ASO Playbill Spring 2020

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Program Notesby Beryl McHenryPICTURE IT!MAY 1Symphony No. 2 “The Age of Anxiety”Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990)Leonard Bernstein earned his initial fame as a conductor. In 1943he stepped in to conduct the New York Philharmonic whenBruno Walter was ill, and he so impressed the music director,Artur Rodzinski that he was appointed assistant conductor. Hewent on to a distinguished career as a conductor, but also becamean active composer, with some of his best work coming out ofthat decade. He wrote, among other works, his first symphony,and then his second, before going on to write musicals for thebroadway stage in the 50s. His second symphony, subtitled “TheAge of Anxiety” was composed in 1949 and was inspired by abook-length poem by W. H. Auden. Auden’s The Age of Anxietywas written in 1947 and focused on the spiritual angst andcultural condition of the mid-twentieth century. It got terriblereviews. The Times Literary Supplement called it “his one dullbook, his one failure.” T. S. Elliot, however, called it “Auden’s bestwork to date”, and it won a Pulitzer Prize in 1948. Bernsteincalled it “one of the most shattering examples of pure virtuosity inthe history of English poetry.” He became obsessed with the ideaof writing a symphony based on it.The work was commissioned by Bernstein’s long-time mentorSerge Koussevitsky and it premiered on April 8, 1949, withKoussevitsky conducting and Bernstein playing the piano solo.The story depicts an encounter between four individuals in NewYork City during wartime. They meet in a bar in the “Prologue,”converse about the metaphysical world and the human conditionin “The Seven Ages” and “The Seven Stages” of man, lament theloss of a guiding father figure (apparently FDR who had died in1945) in the “Dirge”, head to a party in “Masque” and then takeleave of each other in the “Epilogue,” each returning to theireveryday lives. The music sounds at times like English pastoralthemes and at other times like American urban music - jazz,be-bop, and blues. Bernstein apparently saw himself in the poemand described himself as an “autobiographical protagonist” whilehe presented Auden’s story.In his own program note, Bernstein says, “I was merely writinga symphony inspired by a poem and following the general form ofthat poem. Yet, when each section was finished I discovered, uponre-reading, detail after detail of programmatic relation to thepoem - details that had ‘written themselves’, wholly unplannedand unconscious…” He later said that, apart from the poem, “theSymphony has acquired a life of its own.” and declared himselfsatisfied with the work in its final form.Pictures at an ExhibitionModest Mussorgsky (1839–1881)Mussorgsky composed Pictures at an Exhibition in 1874 tocommemorate a very close friend, Victor Hartmann, who died atage 39, causing Mussorgsky profound grief. He struggled with away to honor his friend, and when he attended an exhibition of400 pieces of Hartmann’s work, he was deeply moved. In a fewweeks he had written a suite of ten piano pieces dedicated toHartmann and to the organizers of the exhibit.The ten pictures Mussorgsky chose for his suite included agnome-shaped nutcracker, a bard singing near an ancient castle,children playing and quarreling in the park, a lumbering woodenoxcart, peeping chicks emerging from their shells, two Polish Jewsarguing, the women and vendors in a marketplace, the gloom ofthe catacombs beneath Paris, the grotesque witch Baba Yaga ofRussian Folklore, and an architectural design for the gate of Kiev,never actually built. The pictures are interspersed with a“promenade” theme suggesting the walking gait of a viewerstrolling through a museum, stopping to study the details of eachpicture. Mussorgsky appears to have chosen the works because ofthe variety of moods suggested and the opportunity to make useof a variety of musical styles.Mussorgsky died at age 42, his life shortened by alcoholismand depression, and his suite was not published until 1886, fiveyears after his death. His original suite did not generate muchinterest among pianists of the day, but several attempts weremade to orchestrate it. In 1922 Maurice Ravel took the suite toSerge Koussevitsky, music director of the Boston Symphony, whocommissioned him to orchestrate it. The world premiere ofRavel’s orchestration, with Koussevitsky conducting, took place inParis in October of 1922. Ravel’s orchestration seems to bring thepiano works to life, underscoring the mood of each section byusing appropriate instruments. For example, the chirping chicksare well represented by the woodwinds. The dark mood of thecatacombs is evoked by reverent brass, and percussion brings outthe nastiness of the witch. The finale, featuring the great gate ofKiev, is presented with full brass and pealing carillons.The work has subsequently been arranged for many kinds ofensemble, and many attempts have been made to recapture themood of the original keyboard work. Each version serves toremind the listener that the work was always a masterpiece in itsown right, lending itself to a world of possibilities for individualinterpretation.26
PICTURE IT!MAY 1Guest ArtistAndrew TysonHailed by BBC Radio 3 as “a real poet of the piano,” Americanpianist Andrew Tyson is emerging as a distinctive and importantnew musical voice. In summer 2015, he was awarded First Prize atthe Géza Anda Competition in Zürich, as well as the Mozart andAudience Prizes. These victories have resulted in numerousperformances throughout Europe under the auspices of the GézaAnda Foundation.Tyson is also a laureate of the Leeds International PianoCompetition where he won the new Terence Judd-Hallé OrchestraPrize, awarded by the orchestra and conductor Sir Mark Elder withwhom he enjoys an ongoing relationship. With concertoperformances taking him across North America, Europe andfurther afield, Tyson has performed with orchestras from NorthCarolina Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Kansas City Symphonyand Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Alice Tully Hall, to OsakaSymphony, SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, MusikkollegiumWinterthur and National Orchestra of Belgium. Highlights thisseason include a return to the Hallé and Bournemouth SymphonyOrchestras as well as his debut with Flanders Symphony Orchestra.Recital appearances include major cities across the U.S. andEurope at venues such as Brussels’ Palais des Beaux-Arts, NewYork’s Carnegie Hall and the Zürich Tonhalle. Following lastseason’s recitals in Shanghai, Vancouver, St. Petersburg, Tokyo and areturn to London’s Wigmore Hall, this season sees Tyson givingrecitals in Taiwan for the first time as well as a tour in Switzerland.No stranger to the festival scene, Tyson’s previous performancesinclude Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Lincoln Center’sMostly Mozart Festival, Lucerne Piano Festival, Pacific MusicFestival in Japan and the Musica Viva festival in Sydney for amixture of solo and chamber performances. An active chambermusician, Tyson regularly appears in recital with violinist BenjaminBeilman; this season they join up again for performances in the U.S.Tyson’s three recital discs apppear on the Alpha Classics label.His debut disc comprises the complete Chopin Preludes while hissecond album released in March 2017 features works by Scriabinand Ravel. His latest disc, Landscapes, released in September 2019,features works by Mompou, Albéniz, Scarlatti and Schubert and isdescribed by Tyson as a program which “synthesizes my love ofSpanish music, my love of nature and my fascination with thecoloristic aspects of piano playing.” The album title takes its namefrom Federico Mompou’s Paisajes, which are “landscapes of themind as much as intimate, yet vivid depictions of Spain.”aAs winner of the Young Concert Artists International auditionsin 2011, Tyson was awarded YCA’s Paul A. Fish Memorial Prizeand the John Browning Memorial Prize. An Avery Fisher CareerGrant soon followed. After early studies with Thomas Otten heattended The Curtis Institute of Music where he worked withClaude Frank. Tyson later studied with Robert McDonald earninghis Master’s degree and Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School,winning the Gina Bachauer Piano Competition and receiving theArthur Rubinstein Prize in Piano.PHOTO BY SOPHIE ZHAI27
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ASO Playbill Spring 2020

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