Filed under: News | Tags: Ars Nova Singers, Arvo Pärt, Brian du Fresne, David Briggs, Flor Peeters, Henry Balfour-Gardiner, Louis Vierne, Maurice Duruflé, Nathan Jones, Nico Muhly, Thomas Edward Morgan
The renowned Ars Nova Singers will present their final season performance on Friday, June 1, and Saturday, June 2. If you have never heard them perform before, I would strongly suggest that you attend one of the two performances listed below in their press release. These two performances will also include a World Premiere of a new work by Boulder composer Paul Fowler. In addition, Brian Du Fresne will perform on the organ. Du Fresne is a long time member of the Ars Nova Singers, and to say that he is multitalented is an understatement.
Quoting from Mr. Du Fresne’s website:
“Mr. du Fresne is Director of Vocal Music and Music Theatre at Monarch High School. He also teaches AP Music Theory, Guitar and directs the annual musicals. He started teaching at Monarch in its second year.
“He holds a Bachelor and Master’s degree in Music (piano performance, voice) from the University of Texas, and a second Master’s degree in Music (music education, ethnomusicology) from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He holds the Associate level certification with the American Guild of Organists. Outside of school, Mr. du Fresne is a professional organist and currently serves as Principal Organist at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Boulder. His first job as an organist was at the age of fourteen, for a church just outside of London, England. Since 1994 he has sung with the internationally-acclaimed Boulder-based Ars Nova Signers and has been bass Section Leader for that ensemble since he started with the group. He is Associate Conductor of the Rocky Mountain Chorale.
“Mr. du Fresne has served on the Colorado Music Educators’ Association Board of Directors, as well as the Colorado All State Choir Board of Directors. He is affiliated with the following organizations: Music Educators’ National Conference, Colorado Music Educators’ Association, Phi Mu Alpha National Professional Music fraternity, Golden Key and Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Societies, the Gay/Lesbian/Straight Education Network, Human Rights Campaign, the American Guild of Organists, and the Association of Anglican Musicians.
“His passion is music, and loves every opportunity to share music with the hearts and minds of young people”
This final performance of the Ars Nova Singers will also feature another multitalented individual, who is also a resident of Boulder: composer Paul Fowler. I will quote from Paul Fowler’s website:
“His initial love for music was borne of the voice, being the child of two opera singers. During his formal vocal training he was awarded by NATS, Milwaukee’s MacAllister Awards and the NFAA Arts Recognition; he sang Nero in Monteverdi’s ‘L’Incoronazione di Poppea’ and the Vicar in ‘Albert Herring’ at Ithaca College, and was a soloist with the Syracuse Symphony. Over the past decade, Fowler has explored the voice outside of classical technique, most recently performing overtone (harmonic) singing in the premiere of his chamber orchestra work, ‘Beyond Completely Gone.’ This technique allows Fowler to sing two-voice counterpoint by manipulating the upper harmonics of the voice in conjunction with the fundamental. Within the next year Fowler will release an album of his choral works performing all voice parts himself, also, a live solo project incorporating the voice and laptop manipulation thereof.
“As a break from his initial theater and voice studies, Fowler learned to improvise at the piano. Ultimately, this hobby lead to his work as a keyboardist, arranger, and band leader in jazz, world, and other popular music. In 2003, he released his first album, Photograph, produced by Robbie Parrish at Sugar Hill Studios in Houston. He’s performed at New Orleans JazzFest, the AguaZero Festival in Ecuador, Taos Solar Fest, and on Japanese television. He’s played with jazz luminaries Bruce Dunlap, Donald Walden, Rob Schepps, and Andre Wright. After touring for several years with Native American artist and Grammy winner, Robert Mirabal, Fowler was associate producer for his award winning album, “In the Blood,” in 2007. He has produced several local artists of New Mexico and Colorado and performs regularly throughout the region.
“Fowler makes his home in Boulder, CO, where he conducts the chorus, and teaches theory and world music appreciation at Naropa University – a Buddhist inspired contemplative university. In addition, he maintains a private studio for students of voice, composition, piano, and computer production. He has degrees in voice, composition and theater from Ithaca College and a Masters of Music in Composition from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.”
The following is a press release that I received from the Ars Nova Singers:
“The Ars Nova Singers, a professional-caliber ensemble of 36 choral musicians based in Boulder, will present the final program of their 26th season, New Perspectives: Modern Masterpieces, at two metro-area performances in June. The program includes guest artist Brian du Fresne, organ, and features the world premiere of Shakespeare’s Love by acclaimed Boulder composer Paul Fowler. The performances will be held:
“Friday, June 1, 7:30 p.m. – Saint John’s Cathedral, 1350 Washington Street, Denver Saturday, June 2, 7:30 p.m. – St. John’s Episcopal Church, 1419 Pine Street, Boulder
“Tickets for the performances are $22 for adults, $16 for seniors, $11 for college students, and $6 for youth ages 6-18). Tickets are on sale at our website: www.arsnovasingers.com or by phone: (303) 499-3165.
“Artistic Director Thomas Edward Morgan: ‘We’re celebrating the renovation of one of Colorado’s finest pipe organs: the historic Kimball organ of Saint John’s Cathedral in Denver. Our program features modern masterpieces for chorus and organ, as well as the world premiere of a spectacular new work for unaccompanied chorus by Paul Fowler, one of Colorado’s finest young composers.’
“In addition to the Fowler premiere, the Singers will perform three early works by the renowned contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, and an unusual eclectic organ mass featuring music from six different composers. The program includes the following works:
“Henry Balfour-Gardiner, Te lucis ante terminum
Arvo Pärt, De Profundis
Arvo Pärt, Cantate Domino
Nathan Jones, I Would Live in Your Love
Paul Fowler, Shakespeare’s Love (world premiere)
“An Eclectic Contemporary Organ Mass:
“Louis Vierne, Kyrie (Messe Solenelle)
Maurice Duruf1é, Kyrie (Requiem)
Nico Muhly, Gloria (Bright Mass with Canons, 2005)
Arvo Pärt, Summa (Credo)
David Briggs, Sanctus and Benedictus (Messe de Notre Dame)
Flor Peeters, Agnus Dei (Missa Festiva)
“For further information on the program or the ensemble, please visit our website, or contact Artistic Director Tom Morgan: tom@arsnovasingers.com.”
Filed under: Reviews | Tags: Adam Flatt, De Falla, Denver Young Artists Orchestra, DYAO, Erik Peterson, Kenji Bunch, Serge Prokofiev
Sunday afternoon the Denver Young Artists Orchestra performed their last concert of the season with Guest Conductor, Adam Flatt. Maestro Flatt conducted the DYAO for seven years and certainly helped cement its reputation as an outstanding youth orchestra in the United States. He is also the conductor of the Newport Symphony in Oregon, the Colorado Ballet Orchestra, the Emerald City Opera Company, and he is also the Conductor and Music Director of the Denver Philharmonic. In 2001, he became Associate Conductor of the Colorado Symphony, and conducted over 250 performances with that organization.
Sunday, he opened the DYAO concert with Three Dances from the Three Cornered Hat by Spanish composer, Manuel de Falla. This is a well-known ballet by de Falla concerning a provincial governor whose romantic machinations backfire. These three pieces are well-known to most concertgoers, but nonetheless de Falla is sometimes very hard to classify because he is part Impressionist, part Neo-Classicist, and part Spanish Nationalist. De Falla was born in 1876, and began taking piano lessons with his mother. Like many composers of the time period, he found his way to Paris in 1907 where he was strongly influenced by Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, and Paul Dukas. He was approached by Serge Diaghilev, and was asked to write the ballet based on a pantomime that Diaghilev had seen.
As the orchestra began the first dance, entitled The Neighbor’s Dance, it seemed a little tenuous in the opening bars, but keep in mind these are young students. I really feel that in this case, the tenuousness was due to a very strong desire to do well which in turn caused them to be a little nervous. The Neighbor’s Dance concerns the wife of a local miller; she dances with the provincial governor and flirts, but finally rejects him. Following that, her husband, the miller gives his own interpretation of a dance in The Miller’s Dance, and the provincial governor has him arrested, so that he may flirt with the miller’s wife. Early in The Neighbor’s Dance, the orchestra began to find its footing after its tenuous beginning. It was a speedy recovery, and this exemplifies one of the many talents that Maestro Adam Flatt possesses: it does not seem to matter whether an orchestra is comprised of students or members of the community. He has the ability to allow musicians to believe in their own ability, and he consistently draws a much better performance from the group in so doing. He instills in them a courage and love for what they are doing. If the orchestra is comprised of professional musicians, he treats them that way, knowing that they have degrees in music performance and allows them to be true musicians.
The third dance, and most likely the best known, is The Final Dance of the ballet. The DYAO played with true energy and conviction, as well as a great deal of passion. This aspect brings up another point: the last time I heard the DYAO perform was over a year ago. At that time I criticized some of the orchestra members for simply sitting in their chairs and moving their bow arms back and forth. This was certainly not the case on Sunday afternoon. The entire orchestra was moving with effort and none were sitting emotionless. Their coming of musical age seems to have instilled in them that while playing an instrument is intensely gratifying, it also takes intense effort. That effort made a profound difference in the way the orchestra sounded on Sunday, and the way it sounded a year and half ago. It was absolutely electric.
Following the de Falla, the orchestra played a work by American composer and a violist, Kenji Bunch. I must admit that I had never heard of this composer. However, after hearing his work entitled Verso, there is no question that I will hear him again and again. Verso was commissioned by the Chintimini Chamber Music Festival of Corvallis, Oregon. The Music Director of that organization is Erik Peterson, a violinist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.
The biographical statement in Sunday’s program is extensive, but there is no question that Bunch’s fame is rapidly growing. His music is being played quite often on many radio stations in the United States and he is resident composer of several orchestras. He is a composer of chamber music and symphonies, and is also known, and rightly so, as a superb violist, performing his own works as well as traditional composers.
Quoting from his webpage:
“Mr. Bunch maintains an active career as a violist, and is widely recognized for performing his own groundbreaking works for viola. A founding member of the Flux Quartet (1996-2002) and Ne(x)tworks (2003-present), Mr. Bunch is a veteran of the New York new music world. A versatile musician with a deep interest in vernacular American music and improvisation, he also plays bluegrass fiddle and sings with the band Citigrass, and is a frequent guest performer, recording artist, and arranger with many prominent rock, jazz, folk, and alternative/ experimental artists. In the spring of 2011, he will release a recording of his complete works for solo viola on Bulging Disc Records.
“A native of Portland, Oregon, Mr. Bunch studied at The Juilliard School, receiving his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in viola with Toby Appel, and in composition with Robert Beaser. Other composing mentors include Eric Ewazen and Stanley Wolfe. Now a dedicated teacher himself, Mr. Bunch has developed and conducted residencies, workshops, and master classes across the country in composition, viola performance, improvisation, music appreciation, and arts education to students ranging in age from kindergarten to adult professionals. He teaches at The Juilliard Pre-College, and lives in Brooklyn with his wife Monica and rescued pit bull Coffee.”
Concerning the work performed on Sunday, Verso, I will quote directly from the program notes:
“‘Verso,’ says Bunch, ‘is a flexible word that suggests the turning of a page. The idea of the other side of the page seemed appropriate for a commemorative piece. It’s a way of looking back, but also forward to the next chapter. Musically, you could call it a neoclassical – it incorporates the harpsichord and a string orchestra - but I was really thinking about Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto the when I wrote it.’”
This work was written for solo violin and solo viola, accompanied by harpsichord and strings. The reference to Bach is certainly apt, for the middle movement, entitled Standing Still, had a great deal of counterpoint in it and was treated almost like a passacaglia.
The violinist who performed with Kenji Bunch on Sunday was Erik Peterson. He was also responsible for the commissioning of this work. Peterson has been a violinist with the Colorado Symphony since 1991, as well as serving as artistic director of the Chintimini Chamber Music Festival in Corvallis, Oregon. Eric received his bachelor of music degree from the University of Iowa while studying with Leopold LaFosse. He has also studied with Andres Cardenes at the University of Michigan and with Camilla Wicks at Rice University. Eric has been a violinist with the Toledo Symphony, Principal Second Violin of the Des Moines Metro Opera, Assistant Concertmaster of the Toledo Opera, and Concertmaster of the Great Falls Symphony.
The first movement, Looking Back, begins in a fairly straightforward way, except that the performance of Erik Peterson and Bunch was anything but straightforward. It was spectacular. The combination of instrumentation and of the style of the composition was completely, and I must say startlingly, original. It has been several months since I have listened so intently on a new work. It did use jazz rhythms, but they did not intrude upon the character of the piece as the use of jazz rhythms occasionally does. I must say that right away it was abundantly clear that this composer has his own voice and that it is unique.
The second movement, Standing Still, began with Kenji Bunch and Erik Peterson playing very softly. I couldn’t make up my mind if they were playing in micro tones, or if they were using overtones, but the effect was spellbinding. It was very soft, and I found it to be full of emotion. The harpsichord and string orchestra behind them added to its haunting character. It was serene and beautiful, and as I said above, there was a great deal of counterpoint. In fact, Bunch treated the baseline as if it were a passacaglia.
The third movement, Moving Forward, was attacca, and was full of drive at a very quick tempo. It truly seemed as though Maestro Flatt had performed this composer’s works many times in the past. This movement, in fact the entire work, was performed exceptionally well by the DYAO. They clearly enjoyed this piece very much in spite of its great difficulty. This composition is a work of which I sincerely wish I had a recording. It was truly beautiful, and full of questions that can only be answered by repeated hearing. The DYAO’s performance was spellbinding.
After the intermission the Denver Young Artists Orchestra performed one of the most difficult, and certainly one of the greatest, if not the greatest, symphonies of the 20th century: Prokofiev’s Symphony Nr. 5 in B Flat Major, Opus 100. Prokofiev finished the composition of this work in 1944, and it was premiered on January 13, 1945. Keep in mind that the government of the Soviet Union kept tabs on its artists of all kinds whether they were musicians, writers, or painters. Since Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony of 1941 was known as a culmination of agony and triumph of the Russian spirit, everyone for many years assumed that Prokofiev’s Symphony Nr. 5 was the equivalent, and that it reflected the Soviet spirit of World War II. But, that is simply not true. How many people recognize the fact that the scherzo movement of this Symphony was taken from his ballet Cinderella? And, of course, careful listeners will realize that the fourth movement uses themes from the first. The first performance of this work was an absolute sensation. A few years later Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Kabalevsky (among many others) were called before the Central Communist Committee and warned to write music which represented the Soviet State. As a matter of fact, Prokofiev issued a statement, which can only be described as one of the official Soviet “position papers,” in which stated that he had conceived the idea for this Symphony upon reflection of the greatness of the human Soviet experience. Just a few years later, in 1953, Prokofiev became dizzy from hypertension, and fell down a flight of steps causing a concussion from which he never recovered.
You must understand that what I said above is very accurate: this truly is one of the most difficult symphonies of the 20th century. I was absolutely stunned at the performance of this work since it was performed by such a young orchestra. They simply outplayed many orchestras in this country that I can name, be they community orchestras or professional orchestras. I also point out that Maestro Flatt took tempos which were quite legitimate for this work, but which would unquestionably leave many other young orchestras surprised. There is also no question that Adam Flatt gave these young artists the courage to believe in their ability as musicians. I’m quite sure this work required really tough rehearsals, but at the performance it truly seemed as though every musician in the orchestra was thinking, “OK, now we do the Prokofiev. Let’s get to work.” It was the performance in all four movements that was full of excitement, joy, mystery and remarkable lyricism. Every section of the DYAO is strong, and I kept thinking that even though there were occasional snags, they still played very well.
It is my sincere hope that these students continue a profession in music, and that their parents truly understand that all the money that they spend on violin lessons, viola lessons, cello lessons, brass lessons, percussion lessons, and woodwind lessons is being very well spent. At this wavering time in our culture when video games seem to take precedence over reading and the arts, it is clear that these young people practice. We need more young people just like these.
Filed under: Reviews | Tags: Christina Jennings, Cindy McTee, Cynthia Katsarelis, Pro Musica Coloardo Chamber Orchestra
One aspect of the performance of music that is so difficult – and I am quite sure that individuals as well as orchestras would agree with me – is consistency. Individuals and organizations always want to be good, but the trick is to be good all the time. In order to be consistent, for example, an orchestra must be comprised of individuals who have performing experience, and who have experience performing together. They must also be equally concerned with all of the aspects of musicality, and they must also share, as obvious as this sounds, a genuine love for what they do. Then, the organization must have enough wherewithal to have an outstanding conductor.
The Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra is one of these organizations that does everything to make sure they adhere to the art of music and its performance. They are amazingly consistent.
They gave their final performance of the year Saturday night, May 5, in Boulder. It was an outstanding program in every way: the music that was performed, and the genuinely artistic way that they performed the music.
I have written about this organization in past articles. The Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra is led by Maestra Cynthia Katsarelis, who has conducted orchestras and opera all over the world. In Colorado, she conducts the Colorado Music Festival. She is also involved in the Rocky Ridge Music Center.
Maestra Katsarelis opened the program with a work by American composer Cindy McTee, entitled Adagio. McTee is a composer who should be more well-known than she actually is, because she is quite outstanding, and she also studied with one of the finest composers of new music today, Krzysztof Penderecki.
I will briefly quote from her webpage: “McTee (b. 1953 in Tacoma, WA) has received numerous awards for her music, most significantly: the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Third Annual Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award; a Music Alive Award from Meet The Composer and the League of American Orchestras; two awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; a Guggenheim Fellowship; a Fulbright Fellowship; a Composer’s Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts; and a BMI Student Composers Award. She was also winner of the 2001 Louisville Orchestra Composition Competition.
“In May of 2011, she retired from the University of North Texas as Regents Professor Emerita, and in November of 2011 she married conductor, Leonard Slatkin. Their principal place of residence is in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.”
Adagio is adapted from McTee’s work Agnus Dei for organ which she wrote in reaction to the disaster of 9/11. This work also became the second movement of her first Symphony, and proved so popular that it was arranged for string quartet. This is an interesting and instructive example of how many concepts of a work that a composer has to deal with. McTee also uses a theme from the Polish Requiem, which was composed by her teacher, Krzysztof Penderecki.
In listening to this work Friday evening, I was struck by McTee’s ability to concentrate on the sound that just a string orchestra can produce. The program notes state that the harmonic language suggests that of Samuel Barber, and a good case can be made for that. But for me, it suggested Penderecki’s Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, because of its quiet anguish and understated dynamics. This is a beautiful work of very intense emotion, and I hope that the Pro Musica performs it again next season. This was the first time I have heard this work, and it is the sort piece that one needs to hear several times. Once again, I was absolutely struck of how carefully this orchestra follows Maestra Katsarelis. The dynamic range that the Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra is capable of always astonishes me. They are always in tune (and why not?), and their entrances are always incredibly precise. That is what makes performing a piece such as this so incredibly difficult. It is often much harder to play slowly, with carefully shaded dynamics and perfect phrasing, then it is to play fast and loud.
Following the McTee, the Chamber Orchestra performed Mozart’s Concerto for Flute in G Major, K. 313. Christina Jennings, a remarkable flutist in every way, performed this Concerto. I will quote briefly from Jennings webpage:
“Flutist Christina Jennings is praised for virtuoso technique, rich tone, and command of a wide range of literature featuring works from Bach to Zwilich. The Houston Press declared: ‘Jennings has got what it takes: a distinctive voice, charisma, and a pyrotechnic style that works magic on the ears.’ Ms. Jennings is the winner of numerous competitions including Concert Artist’s Guild, Houston Symphony’s Ima Hogg, and The National Flute Association Young Artists.
“Active as a concerto soloist, Ms. Jennings has appeared with over fifty orchestras including the Utah and Houston Symphonies, Orchestra 2001, Park Avenue Chamber Orchestra, Flint Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Orchestra de Camera (Mexico), and Pro Musica (UK). In 2009 she premiered concertos written for her by Carter Pann and Laura Elise Schwendinger. Recent chamber music festivals include Strings in the Mountains (CO), Cascade Head (OR), OK Mozart (OK), Chamber Music Quad Cities (IA), and the Bowdoin International Festival (ME).
“In great demand as a teacher, Ms. Jennings is Assistant Professor of Flute at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and on the summer faculty of the Texas Music Festival. In 2008 she founded with Leone Buyse, The Panoramic Flutist Seminar, in Boulder. Trained in the Dalcroze Eurhythmics method, Christina’s teaching incorporated movement and dance. In recent seasons she has presented masterclasses at The Juilliard School, Rice University, University of Wisconsin Madison, the Peabody Institute, the Longy School of Music, and the flute associations of Seattle, Utah, and Texas. She received her Bachelor and Master’s degrees at The Juilliard School, and her principal teachers include Carol Wincenc, Leone Buyse, George Pope, and Jeanne Baxtresser. Ms. Jennings lives in Boulder with her husband, violist Matthew Dane, and their twin sons.”
There was a period of time when it was common practice for musicologists and those “in the know” to say that Mozart did not like the flute. I don’t know if this was a reaction to what the musicologist Alfred Einstein (do not confuse him with the physicist, Albert Einstein) stated in his book on Mozart, but I, for one, have never seen any evidence that Mozart disliked the flute. It is true that Alfred Einstein says of the Flute Concerto, K. 313, that as the work progresses, the listener can find less evidence that Mozart disliked the flute. He also states that Mozart approached the composition of this work without pleasure since he disliked the instrument. Where is the evidence? I have never been able to find any substantiation that Mozart approached this work with dislike. It is true that he was phenomenally busy at this time of his life – he was 22 years old when he wrote it – because he was teaching several students not only for money, but also in exchange for lodging, wood for his fireplace, and light. Nonetheless, even in Einstein’s book, I can find no verification for such statements. Even if it is true, he certainly wrote all four of his flute concertos with typical imagination and creativity.
At the outset, Maestra Katsarelis took what I consider to be an absolutely perfect tempo. But, you readers who are not experienced in the necessary cooperation between soloist and conductor must realize that that tempo was chosen after discussion between the two. Jennings has absolutely remarkable breath control, which is necessary if one is going to play with such marvelous phrasing, as she does, on a wind instrument. I was also struck by the fact, that when she plays, her flute is always held that a perfect 90° angle with the tilt of her neck. Now this may sound like an obvious statement to flute players, but only in the last few years have I seen another flutist do the same thing, and that is Cobus du Toit, who plays with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra. It was also clearly evident that Christina Jennings was totally comfortable on stage: performance experience tells. And likewise, Cynthia Katsarelis, was confident not only in her own ability, but in that of Jennings. They simply shared a few casual glances back and forth to produce an absolutely incredible performance. It has been a while since I have seen a concerto performed where the soloist and the conductor were so visually calm. Jennings was breathtaking in the cadenza to the first movement. This excellence continued in the second movement. The dynamics from the orchestra and from the soloist were stunning, and Jennings shaped her phrases so wonderfully with dynamics, not just her breath control. And again, her technique and tone control were readily apparent in the cadenza to the second movement.
The third movement of this Concerto is marked Rondo: Tempo di Menuetto. Do any of you readers know how many times Mozart used a minuet for the last movement of a concerto? If you don’t, read the book Mozart’s Concerto Form by Denis Foreman. There, you will discover that all of Mozart’s concertos display a varied approach, and the third movement of this flute Concerto, K. 313, is delightful. And, that is the way it was performed: the tempos were perfect, and it was marvelously playful, and technically perfect. The last movement of this concerto is very difficult, but it was readily apparent that Jennings and the Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra are accustomed to working hard while displaying effortless ability and technique. Jennings, Katsarelis, and the orchestra received a well-deserved standing ovation.
After the Intermission, the Chamber Orchestra performed the Haydn, Symphony Nr. 48.
It is always a revelation to hear a Haydn Symphony performed by an orchestra that is roughly the size of the orchestra that Haydn had at the Esterházy palace. Much of the detail work becomes very clear, and it is certainly a more intimate sound. This symphony is probably one of Haydn’s most cheerful; it is rumored to have been written on the Empress Maria Theresa’s visit to Eszterháza (note the difference in spelling between Esterházy, the family, and Eszterháza, the palace). There is no doubt now that this Symphony was written in 1769. Six years after the Maria Theresa left Eszterháza in 1773, there was a fire at the Castle which destroyed many instruments and music except for some of the autographs which Haydn happened to have in his actual possession in his quarters, which did not burn. Up to this time it was assumed that the Esterházy archives for the most accurate, but we know at least 70 works were destroyed in this fire. A copy of this symphony was found in the possession of Haydn’s copyist, Joseph Elssler, and it was clearly dated 1769, so there is absolutely no doubt as to when this work was written. It is also interesting to note that in the manuscript that Elssler had completed for Haydn, that there is no timpani part, so it would seem that the timpani part was perhaps added by some of the copyists in Vienna (other than Haydn’s official copyist, Elssler) who had been pirating his music for several years. But that is material for yet another doctoral dissertation. (Speaking of dates, someone needs to check Haydn’s birth and death dates in the program!)
The performance of this piece by the Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra was sensational. Every section of this orchestra is very strong, and the horns were terrific in the opening, playing with great energy and providing superb rhythmic direction at the behest of Maestra Katsarelis. I was struck by the fact that everything in the performance of this Symphony Nr. 48 could be heard: the balance between sections was perfect. Haydn can be a very difficult composer to play because of all of the detail work and phrasing. One does not have the liberty to take a lot of rubato, because that is simply not in the style of the classical period. One has to create Haydn’s style by adhering to the score religiously in shaping the phrases with the dynamics rather than little gushes of emotion. That is precisely what Katsarelis and this orchestra did. The slow movement was warm and mellow, and as the program notes stated, hearkened to the Storm and Stress ideal of that particular portion of the classical period.
Playing Haydn the way it should be played obviously involves a thorough knowledge of the style which includes the tempos that the conductor takes. Katsarelis’ tempos were excellent, and it was clear that the orchestra members were working quite hard, but enjoying every moment of it.
I have said in other articles that we in Colorado are fortunate because there are so many good ensembles and soloists performing. The Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra is an ensemble that is rapidly making a name for itself, and very deservedly so. The musicians are excellent, the conductor is excellent, and they play with an enthusiasm and professionalism that is unrivaled. You simply must hear their concerts.
