Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Ralph Vaughan Williams is one of the great composers of the 20th century and a favorite of this writer. Born in 1872 to a respected English gentry family, Vaughan Williams was well connected to the important movements of his day. Being raised in a progressive family, believing the common people should have more say in how they are governed, he included prominent judges and lawyers as relatives.
He started piano at age five, wrote his first composition shortly after, and then switched to the violin as his instrument of choice. As a teenager, he was sent off to a private academy for higher education. Like his contemporary, CS Lewis, he found the attitudes of upper-class boys elitist and closed minded, and didn’t enjoy his stay.
At the turn of the 20th Century, Vaughan Williams had graduated college, toured Europe, and began the eclectic profession required for musicians: teaching, performing, and composing. It was during this time he met and developed a lifelong professional and personal friendship with the English composer, Gustav Holst (The Planets). Vaughan Williams and Holst played and critiqued each other’s music for the duration of their friendship.
Like Copland, Vaughan Williams was looking at music for the “people”, not just the upper-class sophisticates. He and Holst began to explore and record folk music throughout England. These old English folk tunes inspired some of the greatest of Vaughan Williams’ early successful compositions, including tonight’s selection.
Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 is taken from a set of early works for orchestra. All three of the rhapsodies were based on unique folk tunes from the mostly rural region in eastern England. Premiered in 1906, Vaughan Williams envisioned working all three into a symphony, but withdrew the scores for 2 and 3 after this performance, ostensibly to revise, but then never republished during his lifetime.
Rhapsody No. 1 is a listening lesson in Vaughan Williams’ unique pastoral style. The introduction is a gentle interweaving of two folk songs, "The Captain's Apprentice" and "The Bold Young Sailor". With a delicate opening, almost like a dawn, Vaughan Williams paints a peaceful, country picture, with solo instruments developing the simple tunes, backed by Vaughan Williams’s skillful use of lush string orchestration. The richness grows and there is a build up to an achingly beautiful, full expression, of the tune. This is followed by the main fast movement, employing three songs: "A Basket of Eggs", "On Board a Ninety-eight" and "Ward, the Pirate". After an exciting initial statement, Vaughan Williams juxtaposes two of the tunes to create one of his trademark treatments, two melodies, moving independently, at two different tempos. But rather than being confusing or chaotic, this complexity is satisfying. Fragments are passed and interspersed as Vaughan Williams returns us to the pastoral serenity of the opening. Always melodic, these echoes of the old country resonate with many listeners.
Concerto for Horn and String Orchestra (2011)
Eric Ewazen (b. 1954)
Eric Ewazen is a prolific composer of modern music for all instrumental genres. From Eric’s website:
Eric Ewazen was born in 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio. Receiving a B.M. at the Eastman School of Music, and M.M. and D.M.A. degrees from The Juilliard School, his teachers include Milton Babbitt, Samuel Adler, Warren Benson, Joseph Schwantner and Gunther Schuller. He is a recipient of numerous composition awards and prizes. His works have been commissioned and performed by many soloists, chamber ensembles, and orchestras in the U.S. and overseas. His works are recorded on Summit Records, d'Note Records, CRS Records, New World, Clique Track, Helicon, Hyperion, Cala, Albany and Emi Classics.
He has been lecturer for the New York Philharmonic's Musical Encounters Series, Vice-President of the League of Composers-International Society of Contemporary Music, and Composer-In-Residence with the Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York City. He has been a faculty member at Juilliard since 1980.
Concerto for Horn and String Orchestra was commissioned by and dedicated to Greg Hustis, principal horn of the Dallas Symphony, who premiered the work with Voices of Change. The work is a brilliant, virtuosic showpiece for the horn, with riveting, energetic outer movements surrounding an appassionato, lyric middle movement.
1st movement
This opening movement is very energetic, almost heroic in nature. Quickly, it becomes obvious this is about showcasing great Horn playing. The performance is demanding, but still accessible melodically, which is wonderful for the listener. The movement progresses through a series of moods, still energetic and exciting in nature to its conclusion.
2nd movement
This movement begins with a totally different mood. A lyrical theme is introduced, reminiscent of a beautiful, historical film score. This section introduces the melodic ability of the horn to carry a very different kind of mood than the heroic opening movement. Playing here requires the soloist to cover great range with sensitivity and expression.
3rd movement
Returning to the energy of the first movement, we are now shown the great flexibility and technique of the soloist. Echoing treatments of Copland or John Williams, this movement is instantly engaging, sounding almost like a score for a Western classic! Heroic and tension alternate with each other.
Symphony No. 5 (1888)
Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
For many of us, Tchaikovsky is synonymous with classical music. Many of our earliest memories of orchestral melodies are probably his. Between his major symphonic works, concertos, and ballets, almost all of us have experienced the beauty of a Tchaikovsky melody.
Born in 1840 to a Russian middle-class family, young Peter was a sensitive, but insistent child. Never wanting to be left out, he attended school lessons with his older siblings. Imperial Russia was a hierarchical society, and Tchaikovsky’s “class” opened doors to state run schools that trained young gentry children for civil service jobs. But, Peter had a very early interest in music, too. His ability was apparent but his father insisted he train for a different profession, so off to a training school for civil servants he went. While at these schools, Tchaikovsky entertained others with his piano and compositional skills, and later applied for, and was admitted to, the new St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music, which he graduated from in 1865.
In Russia at this time there was a type of musical culture war, and the Conservatory represented the mainstream European traditions. Contrasting this was a growing nationalist school of thought with a focus on native Russian idioms, tunes, and modalities. Tchaikovsky was encouraged to join the likes of Borodin, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov, but chose to stay within the well-defined European traditions of the Conservatory. This caused the usual public artistic debates with peers, but ultimately, it was Tchaikovsky who–while incorporating Russian themes–opened doors for Russian music around the world.
Tonight’s major work on the program is Tchaikovsky’s 5th symphony, premiered in St. Petersburg in 1888. While his 4th Symphony was universally accepted, critics initially gave mixed reviews on the 5th. Like critics of today, some enjoyed being downright mean, and this meanness was a source of pain for him. But, the true test of quality is time. Over time, audiences have insisted the 5th Symphony join Tchaikovsky’s other beloved works in our ears and hearts.
I. Andante – Allegro con anima
The symphony opens with a slow introductory melody presented by the clarinets that represents “fate”. This theme becomes a unifying factor and returns in different iterations throughout the entire symphony. Here, it is melancholy, presented in the minor mode and representing “complete resignation before fate.” The main theme of the first movement then appears, lively and happy, but with a sense of foreboding that can’t seem to be shaken. Next we have a beautiful, yearning melody that Tchaikovsky writes so well, and then a souring, inspiring melody before the drama begins. As the movement draws to a close, the falling bass line evokes a funeral-march quality while the opening melody seems to reduce little by little into nothing.
II. Andante cantabile
The second movement opens with the rich sounds of Tchaikovsky, setting up a famously beautiful French horn solo that introduces the movement’s first theme. This later becomes a duet with oboe as the theme is developed, which evolves through the orchestra. These represent a tragic love story, and use many similar devices as his overture to Romeo and Juliet. The love story is twice interrupted by the blaring “Fate” motive, and after the second time the movement mournfully comes to a close with sobbing descending lines.
III. Valse
The third movement of a symphony is traditionally a dance–either a minuet or a scherzo–but Tchaikovsky chose a waltz instead. Here we have two beautiful waltzes, and you can hear Tchaikovsky’s love for ballet and his masterful writing for the genre. Following the two waltzes, the bassoon enters with an unstable, almost drunken melody that stumbles away and leads to the skittering trio. This continues until the oboe returns with the initial waltz over the top of the strings as they are still going, and eventually the whole orchestra is back into the waltz. The fate motive briefly returns towards the end, but this time its presence, while still foreboding, seems a little more distant and less menacing than before.
IV. Finale
The finale opens with the return of the fate theme, but this time it uses a major key and feels more like a march. It hints at victory, but the harmonies aren’t quite right and eventually we slip back into E Minor. Indeed, rather than the entire fourth movement signifying victory, we see the final struggle playout here between the dark and the triumphant. A brief chorale brings the fate theme to a close, and with a sense of hopelessness the music disintegrates to just three notes. However, those three notes form the basis for an exciting new theme. The struggle continues and eventually, the darkness is subdued and we hear a triumphant return of the fate theme, this time truly in E major and with trumpet fanfares that evoke a victory march. During World War II, this became one of the concert masterpieces that was performed to inspire hope for ultimate victory over the powers of oppression, its most famous moment was a performance during the horrible siege of Leningrad (Tchaikovsky’s beloved St. Petersburg before the Bolshevik dictatorship). The reason is easy to see as the lively theme that disappeared in sorrow at the end of the first movement makes a triumphant return to bring the piece to a close in a breathless finale.
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