St. Louis Symphony Extra - November 8, 2014
St. Louis Symphony Extra - November 8, 2014
St. Louis Symphony Extra - November 8, 2014
SIBELIUS
Lemminkinens Return from Lemminkinen Suite, op. 22 (1895)
(1865-1957)
GRIEG
Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 16 (1868)
(1843-1907)
Allegro molto moderato
Adagio
Allegro moderato molto e marcato
Markus Groh, piano
INTERMISSION
SCHUMANN Concertstck in F major for Four Horns and Orchestra, op. 86 (1849)
(1810-1856)
Lebhaft
Romanze: Ziemlich langsam, doch nicht schleppend
Sehr lebhaft
LISZT
Les Prludes (1849-55)
(1811-1886)
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
These concerts are part of the Wells Fargo Advisors series.
Hannu Lintu is the Ann and Lee Liberman Guest Artist.
Markus Groh is presented by the Whitaker Foundation.
Tod Bowermaster is the Carolyn and Jay Henges Guest Artist.
The concert of Friday, November 7, is underwritten in part by a generous gift
from Mr. and Mrs. Craig A. Saddler.
The concert of Saturday, November 8, is underwritten in part by a generous gift
from Mr. and Mrs. Jan K. Ver Hagen.
Coffee and doughnuts are provided through the generosity of Krispy Kreme for
the concert of Friday, November 7.
Pre-Concert Conversations are sponsored by Washington University Physicians.
Large print program notes are available through the generosity of the Delmar
Gardens Family and are located at the Customer Service table in the foyer.
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Roger Kaza
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TIMELINKS
1849
SCHUMANN
Concertstck in F major
for Four Horns and
Orchestra, op. 86
LISZT
Les Prludes
Revolutions in German
states fail
1868
GRIEG
Piano Concerto in A
minor, op. 16
Brahmss Ein deutsches
Requiem (A German
Requiem) premieres
1895
SIBELIUS
Lemminkinens Return
from Lemminkinen
Suite, op. 22
French Captain Alfred
Dreyfus convicted of
treason, causes political
and social upheavals
Born
December 8, 1865,
Hmeenlinna, Finland
Died
September 20, 1957,
Jrvenp, Finland
First Performance
April 13, 1896, by the
Philharmonic Society in
Helsinki, conducted by
Sibelius
STL Symphony Premiere
This week
Scoring
flute
2 piccolos
2 oboes
2 clarinets
2 bassoons
4 horns
3 trumpets
3 trombones
tuba
timpani
percussion
strings
Performance Time
approximately 7 minutes
Born
June 15, 1843, Bergen, Norway
Died
September 4, 1907, Bergen,
Norway
First Performance
April 3, 1869, in Copenhagen;
Edmund Neupert, the pianist
to whom Grieg dedicated
the score, played the solo
part
STL Symphony Premiere
January 30, 1908, Katharine
Goodson was soloist, with
Max Zach conducting
Most Recent STL Symphony
Performance
October 10, 2010, Andr
Watts was soloist, with
Gilbert Varga conducting
Scoring
2 flutes
piccolo
2 oboes
2 clarinets
2 bassoons
4 horns
2 trumpets
3 trombones
timpani
strings
Performance Time
approximately 30 minutes
You know that opening. If you ever pretended to be a famous piano virtuosoromantic,
powerful, emotivethis is the theme you pretended to play.
But after that famous roar, the concerto
becomes something else. A compelling tenderness fills the concert hall, as if this is where the
youth was trying to get to all along. After the
impetuosity and the exposition of unbridled
emotions, he tries a little tenderness.
In the lovely second movement Adagio
(meaning: play a little slower now) the orchestra
cozies up to the piano, the strings and horns give
it a little lift, a little support you heretofore didnt
think it really needed, or would have repelled
before. The piano insinuates itself into the orchestral discussion, and quite naturally becomes the
main topic, with no one the worse for it.
The woodwinds give the final movement a
gentle push, and the piano takes on a light, airy
character, in contrast to the more robust beat of
the orchestra. The movement takes on a pastoral mood with the flute, the piano responding in
kind like a gentle creek in summer.
The piano takes on a more vibrant theme,
with much scurrying across the keys. In the
movie version in your head, you see the impassioned youth and the orchestra collapsing as
one, together at the end. Of course this concerto
would figure prominently in cinema when that
art form came around: Intermezzo, with Ingrid
Bergman and Leslie Howard. There was the cinematic before there was cinema. Griegs Piano
Concerto is proof of that.
RITE OF INITIATION Griegs concerto premiered
in Copenhagen in 1869. A year later, he gains an
audience in Rome with the famous Franz Liszt
kind of like an audience with the Pope. He offers
the renowned virtuoso and composer the concerto score, and Liszt sits at his piano to play it.
I really wondered if he would play my
concerto unrehearsed, Grieg wrote. I myself
believed this was impossible. Liszt, however, obviously did not share my view. And so he began to
play. After his accomplishment, I must add that
further perfection is inconceivable; he played
the Cadenza, which technically is exceedingly
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Born
June 8, 1810, Zwickau, Saxony
Died
July 29, 1856, Endenich, near
Bonn
First Performance
February 5, 1850, Schumann
conducted the Leipzig
Gewandhaus Orchestra
STL Symphony Premiere
December 5, 1992, with
soloists Roland Pandolfi,
Lawrence Strieby, Roger
Kaza, and James Wehrman,
with Raymond Leppard
conducting
Most Recent STL Symphony
Performance
November 8, 1998, with
soloists Roland Pandolfi,
James Wehrman, Tod
Bowermaster, and Robert
Lauver, with Hans Vonk
conducting
Scoring
4 solo horns
2 flutes
piccolo
2 oboes
2 clarinets
2 bassoons
2 horns
2 trumpets
3 trombones
timpani
strings
Performance Time
approximately 21 minutes
LISZTOMANIA As a composer, Liszt was musically aligned with Wagner, and thus in opposition
to Brahms and the Schumanns. Such divisions,
of course, are not necessarily so black and white,
but as the latter composers/musicians were turning to a more Classical mode, Liszt and Wagner
were all out Romantics producing musical high
dramaas well as some personal high drama.
Liebestod, or Love-Death, is a theme attributed to Wagneran erotic death, a love consummated through or after deathand given its most
impressive musical realization in Tristan und
Isolde. Liszt was hooked into this theme too, as
so many artists have been. W.B. Yeats said, Sex
and death are the only things that can interest a
serious mind.
One of Liszts innovations as a composer is
the creation of the symphonic poem, a singlemovement work intended to express a dramatic
program or extra-musical idea. Les Prludes is
such a work. Preludes to what? you might ask.
This is Liszts preface to the score:
What is life but a series of preludes to
that unknown song whose first and
solemn note sounds with death? Love
is the enchanted dawn of existence. But
what fate is there whose delights are
not interrupted by some cruel storm?
And what wounded soul, fleeing such
tempest, does not seek solace in nature?
But man does not long resign himself
to the comfort of natures bosom, and
when the trumpet sounds the alarm he
takes up his perilous post.
HANNU LINTU
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MARKUS GROH
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ROGER KAZA
Roger Kaza rejoined the St. Louis Symphony as
Principal Horn in the fall of 2009, after 14 years
with the Houston Symphony. He was previously a
member of the St. Louis Symphony horn section
from 1983-95, and prior to that held positions in
the Vancouver Symphony, Boston Symphony, and
the Boston Pops, where he was solo horn under
John Williams. A native of Portland, Oregon, he
attended Portland State University, studying with
Christopher Leuba, and later transferred to the
New England Conservatory in Boston, where
he received a Bachelor of Music with Honors in
1977 under the tutelage of Thomas E. Newell, Jr.
An avid bicyclist, hiker, and whitewater
rafter, Roger Kaza is especially fond of the horn in
its original setting: out-of-doors. A performance
of Olivier Messiaens Interstellar Call, from his
suite From the Canyons to the Stars,was recorded
at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
THOMAS JSTLEIN
Thomas Jstlein began as Associate Principal
Horn with the St. Louis Symphony in April 2010.
Most recently, he served as Assistant Professor
of Horn at the University of Illinois, leading the
charges in the Champaign-Urbana Symphony
Orchestra and Ian Hobsons Sinfonia da Camera
while teaching horn and orchestral repertoire.
From 2007-09, Jstlein was the New York
Philharmonics Assistant Principal Horn, playing all positions, including Principal and Third
Horn. Under the direction of Lorin Maazel,
he performed on three major tours, including
the historic live broadcast from North Korea.
Previously, he held positions with the Honolulu,
Omaha, Richmond, and Kansas City symphony
orchestras over a course of 13 years.
Jstlein studied with hornists William
VerMeulen and Thomas Bacon at Rice University,
and privately with tubists Arnold Jacobs and
Roger Rocco. He has taught at the University of
Hawaii and Virginia Commonwealth University.
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TOD BOWERMASTER
A BRIEF EXPLANATION
You dont need to know what andante means or what a glockenspiel is to
enjoy a St. Louis Symphony concert, but its always fun to know stuff. For
example, what do the tempo markings Lebhaft; Romanze: Ziemlich langsam,
doch nicht schleppend; and Sehr lebhaft mean in Schumanns Concertstck?
Lebhaft: lively, sprightly, or brisk
Romanze: Ziemlich langsam, doch nicht schleppend: Romance: Quite slow, but
not dragging
Sehr lebhaft: very lively, sprightly, or brisk
Dilip Vishwanat
Roger Kaza
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