Concerts of January 9-11, 2015 Michael Stern, Music Director Yefim Bronfman, piano Debussy Prélude à L après-midi d un faune (1894) Brahms Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra in D minor, Op. 15 (1861) I. Maestoso II. Adagio III. Rondo. Allegro non troppo Yefim Bronfman, piano Intermission Stravinsky Le sacre du printemps (1913, rev. 1947) Part I The Adoration of the Earth Part II The Sacrifice
Notes on the Program by Ken Meltzer Concert Overview Claude Debussy (1862-1918) Prélude à L après-midi d un faune (1894) 10 minutes Claude Debussy s Impressionist masterpiece, Prélude to The Afternoon of a Faun was inspired by Stéphane Mallarmé s poem, the tale of a faun s erotic (and unrequited) fascination with a pair of nymphs. Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra in D minor, Op. 15 (1861) 44 minutes Brahms began his First Piano Concerto in the wake of the attempted suicide by his mentor, Robert Schumann. The Concerto is in three movements. The first expresses Brahms s grief over Schumann s tragic fate. The slow second movement leads to a vigorous finale, based upon the vibrant theme introduced at the outset by the soloist. Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) Le sacre du printemps (1913, rev. 1947) 33 minutes Igor Stravinsky s ballet, The Rite of Spring, relates the tale of pagan human sacrifice. The barbaric story and Stravinsky s percussive, dissonant score inspired riots at the May 29, 1913 Paris premiere. After more than a century, The Rite of Spring remains one of the most thrilling showpieces in the orchestral repertoire. Claude Debussy (1862-1918) Prélude à L après-midi d un faune (1894) 10 minutes 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, crotales (antique cymbals), 2 harps, and strings. Claude Debussy s most famous orchestral work was inspired by Stéphane Mallarmé s poem, relating the tale of a faun s erotic (and unrequited) fascination with a pair of nymphs. Debussy described his Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun as a very free interpretation of Mallarmé s poem. It has no pretensions of presenting a synthesis of the poem. It is rather a series of scenes against which the desires and dreams of the Faun are seen to stir in the afternoon heat. In an October 10, 1896 letter to music critic Henri Gauthier-Villars, Debussy observed: More precisely, the work conveys the general impression of the poem it follows the ascendant movement of the poem and illustrates the scene marvelously described in the text. The close is a prolongation of the last line:
Couple adieu! Je vais voir l ombre que tu deviens. ( Farewell, couple! I go to see the shadow that you have become. ) Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra in D minor, Op. 15 (1861) 44 minutes Solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. In September of 1853, Johannes Brahms met Robert and Clara Schumann. Both Robert and Clara were immediately impressed by Brahms s extraordinary musical gifts. Schumann suggested to Brahms that he apply his talents to symphonic composition. On February 27, 1854, Schumann, plagued by hallucinations, attempted suicide. Schumann was admitted to an asylum, where he remained until his death at the age of 46, on July 29, 1856. Brahms, fearful of the inevitable comparisons with Beethoven, did not complete his First Symphony until 1876. However, shortly after Schumann s attempted suicide, Brahms endeavored to fulfill his mentor s grand expectations. In March of 1854, Brahms began to compose a large-scale sonata for two pianos. Brahms began to convert this work into a symphony, orchestrating the sonata s opening movement. However, Brahms was dissatisfied with the results. After Schumann s death, Brahms decided to adapt the first movement of his symphonic project for a piano concerto (other music from the attempted symphony later became part of the 1868 German Requiem). Brahms completed the score of his First Piano Concerto in March of 1858, although he continued to revise the work almost until the moment of its first performance. Brahms was the soloist, and Joseph Joachim the conductor, in the January 22, 1859 Hanover premiere. Both the audience and critics demonstrated little enthusiasm for the new work. Brahms later revised the Concerto, and the score was published in 1861. The composer received his vindication four years later, when he played the Concerto at a triumphant Mannheim concert. Since that time, the eminence of this challenging, magnificent Concerto has remained secure. The Concerto is in three movements. The first (Maestoso), by far the longest of the three, opens with a purely orchestral introduction. The stormy initial principal theme reflects, according to Joachim, Brahms s despair upon learning of Schumann s attempted suicide. The soloist enters, quietly at first, but soon reprises the storm with which the Concerto began. The slow second movement (Adagio) is in A B A form. The soloist immediately presents the vigorous principal theme of the Rondo (Allegro non troppo) finale. All of the contrasting sections are ingeniously derived from that main theme. The closing pages feature two fully transcribed cadenzas. A solo horn heralds the thrilling conclusion of the Brahms D-minor Piano Concerto. Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) Le sacre du printemps (1913, rev. 1947) 33 minutes
2 piccolos, 3 flutes, alto flute, 4 oboes, 2 English horns, 3 clarinets, E-flat clarinet, 2 bass clarinets, 4 bassoons, 2 contrabassoons, 8 horns, 2 Wagner tubas, piccolo trumpet, 4 trumpets, bass trumpet, 4 trombones, 2 tubas, timpani (2 players), antique cymbals (in A-flat and B-flat), bass drum, cymbals, güiro, tam-tam, tambourine, triangle, and strings. The Rite of Spring, one of the landmarks of 20 th -century music, was the final work in a trilogy along with The Firebird (1910) and Pétrouchka (1911) that Igor Stravinsky composed for Sergei Diaghilev s Ballets Russes. It was during completion of The Firebird that Stravinsky received his inspiration for The Rite of Spring: I had a fleeting vision which came to me as a complete surprise, my mind at the moment being full of other things. I saw in imagination a solemn pagan rite: sage elders, seated in a circle, watched a young girl dance herself to death. They were sacrificing her to propitiate the god of spring. The dress rehearsal for The Rite of Spring took place without incident. The May 29, 1913 premiere at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées was quite another story. Members of the audience began jeering during the first bars of the prelude. Matters only worsened when the curtain rose on, according to Stravinsky, knock-kneed and long-braided Lolitas jumping up and down. Others present during one of the most infamous events in music history attested to actual physical altercations between audience members. Throughout the performance, conductor Pierre Monteux (according to Stravinsky) stood there apparently impervious and nerveless as a crocodile. It is still almost incredible to me that he actually brought the orchestra to the end. Stravinsky received his vindication when, on April 5, 1914, Monteux led a Paris concert performance of The Rite of Spring: The hall was crowded. The audience, with no scenery to distract them, listened with concentrated attention and applauded with an enthusiasm I had been far from expecting and which greatly moved me. Certain critics who had censured the Sacre the year before now openly admitted their mistake. This conquest of the public naturally gave me intense and lasting satisfaction. Part I The Adoration of the Earth Introduction. Lento, tempo rubato The Augurs of Spring, Dances of the Young Girls. Tempo giusto Ritual of Abduction. Presto Spring Rounds. Tranquillo; Sostenuto e pesante; Vivo; Tranquillo Ritual of the Rival Tribes. Molto allegro Procession of the Sage The Sage. Lento Dance of the Earth. Prestissimo Part II The Sacrifice
Introduction. Largo Mystic Circles of the Young Girls. Andante con moto Glorification of the Chosen One. Vivo Evocation of the Ancestors. L istesso movimento Ritual Action of the Ancestors Sacrificial Dance (The Chosen One)