Program Notes
Friday, October 30, 2009, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 1, 2009, 2:00 p.m.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Serenade in D major
The Serenade dates from 1801, falling between the first two symphonies in Beethoven’s oeuvre. As one might expect from the title and the scoring, this is one of the composer’s most light-hearted works.
Instead of a large, complex opening movement, the Serenade begins with a little march, opening with two measures of solo flute before the strings accept its invitation to join in. The following Minuetto has the form ABACA; the flute rests in the B episode. The third movement is a quick number in D minor, with a contrasting middle section. Next comes a theme with three variations, each featuring one of the three instruments. The fifth movement reverses the pattern of the third movement, with the outer sections in D major and the middle portion in D minor. The finale consists of a slow introduction leading into a cheerful rondo.
Bernard Garfield (1924- )
Brief Interludes
Though primarily known as one of the twentieth century's foremost bassoonists, early in his career Bernard Garfield was equally active as a composer and pianist. At age 12 he began composing and continued to do so through college, Army service, and graduate school, studying with Hugo Kauder, Marion Bauer, and Philip James. He completed a Master's degree in composition at Columbia University, working with Otto Luening and Henry Cowell. His works include songs, piano music, and works for various other media including a concert overture for orchestra. After the early 1950s he concentrated on his career as a bassoonist; many of his compositions since that date are technical studies for his instrument.
Among other accomplishments in his performing career, Garfield organized the pioneering New York Woowind Quintet in 1946 and served as principal bassoonist of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1957 to 2000. He performed with the Philadelphia Chamber Ensemble from 1980 to 2006. Mark Gigliotti, the current bassoonist with the Ensemble, is one of his many students.
The Brief Interludes were originally composed for two bassoons; Garfield later arranged them for oboe and bassoon. These are the first performances of a new arrangement for clarinet and bassoon.
Florent Schmitt (1870-1958)
Suite en rocaille, op. 84
Schmitt was a leading French composer, teacher, and critic of the first half of the twentieth century. He was a friend of Ravel, who was five years younger, and whom he outlived by two decades. Schmitt continued composing up to his death at age 87, creating a large and highly varied catalog of works. The Suite en rocaille--the title suggests the careful design of a rock garden--was composed in 1934 and first performed in Paris on May 24, 1935. It is one of Schmitt’s lighter and more accessible compositions. Though the harmony of the suite is fairly advanced, it has a strong sense of key (G major, overall) and the melodies and form are not difficult to follow.
Each movement of the suite is laid out in the same general pattern, with a middle section that contrasts with the opening and then a return of the opening material. Schmitt described the first movement of the suite (Without haste) as being based on two themes "tainted with archaism." The second movement (Animated) has five quick beats to the measure. The third movement (Not too slowly) is subtitled "very moderately, in minuet time." Schmitt called the last movement (Lively) a rondo in homage to Haydn.
Franz Berwald (1796-1868)
Grand Septet in B-flat major
Few composers had a longer struggle for recognition than Franz Berwald. The son of a violinist in the Swedish court orchestra, he was himself an orchestral player in the early part of his career. His ambitions as a composer led him to make several extended trips abroad, but he enjoyed only limited success in Sweden or elsewhere. He worked at a variety of non-musical jobs, including a decade as manager of a glassworks. Only in the 1860s did he begin to receive the honors due a leading musical figure, and not until long after his death did it become generally agreed that he was Sweden’s greatest nineteenth-century composer, at least in the realm of instrumental music. Though much of his creative effort went into opera, his surviving stage works have not fared well in modern performances. On the other hand, his symphonic and chamber music has found a niche in the repertory. Berwald’s fondness for irregularity both in the length of single phrases and in the structure of entire works is the feature that sets him apart from most of his contemporaries.
Composed in 1817 and revised in 1828, the septet comes from the years when Berwald was playing violin and viola in the court orchestra in Stockholm. It clearly belongs to the tradition begun by the Beethoven septet for the same combination of instruments, though it is more modest in its dimensions. Technically confident and full of youthful energy, it is the work of a composer at the beginning of a memorable career.
Like Beethoven’s septet, Berwald’s begins with a mock-portentous slow introduction leading to a light-hearted main section. The opening theme is cleverly constructed: the sustained notes in the winds are the accompaniment, while the plucked notes in the strings, which sound like an accompaniment at first, are actually the tune. Berwald combines a clear formal layout with some adventurous key changes in the course of the movement.
Large nineteenth-century instrumental works tend to have four movements. Berwald varies this pattern by telescoping the two inner movements into one. It begins as a slow movement, with a fine lyrical theme first heard in the clarinet. The music becomes more agitated, leading to a second theme, and then to a development of the opening theme. At the point where he might be expected to recapitulate the opening, however, Berwald suddenly breaks into a whirlwind scherzo. After this has run its course, the slow material returns briefly to conclude the movement.
The finale of the septet is full of youthful high spirits. Two cheerful themes alternate with mysterious rushing passages that simply serve to set them off and keep everything moving along to a satisfying close.