Overture Magazine - 2015-2016 Season January-February 2016 | Page 22

{ program notes from the hammering dissonant chords. As the development trails off into an eerie passage of trembling violins, the horns anticipate the principal theme and push the orchestra into the recapitulation. The second-movement funeral march in C minor is in rondo form; Beethoven here converts a form often used for lighthearted Classical finales to a tragic purpose. In his superb new biography of Beethoven, Jan Swafford tells us that the musical style here was inspired by the grand funeral marches during the French Revolution. Over imitation drum rolls in the strings, the famous threnody unfolds its majestic course. It is succeeded by an episode in C major that injects rays of sunshine and hope, with fanfares proclaiming the greatness of the fallen hero. Then the dirge melody returns and swiftly becomes an imposing fugue: counterpoint intensifying emotion. In the movement’s remarkable closing measures, the march theme disintegrates into sobbing fragments. The third-movement scherzo provides relief after the weight and drama of the opening movements. Yet it too retains intensity in the midst of light-heartedness. Beethoven re-introduces a gentler variant of the off-the-downbeat hammer blows from the first movement; eventually they briefly push the three-beat meter into two beats. After struggle, the finale brings joy in the form of sublime musical play. It is an imposing set of variations on a theme Beethoven had used three times before: in an early set of Contredances, in the Creatures of Prometheus, and for the piano variations now known as the “Eroica” Variations. In fact, these are double variations because Beethoven first isolates the bass line of his theme as a witty little tune in its own right, only later giving us the theme itself in the woodwinds. Elaborate fugal passages and a grandly martial episode culminate in a sublime apotheosis: a group of variations in a slower tempo that proclaims the hero’s immortality. The Presto climax is capped by the symphony’s opening E-flat hammer blows, now triumphant rather than tragic. Notes by Janet E. Bedell, Copyright ©2016 20 O v ertur e | www. bsomusic .org Pixar in Concert Music Center At Strathmore Thursday, January 21, 2016 — 8 p.m. Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall Friday, January 22, 2016 — 8 p.m. Saturday, January 23, 2016 — 8 p.m. Sunday, January 24, 2016 — 3 p.m. Presenting Sponsor: Constantine Kitsopoulos, Conductor Randy Newman Toy Story © 1995 Walt Disney Music Company Thomas Newman Finding Nemo © 2003 Pixar Music and Wonderland Music Company, Inc. Michael Giacchino Ratatouille © 1998 Pixar Talking Pictures and Walt Disney Music Company Thomas Newman WALL-E © 2007 Pixar Talking Pictures and Walt Disney Music Company Randy Newman A Bug's Life © 2008 Pixar Music and Wonderland Music Company, Inc. Randy Newman Toy Story 2 © 1999 Pixar Talking Pictures and Walt Disney Music Company Randy Newman Cars © 2006 Pixar Talking Pictures and Walt Disney Music Company Michael Giacchino Up © 2009 Pixar Talking Pictures and Walt Disney Music Company INTERMISSION Michael Giacchino The Incredibles Randy Newman Monsters, Inc. © 2004 Pixar Talking Pictures and Walt Disney Music Company © 2001 Pixar Talking Pictures and Walt Disney Music Company Michael Giacchino Cars 2 © 2011 Pixar Talking Pictures and Walt Disney Music Company Randy Newman Toy Story 3 © 2010 Pixar Talking Pictures and Walt Disney Music Company Patrick Doyle (PRS) Brave © 2012 Pixar Talking Pictures and Walt Disney Music Company Randy Newman Monsters University Creative Director: Pete Docter Creative Editor: David Tanaka Executive Producers: Jonas Rivera and John Lasseter Producers: Laurel Ladevich and Brice Parker Disney Executive Producer: Jonathan Heely Music Adapted by: Mark Watters © 2013 Pixar Talking Pictures and Walt Disney Music Company Orchestrations by: Mark Watters, Brad Dechter, Tim Simonec, Peter Boyer, Jonathan Sacks, Eric Schmidt, Gordon Goodwin, Ira Hearshen Music Editor: Ed Kalnins Guitar Arrangements: Carl Rydlund Special thanks to Jonathan Garson, Chris Montan and Tom MacDougall for their support and insight. Supporting Partner: