Download Peabody syMPhony orchesTra - Peabody Institute

Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Series
Peabody Symphony Orchestra
H a j i m e T e r i Mur ai, Mus i c Dir e c to r
Guest Artist
Zuill Bailey, cello
S at u r day, O c t o b e r 2 5, 2 0 1 4
M i r i a m A . F r i e d b e r g Co n c e r t H a l l
8: 0 0 p. m .
And night by the streams of the city
John Belkot
(b. 1981)
Winning work in the Macht Orchestral Composition Competition
Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
Allegro
Adagio ma non troppo
Allegro moderato
Antonín Dvořák
(1841-1904)
Zuill Bailey, cello, guest artist
(BM, Cello, 1994)
Intermission
Presentation of the Johns Hopkins University
Distinguished Alumni Award
to
Zuill Bailey
by
Fred Bronstein, Dean, Peabody Institute
Matthew Rupcich, President, Society of Peabody Alumni
David Yaffe, Vice President, Johns Hopkins Alumni Association
Mathis der Maler (Symphony)
Angelic Concert
Entombment
The Temptation of Saint Anthony
Paul Hindemith
(1895-1963)
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The use of cameras and sound recorders during performances is strictly prohibited.
Notice: For your own safety, LOOK for your nearest EXIT.
In case of emergency, WALK, do not RUN to that EXIT. By order of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore.
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Program Notes
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 104
Antonín Dvořák
And night by the streams of the city
Born September 8, 1841, in Nelahozeves, Bohemia
Died May 1, 1904, in Prague, Czech Republic
John Belkot
The gestation period for And night lasted many months - a long period
of time for a piece just over six minutes in length. I had been battling the
notion of setting a poem by Matt Reeck for soprano and orchestra, but,
as the material developed and I continued to process the text, certain
truths began to reveal themselves. For composers, there’s a tendency to
observe the sanctity of text verbatim. However, once text is lifted from
the page it becomes a new art form. An oration or setting in song can
never recreate the truths of viewing the same text in print. This sets up
a rather post-modern paradox: to be authentic to the deeper meaning
of written text, one needs to consider stripping away the filigree to allow
the core to shine.
In a conversation with Matt (the poet), I learned that he shared similar
views. In singing, words and time are augmented; therefore, too often
more emphasis is placed on articles or non-structural words only utilized
for the greater prosody or schema. It became clear to me that the
emotional core of Matt’s poem was better achieved purely in sound.
When And night was selected by the BSO for a composer reading, Marin
Alsop said to the orchestra, “This piece is all about G; so if you have a
G, bring it out.” There I was: my first time with a major orchestra talking
about love, and cities, and grit, and loss - stripping away words into
sounds… and in all of the maestra’s wisdom, she had reduced my “repoem” down to a new “core.”
In this piece the non-essential has been removed. The story begins with
the fanfare of night, and the only pitch used for minutes is G. Large
silences carry time forward rather than a myriad of notes blazing past
the listener, which typically get lost in the wash. The trumpet continues
to sound G throughout the piece as it descends into the stillness of
night, desperately at times, attempting to hold on to known comforts.
Eventually, the G pulls higher and higher, gasping to be heard over the
streams of anonymity.
-John Belkot
a city down the hills
amidst love the streams
broken through cities by love
we had taken the leaving
the streams
long the city used
but was through the hills the love
you had not put the stream
amidst the true night
her city put down our hills
& they took
having could they
quickly the love took
streams had had the nights
love streams the red night
being soft
her love down the night
by night the late city took the hills
through the long love
& night by the streams of the city
- Matt Reeck
Dvořák completed this work on June 11, 1895. It was premiered
on March 19, 1896, in London with cellist Leo Stein as soloist and
the composer conducting. It is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two
oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, three horns, two trumpets,
three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, and strings.
Antonín Dvořák spent three years in the United States between
1892 and 1895. Invited by the president of the National
Conservatory of Music in America, located in New York City,
Dvořák could not refuse the offer of becoming its director. His
annual compensation of $15,000 was very impressive for the time,
representing twenty-five times the salary he had received at the
Prague Conservatory. In today’s currency, his salary represents
nearly $400,000. During Dvořák’s American period, he conducted
many concerts and composed several works. His first summer was
spent in the idyllic Czech village of Spillville, Iowa.
Dvořák’s last American work was his thoroughly Czech-flavored
Cello Concerto. However, its inspiration was thoroughly American.
The motivation came from Victor Herbert, later known as the
composer of delightful operettas (Naughty Marietta and Babes in
Toyland are the most popular of his more than fifty stage works),
who performed his own Second Cello Concerto in 1894 to an
audience that included Dvořák. The Czech composer, having been
pressed for years by his countryman Hanuš Wihan to compose a
cello concerto, was duly impressed and decided to begin composing
a new work. The result is more Czech than American, probably due
to the homesickness he felt while vacationing in Spillville.
Dvořák’s first movement begins quietly with a woodwind passage.
From this gentle whisper, the texture builds to a towering climax.
Before the cellist enters, both of the main themes are introduced
by the orchestra alone, as is the custom in traditional concertos.
The soloist is finally heard with an ornamented version of the first
theme, proceeding to a more straightforward reading of the second
melody. One of the most interesting aspects of the first movement
is the reversal of the two main themes when they return after the
development section.
Marked Adagio non troppo, the second movement shows the
Bohemian side of Dvořák’s work. First played by the clarinet, the
first theme bears the hallmarks of Czech folk music. The second
theme is derived from the composer’s own art song, “Let me
wander alone in my dreams,” which was a favorite of his sister-inlaw (and first love), Josefine Kauric. He decided to quote this work
when he received word that she was ill. His treatment of the theme
is almost that of a conversation between woodwind soloists and the
cellist. The first theme returns, this time with a flute obbligato.
Matt Reeck is a writer living in Los Angeles. He has won a Fulbright
Fellowship for creative writing to India, as well as NEA and PEN
Translation Grants. As an undergraduate, he studied oboe with Alex
Klein at the University of Washington. After receiving his MFA in Poetry
from Brooklyn College, he founded the experimental poetry and art
journal Staging Ground. Other successful collaborations include those
with visual artists, dramatists, puppeteers, and photographers.
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The finale is a fiery rondo built upon martial rhythms. Near the
center of the movement, the tempo relaxes and a series of musical
reminiscences begins. One account, probably accurate, claims that
the return of Josefine’s theme, near the end of the sequence, was
added after Dvořák’s eventual return to Prague, where he found
that she had died. Regardless of the inspiration, the effect is one of
exquisite beauty, occurring just before the final restatement of the
march theme.
©2014 Orpheus Music Prose & Craig Doolin
www.orpheusnotes.com
Hajime Teri Murai
music director, conductor
Symphony: Mathis der Maler
Paul Hindemith
Born November 16, 1895 in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Germany
Died December 28, 1963 in Frankfurt, Germany
This work was premiered on March 12, 1934, by the Berlin Philharmonic
conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler. It is scored for piccolo, pairs of
woodwinds, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani,
percussion, and strings.
German composers in World War II walked a fine line between
acceptance and blacklisting. Hitler’s Nazi regime, in its quest for
German racial purity, found fault with many innocent composers just
because of their associations with those of Jewish descent. In a 1938
exhibition in Düsseldorf entitled Entartete Musik (Degenerate Music),
the Nazi party accused Paul Hindemith of consorting with Jewish artists.
Hindemith and his Jewish wife fled Germany four months later, settling for
a short time in Switzerland before continuing to the United States in 1940.
While in Switzerland, Hindemith enjoyed the premiere of his opera
Mathis der Maler. However, the process that led to this important
work began six years earlier in Germany. Hindemith had been known
as an iconoclast in the 1920s, but as he approached forty his approach
began to soften. He developed an affinity for Baroque contrapuntal
techniques, which began to infuse his music. His operas turned from
subjects of murder and jealousy to social commentary and aesthetic
philosophy. As early as 1932, Hindemith received a request from his
publisher to look closely at the life of the Renaissance painter Matthias
Grunewald. The two shared remarkable artistic similarities, making
Hindemith’s subsequent opera loosely autobiographical. Grunewald
became involved in the sixteenth-century Peasant Revolt against
the feudal system of serfdom in Germany, while Hindemith was a
leader in the musical avant-garde four centuries later. Both men,
after their struggles, realized the importance of the human condition.
Interestingly, Grunewald’s path returned him to the Church, but
Hindemith’s final chapter would not be written until after the premiere
of Mathis der Maler. He fled the Nazi regime only to return to Germany
after the war. He had to rebuild his faith in his homeland.
Before the premiere of Mathis der Maler, the great German conductor
Wilhelm Furtwängler, feeling that the work-in-progress could benefit
from advance promotion, convinced the composer to assemble a
symphony from themes found in the opera. Therefore, the title Mathis
der Maler refers to two separate works in Hindemith’s vast catalogue
– a 1938 opera and a 1934 symphony. The opera is organized around
three instrumental segments, which are found at key moments during
the work to reinforce the drama. These represent the famous altarpiece
at the monastery of Isenheim, which bears three of Grunewald’s most
famous paintings – “Engelkonzert” (Angelic Concert), “Grablegung”
(Entombment), and “Versuchung des heiligen Antonius” (The Temptation
of Saint Anthony). Hindemith chose these segments from which to
derive the music for his symphony, retaining their titles.
“Angelic Concert” depicts a flight of angels performing for the Madonna
and Child. Hindemith provides an amazingly detailed depiction of this
scene by using ethereal string textures that he builds to grand climaxes.
For those interested in even deeper symbolism, it warrants mention that
the composer’s choice of keys for the earthly and heavenly elements
is separated by the interval of the tritone (exactly half of an octave) –
known during the Middle Ages as diabolus in musica (the devil in music).
Grunewald’s estrangement from religion is depicted in music as well as
on stage.
“Entombment” is based on Grunewald’s representation of Christ
being laid to rest. In the opera, this music accompanies the painter’s
preparation for his own death.
“The Temptation of St. Anthony” is a depiction of the demonic scene
of the Isenheim altarpiece. In the opera, this is a dream through which
dissonances arise but are conquered by a sacred chorale that rises in a
blaze of pious exultation.
©2014 Orpheus Music Prose & Craig Doolin
www.orpheusnotes.com
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Hajime Teri Murai was
appointed in 1991 as the Ruth
Blaustein Rosenberg Director
of Orchestral Activities and
serves as the Music Director
of the Peabody Symphony
and Concert Orchestras.
This endowed position was
established in the summer of
1990 as a result of a significant
leadership gift to the Peabody
Endowment Fund from the Blaustein-Rosenberg-Thalheimer
Family Group in memory of Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg.
Mr. Murai has made guest conducting appearances with
the Baltimore Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit
Symphony, Florida Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Fort Wayne
Philharmonic, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Indiana Chamber
Orchestra, the Diablo Music Festival, and the Summer Opera
Theatre Company of Washington, D.C. He served on the
faculty of the College-Conservatory of Music at the University
of Cincinnati from 1976-1991 and was Music Director and
Conductor of the Cincinnati Youth Orchestra from 1979-1991.
Mr. Murai has been awarded eleven ASCAP Awards for the
Adventuresome Programming of Contemporary Music,
including six awards with the Peabody Symphony and Concert
Orchestras. In addition to premiering many new works,
Mr. Murai gave the first performance in English of Dmitri
Shostakovich’s Symphony No.13, “Babi Yar” (translation by
Dr. Robert Evans). In 1987, he was a semi-finalist in the
Leopold Stokowski Conducting Competition.
Mr. Murai was born in San Francisco and began his conducting
studies while attending Lowell High School. He received his BA
and MA degrees from the University of California, Santa Barbara,
where he studied with Ronald Ondrejka. He attended the
California Institute of the Arts to study with Gerhard Samuel and
has also worked with Richard Lert.
zuill bailey, cello
Zuill Bailey is a distinguished
American classical cellist, soloist,
chamber musician, recitalist, Artistic
Director, and teacher. His rare
combination of celebrated artistry,
technical wizardry, and engaging
personality has secured his place as
one of the most sought after and
active cellists today.
A consummate concerto soloist, Mr. Bailey has been featured
with the symphony orchestras of Los Angeles, Chicago, San
Francisco, Detroit, Indianapolis, Dallas, Louisville, Honolulu,
Milwaukee, Nashville, Toronto, Minnesota, Utah, Israel, Cape
Town, and the Bruckner Orchestra in Linz, Austria. He has
collaborated with such conductors as Itzhak Perlman, Alan
Gilbert, Andrew Litton, James DePriest, Jun Markl, Carlos
Kalmar, Jacques Lacombe, Grant Llewellyn, and Stanislav
Skrowaczewski. He also has been featured with musical
luminaries Leon Fleisher, Jaime Laredo, the Juilliard String
Quartet, Lynn Harrell, and Janos Starker.
Mr. Bailey has appeared at Disney Hall, the Kennedy Center, the
United Nations, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd St. Y, and Carnegie Hall,
where he made his concerto debut performing the U.S. premiere of
Miklos Theodorakis’ Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra. In addition,
he made his New York recital debut in a sold-out performance of the
complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art. Bailey also presented the U.S. premiere of the Nico Muhly Cello
Concerto (2012) with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
His international appearances include notable performances with the
Moscow Chamber Orchestra in its 50th anniversary tour of Russia as
well as concerts in Australia, the Dominican Republic, France, Israel,
Spain, South Africa, Hong Kong, Jordan, Mexico, South America,
and the United Kingdom. Festival appearances include Ravinia, the
Interlochen Center for the Arts, Manchester Cello Festival (UK),
Wimbledon (UK), Consonances- St. Nazaire ( France), Australian
Festival of Chamber Music, Deia Music Festival- Mallorca (Spain),
Montreal (Canada), Santa Fe, Caramoor, Chautauqua, Bravo!, Vail
Valley, Maverick Concert Series, Brevard, and the Music Academy
of the West. In addition, he was the featured soloist performing the
Elgar cello concerto at the Bard Festival in the World Premiere of the
Doug Varone Dance Company performance of Victorious.
Zuill Bailey is an exclusive recording artist on Telarc International.
His celebrated Bach Cello Suites and recently released Britten Cello
Symphony/Sonata CDs immediately soared to the number one spot
on the Classical Billboard Charts. Other critically acclaimed recordings
on Telarc include his live performances with the Indianapolis
Symphony of the Elgar and Dvořák Cello Concertos, described by
Gramophone magazine as one that “sweeps the board.” Additional
Telarc releases include Brahms complete works for cello and piano
with pianist Awadagin Pratt and Russian Masterpieces showcasing
the works of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich performed with the
San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. Mr. Bailey is featured on Concord
Music’s chart topping Quincy Jones-produced Diversity with pianist/
composer Emily Bear. Other releases include his innovative Spanish
Masters CD for Zenph Studios, where he forms a unique duo blending
with recordings of composer Manuel de Falla and an all-American
recital program with pianist Lara Downes on the Steinway and Sons
label. His discography also includes a debut recital disc for Delos,
Cello Quintets of Boccherini and Schubert with Janos Starker, SaintSaen’s Cello Concertos No. 1 and 2 “Live,” and the Korngold cello
concerto with Kaspar Richter and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz for ASV.
Zuill Bailey was named a 2014 Johns Hopkins University Distinguished
Alumnus and was awarded the Classical Recording Foundation Award
for 2006 and 2007 for Beethoven’s complete works for cello and
piano. The highly touted two-disc set with pianist Simone Dinnerstein
was released on Telarc worldwide. In celebration of his recordings
and appearances, Kalmus Music Masters has released Zuill Bailey
Performance Editions, which encompass the core repertoire of
cello literature.
Network television appearances include a recurring role on the HBO
series Oz, NBC’s Homicide, A&E, NHK TV in Japan, a live broadcast
and DVD release of the Beethoven Triple Concerto performed in Tel
Aviv with Itzhak Perlman conducting the Israel Philharmonic, and a
performance with the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico City.
Mr. Bailey is also featured in the televised production of the Cuban
premiere of Victor Herbert’s
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Cello Concerto No. 2 with the National Orchestra of Cuba. He
has been heard on NPR’s Morning Edition, Tiny Desk Concert,
Performance Today, Saint Paul Sunday, BBC’s In Tune, XM Radio’s
Live from Studio II, Sirius Satellite Radio’s Virtuoso Voices, the
KDFC Concert Series, KUSC, Minnesota Public Radio, WFMT and
RTHK Radio Hong Kong.
Mr. Bailey received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from
the Peabody Conservatory and the Juilliard School. His primary
teachers include Loran Stephenson, Stephen Kates, and Joel
Krosnick. Mr. Bailey performs on a 1693 Matteo Gofriller Cello,
formerly owned by Mischa Schneider of the Budapest String
Quartet. In addition to his extensive touring engagements, he
is the Artistic Director of El Paso Pro-Musica (Texas), the Sitka
Summer Music Festival and Series (Alaska), the Northwest Bach
Festival (Washington), guest Artistic Director of the Mesa Arts
Center (Arizona) and Professor of Cello at the University of Texas
at El Paso. For more information please visit www.zuillbailey.com
john belkot, composer
John Belkot’s “juxtapositions
of timbre, time and space carry
listeners into aesthetic regions at
the intersection of preconceived
boundaries of musical expectation
to find unexpected moments
of beauty,” (Classical Guitar
Magazine). The composer, whose
aesthetic is often poly-stylistic,
ultimately weaves cohesive threads balancing sound and silence
equally. By augmenting the music with negative space, Belkot
creates a unique sense of structure and narrative in his works.
Over the past several years, Belkot has enjoyed continued
commissions and performances of his music throughout the
United States. His works have been featured at the College Music
Society’s 54th National Conference, The LIVEWIRE Festival, the
Havertown New Music and Art Series, the David Oppenheim
Concert Series at the Stella Adler Studio, and the National Gallery
of Art. In addition to tonight’s performance as the recipient of
the 2014 Macht Prize for Orchestral Composition, Belkot has
been recognized with awards from the Baltimore Classical Guitar
Society, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (Marin Alsop), the
Baltimore Choral Arts Society (Tom Hall), and Pi Kappa Lambda
Honor Society. Belkot’s compositions have been championed
by the harp/sax duo Pictures on Silence, SONAR New Music
Ensemble, Charm City Collegium, and Canticum Novum.
Belkot has served as Composer-in-Residence for the Johns
Hopkins University and treasurer for the Baltimore Composers
Forum. He is a member of the music theory faculty at the
Peabody Preparatory, affiliate faculty at Loyola University of
Maryland, and is the Director of Music at Mt. Calvary Church.
Belkot holds degrees from Susquehanna University and
the Peabody Conservatory, where he was the recipient of
the Randolph S. Rothschild and the Eugene Scheffres & Richard
E. Hartt Scholarships, and served as the Composition Graduate
Assistant. He lives in Charles Village with his wife, Adri and their
two dogs.
www.johnbelkot.com