Symphony Orchestra

About the Program

Program notes by Mark Bilyeu except where noted 

Adam Schoenberg
Go
Born November 15, 1980
Composed 2016
Premiered August 22, 2014
7 minutes

Go was originally conceived as a string quartet that premiered in 2014 by The Chamber Music Festival of Lexington. Following the premiere of the quartet, it became apparent that the work was destined to be set to larger forces. I knew the piece could function as a great concert opener, and so I decided to wait until the right opportunity presented itself where I could rework the piece and arrange it for orchestra. Originally inspired by the Kentucky blue landscape and world-renowned horse race tracks and farms, Go is a high energy, groove-oriented work. The piece begins as if each member of the string section is at the starting line of a race. Using glissando techniques to create a revving effect, the movement opens with a series of roaring engines that increase in intensity before locking into a groove that becomes the foundation of the piece. Several different grooves and rhythmic patterns develop as the orchestra continues to round the track. The piece ultimately ends with a “sprint to the finish.” 

– Adam Schoenberg

Gara Garayev
Layla and Majnun
February 5, 1918, Baku, Azerbaijan
May 13, 1982, Moscow, Russia
Composed 1947
Premiered September 29, 1947, Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Society
15 minutes

At the age of 20, Gara Garayev had his first public premiere: his cantata The Song of the Heart to the poem by the Azerbaijani writer Rasul Rza. It premiered at Moscow’s famed Bolshoi Theater, in the presence of Joseph Stalin. Following the premiere, Garayev moved to Moscow to study with Dmitri Shostakovich at the Moscow State Conservatory, and their mentorship grew into a friendship; “He surely has a great future,” wrote Shostakovich. Three years later, at the age of 23, he returned to his hometown of Baku to teach at the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Society. In the years following, he would be awarded two separate Stalin Prizes (a Soviet equivalent to the American Pulitzer Prize), and would go on to hold the Chair of the Union of Composers of Azerbaijan SSR, and serve as the rector of the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire. He completed his tone poem, inspired by the legend of the great 12th century poet Nizami Ganjavi, before his thirtieth birthday. The legend tells the story of Quays, who falls in love with Layla, whose father refuses to let them be together. Quays goes to extreme lengths to prove his love, and the town gives him the epithet of “Manjun” meaning "possessed by genies,” for how unhinged he appears. Layla is forcibly married to another noble and moves to a place in Northern Arabia. Majnun, hearing of her marriage and departure, flees the city to seek her out, but when she is not found, lives a life in the wilderness, and goes mad. Eventually, Layla dies (in some versions of the story, her death is caused by heartbreak), and years later, still wandering in the desert, Majnun is found dead, beside Layla’s grave.
 

Antonín Dvořák
Cello Concerto, op. 104
Born September 8, 1841, Nelahozeves, Bohemia
Died May 1, 1904, Bohemia
Composed 1895
Premiered March 19, 1896, Leo Stern, cellist, London, England
40 minutes

Antonín Dvořák first tried his hand at composing a concerto for the cello at the age of twenty. After it was finished, the cellist for whom the concerto was written never followed up, and apparently, neither did Dvořák, because that work remains unfinished (it was discovered in 1925, after his death). It was through that experience, however, that Dvořák rather famously avoided writing another showcase for the cello, believing it was an “insufficient” instrument for solo work, with its “nasal high register and mumbling bass.” In his adult years, his friend and colleague, the cellist Hanuš Wihan began to badger the composer for a concerto. And, if any cellist was to sway Dvořák, it would be Wihan: the two had toured together extensively in a piano trio. Dvořák certainly admired his playing-Wihan had been the cellist to premiere Dvořák’s famous “Dumky” Piano Trio — but, it wasn't until the premiere of Victor Herbert’s cello concerto in 1894 that Dvořák believed the cello was capable of such a feat. He set out to write it in November, and by February of the next year, it was completed. He shared the manuscript with Wihan who made several suggestions, and also pushed for the inclusion of two cadenzas. Dvořák was not interested. He went so far as to send a note to his publishers saying “I give you my work only if you will promise me that no one—not even my friend Wihan — shall make any alteration in it without my knowledge and permission, also that there be no cadenza such as Wihan has made in the last movement; and that its form shall be as I have felt it and thought it out.” Despite this friction, Dvořák still asked Wihan to premiere the work, but the cellist was unable to play the premiere in London. He first performed the concerto the following year and continued to play it throughout his career.

In the opening movement, listen to how Dvořák immediately maneuvers around his concern of the cello being overpowered: his sparse orchestrations that accompany the soloist are beautiful transparencies against the more robust tutti sections when the soloist is not playing. The second movement is an homage to his ailing sister-in-law Josefina; in it he quotes her favorite song of his, “Lasst mich allein (Leave Me Alone).” The final movement was completed after her death, prompting him to include another iteration of that same melody. It was after this nostalgic moment that Wihan believed there should be a flashy cadenza to close it out, but Dvořák insisted on his own vision of the cello’s subdued final moments.  He wanted it to be “like a breath... then there is a crescendo, and the last measures are taken up by the orchestra, ending stormily. That was my idea, and from it I cannot recede.”

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About the Artists

Bion Tsang’s career highlights include appearing on the PBS Great Performances “Now Hear This” with Scott Yoo, including “Beethoven’s Ghost” (S2E4) and “Schumann: Genius and Madness” (S4E2), and earning a Grammy nomination for his performance on PBS’s A Company of Voices: Conspirare in Concert. (Harmonia Mundi). Tsang has performed with the New York, Mexico City, Moscow, Busan and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras, the Atlanta, Pacific, American and National Symphony Orchestras, the Saint Paul and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestras, and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. He has been a guest with the Chamber Music Societies of Boston, Brooklyn, Fort Worth, Seattle and Vancouver, Chamber Music International, Da Camera of Houston and Camerata Pacifica, and performed at the Bard Festival, Bravo! Colorado, Domaine Forget de Charlevoix and Marlboro Music. Tsang’s discography includes three live recital recordings, all recorded at Jordan Hall in Boston, as well as Dvořák/Enescu Cello Concertos (Sony) with Scott Yoo and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bach Solo Cello Suites (Sony), and Cantabile (Universal), again with Yoo and the RSNO.

Farkhad Khudyev

Farkhad Khudyev is the winner of the Gold Medal “Beethoven 250” at the 1st International Arthur Nikisch Conducting Competition; the Solti Foundation US 2018 and 2022 Career Assistance Award; the Best Interpretation Prize at the 1st International Taipei Conducting Competition; the 3rd prize at the 8th International Sir Georg Solti Conducting Competition; and the Gold Medal/Grand Prize at the 2007 National Fischoff Competition. Khudyev has worked with orchestras worldwide including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Monterey Symphony, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, Xi’an Symphony Orchestra and the State Taipei Chinese Orchestra. Farkhad was born in Turkmenistan, where he studied at the State Music School for gifted musicians, and then completed his studies at Interlochen Arts Academy, Oberlin Conservatory and Yale University. Khudyev serves as the Music Director of the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra in Austin, and the Orchestral Institute at the Hidden Valley Institute of the Arts in Carmel, California.

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Symphony Orchestra

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Upcoming Events

Ring in the season with the Butler School’s annual Holiday Concert with music for everyone to enjoy. You’ll hear traditional holiday carols and winter favorites across many genres, including excerpts from Bach’s Magnificat, jazz standards like “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” and Hanukkah songs from Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish traditions.

Saturday, December 5, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday ,December 6, 4:00 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall 

Tickets

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Friday, November 6, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall
 

MIRÓ QUARTET
Saturday, November 7, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall
 

UNIVERSITY ORCHESTRA
Free Admission
Tuesday, November 17, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall
 

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Wednesday, February 10, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall
 

UNIVERSITY ORCHESTRA
Free Admission
Tuesday, February 23, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall
 

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