UMS Concert Program, Sunday Oct. 10 To 24: University Musical Society: Fall 2010 - Sunday Oct. 10 To 24 --

Season: Fall 2010
Hill Auditorium

Fall 2010 Season ?
132nd Annual Season
General Information
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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.
Event Program Book
Sunday, October 10 through Sunday, October 24, 2010
Mariinsky Orchestra
Sunday, October 10, 4:00 pm Hill Auditorium
Takacs Quartet , 17
Thursday, October 14, 8:00 pm Rackham Auditorium
Jerusalem Quartet 27
Thursday, October 21, 8:00 pm Rackham Auditorium
Sankai Juku
Hibiki: Resonance From Far Away 31
Saturday, October 23, 8:00 pm Sunday, October 24, 2:00 pm Power Center
ums University Musical Society
Fall 2010
@@@@ i September
9-
Oct3 I Susurrus
25
30
ale Continuo
October
7-9 Paul Taylor Dance Company Taylor Dance C
10 Mariinsky Orchestra with
i Denis Matsuev, piano 14 I Takacs Quartet: Schubert Concert 1 21 Jerusalem Quartet 23-24 Sankai Juku: Hibiki: Resonance from
Far Away 27 ! Venice Baroque Orchestra with
Robert McDuffie, violin 29 Django Reinhardt's 1OOth Birthday Celebration: The Hot Club of San Francisco and The Hot Club of Detroit 31 NT Live: A Disappearing Number
November
2 i ONCE. MORE.: ONCE THEN 4 ONCE. MORE.: ONCE NOW
4 The Tallis Scholars
I Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan
Assi El Helani
10 i Murray Perahia, piano 18-20 Stew & The Negro Problem
December
3 ! Carolina Chocolate Drops 4-5 Handel's Messiah
Winter 2011
@@@@ January
NT Live: Hamlet
14-15 Laurie Anderson's Delusion
16 Renee Fleming, soprano
21-22 Grupo Corpo
23 Joanne Shenandoah
27 Sequentia

30 Baby Loves Salsa Family Performance 30 NT Live: FELA!
February
1 I The Cleveland Orchestra with
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano
2 ; Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with i Wynton Marsalis
4 i New Century Chamber Orchestra with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
i Blues at the Crossroads: The Robert Johnson Centennial Concert
Rafal Blechacz, piano
Vijay Iyer Trio and Rudresh Mahanthappa's
Apex
13 i Concertante with Rafal Blechacz, piano 1--19 Merce Cunningham Dance Company:
The Legacy Tour
20 Takacs Quartet: Schubert Concert 2 20 NT Live: King Lear
23 Kodo
March
9 Scharoun Ensemble Berlin 1-13 Druid and Atlantic Theater Company: Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan
19 Detroit Symphony Orchestra with the UMS Choral Union: Mahler's Symphony No. 8
24 : Bach Collegium Japan:
Bach's Mass in b minor
Propeller: Shakespeare's Richard III and The Comedy of Errors
April
2 I St. Petersburg Philharmonic with Nikolai Lugansky, piano
6 NT Live: Frankenstein
7 i Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Pineiro ! de Cuba
8 Takacs Quartet: Schubert Concert 3
9 i Tetzlaff Quartet
16 Tony Allen's Afrobeat Tour
23 i Liebeslieder Waltzes (Songs and I Waltzes of Love)
May
14 i Break in' Curfew
July
17 NT Live: The Cherry Orchard
UMS Educational and Community Events n,?
All UMS educational activities are free, open to the public, and take place in Ann Arbor unless otherwise noted. For complete details and updates, please visit www.ums.org or contact the UMS Education Department at 734.615.4077 or umsed@umich.edu. b
Mariinsky Orchestra
PLAY Your Own Melody
Sunday, October 10, 3-4:00 pm and intermission Hill Auditorium Lower Lobby
Takacs Quartet
PLAY Your Own Melody
Thursday, October 14, 7-8:00 pm and intermission Rackham Auditorium Lobby
How does individual play and exploration transform the experience of watching an exceptional artist play their instrument And how does the challenge of making music on a variety of keyboards further help audiences celebrate their own music making Try your hand(s), or feet, on a variety of keyboards in the lobby.
Sankai Juku
Film Screening: Butoh and its Cinematic Contemporaries
Wednesday, October 20, 7:00 pm
Helmut Stern Auditorium, University of Michigan
Museum of Art, 525 S. State Street
Professor Erik Santos introduces the connections between the films Dance of Darkness (Directed by Edin Velez, 1989) and Sacrifice (Directed by Donald Richie and Marty Gross), the butoh tradition, and the context in which these films and dance forms were created. Please note: Sacrifice is inappropriate for children under the age of 18.
visit www.ums.org for more information U
urns
and
Forest Health Services
present
Mariinsky Orchestra
Valery Gergiev, Music Director and Principal Conductor Denis Matsuev, Piano
Program
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Gustav Mahler
Sunday Afternoon, October 10, 2010 at 4:00 Hill Auditorium Ann Arbor
Piano Concerto No. 3 in d minor. Op. 30
Allegro ma non troppo Intermezzo: Adagio Finale: Alia breve
Second and third movements performed attacca, without pause. Mr. Matsuev
INTERMISSION
Symphony No. 5
PART I Funeral March: With measured step. Strict. Like a cortege Stormily. With greatest vehemence
PART II Scherzo: Vigorously, not too fast
PART III Adagietto: Very slow
Rondo-Finale: Allegro giocoso. Lively
Eighth Performance of the 132nd Annual Season
132nd Annual Choral Union Series
The photographing or sound and video recording of this concert or possession of any device for such recording is prohibited.
The 1011 Major Orchestras are sponsored by Forest Health Services. Special thanks to Randall and Mary Pittman for their continued and generous support of UMS.
This afternoon's performance is co-sponsored by the Catherine S. Arcure and Herbert E. Sloan Endowment Fund.
This afternoon's performance is hosted by James and Nancy Stanley, Jay and Mary Kate Zelenock, and the Faber Piano Institute.
Media partnership is provided byWGTE 91.3 FM, WRCJ 90.9 FM, and Detroit Jewish News.
The Steinway piano used in this afternoon's performance is made possible by William and Mary Palmer and by the Steinway Piano Gallery of Detroit.
Special thanks to Tom Thompson of Tom Thompson Flowers, Ann Arbor, for his generous contribution of lobby floral art for this afternoon's performance.
Special thanks to i3 Detroit for their support of and participation in events surrounding this concert.
White Nights Foundation of America is the sponsor of the Mariinsky Orchestra's North American tour.
VTB Bank, Sberbank, Yoko Ceschina, and Gazprom are the Principal Partners of the Mariinsky Theatre.
The Mariinsky Orchestra appears by arrangement with Columbia Artists Management, LLC, New York, NY.
Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra record for the Mariinsky Label and also appear on Universal (Decca, Philips).
Large print programs are available upon request.
Now that you're in your seat...
T
he second performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 was led by Gustav Mahler in New York in 1910. Rachmaninoff, who played the solo part, later wrote in his memoirs: "Mahler was the only conductor whom I considered worthy to be classed with [Arthur] Nikisch. He touched my composer's heart straight away by devoting himself to my Concerto until the accompaniment, which is rather complicated, had been practiced to the point of perfection.... According to Mahler, every detail of the score was important--an attitude which is unfortunately rare among conductors." These comments fail to acknowledge that Mahler was a composer, too, and in fact, some private statements by Rachmaninoff have survived, painting a much less positive picture of this particular artistic encounter. For his part, Mahler (as far as can be ascertained) left no written record of what he thought of Rachmaninoff's music.
This mutual silence shouldn't come as a surprise, given the enormous difference between the two composers in almost every respect: personal background, artistic temperament, and aesthetic outlook. And yet, they were contemporaries and they did interact, however briefly. If we wonder what the musical world looked and felt like 100 years ago, we might try to imagine the simultaneous presence of these two giants in the same concert hall.
Piano Concerto No. 3 in d minor. Op. 30
(1909)
Sergei Rachmaninoff Born April 1, 1873 in Oneg, Russia Died March 28, 1943 in Beverly Hills, California
Snapshot of History... In 1909:
Richard Strauss's opera Elektra is first performed
Filippo Marinetti's Futurist Manifesto is published
Robert Peary reaches the North Pole (though some people claim he only came within five miles of it)
Louis Bleriot flies across the English Channel
The NAACP is founded in the US
In spite of all the adulation Rachmaninoff received in the US, he was never quite at home here. From 1918 on, America was home, insofar as he had a home, but not until the month before his death did he and his wife take out US citizenship. His first concert tour of the US in 1909 was especially trying, as he told a Russian magazine when interviewed upon his return in 1910. He first appeared in Ann Arbor as a part of the Choral Union series in November 1920.
"America was a strain," he reported. "Imagine giving an almost daily concert for three whole months. I played only my own works. The success was great. They forced me to play as many as seven encores, which is quite a lot for that audience. The audiences are astonishingly cold, spoiled by the tours of first-class artists and forever looking for novelty, for something they've never heard before. Local papers are obliged to note the number of times you are recalled to the stage, and the public regards this as a yardstick of your talent."
Yet Rachmaninoff had one memory to cherish from the American tour: his performance of Piano Concerto No. 3 with the New York Philharmonic on January 16, 1910, under Mahler's direction. This was not the premiere--that had taken place under Walter Damrosch's drection the previous November. But Rachmaninoff was grateful for the rehearsal time Mahler lavished on the new work.
"At that time Mahler was the only conductor whom I considered worthy to be classed with Nikisch," he said. "He devoted himself to my Concerto until the accompan ment, which is rather complicated, had been practiced to the point of perfection, although he had already gone through another long rehearsal (of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique). According to Mahler, every detail of the score was important--an attitude too rare amongst conductors."
Rachmaninoff had written the Concerto during the summer of 1909, near the end of a particularly
rich and gratifying period for him as a composer. He had spent the years from 1906-1908 in Dresden with his family, in partial retreat from the concert platform. There, he composed Symphony No. 2, Piano Sonata No. 1, and the tone poem The Isle of the Dead. Even after he returned to Moscow and to the routine of conducting and playing the piano, the fires he had stoked in seclusion burned steadily. Piano Concerto No. 3 is not only a vehicle for virtuoso pianists and a favorite with audiences, but a coherent and well-planned work that even Rachmaninoff's detractors cannot help praising.
The melody that opens the first movement sounds as if it had grown rather than been invented. The musicologist Joseph Yasser pointed out its similarity to the liturgical melody Thy Tomb, O Savior, Soldiers Guarding, but when he asked Rachmaninoff about the connection, he wrote back to say that it was borrowed "neither from folk song forms nor from church sources."
"It simply 'wrote itself'!," the composer added. "If I had any plan in composing this theme, I was thinking only of sound. I wanted to 'sing' the melody on the piano, as a singer would sing it-and to find a suitable orchestral accompaniment, or rather one that would not muffle this singing. That is all!"
In this he succeeded, and if the orchestral part never challenges the soloist, it offers such carefully tailored support that it never seems superfluous, like the instrumental parts in the Chopin concertos. Throughout the Concerto, Rachmaninoff is especially careful to mark each change of direction for the listener with a shift in tempo, an orchestral punctuation, or a striking modulation. Here, he prepares the way for his second subject with a lingering cadence in the piano part, and with a sketch, as it were, of the tune itself, setting the stage for the main cantabilestatement. Meanwhile, the orchestra bridges the gap with a slowed-down version of its accompaniment to the first theme. A good thing that Mahler rehearsed his orchestra so thoroughly, and a pity that other conductors have not always done so!
For a moment, Rachmaninoff seems to be repeating his exposition, introductory vamp and all, but a single note in the melody--"C" instead of "C-sharp"--pushes the music gently in another direction. It is easy to hear what follows as so much posturing by the soloist, but in fact, almost every note can be accounted for in relation to the main theme. A written-out cadenza, for which
Rachmaninoff supplied two versions, functions as a sort of pre-recapitulation. The real recapitulation, when it arrives, is stunningly compressed--hardly more than a backward glance over the vast territory Rachmaninoff has covered.
To call the following movement "Intermezzo" would seem grotesque in any other context, but that is precisely its function: to serve as a bridge linking the outer movements. The piano makes a striking entrance here, turning suddenly and decisively from the A Major in which the movement began to D-flat Major, a key beloved of pianists because it lies so comfortably under the fingers. What follows seems so easy-going that only after the waltz-like middle section is well underway do we feel it as a variation of the principal theme of the first movement. As the piano completes its cadenza, leading into the "Finale," we understand in retrospect why Rachmaninoff set the movement in A Major, rather than the F Major one would expect: the "Intermezzo" does not exist in its own right, but as a gloriously embellished upbeat to the "Finale."
The orchestra proclaims--soffo voce--that we have come full circle by preparing for the entrance of the piano with a vamp like the one in the first movement. Closer examination reveals that the rhythm here is a variant of the one we heard long ago, and the piano part, too, grows out of the orchestra, asserting its independence gradually.
One can approach this movement in one of two ways: either by being carried along on the flood tide of virtuosity--pianistic and orchestral; or by following the variation and transmutation of themes one by one. As he had done in the "Intermezzo," Rachmaninoff recalls themes from the first movement in disguise, allowing the listener to sense the affinity before making it explicit.
Reticence is not a characteristic most people associate with Rachmaninoff, but anyone who has listened to his recorded performances of his own music and of other composers will note the parallels between Rachmaninoff the composer and Rachmaninoff the performer. In both roles, his strength lies in the piling up of details into an unshakable structure; and in both, he is utterly frank with the listener, never pointing in the wrong direction and never promising more than he can deliver.
Program note by Michael Fleming.
Symphony No. 5 (1901-02)
Gustav Mahler
Born July 7, 1860 in Kalischt, Bohemia
[now Kaliste, Czech Republic] Died May 18, 1911 in Vienna
Snapshot of History... In 1902:
Arthur Conan Doyle writes The Hound of the Baskervilles
Gustav Klimt creates the monumental Beethoven Frieze in Vienna
Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande is first performed in Paris
Maxim Gorki's drama The Lower Depths is premiered in Moscow
Gold rush in Alaska
Gustav Mahler had his first brush with death on February 24, 1901. After conducting a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic in the afternoon and an opera (Mozart's Magic Flute, in its 100th anniversary performance) in the evening, he suffered a massive intestinal hemorrhage that necessitated surgical intervention on March 4. The 40-year-old Mahler felt that his last hour had arrived. Although the danger soon passed and Mahler recovered at a remarkable speed, the crisis had a lasting impact on his entire outlook on life and death.
During his convalescence, Mahler worked on the revision of his Symphony No. 4, and immersed himself in the study of J.S. Bach's works. By the summer, he was in excellent health, and well ensconced in his newly-built summer home at Maiernigg. It turned out to be one of the most productive summers in Mahler's life. He was working on Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Deaths of Children) with words by the early-19th-century poet Friedrich Riickert, several additional Ruckert songs, as well as the last of his settings from Des Knaben Wunderhom (The Youth's Magic Horn). In addition, he completed the first two movements of the Symphony No. 5 during the same summer.
Although this burst of compositional activity is, in and of itself, a sign of great vigor and vitality, there can be no doubt that the main theme of Mahler's 1901 output was death. Kindertotenlieder is about the deaths of children, the Wunderhom song "Der Tamboursg'seN" (The Drummer Boy)
portrays a young man on his way to the gallows, and the Ruckert song "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" (I am lost to the world) is a farewell to life. The opening movement of Symphony No. 5 is a funeral march, whose main theme is closely related to that of" Der Tamboursg'sell." The second movement is a passionate expression of violent pain that incorporates a second funeral march and (after a brief moment of sudden euphoria) sinks back into deep despair.
The first two movements were essentially ready and the "Scherzo" at least sketched when Mahler left Maiernigg to reassume his duties as director of the Vienna Opera at the beginning of the autumn. The new season got off to a stormy start, with intrigues at the Opera and disastrously received performances of Symphony No. 4 in several German cities. In November 1901, however, an event took place that changed Mahler's life forever: he met and fell in love with a 22-year-old girl named Alma Schindler. Before the year was out, they were engaged, and they got married on March 9, 1902. At the end of the season, Mahler returned to Maiernigg with his young bride to continue work on Symphony No. 5. The movements completed that summer include a gigantic waltz-fantasy titled "Scherzo," the intensely lyrical "Adagietto," and an exuberant "Rondo-Finale."
Thus, the passage from death to life, bodily experienced by Mahler in 1901, found direct expression in the symphony. While the general "darkness-to-light" tendency follows an earlier tradition (most notably, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, to which Mahler makes several allusions in this work), the contrasts are sharper and the extremes of joy and pain greater than ever before. In order to maximize those contrasts and extremes, Mahler abandons traditional tonal unity: the symphony begins in c-sharp minor and ends in D Major, a half-step rise symbolic of the spiritual journey completed by the music.
There is some reason to believe that Alma's appearance in Mahler's life had a decisive influence on the way the symphony evolved. In 1901, Mahler had told his confidante, Natalie Bauer-Lechner, that the Symphony No. 5 would be "a proper symphony with four movements, each complete in itself, all connected only by their similar moods." The "Adagietto," then, seems to have entered his thoughts only after he had met Alma Schindler.
In its final form, the five movements of the symphony are divided into three parts. The first
part includes movements one and two, the second part comprises movement three, and the third part is made up of the last two movements. Thus, the overall form may be understood as two slowfast movement pairs framing a central scherzo.
Parti
Movement I (Funeral March: With measured step. Strict. Like a cortege--c-sharp minor)
March rhythms are heard with some frequency in Mahler's symphonies, perhaps due to the impact of the music of the local military barracks in Iglau (now Jihlava) where he grew up. While the march often takes on a tragic or funereal character in Mahler, of no movement is this more true than the first of Symphony No. 5. After a dramatic introduction started by the first trumpet, the main theme (as mentioned, similar to that of "Der Tamboursg'sell" [Drummer Boy]) is played by the violins. The music soon becomes plotzlich schneller, leidenschaftlich, wild (suddenly faster, passionate, wild) and there is a violent outburst of emotions, with the violins playing "as vehemently as possible." The "drummer boy" theme returns, followed by a second, doleful episode in the same slower tempo. Recalls of the initial trumpet fanfare--played first by the trumpet and then by the first flute--close the movement.
Movement II (Stormily, with greatest vehemence--a minor).
The connection between the first and second movements is made evident by many thematic links. The trumpet fanfare that opened the symphony is especially prominent in the second movement, and a close relative of the "drummer-boy" melody appears as a contrasting theme, marked "in the tempo of the funeral march." But the movement has a main motif of its own that recurs several times; its brevity and simplicity make it sound equally fanfare-like (as the trumpet-call in the first movement), though it is played by the strings. In his fascinating analysis of the symphony, David B. Greene calls this theme the "anger" motif, and describes how expressions of anger alternate with "peace-questing sections," which contain many of the moments shared with the first movement. Near the end of the movement, there is a striking, brass-dominated pesante (weighty) section that for the first time introduces the bright key of D Major in which the symphony will end-
an anticipation of the victory that is to come three movements later. For now, however, the prevalent mood is one of pain and grief as the movement ends softly and on an unmistakably tragic note. Mahler indicated in the score that a long pause must follow this movement.
Part II
Movement III (Scherzo: Vigorously, not too fast--D Major)
Indeed, the third movement is as different from the preceding music as can be. In it, Mahler glorifies what is (after the march) the other central musical type in his symphonies: the Landler, an Austrian folk dance that had played an important role in Austrian classical music since Haydn's time. But Mahler's use of the Landler is unlike anybody else's. He throws himself into the whirl of 34 time with great abandon. The various motifs that unfold before our ears bring about subtle changes from the original Landler, reminiscent of the Austrian countryside, to its more sophisticated urban cousin, the waltz. The outlines of a traditional scherzo form may be readily discerned; however, there are extended development sections and other irregularities that don't fit in with either the scherzo form or the Landler rhythm. The various sections are linked by many subtle motivic connections. The variety in orchestration techniques is astonishing (note in particular the use of the solo horn throughout the movement, and the pizzicato [plucked] strings in the recapitulation of the trio section). The musical textures used range from the simple "oom-pah-pah" of the waltz to complex fugal procedures. As Henry-Louis de La Grange remarked in his monumental Mahler biography: "Mahler never revealed more fully his talents as a builder of musical structures and the inexhaustible richness of his invention. He was never surer of himself and his art. This movement represents a unique movement of equilibrium and optimism in his output."
Part III
Movement IV (Adagietto: Very Slow--F Major)
One of the most popular pieces Mahler ever wrote, the "Adagietto" is frequently performed separately from the rest of the symphony. It was also featured in LuchinoVisconti's 1971 filmDeafin Venice, in which Thomas Mann's original character, the writer Gustav Aschenbach, was transformed into a composer who bore an all-too-clear resemblance to Mahler.
The "Adagietto" is scored for strings and harp only. Its enchanting melody must be played seelenvoll (soulfully), according to the instructions in the score. It closely resembles the song "Ich bin der Welt abhandengekommen," mentioned above. The famous Dutch conductor Willem Mengelberg, who was a close associate of Mahler's, said that this movement was Mahler's declaration of love for Alma, and asserted he had been told so by both Gustav and Alma Mahler. The movement contains a prominent quote from Wagner's Prelude to Tristan and Isolde, which is surely no accident. The quote confirms that the inner connection between love and death, central to Wagner's opera, must have been also on Mahler's mind, both in the song and in the symphony.
Movement V (Rondo-Finale: Allegro giocoso. Lively--D Major)
The final movement follows the "Adagietto" without pause. Like the first-movement funeral
march, the finale recalls a song written on a Wunderhorn text. Only this time it is a humorous piece, originally called " Lob des hohen Verstandes" (The Praise of High Intellect) in which the cuckoo and the nightingale have a singing contest, decided by the donkey in the cuckoo's favor.
The descending secona half of this theme becomes the starting point for elaborate contrapuntal developments (the intensive study of Bach's works in the spring of 1901 was not for nothing!). This theme keeps changing its form, while one of the rondo's episodes, derived from the "Adagietto," remains more or less the same every time it recurs, providing moments of rest amidst the hectic contrapuntal activity. Shortly before the conclusion, a homophonic, chorale-like melody appears to increase the festive mood in which the symphony ends.
Program note by Peter Laki.
T
he Mariinsky Orchestra 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 and housed in St. Petersburg's famed Mariinsky Theatre since 1860, the Orchestra entered its "golden age" in the second half of the 19th century under the musical direction of Eduard Napravnik, whose leadership for more than a half century (1863-1916) secured its reputation as one of the finest in Europe.
Numerous internationally famed musicians have conducted the Orchestra, including Hans von Bulow, Felix Mottl, Felix Weingartner, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Otto Nikisch, Willem Mengelberg, Otto Klemperer, Bruno Walter, Erich Kleiber, Hector Berlioz, Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, and Arnold Schoenberg.
Renamed the "Kirov" during the Soviet era, the Orchestra continued to maintain its high artistic standards under the leadership of Yevgeny Mravinsky and Yuri Temirkanov. The leadership of Valery Gergiev has enabled the Theatre to forge important relationships with the world's greatest opera houses, among them the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, the San Francisco Opera, the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, the Salzburg Festival, and La Scala in Milan.
The success of the Orchestra's frequent tours has created the reputation of what one journalist referred to as "the world's first global orchestra." Since 1992, the Orchestra has made 15 tours of North America, including a 2006 celebration of the complete Shostakovich symphonies, a cycle of stage works of Prokofiev in 2008, and major works of Hector Berlioz in February March 2010. The Maestro and Orchestra begin a Centennial Mahler Cycle in Carnegie Hall in October 2010. The 2009 and 2010 releases of the new Mariinsky Label are Shostakovich's The Nose; Shostakovich's Symphonies Nos. 1 & 7 5; Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture; Shchedrin's The Enchanted Wanderer, and Stravinsky's Les Noces and Oedipus Rex.
November 2006 marked the grand opening of the Orchestra's Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall and late 2011 will mark the opening of Mariinsky III, a new theater placed alongside the historic and fabled Mariinsky Theatre.
Valery Gergiev
V
alery Gergiev's inspired leadership as Artistic and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre since 1988 has taken Mariinsky ensembles to 45 countries and has brought universal acclaim to this legendary institution, now in its 227th season.
At home in St. Petersburg, his leadership has resulted in the new and superb Mariinsky Concert Hall, which opened in November 2006, and the Mariinsky Label, which was launched in 2009. The new Mariinsky Theatre is scheduled to open in the summer of 2012 and immediately after, the original and classic Mariinsky Theatre (currently celebrating its 150th anniversary) will be renovated to bring its staging facilities to 21st-century standards.
The Mariinsky Label releases in the first year included Shostakovich's The Nose; Shostakovich's Symphonies Nos. 1 & 75; Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture; Shchedrin's The Enchanted Wanderer; and Stravinsky's Les Noces and Oedipus Rex. The label's first two recordings received five Grammy Award nominations. In Fall 2010 the Mariinsky Label will release Wagner's Parsifal and DVDs of Tchaikovsky's Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, and 6.
Presently Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and The World Orchestra of Peace, Maestro Gergiev is also founder and Artistic Director of the Stars of the White Nights Festival and New Horizons Festival in St. Petersburg, the Moscow Easter Festival, the Gergiev Rotterdam Festival, the Mikkeli International Festival, and the Red Sea Festival in Eilat, Israel.
ums University Musical Society
Maestro Gergiev is the recipient of a Grammy Award, the Dmitri Shostakovich Award, Golden Mask Award, People's Artist of Russia Award, the World Economic Forum's Crystal Award, Sweden's Polar Music Prize, the Netherlands' Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion, Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, Valencia's Silver Medal, the Herbert von Karajan Prize, and France's Royal Order of the Legion of Honor.
Although now recording for the Mariinsky and LSO Live Labels, Maestro Gergiev has recorded extensively for Decca (Universal Classics), and appears on the Philips and Deutsche Grammophon labels.
@@@@D
enis Matsuev has become a fast-rising star on the international concert stage since his triumphant victory at the 11 th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1998, and is quickly establishing himself as one of the most sought-after pianists of his generation.
Mr. Matsuev has collaborated with the world's best known orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de Paris, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Berliner Philharmonic, Vienna Symphoniker, Accademia Nationale di Santa-Cecilia, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and the European Chamber Orchestra. He is continually engaged with legendary Russian orchestras such as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Mariinsky Orchestra.
Mr. Matsuev's worldwide festival appearances include Leipzig's Mendelssohn and Schumann Festival in Germany; the Chopin Festival in Poland; Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Mito Festival, both in Italy; Les Choregies d'Orange in France; Verbier Festival in Switzerland; Enescu Festival in Romania; and the Ravinia Festival in the US.
In the 1011 season, Mr. Matsuev will appear under the batons of Valery Gergiev (Berlin Philharmonic, Mariinsky Orchestra, Rotterdam
Denis Matsuev
Philharmonic, London Symphony), Paavo Jarvi (Orchestre de Paris and Franfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra), Kurt Masur (Orchestre National de France), Zubin Mehta (Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Florentino), Mikhail Pletnev (The Philharmonia Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra), Vladimir Spivakov (National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia in France and Russia), and Yuri Temirkanov (The Philharmonia Orchestra; Ravenna Music Festival; and St. Petersburg Philharmonic in Taiwan, Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong). Mr. Matsuev will return to the Pittsburgh Symphony with Gianandrea Noseda conducting, and will undertake a North American recital tour including Boston, Washington, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and San Francisco.
In December 2007, Sony BMG released a CD of Mr. Matsuev titled Unknown Rachmaninoff, and garnered strong positive reviews praising his execution and creativity. His Carnegie Hall debut recital in November 2007 was recorded live by Sony BMG and titled Denis Matsuev--Concert at Carnegie Hall. The New York Times said, "... his poetic instincts held fast in tender moments, with trills as thrillingly precise as one might ever hope to hear." In December 2009, the Mariinsky Label released Mr. Matsuev's Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, recorded in the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2010, Mr. Matsuev played his second Carnegie Hall recital to critical acclaim, and will return there in 2012.
Over the past four years, Mr. Matsuev has
ums University Musical Society
collaborated with the Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation and its president Alexander Rachmaninoff, the composer's grandson. Mr. Matsuev was chosen by the Foundation to perform and record unknown pieces of Rachmaninoff on the composer's own piano at Villa Senar, the Rachmaninoff house in Lucerne. This unique program has been in high demand around the world. In October 2008, at the personal invitation of Alexander Rachmaninoff, Mr. Matsuev was named Artistic Director of the Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation. As part of this partnership, he will perform in a series of gala concerts in some of the most prestigious concert halls throughout Europe and the US.
Mr. Matsuev is Artistic Director of two important Russian Festivals: Stars on Baikal in Irkutsk, Siberia; and Crescendo, a series of events held in many different international cities, such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Tel Aviv, Kaliningrad, Paris, and New York. These remarkable festivals present a new generation of students from Russia's music schools by featuring gifted Russian soloists from around the world performing with the best Russian orchestras. The Crescendo festival has
had incredible resonance in Russia and is under the patronage of the president of the Russian Federation. Mr. Matsuev is also President of the charitable Russian foundation New Names.
UMS Archives
T
his afternoon's performance marks the ninth UMS appearance of both Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra. Maestro Gergiev and the Orchestra (formerly the Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre), made their UMS debuts in November 1992 at Hill Auditorium. Maestro Gergiev and the Orchestra last appeared under UMS auspices in October 2006 at Hill Auditorium to complete the Shostakovich Centennial Festival, a five-concert project presented over two seasons in which 11 of Shostakovich's 15 symphonies were performed.
UMS welcomes Denis Matsuev, who makes his UMS debut this afternoon.
Mariinsky Orchestra
Valery Gergiev, Music Director and Conductor
First Violin
Kirill Terentyev, Principal Alexey Lukirskiy, Principal Leonid Veksler Mikhail Vostokov Liudmila Chaykovskaya Anton Kozmin Elena Berdnikova Mikhail Rikhter Stanislav Izmaylov Dina Zikeeva Vsevolod Vasiliev Boris Vasiliev Anna Glukhova Irina Vasilieva
Second Violin
Maria Safarova, Principal Georgy Shirokov, Principal Victoria Shchukina Anastasia Lukirskaya Andrey Pokatov Svetlana Zhuravkova Alexey Krasheninnikov Mikhail Zagorodnyuk Inna Demchenko Marina Serebro Elena Shirokova
Viola
Yury Afonkin, Principal Vladimir Litvinov, Principal Lina Golovina Alexander Shelkovnikov Oleg Larionov Evgeny Barsov Alevtina Alekseeva Olga Neverova Alexey Klyuev Svetlana Sadovaya
Cello
Zenon Zalitsaylo, Principal Oleg Sendetskiy, Principal Nikolay Vasiliev Tamara Sakar Oxana Moroz Ekaterina Larina Vladimir Yunovich Daniil Bryskin
Double Bass
Kirill Karikov, Principal Vladimir Shostak, Principal Denis Kashin Sergey Trafimovich Alexander Alekseev Demyan Gorodnichin Roman Zastavny
Flute
Denis Lupachev Nikolay Mokhov Ekaterina Rostovskaya Margarita Maystrova Mikhail Pobedinskiy Maria Arsenieva
Oboe
Alexander Trushkov Sergey Bliznetsov Pavel Kundyanok Victor Ukhalin Ilia Ilin
Clarinet
Victor Kulyk Vadim Bondarenko Ivan Stolbov Dmitry Kharitonov Vitaly Papyrin Yury Zyuryaev
Bassoon
Rodion Tolmachev Valentin Kapustin Alexander Sharykin Yury Radzevich Arseny Makarov
Horn
Stanislav Tses Dmitry Vorontsov Stanislav Avik Vladislav Kuznetsov Yury Akimkin Valery Papyrin Petr Rodin Dmitry Chepkov
Trumpet Sergey Kryuchkov Yury Fokin Vitaly Zaytsev Timur Martynov Stanislav llchenko
Trombone
Andrey Smirnov Igor Yakovlev Mikhail Seliverstov Alexander Dzhurri Nikolay Timofeev
Tuba
Nikolay Slepnev
Percussion
Andrey Khotin Yury Alekseev Arseny Shuplyakov Evgeny Zhikalov Mikhail Vedunkin Vladislav Ivanov
Harp
Bozhena Chornak Sofia Kiprskaya
Piano
Valeria Rumyantseva
Orchestra Manager
Vladimir Ivanov
Stagehands
Viktor Belyashin Alexander Pyshkin
Nurse
Olga Nikolaeva
Administration
I'ina Rychkova
Columbia Artists Management, LLC.
Tour Direction:
R. Douglas Sheldon,
Senior Vice President Karen Kloster, Tour
Coordinator Chris Minev, Managerial
Assistant Ann Woodruff, Tour
Manager Maria Keith, Backstage
Manager Renee O'Banks, Hotel
Advance Maestro! Travel &
Touring, Hotels Sintec-Tur, Air and Cargo
urns
presents
Takacs Quartet
Edward Dusinberre, Violin Karoly Schranz, Violin Geraldine Walther, Viola Andras Fejer, Cello
Jeffrey Kahane
Program
Franz Schubert Schubert
Daniel Kellogg
Schubert
Thursday Evening, October 14, 2010 at 8:00 Rackham Auditorium Ann Arbor
String Quartet No. 12 in c minor, D. 703 "Quartettsatz"
Allegro assai
Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major, D. 960
Molto moderato
Andante sostenuto
Scherzo: Allegro vivace con delicatezza
Allegro ma non troppo
Mr. Kahane INTERMISSION
Soft Sleep Shall Contain You: A Meditation on Schubert's "Death and the Maiden"
String Quartet No. 14 in d minor, D. 810 "Death and the Maiden"
Allegro
Andante con moto
Scherzo: Allegro molto
Presto
Ninth Performance of the 132nd Annual Season
48th Annual Chamber Arts Series
The photographing or sound and video recording of this concert or possession of any device for such recording is prohibited.
This evening's performance is sponsored by Edward Surovell Realtors. Media partnership is provided by WGTE 91.3 FM.
Special thanks to Steven Whiting, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Associate Professor of Musicology at the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance, for speaking at tonight's Prelude Dinner.
Special thanks to members of the UMS National Council who have joined us for this evening's performance.
Takacs Quartet appears by arrangement with Seldy Cramer Artists, and records for Hyperion and DeccaLondon Records.
Takacs Quartet is Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Colorado in Boulder and are Associate Artists at the South Bank Centre, London.
Please visit www.takacsquartet.com for further information.
Large print programs are available upon request.
Schubert, Our Contemporary
F
ranz Schubert's life was even shorter than Mozart's, but he wrote even more pieces than his predecessor. Kochel's Mozart catalog stops at the number 626 while the list of Schubert's works, compiled by Otto Erich Deutsch, runs to a staggering 965 (omitting the appendices in both cases). Admittedly, many of these are songs of only a few minutes' duration. Yet if we remember how many of Mozart's greatest works were written between the ages of
31 and 35--years that were not granted to Schubert--we will find his accomplishments in the major genres of sonata, symphony, and string quartet even more mind-boggling. In these genres, Schubert was directly confronting the challenge of his older contemporary, Ludwig van Beethoven. Although Beethoven's influence on Schubert is obvious, one never ceases to marvel at the extent to which the younger composer was able to break loose from his great model and, quite often, go exactly in the opposite way.
The usual labels "classic" and "romantic" do not get us very far if we try to describe the difference between Beethoven and Schubert. Schubert may have been more of a "classicist" than Beethoven since he didn't explode classical form as the older composer did, especially in his late music. Yet Beethoven held on to an unshakable "classical" conviction that adversity could be overcome and tragedy was always followed by triumph. He was a spiritual child of the French Revolution and a strong believer in progress. Schubert, on the other hand, came of age after the revolutionary period had ended and a new era of repression had set in. His last works are "romantic" in the sense that they look deeply into an existential abyss and reach levels of anxiety previously unknown in music but resonating very strongly with our own time.
Schubert's name is virtually synonymous with his 600-plus songs, which represent the summit of the German Lied repertoire. "Song-like" features pervade the instrumental works, too: Schubert had a clear predilection for long, singable melodies and a tendency to linger on them for a long time, instead of transforming them and breaking them up into fragments as Beethoven often does. This can make for some "heavenly lengths" (to quote Schumann's famous description of "The Great" C-Major Symphony No. 9, a description meant very lovingly), but more importantly, it creates a whole new way for the music to unfold, inviting us to savor the moment before it inevitably passes.
--Peter Laki
'A Schubert Evening in a Vienna Salon" as depicted by Julius Schmid
Now that you're in your seat...
F
ranz Schubert was born 213 years ago this year, and 182 years have passed since his untimely death. The good news is that we don't need a round-number anniversary to celebrate the work of one of the greatest masters of Western music. Tonight's concert is exceptional in that it mixes the genres of solo piano music and string quartet in order to draw attention to the great diversity of Schubert's music. That diversity is not limited to the medium but extends to the wide range of characters expressed in the music. Another unusual feature of tonight's concert is the inclusion of a brand-new piece by a young American composer who explicitly acknowledges Schubert as a source of inspiration. It is a symbolic handshake across the centuries, as well as a reminder that, as William Faulkner famously said, "the past is not even past."
String Quartet No. 12 in c minor, D. 703 "Quartettsatz" (1820)
Franz Schubert
Born January 31, 1797 in Himmelpfortgrund, nr.
Vienna (now part of the city) Died November 19, 1828 in Vienna
Snapshot of History... In 1820:
Spanish Inquisition is abolished
Ampere discovers left-hand and right-hand rules of the magnetic field
Indiana University is founded
Keats writes "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
Washington Irving writes The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Two of Schubert's works were epoch-making events, and both remained mysteriously unfinished at the time of his death. One is the well-known "Unfinished" SymphonyNo. 8 and the other is the Quartettsatz, or Quartet Movement, composed in 1820, just two years ahead of the famous symphony. The Quartettsatz was meant to be the first movement of a complete quartet, but only a fragment of the second movement has survived. No one knows why Schubert left this work unfinished. There were no finale-key problems as there would have been in Symphony No. 8. The important thing is that the Quartettsatz is unlike any chamber music Schubert had composed up to that time; it opens the door to his maturity and, consequently, the door to early Romanticism.
"Romantic" is one word we could use to describe the introductory measures of this
sonata form. "Theatrical" is another. Certainly the tremolo string effect leading to a dynamic climax comes more from the operatic theater than from the chamber domain. Following his brooding first theme, Schubert again takes up the tremolo as a transition to the second theme. Even more Romantically, this beautifully sweet melody appears in the unexpected key of A-flat Major. The concluding material, however, reverts to the more usual G Major. After what has been termed a "veiled" development section, Schubert brings back his themes, but out of order. First comes the lyrical second theme (now in B-flat and E-flat Major), then the fiery transition, this time leading to the concluding material in C Major. Finally, allusions to the first theme in c minor lead to a reprise of the introduction that caps the movement.
Program note by Dr. Michael Fink.
Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major, D. 960 (1828) Schubert
Snapshot of History... In 1828:
Andrew Jackson is elected President of the US
German chemist Friedrich Wohler synthesizes an organic compound for the first time
The first edition of Webster's dictionary is published
Francisco Goya dies
Thomas Cole paints The Garden of Eden
The first movement of Schubert's final piano sonata breathes an intoxicating quiescence. Its superbly scored textures murmur and throb; its melodies are longer-breathed than any song. The effect, solemn and sublime, is one of private communion. Schubert's rapturous excursions are not only harmonic and melodic but registral, for in this sonata he surges ecstatically toward the high treble and plunges deep in the bass. A motivic left-hand trill appears in the eighth measure, blurring into silence. At first a cryptic rumble--soothing nervous--the trill unexpectedly flares to fortissimo to complete the exposition's first ending. The development, unusually varied for Schubert, ends with wafted, palpitating melodies which beckon the principal theme. It is the sheerest siren music, in which the enigmatic trill participates as a peaceful yet detachable partner. Only in the coda is this errant detail locked into place.
This coda prepares the most rarefied of all Schubert's sonata movements, a distilled c-sharp minor barcarole afloat through remote modulations. The outer sections crest and recede, framing a more animated A-Major episode. Once the pianississimo coda in C-sharp Major is attained, the sonata's remaining movements can only flutter earthward. The distinctive texture of this famous "Andante sostenuto," with its "plucked" bass, demonstrates how Schubert's "orchestral" piano writing does not preclude mastery of keyboard color and sonority.
The "Scherzo," in B-flat, is gossamer. The closing "Allegro, ma non troppo," in sonata-rondo form, is the only movement that does not begin and end in a whisper. Its cryptic theme was once put to words by Artur Schnabel: Ich weiss nicht ob ich lachenlch weiss nicht ob ich weinen (I know not if I'm laughingI know not if I'm crying). This ambiguity colors the entire finale, in which Elysian ascents trail echoes of rustic merriment. The Presto coda, culminating in the sonata's most resounding cadence, seems poles apart from its starting point. Schumann commented: "Thus [Schubert] ends gaily and cheerfully, as though fully able to face another day's work." Schubert, then 31 years old, had only two months to live.
Program note by Joseph Horowitz.
Soft Sleep Shall Contain You: A Meditation on Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" (2010)
Daniel Kellogg
Born 1976 in Norwalk, Connecticut
Snapshot of History... In 2010:
President Obama withdraws combat troops from Iraq
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico
Jonathan Franzen publishes his third novel, Freedom
A team of Russian and American scientists announce the discovery of a new element, temporarily named ununseptiym (atomic number 117)
Kaija Saariaho's third opera, Emilie, is premiered in Lyon, France
When the Takacs Quartet invited me to write a 15-minute work based on the chorale from Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" (String Quartet No. 14 in d minor, D. 810), I was instantly intrigued. I was drawn not only to the poem that had inspired the chorale, but also to the idea of conversing with older music in a modern aesthetic. As I join the tradition of creating new music from old, I am inspired by the examples of Palestrina, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Stravinsky, George Crumb, and Sofia Gubaidulina.
Oddly enough, my first encounter with Schubert's exquisite chorale came through George Crumb's masterpiece, Black Angels. Crumb quotes the chorale so memorably that it has always defined my relationship with the Schubert quartet. The chorale's simple harmonic progressions and voice-leading offer a perfect contrast to the rest of the piece, which for the most part is volatile and virtuosic. To my ears, the chorale is the very soul of the quartet. Itself a quotation from Schubert's own hauntingly beautiful song, also entitled "Death and the Maiden," the chorale strikes me as one of the most beautiful passages of music ever written.
Schubert's song is based on a poem by Matthias Claudius in which Death has come for a young Maiden, a familiar motif from Renaissance
paintings. In the poem's first stanza, the Maiden pleads with Death to "Pass me by!" In the second stanza, Death soothingly replies: "Give me your hand, you beautiful and tender form! I am a friend, and come not to punish. Be of good cheer! I am not fierce. Softly shall you sleep in my arms." Setting the Maiden's words in a minor key and Death's in the relative major, Schubert creates a tension that brings the text to life with musical elegance and emotional directness.
In Soft Sleep Shall Contain You, I meditate on Schubert's chorale and on the drama of Death's conversation with the Maiden. While the piece begins and ends quietly, the middle section reaches intense heights, with both violent dissonance and soaring consonance. The struggle between major and minor is paramount as the Maiden fights for life.
The piece opens with a strong tension between "G" and "F-sharp," my characterization of the chorale's first phrase, where g minor is strikingly contrasted with D Major, the dominant. Because I find these two chords to embody the struggle of the whole text, I have made the G-F-sharp motive the basic fabric of the piece. As the music progresses, I weave more and more of Schubert's chords into a dense and dissonant texture. At times Schubert's chords are quite clear, at times they are part of a thick fog. The developing tension, which is contrasted by more consonant and lyrical passages, proceeds relentlessly, eventually exploding into a fast middle section, which also alternates between darkness and exuberant consonance. Only when the dialog reaches a feverish pitch does the Maiden relent to Death. A slow and gentle epilogue completes the piece, as Death brings on soft sleep. While I have used a free form, my cyclic repetition of the original chorale is reminiscent of Schubert's theme and variations.
Soft Sleep Shall Contain You was written for the Takacs Quartet as a co-commission by the Takacs Society at the University of Colorado, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, Denver Friends of Chamber Music, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the 92nd Street Y in New York.
Program note by Daniel Kellogg.
String Quartet No. 14 in d minor, D. 810
"Death and the Maiden" (1824) Schubert
Snapshot of History... In 1824:
Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 is first performed
Anton Bruckner and Bedfich Smetana are born
Robert Owen founds his commune at New Harmony, Indiana
The tombs at Thebes are excavated in Egypt
Lord Byron dies in Greece
In 1824, Schubert began what one recent writer has called his "Beethoven project": he "abandoned his hopes of making a living and a reputation by composing operas, and instead began to compose in earnest in the elevated instrumental genres in which Beethoven had made a reputation--the piano sonata, the string quartet, the piano trio, and the symphony.'" It looks like Schubert consciously tried to compete with the older master, or at least to emulate "Beethoven's success in selling his serious compositions to publishers for serious money, and [his] success in disseminating his published works to an international public." Schubert's ambitions were thwarted by his early death, but during the last four years of his life he produced a series of masterworks in the major "Beethovenian" genres that are in every way worthy of their model. Schubert, a member of the next generation, was able to continue Beethoven's work like no other composer could.
The first great products of the "3eethoven project" were the Ocfef in F Major, D. 803 (which took its cue from Beethoven's popular Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20 and expanded on it considerably), and the String Quartets No. 13 in a minor and No. 14 in d minor, written for the same Schuppanzigh Quartet that had made Beethoven's quartets their specialty. These ambitious works were written at a time when Schubert suffered his first major bout of illness, as a result of the syphilis he had contracted the year before. It was in March 1824, the very month of the String Quartet No. 14 in d minor, that Schubert wrote his often-quoted letter to his friend, the painter Leopold Kupelwieser:
'John Michael Gingench, Schubert's Beethoven Project: The Chamber Music, 1824-1828. Doctoral dissertation, Yale University, 1996. p. ii-iii.
Imagine a man whose health will never be right again, and who in sheer despair over this ever makes things worse and worse, instead of better; imagine a man, I say, whose most brilliant hopes have perished, to whom the felicity of love and friendship have nothing to offer but pain, at best, whom enthusiasm (at least of the stimulating kind) for all things beautiful threatens to forsake, and I ask you, is he not a miserable, unhappy being
The slow movements of both the Quartet in a minor and Quartet in d minor were based on themes from earlier works by Schubert: the entr'acte from the incidental music Rosamunde and the song "Death and the Maiden," respectively. In both works, these choices had a far-reaching impact on style and general mood. The a-minor Quartet is nostalgic and introspective in tone, reflecting the connection to Helmine von Chezy's romantic play--or rather what Schubert was able to bring out in what was, by all accounts, much less than a literary masterpiece. The d-minor work is tragic through and through, with all four movements in minor keys--a most unusual decision, prompted, no doubt, by Schubert's physical and emotional state at the time of writing. The macabre song clearly put its stamp on the entire quartet.
"Der Tod und das Madchen" is one of 12 Schubert songs written between 1816-17 on texts by Matthias Claudius (1740-1815), a German poet and essayist. In two strongly contrasted stanzas, we first hear the anguished plea of a young girl, followed by the eerie yet consoling voice of Death, assuring the girl that death is not punishment but gentle sleep. For his variation theme in the Quartet, Schubert used the piano introduction to the song, in which the austere harmonies and rhythms of Death appear for the first time. Schubert had at first incorporated those harmonies and rhythms into the other movements of the Quartet as well, but during the composition process he made those connections less obvious. Still, each movement has its own relentlessly repeated rhythmic pattern; moreover, each of those patterns is extremely terse and "implacable," like death itself.
The first "Allegro" is built upon the contrast of a dramatic opening theme and a contrasting lyrical melody. We hear many intriguing modulations and virtuosic fireworks as one of Schubert's most eventful sonata movements unfolds before our ears.
The theme of the second movement (variations
on the song) contains some material that is not in the song but was included here to expand the introduction to the song into a complete, self-contained melodic statement. The first two of the five variations feature the first violin and the cello, respectively, in soloistic roles. In the third, the fundamental rhythmic pattern of the movement is presented at four times its original speed, changing the solemn song of death into a wild gallop. The fourth variation is similar to the first in that the first violin once more weaves virtuosic figurations around the melody, as played by the other instruments; yet the tonality is major, which makes all the emotional difference. The final variation begins pianissimo, works its way up to a furious fortissimo climax with rhythmic complexity reaching its highest level, only to fade back into pianissimo as the tonality unexpectedly changes back to major. The combination of the major mode with extremely soft volume creates a mysterious and transcendent effect at the end of the movement.
Thethird-movement" Scherzo" hasadescending bass line long associated with Baroque laments; yet the strong rhythmic accents and the frequent chromaticism (use of half-steps not normally part of the scale) give it a distinctly "modern" sound. The similarity of the main melodic idea to Mime's motif in Wagner's Ring cycle has frequently been commented on, yet a close variant of it appears in one of Schubert's short German dances for piano. The trio, or middle section, switches to the major mode. Instead of repeating each of its halves literally, as tradition would demand, Schubert changes the instrumentation completely the second time around, and introduces elaborate flourishes for the first violin.
The finale is a breathtaking "Presto" based on the rhythm of the tarantella dance (which Schubert used in other finales as well, for instance in his Piano Sonata No. 19 in c minor, D. 958, dating from the last year of his life). As in the first movement, the rhythmic idea alternates with more melodic material as well as with a great deal of virtuoso writing. The "sweep" and a dynamic energy of the movement never let up until the very end, which--contrary to what happens in most classical finales in minor keys--does not modulate to the parallel major but remains unremittingly anchored in the tragic minor mode.
Program note by Peter Laki.
Takacs Quartet
R
ecognized as one of the world's great ensembles, the Takacs Quartet plays with a unique blend of drama, warmth, and humor, combining four distinct musical personalities to bring fresh insights to the string quartet repertoire. Commenting on their latest Schubert recording for Hyperion, Gramophone noted; "The Takacs have the ability to make you believe that there's no other possible way the music should go, and the strength to overturn preconceptions that comes only with the greatest performers."
Based in Boulder at the University of Colorado, the Takacs Quartet performs 90 concerts a year worldwide, throughout Europe as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea. The 1011 season includes a Bartok Cycle in Sydney, and a three-concert series focusing on Schubert in New York (92nd Street Y) and at the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor. The series will feature the New York premiere of a new work composed for the Quartet by Daniel Kellogg, based on the slow movement theme of Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" Quartet.
The Quartet's award-winning recordings
include the complete Beethoven Cycle on the Decca label. In 2005, the Late Beethoven Quartets won "Disc of the Year" and the Chamber Award from BBC Music Magazine, a Gramophone Award, and a Japanese Record Academy Award. Their recordings of the Early and Middle Beethoven quartets collected a Grammy Award, another Gramophone Award, a Chamber Music of America Award, and two further awards from the Japanese Recording Academy. Of their performances and recordings of the Late Quartets, the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote "The Takacs might play this repertoire better than any quartet of the past or present."
In 2006, the Takacs Quartet made their first recording for Hyperion Records of Schubert's String Quartets Nos. 13 and 14. A disc featuring Brahms's Piano Quintet with Stephen Hough was released to great acclaim in November 2007 and was subsequently nominated for a Grammy Award. A recording of Brahms's Op. 51 and Op. 67 Quartets was released in Fall 2008 and a disc featuring the Schumann Piano Quintet with Marc-Andre Hamelin was released in 2009. The
ums University Musical Society
complete Haydn "Apponyi" Quartets, Op. 71 and 74, will be released in early 2011.
The Quartet has also made 16 recordings for the Decca label since 1988 of works by Beethoven, Bartok, Borodin, Brahms, Chausson, Dvorak, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Smetana. The ensemble's recording of the six Bartok String Quartets received the 1998 Gramophone Award for chamber music and, in 1999, was nominated for a Grammy Award. In addition to the Beethoven String Quartet cycle recording, the ensemble's other Decca recordings include Dvorak's String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 51 and Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81 with pianist Andreas Haefliger; Schubert's "Trout" Quintet with Mr. Haefliger, which was nominated in 2000 for a Grammy Award; string quartets by Smetana and Borodin; Schubert's String Quartet No. 15 in G Major and Notturno for piano trio with Mr. Haefliger; the three Brahms string quartets and Piano Quintet in f minor with pianist Andras Schiff; Chausson's Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet, Op. 21 with violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet; and Mozart's String Quintets, K. 515 and K. 516 with violist Gyorgy Pauk.
The Quartet is known for innovative programming. In 2007, with Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, the Quartet performed "Everyman" in Carnegie Hall, inspired by the Philip Roth novel. The group collaborates regularly with the Hungarian folk ensemble Muzsikas, performing a program that explores the folk sources of Bartok's music. The Quartet performed a music and poetry program on a 14-city US tour with the poet Robert Pinsky.
At the University of Colorado, the Takacs Quartet has helped to develop a string program with a special emphasis on chamber music, where students work in a nurturing environment designed to help them develop their artistry. The Quartet's commitment to teaching is enhanced by summer residencies at the Aspen Festival and at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. The Quartet is a Visiting Quartet at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
The Takacs Quartet was formed in 1975 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by Gabor Takacs-Nagy, Karoly Schranz, Gabor Ormai, and Andras Fejer, while all four were students. It first received international attention in 1977, winning First Prize and the Critics' Prize at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. The Quartet
also won the Gold Medal at the 1978 Portsmouth and Bordeaux Competitions, and First Prizes at the Budapest International String Quartet Competition in 1978 and the Bratislava Competition in 1981. The Quartet made its North American debut tour in 1982. Violinist Edward Dusinberre joined the Quartet in 1993 and violist Roger Tapping in 1995. Violist Geraldine Walther replaced Mr. Tapping in 2005. In 2001, the Takacs Quartet was awarded the Order of Merit of the Knight's Cross of the Republic of Hungary.
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qually at home at the keyboard or on the podium, Jeffrey Kahane has established an international reputation as a truly versatile artist, recognized by audiences around the world for his mastery of a diverse repertoire ranging from Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven to Gershwin, Golijov, and John Adams.
Since making his Carnegie Hall debut in 1983, Mr. Kahane has given recitals in many of the nation's major music centers including New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. He appears as soloist with major orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus, and is also a popular figure at summer festivals including Aspen, Ravinia, Blossom, Caramoor, Mostly Mozart, Oregon Bach, and the Hollywood Bowl. Mr. Kahane is equally known for his collaborations with artists and chamber ensembles such as Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Joshua Bell, Thomas Quasthoff, and the Emerson and Takacs Quartets.
Mr. Kahane made his conducting debut at the Oregon Bach Festival in 1988. Since then he has guest conducted orchestras such as the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and the Chicago, Toronto, Detroit, St. Louis, Houston, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Dallas, and New World symphonies. Currently in his 14th season as Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), Mr. Kahane concluded his tenure as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony in June 2010 and was Music Director of the Santa Rosa Symphony for 10 seasons. He has received much recognition for his innovative programming and commitment to
education and community involvement with all three orchestras and received ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming in 2007 for his work in both Los Angeles and Denver.
In addition to his programs and projects with LACO, highlights of Mr. Kahane's 1011 season include appearances at the Aspen, Ravinia, Music Academy of the West, Verbier, and Oregon Bach festivals; concerto appearances with the Toronto, Cincinnati, and Dallas symphonies; programs with the San Francisco Symphony and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa; US tours with violinist Daniel Hope and with the Takacs Quartet; an appearance with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; and a European tour with the Camerata Salzburg as conductor and soloist. Mr. Kahane will also conduct the Juilliard Orchestra at Lincoln Center in October 2010.
Mr. Kahane's recordings include works of Gershwin and Bernstein with Yo-Yo Ma for SONY, Paul Schoenfield's Four Parables with the New World Symphony conducted by John Nelson for DeccaArgo, Strauss's Burleske on Telarc with the Cincinnati Symphony under Jesus Lopez-Cobos, and the complete Brandenburg Concerti (on harpsichord) with the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra under Helmuth Rilling on the Haenssler label. He has also recorded Schubert's complete works for violin and piano with Joseph Swensen for RCA, Bach's Sinfonias and Partita No. 4 in D Major for Nonesuch, and Bernstein's Symphony No. 2 "Age of Anxiety" for Virgin Records, which was nominated by Gramophone for their "Record of the Year" award.
A native of Los Angeles and a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Mr. Kahane's early piano studies were with Howard Weisel and Jakob Gimpel. First Prize winner at the 1983 Rubinstein Competition and a finalist at the 1981 Van Cliburn Competition, he was also the recipient of a 1983 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the first Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award in 1987.
Mr. Kahane resides in Santa Rosa with his wife, Martha, a clinical psychologist in private practice. They have two children--Gabriel, a composer, pianist, and singersongwriter and Annie, a dancer and poet.
Jeffrey Kahane
UMS Archives
T
his evening's concert marks the Takacs Quartet's 13th appearance under UMS auspices. The Quartet made their UMS debut in February 1984. Mr Dusinberre, Ms. Walther, and Mr. Fejer last appeared at UMS as a trio in March 2010 at Rackham Auditorium.
UMS welcomes Jeffrey Kahane, who makes his UMS debut this evening.
ums University Musical Society
presents
Jerusalem Quartet
Alexander Pavlovsky, Violin Sergei Bresler, Violin Ori Kam, Viola Kyril ZIotnikov, Cello
Program
Felix Mendelssohn
Mark Kopytman
Johannes Brahms
Thursday Evening, October 21, 2010 at 8:00 Rackham Auditorium Ann Arbor
String Quartet No. 4 in e minor, Op. 44, No. 2
Allegro assai appassionato Scherzo: Allegro di molto Andante Presto agitato
String Quartet No. 3
Andantino
Allegro energico
Largo--Adagio--Allegro
INTERMISSION
String Quartet in c minor, Op. 51, No. 1
Allegro
Romanze: Poco adagio
Allegretto molto moderato e comodo--un poco piu animato
Allegro
10th Performance of the 132nd Annual Season
48th Annual Chamber Arts Series
The photographing or sound and video recording of this concert or possession of any device for such recording is prohibited.
This evening's performance is sponsored by the Friends of the Jerusalem Quartet. Media partnership is provided by WGTE 91.3 FM and Detroit Jewish News. The Jerusalem Quartet appears by arrangement with David Rowe Artists. The Jerusalem Quartet records for Harmonia Mundi. Please visit www.jerusalemstringquartet.com for further information.
Large print programs are available upon request.
Now that you're in your seat...
B
y the time the young Brahms was discovered by Robert Schumann, Mendelssohn was no longer alive to help him welcome this "new musical Messiah," and Schumann himself was not long for this world. It was Brahms's fate to carry the spirit of his elders into the second half of the 19th century. For the German Romantics, the string quartet, inherited from the classics, represented the highest form of instrumental music and required extraordinary efforts of concentration. Brahms bequeathed that image of the string quartet to composers of the 20th century as diverse as Schoenberg, Bartok, and Shostakovich who, in their turn, passed it on to those coming after them. Writing in the Soviet Union in the late 1960s, Mark Kopytman found it entirely natural to entrust his innermost thoughts to the ensemble of two violins, viola, and cello.
String Quartet No. 4 in e minor. Op. 44,
No. 2(1837)
Felix Mendelssohn
Born February 3, 1809 in Hamburg, Germany
Died November 4, 1847 in Leipzig
Snapshot of History... In 1837:
Victoria becomes Queen of England
Samuel Morse invents the telegraph
Berlioz composes his Requiem
Alexander Pushkin is killed in a duel
Balzac writes Lost Illusions
"I want the ideas to be expressed more simply and more naturally, but to be conceived in a more complex and individual fashion," Felix Mendelssohn wrote to a friend in 1834. It is a wonderfully clear artistic statement, remarkable in the fine distinction it makes between complexity in the ideas and simplicity in their expression. In other words, the composition has to be simple without being simplistic, natural without being cliched. Mendelssohn was able to practice what he preached, and the three string quartets published as Op. 44 with a dedication to the Crown Prince of Sweden are a case in point. This music speaks a language that is immediately comprehensible to an audience familiar with the works of Beethoven (Mendelssohn's great model), but it has some highly personal things to say in that language.
The choice of a minor key virtually guarantees a passionate, emotionally charged tone, and in fact, the work is framed by an "appassionato" opening
and an "agitato" closing movement. Both abound in powerful sforzato accents (individual notes given special emphasis), a strong rhetorical device that greatly increases the intensity of the musical phrases. Of course, classical musical form demands a certain amount of contrast, and episodes of relative calm occur in both movements; but by and large, a dramatic "storm-and-stress" atmosphere prevails. Nor does the second-movement scherzo provide any relief: it is a light-footed but rather agitated piece that uses the device of tremolo (very fast repeats of the same note) to great effect. Significantly, Mendelssohn forgoes the chance to relax in a contrasting trio section (as he had already done in his brilliant Ocfef in E-flat Major, Op. 20 for strings, written at the age of 16). The only real respite occurs in the third-movement "Andante," an expansive instrumental aria over which Mendelssohn wrote the warning words: "This movement must by no means be dragged." The first violin is the leader almost throughout (playing even a passage resembling a virtuoso cadenza from a concerto). Yet when the melodious first theme returns, it is surprisingly given to the cello. But the first violin soon reclaims its primacy and leads the movement to its idyllic ending--a reverie from which we will be awakened by the irruption of the "Presto agitato."
String Quartet No. 3 (1969) Mark Kopytman
Born December 6, 1929 in Kamenets-Podolsk, Ukraine
Snapshot of History... In 1969:
Apollo 11 lands on the Moon
Samuel Beckett wins the Nobel Prize for Literature
Dmitri Shostakovich writes Symphony No. 14
Maya Angelou publishes Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Golda Meir is elected Prime Minister of Israel
Born in the Soviet Union, Mark Kopytman emigrated to Israel in 1972; he quickly became one of the country's most prominent composers and teachers. He was already in his forties at the time of this life-changing move, an accomplished composer with a large number of works in his catalog. Educated in Moscow, Kopytman spent most of his Soviet career far away from the capital, first in Kazakhstan and later in Moldavia. In both republics, he immersed himself deeply in local musical traditions; as a result, his musical style was enriched by many new elements--a process that continued when he became exposed to many forms of Jewish music in Israel.
One of the crowning works of Kopytman's Soviet period is String Quartet No. 3, written in 1969. A fascinating and brilliantly successful attempt to break out of the state-mandated conservatism prevalent at the time, the Quartet unites passages of almost romantic melodic writing with startling avant-garde sonorities. The first-movement "Andantino" has a warmly lyrical opening theme played by the viola, which soon gives way to a series of isolated gestures that serve to build up considerable tension. A striking moment with high-lying harmonics is followed by a subdued recapitulation, answered in a surprising manner by the fast second movement ("Allegro energico"). Powerful "Bartok" pizzicatos, swirling figurations, passionate melodic motifs, and wild asymmetrical rhythms follow one another with great abandon, until a high note of the violin ushers in a more disjointed middle section. The fast motion resumes, but the movement ends enigmatically.
Describing the various sections of the last movement, Kopytman speaks of a "narrative cello monologue," a "sarabande-like quiet and calm 'chorale'" and a "double fugue." These contrasted elements nourish a highly complex and emotionally intense movement whose tempo (and level of excitement) gradually increases until the pensive, slow viola melody from the opening
movement returns. The motivic materials of the fugue section completely Disintegrate as the piece fades out at the end.
Program notes by Peter Laki.
String Quartet in c minor. Op. 51, No. 1
(1873)
Johannes Brahms
Born May 7, 1833 in Hamburg, Germany Died April 3, 1897 in Vienna
Snapshot of History... In 1873:
Jules Verne publishes Around the World in 80 Days
Anton Bruckner composes Symphony No. 3
Levi Strauss begins manufacturing jeans
Stock market crashes in Vienna (the beginning of a widely felt "Long Depression")
World exposition held in Vienna
To the listening public of the day, Brahms was the musical heir of Beethoven--a burden he did not bear easily. "You do not know what it is like," Brahms wrote, "hearing his [Beethoven's] footsteps constantly behind me." It is, therefore, not surprising that the two forms in which Beethoven produced such enduring masterworks, the string quartet and the symphony, were precisely those in which Brahms felt the greatest pressure to measure up to his model. Consequently, he wrote and destroyed some 20 string quartets and then spent about two decades revising and polishing his first quartet before he allowed it to be published in 1873, when he was 40. His first symphony appeared only after an equally long period of gestation.
Brahms began work on his c-minor Quartet in the early 1850s. Several times over the following years, he asked various musicians to read through the work. Following each rehearsal, however, he withdrew the music. It was not until the summer of 1873, which he spent at Tutzing on Starnberg Lake, that the Quartet finally measured up to his expectations. In September he submitted it for publication, and on December 11, 1873, the Hellmesberger Quartet gave the premiere performance in Vienna.
The Quartet opens with a heroic ascending theme. After two sustained notes in the viola.
Jerusalem Quartet
the first violin presents a languid descending counterpart to the vigor of the previous phrase. The second theme proper, played by the two violins, enters over a rapid leaping figure in the viola. The poised concluding theme is given to the first violin over a rhythmically complex texture. All of the thematic material is worked over in the brief development section and then recapitulated, leading to an exciting, agitated coda.
Intimate and pensive, the second movement has been described as a song without words, a favorite Romantic, 19th-century character piece. It is ternary in form: the gently expressive opening section, a wistful contrast; and the return of the opening melody, ending with a coda that includes both themes, although in reverse order.
The third movement, really a charmingly simple intermezzo, is removed in mood from the somewhat severe and reserved character of the rest of the quartet. The delightful melody of connected pairs of notes is played by the first violin, while the viola strives for attention with its attractive countermelody. Various episodes follow, until the tempo picks up for a contrasting middle section. To accompany the graceful, naive melody, the second violin employs an effect known as bariolage, in which the same note is played on two different strings, producing a tonal effect not unlike a jazz trumpet player using a wah-wah mute. The movement ends with an exact repeat of the opening section.
Spiritually akin to the first movement, the final movement starts with a terse, forceful motto theme derived from the opening of the first movement. An excited, passionate melody ensues but with no diminution of energy or drive. The second violin introduces the more relaxed subsidiary subject. There is barely any development before Brahms brings back all three themes to end the movement, and the quartet ends with an extended coda.
Program note by Melvin Berger from Guide to Chamber Music, published by AnchorDoubleday.
T
he Jerusalem Quartet, hailed by The Strad as "one of the young, yet great quartets of our time," has garnered international acclaim for its rare combination of passion and precision. Though barely into their thirties, the musicians have already won audiences over around the world, both in concert and on their recordings for the Harmonia Mundi label. Their 2010 North American tour brings them to 10 cities, including Berkeley, Eugene, Memphis, Ann Arbor, Madison, Montreal, Teaneck (NJ), Denver, and Cleveland.
The Jerusalem Quartet's most recent recording of Haydn quartets was selected as BBC Music Magazine's top pick in the Chamber Music category at its 2010 Award Ceremony. The Quartet took home the same award in 2007 for their Shostakovich recording. The Quartet's recording of Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" Quartet and Quartettsatz in c minor was featured as "Editor's Choice" in the July 2008 edition of Gramophone, and was also awarded an ECHO Classic Chamber Music Award in 2009.
In November 2007, the Quartet was awarded First Prize in the "Most Impressive Performance by a (Small) Ensemble" category of the Netherlands' Vereniging van Schouwburgen en Concertgebouwdirecties (Association of Theaters, Concert Halls, and Festivals). In 2003, they received the first Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, and were part of the first-ever BBC New Generation Artists scheme between 1999-2001.
The Jerusalem Quartet formed while its members were students at the Jerusalem Conservatory of Music and Dance. They quickly found a shared commitment to music that has not only endured, but has propelled them to the highest level of performance. They recently concluded a three-year residency at Musica Viva Australia with a 10-concert tour that included Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane. They also continue as quartet-in-residence at the Centra Cultural Miguel Delibes in Valladolid, Spain.
UMS Archives
T
his evening's performance marks the Jerusalem Quartet's third appearance under UMS auspices. The Quartet made its UMS debut in April 2005, and last appeared in April 2007 at Rackham Auditorium.
urns
presents
Hibiki
Resonance from Far Away
A production of
Sankai Juku
Ushio Amagatsu, Director, Choreographer, Designer
Dancers
Ushio Amagatsu, Semimaru, Sho Takeuchi, Akihito Ichihara, Ichiro
Hasegawa, Dai Matsuoka
Music by
Takashi Kako and Yoichiro Yoshikawa
Program
Saturday Evening, October 23, 2010 at 8:00 Sunday Afternoon, October 24, 2010 at 2:00 Power Center Ann Arbor
Hibiki: Resonance from Far Away
Drop--The sinking and reflection of a drop Displacement--Most furtive of shadows Empty space--Air is like water, calm and quiet
Outer limits of the red--The body metamorphosizes into the object it beholds
Reflection--From the eikon to the image Resounding--More light!
Hibiki is performed with no intermission.
11th and 12th Performances of the 132nd Annual Season
20th Annual Dance Series
The photographing or sound and video recording of this performance or possession of any device for such recording is prohibited.
Funded in part by the Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN program.
Media partnership is provided by Metro Times and Between the Lines.
Special thanks to Jane Ozanich, the U-M Center for Japanese Studies, and the U-M Museum of Art for their support of and participation in events surrounding this weekend's performances.
Sankai Juku appears by arrangement with Pomegranate Arts, New York, NY.
Large print programs are available upon request.
Hibiki: Resonance from Far Away
Walking like a single form.
Fixing eyes straight forward,
Two people walk slowly.
Each like the other, their destination shared,
Together, they need no sign to stop or start;
They may be more than two,
They may travel at speed,
It is the same.
Understanding not of words,
A resonance in fact,
Through a dialogue of consciousness.
Resonance springs from tension, This tension from collision. Two tense bodies hit. But if one loosens, so; the other, And the resonance disappears.
Some say that ontogeny resembles phytogeny. An embryo, one month after conception, will
change
From ichthyic to amphibian. Reptile to mammal. This million year drama, Emerging upon the shores of the Paleozoic era, Is enacted by an embryo Within a matter of days. The sound of blood circulating inside a mother's
womb
Is like the motion of the waves, It is the primal Resonance which arrives to us.
--Ushio Amagatsu
Artistic Director, Choreography, Design
Ushio Amagatsu
Takashi Kako Yoichiro Yoshikawa
Ushio Amagatsu, Founder Semimaru, since 1975 Sho Takeuchi, since 1987 Akihito Ichihara, since 1997 Ichiro Hasegawa, since 2004 Dai Matsuoka, since 2005
Nobuyoshi Asai Norihito Ishii
Kiyonaga Matsushita, Stage Manager Tsubasa Yamashita, Assistant Stage Manager Tsutomu Yamaga, Lighting (World Premiere) Satoru Suzuki, Lighting Technician Junko Miyazaki, Sound Technician Masayo lizuka, Costume Realization Doug Witney, US Production Manager Pat Kirby, US Tour Manager
Co-produced by
Theatre de la Ville, Paris, France
Hancher Auditorium, University of Iowa
Biwako Hall, Center for the Performing Arts, Shiga, Japan
Sankai Juku, Tokyo, Japan
Collaboration
CNCD d'Angers-l'Esquisse, France
Production Management: Pomegranate Arts
Linda Brumbach, Director
Alisa Regas, Associate Director
Kaleb Kilkenny, Business Manger
Jennie Wasserman, Production Administrator
Ashley MaGee, Administrative Assistant
Pomegranate Arts gives special thanks to Izumi Akiyama, Mariie Maruta, Midori Okuyama Ozawa, and Kyoko Yoshida.
This engagement is supported by the Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN program.
Sankai Juku's 2010 North American Tour is supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Government of Japan with in-kind support from Shiseido.
World Premiere: Theatre de la Ville. Paris in December 1998
S
ankai Juku, founded in 1975 by Ushio Amagatsu, performed abroad for the first time at the Nancy International Theatre Festival in 1980. Since then, Sankai Juku has performed in 41 countries and visited more than 700 cities.
Ushio Amagatsu, artistic director, trained in classical as well as modern dance before he worked out his own Butoh. For Amagatsu, Butoh expresses the language of the body. In the 1970s, Mr. Amagatsu drew mostly on his own individual experience for inspiration. During the 1980s, much of which he spent working in Europe, the inspiration of his work became more universal. In his work, he presents an abstract vision of the infinite, evolutionary movement of the relationship of the body to gravity, and of the relationship of gravity to the earth and the environment.
In 1980, Sankai Juku was invited to perform in Europe for the first time. The Company went to the Nancy International Festival in France with the firm conviction that butoh would be accepted. The performance won the Company great popularity there, and the Avignon Festival officially invited the Company back in the same year. For the next four years, the Company remained in Europe and performed at various international festivals, including the Edinburgh International Festival, Spain Madrid International Festival, and the International Cervantino Festival. In 1984, they were invited to North America where they made their North American debut at the Toronto International Festival and the Los Angeles Olympics Arts Festival. The Company has toured extensively in North America and Canada. Since 1990, Sankai Juku has also performed in such Asian counties as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, and Indonesia. They also toured successfully in Russia and Eastern Europe. In 2002, Hibiki: Resonance from Far Away received the 26th Laurence Olivier Award for "Best New Dance Production."
For more information, please visit www.sankaijuku.com.
B
orn in Yokosuka, Japan in 1949, Ushio Amagatsu founded butoh company Sankai Juku in 1975. He created Amagatsu Sho (1977), Kinkan Shorten (1978), and Sholiba (1979) before the Company's first world tour in 1980. Since 1981, France and the Theatre de la Ville in Paris have become his places for creation and work, and in 1981 he created Bakki for Festival d'Avignon. At Theatre de la Ville, he has created Jomon Sho (1982), Netsu no Katachi (1984), Unetsu (1986), Shijima (1988), Omofe (1991), Yuragi (1993), Hiyomeki (1995), Hibiki (1998), Kagemi (2000), and Utsuri (2003). In 1988 he created Fushi on the invitation of Jacob's Pillow Foundation in the US, with music by Philip Glass.
In 1989, Mr. Amagatsu was appointed Artistic Director of the Spiral Hall in Tokyo where he directed Apocalypse (1989), and Fifth-V (1990) for the American dancers. In 1992, he presided the Jury of the International Meeting of Dance of Bagnolet, and was awarded the Chevalier de I'Ordre de I'Art et des Lettres by the French Cultural Ministry. In February 1997, he directed Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle, conducted by Peter Eotvos at the Tokyo International Forum. In March 1998, at Opera National de Lyon, he directed the world premiere of Peter Eotvos's opera Three Sisters, which received the French Prix du Syndicat de la Critique. Three Sisters was seen in the 0102 season at Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, Opera National de Lyon, and Wiener Festwochen 2002 in Austria. In February 2002, Hibiki won the 26th Laurence Olivier Award for "Best New Dance Production." In March 2004, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology awarded the Geijutu Sensho Prize (Art Encouragement Prize) to Mr. Amagatsu for his outstanding artistic achievement. In 2007, Toki won the Grand Prix of the Sixth, The Asahi Performing Arts Awards, and Sankai Juku received the KIRIN Special Grant for Dance.
Sankai Juku
Founded in 1998 by Linda Brumbach, Pomegranate Arts is an independent production company dedicated to the development of international contemporary performing arts projects. Since its inception, Pomegranate Arts has conceived, produced, or represented projects by Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, London's Improbable, Sankai Juku, Dan Zanes, and Goran Bregovic. Special projects include Dracula: The Music And Film with Philip Glass and the Kronos Quartet; the music theater work Shockheaded Peter, Brazilian vocalist Virginia Rodrigues; Drama Desk Award-winning Charlie Victor Romeo; Healing The Divide, A Concert for Peace and Reconciliation, presented by Philip Glass and Richard Gere; and Hal Willner's Came So Far For Beauty, An Evening Of Leonard Cohen Songs. Recent projects include the first North American tour of Goran Bregovic and Laurie Anderson's Delusion, which had its world premiere at the 2010 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad and will be presented by UMS in January 2011.
UMS Archives
T
his weekend's performances mark Sankai Juku's fourth and fifth appearances under UMS auspices. Sankai Juku made its UMS debut in November 1996 with two performances of Yuragi: In a Space of Perpetual Motion. Sankai Juku last appeared in October 1999 with a performance of Hiyomeki at the Power Center.
ums University Musical Society