Concerts of Thursday, October 6, and Saturday, October 8, 2016, at 8:00p Robert Spano, Conductor Pedja Muzijevic, piano John Adams (b. 1947) The Chairman Dances, Foxtrot for Orchestra (1985) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 22 in E-flat Major, K. 482 (1785) I. Allegro II. Andante III. Rondo. Allegro Pedja Muzijevic, piano Intermission Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Opus 47 (1937) I. Moderato II. Allegretto III. Largo IV. Allegro non troppo
Notes on the Program by Ken Meltzer The Chairman Dances, Foxtrot for Orchestra (1985) John Adams was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on February 15, 1947. The first performance of The Chairman Dances took place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 31, 1986, with Lukas Foss conducting the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. The Chairman Dances is scored for two piccolos, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, two trombones, tuba, timpani, xylophone, orchestra bells, triangle, bell tree, crotales (2 octaves), tambourine, snare drum, hi-hat, suspended cymbal, wood block, bass drum with pedal, hi-hat, cymbals a2, wood blocks (medium and high), claves, sizzle cymbal, vibraphone, sandpaper blocks, castanets, harp, piano, and strings. Approximate performance time is twelve minutes. First Classical Subscription Performances: October 15, 16, and 17, 1987, David Zinman, Conductor. John Adams s opera, Nixon in China, is based upon the American president s historic 1972 trip and meeting with Chairman Mao Tse-Tung. During the composition of Nixon in China, Mr. Adams also completed a long-delayed commission for the Milwaukee Symphony. In 1985, Adams had seen a potential scenario for the third act of Nixon in China. The scenario, written by Ms. Goodman and Peter Sellars (who created the original stage production for Nixon in China) is as follows: Chiang Ch ing, a.k.a. Madame Mao, has gatecrashed the Presidential Banquet. She is first seen standing where she is most in the way of the waiters. After a few minutes, she brings out a box of paper lanterns and hangs them around the hall, then strips down to a cheongsam, skin-tight from neck to ankle and slit up the hip. She signals the orchestra to play and begins dancing by herself. Mao is becoming excited. He steps down from his portrait on the wall, and they begin to foxtrot together. They are back in Yenan, dancing to the gramophone http://www.earbox.com/the-chairman-dances/ This scenario provided the basis for John Adams s Foxtrot for Orchestra, The Chairman Dances. Commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the work received its premiere on January 31, 1986. Lukas Foss conducted the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Adams notes that the music of The Chairman Dances takes full cognizance of (Madame Mao s) past as a movie actress. Themes, sometimes slinky and sentimental, at other times bravura and bounding, ride above in bustling fabric of energized motives. The vibrant, brilliantly-scored work quickly became a concert favorite, a status it continues to enjoy more than thirty years after the premiere.
Concerto No. 22 in E-flat Major for Piano and Orchestra, K. 482 (1785) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, on January 27, 1756, and died in Vienna, Austria, on December 5, 1791. In addition to the solo piano, the Concerto in E-flat Major, K. 482, is scored for flute, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings. Approximate performance time is thirtyfive minutes. First Classical Subscription Performances: November 1, 2, and 3, 1979, Garrick Ohlsson, Piano, Robert Shaw, Conductor. Most Recent Classical Subscription Performances: February 22, 23, and 24, 2007, Emanuel Ax, Piano, Robert Spano, Conductor. In the spring of 1781, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, then 25, left his hometown of Salzburg to stake his independence in Vienna. For a time, Mozart enjoyed public approval and financial success commensurate with his incomparable talents. During the mid-1780s Mozart was in great demand in Vienna as a teacher, composer, and performer. In a letter to his father Leopold written in February of 1784, Mozart proudly exclaimed: The whole morning is given over to my pupils, and nearly every evening I have to play (here the composer lists twenty-two events from February 26 to April 3)...Have I not enough to do? I do not think I shall get out of practice in these circumstances... Mozart was one of the finest keyboard artists of his day. Between the years 1784 and 1786, Mozart wrote twelve piano concertos that typically, he premiered in concerts (or academies ) given under his sponsorship. In October of 1785, Mozart began work on his opera The Marriage of Figaro. Mozart was anxious to establish himself as an important composer of Italian opera buffa. He poured his energies into Figaro, which premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on May 1, 1786. Still, Mozart found time to compose several other important works during this period, including three Piano Concertos K. 482 in E b, K. 488 in A and K. 491 in C minor. Mozart completed the E-flat Major Piano Concerto on December 16, 1785. While specific documentation of the work s premiere date no longer exists, Mozart s usual practice was to offer the first performance of a piano concerto shortly after its completion. And in a letter of January 13, 1786, Leopold Mozart reported to his daughter Nannerl: Meanwhile to two letters of mine I have had only one reply from your brother, dated December 28, in which he said that he gave without much preparation three subscription concerts to 120 subscribers, that he composed for this purpose a new piano concerto in E-flat, in which (a rather unusual occurrence) he had to repeat the Andante.
I. Allegro The Concerto opens with the traditional orchestral introduction of the movement s principal themes. The first theme, immediately proclaimed by the ensemble, features the arresting juxtaposition of forte and piano dynamics so favored by Mozart. Also characteristic is the extraordinary wealth of subsidiary material leading to the second principal theme, an elegant and flowing statement by the violins and flute. The soloist enters with his versions of the thematic material. Throughout, the solo writing is notable for the elegance and technical brilliance that were hallmarks of Mozart s keyboard artistry. The development and recapitulation of the themes, and a solo cadenza, yield to the exuberant final bars. II. Andante This was the movement encored at the Concerto s premiere. The Andante shifts from the home key of E-flat Major to the relative C-minor. Muted violins sing the Andante s yearning central melody. The melody returns throughout, both in its original form, and as the basis for variations. The Andante maintains a hushed, melancholy atmosphere throughout. The soloist s chromatic ascent resolves to the pianissimo concluding bars. III. Rondo. Allegro The soloist immediately presents the tripping principal theme of the Rondo finale. The theme alternates with numerous episodes, including a hushed, elegant minuet (Andantino cantabile) that provides surprising contrast. Another solo cadenza precedes the Concerto s spirited conclusion. Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Opus 47 (1937) Dmitri Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on September 25, 1906, and died in Moscow, Russia, on August 9, 1975. The first performance of the Symphony No. 5 took place in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) on November 21, 1937, with Evgeny Mravinsky conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic. The Symphony No. 5 is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, E-flat clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, xylophone, orchestra bells, triangle, snare drum, cymbals, tam-tam, bass drum, harp, piano, celesta, and strings. Approximate performance time is fifty minutes. First Classical Subscription Performance: November 15, 1955, Henry Sopkin, Conductor. Most Recent Classical Subscription Performances: November 21 and 23, 2013, Thomas Søndergård, Conductor. Recording: Telarc CD-80215, Yoel Levi, Conductor. Muddle Instead of Music Dmitri Shostakovich s Fifth Symphony remains shrouded in mystery and controversy. On the surface, however, the facts surrounding the creation of one of the great masterpieces of 20 th -century music seem rather straightforward.
On January 22, 1934, the first performance of Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk took place in Leningrad. Lady Macbeth, a work Shostakovich described as a tragedy-satire, lampoons the decadence of capitalism as personified by the kulaks comparatively wealthy peasants who resisted Soviet collectivization. But the composer s biting wit also extended to the police, depicted as brutes who oppress the people, intellectuals in particular. Without question, Shostakovich treats the victims of police oppression in Lady Macbeth with great sympathy. Whatever Shostakovich s intentions were regarding social commentary, they did not sit well with Joseph Stalin, the tyrannical Secretary General of the Communist party. Stalin walked out of the theater before the conclusion of a 1936 Bolshoi performance of Lady Macbeth. Shortly thereafter, an article appeared in the official Communist newspaper Pravda entitled, Muddle Instead of Music. Although the author of the article was not identified, it was either written by Stalin, or penned under his direction and approval. The author dismissed Lady Macbeth as a: stream of deliberately discordant sounds The music quacks, grunts, growls, strangles itself in order to represent the amatory scenes as naturalistically as possible...lady Macbeth enjoys great success with the bourgeois audience abroad...it tickles the perverted tastes of the bourgeois audiences with its fidgeting, screaming neurasthenic music. With a stroke of the anonymous writer s pen, Shostakovich, once a shining light among young Soviet composers, had become a Communist persona non grata. Under Joseph Stalin s regime, such a status could be tantamount to a death sentence a fact Shostakovich knew all too well. Shostakovich underwent an extended period of intense reflection and soul-searching. In December of 1936, Shostakovich withdrew his Fourth Symphony, a work he feared might inspire the same negative government reaction as Lady Macbeth. In the spring of 1937, Shostakovich turned his attention to the Fifth Symphony, which he composed between April 1 and July 30, 1937. A Reply to Just Criticism The premiere of the Fifth Symphony took place in Leningrad on November 21, 1937, as part of a festival in celebration of the 20 th anniversary of the Soviet Republic. A seemingly penitent Shostakovich offered the following subtitle for the work: A Soviet Artist s Practical Creative Reply to Just Criticism. Shostakovich also provided the following analysis of the Symphony in an article entitled My Artist s Reply, which appeared just a few days before the Moscow premiere on January 29, 1938: The birth of the Fifth Symphony was preceded by a protracted period of internal preparation. Perhaps because of this, the actual writing of the symphony took a comparatively short time (the third movement, for example, was written in three days)... The theme of my symphony is the development of the individual. I saw man with all his sufferings as the central idea of the work, which is lyrical
in mood from start to finish; the finale resolves the tragedy and tension of the earlier movements on a joyous, optimistic note. The 1937 premiere, conducted by the composer s longtime friend and advocate Evgeny Mravinsky, was a resounding success. The following review by author Alexei Tolstoy typifies the Soviet critics response: The powerful, rousing sounds of the Finale stirred the audience. All rose to their feet, infused with the joy and happiness streaming from the orchestra like a spring breeze. We cannot but trust the Soviet listener. His reaction to music is a just verdict. Our listener is organically unreceptive to decadent, gloomy, pessimistic art, but he responds enthusiastically to good art that is clear, bright, joyful, optimistic, viable. The Fifth Symphony pleased the Soviet critics, and soon, the world at large. It appeared that Shostakovich had succeeded in creating a work that managed both to glorify the Soviet regime and appeal to international audiences. Shostakovich returned to government favor, although he would be censured once again in 1948 for manifestations of anti-people formalism and decadence. The rejoicing is forced, created under threat In 1979, four years after the composer s death, Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich, stunned the music world. The Shostakovich who emerged from this book was far different from the one who had seemed to follow the Communist party line. For the Shostakovich of Testimony, the Fifth Symphony was hardly a paean to Communism: I think it is clear to everyone what happens in the Fifth. The rejoicing is forced, created under threat, as in (Modest Mussorgsky s opera) Boris Godunov. It s as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying, Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing, and you rise, shaky and go marching off, muttering, Our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing. What kind of apotheosis is that? You have to be a complete oaf not to hear that. People who came to the premiere of the Fifth in the best of moods wept. Shostakovich s friend and student, Solomon Volkov, compiled Testimony from what he claimed were the composer s own words. Many, including, not surprisingly, the Soviet government, questioned the authenticity of Testimony. The controversy continues to this day, although as time has progressed, many of Shostakovich s friends and family members have acknowledged that Testimony expresses the composer's true feelings. It should also be mentioned that recent scholarship indicates the composer s subtitle for the Fifth Symphony A Soviet Artist s Practical Creative Reply to Just Criticism was forced upon him by the government in exchange for permission to present the work.
The conflicting views attributed to Shostakovich regarding his Fifth Symphony place the interpreter and listener in a challenging position. Is the Fifth Symphony a work in praise of or a diatribe against Soviet Russia? Are the Symphony s closing pages optimistic or forced rejoicing? Or, perhaps, are there other interpretations to be considered? A consensus on these issues is as unlikely as universal agreement upon whether Shakespeare s Hamlet was mad. The greatness of a work of art like the Shostakovich Fifth rests largely with its ability to resonate profoundly with each of us in a personal, unique manner. Musical Analysis I. Moderato The two principal themes of the opening movement are introduced in quick succession. The first is a violent ascending and descending motif played in canonic fashion by the lower and higher strings. The first violins then play a far more lyrical melody that, in its own poignant way, continues the tragic mood of the opening measures. Toward the conclusion of the exposition, the first violins offer a theme that is a soaring variant of the opening measures. The development begins with a menacing, insistent rhythm in the piano and lower strings. The lyrical second theme is now transformed into a far more ominous figure that finally explodes into a battle march, sounded by trumpets and drums. The entire orchestra offers the powerful recapitulation of the opening themes. Suddenly, the mood changes with the solo flute and horn s restatement of the soaring third motif. The peaceful closing measures feature a magical combination of instruments, most notably the violin and celesta. II. Allegretto The Allegretto, cast in traditional scherzo and trio form, has a brevity and playful charm that stand in sharp contrast to the storm and stress of the opening movement. The cellos and basses offer a rather lumbering prelude to the woodwinds introduction of the principal scherzo theme. An impish violin solo launches the trio section. The scherzo soon returns in modified form. A solo oboe briefly attempts a reprise of the trio, but is quickly overwhelmed by the orchestra. III. Largo In the slow-tempo third movement, Shostakovich divides the violins into three sections, the violas and cellos into two. The Largo opens with the third section of violins offering the first of two main themes. The first violins play the second theme, initiated by three repeated quarter notes. Several woodwind solos enrich the texture of this string-oriented movement. The Largo, constructed as a massive arch, moves to a shattering climax based upon the second theme. Once again, the mood returns to the repose of the Largo s opening pages, a marked contrast to the fury that is about to explode. IV. Allegro non troppo A brief orchestral trill precedes thundering timpani and a proclamation of the militant opening theme by the trumpets, trombones, and tuba. A whirlwind of activity soon ensues, over which a solo trumpet introduces the second principal theme. An oppressive restatement of the opening theme leads to an interlude that generates ample tension, despite more restrained dynamics. The snare drum and timpani herald a more subdued reprise of the opening theme by the clarinet and bassoons. Soon, however, the music grows in violence as the principal themes are juxtaposed.
Suddenly, all conflict seems to be resolved, as the brass proclaims a blazing D-Major transformation of the finale s opening theme.