Overture Magazine - 2015-2016 Season January-February 2016 | Page 35
program notes {
Notes by Janet E. Bedell, Copyright ©2016
An Evening with Sutton Foster
Music Center At Strathmore
Thursday, February 18, 2016 — 8 p.m.
Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Friday, February 19, 2016 — 8 p.m.
Saturday, February 20, 2016 — 8 p.m.
Sunday, February 21, 2016 — 3 p.m.
Presenting Sponsor:
Jack Everly, Conductor
Sutton Foster
This program will be announced from the stage.
This concert is made possible by the generous support
of the BSO Governing Members.
Mi chael Tam maro
a confidante of his post-nuptial anguish;
now he provided both artistic inspiration
and practical technical advice for the Violin
Concerto. In less than a month, the work
was nearly finished, and on April 3, Kotek
and Tchaikovsky gave it a full reading at
the piano. After the run-through, both
agreed the slow movement was too slight
for such a large work, and in one day flat,
the composer replaced it with the tenderly
melancholic Andante second movement we
hear today.
So prodigal is Tchaikovsky’s melodic
inspiration that he can afford to begin the
sonata-form opening movement with a
lovely little theme for orchestral violins
and then — just as he did at the beginning of his First Piano Concerto — never
play it again. The orchestra next hints at
the big theme to come. And after a brief
warm-up stretch, the soloist launches it:
one of Tchaikovsky’s most inspired themes
and one with multiple personalities. At
first, it is gentle, even wistful, but when
the orchestra takes it up a few minutes
later, it becomes very grand: music for an
Imperial Russian ball. Later still in the development section, the soloist transforms
it again with an intricately ornamented,
double-stopped variation. The violin’s
second theme, begun in its warm lower
register, retains its wistful nature.
The exquisite second-movement
“Canzonetta” (“little song”) in G minor
— Tchaikovsky’s one-day miracle —
blends the melancholy colors of woodwinds
with the violin. Tchaikovsky scholar David
Brown suggests it reflects the composer’s
homesickness during his self-imposed exile
from Russia. Rather than ending, it rises
on a two-note sighing motive and explodes
into the Allegro vivacissimo finale.
In this hearty rondo inspired by Russian
folk dance, Tchaikovsky finally lets the
soloist fly. He alternates two contrasting
themes: the first a high-spirited scamper;
the second a slower, downward-drooping
melody that shows off the violin’s earthy
low register and also features a nostalgic
dialogue with woodwind solos. At the
close, the dance keeps accelerating to a
breathless finish.
Jack Everly
Jack Everly is the principal pops conductor
of the Indianapolis and
Baltimore Symphony
Orchestras, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra
(Ottawa). He has conducted the Los
Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood
Bowl, the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall
and appears regularly with the Cleveland
Orchestra at Blossom Music Center.
As music director of the National
Memorial Day Concert and “A Capitol
Fourth” on PBS, Everly proudly leads the
National Symphony Orchestra in these
patriotic celebrations on the National Mall.
Mr. Everly was music director of the
American Ballet Theatre for 14 years
and teamed with Marvin Hamlisch on
Broadway shows that Mr. Hamlisch
scored. He conducted Carol Channing
in Hello, Dolly! in two separate Broadway productions.
January– February 2016 |
O v ertur e
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