March 2018 Tour Program Information -- PROGRAM

Transcription

1 March 2018 Tour Program Information March 20, 2018 St Johnsbury, VT March 22, 2018 Carnegie Hall, NYC March 24, 2018 Boston Early Music Festival Series March 25, 2018 Tuckerman Hall, Worcester, MA As of January 22, 2018 [Billing info:] APOLLO S FIRE The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra Jeannette Sorrell, Music Director [Program title:] A Night at Bach s Coffeehouse [other acceptable titles: Bach s Coffeehouse Orchestra, An Evening at Bach s Coffeehouse, A Day at Bach s Coffehouse, etc.] -- PROGRAM G.P. TELEMANN ( ) Don Quixote Suite (selections) Overture Don Quixote awakens His attack on the windmills Sighs of love for the Princess Dulcinea Sancho Panza tossed in a blanket Don Quixote asleep J.S. BACH ( ) Brandenburg Concerto no. 4 in G Major, BWV 1049 Allegro - Andante - Presto Olivier Brault, violin Francis Colpron & Kathie Stewart, recorder -- Intermission 1

2 J.S. BACH Brandenburg Concerto no. 5, BWV 1050 Allegro Affetuoso - Allegro Jeannette Sorrell, harpsichord Kathie Stewart, traverso Olivier Brault, violin G.F. HANDEL ( ) Chaconne from Terpsicore (Il pastor fido), HWV 8c A. VIVALDI/arr. Sorrell La Folia (Madness) Olivier Brault & Johanna Novom, violin Apollo s Fire CDs, including the complete Brandenburg Concertos, Telemann s Don Quixote, and Vivaldi s La Folia, are for sale in the lobby. The artists will be on hand to sign CDs following the concert. Apollo s Fire and Jeannette Sorrell appear by arrangement with: COLUMBIA ARTIST MANAGEMENT LLC Tour Direction: R. Douglas Sheldon 1790 Broadway, New York, NY 2

3 Program Notes A Coffeehouse Jam Session By Jeannette Sorrell As Cantor of the Thomasschule in Leipzig, Johann Sebastian Bach had a difficult life. In charge of the music for all of the town s principal churches, his duties included composing new cantatas virtually every week, engaging and rehearsing musicians to perform the cantatas (a difficulty due to the shortage of freelance musicians), and teaching the boys of the Thomasschule every day. Such a workload would no doubt have been joyously stimulating to a man of Bach s genius, were it not for the hostile work environment. From 1720 onward, Bach s relationship with the Leipzig Town Council became a constant litany of arguments and criticism. Several years later, forbidden to perform a Passion for Good Friday, Bach noted bitterly that it would have been just a burden anyway. Against this backdrop of conflict, it is not surprising that Bach enjoyed letting his hair down in the lively atmosphere of Zimmerman s Coffeehouse, a sort of Starbuck s of 18 th -century Leipzig. Gottfried Zimmerman, a middle-class entrepreneur, sponsored casual weekly concerts in his coffeehouse in the Catherstrasse. In the summer, the concerts were held outdoors in the coffee garden. The main attraction of the concerts was the Collegium Musicum, the informal student orchestra of the University of Leipzig. Bach became their director in 1729, and quickly began focusing his compositional energy on the orchestra at the expense of his church work. Perhaps the Collegium was just more fun than his laborious church duties? In any case, he set to work creating concertos that could be played by himself, his sons, and his friends with the Collegium Musicum. Most of Bach s concertos had already been composed during his previous employment as Capellmeister of the orchestra of the Prince of Cöthen. At Cöthen he had presided over an excellent ensemble of 8-10 musicians, most of whom were true virtuosi. So in 1729, he began recycling and transcribing these concertos so that they could be played by the available musicians in Leipzig. The Collegium Musicum had been founded years earlier by a lively and popular law student named G. P. TELEMANN. But since then, Telemann had gone on to greater things: he had become Music Director for the wealthy city of Hamburg. (He had also been chosen over Bach for the Music Director post in Leipzig. But he declined the offer, and the post eventually went to Bach after it was also declined by Graupner and Fasch.) Bach and Telemann seem to have met when both were in their 20 s. Despite the inevitable competition between them, the two were close friends. In 1714, Telemann became godfather to Bach s son Carl Phillip Emmanuel. Bach paid tribute to Telemann by studying and transcribing his music, and by performing it with the Collegium at Zimmerman s. Though Telemann was four years the elder, he was definitely the more trendy and forward-looking of the two composers. His sense of musical humor, lightness, and use of folk elements greatly endeared him to the public. The fact that Telemann s music is not only lighter but easier to play than Bach s would have also contributed to his widespread popularity. Whereas only a dedicated professional could master Bach s works, many talented amateurs could play Telemann for pleasure. In fact, Telemann, who received four times as much space in 18 th -century German music encyclopedias as Bach did, was praised for not composing like Bach. 3

4 Telemann s Don Quixote Suite is inspired by Cervantes 1605 novel, in which the crazed and impoverished Spanish nobleman, Quixote, sets out with his long-suffering servant, Sancho Panza, to revive the glory of medieval knighthood. His search for adventures includes an attack on some windmills, which he mistakes for fearsome giants. (We have fun with the windiness of this movement.) Don Quixote s sighs for the Princess Dulcinea are intermingled with the quickened pitter-patter of his heart. The movement entitled Sancho Panza berné (Sancho Panza tricked) portrays the incident in which the unfortunate servant is caught by rogues and tossed in a blanket, while his master escapes. The finale, with its ironic title of Don Quixote asleep, is a frenetic, perpetual-motion piece evoking the racing mind of the Spanish madman. Bach s Brandenburg Concertos had been written in the earlier Cöthen period, when he had a professional virtuoso orchestra at his disposal. The Margrave of Brandenburg, to whom Bach dedicated the set of six Brandenburg Concertos, will forever live in infamy because he never had the pieces performed or sent Bach a thank-you note. However, it is actually not surprising that he didn t arrange for a performance; he didn t have an orchestra of the caliber to play such virtuoso concertos. In any case, the concertos were undoubtedly performed by the Collegium Musicum under Bach s direction at Zimmerman s Coffeehouse. Brandenburg Concerto no. 4 features revolutionary pyrotechnics for the violin. The recorder parts are rather devilish as well. The first movement is in Da capo form (like a baroque aria) and sparkles with buoyancy and lilt. The poetic slow movement is an expressive discourse between the trio of solo instruments and the larger string section. For me, this movement is an excellent example of the baroque use of rhetoric in music: each phrase is like a spoken question or answer, either propelling the action forward or leading us into repose. The finale, with its triumphant counterpoint, proves once and for all that that fugal writing can be fun. Brandenburg Concerto no. 5 requires from the harpsichordist a level of speed in the scalar passages that far exceeds anything else in the repertoire. One has to train for this piece the same way one trains for an athletic event. Also, the unusual role of the harpsichord in this Concerto-- starting off playing basso continuo (easy), then playing solo melodies in dialogue with the flute and violin (moderately difficult), then getting carried away into virtuoso scales (very difficult), and finally leaving the others in the dust as one contemplates the universe in a huge solo cadenza (mountaintop experience)--makes this piece a unique emotional experience each time one plays it. Bach had a life-long admiration for G.F. Handel, and tried to meet him at least twice. The two composers were born in the same year, only about 80 miles apart. We know that Bach owned copies of at least three works by Handel. Bach s son Carl Philip Emmanuel wrote that Handel was one of the composers his father most admired. However, Bach came from a clan of Lutheran church musicians, whereas Handel grew up listening to the music of the aristocracy, since his father was a court surgeon. Each wore the lifelong stamp of his origins. Handel s Chaconne from Terpsicore is a set of variations in French style over the traditional repeated chord pattern of the baroque chaconne. He composed it originally as part of Parnasso in Festa, an allegorical piece about Apollo summoning the Muses to demonstrate their arts at a Festival on Parnassus. I imagine different muses entering the stage, and we change the mood of the piece as each muse appears. Later, Handel recycled this lovely Chaconne for use in his Terpsicore suite, named for the Greek music of the dance. Handel wrote Terpsicore to feature the Parisian ballerina, Marie Sallé, who had caused a sensation in London earlier that year by appearing 4

5 on stage in a shape-hugging, Grecian-style muslin dress, with her hair let down. Handel inserted the new Terpsicore dance movements into a 1734 revival of his 1712 opera Il pastor fido, hoping that Marie Sallé s appearance would boost ticket sales. Bach made a thorough practice of studying the works of composers he admired. Part of his method for absorbing another composer s style was to transcribe the pieces for other instruments. The composer whose works he most often transcribed was ANTONIO VIVALDI. There is no surviving record of any meeting between Bach and Vivaldi, but Bach s admiration for Vivaldi must have been very great. He arranged at least seven of Vivaldi's violin concertos into keyboard pieces. These arrangements bear the name of J.S. Bach on the manuscripts, with no mention of Vivaldi, and thus they carry BWV numbers in the catalogue of Bach's works. The unsuspecting listener therefore would not realize they are Vivaldi's compositions if not informed. Vivaldi was considerably more famous than Bach during the first half of his career; as music master at the prestigious Pietà in Venice (a special school for orphaned girls and illegitimate daughters of the nobility, with an extraordinary emphasis on music), Vivaldi attained great honor throughout Europe. Tourists from as far as England flocked to Venice to attend the concerts of the "redheaded priest" and his girls. The great Follia or folia tune and dance served as inspiration for Vivaldi as well as several other baroque composers (Corelli, Marias, Geminiani, and C.P.E. Bach.) Scholars believe that the dance originated in Portugal, where young girls would engage in the folly or madness of a wild dance around the fire. The follia is a triple-meter ground bass, beginning in a haughty sarabande-like rhythm, and traditionally growing faster and faster toward the end. The tune is full of the dramatic tension of courtship and seduction. Vivaldi s version, which I believe is the finest of them all, was originially a triosonata; I arranged it as a concerto grosso so that all of us could join in the fray. In his Coffeehouse concerts, Bach showed a warm sense of collegiality and respect for his more successful colleagues, Telemann and Vivaldi. If he felt any envy of their success, we have no sign of it. His generous spirit and the sense of communal gathering at these informal concerts make Zimmermann s Coffeehouse an inspiring model for music-making today. Jeannette Sorrell Cleveland, 2018 Optional Sidebar: The Rise of Coffee in 18th-century Leipzig 1694 Entrepreneur Johann Lehmann opens the first coffee stall in the town marketplace New coffeehouses are thriving, and the Leipzig Town Council reacts by ordering them to stop serving at 9:00pm, and by banning women from entering,. This ordinance seems to have been largely ignored A pamphlet appears showing women having a coffee-party, with the sardonic caption, Even if we re drinking ourselves to death, at least we re doing it in the latest style The eight coffeehouses of Leipzig form a consortium to keep further entrepreneurs from opening more (forshadowing the Starbuck s monopoly?) 5

6 1729 J.S. Bach takes over the concert series at Zimmerman s Coffeehouse, which hosts the most famous of the coffeehouse-orchestras The U.S.A. s hottest baroque band Classical Music Magazine, UK Led by a brilliant harpsichordist, Jeannette Sorrell, the ensemble exudes stylish energy a blend of scholarship and visceral intensity. GRAMOPHONE Named for the classical god of music and the sun, Apollo s Fire was founded by its Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell, to revive the baroque ideal that music should evoke the various Affekts or passions in the listeners. Apollo s Fire is a collection of creative artists who share Sorrell s passion for drama and rhetoric. Hailed as one of the pre-eminent period-instrument ensembles (THE INDEPENDENT, London), Apollo s Fire made its London debut in 2010 in a sold-out concert at Wigmore Hall, with a BBC broadcast. Subsequent European tours took place in 2011, 2014, and European performances include sold-out concerts at the BBC Proms in London (with live broadcast across Europe), the Aldeburgh Festival (UK), Madrid s Royal Theatre, Bordeaux s Grand Théàtre de l Opéra, and major venues in Lisbon, Metz (France), and Bregenz (Austria), as well as concerts on the Birmingham International Series (UK) and the Tuscan Landscapes Festival (Italy). AF s London concert in 2014 was chosen by the DAILY TELEGRAPH as one of the Best 5 Classical Concerts of The Year. North American tour engagements include sold-out concerts at the Tanglewood Festival (2015 and 2017), the Ravinia Festival, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY (2013, 2014, and 2015), the Boston Early Music Festival series, and the Library of Congress, as well as concerts at the Aspen Music Festival, and major venues in Toronto, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The ensemble has performed two major U.S. tours of the Monteverdi Vespers (2010 and 2014) and a 9-concert tour of the Brandenburg Concertos in This month, the ensemble makes its Carnegie Hall debut and returns to the Boston Early Music Festival series. Upcoming tours include a semi-staged production of Monteverdi s L ORFEO in April 2018 (U.S. tour) and a UK/Ireland tour in August 2018, including the Wexford Opera House, the National Concert Hall of Ireland (Dublin), and a return to the Aldeburgh Festival. At home in Cleveland, Apollo s Fire frequently enjoys sold-out performances at its subscription series, which has drawn national attention for creative programming. 6

7 Apollo s Fire has released 25 commercial CDs and currently records for the British label AVIE. Since the ensemble s introduction into the European CD market in 2010, the recordings have won rave reviews in the London press: a swaggering version, brilliantly played (THE SUNDAY TIMES) and the Midwest s best-kept musical secret is finally reaching British ears (THE INDEPENDENT). Seven of the ensemble's CD releases have become best-sellers on the classical Billboard chart: the Monteverdi Vespers, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos & Harpsichord Concertos, a disc of Handel arias with soprano Amanda Forsythe titled The Power of Love (Billboard Classical #3, 2015), and Jeannette Sorrell s four crossover programs - Come to the River An Early American Gathering (Billboard Classical #9, 2011); Sacrum Mysterium- A Celtic Christmas Vespers (Billboard Classical #11, 2012); Sugarloaf Mountain An Appalachian Gathering (Billboard Classical #5, 2015); and Sephardic Journey Wanderings of the Spanish Jews (Billboard World Music Chart #2 and Billboard Classical #5, Feb. 2016). AF s latest release is Bach s St John Passion (March 2016). JEANNETTE SORRELL, CONDUCTOR & HARPSICHORDIST Under the inspired leadership of Jeannette Sorrell, Apollo s Fire has become one of the preeminent period-instrument ensembles, causing one to hear baroque material anew. THE INDEPENDENT, London Jeannette Sorrell is recognized internationally as one of today s most creative early-music conductors. She has been credited by the U.K. s BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE for forging a vibrant, life-affirming approach to the re-making of early music. She was one of the youngest students ever accepted to the prestigious conducting courses of the Aspen and the Tanglewood music festivals. She studied conducting under Leonard Bernstien, Roger Norrington and Robert Spano, and harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam. She won both First Prize and the Audience Choice Award in the 1991 Spivey International Harpsichord Competition, competing against over 70 harpsichordists from Europe, Israel, the U.S., and the Soviet Union. Sorrell s recent guest conducting engagements include the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center (Handel s Messiah), the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the New World Symphony. Her 2013 debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as conductor and soloist in the complete Brandenburg Concertos was met with standing ovations every night, and hailed as an especially joyous occasion (PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW). She has also led the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Utah Symphony, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis with the St. Louis Symphony, Handel & Haydn Society (Boston), and the Grand Teton Festival, among others. Sorrell is the founder and artistic director of Apollo s Fire, with whom she has built one of the largest audiences of any baroque orchestra in North America. She has led AF in sold-out 7

8 concerts at London s BBC Proms and London s Wigmore Hall, Madrid s Royal Theatre (Teatro Real), the Grand Théâtre de l Opéra in Bordeaux, the Aldeburgh Festival (UK), the Tanglewood Festival, Boston s Early Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Library of Congress, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), among others. This year she and the ensemble make their Carnegie Hall debut and tour to the UK and Ireland. Sorrell and Apollo s Fire have released 25 commercial CDs, of which seven have been bestsellers on the Billboard classical chart. Her recordings include the complete Brandenburg Concerti and harpsichord concerti of Bach, praised by the London Times as a swaggering version brilliantly played by Sorrell. She has also released four discs of Mozart, and was hailed as a near-perfect Mozartian by Fanfare Record Magazine. Other recordings include Bach s St John Passion, Handel s Messiah, the Monteverdi Vespers and four creative crossover projects. Sorrell has attracted national attention and awards for creative programming. She holds an Artist Diploma from Oberlin Conservatory, an honorary doctorate from Case Western University, two awards from the National Endowment for the Arts for her work on early American music, and an award from the American Musicological Society. Passionate about guiding the next generation of performers, she has led many baroque projects at Oberlin Conservatory and is a frequent guest coach at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She is the architect of AF s highly successful Young Artist Apprentice Program, which has produced many of the leading young baroque professionals in the country today. * * * Olivier Brault, concertmaster, brings his communicative enthusiasm and historical scholarship to concerts throughout Canada, Europe and the U.S. A native of Montréal, he performs as soloist or concertmaster with many Canadian ensembles including Ensemble Caprice, Les Boréades and the Quatuor Franz Joseph. He joined Apollo s Fire in He holds a doctorate from the Université de Montréal, where he specialized in 18th-century French violin repertoire. He is the recipient of the medal of the Assemblée Nationale du Québec for his cultural contributions to his nation. He can be heard on many award-winning recordings on the Atma and Analekta labels. Francis Colpron, recorder, is recognized as one of the finest recorder players of his generation. His is the artistic director of the period ensemble Les Boréades de Montréal, which he founded in This ensemble has recorded many albums on the Canadian label ATMA, in addition to achieving great success with their concert series in Montréal and internationally across North America and Europe. Johanna Novom, violin & associate concertmaster, appears as a soloist, principal, chamber and orchestral musician with period ensembles across the country. A 2008 first-prize winner of the American Bach Soloists International Young Artists Competition, she holds a Master s degree in baroque violin from Oberlin Conservatory. She also performs with groups such as the American Bach Soloists, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Trinity Wall Street Baroque Orchestra, and the Carmel Bach Festival Orchestra. She is a founding member of the Diderot String Quartet on period instruments, which was chosen for a prestigious young artist residency at the Aldeburgh Festival in the UK in

9 Kathie Stewart, traverso & recorder, is one of the leading baroque flutists of North America, and is a founding member of Apollo s Fire. She teaches baroque flute at Oberlin Conservatory, and holds a Master s in flute performance from the Mannes School of Music. She has performed as guest musician with the Cleveland Orchestra, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and as soloist with the Bach Sinfonia (Washington, D.C.). She is also an accomplished performer on Irish and folk flutes, and is featured on Apollo s Fire s best-selling recording Come to the River, as well as a disc of Telemann concertos. APOLLO S FIRE The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra Jeannette Sorrell, Music Director VIOLIN (section players rotate seating and are listed alphabeticlly) Olivier Brault, concertmaster Johanna Novom, associate concertmaster Julie Andrijeski, principal Adriane Post, associate principal Evan Few Carrie Krause Emi Tanabe VIOLA Karina Schmitz, principal Kristen Linfante Alan Choo CELLO René Schiffer, principal Rebecca Landell Reed CONTRABASS Sue Yelanjian TRAVERSO & RECORDER Francis Colpron (princ. recorder) Kathie Stewart (princ. traverso) THEORBO & GUITAR John Lenti HARPSICHORD Jeannette Sorrell 9