UMS Concert Program, March 18, 1983: International Presentations Of Music & Dance -- New Irish Chamber Orchestra

Season: 104th
Concert: Forty-second
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Lnteifiatipnal
0?
THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
New Irish Chamber Orchestra
and
James Galway
Director and Flute Soloist
Friday Evening, March 18, 1983, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Suite in A minor for Flute and Strings................... Georg Phiupp Telemann
(1681-1767)
Overture Rcjouissance
Les plaisirs Passepied 1 and II
Air a l'ltalien Polonaise
Menuets I and II
Concerto in G major for Flute and Strings.............. Johann Joachim Quantz
(1697-1773) Allegro Mesto
Allegro vivace
INTERMISSION
Irish Suite for Strings (1940)..................................... Arthur Duff
(1899-1956) Midir's Song for Etain Windy Gap
Fishamble Street, Dublin 1742 Dance of Dacmer On the Bridge at Clash
Concerti for Flute, Strings, and Harpsichord,
Op. 10, Nos. 1, 2, and 3................................... Antonio Vivaldi
(c 1669-1741) James Galway: RCA Records. New Irish Orchestra: RCA mid Claddagh Records.
Forty-second Concert of the 104th Season Special Concert
Program Note
Arthur Duff (1899-1956) was bom in Dublin and studied piano and organ at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He became assistant organist at Christ Church Cathedral at the age of 15, and in 1917 entered Trinity College where he earned the Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Music degrees. For several years he served on the staff of Radio Eiseann as Assistant Music Director. As a composer, his output consisted mostly of pieces for small orchestra in the Irish idiom.
The Irish Suite for Strings was written in 1940 and dedicated to Duffs fellow composer E. J. Moeran. Though not actually based on traditional folk material, its melodies show a strong Irish folk influence which evokes a distinct mood or dance rhythm. The flowing first movement recalls Midir's love for the reincarnated goddess, Etain, and Windy Gap is a quick tune reminiscent of a road in the Wicklow hills. The title of the third movement reminds us that Handel's "Messiah" received its first performance at the Music Rooms in Fishamble Street in 1742. The composer has said that W. B. Yeat's line, "They dance all day that dance in Tur na n 6g" (Land of Youth), explains the fourth movement. The Bridge at Clash is also in the Wicklow hills, on the same river as the Meeting of the Waters.
The New Irish Chamber Orchestra
First Violins Second Violins Cellos
Thcresc Timoncy Jack Lcydier Betty Sullivan
Leader Catherine Briscoe Brighid Mooney
Margaret Hayes Helen Briscoe
Sunniva Fitzpatrick . Double Bass
Margaret Burns Violas Herbert Nowak
Tommy Kane
Ruth David Harpsichord
John Beckett
Through their recordings and foreign tours, the New Irish Chamber Orchestra has estab?lished itself internationally as an ensemble of the highest artistic and musical caliber. Formed by Andre Prieur in 1970 from among Dublin's finest chamber players, the ensemble now occupies a very special place in the musical life of Ireland's capital. The Orchestra presents it own annual concert scries, participates in festivals, performs for Radio and Television concerts, and appears regularly with local choral and operatic societies. The New Irish Chamber Orchestra has also become widely known outside Ireland, having toured most European countries, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China. In addition to its current tour of the United States with James Galway, the Orchestra also gives a week of concerts at the Barbican Center in London.
In the few years since James Galway left his principal flutist's post at the Berlin Philharmonic, the Irish flutist has come to be regarded as both a supreme interpreter of the classical flute repertoire, and as a consummate entertainer whose appeal crosses all musical boundaries. Both his playing, his lively sense of humor, and his ebullient character have become familiar to a vast audience through his extensive concert touring as soloist and with orchestra, his more than twenty RCA albums, and his frequent appearances on television. This season he is performing in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, England, France, Holland, and Germany. In the United States he is touring with the New Irish Chamber Orchestra in the dual role of soloist and director, and making a recital tour with pianist Phillip Moll. He is the author of an autobiography, published by St. Martin's Press, and he is editing a series of performance editions of the great flute literature for G. Schirmer's.
James Galway and the New Irish Chamber Orchestra made their Ann Arbor debuts together in 1978 in Rackham Auditorium. Mr. Galway returns this evening for his fourth visit to Ann Arbor, and the Orchestra its second.
Ninetieth Ann Arbor May Festival
Four concerts in Hill Auditorium, Wednesday-Saturday, April 27-30
The Philadelphia Orchestra Riccardo Muti, Music Director & Conductor
The Festival Chorus Theo Alcantara, Guest Conductor
Krystian ZiMERMAN.Pumist Mary Burgess, Soprano
Gidon Kremer, Violinist Rockwell Blake, Tenor
Carlos Montoya, Guitarist J. Patrick Raftery, Baritone
Single tickets now available, from $9 to S21.
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 Phones: (313) 665-3717764-2538