Overture Magazine - 2015-2016 Season May-June 2016 | Page 21

program notes {
as if they were waiting for me, the powerful pounding E-Minor chords that launch
the piece. From there, it proceeded to take
shape with great speed, almost as if the
floodgates had been opened and nearly
two years of pent-up energy and ideas
came rushing forth.”
Adams’ new language included an embrace of the rich harmonies and compelling melodies associated with composers
of the late Romantic period—Mahler,
Sibelius, and even Wagner—just what the
Minimalists, and he himself, had previously rejected. “I felt as if I were channeling the sensibilities of these composers I
loved and finding a contemporary form
for their special harmonic worlds.”
Adams titled the huge, luxuriant work
that emerged Harmonielehre (“Harmony
Lesson”) after Arnold Schoenberg’s
seminal 1911 book on tonal harmony.
Additionally, he found resonance in the
title because with this work he was giving
himself harmony lessons. And as a third
meaning, “I also thought about harmony
in the human, the psychological sense,
about living with oneself, about balance in
life.” Harmonielehre was premiered by the
San Francisco Symphony on March 21,
1985 and has become one of Adams’ most
revered works.
Movement one has no title: it begins
with gigantic E-Minor chords hammering and pulsing in Minimalist style, and
rhythmic patterns continue to rule the
first section. However, about a third of the
way through, the music becomes calmer
and slower, and a beautiful, yearning
melody appears in the cellos, becoming
more and more impassioned as it rises to
the top of the orchestra. Melody dominates this middle portion. Ultimately, the
rhythmic pulsing returns and intensifies,
gradually displacing the lyricism.
Movement two, “The Anfortas Wound,”
refers to the wounded knight of the
Holy Grail from Li Contes del Graal by
the French 12th-century poet Crétien de
Troyes, who was the prototype of Wagner’s suffering ruler Amfortas in Parsifal.
“He was wounded due to pride, to hubris,
and the wound caused impotence,” says
Adams. “‘The Anfortas Wound’ is a piece
about sickness and infirmity, physical and

spiritual.” Issuing from the depths of the
orchestra, cellos unfold a poignant, weary
melody, which gradually ascends and
ultimately reaches a Mahlerian climax of
screaming agony. Orchestral colors in this
movement are mostly muted and shadowy;
rhythms are becalmed; harmonies are richly chromatic but slow moving. The world
of Minimalism has been left far behind.
The magical, otherworldly final movement, “Meister Eckhardt and Quackie,”
was the product of a second dream. Says
Adams, “This was a single image: the
medieval mystic [Eckhardt von Hochheim] floating in space and carrying on
his shoulder, like a blithe and gentle homunculus, our four-month-old daughter,
Emily. Because of the funny, duck-like
noise she made as a baby, we’d nicknamed
her ‘Quackie.’ … As they glide among
the heavenly bodies, Quackie whispers

the secret of grace into Meister Eckhardt’s
ear.” After this ethereal music spins itself
out, the massive rhythmic pulsing of the
first movement reappears. “At the end,
there’s an extended passage during which
a tremendous harmonic struggle takes
place with the different tonalities vying for
dominance,” says Adams. “I simply place
the keys together, as if in a mixer, and let
them battle it out. And finally E-flat wins
through its strength, and this moment
seems like an epiphany.”
Instrumentation: Four flutes (including piccolos),
three oboes (including English horn), four clarinets (including bass clarinets), three bassoons,
contrabassoon, four horns, four trumpets, three
trombones, two tubas, timpani, percussion, two
harps, piano, celesta and strings.
Notes by Janet E. Bedell, Copyright ©2016

Off the Cuff: Beethoven’s “Emperor”
Music Center At Strathmore

Friday, May 13, 2016 — 8:15 p.m.
Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Saturday, May 14, 2016 — 7 p.m.
John Adams, Conductor
Jeremy Denk, Piano

Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major,

opus 73, “Emperor”
Allegro
Adagio un poco mosso
Rondo: Allegro

JEREMY DENK

The appearance of guest conductor and composer John Adams
is made possible through the major support of the Alvin and
Fanny Blaustein Thalheimer Guest Artist Fund.
Supporting Sponsor:

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