BSO Pulse: Program Notes 2016-2017 Brett Dennen with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra | Page 2

BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & BRETT DENNEN La Création du Monde Darius Milhaud Members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra SET CHANGE interviews with the musicians BRETT DENNEN SET COLLABORATIVE SET Brett Dennen and Members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra LA CRÉATION DU MONDE Who: Darius Milhaud (1892-1974), a French modernist composer who was greatly influenced by jazz and Brazilian popular music. He was a member of the prominent “Les Six” group of French composers, writing many operas and concert works, but as a teacher he also left a lasting impact on the jazz and popular music worlds that he loved by mentoring the likes of Dave Brubeck and Burt Bacharach. What: The Creation of the World (La Création du Monde) When and Where: Written in 1923 and premiered in Paris The Story: Darius Milhaud was already an established composer in the French Modernist classical scene in 1920 when he first heard a traveling American jazz band in London. Milhaud was in town to conduct one of his own works, but he found himself spending his evenings falling in love with the “hot jazz” he heard at a dance hall. Two years later, Milhaud traveled to the United States for a concert tour, but he took that opportunity to absorb as much jazz as possible in Harlem. He returned to France with many Black Swan jazz records and looked for an opportunity to blend the sounds and musical ideas he had listened to in his own work. The result was The Creation of the World, a short ballet he premiered in 1923 that takes its story from assorted creation mythology in Africa. The piece is one of the first serious attempts to bring ideas from jazz into the classical concert hall, predated Gershwin’s famous Rhapsody in Blue by a year. What’s notable in comparing the two classical jazz milestones is that where Gerswhin’s is lyrical and a touch sentimental, Milhaud’s is raucous and impolite, arguably a lot closer to the spirit of the hot jazz he heard in Harlem than the big band style that was finding more acceptance in mainstream America. THE ORCHESTRA: Nicholas Hersh, conductor TAG YOUR #BSOPULSE Kevin Smith, Ivan Stefanovic, violins • Dariusz Skoraczweski , cello • Bob Barney, bass • Chelsea Knox, Marcia Kämper, flutes • Jane Marvine, oboe • Yao Zhai, Bill Jenken, clarinets • Julie Gregorian, bassoon • Gary Louie (sub), saxophone • Gabe Finck, horn • Any Balio, Nate Hepler, trumpets • John Vance, trombone • James Wyman, timpani • John Locke, percussion • Jon Kalbfleisch (sub) piano Thank you for supporting this innovative series! BSOmusic.org/pulse or 410.783.8000 JOSEPH MEYERHOFF SYMPHONY HALL