UMS Concert Program, April 5, 1975: Boston Symphony Orchestra --

Concert: Ninth
Complete Series: 3939
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

The University Musical Society
of
The University of Michigan
Presents
Boston Symphony Orchestra
SEIJI OZAWA, Musk Director and Conductor The Festival Chorus of The University Choral Union
DONALD BRYANT, Director
Saturday Evening, April 5, 1975, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
?Overture, Leonore No. 3, Op. 726.........Beethoven
The Cloud Messenger............Loren Rush
INTERMISSION
Daphnis et Chloe..............Ravel
with The Festival Chorus
Available on RCA Deutsche Grammophon Records
The Festival Chorus and Boston Symphony Orchestra will again present Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloe" this Tuesday, April 8, in Chicago's Orchestra Hall, by invitation of the Ravinia Festival Association in celebration of its fortieth anniversary.
Ninth Concert Ninetysixth Annual Choral Union Series Complete Programs 3939
PROGRAM NOTES
Overture, Leonore No. 3, Op. 726......Ludwig Van Beethoven
On November 13, 1805, Napolean Bonaparte's troops marched into Vienna. Seven days later the first performance of Beethoven's only opera Fidelio was given at the TheateranderWien 'before stalls full of French officers'. For the first production Beethoven wrote the overture now known as iLeonore No. 2." The following year the revised version began with "Leonore No. 3," a piece even more elaborately con?structed than its precursor. For the 1814 production Beethoven realized that so long and formal a piece was out of place before the first act, and wrote the overture now called "Fidelio," a shorter and simpler piece which is theatrically a more effective prelude to the domestic atmosphere of the first scene. The overtures for the two earlier versions, masterpieces both, are happily now staples of the symphonic repertoire.
The Cloud Messenger............Loren Rush
Born in 1935 in Southern California, Loren Rush currently resides in Point Rich?mond, California. He began the study of piano at the age of six and gradually extended his studies to include bassoon, contrabass, percussion, and the Japanese koto, the in?strument he uses as a compositional aid. He studied composition with Robert Erickson and attended San Francisco State University, the University of California at Berkeley, and Stanford University, where he received a doctoral degree. His fellowships and awards include the Rome Prize, the Institute of Arts and Letters Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He has been active in the San Francisco Bay Area both as a conductor and instrumentalist in the performance of new music. As Stanford Artificial Intelligence Project Visiting Scholar, he is currently a member of the Stanford Com?puter Music Project, where, in his own words, "a small group of composers is using a large computer as a musical instrument." Mr. Rush wrote the following comments for the American premiere of The Cloud Messenger:
"If I were to refer to The Cloud Messenger as 'this difficult achievement with its infinitely demanding thorough details, strong in its means of expression, but extremely sensitive and informed throughout by mathematics, the creator of the ineffable mystery of space,' I would be quoting Le Corbusier on his cathedral at Ronchamp at the benediction in 1955.
"After the premiere of Nexus 16 at Tanglewood in 1964, Erich Leinsdorf asked me to write a piece for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. By the following summer in Point Richmond I had a fairly precise mental image of the piece and even a few sketches, and by the fall of 1967 I was able to show him in New York the score in nearly complete form, except for some of the detail. He agreed to program the piece as soon as he received the score in a form complete enough that the performance parts could be made. The Cloud Messenger was completed in the summer of 1970. By then I had been living in Rome for a year and Erich Leinsdorf had retired from the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
"The Cloud Messenger was premiered in 1971 with the Rome Symphony Orchestra (RAI) conducted by Giampiero Taverna. It is one movement and scored in ninetynine individually defined instrumental parts. It is mainly dramatic, a sort of musical 'theater of the mind' where several musical 'characters' are developed in various dramatic relationships. Liszt probably would have called it a tone poem.
"The title is somewhat more evocative than descriptive."
Daphnis et Chloe............Maurice Ravel
The two suites from the ballet Daphnis el Chloe, familiar to concert audiences, consist of the second and third parts of the ballet. Between them is an episode in which Chloe, a captive, her hands bound, tries to escape.
The first dozen measures establish perfectly the tonal picture. We hear soft, shimmering strings (muted), a harp arpeggio, suave blending chords from the chorus, a limpid flute solo, answered by natural notes from the horn. This phrase is a true leading motif, ardent, gently expressive of the two lovers. It recurs throughout the score, forever changing in shape and color. Other motifs are also to appear, undergo subtle transformation, and at the last to reach their most vivid expression.
The opening scene of the ballet is a meadow on the edge of a sacred grove, hills seen in the distance. At the right is a grotto, guarded by the sculptured likeness of three nymphs. A great rock at the left rear suggests the god Pan. It is a clear afternoon of spring. Young men and girls enter, bearing baskets with offerings for the nymphs. There follows a graceful and stately religious dance, the chorus joining. Daphnis appears, preceded by his flock. Young girls surround Daphnis and dance (in 74 rhythm). Chloe appears and is drawn into the dance. Dorcon, a grotesque figure, and Daphnis, the handsome shepherd, are rivals for Chloe. The two perform a dance in turn, but Dorcon's dance is received with derision and the dance of Daphnis with general approval. After the dance (gracieuse et legcrc), pirates burst upon the scene and carry off Chloe. Daphnis enters, finds a sandal that she has dropped and prays to the nymphs for her safety. The three sculptured nymphs come to life, descend and perform a dance (lente et mystcrieuse). All pay homage at the altar of Pan.
The second scene, which comprises the first concert suite, shows the camp of the pirates by the sea. A trireme is seen in the distance. The pirates enter, carrying torches and booty. There follows the warlike dance (dame guerriere).
The episode which follows becomes a connecting point between the two orchestral suites. Chloe is brought in, her hands tied. She performs a dansc suppliante and tries to escape, but is prevented. Satyrs, emissaries of Pan, surround the pirates. The god himself appears and the pirates flee in terror, leaving Chloe.
In the third part of the ballet (which is the second suite) the scene is that of the beginning. It is night. Daphnis, mourning Chloe, is still prostrate. As the light of dawn gradually fills the scene, shepherds enter, seeking Daphnis and Chloe. They find Daphnis and wake him; Chloe enters and the lovers embrace. Chloe, beloved of the gods, has been saved by the intervention of Pan. Daphnis and Chloe reenact the story of Pan and Syrinx, the nymph who, according to the legend, successfully evaded the god's pursuit, whereupon he broke off reeds from the thicket into which she had disappeared and fashioned what was to become the traditional ancestor to the flute. This pantomime leads to Ravel's famous flute cadenza, mimed by Chloe, and (in appearance) played by her lover. The pantomime is concluded by a sacrifice at the altar of Pan. Then the "general dance," the riotous finale in 54 rhythm begins. It becomes increasingly wild and baccanalian. Chloe falls into the arms of Daphnis. The ballet ends in a "joyous tumult."
John N. Burk
A very special event!
Vladimir Horowitz
appears in Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium in recital on Sunday afternoon, April 20, at 4:00 p.m.
Ticket information:
Main floor: $15, $12, $10; First balcony: $12, $10, $8; Second balcony: $7, $6, $5 Tickets on sale at Burton Tower, first floor, beginning Monday morning, April 7, at 9:00. Mail orders will be accepted as long as seats are available. If your choice of location is not available, next best remaining seats will be substituted. (Enclose selfaddressed, stamped envelope; check payable to University Musical Society.) ABSOLUTELY NO PHOXE ORDERS.
THE FESTIVAL CHORUS Donald Bryant, Conductor Nancy Hodge, Accompanist
First Sopranos
Edith Bookstein
Karen Brown
Judith Calligan
Elaine Cox
Phyllis Denner
Linda Fenelon
Estelle Fox
Gladys Hanson
Joanne Hoover
Sigrid Johnson
Ann Keeler
Leigh Martin
Kathleen Molony
Mary Ann Sincock
Elizabeth Smeltekop
Jacqueline Stoutenborough
Norma Ware
Beverly Wistert
Second Sopranos
Ann Barden Kathy Berry Doris Datsko Mary Hiraga Patricia Hodgson Alice Horning Frances Lyman Yicki Porter Carol PorterfieJd Virginia Reese Carolyn Richards Susan Schluedcrberg Patricia Tompkins
First Altos
Judith Adams Martha Ause Lola Black Marion Brown Lael Cappaert Sally Carpenter Carol Dick
Kathryn Greene Ellen Gross Nancy Karp Nancy Keppelman Geraldine Koupal Joann Kratzmiller Kirsten Lietz Lois Nelson Carren Sandall Christine VVendt Charlotte Wolfe
Second Altos Sandra Anderson Ellen Armstrong Marjorie Baird Mary Haab Joan Haperty Kathy Klykylo Elsie Lovelace Linda Ray Beverly Roeger Carol Spencer Delores Vander Wai Nancy Williams
First Tenors Alan Cochrane Kenneth Dodd Robert Domine Marshall Franke Marshall Grimm Myron Gross Paul Lowry Robert MacGregor Dennis Mitchell Robert Sauser Marc Setzer Arthur Yidrich
Second Tenors Martin Barrett John Etsweiler III Robert Freed
Jeffrey Halpern Donald Haworth Thomas Hmay Robert Johnson Dwight Klettke James Larsen Phillip Smith Michael Verschaeve
First Basses Yiktors Berstis Fred Bookstein Robert Damashek John Dietrich Walter Evans Thomas Hagerty Edgar Hamilton Jeffrey Haynes Mark Hirano John Jarrett Gary Ketterman Klair Kissel Steven Olson Paul Robinson Michael Roth Roger Smeltekop Riley Williams
Second Basses Gabriel Chin Aaron Ellis Phillip Pierson Gregg Powell Brian Rhinesmith Paul Robinson George Rosemvald Jay Sappington Raymond Schankin Helmut Schick Wallace Schonschack Thomas Sommerfeld Robert Strozier Terril Tompkins John Van Bolt
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 Phones: 6653717, 7642538