Program Notes
May 5, 2012
By Composer in Residence
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 12th 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.”
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