PROGRAM NOTES
DVOŘÁK SYMPHONY NO . 8
Kristin Hoebermann
ABOUT THE ARTISTS , cont ' d
Rune Bergmann
Rune Bergmann
Norwegian conductor Rune Bergmann is currently Music Director of Canada ’ s Calgary Philharmonic , Artistic Director & Chief Conductor of Poland ’ s Szczecin Philharmonic , and Chief Conductor of Switzerland ’ s Argovia Philharmonic .
Guest engagements in the 2021-22 season bring Bergmann to the podium of the Baltimore , Utah , and Colorado symphony orchestras , as well as the Peninsula Music Festival , the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana , and the Odense Symphony Orchestra .
Bergmann ’ s recent guest engagements include the Detroit , Edmonton , Houston , New Jersey , and Pacific symphony orchestras ; the Bergen Philharmonic ; Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa ; Norwegian National Opera Orchestra ; and
Orquesta de Valencia .
2018 saw the release of Bergmann ’ s first recording with the Szczecin Philharmonic , which featured Mieczyław Karłowicz ’ s Symphony in E- Minor , a piece that has become a major focus of Bergmann ’ s repertoire .
Bergmann has also served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Kaunas City Symphony and has been Artistic Director of Norway ’ s innovative Fjord Cadenza Festival since its inception in 2010 .
Experience the Performance Again A livestream of this performance is available for a limited time . A BSO Sessions episode , featuring an interview with Rune Bergmann , will be released on December 29 and will remain available through the 2021 – 22 season .
FROM THE PODIUM by Rune Bergmann
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra made a tremendous impression on me when I met them for the first time a few years ago to perform Nielsen ’ s Symphony No . 4 . They are energetic musicians on the highest possible level , and I will never forget the fun we had ! I am sure that we will find the same energy again when we explore this amazing music that is very close to my heart .
Both Grieg and Dvořák are full of love for their countries , and you can hear the folk music character in their melodies and harmonies . What I find most striking in Dvořák ’ s Eighth Symphony are the colors and harmonies that somehow go straight into your heart to tell you the story . The symphony isn ’ t very difficult technically , but there are many elements that are connected in such a way that there is no time to relax . To carry all this music needs full focus and concentration .
In Grieg ’ s music , I feel the colors more as pictures or moving images . The Peer Gynt stories represent the best of Norwegian folklore , and in this suite , Grieg tells a musical story in a way that it feels like watching a movie .
Hadyn ’ s Sinfonia Concertante is fun and structured , and it always puts me in a good mood . The most special aspect of this piece for me is to work closely with the four soloists . I can ’ t wait to be back in town to meet the audience and reunite with this wonderful orchestra !
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
BY AARON GRAD
Edvard Grieg
Born June 15 , 1843 in Bergen , Norway Died September 4 , 1907 in Bergen , Norway
PEER GYNT , SUITE NO . 1 [ 1875-1888 ]
The Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg spent a year crafting 26 musical numbers for the debut production of Henrik Ibsen ’ s Peer Gynt , a play that put a modern , fantastical sheen on local folk legends . Grieg later incorporated selections into two orchestral suites , including this Suite No . 1 from 1888 .
Gently rising and falling melodies , first traded between flute and oboe , evoke the sunrise in “ Morning Mood .” The suite continues with mournful music composed for the end of the play ’ s third act , when Peer returns home just before “ The Death of Åse ,” his mother .
The coy strains of “ Anitra ' s Dance ” come from a scene set in Morocco , in which the rakish Peer tries to woo a chieftain ’ s daughter , who instead robs him and escapes . The suite ends with the famously spooky episode set “ In the Hall of the Mountain King ,” where Peer travels ( in a surreal dream state ) with a mysterious , green-clad woman to the throne of her father , the troll king .
Instrumentation Two flutes , piccolo , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , two trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , and strings .
Franz Joseph Haydn
Born March 31 , 1732 in Rohrau , Austria Died May 31 , 1809 in Vienna , Austria
SINFONIA CONCERTANTE IN B-FLAT MAJOR [ 1792 ]
Haydn had been serving the Esterházy family for 30 tireless years when a new prince decided to disband the court ’ s orchestra and cut back the role of their longtime Kapellmeister . Not that Haydn had any need to worry ; after an earlier contract negotiation gave him freedom to publish scores , his music had spread all over Europe and made him the most famous composer alive . Johann Peter Salomon , a German impresario active in England , seized the opportunity and invited Haydn to spend the 1791-92 season in London .
While Salomon and Haydn presented weekly concerts on Mondays in the Hanover Music Rooms , a competing group occupied the same venue on Thursdays for performances featuring Ignaz Pleyel , one of Haydn ’ s former composition students . As Haydn put it in a letter to a friend in Vienna , “ Now a bloody harmonious war will commence between master and pupil .”
Adopting a recent French trend , the Sinfonia Concertante , Pleyel impressed his London audiences with diverse concertos for multiple soloists . Not to be outdone , Haydn designed a Sinfonia Concertante of his own , using a solo quartet of violin , cello , oboe , and bassoon . By choosing four soloists that encompass a full sweep through the bass and treble registers , Haydn put himself on terrain that was familiar from his dozens of string quartets , and often the soloists play as if they are a self-contained chamber music group , with their statements framed by the subtlest of plucks from the strings or long tones from the winds .
The central Andante emphasizes the singing qualities of the soloists , placing them in
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