UMS Concert Program, March 7, 1988: International Presentations Of Music & Dance -- English Chamber Orchestra

Season: 109th
Concert: Thirty-third
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

3nteifiatipnal
THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
English Chamber Orchestra
JEFFREY TATE Conductor
Frank Peter Zimmermann, Violinist Thea King, Clarinetist
Monday Evening, March 7, 1988, at 8:00 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM Overture to The Marriage of Figaro ................................ Mozart
Concerto No. 3 in G major for Violin and Orchestra, K. 216 ........ Mozart
Allegro Adagio Rondo: allegro
Frank Peter Zimmermann, Violinist INTERMISSION
Mini-Concerto for Clarinet and Strings (1980)................Gordon Jacob
Allegro
Adagio
Allegretto moderato
Allegro vivace
Thea King, Clarinetist
Symphony No. 101 in D major, "The Clock" .......................Haydn
Adagio, presto Andante
Menuetto: allegro Finale: vivace
The University Musical Society expresses gratitude to Ford Motor Company Fund for its generosity in underwriting the printing costs of this house program.
Cameras and recording devices are not allowed in the auditorium. Halls Cough Tablets, courtesy of Warner-Lambert Company, are available in the lobby.
Thirty-third Concert of the 109th Season 109th Annual Choral Union Series
PROGRAM NOTES
Overture to The Marriage ofFwaro............Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756-1791)
Written in 1786, The Marriage of Figaro is one of Mozart's greatest operas in the Italian style. It embodies Beaumarchais' bitter indictment of the tyranny, greed, and immorality of the nobility. After the sensational success of Beaumarchais' play in Paris in 1784, Mozart suggested to his librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte, the idea of making it into an opera. Already in the autumn of 1785, Mozart was at work on his music, composing with feverish haste, even as Da Ponte hurried to complete the libretto. "As fast as I wrote the words," Da Ponte recounts in his memoirs, "Mozart wrote the music, and it was all finished in six weeks." The overture, however, was composed last, completed only the day before the first performance.
The brisk overture that precedes the first act is infectious from beginning to end; it is a sparkling Presto, in an abridged sonata form. The main theme is played at once softly by the strings, followed by the woodwinds leading to the lyrical second theme. Omitting the develop?ment section, the short work progresses with elan to the extensive and vivacious coda.
Concerto No. 3 in G major for Violin and Orchestra, K. 216........... Mozart
During the last nine months of 1775, Mozart, then 19, wrote five violin concertos. He was concertmastcr to the Court of the Archbishop of Salzburg at the time and was doubtless expecte3 to provide music for his principal instrument. As son of Leopold Mozart, whose book on violin playing is still used today, Wolfgang naturally played the violin. Supposedly he learned it as a baby, and more from imitation than through lessons. At age seven, he took the second violin part in family chamber music performances and even played solo violin on his tours as a child prodigy. His eventual preference for the viola hurt his father, who wrote in 1777: "You have no idea yourself how well you play the violin; if you only do yourself justice and play with fire, heartiness, and spirit, you may become the first violinist in Europe." The young composer wrote back from Munich: "They all stared; I played as if I were the first violinist in Europe." Of a performance at the Heiligkreuz Monastery in Augsburg, he wrote that "the Strasbourg Concerto [K. 216] went like oil, and everyone praised the beautiful, pure tone."
Of these works, K. 216 and K. 218 are more confident in style than the two earlier violin concertos, K. 207 and K. 211. In the first two, the balance and relation between solo and orchestral passages are questionable; however, the two later concertos contain several similar signs of a new sophistication. They both make a striking use of expressive cantilena and, particularly in the finales, of varying tempos and meters. Mozart's use of courtly dances followed by folk themes is evident in both; in fact, a melody in K. 216 is responsible for the nickname "Strasbourg." In that city, it was a popular tradition for dancers to make swaying motions in the midst of dancing the waltz -a similar mixing of tempos.
The Third Violin Concerto was completed on September 12, 1775, and is a work of rare charm. The first movement has two subjects separated by a fanfare-like transition. The soloist begins with the opening theme, but before long introduces an eloquent tune of his own. The most remarkable part of the Allegro is the development section, which is basically in D minor and is fashioned around a descending scale passage in which both the soloist and the first oboe participate. A striking passage in the style of an operatic recitative introduces the recapitulation.
In the Adagio, Mozart required his two oboes to be replaced by flutes (the Salzburg musicians could probably play both instruments reasonably well). The movement consists of a long, practically continuous cantilena for the solo instrument, above muted violins, supported by a pizzicato bass.
The finale is a rondo in the French style and in triple meter. The jaunty refrain fades away with a sly little phrase on the oboes and horns, both in its initial and final appearance. There are three episodes, the first two in the same tempo and meter as the refrain itself; the third episode, however, begins with a short Andante in the minor and in 44, which leads into a lively country dance in the major. Overall, this concerto is imbued with a sense of innocent grandeur, good humor, and moments of lyrical poetry.
Mini-Concerto for Clarinet and Strings (1980).................Gordon Jacob
(1895-1984)
The English composer Gordon Jacob was known as a kind and modest man, with a considerable reputation not only as a composer, but also as an excellent teacher and writer. His "Orchestral Technique" is recommended to anyone who wants to try his hand at writing or arranging orchestral music. Regarding composition, he once said: "I dislike an academic outlook." By this he meant that he was more concerned with the sound intended for the listener than with the appearance of the notes on paper. Indeed, he was not unlike the eighteenth-century composers, such as Mozart and Haydn, who generally composed with specific per?formances in mind, always writing music made to measure for whatever was demanded.
These principles are very evident in his Mini-Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra. It was written for, and dedicated to, the eminent clarinetist Thea King, who broadcast the first performance of the work with the English Chamber Orchestra on May 11, 1981, and performs it in tonight's concert. The title of the work is typical of Gordon Jacob's self-effacing character. It is a concerto in four movements, "Mini" simply meaning that the movements are short, and that the music is light in the best sense of the word.
The solo and orchestral parts are written for, not against, the instruments; that is to say, they exploit the characteristic sonorities, and though they often make considerable demands on the players, they arc never impossible. The musical idiom of the Mini-Concerto is based on key relations (though there arc fast and frequent modulations). The rhythm is always crisp, and the instrumental texture is transparent throughout. Gordon Jacob was also capable of writing long, lyrical lines; these are evidenced in the Adagio movement, shared by the soloist and the cellos. The Allegretto moderato is a charming intermezzo, and the finale, in the form of ajig, provides the soloist with many opportunities for a display of considerable virtuosity.
Symphony No. 101 in D major, "The Clock"...........Franz Joseph Haydn
(1732-1809)
Franz Joseph Haydn made two rather lengthy visits to London, and on each he took with him a set of six new symphonies. These works were warmly received by the public and brought Haydn great acclaim from his colleagues in the field. Symphony No. 101 in D major, composed in 1794, is part of the second set of "London" symphonies, written under contract to violinist conductorimpresario Johann Peter Salomon. The symphony's nickname was arrived at from the accompanying figure played in the Andante by bassoons and plucked strings, suggesting the ticking of a large clock. Furthermore, Haydn derived the symphony's third movement from the minuet he had written a year earlier for a musical clock.
Similar to many of his symphonies, the first movement begins with a slow introduction; but never had Haydn opened a symphony with as much mystery as in this Adagio, which recalls the opening of his own The Creation. The main body perse of this movement is what one would expect to encounter in the finale of any of Haydn's symphonies, instead of at the very beginning; it is a swift, buoyant Presto in 68 time reminiscent of a tarantelle.
The aforementioned Andante (which provides the work's nickname) is a mixture variation and rondo form, a form much favored by Haydn. The movement further exhibits subtle construction and ingenious orchestration, as well as being highly picturesque. This Andante includes a dramatic episode in G minor, where the charming main theme -with its "pendu?lum" rhythm -is taken over by a flute, so that a tiny clock seems to replace the big time-piece heard before.
The minuet, marked Allegretto, is Haydn's longest ever, at eighty measures, and it is characterized by a feeling of grandeur. The trio section opens with a flute solo over a dissonant string accompaniment, and belongs to the type frequently used by Haydn, supplementing the preceding dance rather than contrasting it.
The finale, marked Vivace, exhibits a structure very similar to that of the Andante, combining tense monothematicism with ingenuous contrapuntal treatment, achieved through virtuosic demands and an unusual formal liberty. Although of a prevailingly light, gay character, there is a miniature double fugue based on the main subject, after a minor episode. Actually, the first three notes of this principal theme are used throughout the entire movement, imparting the finale with its great construction and providing unity to the composition. With this usage of "germ cell" motives, Haydn anticipates Brahms by over half a century.
English Chamber Orchestra
Jeffrey Tate, Principal Conductor Jose-Luis Garcia, Leader
First Violins Jose-Luis Garcia Josef Frohlich Macicj Rakowski Margaret Cowen David Juritz Christopher Bevan Julian Trafford Philippa Ibbotson
Second Violins Mary Eadc Andrew Walton Simon Lewis Rona Murray Amanda Woods Julian Leaper
Violas
Quintin Ballardie Jonathan Barritt Deborah Lander Marjoric Lempfert
Cellos
Charles Tunncll Dietrich Bcthge Christina Shillito Judith Herbert
Basses
Stephen Williams
Paul Sherman
Flutes
William Bennett
Kate Hill
Oboes Neil Black James Brown
Clarinets Thea King Nicholas Bucknall
Bassoons Robin O'Neill Ian Cuthill
Horns
Frank Lloyd Anthony Chidell
Trumpets Gerald Ruddock Edward Hobart
Timpani David Corkhill
General Management Pauline Gilbertson Anthony Woodhouse Jenny Kendall Malcolm Wilson Fay Windsor Kate Evans
The ECO acknowledges with thanks the assistance of the English Chamber Orchestra Society of America, Chairman James B. Sitrick, toward making this tour possible.
About the Artists
Soon after its founding in 1960, the English Chamber Orchestra quickly established itself as a showpiece of Britian's finest musicianship. Today this distinguished ensemble maintains its international reputation with an extremely busy schedule of appearances at home and abroad. The ECO's 1988 tour is its most extensive United States tour in five years; the group has also traveled to Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South America, the West Indies, and Europe.
The English Chamber Orchestra has recorded nearly eight hundred works and continues to make many new recordings. Its current catalogue includes performances with renowned artists such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mstislav Rostropovich, Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, Dame Janet Baker, Jose Carreras, and Placido Domingo; complete symphonic cycles; award-winning collections; and a wealth of other recordings of historic interest.
The orchestra also appears frequently for film and television; a recent project was a televised rehearsal of Schumann's First Symphony conducted by Jeffrey Tate for the BBC. Two other important broadcasts televised by the BBC were a performance of Bach's Mass in B minor and a Handel program, the latter conceived and conducted by Raymond Leppard and broadcast live from Westminister Abbey on Handel's birthday. The ECO appeared on tele?vision worldwide in July 1981, when it participated in the wedding ceremony of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The English Chamber Orchestra's long-time collaborators include Daniel Barenboim, Raymond Leppard, Murray Perahia, and the late Benjamin Britten. More recently, close relationships have developed with Jeffrey Tate and Mitsuko Uchida. Jeffrey Tate first worked with the orchestra in 1982, recording Songs of the Auvergne with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa for Decca. Three years later, as part of its 25th anniversary celebration, the ECO announced his appointment as its very first principal conductor.
Jeffrey Tate is presently involved in an extensive recording project with the English Chamber Orchestra and Mitsuko Uchida, recording Mozart's piano concertos for Philips. His other recent projects with the ECO on the EMI label include a series of late symphonies by Mozart and Haydn, Mozart's complete concertos for wind instruments, Strauss's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and a disc of music by English composers.
Jeffrey Tate, the first principal conductor in the history of the English Chamber Orches?tra, is also principal conductor of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and principal guest conductor at the Geneva Opera. In only a decade he has risen to the top rank of the world's conductors; he is especially noted for his interpretations of the German operatic and orchestral repertoire from Mozart to Strauss.
Jeffrey Tate has conducted frequently at the Metropolitan Opera since he debuted there in 1980 with Lulu. Last season at the Met he conducted a new production of Die Fledermaus and performances of Dcr Rosenkaualier. He made his Royal Opera debut in 1983 with Mozart's Clemenza di Tito, and returned in 1985 to conduct Strauss's Ariadne auNaxos, which he had conducted as a new production at the Paris Opera in 1984.
Born in Salisbury, England, Jeffrey Tate studied at the London Opera Centre after graduating from Cambridge as a Doctor of Medicine. He gained early experience at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, where he assisted Sir Georg Sold, Sir Colin Davis, Rudolf Kempe, and Carlos Kleiber, among others. He assisted Pierre Boulez at Bayrcuth with the 1976 Chereau Ring Cycle and at the Paris Opera with the 1979 world premiere of the complete three-act Lulu by Alban Berg.
After his European symphonic debut in 1984 with the London Symphony Orchestra, Jeffrey Tate appeared with many major orchestras, including the symphonies of Boston, San Francisco, Montreal, and Toronto, the Orchestre National de France, Rotterdam Philhar?monic, and Orchestre de la Suisse Romandc. He also conducted Capriccio at Carnegie Hall in 1986 as part of its Strauss Opera Series.
The maestro's schedule continues to include many prestigious engagements. Besides conducting at the Metropolitan Opera, he also conducted Manon at Covent Garden and the world premiere of Rolf Liebermann's The Forest oOstrovsky with the Geneva Opera. At the San Francisco Opera he conducted a production of The Marriage of Figaro with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Other highlights arc performances with the Berlin Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic, and a tour ofjapan with the English Chamber Orchestra and Mitsuko Uchida. At the 1987 Salzburg Festival the conductor led a revival of the Hans Werner Henze adaptation of Monteverdi's Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria, which he premiered at the festival in 1985.
In addition to recording works of Mozart, Haydn, Strauss, and English composers with the English Chamber Orchestra, Mr. Tate has embarked on a long term recording project with the Dresden Staatskapellc for EMI; their projects include works of Beethoven and a collection of Schubert symphonies. He recently recorded Strauss's Arabella with Dame Kiri Tc Kanawa and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, for Decca.
Jeffrey Tate makes his Ann Arbor debut in this evening's performance.
Frank Peter Zimmermann, born in Duisburg (near Diisseldorf) in 1965, made his American debut in October 1984 in a series of three concerts with Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony, performing Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1. This led to a return engagement with the Pittsburgh in March 1986, which included Mr. Zimmermann's New York debut at Avery Fisher Hall shortly after his 21st birthday. In the 1985-86 season, he also made debuts with the Cincinnati, Detroit, and Toronto symphonies.
Last season the violinist made his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra and performed in a ten-city tour of the United States with Lorin Maazel and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, a tour that included his Ann Arbor debut as well as performances in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Miami, and Atlanta. In addition, he toured throughout Europe as a soloist with the Vienna Philharmonic and Orchestre National de France. Mr. Zimmermann has also performed with the Royal Philharmonic, Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin, Orchestre de Paris, Zurich Tonhalle, Vienna Symphony, and Munich State Opera Orchestra with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Daniel Barenboim, and Eugene Jochum. He has toured Japan with the Symphony Orchestra of the Westdeutsche Rundfunk, conducted by Hiroshi Wakasugi, and has appeared in fourteen major German cities as soloist with the Bamberg Symphony under the direction of Gerd Albrecht. With the Munich Philharmonic he has performed in Berlin, Cologne, and Dusseldorf, and in 1984 made his Soviet debut in Moscow and Leningrad. His festival appearances include those in Lucerne, Berlin, Salzburg, and Munich.
As an exclusive EMI recording artist, Mr. Zimmermann has recorded the complete Mozart Concerti and the Mendelssohn Concerto. He is also the youngest German violinist ever to record the complete Paganini Caprices.
Frank Peter Zimmermann began studying violin at the age of five. He won first prize in the National "Young Musician" Competition while studying in Essen with Professor Walerie Gradow, and then studied with Professor Saschko Gawriloff at the National Academy of the Arts in Berlin. Since 1980 he has studied with Professor Herman Krebbers in Amsterdam. Mr. Zimmermann plays a Stradivarius violin built in 1684.
Thea King enjoys a varied career as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, and teacher. She is a member of the Melos and Roblcs Ensembles, as well as being principal clarinetist of the English Chamber Orchestra. She has appeared at festivals in Europe, Hong Kong, and the United States, as well as all the major festivals in Britain. She teaches at the Royal College of Music, where she had formerly studied with Frederick Thurston. In 1985, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
Thea King has made many solo recordings, specializing in British music and the less familiar repertoire of nineteenth-century composers such as Spohr and Crusell. Her recent recording of Mozart's Concerto and Quintet, with the English Chamber Orchestra and the Gabrieli String Quartet, has received special acclaim. Current releases include the two Brahms Sonatas with Clifford Benson and solo works with orchestra by Howard Blake, Matyas Seiber, and Witold Lutoslawski with the ECO conducted by Andrew Litton.
Miss King is making her first Ann Arbor solo appearance this evening.
Remaining Concerts
Hubbard Street Dance Company .................. Sat., Sun. Mar. 12, 13
Belgrade State Folk Ensemble ............................. Sun. Mar. 13
Christopher Parkening, Guitarist ..............................Fri. Mar. 18
Music of Bach, Mozart, Granados, Albcniz, Torroba, Sanz,
Villa-Lobos, Rodrigo, and Falla Faculty Artists Concert (free admission, 3:00 p.m.) ......... Sun. Mar. 20
Schumann: Song cycle, "Dichterliebe," Leslie Guinn, baritone,
Martin Katz, pianist Andre Watts, Pianist ...........................................Sat. Apr. 2
Haydn: Sonata No. 58, Hob. XV148; Mozart: Sonata in F, K. 332;
Brahms: Piano Pieces, Op. 119; Schubert: Sonata, D. 784 (Op. 143),
and "Wanderer" Fantasy
Bonn Woodwind Quintet .................................... Fri. Apr. 8
Steven Masi, Pianist
Haydn: Divertimento No. 1; Reicha: Quintet, Op. 88, No. 2;
Beethoven: Piano Quintet, Op. 16; Mozart: Quintet, K. 406;
Hindemith: "Kleine Kammcrmusik"; Poulenc: Piano Sextet
Monte Carlo PhilharmonicLawrence Foster ............... Fri. Apr. 22
Katia & Marielle Labeque, Duo-pianists
Berlioz: Overture to "Benvenuto Cellini"; Bruch: Concerto for Two
Pianos, Op. 88; Paul Cooper: Double Concerto (violin and viola);
Roussel: Bacchus et Ariane, Suite No. 2
Pre-concert Presentations
Complement your concertgoing with these presentations designed to enhance your musical experience via the expertise of the following speakers. The place is the Rackham Building at 7:00 p. m., open to the public at S3, tickets at the door; complimentary admission for Encore and Cheers! members and faculty and students with valid I.D. For further information, call 764-8489.
Saturday, Mar. 12, preceding Hubbard Street Dance Company -The Dance of Theater and Cinema: Making Entertainment Art Peter Sparling, Associate Professor of Dance, U-M
Saturday, Apr. 2, preceding Andre Watts -Being Critical: Observations on the Role of the Music Critic Paul Boy Ian, ProfessorDean, U-M School of Music
Single tickets now on sale for 1988 Ann Arbor May Festival -April 27-30
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Michael Tilson Thomas and Zdenek Macal, Conductors
The Festival Chorus and The Boychoir of Ann Arbor Valdimir Feltsman, Pianist Janice Taylor, Mezzo-soprano
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Violinist
Linda Kelm, Soprano Jon Frederic West, Tenor
Myrna Paris, Mezzo-soprano John Ostendorf, Bass-baritone
David Hart, Organist
Wednesday, Tilson Thomas -Beethoven: Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral"; Rachmaninoff:
Third Piano Concerto (Feltsman) Thursday, Tilson Thomas -Mahler: Symphony No. 3 (Taylor, Women's Chorus and
The Boychoir of Ann Arbor) Friday, Macal -Wagner: Prelude to "Die Meistersinger"; Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
in E minor (Salerno-Sonnenberg); Ravel: Suites I and II, "Daphnis and Chloe" Saturday, Tilson Thomas -Dvorak: Symphony No. 8; Janacek: Glagolitic Mass
(Festival Chorus, Kelm, Paris, West, Ostendorf, and Hart)
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1270 Telephone: (313) 764-2538