Friday, October 21, 8PM @ NNU's Swayne Auditorium
Saturday, October 22, 8PM @ Morrison Center
**Listen to 94.9 The River's interview with our guest conductor, Robin Browning, by clicking here.**
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Robin Browing, guest conductor
Carlos César Rodríguez, piano
Sir Edward Elgar
Serenade for Strings
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor"
Symphony No. 3, "Eroica"
Robin Browning enjoys a busy conducting career both in the UK and abroad. He is currently music director of five orchestras – Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra, Petersfield Orchestra, Southampton University Symphony Orchestra, Essex Youth Orchestra and de Havilland Philharmonic (resident at the University of Hertfordshire). He has enjoyed long-term relationships with the Royal Orchestral Society, Hertfordshire Chamber Orchestra, Winchester Chamber Orchestra, and Dorset Youth Orchestra, amongst many others. Between 2006 and 2009 he conducted the Chelmsford Sinfonietta, a newly-formed professional orchestra for the east of England. In addition, Robin is passionately committed to training younger musicians, guest-conducting with orchestras at both Trinity College and Guildhall School of Music. In 2008 he was involved in the Barbican Young Orchestra project, alongside Peter Stark & Sir Colin Davis.
Since making his debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at London’s Barbican Centre, which was broadcast on Classic FM, Robin has conducted the Hallé, English Northern Philharmonia, Northern Sinfonia, Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, St Petersburg Festival Orchestra and the Estonian National Youth Orchestra. He took second prize in the NAYO Conducting Competition in 1994, and won the inaugural Boosey & Hawkes Award at the Edinburgh Festival the following year.
Robin has been assistant conductor to Benjamin Zander with the Philharmonia Orchestra, in both the concert hall and recording studio. He assisted Wayne Marshall as part of the Harrogate International Festival, and more recently Sir Mark Elder. Robin has performed in some of the world’s most famous concert halls, including Snape Maltings, London’s Cadogan Hall, the Rudolfinum in Prague, and the Banff Centre in Canada. In 2008, Robin gave a concert at the Olympic Stadium, Nanjing, conducting live on Chinese television before an audience of millions. He has enjoyed working with a wide array of soloists, including Lynne Dawson, Gordon Hunt, Guy Johnston, Aled Jones, Jack Liebeck, Craig Ogden, Charles Owen, Ruth Palmer, Jennifer Pike, Stephen Stirling and Raphael Wallfisch.
Robin studied at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena with Myung-Whun Chung and the legendary Ilya Musin. He furthered his training in the USA with Joseph Gifford. In 2008 he was invited to the David Oistrakh Festival in Estonia, for masterclasses with both Neeme Järvi and Paavo Järvi. Robin has also enjoyed periods of study with Sir Charles Mackerras, Sian Edwards, Markus Stenz and Benjamin Zander. Robin is increasingly sought-after as a teacher of conducting, with his highly-regarded conducting course running yearly at the University of Southampton.
2008 saw the release of Robin’s first professional studio-recording – a CD of music by John Hopkins – on the UHRecordings label. A second CD, fanfares, fancies and fugues followed in 2009. An album of Christmas music, and a recording of music by Raymond Warren are due for release during 2011. This year also sees Robin continue his celebration of Mahler’s symphonies, including No 7 with Essex Youth Orchestra and No 10 with the Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra in London. He has performed the Dvorak Violin Concerto with Jack Liebeck, Beethoven’s Emperor with John Lill, and Beethoven’s Choral Symphony with the Brighton Festival Chorus. Summer tours take Robin to Italy and the Czech Republic, where he will perform Mahler’s 7th Symphony as part of this year’s Mahler anniversary celebrations. In the Autumn Robin makes his US debut, conducting the Boise Philharmonic Orchestra.
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"The Latin American Liszt"
"Rodriguez gave a performance notable for brilliance, subtlety, a fine control of keyboard colorations and overwhelming muscular power."
--The Washington Post, l997
"Two works by Granados...were simply stunning in their execution."
--The Washington Post, l996
A musician of brilliance and versatility, Carlos César Rodríguez has gained recognition as a virtuoso pianist who not only generates excitement in the Hispanic and Spanish repertoire but also displays an extraordinary flair for Mozart, the romantics and the avant-garde scores. He has recorded for Omicron and Brioso labels and has won the highest critical acclaims for his CD of Spanish music, España en el corazón, distributed by Brioso Recordings. An expert on early instruments as well, enjoying entrée to the Smithsonian Institution’s rare collection, Mr. Rodríguez was chosen by the Smithsonian to perform during the 300th year celebration of the Piano by the museum. He was also invited to participate in the 150th anniversary celebration of the Smithsonian Institution. Mr. Rodríguez has won acclaim moreover as music director of Mozart operas and Zarzuelas (Spanish operas), and as a composer, arranger, and improviser of ballets, Spanish dance scores, and Latin-Jazz/Pop compositions.
As concert-pianist Carlos César Rodríguez made his recital debut in his native Venezuela at age 5 and made his orchestral debut as soloist at age 11. Soon after he arrived in the United States to continue his music studies, Mr. Rodríguez was a finalist in the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Competition. At age 21 he made his Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall debut. As concert-artist he has toured Europe and performed concerti and solo recitals throughout the Americas. Venues in which Mr. Rodríguez has performed include the John F. Kennedy Center; the White House; and the Corcoran Gallery in Washignton DC; Merkin Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Americas Society in New York; the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.
As chamber music artist Mr. Rodríguez has become a regular guest artist with the Garth Newell Chamber Music Festival. As collaborative artist he has worked with Jessye Norman, Denyce Graves and Plácido Domingo.
As conductor, Carlos César Rodríguez has performed throughout the Americas. In 2005 he was chosen as award recipient of the prestigious Georg Solti Foundation US fellowship for outstanding young conductors. With the encouragement, mentorship and collaboration of Maestro Plácido Domingo Mr. Rodríguez became founder and coordinator of the Zarzuela Program (Spanish Operetta) of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program with Washington National Opera in 2002 and continues to serve in this capacity. In addition he continues to be sought after as music director/conductor of Zarzuela Productions in the USA and the Americas.
Mr. Rodríguez earned his Bachelor’s degree with Clifton Matthews (Mr. Rodriguez’ mentor) from the North Carolina School of the Arts, his Master’s degree from the Juilliard School of Music with Joseph Kalichstein, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree, conferred summa cum laude, with Thomas Schumacher at the University of Maryland.
Recently Mr. Rodríguez has performed as piano soloist/conductor with Sinfonica NOVA in Gershwin’ s Rhapsody in Blue (the 1924 version) and was music director/conductor for the opera I Pagliacci and the Cuban Zarzuela Maria La O with the In Series as well as for the production of W.A.M II: Mozart’s Two Operas Don Giovanni and Cosi fan tutte, viewed in settings combining singers and dancers with The In Series and the Washington Ballet in Washington DC.
Upcoming performances include the continuation of recitals of Beethoven’s Sonatas in “Beethoven for the community”: the complete cycle of the piano sonatas, the violin and the cello sonatas in Washington, DC. In October, Mr. Rodríguez will present and perform a program of Spanish music: Granados Goyescas combined with selections from Zarzuelas, sponsored by the Society of Spain USA. For the 2011-12 season he will performing as soloist with orchestra Beethoven Piano Concerto #5 in E flat Major and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 in C Minor in the USA. In June 2012 he will return as music director/conductor for the In Series Production of Mozart’s opera Idomeneo.
Currently, Carlos César Rodríguez is a member of the piano faculty at the Levine School of Music and founder/coordinator for the Zarzuela Program of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program with Washington National Opera.
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Behind the Music
Serenade in E minor for String Orchestra, Op. 20
Sir Edward Elgar
Born June 2, 1857, in Broadheath, near Worcester, England
Died February 23, 1934, in Worcester, England
This work was first performed in March of 1892, in a private reading by the Worcester Ladies’ Orchestral Class, with the composer conducting. It is scored for strings.
This is the Boise Philharmonic's first performance of Serenade for Strings
Sir Edward Elgar is considered by many to have been the quintessential English composer. His music is filled with the stirring themes that bring to mind the pomp and circumstance of coronation, the beauty of the English countryside, and the reserved sophistication that represents all things British in the minds of many. However, his own countrymen were slow to accept his music, largely because he was not born into the nobility that his music often depicts. Elgar’s background as the son of a piano tuner haunted him his entire life, making him feel unworthy of the many honors bestowed upon him. This self-doubt and the prejudice of the English musical establishment took its toll. He was nearly fifty years of age before the premiere of his Enigma Variations brought the fame he deserved. From that point on, he was recognized as the greatest British composer since Henry Purcell (1659-1695). During the time when Elgar was struggling for acceptance in his homeland, German audiences were much quicker to accept his music. Among the important German musicians who praised Elgar early on were the composer Richard Strauss, violinist Fritz Kreisler, and the conductor Hans Richter.
Elgar represents the first peak of the English Musical Renaissance, a period of concentrated musical excellence in Britain that began in the last decade of the nineteenth century and flourished until World War II. Composers such as Hubert Parry, Herbert Howells, Charles Villiers Stanford, and Gustav Holst were among the first to champion the cause of British music with works based on native topics. Texts drawn from English folk tunes and poets, especially William Blake, served as the inspiration for these works.
Elgar’s Serenade for Strings traces its origins to the Three Pieces for Strings that he wrote in Worcester in 1888. With the exception of his Wand of Youth Suite, this is the earliest of Elgar’s works performed with regularity today. Elgar had settled in Malvern, Worcestershire, early in the decade and had been quite active as a conductor of amateur musical societies throughout the county, even serving as composer for the County Lunatic Asylum for a few years. Another of his duties was as conductor of the Worcester Ladies’ Orchestral Class, an amateur society that engaged in social music making. In 1892, when this ensemble needed material for a new string work, Elgar returned to the largely unknown Three Pieces and reworked some of its ideas into what would become his Serenade. One of his students, Rosa Burley, described the first reading:
“One afternoon at the orchestral class … [we] found ourselves playing in a work that was unfamiliar at any rate to me. I think I must have arrived late and commenced hurriedly, for I do not remember looking at the title. But I do remember the profound impression its rather Mendelssohnian slow movement made on me. ‘What is this?’ I asked. ‘Oh, it’s something he wrote himself,’ she said. ‘Serenade for Strings.’ She spoke casually and quite without enthusiasm. ‘Wrote it himself?’ I could scarcely believe it. ‘Oh yes. He’s always writing these things and trying them out on us.’”
The Serenade for Strings is in three short movements in the usual fast, slow, fast structure. Elgar’s opening movement, allegro piacevole, opens with just a pulse in the peaceful key of E minor. The first theme is similar to the famous Mannheim Rocket of a century before in that it traverses an octave in a series of small leaps, but then descends as rapidly. This imparts a beautifully sentimental character to this music. After the material is developed, a second theme appears in B major, lending added warmth to the music. The opening returns to round out the movement.
Elgar’s second movement, larghetto, is the emotional core of this work. Ms. Burley’s observation of a Mendelssohnian approach is an accurate assessment, as this pensive and poignant movement is loaded with musical suspensions – fleeting dissonances that add tension, but resolve afterward. However, this type of writing is not grating in the least. It is nothing short of heartrending. Strangely, the entire movement is based on one key – C major – and Elgar’s penchant for wide melodic leaps finds full voice.
The finale, marked simply allegretto, is a reworking of the first movement, but in a major key. The opening theme is derived from the first movement’s first theme, but the second melody shifts to E major, the parallel major of the E minor of the opening. This second theme is essentially the same as that from the first movement and adds a cyclic element to the work that gives the listener a sense of closure as this magnificent early masterpiece ends quietly.
©2011 Orpheus Music Prose & Craig Doolin
www.orpheusnotes.com
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Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 73, “Emperor”
Ludwig van Beethoven
Born December 16, 1770, in Bonn, Germany
Died March 26, 1827, in Vienna, Austria
This work was premiered on November 28, 1811, by the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig with Friedrich Schneider as soloist and Johann Philipp Christian Schulz conducting. It is scored for solo piano, pairs of woodwinds, horns, and trumpets, with timpani and strings.
The Emperor Concerto was first performed by the Boise Philharmonic on March 6, 1964 with soloist Grant Johannesen. It was most recently performed on September 20, 2002 with soloist William Wolfram.
When Ludwig van Beethoven left his hometown of Bonn and relocated to the famed musical capital of Vienna in 1792, his entire reputation was at stake. He had become well known in Bonn as a gifted pianist and a promising young composer. When Franz Joseph Haydn had passed through Germany on his first journey to London in 1791, he had invited the twenty-one year old composer to make a pilgrimage to Vienna as his student. Bonn’s biggest musical fish suddenly found himself engulfed by the sprawling ocean of Vienna.
Beethoven felt immense pressure to prove himself if he was ever to become recognized in a town so full of famous musicians. It seemed natural that his pianistic virtuosity, the most visible of his talents, should be his ticket to success. So it was as a pianist that Beethoven made his first inroads into Viennese society by playing in the homes of aristocrats. He also presented public concerts, often as benefit performances for musical or political causes – and sometimes for the purpose of funding his own career. It was against this background that the first four piano concertos arose as showcases for his skills as pianist and composer. By the time Beethoven composed his final piano concerto in 1809, his deafness had progressed to the point that he did not even conceive of the work as a vehicle for his own performance. His premiere performance of the Fourth Concerto, on the same program as the Choral Fantasy on December 22, 1808, was disastrous. Being unable to hear the orchestra, synchronization was simply not possible and the performance fell apart – a mishap that Beethoven blamed on the orchestra and conductor when the fault was clearly his own.
During the Emperor Concerto’s composition, the French army invaded Austria for the fourth time in eighteen years. According to an often quoted story, the composer huddled in the basement of his brother’s suburban Vienna home with pillows over his ears. At this moment in time, it is clear to even a casual observer that whatever respect the composer once held for Napoleon, if it had not already dissipated, was blasted away by the cannons invading the neighborhood. It is often assumed that the moniker Emperor refers to Napoleon, but this cannot be true. Likewise, it probably does not derive from the heroic character of the music. The answer is quite simple, but only recently proposed after nearly two centuries of speculation – the premiere occurred on the Austrian holiday commemorating Emperor Joseph II’s accession of the throne (as father of the sitting Emperor, this day was celebrated with great fervor).
Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto must be considered the pinnacle of his Heroic Period and is without doubt a full-fledged masterpiece of the Romantic Period. The first movement begins with a three bold chords, each of which is embellished by extended cadenza-like passages for the soloist. Taking the place of the usual slow introduction, this preparatory filigree leads directly to the martial main theme of the allegro. As the movement progresses through the usual sonata form, march-like rhythms remain a crucial element. The opening chords return just before the recapitulation with its usual restatement of the movement’s themes.
Beethoven’s second movement (adagio un poco mosso) begins with a devotional theme, followed by piano triplets and figurations throughout. When everything seems to be complete, the texture thins to a lone B-natural in the bassoon. It is with only this one pitch that Beethoven brilliantly sets up a transition by simply lowering that pitch by a half-step, thereby allowing a seamless transition to the key of the final movement. The piano plays tentative, short fragments that coagulate into the main theme of the finale, connecting the movements without pause. Beethoven’s brilliant finale incorporates elements of sonata form into its structure. However, since the rollicking main theme returns between contrasting episodes, it must be classified as a rondo. One especially noteworthy moment is near the end when the rest of the orchestra drops out of the texture, leaving only the soloist and timpanist in an unusual duet. A brisk coda provides an exhilarating conclusion to this monumental work.
©2011 Orpheus Music Prose & Craig Doolin
www.orpheusnotes.com
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Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 55, "Eroica"
Ludwig van Beethoven
The work was premiered in a private concert at Prince Lobkowitz’s Vienna palace in late 1804. It was first performed publicly on April 7, 1805, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna with Beethoven conducting. It is scored for pairs of woodwinds, three horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings.
The Eroica Symphony was first performed by the Boise Philharmonic on May 21, 1961. It was most recently performed on January 14, 1994.
When the French Revolution exploded in 1789, Beethoven resided in his birth city of Bonn. As an artistic and politically aware young man, he was attuned to the revolutionary cause because of the large number of French refugees passing through the city. The triumph of the common man over aristocratic oppression is a theme that resounds in much of Beethoven’s music.
Probably the most familiar story of the composer’s association with this cause centers on his Eroica Symphony. The work was originally to be dedicated to Napoleon – an idea first suggested to him in 1798 by General Bernadotte, the French ambassador to Austria. Prior to crowning himself Emperor on May 18, 1804, Napoleon was widely regarded as a champion of the peasant and as an advocate of the rights of man. The Eroica Symphony was completed in the spring of 1804 and was destined to be the Bonaparte Symphony until Beethoven heard of Napoleon’s egotistic and tyrannical accession to the throne. The traditional tale, as recorded by Beethoven’s pupil Ferdinand Ries, recounts that the composer ripped apart the title page.
“In this symphony Beethoven had Bonaparte in mind, but as he was when he was First Consul. Beethoven esteemed him greatly at the time and likened him to the greatest Roman consuls. I as well as several of his more intimate friends saw a copy of the score lying upon his table with the word ‘Bonaparte’ at the extreme top of the title page, and at the extreme bottom ‘Luigi van Beethoven,’ but not another word. Whether and with what the space between was to be filled out, I do not know. I was the first to bring him the intelligence that Bonaparte had proclaimed himself Emperor, whereupon he flew into a rage and cried out: ‘Is he then, too, nothing more than an ordinary human being? Now he, too, will trample on all the rights of man and indulge only his ambition. He will exalt himself above all others, become a tyrant!’ Beethoven went to the table, took hold of the title page by the top, tore it in two, and threw it on the floor. The first page was rewritten and only then did the symphony receive the title Sinfonia eroica.”
Reis was mistaken about the addition of the title Sinfonia eroica, as musicologists know that this description was not attached to the work until its publication two years later. At the same time, the dedication was changed to, “Composed to Celebrate the Memory of a Great Man.”
While Eroica (Heroic) describes the subject of Beethoven’s work, it could also refer to the revolutionary character of his music. Lasting nearly twice as long as any other symphony to date, this work shatters any premise of Classical style. The symphony opens with two accented fortissimo E-flat major chords, violent stabbing the silence and leaving no doubt as to the tonality of the work. The unpredictable mammoth first movement unfolds with a triadic theme in the lower strings, giving way to a long and stormy transition section. The clarinets and oboes present the lyrical second theme. To close the exposition, Beethoven introduces yet another melody, this time in the guise of a codetta. The development section is longer than most entire first movements of Beethoven’s time. New material again turns up and extensive fragmentation of the previous themes fills this section. Harmonic clashes and seemingly wrong notes occur freely. After the customary recapitulation, Beethoven launches an enormous coda, lasting nearly as long as the entire symphony to this point and acting as a second development section.
The funeral march, in rondo form, is military in nature with its dotted rhythms, and resembles the music of French Revolution composers. The lively scherzo begins with pianissimo strings and shifting rhythmic patterns. The rousing trio features a noble fanfare played by three horns.
The finale is a theme and variations drawn from Beethoven’s own ballet, The Creatures of Prometheus. The twelve variations span nearly every style of the day and grow in complexity as the movement progresses. The central fugue is proof of Beethoven’s mastery of contrapuntal technique and provides increasing tension. The coda is a triumphant final statement of heroism – both historical and musical.
©2011 Orpheus Music Prose & Craig Doolin
www.orpheusnotes.com
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