UMS Concert Program, November 20, 1983: International Presentations Of Music & Dance -- Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra Of Budapest

Season: 105th
Concert: Seventeenth
Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

_itet&atipnal Presentations
THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra
of Budapest
JANOS ROLLA, Music Director and Leader
Sunday Evening, November 20, 1983, at 8:30 Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Sarabande, Gigue, and Badincrie................................... Corelli
Concerto in D minor for Two Violins and Orchestra, BWV 1043........Bach
Vivace
Largo ma non tanto Allegro assai
Sonata No. 3 in G major.......................................... Rossini
Allegro Andante Modcrato
INTERMISSION
Adagio and Fugue, K. 546........................................ Mozart
Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20................................Mendelssohn
Allegro modcrato ma con fuoco Andante
Scherzo: allegro leggicrissimi Presto
Angel, EMI, Erato, and Hungaroton Records.
The Musical Society acknowledges Liberty Music Shop's generosity and commitment to Ann Arbor's cultural life in underwriting the printing costs of this concert program.
Seventeenth Concert of the 105th Season Twenty-first Annual Chamber Arts Series
The Music
Sarabande, Gigue, and Badinerie (Arcangclo Corelli, 1653-1713). Corclli was one of the first great players of the violin, newly and marvelously developed in his time by Niccolo Amati and Antonio Stradivarius. It was said he gave it a voice "like unto the tongue of angels. "The Sarabande, a slow and stately dance in the "grand manner," is followed by a lively Gigue in concert style and the concluding airy and playful Badinerie.
Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra in D minor, BWV 1043 (Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-1750). Between 1717 and 1723 Bach served as chapelmaster to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothcn. Having no organ available, he turned his attention to the composition of works for other instruments. Among these was a variety of concertos, some of which have been lost. This Concerto is preserved in a set of manuscript parts in the State Library in Berlin. Bach also used the music in a Concerto for Two Claviers and Orchestra, but transposed the key to C minor.
Sonata No. 3 in G major (Gioacchino Rossini, 1792-1868). Rossini wrote this and five other sonalc a qualtro in 1804, at the age of twelve. Alfredo Casella discovered these scores in the Library of Congress with this handwritten note attached: "Score for first violin, second violin, cello and bass of six horrible sonatas which I composed while staying in the country near Ravenna at the home of my friend and protector, Agnostini Triossi, being then very young, not having taken a single lesson in accompaniment, and all composed and copied in three days and performed in a wretched way by Triossi, bass, his cousin Morini, first violin, the latter's brother, cello, and by me, who, to tell the truth, was the least bad of all." Casella observed that the Allegro of this sonata foretells the aria of Don Magnifico in La Ccnerentoia, and the Moderate provides ingenious variations for the bass part, artfully satisfying the possibilities of the instruments without being too difficult for the amateurs who premiered it.
Adagio and Fugue, K. 546 (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756-1791). Mozart's first encounter with the printed compositions ofj. S. Bach could be described as a crisis of stunning proportion. Certainly the revelation of Bach's music inspired in Mozart a confrontation with and a decision about his composing methods of that time and his future creative attitudes. The Adagio and Fugue was arranged in 1788 for string quartet or string orchestra with, as Mozart wrote, "a short adagio a 2 violini, viola e basso." In its terse 52 measures is, according to some Mozart critics, one of his most profound statements. It alternates measures of noble Handelian statement with soft, mysterious passages which, with their chromaticism and obscure harmonics, presage the late quartets of Beethoven.
-by Thomas Matthews
Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 (Felix Mendelssohn, 1809-1847). During his later years, Mendelssohn once commented that this work was "my favorite of all my compositions ... I had a most wonderful time in the writing of it." The work was completed in 1825, when the composer was sixteen years of age, and yet, it remains an enduring contribution to the literature of chamber music. A combination of two normal string quartets, which are at times used for antiphonal interplay but often join as one voice, the writing produces a largcr-than-usual chamber music sound. Mendelssohn's note prefacing the manuscript stipulates: "This octet must be played by all the instruments in symphonic orchestra style. "
The Artists
Though Franz Liszt never composed a work for strings, his name is synonymous with Hungarian music; thus, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra of Budapest adopted the composer's name to pay homage to its countryman. In Budapest, the Orchestra gives over thirty concerts annually, with a repertoire that spans the history of Western music from Monteverdi to Modern. It tours regularly throughout Europe and is a frequent guest at the prestigious festivals of Edinburgh, Helsinki, Ascona, Bcsancpn, Flanders, Montrcux, Pradcs, and Santander. Since its first tour to the United States in the spring of 1974, the Orchestra has performed in over 200 North American cities. The current season marks the Orchestra's fifth North American tour, and its first appearance in Ann Arbor.
Distinguished guest artists including Maurice Andre, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Hcnryk Szcryng, Pierre Fournier, and Igor Oistrakh have performed with the ensemble in concert and on recordings. The Orchestra has received the Grand Prix of the French Academic du Disque (The Golden Orpheus Award) in Paris on three different occasions, and has twice been awarded "Record of the Year" honors in Hungary. In all, the Orchestra has released over 100 albums.
Music Director Janos Rolla carries on the tradition of the late maestro Frigycs Sandor, under whose guidance the Orchestra was founded in 1962. Maestro Rolla, who leads the ensemble from the concertmaster's chair, also enjoys many successes as soloist with the Orchestra. He and the other members of the group are all graduates of the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest.
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
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