Nir’s NotesDear Music Lovers:

Happy New Year!We kick off the 2011 musical year

of the Santa Barbara Symphony with an exciting artistic collaboration between the Symphony and State Street Ballet.

One of the missions of the Santa Barbara Symphony is to collaborate with and be a partner to the leading arts organizations in town, and personally, I am very passionate about combining different arts in a concert. We are offering for the first time, music and dance, in a subscription concert of the Santa Barbara Symphony.

The piece chosen for this historic collaboration is Copland’s Appalachian Spring, music based on pioneering American themes. This work was originally titled “Ballet for Martha” dedicated to the American dancer and choreographer, Martha Graham. A promi-nent Santa Barbara citizen, Ms. Graham is regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance.

We are extending to our concert audience the opportunity to experience this great music interpreted in its original form—with the dancers. The choreography was created especially for this historic event by William Soleau.

In a traditional concert setting, the first half of the concert offers Schubert’s Symphony No. 5. An early, but at the same time a very advanced piece in style and expression by the composer, (written when Schubert was 19 years old), inspired by the Viennese masters Mozart and Haydn. Followed up by another masterpiece from the hand of one of world’s greatest ballet composers (the author of The Rite of Spring, Firebird, Petrushka) inspired by the Italian commedia dell’arte, you will hear Igor Stravinsky’s, a concert suite from the ballet Pulcinella, after themes by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.

On a final note, there are very few halls world-wide that can accommodate, in one evening, both a concert and a ballet production. Here, at The Granada, we are very fortunate in that for the first half of the concert the Symphony will be performing on stage, closing out the night with the symphony set-up in the pit leaving the stage space for the dancers.

Musically yours,

Nir Kabaretti

Join Ramón Araïza for “Music Behind the Music” beginning one hour before each concert! Sponsored by Marlyn Bernard Bernstein

The Santa Barbara Symphony2 0 1 0 - 2 0 11 S E A S O N

January 22-23, 2011Nir Kabaretti, Conductor

State Street BalletRodney Gustafson, Artistic Director

William Soleau, Choreographer Mark Somerfield, Production Designer

SCHUBERT Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, D. 485 (1797-1828) Allegro Andante con moto Menuetto: Allegro molto Allegro vivace

STRAVINSKY Suite from Pulcinella (1882-1971) Sinfonia (Overture): Allegro moderato Serenata: Larghetto — Scherzino — Allegro — Andantino Tarantella — Toccata: Allegro Gavotta con due variazioni: Allegro moderato Vivo Minuetto: Molto moderato — Finale: Allegro assai

— INTERMISSION —

COPLAND Suite from Appalachian Spring (1900-1990)

On the UpbeatJANUARY 2011 • VOLUME 4, EDITION 3

MEDIA SPONSORSCONCERT SPONSOR

PATRICIA GREGORY,FOR THE BAKER FOUNDATION

ARTIST SPONSOR

with additional support byTHOMAS “TIM” MIKEL

MARGO COHEN-FEINBERG

State Street BalletState Street Ballet is a vibrant, innovative professional dance company

based in Santa Barbara, California. The company combines the rigors and timeless beauty of classical technique with updated looks, special effects and digital technology, producing original works that satisfy today’s diverse audiences.

By melding familiar storylines with exciting dance movement and special effects, State Street Ballet gives each tale a modern, passionate and unique twist. This heady mix of movement, music, lighting, scenery and acting is successfully reaching new audiences, introducing dance as mainstream entertainment while honoring classical training, style and tradition. As a fully professional dance company with well-known credentials, State Street Ballet attracts dancers from around the world and teams with top-notch choreographers to produce new works that showcase the company’s signature elegant-but-edgy tone.

Choreographers whose works have been performed by State Street Ballet include Peter Pucci and Margo Sappington, as well as legends Agnes de Mille and George Balanchine. Innovative new works draw from a team of choreographers including Founder and Artistic Director Rodney Gustafson, San Francisco choreographer and Emmy Award winner Robert Sund (Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast) and renowned choreographer William Soleau (Carmen, Carmina Burana).

The company tours nationally and internationally, boasting a 90% rebooking rate. Original touring productions from State Street Ballet currently include Cinderella, The Nutcracker and The Jungle Book.

Artistic Staff

Rodney Gustafson, Artistic Director, brings vision, energy and mastery of the classics to State Street Ballet, propelling the company to explore new and untapped areas of entertainment. Gustafson holds an undergraduate and master’s degree in business, enhanced by a successful dance career with American Ballet Theatre. He continues his association with American Ballet Theatre as a coordinator for their national education program. He is a Certified Instructor in Primary through level 7 for American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum. As a dancer with American Ballet Theatre, Gustafson worked with many of the greatest dancers of our time including Mikhail Baryshnikov and famous choreographers like Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine, Rudolf Nureyev, Jerome Robbins and Antony Tudor. He also appeared in the films Turning Point and Nutcracker (Baryshnikov) and several

Live from Lincoln Center productions. Rodney and Allison Gustafson founded State Street Ballet in 1994. During his tenure as Artistic Director, he has created several full-length ballets for the company, including Romeo and Juliet, NutCracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cinderella, and The Jungle Book.

William Soleau, Choreographer, has created over 80 ballets on companies around the world. Soleau first gained international recognition in 1987 for his creation of Universe for The Shanghai Ballet of China during the first International Shanghai Arts Festival. As resident choreographer and principal dancer for both Finis Jhung’s Chamber Ballet U.S.A. and Dennis Wayne’s DANCERS in New York City, he established himself as an emerging international choreographer. As a dancer, Soleau had the opportunity to tour over 30 countries while working with such notable choreographers as Alvin Ailey, John Butler, Toer van Schayk, Antony Tudor, Joyce Trisler, Gray Vereden, and Norman Walker. His works can be seen in the repertories of Ballet British Columbia, Richmond Ballet, Ballet de Montreal, Ballet Austin, The Icelandic Ballet, BalletMet, American Ballroom Dance Theater, Ballet Florida, Ballet Gamonet, and

The Louisville Ballet among many others. Soleau was the recipient of the Choo San-Goh Award for Choreography in 2006. He presently serves as the Executive Director for the John Butler Foundation, Inc., dedicated to preserving and protecting the master works of this influential American choreographer.

PH

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Appalachian Spring

State Street BalletRodney Gustafson, Director

Music by Aaron CoplandChoreography by William SoleauSet Design by Mark Sommerfield

Photography/Digital Media by David BazemoreResident Costume Designer Christina Giannini

Wardrobe Supervisor and Assistant to the Designer Anaya CullenBallet Masters Marina Fliagina and Gary McKenzie

SynopsisEmbracing Copland’s classic masterpiece woven like a beautiful quilt of

American melodies, this ballet is a love story between a country boy and a city girl, who through marriage unite two families into one.

Ballet Sponsors: Patricia Gregory, for the Baker Foundation,Margo Cohen-Feinberg, Thomas “Tim” Mikel

Special Thanks: Milly Colahan, Mr. & Mrs. Wayne Colahan

The Girl: Leila DrakeThe Boy: Yosuke Yamamoto

City FamilySamantha Schilke, Lu Wang

Samantha Bell, Sergei Domrachev, Katie McCormick, David Sanders, Christine Sawyer, Jennifer Sherry

Country FamilyBonnie Crotzer, David Eck

Samantha Bell, Sergei Domrachev, Stephen Jasso, Katie McDermott, John Piel, Angela Rebelo, Jennifer Rowe, Cecily Stewart, Kaori Takai

FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828)

Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, D. 485Composed in September-October 1816.Flute, pairs of oboes, bassoons and horns, and strings.Approximately 28 minutes.

Schubert kept a perfunctory diary for a few months during 1816. Among the scraps of home-spun philosophy (“Man resembles a ball, to be played with by chance and passion.” “Happier he who finds a true man-friend. Happier still he who finds a true friend in his wife.”) is an entry for June 17th: “Today

I composed for money for the first time. Namely, a cantata for the name-day of Professor Watteroth. The fee is 100 florins.” Schubert, age nineteen, had metamorphosed into a professional composer. At least he thought that there was sufficient reason at the time to leave his irksome teaching post at his father’s school in order to live the life of an artist. Thus began the bohemian existence of his last dozen years—living by the gladly proffered aid of friends, daily climbing up to Grinzing to haunt the cafés, avoiding society for dislike of buying and wearing good clothes. And music, always music. He composed incessantly. Out of bed shortly after dawn (sometimes he slept with his glasses on so as not to waste any time getting started in the morning), pouring out music until early afternoon, then off to who-knows-where for a bit too much Heuriger wine and a few pipes of cheap tobacco. Compositions filled his head all the while, sometimes scratched out on napkins or envelopes if they could not wait until the next morning. Evenings were spent making music. His devoted band of friends were delighted to sing and play what he wrote. Franz von Hartmann recorded of one of these Schubertiads, “There was a huge gathering [including] Gahy, who played four-hand piano music gloriously with Schubert, and Vogl, who sang almost thirty splendid songs.... When the music was over there was grand feeding and dancing. At 12:30 [we went] home. To bed at 1 o’clock.”

Supplementing the songs and piano works for these Schubertiads was a growing collection of orchestral pieces composed for other amateur musical soirées. A family string quartet, comprising his brothers Ferdinand and Ignaz on violins, his father on cello and Franz on viola, attracted other players and soon evolved into a small orchestra. They rehearsed at first in the Schubert household, but as the membership grew new quarters had to be found for their activities, and they moved in 1816 to the apartments of Leopold von Sonnleithner. It was for one of those informal evenings that Schubert composed the sparkling B-flat Symphony.

The Symphony opens with a delicate curtain of woodwind harmonies. The violins present the main theme, a gracious melody built on the notes of the common chords. A shadow passes quickly over the music (technically, a brief excursion into the minor key—an expressive device Schubert learned from Mozart) before the main theme is repeated and extended (more shadows) as transition to the second theme. The compact development begins with a decorated version of the opening woodwind harmonies; a discussion of the decorating figure ensues. The main theme is recapitulated not in the tonic key of B-flat, but in the brighter tonality of E-flat. This bit of harmonic legerdemain allows the second theme to reappear in the “proper” key of B-flat with virtually no alteration of the music from the exposition. A brief, lively coda brings this buoyant movement to a close. The lovely Andante not only breathes the sweet Mozartian air, but may even derive its melodic inspiration from that composer’s Violin Sonata in F, K. 377. The movement is built on two extended themes: the first (in E-flat) is given immediately by the strings; the second (in C-flat) is also played by the strings, with obbligato phrases from the oboe and bassoon. Eschewing a development, the second half of the movement is simply a restatement of the two themes. Though the third movement (G minor) is marked “Menuetto,” in tempo and temperament it is truly a scherzo. The bucolic trio, in which the bassoon figures prominently, is in G major. The closing movement recalls the vibrant finales of Haydn in its clear melodic structure, rhythmic vivacity and witty use of dynamics.

Milton Cross’ words about Schubert’s musical style apply precisely to this wonderful B-flat Symphony. “There is about a Schubert work the radiant joy of creation,” Cross wrote. “Everything flows naturally and without obstruction—not only his copious ideas and his warm sentiments, but even his frequently novel effects, his poignant and striking modulations, an unexpected harmony, a breath-taking progression. He wrote only for his delight and according to his own conscience; that delight shines on every page.”

Notes

IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882-1971)

Suite from PulcinellaComposed in 1919-1920.Premiered on May 15, 1920 in Paris, conducted by Ernest Ansermet.Two flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, trumpet, trombone and strings.Approximately 22 minutes.

The appearance of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella in 1920 caused some consternation among the critics and public of Paris. The musical world had just recovered from the seismic shock of Le Sacre du

Printemps (“The Rite of Spring”) of 1913, the work that caused the most tempestuous opening-night riot in the annals of music. During the intervening years, Stravinsky had come to be viewed not so much as a wild-eyed anarchist as a highly individual aberration of the great and continuing tradition of Russian Romantic music: he employed folk-like themes; he orchestrated in the grand manner of Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov; and he wrote sharply etched rhythms that galvanized the corps de ballet, even if they played havoc with the toe-tapping proclivities of the patrons. The musical community allowed that, by 1920, they knew Stravinsky well enough to be able to predict the future of his career. They were wrong.

Stravinsky, though not uninterested in public opinion, was certainly not one to allow it to dictate the course of his music. He realized that Le Sacre had carried the techniques of the traditional Russian style about as far as they could go, and his artistic sense impelled him to strike out in new directions. During the First World War, when the logistical problems of assembling a large symphony orchestra were frequently insurmountable, he started to compose for small chamber ensembles. Les Noces, The Soldier’s Tale and the Ragtime for Eleven Instruments date from that time. Those works were not well known in Paris, however, and when Pulcinella appeared there was general surprise at what many perceived to be a stylistic about-face by Stravinsky. Gone were the massive orchestras of the early ballets, the hectic rhythmic patterns, the riveting dissonances. In their place, Stravinsky offered a ballet, scored for small orchestra with three solo voices, whose melodies, sonority and ethos were built on the Baroque models of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, a musical meteor who flashed briefly across the Italian artistic firmament during the early years of the 18th century (1710-1736) and created several important instrumental and operatic pieces that laid the foundations of the Classical style. Once the novelty had passed from Pulcinella, however, the public was delighted with the new piece, and Stravinsky reaped much approval for lighting out on a different path, one carefully attuned to the time. The ballet became a success, and its style led the way to a new attitude about the relationship between 20th-century music and that of earlier eras, a trend that became known as “Neo-Classicism.”

The idea for Pulcinella originated with Serge Diaghilev, the legendary impresario of the Ballet Russe, and it was he who suggested the music of Pergolesi to Stravinsky. The composer, perhaps with Diaghilev’s help (Stravinsky’s writings are unclear on this matter), selected from Pergolesi’s works several movements from the trio sonatas and arias from two operas. To these he added a generous gaggle of musical bits by other composers. In general, he kept the bass lines and melodies of his models intact, but added to them his own spicy harmonies and invigorating rhythmic fillips, and then illuminated the whole piece with a brilliant, translucent orchestration. Stravinsky’s role in Pulcinella, however, was far more than that of simply transcriber or arranger. He not only created a cogent work of art from a wide variety of previously unrelated pieces, but he also gave a new perspective to both his own and Pergolesi’s music. “Pulcinella,” he recalled in Dialogues and a Diary, “was my discovery of the past—but it was a look in the mirror, too.” With this music, Stravinsky found a manner in which to apply earlier styles and techniques to his own compositional needs, a discovery that was to provide the inspiration for his works for the next thirty years. “Art about art” is American composer and critic Eric Salzman’s perfect phrase describing the essence of Stravinsky’s neo-classical aesthetic during the ensuing three decades.

The plot of Pulcinella was based on an 18th-century manuscript of commedia dell’arte plays that Diaghilev discovered in Naples. Stravinsky provided the following synopsis: “All the local girls are in love with Pulcinella; but the young men to whom they are betrothed are mad with jealousy and plot to kill him. The minute they think they have succeeded, they borrow costumes resembling Pulcinella’s to present themselves to their sweethearts in disguise. But Pulcinella—cunning fellow!—has already changed places with a double, who pretends to succumb to their blows. The real Pulcinella, disguised as a magician, now resuscitates his double. At the very moment when the young men, thinking they are rid of their rival, come to claim their sweethearts, Pulcinella appears and arranges all the marriages. He himself weds Pimpinella, receiving the blessing of his double, who in his turn has assumed the magician’s mantle.”

In 1922, Stravinsky extracted an orchestral suite from Pulcinella whose movements serve as a précis of the ballet’s music and story. The exuberant Sinfonia (Overture), based on the opening movement of Pergolesi’s Trio Sonata No. 1 in G major, serves as the curtain-raiser for Stravinsky’s insouciant tale. The movements that follow accompany the entrances of the Neapolitan girls who try to attract Pulcinella’s attention with their dances. (The Serenata derives from a pastorale in Act I of Pergolesi’s opera Flaminio; the Scherzino, Allegro and Andantino are all borrowed from trio sonatas by the Venetian violinist and composer Domenico Gallo.) The Tarantella (from the fourth movement of Fortunato Chelleri’s Concertino No. 6 in B-flat major) portrays the confusion when Pulcinella is apparently restored to life. The five movements that close the suite serve as background for the events from the point at which the young men claim their sweethearts until the end of the ballet. The Toccata and Gavotte are based on anonymous harpsichord pieces; the Vivo on Pergolesi’s F major Cello Sonata; the Minuetto on a canzone from his comic opera Lo frate ’nnamorato; and the Finale on a trio sonata by Gallo.

AARON COPLAND (1900-1990)

Suite from Appalachian SpringComposed for chamber orchestra in 1943-1944; revised as a suite for full orchestra in 1945.Ballet premiered on October 30, 1944 in Washington; suite premiered on October 4, 1945 in New York, conducted by Artur Rodzinski.Woodwinds, horns, trumpets and trombones in pairs, timpani, percussion, harp, piano and strings.Approximately 24 minutes

Mrs. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, one of America’s greatest patrons of the arts, went to see a dance recital by Martha Graham in 1942. So taken with the genius of the dancer-choreographer was Mrs. Coolidge that she offered to have three ballets specially composed for her. Miss Graham chose as composers of the music Darius Milhaud, Paul Hindemith and an American whose work she had admired for over a decade—Aaron Copland. In 1931, Miss Graham had staged Copland’s Piano Variations as the ballet Dithyramb, and she was eager to have another dance piece from him, especially in view of his recent successes with Billy the Kid and Rodeo. She devised a scenario based on her memories of her grandmother’s farm in turn-of-the-20th-century Pennsylvania, and it proved to be a perfect match for the direct, quintessentially American style that Copland espoused in those years.

The premiere was set for October 1944 (in honor of Mrs. Coolidge’s 80th birthday) in the auditorium of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the limited space in the theater allowed Copland to use a chamber orchestra of only thirteen instruments (flute, clarinet, bassoon, piano and nine strings). He began work on the score in June 1943 in Hollywood while writing the music for the movie North Star, and finished it a year later in Cambridge, where he was delivering the Horatio Appleton Lamb Lectures at Harvard. The plot, music and most of the choreography were completed before a title for the piece was selected. Miss Graham was taken at just that time with a phrase that struck her in a poem by Hart Crane—“O Appalachian Spring!”—and she adopted it for her new ballet, though the content of the poem has no relation with the stage work.

Appalachian Spring was unveiled in Washington on October 30, 1944, and repeated in New York in May to great acclaim, garnering the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Music and the New York Music Critics Circle Award as the outstanding theatrical work of the 1944-1945 season. Soon after its New York premiere, Copland revised the score as a suite of eight continuous sections for full orchestra by eliminating about eight minutes of music in which, he said, “the interest is primarily choreographic.” On October 4, 1945, Artur Rodzinski led the New York Philharmonic in the premiere of this version, which has become one the best-loved works of 20th-century American music.

Edwin Denby’s description of the ballet’s action from his review of the New York premiere in May 1945 was reprinted in the published score: “[The ballet concerns] a pioneer celebration in spring around a newly built farmhouse in the Pennsylvania hills in the early part of the 19th century. The bride-to-be and the young farmer-husband enact the emotions, joyful and apprehensive, their new domestic partnership invites. An older neighbor suggests now and then the rocky confidence of experience. A revivalist and his followers remind the new householders of the strange and terrible aspects of human fate. At the end, the couple are left quiet and strong in their new house.”

©2010 Dr. Richard E. Rodda

“Music Behind the Music” Pre-Concert Events

with your host, Ramón Araïza

FREE TO ALL CONCERT TICKET HOLDERS

Concert Saturdays 7pm-7:30pmConcert Sundays 2pm-2:30pm(1 hour prior to each concert)

“ ‘Music Behind the Music’ is one of my favorite parts of the concert! We did not want to miss Ramón!”

– Sandra Lindquist, SB Symphony Subscriber

Concert pianist, composer/arranger and music scholar Ramón Araïza presents “Music…Behind the Music!” These lively, interactive events take you on an insightful (and humorous) journey of discovery, shining light on the music you’re about to hear in the concert hall. Mr. Araïza’s extensive musical background, presentation style and passion bring each work and composer to life. Please join us in The Granada. Arrive early, venture in, and experience Ramon’s unique genius! Plus, make sure to read Ramón’s creative and artistic “Notes Behind the Notes” in The Granada lobby!

©On the Upbeat, JANUARY 2011 VOL. 4, EDITION 3. Published for Symphony Series concert subscribers by the Santa Barbara Symphony, 1330 State Street, Suite 102, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, (805) 898-9386 —A non-profit organization.

Santa Barbara Symphony Concerts One-time-only Broadcasts on

January concert broadcasts February 13, 7 pmFebruary concert broadcasts March 13, 7 pm

March concert broadcasts April 10, 7 pmApril concert broadcasts May 8, 7 pm

May concert broadcasts October 2, 7 pm

Santa Barbara Symphony’s upcoming performances:

February 19-20, 2011

Grieg & Shostakovich Arild Remmereit, guest conductor

Natacha Kislenko, pianoJon Lewis, trumpet

Grieg: Holberg SuiteShostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1

Svendsen: Symphony No. 1

For single tickets, call The Granada box office, 1214 State Street, at (805) 899-2222

We invite comparison.Nir KabarettiMusic and Artistic Director