PROGRAM NOTES
RACHMANINOFF SYMPHONY NO . 3
Mendelssohn ’ s Violin Concerto and First Piano Concerto on the same concert ? All the while Tao has also excelled as a composer , studying privately with Christopher Theofanidis and racking up wins in eight consecutive years in the competition that ASCAP holds for young composers . His orchestral music has been commissioned by the likes of the New York Philharmonic and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra , and he continues to add to his growing body of solo and chamber music that he performs himself , including music for the Junction Trio that he formed with violinist Stefan Jackiw and cellist Jay Campbell , as well as violin-piano duet for Jackiw . Tao ’ s own history as a violinist and his close collaboration with Jackiw inform this new concerto co-commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra . Tao wrote the following program note .
While I was working on writing this piece , I was thinking about the experience of being online during the first several months of the pandemic . Streams of information and misinformation overlapping , competing for our distracted attention . Connecting through a screen as the primary means of staying socially nourished . Struggling to find internal peace in the chaos . Like many , I found calm in time spent outdoors . Focusing on the ebb and flow of the Hudson River , listening intently to traffic noise and leaves commingling in the wind , finding a shore of mysteriously stacked stones while walking north along the water — it all kept me in the present , in my body , and in my life .
My violin concerto is all about line . It opens with a series of dyads played by the solo violinist , followed by a descending gesture played by the clarinet . These first bars set in motion the main engines for the piece , the space between the violin ’ s initial notes articulating a line that carves through the entire piece , interacting variously with colliding harmonies and layered rhythms in the orchestra . The music then condenses into a simple song in B-major — I knew I was writing this piece for Stefan , and I knew I wanted to give him a melody to really sing through — before the finale , which begins spaciously , rapid and airy solo violin lines interacting with sparse interjections from the surrounding environment . The clarinet ’ s opening gesture , which has been compressing over the course of the piece ’ s three movements , helps move the music through several key areas , getting ever more anxious , before soloist and orchestra both burst out into a sustained and shared ecstatic release .
Instrumentation Two flutes including piccolo , two oboes including English horn , two clarinets , bassoon , contrabassoon , two horns , two trumpets , trombone , timpani , percussion , harp , and strings .
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Born April 1 , 1873 in Oneg , Russia Died March 28 , 1943 in Beverly Hills , CA
SYMPHONY NO . 3 IN A MINOR , OP . 44 [ 1935-36 , REV . 1938 ]
Sergei Rachmaninoff was already one of the world ’ s most famous musicians when he left Russia in 1917 , at a time when the Bolshevik Revolution upended his career prospects and the security of his beloved country estate . He eventually settled in New York — to the extent he was ever in one place — making it his home base for the next 25 years that he dedicated to the lucrative but exhausting business of touring as a virtuoso pianist around the U . S . and Europe . Needing a refuge , he bought land on Switzerland ’ s Lake Lucerne in 1932 , and he built a villa that rekindled the idyllic atmosphere of his bygone family estate in Russia . His Swiss summers were his only chance to compose uninterrupted , and his patience paid off in three last major works : the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini ( 1934 ), followed by the Symphony No . 3 ( spread out between 1935 and 1936 , and revisited in 1938 ), and lastly the Symphonic Dances ( 1940 ).
Fortunately , we ’ re far enough removed from the 20 th -century snobbery that too often dismissed Rachmaninoff for ignoring the latest compositional trends , and now we can simply appreciate this symphony as the apotheosis of a career that overlapped briefly with that of Tchaikovsky . There are indeed shades of Tchaikovsky in the first movement , with its hallowed introduction that introduces a recurring “ motto ” theme , and a main theme in the fast body of the movement that is tinged with the modal patterns of Russian folk music . The real moneymakers in Rachmaninoff ’ s symphonies and concertos are often the secondary themes that provide lyrical contrast , and this one is as good as they come , providing fodder for the movement ’ s grandest climaxes . ( Whether by coincidence or not , this tune shares some of the melodic contours of a popular 19 th -century song that Rachmaninoff certainly knew , “ Home Sweet Home ,” i . e . “ Be it ever so humble , there ’ s no place like home .”)
Instead of a symphony ’ s usual four movements , this three-movement plan uses the middle movement to fulfill two functions , with slow outer sections surrounding a scherzo-like interlude . Within the vigorous marching of the finale , the most surprising element might be Rachmaninoff ’ s masterful injections of counterpoint , proving that he could manipulate his ear-friendly materials with as much sophistication as any symphonic master .
Instrumentation Two flutes , piccolo , two oboes , English horn , two clarinets , bass clarinet , two bassoons , contrabassoon , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , harp , celeste , and strings .
Musical Terms Minor-third interval : A musical interval , or space between two notes , that is commonly used to express sorrow in music . Neoclassical : A 20th-century trend in which composers returned to the aesthetic of music composed in the 18th century , with characteristics of balance and clarity . Andante : At a walking pace ( moderately slow ). Motto theme : A short , recurring musical phrase . Modal patterns : From the Latin for “ method ,” a mode is a type of scale that establishes the notes used in a piece . ‘ Do , re , mi , fa , so , la , ti , do ’ is the Ionian mode — or major scale — And now Julie Andrews is stuck in your head ! Counterpoint : Two or more musical lines that are harmonically interdependent .
MAR-APR 2022 / OVERTURE 35