PROGRAM NOTES
BRUCH AND SIBELIUS
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
BY AARON GRAD
Andrea Tarrodi
Born October 9 , 1981 in Stockholm , Sweden WILDWOOD [ 2016 ]
The Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi had just finished a master ’ s degree at Stockholm ’ s Royal College of Music when her orchestra score Zephyros won first prize at a major competition in 2010 . Her music has been gaining traction beyond Sweden ever since , including a 2020 performance at the BBC Proms in London .
Tarrodi is one of those rare people who experiences synesthesia , a co-mingling of the senses that links notes and chords with particular colors in her mind , and she drafts her scores with a visual sense of space and shape . This approach has served her especially well when writing for large orchestra , like in Wildwood , composed in 2016 for the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra .
“ Wildwood was inspired by trees ,” Tarrodi explained , “ especially oaks : how their roots grow deep into the ground and their branches reach high up into the sky .” That sense of rootedness is apparent from the start of the first movement , with a “ heavy and majestic ” line that rises from the depths of the low strings over the gentle rumble of a bass drum .
Instrumentation Two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons including contrasbassoon , four horns , three trumpets , four trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , harp , and strings .
Max Bruch
Born January 6 , 1838 in Cologne , Germany Died October 2 , 1920 in Berlin , Germany
VIOLIN CONCERTO NO . 1 [ 1864-68 ]
Max Bruch ’ s mother was a singer and also his first music teacher , and by the age of 20 , Bruch was captivating German audiences with a breakthrough opera . For the next 60 years , he built his sterling reputation on his many vocal and choral works , but a century after his death , Bruch ’ s legacy has come to rest on a handful of exceptional scores for soloist and orchestra : Kol Nidrei for cello , the Scottish Fantasy for violin , and above all the First Violin Concerto .
Bruch ’ s signature composition transfers his vocal sensitivity to the violin , an instrument that , as he once wrote , “ can sing a melody better than a piano — and melody is the soul of music .” He began working on the concerto in 1864 , and he conducted the premiere of an initial version in 1866 , but he was not satisfied until he incorporated suggestions from the Hungarian virtuoso Joseph Joachim , the same violinist who later provided similar guidance for Brahms ’ Violin Concerto . Joachim debuted the authoritative version in 1868 , and Bruch ’ s concerto spread quickly into the hands of leading violin soloists .
Unlike a typical concerto , with its meatiest music concentrated in the first movement , Bruch ’ s structure begins with a free-ranging Vorspiel ( Prelude ) full of improvisatory solo declamations . The central Adagio exemplifies the singing quality of Bruch ’ s style , with the violin ’ s initial phrases occupying the instrument ’ s warm contralto range . Influenced by Joachim ’ s input , the main theme of the Allegro energico finale evokes Hungarian folkfiddling with thick chords and double-stops .
Instrumentation Two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , two trumpets , timpani , and strings .
Jean Sibelius
Born December 8 , 1865 in Hämeenlinna , Finland ( Grand Duchy of Russia ) Died September 20 , 1957 in Järvenpää , Finland
SYMPHONY NO . 2 IN D MAJOR , OP . 43 [ 1901-02 ]
Jean Sibelius was Finland ’ s first and greatest musical hero . He rose to fame at the turn of the 20th century on the strengths of his First Symphony and the tone poem Finlandia , works that gave voice to a burgeoning national identity just when Finland began agitating for independence from Russia . It was also around 1900 that Sibelius ’ music started appearing in concert halls around Europe , and he was particularly pleased in 1901 to receive a kind word from Richard Strauss , who was just a year older than Sibelius but already a star . Adopting Strauss ’ preferred format , Sibelius planned a series of four tone poems related to the Don Juan legend , but the sketches he started in Italy and completed in Helsinki ultimately took an abstract form in the Symphony No . 2 .
Sibelius disavowed any political underpinnings in the Second Symphony , but that did not stop the Finnish people from embracing it as an anthem of their struggle after the Helsinki premiere in 1902 . Much of the perceived “ protest ” aspect of the music traces to the second movement , with its trudging pizzicato , lugubrious bassoon melody , and impassioned climaxes . The scherzo , a blur of perpetualmotion string figures and hovering woodwind lines , continues the sense of struggle .
Sibelius ’ widow explained that the finale ’ s somber music over a spinning bass line was composed in memory of a sister-in-law who committed suicide . This unsettled material lends extra poignancy to the symphony ’ s ultimate resolution in a realm of uplift and triumph .
Instrumentation Two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , and strings .
Musical Terms Adagio : A musical tempo : in a leisurely manner , slowly . Contralto : The lowest female voice range , between soprano and tenor . Allegro energico : Energetic and performed at a brisk tempo . Double-stop : The technique of playing two or more notes simultaneously on a stringed instrument . Pizzicato : To pluck the string of the instrument with one ’ s finger . Scherzo : Translates to “ a joke .” The scherzo is often the fast , third movement of a larger work , followed by a more gentle section called the trio . The scherzo is then repeated .
18 OVERTURE / BSOmusic . org