Program Notes for May 5, 2012

Program Notes

May 5, 2012

By Composer in Residence

Bruce Brown

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            Composers, like all writers and artists, continually strive for originality.  The search for a unique voice takes many forms, but some pieces are universally hailed for their freshness and originality.  Tonight’s performance of Original/Cutting Edge music by the JSO will feature two works by pioneering composers of the past and a brand new composition by two highly-creative artists of our own time. 

Overture to Oberon

            The landmark operas of Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826), Der Freischütz, Euryanthe and Oberon, played a very significant role in the evolution of music, especially in German Romantic opera.  His strikingly imaginative music paved the way for the operas of Wagner and Richard Strauss, as well as magical “fairy music” of Felix Mendelssohn.

            Weber was also one of the first conductors to lead the orchestra without also playing the piano or violin, and his brilliant concepts of orchestration are cited several times in Hector Berlioz’ Treatise on Instrumentation, which was the definitive bible for orchestral writing in its time.

            Weber’s Oberon, also known as “The Elf King’s Oath,” is a three-act Romantic opera which – surprisingly – was written in English.  The opera was commissioned by British impresario Charles Kemble, and Weber traveled to London against his doctor’s wishes as the work neared completion.  Weber studied English at a furious pace as he put the final touches on the music, and the strain of the work and his social obligations proved too much.  He died on June 5, 1826, just weeks after Oberon’s April 12^th premiere in Covent Garden.

            Oberon was later translated into German, and that version is most often performed today.

            The story is a farcical tale of knights, fairies, the Caliph of Baghdad and a magical horn that summons Oberon, the fairy king.  Weber’s music transcends the silly plot with brilliant characterizations, colorful evocation of exotic scenes and unifying elements like the horn call, which several later composers quoted as a tip of their hat to Weber’s creative genius.

Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber

            One of the most famous tributes to Weber was written by German composer Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), a very unique composer in his own right.  

            Hindemith was working as a violinist and violist in 1922 when several of his compositions were performed in Salzburg at a festival sponsored by the International Society for Contemporary Music.  The 27 year old Hindemith was quickly recognized as one of the finest composers of his time.

            Hindemith was a remarkable musician.  He wrote a series of very difficult concertos for a wide variety of instruments, from the tuba to the harp, and reportedly could play all of them very well on the original instruments.  He was highly praised for many professional achievements, including a top-to-bottom reorganization of music education and performance in Turkey.

            Hindemith was forced to flee Nazi Germany when World War II broke out. Friends arranged for him to travel to the USA, where he taught at Yale and delivered influential lectures at Harvard.

            In 1940, choreographer Léonide Massine commissioned Hindemith to create a ballet based on music by Weber, but Massine didn’t like Hindemith’s arrangements, and Hindemith found he didn’t care for Massine’s ideas either.  The project collapsed.

            Hindemith later crafted the music into a four movement set, which he called Symphonic Metamorphosis. He finished the adaptation on August 29, 1943, and the first performance was given on January 20, 1944, by the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Artur Rodziński.

            Three of the movements of the Symphonic Metamorphosis are based on tunes from piano duets by Weber that Hindemith and his wife often played together.  For the second movement he chose a theme from Weber’s incidental music for the play Turandot, the same story that inspired Puccini’s famous opera of the same name.

            Perhaps ironically, the Symphonic Metamorphosis has proven to be one of Hindemith’s most enduringly popular works.

Duo Concerto for Cello and Guitar

      Viktor Uzur and Brad Richter became familiar to Jackson audiences in 2011, when they dazzled us with their impressive performance and their colorful mix of classical, rock and world music styles.

            Both men are highly accomplished classical musicians – Uzur studied at the Moscow Conservatory and Richter at The Royal College of Music – but both also played guitar in rock bands in their youth.  They also share a passion for folk music and music styles from many far-flung parts of the globe.  In their collaboration, they make the most of these diverse interests and skills.

            The duo met in 2005 at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, where Uzur teaches cello.  As they worked together on Richter’s composition Navigating Lake Bonneville, they developed a close friendship and deep mutual respect.  Since then, they have performed together in many venues, and their music has been featured several times on radio programs like NPR’s Performance Today.

            Richter lives in Tucson, Arizona, which is almost exactly 1000 miles from Uzur’s home in Ogden.  It isn’t easy to collaborate on compositions when you live that far apart, but the two men make a concerted effort to create works through genuine collaboration.  To do that they make the most of electronic media, sharing Finale files by email and communicating by Skype and by phone.  When they do have an opportunity to perform together, they spend as much time as possible backstage and in their hotel rooms sharing ideas and polishing their performance.

            As far as they know, their new Duo Concerto for Cello and Guitar is the first concerto ever written for this combination.  That’s surprising, they say, “because of the beautiful contrast the two voices create: the guitar with its percussive attack and rhythmic precision and the cello with its singing tenor and warm depth.”

            In their own words: “The Duo Concerto has an accessible tonal language and a pulse that borrows more from world music than classical. It is modern to be sure, but through a blending of eastern European folk melodic structures, rock music idioms and classical form and development [we have] created a piece that is both forward looking and familiar. Movements I and II are more traditional, reminiscent of some of the great romantic concerti in their structure and use of instrumentation. Movement III is a flashy and intelligent mash-up of the Duo’s favorite Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) guitar riffs that intertwines layers of fantastic rock riffs with a studied sense of counterpoint and pointillism.”