UMS Concert Program, January 20, 1968: Chicago Little Symphony -- Thor Johnson

Season: Eighty-ninth
Concert: Fourth
Complete Series: 3601
Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

1967 Eighty-ninth Season 1968
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Charles A. Sink, President Gail W. Rector, Executive Director Lester McCoy, Conductor
Fourth Program Fifth Annual Chamber Arts Series Complete Series 3601
Chicago Little Symphony
THOR JOHNSON, Conductor
Soloists ALFIO PIGNOTTI, Violin GARY SIGURDSON, Flute
RAYMOND STILWELL, Viola
Saturday Evening, January 20, 1968, at 8:30 Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Symphony No. 6 in D major ("Le Matin").....Haydn
Adagio; allegro Adagio
Menuetto
Finale: allegro
Pastorale d'ete...........Honegger
Five Pieces for Small Orchestra (1962) .... Wallace Berry Evocation Variation Fantasy Chorale Fugue
(Commissioned for the Chicago Little Symphony)
INTERMISSION
Concerto for Flute and Orchestra........Ibert
Allegro
Andante
Allegro scherzando
Gary Sigurdson, Flute
Symphonie concertante for Violin and Viola . . . Carl Stamitz Allegro moderato Romance Rondeau
Alfio Pignotti, Violinist Raymond Stilweix, Violist
Danses concertantes (1942).......Stravinsky
Marche--Introduction Pas d'action Theme varie Pas de deux Marche--Conclusion
PROGRAM
Symphony No. 6 in D major ("Le Matin") . . . Franz Josef Haydn
(1732-1809)
Haydn was twenty-nine years old when he signed a three-year contract with Prince Anton Esterhazy to become his vice-Capellmeister for 400 florins, with board. The assignment placed one of the two best orchestras in Europe at his disposal, so this appointment was decidedly a plum.
Haydn was anxious to please both players and Prince, and willingly accepted Prince Anton's suggestions that he write a trilogy on the times of day. Thus the first works that he wrote for his new position were his Symphonies No. 6 (subtitled Morning), No. 7 (sub?titled Noon), and No. 8 (subtitled Evening).
No programs are given as such, for each is a matter of general character study of time, and all three brim over with solo passages for his brilliant players. (There arc, however, a few picture events along the way, including the sunrise Adagio which opens No. 6.)
Pastorale d'ete..........Arthur Honegger
(1892-1955)
Arthur Honegger, although born in France, in the city of Le Havre, was much influenced by his Swiss parentage, and his works have a Romantic sweep that, in quality, is more German than French. He spent much time in Switzerland, and it was during a vacation at Wengren in 1920 that he composed the Pastorale d'ett (Summer Pastoral) in which he re?created quite literally his impressions of an early August morning in the Swiss Alps.
Pastorale d'tll was dedicated to the French composer Roland-Manuel and was awarded the Prix Verley by unanimous audience approval at its first performance in 1921.
Five Pieces for Small Orchestra (1962).....Wallace Berry
(1932) (Commissioned for the Chicago Little Symphony)
Wallace Berry was born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and is presently on the faculty of the University of Michigan. The five terse pieces for orchestra were commissioned in 1962 by Thor Johnson for the Chicago Little Symphony, and were premiered at the Peninsula Music Festival in Fish Creek, Wisconsin, that summer.
Rich-voiced solo instruments color the whole of the work, particularly the obbligato horn of the second piece, and the solo cello, flute, and harp of the fourth. Like the Baroque textural concept, the five pieces alternate between full ensemble (Nos. 1, 3, and 5), and the chamber-oriented bridge movements (Nos. 2 and 4). On the published score, the composer states: "The first piece, Evocation, must be played very slowly, with intensity. Variation, which consists of tone sequences occurring in various guises, should be expressed in a bold, direct manner throughout. The third piece, Fantasy, is a concentrated playing around the established center, E, and the impression conveyed should be one of urgent and inexorable, if erratic, movement toward that tone. Chorale is to be played with rubato, not only in the solos, but in the concerted portions as well. The final piece, Fugue, should be brisk and vigorous."
Concerto for Flute and Orchestra.......Jacques Ibert
(1890-1962)
This concerto has the witty, agile character so typical of the composer and eminently suited to the instrument. The flute alternates wide angular leaps with broad cantabile sonorities in the first movement. The slow movement begins with beautifully flowing soft strings which accompany the flute before it breaks away for duetting with other solo instru?ments, notably oboe, violin, and horn.
In the finale the flute dances through a tarantella-saltarello-like figure. An introductory three-chord pattern in the orchestra, oddly rhythmed, appears at the beginning and fre?quently through this breathless movement. It appears that the flutist is not expected to breathe oftener than once every five minutes.
Symphonie concertante for Violin and Viola.....Carl Stamitz
(1746-1801)
Son of Johann VVenzel Stamitz, founder of the Mannheim School, Carl was a viola and viola da gamba player as well as composer. His brother Anton was a violinist, and it was probably for performances in Paris and London by the two brothers in 1770 and 1778 that the present Concertante was written.
The first movement is a sonata form patterned after his father's new broad design regulated by the recurrence of the themes (in place of short motifs) ; a contribution that placed him among the great figures in music history. A short cadenza for the two instruments and a coda closes the movement. The Romance gives the instruments a chance to play in duet alter?nating with statement and answer. A lively Rondo with a contrasting minor middle section allows the performers a show of virtuosity.
Danses concertantes (1942)........Igor Stravinsky
(1882)
Danses concertantes is the second of a group of three Concerti Grossi written at the apex of Stravinsky's neoclassic period. The first is Concerto in E-flat for fifteen players ("Dumbarton Oaks Concerto"). This is a study in concerto forms a la Bach (dates from 1938). The third concerto is for string orchestra--the so called Basel Concerto (1947)--and is obviously drawn from the Italian Baroque. The second concerto, Danses concertantes is what the Baroque composers called concerto de camera, in other words, a light concerto of dances. It was written in 1942 in Los Angeles.
CHICAGO LITTLE SYMPHONY PERSONNEL
Violin
Alfio Pignotti, Concerlmaster
Lawrence Fischer, Assistant Concertmaster
Rosemary Malocsay
Josephine Citron
Daniel Stepner
Susan Sporny
Viola
Raymond Stilwell Sally Didrickson
Violoncello
Harold Cruthirds Steven Stalker
String Bass Robert Barney
Flute
Gary Sigurdson
Oboe Don Jaeger
Clarinet Fred Ormand
Bassoon Fred Snyder
French Horn Norman Schweikert
Trumpet
John Lindenau
Trombone David Sporny
Harp
Danis Kelly
Percussion Tsutomu Yamashita
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
EVENTS IN JANUARY
National Ballet from Washington, D.C. . . Wednesday, January 24 Program: "Coppelia"--Music by Leo Delibes
Nathan Milsteln, Violinist......Monday, January 29
Program: Devil's Trill Sonata.........Tartini
Chaconne, from Partita in D minor......Bach
Sonata in F major, Op. 24 ("Spring") .... Beethoven Three Caprices for Solo Violin (C major, B-flat major,
and A minor).........Paganini
Nigun (Improvisation).......Ernest Bloch
Introduction and Tarantella.......Sarasate
Chamber Music Festival
Loewenguth Quartet........Friday, February 16
Program: Quartet in D major, Op. 45.......Roussel
Quartet in C major.........Ibert
Quartet in D major.........Franck
Warsaw Chamber Orchestra.....Saturday, February 17
Program: Sinfonia in B-flat major.......Albinoni
Nova Casa & Tamburetta.......Jarzebski
Concerto for Violin in E major.......Bach
Suite for String Orchestra........Corelli
Concerto in A major........Vivaldi
Concertino in G major........Pergolesi
Early Music Quartet......(2:30) Sunday, February 18
Program: Italian Frottola and Instrumental Interludes;
French Theater Songs; Spanish Instrumental Music; German Peasant Music; Spanish Romanzes; German Art Songs; Italian Moriscos Series Tickets: $8.00--$6.00--$5.00 Single Concerts: $5.00--$4.00--$2.00
ANN ARBOR MAY FESTIVAL-April 20, 21, 22, 23, 1968
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA AT ALL CONCERTS
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 8:30
EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor, ANTHONY di BONAVENTURA, Pianist, performs Bartok Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra. "Egmont" Overture (Beethoven) and Symphony No. 1 (Brahms).
SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 2:30
THOR JOHNSON, Conductor. CLAUDE FRANK, Pianist, performs Mozart Concerto, K. 456. Honegger's King David with UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION; JUDITH RAS?KIN, Soprano; JEAN SANDERS, Contralto; LEOPOLD SIMONEAU, Tenor; and THEODOR UPPMAN, Baritone.
SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 8:30
EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor. All Russian program: "Fireworks" (Stravinsky); Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44 (Rachmaninoff) ; Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 100 (Prokofieff).
MONDAY, APRIL 22, 8:30
THOR JOHNSON, Conductor. JUDITH RASKIN, Soprano, sings Mozart's "Exultate Jubilate"; and performs with THEODOR UPPMAN, Baritone, and THE UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION, in Brahms' Requiem.
TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 8:30
EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor. EILEEN FARRELL, Soprano, in operatic arias by Verdi, Mascagni, and Puccini. Symphony No. 41 (Mozart) ; Paganiniana (Casella) ; and Rosenkavalier Waltzes (Strauss).
Series Tickets: $25.00--$20.00--$16.00--$12.00--$9.00 (now on sale). Single Concerts: $6.00--$5.50--$5.00--$4.00--$3.00--$2.00--(on sale beginning March 1).
Note: All programs begin at 8:30 p.m. unless otherwise indicated.