UMS Concert Program, March 6, 1987: International Presentations Of Music & Dance -- Vienna Symphony Virtuosi

Season: 108th
Concert: Thirty-fourth
Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Vienna Symphony Virtuosi
Raphael Leone, Flute Michael Zottl, Bassoon
Josef Bednarik, Oboe Jeremy Day, Horn
Ernst Reiter, Clarinet Helmut Ascherl, Trombone
Martin Kerschbaum, Percussion
Friday Evening, March 6, 1987, at 8:00 Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
March for the Prince of Wales, Hob. VIII:3 ..................... Joseph Haydn
Quintet for Winds, Op. 46 (1976) .......................Gottfried von Einem
Adagio Andante
Alia marcia Allegro molto
Three Duets from Die Zauberjlote ............... Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Divertimento No. 8 in F major, K. 213 ............................... Mozart
Allegro spiritoso Menuet
Andante Molto allegro
INTERMISSION
Blues for Gilbert ........................................ Mark Glentworth
Percussion
Oriental Suite.............................................. Leonid Schwarz
Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, and Percussion
Illuminations ............................................ Richard Coolidge
Slow
Molto cantabile
Theme and Variations
Trombone and Vibraphone
Escapade .................................................... Manny Albam
Solo Trombone with Woodwind Quintet
Five Easy Dances .............................................. Denes Agay
Polka Waltz
Tango Rumba
Bolero
The Musical Society gratefully acknowledges the generosity of Ford Motor Company Fund for under?writing the costs of this house program.
Thirty-fourth Concert of the 108th Season Twenty-fourth Annual Chamber Arts Series
Program Notes
March for the Prince of Wales, Hob. VIII:3 .............Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Franz Joseph Haydn is regarded as a pioneer in the classical style, whose music vitally influenced Mozart, Beethoven, and those who followed. A major portion of his work originated from his service as Kapellmeister with the royal court of the Esterhazy family, and it was for the entertainment of this Hungarian nobility that Haydn produced much of his work, not the least of which is his chamber music. The March for the Prince of Wales was written in 1792, for two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, trumpet, and serpent. (The serpent, now obsolete, was the bass of the cornett family, with a long-winding wooden tube covered with leather and played with a cup-shaped mouthpiece.)
Quintet for Winds, Op. 46 (1976) ................ Gottfried von Einem (b. 1918)
Austrian composer Einem studied composition with Boris Blacher in Berlin and then went to Dresden where he was resident composer and music adviser at the Dresden State Opera. After a visit to the United States in 1953, he returned to Austria and settled in Vienna. Best-known for his operatic works, he has served on the boards of the Salzburg Festival and Vienna Staats-oper. His instrumental works are largely neo-classical, and he has absorbed the best of modern tendencies to create a style that is both individual and eloquent. While using dissonance and a very free thematic line, he is essentially a tonal composer.
Three Duets from Die Zauberflote ...........................Mozart (1756-1791)
Two days before the premiere of his opera The Magic Flute, Mozart wrote the overture. A product of his last months, when the composer was worn by illness and abject poverty. Die Zauberflote is considered the forerunner of German opera. The flute is "magic" in the sense that it creates enchantment, not in the sense that it has undergone enchantment. The idea of making the flute the center of a magic-laden story doubtless was the point of departure, but thereafter the story evolved in such a way that it became little more than an accessory.
Divertimento No. 8 in F major, K. 213................................. Mozart
Mozart's Divertimcnti for wind instruments are works that are truly "open-air music." They were written not for chamber music performers in the salon, but for pipers who have to remain outside, beneath the window. Mozart began to write such works as early as the spring of 1773. These Divertimenti are simple and sensitive, written for summer nights under the light of torches and lamps to be heard close by and from afar.
Mark Glentworth (Blues for Gilbert) was born in 1956 and studied percussion with Gilbert Webster at the College of Music in Manchester, England. During the 1979-80 season, he worked in the master class of Siegfried Fink in Wurzburg, Germany. He is a member of The Fires of London, an ensemble founded in 1970 by Peter Maxwell Davies devoted mainly to new music.
Leonid Schwarz (Oriental Suite) is a Russian composer of the first half of this century. He has studied in depth the music of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.
Richard Coolidge (Illuminations), born in 1929, is a composer and educator who studied at the Cincinnati and Peabody Conservatories, Florida State University, and Indiana University. In addition to his works for various instrumental combinations, he has authored several books on form and analysis and has been the recipient of several awards.
Manny Albam (Escapade) was born in the Dominican Republic in 1922. His compositions include quintets for various brass instruments and strings, a concerto for jazz alto saxophone, and numerous other works for wind ensembles. Several of his compositions have been recorded on various labels.
Denes Agay (Five Easy Dances) was born in Budapest in 1911 and studied at the Budapest Academy of Music before moving to the United States, where he settled in New York as a piano teacher. Since 1950 he has been active mainly as an editor of educational material for piano students and has compiled several collections for young pianists.
About the Artists
Seven members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra comprise the Vienna Symphony Virtu?osi, whose concerts are noted for featuring varied instrumentation in the performance of music from the Baroque and Classical periods. The ensemble also actively performs contemporary works by living composers. Since its inception in 1978, the Vienna Symphony Virtuosi has given concerts throughout Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, the Middle and Far East, and the Soviet Union. The group is currently making its first tour of North America.
Smoking is permitted in the outer lobby restrooms only. Your cooperation is appreciated.
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1270 Telephone (313) 764-2538