UMS Concert Program, November 9, 1984: International Presentations Of Music & Dance -- Gewandhaus Orchestra Of Leipzig

Season: 106th
Concert: Thirty-second
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

iteifiatipnal
@@@@THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig
KURT MASUR Music Director and Conductor
Friday Evening, November 9, 1984, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90, "Italian"................ Mendelssohn
Allegro vivace
Andante con moto Con moto moderato Saltarcllo: presto
INTERMISSION
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, "Eroica".............. Beethoven
Allegro con brio
Marcia funcbrc: adagio assai Scherzo: allegro vivace Finale: allegro molto
Philips, Angel, and Vanguard Records.
Thirty-second Concert of the 106th Season Special Concert
About the Artists
As First Prize winner of the 1982 Tchaikovsky Competition in her native Moscow, Viktoria Mullova became a familiar face to millions of television viewers in the West before her defection from the Soviet Union a year later. With first prizes garnered also in the 1981 Sibelius Competition in Helsinki and the 1975 Wieniawski Competition in Poland, she has gained renown as one of the most gifted violinists of her generation.
While pursuing her work in Moscow, Miss Mullova performed through the Eastern bloc countries, toured the Philippines and Scandinavia and, in her country, played with the orchestras of Moscow, Leningrad, and other major Russian cities. The West, however, remained closed to her until July 1983: while on tour in Scandinavia, she asked for, and was granted, political asylum in the United States. She made her North American debut two months later in Toronto, the first of many appearances in such American cities as New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and Los Angeles. She gave her London orchestral debut in May 1984 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and was im?mediately engaged by the London Symphony for the following season. To document her new life in the West, BBC and ABC television co-produced a profile on the young artist for broadcast in England, the United States, and other countries in the fall of 1984.
Miss Mullova's outstanding performances have generated many engagements -concerts in Australia, a two-week Mediterranean music cruise performing chamber music with distinguished artists, a Korean recital debut, and a tour of Japan with Seiji Ozawa and major Japanese orchestras. The 1984-85 season takes her to many American cities, while 1985-86 will mark her debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Riccardo Muti, with four concerts in Philadelphia and one at Washing?ton's Kennedy Center.
Born in 1959, Viktoria Mullova began violin studies before the age of five and gave her first public concerto performance, the Vieuxtemps Fifth, at age twelve. She studied at the Central Music School of Moscow from 1969 to 1978 and continued at the Moscow Conservatory with Leonid Kogan until 1983.
This evening's recital marks her debut Ann Arbor appearance.
Charles Abramovic, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, received the Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory, and has served on the teaching faculties of the Bryn Mawr Conservatory and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Recently he won first prize in the Piano Teacher's Congress of New York competition, resulting in his debut recital at New York's Carnegie Hall. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Florida Philharmonic, and the Baltimore Symphony. His many solo appearances have included recitals in Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, and he has given recitals and master classes at colleges and universities throughout the country. Mr. Abramovic is also a member of the Janus Trio, with his wife Heidi Jacob and violinist Geoffrey Michaels, which has concertized extensively in the Northeast and last summer performed at festivals in Yugoslavia.
Coming Concerts
Kuijken Quartet........................................ Tues. Nov. 13
Handel: Trio Sonata, Op. 2, No. ' Telemann: Paris Quartet No. 1; Bach: Trio Sonata in D minor, after BWV 527; Scarlatti: Two Sonatas; Leclair: Deuxieme Recreation en Musique
Judith Blegen, Soprano, and
HAkan HagegArd, Baritone................................ Sat. Nov. 17
Music of Wolf, Faure, Debussy, Saint-Saens, Duparc, Gounod, Donizetti, and Lehar
Romanian National Choir........................... (aft.) Sun. Nov. 18
Part I: Renaissance and Elizabethan; Part 11: Contemporary, Romantic, and Traditional; Part III: Folk Arrangements, Old and New
American Ballet Theatre II......................... (eve.) Sun. Nov. 18
Handel's Messiah I Donald Bryant............Fri.-Sun. Nov. 30, Dec. 1, 2
University Choral Union and soloists. University Orchestra members
Vienna Choir Boys.........................................Sun. Dec. 9
Britten: Excerpts from A Ceremony of Carols; Offenbach: Operetta, Monsieur and Madame Denis; J. Strauss: Polkas and Waltzes; music of Eybler, Palestrina, Schubert, and Schumann; Folksongs
Pittsburgh Ballet, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker........... Fri.-Sun. Dec. 14-16
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Pianist................................Tues. Jan. 15
Rachmaninoff: Variations on a Theme by Corelli, and Six Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39; Chopin: Ballade No. 4, Nocturnes Op. 48, Nos. 1 and 2, Impromptu No. 3, Op. 51, Scherzo No. 3
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1270 Phones: (313) 665-3717, 764-2538
Some time later he decided on the title Sinfonia Eroica, which appeared (in Italian) on the cover of the first edition in 1806 as "Heroic Symphony, Composed in Memory of a Great Man." Napoleon still had fifteen more years on earth, but for Beethoven he was dead. In 1809, when Vienna was occupied by Napoleon, Beethoven conducted a performance of the "Eroica" as an act of defiance. Napoleon himself was out of the city on the day of the concert, and there seems to have been no reaction from the authorities.
This great Symphony puzzled many early listeners. One critic called it a "wild fantasy." Others found it strange and violent, and another critic wrote: "If Beethoven continues on his present path, his music could reach the point where one would derive no pleasure from it." Beethoven himself was unmoved by all the complaints and made no changes in his work. The nearest he came to admitting the possibility of anything problematic was a note in the first edition saying, "Since this Symphony lasts longer than usual, it should be played nearer the beginning than the end of a concert for, if heard later, the audience will be tired from listening to other works and the Symphony will not make its proper effect."
The first movement of the Symphony opens with two smashing chords, after which all the formal elements except that of size are familiar. The second movement is a solemn Funeral March with a contrasting central section. It may originally have been intended to honor Napoleon's soldiers who died in battle. When he heard of Napoleon's death in 1821, Beethoven said that he had already written the appropriate music. The third movement is a long and brilliant scherzo with a contrasting central Trio section that features the orches?tra's three horns.
The great finale is a theme and variations movement. The theme is the tune of a light ballroom dance Beethoven had written sometime around 1801. He also used it as a subject for variations in the allegorical ballet he wrote that year, The Creatures of Prometheus, and in 1802 it reappeared in his Fifteen Piano Variations, Op. 35. The variations in the "Eroica" Symphony are the most original and the most profound. After a rushing introduction, a theme is played by the plucked strings. Later this turns out to be only the harmonic foundation of the main theme itself, which is not revealed until it is played by the woodwinds in the third variation. Thus, there are variations on both the theme and on its accompanying bass line. In addition to the variations that follow the form of the theme, there are two long sections devoted to contrapuntal developments of it. The last variations are slow and then, as the Symphony draws to a close, there is a sudden change to Presto for a brilliant ending.
About the Artists
Throughout its extraordinary history, the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig has been an orchestra of unmatched innovation and brilliance, shaped by some of the most legendary musicians the world has known. In 1729Johann Sebastian Bach became music director of Leipzig's Collegium Musicum (a forerunner of the Gewandhaus) -an orches?tra founded 25 years earlier by Telemann. Nearly a century later, the 24-year-old Felix Mendelssohn became the fifth conductor of the Gewandhaus, championing works of his contemporaries, including Robert Schumann, and performances by Schumann's wife Clara, as well as by the young soloist, Franz Liszt. Subsequent music directors were to include Gustav Mahler, Bruno Walter, and Wilhelm Furtwanglcr, with Brahms, Berlioz, Wagner, Strauss, and Tchaikovsky as guest conductors.
Today it is Kurt Masur, born in Silesia in 1927, who creates another distinguished chapter in the history of this ensemble. Maestro Masur spends six to seven months each year leading the Gewandhaus at home in the orchestra's concert hall which opened in 1971, at Leipzig Opera, at the weekly Bach cantata performances in St. Thomas Church, and on tour. The remainder of his time is spent conducting prestigious European and American ensembles. He has participated in music festivals worldwide, including Salzburg, Tangle-wood, Ravinia, Prague, and Warsaw. In 1967 Mr. Masur was appointed Chief Con?ductor of the Dresden Philharmonic, a post he resigned two years after being named the Gewandhaus Orchestra's music director in 1970. He has also served as a professor at the Leipzig Academy of Music since 1975.
Maestro Masur and the Gewandhaus Orchestra are currently on their fourth North American tour, and performed in Ann Arbor during each previous tour -in 1974, 1981,
Coming Concerts
Viktoria Mullova, Violinist ................................Sat. Nov. 10
Mozart: Sonata in B-flat, K. 378; Brahms: Sonata No. 1, Op. 78; Tchaikovsky: Serenade melancoliquc; Prokofiev: Sonata No. 2; Paganini: "La Campanclla"
Kuijken Quartet........................................ Tues. Nov. 13
Handel: Trio Sonata, Op. 2, No. V; Telemann: Paris Quartet No. 1; Bach: Trio Sonata in D minor, after BWV 527; Scarlatti: Two Sonatas; Leclair: Deuxiemc Recreation en Musiquc
Judith Blegen, Soprano, and
HAkan HagegArd, Baritone................................Sat. Nov. 17
Music of Wolf, Faure, Debussy, Saint-Saens, Duparc, Gounod, Donizetti, and Lehar
Romanian National Choir .......................... (aft.) Sun. Nov. 18
Part I: Renaissance and Elizabethan; Part II: Contemporary, Romantic, and Traditional; Part III: Folk Arrangements, Old and New
American Ballet Theatre II ........................ (eve.) Sun. Nov. 18
Handel's Messiah I Donald Bryant............Fri.-Sun. Nov. 30, Dec. 1, 2
University Choral Union and soloists, University Orchestra members
?Vienna Choir Boys.........................................Sun. Dec. 9
Britten: Excerpts from A Ceremony of Carols; Offenbach: Operetta, Monsieur and Madame Denis;}. Strauss: Polkas and Waltzes; music of Eyblcr, Palestrina, Schubert, and Schumann; Folksongs Pittsburgh Ballet, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker........... Fri.-Sun. Dec. 14-16
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Pianist................................Tues. Jan. 15
Rachmaninoff: Variations on a Theme by Corelli, and Six Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39; Chopin: Ballade No. 4, Nocturnes Op. 48, Nos. 1 and 2, Impromptu No. 3, Op. 51, Scherzo No. 3
Music from Marlboro..................................... Wed. Jan. 23
Mozart: Piano Trio in C, K. 548; Beethoven: String Trio in G, Op. 9, No. 1; Dvorak: Piano Quartet in E-flat, Op. 87
Balletap USA............................................. Sun. Jan. 27
Prague Symphony Jiri Belohlavek..........................Sat. Feb. 2
Festival Chorus and soloists Dvorak: Cantata, The Spectre's Bride
Feld Ballet.......................................... Fri., Sat. Feb. 8, 9
Guarneri String Quartet.................................. Sun. Feb. 10
Beethoven: Quartets Op. 18, No. 3, Op. 95, and Op. 132
Katia & Marielle Labeque, Duo-pianists..................... Sun. Feb. 17
Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn; Stravinsky: Concerto for Two Pianos; Ravel: Ma Mere l'Oyc; Gershwin: An American in Paris
Royal Philharmonic Yehudi Menuhin................... Tues. Feb. 19
Rossini: La Cazza Ladra Overture; Dclius: On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring; Elgar: Enigma Variations; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, "Pathetique"
New York City Opera National Company.................Tues. Mar. 5
Verdi's Rigoletto
Kodo ....................................................Thurs. Mar. 7
ISt. Luke's Chamber Ensemble............................... Fri. Mar. 8
Paul Badura-Skoda, Pianist............................... Sun. Mar. 10
?Academy of Ancient Music..............................Thurs. Mar. 14
Christopher Hocwood, Conductor; Emma Kikkby, Soprano; David Thomas, Bass Handel: Water Music, and Cantata, Daphnis et CMoe
National Symphony Mstislav Rostropovich.............Wed. Mar. 20
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4; Shostakovich: Symphony No.5
?Concerts added since first announcement last spring.
tRcplacing I Fiamminghi in the Chamber Arts Series -same date, time, and place.
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 Phones: (313) 665-3717, 764-2538
6EWANDHAUS ORCHESTRA OF LEIPZIG of the German Democratic Republic KURT MASUR, Music Director
First Violins
Prof. Gerhard Bosse
Leader Christian Funke
Leader
Gunar Kaltofen Conrad Suske Gunter Glass Fred Roth Hiltrud Ilg Wolfram Fischer Christoph Sp'orl Heinz-Harald Fleischhauer Ralf Heise Otto-Georg Moosdorf Wolfgang Grantzel Eberhard Oettel Rolf Harzer Johannes Fritzsch Dietrich Brauer Uwe Boge Heinz-Peter Puschel
Second Violins
Roald Reinecke Horst Baumann Eduard Zettl Jiirgen Weise Reinhard Zellner Werner Keim Karl-Heinz Leidiger Herbert Schmalz Kasimir Jachimowicz Lothar Gumprecht Jurgen Hetzer Beate Hundt Gudrun Schwanebeck Udo Hannewald Rudolf Conrad
Violas
Wolfgang Espig Bernd Jaecklin Hans-Christian Bartel Klaus Schwenke Wolfgang Granitz
Gunter Donath Heinz Salamanek Werner Scheiter Hermann Schicketanz Heiner Stolle Henry Schneider Konrad Lepetit Ruth Bernewitz
Cellos
Jurnjakob Timm Gunther Stephan Hartmut Brauer Siegfried Jager Uwe Stahlbaum Ulrike Pfeuffer Adolf Heinrich Jurgen Schroeder Siegfried Hunger Hans-Peter Linde Matthias Schreiber
Basses
Heinz Morawietz Rainer Hucke Wilhelm Neumann Felix Ludwig Rolf Fussel Peter Strauch Achim Busch Thomas Strauch Andreas Rauch
Clarinets
Kurt Hiltawsky Klaus Stockel Wolfgang Bilfinger Werner Wunder
Flutes
Heinz Hortasch Wolfgang Loebner Heinz Maier Fritz Brittall
French Horns
Walderaar Schieber Rolf Sehring Ralf Gotz
Christian Kretschmar Wilhelm Fuchs Hermann Marker Manfred John Werner Pilz Amand Schwantge
Tuba
Dieter Meschke
Oboes
Peter Fischer Gunter Heidrich Holger Landmann Roland Messinger
Bassoons
Prof. Werner Seltmann Gerd Schulze Klaus Martinec Gerwin Baasch
Trumpets
Armin Mannel Gunter Rossler Hartmut Thieme Gunter Navratil
Trombones
Karl Jacob Georg Fleischer Karl Semsch Rolf Handrow
Percussion
Karl Mehlig Ulrich Grunert
DR. KARL ZUMPE, General Manager