{ program notes
Mathias Bothor-DG
( Washington), Toronto Symphony Orchestra and radio orchestras in Munich, Hannover and Leipzig among many others.
In opera, Mr. Goodwin has led at the Komische Oper Berlin, at the Teatro Real Madrid and at Scottish Opera, Opera Australia and the Staatstheater Karlsruhe.
Mr. Goodwin toured extensively with the Academy of Ancient Music, recording Schutz choral music, Mozart’ s singspiel‘ Zaide’ and two discs of music by John Tavener commissioned for the AAM. Three of these CDs were nominated for Grammy( USA) and Gramophone( UK) awards.
His recordings also include CDs of Strauss, Hartmann, Handel’ s Riccardo Primo and Athalia, and a highly acclaimed CD of Elgar’ s Nursery Suite for Harmonia Mundi. With the Münchner Rundfunkorchester he has recorded two CDs for Sony: one that includes Prokovief Peter and the Wolf and the other,“ under the stars,” in collaboration with violinist Charlie Siem.
Mr. Goodwin has worked with national youth orchestras. In 2007, Paul Goodwin was awarded the Handel Honorary Prize of the City of Halle( Saale) in recognition of his extraordinary services to performances of works by George Frideric Handel.
Paul Goodwin is making his BSO debut.
Jan Lisiecki
Pianist Jan Lisiecki’ s highlights this season include a tour with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and performing in the opening festival of the new Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.
Mr. Lisiecki made his Carnegie Hall debut in January 2016. During the 2015 – 2016 season he also performed with the Bamberger Symphoniker in Lucerne, with the Cleveland and San Francisco Symphony orchestras and toured Europe with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, which he led from the piano.
In 2013, Mr. Lisiecki substituted at short notice for Martha Argerich, performing Beethoven’ s Piano Concerto No. 4 in Bologna with the Orchestra Mozart. He crowned that season with Schumann’ s Piano Concerto at the BBC Proms. The following year he performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala in Milan, NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo among others, while giving recitals at Wigmore Hall, Rome’ s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and in San Francisco.
In 2012, the pianist signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and released his first recording, featuring Mozart’ s Piano Concertos K. 466 and 467 in 2012, followed in 2013 by Chopin’ s Etudes Op. 10 and 25. His January 2016 recording features Schumann’ s works for piano and orchestra. In early 2017, Mr. Lisiecki’ s rendition of Chopin works for piano and orchestra is scheduled for release.
Mr. Lisiecki came to international attention in 2010, when the Fryderyk Chopin Institute issued a recording of Chopin’ s piano concertos, performed live by the pianist when he was 13 and 14.
Born to Polish parents in Canada in 1995, Mr. Lisiecki began piano lessons at the age of 5 and made his concerto debut four years later. He donates his time and performances to such organizations as the David Foster Foundation, the Polish Humanitarian Organization and the Wish Upon a Star Foundation. In 2012, he was named UNICEF Ambassador to Canada after serving as a National Youth Representative since 2008.
Jan Lisiecki is making his BSO debut.
About the concert:
Dumbarton Oaks
Igor Stravinsky
Born in Oranienbaum, Russia, June 17, 1882; died in New York City, April 6, 1971
Turning away from the massive orchestrations of his earlier ballets Petrushka and The Rite of Spring— and also from the excesses of 19 th-century Romanticism— Igor Stravinsky in the 1920s and‘ 30s adopted a lean and clean“ neo-Classical” style that drew inspiration from both the Baroque era of Bach and Vivaldi and the later Classical era of Mozart and Haydn.
The Concerto in E-flat is directly modeled after Bach’ s Brandenburg Concertos, especially the Third Concerto. It was written in 1937 – 1938 on a commission by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss of Washington, D. C.; its subtitle comes from the name of their famous estate, Dumbarton Oaks, to this day site of many international conferences. Stravinsky was still living in France at the time, but receiving many commissions from America. Shortly after completing this work, he lost his daughter, wife and mother within a seven-month period, and these tragedies, combined with the onset of World War II and his strong American connections, caused him to move here permanently in 1939.
Dumbarton Oaks is scored for a small, neo-Baroque ensemble of flute, E-flat clarinet( not yet invented in Bach’ s time!), two horns and strings. Its colors are much brighter and brasher than Bach’ s, and the tone throughout is somewhat mocking and sarcastic. The first movement sports a festive bell-like opening, as well as motives in the woodwinds resembling carillon peals later in the movement. The upper strings and flute immediately launch a chugging pattern stolen from the Third Brandenburg. A moment later, the violins introduce a mindlessly repetitive three-note fugue subject, which gets more elaborate each time it comes back.
A very simple motive, introduced by the violas, generates the music of the second movement; its middle section features woodwind solos over a hazy background of oscillating strings. Percussive Stravinskian rhythms propel the finale’ s refrain, and over a stealthy bass, sharp woodwind dissonances suggest a mock-menacing Hitchcockian atmosphere. The refrain keeps returning in different guises, framing a fugal episode Bach might have enjoyed and a sweetly trilling string episode borrowed from Mozart’ s courtly world.
Instrumentation: Flute, clarinet, bassoon, two horns, three violins, three violas, two cellos, two double basses.
March – APRIL 2017 | Overture 17