Going Baroque: Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5

PROGRAM 4 SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG

MASTERWORKS • 2014/15

GOING BAROQUE:

BACH’S BRANDENBURG CONCERTO NO. 5

COLORADO SYMPHONY MARK WIGGLESWORTH, conductor SIMONE DINNERSTEIN, piano YUMI HWANGWILLIAMS, violin BROOK FERGUSON, flute

Friday, January 16, 2015 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, January 17, 2015 at 7:30 pm

Boettcher Concert Hall

BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050

Allegro

Affettuoso

Allegro

INTERMISSION

BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major, “Romantic”

Ruhig bewegt (nur nicht schnell) [Allegro moderato]

Andante

Bewegt

Mäßig bewegt

FRIDAY’S CONCERT IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED TO THE NORTHERN TRUST COMPANY

SATURDAY’S CONCERT IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED TO BOB DEIBEL AND OFFICESCAPES GROUP

SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 5

MASTERWORKS BIOGRAPHIES

MARK WIGGLESWORTH, conductor

Born in Sussex, England, Mark Wigglesworth studied music at Manchester

University and conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

A few weeks after leaving the Academy, he won the Kondrashin

International Conducting Competition in the Netherlands, and since

then has worked with many of the world’s leading orchestras and opera

companies. In April 2014, the English National Opera announced that

Wigglesworth would be the company’s next Music Director, beginning

in September 2015. In 1992 he became Associate Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra

and further appointments included Principal Guest Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony

Orchestra and Music Director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Highlights of his time with

BBC NOW included several visits to the BBC Proms, a performance of Mahler’s tenth symphony

at the prestigious Amsterdam Mahler Festival in 1995, and a six-part television series for the BBC

entitled Everything To Play For. In the recording studio, Wigglesworth’s recordings have centered

around a project with BIS Records to record all the symphonies of Shostakovich, a cycle which

has received critical acclaim throughout the world. Other recordings include live performances

of Mahler’s sixth and tenth symphonies issued by the Melbourne Symphony on the MSO Live

label, Peter Grimes from the Glyndebourne Festival, Don Giovanni from the Sydney Opera House,

a disc of English music with the Sydney Symphony, and most recently the two Brahms Piano

Concertos with Stephen Hough and the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra.

SIMONE DINNERSTEIN, piano

American pianist Simone Dinnerstein, whose recordings have

continuously topped the classical charts, will release her next Sony

album this February. Entitled Broadway-Lafayette, it features Gershwin’s

Rhapsody in Blue, Ravel’s G Major concerto and The Circle and the Child,

a new concerto written for her by American composer Philip Lasser,

all recorded with the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra under

Kristjan Järvi. Highlights of this season include recitals across the USA

including Wolf Trap, Princeton’s McCarter Theatre, Portland Piano International, and Seattle’s

UW World Series as well as debuts with the Fort Worth and Nashville Symphony Orchestras.

Her international engagements this season include a tour of Germany with Bach Collegium

Munich, a performance at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, and debuts with the Jerusalem Symphony

and Turino’s Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI. Dedicated to her community, in 2009

Dinnerstein founded Neighborhood Classics, a concert series that raises funds for New York City

public schools. Simone Dinnerstein lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is managed by IMG Artists

and is a Sony Classical artist.

For more information, please visit simonedinnerstein.com.

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MASTERWORKS BIOGRAPHIES

YUMI HWANGWILLIAMS, violin

Yumi Hwang-Williams made her debut at the age of 15 as a soloist with the

Philadelphia Orchestra, six years after having emigrated from South Korea.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, her exceptional musicianship

has earned her a reputation as an artist who, in addition to her thoughtful

and stylish interpretations of the classics, is known for her commitment

to exploring and performing the works of contemporary composers.

Featured in a Strings magazine cover article in 2008, she was described

as a “Modern Prometheus” who has “emerged as a fiery champion of contemporary classical

music.” Her interpretations of works by Aaron Jay Kernis, Michael Daugherty and Christopher

Rouse have earned unreserved approval from the composers as well as critical acclaim. She

has performed Korean composer Isang Yun’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Basel Symphony

Orchestra, Switzerland under the baton of Dennis Russell Davies who immediately invited her

to play the concerto again with the Bruckner Orchester, in Linz, Austria in October 2009. Yumi

Hwang-Williams has served as Concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony since 2000. She is also

Concertmaster of the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, has performed as Guest Concertmaster for the

National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa, at the invitation of Music Director Pinchas Zukerman,

and has been Guest First Violinist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She is a faculty member of the

Lamont School of Music, University of Denver.

BROOK FERGUSON, flute

Hailed by The Washington Post as “brilliantly virtuosic,” flutist Brook

Ferguson is a versatile solo and orchestral artist. The Miami Herald praised

Ferguson’s performance of Carl Nielsen’s Concerto for Flute with the New

World Symphony as “soaring, fraught with emotion, possessing sterling

technique with pure tone, showing herself fully in synch with Nielsen’s

enigmatic world, putting across the playfulness, passing shadows and

sheer strangeness of this music with strong impact.” Ferguson was

appointed Principal Flutist of the Colorado Symphony in 2010 and has appeared as Principal

Flutist of the innovative River Oaks Chamber Orchestra since 2012. Previously, she completed a

three-year fellowship with the New World Symphony, where she had the privilege of working

with Michael Tilson Thomas and many other great musicians and conductors. She has made

Principal appearances with the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony and the

Pittsburgh Symphony. Prior to her appointment with the New World Symphony, Ferguson was

the Acting Principal Flutist of the Knoxville Symphony and the Principal Flutist of the Delaware

Symphony Orchestra. Ferguson received her Master of Music from Carnegie Mellon University

as a student of Jeanne Baxtresser and Alberto Almarza and her Bachelor of Music and Graduate

Performance Diploma from the Peabody Institute studying with the Marina Piccinini. Other

important teachers and influences are Doriot Anthony Dwyer, Paula Robison and Mark Sparks.


MASTERWORKSMASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES

J.S. BACH: Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050

Scored for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord, and strings. Duration 21 minutes. Last performance was

on April 1-3, 1999, with Marin Alsop conducting and soloists Pamela Endsley, flute; Yumi Hwang-

Williams, violin; and Kenneth Cooper, harpsichord.

One of the signal achievements of the music of the Baroque era was inauguration of the

concerto. The fundamental principle of the genre is the contrasting of a soloist, a group of

soloists, or even two or more groups of musicians with each other during the course of a

composition. Almost every significant composer of the time composed them, but none reached

the zenith of achievement in the genre as did J. S. Bach in his six Brandenburg Concertos late

in the style period. From 1717 until 1723 he was in the employ of Prince Leopold of Cöthen,

a small court in eastern Germany. The Brandenburg Concertos stem from this time: the full

score in Bach’s hand bears the date of 24 March 1721, but it is probable that simply marks the

completion of the set; he certainly had been working on them over a period of time. They bear

the title “Brandenburg Concertos” owing to their dedication to the Margrave of Brandenburg,

Christian Ludwig. Bach had played before him earlier in Berlin and the concertos were the

result of an invitation to provide some works for the Margrave. Nothing came of it—no money,

no thanks, not even a by your leave. But the Margrave’s loss is posterity’s gain.

Bach’s soaring imagination comes to the fore in the Brandenburg Concertos in many ways,

not the least of which is his striking use of a variety of instruments in various combinations. In

addition to the normal body of strings that is familiar, we encounter trumpet, recorders, French

horns, oboes, flute, violino piccolo, violas, violas da gamba, and harpsichord. The combination

of flute, violin, and keyboard was a common chamber ensemble during Bach’s time, and in No.

5 he uses that combination as his solo group, accompanied by a small orchestra (the ripieno).

This is the first composition of his oeuvre wherein Bach calls for the transverse flute, so familiar

today, and not the recorder. The soloists are supported by an omnipresent pair, consisting of a

keyboard and a bass instrument, the continuo—a group whose importance in Baroque music

one wag once compared to the “ . . . presence of the Holy Spirit—subtle, and conspicuous only in

Its absence.”

As with most Baroque music, prepare for long phrases, literally “spun out,” as the faster

sections take their time to reach a pause. Melodies tend toward short motives that often “chug”

along in a relentless motoric, but charming fashion. Economy of means is an artistic virtue—

making the most of little—and Bach was the master of it. The slow movements, while still

exhibiting the long phrases of the faster ones, generally fashion their melodies, not out of short

incisive motives, but seemingly as long-breathed instrumental “operatic arias.” The Italian vocal

influence is unmistakable here, and again, it is one of Bach’s defining traits.

The first movement opens with the recurring “main theme” played by all, followed by

sections that feature the soloists—alone and answering back and forth between each other

with contrasting material. From time to time the ripieno will return with the familiar opening

theme. While the parts for the solo violin and flute are certainly of great merit, it is the role

of the keyboard that is renowned in the first movement. Finally, the keyboard player gets to


MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES

step to the front of the stage! In contradistinction to that instrument’s part in all of the other

Brandenburg Concertos, in this movement it is not a “backup” instrument, but a real soloist.

Usually, in the somewhat “jazz rhythm section” tradition of the era, the keyboard player literally

improvised his own part according to the indicated chords. Now, however, Bach has written

out a true virtuosic part. While sounding somewhat like an improvised cadenza, it is in fact

a remarkable, composed solo passage that reflects the composer’s own stunning executant

ability. A return of the ripieno with the opening material closes out the movement.

The slow, middle movement features only the three soloists. The last movement is a sprightly

jig that is quickly joined by the ripieno. Here, as in all Baroque music, there is no question of

a “development” of musical ideas that we find in later eras, but rather, a charming alternation

of a familiar returning idea, contrasted with an ever-new succession of fresh ideas. Not unlike

dolphins happily swapping jumps and dives in the front of a ship, the soloists and ripieno careen

to the end.

o

ANTON BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major, “Romantic”

1888 3rd version; Benjamin Korstvedt, editor.

Scored for 3 flutes, pairs of oboes, clarinets, and bassoons; 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba,

timpani, percussion, and strings. Duration is 64 minutes. Last performed on April 1 & 2, 2007, with

Peter Oundjian on the podium.

It’s common musicological coin to observe that there is little in the life and personality

of Anton Bruckner that informs our understanding and appreciation of his music. While he

composed a large body of significant sacred vocal music, it is his nine symphonies (the last not

completed) that have established his importance as a major composer of the late nineteenth

century. His is the story of a provincial man of extremely modest origins, of little early genius,

and who endured decades of obscurity. And yet, despite inordinately long years of assiduous

study and an innate obsequiousness, his patience gradually yielded widespread recognition of

his talents and creations in early old age.

Even at the end of his active career, when he held a prestigious position teaching music

theory at the Vienna Conservatory, he remained a curious rustic, simple in his eccentric ways,

and naïve in the ways of the world. Many musical notables of his time could not restrain from

ridiculing his peasant ways, his remarkable penchant for seeking hopeless relations with

teenage girls, his bouts with obsessive counting of everything—including leaves on trees—and

a bizarre fascination with the dead. That’s certainly burden enough on one’s chances of artistic

success in the elegant, intellectual world of nineteenth-century Vienna, and yet Bruckner’s

symphonies have come to assume an essential position in the development of that genre in late

Romantic musical style. Though unique, they are nonetheless a link in the chain of evolution


MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTESof the Austro-German symphonic tradition--from Beethoven and Schubert through to Gustav

Mahler. While laboring in obscurity as a village schoolmaster, music teacher, and organist,

his assiduous musical studies—right into his forties—gradually enabled him to develop a

remarkable personal vision of symphonic form, texture, and psychological content.

His works are (in)famously long, repetitious, frequently really loud, often dense in texture,

heavy with the brass, make frequent use of a rather rare rhythmic figure (more on this

later), teeming with contrapuntal motifs, and often seem static in the absence of a sense of

development and forward motion. But—these traits are not fatal, or even criticisms. They are

an essential part of magnificent sound structures whose mystical, euphonious—and often

recondite---nature unfolds at a leisurely pace, the musical logic of which often eludes one until

the end.

He was a master of harmony and counterpoint, owing not only to his long years as a church

organist and respected improviser on that instrument, but also to his detailed study of the

subject, finally succeeding his famous teacher in Vienna at the Conservatory. His mastery of

the richness of late-Romantic harmony often yields startling juxtapositions of chords and keys,

unprepared dissonances, and advanced sonorities, but those are necessary elements of his

pushing the musical boundaries of the time. He crafted new and involved systems of phrase

structure and metrical analysis, and altered ways in which musical “landmarks” appear as his

movements unfold. That’s a lot, no doubt, and accounts for much of the “Bruckner sound” for

the listener.

Yet, notwithstanding all of these particular contributions to the development of the

symphony, there is so much of the familiar in his approach. His works are in the conventional

four movements, with variants of sonata form flanking the usual interior slow and scherzo/

trio movements. The orchestral instruments are the usual for the time, except in the last three

symphonies, which bring in Wagnerian tubas as reinforcement for the horn section. Unlike his

successor and admirer, Gustav Mahler, he felt no existential need to incorporate the human

voice, birdcalls, maudlin village bands, bundles of switches, mandolins, cowbells, and other

novelties in the search for personal expression. In general, while much has been previously

made of his admiration for Wagner and that musical style—it is generally clear to most, now,

that his fundamental orientation is to the tradition of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. He

simply pushed the conventions of the symphony much further than did, say, Brahms. Given the

constant revisions that he and his associates made to his symphonies, the many manuscript and

printed versions, and even the two major collected scholarly editions of his oeuvre, there are

multiple versions of all of them. His Fourth Symphony exists in at least three major versions. The

one that will be performed here is basically the “third” version from 1888—in yet a new edition,

based upon the latest scholarship. While the “second” version saw far more performances in the

last halfcentury or so, the “third” is enjoying a renaissance.

The first movement begins with a typical Bruckner trait: a shimmering “halo” of strings from

which mist the signature horn theme appears. The horn, of course, is the most “romantic”

of instruments, and its choice here is not fortuitous—Bruckner’s adroit scoring imaginatively

evokes the antique, and the instrument’s sound comes almost to dominate the whole work.



As a conservative composer Bruckner did not plaster descriptive terms or programs to his

works, but the Fourth Symphony is an exception, hence the moniker, “Romantic”-–in the sense

of a medieval tale. He left behind several versions of the vague programmatic elements that

underlay this work, and the idea of a brass instrument sounding the dawn from high in a tower

is our inspiration here. At a leisurely pace the idea grows, replete with intimations of nature

awakening and knights riding out on “proud steeds.” Finally, a huge orchestral swell leads from

this tranquility to the advent of the heavy brass with the central theme of the movement, in

his famous 2+3 rhythm. After an exploration of this stentorian idea, contrasting, lighter themes

eventually arrive, redolent of graceful Austrian dances reminiscent of Schubert—replete, here,

with the composer’s penchant for abrupt forays into distant keys. Soft, spooky, woodwind solos;

quiet textures over rolling timpani; exuberant outbursts from the brass; and the opening horn

motif are woven throughout the development, ending with a glorious brass chorale filling the

hall. Bruckner is known for his innovations in musical architecture, and the recap is typical. It

is not a literal recapitulation of the opening section, but takes its time to explore the material

further, and not in a way that implies a looming close. Rather, his extensive coda ultimately

gives the ear the harmonic signs that we have, at last, reached the denouement—signaled by

dynamic unison horns proclaiming the opening motif. Like his idol, Wagner, Bruckner takes his

time.

Bruckner’s slow movements are usually audience favorites, and this one is a particularly

charming one, starting with a doleful tune over a “walking” bass. Later, a contrasting section

offers a soft chorale. Moods and ideas alternate, including some cheerful moments, but

Bruckner being Bruckner, this meditative interlude leads to an inevitable heroic triumph before

the pensive end.

The scherzo and trio is the composer’s new one for the second version of the symphony

from 1878. Deemed a “Jagd” (Hunting) scherzo by the composer, this movement also takes its

programmatic inspiration from the Middle Ages. Unusually, the outer sections are not in the

traditional three-beat meter, but in duple time, and are an absolute tour-de-force for virtuosic

horn display—and all the brass, for that matter. Horses, dogs, deer—and horns--to the fore! The

middle section is a gentle, Schubert-like Austrian Ländler, which Bruckner characterized as a

mid-day repast for the hunters.

The finale, like the previous movement, is a significantly revised one. Opening with a long,

throbbing pedal in the basses, tension builds as the horns and others intone a variant on a

familiar motif that leads into a fortissimo imprecation from the brass of granite-like strength.

Only Bruckner could have written and scored this, but it is certainly suggestive of the Wagner he

adored—shades of Wotan’s Farewell. Soon the contrasting second group arrives, accompanied

by the throbbing of the opening and we’re surrounded by a bucolic Austrian atmosphere. But,

even in these salubrious tunes, listen for the inevitable interjection of the flatted scale step that

has informed so much of this symphony—from beginning to end. It’s difficult to follow the ins

and outs of Bruckner’s creative manipulations of sonata form, here, but the unity of the materials

is palpable, nonetheless. Motifs, scale alterations, and the ubiquitous Bruckner 2+3 rhythm



are all woven together as the finale unfolds at a leisurely pace, constantly shifting in moods.

The long coda finally brings a sense of finality, in a buildup that is a sonic and psychological

marvel. Probably far too much has been averred about the “influence” wrought by Wagner on

his acolyte, Bruckner. But there can be no question but that while the former’s fingerprints are

frequent in the latter’s work, Bruckner borrowed abstemiously and paid back with interest. He

created his own, unique masterpieces, and this work is a noble and distinguished example.

--Wm. E. Runyan

PUCCINI’S TOSCAFEB 13-15 FRI-SAT 7:30 SUN 1:00Andrew Litton, conductor Takesha Meshe Kizart, Tosca Stephen Powell, Scarpia Carl Tanner, Cavaradossi Gabriel Preisser, Angelotti & Jailer James Held, Sacristan Luke Williams, Sciarrone Colorado Symphony Chorus, Duain Wolfe, director Colorado Children’s Chorale, Deborah DeSantis, director Robert Neu, directorPuccini Tosca Semi-staged production

COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG | 303.623.7876 BOX OFFICE MON-FRI 10 AM - 6 PM SAT 12 PM - 6 PMTAKESHA MESHE KIZART

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Going Baroque: Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5

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