Program Notes

“Egmont” Overture
Ludwig Van Beehthoven 1770-1827

Straddling an immense cultural, economic, and political transition in the western world, Beethoven had a revolutionary impact on shaping and changing the direction of the orchestral music that followed him.

While Beethoven was dramatically influenced by his Classical training (Hayden was one of his teachers), he was not constrained by it. His genius would ultimately make the changes that lead to the Romantic period and its dominance of style into the early 20th century. Beethoven would become the giant that not only ushered in a new age of music, but his shadow would loom over the truly great composers that followed and we hear echoes of Beethoven in all the concert halls of the world today.

Beethoven first broke into the Viennese musical world as a gifted piano player known for his ability to improvise. After success in mastering the old classical forms, a new, intense, and bold Beethoven emerged from 1804 to 1814. This productive period saw the creation of his 5th, 6th, 7th Symphonies and the “Emperor” Piano Concerto.

Tonight’s inclusion of the short Egmont Overture comes from this highly productive period. The towering figure of German literature and philosophy, Johann Goethe, wrote a play centered around the struggles of a Dutch nobleman against Spanish oppression in the 16th century. This would have been an emotionally charged topic in this age of “Democratic Revolutions”. The success of the American Revolution (1776) in Beethoven's early childhood and the ideals of the disastrous French revolution (1789) served as inspirations for the struggles against oppression. Beethoven wrote a musical overture for Egmont and it served as a great vehicle for his Heroic style-drama, angst, and heroism.

A resounding cord signals the audience the evening is about to begin. This is followed by a heroic and stately theme in the strings, followed by a more thoughtful quiet passage in the woodwinds, then the stately theme returns, more noble than its first statement. Another woodwind statement leads to a new theme development that quickly evolves to a dramatic new mood and then builds to an intense climax. A new dance-like motif is introduced with exciting movement. Another woodwind transition moves the listener back to a dramatic mood. From there, Beethoven presents a variation and restatement of earlier materials. Another quiet woodwind transition sets up for the heroic conclusion. Long live Liberty!

Firebird Suite
Igor Stravinsky 1882-1971

Igor Stravinsky, born in 1882 at Oranienbaum (Lomonosov) Russia, grew up during the tumultuous transition when Russia moved from feudalism to the even more oppressive Bolshevik takeover in 1917. Like his contemporary, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky would have to leave his homeland to survive musically. Both would eventually end up in the United States, following very different professional and compositional routes. Stravinsky passed away in New York City in 1971.

Stravinsky was born into a musical family, the son of an opera singer. Like all aspiring intelligentsia, he was drawn to St. Petersburg, where he started law school. Later, his musical interest drew him to study under the remarkable Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, whose use of exotic orchestration influenced some of Stravinsky’s earliest works. This training started in the early 1900’s when the classical musical world was having a bit of an identity crisis. The Romantic Era, springing from Beethoven and others a century earlier, was being challenged by young composers exploring “new” approaches to orchestration and composition. While Rachmaninoff, Strauss, and Mahler were still adding to the Romantic corpus, Debussy, Ravel, and others were off exploring the “new”, or sometimes, just “different”. Stravinsky was drawn to this approach his entire career, and changed so much over his compositional life, it is hard to relate early Stravinsky to 12-tone Stravinsky in his later years.

Scoring ballet, with its fantastical stories and opportunities for tonal colors, drew Stravinsky in his early years. Sergei Diaghilev, the famous Russian ballet dancer, choreographer, and entrepreneur, commissioned Stravinsky to write the music for his early productions for Ballet Russes (which was ironically based in Paris, not Russia). The Firebird ballet was the first of these (1909-10). They continued to collaborate on Petrushka in 1911 and the 1913 Rite of Spring which led to a real live riot - Diaghilev’s wild choreography was the cause, not Stravinsky’s equally cutting-edge score.

Luckily, no riots tonight. We are presenting the Firebird Suite (1919). The suite is a re-arrangement of the ballet music to be presented as a set of orchestral stand-alones. The ballet was Stravinsky’s first major composition and instantly put him on the world stage as an up and coming innovator.

1919 was a world turned upside down. The War to End All Wars had destroyed the old Europe, including the male populations of the belligerents. Stravinsky’s mother Russia had fallen into the idealistic darkness that would lead to Stalin, and Paris was trying to regain its sense of Pre-war Glory. The desire to escape what the world had become created the perfect audience for the fantastical folk tale of the Russian Firebird.

The Firebird Suite is a musical story as Prince Ivan enters into an enchanted garden belonging to the evil sorcerer Kashchei the Immortal. There, he captures the magical Firebird, who pleads for freedom and gives him a magical feather in exchange. Ivan falls in love with a princess, battles Kashchei, and—spoiler alert—uses the Firebird’s power to defeat the sorcerer and free all the captives. This isn’t just fantasy—Stravinsky’s music, with its color and mood, makes us feel the fear, the wonder, the magic, and the triumph. The theme is triumph and liberty!

1. Introduction- Prince Ivan enters the garden of the evil sorcerer, Kashchei, searching for the magical tool to free his princess. This Is a mysterious and ethereal atmosphere, spiced with a feeling of possible danger. Listen for low strings and bassoons creating an eerie atmosphere that is characteristic of early Stravinsky.

2. Firebird and its Dance- As Prince Ivan searches and finds the magical Firebird, its reaction is wild musically, energetic and unpredictable. See if you can hear the flapping of magical wings! Prince Ivan captures the Firebird, and the magical creature gives up one of its feathers, allowing the Prince to summon it when in need.

3. The Princesses’ Round Dance- In contrast to the wildness of the Firebird, the Princesses’ dance is a more subdued and lyrical movement, featuring a Russian folk song, portraying the princesses' dance. There are 13 Princesses held captive and all their would-be rescuers had been turned to stone. Rather than the chaos of flapping wings to escape, we can sense a longing for love and freedom in this quiet dance.

4. Infernal Dance of King Kashchei- Prince Ivan, captured by the evil monsters, is at the point of being turned to stone himself when he remembers the Firebird feather. In a twist of irony, the Firebird is summoned, and in turn, forces the monsters to dance. The evil magician, Kaschei, doesn’t dance the formal of the Princesses’. His frenetic energy is driven from another world, and he and his monsters move with an energy, erratic and chaotic, with the Firebird intending them to dance until they collapse in exhaustion.

5. Berceuse (Lullaby)- Here, quietness also has power. The Firebird’s magical power, in the form of a bassoon solo, lulls Kasachei and his minions into an even deeper sleep. The chaos he creates gives way to a quiet opportunity for Prince Ivan’s victory. The Firebird, before disappearing, reveals the secret to Kasachei’s destruction.

6. Finale- Victory for Prince Ivan is at hand. Using the knowledge gained from the Firebird, Kasachei is destroyed, all the Princesses freed and all the knights he had turned to stone were restored. A glorious theme, based on a Russian folktune, unfolds slowly and then builds to its triumphant climax to help us visualize this final victory.

Piano Concerto No. 2
Sergei Rachmaninoff 1873-1943

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff was born in April of 1873 in Semyonovo, Russia. His parents probably had no idea their little baby boy would grow up to be one of the most world-renowned pianists and concert composers of the 20th Century! Rachmaninoff is considered the last of the great Romantic composers and his style has been echoed in the concert halls and the movie soundtracks ever since.

Born into a once-wealthy Russian family, Rachmaninoff showed musical talent early on. By the time he was just 19, he had already composed a piano concerto and several other works. He attended the Moscow Conservatory when he turned 12 years old and graduated in 1892 with high honors, both in piano performance and composition.

But his life wasn’t always smooth sailing. His First Symphony, performed in 1897, was a total disaster—it was poorly rehearsed and mocked by critics. Rachmaninoff sank into a deep depression and stopped composing for years.

With the help of a therapist and sheer determination, he returned to composing. His Piano Concerto No. 2 (1901), tonight’s featured work, was written after his recovery, and has become one of the most beloved piano pieces ever written. It's full of emotion—hope, sadness, triumph, and resounding a response to his earlier challenges.

When the Russian Revolution erupted in 1917, Rachmaninoff and his family, like the younger Stravinsky had already fled the country. Whereas Stravinsky spent a considerable amount of his early professional life in Paris, Rachmaninoff had moved to the United States by 1918, where he focused more on performing and conducting than composing. Though he longed for his homeland, he continued to inspire audiences around the world with his expressive playing and deep, dramatic sound.

After a long and impactful career as performer, composer, and conductor, Rachmaninoff died at his home in Beverly Hills in March of 1943. The Romantic style did not die with Rachmaninoff, but migrated. While Rachmaninoff was inspired by Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Liszt, he in turn inspired the styles of movie composers Max Steiner, Bernard Hermann, James Horner and John Williams. ‘A variation from his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini was the main love theme from 1980’s "Somewhere in Time”.

Rachmaninoff’s style is characterized by colorful chord progressions that swell and ebb with emotional energy with wonderful, lyrical melodies suspended above. Lush orchestration just adds a sense of richness to his sound. While many composers of the “new” school thought they were so much more “advanced” than Rachmaninoff’s old-fashioned Romanticism, it is he that dominates our contemporary concert halls while they are footnotes in college music history texts.

I: Moderato (C minor)- The opening is a series of chords in the right hand, echoed in the left, giving us a sense of movement and anticipation. This quickly moves into the opening arpeggiated accompaniment that drives the music forward with the orchestra introducing the lyrical and melancholic first theme above the piano’s energy. Musicians explore this idea, handing it back to the soloist for further development. The mood flirts with heroic, and then returns to melodic motifs. Swelling with emotional energy, the piano and orchestra pass growing ideas back and forth. Growing intensity takes to a new, stately theme in the piano. We return to the mood of the opening section as various ideas are explored, developed, presented to us. Rich, flowing, with contemplative type of energy. A virtuosic outburst from the soloist leads to a quick and satisfying conclusion.

II: Adagio sostenuto (E major)- This movement, after a shaped chord progression in the orchestra, presents the soloist in a simple setting, arpeggios with flute solo above that is more intimate than the opening movement. A quiet conversation filled with longing. The beauty of the melodic material is what captivates the contemplative. The development of this musical interplay is foreign to the consumers of today’s shallow overstimulation and makes us crave the peace of thought and beauty. Even a more energetic passage never leaves the simplicity behind. What follows in an improvised exploration from the soloist that, if anything, is even more personal. This evolves back into the feel of the opening, returning full circle to the quietness of the beginning.

III: Allegro scherzando- A hundred years before this piece, Beethoven introduced the lively, dance-like Scherzo in his symphonies. Rachmaninoff remains true to this change. Though, in this case, the scherzando is the final movement with contrasting sections. Not bombastic, but there is a real change from the previous movement as the orchestra sets up the soloist to present a lively and virtuosic melody. Again, the orchestra plays with the soloist rather than accompanies, and they move into the second theme, which is one of the most memorable in all classical music. “Rachmaninoff richness” is the only way to describe what happens as the piece progresses. Energy returns, along with drama, as variations are investigated, but always staying within a delightful “whole”. A final statement of the second theme in its simplicity followed by quiet anticipation. Slowly, rhythmic and melodic energy builds in the orchestra, which is then handed over to the soloist. This then grows into a final, full statement of the theme in rich orchestration that is satisfying to ear and heart. A final flourish in the piano takes us to the triumphant final cords!