Season 2009 2009- 201 2010 The Philadelphia Orchestra Sunday, January 17, 17 , at 3:00 2 5 th Season of Chamber Music Concerts— Concerts— Perelman Theater Roustom Buhur, for clarinet, violin, viola, and cello Ricardo Morales Clarinet Amy OshiroOshiro-Morales Violin Kerri Ryan Viola Ohad BarBar- David Cello ColeridgeColeridge- Taylor Clarinet Quintet in F-sharp minor, Op. 10 I. Allegro energico II. Larghetto affetuoso III. Scherzo IV. Finale Yayoi Numazawa Violin Amy OshiroOshiro-Morales Violin David Nicastro Viola Ohad BarBar- David Cello Ricardo Morales M orales Clarinet Intermission Halvorsen Passacaglia for Violin and Cello after a Theme by Handel Marc Rovetti Violin HaiHai -Ye Ni Cello Beethove Beethov e n String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 (“Razumovsky”) I. Allegro II. Molto adagio III. Allegretto IV. Finale: Presto—Più presto Marc Rovetti Violin Yayoi Numazawa Violin David Nicastro Viola HaiHai -Ye Ni Cello This program runs approximately 2 hours.

Buhur, for clarinet, violin, viola, and cello Kareem Roustom Born in Damascus, Syria, May 6, 1971 N ow living in Boston Kareem Roustom is among that generation of composers who seek to utilize world-music materials in the context of contemporary classical music. The Syrian-born musician considers himself a “bi-lingual composer,” with roots in both the traditions of the Middle East and the discipline of the Western concert hall. His various collaborations reflect just how varied his multicultural background can be. Not only has Roustom composed works for the concert hall that embody the instruments and tonal languages of the Arab world, but he has also arranged music for Shakira and Beyoncé, and he is, to add yet a third universe to his musical life, a prolific composer of film scores as well. Roustom’s commissions and performances have included works performed by The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Children’s Chorus, the Slovak Radio Symphony, the Philadelphia Sinfonia, members of the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and others. New works in progress include Jesus the Son of Man, a large choral commission based on the poetry of Khalil Gibran, and a work for Arabic violin, cello, and string quartet commissioned by Philadelphia Orchestra cellist Ohad Bar-David. New CDs include a recording of Buhur for clarinet and string trio by the Damascus Festival Chamber Ensemble and Hot Tea, Mint & Olives for piano and children’s choir by the Boston Children’s Chorus. In film Roustom has garnered praise for his many scores, including the 2009 Sundance Film Festival hit Amreeka, and the recent PBS documentary The Mosque in Morgantown. Buhur, the title of which refers to incense, was premiered in March 2008 by clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and the Damascus Festival Chamber Ensemble. —Kenneth LaFave

Clarinet Quintet in FF- sharp minor, minor, Op. 10 Samuel Coleridge Col eridgeeridge- Taylor Born in London, August August 15, 1875 Died in Croydon, England, September 1, 1912 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born in London, the illegitimate child of Sierra Leonean Creole father and an English mother. Taylor was his father’s name, but the middle name Coleridge was given him to create a deliberate inversion of the name of the famous poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Later the composer hyphenated the name to Coleridge-Taylor, though to friends and family he was known simply as “Coleridge.” Young Samuel’s talents were early established. He studied violin at the Royal College of Music starting at age 15, followed by composition studies there with Charles Villiers Stanford. His first compositions adhered to European models fairly closely. While in later years the titles of his works reflected an awareness of his African heritage—24 Negro Melodies, African Dances, etc.—the scores of his teens and early 20s ran up against the major influences of late Romanticism. The first two opuses consist largely of chamber scores, of which Op. 1 (the Piano Quintet) and the present work are the most widely performed examples. The Clarinet Quintet was composed in 1895 as the result of a direct challenge from Stanford to Coleridge-Taylor that he write such a work without showing the influence of his favorite composer, Johannes Brahms. While some have said the result shows traces of Dvořák rather than Brahms, Stanford declared the challenge well met, and even sent the score off to the great violinist Joseph Joachim, who arranged a reading. Nothing came of the piece after that, however, and it languished for decades after the composer’s death, until a New York premiere in 1973. On that occasion, the New York Times declared the work “something of an eye opener … an assured piece of writing in the post-Romantic tradition … sweetly melodic.” A subsequent recording brought praise from Gramophone magazine, which called the Quintet “a quite astonishingly mature achievement for a 19-year-old,” though the composer was actually 20 when he wrote it. Coleridge-Taylor’s reputation was made only a few years later, in 1899, when he conducted the premiere of Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, his adaptation for chorus and orchestra of scenes from Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha. The epic score caught the imagination of late Victorian/Edwardian England, and the work went on to be performed hundreds of times during the composer’s lifetime and beyond. Unfortunately there was no royalities-gathering organization in England at the time, and Coleridge-Taylor received no income from those performances. The composer married and fathered two children, and to support his family he taught at Croydon Conservatory and worked ceaselessly on new works, ultimately composing more than 80 scores in what ended up being a short lifetime. He died in 1912, age 37, of complications from pneumonia, brought on by overwork. Ironically had he lived one more year, he would have seen the establishment of a British royalties-gathering organization (akin to the USA’s ASCAP) that would have brought him a handsome income from Hiawatha. Coleridge-Taylor was held in such high regard, however, that the king granted his widow an annual pension of 100 pounds, a substantial amount at the time.

Coleridge-Taylor’s later work focused on the Pan-African movement. He worked with other Anglo-African artists to create works reflecting a blend of African cultural influences and Western artistic forms. His catalogue is overdue for reconsideration. —Kenneth LaFave

Passacaglia for Violin and Cello after a Theme by Handel Johan Halvorsen Born in Drammen, Norway, March 15, 1864 Died in Oslo, December 4, 1935 Johan Halvorsen was a Norwegian composer, conductor, and violinist known today largely for two works: Bergensiana and the present score. Halvorsen showed an early affinity for the violin, and by his late teens he was a known figure on the Norwegian music scene. Educated in Stockholm, Sweden, he returned to Norway to take the position of concertmaster with the orchestra in Bergen before leaving once again to become concertmaster of the renowned Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. After similar stops in Scotland and Finland, Halvorsen returned permanently to Norway in 1893 to lead the opera at Bergen, along with the Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1899 he was appointed conductor of the orchestra at the National Theatre in Christiania (renamed Oslo in 1925), where he stayed until retirement in 1929. Halvorsen conducted over 30 opera productions and wrote incidental scores for dozens of plays. Along the way, he also composed three symphonies that, outside occasional revivals in his homeland, are rarely performed today. As a composer, he stayed within the late Romantic tradition of his elder colleague, Edvard Grieg, whose niece Halvorsen married. A funeral march by Halvorsen was played at Grieg’s funeral. The passacaglia is a form in which a repeated melody is subjected to a continuous stream of variations. The eight-bar subject for Halvorsen’s well-known passacaglia comes from a movement of a harpsichord suite by Handel. The composer’s choice of a violin-viola duo may have had to do with a specific pair of players in Halvorsen’s Bergen orchestra, but the inspiration is unclear. In any case, the musicians for whom Halvorsen wrote the passacaglia must have been of high technical caliber, because the virtuoso demands on both performers are enormous. (In this performance the viola part will be played by cello.) Mozart was the only major composer who wrote duos for violin and viola, unaccompanied. But the list of minor composers who have contributed to that repertoire is long, and includes Robert Fuchs, Louis Spohr, Ignace Pleyel, and Johann Müller. Halvorsen’s contribution is a powerhouse piece that utilizes multiple stops (more than one note at a time), instant changes of positions, spiccato, trills, long-lined legato playing, pizzicato, and virtually every other technique available to bowed strings. —Kenneth LaFave

String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 Ludwig van Beethoven Born in Bonn, probably December December 16, 1770 Died in Vienna, March 26, 1827 In 1806 Beethoven composed a set of three string quartets for the Russian Count Razumovsky. His only previous string quartets were the set of six numbered Op. 18, so the appearance of any new ones was a major event. Yet the three were not especially well received. From Thayer’s Life of Beethoven comes the following: “Perhaps no work of Beethoven’s met a more discouraging reception from musicians than these now famous Quartets.” Thayer goes on to quote a contemporary review: Three new, very long and difficult Beethoven string quartets, dedicated to the Russian Ambassador, Count Razumovsky, are also attracting attention of all connoisseurs. The conception is profound and the construction excellent, but they are not easily comprehended—with the possible exception of the 3rd in C major which cannot but appeal to intelligent lovers of music because of its originality, melody and harmonic power. “Very long and difficult” and “not easily comprehended” did not exactly recommend these quartets to the general public of the day. But what was then viewed as unnecessarily complicated, we now hear as pioneering. Even so, the original perception of Op. 59 has influenced performance history. The C-major Quartet, third in the set, remains the most popular. The first of the group, in F major, gets a fair amount of attention. The second, Beethoven’s only string quartet in E minor, sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. The Op. 59 quartets are emblematic of what we call the composer’s “middle period.” This division of Beethoven’s output into early, middle, and late suggests three distinct styles. In fact throughout his life, Beethoven cultivated the same elements of formal innovation, and worked and reworked the same vocabulary of gestures. His career more closely resembled a seamless progression, each score existing both as a statement in itself and as a cocoon for the next effort. The Allegro first movement of Op. 59, No. 2, in 6/8 time, announces the key of E minor with two bold strokes and immediately begins to traverse a variety of keys, major and minor. The journey is compact and intense. Contrast is everything: of mood, aggression alternating with pliancy; of dynamics (there are passages in which every bar has a separate dynamic indication); of character, with espressivo and dolce predominating; and of rhythmic subdivision of the meter, the usual two beats per bar sometimes slipping into three. The second movement (Molto Molto adagio) adagio finds Beethoven gently pushing back the bounds of a typical slow movement. Here is a meditation in E major to presage the transcendent adagios of the late period. The sheer length of the movement and the discursive nature of its continuously unfolding melodies approach symphonic stature. With the tempo indication are printed the words “Si tratta questo pezzo con molto di sentimento,” meaning simply “Play this piece with a lot of feeling.” The climax, a few bars from the end, consists of a startling

progression of note-against-note chords nearly Wagnerian in their tonal ambiguity. The slightly off-kilter rhythmic patterns of the Allegretto third movement produce a heady effect. The key has returned to E minor, until a middle section that shifts back to major when a “Thème russe” is introduced by the second violin. This is a Russian tune used later by Modest Musorgsky in his opera Boris Godunov. Beethoven had also used a Russian folksong in the finale of Op. 59, No. 1; both quotations were likely tips-of-the-hat to Count Razumovsky. (If his intention was to employ a Russian tune in each of the quartets, however, Beethoven abandoned the plan with the final quartet of the set, which contains no folk material.) The finale wraps up the Quartet in a scurrying, cut-time piece of Presto danciness that starts in the unlikely area of C major, but comes to rest comfortably back in E minor. If critics and the general public were not overly impressed with Op. 59, the set did the trick for its commissioner. Count Razumovsky, pleased with his quartets, arranged in 1808 to fund a string quartet to be at Beethoven’s disposal whenever the composer needed a reading ensemble. —Kenneth LaFave

Program notes commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra Association; copyright © 2009 Kenneth LaFave.

GENERAL TERMS Cadence: The conclusion to a phrase, movement, or piece based on a recognizable melodic formula, harmonic progression, or dissonance resolution Chord: The simultaneous sounding of three or more tones Coda: A concluding section or passage added in order to confirm the impression of finality Counterpoint: A term that describes the combination of simultaneously sounding musical lines Dissonance: A combination of two or more tones requiring resolution DoubleDouble-stop: In violin playing, to stop two strings together, thus obtaining two-part harmony Legato: Smooth, even, without any break between notes Octave: The interval between any two notes that are seven diatonic (non-chromatic) scale degrees apart. Two notes an octave apart are different only in their relative registers (e.g. c-c′; dd′). Op.: Abbreviation for opus, a term used to indicate the chronological position of a composition within a composer’s output. Opus numbers are not always reliable because they are often applied in the order of publication rather than composition. Ostinato: A steady bass accompaniment, repeated over and over Passacaglia: In 19th- and 20th-century music, a set of ground-bass or ostinato variations, usually of a serious character Pizzicato: Plucked Scherzo: Literally “a joke.” Usually the third movement of symphonies and quartets that was introduced by Beethoven to replace the minuet. The scherzo is followed by a gentler section called a trio, after which the scherzo is repeated. Its characteristics are a rapid tempo in triple time, vigorous rhythm, and humorous contrasts. Sonata form: The form in which the first movements (and sometimes others) of symphonies are usually cast. The sections are exposition, development, and recapitulation, the last sometimes followed by a coda. The exposition is the introduction of the musical ideas, which are then “developed.” In the recapitulation, the exposition is repeated with modifications. Spiccato: In bowing, either a light staccato or a short rapid detached stroke, played in the middle of the bow, that makes the bow bounce lightly off the string Staccato: Detached, with each note separated from the next and quickly released Tonality: The orientation of melodies and harmonies towards a specific pitch or pitches Trill: A type of embellishment that consists, in a more or less rapid alternation, of the main note with the one a tone or half-tone above it THE SPEED OF MUSIC (Tempo) Adagio: Leisurely, slow Affettuoso: Tenderly, with feeling Allegretto: A tempo between walking speed and fast Allegro: Bright, fast Dolce: Sweet, smooth, gentle Energico: With vigor, powerfully Espressivo: With expression, with feeling Larghetto: A slow tempo Presto: Very fast TEMPO MODIFIERS Molto: Very Più: More

Ohad BarBar-David began cello studies at age seven with Uzi Wiesel in Tel-Aviv and continued his studies at Juilliard with Leonard Rose; he later studied conducting at Curtis with Max Rudolf. In 1976 Mr. Bar-David won the International Villa Lobos Competition in Brazil. He was principal cello in the International Youth Orchestra, at Juilliard, in the National Orchestra of New York, and with American Ballet Theatre. Mr. Bar-David was a member of the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia (now the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia) and joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1987. He recently developed the Arab Jewish Musical Dialogue and is also the founder of Intercultural Journeys, an organization committed to producing performances, master classes, lectures, and other interactions that provide opportunities for musical dialogue and understanding among a variety of cultural traditions. Ricardo Morales joined The Philadelphia Orchestra as principal clarinet in 2003. Previously, he was principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Florida Symphony. A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mr. Morales began lessons at the Escuela Libre de Musica and continued his studies at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Indiana University, where he received his Artist Diploma. He has been a featured soloist with many orchestras including the Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Flemish Radio, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Florida, and Columbus symphonies, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mr. Morales currently serves on the faculties of the Juilliard School and Temple University. His debut solo recording, French Portraits, is available on Boston Records. He has also joined with instrument maker Morrie Backun to create MoBa, a clarinet accessory company. Born in Shanghai, HaiHai -Ye Ni began cello studies with her mother and later trained at the Shanghai Conservatory. She also studied with Irene Sharp at the San Francisco Conservatory, Joel Krosnick at Juilliard, and William Pleeth. Ms. Ni joined The Philadelphia Orchestra as principal cello in 2006; previously she was associate principal cello of the New York Philharmonic. She made her New York debut in 1991 as first prize winner at the Naumburg International Cello Competition, the youngest recipient of that award. She also won first prize in the 1996 International Paulo Cello Competition and received an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Her solo engagements include the New York Philharmonic and the Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Vancouver, and Shanghai symphonies. She has also given recitals and participated in music festivals around the world. Violist David Nicastro became a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra in the summer of 1995. Previously he served as associate principal viola of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. He has been guest violist with the Takács String Quartet and was a member of the Kono Quartet in Indiana. Born in New York, Mr. Nicastro grew up in the Hague, Netherlands, where he began violin studies at the age of six. Returning to the U.S., he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature and a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance from Boston University while studying with Yuri Mazurkevich. Continuing his musical studies, Mr. Nicastro received a University Fellowship and an Artist Diploma from Indiana University, where he studied viola with Abraham Skernick, Atar Arad, and former Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Viola Joseph de Pasquale.

Born in Tokyo, Yayoi Numazawa began studying violin at age five with Ami Watanabe. Ms. Numazawa won her first competition at age nine and at age 12 was invited to study with Ivan Galamian at Meadowmount in upstate New York. The following year she enrolled full time at the Curtis Institute, where she studied with Mr. Galamian, Philadelphia Orchestra violinist Yumi Ninomiya Scott, Jamie Laredo, and Felix Galimir. Ms. Numazawa made her solo debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra as a winner of its Albert M. Greenfield Student Competition. She became a member of the Orchestra in 1995. Her active performance schedule has included solo performances in Japan and the United States, as well as many chamber performances. Ms. Numazawa teaches privately and many of her students have gone on to study at leading institutions. Violinist Amy OshiroOshiro-Morales joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in 2008. Previously she was assistant concertmaster of the Saint Louis Symphony and the Grant Park Orchestra and associate concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony. Ms. Oshiro-Morales has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, the Saint Louis Symphony, the Napa Valley Symphony, and the Minnesota Sinfonia. She has been a guest artist at the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, the Cactus Pear Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival, the National Orchestral Institute, and the Innsbrook Institute, among others. She studied with Almita and Roland Vamos at Oberlin Conservatory and continued her studies at the Juilliard School with Robert Mann. Ms. Oshiro-Morales also enjoys hiking and running and has completed the Chicago Marathon and the New York City Marathon. Violinist Marc Rovetti Rovetti joined The Philadelphia Orchestra during the summer of 2007 and became assistant concertmaster at the beginning of the 2009-10 season. Previously he was a member of the New World Symphony, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the award-winning Rothko String Quartet, and the Mark Morris Dance Group Ensemble. Mr. Rovetti also spent several summers at the Tanglewood Music Center, both as a fellow and as a violinist in the New Fromm Players. Born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, he made his solo debut with the Atlanta Symphony in 2005. He holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School and an advanced certificate from New York University, where his teachers were Ronald Copes and Pamela Frank, respectively. During his time at NYU he also served as adjunct violin faculty. Assistant Principal Viola Kerri Ryan became a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 2007. She came to Philadelphia from the Minnesota Orchestra, where she was assistant principal viola for seven seasons. Following her graduation from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1998, she served as associate concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony. Ms. Ryan and her husband, Philadelphia Orchestra violinist William Polk, are founding members of the award-winning Minneapolis Quartet. In Philadelphia, while pursuing a violin performance degree at Curtis, she began studying viola with Karen Tuttle. Ms. Ryan also studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a member of its Young Artist Program. Her violin teachers include Lee Snyder, Jascha Brodsky, Rafael Druian, and Arnold Steinhardt.