Download Notes Atlanta SO - Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Concerts of Thursday, October 13, and Saturday, October 15, 2016, at 8:00p.
Hugh Wolff, Conductor
Denis Kozhukhin, piano
John Adams (b. 1947)
Lollapalooza (1995)
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in F Major (1925) (ed. F. Campbell-Watson)
I. Allegro
II. Adagio; Andante con moto
III. Allegro agitato
Denis Kozhukhin, piano
Intermission
Aaron Copland
Symphony No. 3 (1946)
I. Molto moderato—with simple expression
II. Allegro molto
III. Andantino quasi allegretto
IV. Molto deliberato—Allegro risoluto
Notes on the Program by Ken Meltzer
Lollapalooza (1995)
John Adams was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on February 15, 1947. The
first performance of Lollapalooza took place in Birmingham, England, on November
10, 1995, with Simon Rattle conducting the City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra. Lollapalooza is scored piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two
clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets,
two tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, xylophone, three large rototoms, suspended cymbal, small tam-tam, snare drum (for rim shot only), pedal bass
drum maracas, tambourine, claves, woodblock, bongo, snare drum, low floor tom,
vibraphone, large bass drum, piano, and strings. Approximate performance time is
six minutes.
These are the first Classical Subscription Performances.
Lollapalooza was written as a fortieth birthday present for Simon Rattle
who was been a friend and collaborator for many years. The term
“lollapalooza” has an uncertain etymology, and just that vagueness may
account for its popularity as an archetypical American word. It suggests
something large, outlandish, oversized, not unduly refined. H.L. Mencken
suggests it may have originally meant a knockout punch in a boxing match.
I was attracted to it because of its internal rhythm: da-da-da-DAAH-da.
Hence, in my piece, the word is spelled out in the trombones and tubas, CC-C-Eb-C (emphasis on the Eb) as a kind of ideé fixe. The “lollapalooza”
motive is only one of a profusion of other motives, all appearing and
evolving in a repetitive chain of events that moves this dancing behemoth
along until it ends in a final shout by the horns and trombones and a
terminal thwack on timpani and bass drum.
—John Adams
http://www.earbox.com/lollapalooza/
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in F Major (1925) (ed. F. Campbell-Watson)
George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 26, 1898, and
died in Hollywood, California, on July 11, 1937. The first performance of the Piano
Concerto in F took place at Carnegie Hall in New York on December 3, 1925, with
the composer as soloist and Walter Damrosch conducting the New York Symphony
Orchestra. In addition to the solo piano, the Concerto in F is scored for piccolo, two
flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four
horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, gong,
orchestra bells, snare drum, wood block, slapstick, suspended cymbal, xylophone,
and strings. Approximate performance time is thirty-two minutes.
First Classical Subscription Performance: January 29, 1950, Oscar Levant, Piano,
Henry Sopkin, Conductor.
Most Recent Classical Subscription Performances: April 2, 3, and 4, 2009, Marcus
Roberts, Piano, Robert Spano, Conductor.
On February 12, 1924, bandleader Paul Whiteman presented a special concert at New
York's Aeolian Hall entitled “An Experiment in Modern Music.” Whiteman intended the
program as a forum to demonstrate that American jazz was legitimate concert fare that
“had come to stay and deserved recognition.” For this landmark event, Whiteman
commissioned a new “jazz concerto” by a young pianist/composer who had already
experienced great success on Broadway and Tin Pan Alley. And so it was that George
Gershwin appeared as soloist in the triumphant premiere of his Rhapsody in Blue.
Among those in attendance was Walter Damrosch, conductor of the New York
Symphony. Damrosch was thrilled with Gershwin’s new work, and he decided to
convince the New York Symphony to commission a Piano Concerto by George
Gershwin. On April 17, 1925, Gershwin signed an agreement to compose the Concerto
and to appear as its soloist. As Gershwin acknowledged: “This showed great confidence
on (the) part (of Symphony president Harry Harkness Flagler), as I had never written
anything for symphony before.” It should be noted that while Gershwin did compose his
Rhapsody in Blue, he did not orchestrate the work—that was done by Ferde Grofé.
Indeed, over the next several weeks after signing his agreement with the New York
Symphony, Gershwin immersed himself in treatises on concerto structure and
orchestration.
Gershwin began composition of the new Concerto in the summer of 1925. All told, by
Gershwin’s account, “It took me three months to compose it and one month to orchestrate
it.” Gershwin originally intended to entitle the piece New York Concerto, but ultimately
decided upon the more generic Concerto in F. The work was finally completed on
November 10, 1925. Prior to rehearsals with the New York Symphony, Gershwin hired
sixty New York musicians to participate in a private “run-through” of the work at the
Globe Theater. This resulted in some cuts in the score that served to tighten the
Concerto’s structure.
When Gershwin rehearsed the Concerto with the New York Symphony, a pipe remained
in his mouth at all times. According to a newspaper reporter in attendance, the pipe
“wandered in and out of his mouth all through the rehearsal. In particular, he used it to
point accusingly at members of the orchestra who were not solving their jazz problems
successfully.”
The premiere of Gershwin’s Concerto in F took place at New York’s Carnegie Hall on
December 3, 1925. Gershwin was the piano soloist and Damrosch the conductor of the
New York Symphony. The audience response was ecstatic, “attested (as one reporter
observed) in long and vehement applause, so that Mr. Gershwin was kept bowing for
some minutes from the stage.”
Gershwin provided the following musical analysis, which appeared in the New York
Tribune the Sunday before the premiere:
I. Allegro—The first movement employs the Charleston rhythm. It is
quick and pulsating, representing the young enthusiastic spirit of
American life. It begins with a rhythmic motif given out by the
kettledrums, supported by other percussion instruments, and with a
Charleston motif introduced by...horns, clarinets and violas (as well as
cellos and trombones). The principal theme is introduced by the bassoon.
Later, a second theme is introduced by the piano.
II. Adagio; Andante con moto—The second movement has a poetic
nocturnal atmosphere which has come to be referred to as the American
blues, but in a purer form than that in which they are usually treated.
III. Allegro agitato—The final movement reverts to the style of the first. It
is an orgy of rhythms, starting violently and keeping the same pace
throughout.
Symphony No. 3 (1946)
Aaron Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 14, 1900, and died
in North Tarrytown, New York, on December 2, 1990. The first performance of the
Symphony No. 3 took place in Symphony Hall in Boston, Massachusetts, on October
18, 1946, with Serge Koussevitsky conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The
Symphony No. 3 is scored for two piccolos, three flutes, three oboes, English horn,
E-flat clarinet, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns,
four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, xylophone, orchestra bells, slapstick,
triangle, tenor drum, ratchet, chimes, snare drum, tam-tam, tenor drum, wood
block, claves, cymbals, suspended cymbals, bass drum, anvil, two harps, piano,
celesta, and strings. Approximate performance time is forty-three minutes.
First Classical Subscription Performances: January 25, 1968, Aaron Copland,
Conductor.
Most Recent Classical Subscription Performances: May 10, 11, and 12, 2012, Robert
Spano, Conductor.
Recording: Telarc CD-80201, Yoel Levi, Conductor
Aaron Copland remains America’s foremost composer of concert music. Copland’s
masterful and heartfelt incorporation of American folklore and melodies into such works
as the ballets Billy the Kid (1940), Rodeo (1942), and Appalachian Spring (1944), the
Lincoln Portrait (1942) for speaker and orchestra, and his arrangements of Old American
Songs (1950 and 1952), have long inspired the affection and admiration of performers
and concert audiences.
Despite the immense popularity of such works (or perhaps, because of it), Aaron Copland
also sought to compose pieces that built upon the traditions of European concert music.
The Clarinet Concerto (1948), written for Benny Goodman, represents one such venture,
although the stylistic influence of American jazz is also quite prominent. Copland’s
Third Symphony, commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation, represents perhaps the
composer's most ambitious work in this traditional vein. Copland’s Third followed two
relatively brief Symphonies, completed in 1925 and 1933.
The composition of the Third Symphony took place between 1944 and 1946. Copland
finished the orchestration of the final movement on September 29, 1946, just a few weeks
before the Symphony’s premiere on October 18, with Serge Koussevitsky conducting the
Boston Symphony Orchestra. The New York Music Critics Circle selected Aaron
Copland’s Third Symphony as the best work by an American composer played during the
1946-7 season.
Aaron Copland Discusses his Third Symphony
In Copland’s program notes for the premiere of his Third Symphony, he cautioned:
One aspect of the symphony ought to be pointed out: it contains no folk or
popular material. During the late twenties it was customary to pigeonhole
me as a composer of symphonic jazz, with emphasis on the jazz. More
recently I have been catalogued as a purveyor of Americana. Any
reference to jazz or folk-material in this work was purely unconscious.
While it is true that all of the melodies are Copland’s own, the spirit of such works as
Appalachian Spring and Lincoln Portrait may be found in the Symphony’s transparent
orchestration and beautiful, arching themes.
In addition, Copland acknowledged the presence in the Third Symphony of one of the
most familiar and beloved American concert works:
I do borrow from myself by using Fanfare for the Common Man (1942) in
an extended and reshaped form in the final movement. I used this
opportunity to carry my Fanfare material further and to satisfy my desire
to give the Third Symphony an affirmative tone. After all, it was a
wartime piece—or more accurately, an end-of-war piece—intended to
reflect the euphoric spirit of the country at the time.
Copland provided the following musical analysis for the 1946 premiere of his Third
Symphony:
I. Molto moderato—with simple expression. The opening movement
which is broad and expressive in character, opens and closes in the key of
E major. (Formally it bears no relation to the sonata-allegro form with
which most symphonies usually begin.) The themes—three in number—
are plainly stated: the first is in the strings, at the very start, without
introduction; the second in related mood in violas and oboes; the third, of
a bolder nature, in the trombones and horns. The general form is that of
an arch, in which the central portion is more animated and the final section
an extended coda, presenting a broadened version of the opening material.
Both the first and third themes are referred to again in later movements of
the Symphony.
II. Allegro molto. The form of this movement stays closer to normal
symphonic procedure. It is the usual scherzo, with first part, trio and
return. A brass introduction leads to the main theme, which is stated three
times in Part I: at first in horns and violas, then in unison strings, and
finally in augmentation in the lower brass. The three statements of the
theme are separated by the usual episodes. After the climax is reached,
the trio follows without pause. Solo woodwinds sing the new trio melody
in lyrical and canonical style. The strings take it up and add a new section
of their own. The recapitulation of Part I is not literal. The principal
theme of the scherzo returns in somewhat revised form in the piano solo,
leading through previous episodic material to a full restatement in the tutti
orchestra. This is climaxed by a return to the lyrical trio theme, this time
sung in canon and in fortissimo by the entire orchestra.
III. Andantino quasi allegretto. The third movement is the freest of all in
formal structure. Although it is built up sectionally, the various sections
are intended to emerge one from another in continuous flow, somewhat in
the manner of a closely knit series of variations. The opening section,
however, plays no role other than that of introducing the main body of the
movement. High up in the unaccompanied violins is heard a rhythmically
transformed version of the third (trombone) theme of the first movement
of the Symphony. It is briefly developed in contrapuntal style, and comes
to a full close, once again in the key of E major. A new and more tonal
theme is introduced in the solo flute. This is the melody that supplies the
thematic substance for the sectional metamorphoses that follow: at first
with quiet singing nostalgia, then faster and heavier—almost dance-like;
then more childlike and naïve, and finally more vigorous and forthright.
Imperceptibly, the whole movement drifts off into the higher regions of
the strings, out of which floats the single line of the beginning, sung by a
solo violin and piccolo, accompanied this time by harps and celesta. The
third movement calls for no brass, with the exception of a single horn and
trumpet.
IV. Molto deliberato—Allegro risoluto. The final movement follows
without pause. It is the longest of the symphony, and closest in structure
to the customary sonata-allegro form. The opening fanfare is based on
“Fanfare for the Common Man” which I composed in 1942, at the
invitation of Eugene Goossens for a series of wartime fanfares introduced
under his direction by the Cincinnati Symphony. In the present version it
is first played pianissimo by flutes and clarinets, and then suddenly given
out by brass and percussion. The fanfare serves as an introduction to the
main body of the movement which follows. The components of the usual
form are there: a first theme in animated 16th-note motion; a second
theme—broader and more song-like in character; a full-blown
development and a refashioned return to the earlier material of the
movement, leading to a peroration. One curious feature of the symphony
consists in the fact that the second theme is to be found embedded in the
development section instead of being in its customary place. The
development as such concerns itself with the fanfare and first theme
fragments. A shrill tutti chord, with flutter-tongued brass and piccolos,
brings the development to a close. What follows is not a recapitulation in
the ordinary sense. Instead a delicate interweaving of the first theme in
the higher solo woodwinds is combined with a quiet version of the fanfare
in the two bassoons. Combined with this, the opening theme of the first
movement of the symphony is quoted, first in the violins and later in the
solo trombone. Near the end a full-voice chanting of the song-like theme
is heard in horns and trombones. The symphony concludes on a massive
restatement of the opening phrase with which the entire work began.