CONCERT PROGRAM

November 2-3, 2012

John Storgrds, conductor Yefim Bronfman, piano

BACH
(1685-1750)

arr. Webern

Fuga (Ricercata) a 6 voci, No. 2 from Musical Offering, BWV 1079 (1747/1934-35)

(1883-1945)

SCHUMANN
(1810-1856)

Symphony No. 4 in D minor, op. 120 (1841, rev. 1851)

Ziemlich langsam; Lebhaft Romanze: Ziemlich langsam Scherzo: Lebhaft Langsam; Lebhaft
INTER M I SS I O N

BRAHMS
(1833-1897)

Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, op. 83 (1881)

Allegro non troppo Allegro appassionato Andante Allegretto grazioso Yefim Bronfman, piano

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
John Storgrds is the Stanley J. Goodman Guest Artist. Yefim Bronfman is the Ann and Paul Lux Guest Artist. The concert of Friday, November 2, is underwritten in part by a generous gift from Mrs. Bettie L. Gershman. The concert of Saturday, November 3, is underwritten in part by a generous gift from Mr. and Mrs. Jay G. Henges Jr. These concerts are presented by The Thomas A. Kooyumjian Family Foundation. Pre-Concert Conversations are presented by Washington University Physicians. These concerts are part of the Wells Fargo Advisors Series. Large print program notes are available through the generosity of Mosby Building Arts and are located at the Customer Service table in the foyer.

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FROM THE STAGE

St. Louis Symphony violinist Jooyeon Kong on the music of Robert Schumann: You know how you have friends who are crazy, but in the most wonderful way? Thats Schumann. He was somewhat manic, probably bi-polar, and you can see this reflected in his compositions. He reaches these ecstatic highs, but then pulls back from them really quickly. As musicians we are trying to convey these extremes of emotion, and so we need to shift gears very quickly as well. His music can be exhausting to perform. When Schumann was 18 he wrote, My heart Robert Schumann pounds sickeningly and I turn pale ... I often feel as if I were dead ... I seem to be losing my mind. But during a period of intense, fruitful composition, he wrote, I am so fresh in soul and spirit that life gushes and bubbles around me in a thousand springs. This shows the wide poles of emotion within which he lived. But he was also learned. He studied and knew the works of Haydn and Beethoven. But these are much more structured composers. What makes Schumann unique to me is how he weaves his extremes of emotion into a structure. This is what makes it so beautiful. To me, it is somewhat liberating playing his music. Its a perfect excuse to lose your mindand get it back.
HEIKKI TUULI

Guest conductor John Storgrds can bring the intensity necessary for Schumann.
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TRADITION AND INNOVATION

BY PA U L SC H I AVO

TIMELINKS
1747 BACH Fuga (Ricercata) a 6 voci, No. 2 from Musical Offering, BWV 1079 Handel composes oratorio Solomon 1851 SCHUMANN Symphony No. 4 in D minor, op. 120 Schumanns Symphony No. 3, Rhenish, premieres in Dusseldorf 1881 BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, op. 83 Impressionist artists such as Monet, Renoir, and Rodin at work in France 1934-35 WEBERN arr. Fuga (Ricercata) a 6 voci, No. 2 from Musical Offering, BWV 1079 Nazis stage coup in Vienna

Since the 19th century, German and Austrian composers have been the heirs of an imposing musical tradition. J. S. Bach had taught a reverence for contrapuntal musicthat is, music created from precisely woven strands of melody combined to create a whole seemingly larger than the sum of its individual parts. Bach always restricted himself to a handful of themes and melodic motifs, which gave his music a strong sense of formal unity, no matter how intricate his contrapuntal discourse. This formalism greatly impressed his successors among German-speaking composers. Later, the music of Haydn, Mozart, and especially Beethoven established a deep commitment to the classical forms of symphony and concerto, which remained the primary vehicles for orchestral composition throughout the 19th century and beyond. Pulling against the weight of this tradition, as it were, was the impulse to innovate, an impulse inherent in any artistic endeavor. The tension between these two currentskeenly felt tradition and, on the other hand, a desire to expand musical horizons and explore new possibilitiesis an implicit theme of the three compositions we hear this evening. Robert Schumanns Symphony No. 4 brings to its venerable genre new procedures for imparting formal unity. Specifically, Schumann bridges the traditional four symphonic movements to form an unbroken span of music and further links them with thematic recurrences. Johannes Brahms, in his Piano Concerto No. 2, expands the usual concerto design from three movements to four, thereby creating a work of symphonic dimensions. But the most striking confrontation between tradition and innovation that we hear this evening is embodied in the work that opens our program. Anton Weberns extraordinary orchestration of the great six-strand fugue from Bachs Musical Offering views that piece, and the motivic play it entails, through a 20th-century lens. In this work, old and new meet to remarkable effect.

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JOHAN SEBASTIAN BACH/ ANTON WEBERN Fuga (Ricercata) a 6 voci, No. 2 from Musical Offering, BWV 1079 A PROPHET ROOTED IN THE PAST Anton Webern has long been recognized as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. It was Webern, after all, who devised especially artful procedures for ordering 12-note tone rows, or series, and who implied that such processes might be applied to other parameters of music: Bach rhythm, timbre, and volume. For this, Webern was lionized by the post-World War II avantgarde, who adopted his methods as the basis of a new sort of composition that they hoped would free them completely from the traditions of the Classical and Romantic eras. It was Webern, too, who developed an aesthetic of spare, crystalline textures and compression of ideas into their most concise, essential form, something that also made a deep impression on the generation of composers that emerged in Europe and the United States in the middle years of the last century. Yet for all the radical implications of his Webern music, Weberns work had deep roots in the past, as he himself often insisted. Despite his youthful interest in composition, Webern pursued university study in musicology. His special interest was the polyphonic music of the Renaissance, and his doctoral dissertation was an edition of the elaborate Choralis Constantinus, by the Netherlands composer Heinrich Isaac. From his studies, Webern gained a knowledge and love of the intricate contrapuntal writing of pre-Classical music, and this became an important influence on his own work. Webern turned increasingly to the use of canons and other contrapuntal artificesespecially in his mature compositionselevating counterpoint to a place of importance it had not known since the death of J. S. Bach nearly two centuries earlier. Weberns fascination with contrapuntal procedure also is evident in the orchestration he made in 1934-35 of the great six-voice fugue, or Ricercata, from Bachs Musical Offering, a work completed in 1747. This transcription sheds an especially revealing light on the link the composer felt between his own musical world and that of the past. Faithfully adhering to the notes of Bachs score, Weberns instrumentation nevertheless transforms the fugue into a succession of thematic fragments, each with its own expressive significance, a practice Webern frequently employed in his own music. It is as if Webern is passing Bachs music through a prism and refracting into brief motifs, each with its individual tone color, the elements that make up the polyphonic whole of the composition.
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BACH/WEBERN Born Eisenach, March 21, 1685/ Vienna, December 3, 1883 Died Leipzig, July 28, 1750/ Mittersill, Austria, September 15, 1945 First Performance Bach composed the work for Frederick II following a meeting in Potsdam on May 7, 1747/London, April 15, 1935, in a broadcast concert; Webern conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra STL Symphony Premiere October 17, 1964, Eleazar De Carvalho conducting Most Recent STL Symphony Performance October 14, 1998, Hans Vonk conducting on tour in Vienna Scoring flute oboe English horn clarinet bass clarinet bassoon horn trumpet trombone timpani harp strings Performance Time approximately 8 minutes

HEARING BACH WITH NEW EARS Weberns intent in this was not merely coloristic, however, and anything but haphazard. In a letter to the conductor Hermann Scherchen, he insisted that my orchestration attempts to reveal the motivic coherence [of Bachs fugue], to highlight the inner symmetries that make up the larger whole. In attempting to grasp Weberns conception, we might consider what he wrote of Isaacs music in the introduction to his dissertation:
Here we experience the wonderful effect of polyphonic art ... in which the voices proceed alongside each other in complete equality; nevertheless, as an individual voice begins to gain in importance ... it comes to the fore. Then as that voice recedes, another starts to become more prominent. ... Added to this is the keenest observation of tone colorings in the various registers.

These same words describe the sound of Weberns orchestration of the Ricercata. But unlike his edition of Isaacs work, which was accurate and scholarly, this transcription represents a highly creative artistic synthesis and an extension of Weberns own composing activity. Erwin Stein, a sympathetic critic who, like Webern, studied with Arnold Schoenberg, was among the first to realize this. In 1935 he published an article in the Christian Science Monitor entitled Bach Via Anton Webern, which concluded:
It is apparent to everyone who knows Weberns music that the tonal concept he employs for Bachs music is entirely his own. It is amazing that two things, stylistically so far removed, should blend into a perfect artistic whole. We are, it is true, concerned here with a totally new interpretation of Bach. For those, however, who understand and admire Bach, it will be an experience, for once, to hear him through the ears of a Webern.

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ROBERT SCHUMANN Symphony No. 4 in D minor, op. 120 NOT A WHIT BEHIND The 30-year-old Robert Schumann scarcely had completed his First Symphony when he set to work on a second, in the spring of 1841. On May 31 of that year, Clara Schumann, the composers wife, reported to her diary: Yesterday Robert began another symphony. ... I have seen none of it, but I observe Roberts enthusiasm and hear D minor sounding wildly from a distance. The first performance of this D-minor Symphony, on December 6, 1841, saw no repeat of the triumph of its predecessor, which had been cheered at its premiere earlier that year. A decade later, Schumann returned to the piece, revising the orchestration and other details. In this form the work did proved successful. A NEW SYMPHONIC FORM The symphony opens with an introduction in slow tempo built from a falling and rising melodic line. Soon we hear the initial stirring of what proves to be the principal theme of the first movement proper. This fiery melody dominates the movement to such a degree that we are well under way before any secondary ideas appear. The Romanze second movement begins with a plaintive oboe melody that dissolves into the falling and rising figure that opened the symphony. A florid theme for solo violin provides a lyrical contrast, and the return to the movements initial material rounds it into a clear A-B-A design. The ensuing scherzo reveals still more of the thematic connections that bind the symphony. Its powerful opening idea presents a mirror image of the falling-rising line of the previous two movements, whereas the central section is based on the violin solo of the Romanze. Schumanns transition to the finale is strikingly similar to that in Beethovens Fifth Symphony. Fragments of the first movements principal theme emerge, punctuated by solemn chords in the brass. The music gathers momentum and at last breaks into a triumphant Allegro built largely on the vigorous chordal motif from the opening movement.
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Born Zwickau, Saxony, June 8, 1810 Died Endenich, near Bonn, June 29, 1856 First Performance Leipzig, December 6, 1841, Ferdinand David conducted the famed Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; Schumann revised the piece extensively in 1851; the resulting new version of the work was first heard on December 30, 1852, in Dsseldorf, with the composer directing the performance by that citys civic orchestra STL Symphony Premiere January 7, 1910, Max Zach conducting Most Recent STL Symphony Performance May 6, 2007, Michael Christie conducting Scoring 2 flutes 2 oboes 2 clarinets 2 bassoons 4 horns 2 trumpets 3trombones timpani strings Performance Time approximately 28 minutes

JOHANNES BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, op. 83 GERMAN MUSIC CONCEIVED IN ITALY In the summer of 1881, Brahms wrote to his longtime friend and correspondent Elizabeth von Herzogenberg: I dont mind telling you that I have written a tiny little piano concerto with a tiny little wisp of a scherzo. Such self-effacing remarks were well known to Brahmss friends and could reliably be taken to mean precisely the opposite of what they purported to convey. In this case, the tiny little work was one of nearly monumental scale, Brahmss Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, op. 83. Brahms probably conceived this piece during a trip to Italy in 1878, for he made preliminary sketches of the music upon his return to Vienna. Laying these aside for three years, during which time the composition of his Violin Concerto brought valuable experience with the problems of juxtaposing soloist and orchestra, the composer returned to the work and completed it immediately following a second Italian sojourn. The proximity of Brahmss visits to Italy with his work on the Piano Concerto No. 2, together with the melodiousness of certain passages, has prompted some commentators to find a certain Mediterranean warmth in the piece. Such projection, however, is a dubious exercise with Brahms. There is nothing really Italian about this concerto, and we can note that Brahmss Symphony No. 2 conveys a similar sort of relaxed lyricism, although it was written before the composer ever set foot south of the Alps. On the other hand, the Piano Concerto No. 2 entails many moments marked by Brahmss characteristic German ring, starting with the horn call of the opening measure. A CONCERTO OF EPIC SCALE The concerto is striking in the grandeur of its proportions. Its length, scope of ideas, and great variety of moods and colors give the impression of an epic work, and the unusual inclusion of a scherzo movement expands its dimensions to those of a symphony. It is not true, however, that this is simply a symphony with piano accompaniment,
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Born Hamburg, May 7, 1833 Died Vienna, April 3, 1897 First Performance Budapest, November 9, 1881, Hans von Blow conducted, and Brahms played the solo part STL Symphony Premiere November 12, 1915, Harold Bauer was soloist, with Max Zach conducting Most Recent STL Symphony Performance May 6, 2006, Emanuel Ax was soloist, with David Robertson conducting Scoring solo piano 2 flutes 2 oboes 2 clarinets 2 bassoons 4 horns 2 trumpets timpani strings Performance Time approximately 46 minutes

as early critics of the piece claimed. Indeed, the solo instrument establishes its importance from the start, echoing the opening call of the French horn. The horn-call motif generates much of the material from which Brahms builds the first movement. The composer subjects this figure to constant variation, and there seems to be no limit to the uses he finds for its first three notes. Following an extended passage for the solo piano, a second, more restless, theme is presented by the violins. Several subsidiary melodies also arise as the music unfolds. It is, though, the recurrence of the opening motif that accounts for much of the movements strong character. There is no cadenza. Its absence underscores Brahmss serious, classical approach to form and his affinity with Beethoven, who had expressly forbidden such a solo passage in his Emperor Concerto. Evidently Brahms was similarly unwilling to jeopardize the architectural balance of this movement for a brief and quite possibly extraneous display of virtuosity. Brahmss inclusion of a scherzo as the second movement is an unorthodox addition to the usual three-movement concerto design. This portion of the composition unfolds in several clearly articulated sections, and its central episode conveys a rustic quality that marks the movement as a descendant of Beethovens symphonic scherzos. By contrast, the ensuing Andante reveals a world of fragile beauty. Its opening, with a lyrical cello solo, is one of the most tender passages Brahms left us. The entrance of the piano proves uncommonly delicate, and the fluid rhythms in its ensuing soliloquy produce a Chopin like dreaminess. During the central development episode the music grows restless and impassioned, but soothed by sustained harmonies in the clarinets, it soon becomes calm again, allowing the movement to end as it began, in tranquil reverie. The finale presents probably the most carefree movement in any of Brahmss major works. Even the minor key episode suggests not sorrow but the sultry Hungarian gypsy music the composer had known since boyhood. The soloists passagework is dazzling, but this never amounts to an extraneous display of virtuosity. Rather, the brilliant keyboard music always serves to develop Brahmss musical ideas in perfectly spun phrases.

Program notes 2012 by Paul Schiavo

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JOHN STORGRDS

STANLEY J. GOODMAN GUEST ARTIST

John Storgrds makes his St. Louis Symphony debut with these concerts.

Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Finnish artist John Storgrds has a dual career as a conductor and violin virtuoso and is widely recognized for his creative flair for programming and his commitment to contemporary music. He additionally holds the title of Artistic Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Lapland, with which he programs some of Europes most imaginative concerts north of the Arctic Circle. Storgrds appears with such orchestras as the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, NDR Hamburg, Bamberg Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio France, Netherlands Radio, and the BBC Symphony as well as all of the major Scandinavian orchestras. Further afield, he has conducted the Sydney, Melbourne, and New Zealand symphonies. Following a 2012 summer tour with the Helsinki Philharmonic and a return to the BBC Proms with the BBC Philharmonic, Storgrds begins the 2012-13 season in Helsinkis prestigious new Music Centre with a new commission of the Symphony No. 8 by Per Norgaard, a work he also performs with the Danish National Symphony and the BBC Symphony. He also returns to work with the WDR Cologne, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic, and the BBC, Gothenburg, and Stavanger symphonies. Storgrds made his North American debut with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra during the 2005-06 season and debuted with the Cincinnati Symphony in April 2011. During the 2012-13 season, he returns to the Cincinnati and Houston symphonies and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and debuts with the Detroit and Indianapolis symphonies as well as with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. Storgrds was concertmaster of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra during Esa-Pekka Salonens tenure and subsequently studied conducting with Jorma Panula and Eri Klas. He received the Finnish State Prize for Music in 2002.
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MARCO BORGGREVE

YEFIM BRONFMAN

ANN AND PAUL LUX GUEST ARTIST

Yefim Bronfman is widely regarded as one of the most talented virtuoso pianists performing today. His commanding technique and exceptional lyrical gifts have won him consistent critical acclaim and enthusiastic audiences worldwide. Bronfmans 2012-13 season began early with concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Sir Simon Rattle in Berlin, Salzburg, and the London Proms followed by Zurichs Tonhalle Orchestra with David Zinman and Londons Philharmonia conducted by Tugan Sokhiev. A year-long residency with the Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra and long-time collaborator Mariss Jansons began in the fall and encompasses orchestral and chamber music in a broad range of repertoire. A return to Salzburgs Easter Festival with the Dresden Staatskapelle and Christian Thielemann is planned for the spring followed by appearances with the Vienna Philharmonic and Michael Tilson Thomas in Vienna and London, subscription concerts in Spain and Germany, and a spring tour with Ensemble Wien-Berlin. In North America he works with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in one of their infrequent Carnegie Hall visits conducted by Fabio Luisi, and returns to the orchestras in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Cincinnati, and Montreal. In collaboration with mezzo-soprano Magdalena Koen he will make a short winter tour including New Yorks Carnegie Hall and in solo recital he can be heard in Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, and Atlanta as well as the great halls of Paris, Berlin, and Lisbon. Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union in 1958, Bronfman immigrated to Israel with his family in 1973, where he studied with pianist Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. In the U.S., he studied at the Juilliard School, Marlboro, and the Curtis Institute, and with Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher, and Rudolf Serkin. Bronfman became an American citizen in July 1989.

DARIO ACOSTA

Yefim Bronfman most recently performed with the St. Louis Symphony in April 2011.

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A BRIEF EXPLANATION
You dont need to know what andante means or what a glockenspiel is to enjoy a St. Louis Symphony concert, but its always fun to know stuff. For example, what is BWV? BWV: Bach WerkeVerzeichnis, the name of the official index to all of Bachs works; J.S. Bach wrote so many of them, it helped to arrange them into some sort of order, and thats what Wolgang Schmieder did, completing the project in 1950, for which we are all in his debt; the number following BWV is the catalogue number; the BWV is a themeatic index, the full name being Thematisch Systematisches Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke von Johann Sebastian Bach

COUNTERPOINT:

CHRISTIAN WOEHR EXPLAINS IT ALL FOR YOU

Acting Associate Principal Viola Chris Woehr was in his backyard on a temperate autumn afternoon with a hammer in his hand doing some repairs, when he agreed to take on the challenge of explaining counterpoint. Woehr is also a composer, so provides some insights from within the mechanism of music-making. I did my own self-taught course in counterpoint when I was first writing music at 10. My first stuff was viola duets, dozens and dozens of them, all in canon (one part chasing itself). It was only years later that I learned what I had been training myself to do: counterpoint, in a real-life musical setting, not as a textbook exercise. Basically, you write one line against another, you have musicians playing different rhythms at the same time, but you make it all sound as a whole. Bach could work all this out in his head. I have a theory that the human brain can only take in three parts at one time. It takes an incredible composer to stretch that outa Mozart, a Richard Strauss, and of course, a J. S. Bach. These days when writing, I put it in the computer before putting it on paper, because my head doesnt have the sheer processing power that allowed Mozart and Bach to hear large new scores by simply looking at them, but the computer actually plays the score back for me. As I do it more and more it begins to work better and better, so that some of my more complex textures and counterpoint really cookfirst time! At this point I call my laptop my metal brain, and give it a grateful pat. There is very complex and extensive theory that has been written about counterpoint, but that is analyzing what the composer has already done. For Mozart and Bach, and now occasionally even for me, what comes out seems inevitable, as the most elegant and possibly even the only true solution!
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YOU TAKE IT FROM HERE

If these concerts have inspired you to learn more, here is suggested source material with which to continue your explorations. Trisha Brown, M. O. Access via Google or Youtube: Trisha Brown M.O. Another way to realize Bachs music it through dance, Browns company performs M. O. (for Musician Offering) and the choreographer provides commentary on youtube John Daverio, Crossing Paths: Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms Oxford University Press Intense artistic relationships explored, including Robert and Clara Schumann and their young prodigy Johannes Brahms Jan Swafford, Johannes Brahms Knopf The essential biography, and a good read

Read the program notes online at stlsymphony.org/planyourvisit/programnotes Keep up with the backstage life of the St. Louis Symphony, as chronicled by Symphony staffer Eddie Silva, via stlsymphony.org/blog The St. Louis Symphony is on

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POWELL HALL
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CORPORATE DONOR SPOTLIGHT

An Interview with Tony Kooyumjian, President

THE THOMAS A. KOOYUMJIAN FAMILY FOUNDATION

The St. Louis Symphony receives generous sponsorship support from The Thomas A. Kooyumjian Family Foundation and its related businesses, Augusta and Montelle wineries in Augusta, Missouri. In addition to serving as president of the Foundation, Tony Kooyumjian is a third generation vineyard owner, continuing a tradition of winemaking in the scenic Missouri River Valley that dates back to the 1800s. What makes Augusta and Montelle wineries unique? We take great pride in carrying on the wine culture of Missouriwe grow grapes on 150-year-old vineyards that were actually founded by the first winemaker in Augusta. Our philosophy is to farm our vineyards with a respect for our history, land, and the environment. As a result, our premium estate-bottled wines are fresh, fragrant, and well-balanced, but most of all, express the uniqueness of our vineyards and connection to the soil. Attention to detail has enabled us to produce wines consistently recognized nationally, as well as internationally, for uniqueness and superior quality. Sitting up more than 500 feet above the Missouri River, Montelle also has one of the most dramatic views of any winery in the state of Missouri the perfect place to enjoy sunset dining, which we offer Friday and Saturday nights in May through the end of September. We were also delighted to host a free community performance by a string trio from the St. Louis Symphony at Montelle on Friday, June 8. What are The Thomas A. Kooyumjian Family Foundations areas of interest? In addition to arts and culture, the foundation mainly funds Armenian causes in the Chicago area (where my father Thomas A. Kooyumjian lived) as well as Armenia itself, through the Armenian General Benevolent Union. Weve recently supported cultural programs that connect Chicago youth with their Armenian heritage as well as tree planting in areas of Armenia affected by deforestation. Why does the The Thomas A. Kooyumjian Family Foundation support the STL Symphony? My family always had classical music playing in our home during my childhood, so I grew up with that exposure. When I moved to St. Louis as an adult, I knew the reputation of the St. Louis Symphony and immediately began attending concertsmy wife Cindy and I are long-time subscribers. My father was very fond of fine music, and I know he would be happy with the foundations support of the Symphonynot just the exceptional artistic quality but also education and community programs that enrich the lives of thousands of area residents each year. Given our commitment to the history and future of Missouri winemaking, its also fitting that we support the St. Louis Symphony (the second-oldest orchestra in the United States) as an organization dedicated to honoring its heritage and exploring new directions that will keep the music playing for generations to come.
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