UMS Concert Program, Friday, Oct. 13 To Oct. 22: University Musical Society: Fall 2006 - Friday, Oct. 13 To Oct. 22

General Information
On-site ticket offices at performance
venues open 90 minutes before each
performance and remain open through
intermission of most events.
Children of all ages are welcome at
UMS Family and Youth Performances.
Parents are encouraged not to bring
children under the age of 3 to regular,
full-length UMS performances. All children
should be able to sit quietly in
their own seats throughout any UMS
performance. Children unable to do so,
along with the adult accompanying
them, will be asked by an usher to
leave the auditorium. Please use discretion
in choosing to bring a child.
Remember, everyone must have a ticket,
regardless of age.
While in the Auditorium
Starting Time Every attempt is made
to begin concerts on time. Latecomers
are asked to wait in the lobby until
seated by ushers at a predetermined
time in the program.
Cameras and recording equipment
are prohibited in the auditorium.
If you have a question, ask your usher.
They are here to help.
Please turn off your cellular phones
and other digital devices so that everyone
may enjoy this UMS event disturbance-
free. In case of emergency,
advise your paging service of auditorium
and seat location in Ann Arbor
venues, and ask them to call University
Security at 734.763.1131.
In the interests of saving both dollars
and the environment, please either
retain this program book and return
with it when you attend other UMS
performances included in this edition
or return it to your usher when leaving
the venue.
Fall 2006 Season 128th Annual Season
Event Program Book
Friday, October 13 through Sunday, October 22, 2006
Martha Graham Dance Company
Friday, October 13, 8:00pm 5
Saturday, October 14, 1:00pm (One-hour Family Performance) 21
Saturday, October 14, 8:00pm 25
Power Center
Florestan Trio
Thursday, October 19, 8:00pm
Rackham Auditorium
Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater
Shostakovich Centennial Festival
Friday, October 20, 8:00pm
Saturday, October 21, 8:00pm
Sunday, October 22, 4:00pm
Hill Auditorium
31
37
45
53
UMS University Musical Society
Welcome to this UMS performance!
We hope you enjoy not only tonight's
experience, but also as many of the
excellent experiences available throughout our
128th season.
The performances of the Martha Graham
Dance Company, the Florestan Trio, and the
Kirov Orchestra give us fantastic opportunities
to experience many classic pieces of music and
dance through modern 21st century vehicles,
affording us high quality performance combined
with deep, rich compositions and choreography.
Combined and continuous opportunities such as
these, and the offerings
of so many local presenters
and schools, are part of
what makes Ann Arbor
stand out regionally as
a cultural dynamo.
As Director of
Production for UMS,
a role that places both
myself and the UMS production
department into
the "thick" of all the effort and activity involved
in the actual physical execution of presenting
artists on stage, I would like to take this opportunity
to make sure that all of our patrons realize
what a tremendous team effort is involved in
getting even the "simplest" of performances
onto the stage for all of those "curtain-up!"
moments.
The agents, staffs, and artists of performing
companies start long before UMS begins the
process of booking the acts, and of course the
artists and road crews spend countless hours
building, staging, and rehearsing before "hitting
the road". Here in Ann Arbor, many local organizations,
individuals, and University departments
assist in every UMS presentation. University
Productions maintains most of the facilities we
use, while the U-M School of Music, Theatre,
and Dance, the City of Ann Arbor, and the
regional school districts all work symbolically
with UMS in providing support as we also strive
to bring professional and artistic-exchange experiences
to students of the region in addition to
the shows. IATSE Local 395 provides technical
crewing support to almost all UMS performances,
whether a quartet or a massive RSC residency, as
do the many vendors of audio, lighting, stage,
effects, freight trucking, and musical equipment
both locally and throughout the nation. Of course,
sponsor and individual patronage, as well as,
countless dedicated volunteer hours are vital
contributions to putting a show on stage.
It really does "take a village" and I encourage
you to take a few moments to read the lists of
staffs, sponsors, vendors, advertisers, and supporters
of all kinds that are the crucial combination
necessary for each and every show we present.
Sincerely,
Doug Witney
UMS Director of Production
UMS University Musical Society
Educational Events through Sunday, October 22, 2006
All UMS educational activities are free, open to the public, and in Ann Arbor unless otherwise
noted. For complete details and updates, please visit www.ums.org or contact the UMS Education
Department at 734.647.6712 or e-mail umsed@umich.edu.
Martha Graham Dance Company
A CHANCE TO DANCE!
An Introduction to Dance for Families
Saturday, October 14, 12:00-12:45 pm
Power Center, Rehearsal Room (off of the
Main Lobby)
121 Fletcher Street
This special introduction to dance will be led by
Susan Filipiak of the Swing City Dance Studios.
Kids (and their parents) will learn what is dance,
how to move, and how to think like a dancer.
Ms. Filipiak will prepare families for the UMS
Family Performance immediately following.
NOTE: All participants must wear socks and have
a ticket to the performance.
For more information, please contact UMS Youth
Education at 734.615.0122 or
umsyouth@umich.edu.
A collaboration with Swing City Dance Studio.
Kirov Orchestra of the
Mariisnky Theatre
Pre-Concert Lecture:
Mass Murder, Memorials, and Music:
Babi Yar and its Politics
Zvi Gitelman, Preston R. Tisch Professor of
Judaic Studies and professor, U-M Department
of Political Science
Sunday, October 22, 2pm
Rackham Auditorium
915 E. Washington Street
Zvi Gitelman leads a special pre-concert lecture
prior to the final performance of the Kirov
Orchestra featuring Shostakovich's Symphony
No. T3 in b-flat minor. Op. 113 ("Babi Yar").
This historic composition memorializes the Russian
Jews killed at Babi Yar during World War II.
For more info contact the Education Department
at 734.647.6712 o r at umsed@umich.edu
A collaboration with the U-M Center for Russian
and East European Studies.
Royal Shakespeare Company
The residency of the Royal Shakespeare Company
encompasses over 135 public and private events
from September through November 2006. For a
comprehensive listing, please visit www.ums.org.
Stephen Petronio Compan
Stephen Petronio artistic director
Music by Rufus Wainwright
- -VY, FEBRUARY 16, 8PM
RDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 8PM
r Center
. .ew'music, visual art, and fashion collide in Stephen
Petronio's dances, producing powerfully modern
iapes for the senses.
CO
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Funded in part by National Dance
Project of the New England
Foundation for the Arts.
Media Partners Metro Times
and Detroit Jewish News.
734.764.2538 | www.ums.org
outside the 734 area code, call toll-free 800.221.1229
'urns
Martha Graham Dance Company
80th Anniversary Season
Artistic Director Janet Eilber
Executive Director LaRue Alien ;. -[,•'.
Company
Elizabeth Auclair Tadej Brdnik Katherine Crockett .;. .-,; .-.
Virginie Mecene* Miki Orihara Fang-Yi Sheu* •'•'••'. --•'
Erica Dankmeyer Jennifer DePalo-Rivera
Maurizio Nardi Blakeley White-McGuire David Zurak
Jacqueline Bulnes Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch
Lloyd Knight Catherine Lutton David Martinez Sadira Smith
Sevin Ceviker Jacquelyn Elder Stacey Kaplan LaMichael Leonard Jr.
*on leave
Senior Artistic Associate Susan McLain
Program Friday Evening, October 13, 2006, at 8:00
Power Center Ann Arbor
Prelude and Revolt: Denishawn to Graham
INTERMISSION
Appalachian Spring
PAUSE
Acts of Light
Fifth Performance of the
128th Annual Season
16th Annual Dance Series
The photographing, sound
recording or video recording
of this performance or
possession of any device
for such photographing or
sound and video recording
is prohibited.
Thanks to Peter Sparling, Dance Gallery Studio, U-M Department of Dance, Ann
Arbor District Library, Susan Filipiak, and Swing City Dance Studio for their participation
in this residency.
Media partnership provided by Metro Times, WRCJ 90.9 FM, WDET 101.9 FM,
and Detroit Jewish News.
Thanks to Steven Ball for coordinating tonight's pre-concert music on the Charles
Baird Carillon.
Master classes and public programs of the Martha Graham Dance Company are
supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which
believes that a great nation deserves great art.
The Artists employed in this production are members of the American Guild of
Musical Artists AFL-CIO.
Copyright to all dances by Martha Graham being performed except Appalachian
Spring, Lamentation, and Steps in the Street is held by the Martha Graham
Center of Contemporary Dance. All rights reserved.
Large print programs are available upon request.
UMS 06/C Martha Graham Dance Company
Prelude and Revolt: Denishawn to Graham
Directed by Patricia Birch
Text by Jeffrey Sweet
Narrator David Zurak
I. The Incense
Choreography and Costume by Ruth St. Denis
Music by Harvey Worthington Loomis
Premiere: March 22, 1906, Hudson Theater, New York City
SEVIN CEVIKER
II. Gnossienne (A Priest of Knossos)
Choreography by Ted Shawn
Music by Erik~Satie^
Premiere: December 17, 1919, Egan Little Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
TADEJ BRDNIK
^Gnossienne No. 1
Serenata Morisca
Choreography by Ted Shawn
Reconstructed by Martha Graham
Costumes by Martha Graham after Pearl Wheeler
Music by Mario Tarenghi^
Lighting by Thomas Skelton
Premiere: 1916, performed by Martha Graham on Denishawn tours 1921-1923 and in the
Greenwich Village Follies 1923-1925
BLAKELEY WHITE-MCGUIRE
^Serenata, op. 13, adapted by Jonathan McPhee
UMS 06," Martha Graham Dance Company
VIV.
Three Gopi Maidens
(Excerpt from The Flute of Krishna)
Choreography by Martha Graham
Costumes and Sets by Norman Edwards
Music by Cyril Scott ^
Premiere: April 18, 1926, 48 th Street Theatre, New York City
Krishna
LLOYD KNIGHT
Three Gopi Maidens
SEVIN CEVIKER
JACQUELYN ELDER
SADIRA SMITH
^"A Song From the East," from Karma, adapted by Patrick Daugherty
V. Lamentation
Choreography and Costume by Martha Graham
Music by Zoltan Kodaly 1"
Original lighting by Martha Graham
Adapted by Beverly Emmons
Premiere: January 8, 1930, Maxine Elliott's Theatre, New York City
ELIZABETH AUCLAIR
This presentation of Lamentation has been made possible by a gift from Francis Mason in
honor of William D. Witter. Additional support was provided by the Harkness Foundation
for Dance.
^Neun Klavierstucke, op. 3. no. 2 -
UMS Martha Graham Dance Company
VI. Satyric Festival Song
Choreography and Costume by Martha Graham
Original music by Imre Weisshaus
Music for reconstruction by Fernando Palacios"1"
Lighting for reconstruction by David Finley
Premiere: November 20, 1932, Guild Theatre, New York City . .
ERICA DANKMEYER
Satyric Festival Song was reconstructed in 1994 by Diane Gray & Janet Eilber.
^Minuta pervers'a, used by special arrangement with Fernando Palacios; arranged by Aaron Sherber
VII. Steps in the Street
From Chronicle
Devastation Homelessness Exile
Choreography and Costumes by Martha Graham
Music by Wallingford Riegger^
Original lighting by Jean Rosenthal
Lighting for reconstruction by David Finley
Premiere: December 20, 1936, Guild Theatre, New York City
CARRIE ELLMORE-TALLITSCH '' ; '
JACQUELINE BULNES SEVIN CEVIKER ERICA DANKMEYER : ''
JENNIFER DEPALO-RIVERA JACQUELYN ELDER STACEY KAPLAN
CATHERINE LUTTON SADIRA SMITH BLAKELY WHITE-MCGUIRE
'Steps in the Street' was reconstructed by Yuriko and Martha Graham from the
Julien Bryan film.
t Finale from New Dance, Opus 18b, used by arrangement with Associated Music Publishers, Inc., publisher and
copyright owner.
Recordings of Incense, Gnossienne, Serenata Monies, Three Gopi Maidens, and Satyric Festival Song by Patrick Daugherty.
Recording of Steps in the Street by Margaret Kampmeier.
All images courtesy of or coordinated by Martha Graham Resources.
UMS 06 Martha Graham Dance Company
Prelude and Revolt: Denishawn to Graham (1906-1936)
MI
artha Graham came to the Denishawn School as a student in 1916 and performed with
the group until 1924. Prelude and Revolt is a suite of dances that traces the emergence
of Graham's unique theater and distinctive movement vocabulary from these Denishawn
beginnings to the stark, explosive imagery of "Steps in the Street."
Incense, the 1906 solo by Ruth St. Denis, begins this collage of dances. Undoubtedly Martha Graham
would have seen Miss Ruth perform the dance, as it remained a signature work throughout her long
career, and its evocation of private ritual, as well as its dramatic use of fabric, surely interested the
young Graham. Ted Shawn's choreography drew upon ritual as well. Gnossienne (1917), also known
as A Priest of Knossos, was inspired by a series of bas reliefs depicting a ritual to the Snake Goddess
from the Temple of Knossos in Crete. The hypnotic effect of the pictorial effect he created is shattered
by Serenata Morisca (1916), the next dance in this suite. The dance is best known for its quick turns,
high kicks and fiery rhythms. Dressed in a tight fitting bodice and an ankle length skirt, weighted to
ensure that the folds of the skirt will swing out as the dancer turns, the movement of the fabric is an
integral part of the choreography. Martha Graham's Three Gopi Maidens concludes the prelude.
Graham's choice of theme, based upon an Eastern religious epic, and the manner in which the Gopi
maidens manipulate yards of fabric, connect Graham to her Denishawn past, at the same time that
her use of narrative and characterization suggest the future.
By 1930, when Graham made Lamentation, she was in revolt against her Denishawn past, against ballet,
and against the conventions of theatricality. Lamentation is performed almost entirely from a seated
position, with the dancer encased in a tube of purple jersey. The diagonals and tensions formed by
the dancer's body struggling within the material create a moving sculpture, a portrait that presents the
very essence of grief. The fabric is integral to the choreography, but in ways that Ruth St. Denis could
never have foreseen. Graham was also beginning to look to America to the West and not the East
for ideas for her dances. Satryic Festival Song (1932) was inspired by American Indian Pueblo culture
and the clowns who satirize and mock the sacred rituals. And "Steps in the Street," from the 1936
Chronicle, was a response to contemporary problems threatening the world, the rise of fascism in
Europe. This dance, which concludes the suite, required a new vocabulary, one that Graham had been
developing over the previous decade. The female body is cast as an instrument of force, joints muscles
and sinews at the ready. Dancers in "Steps in the Street" are prepared to speak out with an expressive
vocabulary in order to make an impact upon a modern world.
UMS Martha Graham Dance Company
Appalachian Spring
"Ballet for Martha"
Choreography and Costumes by Martha Graham
Music by Aaron Copland^
Set by Isamu Noguchi
Original lighting by Jean Rosenthal
Adapted by Beverly Emmons
Premiere: October 30, 1944, Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Springtime in the wilderness is celebrated by a man and woman building a house with joy
and love and prayer; by a revivalist and his followers in their shouts of exaltation; by a pioneering
woman with her dreams of the Promised Land.
The Bride
MIKI ORIHARA (10/13, 10/14 Evenings)
BLAKELEY WHITE-MCGUIRE (10/14 Matinee)
The Husbandman
TADEJ BRDNIK (10/13, 10/14 Evenings)
DAVID ZURAK (10/14 Matinee)
The Revivalist
DAVID ZURAK (10/13, 10/14 Evenings)
MAURIZIO NARDI (10/14 Matinee)
The Pioneering Woman
CARRIE ELLMORE-TALLITSCH
The Followers
JACQUELINE BULNES
SEVIN CEVIKER
JACQUELYN ELDER
SADIRA SMITH
Commissioned by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation in the Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.
The original title chosen by Aaron Copland was "Ballet for Martha," which was changed by
Martha Graham to "Appalachian Spring."
^Used by arrangement with the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, copyright owners; and Boosey and Hawkes, Inc., sole publisher
and licensee.
UMS06, Martha Graham Dance Company
Appalachian Spring (1944) •; ;-.
I n 1942, Martha Graham received a commission from the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation for
a new ballet to be premiered at the Library of Congress. Aaron Copland was to compose the score.
Graham called the new dance Appalachian Spring, after a poem by Hart Crane, but for Copland it
always remained "Ballet for Martha." Choreographed as the war in Europe was drawing to end, it
captured the imagination of Americans who were beginning to believe in a more prosperous future,
a future in which men and women would be united again. With its simple tale of a new life in a new
land, the dance embodied hope. Critics called Appalachian Spring "shining and joyous," "a testimony
to the simple fineness of the human spirit." The ballet tells the story of a young couple and their
wedding day; there is a Husbandman, his Bride, a Pioneer Woman and a Preacher and his Followers.
In a letter to Aaron Copland, Graham wrote that she wanted the dance to be "a legend of American
living, like a bone structure, the inner frame that holds together a people." As Copland later recalled,
"After Martha gave me this bare outline, I knew certain crucial things - that it had to do with the pioneer
American spirit, with youth and spring, with optimism and hope. I thought about that in combination
with the special quality of Martha's own personality, her talents as a dancer, what she gave off
and the basic simplicity of her art. Nobody else seems anything like Martha, and she's unquestionably
very American." Themes from American folk culture can be found throughout the dance. Copland
uses a Shaker tune, "Simple Gifts," in the second half of his luminous score, while Graham's choreography
includes square dance patterns, skips and paddle turns and curtsies, even a grand right and left.
The set by Isamu Noguchi features a Shaker rocking chair. Appalachian Spring is perhaps Martha
Graham's most optimistic ballet, yet it does contain a dark side. The fire and brimstone Preacher and
his condemnation of earthly pleasures recalls the repressive weight of our Puritan heritage, while the
solemn presence of the Pioneer Woman hints at the problems of raising families in remote and isolated
communities. In this newly cleared land life was not simple, and Graham's vision pays homage to
that as well. ,
UMS Martha Graham Dance Company
Acts of Light
Choreography by Martha Graham
Music by Carl Nielsen^
Costumes by Halston and Martha Graham
Lighting by Beverly Emmons
Premiere: February 26, 1981, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC
"Thank you for all the Acts of Light which beautified a summer now past to its reward."
- Emily Dickinson
I. Conversation of Lovers
JENNIFER DEPALO-RIVERA MAURIZIO NARDI : • ' . .. •; -V :.-.',-
II. Lament
ELIZABETH AUCLAIR ' -: ,:• ,' . ••.,,.•
TADEJ BRDNIK LLOYD KNIGHT LAMICHAEL LEONARD JR.
DAVID MARTINEZ DAVID ZURAK
III. Ritual to the Sun
Chief Celebrants
JENNIFER DEPALO-RIVERA, MAURIZIO NARDI .
THE COMPANY .
^ I. Pan and Syrinx, Op. 49; II. Andante lamentoso C4t the Bier of a Young Artist}', III. Helios Overture, Op. 17. Recorded by
the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Herbert Blomstedt, courtesy of EMI Classics. I and II used by arrangement
with G. Schirmer, Inc., agents in the United States for Edition Wilhelm Hansen A/S-Denmark, publisher and copyright
owner. ' • •
UMS06; Martha Graham Dance Company
Acts of Light (1981) ' ? V v
A cts of Light premiered in Washington DC at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts on February 26, 1981. Taking its title from a phrase by Emily Dickinson, a poet beloved
by Graham, the dance introduced a new period in Graham's work. Devoid of theatrical
trappings, Acts of Light celebrates the dancer as an exquisite instrument of expression, while
making references to earlier works in the Graham canon. Former New York Times dance critic
Anna Kisselgoff called the work neo-classical. The score for the ballet is by the 19th-century Danish
composer Carl Nielsen - another divergence for Graham, who typically sought out contemporary
composers for her work. Composed in three sections, the dance begins with "Conversation of
Lovers," a duet exploring the constant, yet ever-changing, ties that exist between lovers. The music
for the second section, "Lament," was composed by Nielsen in response to the death of a friend.
Graham made a dance for a solo female figure surrounded by five male witnesses. The body of
the woman in encased in an elastic white fabric. According to one critic, the fabric acted as a
"membrane...abstracting the shapes of grief [the dancer's] body makes." The reference to Graham's
own 1930 Lamentation is clear. "Ritual to the Sun," the final section, is an ode to the Graham
classroom technique.
UMS Martha Graham Dance Company
About Martha Graham
Martha Graham is recognized as a primal
artistic force of the 20th century, alongside
Picasso, James Joyce, Stravinsky,
and Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1998, TIME Magazine
named Martha Graham as the "Dancer of the
Century", and People Magazine named her
among the female "Icons of the Century". As a
choreographer, she was as prolific as she was
complex. She created 181 ballets and a dance
technique that has been compared to ballet in its
scope and magnitude. Many great modern and
ballet choreographers have studied the Martha
Graham Technique or have been members of her
company.
Martha Graham's extraordinary artistic legacy
has often been compared to Stanislavsky's Art
Theatre in Moscow and the Grand Kabuki Theatre
of Japan for its diversity and breadth. Her legacy
is perpetuated in performance by the members of
the Martha Graham Dance Company and Martha
Graham Ensemble, and by the students of the
Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance.
In 1926, Martha Graham founded her dance
company and school, living and working out of a
tiny Carnegie Hall studio in midtown Manhattan.
In developing her technique, she experimented
endlessly with basic human movement, beginning
with the most elemental movements of contraction
and release. Using these principles as the
foundation for her technique, she built a vocabulary
of movement that would "increase the emotional
activity of the dancer's body." Martha
Graham's dancing and choreography exposed the
depths of human emotion through movements
that were sharp, angular, jagged, and direct. The
dance world was forever altered by Martha
Graham's vision, which has been and continues to
be a source of inspiration for generations of
dance and theatre artists.
Martha Graham's ballets were inspired by a
wide variety of sources, including modern painting,
the American frontier, religious ceremonies of
Native Americans, and Greek mythology. Many of
her most important roles portray great women of
history and mythology: Clytemnestra, Jocasta,
Medea, Phaedra, Joan of Arc, and Emily Dickinson.
As an artist, Martha Graham conceived each
new work in its entirety - dance, costumes, and
music. During her 70 years of creating dances,
Martha Graham collaborated with such artists as
sculptor Isamu Noguchi; actor and director John
Houseman; fashion designers Halston, Donna
Karan and Calvin Klein; and renowned composers
including Aaron Copland, Louis Horst (her mentor),
Samuel Barber, William Schuman, Carlos
Surinach, Norman Dello Joio, and Gian Carlo
Menotti. Her company was the training ground
for many future modern choreographers, including
Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and Twyla
Tharp. She created roles for classical ballet stars
such as Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, and
Mikhail Baryshnikov, welcoming them as guests
into her company. In charge of movement and
dance at the Neighborhood Playhouse, she
taught actors, including Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas,
Madonna, Liza Minnelli, Gregory Peck, Tony
Randall, Anne Jackson, and Joanne Woodward,
how to use the body as an expressive instrument.
Her uniquely American vision and creative
genius earned her numerous honors and awards,
such as the Laurel Leaf of the American
Composers Alliance in 1959 for her service to
music and the International Alliance of Theatrical
Stage Employees Local One 1986 Centennial
Award for dance, not to be awarded again for
another hundred years. In 1976, President Gerald
R. Ford declared Martha Graham a "national
treasure" and bestowed upon her the United
States' highest civilian honor, the Medal of
Freedom, making her the first dancer and choreographer
to receive this honor. Another
Presidential honor was awarded Martha Graham
in 1985 when President Ronald Reagan designated
her among the first recipients of the United
States National Medal of Arts.
About the Company
Founded in 1926 by dancer and choreographer
Martha Graham, the Martha Graham
Dance Company is the oldest and most celebrated
contemporary dance company in America.
UMS 06 Martha Graham Dance Company
UMS ARCHIVES
The history between the Martha Graham Dance Company (MGDC) and UMS started in
October 1970 when the company first appeared under UMS auspices in Hill Auditorium.
The company's last UMS appearance in 1994 was part of a community-wide celebration
of Martha — the centennial year of her birth — entitled In the American Grain: The Martha
Graham Centenary Festival. While not a presentation by UMS, Martha Graham and her "Dance
Group" first visited Ann Arbor on June 2 and 3, 1932 to perform in the Lydia Mendelssohn
Theater under the auspices of the University's Dramatic Series. The performances this weekend
mark the 20th, 21st, and 22nd public appearances by MGDC under UMS auspices.
Since its inception, the Martha Graham Dance
Company has received international acclaim from
audiences in over 50 countries throughout North
and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the
Middle East. The Company has performed at the
Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Paris
Opera House, Covent Garden, and the John F.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well
as at the base of the Great Pyramids of Egypt and
in the ancient Herod Atticus Theatre on the
Acropolis in Athens, Greece. In addition, the
Company has also produced several award-winning
films broadcast on PBS and around the
world.
Martha Graham choreographed 181 works
in her lifetime. Among these are such wellknown
ballets as Heretic (1929), Lamentation
(1930), Primitive Mysteries (1931), Frontier
(1935), Deep Song (1937), El Penitente (1940),
Letter to the World (1940), Deaths and Entrances
(1943), Appalachian Spring (1944), Cave of the
Heart (1946), Errand into the Maze (1947), Night
Journey (1947), Diversion of Angels (1948),
Seraphic Dialogue (1955), Clytemnestra (1958),
Embattled Garden (1958), Phaedra (1962),
Frescoes (1978), Acts of Light (1981), The Rite of
Spring (1984), Temptations of the Moon (1986),
and Maple Leaf Rag (1990).
Though Martha Graham herself is the bestknown
alumna of her company, having danced
from the Company's inception until the late
1960s, the Company has provided a training
ground for some of modern dance's most illustrious
performers and choreographers. Former
members of the Company include Merce
Cunningham, Erick Hawkins, Pearl Lang, Elisa
Monte, Paul Taylor, Glen Tetley, Jacqulyn Buglisi,
Donlin Foreman, and Pascal Rioult. Among
celebrities who have joined the Company in performance
are Mikhail Baryshnikov, Claire Bloom,
Margot Fonteyn, Liza Minnelli, Rudolf Nureyev,
Maya Plisetskaya, and Kathleen Turner. The
Martha Graham Dance Company has commissioned
works from Twyla Tharp, Robert Wilson,
Susan Stroman, Lucinda Childs, and Maurice
Bejart, which have been enthusiastically received
by audiences and critics worldwide. The Martha
Graham Dance Company even numbers among
its alumnae one Betty Bloomer, who, after dancing
with the Company in 1938, became better
known as First Lady Betty Ford.
Acknowledged as "one of the great companies
of the world" by Anna Kisselgoff, former
chief dance critic of the New York Times, the
Martha Graham Dance Company has been lauded
by critics throughout the world. Alan M.
Kriegsman of the Washington Post referred to the
Company as "one of the seven wonders of the
artistic universe," while Los Angeles Times critic
Martin Bernheimer noted, "They seem able to do
anything, and to make it look easy as well as
poetic." Ismene Brown of the Daily Telegraph,
London, touted the Martha Graham Dance
Company's performance as "Unmissable," and
for Donald Richie of the Japan Times, these
dancers were "Graham's perfect instrument."
UMS Martha Graham Dance Company
Biographies
Janet Eilber (Martha Graham Center Artistic
Director) started performing with the Martha
Graham Dance Company in 1972 while still a student
at the Juilliard School. During the next several
years, she and Martha Graham developed
such a close working relationship that Ms
Graham created roles for Ms Eilber in almost
every one of her new works, reconstructed her
seminal solos Lamentation and Frontier for her,
and coached her in some of the great roles of the
Graham repertoire, including St. Joan, Mary
Queen of Scots, Cassandra, Jocasta, Phaedra, and
many others. As a principal dancer with the
Company, Ms Eilber performed on all tours, on
Broadway, and at the Metropolitan Opera House,
and starred in three programs for Dance in
America. She soloed twice at the White House
and was partnered by Rudolph Nureyev in The
Scarlet Letter and Lucifer, roles created for her by
Ms Graham. She is a master teacher of the
Graham technique and has taught, lectured and
restaged Graham ballets internationally. She has
also interviewed many of the early generations of
Graham dancers for the archives of the Library of
Congress. On Broadway, Ms Eilber has danced
for some of America's greatest choreographers,
including Agnes de Mille, Ron Field, Bob Fosse,
and Michael Kidd. She received a Drama Desk
nomination for her role in Stepping Out, directed
by Tommy Tune. Her film credits include Whose
Life is it Anyway?, Hard to Hold, and Romantic
Comedy. On television she has starred in several
ongoing series and made many guest appearances.
She has received four Lester Horton
Awards for her work reconstructing and performing
classics of American modern dance. Ms Eilber
is also principal arts consultant to the Dana
Foundation and a trustee of the Interlochen
Center for the Arts. She is married to screenwriter/
director John Warren, with whom she has
two daughters, Madeline and Eva.
Susan Mclain (Senior Artistic Associate) is currently
on the faculty of the department of dance
at California State University, Long Beach. A former
principal dancer with the Martha Graham
Dance Company and Pearl Lang Dance Company,
she has also performed with Ballet West, Richard
Move, Douglas Nielsen, and Larry Richardson, has
danced extensively throughout the world, and
can be seen in the Dance in America series on
public television. She holds a BA in dance education
and an MFA from the modern dance department
at the University of Utah, where she also
served as a faculty member for eight years. Ms
McLain has taught at the Alvin Ailey School and
the Martha Graham School, as well as various
other professional studios and universities. Her
choreography can be seen in the repertory of professional
companies in the United States. Ms
McLain's published articles on Pilates-based
research have been presented at several dance
and sports medicine conferences. A biographical
film, Susan, A Dancer's Life, directed by David
Viera, has been presented at the New York City
Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library Film Series
and at the American Dance Festival Film Series in
Durham, North Carolina.
Elizabeth Auclair (Principal Dancer), from
Massachusetts, received her early dance training
with scholarships at the Alvin Ailey School and the
Martha Graham School. She has performed with
such companies as Alvin Ailey American Dance
Theater, City Contemporary Dance Co. (Hong
Kong), and the companies of Pearl Lang, Jean
Erdman, Sasha Spielvogel, Erica Dankmeyer,
Pascal Rioult, and Sandra Kaufmann. Her teaching
credits include Lehman College, Marymount
Manhattan College, University of Wyoming, CAP
21 Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, Oklahoma
Arts Institute, School of Toronto Dance Theater,
Alvin Ailey School, and the Martha Graham
School, where she also served as Associate
Director of the Martha Graham Ensemble. She
has assisted in setting the works of Martha
Graham on the Het National Ballet, Ballet do Rio
de Janeiro and the Boston Conservatory. Ms
Auclair joined the Graham Company in 1993.
Tadej Brdnik (Principal Dancer) began his professional
dance career in Slovenia. Since moving to
New York, he has danced with Coyote Dancers,
UMS 06/07 Martha Graham Dance Company
Battery Dance Company, Avila/Weeks Dance,
White Oak Dance Project, Robert Wilson, and Pick
Up Performance Company, as well as in works of
Maurice Bejart, Lucinda Childs, Yvonne Rainer,
Susan Stroman, Steve Paxton, and Deborah Hay,
among others. He has taught extensively in the
United States, Slovenia, the UK, and Scandinavia
and is on faculty of the Martha Graham School,
where he is also the director of Teens@Graham.
He is a recipient of the Benetton Dance Award
and the Eugene Loring Award and a grant given
by the Ministry of Culture of Slovenia. He has
been with the Martha Graham Dance Company
since 1996.
Katharine Crockett (Principal Dancer) attended
Ballet Metropolitan, SUNY Purchase, and the
Martha Graham School before joining the
Company in 1993. A Soloist in 1994, she became
a Principal Dancer in 1996, starring in works of
Robert Wilson, Lucinda Childs, and Susan
Stroman, in Richard Move's Achilles Heels with
Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Placido Domingo's Aida.
Her performance of Lamentation was filmed for
the BBC and was featured by Vanessa Redgrave in
the "Return Festival" in Kosovo. She also performs
with Richard Move nationwide in Martha©.
Miki Orihara (Principal Dancer) joined the
Company in 1987. She has performed with various
other prominent companies and choreographers
including the Broadway production of The
King and I, Elisa Monte and Dancers, Jean
Erdman, Mariko Sanjo, Jun Kono Dance Troup
(Japan), Twyla Tharp, and Robert Wilson. She was
a special guest artist for Japan's New National
Theater. As an independent artist, Ms Orihara
premiered her works in New York and Tokyo. Her
teaching credentials include numerous workshops
in Japan, Arts International in Moscow with
Takako Asakawa, Peridance, the Alley School,
New York University, Florida State University and
the New National Theater Ballet School; she also
works as an assistant for Yuriko. Ms Orihara also
performs with PierGroup and LotusLotus and
teaches at the Martha Graham School.
Erica Dankmeyer (Soloist), originally from
Northern California, earned her BA in art history
at Williams College, where she returns as a guest
artist. She joined the Martha Graham Dance
Company in 1996 and is on the faculty of the
Martha Graham School. She produced the debut
season of her own choreography at St. Mark's
Church in 2002.
Jennifer Depalo-Rivera (Soloist) returned to the
Martha Graham Dance Company after a threeyear
leave, during which she performed as a principal
for Ballet Hispanico. She is also a principal
for Buglisi/Foreman Dance. Ms DePalo-Rivera is
an honored recipient of the Princess Grace Award
for Artistic Excellence and is a certified
Gyrotonic® instructor at Studio Riverside.
Catherine Lutton (Dancer) received a BA from
the University of California, Berkeley. She was
awarded a Coca Cola Scholarship in 2000 to
begin training at the Martha Graham School. She
performed with the Martha Graham Ensemble
and Pearl Lang Dance Theater. She joined the
Martha Graham Dance Company in 2002.
Maurizio Nardi (Soloist), a native of Italy, came
to New York with a scholarship at the Martha
Graham School in 1998, when he joined the
Martha Graham Ensemble. He has performed and
collaborated with companies in the United States,
Europe, and India. He made his first appearance
with the Martha Graham Dance Company in
2003.
Blakeley White-McGuire (Soloist) of Louisiana
has danced throughout the USA and abroad with
such companies as the Metropolitan Opera, Sean
Curraii Company, Pascal Rioult Dance Theater,
and Richard Move. In addition, she has presented
her choreography in various theaters and festivals
in New York City. Ms White-McGuire has served
on the faculties of the Alvin Alley School and New
School University's "The Actors' Studio" and
joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in
2002.
UMS Martha Graham Dance Company
David Zurak (Soloist) is a native of Toronto,
Canada, where he completed a Bachelor of
Electrical Engineering degree and then began
dance studies at the National Ballet School and
the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. Professional
engagements were followed up with scholarship
studies at the Merce Cunningham Studio and the
Martha Graham School. He is a former member
of the Lucinda Childs Dance Company and has
appeared with Robert Wilson, Sean Curran,
Richard Move, John Kelly and Cie Felix Ruckert.
He joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in
2002.
Jacqueline Bulnes (Dancer), from Miami, Florida,
graduated with a BFA in dance from the New
World School of the Arts. She has danced featured
roles in The Nutcracker, Gisel/e, Push Comes
to Shove (Tharp) and Diversion of Angels. Ms
Bulnes has attended the schools of American
Ballet Theatre, Martha Graham, and Dance
Theatre of Harlem on scholarships and has
received both a Merit Award in the "ARTS" competition
and the "Dancer of the Year" award from
the New World School of the Arts. She also
dances with Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch (Dancer) is from
Virginia, where she began dancing. She graduated
cum laude from the University of Cincinnati
College-Conservatory of Music. Ms Ellmore-
Tallitsch has danced with Dayton Contemporary
Dance's second company, Philadanco, and Pascal
Rioult Dance Theatre. This is her fourth season
with the Martha Graham Dance Company.
Lloyd Knight (Dancer), was born in England,
reared in Miami, and trained at the Miami
Conservatory of Ballet. He received his BFA from
the New World School of the Arts. Mr Knight
worked with Robert Battle and performed leading
roles in Jose Limon's There is a Time, Merce
Cunningham's Inlets II, and Donald McKayle's
Rainbow Around my Shoulder.
David Martinez (Dancer) is originally from Fort
Myers, Florida. He received his BFA in dance from
the New World School of the Arts, where he studied
with Peter London, Elaine Wright-Rourke, and
Freddick Bratcher, among others. Since moving to
New York, he has danced in the companies of Zvi
Gotheiner and David Parsons.
Sadira Smith (Dancer) trained in dance at the
Fukuoka Kanako Ballet Studio and with Eiko
Rikihisa in Kyushu, Japan. She is a Jacobs Pillow
Scholar and has danced with the Paris Opera
Ballet, Buglisi/Foreman Dance, the Metropolitan
Opera Ballet, and Shen Wei Dance Arts, as well as
the Martha Graham Ensemble. Ms Smith holds a
BA in East Asian studies and a black belt in Aikido.
Sevin Ceviker (Apprentice) is originally from
Istanbul, Turkey, where she started her dancing
career in classical ballet. She attended the State
Conservatory in Turkey for seven years before
moving to New York. She has studied at the Alvin
Ailey American Dance School and the Paul Taylor
Dance School, and she received her BFA from
Marymount Manhattan College with academic
excellence in dance performance. Ms Ceviker has
been studying at the Martha Graham School on
full scholarship since 2003 and joined the Martha
Graham Dance Company in 2006.
Jacquelyn Elder (Apprentice) studied dance at
the Palm Beach Ballet Conservatory, the Alvin
Ailey School, and at the Florida State University
with Suzanne Farrell and Anthony Morgan. She
received full scholarships from "Florida Bright
Futures" and from the Martha Graham School.
Ms Elder is a former member of Gus Giordano
Jazz Dance Chicago, Darrah Carr Dance, Nina
Buisson's Contemporary Move, and the Martha
Graham Ensemble. She is also a current and
founding member of Lehrer Dance.
UMS 06 Martha Graham Dance Company
Stacey Kaplan (Apprentice) is a native New
Yorker who began her career in children's theatre
and ballet. She has since worked with Pearl Lang
Dance Theatre, Coyote Dancers, RedWall Dance
Company, and the Martha Graham Ensemble. Ms
Kaplan is also a licensed massage therapist.
Lamichael Leonard, Jr. (Apprentice) was born
and raised in Florida. He recently earned his BFA
from the New World School of the Arts in Miami.
Mr Leonard has worked closely with Donald
McKayle, dancing lead in Rainbow Around My
Shoulder. He has also performed works by Jerri
Houlihan, Peter London, and Robert Battle.
Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance
Staff
LaRue Alien, Executive Director
Janet Eilber, Artistic Director
Aaron Sherber, Music Director
Beverly Emmons, Lighting Designer
Anne Posluszny, Company Manager
Anthony Cerrato, Stage Manager
Tim Cryan, Lighting Supervisor
Jennifer Hohn, Wardrobe Supervisor
Marnie Thomas, Director of School
Ellen Graff, Director of School Programs
Regisseurs
Linda Hodes, Stuart Hodes, Peter London, Peggy
Lyman, Kenneth Topping, Ethel Winter, Yuriko
Board of Trustees
Francis Mason, Chair
Inger Witter, President
Judith Schlosser, Vice-Chair
LaRue Alien
Amy Blumenthal
Loti Gaffney
Paul Szilard
Ronald Windisch
North American Representation
Rena Shagan Associates, Inc.
(www.shaganarts.com)
European Representation
Paul Szilard Productions
(szilardpro@aol.com)
Alumni Search
If you or someone you know has ever performed
with the Martha Graham Dance Company or
attended classes at the Martha Graham School,
please send us names, addresses, telephone numbers
and approximate dates of membership. We
will add you to our alumni mailing list and keep
you apprised of alumni events and benefits. Call
212.838.5886 or e-mail info@marthagraham.org.
The Martha Graham Center of Contemporary
Dance is a not-for-profit corporation, supported
by contributions from individuals, corporations,
foundations, and government agencies.
Contributions in support of the Martha Graham
Center will be gratefully received at the Martha
Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, Inc.,
316 East 63rd Street New York, NY 10021, or visit
marthagraham.org/contribute.
For more information, visit marthagraham.org
One-Hour Family Performance!
Trinity Irish Dance Company
CM
CO
04
Mark Howard artistic director
SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1 PM
Power Center
The Trinity Irish Dance Company dazzles audiences
with the hard-driving percussive power, lighteningfast
agility, aerial grace, and awe-inspiring precision
of its dancers. Aged 18-28, Trinity's dancers
undergo years of rigorous training, evident in every
perfectly paced spin, leap, and click, making them
a lethal powerhouse of speed and sound.
06/07 Family Series Sponsor
Toyota Technical Center.
Sponsored by Pfizer.
Supported in part by Robert
and Pearson Macek.
Media Partners Metro Times
and WEMU 89.1 FM.
UIT1S 734.764.2538 www.ums.org
^
' >oo«-c outside the 734 area code, call toll-free 800.221.1229
urns
Martha Graham Dance Company
80th Anniversary Season
Artistic Director Janet Eilber
Executive Director LaRue Alien
Company
Elizabeth Auclair Tadej Brdnik Katherine Crockett
Virginie Mecene* Miki Orihara Fang-Yi Sheu*
Erica Dankmeyer Jennifer DePalo-Rivera
Maurizio Nardi Blakeley White-McGuire David Zurak
Jacqueline Bulnes Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch
Lloyd Knight Catherine Lutton David Martinez Sadira Smith
Sevin Ceviker Jacquelyn Elder Stacey Kaplan LaMichael Leonard Jr.
*on leave
Senior Artistic Associate Susan McLain
Family Matinee Program Saturday Afternoon, October 14, 2006 at 1:00
Power Center • Ann Arbor
Diversion of Angels
Lamentation
Appalachian Spring
This afternoon's performance will take place without an intermission.
Sixth Performance of the
128th Annual Season
16th Annual Dance Series
The photographing, sound
recording or video recording
of this performance or
possession of any device
for such photographing or
sound and video recording
is prohibited.
The 06/07 UMS Family Series is sponsored by Toyota Technical Center.
Special thanks to Peter Sparling, Dance Gallery Studio, U-M Department of
Dance, Ann Arbor District Library, Susan Filipiak, and Swing City Dance Studio for
their participation in this residency.
Media partnership provided by Metro Times, WRCJ 90.9 FM, WDET 101.9 FM,
and Detroit Jewish News.
Master classes and public programs of the Martha Graham Dance Company are
supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which
believes that a great nation deserves great art.
The Artists employed in this production are members of the American Guild of
Musical Artists AFL-CIO.
Copyright to all dances by Martha Graham being performed except Appalachian
Spring and Lamentation is held by the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary
Dance. All rights reserved.
Large print programs are available upon request.
UMS Martha Graham Dance Company
Diversion of Angels
Choreography and Costumes by Martha Graham
Music by Norman Dello Joio"^
Original lighting by Jean Rosenthal
Adapted by Beverly Emmons
Premiere: August 13, 1948, Palmer Auditorium, New London, CT
Martha Graham once described Diversion of Angels as three aspects of love: the couple in
white represents mature love in perfect balance; red, erotic love; and yellow, adolescent
love. The dance follows no story. Its action takes place in the imaginary garden love creates
for itself. The ballet was originally called Wilderness Stair.
"It is the place of the Rock and the Ladder, the raven, the blessing, the tempter,
the rose. It is the wish of the single-hearted, the undivided; play after the spirit's
labor; games, flights, fancies, configurations of the lover's intention; the
believed Possibility, at once strenuous and tender; humors of innocence, garlands,
evangels, Joy on the wilderness stair; diversion of angels." - Ben Belitt
The Couple in White
CARRIE ELLMORE-TALLITSCH, LAMICHAEL LEONARD JR.
The Couple in Red
JENNIFER DEPALO-RIVERA, DAVID MARTINEZ (10/14 Matinee)
BLAKELEY WHITE MCGUIRE, MAURIZIO NARDI (10/14 Evening)
The Couple in Yellow
ERICA DANKMEYER, TADEJ BRDNIK
JACQUELINE BULNES JACQUELYN ELDER
STACEY KAPLAN LLOYD KNIGHT SADIRA SMITH
^Used by arrangement with Carl Fischer, Inc., publisher and copyright owner.
UMS Martha Graham Dance Company
Diversion of Angels (1948)
D iversion of Angels, originally titled Wilderness Stair, premiered at the Palmer Auditorium of
Connecticut College on August 13, 1948. The title, as well as a set piece designed by Isamu
Noguchi suggestive of desert terrain, was discarded after the first performance, and the dance
was reconceived as a plotless ballet. Diversion of Angels is set to a romantic score by Norman Dello Joio
and takes its themes from the infinite aspects of love. The Couple in Red embodies romantic love and
"the ecstasy of the contraction"; the Couple in White, mature love; and the Couple in Yellow, a flirtatious
and adolescent love.
Martha Graham recalled that when she first saw the work of the modern artist Wassily Kandinsky, she
was astonished by his use of color, a bold slash of red across a blue background. She determined to make
a dance that would express this. Diversion of Angels is that dance, and the Girl in Red, dashing across
the stage, is the streak of red paint bisecting the Kandinsky canvas.
UMS Martha Graham Dance Company
Lamentation
Choreography and Costume by Martha Graham
Music by Zoltan Kodaly1"
Original lighting by Martha Graham
Adapted by Beverly Emmons
Premiere: January 8, 1930, Maxine Elliott's Theatre, New York City
Lamentation is a "dance of sorrows." It is not the sorrow of a specific person, time, or place,
but the personification of grief itself.
ELIZABETH AUCLAIR
This presentation of Lamentation has been made possible by a gift from Francis Mason in
honor of William D. Witter. Additional support was provided by the Harkness Foundation for
Dance.
^Neun Klavierstucke, Opus 3, Number 2 '.
Lamentation (1930)
L amentation premiered in New York City on January 8, 1930, at Maxine Elliot's Theater, to music by
the Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly. The dance is performed almost entirely from a seated position,
with the dancer encased in a tube of purple jersey. The diagonals and tensions formed by the
dancer's body struggling within the material create a moving sculpture, a portrait which presents the very
essence of grief. The figure in this dance is neither human nor animal, neither male nor female: it is grief
itself. >' • '
According to Martha Graham, after one performance of the work she was visited by a woman in the
audience who had recently seen her child killed in an accident. Viewing Lamentation enabled her to
grieve, as she realized that "grief was a dignified and valid emotion and that I could yield to it without
shame."
Complete notes on Appalachian Spring can be found on page 10 of this program book.
For biographies of Marth Graham, her Company and all of the Company members, please see
page 14 in this program book.
urns
Martha Graham Dance Company
80th Anniversary Season
Artistic Director Janet Eilber
Executive Director LaRue Alien
Company
Elizabeth Auclair Tadej Brdnik Katherine Crockett
Virginie Mecene* Miki Orihara Fang-Yi Sheu*
Erica Dankmeyer Jennifer DePalo-Rivera
Maurizio Nardi Blakeley White-McGuire David Zurak
Jacqueline Bulnes Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch
Lloyd Knight Catherine Lutton David Martinez Sadira Smith
Sevin Ceviker Jacquelyn Elder Stacey Kaplan LaMichael Leonard Jr.
*on leave
Senior Artistic Associate Susan McLain r
Program Saturday Evening, October 14, 2006 at 8:00
Power Center • Ann Arbor
Errand Into the Maze ^_- -
PAUSE
Diversion of Angels
INTERMISSION
Appalachian Spring
PAUSE
Sketches from Chronicle
Seventh Performance of
the 128th Annual Season
16th Annual Dance Series
The photographing, sound
recording or video recording
of this performance or
possession of any device
for such photographing or
sound and video recording
is prohibited.
Special thanks to Peter Sparling, Dance Gallery Studio, U-M Department of Dance,
Ann Arbor District Library, Susan Filipiak, and Swing City Dance Studio for their
participation in this residency.
Media partnership provided by Metro Times, WRCJ 90.9 FM, WDET 101.9 FM, and
Detroit Jewish News.
Thanks to Steven Ball for coordinating tonight's pre-concert music on the Charles
Baird Carillon.
Master classes and public programs of the Martha Graham Dance Company are
supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which
believes that a great nation deserves great art.
The Artists employed in this production are members of the American Guild of
Musical Artists AFL-CIO.
Copyright to all dances by Martha Graham being performed except Appalachian
Spring and Lamentation is held by the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary
Dance. All rights reserved.
Large print programs are available upon request.
UMS Martha Graham Dance Company
Errand Into the Maze
Choreography and Costumes by Martha Graham
Music by Gian Carlo Menotti'*'
Set by Isamu Noguchi
Original lighting by Jean Rosenthal
Adapted by Beverly Emmons . . ...
Premiere: February 28, 1947, Ziegfeld Theatre, New York City
There is an errand into the maze of the heart's darkness in order to face and do battle with
the Creature of Fear. There is the accomplishment of the errand, the instant of triumph, and
the emergence from the dark.
MIKI ORIHARA TADEJ BRDNIK
ed by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc., publisher and copyright owner
UMS Martha Graham Dance Company
Errand Into the Maze (1947)
E rrand Into the Maze premiered in 1947 at the Ziegfield Theater in New York City. With a score by
Gian Carlo Menotti, and set design by Isamu Noguchi, the dance was choreographed as a duet for
Martha Graham and Mark Ryder. It is loosely derived from the myth of Theseus, who journeys into
the labyrinth to confront the Minotaur, a creature who is half man and half beast. In Errand Into the
Maze, Martha Graham retells the tale from the perspective of Ariadne, who descends into the labyrinth
to conquer the Minotaur. Substituting a heroine for the hero of Greek mythology in her dance, Martha
Graham created a female protagonist who would confront the beast of fear, not just once, but three
times, before finally overpowering him. Noguchi designed a set that consisted of a v-shaped frame, like
the crotch of a tree or the pelvic bones of a woman. A long rope curves its way through the performance
space and ends at this symbolic doorway. Influenced by the theories of the great psychologist Carl
Jung, Martha Graham was exploring the mythological journey into the self in this dance.
Complete notes on Diversion of Angels can be found on page 22 of this program book.
Complete notes on Appalachian Spring can be found on page 10 of this program book.
UMS Martha Graham Dance Company
Sketches from Chronicle
Choreography and Costumes by Martha Graham
Music by Wallingford Riegger^
Original lighting by Jean Rosenthal
Lighting for reconstruction ('Steps in the Street') by David Finley
Lighting for reconstruction ('Spectre-1914', 'Prelude to Action') by Steven L. Shelley
Premiere: December 20, 1936, Guild Theatre, New York City
Chronicle does not attempt to show the actualities of war; rather, by evoking war's images, it
sets forth the fateful prelude to war, portrays the devastation of spirit which it leaves in its
wake, and suggests an answer. (Original program note)
I. Spectre-1914
Drums— Red Shroud—Lament
JENNIFER DEPALO-RIVERA , .' : •
II. Steps in the Street . - b
Devastation— Homelessness—Exile
MIKI ORIHARA
JACQUELINE BULNES SEVIN CEVIKER ERICA DANKMEYER JACQUELYN ELDER
CARRIE ELLMORE-TALLITSCH STACEY KAPLAN CATHERINE LUTTON
SADIRA SMITH BLAKELY WHITE-MCGUIRE
III. Prelude to Action
Unity— Pledge to the Future - .
JENNIFER DEPALO-RIVERA MIKI ORIHARA
JACQUELINE BULNES SEVIN CEVIKER ERICA DANKMEYER JACQUELYN ELDER
CARRIE ELLMORE-TALLITSCH STACEY KAPLAN CATHERINE LUTTON
SADIRA SMITH BLAKELY WHITE-MCGUIRE
'Spectre-1914' researched and reconstructed in 1994 byTerese Capucilli and Carol Fried, from
film clips and Barbara Morgan photographs. 'Steps in the Street' reconstructed by Yuriko and
Martha Graham, from the Julien Bryan film. 'Prelude to Action' reconstructed by Sophie
Maslow, assisted by Terese Capucilli, Carol Fried, and Diane Gray, from film clips and Barbara
Morgan photographs.
t Finale from New Dance, Opus 18b (for 'Steps in the Street'), used by arrangement with Associated Music Publishers, Inc.,
publisher and copyright owner. Additional orchestrations by Stanley Sussman.
UMS Martha Graham Dance Company
Sketches from Chronicle (1936)
C hronicle premiered at the Guild Theater in New York City on December 20, 1936. The dance was
a response to the menace of fascism in Europe; earlier that year, Graham had refused an invitation
to take part in the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, stating: "I would find it impossible to
dance in Germany at the present time. So many artists that I know and respect have been persecuted,
have been deprived of the right to work for ridiculous and unsatisfactory reasons, that I should consider
it impossible to identify myself, by accepting the invitation, with the regime that has made such things
possible. In addition, some of my concert group would not be welcomed in Germany" (a reference to
the fact that many members of her group were Jewish). According to the original program note,
"Chronicle does not attempt to show the actualities of war; rather does it, by evoking war's images, set
forth the fateful prelude to war, portray the devastation of spirit which it leaves in its wake, and suggest
an answer." This is one of the very few dances Martha Graham made which can be said to express explicitly
political ideas, but, unlike Immediate Tragedy (1937) and Deep Song (1937), dances she made in
response to the Spanish Civil War, this dance is not a realistic depiction of events. The intent is to universalize
the tragedy of war. The original dance, with a score by Wallingford Riegger, was forty minutes
in length, divided into three sections: "Dances before Catastrophe - Spectre 1914 and Masque,"
"Dances after Catastrophe - Steps in the Street and Tragic Holiday," and "Prelude to Action." The
Company has reconstructed and now performs "Spectre 1914," "Steps in the Street" and "Prelude to
Action."
For biographies of Marth Graham, her Company and all of the Company members, please see
page 14 in this program book.
128th UMS SEASON 200612007
Piano Twenty-five-year-old Gilmore Young Artist
Award-winner Jonathan Biss makes his UMS
debut this fall, while seasoned veteran Murray
Perahia returns to the Hill Auditorium stage in
the spring for his 11th UMS performance.
Jonathan Biss:,-,
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 8 PM
Hill Auditorium
PROGRAM
Beethoven
Schoenberg
Mozart
Schumann
Sonata No. 27 in e minor, Op. 90 (1814)
Six Little Pieces, Op. 19(1911)
Sonata in F Major, K. 533 (1788)
Fantasy in C, Op. 17 (1836)
Media Partners WGTE 91.3 FM and
Observer & Eccentric Newspapers.
Murray Perahia
SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 8PM
Hill Auditorium
Program to include works by J.S Bach, Beethoven,
Schumann, and Chopin.
Supported in part by Ann and Clayton Wilhite.
Media Partners WGTE 91.3 FM and
Observer & Eccentric Newspapers.
UmS 734.764.2538 www.ums.edu
outside the 734 area code, call toll-free 800.221.1229
urns
Florestan Trio
Susan Tomes, Piano
Anthony Marwood, Violin
Richard Lester, Cello
Program
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Camille Saint-Saens
Dmitri Shostakovich
Thursday Evening, October 19, 2006 at 8:00
Rackham Auditorium • Ann Arbor
Piano Trio in G Major, K. 496
Allegro
Andante
Allegretto
Piano Trio No. 2 in e minor. Op. 92
Allegro non troppo
Allegretto
Andante con moto
Grazioso poco allegro
Allegro
INTERMISSION
Piano Trio No. 2 in e minor. Op. 67
Andante - moderato
Allegro non troppo
Largo
Allegretto
Eighth Performance of
the 128th Annual Season
44th Annual Chamber
Arts Series
The photographing, sound
recording or video recording
of this performance or
possession of any device
for such photographing or
sound and video recording
is prohibited.
Media partnership for this concert is provided by WGTE 91.3 FM and Observer &
Eccentric newspapers.
The Florestan Trio records for Hyperion Records.
Exclusive Management for the Florestan Trio provided by Arts Management
Group, Inc., New York, NY.
Large print programs are available upon request.
UMS Florestan Trio
Piano Trio in G Major, K. 496
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria
Died December 5, 7 79 7 in Vienna
The earliest works for piano, violin, and cello
were, in essence, keyboard sonatas with string
accompaniment. The cello would merely duplicate
the bass line already present in the left hand
of the piano, and the violin would offer little more
than some ornamental commentary on the piano
melody. Such was the model that Mozart had
inherited and cultivated in six sonatas (K.10-15)
he published in 1765 at the age of nine. In these
pieces the strings are ad libitum, which means
they could be omitted without damaging the
overall structure.
In his five mature trios, written between
1786 and 1788, this is definitely not the case.
Though the piano still predominates, the strings
make extremely important contributions. Mozart
displays the three instruments in ever-changing
combinations that represent an entirely new
approach to scoring in chamber music. The participants
engage in musical conversation; they
constantly listen and respond to one another,
continue one another's thoughts and raise new
ideas at the appropriate moments.
The Trio in G Major is a product of Mozart's
"golden years" (to borrow the title of one of H.C.
Robbins Landon's books on the composer). It is as
rich in ideas and as profound in its emotional
world as anything Mozart wrote during that period.
The first movement opens with a lengthy
passage for solo piano, before the violin takes
over the melody. The cello's important moment
doesn't arrive until the central section of the
movement, but there it engages in a striking conversation
with the piano, taking the opening
motif through a surprising series of unusual key
changes. After a relatively simple beginning, the
second-movement Andante, too, develops a high
degree of harmonic complexity, and even contrapuntal
activity to an extent not often seen in
Mozart. The last movement is a set of six variations
on a theme reminiscent of the Gavotte
dance. In the minor-key variation (No.4), the
mood suddenly becomes tragic as the violin keeps
repeating a desolate little melodic fragment
against a particularly eloquent lyrical figure in the
piano. Back to the major mode, the following
variation is slow in tempo but serene in disposition.
The final portion of the movement, where
one would expect all clouds to be banished, surprisingly
revisits the minor mode and reintroduces
the dark motives of the fourth variation, before a
few energetic closing measures restore the emotional
balance.
Piano Trio No. 2 in e minor. Op. 92
Camille Saint-Saens
Bom October 9, 1835 in Paris
Died Decmeber 16, 1921 in Algiers
Musical life in nineteenth-century Paris revolved
almost exclusively around opera, and Camille
Saint-Saens wanted to do something about that.
This amazing Renaissance man - pianist, organist,
composer, conductor, playwright, student of the
natural sciences, and more - had certainly made
his mark in the world of opera, as his masterpiece
Samson and Delilah attests. Yet it is probably fair
to say that instrumental music was Saint-Saens's
greatest love, and he contributed more to it than
any other French composer in the second half of
the century.
The second of Saint-Saens's two piano trios
was written in 1892, the same year Samson was
given in Paris for the first time. The publisher
Durand had long been asking the composer for a
trio, and their correspondence reveals that Saint-
Saens found this particular piece harder to write
than most of his other works. The composer who
liked to boast that he wrote music as easily as
apples grew on a tree, now complained about the
major effort this project was costing him, and, in
one of his letters, exclaimed: "Oh, for the day I'll
do the Dance of the Man Who Finished His Trio!"
Not surprisingly, Saint-Saens's principal models
were Germanic; his melodic writing and harmonic
idiom owe much to Beethoven and
Schumann. Yet he was writing many decades
after those masters, and the difference in style is
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obvious, even if Saint-Saens is still dogged by the
epithet "conservative" (in part because he had
the fortune, or misfortune, of outliving his
younger, and much-hated, contemporary, the
great innovator Claude Debussy). The main novelty
Saint-Saens introduced was the concept of
"symphonic chamber music," which doesn't aim
for the intimacy or introspection one would find
in Mozart and even Shostakovich, but rather
thrives on the visceral joy of mastering, in the case
of the present trio, the eight strings and eightyeight
keys of the three instruments in a supremely
virtuosic way.
The e-minor trio is in five movements, in the
course of which Saint-Saens pulls out all the stops
(he was an organist, after all). The sweeping
melody of the first movement is shared by the
two string instruments, while the pianist seems to
be paraphrasing Tchaikovsky's First Concerto.
There are calmer episodes, but the movement is
dominated by extreme passions. The parallels
with Tchaikovsky continue in the second movement;
yet here, Saint-Saens beat his Russian colleague's
Sixth Symphony by one year in writing a
"limping waltz" in a measure with five beats, and
even did him one better by alternating between
two kinds of "fives": a faster 5/8 and a broader
5/4.
In the brief central "Andante," Saint-Saens
pays homage to the spirit of Schumann in a heartfelt
intermezzo, followed by a gentle Landler.
Then in the finale, the composer flexes his contrapuntal
muscles by writing a monumental double
fugue, embedded in a movement that exceeds all
previous ones in complexity and virtuosity. A brilliant
coda in a breakneck tempo closes this
ambitious work.
Piano Trio No. 2 in e minor. Op. 67
Dmitri Shostakovich
Born September 25, 1906 in St. Petersburg
Died August 9, 1975 in Moscow
Russian composers had a tradition of commemorating
the departed with piano trios: Tchaikovsky
wrote his piano trio in memory of Nikolai
Rubinstein, Rachmaninoff his Trio elegiaque in
memory of Tchaikovsky, and Anton Arensky his
celebrated trio in memory of the cellist Karl
Davydov. Shostakovich might have been thinking
about these examples when, upon learning about
the death of his best friend Ivan Ivanovich
Sollertinsky, he turned his thoughts to this intimate
chamber-music genre (to which he contributed
only one other work his entire life, a
briefer essay dating from his youth). Both
Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff had written eulogies
to teachers and mentor figures who had
been significantly older than they. Sollertinsky
was only four years Shostakovich's senior, but he
nevertheless played the role of a mentor to the
composer: a musicologist of an extraordinarily
broad knowledge of the repertoire, he introduced
his friend to many masterpieces (those of Gustav
Mahler in particular), and the two of them had
long talks about just about every conceivable subject
matter. Sollertinsky died of a heart attack in
February 1944, at the age of 42. "I have no
words with which to express the pain that racks
my entire being," a devastated Shostakovich
wrote to their mutual friend Isaak Glikman.
There are sketches for a Shostakovich piano
trio from late 1943, but these were not used in
the work we know today. The E-minor trio took
what for Shostakovich was an unusually long time
to write: he spent much of the spring on the first
movement alone, completing the other three during
the summer, at the retreat of the Union of
Soviet Composers in the village of Ivanovo.
Unlike the Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff
trios, Shostakovich adhered to the classical fourmovement
layout of the trio (as had Arensky).
This allowed the composer to write music that
wasn't tragic or elegiac all the way through, but
instead paid tribute to Sollertinsky's complex personality
under many of its aspects. The trio moves
from a sad and mysterious opening to a wild and
ferocious scherzo, from there to a lament in the
form of a passacaglia, followed by the most
famous part of the work, the "Jewish" finale. Joy
and pain and inseparable in life; also (as always in
Shostakovich), laughter can turn into a bitter grimace
any time and without warning.
UMS Florestan Trio
The cello opens the work with a theme
played all in harmonics in an extremely high register.
This eerie music, which seems to come from
a great distance, later gives way to some angry
and powerful outbursts. The second-movement
scherzo seems to allude to Sollertinsky's sense of
humor and the many happy moments the two
friends had shared. The slow passacaglia (set of
variations on an unchanging bass line) is somber
and mournful, and it is followed without pause by
the dance finale. However, this is obviously not a
happy ending. Much of the musical material is
distorted klezmer (Jewish folk music), where the
cheerful rhythms are combined with painful dissonant
intervals in the melody. It is no coincidence
that Shostakovich started to be drawn to
Jewish music during the years of World War II and
the Holocaust. One of his favorite composition
students, Veniamin Fleishman, had died in 1941
during the siege of Leningrad. Shostakovich was
so fond of Fleishman that he decided to complete
the unfinished opera his student had left behind,
Rothschild's Violin, after a short story by Chekhov.
The memory of Fleishman probably played an
important role in the shaping of the finale, in
which the Jewish dance melodies sometimes take
on a positively tragic tone. In addition, reminiscences
of the earlier movements make the emotional
content of the work even more ambivalent,
and nothing seems to be resolved when the trio
ends with a few broken chords and other isolated
musical gestures.
Shostakovich himself played the piano part
when the trio received its world premiere in
Leningrad on November 14, 1944. His colleagues
were Dmitri Zyganov (violin) and Sergei Shirinsky
(cello), the composer's close friends from the
Beethoven Quartet.
Program notes by Peter Laki.
T he Florestan Trio defines great chamber
music playing.' (San Francisco Chronicle). In
honoring the Florestan Trio with its award
for chamber music in 2000, the Royal
Philharmonic Society recognized the achievements
of the Trio in a repertoire in which longstanding,
dedicated ensembles have always been
rare. The Florestan Trio has now pursued this path
for a decade, and listeners all over the world
express their appreciation of the Trio's devotion to
a field of music which they believe deserves
wholehearted commitment.
The Trio's recordings on Hyperion have
received outstanding reviews. All their discs have
been nominated for Gramophone Awards, and
are recommended choices in major collectors'
guides. Their disc of the first two trios by
Schumann won a 1999 Gramophone Award and
a host of other accolades. Their CD of French
piano trios is one of Hyperion's best-sellers iri the
chamber music field, and their two discs of
Schubert captured several critics' votes as the best
versions now available. In 2005 they were shortlisted
for two awards; BBC Radio Three's Listeners'
Award, and a Gramophone Award for chamber
music. Their latest discs, of trios by Mendelssohn
and Saint-Saens, have garnered extraordinary
praise in the past few months.
They celebrated their tenth anniversary season
with the completion of their Beethoven
recording cycle for Hyperion and with three soldout
performances of the Beethoven Trios in
London's Wigmore Hall. The recordings have been
highly acclaimed: 'Perhaps the finest contemporary
exponents of this repertoire performing on
modern instruments today.' (Sunday Times)
'Everything about this release is distinguished'
(Fanfare, USA). Their latest disc, of Mendelssohn
piano trios, has been rapturously received: The
Florestan were born to play these works' (Times).
The Trio are popular visitors at major
European venues such as the Concertgebouw in
Amsterdam, the Brussels Conservatoire, De Singel
in Antwerp, and the Vienna Konzerthaus. This
season, they will tour in Italy, in Sweden and in
Germany. Past tours have taken them to South
UMS 06/1. Florestan Trio
Florestan Trio
America, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and
Japan. They have twice toured the USA to great
acclaim, and return for another major tour in
October 2006. They have had works specially
composed for them by Judith Weir, Peteris Vasks,
Sally Beamish, John Casken, Rudi Martinus van
Dijk and Dmitri Smirnoff.
A focal point of the Trio's year is its own festival
in Peasmarsh, East Sussex. Each June they
present four days of concerts centered on the
Trio, but also welcoming guest artists of international
stature. Perhaps uniquely, they each appear
during the festival as concerto soloists with
orchestras such as the Academy of St Martins in
the Fields. The Trio has founded a charitable company,
The Florestan Trust, which aims to develop
public awareness and knowledge of music
through the presentation of concerts, educational
work, and the commissioning of new works.
Visit the trio's website at www.florestantrio.com
UMS ARCHIVES
Tonight's concert by the Florestan
Trio marks their second appearance
under UMS auspices.
The University Musical Society
thanks the
Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation
Kaydon Corporation
for their support of the
Shostakovich Centennial Festival Weekend
At Pfizer, we recognize
the importance
of the arts.
OF SUPPORTING
We know that in science, as in life,
inspiration is a critical component
of creating a brighter future. The
arts provide that inspiration, along
with education and entertainment,
to young and old alike. That's
why we salute organizations and
individuals who share their passion
for art with our community. Pfizer is
pleased to support the University
Musical Society.
THE ARTS
urns
with the
Maxine and Stuart
Frankel Foundation
and
Kaydon Corporation
present
The Kirov Orchestra of the
Mariinsky Theater
Valery Gergiev, Music Director and Conductor
Program
Dmitri Shostakovich
Shostakovich
Friday Evening, October 20, 2006 at 8:00
Hill Auditorium • Ann Arbor
Symphony No. 11 in g minor. Op. 103 "The Year 1905"
The Palace Square (Adagio)
The Ninth of January (Allegro - Adagio - Allegro - Adagio)
In Memoriam (Adagio)
The Tocsin (Allegro non troppo - Allegro - Adagio - Moderate -
Adagio - Allegro)
INTERMISSION
Symphony No. 6 in b minor. Op. 54
Largo
Allegro
Presto
Ninth Performance of
the 128th Annual Season
128th Annual Choral
Union Series
The photographing, sound
recording or video recording
of this performance or
possession of any device
for such photographing or
sound and video recording
is prohibited.
Support for the Shostakovich Centennial Festival Weekend is provided by the Maxine
and Stuart Frankel Foundation and the Kaydon Corporation.
Tonight's performance is sponsored by Pfizer Global Research and Development:
Ann Arbor Laboratories.
Funded in part by the Wallace Endowment Fund.
This evening's Prelude Dinner was sponsored by TIAA-CREF.
Thanks to Alan Aldworth and ProQuest Company for their support of the UMS Classical
Kids Club.
Media partnership for this concert is provided by WGTE 91.3 FM, Observer & Eccentric
newspapers, Michigan Radio, and Detroit Jewish News.
Vneshtorgbank is the Global Partner of the Mariinsky Theatre.
Severstal, North America, is the Mariinsky Theatre's Tour Sponsor.
The White Nights Foundation of America is the Sponsor of the Kirov Shostakovich
Centennial Celebration in North America.
The Kirov Orchestra appears by arrangement with R. Douglas Sheldon of Columbia
Artists Management LLC, New York.
Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra record for Universal.
Thanks to Kenneth Kiesler, Professor of Conducting and Director of Orchestras, U-M
School of Music, Theatre and Dance, for speaking at Friday evening's Prelude Dinner.
Thanks to Marysia Ostafin, Zvi Gitelman, and the U-M Center for Russian and East
European Studies for their participation in this residency.
Thanks to Tom Thompson of Tom Thompson Flowers, Ann Arbor, for his generous
contribution of floral art which is displayed in the Main Floor lobby.
Large print programs are available upon request.
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
D ISCUSSIONS OF SHOSTAKOVICH and
his music have always revolved around politics.
The Soviets used to maintain that the
composer was loyal to the regime, while more
recent literature suggests that he was deeply disillusioned
with Communism. Yet if we ask whether
Shostakovich was for or against the regime, we
also must ask the opposite question: was the
regime for or against Shostakovich? Surely, the
Party's treatment of the country's greatest composer,
with a seesaw of denunciations and rehabilitations,
severe criticism and highest honors, is no
less ambiguous than Shostakovich's own highly
contradictory attitudes toward Communism.
Eleven years old at the time of the October
Revolution, Shostakovich spent his entire adult life
under the Soviet regime, which was the only political
reality he had ever experienced first-hand. In
the early years of the regime, it was easy to be
swept up in the euphoria of building a new society
the world had never seen before, and many
were prepared to bear economic hardship as a
necessary price to pay for a brighter future. In the
late 1930s, as Stalin's political terror reached unbelievable
levels of atrocity, it became more and more
difficult to maintain that original belief in the
building of a better world. Yet right until the collapse
of communism in the late 1980s, it remained
a much-debated question throughout Eastern
Symphony No. 11 ("The Year 1905")
in g minor. Op. 103 (1957)
The question to ask about Shostakovich's
Symphony No. 11 — a work that bears its political
program in its title — is not whether it is an homage
to officialdom or a work with a hidden dissident
message. It has been called both, allowing the
symphony to be exploited by exponents of both
pro- and anti-Soviet political agendas. The real
questions are how Shostakovich treated his ostensible
theme, the Russian Revolution of 1905, and
what elements in the music have called, again
and again, for an interpretation along political
lines. Before examining these questions, however,
it might be helpful to summarize the events of the
year 1905 (the year before Shostakovich was born).
Europe whether Communism was essentially a
good idea gone awry, or a concept fundamentally
flawed from the start.
In his magnificent series of fifteen symphonies,
Shostakovich grappled with these difficult
issues; however, none of that would matter
today, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, had
he not expressed those issues in music written in
an unmistakably individual, powerful style, with a
mastery of the form that made him just about the
only worthy heir of Gustav Mahler in the 20thcentury
history of the genre. The Shostakovich
symphonies continue to provoke intense emotions;
their message has lost none of its force or its
timeliness. They stand as monuments to the difficult
times in which they were written—but they
can only do so because they are great pieces of
music. It seems time to begin to look beyond the
immediate political circumstances under which it
was born (without forgetting them) and consider
music on its own terms.
When we are ready for
that change, Shostakovich
reception, in the second
century of the composer's
immortality, will have
entered a new phase.
On January 9, 1905, (according to the old style;
January 22 by the Gregorian calendar) a peaceful
demonstration of workers and peasants, led by
Father Gapon, appeared in front of the Winter
Palace, the Czar's residence in St. Petersburg.
They wished to hand Nicholas II a petition, asking
the monarch for help to alleviate their economic
conditions, which had become unbearable. The
Czar's guards began to shoot at the crowd, killing
hundreds of people. The event, which became
known as "Bloody Sunday," set off widespread
strikes and protests all over the country (including
the mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin [pronounced
"Potyomkin"], which is immortalized in
Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 film Battleship Potemkin).
The massive unrests led to a certain liberalization
in Czarist rule, bringing the empire closer to a
UMS 061 •
constitutional monarchy for the last decade of its
existence.
The events of 1905 were widely regarded as a
prelude to the two revolutions of 1917 (February
and October), the first of which put an end to the
Czarist regime and the second brought the
Bolsheviks to power. For this reason, writing a
symphony about the 1905 revolution may seem
to have been a politically expedient thing to do.
But the truth is that the brutality of the Bloody
Sunday shootings must arouse the deepest revulsion
in every sensitive human being, and the program
of the symphony expresses not merely
Communist self-righteousness but a belief in
human dignity in general. Some writers have
alleged that, while Shostakovich was ostensibly
concerned with the events of 1905, what he was
really thinking about was the Hungarian
Revolution of 1956, crushed by Soviet tanks
shortly before the symphony was written. The
composer himself was heard to comment on the
fact that he wrote the Eleventh in the aftermath
of the Budapest uprising. But why limit the
music's message by narrowly and exclusively linking
it to one political event or another? To my
mind, this music is a denunciation of all tyrants,
and a requiem for victims of injustice everywhere.
In this symphony, Shostakovich took special
pains to make sure his message was clear to every
listener. He adapted many of the symphony's principal
themes from songs of the workers' movement
— songs that every resident of the Soviet
Union learned to sing in school, as well as from
his own work for mixed chorus, Ten Songs of
Nineteenth-Century Revolutionary Poets, Op. 88
(1951). He then wove these themes together in a
complex tapestry, having them undergo substantial
transformations and return, sometimes in
their original form and sometimes with important
changes, in the course of the symphony's four
movements (played without pause).
The song themes Shostakovich used, either in
their original form or modified, include the following,
in the order of their first appearance:
1. Listen, a prisoner's song ("Like an act of
betrayal, like a tyrant's conscience, the night is
dark").
The Kirov Orchestra
2. The Prisoner is another prisoner's song (". . .
but the walls of the prison are strong, fastened at
the gate by two iron locks").
3. Worker's Funeral March ("You fell a victim in
the fateful battle, with selfless love for the people
...).
4. Hail the Free World of Liberty
5. Rage, Tyrants ("Rage, tyrants, mock at us, . .
. although our bodies are trampled, we are
stronger in spirit — shame, shame, shame to you,
tyrants!").
6. Varshavianka ("Hostile whirlwinds swirl
around us. . . We have entered into fateful battle
with our enemies, our destinies are still
unknown").
7. Bright Lights: A quote from the then-popular
Soviet operetta by Georgi Sviridov, combined with
the famous revolutionary march, Boldly,
Comrades, Keep Step.
The two themes from Shostakovich's own revolutionary
choruses are:
8. Oh, Czar, our little father
9. Bare Your Heads on this sorrowful day
With these characteristic building blocks, Shostakovich
created what often resembles a veritable
opera without words. It portrays not just emotions
and musical characters but definite places and
actions. (It is no coincidence that the symphony
was later choreographed with great success in
Russia.) The eerie opening where a slow-moving
melody is played in five simultaneous octaves by
the muted strings, is a striking depiction of the
motionless Palace Square on an ice-cold January
day. This frozen image will return several times as
a powerful contrast to the intense drama unfolding
in the second movement. The contrast
between motion and immobility is one of
Shostakovich's main dramatic strategies in this
work: the delirious activity in the second and
fourth movements is offset by the calm, yet
extremely tense, music in the first and third.
The slow first movement ("The Palace Square")
sets the stage for the drama, with the glacial
string theme, a trumpet call that turns into a wail,
a hint at the Orthodox response "Lord have mercy
on us," and the two prison songs (Nos. 1-2). It
UMS 0- The Kirov Orchestra
clearly represents "silence before a storm," and
the storm indeed breaks out in the second movement
("The Ninth of January"). Against an agitated
accompaniment in the lower strings, we hear the
first of the two self-quotes 8), a melody usually
described as Mussorgskyan, first softly and then
gradually rising in volume until a full orchestral
fortissimo is reached. During a momentary respite,
No. 9 is heard briefly, played by the first trumpet,
but then No. 8 returns, building to an even more
powerful climax than the first time. All of this is,
however, only a prelude to what follows. After a
brief recall of the "frozen" opening of "The Palace
Square," the most violent section of the symphony
begins: a ferocious fugue, started by cellos and
basses, and rapidly escalating into what must be
seen as a graphic depiction of sheer horror — the
entire orchestra pounding on a single rhythm of
equal triplet notes, at top volume and (for most
instruments) in a high register. This is certainly the
moment where the Czarist guards open fire. The
first-movement image of the empty Palace Square
now returns (complete with string theme, trumpet
fanfare, the song Listen and the timpani motto).
The Russian title of the third movement,
"Vechnaia pamiat" ("Eternal Memory"), alludes
to a funeral chant of the Orthodox church. But its
actual melodic basis is the Worker's Funeral
March (No. 3), played by the violas to the sparsest
of accompaniments. A second, less subdued section
develops No. 4 and leads to an impassioned
passage where the entire orchestra shrieks out
the Bare your heads theme (No. 9) in what seems
a flashback of the past atrocities, and the violins
take over the timpani motto in great anguish and
agitation. No. 3 returns and the mood becomes
calmer, but soon we hear the "tocsin" (the alarm
bells) with a new call to battle. The relentless march
rhythms of No. 5 and No. 6 grow more and more
furious until, finally, they are swept aside by another
memory of the horrors and a recall of No. 8, the
plea to the Czar, played with great fervor by the full
orchestra. The glacial string music of the first movement
returns, complemented by a long english
horn solo based on No. 9, before the final upsurge
that, with its musical material taken from the second
movement, seems to suggest that the struggle
is not over.
It is hardly the optimistic conclusion that one
would associate with a piece celebrating Soviet
political ideas. Then again, according to Soviet
history books, the 1905 revolution had been
unsuccessful because it failed to overthrow the
Czar. That historic moment was not to arrive until
1917, and it was perhaps inevitable that
Shostakovich should devote his next symphony,
No. 12 (1961), to the Great Socialist October
Revolution, as it used to be called. The finale of
that work, "The Dawn of Humanity," delivered the
triumphant ending everyone had been waiting for.
In the Eleventh, Shostakovich created a largescale
symphony on an official theme, using plenty
of songs officially sanctioned by the regime. (It
was enough to make some people comment at
the premiere: Shostakovich had "sold himself
down the river.") But there were enough disturbing
overtones in the work for others to perceive a
hidden underground meaning. According to one
report, Shostakovich's son Maxim, 19 at the time
of the premiere, whispered into his father's ear
during the dress rehearsal: "Papa, what if they
hang you for this?" And the great Russian poet,
Anna Akhmatova, said, when asked what she
thought of all those revolutionary quotations:
"[They] were like white birds flying against a terrible
black sky." However we might interpret the
work, it is clear that Shostakovich created neither
a mere Communist propaganda piece nor a
coded anti-Communist tract but a complex, dark
score of exceptional dramatic power.
^ Shostakovich derived this theme from his own initials and their
corresponding musical notes written in German: D—E-flat—C—
B corresponding to Dimitri SCHostakowitsch (Schostakowitsch is
the German transliteration of his name).
Symphony No. 6 in b minor. Op. 54 (1939)
With his Fifth Symphony (1937), Shostakovich
had scored a major success and confirmed his
position as the leading young composer in the
Soviet Union. Everything he wrote from then on
was greeted as an important artistic event—
which did not necessarily preclude criticism,
sometimes even harsh criticism. His next symphony
immediately provoked controversy, because
UMS
it quite ostensibly failed to follow the course
Shostakovich had set in his acclaimed earlier
work; and it has continued to give headaches to
critics and commentators over the years. Indeed,
what kind of overall structure emerges from a
three-movement composition starting with a serious
and gloomy Largo of considerable proportions,
brushed aside by two fast movements that purport
to offer sheer fun and little else?
Indeed, the Sixth Symphony definitely forgoes
unity in the customary sense of the world. There
is no trace of "organicism," that model of coherence
often found in classical art where everything
grows out of a single fundamental idea. The two
halves of the symphony effectively negate one
another, like two statements that cannot both be
true at the same time. Yet, since music is not
"true" or "false" as statements are, one meaning
of this unusual structure may well be in the very
clash of two musically exclusive worlds, and we
cannot know (nor is it relevant) which one is more
"real" or "valid" than the other. This clash, moreover,
may be felt not only between the first movement
and the last two, but within the last two
movements as well. The scherzo and the finale,
while strongly contrasting with the Largo, are not
without their own darker moments, as we shall see
shortly.
The year 1939, in which the symphony was
written, was itself full of irreconcilable contradictions.
This was the year Stalin and Hitler concluded their
non-aggression pact that soon led to the outbreak
of World War II and the invasion of Poland
from both sides. In the Soviet Union, amidst much
official talk about the glorious new society created
by the Communist state, Stalin was in fact decimating
the population of his own country, executing
untold millions, including some of the best
military and artistic talent in the Soviet Union.
Among the victims were such close personal
friends of Shostakovich as Marshal Mikhail
Tukhachevsky, a senior Army officer (memorialized
in the slow movement of the Fifth Symphony), and
Vsevolod Meyerhold, the great stage director. No
one could even mention these atrocities without
risking their own life. About the only stance an
artist could take in the face of such horror was
that of the Yurodivy, the holy fool known from
The Kirov Orchestra
Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov. Laughter and
tears, mockery and truth, comedy and tragedy
were inseparable in the words of a yurodivy, who
was clown, jester, and prophet all at once, often
saying one thing and meaning the opposite.
Solomon Volkov has shown in several of his writings
that Shostakovich, at least occas.onally,
assumed the voice of a yurodivy and was recognized
as such by at least part of his audience.
Seen in this light, the ambivalence of the Sixth
Symphony takes on an entirely new meaning.
The opening, a broad melody that at first has no
accompanying harmonies at all, has a strong
Russian flavor, and sounds like a personal plea. It
is soon answered by a second theme, no less
doleful than the first; it has been described as
"Bachian" on account of its prominent leap of a
diminished fifth, an interval favored in Baroque
music. This theme is presented in turn by violins,
a group of low-pitched instruments (bass clarinet,
bassoon, contra-bassoon, double bass), and
immediately followed by the highest one, the piccolo.
The two themes are then combined, as the
tension grows and finally explodes when the
brass instruments make their powerful entrance.
A hesitant new theme, played by the english
horn, introduces a new section. Aside from a single
brief tutti outburst, the rest of the movement
is pure chamber music, as are so many passages
in Shostakovich's symphonies. One instrument or
instrumental group after another "speaks up" in
this intimate communal lament, at the center of
which stands a remarkable flute cadenza that
makes time stand still for a moment. A return of
the first theme, accompanied by dark, warm harmonies,
leads to a subdued and mournful coda.
In the second-movement Allegro, the fun
begins with a gleeful and virtuosic solo of the Eflat
clarinet, often cast as one of the orchestra's
humorists. The Scherzo from Mahler's Second
Symphony, based on the song "St. Anthony of
Padua's Sermon to the Fishes," must not have
been far from Shostakovich's mind when he composed
his music. The gently rollicking sixteenthnotes
in 3/8 time then become more and more
insistent: a fortissimo passage, dominated by an
agitated trumpet fanfare, comes close to destroying
the scherzo mood. But the clouds disappear as fast
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
as they came, and the initial music returns, with
flute and piccolo now taking the place of the E-flat
clarinet. A second dark episode follows, even more
menacing than the first. The rhythm becomes
more irregular, and the sound colors more sinister.
But once again, the crisis passes, and - after a timpani
solo serving as transition - the scherzo returns
once more, with the addition of a new, extended
solo for piccolo. However, the memory of the dramatic
episodes continues to linger under the surface
right to the end of the movement.
The last-movement "Presto" begins as "light
cavalry," with a string of humorous themes that
suggest unbridled good spirits. But again, the
music becomes quite dramatic towards the middle
of the movement. There is even a bassoon
solo in the minor mode that for a fleeting
moment evokes the Largo. Shortly thereafter, a
violin solo brings back the cheerful mood as a regular
recapitulation section begins. From here on,
there is no stopping the boisterous fun, but it is
for each individual listener to tell if Shostakovich
is really letting his hair down or is making a sarcastic
statement. Is it uninhibited laughter of a
yurodivy's bitter grin? It is probably both at the
same time. In the words of music critic Paul
Griffiths, it is the "ambivalence of enforced statement
(joy, progess, affirmation...) and dissident
subtext (i.e. 'Don't you believe it')." Griffiths calls
this ambiguity "a particularly Russian quality—
Stalin's great gift to musicr! history." This goes a
long way towatds explainin ] ihe unusual features
of Shostakovich's Sixth Symphony which, it
seems, expresses the troubled times of its genesis
even in its structural layout.
Program notes by Peter Laki.
V alery Gergisv's inspired leadership as
Artistic and General Director of the
Mariinsky Theatre has brought universal
acclaim to this legendary institution. Together
with the Kirov Opera, Ballet and C Jiestr.i,
Maestro Gergiev has toured in forty-five countritj
including extensive tours throughout North America,
South America, Europe, China, Japan, Australia,
Turkey, Jordan and Israel.
Maestro Gergiev is
currently Principal
Conductor of the
Rotterdam
Philharmonic, Principal
Guest Conductor of
the Metropolitan Opera
and, beginning in
January 2007, Principal
Conductor of the
London Symphony
Orchestra. He is
Founder and Artistic Director of the Gergiev
Rotterdam Festival; the Mikkeli International Festival,
the Moscow Easter Festival and the Stars of the
White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Born in Moscow to Ossetian parents, Maestro
Gergiev studied conducting with llya Musin at the
Leningrad Conservatory. At age 24, he was the
winner of the Herbert von Karajan Conductors'
Competition in Berlin. He made his Kirov Opera
debut one year later in 1978 conducting
Prokofiev's War and Peace and was appointed
Artistic Director and Principal Conductor in 1988.
In 2003 he celebrated his 25th anniversary with
the Mariinsky Theatre, planned and led a considerable
portion of St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary
celebration, conducted the globally televised
anniversary gala attended by fifty heads of state,
and opened the Carnegie Hall season with the
Kirov Orchestra, the first Russian conductor to do
so since Tchaikovsky conducted the first-ever concert
in Carnegie Hall.
Maestro Gergiev is the recipient of the Dmitri
Shostakovich Award, the Golden Mask Award,
the People's Artist of Russia, and the World
Economic Forum's Crystal Award. He is also the
2006 winner of the Karajan Prize (Germany) and
the Polar Prize (Sweden) for outstanding international
performance and leadership.
He has recorded exclusively for Decca (Universal
Classics), but appears also on Philips and DG
labels. His vast discography includes many
Russian operas (introduced to international audiences
by his initiative), a cycle of Shostakovich
"War Symphonies" (Nos.4-9), and Tchaikovsky's
Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies with the
Vienna Philharmonic among many others.
UMS 061'" The Kirov Orchestra
The Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky
Theatre enjoys a long and distinguished
history as one of the oldest musical institutions
in Russia. Founded in the 18th century during
the reign of Peter the Great, it was known
before the Revolution as the Russian Imperial
Opera Orchestra. Housed in St Petersburg's
famed Mariinsky Theatre since 1860 (named in
honour of Maria, wife of Emperor Alexander II),
the Orchestra entered its true "golden age" in the
second half of the 19th century under the musical
direction of Eduard Napravnik (1839-1916).
Napravnik single-handedly ruled the Imperial
Theatre for more than half a century (from 1863-
1916) and under his leadership, the Mariinsky
Orchestra was recognised as one of the finest in
Europe. He also trained a generation of outstanding
conductors, developing what came to be
known as "the Russian school of conducting."
The Mariinsky Theatre was also the birthplace
of numerous operas and ballets which are regarded
as masterpieces of the 19th and 20th centuries.
World premiere performances include
Glinka's A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and
Lyudmila, Borodin's Prince Igor, Musorgsky's Boris
Godunov and Khovanshchina, Rimsky-Korsakov's
The Maid of Pskov, The Snow Maiden and The
Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the
Maiden Fevronia, Tchaikovsky's The Queen of
Spades, lolanta, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and
The Sleeping Beauty and Prokofiev's Betrothal in
a Monastery (The Duenna), as well as operas by
Shostakovich and ballets by Khachaturian.
Pyotr llyich Tchaikovsky was closely associated
with the Mariinsky Theatre, not only conducting
the Orchestra but also premiering his Fifth
Symphony here, the Hamlet fantasy overture and
the Sixth Symphony. Sergei Rachmaninov conducted
the Orchestra on numerous occasions, including
premieres of his Spring Cantata and the symphonic
poem The Bells. The Orchestra also premiered
music by the young Igor Stravinsky, such as his
Scherzo Fantastique and "ihe ballet The Firebird.
Throughout its history, the Mariinsky Theatre
has presented works by Europe's leading opera
composers. In 1862, Verdi's La forza del destino
was given its world premiere at the Theatre in the
presence of the composer. Wagner came to the
Mariinsky Theatre, where his operas were frequently
performed from the 19th century to the
beginning of the 20th century, including the first
Russian performances of the complete Ring cycle,
Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger and Parsifal.
The Ring cycle was conducted by Hans Richter,
who was the first to conduct the complete Ring in
Bayreuth and at Covent Garden.
By 1917 the Orchestra's name had changed to
the Royal Imperial Theatre Orchestra, and it was
regarded as St Petersburg's leading symphony
orchestra. Its repertoire - operatic and orchestral -
has traditionally included not only music by Russian
composers, but also of European composers.
Numerous internationally famed musicians have
conducted the Orchestra, among them Hans von
Bulow, Felix Mottl, Felix Weingartner, Alexander
von Zemlinsky, Otto Nikisch, Willem Mengelberg,
Otto Klemperer, Bruno Walter and Erich Kleiber.
Renamed the Kirov Opera during the Soviet
era, the Orchestra continued to maintain its high
artistic standards under the leadership of Yevgeny
Mravinsky and Yuri Temirkanov. In 1988, Valery
Gergiev was appointed Artistic Director of the
Opera Company and in 1996 the Russian
Government named him Artistic and General
Director of the Mariinsky Theatre. Soon after the
city of Leningrad was renamed St Petersburg, the
Kirov Theatre reverted to its original title of the
Mariinsky Theatre, home to the Kirov Opera, the
Kirov Ballet and the Kirov Orchestra.
In the 2004-2005 season, Valery Gergiev initiated
a world-wide series of charity concerts entitled
Beslan. Music for Life. Under the Maestro's direction,
concerts were held in New York, Paris,
London, Tokyo, Rome and Moscow. In March and
April 2005 Valery Gergiev conducted the Mariinsky
Orchestra on a tour of the USA. The orchestra visited
seventeen cities giving twenty concerts, three
of which took place at Carnegie Hall, the largest
concert venue in the USA. As part of touring programs
in 2005 the Mariinsky Orchestra took part in
international music festivals in Salzburg, Mikkeli,
Istanbul, Baden-Baden and Stockholm.
This season, the Orchestra returns to New York
and Ann Arbor in October for the Shostakovich
Centennial Celebration.
The University Musical Society
thanks the
Maxine and Stuart Fmnkel Foundation
Kaydon Corporation
for their support of the
Shostakovich Centennial Festival Weekend
celebrating
. fine arts
Ann Arbor
Borders is proud to support the
University Musical Society and this
presentation of the Kirov Orchestra
of the Mariinsky Theatre.
Find your favorites and discover something
new to love at your local Borders.
BORDERS
urns
with the
Maxine and Stuart
Frankef Foundation
and
Kaydon Corporation
present
The Kirov Orchestra of the
Mariinsky Theater
Valery Gergiev, Music Director and Conductor
Olga Sergeyeva, Soprano
Gennady Bezzubenkov, Bass
Program
Dmitri Shostakovich
Saturday Evening, October 21, 2006 at 8:00
Hill Auditorium • Ann Arbor
Symphony No. 12 in in d minor. Op. 112
"The Year 1917 - In Memory of Lenin"
Revolutionary Petrograd (Allegro moderato)
Razliv (Adagio)
Aurora (Allegro)
The Dawn of Humanity (L'istesso tempo)
NTERMISSION
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
Shostakovich Symphony No. 14, Op. 135
De profundis (Bass)
Malaguena (Soprano)
Loreley (Soprano and Bass)
Le Suicide (Soprano)
Les Attentives I (Soprano)
Les Attentives II (Soprano and Bass)
A la Sante (Bass)
Reponse des cosaques zaporogues au sultan de Constantinople (Bass)
0 Delvig, Delvig! (Bass)
Der Tod des Dichters (Soprano)
SchluB-Stuck (Soprano and Bass)
MS. SERGEYEVA AND MR. BEZZUBENKOV
10th Performance of the
128th Annual Season
128th Annual Choral
Union Series
The photographing, sound
recording or video recording
of this performance or
possession of any device for
such photographing or
sound and video recording
is prohibited.
Support for the Shostakovich Centennial Festival Weekend is provided by the
Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation and the Kaydon Corporation.
Tonight's performance is sponsored by Borders Group and Universal Classics Group.
Funded in part by the Wallace Endowment Fund.
Thanks to Alan Aldworth and ProQuest Company for their support of the UMS
Classical Kids Club.
Media partnership for this concert is provided by WGTE 91.3 FM, Observer &
Eccentric newspapers, Michigan Radio, and Detroit Jewish News.
Vneshtorgbank is the Global Partner of the Mariinsky Theatre.
Severstal, North America, is the Mariinsky Theatre's Tour Sponsor.
The White Nights Foundation of America is the Sponsor of the Kirov Shostakovich
Centennial Celebration in North America.
The Kirov Orchestra appears by arrangement with R. Douglas Sheldon of
Columbia Artists Management LLC, New York.
Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra record for Universal.
Thanks to Marysia Ostafin, Zvi Gitelman, and the U-M Center for Russian and
East European Studies for their participation in this residency.
Thanks to Tom Thompson of Tom Thompson Flowers, Ann Arbor, for his
generous contribution of floral art which is displayed in the Main Floor lobby.
Large print programs are available upon request.
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
Symphony No.12 in d minor. Op.112
(1961)
The Twelfth is a direct sequel to the Eleventh:
after commemorating the 1905 revolution,
Shostakovich moved on to the second revolutionary
year of 1917 whose significance was, of
course, even greater, since it had brought the
Bolsheviks to power. It was not exactly a "commission"
but rather, as Laurel E. Fay puts it in her
Shostakovich biography, an "expectation" that
the composer should write a major work devoted
to the October Revolution and its leader, V.I.
Lenin. Shostakovich announced his "plan" to
write such a work as early as 1959 (intending, he
said, to complete it by April 1960, the 90th
anniversary of Lenin's birth). In the event, it took
Shostakovich much longer to complete the
work—a delay due in part to illness, but in part,
probably, to some hesitations as to the form the
new work should take. (The synopsis
Shostakovich offered in October 1960 is strongly
at variance with the work as we know it.)
With the Twelfth Symphony, which was finally
premiered during the 22nd Congress of the
Soviet Communist Party on October 1, 1961,
Shostakovich wrote one of the most openly "official"
works of his entire career. In the Soviet
Union, the subject of Lenin and the October revolution
was as close to being "sacred" as anything
could be in that violently anti-religious
world. By commemorating the "ten days that
shook the world" (to quote the title of the oncefamous
book by American journalist John Reed),
Shostakovich addressed the very core of what life
in the Soviet Union was all about. For this reason,
the Twelfth is not simply a piece of political propaganda
or an apology for the regime: it is more
than that, a musical illustration of the country's
genesis story and an acknowledgment of what
was, for better of worse, the national and political
identity of some 200 million people—as well
as a political reality that few at the time thought
would ever change.
Shostakovich may have been deeply torn with
regard to the Communist regime, yet the events
of October were indelibly in his blood. He lived
through the revolution as a six-year-old child, and
whether or not he actually saw Lenin arriving at
the St. Petersburg train station in April 1917 (a
legend of many years, recently demolished), there
is no question that he was marked for life by the
events and their aftermath. For the tenth anniversary
of the revolution, he wrote his Second
Symphony, one of his most "revolutionary,"
avant-garde works, and in the late 1930s he was
again contemplating a "Lenin" symphony (or at
least made statements to that effect). And there
is no doubt that he felt the need, if not an urge,
to treat this subject in music, even more than
once.
A true program symphony, the Twelfth opens
with "Revolutionary Petrograd" illustrating the
political crisis that made the revolution
inevitable—according to the Bolshevik analysis.
Shostakovich went out of his way to speak as
plainly as possible: the opening, an unaccompanied
tune played by cellos and basses with a distinct
Russian flavor, is clearly the "voice of the
people" no longer willing to put up with oppression.
This melody keeps growing in intensity as it
is gradually taken over by the entire orchestra—
the revolution is gathering momentum. A second
theme, also introduced by the low strings, adds a
second stream to the musical flow; the two
themes together make the movement progress
toward its conclusion.
The four movements of this symphony are
played without pause, and are moreover connected
by special bridge passages. Thus, from the
streets of the capital we move to Razliv, Lenin's
hideout in the country, represented by music of a
frozen, somber quality. In the third movement we
hear the signal of the famous battleship Aurora,
whose cannons fired their historic shots at the
Winter Palace, the Czar's residence. Here
Shostakovich offers another of his monumental
orchestral crescendos, leading into the finale,
titled "The Dawn of Humanity." This concluding
movement held up the symphony's completion
for many months, for the occasion demanded
noisy jubilation, yet in the second half of the 20th
century you couldn't simply write another 1812
overture. Yet Shostakovich managed to do what
the occasion called for, rendering unto Caesar
what was Caesar's.
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
Two weeks before the premiere of the Twelfth
Symphony, the Literaturnaya Gazefa published
the poern Babi Yar by Yevgeni Yevtushenko, in
which a young Russian poet, living in an openly
anti-Semitic society, dared to raised his voice in
memory of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
Shostakovich immediately set the poem to music,
and "Babi Yar" became the first movement of his
Symphony No. 13. The new work was as far
removed from the officially sanctioned world of
No. 12 as possible and, in fact, came dangerously
close to being banned. One of the hardest things
to understand about Shostakovich was how he
could move so abruptly between musical and
political extremes. The answer lies in the cruelty
of the era he was fated to live in which literally
forced people to adopt a dual consciousness.
(The Hungarian writer Ferenc Karinthy wrote a
play about this, pointedly titled Schizophrenia.)
To our great fortune, that era only survives today
in the art it had generated, sometimes in spite of
itself.
Symphony No. 14, Op. 135 (1969)
Shostakovich's health began seriously to deteriorate
during the 1960s. His mobility was more and
more severely compromised, and he was plagued
by a serious heart condition. During of his stays at
the hospital, he started work on what would
become his Fourteenth Symphony. Due to a flu
epidemic, the hospital was under quarantine and
not even close friends and family were allowed to
visit, leaving the composer alone to grapple with
the terrifying thought of death and dying.
In choosing the medium of a song cycle, he
claimed such ancestors as Mussorgsky's Songs
and Dances of Death (which he had orchestrated
in 1962), and Mahler's Song of the Earth, an obvious
model in the scoring for two solo singers, one
male and one female. Both Mussorgsky and
Mahler had relied on a single source in their cycles
(the poems of Count Arseni Golenishchev-
Kutuzov, and Hans Bethge's collection of Chinese
poems, respectively). Shostakovich, for his part,
compiled the texts for his 11-movement composition
from four different poets of four different
nationalities (he set all the texts in Russian translation).
In this, he followed the example of
Benjamin Britten, who became a close friend in
the 1960s, and whose Spring Symphony for
soloists, chorus and orchestra had likewise drawn
on the works of several poets. In its subject matter,
of course, Shostakovich's Fourteenth is the complete
antithesis of the Britten work. Nevertheless,
recent scholarship has found a number of subtle
stylistic links between the musical styles of Britten
and Shostakovich — and it is surely no coincidence
that the Russian composer dedicated his work to
his English colleague.
Shostakovich treated the topic of death in a
truly encyclopedic fashion, and although it seems
that the focus is on different solitary individuals
facing their mortality, politics are never far from
the surface, since so many of the songs have to
do with violent death on the battlefield or at the
hands of tyrants. One would think that Federico
Garcia Lorca (1898-1936), Guillaume Apollinaire
(1880-1918), Wilhelm Kuchelbecker (1797-1846)
and Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) make an
unlikely quartet of poets. Yet all four lived in times
of war, and their lives were directly affected by
the political and military upheavals. Garcia Lorca,
the great Spanish poet and dramatist, was shot by
Franco's soldiers during the Spanish Civil War.
Apollinaire, a poet of Italian-Polish parentage who
became one of the giants of French literature,
died of the Spanish influenza as he was recovering
from a head wound received during World
War I. Kuchelbecker, a Russian poet in spite of his
German name, was sentenced to death for
attempting to assassinate the Czar's brother during
the Decembrist revolt in 1825; his sentence
was later commuted to exile in Siberia. Finally,
Rilke — a German poet of genius born in Prague
— succumbed to a grave illness at the age of 51,
which makes him the longest-lived member in the
group.
Otherwise, the four poets are vastly different
in style, outlook, and in just about everything else,
even though three of them, with the exception of
Kuchelbecker, were roughly contemporaries. The
collage Shostakovich created from their works has
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
a clear dramatic plan. The first of the two Lorca
poems at the beginning and the two by Rilke at
the end are both "gravestones": the first one literally
evokes a hundred graves with crosses on
them; Rilke's first poem (No. 10 in the symphony)
memorializes an unnamed poet and the second
one (No.11) is a monument to Death itself.
Within this framework of more static pieces
comes a series of concrete images, covering a
wide range of emotions and evoking specific
places, people and situations: a tavern in Spain,
death by love, death in war, death at one's own
hands, etc. These "character studies" culminate
in "0 Delvig," Kuchelbecker's moving meditation
on the human values that are capable of transcending
death (No.9).
The amazing breadth of human experience,
reflected in the texts, is matched by a diversity of
styles rarely found in the works of Shostakovich.
The gloomy "De profundis" (No.1) opens with an
melancholy solo played by five unaccompanied
violins, which becomes even more eerie when the
double basses repeat it. The vocal line is a simple,
bare-bones recitative; the music remains "frozen"
to the end. As a total contrast, "Malagueha"
(No. 2) introduces some fiery Spanish rhythms,
but it cannot be doubted for a moment that this
a danse macabre if ever there was one.
In most cases, the songs of the cycle follow
each other affacca (without pause). The effect is
particularly dramatic between movements 2 and
3, where the "Dance of Death" reaches its high
point only to be suddenly disrupted by two clashes
of the whip, and we are whooshed, in a split
second, from Southern Spain to the banks of the
Rhine in Germany, where the passionate ballad of
the Loreley takes place. Shostakovich's setting of
Apollinaire's version of the ballad is intensely dramatic.
The Bishop, smitten by the beauty of the
water nymph Loreley, delivers his lines in a highly
agitated quasi-recitative; Loreley's alluring voice
soars high above the rapid figurations of the
string orchestra. The strong accents of the xylophone
nervously punctuate the singing, which at
one point gives way to a lengthy and brutally
rhythmical instrumental interlude, corresponding
to the point in the story where Loreley is carried
up a steep'hill to be locked up in a convent. Two
strokes of the bell announce the moment when
Loreley sees the ship below in the Rhine and
throws herself from the cliff into the river. The
bass singer sadly recollects her beauty. This section,
complete with the sounds of celesta and
vibraphone, ends with an expressive cello solo
that continues through the next song, "The
Suicide" (No. 4), which, although an independent
poem, could be an epilog to the Loreley story.
Unlike in the first song, here there is, pointedly, no
cross on the grave. The doleful vocal and instrumental
lines reach a searing climax at which
points the bells from the previous song are heard
again.
Two character pieces follow: "On the Alert"
(No. 5), about the imminent death of a soldier on
the battlefield, hides the tragedy behind a
grotesque march melody played by an unaccompanied
xylophone, and the exaggerated military
rhythms of the solo tom-toms. Another brief
quasi-scherzo is No. 6 ("Look here, Madame!") in
which Apollinaire and Shostakovich offer a wry
commentary on the poetic cliche of losing one's
heart in love and of dying from love. The word
khokhochu ("I roar with laughter") is repeated
several times by the singer, and its rhythm is imitated
by the xylophone. The first syllables of the
word are even split off to render the uproarious
laughter at the insignificance of losing something
as trivial as a heart; yet there is a moment when
the laughter becomes hysterical and the joke suddenly
isn't funny any more. And that's when we
land, without any warning, "At the Sante Prison"
(No. 7), where the solitary prisoner laments his
fate. In the middle of this movement occurs a
most remarkable fugue on a theme made up
almost entirely of single notes and rests; the single
notes are played by string instruments half of
whom pluck their strings and half use col legno
(strike the string with the wood of the bow).
"No, I am not who I used to be," exclaims the
singer at the end of the fugue, with a new, passionate
melody appearing in the lower strings.
The two kinds of material — expansive and frozen
expressions of the same despair — dominate the
entire movement.
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
In No. 8, "The Zaporozhye Cossacks' Reply
to the Sultan of Constantinople," Shostakovich is
on home ground, for Apollinaire treated a Russian
subject here. In the controversial memoir
Testimony, which can neither be entirely believed
nor entirely dismissed, Shostakovich is quoted as
saying: "If I had Apollinaire's talent, I would
address Stalin with a poem like that....Stalin is
gone, but there are more than enough tyrants
around..." The musical style is close to that of the
ferocious "Stalin" scherzo from the Tenth
Symphony. At the end of the movement all ten
violins have their individual parts: they play the
same motifs a half-step apart, resulting in a tone
cluster that is exceptional in Shostakovich's output.
Another stylistic switch of 180 degrees
brings us to "0 Delvig" (No. 9), the only poem in
the cycle originally written in Russian, and the
only one from the 19th century. Wilhelm
Kuchelbecker and the poet Anton Delvig (1798-
1831) were close friends, and both were close
friends of Alexandr Pushkin (1799-1837). The
musical style, with its pure triads, is alluding to
Classicism and 19th-century Russian romances.
The optimism of the text, which finds solace in
immortality and eternal friendship, is contradicted
by the dark orchestral colors (the violins are silent
throughout the movement!) and the melancholy
postlude for three cellos.
"The Death of the Poet" (No. 10) begins
with the same violin melody that opened No.1 -
the same frozenness, the same disconsolation.
Nor does the brief "Conclusion" (No. 11) bring
any relief. For the first time, the two singers join
their voices in a duet, but it is not about two
tormented individuals finding each other, but
rather about two souls admitting their powerlessness
in the face of death. The last musical gesture
is dissonant string chord, gradually intensifying in
rhythm and volume and abruptly cut off in the
middle, like any of the lives previously portrayed
that ended violently and senselessly.
Shostakovich was widely criticized for his pessimism
and his rejection of any hope at the end of
his symphony. But he could not help but feel this
way. As he said in his remarks at the first (nonpublic)
performance of the work: "[Death] awaits
all of us. I don't see anything good about such an
end and this is what I am trying to convey in this
work." He knew he did not have much longer to
live; looking back on his life, he saw too much
horror and suffering and too little happiness. The
option of religous faith was something that history
— living under the Soviet regime — had denied
him: once, when asked whether he believed in
God, he replied: "No, and I am very sorry about
it." Yet as a great composer, he was able to transform
despair — which would make most of us
mute with pain — into a powerful artistic statement.
As one Russian critic put it: "Even in the
face of extreme horror, what one hears is not the
victory of darkness and death, but the victory of
creativity."
O lga Sergeyeva made her professional
debut at Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre in
March 2000 as Aida (Aida), and has since
performed as a Mariinsky Theatre soloist.
Ms. Sergeyeva is a prizewinner of the First
International Elena Obraztsova Young Opera
Singers' Competition (1999) in Saint Petersburg.
In 2001 she was awarded the Golden Sofit, St
Petersburg's most prestigious theatre prize, for
"Best opera role" as Fevronia in The Legend of
the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden
Fevronia.
Ms. Sergeyeva frequently gives concerts in St
Petersburg, Moscow and throughout Europe. In
July 2001, during the Mariinsky Theatre's tour to
the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, she performed
a Verdi repertoire. In the same year, she
made her debut as Brunnhilde (Die Walkure) at
the Baden-Baden Festival.
Ms. Sergeyeva has made
her Metropolitan Opera
debut in October 2004,
performing as Brunnhilde
in Die Walkure alongside
Placido Domingo as
Siegmund with Valery
Gergiev conducting. She
performed the same role at
the Theatre du Chatelet
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
(Paris) in November 2005 under Christoph
Eschenbach.
Ms. Sergeyeva's recent engagements include
performances at the Ravello Music Festival in Italy
in a concert program with Valery Gergiev, as well
as appearances at London's Albert Hall and in
Madrid as Brunnhilde (Siegfried) in concert performances
with the Paris Symphony Orchestra
and Christoph Eschenbach. In April 2006, she
performed Shostakovich's Fourteenth Symphony
with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted
by Maestro Gergiev.
Olga Sergeyeva was born in Bashkiria and
studied at the Gnesin Academy of Music with
Zara Dolukhanova.
Tonight's concert marks the UMS debut of Ms.
Sergeyeva.
G ennady Bezzubenkov was born in
Staraya Vitelevka, Ulyanovsk Region and
studied with B. Lushin and N. Velter at the
Leningrad State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory.
Mr. Bezzubenkov has performed as a Mariinsky
Theatre soloist since 1989. His extensive repertoire
includes over fifty roles, among them Ivan
Susanin (A Life for the Tsar), Varlaam, Pimen (Boris
Godunov), Ivan Khovansky
(Khovanshchina), Konchak
(Prince Igor). Prince Gudal
(The Demon), Prince
Gremin (Eugene Onegin),
the Sea King (Sadko),
Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich
(The Legend of the Invisible
City of Kitezh and the
Maiden Fevronia), Vasily
Sobakin (The Tsar's Bride),
the bass role in Les Noces, Kutuzov (War and
Peace), the Doctor (The Nose), Banco (Macbeth),
Padre Guardiano, Alcalde (La forza del destino),
Ramfis (Aida), Timur (Turandot), Commendatore
(Don Giovanni), Don Alfonso (Cos/ fan tutte), King
Marke (Tristan und Isolde), Donner (Das
Rheingold), Hunding (Die Walkure), Gurnemanz
(Parsifal), Verdi's Requiem, Mozart's Requiem and
Sofia Gubaidulina's St John's Passion.
Mr. Bezzubenkov has toured with the Kirov
Opera to Germany, France, Scotland (the
Edinburgh Festival), Israel, the USA (Metropolitan
Opera), Finland, Italy, Spain, Austria, the
Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Portugal,
Luxembourg and Turkey.
He has also appeared in several Mariinsky
Theatre audio and video recordings including War
and Peace, Ruslan and Lyudmila, lolanta, Sadko,
The Fiery Angel and The Tsar's Bride.
Mr. Bezzubenkov was awarded the Golden
Sofit in 1997 for his portrayal of Gurnemanz in
Parsifal and the Golden Mask in 1998, Russia's
highest theatre prize, for best male roiie in
Wagner's opera Parsifal. In 2002 he was a recipient
of the Baltika prize. Mr. Bezzubenkov was also
a recipient of the State Prize of Russia, named
People's Artist of Russia, and an honoured Artist
of the RSFSR.
Tonight's concert marks the UMS debut of Mr.
Bezzubenkov.
for biographies of Maestro Gergiev and the
Kirov Orchestra, please see page 42 in this
program book.
The University Musical Society
thanks the
Maxim and Stuart Frankel Foundation
Kaydon Corporation
for their support of the
Shostakovich Centennial Festival Weekend
i
128th OMS SEASON 2006 - 2007
London
Philharmonic
Orchestra Kurt Masur conductor I Sarah Chang violin
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 8 PM > Hill Auditorium
PROGRAM
Sibelius Violin Concerto in d minor, Op. 47 (1905)
Bruckner Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major, ("Romantic") (1847)
Supported by Catherine S. Arcure and
Herbert E. Sloan Endowment Fund.
Media Partners WGTE 91.3 FM,
Observer & Eccentric Newspapers,
and WRCJ 90.9 FM.
A Prelude Dinner precedes
this performance.
This is a CLASSICAL KIDS
CLUB concert.
734.764.2538 I www.ums.org
outside the 734 area code, call toll-free 800.221.1229 •/> itiiil :iiliiir,'il affairs
urns
with the
Maxine and Stuart
Frankel Foundation
and
Kaydon Corporation
present
The Kirov Orchestra of the
Mariinsky Theater
Valery Gergiev, Music Director and Conductor
Nikolai Putilin, Bass
Men of the UMS Choral Union ^*~~'
Jerry Blackstone, Music Director
University of Michigan Men's Glee Club
Paul Rardin, Director
Program
Dmitri Shostakovich
Sunday Afternoon, October 22, 2006 at 4:00
Hill Auditorium • Ann Arbor
Symphony No. 8 in c minor. Op. 65
Adagio
Allegretto
Allegro non troppo
Largo
Allegretto
INTERMISSION
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
Shostakovich Symphony No. 13 in b-flat minor. Op. 113, "Babi Yar"
Babi Yar: Adagio
Humor: Allegretto
In the Store: Adagio
Fears: Largo
A Career: Allegretto
MR. PUTILIN
11th Performance of the
128th Annual Season
128th Annual Choral
Union Series
The photographing, sound
recording or video recording
of this performance or
possession of any device for
such photographing or
sound and video recording
is prohibited.
Support for the Shostakovich Centennial Festival Weekend is provided by the
Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation and the Kaydon Corporation.
Funded in part by the Wallace Endowment Fund. . •
Thanks to Alan Aldworth and ProQuest Company for their support of the UMS
Classical Kids Club.
Media partnership for this concert is provided by WGTE 91.3 FM, Observer &
Eccentric newspapers, Michigan Radio, and Detroit Jewish News.
Vneshtorgbank is the Global Partner of the Mariinsky Theatre. • : "
Severstal, North America, is the Mariinsky Theatre's Tour Sponsor.
The White Nights Foundation of America is the Sponsor of the Kirov Shostakovich
Centennial Celebration in North America.
The Kirov Orchestra appears by arrangement with R. Douglas Sheldon of
Columbia Artists Management LLC, New York.
Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra record for Universal.
Thanks to Marysia Ostafin, Zvi Gitelman, and the U-M Center for Russian and
East European Studies for their participation in this residency.
Thanks to Tom Thompson of Tom Thompson Flowers, Ann Arbor, for his generous
contribution of floral art which is displayed in the Main Floor lobby.
Large print programs are available upon request.
UMS
Symphony No. 8 in c minor,
Op. 65(1943)
Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony takes its place
among the greatest works of art dealing with the
horrors of World War II. You hardly need a program
note to tell you that it is a deeply tragic
piece. Ignoring the long-standing aesthetic dispute
over whether or not music could express any
emotions, Shostakovich found ways to make his
message so clear that it is impossible to misunderstand
his intentions even at first hearing.
In fact, the message was not lost on anyone
present at the Moscow premiere on November 4,
1943. People suffering the hardships of war and
mourning for their loved ones heard a reflection
of their own feelings in the music. At the same
time, officials who expected Shostakovich to continue
along the lines of his Seventh and celebrate
the heroism of the Soviets in a jubilant, optimistic
style, were disappointed at the undisguised
despair in the music.
The tragic character of this five-movement
symphony becomes evident at the very beginning.
The first movement is a lament of gigantic
proportions, essentially slow but interrupted by a
violent middle section. It is, in other words, a sort
of ABA form, and the thematic materials of the
two sections are closely related.
The opening fortissimo theme, played by the
strings in two-part imitation, projects a feeling of
gravity that is further accentuated by the sharp
dotted rhythms. This beginning, which is strongly
reminiscent of the opening of Shostakovich's
Fifth Symphony, is expanded into a lengthy slow
section, the "A" of the "ABA" formula, which
itself has a tripartite structure that might be
labeled "aba" (in small letters). The "a" part consists
of the above-mentioned fortissimo material
and a softer violin theme, which shares the dotted
rhythm of the first theme. The "b" section features
a doleful melody in 5/4 time (first on violins,
then on english horn). The melodic material of
the "a" section then returns in a new orchestration
in which the woodwinds predominate. The
second theme, lyrical and subdued the first time,
now sounds agitated almost to the point of hys-
The Kirov Orchestra
teria, and culminates in some harsh dissonances
where the strings have to play their pizzkatos
(plucked notes) "with such force that the string
should hit the fingerboard after the attack"
(Shostakovich's written instruction in the score). It
is only now, some fifteen minutes into the symphony,
that we reach the faster section (the capital
"B"), where the tempo changes to "Allegro
non troppo" as the earlier themes return in new
rhythmic guises. The persistence of these rhythmic
patterns and the incessant increase in volume
produce a stirring effect, culminating in what
seems a bloodcurdling scream on the entire
orchestra — an almost graphic musical depiction
of sheer horror. After this, the music unwinds
with a rather long and quiet english horn solo,
derived from the material of the first few measures
of the symphony. The english horn, accompanied
by strings only, takes up its solo again,
before the brass and the strings return once more
to the beginning of the symphony to fade out in
a mysterious pianissimo.
The second movement is a scherzo with
repeated trio, followed by a coda. The lapidary
simplicity of the themes, characteristic of scherzos,
is preserved, but the unexpected sharp
accents have nothing playful or humorous in
them. On the contrary, they seize the listener by
the throat with the elementary force of a powerful
dramatic gesture.
This tension-filled music alternates with passages
in a faster tempo, in which the lighter tones
of the piccolo flute and the piccolo clarinet (clarinet
in E-flat) predominate. Still, the relentless
chromaticism and unpredictable rhythmic patterns
of these solos are rather unsettling, and
before long they are turned into something positively
menacing as the entire orchestra takes them
over. The contrast between the two sections of
the movement completely disappears as the trio
gradually merges into the recapitulation of the
frantic scherzo. The second statement of the trio,
coming next, is violent from the start. The piccolo
theme is now given to the strings playing in a
triple forte and marcatissimo, accompanied by
harsh repeated notes in the brass and a persistent
drumbeat. In the coda, the themes of the scherUMS
The Kirov Orchestra
zo and the trio are combined, as the dramatic tension
rises to a final peak.
The third, fourth, and fifth movements of
the symphony are played without interruption.
The third movement continues the macabre
scherzo tone of the second, but sounds even
more ferocious. The gestures are even simpler
and more brutal than in the previous movement,
with rhythm reduced to an uninterrupted stream
of quarter-notes and an octave leap stretched into
a minor ninth at the repeat. By his obsession with
these simple devices, Shostakovich created a
movement that seems to depict cruelty and inhumanity.
The middle section with its frivolous
trumpet solo brings no relief, and the quote of
the "Sabre Dance" theme from Khachaturian's
then-recent ballet Gayane — apparently a bitter
parody — only reinforces our eerie feelings. The
return of the main section culminates in another
scream, similar to the one in the first movement.
The music now calms down gradually, and
the fourth-movement Largo begins. It is a passacaglia
(variations on an unchanged ground
bass) on a rather traditional theme, starting and
ending on the same note and thus describing a
circle, which makes it similar to a Baroque passacaglia.
But the presence of foreign notes such
as G natural and F natural allowed Shostakovich
to write a set of variations that was not confined
by traditional tonality while still adhering to classical
principles. Some of the variations introduce
languid ornamental figures en the piccolo and the
clarinet; these eventually fade away in the transition
to the last movement, which is the first in the
symphony to strike a more peaceful tone.
It is not the kind of jubilant (or pseudo-jubilant)
finale found in the Fifth and Seventh symphonies;
rather, it is a sort of meditation on the
past crises. The form of the movement is based
on the classical rondo in which a main theme
keeps returning after various episodes.* The lyrical
character of this theme never changes in the
course of the movement (with one notable exception),
and this creates a sense of stability that h;is
been missing from the symphony so far. Only
once, around the middle of the movement, does
the music get more agitated as the main theme is
taken over by the brass, and a dramatic climax,
similar to those of the first and third movements,
develops. But ultimately, peace and harmony prevail,
and the symphony fades away in a dreamlike
pianissimo. After so much turmoil, the music
finds its long-awaited rest, putting an end to all
the torments and affirming, perhaps, that the suffering
has not been in vain.
*To be precise, we should call it a "sonata-rondo"
because one of the episodes also returns, behaving like
the secondary theme in sonata form.
Symphony No. 13 in b-flat minor.
Op. 113(1962), "Babi Yar"
Shostakovich followed his Twelfth Symphony, a
paean to the Soviet regime, with the Thirteenth
that provoked the ire of the same regime—a fact
that speaks volumes about both the man and his
times. If one were to try to explain these contradictions,
one might consider the Twelfth as a kind
of "Utopia," as the composer's widow Irina put it
- while the Thirteenth is reality, of the harshest
and most brutal kind imaginable.
The story of its genesis has often been
recounted. Yevgeni Yevtushenko had published
his poem Babi Yar in the highly respected journal
Literaturnaya Gazeta, about the many thousands
of Jews murdered by the Nazis at that site in
Ukraine during World War II. A few months later
he received a phone call from Shostakovich, asking
his permission to set the poem to music. The
young poet expressed his delighted consent, only
to be told that the music was had, in fact, already
been written. Originally intended to be a onemovement
cantata for bass solo, a chorus of basses
and orchestra, the work eventually expanded
to a five-movement vocal symphony.
The years following Stalin's death in 1953,
and especially the period marked by the reign of
Communist Party leader Nikita Khrushchev, has
gone down in history as the "thaw," a metaphor
first introduced by the writer llya Ehrenburg. Yet
the Babi Yar affair came very close to bringing
about a "refreeze." Yevtushenko was taken to
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
task for claiming that the victims of Babi Yar had
all been Jewish (which, by the way, was true) -
according to the officials, Russians and Ukrainians
had also been killed there. The real problem with
Babi Yar, of course, was that Yevtushenko implied
the presence of anti-Semitism in Soviet society
(which, of course, was also true). The poet was
prevailed upon to revise his poem, but
Shostakovich had already set the original version.
As he refused to rewrite the symphony, only a few
of the changes could be incorporated into the
music, and even those were soon abandoned in
favor of the original. (Understandably, the
"thaw" had to progress much further before the
symphony was allowed to enter the repertoire.)
When Shostakovich decided to expand Babi
Yar to a full-length symphony, he used three more
Yevtushenko poems that, together, painted an
overall picture (and a rather grim one at that) of
life in the Soviet Union. At the composer's
request, the poet wrote an additional poem,
"Fears," which became the fourth movement of
the symphony.
The authorities did not dare prohibit the
first performance of this inflammatory work;
instead, they resorted to various intimidation tactics
to discourage the performers. Thus, the conductor
Yevgeni Mravinsky, an old friend of
Shostakovich's who had led the first performances
of most of his symphonies for decades, bowed
out with a rather implausible excuse, as did two
different bass singers. The conductor Kirill
Kondrashin, who had accepted to lead the premiere,
received a phone call just hours before the
concert from a concerned Party official who
pointedly asked him about his health and then
about his willingness to cut the first movement.
But Kondrashin stood firm, and the Party, not
wanting to risk an international scandal, had to
allow the premiere to go ahead.
If Babi Yar was a bombshell as a poem, it
possibly produced an even stronger effect when
sung to Shostakovich's music. The instrumental
introduction, with its eerie-sounding chromatic
theme for muted trumpets and horns which will
serve as a motto, sets a chilly tone for the whole
movement, which encompasses the intense
drama of the persecution, the silence of death
and the shockingly courageous denunciation of
Russian anti-Semitism at the end.
This incredible first movement has tended
to overshadow the rest of the symphony, even to
the point where the whole work was dubbed the
Babi Yar symphony. That does less than justice to
the other four movements, which are no less bold
in the way they expose the ills of Soviet society.
The second-movement scherzo, "Humor," is a
tribute to the long-standing satirical tradition in
Russia which had always been a powerful
weapon in the hands of social critics. Comedians,
humorists, and yurodivye (the famous "holy
fools") had always been able to utter the truth,
and their voices could not be silenced. The juxtapositions
of seemingly "incongruous" registers
and tonalities, which is largely responsible for the
humorous effect in the music, reinforces the
mock-official tone where the crowd repeats the
acclamations of the leader, as though they were
praising a Hero of Socialist Labor. Also,
Shostakovich gave special emphasis to the ironic
reference to the Winter Palace, the edifice that
had appeared in such a different light in
Symphony No.12.
Movements 3-5 are played without a pause,
uniting three slices of reality in a single continuous
flow of music. In each, a negative situation is
overcome by acts of courage and defiance. In "At
the store," the central Adagio of the symphony,
Yevtushenko and Shostakovich tackled the status
of women, another burning social issue. The tortuous
melodic writing reflects the hardship and
suffering Soviet women were enduring every day;
the voice of the poet snaps near the end, at the
words "It is shameful to short-change them,"
where the lament suddenly turns into an open
revolt, only to revert immediately to the previous
state of frozen calm.
In a way, the poem "Fears" must have been
more inflammatory than even "Babi Yar," since it
addresses the more recent atrocities that Stalin
had committed against his own people. The
times where people had to fear denunciations to
the point where they were afraid to talk to their
own spouses, the times when a nocturnal "knock
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
at the door" could lead to years in the Gulag from
where many never returned, were still largely
taboo in the Soviet Union. (Alexander
Solzhenitsyn's book One Day in the Life of Ivan
Denisovich, which deals with life in a labor camp,
was published in 1962, the year of the premiere
of Shostakovich's Thirteenth.) An ominous,
pianissimo timpani roll is heard through much of
the movement, expressing the fear pervading
daily life. The main melody, played by the solo
tuba, sounds as if it wanted to hide in the basement.
Ominous brass motifs signal the "knock at
the door," and mysterious chromatic trills in the
lower strings do the talking when words are too
dangerous. A distorted worker's song appears to
depict the awakening social consciousness of the
people, which leads to the final climax where the
soloist intones the Russian equivalent of "the only
thing we have to fear is fear itself."
The last movement, "Career," is a uniquely
Shostakovichian combination of scherzo and idyll.
The gentle flute duet with which it opens sets a
peaceful stage. The singers then come in with the
kind of "popular song" that Humor sang in the
second movement. (It doesn't strictly follow the
meter of the chastushka but it is reminiscent of it.)
The satire reaches its culmination point at the
mention of Tolstoy's name, where the singers
specify that it's Lev they mean (the author of War
and Peace); the implication being that they don't
mean Aleksey Tolstoy, the "Red Count," who had
won three Stalin Prizes for his novels supporting
the Soviet regime. What could be more fun, after
such goings-on, than a lively fugue? Finally, the
solemn epilogue and a return of the idyllic music
from the beginning leave us all in a quiet and
serene state to ponder everything we have heard
during the last hour.
B aritone Nikolai Putilin was born in the
Saratov Region of Russia and studied with
Professor loffel at the Krasnoyarsk Institute
of Arts. Mr. Putiiin has performed at renowned
opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Scala, the
Chicago Lyric Opera and the Academy Santa
Cecilia and has taken part in the Salzburg Festival.
Nikolai Putilin has
performed as Mariinsky
Theatre soloist since 1992.
His extensive repertoire at the
Mariinsky Theatre includes
Shchelkalov, Rangoni (Boris
Godunov), Shaklovity
(Khovanshchina), Igor
Svyatoslavovich (Prince
Igor), Demon (The Demon),
Onegin (Eugene Onegin), Mazepa (Mazepa),
Robert, Ebn-Hakia (to/anfa), Tomsky (The Queen
of Spades), Mizgir (The Snow Maiden), Venetian
Merchant (Sadko), Gryaznoi (The Tsar's Bride),
Fyodor Poyarok (The Legend of the Invisible City
of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia), the Emperor
of China (Le rossignol), Ruprecht (The Fiery
Angel), Nabucco (Nabucco), Rigoletto (Rigoletto),
Giorgio Germont (La traviata), Don Carlo (La forza
del destino), Marquis di Posa (Don Carlo),
Amonasro (Aida), lago (Otello), Scarpia (Tosca),
Valentin (Faust), Escamillo (Carmen), Figaro (Le
nozze di Figaro), the Dutchman (Der Fliegende
Hollander), Klingsor (Parsifal) and Jokannan
(Salome).
Mr Putilin has toured with the Kirov Opera
and independently to Germany, France, Spain, Italy,
the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, Japan, the USA,
Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Korea,
Israel and Luxemburg. He has also appeared in several
Mariinsky Theatre audio and video recordings
including The Queen of Spades, Sadko, to/anfa, La
forza del destino, Mazepa, Prince Igor and Boris
Godunov (Philips Classics, NHK).
Mr. Putilin is a prizewinner of the First
International Chaliapin Competition (2nd prize,
Kazan, 1989) and the International Competition
(Sofia, 1988). In 1987 he was named People's
Artist of Tatarstan. Mr. Putilin was a recipient of
the State Prize of Russia in 1999 and named
People's Artist of Russia in 2003.
Mr. Putilin was a soloist with the Syktyvkar
Musical Theatre (Komi Republic) from 1980-1984
and with the Musa Dzhalil Academic Theatre of
Opera and Ballet (Kazan) from 1984-1991.
This afternoon's concert marks the UMS debut
performance of Mr. Putilin.
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
For biographies of Maestro Gergiev and the
Kirov Orchestra, please see page 42 in this
program book.
Throughout its 127-year history, the UMS
Choral Union has performed with many of
the world's distinguished orchestras and
conductors.
Based in Ann Arbor under the aegis of the
University Musical Society, the 175-voice Choral
Union is known for its definitive performances of
large-scale works for chorus and orchestra.
Thirteen years ago, the Choral Union further
enriched that tradition when it began appearing
regularly with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
(DSO). The chorus has recorded Tchaikovsky's The
Snow Maiden with the orchestra for Chandos,
Ltd.
Led by Grammy Award-winning Conductor
and Music Director Jerry Blackstone, the UMS
Choral Union was a participant chorus in a rare
performance and recording of William Bolcom's
Songs of Innocence and of Experience in Hill
Auditorium in April 2004 under the baton of
Leonard Slatkin. Naxos released a three-disc set of
this recording in October 2004, featuring the
Choral Union and U-M School of Music ensembles.
The recording won four Grammy Awards in
2006, including "Best Choral Performance" and
"Best Classical Album." The recording was also
selected as one of the New York Times "Best
Classical Music CDs of 2004."
The current 06/07 season includes collaborations
with the DSO, including Mahler's Symphony
No. 2 (Rafael Frubeck de Burgos, conductor) and
John Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls
(John Adams, conductor). Further performances
include Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13 ("Babi
Yar") with the Kirov Orchestra of St. Petersburg
(Valery Gergiev, conductor), the Verdi Requiem
with the Ann Arbor Symphony (Arie Lipsky, conductor),
and the 128th annual performances of
Handel's Messiah in Hill Auditorium in December
(Jerry Blackstone, conducting).
Participation in the UMS Choral Union
remains open to all students and adults by audition.
For more information about the UMS Choral
Union, please e-mail choralunion@umich.edu or
call 734.763.8997.
This afternoon's concert marks the 404th appearance
by the UMS Choral Union on a UMS presentation.
J erry Blackstone is Director of Choirs and
Chair of the Conducting Department at the
University of Michigan School of Music,
Theatre & Dance where he conducts the Chamber
Choir, teaches conducting at the graduate and
undergraduate levels, and administers a choral
program of eleven choirs. In February 2006, he
won two Grammy Awards ("Best Choral
Performance" and "Best Classical Album") as
chorusmaster for the critically acclaimed Naxos
recording of William Bolcom's monumental Songs
of Innocence and of Experience. In November
2006, the Chamber Choir will present a special
invited performance at the inaugural national
convention of the National Collegiate Choral
Organization in San Antonio. Professor
Blackstone is considered one of the country's
leading conducting teachers, and his students
have received first place awards and been finalists
in both the graduate and undergraduate divisions
of the ACDA biennial National Choral Conducting
Awards competition. US News and World Report
ranks the graduate conducting programs at the
University of Michigan first in the nation.
F ounded in 1859, The University of
Michigan Men's Glee Club is one of the
oldest collegiate chorus in the United States
and the oldest continually-run student organization
on the Michigan campus. Long acclaimed as
one of the finest male choruses in the world, the
Glee Club has achieved this stature by sustaining
and respecting the traditions which established
during its 147 year history. The graduate and
undergraduate members of the Glee Club, chosen
by audition at the beginning of both the Fall
and Winter terms, represent a wide spectrum of
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
majors in a majority of the University's 19 schools
and colleges and its student officers are responsible
for the management of all non-musical Glee
Club operations. The Glee Club has become
renowned for its wide repertoire of music that
incorporates selections from different musical
styles and periods including Renaissance motets,
Romantic anthems, opera choruses, folksongs,
spirituals, contemporary works, and, of course,
Michigan songs. The Friars, an eight-member subset
of the Glee Club, are in their 51th year and
serve as an extension of Club as they maintain an
ambitious performing schedule.
The Glee Club was honored in 1959 to be the
first American male chorus to win first place at the
International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen,
Wales, (and has since won three more first prizes
at the same competition), and in 1967, circled the
globe in celebration of the University's sesquicentennial
year. Recent international tours have
included Southeast Asia (1989), Eastern and
Central Europe (1992), South America (1996),
Australia (2000), and the British Isles (2004). The
Club has also made appearances at Avery Fisher
and Alice Tully Halls at the Lincoln Center in New
York, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the
pre-game festivities for the 1984 World Series, the
Intercollegiate Men's Choruses (IMC) National
Seminars at Harvard University in 1986 and 2004,
and Carnegie Hall in New York City (2005). The
Club has also had the esteemed privilege of performing
at the American Choral Directors
Association Central Division Conventions in 1992
and 2000 and the ACDA National Convention in
San Diego in 1997. In addition to the numerous
recordings to its name, the Club was honored to
be featured on Manheim Steamroller's 2001 double
platinum CD Christmas Extraordinaire.
This afternoon's concert marks the 17th appearance
by the U-M Men's Glee Club on a UMS
presentation.
P aul Rardin is associate director of choirs at
the University of Michigan, where he teaches
undergraduate conducting and conducts
the Men's Glee Club and University Choir. He previously
taught at Towson University in Towson,
Maryland, where for twelve years he served as
director of choirs. Rardin's choruses have earned
regional and national acclaim, and have performed
in such venues as Boston Symphony Hall,
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Washington National
Cathedral, Duke University Chapel, The Cathedral
of St. Philip (Atlanta, GA), Riverside Church (New
York, NY), and Immaculate Conception (San
Diego, CA). The Towson University Chorale performed
with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
in 2002 and 2004.
Rardin is a graduate of Williams College and
the University of Michigan, where he received the
M.M. in composition and the D.M.A. in conducting.
UMS 06/07 The Kirov Orchestra
Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater
Valery Gergiev, Music Director and Conductor
FIRST VIOLIN
llya Konovalov
Guest Principal
Kirill Terentyev
Principal
Leonid Veksler
Principal
Pavel Faynberg
Elena Berdnikova
Tatiana Frenkel
Mikhail Rikhter
(Christian Artamonov
Anton Kozmin
Vsevolod Vasilyev
Boris Vasilyev
Nina Pirogova
Anna Glukhova
Irina Sukhorukova
Mikhail Tatarnikov
Marina Serebro
Viktoria Kakicheva
SECOND VIOLIN
Zumrad llyeva
Principal
Maria Safarova
Viktoria Schukina '
Tatiana Moroz
Elena Khaytova
Svetlana Zhuravkova
Marcel Bezhenaru
Sergey Letyagin
Nadezda Prudnikova
Alexey Krasheninnikov
Irina Vasilyeva
Mikhail Zatin
VIOLA
Yury Afonkin
Principal
Vladimir Litvinov
Oleg Larionov
Una Golovina
Alexander Shelkovnikov
Karine Barsegian
Evgeny Barsov
Alevtina Alexeva . '
Olga Neverova
Andrey Petushkov
CELLO
Zenon Zalitsailo
Principal
Oleg Sendetsky
Principal
Alexander Ponomarenko
Nikolai Vasilyev
Tamara Sakar
Oksana Moroz
Anton Vainer
Ekaterina Travkina
Nikolay Oginets
Alexander Peresypkin
DOUBLE BASS
Kirill Karikov
Principal
Sergei Akopov
Principal
Vladimir Shostak
Principal
Igor Eliseev
Dennis Kashin
Sergei Trafimovich
Maria Shilo
FLUTE
Valentin Cherenkov
Dennis Lupachev
Nikolay Mokhov
Margarita Maystrova
OBOE
Sergei Bliznetsov
Pavel Kundyanok
Victor Ukhalin
llya Ilin
CLARINET
Viktor Kulyk
Dmitri Kharitonov
Anatoly Shoka
Yuri Zuryiaev
Ivan Stolbov
BASSOON
Igor Gorbunov
Rodion Tolmachev
Valentin Kapustin
Alexander Sharykin
HORN
Dmitri Vorontsov
Stanislav Tses
Stanislav Avik
Vladislav Kuznetsov
Yuri Akimkin
Valery Papyrin
TRUMPET
Vasily Kan
Konstantin Baryshev
Gennady Nikonov
Sergei Kryuchkov
Vitaly Zaitsev
TROMBONE
Andrey Smirnov
Igor lakovlev
Mikhail Seliverstov
Nikolai Timofeev
Alexander Ponomarev
TUBA
Nikolay Slepnev
PERCUSSION
Andrey Khotin
Yuri Alexeev
Yuri Mischenko
Vladislav Ivanov
Evgeny Zhikalov
Arseny Shuplyakov
HARP
Liudmila Rokhlina
PIANO
Valeria Rumyantseva
ORCHESTRA MANAGER
Vladimir Ivanov
STAGE HANDS
Victor Belyashin
Dmitry Popov
COLUMBIA ARTISTS
MANAGEMENT LLC
Tour Direction:
R. Douglas Sheldon,
Sen/or Vice President
Karen Kloster,
Tour Coordinator
Ryan McCarthy
Managerial Assistant
Elizabeth E. Torres,
Program Manager
Ann Woodruff,
Tour Manager
Maria Keith,
Backstage Manager
Bernard Muller,
Conductor Driver
Renee O'Banks,
Hotel Advance
Maestro! Travel & Touring
Hotels
Sintec-Tur,
Air and Cargo
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
UMS Choral Union
Jerry Blackstone, Conductor and Musical Director
Jason Harris, /Assistant Conductor
Steven Lorenz, Assistant Conductor
Jean Schneider, Accompanist
Kathleen Operhall, Chorus Manager
Nancy K. Paul, Librarian
Donald Bryant, Conductor Emeritus
TENOR 1
Adam D. Bonarek
George E. Case IV
Scott Dickson
Fr. Tim Dombrowski
Steven Fudge
Dan Gotkin
Arthur Gulick
Jason Harris
Steve Heath
Brent Hegwood
Eiki Isomura
J. Derek Jackson
Mark A. Krempski
Adrian Leskiw
Robert MacGregor
David Meitzler
Nicholas J. Pharris
David Schnerer
Elizabeth Sklar
TENOR II
Nicholas Edwin
John W. Etsweiler III
Roy Glover
Michael J. Gordon
Matthew Gray
Min Kirn
Bob Klaffke
Richard A. Marsh
A.T. Miller
Tom Peterson
Carl Smith
Joshua Smith
Patrick Tonks
Jim Van Bochove
Vincent Zuellig
BASSI
Dennis Blubaugh
David Bowen
Michael Coster
John Dryden
Kenneth A. Freeman
John H. Hummel
Timothy Krohn
Mark Latham
George Lindquist
Steven Lorenz
Charles Lovelace
William Malone
Joseph D. McCadden
Stephen Merino
Fredy Nagher
Peter Pirotte
Michael Pratt
James Cousins Rhodenhiser
Daniel R. Ruge
David Sandusky
Kevin Simons
Donald Sizemore
John Paul Stephens
Robert Stevenson
William Stevenson
Steve Telian
Jack L. Tocco
Thomas L. Trevethan
BASS II
Sam Baetzel
William Baxter
Harry Bowen
Jeff Clevenger
George Dentel
Don Faber
James Head
Rod Little
Gerald Miller
Jeremy Peters
Jeff Spindler
Robert Stawski
Robert Strozier
Terril 0. Tompkins
John F. Van Bolt
James Wessel Walker
Donald Williams
Michael Zeddi
UMS The Kirov Orchestra
University of Michigan Men's Glee Club
Paul Rardin, Director
John Trotter, Assistant Director
David Zobel, Accompanist
TENOR 1
Anthony Ambroselli
Eric Bidelman
Gavin Bidelman
Ervis Burda
Emmett DeLateur
Gregory Fear
James Hartrick
Ryan Henyard
Jeremy Heuer
Abe Hiatt
Lance Jones
Ron Kendall
Stephen Kirn
Richard Li
Jake McClory
Baylee Miller
Greg Palmer
Tom Phillips
Eric Portenga
Matt Roney
Ben Saukas
Phillip Schettenhelm
Kyle Serilla
Zach Shell
Josh Smith
Andrew Wilson
Andrew Wollner
TENOR II
Lee Barcena-Turner
Bernard Chan
Brian Chrzanowski
Adam Clarke
Bill Couch
Adam Dearing
Nestor Dub
Eric Emmeott
Matthew Finkel
•Scott Grost
Nils Klykken
Karol Kobylecki
Tim McQuade
Andrew Mueller
Arvind Narayanan
David Ramos
John Rhoades
Will Rhoades
Scott Roffman
Drew Smith
Victor Szabo
John Trumble
Brett Trzcinski
Dan Vidaud
Tim Wagner
Alex Weatherup
Jon Zande
BARITONE
Ruben Adery
Cameron Bates
Andrew Bollinger
Rob Edgar
Thomas Fai
Stephen Gilson
David Golden
Matt Hopkins
Keith Hudolin
Benjamin Jamo
Zach Junga
Steven Kane
Brian Magnuson
Peter Mattes
Donald Milton III
Daniel Pesick
Kevin Peterman
Josh Sanchez
Craig Seaborn
Jon Smith
Alex Sutton
Scott Venman
Stann Waithe
Michael Wicker
Adam Wilmers
Anthony Zabel
BASS
Andy Ballard
— -— " lan Campbell
Simon Chan
Austin Chrzanowski
Michael Cromwell
Andrew Do
Daniel Dunlap
Jeff Hopcian
Greg Jaffe
James Jonna
Andy Kravis
Chris Lee
Benjamin LeRoy
Marcus Lewis
Joe Lohrum
Sam Maxbauer
Colin McCorkle
Dominic Merica
Alex Montgomery
Jason Mooney
Claudio Nunez
Ronald Perkins, Jr.
Kian Preston-Suni
Mike Rowan
John Sielski
John Trotter
Jesse Tsaur
Mitch Voss
David Waddilove
Richard Walls
Andrew Wilkinson
128th UMS SEASON 200612007
BayMaBilo (Give Me Water)
Tamango's Urban Tap
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 8 PM
Power Center
A master tap artist and major
force in the downtown New
York City scene, Tamango
has shared the stage with
such dance legends as
Gregory Mines, Jimmy Slyde,
Buster Brown, and Savion
Glover. He incorporates a
unique blend of jazz tap and
Afro-Caribbean dance as
his signature style, and his
revolutionary approach to
tap transforms the dance into
music with a sharpened sense
of style and awe-inspiring
fluidity.
For this new production, he
brings together dancers and
musicians from his native
French Guiana, as well as
Haiti, Guadeloupe, Jamaica,
and France, in exploration of
the rhythms and culture of his
Creole heritage.
Funded in part by the
National Dance Project
of the New England
Foundation for the Arts.
Media Partners Metro Times,
WEMU 89.1 FM, and Michigan
Chronicle/Front Page.
ums 734.764.2538
outside the 734 area code, call toll-free 800.221.1229