez Carol Avery Haber / Haber Family Charitable Fund James P. Hanbury John Kander Mark Kempson and Janet Greenberg June O. Goldberg Gordon Gould Richard Gray Barbara Harris Bernard Hoffer Frances and Raymond Hoobler Alan Houston and Lisa DeLange Frank Immler and Andrew Tunick Sandra and Malcolm Jones William Josephson L. Wilson Kidd, Jr. Janice Landrum Barbara and Kenneth Leish Arthur S. Leonard Richard H. Levy and Lorraine Gallard Peter C. Lincoln Sarah Lowengard Christopher Rothko J.P. Sullivan Cecille Wasserman Janet C. Waterhouse Elke Weber and Eric Johnson Anonymous Paul J. Maddon Marian M. Warden Fund of the Foundation for Enhancing Communities Katharina Pistor James Sharp Cia Toscanini Kathryn Yatrakis Caroline and Anthony Lukaszewski James Mandel Mary and Andrew Pinkowitz Edmée B. Reit William Ryall James Schamus and Nancy Kricorian Elliot Schwartz Timothy C. Shepard and Andra Georges Gilbert Spitzer and Janet Glaser Spitzer Rand Steiger and Rebecca Jo Plant Peter Strauss Jim Strawhorn Larry Wehr Seymour Weingarten Ila and Dennis Weiss William C. Zifchak Anonymous as of October 6, 2015

11 Early Music Miller Theatre has carved an enviable niche for itself in the field of early music Olivia Giovetti, Classical Singer Magazine With radiant harmonies and cascading polyphony, early music has beguiled Miller audiences since the theater s founding. Today s masters of period performance bring this ancient music to life, each employing their own signature style. This season we ll hear from returning favorites The Tallis Scholars, Le Poème Harmonique, and New York Polyphony, while the Belgian ensemble Vox Luminis make their Miller debut. Saturday, November 14, 8:00 p.m. Church of St. Mary the Virgin New York Polyphony: Songs of Hope The twice Grammy-nominated New York Polyphony performs an array of elegiac sacred works from across the centuries and across the globe, from Renaissance Spain to Revolutionary Russia to modern day Norway. Saturday, December 5, 8:00 p.m. Church of St. Mary the Virgin The Tallis Scholars: Christmas Across Centuries The peerless Tallis Scholars return to the picturesque sanctuary of St. Mary s with a celebration of Christmas that includes works from Arvo Pärt and selections from the holiday mass Puer natus est nobis. Saturday, February 13, 8:00 p.m. Church of St. Mary the Virgin Vox Luminis: The Bach Dynasty The Belgian vocal ensemble Vox Luminis acclaimed for their profound, rewarding, and intoxicating (Gramophone) performances make their series debut with motets from one of music s most illustrious families. Sunday, April 3, 3:00 p.m. American Academy of Arts and Letters Le Poème Harmonique: Airs de Cour Le Poème Harmonique perform a program of airs de cour. These songs of passion and unrequited love capturing the delicate beauty idealized by the French aristocracy are a perfect fit for the ensemble s impassioned performance style.

12 Upcoming Events Tuesday, October 27 doors at 5:30 p.m., music at 6:00 p.m. POP-UP CONCERTS Ensemble Signal: Inspirations Saturday, November 7, 8:00 p.m. JAZZ Celebrando Brasil Anat Cohen Quartet Tuesday, November 10 doors at 5:30 p.m., music at 6:00 p.m. POP-UP CONCERTS Curtis 20/21: Pierrot Lunaire Saturday, November 14, 8:00 p.m. Church of St. Mary the Virgin EARLY MUSIC Songs of Hope New York Polyphony Tuesday, November 24 doors at 5:30 p.m., music at 6:00 p.m. POP-UP CONCERTS Ensemble Signal: Inventions STAY TUNED IN Want to learn about new concerts, special announcements, and more? Join our mailing list at millertheatre.com or scan the QR code below on Twitter 2960 Broadway at 116th Street, MC 1801, New York, NY 10027