January 8, 2017 at 3:00pm

Transcription

1 ( The LSCO wishes to thank our supporters for their generosity. This program and our mission in general could not be realized without your kind support. When you visit our advertisers, mention you saw their ad in our program. A special thanks to LSRHS faculty and staff: Tom Grandprey, Michael Bunting, Francie Zingale, Diane Kaufman, Paula Leporati, Paul Sarapas, Chuck Despotopulos and the custodial staff. We can be found online at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue. Plato ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!"#$%&'#()'*+",-.(/0#12*30,( ((((4,"-"#3-5(( W.. A.. Mozart Maurice Ravel Gaspar Cassadó aaron COPLAND January 8, 2017 at 3:00pm Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School Auditorium 390 Lincoln Road, Sudbury, MA 01776

2 Concert Program ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Overture from Der Schauspieldirektor (Impresario Overture) W. A. Mozart ( ) Ma Mère L oye - 5 Pieces Enfantines Maurice Ravel ( ) Narration by Caroline Mongeon Dadurian 1. Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant 2. Petit Poucet 3. Laideronnette, Impèratrice des Pagodes 4. Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête 5. Le Jardin féerique ~~~ Intermission ~~~ Toccata Gespar Cassadó ( ) Transcribed by Hans Kindler (in the style of Frescobaldi) Billy the Kid Ballet Suite Aaron Copland ( ) Introduction: The Open Prairie Street Scene in a Frontier Town Mexican Dance and Finale Prairie Night (Card Game at Night, Billy and his Sweetheart) Gun Battle Celebration (After Billy s Capture) Billy s Death The Open Prairie Again ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A reception for family and friends immediately follows the performance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3 ! LS Civic Orchestra musicians!!!!!! Sudbury Wine and Spirits 410 Boston Post Road Sudbury, MA (978) West Concord Wine & Spirits 1216 Main Street Concord, MA (978) Flute: Alexandra Sutton-Andrews Nicola Rinaldi Maria Ramey Oboe/English Horn: Carolyn Bruse Caroline Graham, (E.H.) Bassoon: Erik Mollo-Christensen Antonio Figueiredo Clarinet: Charles Learoyd Michael Moritz Gerald Vabulas French Horn: Ethan Mattor Molly Bergmann Jean Patterson Ryan Ramey Trumpet: Alexander Way Barbara Hall-Siktberg Lindsay Lozeau Trombone: Matthew Ethier John O Toole Peter Norton Tuba: William Schuette Timpani/Percussion Derek Jameson Dave Mclellan William Nicholson Barbara Hall-Siktberg Alexander Way 1 st Violin: Steven Sewall, Concertmaster Kathy Marshall Richard Cass Brian Holland Jacob Bergmann Ronald Row John Helyer 2 nd Violin: Nathan Nicol Paul Przybyla Robert Ricigliano Dawn Gardetto Gail Kearns Meagan Whelihan Viola: Charles Way Margery Goldstein Chris Brainard Sheryl Lafayette Cello: Seth MacLeod Rhoda Phillips Joyce Downs Paige Ferguson Meghan Field Nancy Hamill String Bass: Chris Menge Robert Hoffman Greg Livingston William Nicholson Harp: Autumn Ramey Piano/Celesta: Michael Moritz When you support our advertisers, mention you saw their ad in our concert program. To play with the LSCO contact: lscivicorchestra@gmail.com

4 Dr. Benjamin Vickers A native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ben earned a B.M. at the University of New Mexico, and an M.M. at Arizona State, where he excelled in cello performance. Ben went on to earn a DMA in conducting at the University of Michigan. His first break as a conductor came at the Conductors Retreat at Medomak, ME as assistant to Kenneth Kiesler, where Ben trained young conductors. He served as cellist of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra, while conducting the El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestras. He has conducted throughout the US, including performances in Carnegie Hall, at Disney World, and with well-known performers such as Tim Janis, James Galway, Jane Seymour, Kate Winslet, and Sarah MacLachlan. He recently served as assistant conductor for the acclaimed premiere of Matthew Aucoin s opera Crossing at the American Repertory Theater in Ben also serves as music director of the Narragansett Bay Symphony Community Orchestra in Providence, and is assistant conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, where he recently conducted the Boston premiere of Lera Auerbach s Icarus. It takes a Community The LSCO wishes to thank our supporters for their generosity. Our program today and our mission in general could not be realized without your kind support. Your tax-deductible donation to the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in support of the LSCO is most welcome and greatly appreciated. You may keep informed of LSCO concerts by signing our interest list in the lobby, or sending an to lscivicorchestra@gmail.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PROGRAM NOTES by Benjamin Vickers Overture to the Impresario Wolfgang Amadè (he never used Amadeus himself) Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria on 27 January 1756 and died in Vienna on 5 December His overture to the opera The Impresario is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings. Mozart s very short one-act opera The Impresario was commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph II to be performed with another short opera by Salieri. The two works were to be an evening s entertainment on 8 February 1786 at Schönbrunn Palace for the Emperor and his guests, including the Governors General of the Netherlands, as well as representatives of the local nobility. The plot concerns the auditions by Mr. Frank, the title character, of two singer/actresses for his new opera company. The singers both are hired, but then compete vocally (naturally) in very petty and humorous ways for the prima donna billing, and for who will be paid most. Then, the tenor of the company gets in on it too. In the end, they compromise, with each getting star billing and large salaries. The overture, like the opera itself, is short, witty, and theatrical. 435 Boston Post Road, Sudbury, MA (In the Sudbury Crossings Plaza) Mother Goose Suite Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure, France, on 7 Mar 1875, and died in Paris on 28 Dec His Mother Goose Suite, as well as the full ballet elaborated from it, is scored for pairs of flutes (piccolo), oboes (English horn), clarinets, bassoons, horns, plus timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tam-tam, glockenspiel, xylophone, celesta, jeu de timbre, harp, and strings. Ravel wrote Ma mère l Oye, Cinq piècs enfantines ( Mother Goose, Five Childrens Pieces) for the two children of his piano Sonatine s dedicatees namely Mimi and Jean Godebski -- to play four-hands. The piece was performed in 1910 by the pianists Jeanne Leleu and Geneviève Durony, and transcribed for solo piano later the same year.

5 that in the score which we now call the American sound; the use of open fifths to depict the wide-open space of the prairie, and to book-end the score with the same music, then depicting not only the prairie, but eternal rest to which the Hero has now gone, is also one of the most striking hallmarks of the new American sound. Billy the Kid is a major breakthrough in the American classical music idiom, the influence of which can be heard in innumerable film scores. The text below is taken directly from the title page of the score of Billy the Kid, and is Copland s own description of the ballet s scenario: This Suite is taken from the ballet Billy the Kid written for the American Ballet Caravan at the suggestion of its director Lincoln Kirstein and based on a story by Eugene Loring. The following is a quotation from an article by Aaron Copland Notes on a Cowboy Ballet. The action begins and closes on the open prairie. The first scene is a street in a frontier town. Familiar figures amble by. Cowboys saunter into town, some on horseback, others with their lassos. Some Mexican women do a Jarabe which is interrupted by a fight between two drunks. Attracted by the gathering crowd, Billy is seen for the first time as a boy of twelve with his mother. The brawl turns ugly, guns are drawn, and in some unaccountable way, Billy s mother is killed. Without an instant s hesitation, in cold fury, Billy draws a knife from a cowhand s sheath and stabs his mother s slayers. His short but famous career had begun. In swift succession we see episodes in Billy s later life. At night, under the stars, in a quiet card game with his outlaw friends. Hunted by a posse led by his former friend Pat Garrett, Billy is pursued. A running gun battle ensues. Billy is captured. A drunken celebration takes place. Billy in prison is, of course, followed by one of Billy s legendary escapes. Tired and worn in the desert, Billy rests with his girl. (Pas de deux). Starting from a deep sleep, he senses movement in the shadows. The posse has finally caught up with him. It is the end. The first performance of the orchestral score of Billy the Kid was conducted by Fritz Kitzinger in New York City, 24 May ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Without music, life would be a mistake. Friedrich Nietzsche ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our musicians come to us from a wide variety of experiences, backgrounds and communities. For their commitment and dedication to the LSCO cause and to the music, I sincerely thank them. William. J. Nicholson, Jr., Managing Director In 1911, Ravel orchestrated the five pieces, and later expanded them into a complete ballet for performance in This is notable because rather than being a concert suite extracted from a ballet score, the process is reversed here the suite came first. The five pieces are as follows, with Ravel s quotations from the various Mother Goose tales added for clarity of his illustration. 1. Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant ( Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty ) Lent On eût dit d'un Ange, tant elle était belle ; car son évanouissement n'avait pas ôté les couleurs vives de son teint: ses joues étaient incarnates, et ses lèvres comme du corail ; elle avait seulement les yeux fermés, mais on l'entendait respirer doucement, ce qui faisait voir qu'elle n'était pas morte. Le Roi ordonna qu'on la laissât dormir en repos, jusqu'à ce que son heure de se réveiller fût venue. You would have thought her an angel, so fair she to behold. The trance had not taken away the lovely color of her complexion. Her cheeks were delicately flushed, her lips like coral. Her eyes, indeed, were closed, but her gentle breathing could be heard, and it was therefore plain that she was not dead. The king commanded that she should be left to sleep in peace until the hour of her awakening should come. 2. Petit Poucet ( Little Tom Thumb ) Très modéré Il croyait trouver aisément son chemin par le moyen de son pain qu il avait semé partout où il avait passé; mais il fut bien surprise lorsqu il n en put retrouver une seule miette: les oiseaux étaient venus qui avaient tout mangé. (Ch. Perrault) He believed he d find his way easily because of the bread crumbs he d scattered along the path; but he was very surprised not to find a single one: the birds had come and eaten it all. 3. Laideronette, Impératrice des Pagodes ( Little Ugly Girl, Empress of the Pagodas ) Mouvement de Marche Elle se déshabilla et se mit dans le bain. Aussitôt pagodes et pagodines se mirent à chanter et à jouer des instruments: tells avaient théorbes faits d une coquille de noix; tells avaient des violes faites d une coquille d amande; car il fallait bien proportionner les instruments à leur taille. (M.me d Aulnoy: Serpentin Vert) She undressed herself and went into the bath. The pagodes and pagodines began to sing and play on instruments. Some had theorboes made of walnut shells and others had viols made of almond shells for they had to have instruments that were of their own small proportions. (Madame Marie-Catherine d Aulnoy: The Green Serpent briefly, the Empress and her only companion, an ugly serpent, become marooned on the island of the pagodas (small, gnome-like creatures) the pagodas accept the two as their rulers, and they are transformed into a beautiful Emperor and Empress.) 4. Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête ( Conversation of Beauty and the Beast ) Mouvement de Valse modéré Quand je pense à votre bon coeur, vous ne me paraissez pas si laid. Oh! dame oui! J ai le coeur bon, mais je suis un monstre. Il y a bien des hommes qui sont plus monstres de vous. Si j avais de l esprit, je vous ferais un grand compliment pour vous remercier, mais je ne suis qu une bête..la Belle, voulez-vous être me femme? Non, la Bête!... Je meurs content puisque j ai le plaisir de vous revoir encore une fois. Non, ma chère Bête, vous ne mourrez pas: vous vivrez pour devenir mon époux!. La Bête avait disparu et elle ne vit plus à ses pieds qu un prince plus beau que l Amour qui la remerciait d avoir fini son enchantement. (M.me Leprince de Beaumont) When I think of how kind-hearted you are, you do not appear so ugly to me.

6 ! Oh! my Lady! Yes, I do have a kind heart, but I am a monster. There are many men! who are more monstrous than you are. If I had the spirit of charm, I would repay you a! great compliment, but I am only a beast.. Beauty, will you be my bride?. No, my! Beast. I shall happily die because I had the pleasure of seeing you once more. No, my dear Beast, you shall not die; you shall live to become my husband!. The Beast disappeared, and all she saw before her feet was a prince more beautiful than Love itself, who thanked her for bringing his enchantment to an end. (Madame Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont) 5. Le jardin féerique ( The Fairy Garden ) Lent et grave: [...] il entre dans une chambre toute dorée, et il vit sur un lit, dont les rideaux étaient ouverts de tous côtés, le plus beau spectacle qu'il eût jamais vu : une Princesse qui paraissait avoir quinze ou seize ans, et dont l'éclat resplendissant avait quelque chose de lumineux et de divin. Il s'approcha en tremblant et en admirant, et se mit à genoux auprès d'elle. Alors comme la fin de l'enchantement était venue, la Princesse s'éveilla ; et le regardant avec des yeux plus tendres qu'une première vue ne semblait le permettre : Est-ce vous, mon Prince? lui dit-elle, vous vous êtes bien fait attendre. [...] and so came at last to a chamber which was decked all over with gold. There he encountered the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Reclining upon a bed, the curtains of which on every side were drawn back, was a princess of seemingly some fifteen or sixteen summers, whose radiant beauty had an almost unearthly luster. Trembling in his admiration he drew near and went on his knees beside her. At the same moment, the hour of disenchantment having come, the princess awoke, and bestowed upon him a look more tender than a first glance might seem to warrant. "Is it you, dear prince?" she said. "You have been long in coming!" Ravel made clear that the meaning of this movement is the awakening of the Sleeping Beauty from the first movement, and a walk with the prince who kissed her to awaken her through her enchanted garden. Toccata Gaspar Cassadó was born in Barcelona on 30 September 1897, and died in Madrid on 24 December Hans Kindler was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands on 8 January 1892 and died at Watch Hill, Rhode Island on 30 August The Toccata made its first appearance in 1925 as a cello solo piece with piano accompaniment, attributed to Baroque composer Girolamo Frescobaldi ( ), and transcribed by Cassadó. Kindler s transcription of the Toccata for orchestra appeared in Gaspar Cassadó was a child prodigy cellist who attracted the attention of Pablo Casals, who first heard Cassadó when he was nine years old. Cassadó was a very versatile musician, who concertized internationally and composed several works, including a wonderful unaccompanied cello suite. He was also the cello teacher renowned Boston conductor, educator, and this conductor s friend, Benjamin Zander. In the early twentieth century, not nearly as much attention was paid to authenticity and performance practice as can be taken for granted today. For example, the great violinist Fritz Kreisler performed many works he claimed were transcriptions or adaptations of works by others, and was later discovered to have written many of the works himself. Kreisler may have felt that without famous, older names attached to them, his own works would not have been taken seriously. He admitted to this, and after some controversy, it has been acknowledged that Kreisler contributed significantly to the violin repertoire in spite of this deception. Cassadó may have done something similar with the present Toccata attributed to Frescobaldi. Modern scholarship finds little in common stylistically or formally between the Toccata and works of Frescobaldi, but Cassadó may have believed that it was authentic; he claimed so during his lifetime. Given the inconsistencies and the absence of any original source for the Toccata, it is now accepted practice to attribute the work to Cassadó. Of course, when Hans Kindler made his transcription of the Toccata for orchestra, he thought it to be by Frescobaldi. Kindler came to the United States just before World War I, and stayed to become principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra with conductor Leopold Stokowski. In 1931, Kindler moved to Washington, D.C. to become the founding conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra. Among the first of his own symphonic transcriptions to be recorded (in 1940) with the National Symphony Orchestra was that of the Frescobaldi Toccata. Whatever its origin, and even if missing authenticity of authorship or historical performance practice, the Toccata is impressive music and a fine orchestral showpiece! Billy the Kid Ballet Suite Aaron Copland was born on 14 November 1900 in Brooklyn, New York, and died in North Tarrytown, New York on 2 December The suite from the ballet Billy the Kid is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, glockenspiel, xylophone, cymbals, sleigh bells, triangle, guiro, woodblocks, whip, bass drum, snare drum, tin whistle, harp, piano, and strings, and has the following sections: Introduction: The Open Prairie Street Scene in a Frontier Town Mexican Dance and Finale Prairie Night (Card Game at Night, Billy and his Sweetheart) Gun Battle Celebration (After Billy s Capture) Billy s Death The Open Prairie Again Copland s Ballet score for Billy the Kid is among the first major scores Copland composed in his populist, American folk style. It was first performed in 1938 in the version for two pianos, and was orchestrated the following year. Copland used authentic old western cowboy songs such as Great Grandad, Get Along Little Dogies, The Old Chisholm Trail, and Goodbye Old Paint in composing Billy the Kid, as well as a Jarabe dance from Mexico, in the odd 5/8 time signature, and played by the solo trumpet. The use of American and Latin American folk songs and idioms strongly contributes to