Page 103 - GTMF 2024 Season Program

July 19 & 20
PROGRAM NOTES

the same scrupulous attention
to balance that Dvořák so
successfully applied to his Cello
Concerto. Ace commentator Sir
Donald Francis Tovey noted that
“any concerto for viola must be
a tour de force; but this seems
to me to be one of the most
important modern concertos for
any instrument, and I can see no
limits to what may be expected of
the tone-poet who could create
it.” Walton maintained a superb
acoustic balance without unduly
muzzling the orchestra, and he
did so without actually playing the
viola himself. But such technical
issues are peripheral. What really
matters is that the Walton Viola
Concerto is an enticing concoction
of melancholy, lyricism and
irrepressible high spirits.
The concerto can be described
as “back-loaded,” meaning that
much of its emotional weight is
reserved for its third-movement
finale, which is about as long as
the first two movements combined.
That said, the opening Andante Ralph Vaughan Williams — Wikipedia
comodo could stand alone as
a pensive lyrical fantasy or
rhapsody, characterized by
shifting major-minor duality and
correspondingly shifting moods. Ralph Vaughan Williams
What follows is a delirious tour Symphony No. 5 in D Major
de force of a scherzo movement,
athletic and joyous. (Discrete
toe-tapping may prove irresistible.) AT A GLANCE The oft-encountered bromide
The duality of the opening that English music doesn’t export
movement returns in full force in Born: 1872 well is nowhere more apparent
the extended Allegro moderato Died: 1958 than in the scarcity of the
finale, in which belligerence Date of Composition: 1943 Vaughan Williams symphonies in
contends with gentleness, American concert halls. Why this
extroversion with introspection. Instrumentation: Symphony No. 5 should be so is both a mystery
in D Major is scored for 2 flutes
But this is a viola concerto—so nd and a crying shame. After all,
heartfelt lyricism wins out in (2 doubling piccolo), oboe, there’s nothing about them
English horn, 2 clarinets,
the end. that precludes a non-English
2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, audience’s appreciation,
3 trombones, timpani and strings. understanding or affection. Each

Summer 2024 gtmf.org 101