Page 21 - 2019 MW1 Program

program notes WSO7 masterworks concert 1 prelude to act ii of saul and david, op. 25 Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) The most important Danish composer after the Romantic period, Carl Nielsen, influenced the course of Scandinavian music in the last century through his strong musical originality. He was a versatile composer, composing in nearly all genres, but is best known outside Denmark for his symphonies and concerti. In Denmark, his choral works and simple songs are also extremely popular. Saul and David, composed between 1898 and 1901, was the first of Nielsen’s two operas (the other was Maskarade). In the opera, the two main characters are musically sharply contrasted. The chorus has a particularly large role and is used as a commentator on the passing action. The short martial prelude to Act II is percussive and richly orchestrated. It introduces the open- ing scene with David singing to King Saul while the general, Abner, forces his way in to warn the king that the Philistine army is coming, headed by Goliath. violin concerto in d major, op. 77 Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) One of the marks of great artists is accurate self-assessment, the knowledge of their strengths and limitations. Like Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky, Brahms sought the advice of a leading violinist when he was composing a concerto for the violin, an instrument with which he was not intimately familiar. Brahms’s long-time friend Joseph Joachim, a Hungarian violinist, com- poser and educator who for over half a century was the world’s dominant violin virtuoso, was intimately involved in the concerto’s composition. Needless to say, Brahms dedicated it to him. Joachim gave the premiere on New Year’s Day, 1879. The initial reception of the Concerto was respectful but cool. Its technical demands deterred many violinists, who dubbed it “Concerto against the Violin and Orchestra.” It is, like the other Brahms concerti, a true partnership between soloist and orchestra; virtuosity for its own sake is totally absent. Joachim attempted to have Brahms make it easier for the soloist, but the manuscript of the violin part in the State Library in Berlin, full of Joachim’s suggestions, shows that, in this respect at least, the violinist seldom prevailed. The sunny mood of the concerto is close to that of the Symphony No. 2 in D major, written shortly before. The dreamy opening of the lyrical first movement is gradually infused with joyous energy and culminates, after the cadenza, in a headlong rush to the finish by soloist and orchestra. Joachim wrote a large cadenza for this movement, which is still a favorite with soloists and audiences, although many violinists have written their own. Brahms’s original plan was for a concerto in four movements, including a scherzo. But he discarded the scherzo and the original slow movement because their style did not mesh with the rest of the work. The slow movement we have today opens with the solo oboe playing one Continued on page WSO8