UMS Concert Program, October 23, 1974: The Gewandhaus Orchestra From Leipzig --

Concert: Fourth
Complete Series: 3903
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

The University Musical Society
of
The University of Michigan
Presents
The Gewandhaus Orchestra from Leipzig
KURT MASUR, Music Director and Conductor SIEGFRIED LORENZ, Baritone
Wednesday Evening. October 23, 1974, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Variations on a theme by Mozart, Op. 132.........Reger
Thema: Andante grazioso Variation 1 Listesso tempo
2 Poco agitato
3 Con moto
4 Vivace
5 Quasi presto
6 Sostenuto
7 Andante grazioso
8 Moto sostenuto Fuge: Allegretto graioso
Leider eines fahrenden Gesellen...........Mahler
Songs oj a Wayfarer
Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht (On my Love's Wedding Day) Ging heut' Morgen uber's Feld (This Morning I Went Across the Field) Ich nab' ein gliihend Messer (I Have a Glowing Dagger) Die zwei blauen Augen (My Love's Blue Eyes)
Siegfried Lorenz intermission
Symphony No. 7 in E major...........Bruckner
Allegro moderato
Adagio: sehr feierlich und langsara Scherzo: allegro; trio; etwas langsamer Finale: bewegt, doch nicht schncll
Angel and Eurodisc Records Fourth Concert Ninetysixth Annual Choral Union Series Complete Programs 3903
PROGRAM NOTES
by Johannes Forner
Mozart Variations, Op. 132...........Max Reger
Max Reger, who was fighting in vain for recognition as an artist in Munich, was only too pleased to take up an invitation to Leipzig in 1907. He held the affection of the town until his untimely death in 1916, not least as the most eminent teacher of composition at the Leipzig Conservatory. This did not stop him from following a call to become Court Director of Music in the Thuringian town of Meiningen in the autumn of 1911. But by the beginning of 1914 he had already handed in his notice, a result of his growing dissatisfaction with affairs at the court and his sudden physical breakdown.
That same year he produced his Mozart Variations. In eight variations and a powerfully written fugue, he transforms the wellknown Mozart theme from the piano sonata in A major and weaves it into an intricate transparent web of musical notes. The theme is introduced cautiously and with the delicacy of chamber music: first on the woodwind and then on the strings. Reger keeps strictly to the formal outline of the theme except in the fifth and eighth variations, but on the other hand gradually reduces the melodic contours of the tune, while creating more possibilities of har?monic interpretation. This process reaches its climax in the fifth variation, which flits away in an almost ghostly fashion. The theme then consolidates until in the seventh variation, complemented by rich counterpoint, the original form of the theme is presented again. The eighth variation represents the slow movement in a symphonic work. In the expansively laid out fantasia Reger explores every possibility in the Mozart model and combines harmonic boldness with orchestral brilliance. After devel?oping new powerful ideas, he leads the voluptuous music back to the utmost tender?ness. Dynamic energy also dominates the construction of the closing fugue. The winds follow the strings, and step by step the dimensions of the work increase. After a lyrical intermezzo, led by the flute, the music starts to move again and is brought to a new height. The work reaches its climax on the broad, grandiose sound of the brass and Mozart's theme has now fused with Reger's scheme.
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.........Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler, the greatest Austrian composer of symphonies after Bruckner, is closely connected with the more recent musical history of Leipzig. From 18861888 he worked with Arthur Nikisch as conductor at the opera. Mahler's "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen" was composed earlier in 188384. The composer was at that time Director of Music in Cassel and had an unhappy love affair there. The original cycle of six and later four songs refers to this.
The twentyfouryearold Mahler carries on the thought, and musical tradition, behind Franz Schubert's theme of wandering and worldweariness but from a literary point of view he is more indebted to the naive lyric tune of the collection of poems "Des Knaben Wunderhorn."
Resignation and doubt more and more dominated Mahler's later life--a deeprooted conflict with the world around him, in which the composer felt he had been placed to strive towards artistic truth for human dignity. This early cycle of Lieder shows traces of this conflict. The characteristic features of Mahler's musical idiom are already discernible: the typical modulation from major to minor, his versification
and turn of phrase, with the progression of the tune following all the nuances of rhythm, and a strong tendency towards the folk song and simplicity. Pain, personal tragedy, and sadness resolve at the end of the cycle in reconciliation. Everything is forgiven here: "Da wusst' ich nicht, wie das Leben tut--war alles, alles wieder gut!"
Symphony No. 7, in E major.........Anton Bruckner
Of the nine symphonies composed by Anton Bruckner between 1865 and 1896, the Seventh in E major has been more favourably received than the others, probably because of the unassuming but magnificently vaulting bright initial theme. Bruckner is an architect who 'builds" his themes, movements, and symphonies on secure foun?dations. The vast dimensions, powerful climaxes, and the fusion of contrapuntal accompaniments are built upon the somber Csharp minor adagio, full of festive majesty, and concise, reoccuring rhythmical patterns, especially in the scherzo, which are created from basic intervals to form the introductory themes of structurally im?portant passages. By exploring the very elementary components of music, Bruckner sets out his ideas and emotions like giant freestones. Tirelessly he creates compact thematic and orchestral arrangements which are clearly distinct from each other. The important movements result not from a dialectical struggle of Beethovian dimensions but much more from the development of contrasting concepts. Introduced into the scheme of these movements, two worlds collide in the form of the adagio and the scherzo--the solemn elegy and the jovial dance, a mixture of joy and defiance. It is well known that the adagio movement was originally inspired by the death of Wagner, and it is here that Bruckner uses the sombre "Wagner tubas" for the first time. At another point he quotes the "Non confundar in aeternum" from the Te Deum, written at the same time. The outside movements are closely related to each other, as are some of their themes. The finale is probably the best example of Bruckner's desire for a synthesis of religious belief and of confident worldliness. The reprise omits the con?ventional chorale theme, and the coda combines the principal themes from the outer movements. Thus the composition comes full circle, and Bruckner's finale does not simply die away but is an expression of fulfillment.
Announcing!
Mstislav Rostropovich
worldrenowned Soviet cellist in recital
Sunday Afternoon, January 19, 1975, at 2:30 Hill Auditorium
Tickets at Burton Tower, or by mail:
Main floor: $8.50 and $7.50
First balcony: $7.50 and $7.00
Second balcony: $6, $5, and $3.50
INTERNATIONAL PRESENTATIONS197475
Esterhazy String Quartet.......Thursday, October 24
Pennsylvania Ballet.........Saturday and Sunday,
October 26 & 27
Slask, Folk Company, from Poland.....Wednesday, October 30
Jacques Loussier Trio, Jazzmen "Play Bach" . . Saturday, November 2
Andre Watts, Pianist.........Wednesday, November 6
(Rescheduled from October 16)
National Chinf.se Opera Theatre.....Sunday, November 10
Cleveland String Quartet......Wednesday, November 13
Carlos Montoya, Guitarist.......Tuesday, November 19
Soviet Georgian Dancers and
Tbilisi Polyphonic Choir.......Sunday, November 24
Juilliard String Quartet........Tuesday, December 3
Handel's Messiah.........Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
December 6, 7 & 8
Guarneri String Quartet and Gary Graffman, Pianist . Wednesday, January 8
Marcel Marceau, Pantomimist.....Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
January 10, 11 & 12
Detroit Symphony Orchestra.......Saturday, January 11
Syntagma Musicum from Amsterdam .... Thursday, January 23
Tokyo String Quartet.........Sunday, February 2
American Symphony Orchestra......Sunday, February 9
Moscow Chamber Orchestra.......Tuesday, February 11
Goldovsky Grand Opera Theater.....Thursday, February 13
JeanPierre Rampal, Flutist, and
Robert VeyronLa Croix, Keyboard.....Tuesday, February 18
Harkness Ballet..........Thursday, February 20
Chhau, Masked Dance of Bengal.....Saturday, February 22
Moscow Balalaika Ensemble and Ludmila Zykina . Monday, February 24
Paul Taylor Dance Company......Wednesday, March 12
Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra.....Saturday, March IS
Qawwali Music from Pakistan.......Sunday, March 16
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Pianist.......Wednesday, March 19
Ars Antiqua de Paris..........Saturday, March 29
Boston Symphony Orchestra........Saturday, April 5
Preservation Hall Jazz Band.......Wednesday, April 9
Spanish RTV Symphony Orchestra of Madrid . . . Friday, April 11 Emil Gilels, Pianist..........Sunday, April 13
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan Phone 66S3717