| Program Notes -
Concert - April 26, 2002 Jackson Symphony Orchestra By Composer in Residence Bruce Brown
Antonin Dvorak - In
Nature's Realm Nature in all its forms has always been a profound inspiration for the arts. Tonight's program by the JSO will feature a variety of works reflecting the wonders of nature as vividly as any landscape painting or poet's description of a sunset. There is a rich tradition of program music inspired by the moonlight, birdsong and other natural beauties. In recent years with the JSO, for example, we have heard Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture inspired by his boat trip to Fingal's Cave, Benjamin Britten's evocative Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes and Gustav Holst's powerful suite depicting The Planets. And who can say how many symphonies, sonatas and concertos were inspired by a walk in the woods or a breathtaking view from a high mountain pass? It would be difficult to find a composer who was more of a nature lover that Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904). One of his fondest dreams was realized in 1884 when his growing success as a composer allowed him to build a small cottage in the Bohemian village of Vysoka far from the city hustle and bustle that he despised. His daily schedule always included long walks and he loved to watch for birds and enjoy the rolling countryside. One of his favorite hobbies was keeping pigeons, and if he attended a meal where pigeon was served he left the table sorely offended! Dvorak wrote In Nature's Realm between the spring of 1891 and the beginning of 1892. It was the first of a set of three overtures, the others being Carnival and Othello. (You may remember the JSO performance of Carnival in October of 200 1.) Originally Dvorak called the set simply "Nature, Life and Love," but he apparently felt the titles should be more colorful. Dvorak dedicated In Nature 's Realm to Cambridge University, and Carnival to the Czech University in Prague. The Russian composer Anatol Liadov (1855-1914) is somewhat less known than his contemporaries Rimsky-Korsakov and "The Mighty Five," at least partly because of his lifelong habit of procrastination. During his student years at the St. Petersburg Conservatory he was expelled from Rimsky Korsakov's composition class because he didn't bother to attend! Despite this fact, his fellow musicians always liked and respected him, and his concepts for teaching music theory later formed the basis for a textbook written by Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1873, Modest Moussorgsky, who was an elder statesman among composers by that time, described Liadov as "a new, unmistakable, original and Russian young talent." Volshebnoye ozero, or "The Enchanted Lake," is one of three colorfully-descriptive orchestral works that are considered among the finest pieces Liadov ever wrote (the others being BabaYaga and Kikimora). Written in 1909, it was intended for inclusion in an opera, Zoriushka that was never completed. The music weaves a quiet spell of fairy-tale beauty, with richness of color and orchestral effect that surely would have been admired by his Russian colleagues as much as it is today. Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) is best known to orchestral audiences for pieces like his Bolero, Mother Goose Suite, Daphnis and Chloe and La Valse, but he and his famous contemporary Claude Debussy also wrote music inspired by images of nature. Ravel's Jeux d'eau, for example, literally means "Play of Water" or "Fountains." Of Daphnis and Chloe Ravel once said "In writing it I sought to compose a broad musical fresco, less concerned with archaic fidelity than with loyalty to the Greece of my dreams, which in many ways resembled that imagined and depicted by French artists at the latter part of the eighteenth century..." Debussy's well-known La Mer("The Sea") vividly portrays the changing moods of ocean waters. Ravel's Oiseaux tristes was originally written for piano in 1904 as part of his collection entitiled Miroirs ("Mirrors"). The fourth movement of the set, Alborada del gracioso, is very well known. In his own words, the piece evokes "birds lost in the torpor of a dark forest during the hottest summer hours." To create this unusual image, Ravel's music weaves a quiet, somber spell overlaid with figures that suggest many different kinds of birdcalls. Vivid musical landscapes abound in the opulent music of Richard Wagner (1813-1883). The interlude between the prologue and the first act of Wagner's Die Gotterdammerung ("Me Twilight of the Gods") has come to be known as Siegfried's Rhine Journey. In this musical voyage the hero, Siegfried, journeys down the river Rhine in search of adventure, while musical themes (leitmotifs) recall highlights of his mythic story from the first three operas of the Ring Cycle. After a descending passage in the full orchestra, the strings and clarinet play the decision to love motive. As the music continues successive themes depicting magic fire, the Rhine River, the all-important magical ring, and the power of the ring are heard. This rich musical interlude ends with anticipation of the fiery dramatic action to come as Valhalla bums in the opera's climax. Everyone knows the music of the Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofe (1872-1972), even if they don't know they do! It has been heard countless times as atmospheric background music in the popular media. Grofe was born in New York in a very musical family. He ran away from home at the age of fourteen and worked as a milkman, book binder and iron factory worker before he found his calling in music. After playing piano in a bar for two dollars a night he worked his way up to become a respected performer in nightclubs and played with the Los Angeles Symphony for about ten years. He joined the famous Paul Whiteman Orchestra in 1917 as a pianist, librarian, assistant conductor and arranger, and there he became famous as the orchestrator of Rhapsody in Blue (which was heard in last month's JSO concert!). His career flourished after that, and he eventually taught orchestration and composition at Juilliard. The Grand Canyon Suite, written in 1931 is the most colorful kind of program music. Not only can we picture the rock walls of the mighty canyon, we can actually hear the mules braying. The piece was first performed by The Whiteman Orchestra in November of 193 1. Its popularity soared, especially after Arturo Toscanini recorded it in 1935 with his NBC Orchestra. Grofe's "Cloudburst" in the final movement continues a long-standing orchestral tradition. Thunderstorms have been depicted with ever-increasing realism in Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Beethoven's Pastorale Symphony, and Berlioz' Symphony Fantastique, with its mysterious thunder echoing in the timpani. Probably only a live recording would achieve greater realism than Grofe's downpour! |