October 3-4, 2009 Concert

Robert Sherman is best known in broadcasting for his show ''The Listening Room'' and has been with WQXR Radio for more than fifty years. He is on air as producer and host of The McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase and has performed as a concert narrator with a number of orchestras and ensembles.

Pianist Tanya Bannister has been hailed as a ''poet of her instrument.'' She was the winner of the 2003 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and the 2005 New Orleans International Piano Competition. She has also earned praise for her performances at such international venues as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, London's Wigmore Hall, Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. BBC Music Magazine has proclaimed that '' . . . she is clearly an artist to watch . . . ''

'' . . . Bannister played with intelligence, poetry and proportion.''
– The Washington Post

Program Notes

Lincoln Portrait
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

In 1942, conductor André Kostelanetz commissioned three well known American composers – Aaron Copland, Jerome Kern and Virgil Thomson – to write musical portraits of eminent Americans, hoping to find expression of ''the magnificent spirit of our country'' in the dark, early days of World War II. Kern chose Mark Twain, Thomson chose Mayor LaGuardia, and Copland chose Abraham Lincoln.

Copland recalled, ''While discussing my choice with Virgil, he amiably pointed out that no composer could possibly hope to match in musical terms Lincoln's immense stature. Of course, he was quite right.'' Copland's solution was to create a text selected from speeches and letters of Lincoln – words that, even though spoken decades before, ring with inspiration, power and devotion in our nation's time of need, whenever that might be.

The next challenge was to provide music fitting for such a setting. Copland, still immersed in his ''Americana'' period of Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and The Red Pony, selected two tunes from Lincoln's time, Camptown Races and an 1840 ballad, Springfield Mountain. Using freely adapted treatments of those tunes, coupled with his own distinctive style and music, Copland did indeed give us a magnificent, enduring portrait of a great man and his words.

Concerto No. 23 for Piano and
Orchestra in A Major, K. 488
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

The final decade of Mozart's short life was one of intense activity. Composing, performing and teaching filled his every moment. Then, at the height of his powers, there was an incredibly rich outpouring of supreme masterpieces from the young genius; almost all of his significant works, ranging from symphonies, concertos, operas, sonatas, vocal music and chamber music were composed in this period. In addition, he was performing as a pianist so frequently – he composed piano concertos for his own subscription performances – that his father, Leopold, a domineering man, complained during a visit that the composer's piano was being moved between the apartment and concert halls much too frequently. It was during this period that the great Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), also visiting, stated to Leopold, ''Before God and as an honest man, I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or name; he has taste and, what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition.''

Ironically, in spite of the outward appearance of a financially rewarding career, Mozart was always short of money. Apparently a free spender, he also received ridiculously small amounts of money for his works. He even reluctantly squeezed private lessons into his hectic schedule to supplement his income. One writer of the time commented that, ''The disposition of Viennese society toward Mozart was to take all and give nothing in return.''

Mozart completed work on the Piano Concerto No. 23 in March, 1786, in Vienna, and although records are lost, he most likely performed as piano soloist at its premiere a few days later. When his complete works were catalogued by Ludwig Köchel in 1862, from which came the Köchel, or ''K'' listings, this concerto was designated K.488. Interestingly, Mozart began his own catalogue of his works in 1784, starting with the Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat major (1784). It was the first of the great series of twelve piano concertos he composed in the years 1784 through 1786.

In the first movement, Allegro, as in the other two movements, there is no introduction; the orchestra is given the role of immediately stating the themes before the soloist is heard, following well established tradition. With the soloist's entrance, the first theme is heard again, but here Mozart employs a creative melodic treat; each time the soloist repeats each theme's main phrase, the repeat is given more interest and contrast by including charming embellishments to the melody. It is known that Mozart improvised these on the spot in his piano performances, and they were rarely written out. Thus, the soloist was expected to embellish the melody as well, and to do so in a tasteful, appropriate manner.

The extraordinary lyricism heard in the melodies here and in other movements provide ample evidence of this concerto's particular appeal, a quality also heard in his Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet, which are in A major as well.

In writing of the sublime Adagio second movement, Sir Donald Tovey, in his Essays in Musical Analysis, refers to a late 18th century vocal style employed by composers in which the singer is challenged with large skips in the melodic line, sometimes of seemingly unrelated pitches, calling for great skill and technique in producing changes in the vocal register from low to high while at the same time singing, apparently effortlessly, with great beauty. This type of melodic line is heard frequently in Mozart's sublimely beautiful arias in his slow movement flow in a gentle, lilting siciliano manner, in a wonderful example of Mozart's ''singing'' melodies, whether composed for voice or instrument.

The final movement, Allegro assai, is a buoyant, energetic rondo, with the main theme characterized by opening intervals of a descending fifth followed by an ascending octave, the first three notes heard in the movement. The intervening episodes are composed of two contrasting themes in succession. The pianist is kept very busy here in a virtuosic whirl of almost perpetual motion passages.

Symphonic Dances, op. 45
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

Sergei Rachmaninoff started intensive musical training in Moscow at age twelve when he was taken into Nikolai Zverev's exclusive, demanding piano class, where the day consisted of sixteen hours of piano lessons, practice and academics. Two years later, he was enrolled in the Moscow Conservatory and, equipped with a brilliant mind, huge talent and absolute pitch, graduated with prizes and honors, focusing on piano, composition and conducting.

Soon he composed his Symphony No. 1, an occasion that nearly ruined his future as a composer. A combination of problems in the composition of the piece and inept rehearsals and performance by the allegedly inebriated conductor, Glazunov, resulted in a disastrous reception by musicians and critics. A severe depression settled upon him, and it took three years and psychiatric sessions with hypnosis before he was able to resume composing, although he did conduct and perform with great success during this time. Once again on track, he gained recognition in the three areas: concertizing, conducting and composing.

In 1917, Rachmaninoff realized that he could not exist in Russia's post-revolution society, and he left Russia, never to return. He and his family eventually took up residence in the United States in 1918 where, except for a few years in Europe, they remained. He died of cancer in 1943 in Beverly Hills.

As a piano virtuoso, Rachmaninoff practically stood alone at the very pinnacle of pianism in the first half of the 20th century. His astonishing technique made him one of the few capable of playing his piano compositions. As a conductor, he was well-enough regarded to be offered conductorships of the Boston and Cincinnati orchestras when word spread that he had left Russia. He declined both in order to compose and perform. His compositions, such as the Symphony No. 2, the three piano concertos, and numerous piano pieces, have gained permanent places in the classical music repertoire.

The Symphonic Dances, a three-movement orchestral work completed in 1940, was his final symphonic composition. Some elements of the piece, dating as far back as 1915, were originally intended as the basis for a ballet, a project which was never realized. Rachmaninoff dedicated his newly conceived Symphonic Dances to his ''favorite,'' the Philadelphia Orchestra, which had it premiered with Eugene Ormandy conducting in January, 1941. The piece contains all his well-known characteristics: rich, traditional harmony and melody; imaginative orchestration; powerful climactic points; broad, sweeping gestures; and use of the minor mode for a dark, melancholy sound. In an interview, he would not discuss the piece, saying, ''A composer always has his own ideas of his works, but I do not believe he should ever reveal them. Each listener should find his own meaning in music.''

The first movement opens with a vigorous, assertive melody in woodwinds built on a descending minor triad – important to note, for it is heard in varying settings throughout the movement – accompanied by a strong repeating figure in strings. A beautifully contrasted middle section features solo alto saxophone playing a lovely, plaintive minor-mode song. After a return to the strong opening theme, strings play a stately, moving melody, followed by an engaging, delicate ending.

The second movement features a waltz punctuated with pungent muted brass chords. Solo violin and oboe appear in the middle section among various treatments, and a return of the opening music with a faster segment rounds out the charming movement.

A dramatic, slow introduction leads to the brisk Allegro vivace, where bright splashes of orchestral color and excitement abound. Sighing, resigned descending pairs of notes lead to the slow section and a full, lush melody accompanied by an exquisite swirling figure in flutes and harps. Brightness returns with all sections participating in virtuosic playing in a gradual crescendo to a brass statement of incredible power. Quotes from the old plainsong Dies irae and full orchestral strength end the dances.

– Richard Wolter