The Music Department Presents
Skidmore College Orchestra
Conducted by Glen Cortese
Saturday, March 4th, 7:00PM
Arthur Zankel Music Center
Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall
PROGRAM
Double Bass Concerto in F-sharp minor,
Op 3.
1. Allegro
2. Andante
3. Allegro Serge Koussevitzky
(1874-1951)
Noanddi Manigat ‘26, bassist
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
1. Allegro molto moderato Pyotr Tchaikovsky
(1840-1893)
Marlowe Jacques ‘26, violinist
Intermission
Piano Concerto, Op. 16
1. Allegro molto moderato Edvard Grieg
(1843-1907)
Daniel Huh ’26, pianist
Suite from “The Firebird” (1919)
1. Introduction, the Firebird and Its Dance
2. Princesses Round Dance (Khorovod)
3. Infernal Dance of King Kastchei
4. Lullaby (Berceuse)
5. Finale—Lento Maestoso Igor Stravinsky
(1882-1971)
Serge Koussevitzky – Double Bass Concerto in F-sharp minor, Op. 3
Serge Koussevitzky (1874 –1951) was a Russian-born conductor, composer and double-bassist. Although known for his long tenure as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1949, he started out as a touring double-bass virtuoso. Sometime between 1902 and 1905, he composed a concerto for his instrument, possibly with the help of Reyngold Glière. The work, instead of following the most progressive tendencies of its time is a ripe example of Russian romanticism. Koussevitzky dedicated the concerto to his fiancée and gave its premiere in Moscow, and he played it subsequently in Germany, Paris, and Boston.
The concerto falls into the conventional three movements, beginning with an allegro that opens with a declamatory, Tchaikovsky-like theme succinctly stated by the orchestra, and answered by a short bass recitative. The soloist takes up the opening motto, presenting it lyrically yet passionately. The solo line seamlessly threads its way into related material sounding very much like passages of the Dvorák Cello Concerto, and eventually offers a songful second subject. Koussevitzky dwells on this Dvorákian material without providing a full development, then fashions a modest bridge to the andante, which sounds much like an aria from a Tchaikovsky opera. Here, for the first time, the composer periodically takes the instrument into its lower range, but only briefly, usually in the course of weaving the melody up and down the staff. For the most part, Koussevitzky exploits the instrument’s middle and upper ranges, where it projects better, and is careful not to let the woodwind-tinged orchestration overpower the bass. A full pause precedes the third movement, another allegro, which begins with the same declamatory theme as the first movement. The bass picks up this melody more ardently than before, and adheres to its contours more closely as it proceeds through a loose, rhapsodic restatement of the opening movement.
-Program Notes by Bartje Bartmans
Pytor Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 35
Most probably, no composer other than Beethoven has enjoyed the popularity in this country of that of Pyotr Tchaikovsky. His reputation has been secure since his early maturity, and yet, it is equally true that no other major modern composer has endured the distortions and indignities as that imposed upon his personality and personal life after his death. A welter of factors have been trotted out to “explain” his art and its personal genesis: his sexuality, politics, religious beliefs, social class. Every generation of musicologists–radical and otherwise, social commentators, and political ideologues has taken its shots at the man. And it must be said, chief among the negative attitudes simply has been the implication that his music is vulgar, overly emotional, and void of intellectual attainment–all clearly a reflection of the composer, himself!
That said, it is refreshing to see that much of the critical persiflage of the last century is now being replaced by a clearer, less ideologically freighted appreciation. He is historically important for his integration of the symphonic tradition of Beethoven and Schumann into the colorful, nationalistic atmosphere of Russia. But, ultimately it is the eloquence and technical mastery of his compositions that founded his lasting popularity. He was blessed with an extraordinary gift for melodic imagination, and learned to use it in contexts of structural integrity–not a given among the world’s great melodists.
The violin concerto was written in 1878 during a time of growing success as a composer, after having lived in Moscow for slightly over a decade. During that time he had composed four of his six symphonies, his first piano concerto, and other important works. However, composition of the violin concerto is associated with one of the most controversial and unfortunate episodes in Tchaikovsky’s life–his ill-fated marriage with Antonina Ivanovna Milyukova. It was a hurried affair, with neither party’s motives exactly clear even today, after endless sifting of the evidence. It lasted only two months, but they never divorced. Thereafter, Tchaikovsky underwent a long-term re-orientation in his artistic output.
After returning from recuperation in Switzerland from the marriage, Tchaikovsky set to work on the concerto, collaborating with a young violinist, Iosif Kotek, who had been a student of his at the Moscow Conservatory. It was completed swiftly, but the première was delayed, owing to the difficulty of finding a violinist who was either willing–or able– to perform it. It finally received its first public performance in Vienna in 1881. The ensuing review by the famous Viennese critic, Eduard Hanslick (you may remember his difficulties with Richard Wagner) has gone down in journalistic history. Among his comments were that in the work “the violin . . .is beaten black and blue;” that the finale has the “brutal and wretched jollity of a Russian holiday” with “savage vulgar faces . . . curses . . . and vodka.” “Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto gives us for the first time the hideous notion that there can be music that stinks in the ear.”
Well, today of course, we all know better. It is one of the most difficult of violin concertos, and Tchaikovsky’s inimitable melodic gift is omnipresent. It is a masterpiece, even though it never achieves the traditional balanced give and take expected between orchestra and soloist. Its effervescence, bravura, and appealing melodies have earned it a lasting place in the répertoire.
The first movement begins softly in the orchestra, with a clear theme—although it’s not the main one—followed shortly by intimations of the real main theme. All of this doesn’t last long, for Tchaikovsky, unlike many of his peers, doesn’t believe in a long introduction before the soloist enters. In this case, after a few meditative bars, the solo violin plunges right in to what is clearly the main theme. Tchaikovsky’s themes are always clear, aren’t they? There is, of course, a second theme, too, but the main point here is that the orchestra’s rôle is definitely subordinate to the soloist, who carries the tunes throughout. Clearly apparent, as well, is the virtuosity necessary to bring off the violin part, which is a combination of the famed Tchaikovsky lyricism and a fiery intensity of challenging melodic figurations. The cadenza before the recapitulation is Tchaikovsky’s and a more formidable one would be hard to cite. For those who revel in violin pyrotechnics, this is your métier! The driving gallop to the end of the movement is the pure Tchaikovsky familiar to all who know his other orchestra works.
-Wm. E. Runyan
Edvard Grieg – Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 16
Easily Grieg’s most famous work, it was composed in 1868, when the composer was only twenty-five years of age. Married the year before, he, his wife, and their two-month old daughter were in Denmark, escaping the more rigorous Norwegian climate. Grieg was an excellent pianist—it was a major focus of his life as a composer—and had the privilege of hearing Schumann’s piano concerto played by Schumann’s wife, the great virtuosa, Clara Schumann, while a student at the Leipzig conservatory. It has long been generally accepted that the Schumann composition informed much of the young Grieg’s concerto. With its multitude of attractive melodies and its dramatic musical rhetoric it became a Norwegian favorite almost immediately—although the rest of the world warmed to it gradually. The greatest pianist of the time, Franz Liszt, however, read through it early on and praised it with unreserved enthusiasm. Later, near the end of Grieg’s life, Percy Grainger—a leading piano virtuoso of the time—spent time with Grieg in Norway studying the work, and promoted it for the next half century.
Grieg’s musical panache is in evidence from the beginning when the timpani crescendos right into the soloist’s big-time entry. This dramatic beginning is followed by a winsome succession of tunes—seven, all told –memorably led by the melody in the cellos accompanied by trombone chords. The tender second movement has been associated with Grieg’s response to the recent birth of his daughter, Alexandra. The last movement is based upon the rhythms of the traditional Norwegian folkdance, the halling, with a lyrical diversion in the middle, featuring a solo flute.
While the popular idea of Grieg today may pigeonhole him as a late Romantic nationalist, master of ingratiating tunes, and painter of quaint Scandinavian scenes, he is much more. He was strongly influential upon Debussy—especially in comparing their respective string quartets—and also upon the evolution of advanced harmonic thinking in general. In a famous exaggeration, Frederick Delius observed that: “ Modern French music is simply Grieg plus the prelude to the third act of Tristan.” Persiflage perhaps, but more than a grain of truth.
-Wm. E. Runyan
Igor Stravinsky – Firebird Suite
It would be difficult, indeed, to posit a composer whose artistic achievement and influence on the direction of music during the twentieth century exceeded that of Igor Stravinsky. Moving through a series of explorations of different styles of composition, his works consistently exhibited a remarkable seriousness of purpose, solid musical integrity, and benchmark imagination. What is more, his genius made its mark early—there are almost no compositions that we can label “journeyman” or “youthful apprentice works.” Born into a musical, middleclass family, he studied law and music theory and composition (on the side) simultaneously. By his mid-twenties he had begun to concentrate on music, rather than law, and had composed only a few works that were heard publicly. But, that led to his historic encounter with Sergei Diaghilev.
The cutting edge of the ballet world for most of the early twentieth century was clearly the Ballets Russes of Diaghilev in Paris and Monte Carlo. Under the artistic leadership of Diaghilev, this company was responsible for the creation of artistic works whose influence continues unabated today. Diaghilev was peerless in his ability to select and recruit the crème de la crème of the European artistic community in his productions. Just a of few of the veritable who’s who of artists include dancers, Pavlova, Nijinsky, Fokine, and Balanchine; the choreographer, Petipa; conductors, Pierre Monteux and Ernest Ansermet, designers, Picasso, Bakst, Braque, Coco Chanel, Matisse, Miró, Dalí—well, you get the idea. Which makes it all the more remarkable that, for the first season of ballet (he had started out a few years earlier with art exhibitions and opera) Diaghilev chose the relatively unknown Igor Stravinsky. In 1909 Diaghilev had attended a concert in St. Petersburg, where two of the young composer’s few works were performed. Thoroughly impressed, Diaghilev commissioned Stravinsky to provide music for the 1910 ballet season in Paris.
The young Stravinsky had been a protégé of the famous Rimsky-Korsakov, master teacher, composer of operas, and one of the most adroit orchestrators in musical history. The latter is key to understanding much of the musical style of Stravinsky’s three ballets, for Rimsky-Korsakov’s sparkling evocation of Russian picturesque images through challenging and imaginative scoring for the orchestra leads directly from the older composer to his student. The dazzling orchestral color of both master and student was quintessential Russian and perfect for the exotic Russian story that Diaghilev had in mind for his inaugural season.
The story, assembled by the designer, Alexandre Benois and the choreographer, Michel Fokine, was an amalgam of several different Russian folktales and themes, but the most prominent elements were the mythical Firebird and the evil magician Kashchei. The myth of the Firebird, whose feathers flow with iridescent luminosity, varies considerably in details in the various cultures in which the story occurs. It has magical powers; sometimes it serves good, other times not. The magician Kashchei, on the other hand, is irredeemably evil, can only be killed by possessing his soul, which improbably, is hidden inside a needle in an egg, which is in a duck, which is in a rabbit in an iron chest buried under a green oak tree on an island. Whew! All of these exotic elements are woven into a more or less new story for the ballet, and Stravinsky was more than prepared to provide the impressively evocative music. The première was in Paris in June of 1910 and was an instant success. The music, the choreography, the dancing, the sets, and the costumes were uniformly praised, and our hero, Igor, was on his way. Few great composers have started out with such acclaim. It did not take long for Stravinsky to extract from the score to the ballet a suite for concert performance. Later, others emerged, and they have gone on to become evergreen concert favorites.
Our story is archetypical; a beautiful princess is kidnapped by an evil villain, and is rescued by a brave prince with help of the magical Firebird. The ballet opens in Kashchei the Immortal’s magical realm; Prince Ivan enters and soon spots the luminous Firebird. He observes thirteen captured princesses, who are dancing a round dance, and, of course, immediately falls in love with one of them. The evil Kashchei rebuffs the Prince’s request for his chosen one’s release, and a fracas ensues, with Kashchei’s grotesque minions in the attack on the Prince. The Firebird intervenes, casts a spell over Kashchei’s followers, and they are compelled to dance frenetically. They ultimately collapse into sleep to a lullaby, but soon Kashchei awakens and another dance ensues. The Firebird tells the Prince how to slay Kashchei by destroying the giant egg in which his soul resides. He does so; the whole evil kingdom, Kashchei, and his magic all disappear. The sun breaks forth, and a general celebratory apotheosis triumphs.
Stravinsky, in 1911, 1919, and 1945, extracted three somewhat different suites, respectively, from the score of the whole ballet. That of 1919 is most commonly performed. There are five major excerpts, beginning with the eerie low strings that depict Kashchei’s evil, magical realm. The Firebird soon appears, after a flashy paroxysm in the strings. Virtuoso figurations in the woodwinds and harp glissandi paint the dancing Firebird and his glowing feathers, ending the first section. A solo flute leads to the round dance of the Princesses, with elegant solos in the woodwinds and strings. It’s all appropriately composed of simple melodies and harmonies, far from the chromatic complexities of Kashchei and his magic. The third section is the famous “Infernal Dance,” wherein snarling brass, with angular, jagged motifs, punctuate the whole orchestra’s pounding, insistent rhythms—which constantly confuse with their metric displacements. It all accelerates to a total, dramatic collapse. The ensorcelled evil ones then sleep to the lullaby of the “Berceuse,” opening with the famous languid bassoon solo. A lush, romantic texture gradually ends with sinking string tremolos that lead to the inevitable Finale. The solo horn dramatically intones an evocation of the arrival of the sun and the triumph of good over evil. The whole orchestra takes up its tune, accompanied by slow, rising scales, and finally pounding brass chords lead to the grand peroration. The ending is immortal, of course, and the world now was put on notice of the spectacular début and genius of the young Russian. As Debussy is reputed to have wryly remarked, “Well, you’ve got to start somewhere.”
–Wm. E. Runyan
GLEN CORTESE begins his fourth season as Artistic Director of the Schenectady Symphony orchestra and his seventeenth season as artistic director of the Western New York Chamber. He completed twelve successful seasons as music director of the Greeley Philharmonic and was also named music director emeritus of the Oregon Mozart Players after serving as artistic director for nine seasons. His recent guest engagements have included Symphoria (Syracuse), the Eugene Opera, Madison Lyric Stage, The Three Tenors Concert in Tirana Albania to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the independence of Kososvo, RTSH Radio Orchestra (Albania) Emerald City Opera, Opera Fort Collins, Wolftrap Opera, The Charleston Symphony, the Sapporo Festival Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Orchestra the Sofia Philharmonic, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, the Mexico City Philharmonic, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, the Lafayette Symphony, the Billings Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Cleveland, and the Annapolis Symphony. He was resident conductor and artistic administrator of the Florida Philharmonic for the 2001–2002 season and completed twelve seasons at the Manhattan School of Music where he was principal conductor from 1988 to 2000. He has appeared as guest conductor both in the United States and abroad with the Symphonies of New Jersey, Florida Philharmonic, Austin, Mexico City Philharmonic, North Carolina, Colorado Springs, Bangor, Meridian, Queens, New Amsterdam, The New Orleans Philharmonic, the International Chamber Orchestra, the Belarus Sate Philharmonic, Sofia Philharmonic National Romanian Radio Orchestra, Noorhollands Philharmonisch, Orquesta Sinfonica Carlos Chavez, San Francisco Conservatory, Cleveland Institute, and the Altenburg Landeskappele Orchestra. Mr. Cortese covered as assistant conductor to the New York Philharmonic in 1990–92 for Zubin Mehta, Leonard Slatkin, Charles Dutoit, Yuri Temirikanov, Erich Leinsdorf, Zdenek Macal and Cristof Perick. In July of 1993, he was invited by Kurt Masur to guest conduct a reading with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.
In August of 1994, Mr. Cortese began his tenure as music director of the East-West International Symphony Orchestra in Altenburg, Germany, a position that he held for seven years. He conducted over fifty concerts and two operas in seven seasons with the orchestra, made up of advanced conservatory students from ten different nations. His work at the Manhattan School of Music included the school’s debut performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and City Center as well as the MSM Orchestra’s first performance on “Live from Lincoln Center”. He received the honor of “Recording of the Month” in STEREOPHILE magazine for his release of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony with the Manhattan School on Titanic Records. His recording of Mahler’s Third Symphony with the Manhattan School was called “a remarkable achievement” in the American Record Guide.
In the opera and music theater world he has conducted Turn of the Screw, Beatrice and Benedict, Candide, Little Women, Othello, West Side Story, Phantom, Les Misérables and My Fair Lady in the last several seasons. In 2011 he conducted the world premiere of John Musto’s new opera, “The Inspector” at the Wolftrap Opera, and his other opera credits include guest conductor with the Eugene Opera, Florida Grand Opera, New York City Opera, the Cleveland Lyric Opera, the Maryland Opera Studio, the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival Opera Theater, the Manhattan School Opera Theater, and the East West International Opera Theater. Mr. Cortese’s credits in the world of dance include performances with the Connecticut Ballet, Joffrey II Ballet, the Elisa Monte Dance Company and the SUNY Purchase Dance Corps. He appeared regularly for five years as conductor for the Erick Hawkins Dance Company at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Joyce Theatre and on national tours. He has conducted at numerous summer festivals including Chautauqua, Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, American Dance Festival, The New York Music Institute, Sewanee Music Festival and the Brevard Music Center. He has conducted performances of large collaborative projects including chorus, orchestra and dance at Carnegie Hall, as well as having performed in virtually every major performance venue in New York. His work in education is extensive, conducting community outreach programs, educational concerts and children’s videos on classical music. Mr. Cortese has conducted concerti and solo works with many renowned performers, including Ransom Wilson, Sharon Isbin, Ruth Laredo, Nathaniel Rosen, Glenn Dicterow, Silvia McNair, Mignon Dunn and Dawn Upshaw. A strong advocate of new music, he has conducted over 150 premieres and has worked in direct collaboration with composers such as Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, George Crumb, Richard Danielpour, Peter Maxwell Davies, Lukas Foss, Hans Werner Henze, and Ralph Shapey. In June of 1993 through 2000, he was the eight-time recipient of the ASCAP New and Adventuresome Programming Award for his work at the Manhattan School. Mr. Cortese is also an accomplished composer and winner of numerous awards including the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a two-time winner of the Joseph E. Bearns Prize, and a CAPS Grant from the New York Council on the Arts. He is also the recipient of the Arthur Judson Foundation Award for a Young American Conductor and his discography includes recordings on the Bridge, Titanic, Newport Classics, Phoenix, Owl, CMS and Le Crepuscule du Disc labels.
Personnel
Flute
Avery Wendell
Lydia Watkins
Oboe
Jacqualine Burk**
Cathryn Jones**
Clarinet
Michael Dee*
Emma Lloyd
Bassoon
Will Safford**
Ed Marschiolok**
Horn
Cali Cuneo
Joshua Feldman
Addie Oliphant
Patrice Malatestinic*
Amy Baker**
Piano
Akina Yura**
Trumpet
Annie Hageman
Wyn Jarvinen
Trombone
Warren King
Amanda Middleton
Daniel Cordell*
Tuba
Benjamin Lowder
Timpani and Percussion
James Holmes
Joshua Lucey
Arielle Lam
Violin 1
Marlowe Jacques
Michael Emery*
Julia Johnson-McGuigan
Michele Stewart**
Aili Teittinen-Gordon
Brooke Vincent**
Lucinda Elizararas
* Skidmore Faculty
** Guest Performer Violin 2
Tania Susi**
Emily Luo**
Della Huntley
Jenny Day**
Zach DeGennaro
Jessica Bellflower**
Betsy Kagey**
Heather Chan**
Viola
Stephani Emery*
Adam Warner**
Sue Nazzaro**
Carla Bellosa**
Ray Bunkofske**
Violoncello
Anna Cates
Jameson Platte*
Evan Weatherwax
Kara Duffy
Kevin Bellosa**
Megan Schooley**
Contrabass
Noanddi Manigat
Luke Baker*
David Irvin**
Evan Runyon**
