ASO Playbill Spring 2020

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Program Notesby Beryl McHenryMENDELSSHON& MOZARTMARCH 13Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra in G Minor, Op. 25Felix Mendelssohn (1809 -1847)Mendelssohn’s First Piano Concerto was composed in 1831,when he was just 22. He was enjoying a highly successful careeralready. He had made his conducting debut in London in 1829,then produced an operetta in Berlin, and completed hisReformation Symphony. Late in 1830 he was working on theHebrides Overture in Germany and finishing up his Italian andScottish Symphonies while traveling in Italy. On his way back toGermany he spent some time in Switzerland, finally arriving inMunich in October. He was to conduct a concert of his musicand felt he needed just one more work to make the programcomplete. The G Minor Concerto was written during that time tofill out the program. It premiered October 17 in Munich, alongwith several major works, and was such a success thatMendelssohn routinely included it in his concerts from then on.It also became part of every concert pianist’s repertoire fordecades after.The work is in three movements, linked without pause to createa sense of overall unity. The first movement, Molto allegro confuoco, is one of turbulence and fury, with the piano enteringalmost immediately, and piano and orchestra alternating thefurious and lyrical subjects contributing to the whole. The secondmovement, Andante, begins with a fanfare and develops into abeautiful song, characteristically Mendelssohn, which ends on asustained E major chord, then moves at once to the final Prestomovement. Here another fanfare gives way to a brilliant Rondowhich displays the soloist’s virtuosity in a dazzling series of runsand leads to the spectacular conclusion. Mendelssohn himselfperformed the solo part at the highly successful premiere inMunich and wrote to his father the next day, “My concerto metwith a long and vivid reception. The orchestra accompanied welland the work itself was really quite wild.”The concerto did, in fact, become a part of the repertoire ofmany concert pianists, including Franz Liszt. Mendelssohn hadjust met Liszt in Paris at the Erard piano showrooms. He placedthe barely legible score for his new concerto on one of the pianosand was amazed to witness Liszt sight-read the work easily.Mendelssohn declared it to be “a miracle” and a popular legendhas it that the piano itself became possessed and played the workover and over without a pianist after that until it was destroyed!Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter”Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)At the time the Jupiter Symphony was written, most major workswere composed in response to a commission from a patron, forthe purpose of making a living. Mozart, however, had just movedto Vienna and was determined to support himself and his familythrough performance and composing. It might have been moresensible to write smaller works which could readily be sold, but itwas during this uncertain period of time that Mozart composedhis three greatest - and last - symphonies. He certainly did notknow they would be his last. At his young age he must haveexpected to live well into the nineteenth century. But somethingdrove him to write, and all three, the 39th, 40th and 41st, wereproduced in about nine weeks during the summer of 1788. Eachis a complete work with four movements. According to oneprogram annotator this would have meant spending “5 days and afew hours on the composition of each movement.” Additionally,he was composing other pieces, giving piano lessons, caring for asick wife, grieving the loss of his 6-month-old daughter, movingto a new home and worrying about his financial obligations. Wedo not know when the work premiered, but there are in existencenotes to show that it was performed in Dresden, Leipzig andFrankfurt in 1790.The Symphony No. 41 is enormous in its emotional range andexpressive brilliance. It opens with a stately theme alternatingwith a gently lyrical one. Second and third themes balance outthe opening mood, pointing toward the second movement of thework. This begins with a simple four note theme reminiscent ofchurch music. It follows a strict sonata form and serves as aperfect model of a dramatic symphonic movement. The thirdmovement is a minuet, the kind of music that would be heard inan imperial ballroom. It contains a musical “joke” in that theopening notes of each phrase sound like a concluding cadence,while the notes that follow suggest an opening strain for thatconclusion. His friend Haydn had used this device in one of hisquartets a few months earlier. In the incredible finale movement,Mozart weaves together five independent figures to create asense of excitement leading to a double fugue at the end.The popular subtitle “Jupiter” was not applied by Mozart.According to his son Franz, it originated in London around 1819and was devised by Johann Salomon, a London impresario, as anadvertising device for the London performances that year. Onewonders what Mozart would have thought of this addition.22
MENDELSSHON& MOZARTMARCH 13Guest ArtistSteven LinA top prize winner of the Arthur Rubinstein InternationalPiano Competition in Tel Aviv, Steven Lin made his firstperformance with New York Philharmonic at the age of 12.Recently made a sensational Carnegie debut playing theTchaikovsky Piano Concerto no. 1, and has been hailed by theNew York Times for playing that is “…immaculately voiced andenhanced by admirable subtleties of shading and dynamics.”Recent orchestral engagements include the Israel Philharmonic,Baltimore Symphony, and National Symphony of Mexico. Highlyin demand for recitals worldwide, including Kennedy Center inWashington, Carnegie Hall, Munich, Paris, Tokyo, and Shanghai.A frequent performer with summer festivals, Steven Lin hasappeared in the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival,and La Jolla SummerFest. An active chamber musician, he hascollaborated with Gidon Kremer and Misha Maisky.Steven Lin completed the prestigious Artist Diploma programat the Curtis Institute of Music, and before that, he earned bothBachelor’s and Master’s Degrees at The Juilliard School. Whennot making music, Steven describes himself as an ‘NBA basketballfanatic,’ a source of great pride and commitment which beganwhen he was eight years old.PHOTO BY SOPHIE ZHAI23
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