UMS Concert Program, January 11, 1975: Detroit Symphony -- The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Inc.

Season: 1974-1975
Henry & Edsel Ford Auditorium

detroit symphony orchestra 1974-1975 season ann arbor, jan n founded 1914
detroit symphony
Aldo Ceccato Music Director
There's a lesson for you in the company we
p Because of the magnitude of the assets being managed, and the demand for outstanding performance, corporate pension trusts provide a critical measure of capability in trust services.
And in this exacting arena, NBD has built an enviable reputation--as attested by the stature of the companies whose pension funds we administer.
The same meticulous research and analysis of investment opportunities that govern the administration of multi-million dollar pension accounts are applied equally to personal trust services. So is the consideration given to your specific objectives, whether they relate to current yield or to appreciation of assets.
If you see value in this type of professional attention to your trust affairs, let us arrange a meeting with you and your attorney.
Trust Division National Bank of Detroit
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Inc.
(Founded 1914) ALDO CECCATO, music director
OFFICERS 1974-75
John B. Ford, chairman Robert B. Semple, president
Walker L. Cisler, vice president William M. Day, vice president Pierre V. Heftier, vice president Ralph T. McElvenny, vice president Raymond T. Perring, vice president ?Alan E. Schwartz, vice president
Harold G. Warner, vice president
Mrs. Theodore O. Yntema, vice president
?David D. Williams, treasurer
Donald S. Green, assistant treasurer Peter P. Thurber, secretary
BOARD OF DIRECTORS 1974-75
Philip C. Baker
Andrew W. Barr
Edward A. Baumann Norman A. Bolz
Lem W. Bowen Rinehart S. Bright
J. Lawrence Buell, Jr.
Mrs. C. Henry Buhl
Phillip Caldwell
E. Paul Casey
Ferdinand Cinelli Walker L. Cisler
Mrs. Frank W. Coolidge
Mrs. Abraham Cooper
Michael Counen
Rodkey Craighead
Harry B. Cunningham William M. Day
Anthony DeLorenzo
Robert Dewar
Frank W. Donovan
David K. Easlick
Mrs. Charles M. Endicott
Mrs. Charles T. Fisher III
Max M. Fisher
Mrs. Edsel B. Ford Gordon T. Ford
Mrs. Henry Ford II John B. Ford
Edward P. Frohlich
David L. Gamble
Hans Gehrke
A. L. Glancy III
Mrs. Daniel W. Goodenough
Berry Gordy, Jr.
William T. Gossett
Executive Committee
Karl Haas
Mrs. Hugh Harness
G. Robert Harrington
Firman H. Hass
Martin Hayden Pierre V. Heftier
Lee Hills
Hudson Holland, Jr.
Mrs. Horace R. Holloway
Mrs. Henry C. Johnson
Ernest A. Jones
Mrs. Harry L. Jones
Maxwell Jospey
Marvin Katke
Tom Killefer
Mrs. Tom Killefer
Hon. Carl Levin
Thomas V. Lo Cicero
Harold O. Love
Wilber H. Mack
Hon. Wade H. McCree, Jr. ?Ralph T. McEivenny
Dr. Marjorie Peebles Meyers
Hon. William G. Milliken
Paul S. Mirabito
Rev. J. Stanley Murphy, C.S.B.
Miles M. O'Brien
Donald D. O'Dowd
W. Calvin Patterson 'Raymond T. Perring
John Prepolec
Mrs. Ted Reed
Mrs. Jerome H. Remick, Jr.
Dean E. Richardson ?Alan E. Schwartz
Arthur R. Seder, Jr.
S. Prewitt Semmes
Robert B. Semple Nate S. Shapero Mrs. William R. Shaw Mrs. Allan Shelden Walter J. Simons Mrs. Florence Sisman Mrs. Howard F. Smith, Jr. Bert L. Smokier Arthur F. F. Snyder Gari M. Stroh, Jr. Robert M. Surdam Mrs. Harry Taylor Richard L. Terrell
?Peter P. Thurber Mrs. S. Pinkney Tuck Mrs. Richard W. Tucker Mrs. Joseph A. Vance, Jr. Mrs. Richard Van Dusen Jack J. Wainger
?Harold G. Warner Mrs. Clifton Wharton
David D. Williams Mrs. Delford G. Williams Hon. G. Mennen Williams Joseph Williams
Mrs. R. Jamison Williams Richard E. Williams Mrs. Eric A. Wiltshire Mrs. Isadore Winkelman Mrs. Leon G. Winkelman
Mrs. R. Alexander Wrigley
Mrs. Theodore 0. Yntema Hon. Coleman A. Young Mrs. John E. Young, Jr.
Marshall W. Turkin, executive director
. . . THE DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. INC.
OPERATING BOARD
Norman A. Bolz
Rinehart S. Bright
Phillip Caldwell
Walker L. Cisler
Mrs. Abraham Cooper
William M. Day
Frank W. Donovan
Gordon T. Ford
John B. Ford
Edward P. Frohlich
David L. Gamble
Mrs. Daniel W. Goodenough
William T. Gossett
Mrs. Hugh Harness
Pierre V. Heftier Mrs. Henry C. Johnson Ernest A. Jones Mrs. Tom Killefer Thomas V. Lo Cicero Harold O. Love Wilber H. Mack Ralph T. McElvenny Miles M. O'Brien Donald D. O'Dowd W. Calvin Patterson Raymond T. Perring John Prepolec Alan E. Schwartz
Robert B. Semple
Mrs. William R. Shaw
Walter J. Simons
Bert L. Smokier
Richard L. Terrell
Mrs. Joseph A. Vance, Jr.
Harold G. Warner
David D. Williams
Mrs. R. Jamison Williams
Richard E. Williams
Mrs. Eric A. Wiltshire
Mrs. R. Alexander Wrigley
Mrs. Theodore O. Yntema
FINANCIAL POLICY COMMITTEE
Clinton J. Allen, Jr. Richard H. Black
Norman A. BolZ, chairman
James B. Bonner Joseph G. Conway Mrs. Charles M. Endicott John B. Ford
Charles C. Gale Roman S. Gribbs Robert W. Hartwell Ray Kooi Robert F. Magill W. Calvin Patterson Msl Ravitz
Dean E. Richardson
Robert B. Semple
Walter J. Simons
C. Boyd Stockmeyer
Gari M. Stroh, Jr.
Gordon A. Weller
Mrs. R. Alexander Wrigley
DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
Morman A. Bolz
J. Lawrence Buell, Jr.
Gordon T. Ford
Hans Gehrke Miles M. O'Brien Robert B. Semple
Harold G. Warner, cho.'rmon Mrs. R. Jamison Williams
PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
G. Robert Harrington Gerald Lundy Robert F. Magill
John Mayhew
E. Harwood Rydholm
William S. Schindler
Gerald E. Warren, chairman;
ad hoc member, Executive Committee
MICHIGAN OUTSTATE ASSOCIATES
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra continues to bring its accomplishments to other Michigan communities and is expanding its outstate activities. Appreciation is extended especially to those individuals and organizations listed belcw who are this season presenting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in concerts in their communities. All appearances are made possible with the support of the Michigan Council for the Arts.
ANN ARBOR
Mr. Gail Rector, president
University of Michigan Musical Society
CALUMET
Dr. Donald J. Murtonen, president
Coppertown, USA
ESCANABA
Mr. Neil Troutman
Great Lakes Choral Society
GRAND RAPIDS
Dr. Howard J. Slenk
Calvin College
INTERLOCHEN
Mr. Roger E. Jacobi, president
Interlochen Arts AcademyNational Music Camp
IRONWOOD
Mr. Carl Mockross, president
Gogebic Arts Council
LANSING
Mr. Kenneth B. Beachler
Michigan State University LectureConcert Series
PORT HURON
Mr. John Wisner, president, WHLS Radio Stations
Mrs. John A. Rapanos, president Michigan Orchestra Association
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Marshall W. Turkin, executive director
Michael A. Smith, operations manager Noel F. Duncan, development director Sylvia Espenschade, communications manager Rose Dabanian, executive secretary
Haver E. Alspach, business manager Joseph Variot, box office manager Isabel Cleveland, season tickets administrator Bruce Carr, program editor
Wayne S. Brown, administrative assistant
Women's Association for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mrs. William R. Shaw, president Mrs. Harry Taylor, first vice president Mrs. John T. McMullen, vice president Mrs. Pierre V. Heftier, vice president Mrs. Robert E. Dewar, vice president Mrs. Norman A. Bolz Mrs. John U. Denman Mrs. Charles M. Endicott Mrs. Ray W. Macdonald Mrs. Joseph J. Marshall
Mrs. Robert J. Crossen, recording secretary
Mrs. Samuel Carman, ass't recording secretary
Mrs. Donald Glossop, corresponding secretary
Mrs. John D. French, treasurer
Mrs. H. Wayne Nelson, ass't treasurer
Mrs. Joseph A. Vance, Jr., endowment chairman
Mrs. John W. Griffin, parliamentarian
Mrs. Winfield S. Jewell, Jr., president emeritus
Mrs. Thomas V. LoCicero, maintenance fund chairman
Junior Women's Association for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mrs. Eric A. Wiltshire, president Mrs. John E. Young, Jr., first vice president Mrs. William J. Rice, second vice president Mrs. Don O. Stanitzke, third vice president Mrs. Frederick C. Hertel, recording secretary Mrs. J. Dale Petrosky, corresponding secretary Mrs. William J. Hamel, treasurer
Mrs. Charles E. Tholen, Symphony co-ordinator
Mrs. Gilbert G. Kurop, yearbook chairman
Mrs. Paul A. Eagan, records chairman
Mrs. Arthur R. Geiger, Jr., social arrangements
Mrs. Daniel R. Gallagher, program chairman
Mrs. Henry F. Domzalski, publicity chairman
Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra
Paul Freeman, conductor Raymond Turner, administrator
THE TYPOCRAFT COMPANY
Printers -Publishers
445 YORK STREET TRinity 2-2501
OFFSET LETTERPRESS
DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
FIRST VIOLINS
Gordon Staples Concertmaster
Bogos Mortchikian
Associate Concertmaster
Joseph Goldman Gordon Peterson
Assistant Concertmasters
Santo Urso Jack Boesen Emily Mutter Austin Derek Francis Alan Gerstel Nicholas Zonas Gary Kosloski Beatriz Budinszky Richard Margitza Linda Snedden Smith Paul Phillips Elias Friedenzohn
SECOND VIOLINS
Edouard Kesner Felix Resnick Alvin Score Lillian Downs James Waring Margaret Tundo Malvern Kaufman Walter Maddox Roy Bengtsson Thomas Downs Larry Bartlett Joseph Striplin LeAnn Toth Robert Murphy
VIOLAS
Nathan Gordon David Ireland Philip Porbe Eugenia Staszewski LeRoy Fenstermacher Hart Hollman Walter Evich Anton Patti Gary Schnerer Catherine Compton
VIOLONCELLOS
Halo Babini
James C. Gordon Choir Thaddeus Markiewicz Edward Korkigian Mario DiFiore David Levine John Thurman Barbara Fickett Susan Weaver Marcy Schweickhardt Karen Shaffer William Graham
Assistant Principal
ALDO CECCATO Music Director
PAUL FREEMAN Conductor-in-Residence
PHILIP GREENBERG
Apprentice Conductor
BASSES
Robert Gladstone Raymond Benner Frank Sinco Maxim Janowsky Linton Bodwin Donald Pennington Stephen Edwards Albert Steger
HARPS
Elyze Yockey Ilku Carole Crosby
FLUTES
Ervin Monroe Shaul Ben-Meir Robert Patrick Clement Barone
PICCOLO
Clement Barone
OBOES
Donald Baker Ronald Odmark Theodore Baskin Stephen Labiner Harold Hall
ENGLISH HORN
Stephen Labiner
CLARINETS
Paul Schaller Douglas Cornelsen Brian Schweickhardt Oliver Green
BASS CLARINET
Oliver Green
E-FLAT CLARINET Brian Schweickhardt
BASSOONS
Robert Williams Phillip Austin Paul Ganson Lyell Lindsey
CONTRABASSOON
Lyell Lindsey
FRENCH HORNS Eugene Wade Charles Weaver Edward Sauve Willard Darling Lowell Greer Keith Vernon
TRUMPETS Frank Kaderabek Gordon Smith Alvin Belknap
TROMBONES Raymond Turner Joseph Skrzynski Elmer Janes
TUBA Wesley Jacobs
TIMPANI
Salvatore Rabbio Robert Pangborn
PERCUSSION
Robert Pangborn Norman Fickett Raymond Makowski Sam Tundo
LIBRARIAN
Albert Steger
Elmer Janes, assistant
PERSONNEL MANAGER Oliver Green
heeSsel FORD AUDITORIUM
detroit symphony
Aldo Ceccato Music Director
Saturday evening, January 11, 1975, at 8:30
Aldo Ceccato, conductor LORIN HOLLANDER, pianist
BACH Clavier Concerto No. 1, D minor, BWV 1052
Allegro Adagio Allegro
LORIN HOLLANDER
STRAUSS Burleske in D minor for Piano and Orchestra
LORIN HOLLANDER
INTERMISSION
DVORAK Symphony No. 8, G major, Opus 88
Allegro con brio Adagio
Allegretto grazioso Allegro ma non troppo-
This program will be repeated in Detroit's Ford Auditorium Sunday afternoon, January 12
This evening marks the Orchestra's fifty-third appearance in Hill Auditorium The Steinway is the official piano of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
THIS WEEK'S GUEST ARTIST
Lorin Hollander began piano lessons when he was four, and from the age of eight until he was 20 studied with the late Eduard Steuermann at the Juilliard School. He made his first major orchestral appearance with the DSO in December 1958, when he was only 14, and has since performed in well over a dozen DSO concerts in Ford Auditorium, on tour, and at the Worcester Festival. His most recent appearance here was at Meadow Brook last summer, and in addition to three concerts with the Orchestra this week, including one in Ann Arbor on Saturday evening, he will be featured soloist in the second of two DSO concerts at Carnegie Hall at the end of this month (January 28 and 29). Hollander has appeared with
more than 50 major orchestras on four continents, on every key recital series in the U.S., and has been seen on television more than any classical artist. His London debut in 1971, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Aldo Ceccato, was termed an "uncommon pleasure" by the critic of The Times. "We were left in no doubt of Mr. Hollander's very clean technique and. in accord with this, nearly all the orchestral detail was most delicately judged." His Blossom Festival appearance with Ceccato last summer (see below) was received with highest acclaim.
Klavicr
aoflOOUE INSTRUMENTS
Largest Selection of Harpsichords and Clavichords in the Midwest
Showroom Hour, by Appointment
882-0755
6980 Kerehewal Gross ftart
Exclusive Michigan Agent for Sassman Harpsichords
PROGRAM NOTES
by Robert Holmes
Dean. College of Fine Aris. Western Michigan University
CLAVIER CONCERTO NO. 1, D MINOR, BWV1052 . . . JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Born Eisenach, 1685; died Leipzig, 1750
This concerto was composed at Leipzig sometime between 1729 and 1736 It is a transcription of an earlier violin concerto composed at Cothen sometime between 1717 and 1723 Bach scored the composition for "Cembalo [conjeertate due Violini, Viola e Cont."
First performance in this series: 23 March 1922; Ossip Gabrilowitsch conducted and Harold Bauer was the soloist.
Last performance in this series: 8 December 1960: Paul Paray conducted and the soloist was Monique Haas.
Although Bach is thought of as representing the culmination and synthesis of all "Baroque" music prior to 1750, there are delightful evidences of a certain progressiveness, a penetration into late 18thand even 19th-century practices. The progressive harmonic devices in his chorales which break all rules of ?"traditional harmony," that semi-legalized musical praxis with which Bach's name is synonymous, and the parallel sixths and other rococo mannerisms employed to poke fun at the "modernism" of his sons' compositions are exemplary.
There are other indications that Bach knew what the future was all about, but none is more pronounced than his unprecedented treatment of concerto principle and form. He was, for example, the first composer to create an "Italian concerto," a composition for a single player representing the soloist and, in effect,
JOHN VAN DE GRAAF
September 8. 1899-December 31, 1974
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra mourns the death last week of John Van de Graaf, who was for nearly three decades a most vital member of the bass section. Born in Arnhem, Holland, he came to us in 1928 from the Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 1937 he joined the newly-founded NBC Symphony under Toscanini, returning to Detroit when the DSO was re-established in 1951, and retiring in 1970. For 15 seasons, from 1951 to 1966, he was the Orchestra's principal bass player. We extend our sincere sympathy to his widow and family, and his many friends.
Ceccato Returns from Successful Conducting Tour
Music Director Aldo Ceccato returns to conduct the Detroit Symphony Orchestra this week for the first time since the Worcester Festival last October. In the meantime he has been gathering glowing reviews of his guest-conducting appearances in Germany, Italy, and Israel -and in addition has accepted an additional conducting post, making him one of a group of today's leading conductors who hold dual music directorships.
In December Maestro Ceccato was appointed General Music Director of the Hamburg Philharmonic, succeeding Wolfgang Sawallisch in that post. He will conduct eight weeks of the 12-week concert season in Hamburg during 1975-76, in addition to 16 weeks of subscription and tour concerts with the Detroit Symphony.
Ceccato's late autumn conducting tour began, in fact, with a pair of concerts with the Hamburg Philharmonic on November 3 and 4, at which he conducted performances of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 14, with soprano Stefania Woytowicz and bass Raflaelc Arie. Hans Christoph Worbs wrote in the Hamburger Abendblatt, "Ceccato's extreme sensitivity to tone-color made the performance [of the Shostakovich Symphony] worthy of highest praise."
The following week (November 10-11) Ceccato conducted a pair of concerts by the Accadcmia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome, where he was equally well received. The program included the Academic Festival Overture of Brahms, Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No. 2 (the soloist was Angelo Stefanato, concertmaster of the orchestra), and Dvorak's Symphony No. 4 -which Ceccato will premiere with the DSO in April. Guido Pannian of Tempo praised the "technical mastery" of his Brahms and labeled his Dvorak performance "a personal success."
Ceccato then went to Israel for his debut with the Israel Philharmonic and three weeks (November 20 to December 7) of concerts in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem. He performed the Beethoven and Brahms violin concertos with Ida Haendel and the Milhaud Viola Concerto with Ze'ev Steinberg, and works of Penderecki, Dvorak, Rossini, Mozart, and Shostakovich. Benjamin Bar-Am wrote in the Jerusalem Post, "Dvorak's Symphony No. 8 showed Ceccato as a first class technician and a brilliant producer of orchestral sound. Everything was smooth and well balanced . . . beautifully coherent. . . ." Dan Aronowicz (Le Journal d'Israel) praised the "unique clarity of his musical discourse" and noted that "under his baton the attack of each phrase became a point of extreme sensitivity." And Yehuda Cohen (Israel Nachrichten) cited his "intimacy with different styles and his mastery of the Orchestra, which spurred them to a superb performance."
After these successes, Ceccato flew back for another series in Hamburg (December 15-18) during which his performance of Dvorak's New World Symphony was especially praised, and after which his appointment as General Music Director was announced. Truly an eventful seven weeks for Aldo Ceccato!
S
PROGRAM NOTES -continued
the orchestra as well. He was also first to employ consistently the three-movement structure which has remained the standard format right up to the present day. Most significantly, however, Sebastian Bach was the first composer to write a concerto for clavier and orchestra.
Bach composed a total of seven concertos which feature one solo clavier (as well as seven others featuring more than one solo instrument). Probably all of these solo concertos are transcriptions of violin concertos written during his Cothen period (1717-1723). This kind of manufacturing was characteristic of the Baroque era when the musician, serving either the church or the aristocracy, was compelled to meet several composition, rehearsal and performance deadlines during any-given week. Bach, for example, manufactured these clavier concertos sometime between 1729 and 1736, during his Leipzig period when, among other things, he produced, rehearsed, and conducted a new cantata every week for Sunday service at St. Thomas. So, according to Geiringer, when "his sons needed effective clavieristic compositions especially for the concerts in the [Leipzig University] Collegium Musicum," it was only natural for him to transcribe the earlier violin concertos.
. The idiomatic quality of these "clavier concertos" varies and writers have different opinions about them. The one in D minor, however, would appear to be the best of the lot. Geiringer spends considerable time on it:
"The composer wrote and rewrote the same arrangement several times, and in the course of this process his language became increasingly idiomatic. A good example is offered by the 'Clavier Concerto in D Minor' (BWV 1052), which the edition of the BG [i.e., the complete works published beginning in 1851 by the Bach-Gcsellschaft] presents in different stages of its development. An early version of the clavier part displays obvious violinistic features. But it may well be that there was an even earlier setting than the one for violin. Some of the arpeggios in the first movement, as well as double stops in fourths, seem to indicate that the Concerto was conceived for a bowed instrument with seven strings, tuned partly in fourths, like the viola d'amore. Later it may have been changed to a violin concerto, and this, in turn, to a harpsichord concerto. Even then the transformation went on, and certain sections of the keyboard part were rewritten three times.
"The composition is well worth the extreme effort Bach expended on it. A demonic first movement driven by irresistible forces is followed by a poignant Adagio, in which the tender cantilena of the keyboard instrument is supported by a majestic ostinato. The lively and high-spirited dance of the finale, played in the brisk tempo Bach is reported to have used for such movements, must have excited the sedate burghers."
Some further specific factors follow, which the listener should keep in mind. In the early 18th century the clavier was employed as a supportive instrument in every concerto. With Bach, however, it began to play a more important role: that of binding the tutti sections with the solo sections. Then, in his final creative period, the clavier comes into its own as a solo concerto instrument. Or as Glenn Gould has put it, "the clavier concertos of Bach were, from the soloistic standpoint, the
MARGIT KORMENDY
Voice Therapist and Consultant
Repertoire and Academic Experience
871-9397 By Appointment Wayne State U.
ALICE LUNGERSHAUSEN
Harpsichordist -Detroit Symphony Orchestra INSTRUCTION -CONCERTS 821-6922
FREDERICK MARRIOTT
Organist -Detroit Symphony Orchestra
INSTRUCTION -CONCERTS -ORGAN CONSULTANT MAyfair 6-2385
MISCHAKOFF STUDIOS
18695 Fairfield
Former Concertmister -Detroit Symphony Orchestra Instruction in Violin Viola
MISCHA MISCHAKOFF -Violin and Viola ..... ., . ?_ .n
HORTENSE MISCHAKOFF -Violin UNlvers.ty 1-2840
TOMA SCHWARTZ
Wayne State University Piano Faculty INSTRUCTION IN PIANO -CONCERTS
EDUCO RECORDS Res. 559-3459 WSU 577-2611
AVERY CREW
TENOR
Teacher of Singing
STUDIO: PARK SHELTON, ROOM 231 TRinity 1-4531
Residence Phone 585-0420
NATHAN GORDON MARJORIE GORDON
SOLO VIOLA -Detroit Symphony Orcheslra LYRIC COLORATURA SOPRANO
Wayne State U. Faculty Wayne State U. Faculty
Conductor, Dearborn Symphony Director, Piccolo Opera Company
Coordinator, Excursions in Music State Voice Chairman, M.M.T.A.
State String Chairman, M.M.T.A.
By Appointment Only. UN 1-6930
DAVID KAHN
Distinguished Piano Instruction
Primary Intermediate Advanced
16145 CARRIAGE TRADE LANE SOUTHFIELD, MICHIGAN PHONE 557-2032
PROGRAM NOTES -continued
first tentative concessions to the emerging ego of the virtuoso." But, the concerto being the first of its kind, the listener will note that the solo instrument had a dual role: in keeping with all earlier conccrti, Bach makes it continue to work with the orchestra as a supportive instrument as well as a solo instrument, and hence the soloist works most of the time. As a result, this composition lacks the tutti-solo contrast which was to become the basis of the concerto principle. But, though contrast may be lacking, Bach accomplished well his chief goals -tcxtural unity and persistent predominance of the soloist.
The listener should also keep in mind that in Bach's time not one but two claviers were used when this composition was performed -one for the solo passages, the other for support for both the tutti and solo sections. Finally, though the harpsichord was used rather than the piano (the piano did exist, incidentally; Bach knew of it but preferred the more conventional plucked instrument), the solo passages came through to the listener, owing to the fact that Bach's orchestra was a good deal thinner than the one used for today's performance.
BURLESKE IN D MINOR FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA . . . RICHARD STRAUSS Born Munich, 1864; died Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 1949
Strauss composed his Burleske at Meiningen in the winter of 1885-86 The first performance took place on 21 June 1890. at the fifth concert of the 27th session of the Allgemeine Deutsche Musikverein at the City Theatre in Eisenach (the native city of J. S. Bach!); the composer conducted: Eugene d"Albert was the soloist.
First performance in this series: 6 April 1922; Ossip Gabrilowitsch conducted and the soloist was William Bachaus Last performance in this series: 26 March 1960: Paul Paray conducted and Byron Janis was the soloist.
The score calls for 2 flutes and piccolo. 2 oboes. 2 clarinets. 2 bassoons. 4 horns. 2 trumpets, 4 timpani, and strings.
It was published in 1894 and bears a dedication to d'Albert.
When Richard Strauss was 21 he gained the post of Assistant Conductor at Meiningen under the eminent Hans von BUlow. It was a fine opportunity. The Meiningen Orchestra was superb and rehearsed every day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Young Strauss learned many scores, the orchestral routine, rehearsal methods, how to deal with musicians -in short, he learned how to conduct under one of the greatest musical figures of the Romantic Era.
Strauss made his debut with the orchestra on 18 October 1885, three weeks after he assumed his responsibilities. He directed his own symphony and played Mozart's C minor piano concerto (K. 491) with his own cadenzas. Johannes
11
DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ALDO CECCATO, Music Director
CONCERT CALENDAR FOR THE COMING WEEKS
AT FORD AUDITORIUM UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED
A collection of records, books, and scores relevant to the DSO's 1974-75 concert season is on display -and available to be borrowed -at the Detroit Public Library, Music and Performing Arts Division.
Thursday evening, January 16 at 8:30 Saturday evening, January 18 at 8:30
ALDO CECCATO, conductor
JANICE YOES, soprano
ELSIE INSELMAN, mezzo-soprano
HENRY GROSSMAN, tenor
ARA BERBERIAN, bass-baritone
JANOS SEBESTYEN, organist
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY SYMPHONIC CHOIR
BEETHOVEN JANACEK
Symphony No. 4 Glagolitic Mass
Friday morning, January 24 at 10:45 (NBD Coffee Concert) Saturday evening, January 25 at 8:30
ALDO CECCATO, conductor
MAURIZIO POLLINI, pianist
MENDELSSOHN BRAHMS
Symphony No. 3 ("Scotch") Piano Concerto No. 2
Wednesday afternoon, February 5 at 1 o'clock (LectureOpen Rehearsal) Thursday evening, February 6 at 8:30 Saturday evening, February 8 at 8:30
ALDO CECCATO, conductor
LEONID KOGAN, violinist
PROKOFIEV
SHOSTAKOVICH
TCHAIKOVSKY
Overture on Hebrew Themes
Violin Concerto No. 1
Symphony No. 2 ("Little Russian")
Friday evening, February 14 at 8:30 (Zodiac Concert) Saturday evening, February 15 at 8:30
LAWRENCE FOSTER, conducting
WALTER KLIEN, pianist
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY MEN'S GLEE CLUB
BACH-SCHOENBERG SCHOENBERG SCHOENBERG BEETHOVEN
12
St. Anne Prelude and Fugue A Survivor from Warsaw Piano Concerto Symphony No. 7
PROGRAM NOTES -continued
Brahms, who was in Meiningen for rehearsals of his Fourth Symphony, was in the audience, and afterwards complimented the young composer, a rare thing for the caustic Brahms -who could not, however, let the compliment stand, adding that Strauss would do well to study the dances of Schubert to develop his melodic invention.
Encouraged by the performance, the reception, and Brahms's praise, Strauss set to work and wrote his Burleske. He distributed the parts for rehearsal, and a virtual debacle ensued. The composer himself labeled the composition utter nonsense, and von Bulow, for whom the piece was intended, held that the "Lisztian" piano part was "unplayable." His genius thwarted (Strauss was not the type to feel embarrassed), he shelved the manuscript.
Five years later, he performed it at a festival concert in Eisenach and this time it met with success, so much so that the publisher Mainaucr offered a substantial price for it. Strauss hesitated because, as he wrote to his friend Alexander Ritter, "Now I really am in need of money . . . [but] it goes terribly against me to publish a work about which I am indifferent." It was published.
His opinion of the youthful piece had not altered but he realized that it would appeal to the prestigious virtuosos and bring his name before their vast audiences. Eventually he apparently reappraised it because he scheduled the work on his own last concert, which took place in London in 1947.
The word "Burleske" suggests humor, but, and this is a debatable point, Strauss's wit seems not to have been of a classical, lasting type, such as that of Shakespeare or Mozart, or even perhaps of some of Strauss's contemporaries such as Bartok, Nielsen and Stravinsky. Today the Burleske simply does not titillate.
But it does have other qualities: its pianistic idiomaticism -it must be a joyous thing to play; its virtuosic orchestral writing-it must be an equal joy to conduct; its fusion of both and the astute balance of substance and genre -good enough to be believable; histrionic enough not to belie its original ambitious footlight purpose.
DSO RECORDINGS CONTINUE TO DRAW ACCOLADES
Time magazine has cited two DSO recordings as "the year's best" and "pick of the pack" in recent articles devoted to recommended LPs. The December 30 issue's list of the five best classical LPs of 1974 includes Columbia's Black Composers Series, conceived and conducted by DSO Conductor-in-Residence Paul Freeman. The Cordero Violin Concerto, recorded by the DSO with violinist Sanford Allen as part of this series, had already won the Koussevitzky International Recording Award last summer. Time's January 6 issue cites among 10 preferred new classical discs a repressing by Philips of the DSO recording of Chausson's Symphony in B-flat and Chabrier"s Suite pastorale made in Orchestra Hall in the late 1950s under Paul Paray. "Not even Munch equaled Paray's way with Chausson's joyous heartbreakcr." writes reviewer William Bender.
13
PROGRAM NOTES -continued
SYMPHONY NO. 8, G MAJOR, OPUS 88.......ANTONIN DVORAK
Born Miihlhausen, Bohemia, 1841; died Prague, 1904
Dvorak began this symphony on 26 October and completed it on 8 November 1889 The first performance took place in Prague on 2 February 1890; the composer conducted.
The first performance in the United States took place in New York on 11 March 1892; Anton Seidl conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
First performance in this series: 16 December 1937; Victor Kolar conducted Last performance in this series: 12 December 1970; Pierre Hetu conducted.
The score calls for 2 flutes and piccolo. 2 oboes and English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons. 4 horns, 2 trumpets. 3 trombones and tuba, timpani, and strings.
It bears a dedication "To the Bohemian Academy of Emperor Franz Joseph for the Encouragement of Art and Literature."
This symphony was formerly referred to as No. 4 because it was fourth in order of publication, some of Dvorak's earlier symphonies being published posthumously. Of the nine symphonies this is the only one published by the English company of Novello; the others were published by Simrock in Berlin.
Dvorak was first called to Simrock's attention by Johannes Brahms. That was in 1877, and Simrock subsequently published a group of Dvorak's songs under the collective title Kl'cinge aus Mtihren (Airs from Moravia). Not long after, Simrock displayed his artistic and business astuteness by securing from the unknown Bohemian peasant the option to publish all his future compositions. Obviously, this was quite a coup for the young composer, for Simrock was Brahms's publisher, and Brahms was the most famous composer in the world. But Simrock was essentially a businessman, and music publishing in those days could be a lucrative business provided one met the public half way, which meant peddling a lot of salon pieces. At first Dvorak gladly wrote for Simrock's market, and many of these works are not fit to be listed with his major efforts. But as he grew in stature, he wearied of writing compositions that leaned toward triviality; he wanted more attention focused on his major works. Haggling between the two men became inevitable.
In 1889 when the composer completed his Eighth Symphony and offered it to Simrock, the publisher responded with an offer of 1000 marks, pointing out, as he had before, that large works did not sell. (He had begrudgingly given 6000 for the D minor symphony [now No. 7] four years earlier.) Dvorak retorted: "I shall simply do what God tells me to do ... that will certainly be the best thing." Simrock wrote back reminding the offended artist of their contract.
In the past when problems arose and the composer sought pastoral counsel, he was led to the London firm of Novello, and so he again turned to them. They responded immediately with a favorable price and the score was sold, delivered, and published. Few composers were so practical in business matters as this strong, simple peasant (another of course had been the arch-haggler himself, Ludwig van Beethoven).
Dvorak's attitude toward the British was a mixture of gratitude and incomprehension. He once said: "The English do not love music, they respect it."
!4
But their respect was such that, on his sixth visit to London in 1892, Cambridge University bestowed on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Music, a form of flattery and honor as common then as now. Dvorak's response is revealed in one of his letters:
"I do not like these celebrations . . . Nothing but ceremonies and deans, all solemn-faced and apparently incapable of speaking in anything but Latin."
More relevant is the fact that it was on that occasion that the British first heard the G major symphony. For some reason, the music public mistook the world premiere and that belief, coupled with the fact that it was published by Novello. caused Londoners for some years after to refer to it as Dvorak's English Symphony. Still others (the London Times, for example) labeled it his Pastorale Symphony because of its "rural sights and sounds, all fresh and charming"; others later insisted on calling it his Bohemian Symphony. This last adjective probably comes closest, so much so that one writer suggests that the work might well have been the composer's Prague Symphony if Mozart had not earlier usurped that title; for the composition is a musical evocation of Czech meadows and cities, of its peasants and their warmth, their dancing and singing. But though the work is nationalistic, its greatness lies more in its individuality and, ultimately and consequently, in its universality.
Inherent in this masterwork, as in all of Dvorak's symphonies, is an overpowering love of God, the firm, elemental faith of a peasant. And because he was a peasant, this composer's art is more intuitive than intellectual, more individualistic than representative. His was a natural gift, inspired and complemented by, rather than hampered by, his peasant origins. His musical ideas were the climactic manifestation of centuries of the music of a musical people. Yet, interestingly, like Bruckner, who was still writing symphonies at the time, Dvorak's works display great natural intelligence, subtle wit, and, in fact, a worldly charm, in spite of his personal provincialism.
Although his early symphonies reflect the Liszt-Wagner legacy, the later ones show Dvorak's indebtedness to classicism, especially to the music of Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms. From Beethoven he learned particularly his excellent sense
MISCHA KOTTLER
Former Pianist -Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Chairman of Piano Division of Wayne Slate University INSTRUCTION IN PIANO
18665 Fairfield Tel. 862-1886
15
PROGRAM NOTES -continued
of form and balance and his ingenious technique for squeezing the most out of thematic motives and imbuing their variants with endless personalities. Schubert showed him that lyricism, when handled intelligently, belongs just as much in symphonies as in lieder, that melodic spontaneity could be maintained and could flourish in this, the king of instrumental forms. And from Brahms he learned the method and importance of fastidious workmanship and of polished instrumentational technique.
Movement I. Allegro con brio; G minor to G major; 44. The opening measures in G minor appear to be introductory, but they are actually the first statement of the first of several themes. It is this multi-thematicism that impresses one most. Any one or two of the melodies would suffice for the structure of a symphonic movement, but Dvorak's melodic inventiveness is so great that he simply cannot resist maximal lyrical expression. And, happily, rather than a melodic potpourri, all of the themes fit; all of them complement one another and contribute to the successful whole. Another characteristic is that the movement continually alternates between minor and major. And its turbulent development utilizes the sequential writing so prevalent in all of Dvorak's symphonic works, as well as in those of his predecessor and countryman. Bedfich Smetana.
Movement II. Adagio; C minor to C major; 24. The form of the Adagio is so atypical and the writing so declamatory and suggestive that earlier commentators assumed that this movement at least must have had a programmatic connotation. One envisioned an old castle with a knight serenading his lady; another asserted that it was a tone poem of Czech village life. But here again the form is dictated by Dvorak's thematic torrent and his ability to weave themes into one convincing whole.
Movement III. Allegretto grazioso; G minor to G major; 38; Molto vivace, G major, 24. If the principal melody of this movement could be described, the viability of musical expression would itself be weakened, for it begins where the other methods of artistic communication end. One can only wonder and be thankful for this supreme passage. Technically, however, the listener might wish to take note of the influence of Brahms in the scoring: woodwinds above pizzicato strings, followed by violins over a descant in the lower strings. The use of the timpani is also Brahmsian. One is reminded that Brahms had completed his final symphony just four years earlier.
The form appears to be ternary, with a contrasting section separating the theme just mentioned and its recapitulation. But suddenly, with a stroke of genius, Dvorak adds a fourth section (Molto vivace), a kind of coda that seems to bear only remote psychological relation to the rest of the movement. Yet, this technique of closing a serene waltz with a fast section in duple time is common among the peasant landler of the central European countries.
Movement IV. Allegro ma non troppo; G major; 24. Of all the movements this is the most nationalistic. It is a series of variations on a theme similar to the first one in the symphony, thus giving cohesiveness to the whole. It is announced first in the trumpets. Again, sequential writing is obvious, and again, the listener is absorbed by the thematic and orchestrational gifts of this unusual man.
16
CADILLAC 1975
Then and Now... an American Standard for the World.
j] Cadillac Motor Car Division
THE STEINWAY VERTICAL
A nice way to start saving for a SteinwayO Grand.
A Steinway vertical is built to the same specifications as a Steinway
grand. It makes richer, more beautiful music than other verticals.
And when you re ready for your Steinway grand, your Steinway vertical
will be worth more than some ordinary piano you might have bought.
EXCLUSIVE AT
(irinnell
CIDCT IM AAliei" CIMCC 1 Q7O
@@@@FIRST IN MUSIC SINCE 1879
STEINWAY IS THE OFFICIAL PIANO OF THE DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA