UMS Concert Program, November 20, 1977: Symphony Orchestra Of Brazil -- Isaac Karabtchevsky

Concert: Fifth
Complete Series: 4088
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

The University Musical Society
The University of Michigan
Symphony Orchestra of Brazil
ISAAC KARABTCHEVSKY, Musical Director and Conductor
CRISTINA ORTIZ, Pianist
Sunday Evening, November 20, 1977, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Preludio from Bachianas Brasileiras, No. 4 .... VlLLALoBOS
In Memoriam (American premiere)...... NOBRE
Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26, for Piano and Orchestra Andante; allegro Theme and Variations: andantino Allegro ma non troppo Prokofiev
Cristina Ortiz, Pianist
INTERMISSION
Symphony No. 2 in D major....... Allegro ma non troppo Adagio ma non troppo Allegretto grazioso Allegro con spirito Brahms
Miss Ortiz records for Angel and EMI
Fifth Concert Ninetyninth Annual Choral Union Series Complete Programs 4088

PROGRAM NOTES
Preludio from Bachianas Brasileiras, No. 4 .... Heitor VillaLobos
(18871959)
VillaLobos was born in Rio de Janeiro, and for a brief period attended the National Institute of Music in Rio de Janeiro. In 1912, he traveled throughout Brazil looking for folk?songs and dances peculiar to the different parts of the country. He wrote down the melodies he heard and it was only after he had assimilated the native music of Brazil that he arrived at his own personal style. It has been said of him that "he is Brazil in music, for more than any other composer he seems to be actuated by the interior flame of his race." The Bachianas Brasileiras, No. 4, was originally written in 1930 for piano solo. The composer himself transcribed it for orchestra in 1941. The work consists of four movements. The first--Prelude--written in the style of Bach, is often performed by itself.
In Memoriam.............Marlos Nobre
(b. 1939)
Marios Nobre, one of the most renowned Brazilian composers of our time, was born in 1939, in Recife, State of Pernambuco. From 1954 to 1959 he studied piano, theory, harmony and counterpoint first at the Conservatorium in Pernambuco, then at the Ernani Braga Institute and School of Music of the University of Recife. In 1960 he studied composition with H. J. Koellreuter in Rio de Janeiro, and in 195962, with Camargo Guarnieri in Sao Paulo. In 1963 he was granted a scholarship of the Rockefeller Foundation which enabled him to continue his studies, mainly of the new techniques of composition, at the Torcuato di Tello Instituto, Buenos Aires, with Ginastera, Messiaen, Ricardo Malipiero, and Dallapiccola. Throughout his career, he has won many prizes and appeared in major international events and festivals.
As a composer, Marios Nobre uses avant garde processes of creation, thus providing new alternatives for the Brazilian music. He writes absolute music, abstract in meaning; his music often causes a physical impact, because of the rare richness of the sounds and a marked use of percussion.
In Memoriam, heard this evening, was first performed on September 18, 1976, in Rio de Janeiro, with the Orchestra Sinfonica Brasileira. Marios Nobre worked on this piece for a long time. He began to write the score in 1971, commissioned by the Federal Council of Education, the Orchestra Sinfonica Brasileira acting as an intermediary. The first version was completed in the same year. The composer, however, was not satisfied and asked the orchestra not to perform it until he had reworked many parts and changed some basic features of its structure. Not until three years later, in 1976, did he consider the work ready to be performed for the public. In Memoriam was written in honor of the composer's father. Only after beginning to write the score, did Nobre realise that the music was greatly influenced both by the musical and the human mind of his father, of whom he had a most vivid recollection. As an amateur violin player, his father used to finger his instrument quietly, late at night, after a hard day's work as an accountant. He had distinct preferences for certain themes, such as a waltz which opened with the following notes: E -Dsharp -B. It was the persistence with which these notes came to the composer's mind while writing the score that made him aware that he was composing a work in memory of his father.
Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26.......Serge Prokofiev
(18911953)
Prokofiev wrote his Concerto No. 3 in C major for Piano and Orchestra in the summer of 1921. It was first performed in Chicago, on December 17, 1921, with the composer as soloist. Prokofiev himself describes this work as follows: "The first movement opens quietly. After a brief introduction, the theme appears in a clarinet solo, and is taken up by the violins. The tempo changes, and the principal subject is stated by the piano. Then a passage in chords leads to the second subject, played in the oboe with a pizzicato accompaniment. The piano takes up this subject and develops it at length. The tempo reverts to Andante, and the orchestra returns to the first theme, fortissimo. The piano joins in, the theme is given a remarkable broad treat?ment. The Allegro reappears with the principal theme, the second subject is developed with
an increasing brilliance, and the movement ends with an imposing crescendo. The second move?ment is a theme with five variations. The theme is announced by the orchestra. In the first variation, the piano treats the theme sentimentally. In the second and third variations the tempo changes to allegro. In variation four the tempo goes back to andante, and the piano and orchestra dialogue meditatively on the theme. Variation five is an energetic allegro ginsto that leads without pause into a restatement of the theme by the orchestra, commented delicately in the piano. The finale starts with a staccato theme for bassoons and pizzicato strings, interrupted by the stormy entry of the piano. An alternative theme appears in the woodwinds, with a slackening of tempo. The piano replies in the caustic style of the work, and the whole material is developed until it reaches a brilliant coda."
Symphony No. 2 in D major........Johannes Brahms
(18331897)
Brahms was born in Hamburg, Germany, on May 7, 1833. His father, from whom he received his first music lessons, was a doublebass player in the Hamburg city theater. Brahms has been called by many the last of the great classical masters. Although it is impossible to deny him the possession of those qualities that mark the composers of the romantic school, it is as a classicist that he must be seen among modern musicians. Throughout his career he adopted musical forms used by Beethoven and the few instances in which he departed from them might well be disregarded, were it not for the fact that they are of such high value that they must be thought of as a logical development of musical form, and not as indicative of revolt against the existing modes of structure. He has a wonderful power of handling classical forms so as to make them seem entirely new. His themes are always noble and have a deep emotional appeal.
Brahms' works range from simple songs like Wiegenlied to elaborate and superb choral works like the German Requiem, from elegant waltzes to powerful concertos for piano and orchestra, from merry Hungarian dances to beautifully worked symphonies. The Second has perhaps the most individualized form among the four symphonies. The slow movement is the most medita?tive one in all his orchestral works. The allegretto moves in a pastoral atmosphere and in the Finale a melody appears, warm and magnetic. The Symphony ends with an energetic Coda.
About the Artists
Attempts to establish a symphony orchestra in Rio de Janeiro date back as far as 1834 when Francisco Manuel da Silva, composer of the Brazilian national anthem, founded the Philharmonic Society of Rio de Janeiro. During the ensuing years several orchestra societies were founded, but it was not until 1940 when Arturo Toscanini, who was visiting Brazil with the NBC Symphony, founded the Symphony Orchestra of Brazil in collaboration with the Brazilian composer, Jose Siqueira. Since then the Symphony has attracted such eminent conductors as Koussevitzky, Bernstein, van Beinum, and Stravinsky, and performed with distinguished soloists such as Rubinstein, Arrau, Stern, Gieseking, Backhaus, Kempff, Flagstad, and Rostropovich.
As Musical Director of the Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, a post he has held since 1968, Isaac Karabtchevsky holds a key position in South America's musical scene. A Brazilian of Russian origin, he embodies the musical heritage of Russia, infused with the dynamism of contemporary Brazil. He is responsible for the success of the Brazilian Symphony in Europe and was the artist chosen to conduct the first musical performance for the inaugural ceremonies in the new Brazilian capital, Brasilia. He is also widely acclaimed as a vital television personality, bringing music to an audience of millions. Tonight's concert is part of the Orchestra's inaugural journey to the United States, and the first time Mr. Karabtchevsky has traveled with his orchestra to this country.
Cristina Ortiz won nearly every prize available in her native Brazil during her childhood, then, at age eighteen, caused a sensation by winning first prize in the Van Cliburn Competition. Since then she has performed extensively in Europe and the United States, and also in Japan, New Zealand, and South Africa. Tonight's concert marks Miss Ortiz' Ann Arbor debut.
COMING EVENTS
Handel's Messiah.........Friday, Saturday, Sunday
December 2, 3, 4 The University Choral Union and University Symphony Orchestra
Donald Bryant, Conductor
Kathryn Bouleyn, Soprano Dan Marek, Tenor
Linn Maxwell, Contralto Joseph McKee, Bass
Ensemble for Early Music.......Friday, December 9
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet .... Thursday, Friday, Saturday
The Pittsburgh Ballet........December IS, 16, 17
Marcel Marceau, Pantomimist.......Saturday & Sunday
January 7 & 8
Jose Molina Bailes Espanoles......Wednesday, January 11
Rossini's Barber of Seville .... ... Sunday, January IS
Canadian Opera Company
Hungarian Folk Ballet........Tuesday, January 17
Rudolf Sf.rkin, Pianist........Wednesday, January 18
Camerata Orchestra of SalzburgJanigro .... Friday, January 20
Leontyne Price, Soprano.......Wednesday, January 25
French String Trio & Michel Debost, Flutist . . . Friday, February 3
Eliot Feld Ballet.......Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
February 20, 21, 22
Carlos Montoya, Guitarist.......Thursday, February 23
Aleksander Slobodyanik, Pianist......Saturday, February 25
Thovil, Sri Lanka..........Wednesday, March 1
Baltimore Symphony OrchestraComissiona . . . Sunday, March 19 Dvorak: Scherzo Capriccioso; Khachaturian: Violin Concerto (Albert Markov, soloist); Kodaly: Hary Janos Suite
Nikolais Dance Theatre.......Tuesday & Wednesday
March 21 & 22
KyungWha Chung, Violinist.......Thursday, March 23
Orpheus Chamber EnsembleFestival Chorus . . . Saturday, March 25
Okinawan Dancers..........Tuesday, March 28
Amadeus String Quartet.........Thursday, April 6
Mozart: Quartet in Bflat, K. 458 ("The Hunt"); Britten: Quartet No. 2; Dvorak: Quartet in F, Op. 96 ("American")
Bavarian Symphony OrchestraKubelik.....Saturday, April 8
Schubert: Symphony No. 3 in D major; Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 in A major
Eightyfifth Annual May Festival Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, April 27, 28, 29, 30
The Philadelphia Orchestra and University Choral Union Eugene Ormandy, Conductor; Robert Shaw, Guest Conductor
Programs and artists announced in January; series ticket orders accepted beginning January 9
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 Phones: 66S3717, 7642538