PROGRAM NOTES
RAY CHEN PERFORMS SIBELIUS VIOLIN CONCERTO
FROM THE PODIUM by Kevin John Edusei
The theme of “ recovered voices ” in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra season is really intriguing to me because of my German background . I suggested two composers for this program , Walter Braunfels and Franz Schreker , because they are emblematic of what happened with a whole generation of composers who were banned by the Nazis . What I find so important about Schreker is that his ideal was the sound itself . The way he deals with music as sound events is absolutely special and unique . For Braunfels , he chose a very simple French nursery song and gave it a new shape in the Germanic tradition of variations for orchestra . I chose these two pieces because I think they show exactly what the atmosphere was like in Germany at that time , before the political turmoil of the 1920s and all that followed .
The pandemic has shown us that we have to really think about our role within society and find ourselves as part of the society . And that means that we as orchestras have to open up and embrace the wider audiences and the more diverse groups of people who could be part of what we love in classical music . When we think about diversity , sometimes there ’ s a superficial way of dealing with it . There ’ s also a humanistic idea that these compositions stand for , and it ’ s not only defined by the color of the composer ’ s skin , or their gender or religion . In this program , it ’ s about people who went on to overcome oppression , and who worked against resistance . Sometimes it ’ s the softspoken truth that needs to be heard .
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
BY AARON GRAD
Walter Braunfels
Born December 19 , 1882 in Frankfurt , Germany Died March 19 , 1954 in Cologne , Germany
SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS ON AN OLD FRENCH CHILDREN ’ S SONG [ 1909 ]
The public profile of the German composer Walter Braunfels peaked in the 1920s , when he was writing operas that rivaled the popularity of those by Richard Strauss and Franz Schreker , while also shaping the next generation of musicians as co-director of the Cologne Hochschule für Musik . Being half-Jewish , Braunfels lost his post when the Nazi party took power in 1933 ; unlike many artists in his position who emigrated , he stayed in Germany , keeping up a quiet resistance from an isolated locale and shelving his compositions . His reputation never rebounded , and aside from some opera revivals , his music is rarely heard .
Undertaking his first work for orchestra without a soloist , Braunfels crafted the Symphonic Variations on an Old French Children ’ s Song in 1909 . His rich sense of orchestral color demonstrates his debt to Richard Wagner , and also to the earlier French composer Hector Berlioz . He took his theme from Vieilles chansons pour les petits enfants ( Old Songs for Little Children ) a whimsical little volume of folksongs with illustrations . As Braunfels explained in a note , the variations “ often take only a short motif that indicates the theme like a pointing finger … so the connecting element is not always the musical diction of the theme , but rather a common lyrical world that radiates around the variations from the theme .”
Instrumentation Two flutes including piccolo , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , two trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , and strings .
Jean Sibelius
Born December 8 , 1865 in Hämeenlinna , Finland ( Grand Duchy of Russia ) Died September 20 , 1957 in Järvenpää , Finland
VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MINOR [ 1904 , REVISED 1905 ]
When the Finnish people were just starting to coalesce around a language , culture , and shared dream of political independence from Russia , Jean Sibelius arose as the musical embodiment of those nationalist ideals . The works he composed at the turn of the twentieth century , including Finlandia and his first two symphonies , made him a folk hero and a rising international star . At the same time , his life of heavy drinking and reckless spending in bustling Helsinki began to catch up with him , and his wife and friends intervened with pleas for Sibelius to move to the country .
Sibelius composed his Violin Concerto during the chaotic period surrounding his move to the remote estate he dubbed Ainola after his wife , Aino . He first mentioned an idea for the opening of the concerto in a letter to her in 1902 , and then he composed the bulk of the music in 1903 . He had intended for the German virtuoso Willy Burmester to premiere the work in Berlin , but Sibelius rushed the debut ( probably to get paid ) and ended up with a disastrous performance from a local teacher . The star violinist Jascha Heifetz brought the work back into the limelight in the 1930s , and over time it has rightfully become a pillar of the repertoire in the same vaunted class as the concertos by Brahms and Tchaikovsky .
Sibelius ’ Violin Concerto opens with the icy chill of muted strings and an expressive melody from the solo violin . The entire first movement is broad and spacious , with drawn-out harmonies and lyrical solo flights , until the violin returns to the opening melody , now voiced in its luxurious low range . That same deep contralto sound returns at the start of the slow movement , introducing the song-like opening theme with a singer ’ s expressiveness .
The most unforgettable description of the finale , with its romping rhythmic play , came from the musicologist D . F . Tovey , who characterized the movement as a “ polonaise for polar bears .” The music does have the typical
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