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PROGRAM NOTES

RACHMANINOFF RHAPSODY

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
A . KORI HILL
Wynton Marsalis
Born October 18 , 1961
HERALD , HOLLER , AND HALLELUJAH !
A fanfare can signal many things : a call to gather ; to arms ; to honor a leader ; to spiritual ascension . Marsalis engages with all these purposes in Herald , Holler , and Hallelujah ! He continues in the tradition of religious exuberance and passion of the enslaved ; evokes Joshua ’ s horn blowing down the walls of Jericho ; reminds us of the glory of an approach figure ; gathers the rich imagery of Black history and Christianity that is at once a celebration , a rumination , a consideration of our past , our present , and our future . As Marsalis himself explains :
Brass heralds sing the coming and going of things . Enshrined-in-stone ringed ‘ round houses of the holy Adorning halls in fluorescent harmony , these frescoed heroes from the heavens set fields aflame with finesse and fury to waken the angels AND , to rattle the gates of the underworld , trumpeting the demands of unrepentant demons draped in gilded glory .
Brazen brass hollers and shouts in the harsh-tongued dialect of iron and steel , strikes the soul with deadly silence soon become contemplative soon come closer as softly sighing asides sweetly strung from the bebroken hearts of survivors still scouring battles , forever lost across time immemorial .
Bellicose brass blares and blasts with a sugarfoot swagger blows down burnished walls gathers the congregation with the grandiosity and gravitas of gold and silver fanfares as processions of the elect bedecked-infinery sashay back and forth in shining significance to commemorate the celestial progression : from occasional to ceremonial to the transcendent triumph of timeless tradition .
That ’ s what Brass always brings .
Even in passing , that glory train opens up a Big Brass Whistle and everybody testify : “ Here come ole Buddy Bolden calling his children home .”
And the angels sing . “ Hallelujah .
hah-lay-loo-yah brothers and sisters ! ( hallelujah )…”
Instrumentation Six horns , four trumpets , four trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion .
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Born April 1 , 1873 in Semyonovo , Russia Died March 28 , 1943 in Beverly Hills , CA
RHAPSODY ON A THEME OF PAGANINI [ 1934 ]
After fleeing the Russian Revolution and settling in New York , Rachmaninoff had an immediate need : to make money to support himself and his family . Composing was not as lucrative as performing and conducting , which explains why amidst a busy performing schedule , he only completed six works between 1918 until his death . Of those six completed in the latter half of his life , one is the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini .
The Rhapsody is a theme and 24 variations built on the Caprice No . 24 melody by Niccolò Paganini ( 1782 – 1840 ). Rachmaninoff ’ s skill was and has never been attributed to the devil , but both men had a lot in common : both were performer-composers ; both frequently premiered their work ( Rachmaninoff premiered and recorded the Rhapsody ); and both had really long fingers ! And through their personal abilities and virtuosic interests , they expanded the technical expectations of their instruments .
In 1939 , choreographer Michel Fokine adapted the Rhapsody for a ballet . Whether already established or retroactive , Rachmaninoff supplied the narrative : Paganini ’ s life , deal with the devil , and doomed love . Instead of quoting the Caprice No . 24 theme in full , as was traditional , Rachmaninoff introduces it through the first variation , emerging after a brief orchestral introduction . The emotional highs and lows of the story are communicated through further quotations , inversions , and transformations of this melody — as well as use of a theme Rachmaninoff applied in other works : the Dies irae .
His use of Dies irae , a centuries-old Catholic chant famously used in the Funeral Mass , stemmed from its structural similarity to the Paganini theme , and its symbolism for evil spirits in other classical music works . It first appears in the seventh variation and merges with Paganini ’ s theme in the 19 th , Paganini ’ s descent via an unholy alliance . Love defines variations 11 through 18 , the latter the most famous of all the variations . The 18 th variation ’ s melody is an inversion of Paganini ’ s melody in a major key , but nonetheless Rachmaninoff ’ s own : lush , passionate , and
Maximilian Franz
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