On October 25th at 7:30pm in Ardrey Auditorium we present Marimba Magic and Brahms, featuring principal percussionist Brian Hanner who will showcase the unique sounds of the marimba!
Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmilla Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857)
Russian composer Mikhail Glinka did not have a particularly auspicious introduction to life and spent his first six years under the brutal governance of his paternal grandmother. His lifelong poor health and hypochondria may have been related to this period of incarceration, and his only musical influence was the ringing of the bells in the surrounding village churches. When he eventually returned to his family home after the death of his grandmother, he was gradually
exposed to various forms of Western music, and in 1817 was sent off to school in St. Petersburg.
There he benefitted from exposure to the works of the great composers whose lives were centered in that cosmopolitan city. He received little formal training in music, with the exception of some guidance by a local musician, one Karl Mayer. Time spent in Italy during the 1820’s and 1830’s gave him more exposure to the rich musical resources of that country. He then returned to Russia, and lived for a time in Berlin. Opera seemed congenial to him, and following the composition of his
first operatic work, “A Life for the Tsar” he embarked on a second operatic venture, “Ruslan and Lyudmilla”, with a somewhat lackluster libretto by Pushkin. Russian folk song is a strong element in the opera, as was the case with many of his other early works. Wagnerian chromaticism and experiments with whole-tone melodic structures are remarkable features of the works of this largely self-taught composer. The Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmilla is the only portion of the work that is still frequently performed by contemporary orchestras.
Concerto for Marimba and String Orchestra Eric Ewazen (1954- )
Born in Cleveland, Eric Ewazen received his musical training at the Eastman and Julliard Schools of music. He has taught at Julliard since 1980 and has garnered a host of awards and honors during his career. He writes frequently for brass ensemble, and the third movement of his Symphony in Brass is heard as the theme of National Public Radio’s political programs. The composer has provided the following notes for his Concerto for Marimba and Strings which was commissioned and first performed by a Marimbaist and chamber orchestra in Taiwan. It was
his plan to “write a concerto, grandly scaled, which explores the wide range of expressive possibilities inherent in the marimba. The first movement opens with a sustained chorale, soft and peaceful. This leads to an energetic allegro with playful themes tossed between the soloist and orchestra. The virtuoso marimba part is filled with cascading arpeggios and flourishes. The second movement is a ballade, soulful and lyrical, with a gently pulsating accompaniment supporting a true song without words. The final movement is a rip-roaring rondo with a dance-like ritornello alternating with passages which are alternately jazzy and heroic. A cathartic return of the first movement chorale leads to an exhilarating finale.”
Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op.73 Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Allegro non troppo
Adagio non troppo
Allegretto grazioso, quasi andantino
Allegro con spirito
In his customary methodical and self-critical manner, Brahms did not attempt to compose a full- scale symphonic work until his forty-third year. His First Symphony was completed in 1876, and the following summer work began on the Second Symphony, while he was on one of his frequent holidays in the south of Austria.
The D Major Symphony is of a decidedly “pastoral” character and is suffused with a lyricism and grace that belie its masterful construction. The three-note germinating theme of the opening measures, announced by the lower strings and answered in slightly altered form by horns and woodwinds, provides the source of thematic material not only for the first movement but for the following three movements as well. The waltz-like nature of two of the secondary themes may be a tribute to the “Waltz King” Johann Strauss, for whom Brahms held great admiration. The Adagio is compact in structure and follows a classic A-B-A scheme. Here, the composer tends to fall into his more customary mode of introspection. The graceful third movement, a typically Brahmsian scherzo with two contrasting trios, is again constructed from a simple three-note motif. The finale is a masterpiece of compositional skill in which Brahms utilizes all of the technical devices at his
disposal, in a brilliant Haydnesque conclusion.
From the sunny shores of one of southern Austria’s loveliest southern lakes, Brahms wrote while conceiving this Symphony, “so many melodies fly about here, that one must be careful not to step on them.” For those interested in such descriptive allusions, the four Symphonies of Brahms have been compared to the four seasons of the year, commencing with the wintry First, and concluding with the autumnal Fourth. Thus does this “springlike” Second Symphony take its place among the symphonic masterworks of a composer whose creative efforts were frequently long in forthcoming, but always perfect when they eventually achieved their final form.
Notes by Charles M. Spining
