Program Notes }
the tempo slows for a peaceful oasis. Here
Rachmaninoff gives us the last of his heartstoppingly beautiful tunes, introduced by
the mellow alto saxophone, a visitor from
Big Band jazz. Violins soon sweep up this
gorgeous melody, steeped in the flavor of
Russian folk song. In the closing coda,
the strings sing a lovely Russian chant-like
melody: a theme from the composer’s First
Symphony, a bitter failure in his youth but
now recalled with tranquility through a
radiant mist of bells, harp, and piano.
Movement two’s dance is a phantasmic
waltz, like something heard in a dream. It
is introduced by ominous brass chords that
return to disturb its flow. With difficulty
the orchestra tries to launch the waltz;
finally, the English horn succeeds in establishing the swaying melody. Occasionally,
the waltz blossoms lushly in the divided
strings, but biting harmonies constantly
undercut any sentimentality.
The finale opens with the weary sighs
of old age. Here Rachmaninoff’s old
nemesis, the “Dies Irae” (“Day of Judgment”), a Gregorian funeral chant he
used so often in his music, returns as the
composer contemplates death. The music
seems to describe man’s final struggle for
life and then its end, as woodwinds vanish upward over a harp glissando. Music
of mourning issues from the depths of
the orchestra. But the tempo soon accelerates to a dance of triumph. The “Dies
Irae” chant sounds again in the brass, but
is vanquished by a rhythmically vivacious
Orthodox chant melody rising from low
strings and woodwinds. This is the song
“Blagosloven Yesi, Gospodi” from Rachmaninoff’s choral masterpiece All-Night
Vigil, telling of Christ’s resurrection.
Here the composer seems to be joyfully
proclaiming his own faith in resurrected
life. At the end of the score, he wrote the
words: “I thank Thee, Lord!”
Instrumentation: Two flutes, piccolo, two
oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass
clarinet, alto saxophone, two bassoons,
contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets,
three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion,
harp, piano and strings.
Jo s e ph Meye rho ff Sym pho ny Hall
B a l t i mo r e S y m p h o n y O r c h e s t r a
Marin Alsop
Music Director • Harvey M. And Lyn P. Meyerhoff Chair
Bach’s Brandenburgs
Thursday, March 13, 2014 — 8 p.m.
Friday, March 14, 2014 — 8 p.m.
Jonathan Carney, Leader and Violin
Madeline Adkins, Leader and Violin
Lisa Steltenpohl, Leader and Viola
BSO Soloists
Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major, BWV 1046
[Allegro]
Adagio
Allegro
Menuet; Trio 1; Menuet; Polonaise; Menuet; Trio 2; Menuet
JONATHAN CARNEY, Leader and Violin
KATHERINE NEEDLEMAN, Oboe
MICHAEL LISICKY, Oboe
JANE MARVINE, Oboe
FEI XIE, Bassoon
PHILIP MUNDS, Horn
Gabrielle Finck, Horn
Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major, BWV 1049
Allegro
Andante
Presto
MADELINE ADKINS, Leader and Violin
EMILY SKALA, Flute
MARCIA KÄMPER, Flute
Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV L