Program notes, May 7 and 10, 2009
by Horace Work
Stephen Reich (1936 -- )
Music for Pieces of Wood (1973)
American composer Stephen Reich pioneered the style of minimalist music, using simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts. These compositions, marked by their use of repetitive figures, have significantly influenced contemporary music.
Reich’s style of composition influenced many other composers, and he has been described as one of “a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history.” Kyle Gann of the Village Voice has said Reich “may be considered, by general acclamation, America's greatest living composer.”
Reich was the 2007 recipient of the Polar Music Prize, with Sonny Rollins. In 2009, Reich won the Pulitzer Prize for his Double Sextet.
Reich writes, “Music for Pieces of Wood grows out of a desire to make music with the simplest possible instruments. The rhythmic structure is based on the process of rhythmic ‘build-ups,’ or the substitution of beats for rests, and is in three sections of decreasing pattern length: 6/4, 4/4, 3/4.”
Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Suite No. 1 from the opera Carmen
The libretto of Bizet’s famous opera Carmen actually is a version of a narrative poem, “The Gypsies,” (1824) by Alexander Pushkin.
Of the eight operas Bizet wrote, Carmen is clearly at the top; since the 1880s it has been one of the world’s most performed operas and a staple of the operatic repertoire. Carmen appears as No. 4 on Opera America’s list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America.
It is sad to note that Bizet died (at 36 from heart attack) before Carmen became popular, though it did have a first run of 48 performances. Critics were so harsh after the premiere that the opera was nearly withdrawn and moreover, was not initially well received by the public. Praise eventually came from well-known contemporaries, including Debussy, Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky. Brahms attended more than 20 performances of it.
Little known is that Bizet was a superb pianist and could have had a performing career on the piano had he chosen to. In 1861 at a dinner party at which Franz Liszt was present, Bizet gave a faultless performance of an elaborate work of Liszt’s, sight-reading from the unpublished manuscript. Liszt proclaimed that Bizet was one of the three finest pianists in Europe.
Certainly all the sections of Suite No. 1 will sound familiar, but Bizet’s best known and most familiar is No. 5, Les Toreadors.
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor
The renowned, innovative, Romantic pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin created a world of music both unique and everlasting. Arthur Rubinstein, a great virtuoso pianist of the 20th Century said, “Chopin was a genius of universal appeal. When the first notes of Chopin sound through the concert hall, there is a happy sigh of recognition. The audience is moved by it. Yet it is not ‘Romantic music’ in the Byronic sense. It does not tell stories or paint pictures. It is expressive and personal, but still a pure art. His music is the universal language of human communication.”
Musicologist Arthur Hedley wrote, “Present-day evaluation places Chopin among the immortals of music by reason of his insight into the secret places of the heart, and because of his awareness of the magical sonorities drawn from the piano.”
As a very young child, Chopin wept with emotion when his mother played the piano, and by age 6 he was trying to reproduce what he heard or make up melodies. At 7 he began giving concerts and composing. Through his childhood and teens, Chopin surprised people with his ability to sketch, his sense of humor, literary talent, piano technique and his stunning, unique compositions.
Chopin’s famous contemporaries, such as Schumann, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Liszt and the artist Delacroix, held him in high regard. On hearing a concert of Chopin’s music, Schumann said, “Hats off, gentlemen! A genius.”
Shortly before Chopin left Poland for Paris, never again to return to his native country, he premiered in December 1829 his Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor at the National Theater in Warsaw. This concerto truly features the piano, giving the orchestra an accompaniment role to play, underpinning the piano with rich harmonies, and providing background sonorities. The piano shines with its filigreed virtuosity and contrasts against the slower, simpler orchestral music.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Exsultate, Jubilate, K 165 (1773)
Mozart wrote the first of his works that is still widely performed today, the solo cantata Exsultate, Jubilate, in Milan at age 17. He wrote the cantata during the third trip he and his father Leopold took to Italy, where they were hoping to obtain a prestigious appointment for Wolfgang at one of the Italian Habsburg courts.
Wolfgang made this trip to Italy to write an opera, Lucio Scilla, under a commission with Milan’s Teatro Regio Ducal. The popular success of the opera postponed the premiere of the season’s second opera, Giovanni Paisiello’s Sismano nel Mogul, to allow Lucio the longer run. Mozart’s father, a pushy man anxious for his son’s success and recognition, was delighted.
Leopold, importunate as always, continued to pursue an appointment for Wolfgang by applying to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Despite strong support, Leopold’s previous pushiness had offended the royal family. While father and son waited for a reply, Wolfgang composed a series of string quartets and the famous motet Exsultate, Jubilate.
In order to stay in Milan, Leopold claimed to be suffering from severe rheumatism. He waited two months for the Grand Duke’s reply, only to be refused the appointment. And so, sadly, with no appointment, father and son had no choice but to return to their home in Salzburg.
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso
Camille Saint-Saëns wrote music in every decade for 10 straight decades. At age 2 he had perfect pitch, and by 3 he could read and write. He wrote a theoretical analysis of a Beethoven sonata at 5. At 10, Saint-Saens played a public concert that included Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 15, and pieces by Handel, Hummel and Bach. As an encore, Saint-Saëns offered to play any of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas from memory.
If one counts the total number of musical geniuses in the 19th Century, it raises the question of why there are so many more than in the 20th Century. Has music fallen from grace? Are the sciences and film the new redoubts of genius in our modern times?
Actually, Saint-Saëns was something of a Renaissance man. He studied geology, archaeology, botany and lepidoptery, and was an expert in mathematics. He wrote musical criticism and scholarly articles on acoustics, occult sciences, Roman theaters and ancient instruments. A member of the Astronomical Society of France, Saint-Saëns planned concerts to correspond to astronomical events such as solar eclipses.
The Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso is a virtuosic work for violin that challenges the soloist with virtually every known difficult technique used in the repertoire. Other composers of the times were better known for mounting these challenges, but Saint-Saëns employs the techniques to accentuate the beauty of the music, where often others used the music as a way to display the techniques.
2009 Concerto Competition winners
The Symphony in the Valley Young Artists Concerto Competition was launched in 2004 by Wendy Larson, the orchestra’s former conductor and artistic director, and Marice Doll, former orchestra manager. Its goal is to feature accomplished young soloists, and to give these young musicians the opportunity to perform with a full symphony orchestra.
The competition was held in January. This year’s three winners were selected from a competitive field of musicians that included five entrants in the junior division, for ages 6 to 18, and six entrants in the senior division, for ages 19 to 30. Andrea Elias and Tara Gatseos, both of Grand Junction, served as the competition judges.
Applications for the 2010 Concerto Competition will be accepted through Dec. 2, 2009. For competition rules, application form and more information, please visit www.sitv.org.
 Kevin Ahfat, 14, is a freshman at Grandview High School in Aurora. He began playing the piano at age 7, starting with Cecilie Richardsen-Maestas, continuing with Mary Ann Marletto, and is now studying with Dr. Lei Weng, piano professor at the University of Northern Colorado.
Kevin has won in the Yamaha Piano Competition, Kawai Piano Competition, Steinway Concerto Competition, and was a finalist in the 2008 UNC Colorado Piano Festival Concerto Competition.
On May 17, Kevin will make his Carnegie Hall debut as a first prize winner of the 2009 Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition. Kevin also plays the violin in the Arapahoe Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and enjoys playing the piano and organ at his church. He is the son of Chris and Dorothy Ahfat.
 Emily Murdock, 26, is a 2008 graduate of the University of Colorado, where she earned a master’s degree in vocal performance. She was a 2007 winner of the CU Honors Concerto Competition.
Her bachelor’s degree in vocal and flute performance was from the University of Montana. She is presently studying under Julie Simson of the University of Colorado faculty.
Emily has appeared in eight opera productions, in the chorus for musicals performed by the Colorado Light Opera, and has been the featured soloist at five concerts. She previously performed Exsultate, Jubilate with the Glacier Symphony in 2006. She is the daughter of Sally and David Murdock.
 Alexander Raab, 19, is completing his freshman year at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music. He began playing violin at age 5, and presently studies under Linda Wang at the University of Denver.
Alexander has performed with the Colorado Young Sinfonia since 2003. He has studied under Hungarian virtuoso Ference Illenyi and under Eugenia Alikhanova of the Moscow String Quartet.
Alexander participated in the Summit Music Festival for the past two years. There, he studied with chamber violinist Mikhail Kopelman of the Eastman School of Music and Aaron Rosand of the Curtis Institute of Music.
Earlier this year, Alexander won second prize in the Aurora Symphony Concerto Competition. He is the son of Paul and Pam Raab.
Photos by Peggy Sconce.
© 2009 Symphony in the Valley
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