Overture Magazine - 2018-19 Season FINAL_BSO_Overture_May_June | Page 15

TCHAIKOVSKY VIOLIN CONCERTO
we would claim an outstanding place
among contemporary compositions.”
Today, this piece holds an outstanding
place among all violin concertos. One
of the more demanding works for the
violinist, it is yet more remarkable for
its unwavering melodic inspiration and
passionate expression of human feeling.
The concerto came in the aftermath
of the composer’s ill-conceived marriage
to Antonina Milyukova in 1877.
Eight months later in March 1878, his
wanderings to escape his wife brought
him to Clarens, Switzerland on the shores
of Lake Geneva. Here, he and his brother
Modest were visited by the gifted 22-year-
old violinist Yosif Kotek, a composition
pupil of Tchaikovsky’s in Moscow. Kotek
had been a witness at the composer’s
wedding and 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 just a day, the composer replaced it with
the tenderly melancholic 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 never play it again. The orchestra
next hints at the big theme to come.
And after a brief warm-up stretch, the
soloist launches into one of Tchaikovsky's
most inspired themes, 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.
Choral Arts ON T UR!
2019-20
The exquisite second-movement
“Canzonetta” (“little song”) —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 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
woodwinds. At the close, the dance
keeps accelerating to a breathless finish.
Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes,
two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns,
two trumpets, timpani and strings.
Notes by Janet E. Bedell, © 2019
Astonishing Journeys
Timeless Masterpieces
ANTHONY BLAKE CLARK
Baltimore Choral Arts charts thrilling musical voyages in our 54 th season, performing choral masterpieces
from America, England, France, Hungary, Italy, and Vienna. Our tour theme also extends to our new
concert home at Shriver Hall Auditorium and a tour to England.
Music Director
AN AMERICAN SUITE: FROM BILLINGS TO BERNSTEIN MONTEVERDI VESPERS
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2019 AT 3 PM | SHRIVER HALL AUDITORIUM SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 AT 3 PM | SHRIVER HALL AUDITORIUM
Henry Balfour Gardiner
Zoltán Kodály
American Suite
William Billings
Traditional, arr. Alice Parker
Susan LaBarr
Ēriks Ešenvalds
David Conte
Anthony Blake Clark
Bono, arr. Bob Chilcott
Aaron Copland Baltimore Baroque Band, Peabody’s Baroque Orchestra,
Peabody Renaissance Ensemble, Washington Cornett and Sackbutt Ensemble,
Maryland Institute College of the Arts
In Baltimore Choral Arts’ second collaboration with MICA, their graduate students
will add multi-sensory images to this Baroque masterpiece.
Claudio Monteverdi
Vespro della Beata Vergine
Leonard Bernstein
Evening Hymn
Laudes Organi
Invocation
Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal
Grace Before Sleep
Stars
The Composer
Higher Ground
MLK
Stomp Your Foot
Zion’s Walls
“Make our Garden Grow” from Candide
CHRISTMAS WITH CHORAL ARTS
MOZART REQUIEM
SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2020 AT 3 PM | SHRIVER HALL AUDITORIUM
Steven Soph, tenor and Philip Munds, horn
Wolfgang A. Mozart
Horn Concerto No. 1 in D major,
K. (412+514)/386b
Benjamin Britten
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op. 31
Mozart
Requiem in D minor, K. 626
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2019 AT 7:30 PM | THE BALTIMORE BASILICA
Holiday choral favorites in the historic and inspiring setting of
The Baltimore Basilica continue a 36- year tradition.
JOIN US ON TOUR! JANUARY 10-20, 2020
Baltimore Choral Arts is touring England, highlighted by a prestigious invitation to sing Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand” at the City of
Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s 100 th anniversary celebration. The Chorus will also perform at venues in London and Oxford.
Notice: Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Inc. has leased or rented facilities from the Johns Hopkins University. However, Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Inc. and any programs operated by Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Inc. are not related to or
affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University in any way. Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Inc. is an entirely separate legal entity with no connection to the Johns Hopkins University aside from the temporary use of facilities for the specified program.
SUBSCRIPTIONS NOW ON SALE!
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