Program Notes for November 12, 2022
written by RSO Principal Cellist Michael Beert
Mason Bates
Mothership
Composer: born January 23, 1977, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Work composed: 2011
First performance: March 21, 2011, by the YouTube Symphony at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, Michael Tilson Thomas conducting
Instrumentation: three flutes (one doubling on piccolo), two oboes, English horn, two clarinets (both doubling on bass clarinet), two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, two trombones, one bass trombone, tuba, electronics, timpani, percussion, harp, keyboard, and strings
Estimated duration: 9 minutes
This is the first Rockford Symphony Orchestra performance of this work
The American composer and DJ, Mason Bates, has made a career out of the intersections of music and technology. He has been composer-in-residence for both the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Chicago Symphony. He has won the support of many conductors including Riccardo Muti and Marin Alsop. His music is recognized as some of the best of his generation. His music has been performed at the Annual BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as heard on Chicago's Classical Radio Station WFMT. He has won a Grammy for his opera The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
From the composer:
The mothership floats high above, an orchestra pulsing rapidly with a heart of techno. At several moments in the piece, various soloists dock with the mothership, dropping in with solos both virtuosic and lyrical.
The piece follows the form of a scherzo with double trio. But while symphonic scherzos historically play with dance rhythms such as the waltz, Mothership looks to 21st Century dance music (such as techno) to enliven its journey.
From the conductor:
Mothership is a unique piece that manages to effortlessly fuse tradition with the avant-garde into an exhilarating and memorable experience for the audience.
The Soaring Souls
Paul Dooley
Composer: born in 1983, in Santa Rosa, California
Work composed: 2022
First performance: November 12, 2022, by the Rockford Symphony Orchestra, with soloist Danielle Gonzalez, and Vlad Vizireanu conducting
Instrumentation: solo percussion, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, two trombones, timpani, harp, and strings
Estimated duration: 15 minutes
This work was written for and inspired by this program
Paul Dooley has been a composer since he was 12 years old, supported by his musician parents. He has degrees in Mathematics and Composition from the University of Southern California, and Master's and Doctorate degrees in Music from the University of Michigan.
His music is a mix of the Western Classical tradition as well as contemporary music, dance, and technology. The American Minimalist composer Steve Reich has described Paul’s music as "impressive and beautiful."
Dooley’s orchestral music has been commissioned and performed by, among many others, the Nashville Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Macau Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, United Nations Chamber Music Society, Omaha Symphony, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, Beethoven Academy Orchestra, Radom Chamber Orchestra, Amarillo Symphony, New York Youth Symphony, Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra, Nu Deco Ensemble, and Alarm Will Sound, in addition to wind ensembles such as “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” and the United States Navy Band.
From the composer:
The Soaring Souls (2022) for solo percussion and orchestra tells the tragic love story of Francesca da Rimini and Paulo Malatesta from around the year 1285. The first movement On a Dream captures the lovers' affair in the overworld, and the second movement, Storm Eternal, depicts the lovers in the underworld after they are condemned to the Second Circle of Hell, as described in Dante's Inferno.
I. On a Dream features lyrical and ethereal music for a reduced orchestral instrumentation of solo vibraphone, clarinets, horns, and strings. Sustaining and overlapping bowed vibraphone tones depict Francesca and Paulo's courtship as they become draped together in passion.
II. Storm Eternal features darker and dissonant music for the marimba and full orchestra.
Dante describes the lovers as locked together in a floating tempest; the music paints this picture through pointillistic rhythmic patterns in the marimba and orchestra, juxtaposed by lyrical yet relentless sounds of longing, frustration, passion, and regret.
“Achilles Leads the Myrmidons” from the Movie “Troy”
James Horner
Composer: born August 14, 1953, in Los Angeles, California; died June 22, 2015, in a small plane crash near Ventucopa, California
Work composed: 2004 for the movie Troy starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, and Orlando Bloom and directed by Wolfgang Peterson
First performance: Movie released in 2004
Instrumentation: two flutes (both doubling on piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, one bassoon, one contrabassoon, eight horns, four trumpets, three trombones, one bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion, two harps, piano, and strings
Estimated duration: 8 minutes
This is the first Rockford Symphony Orchestra performance of this work
The film composer James Horner was well-known for his scores in many movies from the late 1970’s up to the 2010’s including Star Trek II, Star Trek III, Titanic, Avatar, Aliens, and Field of Dreams. The movie Troy is an adaptation of the epic story The Iliad by Homer concerning the fall of Troy. Brad Pitt portrays the rash and troubled hero Achilles; Eric Bana as the Prince of Troy, Hector; and Orlando Bloom as the instigator of the war, Paris. The movie attempts to flesh out the characters of the story and bring them more to life. Horner’s score is an integral part of the character development.
In 2004, when James Horner was announced as the composer of Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy, another composer had been working for more than a year on its music. But once two test-screening audiences found Gabriel Yared’s score too “old-fashioned,” producers turned to Horner, who previously scored Petersen’s The Perfect Storm (2000), to write a replacement score for the picture. The challenge was daunting, as Horner only had 10 days to write and record the music for the film.
From the conductor:
With more than two hours of music in the film, some artistic choices had to be made to deliver the score on time. Also, Horner and his team had to select which cues would benefit from a full orchestral development and which could be done without and instead rely on electronics. Horner composed a large-scale score, with sweeping moments, putting emphasis on the fate of Achilles while also trying not to play favorites between the opposing Greeks and Trojans in his music. Horner built his score around a few main themes, the most evident being the beautiful and tragic love theme for Achilles and Briseis, certainly one of the highlights of the score, and used through the end title’s song. "Remember Me”, featuring Josh Groban and Tanja Tzarovska. There is also Achilles’ Heroic Theme, fully developed in the tragic finale cues. And there’s a fanfare-like theme for the city of Troy itself. Other motifs appear in the score, like a triplet motif underscoring war scenes, the trademark “danger motif” as a pacesetter and time-filler, and there are the female voices conveying the sound of an ancient chorus, a very smart and effective choice.
Hans Zimmer
Music from the Movie “Gladiator”: “Now We Are Free” and Orchestra Suite
Composer: born September 12, 1957, in Frankfort, Germany
Work composed: 2000
First performance: movie released in 2000, directed by Ridley Scott
Instrumentation: two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, keyboards, vocalist, cymbalom, and strings
Estimated duration: 12 minutes
This is the first Rockford Symphony Orchestra performance of this work
The composer Hans Zimmer has won numerous awards for his works including two Oscars and four Grammys. His film scores include The Lion King, Gladiator, Inception, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, the Dark Knight trilogy, Dunkirk, and Dune. He received an Oscar nomination for the film score of Gladiator.
In Gladiator, the music helps tell the story of the honorable Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius from circa 180 C.E. and his political downfall at the hands of Roman Emperor Commodus. To save his family, he is sold into slavery and eventually becomes a gladiator, rising through the ranks to become one of the most famous gladiators/performers of his day. The movie is filled with themes of revenge, masculinity, integrity, and stoicism. It has been reevaluated as one of the best films of the 2000’s.
From the conductor:
Despite being full of strength and honor, Roman colosseums, and slave insurrections, the music of Gladiator sounds nothing like that of the old-school sword-and-sandal films that inspired it — films like Spartacus, Ben-Hur, and The Fall of the Roman Empire. These classics use thick brass fanfares and sophisticated string melodies to suggest a sense of ancient Roman-ness: their music is still sometimes brought out for Olympic ceremonies and celebrations of physical prowess and civilization. Instead, Gladiator has a modern sound, one incubated in the action movie soundtracks Zimmer was then known for and expanded in a musical soup of classical influences and the euphony of Lisa Gerrard’s one-of-a-kind voice.
Then there are the contributions of composer Klaus Badelt, a colleague at Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions film score company (then known as Media Ventures), who provided additional music for Gladiator. Badelt helped Zimmer and singer Lisa Gerrard in several key compositions, including the standout track, “Now We Are Free,” which combines themes written by Zimmer and Gerrard into a singular and coherent musical climax for the film.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphonic Poem Francesca da Rimini Op.32
Composer: born May 7, 1840, in Votkinsk, Russia; died November 6, 1893, in St. Petersburg, Russia
Work composed: October and November of 1876
First performance: early in 1877 in Moscow by the Russian Musical Society, conducted by Nikolai Rubenstein
Instrumentation: three flutes (one doubling piccolo), piccolo, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two cornets, two trumpets, two trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings
Estimated duration: 26 minutes
This is the first Rockford Symphony Orchestra performance of this work
The symphonic poem in the 1870’s was a fairly new development. It was a single-movement orchestral work that tried to tell a story. It was developed by one of the great composer-pianists of the 19th century: Franz Liszt. Tchaikovsky gravitated to this genre as many composers did in the later part of the century. The Russian composers in particular loved this type of piece as it allowed them to have a free hand in construction. They were less tied to conventional forms. The composers preferred to introduce musical ideas that related to the characters and their emotions as the audience member generally knew the story plot. The composers spent more time on character and emotional development instead of the plot. What better composer to tackle the emotional depths of this story than Tchaikovsky?
The plot of Francesca da Rimini was well-known to readers of the day: she was a person found in Dante Alighieri’s famous medieval tome, The Inferno. In Dante’s descent into Hell, he finds the woman, Francesca, in the Second Ring as she is a sinner that must suffer due to the sin of Lust. Tchaikovsky wrote out a detailed program at the start of his manuscript score of the fantasia:
Dante, accompanied by Virgil's ghost, descends into the second circle of the Hellish abyss. Here the walls echo with cries of despair. In the midst of the Stygian gloom is a fantastic storm. Violent, Hellish whirlwinds carry away tormented souls. Out of the countless spinning earthly spirits, Dante notices two in particular: Francesca and Paolo, who are locked in an embrace. Dante calls out to these tortured souls and asks them for what terrible crimes they were being punished. Francesca's spirit, drenched with tears, recounts their pitiful tale. She was in love with Paolo, but against her will, she was forced to marry the hateful brother of her beloved, the hunchbacked, twisted tyrant of Rimini. Despite his violent jealousy, he was not able to wrest Francesca's heart from her passion for Paolo. Together one day they read the story of Lancelot. "We were one,” recounts Francesca. "And after reading this we no longer felt the fear and confusion that had marked our previous meetings. But that one moment destroyed us. By the time we reached Lancelot's first chance at love, nothing could now part us. In a moment of weakness, we openly expressed our clandestine love for one another, throwing ourselves in each other's arms.” At this moment Francesca's husband returned unexpectedly and stabbed her and Paolo to death. And after telling this, Francesca's spirit, and that of Paolo, were snatched away in the raging whirlwind. Overwhelmed by the endless suffering, Dante, completely exhausted, falls dead" — Inferno. Poem by Dante. Canto V.
The punishment for Lust in the Inferno is to be thrown around the hellish circle in a violent windstorm, without touching the ground and to suffer violent blows as one is knocked around, hitting the walls of hell and the bodies of fellow sinners. Dante includes these lovers as he personally knew Paolo Malatesta and was deeply saddened by the murder committed of these two by the husband, Gianciotto Malatesta.
One wonders why this particular story so inspired Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky’s love life is well documented with trysts and a failed marriage. His own life was as much a tempest as Paolo and Francesca’s was. But Tchaikovsky at this time was beginning to gain recognition for his music: three symphonies and his ballet Swan Lake had recently been completed to much critical acclaim. His mentor, the great pianist Nikolai Rubenstein, had recently hired Tchaikovsky to teach composition at the new Moscow Conservatory.
In the summer of 1876, Tchaikovsky and his brother Modest left Russia for a trip to Western Europe. Included was a trip to Dresden, Germany where a festival of Richard Wagner’s musical drama The Ring of the Nibelungen was being performed. This was quite an event for the day as Wagner’s music was a perfume and poison to many composers of the late 19th century. While on this trip, Tchaikovsky hoped to meet Wagner but was not successful. He did though, have a chance to meet the other Arch-Romantic of the day, Wagner’s father-in-law Franz Liszt. This had a profound effect on Tchaikovsky as it encouraged him to compose music in this new style of programmatic, storytelling music. It was later that year that Tchaikovsky found his inspiration in Dante’s story of the ill-fated lovers.
George Enescu
Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 Op. 11
Composer: born August 19, 1881, in Liveni, Romania; died May 4, 1955, in Paris, France
Work composed: 1901
First performance: February 23, 1903, in Bucharest, Romania with the composer conducting
Instrumentation: three flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two cornets, two trumpets, two trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion, two harps, and strings
Estimated duration: 14 minutes
Most recent RSO performance: February 11, 2012, Steven Larsen conducting
George Enescu is considered the greatest Romanian composer and musician by his home country. There is much to support this statement. A composer from the age of five and the youngest violinist to be accepted by the Vienna Conservatory at the age of seven! He was not only a great soloist and composer but also a teacher, with many great students including Yehudi Menuhin, Ivry Gitlis, Arthur Grumiaux, and Ida Haendel.
Enescu's compositions are usually based on Romanian folk music and the Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 is no exception. It borrows from Romani and other folk sources such as dance music that he heard from his first violin teacher, Nicolae Filip, a well-known Romanian fiddler. The opening folk tune was a well-known drinking song titled "Am un leu şi vreau să-l beau" translated as approximately “I have a coin and I want to drink it.” The remaining tunes are more related to folk dancing.
Being that Enescu was only 19 at the time he finished Rhapsody No. 1, it would be normal to think he was grateful and appreciative of the work. However, Enescu felt it to be an “albatross around his neck” and he wanted to be known for his other compositions. Especially since he was so well regarded as a composer, violinist, teacher, and musician by such people as Pablo Casals, the great pianist Alfred Cortot, the composer Vincent d’Indy, and the great violinist Eugene Ysaye.