PROGRAM NOTES
RACHMANINOFF SYMPHONY NO . 3
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
BY AARON GRAD
Igor Stravinsky
Born June 5 , 1882 near Saint Petersburg , Russia Died April 6 , 1971 in New York , NY
SYMPHONY IN THREE MOVEMENTS [ 1942-45 ]
The Russian expatriate Igor Stravinsky saw his professional opportunities in Europe dwindling as the continent careened toward World War II , and his personal attachment to the region was shaken by the deaths of his daughter , wife , and mother . Meanwhile , commissions from Chicago and Washington , D . C ., along with an invitation from Harvard University to deliver a series of lectures , pushed Stravinsky closer to the U . S . He arrived in 1939 , married his longtime mistress Vera in 1940 , and settled in West Hollywood in 1941 .
Eager for any paying commission , Stravinsky dabbled in such mass-market projects as an arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner ( soon banned by the city of Boston after his pungent harmonies provoked outrage ) and a “ ballet ” for the 50 elephants of the Barnum &
Bailey Circus . He even entertained the thought of scoring films like many of the other new arrivals from Europe , but none of those projects came to fruition . Stravinsky claimed that portions of his Symphony in Three Movements began as sketches for film music , but over the course of three years the work grew into a stark and powerful orchestral work , approaching a level of turbulence not heard in Stravinsky ’ s music since The Rite of Spring 30 years earlier .
Stravinsky actually had The Rite of Spring back on his desk in 1943 to undertake a revision of the climactic Sacrificial Dance , an excerpt that makes heavy use of the same minor-third interval that also dominates the opening movement of the Symphony in Three Movements . The fractured rhythms and transparent layers resemble Stravinsky ’ s other neoclassical works from that time , including the Symphony in C , but this wartime work strips out the sunny triads and breezy melodies that might otherwise lighten the mood or create some ironic distance .
After the piano takes a leading role in the first movement , the harp rises to the foreground for the Andante middle movement . This more placid music had its origins in an abandoned film score meant to underscore an apparition of the Virgin Mary .
Beginning without a pause , the third movement opens with a grotesque march that Stravinsky acknowledged as “ a musical reaction to the newsreels and documentaries that I had seen of goose-stepping soldiers .” The piano and harp both return for prominent solos , helping to initiate a fugue and a final arrival that marks Stravinsky ’ s “ exuberance in the Allied triumph .”
Instrumentation Two flutes , piccolo , two oboes , three clarinets including bass clarinet , two bassoons , contrabassoon , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , harp , piano , and strings .
Conrad Tao
Born June 11 , 1994 in Urbana , IL
VIOLIN CONCERTO [ 2021 ]
During his years as a teen prodigy , Conrad Tao reached a level of achievement perhaps not witnessed since Mendelssohn — and really , what other 14-year-old could have performed
Maximilian Franz
34 OVERTURE / BSOmusic . org