UMS Concert Program, March 7, 1965: Chicago Little Symphony -- Thor Johnson

Season: Eighty-sixth I
Concert: Sixth
Complete Series: 3465
Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

1964 Eighty-sixth Season 196S
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Charles A. Sink, President Gail W. Rector, Executive Director Lester McCoy, Conductor
Sixth Program Second Annual Chamber Arts Series Complete Series 3465
Chicago Little Symphony
THOR JOHNSON, Conductor
Soloists
Oscar Chausow, Violin Gary Sigurdson, Flute
Francis Bundra, Viola Don Jaeger, English Horn
Sunday Evening, March 7, 1965, at 8:30 Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Sinfonia in B-flat major..........Bach
Allegro assai Andante Presto
Divertissements, Op. 5........Giselher Klebe
Allegro moderato Grazioso
Vivo Allegretto
Moderato assai Larghetto Con moto
Meditation and Processional for Viola and Orchestra . Ernest Bloch
Francis Bundra, Viola
Concerto da camera, for Flute, English Horn and Strings . Honegger Allegretto amabile Andante Vivace
Gary Sigurdson, Flute, and Don Jaeger, English Horn
INTERMISSION
The Lark Ascending--A Romance for Violin
and Orchestra......Ralph Vaughan Williams
Oscar Chausow, Violin
Kadha-Hi-Haku.........Kazuo Fukushima
Lento
Moderato Lento
(Commissioned for the Chicago Little Symphony)
Sinfonia breve da camera, No. 1 D. E. Inghelbrecht
ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS
PROGRAM NOTES
Sinfonia in B-flat major......Johann Christian Bach
(1735-1782)
Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach studied clavier with his brother, Emanuel, in Berlin, counterpoint with Padre Martini, and in 1760 was appointed organist in the cathedral in Milan, Italy.
Later in London, John Bach, as he was called, rose quickly in the musical firmament until 1767 when he became Music Master to Her Majesty, the Queen.
Some forty sinfonias, including those used as overtures to a dozen operas, are exuberant in the corner movements. This joyous work in B-flat major is enhanced by exquisite solo writing for the oboe in the second movement.
Divertissements, Op. 5.........Giselher Klebe
(1925)
Giselher Klebe, who was born at Mannheim, Germany, in 192S, is one of the few impor?tant names to have risen from the ashes of German culture after World War II. Josef Rufer and Boris Blacher were his principal teachers, and so it is natural that his music gravitated to dodecaphonic technique. His special gift has been to weld elements of both Schbnberg and Webern to classical concepts of form.
The Divertissements of this program was first performed at the Darmstadt Festival in the summer of 1949, while Mr. Klebe was on the staff of Radio Berlin.
Meditation and Processional, for Viola and Orchestra . . Ernest Bloch
(18SO-1959)
The long melodic lines of Bloch's style lend themselves to strings, and it was for them that Bloch scored a majority of his major works (Schelomo, five String Quartets, two Con-certi Grossi, the two violin Sonatas, etc.)
In this line, the rich sonority of the viola inspired several important works which rank among the finest yet conceived in this field. The early Suite for viola (1919) is an accepted masterpiece. Bloch added another work in his Suite hebra'ique, for viola and orchestra, pre?miered in 1953.
It was at about this time that Bloch received a commission for a new work for viola and piano. The result was the "Meditation and Processional," which was later orchestrated by Francis Tursi.
Concerto da camera, for Flute, English Horn, and Strings Arthur Honegger
(1892-1955)
This work was completed in 1949, six years before Honegger's death in 1955, on a com?mission from the great American patron of chamber music, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge.
As with other chamber orchestra works, this is relaxed and idyllic. The first movement sets the mood of the work with two themes, one tender and the other prankish. The two movements echo this pattern with a lyrical set of variations and a final dance movement.
The Lark Ascending--A Romance for Violin
and Orchestra........Ralph Vaughan Williams
(1872-1958)
Embellishment, such as exists in this work, is rare in the compositions of Ralph Vaughan Williams. The title is taken from a poem by George Meredith which begins: He rises and begins to round He drops the silver chain of sound Of many links without a break In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake.
Kadha-Hi-Haku..........Kazuo Fukushima
(1930) (Commissioned for the Chicago Little Symphony)
Kazuo Fukushima, who was born in Tokyo in 1930, studied the music of the Koh drama in his youth, and it is therefore not surprising that some of its austerity and stark beauty have permeated his compositions. It has marked him as one of the most intrinsically "Japa?nese" among Japan's young avant garde composers, while making him one of the few com?posers to be published in Europe and America as well as in his native land.
A Kadha is a form of ancient Buddhist poem, usually of a metaphysical nature, having to do with paradox. Mr. Fukushima has used the term for several works, just as Mozart used terms like "Mass" or "Anthem." The second and third movements of "Hi-Haku" are elaborated versions of the first--what our Baroque called "Doubles." Thus, all things being the same, all are necessarily different; and all things which are different are usually the same.
Sinfonia breve da camera No. 1......D. E. Inghelbeecht
(1SS0)
Desire Emile Enghelbrccht is best known as a conductor and author. His book on con?ducting (published in English as The Conductor's World) is a gem in its field, while his recordings include several classic versions of music by Debussy and Ravel. His compositions have rarely been heard outside of his native France, although he was as devoted to compo?sition as to conducting.
The Sinfonia Breve No. 1 was begun in 1928, and completed in 1930. The contrapuntal first movement is nicely balanced by the lively gigue-finale. A point of interest is the piquant color of the Oboe d'amour, used in the Pastorale.
Chicago Little Symphony Personnel
Violin
Oscar Chausow, Concerlmaslcr Dorothy Diggs Marjorie Lin Rosemary Malocsay Lynne Richtcr Dr. Robert Snyder Doris Preucil
Viola
Francis Bundra, Principal Clifford Richtcr
Violoncello
Harold Cruthirds, Principal Mclinda Dalley
Bass
Ringwalt Warner
Flute
Gary Sigurdson
Oboe Don Jaeger
Clarinet Ronald Reuben
Bassoon
Artemus Edwards
Horn Nolan Miller
Trumpet Ray Lichtenwalter
Trombone Mitchell Ross
Harp
Taka Kling
Percussion
Richard Wildermulh
MAY FESTIVAL
6, 7, 8, 9, 1965
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA AT ALL CONCERTS
PROGRAMS
THURSDAY, MAY 6, 8:30 P.M.
EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor LEONTYNE PRICE, Soprano
PROGRAM Overture to Der Freischutz.....Weder
Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major,
Op. 60.........Beethoven
Concert aria, "Delia mia Gamma . . . Mozart "Ernani involami" from Ernani .... Verdi
Leontvne Price Suite from "The Firebird" .... Stravinsky
FRIDAY, MAY 7, 8:30 P.M.
THOR JOHNSON, Conductor THE UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION
YOUTH CHORUS
JANICE HARSANYI, Soprano
MAUREEN FORRESTER, Contralto
MURRAY DICKIE, Tenor
ANSHEL BRUSILOW, Violin
JOSEPH da PASQUALE, Viola
PROGRAM Overture to Seraglio......Mozart
Spring Symphony--for Chorus, Soprano,
Contralto, Tenor, and Youth Chorus . Britten University Choral Union, Youth Chorus,
and Soloists Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major for
Violin and Viola, K. 364.....Mozart
SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2:30 P.M.
WILLIAM SMITH, Conductor SAMUEL MAYES, Violoncello
PROGRAM Suite from the opera Alcina .... Handel
"Schelomo"--Hebrew Rhapsody for
Violoncello and Orchestra.....Bloch
Sauuel Mayes
Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 . Dvorak
SATURDAY, MAY 8, 8:30 P.M.
EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor CESARE SIEPI, Bass-Baritone
PROGRAM Symphony No. 30 in D major, K. 202 . Mozart
Concert aria, "Per questa bella mano" . Mozart
Es ist genug.......Mendelssohn
La Procession.........Franck
Three Don Quichotte Songs.....Ravel
Cesare Siepx
Pastorale .........Stravinsky
Pictures at an Exhibition . Moussorgsky-Ravel
SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2:30 P.M.
THOR JOHNSON, Conductor THE UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION
YOUTH CHORUS
MAUREEN FORRESTER, Contralto
MURRAY DICKIE, Tenor
PROGRAM Les Amants magnifiques......Jolivet
Poeme de l'amour et de la mer . . Chausson Maureen Forrester
Te Deum...........Berlioz
University Choral Union, Youth Chorus, and Murray Dickie
SUNDAY, MAY 9, 8:30 P.M.
EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor SVIATOSLAV RICHTER, Pianist
PROGRAM Overture to Egmont......Beethoven
Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, for Piano and Orchestra.........Grieg
SVIATOSLAV RlCHTER
Symphony No. 5, Op. 47 ... Shostakovich
Tickets available at: $4.50--$4.00--$3.50--$3.00--$2.50 and $1.50
HILL AUDITORIUM
Robert Merrill, Baritone........Friday, March 12
National Ballet of Canada.......Saturday, April 3
Marian Anderson, Contralto......Wednesday, April 14
Tickets: $4.50--$4-00--$3.50--$3.00--$2.25--$1.50
For tickets and information, address UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY, Burton Tower