Program Notes

Last night was the Symph--a opening gala concert, featuring four works by Russian composers. The evening started with

Festive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich

Shostakovich was the foremost Soviet composer of his generation and is especially remarkable for his powers of survival. He was the only major composer (besides Haydn) in the western canon to survive beyond his ninth symphony and also managed to escape Siberian exile despite several dissident works while living in the USSR. Festive Overture was written in 1921 or 1943, or possibly sometime in between, to celebrate all four days of Russian summer. The work starts with a three trumpet fanfare, which is a much more explicit way of letting the audience knowing that the concert has started than low and rumbly bass notes. Following more blaring and banging the strings take over with the presto theme--a word which here means "a tempo at which the musicians cannot turn the pages fast enough to put their instruments back up without being late for the next entrance." The tune is repeated with syncopated offbeats in the brass as they attempt to catch up and culminating in a grand tutti statement of the melody. The initial fanfare comes back at the end, but usually by this point the winds and brass are too tired to play it.

Violin Concerto in D by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto is one of the great works of the romantic era and a special favorite of conservatory violinsts, each of whom is convinced that he he or she will soon be a famous international soloist, but willing (if they must) to temporarily serve as concertmaster of a top-5 orchestra in order to pay the bills while their solo career takes off. Each of these budding soloists puts this concerto on their junior recital jury and plays it slightly under tempo (that pesky third movement is so difficult!) with a tired looking accompanist. The work starts with a movement in sonata allegro form and features a celebrated cadenza which is not quite long enough for the timpanist to get in a full hand of poker with the third and fourth horns. The second movement is a canzonetta--an Italian word which means "little canzon"--and since the brass tacet, we will speak of it no longer except to mention that it transitions attacca into the third movement, and anyone in the back row that was playing on their phone usually misses the first few notes. The last movement is a rondo, a form in which an "A" theme is repeated between statements of other themes, meaning that every time the audience thinks they'll finally be free to clap and visit the lavatory that darn melody comes back in and reminds them that they have at least another 32 bars to go.

The Nocturne by Borodin

is strings only, and mostly gives time to the percussion section to finish their smoke break before the Stravinsky starts.

The Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky

The Firebird was originally an opera composed in 1911, and the suite highlights the musical episodes of the famous Russian fairytale. A wondrous bird of fire is captured by the heroic Prince Ivan, who wins a princess, bewitches the subjects of the evil King Katschei in an infernal dance, and then heals the basilisk wound on Harry's harm and flies him to safety with Ginny and Professor Lockhart. The opening music features lots of low notes in exceptionally tiny print, and then then it looks as if someone vomited thirty second notes all over the parts in the woodwind section. The Round Dance of the princesses lulls the audience to sleep, and then the opening "shock note" of the Infernal Dance makes Haydn's Surprise Symphony seem like a mild wheeze in comparison. A particular favorite of conductor James Smith is the Berceuse and Finale, which I know "berceuse" he listens to it several times a day. The brilliant ending is written in an odd 7/4 time signature, which means that no one in the back row actually counts it, but they just wait and hope that the conductor remembers to point at them in the right spots.