UMS Concert Program, February 28, 1976: The University Of Michigan Symphony Orchestra --

Concert: Second
Complete Series: 3984
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Tbe University Musical Society
3 3
The University
Presents
Yehudi Menuhin
Violinist and Conductor
Gyorgy Sandor
Pianist
The University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra
Saturday, February 28, 1976, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Concerto No. S in A major, K. 219, for Violin and Orchestra '? . . . Mozart
Tempo aperto Adagio
Tempi di menuetto
Yehudi Menuhin, Violinist and Conductor
Divertimento for String Orchestra..........Bartok
Allegro non troppo Molto adagio Allegro assai
INTERMISSION
Concerto No. 5 in Eflat major, Op. 73 ("Emperor")
Allegro
Adagio un poco moto Rondo: allegro
Gyorgy Sandor, Pianist
Beethoven
Mr. Menuhin available on AngelSeraphim, His Master's Voice, Capitol, Electrola, and Mercury Records.
Mr. Sandor available on Vox and Columbia Records.
Second Annual Benefit Concert for the
University Musical Society and the University School of Music
Complete Programs 3984
PROGRAM NOTES
Concerto No. S in A major, K. 219, for Violin and Orchestra......Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart composed five concertos for the violin between April and December, 1775. Under the guidance of his father, a famous violin teacher, Mozart had become familiar with the brilliant concertos of such great Italian masters as Vivaldi, Corelli, Tartini, Geminiani, and Locatelli. On his visits to Italy, he heard the more contemporary music of the younger generation of composers, particularly that of Xardini and Boccherini, music in which the former galant style, strict in form and full of technical effect, was giving way to a more elastic and sensuous one. Within the three months that separated the second and third concertos, Mozart, for some reason unrevealed by the researcher's probe, gained an artistic maturity and insight that lifted the last three concertos to the creative level of his most characteristic works.
The Amajor concerto, the last of the five, was written when Mozart was nineteen years of age and is, according to Alfred Einstein, "unsurpassed for brilliance, tenderness and wit. The first and last movements are full of surprises ... in the first movement, the halfimprovisation way in which the violin makes its appearance . . . the alternation between gracefulness in march tempo, goodnatured roughness, and cajolery; in the last movement, instead of quotation such as had occurred in the rondos of the two preceding works, a humorous outbreak of sound and fury in 'Turkish' style--it is in duple meter and contrasts as naturally as it combines with the irresistible tempo di mmuetto of the first portion of the movement."
--Glenn D. McGeoch
Divertimento for String Orchestra........Bela Bartok
The Divertimento jor String Orchestra belongs to that group of orchestral masterpieces that Bartok composed during the last decade of his life in Europe and America. In his middle fifties he had reached his full maturity as a composer, and he was now simplifying his style, leaving behind the enigmatic complexities of some of his earlier works. The Divertimento, which is in three short movements, exploits fully the resources of the string orchestra. The various sections are frequently divided, and there is much use of solo instruments, sometimes with the choirs, sometimes as a string quartet, or in other combination.
The first movement is an Allegro non troppo, 98. The opening theme is announced by the first violins over throbbing strings. The first six notes serve as a motto for the entire work, and will be heard in the main themes of the slow movement and the finale. Muted second violins first spin the melody of the slow movement, Molto adagio, 44, over the chromatic murmur of the lower strings, likewise muted. The song is continued canonically by violas and first violins. There is an im?passioned contrasting subject and one of those wild outbursts of elemental urgency that Bartok learned from the ancient folk music of Hungary. Folk elements also have left their impress upon the themes of the scherzolike finale, Allegro assai, 24. Charateristic rising and falling scales in?troduce a texture of repeated eighth notes, and the solo violin plays the dancelike theme over them. There is a brief lyric theme, also for solo violin, and a strong fugue subject growing out of it, which is played in unison, and then worked out. The solo violin has a cadenza, and there is a moment of rest after which the main theme returns in inverted form. The lyric theme also returns in its inversion. The accompanying figures shift from eighth notes to triplets and the tempo increases to a Vivacissimo, again in eighth notes. The triplets return Vivace, and again the onrushing Vivacissimo. The hastening tempos are only momentarily relaxed before the vigorous conclusion.
--George H. L. Smith
Concerto No. 5 in Eflat major,
for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 73.....Ludwig van Beethoven
This magnificent concerto, known as the "Emperor," was the last and most significant of Beethoven's five concertos for the piano, composed in Vienna in 1809. The name "Emperor" applied to this concerto is meaningless unless it suggests that the work holds a commanding position in its own realm similar to that held by the Violin Concerto, Leonore Overture No. 3, and the Eroica Symphony. Wherever the name came from, it is a significant title; of the five piano concertos, this is the most imposing and commanding.
The fusion of virtuosity and creative inspiration is remarkable. There are brilliant and scin?tillating passages, far above any suggestion of mere display, passages abounding in driving power and infectious vitality, and those marked by a delicate and infinite grace.
In Mozart's and Beethoven's day, the first movements of concertos were usually cast in modified sonata form with double exposition for orchestra and solo instrument. In this concerto Beethoven prefaces the orchestral exposition of the first movement (allegro, Eflat major, 44) by passages for the piano. An arpeggio passage in the piano is announced by a fortissimo chord in the orchestra. There are three presentations of this dual idea. The main theme is heard in the first violins. The second subject is announced in Eflat minor, pianissimo, but passes quickly into the parallel major key, and climaxes in the horns .
The piano then presents a chordal version of the main theme, followed by passage work which leads to the second subject (B minor) still in the piano, accompanied by pizzicato strings. The parallel key of B major is then established in a repetition in the full orchestra. The development group concerns itself with the first subject. In the recapitulation, the full orchestra announces the main theme, forte. The subsidiary theme, announced in the piano in Csharp minor, modulates to Eflat major and is sounded in the full orchestra. Beethoven, against custom, allowed no place for the usual cadenza but specifically directed that the soloist should pass directly to the coda.
The theme of the second movement (adagio tin poco moto, B major 44) is announced in the muted strings and forms the basis of a series of "quasivariations." At the close of the movement, there is an anticipation of the theme of the final movement which follows without pause. The music in this movement is transcendently beautiful in its purity of style and spirit of mystical ecstasy.
The piano announces the principal theme of the third movement (Rondo, allegro, Eflat major, 68) soon reannounced by the complete orchestra, forte. The first deviation follows in the piano, still in Eflat, but modulates in a second section to Bflat major. The first subject then returns. There is a development with the customary recapitulation and a coda in which the kettledrum plays an important part. The whole movement sparkles, shouts, and capers with an hilarious abandon.
--Glenn D. McGeocii
The University Musical Society and the University School of Music, beneficiaries of this evening's benefit concert, are deeply appreciative to Mr. Menuhin and Mr. Sandor for generously contributing their artistic gifts. Special thanks are extended to all concertgoers, including those attending the reception to meet the artists after the performance, for their enthusiastic support of this and other cultural presentations throughout the season. All net proceeds from this Second Annual Benefit Concert will be shared equally by the University Musical Society and the University School of Music, following the precedent set at last year's concert which featured Mstislav Rostropovich.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Uri Mayer, Conductor
Violin I
Kirk Toth,
concertmaster George Marsh David Gable Linda Bischak Deborah Torch Diane Bischak Vicki Vorreiter Marianne Toth Narciso Figueroa Michelle Makarski Madeleine Mercier
Violin II
Duane Cochran,
principal Jill Rowley Diane Driggs Susan Charney Judith Palac Karen Medhus Maria Petkoff Elizabeth Child Deborah Paul Laura Mock Cynthia Keen
Viola
Margaret Lang,
principal Susan Robinson Anne Hegel Maxwell Raimi Patricia Dabbs Loretta Castor Gail VanAernum Philip Stoll Barbara Zmich Melissa Gerber
Cello
Richard Harlow,
principal
YoungSook Yun Betsy Pardee Sarah Roth Ann Bodman Karen Summer
Thomas Megee Thomas Cappacrt Paul YVingert Michael Sebastian
Double Bass
Charles Garrett,
principal Erik Dyke Mark Wilson John Hood Elizabeth Stewart Catherine Garrett Michael Crawford Martha Charnley John Dudd Bruce Hanson Jim Adams
Flute
Meta Orear,
principal Xancy Ruffer,
assistant principal Deborah Ash Thomasine Berg
Oboe
Ellen Sudia,
principal Lori Holmgren Pamela Chapman Kathleen Gomez
(English Horn)
Clarinet
Marian Naessens,
principal Edward Quick Leif Bjaland Mitchell Blatt
Bassoon
Jill Whitcomb,
principal Erik Haugen,
assistant principal Pam Trzeciak Patricia Jewell
Horn
Steven Gross,
principal David Porter Barbara Haering Beverly Manasse Jeanne Hamilton
Trumpet
Randolph Blouse James Buckner Robert Bortins Rex Gomillion
Trombone
David Finlayson Thomson McKelvey Douglas Brown
Tuba
David Wilson
Timpani Malcolm Brashear
Orchestra Manager Jon Aaron
Librarians
Janet Smarr Marian N'aessens
Personnel Manager Betsy Pardee
Equipment Personnel
Bill Moersch Erik Dyke David Finlayson
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
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