Program Notes - Mostly Mozart

Transcription

The Program
Tuesday and Wednesday Evenings, August 11–12, 2015, at 6:30
Pre-concert Recital
Charlie Albright, Piano
BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor (“Moonlight”) (1801)
Adagio sostenuto
Allegretto
Presto agitato
CHOPIN Four Etudes, Op. 25 (1835–37)
Etude
Etude
Etude
Etude
No.
No.
No.
No.
1 in A-flat major
7 in C-sharp minor
11 in A minor
12 in C minor
Please make certain all your electronic devices are switched off.
These performances are made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center.
Steinway Piano
Avery Fisher Hall
Notes on the Program
Mostly Mozart Festival I Notes on the Program
By David Wright
Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (“Moonlight”) (1801)
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Born December 16, 1770, in Bonn, Germany
Died March 26, 1827, in Vienna
Approximate length:13 minutes
Both of the piano sonatas that comprise Op. 27 startled listeners by beginning with a slow movement, keeping the character of the rest of the work
hidden. By obliging listeners to experience the present moment rather than
following a clearly indicated musical argument, Beethoven anticipated the
most vital large-scale piano works of the Romantic era. In return, posterity
bestowed the most Romantic of nicknames on Op. 27, No. 2: “Moonlight.”
The poet Ludwig Rellstab first compared the opening movement in 1835 to
“a boat visiting, by moonlight, a primitive landscape.” For sheer driving force,
the concluding Presto agitato has no precedent and only a few successors.
Remarkably, its seething rage is channeled into an orderly sonata form, complete
with contrasting themes, development, and coda.
Four Etudes, Op. 25 (1835–37)
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN
Born March 1, 1810, in Zelazowa Wola, Poland
Died October 17, 1849, in Paris
It was through his 12 Etudes, Op. 10, that the 20-year-old Chopin, then known
as a composer of pleasant dances and virtuoso vehicles, first revealed his
genius. His Op. 25 developed the art and science of piano performance further still. The unprecedented harmonies of these pieces seem to grow out
of the keyboard figurations themselves, as if in the act of stretching what his
fingers could do, Chopin were extending the language of music as well.
The nickname “Aeolian Harp” for Op. 25, No. 1 in A-flat major originated as
Schumann’s description of the delicate arpeggios that seem to hover,
shimmering, in mid-air; meanwhile, the fifth finger (the weakest of the five)
must sing its melody in a full-bodied cantabile. Inspired by Chopin’s love of
opera, No. 7 in C-sharp minor is a dramatic duet, combining a melancholy
melody in the right hand and a restless, impassioned one in the left. The
swashbuckling No. 11 in A minor is known as the “Winter Wind” for the way
Chopin’s right hand turns a simple wrist-rotation figure into a keening, roaring
storm. Technically, No. 12 in C minor is an exercise in rapidly opening and closing
the hands in arpeggios; imaginatively, it depicts a scene of such elemental power
and rhythm that its traditional nickname, the “Ocean” Etude, is well earned.
—Copyright © 2015 by David Wright
The Program
Tuesday and Wednesday Evenings, August 11–12, 2015, at 7:30
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra
Louis Langrée, Conductor
Matthias Goerne, Baritone
MOZART Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K.183 (1773)
Allegro con brio
Andante
Menuetto and Trio
Allegro
BACH Ich habe genug, Cantata BWV 82 (1727)
Aria: Ich habe genug
Recitative: Ich habe genug. Mein Trost ist nur allein
Aria: Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen
Recitative: Mein Gott! wenn kömmt das schöne: Nun!
Aria: Ich freue mich auf meinen Tod
RANDALL ELLIS, Oboe
Intermission
SCHUBERT An Silvia (1826) (orch. Schmalcz)
Alinde (1827) (orch. Schmalcz)
Erlkönig (1815) (orch. Reger)
MOZART Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K.550 (1788)
Molto allegro
Andante
Menuetto: Allegretto
Allegro assai
Please make certain all your electronic devices are switched off.
These performances are made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center.
Avery Fisher Hall
Mostly Mozart Festival
The Mostly Mozart Festival is made possible by Sarah Billinghurst Solomon and Howard Solomon,
Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser, Chris and Bruce Crawford, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels
Foundation, Inc., Charles E. Culpeper Foundation, S.H. and Helen R. Scheuer Family Foundation,
and Friends of Mostly Mozart.
Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.
Artist Catering provided by Zabar’s and zabars.com
MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center
United Airlines is a Supporter of Lincoln Center
WABC-TV is a Supporter of Lincoln Center
“Summer at Lincoln Center” is supported by Diet Pepsi
Time Out New York is a Media Partner of Summer at Lincoln Center
UPCOMING MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL EVENTS:
Thursday Evening, August 13, at 7:30 in the David H. Koch Theater
Saturday Afternoon, August 15, at 3:00 in the David H. Koch Theater
Written on Skin (U.S. stage premiere)
George Benjamin, Composer
Martin Crimp, Text
Mahler Chamber Orchestra M|M
Alan Gilbert, Conductor M|M
Christopher Purves, The Protector M|M
Barbara Hannigan, Agnès M|M
Tim Mead, Angel 1/Boy M|M
Victoria Simmonds, Angel 2/Marie M|M
Robert Murray, Angel 3/John M|M
Katie Mitchell, Director
Sung in English with English supertitles
Presented in collaboration with the New York Philharmonic
Written on Skin is a production of the Aix-en-Provence Festival, in co-production with the Nederlandse
Opera, Amsterdam, Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, and The Royal Opera, London.
Used by arrangement with European American Music Distributors Company, U.S. and Canadian agent
for Faber Music Ltd., London, publisher and copyright owner
Thursday Night, August 13, at 10:00 in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse
A Little Night Music
International Contemporary Ensemble
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Pianos
ALL–DAI FUJIKURA PROGRAM
flicker; Calling; halcyon; Returning; Sakana; The Voice; Glacier; Breathless
M|M
Mostly Mozart debut
For tickets, call (212) 721-6500 or visit MostlyMozart.org. Call the Lincoln Center Info Request Line at
(212) 875-5766 to learn about program cancellations or request a Mostly Mozart brochure.
Visit MostlyMozart.org for full festival listings.
Join the conversation: #LCMozart
We would like to remind you that the sound of coughing and rustling paper might distract the
performers and your fellow audience members.
In consideration of the performing artists and members of the audience, those who must
leave before the end of the performance are asked to do so between pieces. The taking of
photographs and the use of recording equipment are not allowed in the building.
Welcome to Mostly Mozart
I am pleased to welcome you to the 49th Mostly Mozart Festival, our annual
celebration of the innovative and inspiring spirit of our namesake composer.
This summer, in addition to a stellar roster of guest conductors and soloists,
we are joined by composer-in-residence George Benjamin, a leading
contemporary voice whose celebrated opera Written on Skin makes its U.S.
stage premiere.
This landmark event continues our tradition of hearing Mozart afresh in the
context of the great music of our time. Under the inspired baton of Renée and
Robert Belfer Music Director Louis Langrée, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra
delights this year with the Classical repertoire that is its specialty, in addition to
Beethoven’s joyous Seventh Symphony and Haydn’s triumphant Creation.
Guest appearances include maestro Cornelius Meister making his New York
debut; Edward Gardner, who also leads the Academy of Ancient Music in a
Mendelssohn program on period instruments; and Andrew Manze with violinist Joshua Bell in an evening of Bach, Mozart, and Schumann. Other preeminent soloists include Emanuel Ax, Matthias Goerne, and festival newcomers
Sol Gabetta and Alina Ibragimova, who also perform intimate recitals in our
expanded Little Night Music series. And don’t miss returning favorite Emerson
String Quartet and the International Contemporary Ensemble, our artists-inresidence, as well as invigorating pre-concert recitals and lectures, a panel
discussion, and a film on Haydn.
With so much to choose from, we invite you to make the most of this rich and
splendid festival. I look forward to seeing you often.
Jane Moss
Ehrenkranz Artistic Director
Snapshot
By David Wright
Of Mozart’s 41 symphonies, only two are in a minor key, and both are in G
minor—the key to which Mozart confided his darkest, most turbulent emotions.
The Symphony No. 25, while less often heard than No. 40, is an arresting
early work, ablaze with Italianate fire à la Vivaldi. The 17-year-old composer
summoned such Sturm und Drang in this symphony’s first movement that
the director Miloš Forman chose it to accompany the snowstorm and
attempted suicide scene that began his Oscar-winning 1984 film Amadeus.
Fourteen years later, Mozart’s exploration of G minor expanded in his
Symphony No. 40, the suave yet melancholy middle sibling of his great
symphonic trilogy of 1788. By pushing chaos and dissonance to the limit
for a symphony composed in the 18th century, Mozart assured that this
work would be a favorite in the Romantic era, when much of his other
music was being ignored.
Between these two dark masterpieces, this program examines death and
dissolution from a more hopeful angle in Bach’s Cantata BWV 82, “Ich habe
genug.” Yet even here, the insightful composer has set his cheerfully pious,
death-welcoming texts to music that aches with the sadness of leave-taking.
Afflicted with a mortal illness for much of his adult life, Schubert was wellacquainted with death and met his own end at just age 31. While many of
his over 600 songs celebrate life—as in “An Silvia,” his Shakespearean ode
to a pretty woman—others, like “Alinde,” seem to view daily life from a
place apart. The galloping melodrama of “Erlkönig” depicts the futility of trying
to escape death in vivid allegory.
Notes on the Program
By David Wright
Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K.183 (1773)
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Born January 27, 1756, in Salzburg
Died December 5, 1791, in Vienna
Approximate length: 24 minutes
The custom of calling Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 the “Little
G minor” to distinguish it from Symphony No. 40 is regrettable,
since this turbulent music could hardly have seemed “little” to its
first audience in Salzburg in 1773. In fact, confronted with Mozart’s
first minor-key symphony and an intensity of expression without
precedent in the previous 24, musicologists have suggested some
unknown personal crisis or the influence of Haydn’s Sturm und
Drang style as explanations. One might ask, however, what redblooded 17-year-old wouldn’t want to write something full of passion
and angst?
The symphony’s throbbing, ominous opening may make Mozart fans
recall the fateful last scene of Don Giovanni. The movement forges
ahead with a power that can sound either fatalistic or exuberantly
athletic, depending on the performance and the listener’s own
mood. Mozart saves true pathos for the Andante, with its warm
E-flat major tonality contradicted by the deep sighs of its falling
phrases. In contrast, the composer remains cool in the stately
minuet, offering finely polished orchestral dialogue for the listener’s
delectation and a humorous village band in the trio. The finale
resembles the first movement in theme and treatment: the strings
mutter ominously in unison, introducing the single theme that will
dominate the movement down to its strong, terse conclusion.
Ich habe genug, Cantata BWV 82 (1727)
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Born March 21, 1685, in Eisenach, Germany
Died July 28, 1750, in Leipzig
Bach’s Cantata BWV 82, composed in 1727 for the feast of the
Purification of the Virgin Mary, opens with a curious aria in which the
radiant, confident piety of the text is matched with a plaintive
oboe melody, sighing phrases, descending bass, biting Neapolitan
harmonies, and other trappings of loss and death. This, it appears,
is Bach the dramatist at work, opening this small spiritual “opera”
with the conflict between our beliefs and our visceral feelings about
death. It is a striking musical gloss on the cantata’s biblical text,
adapted by an unknown author from Luke 2:22–32, in which Simeon, seeing
the child Jesus in the temple, prays: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart
in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation...”
The spirit of Simeon is more audible in the first recitative, where the mood
brightens to one of hope and yearning, and in the broad aria “Schlummert ein,
ihr matten Augen,” with its two da capo returns of the lovely main melody. As
gentle and tender as this music is, the steady pulse of the bass moves it
along, evoking the stoutly set line “Welt, ich bleib nicht mehr hier” (World, I
will tarry here no more). There is a moment of agitation before the farewell in
the second recitative, but the final aria resolves all; in fact, resolute is the word
for this energetic, dancing conclusion, with its virtuoso leaps and trills and its
stunning final C-major chord.
Ich habe genug
It is enough
Aria
Ich habe genug,
Ich habe den Heiland, das Hoffen
der Frommen
Auf meine begierigen Arme
genommen;
Ich habe genug!
Ich hab ihn erblickt,
Mein Glaube hat Jesum ans Herze
gedrückt;
Nun wünsch ich, noch heute mit
Freuden
Von hinnen zu scheiden.
It is enough.
I have taken the Savior, the hope of
the pious,
into my eager arms;
it is enough!
I have glimpsed him,
my faith has clasped Jesus to its
heart;
now I wish, this very day, to
depart
from here in joy.
Recitative
Ich habe genug.
Mein Trost ist nur allein,
Daß Jesus mein und ich sein eigen
möchte sein.
Im Glauben halt ich ihn,
Da seh ich auch mit Simeon
Die Freude jenes Lebens schon.
Laßt uns mit diesem Manne ziehn!
Ach! möchte mich von meines
Leibes Ketten
Der Herr erretten;
Ach! wäre doch mein Abschied hier,
It is enough.
My only comfort is
that Jesus is mine and that I shall be
his.
I hold him in faith,
and already see with Simeon
the bliss of the life beyond.
Let us go with him!
Ah! if the Lord would free me
from the fetters of this life.
Ah! if only my departure were at
hand,
Mostly Mozart Festival I Texts and Translations
Mit Freuden sagt ich, Welt, zu dir:
Ich habe genug.
I would joyfully say to the world:
It is enough.
Aria
Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen,
Fallet sanft und selig zu!
Welt, ich bleibe nicht mehr hier,
Hab ich doch kein Teil an dir,
Das der Seele könnte taugen.
Hier muß ich das Elend bauen,
Aber dort, dort werd ich schauen
Süßen Frieden, stille Ruh.
Slumber now, weary eyes,
gently close in blessed peace!
World, I will tarry here no more,
for thou impartest to me nothing
of benefit to my soul.
Here I find only misery,
but there, there I shall behold
sweet peace, quiet rest.
Recitative
Mein Gott! wenn kömmt das
schöne: Nun!
Da ich im Friede fahren werde
Und in dem Sande kühler Erde
Und dort bei dir im Schoße ruhn?
Der Abschied ist gemacht,
Welt, gute Nacht!
My God! When will the beautiful
“Now!” come,
when I shall depart in peace
and rest in the cool earth
and there sleep in thy bosom?
My leave is taken;
world, good night!
Aria
Ich freue mich auf meinen Tod,
Ach! hätt er sich schon
eingefunden.
Da entkomm ich aller Not,
Die mich noch auf der Welt
gebunden.
With joy I await my death;
ah! if only it were already come.
For then I shall escape all the woe
that still afflicts me here on earth.
An Silvia, D.891 (1826)
Alinde, D.904 (1827)
Erlkönig, D.328 (1815)
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Born January 31, 1797, in Vienna
Died November 19, 1828, in Vienna
ALEXANDER SCHMALCZ
Born July 4, 1969, in Weimar, Germany
MAX REGER
Born March 19, 1873 in Brand, near Bayreuth, Germany
Died May 11, 1916 in Leipzig
During his heartbreakingly short life, Schubert made indelible contributions to
the repertory of symphony orchestras, choruses, chamber groups, and pianists;
however, these works—many of them lengthy, ambitious, and psychologically
probing—had to wait over a century to receive the recognition they deserved.
At the time of Schubert’s death at age 31, even his warmest friends and
admirers believed that only his songs would survive him. Though they were
wrong about his other works, they were right about the special character of
his songs, although they could hardly have foreseen how the passage of time
would only add to the luster of these miniature masterpieces.
Schubert composed songs constantly, turning out over 600 of them in a
decade and a half; they are, in many ways, the proving ground for his musical
ideas, which appear still white-hot from the furnace of inspiration before
being incorporated in his larger works. For their melodic and harmonic wealth,
intensity of expression, and deep insight into their poetic texts, Schubert’s
songs are the highest peak in the great tradition of the German lied.
This program’s selection of three songs suggests the immensity of
Schubert’s range of expression, from the elegant praise song “An Silvia”
(translated from Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona) to the moonlit
reverie of “Alinde” and finally the harrowing setting of Goethe’s dramatic ballad
“Erlkönig.” The original piano parts have been orchestrated by Alexander
Schmalcz (the first two) and Max Reger (the last).
An Silvia
Trans.: Eduard von Bauernfeld
To Silvia
Original Text: William Shakespeare
Was ist Silvia, saget an,
Daß sie die weite Flur preist?
Schön und zart seh ich sie nahn,
Auf Himmelsgunst und Spur weist,
Daß ihr alles untertan.
Who is Silvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admirèd be.
Ist sie schön und gut dazu?
Reiz labt wie milde Kindheit;
Ihrem Aug eilt Amor zu,
Dort heilt er seine Blindheit,
Und verweilt in süßer Ruh.
Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness.
Love doth to her eyes repair,
To help him of his blindness,
And, being help’d, inhabits there.
Darum Silvia, tön, o Sang,
Der holden Silvia Ehren;
Jeden Reiz besiegt sie lang,
Den Erde kann gewähren:
Kränze ihr und Saitenklang!
Then to Silvia let us sing,
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling:
To her let us garlands bring.
Alinde
Text: Johann Friedrich Rochlitz
Alinda
Trans.: Richard Wigmore
Die Sonne sinkt ins tiefe Meer,
Da wollte sie kommen.
Geruhig trabt der Schnitter einher,
Mir ist’s beklommen.
The sun sinks into the deep ocean,
she was due to come.
Calmly the reaper walks by.
My heart is heavy.
Hast, Schnitter, mein Liebchen
nicht gesehn?
Alinde, Alinde!
“Zu Weib und Kindern muß ich gehn,
Kann nicht nach andern Dirnen sehn;
Sie warten mein unter der Linde.”
Reaper, have you not seen my love?
Alinda! Alinda!
“I must go to my wife and children,
I cannot look for other girls.
They are waiting for me beneath the
linden tree.”
Der Mond betritt die Himmelsbahn,
Noch will sie nicht kommen.
Dort legt ein Fischer das Fahrzeug an,
The moon entered its heavenly course,
she still does not come.
There a fisherman lands his boat.
My heart is heavy.
Hast, Fischer, mein Liebchen nicht
gesehn?
Alinde, Alinde!
“Muß suchen wie mir die Reusen
stehn,
Fisherman, have you not seen my
love?
Alinda! Alinda!
“I must see how my oyster baskets
are,
(Please turn the page quietly.)
Hab nimmer Zeit, nach Jungfern zu
gehn.
Schau, welch einen Fang ich finde.”
I never have time to chase after
girls;
look what a catch I have!”
Die lichten Sterne ziehn herauf,
Dort eilt der Jäger in rüstigem Lauf,
The bright stars appear,
The huntsman rides swiftly along.
My heart is heavy.
Hast, Jäger, mein Liebchen nicht
gesehn?
Alinde, Alinde!
“Muß nach dem bräunlichen
Rehbock gehn.
Hab nimmer Lust nach Mädeln zu
sehn;
Dort schleicht er im Abendwinde.”
Huntsman, have you not seen my
love?
Alinda! Alinda!
“I must go after the brown roebuck,
I never care to look for girls;
there he goes in the evening
breeze!”
In schwarzer Nacht steht hier der Hain,
Von allen Lebend’gen irr’ ich allein,
Bang’ und beklommen.
The grove lies here in blackest night,
I wander alone, away from all mankind,
anxious and troubled.
Dir, Echo, darf ich mein Leid gestehn:
Alinde, Alinde!
“Alinde!” ließ Echo leise
herüberwehn;
Da sah ich sie mir zur Seite stehn:
“Du suchtest so treu, nun finde!”
To you, Echo, I confess my sorrow:
Alinda! Alinda!
“Alinda,” came the soft echo;
then I saw her at my side.
“You searched so faithfully. Now you
find me.”
Erlkönig
Text: Johann Wolfgang Goethe
The Erlking
Trans.: Richard Wigmore
Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und
Wind?
Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;
Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.
Who rides so late through the night
and wind?
It is the father with his child.
He has the boy in his arms;
he holds him safely, he keeps him
warm.
“Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang
dein Gesicht?”—
“Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig
nicht?
Den Erlenkönig mit Kron und
Schweif?”—
“Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif.”—
“My son, why do you hide your
face in fear?”
“Father, can you not see the
Erlking?
The Erlking with his crown and
tail?”
“My son, it is a streak of mist.”
“Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!
Gar schöne Spiele spiel ich mit dir;
Manch bunte Blumen sind an dem
Strand,
Meine Mutter hat manch gülden
Gewand.”
“Sweet child, come with me.
I’ll play wonderful games with you.
Many a pretty flower grows on the
shore;
my mother has many a golden
robe.”
“Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest
du nicht,
Was Erlenkönig mir leise
verspricht?”—
“Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind:
In dürren Blättern säuselt der
Wind.”—
“Father, father, do you not hear
“Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn?
“Won’t you come with me, my fine
lad?
My daughters shall wait upon you;
Meine Töchter sollen dich warten
schön;
Meine Töchter führen den
nächtlichen Reihn
Und wiegen und tanzen und singen
dich ein.”
what the Erlking softly promises
me?”
“Calm, be calm, my child:
the wind is rustling in the withered
leaves.”
my daughters lead the nightly dance,
and will rock you, and dance, and
sing you to sleep.”
“Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst
du nicht dort
Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern
Ort?”—
“Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh es
genau:
Es scheinen die alten Weiden so
grau.”—
“Father, father, can you not see
“Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine
schöne Gestalt;
Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch
ich Gewalt.”
“Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt faßt er
mich an!
Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan!”—
“I love you, your fair form allures me,
Dem Vater grausets, er reitet
geschwind,
Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind,
Erreicht den Hof mit Mühe und Not:
In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.
The father shudders, he rides
swiftly,
he holds the moaning child in his arms;
with one last effort he reaches home;
the child lay dead in his arms.
Erlking’s daughters there in the
darkness?”
“My son, my son, I can see clearly:
it is the old grey willows
gleaming.”
and if you don’t come willingly,
I’ll use force.”
“Father, father, now he’s seizing me,
The Erlking has hurt me!”
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K.550 (1788)
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Mozart composed his last three symphonies—the graceful No. 39, the
passionate No. 40, and the Olympian No. 41 (“Jupiter”)—in an astonishingly brief
six-week period during the summer of 1788. These pieces both encapsulate the
Classical tradition and look forward. What is modern about them is not the
number of players—after Mozart’s time the typical symphony orchestra
would double in size—but the sheer breadth of their conception. Each tells a
single story of epic length, and as a result the work’s center of gravity shifts
toward the finale. In the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, the pathos rarely lets
up, and the last movement is the most frantic and dissonant of all.
The late pianist and musicologist Charles Rosen found “something shockingly
voluptuous” in this work, beginning with the very first bars; instead of the
customary forte entrance for full orchestra, there is the merest murmur of
violas to usher in the sinuous violin theme. Agitation and pathos alternate
throughout the movement, rising to powerful climaxes in the development
section and the brief coda.
After so much tragic drama, it is not surprising that Mozart’s biographer
Alfred Einstein found “divine tranquility” in the Andante; yet the throbbing
dissonances of the first theme, accompanied by chromatic groans from the
cellos, are anything but tranquil.
Mozart dons Brahmsian heavy boots for the Menuetto, bestriding wide
melodic intervals and stomping the syncopations with grim determination. In
the bucolic trio, he displays his special gift for woodwind writing.
“A raging torrent bursts its banks” is how Georges de Saint-Foix described
the final Allegro assai. A torrent it surely is, but it stays within its sonata-form
banks, thereby gaining still more force. After a wild ride in the development,
the recapitulation is colored and extended for still greater intensity as the
music rushes pitilessly to its conclusion.
David Wright, a music critic for Boston Classical Review, has provided program
notes for Lincoln Center series since 1982.
JENNIFER TAYLOR
Meet the Artists
Mostly Mozart Festival I Meet the Artists
Louis Langrée
Louis Langrée, music director of the Mostly Mozart Festival since December
2002, was named Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director in August 2006.
Under his musical leadership, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra has
received extensive critical acclaim, and their performances are an annual
summertime highlight for classical music lovers in New York City.
Mr. Langrée is also music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
and chief conductor of Camerata Salzburg. During the 2015–16 season,
he will conduct the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center as
part of the Great Performers series. At home in Ohio, the ensemble’s performances will include a Brahms festival and three world-premiere concertos for orchestra. Mr. Langrée will also tour Germany with Camerata
Salzburg. His guest engagements include appearances with Gewandhaus
Orchestra of Leipzig and performances of Così fan tutte at the Aix-enProvence Festival.
Mr. Langrée frequently appears as guest conductor with the Berlin and
Vienna Philharmonics, Budapest Festival Orchestra, London Philharmonic
Orchestra, Paris Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra, as well as with
the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment. His opera engagements include appearances with the
Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, La Scala, Opéra Bastille, Royal
Opera House–Covent Garden, and the Vienna State Opera. Mr. Langrée
was appointed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2006 and Chevalier de
l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur in 2014.
Mr. Langrée’s first recording with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra,
released in September 2014, features commissioned works by Nico Muhly
and David Lang, as well as Copland’s Lincoln Portrait narrated by Maya
Angelou. His DVD of Verdi’s La traviata from the Aix-en-Provence Festival
featuring Natalie Dessay and the London Symphony Orchestra was
awarded a Diapason d’Or. His discography also includes recordings on the
Accord, Naïve, Universal, and Virgin Classics labels.
MARCO BORGGREVE
Matthias Goerne
Matthias Goerne has collaborated with leading orchestras all over the world
and appeared on the world’s principal opera stages, including the Royal Opera
House–Covent Garden, Madrid’s Teatro Real, Paris National Opera, Vienna
State Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera. His carefully chosen roles range from
Wolfram, Amfortas, Kurwenal, Wotan, and Orest to the title roles in Berg’s
Wozzeck, Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, and Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler.
Mr. Goerne’s artistry has been documented on numerous recordings, many of
which have received prestigious awards, including four Grammy nominations,
an International Classical Music Award, and recently the Diapason d’Or Arte.
He has recorded a series of selected Schubert on 11 CDs for Harmonia Mundi.
From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Goerne taught as an honorary professor of song interpretation at the Robert Schumann Academy of Music in Düsseldorf. In 2001
he was appointed an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in
London. A native of Weimar, he studied with Hans-Joachim Beyer in Leipzig,
and later with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
Highlights of the 2014–15 season have included a tour with the Vienna
Philharmonic; concerts with the Chicago, Boston, Dallas, and London symphony
orchestras, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Paris Orchestra, and the National
Academy of St. Cecilia Orchestra; and song recitals with Piotr Anderszewski,
Leif Ove Andsnes, and Christoph Eschenbach in London, Vienna, Berlin, and
at Teatro alla Scala. In January 2015 Mr. Goerne made his debut as Wotan in
a concert version of Wagner’s Das Rheingold with the Hong Kong
Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to Mostly Mozart, he has been invited to
prestigious summer festivals in Lucerne, Salzburg, Verbier, Edinburgh,
Tanglewood, and Japan.
Randall Ellis
Randall Ellis attended the North Carolina School of the Arts and the State
University of New York at Stony Brook, where he studied with Ronald
Roseman. He is principal oboist of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and
the Little Orchestra Society; he is also the solo English horn in the New York
Pops. He is the oboist in Windscape Woodwind Quintet, which serves as
artists-in-residence at the Manhattan School of Music. He was principal oboist
of the New York Chamber Symphony and with them received two Grammy
nominations, including one for his recording of Hanson’s Pastorale. He has
performed with the New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, San Diego
Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and the American Symphony Orchestra.
As a guest artist, Mr. Ellis has appeared with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
and has concertized and recorded with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln
Center. He has been a soloist with the New England Bach Festival, the
Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York, and Chamber Music at the 92nd Street Y.
Mr. Ellis has freelanced with the Ensemble Wien-Berlin, Orchestra of St.
Luke’s, the New York Philomusica Chamber Ensemble, and the orchestras of
the Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, and American Ballet Theatre dance companies. He has also appeared on radio and television, including the Today Show,
CBS Sunday Morning, and Live From Lincoln Center. Mr. Ellis has recorded for
EMI/Angel, Columbia, Sony, RCA, Vox, Nonesuch, Pro Arte, Delos, and
Deutsche Grammophon. He teaches oboe and chamber music at Skidmore
College in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Charlie Albright
Critically acclaimed for his virtuosic technique and unique sense of musicality,
Charlie Albright has quickly become one of his generation’s leading pianists.
He was the recipient of the prestigious 2014 Avery Fisher Career Grant and
2010 Gilmore Young Artist Award, as well as the 2014 Ruhr Piano Festival
scholarship. His debut commercial recording, Vivace, has sold thousands of
copies worldwide.
Mr. Albright’s 2015–16 season includes his debut at the Portland Piano
International Recital Series, as well as solo concerts in Detroit, Houston, and
San Antonio. He will also appear with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and
the California and Des Moines Symphonies. Mr. Albright has appeared with
such orchestras as the BBC Concert Orchestra; the Edmonton and Lansing
Symphony Orchestras; the Seattle, San Francisco, Phoenix, Fort Smith, and
Victoria symphonies; the Kymi Sinfonietta; and the Boston Pops
Orchestra. He has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts, the Salle Cortot, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the
Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, and Alice Tully Hall.
Mr. Albright’s numerous awards include first prize at the 2006 Eastman Young
Artists International Piano Competition and third prize at the 2007 Hilton Head
International Piano Competition. He was the first classical pianist accepted
to the Harvard College/New England Conservatory five-year BA/MM joint
program. Mr. Albright graduated with the prestigious artist diploma from
The Juilliard School in 2014, working with Yoheved Kaplinsky. He is a
Steinway Artist.
Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival—America’s first indoor summer
music festival—was launched as an experiment in 1966. Called Midsummer
Serenades: A Mozart Festival, its first two seasons were devoted exclusively to the music of Mozart. Now a New York institution, Mostly Mozart
continues to broaden its focus to include works by Mozart’s predecessors,
contemporaries, and related successors. In addition to concerts by the
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Mostly Mozart now includes concerts by
the world’s outstanding period-instrument ensembles, chamber orchestras
and ensembles, and acclaimed soloists, as well as opera productions,
dance, film, late-night performances, and visual art installations.
Contemporary music has become an essential part of the festival, embodied
in annual artists-in-residence, including Osvaldo Golijov, John Adams, Kaija
Saariaho, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and the International Contemporary
Ensemble. Among the many artists and ensembles who have had long
associations with the festival are Joshua Bell, Christian Tetzlaff, Itzhak
Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Stephen Hough, Osmo Vänskä, the
Emerson String Quartet, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age
of Enlightenment, and the Mark Morris Dance Group.
The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the
Mostly Mozart Festival, and the only U.S. chamber orchestra dedicated to
the music of the Classical period. Louis Langrée has been the Orchestra’s
music director since 2002, and each summer the ensemble’s Avery Fisher
Hall home is transformed into an appropriately intimate venue for its performances. Over the years, the Orchestra has toured to such notable festivals
and venues as Ravinia, Great Woods, Tanglewood, Bunkamura in Tokyo, and
the Kennedy Center. Conductors who made their New York debuts leading
the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra include Jérémie Rhorer, Edward
Gardner, Lionel Bringuier, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Charles Dutoit, Leonard
Slatkin, David Zinman, and Edo de Waart. Mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli,
flutist James Galway, soprano Elly Ameling, and pianist Mitsuko Uchida all
made their U.S. debuts with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles:
presenter of artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and
community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. A presenter
of more than 3,000 free and ticketed events, performances, tours, and educational activities annually, LCPA offers 15 programs, series, and festivals,
including American Songbook, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Festival,
Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Midsummer Night Swing, the Mostly Mozart
Festival, and the White Light Festival, as well as the Emmy Award–winning
Live From Lincoln Center, which airs nationally on PBS. As manager of the
Lincoln Center campus, LCPA provides support and services for the Lincoln
Center complex and the 11 resident organizations. In addition, LCPA led a $1.2
billion campus renovation, completed in October 2012.
Lincoln Center Programming Department
Jane Moss, Ehrenkranz Artistic Director
Hanako Yamaguchi, Director, Music Programming
Jon Nakagawa, Director, Contemporary Programming
Jill Sternheimer, Acting Director, Public Programming
Lisa Takemoto, Production Manager
Charles Cermele, Producer, Contemporary Programming
Kate Monaghan, Associate Director, Programming
Claudia Norman, Producer, Public Programming
Mauricio Lomelin, Producer, Contemporary Programming
Julia Lin, Associate Producer
Nicole Cotton, Production Coordinator
Regina Grande, Assistant to the Artistic Director
Luna Shyr, Programming Publications Editor
Claire Raphaelson, House Seat Coordinator
Stepan Atamian, Theatrical Productions Intern; Annie Guo, Production Intern;
Grace Hertz, House Program Intern
Program Annotators:
Don Anderson, Peter A. Hoyt, Kathryn L. Libin, Paul Schiavo, David Wright
Louis Langrée, Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director
Violin I
Ruggero Allifranchini,
Concertmaster
Martin Agee
Robert Chausow
Lilit Gampel
Michael Gillette
Sophia Kessinger
Ronald Oakland
Michael Roth
Deborah Wong
Violin II
Laura Frautschi,
Principal
Eva Burmeister
Katsuko Esaki
Amy Kauffman
Katherine LivolsiLandau
Lisa Matricardi
Dorothy Strahl
Mineko Yajima
Viola
Shmuel Katz, Principal
Meena Bhasin
Danielle Farina
Chihiro Fukuda
Jack Rosenberg
Jessica Troy
Cello
Ilya Finkelshteyn,
Principal
Ted Ackerman
Ann Kim
Alvin McCall
Bass
Zachary Cohen,
Principal
Lou Kosma
Judith Sugarman
Flute
Jasmine Choi,
Principal
Tanya Dusevic Witek
Oboe
Randall Ellis, Principal
Matthew Dine,
Principal*
Nick Masterson
Clarinet
Steve Hartman,
Principal
Liam Burke
Bassoon
Daniel Shelly, Principal
Tom Sefčovič
Horn
Lawrence DiBello,
Principal
Ian Donald
Richard Hagen
Steve Sherts
Timpani
David Punto, Principal
Organ
Kent Tritle, Principal
Librarian
Michael McCoy
Personnel Managers
Neil Balm
Jonathan Haas
Gemini Music
Productions Ltd.
*Mozart Symphony
No. 40
Trumpet
Neil Balm, Principal
Lee Soper
Get to know the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra musicians at MostlyMozart.org/MeetTheOrchestra
Lectures, Discussions, and Pre-concert Recitals
All events are FREE to ticketholders of the accompanying performance.
Friday and Saturday Evenings,
July 31 and August 1, at 6:30
Orion Weiss, piano
Brahms: Klavierstücke, Op. 118
Avery Fisher Hall
Tuesday and Thursday Evenings,
August 11 and 13
Written on Skin post-performance artist
discussions
David H. Koch Theater
Monday Evening, August 3, at 6:30
Emerson String Quartet
Haydn: Quartet in G major, Op. 76, No. 1
Alice Tully Hall
August 14–15, at 6:30
Jon Manasse, clarinet,
Ilya Finkelshteyn, cello, and
Jon Nakamatsu, piano
Brahms: Clarinet Trio
Avery Fisher Hall
Tuesday Evening, August 4, at 6:30
Anderson & Roe Piano Duo
Ligeti/Anderson & Roe: Hungarian Rock
Brahms: Haydn Variations
Avery Fisher Hall
Wednesday Evening, August 5, at 6:30
Anderson & Roe Piano Duo
Brahms: Haydn Variations
Anderson & Roe, after Mozart: Ragtime
alla turca
Avery Fisher Hall
August 7–8, at 6:30
Calidore String Quartet
Haydn: Quartet in C major (“The Bird”)
Avery Fisher Hall
Tuesday and Wednesday Evenings,
August 11–12, at 6:30
Charlie Albright, piano
Beethoven: “Moonlight” Sonata
Chopin: Four Etudes, Op. 25
Avery Fisher Hall
Saturday Afternoon, August 15, from 4:00
to 5:30
Panel Discussion: Listening to Mozart
Bruce Alan Brown, moderator
Presented in association with the Mozart
Society of America
Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse
Seating available on a first-come, first-served
basis.
Tuesday and Wednesday Evenings,
August 18–19, at 6:30
Tyler Duncan, baritone, and
Erika Switzer, piano
Schumann: Liederkreis, Op. 24
Avery Fisher Hall
Friday Evening, August 21, from 6:15 to 7:00
Pre-concert lecture on Haydn’s Creation
by Elaine Sisman
Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse
ALICE TULLY HALL, AVERY FISHER HALL
Broadway at 65th Street
DAVID H. KOCH THEATER
Columbus Avenue at 63th Street
DAVID RUBENSTEIN ATRIUM
Broadway between 62nd and 63rd Streets
STANLEY H. KAPLAN PENTHOUSE
165 West 65th Street, 10th Floor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Chronology
1756 January 27: Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart born in Salzburg,
Austria, the youngest child of Johann Georg Leopold Mozart and his wife, Anna Maria.
1761 First composition, Andante in C major for keyboard; first known public appearance at
Salzburg University in a music theater piece.
1762 Leopold Mozart journeys to Munich and Vienna with Wolfgang and his older sister,
Nannerl, to exploit their prodigious talents on the harpsichord.
1764 Meets J.C. Bach, youngest son of J.S. Bach. Mozart writes his first symphony.
1767 Performance of Apollo et Hyacinthus, Mozart’s first theatrical work, in Salzburg. Travels to
Vienna. Wolfgang and Nannerl fall ill with smallpox.
1769 Return to Salzburg. Mozart named honorary Konzertmeister of the Hofkapelle in Salzburg.
1772 Premiere of opera seria Lucio Silla on December 26 in Milan; completion of motet Exsultate,
jubilate a few weeks later.
1778 Arrival in Paris after a lengthy journey through Augsburg and Mannheim, where he meets
soprano Aloysia Weber. Performance of the “Paris” Symphony. Illness and death of Mozart’s
mother. Aloysia rejects Mozart’s marriage proposal.
1779 Composition of “Coronation” Mass in C major.
1781 First major adult opera commission results in Idomeneo, premiered in Munich. Travels to
Vienna, where he is discharged from the service of the archbishop of Salzburg.
1782 Composition and premiere of the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Vienna. Marriage
to Constanze Weber, sister of Aloysia.
1783 First child born in June and dies in August. Premiere of unfinished Mass in C minor, K.427.
1784 Mozart accepted into the Freemason lodge Zur Wohlthätigkeit. Six piano concertos written in Vienna. Frequent public and private concerts in Vienna show him at the peak of his fortunes. Birth of second child, Karl Thomas, who survives. Probable first meeting with Haydn; the
beginning of a devoted friendship between the two masters.
1785 Cycle of six string quartets, which Mozart dedicates to Haydn, is published by Artaria.
Composes Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor and No. 21 in C major.
1786 Premiere of Le nozze di Figaro in Vienna’s Burgtheater is successful despite the opera’s
potential to be politically and socially inflammatory. Writes Symphony in D major (“Prague”) and
Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major. Mozart’s third child is born in October and dies in November.
1787 Mozart directs a performance of Figaro in Prague to great success. Performance of “Prague”
Symphony and premiere of Don Giovanni in Prague also meet with positive reception. Leopold
Mozart, age 68, dies in Salzburg. Returns to Vienna in November and birth of fourth child, Theresia,
in December. The 16-year-old Beethoven briefly visits Vienna and most likely meets Mozart.
1788 Viennese premiere of Don Giovanni meets with moderate success. Death of Theresia. Last three
symphonies written: No. 39 in E-flat major, No. 40 in G minor, and No. 41 in C major (“Jupiter”).
1789 Financial instability. Starts work on Così fan tutte. Mozart’s fifth child, Anna Maria, dies
one hour after birth. Mozart conducts his reorchestration of Handel’s Messiah.
1790 Premiere of Così fan tutte in Vienna. Musical productivity hindered by ongoing financial
stress. Before leaving for London, Haydn dines with Mozart for the last time.
1791 Mozart completes his 27th and last piano concerto. Interruption of work on Die Zauberflöte to
write the commissioned work La clemenza di Tito, celebrating the coronation of Leopold II as king
of Bohemia. Birth of sixth child, Franz Xaver, who survives. Premiere of Die Zauberflöte in Vienna
with Mozart conducting from the keyboard. Clarinet Concerto written for Anton Stadler. Receives
commission for a requiem mass and begins work on the Requiem, K.626, but falls ill in November.
Mozart dies in Vienna on December 5 and is buried quietly and unceremoniously in a mass grave.
Accessibility at
Lincoln Center
R
eflecting a quote by Lincoln
Center’s first president John D.
Rockefeller III that “the arts are not for
the privileged few, but for the many,”
Lincoln Center has had as a central
mission from its start making the
arts available to the widest possible
audiences. In 1985, that led to the
establishment of the Department of
Programs and Services for People with
Disabilities to ensure full participation
in the thousands of events presented
annually across the Lincoln Center
campus. It was the first such program
at any major performing arts center
in the U.S. and has longserved as a model for
other arts institutions
around the country.
Celebrating its 30th
anniversary with a new
name, Accessibility
at Lincoln Center,
the program
continues to provide
exceptional guest
care to all visitors,
as well as training
in accessibility to
colleagues at Lincoln
Center’s resident
organizations, including
the Film Society of
Lincoln Center, the
New York Philharmonic, and Jazz
at Lincoln Center.
Accessibility oversees the production
of large-print and Braille programs
for hundreds of performances taking
place each year at various Lincoln
Center venues. Another major
component of Accessibility is its
longstanding “Passport to the Arts.”
The program annually distributes to
children with disabilities thousands
of free tickets to a variety of Lincoln
Center performances, including
New York City Ballet and the New
York Philharmonic—a welcoming
introduction to the arts. A parent who
participated in a recent “Passport”
event commented “It allowed my
family and I to enjoy and learn along
with everyone else. The accessibility…
made it easier for our family to “relax”
and truly enjoy the
experience.”
Accessibility is
expanding the
ways it serves
adults with
disabilities. It
introduced and
oversees American
Sign Languageled official tours
of Lincoln Center,
and offers live
audio description
for select Lincoln
Center Festival
performances.
Accessibility
looks forward to growing its inclusive
programs in the years to come.
To learn more about Accessibility
at Lincoln Center, please contact
access@lincolncenter.org or call
212.875.5375.
The Table is Set
A
merican Table Café and Bar by
Marcus Samuelsson in Alice Tully Hall
is a great dining option available to Lincoln
Center patrons, along with Lincoln
Ristorante on Hearst Plaza, indie food &
wine in the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film
Center, ‘wichcraft in the David
Rubenstein Atrium, The Grand Tier in the
Metropolitan Opera house, the new
Lincoln Center Kitchen in Avery Fisher
Hall, and the Espresso Bar, also in Avery
Fisher.
Marcus Samuelsson, the youngest chef
ever to be awarded a three-star review
by The New York Times and the winner
of the James Beard Award for both
“Rising Star Chef” (1999) and “Best
Chef: New York City” (2003), crafted
the menu along with long-time associate
Nils Noren, MSG’s Vice President of
Restaurant Operations. American Table
Cafe and Bar by Marcus Samuelsson
serves food that celebrates the diversity
of American cuisine, drawing on influences and regions from across the
country. Dishes on the menu, which is
offered for both lunch and dinner,
include Smoked Caesar Salad, Shrimp
Roll, and Chocolate Cardamom Panna
Cotta. The bar features a cocktail menu
designed by consulting master mixologist, Eben Klemm, as well as a selection
of reasonably-priced wines.
Marcus Samuelsson’s recently published memoir, Yes, Chef, chronicles his
remarkable journey from being orphaned
at age three in his native Ethiopia to his
adoption by a family in Göteborg,
Sweden, where he first learned to cook
by helping his grandmother prepare
roast chicken. He went on to train in
top kitchens in Europe before arriving in
New York, first taking the reins at
Aquavit. He has won the television
competition Top Chef Masters on Bravo
Marcus Samuelsson
as well as top honors on Chopped All
Stars: Judges Remix. His current New
York restaurant, the wildly successful
Red Rooster, is located in his home
base of Harlem.
American Table Cafe and Bar seats 73
inside, plus more space outside on the
Alice Tully Hall Plaza. Diller Scofidio +
Renfro, the designers of the critically
acclaimed Alice Tully Hall, have transformed the glass-walled space with
lounge-like furniture in warm, rich colors,
a long communal couch, tree-trunk
tables, and lighting that can be dimmed
to adjust the mood. The design—an
eclectic reinterpretation of Americana—
draws its inspiration from the cafe’s
culinary focus. Call 212.671.4200 for
hours of operation.

Program Notes - Mostly Mozart

Transcription

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