{ program notes
Conrad Tao last appeared with the BSO
in July 2010 for Summerfest.
Andrew Balio
Wisconsin native
Andrew Balio was
appointed principal trumpet of the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2001
by Yuri Temirkanov. Prior orchestral
appointments include principal trumpet
of the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin
Mehta and the Orquesta Sinfonica del
Estado de Mexico. Starting September
of 2014, he begins a one-year appointment as principal trumpet of the Oslo
Philharmonic. His solo debut was at age
15 with the Milwaukee Symphony, playing the Haydn Concerto and he made
his Carnegie Hall solo debut in 2013
with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra.
His teachers included Charles Schlueter, Adoph Herseth, Roger Voisin and
Gene Young. Mr. Balio has appeared
as a soloist throughout Europe and
South America under such conductors
as Mehta, McGeegan, Temirkanov,
Rozdestvensky and Herbig. In 2006, he
founded Future Symphony Institute, a
think tank that brings together the best
minds to solve orchestras challenges to
be financially viable while preserving
their artistic mission.
Andrew Balio last appeared as a soloist with
the BSO in March 2014, performing Bach’s
Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 with Concertmaster Jonathan Carney conducting.
About the concert:
Leonore Overture No. 3
Ludwig van Beethoven
Born in Bonn, Germany, December 16, 1770;
died in Vienna, Austria, March 26, 1827
Beethoven wrote just one opera, Fidelio,
but it probably cost him more effort
than all nine of his symphonies combined. Unsatisfied with his creation, he
composed three versions over the decade
1804–1814 and wrote four overtures for
36 O v ertur e |
www. bsomusic .org
it, all of which are now in the symphonic
repertoire. The most famous and surely
the greatest of them is Leonore No. 3
(the opera was originally called Leonore),
which Beethoven composed for the
premiere of the opera’s second version
in 1806.
Based on a French drama, Jean
Nicolas Bouilly’s Leonore or Conjugal
Love, the story was drawn from real
incidents during the French Revolution.
It tells of the plight of Florestan,
unjustly thrown in prison by a political
rival Don Pizarro. Florestan’s resourceful
wife, Leonore, discovers where he has
been hidden and, disguising herself as
a young man, becomes a trusty at the
prison. At gunpoint, she faces down the
evil Pizarro, and her heroism is rewarded
by the sound of a distant trumpet,
signaling the arrival of the Minister of
Justice, Don Fernando. Fernando frees
Florestan and the other political prisoners,
and they join in a triumphant chorus
hailing their freedom and Leonore’s
courageous love.
Essentially, the Leonore Overture
No. 3 tells this whole story in music
before the curtain even goes up, and that
is exactly why Beethoven finally rejected
it for the shorter, lighter Fidelio Overture.
With the two trumpet calls heralding
Don Fernando’s timely arrival embedded
in the music and the concluding victory
coda, the opera’s denouement has already
been given away! But if it fails as a
Shostakovich
curtain raiser, Leonore No. 3 triumphs
as a concert piece. The slow introduction paints a vivid picture of Florestan
in his dungeon cell, and the wistful
melody sung immediately by clarinets
and bassoons comes from his despairing
Act II aria, recalling his past joys with
Leonore. When the music quickens to
Allegro, Leonore, with all her courage and determination, appears before
us. The middle development section
becomes a struggle between the forces
of good and evil, ended by the offstage
trumpet calls. After a hymn of hope and
thanksgiving, the work ends in a mighty
dance of victory.
Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes, two
clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, three
trumpets (one of which is offstage), three
trombones, timpani and strings.
Piano Concerto No. 1, opus 35
Dmitri Shostakovich
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, September 25,
1906; died in Moscow, August 9, 1975
Dmitri Shostakovich began his career
as famous for his skills as a pianist as
for his composing. After the success
of his First Symphony in 1926, written when he was only 19, he was off to
Warsaw the next year to compete in the
renowned International Chopin Competition for pianists. Winning only an
honorable mention there was a blow that
stung him for many years afterward. By
1930, Shostakovich had virtually given
up his solo career; highly strung and
sensitive to a fault, he suffered agonies
before each performance. Such refined
sensitivity was far better suited to a
creative than a recreative career.
However, Shostakovich’s successes as
a composer in the early 1930s brought
renewed demand for live appearances.
Putting hours into regaining his technical facility, in 1933 he composed two
new works to show it off: the 24 Piano
Preludes, opus 34 and his First Piano
Concerto, opus 35. Brilliant and playful, the Concerto was warmly received
at its first performance on October 4,