ASOPROGRAM - Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

ASOprogram Atlanta Symphony Orchestra A founding member of the Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center Robert Spano, Music Director Donald Runnicles, Principal Guest Conductor

Delta classical Series Concerts

Thursday and Friday, November 19 and 20, 2009, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, November 22, 2009, at 3 p.m.

robert spano, Conductor Laura Ardan, Clarinet Olli Mustonen, Piano

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) Prelude, Fugue and Riffs (1949) I. Prelude for the Brass II. Fugue for the Saxes III. Riffs for Everyone Laura Ardan, Clarinet

Wynton Marsalis (b. 1961) Symphony No. 2 Blues Symphony (2009) World Premiere, Commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Spano,

Music Director, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, James Levine, Music Director, With the Generous Support of the National Black Arts Festival

INTERMISSION

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) Piano Concerto in G Major (1931) I. Allegramente II. Adagio assai III. Presto Olli Mustonen, Piano George Gershwin (1898-1937) An American in Paris (1928)

“Inside the Music” preview of the concert, Thursday at 7 p.m., presented by Ken Meltzer, ASO Insider and Program Annotator. The use of cameras or recording devices during the concert is strictly prohibited. Atlanta’s Performing Arts Publication 23

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra sponsors

is proud to sponsor the Delta Classical Series of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Delta’s commitment to the communities we serve began the day our first flight took off. After almost 80 years, Delta’s community spirit worldwide continues to be a cornerstone of our organization. As a force for global good, our mission is to continuously create value through an inclusive culture by leveraging partnerships and serving communities where we live and work. It includes not only valuing individual differences of race, religion, gender, nationality and lifestyle, but also managing and valuing the diversity of work teams, intracompany teams and business partnerships. Delta is an active, giving corporate citizen in the communities it serves. Delta’s community engagement efforts are driven by our desire to build long-term partnerships in a way that enables nonprofits to utilize many aspects of Delta's currency – our employees time and talent, our free and discounted air travel, as well as our surplus donations. Together, we believe we can take our worldwide communities to new heights!

Major funding for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of the Fulton County Arts Council. Solo pianos used by the ASO are gifts of the Atlanta Steinway Society and in memory of David Goldwasser. The Hamburg Steinway piano is a gift received by the ASO in honor of Rosi Fiedotin. The Yamaha custom six-quarter tuba is a gift received by the ASO in honor of Principal Tuba player Michael Moore from The Antinori Foundation. This performance is being recorded for broadcast at a later time. ASO concert broadcasts are heard each week on Atlanta’s WABE FM-90.1 and Georgia Public Broadcasting’s statewide network. The ASO records for Telarc. Other ASO recordings are available on the Argo, Deutsche Grammophon, New World, Nonesuch, Philips and Sony Classical labels. Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta is the preferred hotel of the ASO. Trucks provided by Ryder Truck Rental Inc. Media sponsors: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB 750 AM.

24 EncoreAtlanta.com

ASOprogram Notes on the Program By Ken Meltzer Prelude, Fugue and Riffs (1949) Leonard Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on August 25, 1918, and died in New York on October 14, 1990. The first performance of Prelude, Fugue and Riffs took place in New York on October 16, 1955, as part of an Omnibus television broadcast entitled The World of Jazz, with Benny Goodman as soloist and the composer conducting. Prelude, Fugue and Riffs is scored for solo clarinet, two alto saxophones, two tenor saxophones, baritone saxophone, five trumpets, four trombones, piano, tom-toms, trap set, xylophone, vibraphone, wood block, timpani and solo string bass. Approximate performance time is nine minutes. First ASO Classical Subscription Performances: April 8, 9 and 10, 1999, William Eddins, Conductor.

L

eonard Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, for Solo Clarinet and Jazz Ensemble, was commissioned in 1949 by the American clarinetist and bandleader, Woody Herman (1913-1987). Herman intended Bernstein’s new work to be part of a series of pieces for his Band. Previously, Herman commissioned Russian composer Igor Stravinsky to write another jazz-oriented piece, the Ebony Concerto (1945). Bernstein completed Prelude, Fugue and Riffs on November 4, 1949. But by that time, Herman’s Band was no longer in existence. Bernstein attempted, without success, to use the music from Prelude, Fugue and Riffs as a ballet sequence in the show Wonderful Town (1953). The premiere of Prelude, Fugue and Riffs finally took place on October 16, 1955, as part of an Omnibus television broadcast, The World of Jazz. The soloist was another legendary clarinetist and bandleader, Benny Goodman, to whom Bernstein dedicated the work. Prelude, Fugue and Riffs is scored for an ensemble featuring a solo clarinet, piano, and bass, brass, winds and percussion. The work is in three brief movements, played without pause. The piece opens with a bracing Prelude for the Brass (Fast and exact). The first tenor saxophone launches the Fugue for the Saxes (Exactly the same beat). The finale, Riffs for Everyone, marks the appearance of the solo clarinet, initially in dialogue with the piano. Despite the fact that the music is fully transcribed, the finale has an improvisational, freewheeling character that gathers breathtaking momentum, capped by the ffff concluding measure.

Symphony No. 2 Blues Symphony (2009) Wynton Marsalis was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 18, 1961. These are the world premiere performances of Blues Symphony. Blues Symphony is scored for piccolo, three flutes, three oboes, English horn, E-flat clarinet, three clarinets, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, three bassoons, contrabassoon, four French horns, three trumpets, three trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion and strings.

S

ymphony No. 2 Blues Symphony, by the internationally celebrated American instrumentalist and composer, Wynton Marsalis, was commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Spano, Music Director, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta’s Performing Arts Publication 25

James Levine, Music Director, with the generous support of the National Black Arts Festival. Blues Symphony receives its world premiere at these concerts. The composer provided the following commentary on Blues Symphony (for a biography of Mr. Marsalis, please see p. 31): This piece celebrates the blues through the prism of different moments in American history. It incorporates the call and responses, train whistles, stomp-down grooves, big city complexities and down-home idiosyncrasies of Afro American and American music. Like most New Orleans musicians, I grew up surrounded by vernacular music and love the plain-spokenness of it all. My writing process is rooted in the tradition of Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson and Jelly Roll Morton. I’ve had the good fortune to study their scores and review their compositional methods. I’m very conscious of maintaining devices like the chorus format, timed call and responses, rhythm breaks, vertical voicing, and New Orleans style polyphony. Though these particular jazzmen have no tradition of serious composition for symphonic orchestra, their methods of presenting and developing material are fully home-grown and very successful. The discoveries of Gershwin, Bernstein, Copland, Still, Grofé and Riddle amongst others, provide a workable tradition of embracing vernacular musical achievements and amplifying them with skillful symphonic orchestration. I want to play and write as much of our root music (with the sensibility of a jazzman of course) as I can – Anglo, Afro and Hispanic American songs; fiddle tunes and folk melodies; hymns and popular songs as well as rhythms like the Western Shuffle, Boogie-woogie, Crescent City 2-beat, various claves and so on — hard earned grooves that give our music the richness and natural feeling that make it likable, danceable, romantic and identifiable … music which is, by this time, universal and the rightful province of all musicians everywhere regardless of background or acculturation. I am largely untutored in orchestral writing, and the orchestra is a very sophisticated instrument, an instrument that commands a lot of respect. I tend to use my natural hearing and love of what the various instruments like to do and can do to guide my process. I also try to figure out how to write parts that musicians will want to play. I’m always an orchestra or band member at heart. I love playing. Playing is a very social activity. Composing, however, is a long personal meditation. You need mental isolation to figure things out. When I compose, I like to have a small, desolate room with a piano. I start to think and get the energy built up over time. Ideas generally come to me when waking up and going to bed. I always wake up with a lot of ideas. When I’m on the road — no piano, no room — the buildup of energy has to be internal ... it’s a lot harder. — Wynton Marsalis


ASOprogram Piano Concerto in G Major (1931) Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure, Basses-Pyrénées, France, on March 7, 1875, and died in Paris, France, on December 28, 1937. The first performance of the G-Major Piano Concerto took place at the Salle Pleyel in Paris on January 14, 1932, with Marguerite Long as soloist and the composer conducting the Lamoureux Orchestra. In addition to the solo piano, the G-Major Concerto is scored for piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, B-flat clarinet, E-flat clarinet, two bassoons, two horns, trumpet, trombone, harp, timpani, bass drum, snare drum, wood block, triangle, tam tam, suspended cymbal, whip, bass drum and strings. Approximate performance time is twenty-three minutes. First ASO Classical Subscription Performances: January 10, 1963, Philippe Entremont, Piano, Henry Sopkin, Conductor. Most Recent ASO Classical Subscription Performances: January 18, 20 and 21, 2007, Olli Mustonen, Piano, Robert Spano, conductor.

Ravel, Jazz and the G-Major Concerto

T

oward the close of 1927, Maurice Ravel embarked upon a four-month tour of the United States and Canada. Ravel traveled across the North American continent, appearing as pianist and conductor in twenty-five cities. Ravel enjoyed a glowing reception from the American people. At an all-Ravel concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall by Serge Koussevitsky and the Boston Symphony, the composer was greeted by a standing ovation. “You know, this doesn’t happen to me in Paris,” Ravel wistfully commented. While in America, Ravel had the opportunity to meet such musicians as George Gershwin and Paul Whiteman. Ravel and Gershwin traveled to Harlem on several occasions to listen to jazz. Ravel was greatly impressed by what he called “the national music of the United States.” Ravel completed his Piano Concerto in G in the fall of 1931. Ravel originally intended to be the soloist in the Concerto’s world premiere, but was prevented by illness. The composer did, however, conduct the January 14, 1932 premiere with pianist Marguerite Long (who also played the first performance of Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin). In an interview, Ravel acknowledged that the jazz he so enjoyed in the United States influenced the G-Major Concerto. “What is being written today without the influence of jazz?”, Ravel queried. “It is not the only influence, however; in the concerto one also finds bass accompaniments from the time of Bach, a melody that recalls Mozart, the Mozart of the Clarinet Quintet, which by the way is the most beautiful piece he wrote.” Of course, the success of the G-Major Concerto is the product of Ravel’s remarkable ability to synthesize these various and potentially disparate influences into an engaging, unified and individual work.

Musical Analysis I. Allegramente — The soloist accompanies a vivacious piccolo melody, apparently based upon a Basque folk tune. The opening melody is soon played by the trumpet, then by the entire orchestra. Ravel introduces several themes, notably a descending blues passage first played by the clarinet, Atlanta’s Performing Arts Publication 27

and echoed by the muted trumpet. The soloist and orchestra display an exceptional degree of interaction. However, toward the latter portion of the movement, the soloist takes center stage with an extended cadenza. The opening theme returns for the movement’s exuberant conclusion. II. Adagio assai — Ravel admitted to Marguerite Long that the Concerto’s slow movement (inspired by the Larghetto of Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, K. 581) was crafted “bar by bar.” Still, there is no apparent sense of effort in the extended, flowing piano solo with which the movement opens. The remainder of the Adagio features lovely woodwind passages, including a haunting duet for piano and English horn in the latter portion of the movement. III. Presto — The virtuoso finale is the Concerto’s most overtly jazz-influenced movement. After an orchestral fanfare, the soloist enters with a scurrying perpetual motion figure and continues to play almost without pause throughout. A reprise of the opening fanfare caps this energetic and playful finale.

An American in Paris (1928) George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 26, 1898, and died in Hollywood, California, on July 11, 1937. The first performance of An American in Paris took place at Carnegie Hall in New York on December 13, 1928, with Walter Damrosch conducting the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Society. An American in Paris is scored for piccolo, three flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, two bassoons, four horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, wood block, cymbals, bass drum, triangle, tom-toms, taxi horn, xylophone, orchestra bells, celeste and strings. Approximate performance time is eighteen minutes. First ASO Classical Subscription Performance: March 3, 1953, Henry Sopkin, Conductor. Most Recent ASO Classical Subscription Performances: October 25, 26 and 27, 2007, Robert Spano, Conductor.

I

n March of 1928, George Gershwin departed New York for Europe, and trips to Paris, London, and Vienna. Prior to that time, Gershwin received a commission from conductor Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphony Society (later, the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Society) for a new orchestral work. While in Paris, Gershwin stayed at the Hotel Majestic. According to Edward Jablonski and Lawrence Stewart, in their book, The Gershwin Years: George worked on An American in Paris and readily played it for the usual stream of callers, among them the young British composer William Walton, Vladimir Dukelsky (better known as Vernon Duke), Dick Simon, the publisher, and pianist Mario Braggiotti. One day Leopold Stokowski dropped by and became greatly interested in the work in progress, but this lasted only until he heard that the first performance had been promised to Damrosch. Gershwin returned to New York in June, where he completed An American in Paris a month before the work’s premiere. Walter Damrosch conducted the Carnegie Hall concert, which took place on December 13, 1928.


ASOprogram An American in Paris Gershwin provided a description of An American in Paris, which is included below (indented and in italics): Allegretto grazioso — This new piece, really a rhapsodic ballet, is written very freely and is the most modern music I’ve yet attempted. The opening part will be developed in typical French style, in the manner of Debussy and the Six, though the themes are all original. My purpose here is to portray the impression of an American visitor in Paris, as he strolls about the city, and listens to various street noises and absorbs the French atmosphere. An American in Paris opens with a jaunty “Walking Theme,” introduced by the violins and oboes, conjuring a leisurely stroll through the City of Light. The inclusion of French taxi horns in the percussion section is a delightful, atmospheric touch. Gershwin went to great time and expense to secure these horns for the premiere. Other Parisian elements include the popular song, “La Maxixe,” played by the trombones. An episode featuring a magical combination of celeste and solo violin (Calmato) may, according to program notes for the premiere, suggest a brief conversation between the American and a Parisian woman. Andante ma con ritmo deciso — As in my other orchestral compositions, I’ve not endeavored to represent any definite scenes in this music. The rhapsody is programmatic only in a general impressionistic way, so that the individual listener can read into the music such as his imagination pictures for him. The opening gay section is followed by a rich blues with a strong rhythmic undercurrent. Our American friend perhaps after strolling into a café and having a couple of drinks, has succumbed to a spasm of homesickness. The harmony here is both more intense and simple than in the preceding pages. A solo trumpet (with felt crown) plays a haunting, espressivo blues melody, soon taken up by other instruments. The music builds to a Grandioso climax, and finally resolves to a hushed episode, featuring a lilting violin solo. The blues melody temporarily yields to a playful Charleston (Allegro), introduced by the trumpets. Allegretto — The blues rises to a climax followed by a coda in which the music returns to the vivacity and bubbling exuberance of the opening part with its impressions of Paris. Apparently the homesick American, having left the café and reached the open air, has disowned his spell of the blues and once again is an alert spectator of Parisian life. At the conclusion, the street noises and French atmosphere are triumphant. A varied reprise of material from the opening “Walking” section joins with a reappearance of the blues melody, as An American in Paris reaches its grand conclusion. Atlanta’s Performing Arts Publication 29

laura ardan, Clarinet

T

he Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Clarinetist since 1982, Laura Ardan holds the endowed Robert Shaw Chair. She has been a featured soloist with the orchestra in works by Mozart, Weber, Debussy, Copland, Bernstein, Finzi, Rossini and Artie Shaw and has also performed with the Cleveland Quartet on the ASO’s Summerfest series. Laura Ardan A student of Roger Hiller and Stanley Drucker, Ms. Ardan attended the Juilliard School of Music on scholarships from both Juilliard and the Naumburg Foundation. Before joining the ASO, she was resident clarinetist and teaching artist at the Lincoln Center Institute for four years. She also played in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for two seasons.

Ms. Ardan has performed in the Tanglewood, Marlboro and Mostly Mozart Festivals and as a guest artist in “Emanuel Ax Invites ...” on the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center. A frequent guest of the Atlanta Chamber Players, Georgian Chamber Players and Emory Chamber Music Society, she plays regularly at the Highlands Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina and the Grand Teton Chamber Music Festival in Wyoming. Her recording of the Copland Clarinet Concerto is available on the Naxos label.

olli mustonen, Piano

O

lli Mustonen has a unique place on today’s music scene. As a pianist, he has challenged and fascinated audiences throughout Europe and America with his brilliant technique and startling originality. In his role as conductor, he founded the Helsinki Festival Orchestra and as a composer he forms part of a very special line of musicians whose vision is expressed as vividly in the art of re-creative interpretation as it is in their own compositions.

Olli Mustonen

Born in Helsinki, he began his studies in piano, harpsichord and composition at the age of five. His first piano teacher was Ralf Gothoni. He subsequently studied piano with Eero Heinonen and composition with Einojuhani Rautavaara. As a recitalist he plays in all the world’s musical capitals, including Amsterdam, Berlin, London, New York, Tokyo and Vienna. At the heart of both his piano playing and conducting is his life as a composer. Mustonen has a deeply held conviction that each performance must have the freshness of a first performance, so that audience and performer alike encounter the composer as a living contemporary. In this respect he recalls Mahler’s famous dictum, that tradition can be laziness, yet he is equally suspicious of the performance that seeks only to be different. This tenacious spirit of discovery leads him to explore many areas of repertoire beyond the established canon.


ASOprogram Wynton Marsalis, Composer

W

ynton Marsalis stands in a league all his own. He has been described as a creative genius, compassionate humanitarian, legendary trumpeter, masterful composer, arts advocate, tireless educator and cultural leader. However, it is Wynton’s lifetime commitment to inspiring and uplifting people worldwide though artistic excellence in jazz that has made an unparalleled impact on domestic and international culture.

Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Learson Marsalis was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 18, 1961 – the second of six sons to Ellis and Dolores Marsalis. Wynton is steeped in the tradition of his hometown. However, when he received his first trumpet from Al Hirt at age six, he wasn’t initially serious about the instrument – that is, until age 12. Within the next two years, he flourished and won a competition playing Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in Eb major with the New Orleans Philharmonic. Wynton continued playing throughout the Crescent City in concert, marching and jazz brass bands, gospel churches, symphonic orchestras and various funk bands and modern jazz ensembles. At age 17, he became the youngest musician ever to be admitted to Tanglewood’s Berkshire Music Center. Despite his youth, he was awarded the school’s prestigious Harvey Shapiro Award for outstanding brass student. Wynton moved to New York in 1979 to study at the Juilliard School. He left school in 1981 to join the finest finishing school in jazz, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Wynton has received a thorough education in jazz and the arts from a group of legendary mentors. In New Orleans, his father Ellis, a dedicated jazz pianist and educator, taught him modern jazz, and Dr. Bert Braud taught him classical theory at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. Renowned banjoist Danny Barker trained him in the rudiments of New Orleans Jazz as he led the legendary Fairview Baptist Church band, which Wynton joined at the age of 8. In the years to follow, Wynton was educated by blues trumpet master ‘Sweets’ Edison, a celebrated member of Count Basie’s epochal 1930s band, and Clark Terry, a most treasured member of Ellington’s 1950s Orchestra. Wynton also toured with Miles Davis’s second great rhythm section - Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams and Ron Carter – and toured with and was mentored by drummer Elvin Jones, the engine of Coltrane’s Classic Quartet, and John Lewis, the artistic director of the Modern Jazz Quartet. At 19, he recorded his first jazz album as a leader, and at the age of 20, he assembled his own band and hit the road – performing more than 120 concerts a year around the world for 20 consecutive years. To date, he has produced more than 60 records, selling more than 7 million records worldwide including 3 Gold Records. Wynton holds the distinction of being the only artist to ever win Grammy Awards for both jazz and classical records and the only artist to win Grammy Awards in five consecutive years. Wynton also has a lifelong appreciation and involvement with classical music. Wynton recorded the Haydn, Hummel and Leopold Mozart trumpet concertos at the age of 21 and went on to record 10 additional classical records, all to critical acclaim. He has performed with Atlanta’s Performing Arts Publication 31

ASOprogram leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, and the Czech National Orchestra. Composing is the core of Wynton’s career. His inventiveness has been widely embraced, having received numerous commissions to create major compositions. Garth Fagan Dance, The New York City Ballet, Twyla Tharp with the American Ballet Theatre, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Savion Glover have all danced to Wynton’s compositions. He collaborated with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society in 1995 to compose the string quartet, At the Octoroon Balls, and again in 1998 to create a response to Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale with his composition, A Fiddler’s Tale. At the dawn of the new millennium (1999), Wynton presented his first symphony, All Rise. This epic composition for big band, gospel choir and symphony orchestra was preformed by the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Kurt Masur along with the Morgan State University Choir, under the direction of Dr. Nathan Carter, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Wynton’s long relationship with Ghanaian master drummer Yacub Addy led to the composition and premiere of Congo Square in 2006. This piece redefines the intersection of African music and American jazz. The Mass commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Abyssinian Baptist Church was composed by Wynton and performed in 2008 with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, The Abyssinian Baptist Church Choir and Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III. It developed ideas presented in Wynton’s 1992 landmark, In This House on This Morning, a piece that was followed by an unprecedented, nationwide tour of African-American churches. Wynton’s second symphony, Blues Symphony, is his latest composition. It celebrates the blues through the prism of different periods in American history. Comprising seven movements, each with a distinct sound and historic reference point, Blues Symphony is written in the tradition of Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson and Jelly Roll Morton and finds its foundation in American root music. Based on the groundwork established by his mentors’ teachings and his first-hand experiences interacting with people of all ages and cultures, Wynton co-founded Jazz at Lincoln Center – the world’s first and foremost institution dedicated to jazz education and performance. He is a living embodiment of jazz culture and history. At 48 years old, his achievements are unrivaled — from receiving, among many others, the prestigious Algur H. Meadows Award for Excellence in the Arts and history-making Grammy, Pulitzer, and Peabody awards to being recognized as one of America’s 25 most influential people, appointed as a UN Messenger of Peace, honored with the National Medal of Arts and, most recently, awarded the French Legion of Honor. The most extraordinary dimension of Wynton is his character, not his accolades and accomplishments. Wynton has been a tireless advocate for marshalling the will and resources necessary to rebuild New Orleans culturally, socially and economically. Whether waiting in an empty parking lot for an hour after a concert to give an aspiring musician advice, or for a single student to return from home with his horn for a trumpet lesson, or personally funding scholarships for students, Wynton donates his time and talent to make a difference in the lives of individuals and to help raise money for charitable organizations. Wynton’s commitment to the improvement of life for all people embodies the best of his character and humanity and drives him to continually strive to do more.
