RACHMANINOFF ’ S FIRST PIANO CONCERTO & STRAVINSKY
Simon Trpčeski
Simon Trpčeski
Simon Trpčeski has been praised as much for his powerful virtuosity and deeply expressive approach as for his charismatic stage presence . Launched onto the international scene 20 years ago as a BBC New-Generation Artist , in an incredibly fast-paced career unhindered by cultural or musical boundaries , he has collaborated with over a hundred orchestras on four continents and performed on the most prestigious stages .
Simon Trpčeski ’ s fruitful collaborations with EMI Classics , Avie Records , Wigmore Hall Live , Onyx Classics , and currently Linn Records has resulted in a broad and award-winning discography . Variations , his latest solo album was released in the spring of 2022 , followed by “ Friendship ”, a chamber music album in April 2023 . His recording of Brahms piano concertos with WDR Symphony Orchestra and Cristian Măcelaru was released in November 2023 to great critical acclaim . Born in Macedonia in 1979 , Simon Trpčeski is a graduate of the School of Music at the University of St . Cyril and St . Methodius in Skopje , where he studied with Boris Romanov . Committed to strengthening the cultural image of his native country , his chamber music project Makedonissimo weaves into one unique sound world the Macedonian folk music tradition with highly virtuoso , jazz-influenced riffs and harmonies .
In 2009 , Simon Trpčeski received the Presidential Order of Merit for Macedonia and In 2011 , he became the first-ever recipient of the title “ National Artist of Macedonia ”. He was BBC New Generation Artist 2001 – 2003 and in 2003 , was honored with the Young Artist Award by the Royal Philharmonic Society .
Photographer Name
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM by Esteban Meneses
Jessie Montgomery
Born December 8 , 1981 in New York , New York Resides in Chicago , Illinois
SNAPSHOTS [ 2023 ]
Jessie Montgomery is a GRAMMYwinning composer and violinist from Manhattan ’ s historic Lower East Side . With a growing multistylistic catalog that synthesizes various American idioms and confronts issues of identity , personal history , and social discontent , Montgomery is at the forefront of contemporary classical composition .
Montgomery is the most recent Composer in Residence of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra , with which she presented three world premieres , curated nine concerts for the MusicNOW contemporary series , and founded a mentorship program for young composers . She was Musical America ’ s Composer of the Year in 2023 .
Snapshots , premiered that year , is the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra co-commission for this program . The Dallas Symphony Orchestra — the lead commissioning organization — gave the world premiere . The composer ’ s program note reads :
“ Snapshots is part of a series of pieces I have been writing recently that are comprised of short “ vignettes ,” each movement distinct in character and based on an imagined scene , mood , or effect . After a boisterous introductory movement , typical of my works that are inspired by dance music , the subsequent movements II and III are whimsical and playful , like peering into a diorama , precisely staged and complete , evocative of a town square where children may play boisterously , followed by a passing storm that never quite breaks . The final movement is a call to my earlier influences of film music and Ravel and Debussy string quartets .”
Instrumentation : Three flutes ( third doubling piccolo ), two oboes , English horn , three clarinets , two bassoons , contrabassoon , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , harp , piano , and celesta .
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Born April 1 , 1873 in Semyonovo , Russia Died March 28 , 1943 in Beverly Hills , California
PIANO CONCERTO NO . 1 [ 1891 , REV . 1917 ]
Rachmaninoff ’ s second and third piano concertos are so consequential and universally admired in the history of the genre that we can ’ t be blamed for not always looking on the youthful Piano Concerto No . 1 with the same kind of love .
More than a piece of juvenilia that foreshadows the greatness to come , however , the Concerto No . 1 , in F-sharp minor , still achieves a synthesis of lyrical Romanticism and Russian vigor that makes it stand on its own , using the general mold of Grieg ’ s Piano Concerto ( 1868 ). That Rachmaninoff composed the work in 1891 , still a teenager and a student at the Moscow Conservatory , is impressive .
The young Rachmaninoff dedicated the three-movement Concerto No . 1 to Alexander Siloti , his piano teacher at the conservatory , where the first movement was premiered , in 1892 , with the composer as soloist . The crucial factor in the history of the concerto , though , came in 1917 , when Rachmaninoff revised it . With maturity and experience in his favor , he thinned out the textures in a way that allowed the solo piano to shine more brightly . That is the version that is usually performed since , which benefits from more limpid orchestration and a tighter structure .
The first movement opens with a brief fanfare led by the horns , to which the soloist responds with fervent double octaves . A contrasting theme for strings is later picked up by the soloist , and the two main thematic strands are developed , which gives the movement a satisfying symmetry .
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