FACULTY OF MUSIC UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Symphony

Orchestra

MICHEL TABACHNIK Conductor

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1990 8:00 PM

MACMILLAN THEATRE

PROGRAM

Academic Festival Overture

Passacaglia on a Bach Chorale

Three Cornered Hat: suite no.2 The Neighbour's Dance (Sequidillas) The Miller's Dance (Farruca) Final Dance (Jota)

***Intermission***

Symphony No.2 Adagio molto, Allegro con brio Larghetto Allegro Allegro molto

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Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Oskar Morawetz (b.1917)

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

This evening's performance is being recorded by CURT-FM for future broadcast.

TONIGHT'S ARTISTS

One of Europe's most talented conductors, MICHEL TABACHNIK concluded his studies in piano, conducting and composition at the Conservatoire in his home town of Geneva, and embarked upon a conducting career which quickly brought notice and invitations from such prominent masters as Igor Markevitch, Pierre Boulez and Herbert von Karajan. Since conducting the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra last April, his engagements have included:.

-two concerts with the Philharmonique of Radio France in Paris and the Ensemble Intercontemporain of Boulez

-Festival of the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon

-Benefit concert with l'Orchestre de I'Opéra de Paris and Ruggiero Raimondi -recordings for the French label Lyrinx completed in Monte Carlo

-televised broadcast of a concert with RAI Symphony for the World Cup soccer in Rome

-tour with Mediterranean Youth Orchestra; several concerts, including Aix-en- Provence, Orange, Rome with such soloists as Barbara Hendricks

-September was spent composing an oratorio -- a commission for the 7th Century of Swiss Confederation, for performance at opening of festival in 1991 -concert with the National Orchestra of Poland for the autumn festival in Warsaw

-from 1-9 October, toured in Switzerland with l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

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Academic Festival Overture Johannes Brahms

On March 11, 1879, the University of Breslau bestowed on Brahms an honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy with a citation that read: "...a most illustrious man, now leader of the most severe art of music in Germany." The composer did not attend the ceremony, but thanked the University with his slightly mocking Academic Festival Overture, which he conducted in the premier in Breslau on January 4, 1881.

Brahms himself describes the work as "a cheerful potpourri of student songs, and to take the work seriously would go contrary to the intention of the composer." However, it is Brahms' manipulations of these student songs that make the Academic Festival Overture a masterfully crafted work. The sombre opening in C minor contradicts the "festival" mood inherent in the title of the work. But this mood quickly shifts with the soft trumpet introduction of "Wir haben gebaut ein stattliches Haus" (We Have Built a Stately House). This development continues with a mix of student songs: "Der Landesauter" (The Father of Our Country) and "Was Kommt dort von der H6h" (What's Coming from on High). Brahms' orchestrational technique encourages humour and frivolity for bassoons and oboes with the scoring of this latter piece. "Gaudeamus igitur" (Let Us Rejoice) announces the coda to the overture and the orchestra responds with a jubilant conclusion to the Academic Festival Overture.

Passacaglia on a Bach Chorale Oskar Morawetz

Canadian composer Oskar Morawetz's compositions have been performed by more than 120 orchestras worldwide, conducted by such eminent conductors as Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa and Rafael Kubelik. Morawetz composed the Passacaglia in December, 1963, and dedicated it to the memory of President Kennedy. It was premiered by the Toronto Symphony in November, 1964 on the anniversary of the President's assassination.

The chorale-tune upon which the work is based is Herzlich thut, a tune by Hassler that had been converted from its secular origins to a chorale in 1613. J.S. Bach, in the Saint Matthew Passion and other works, used it several times, each with different words. It was the words of the standard English version (Elgar-Atkins) of the Passion Chorale, "Be with me Lord when dying, O part not Thou from me," that Morawetz found so appropriate, and it is the music which goes with these words that forms the basis of the Passacaglia. This fragment of the chorale undergoes fifteen variations which are joined so smoothly that the listener feels only two main sections: variations 1 to 8, where the extended melodic lines over the bass are mostly based on the theme itself, and, starting with variation 9, where the chorale is combined with Bach's Three Part Invention in C minor. From there a crescendo achieves quite dramatic proportions through many other contrapuntal devices and grows in tension and content until the last bar. This work has a special place among Morawetz's compositions. He has intentionally kept the harmonies of the Baroque period, but combines the emotional intensity of the Romantic period. (Program note supplied by the composer)

The Three Cornered Hat Suite #2 Manuel de Falla "El sombrero de tres picos"

"El sombrero de tres picos" was inspired by Serge Diaghilev, who brought his company of Russian dancers to Spain during World War I. The music was originally composed to accompany a pantomime based on a story by Spanish author Alacon entitled El corregidor y la mol inera (The Corregidor and the Miller's Wife), and was revised into a full ballet under the present title for its London premiere in 1919. "El sombrero de tres picos" is one of Falla's most humorous compositions with dance forms, rhythms and melodies deeply rooted in Spanish popular music. The orchestration has been strongly influenced by Stravinsky, and gives the listener the overall impression of a guitar, the most popular instrument of Spanish folklore.

So little of Falla's music has survived, for much of it he personally destroyed. His compositional technique was meticulous, and he would spend years perfecting a work before it was published. The second Suite opens with Danya de los Vecinos (Dance of the Neighbours) in a traditional sequidillas form. The sequidillas is followed by an equally traditional, vibrantly rhythmic Farruca entitled Danya del Molinero (The Miller's Dance). The third and final movement to the suite is a jota in rondo form, where the entire orchestra is utilized to enact the main theme of the ballet: the victory of the people over monarchical authority. Falla creates a musical climax in the final refrain of the suite using tutti orchestra to conclude the excitement in the ballet El sombrero de tres picos.

Symphony No. 2 Ludwig van Beethoven

The first performance of the D major symphony took place on April 5, 1803, in one of Beethoven's own concerts in Vienna and was dedicated to Prince Karl von Lichnowsky. Sketches indicate that the work was begun as early as 1801, but was not completed until the fall of 1802 outside Vienna in the village of Heiligenstadt. The Second Symphony was completed at a time when Beethoven's hearing was being most seriously threatened and he began to realize that his infirmity could become permanent. The Heiligenstadt Testament, written in October of 1802, bears witness to the extreme despair and despondency that overwhelmed Beethoven at this time, just as the Second Symphony represents the musical testament from this period.

The Adagio introduction to the first movement is but a small example of the magnitude of the work which is to follow. The Allegro contains an extended coda section which redevelops the principal theme (a compositional trait that Beethoven uses in his later symphonic works). The remainder of the symphony has equally large dimensions: the theme of the Larghetto second movement abounds with rich melodic line and character. Both the Scherzo and Finale movements grip the listener with melodic and dynamic contrasts full of vitality and energy. The Finale is composed in expanded Sonata form, with unexpected returns to the first theme. The coda section to the Finale is twice as long as its development, introducing both an entirely new theme and the conclusion of Beethoven's Second Symphony.

Notes by Dean Jobin-Bevans, History and Literature, Year 4

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NEXT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CONCERT

Friday, November 30, 1990 8:00 pm in MacMillan Theatre $10/$7 students, seniors

Richard Bradshaw, conductor: 1990/91 Wilma & Clifford Smith Visitor in Music

Roussel: Bachus et Ariane #2 Vaughan Williams: "London" Symphony

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Violin I

Jeremy Bell

Vivian Chon Debbie Diamond Mark Fewer

Boris Kris Chui-Tan Lee

Xiao Liao

Phong Mach Lenore McIntyre Diane Nam

Stevan Pepa Tara-Louise Perrault Konstantin Popovic Erika Raum** Rudy Sternadel Eric Watson

Violin II

Nancy Case Sophie Drouin Melissa Exmundo Mariola Frackowiak Corey Gemmell Karen Graves+ Joo-Joo Kang Anna Kolesar Grace Law Amanda Lee Shana Sandler Claudia Stecker Diane Vardy Samuel Yeung

Viola

Melissa Arenchick Sharon Chen Katherine Hill Bridget LaMarche+ Richard Lee Johann Lotter Don Lyons

Rachel Sells Adrienne Sommerville Michelle Speller

Violincello

Orly Bitov

Lois Chia Mary-Katherine Finch Jeremy Findlay

Irina Grunberg+ Darach McGee

Cindy Song

Margaret Tobola

Double Bass Robert Clutton+ James Creeggan Brian Joyce Patrick MacPhail Wayne Schmidt Greg Sheldon

Flute

Chenoa Anderson Sonja Boon Elizabeth Fekete Jennifer Hellen Martina Kurth Louis Papachristos Todd Skitch Megan Windsor

Piccolo Chenoa Anderson Elizabeth Fekete

Oboe Heidi Post] Judy Rietveld

English Horn Judy Rietveld

Peter Voisey

Clarinet

Joanne Krzyszkowski Arthur Luck

James Petry Claudia Linda Switt Hsiao-Ling Tsai

Bassoon Trumpet Harp

Christine Cardinal Timothy Birtch Agnes Lee Aleksandar Popovic Jason Czuba Darrell Steele Melody Stepto Percussion Anne Marie Borth Contrabassoon Trombone Chris Braun Christine Cardinal Emily Harris Tiina Laukkenen Ross Harwell Jackie McCaig Dean Pattison Horm Sam King Piano Darcy McFadyen Tuba Guy Lalime Jane McKay Alex Kidston Ruth Woodward Julia Yang Celeste

Andrea Stoneman * Concertmaster + Principal

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COACHES

Professor Thomas Monohan: strings Professor Eugene Rittich: winds, brass, percussion

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Peter Bergamin Musical Assistant to Michel Tabachnik Manager and Librarian of University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra

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