PROGRAM NOTES

L’Estro Armonico
Concerto in Re Minore, Op. 3, No. 11
Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)
This concerto, number eleven of his L’Estro Armonico, Op. 3, is for two violins and cello soloist, string orchestra and cembalo. These works were composed when Vivaldi was directing the rehearsals and performances, and also during his travels through Italy and other countries.

His first movement, Allegro, in the opening 19 measures, features the violins in strict fugue. The cello enters accompanied by the cembalo and string bass ending the movement. The Adagio is three measures long, acting as a transition to the third movement. Here Vivaldi makes use of all his elements with each section entering with the theme in contrapuntal texture. In the fourth movement, the principal violin solos above the accompaniment of the ensemble. The finale Allegro once again features both solo violins.

Hungarian Rhapsody, Op. 68 for Solo Cello
David Popper (1843–1913)
(Arr. by Endre Balog)
Born in Prague, Popper was a Bohemian cellist and composer. He studied music at the Prague Conservatory. During a tour to Germany, the son-in-law of Franz Liszt, recommended him to a position as Chamber Virtuoso in the court of Prince von Hochenzollern-Hechingen, where he played often with the Berlin Philharmonic. After his Vienna debut in 1867, he was appointed principal cellist at the Hofoper. In 1872, he married pianist Sophie Menter, a pupil of Franz Liszt who later joined the staff at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In 1873, Popper resigned from his post at the Hofoper so as to continue his tours with his wife on a larger scale. Liszt recommended Popper to teach at the newly opened string department at the Conservatory at Budapest where he participated in the Budapest Quartet with Jenő Hubay and often, Johannes Brahms.

He was a prolific composer of music for his instrument, writing four concertos, a Requiem for three cellos and orchestra (1891) and a number of smaller pieces still played today, including the ever-popular cello solo piece Tarantella. His shorter showpieces were written to highlight the unique sound and style native to the cello extending the instrument’s range to heights with pieces such as Spinnlied (Spinning Song), Gnomentanz (Dance of the Gnomes), or the Ungarische Rhapsodie (Hungarian Rhapsody).

Among his notable students was Adolf Schiffer (teacher of Janos Starker). It has been said by Starker that Popper would often run up a substantial bill at a local restaurant. To make up for this, Starker says that he would run home, compose a piece, take it to his publisher and use that money for the bill. Nonetheless, Popper had a polished technique, a full, warm tone and classical style, and was acknowledged as one of the great virtuosos and teachers of his day.

Scherzo Tarantelle, Op. 16
Henryk Wieniawski (1835–1880)
(Arr. by Laszlo Pap)
Wieniawski was born in Poland during the Russian Empire, into a Polish-Jewish family though his father had converted to Catholicism. His talent for playing the violin was recognized early on, and in 1843 he entered the Paris Conservatoire. When his engagement to Isabella Hampton was opposed by her parents, Wieniawski wrote Légende, Op. 17. This work helped the parents change their mind, and the couple married in 1860. This, along with his Scherzo-Tarantelle, Op. 16 (Leipzig, l856) are two of his most frequently performed works. At the invitation of Anton Rubinstein, (who called Wieniawski the “Greatest violinist of his time”), Wieniawski moved to St. Petersburg, where he lived from 1860 to 1872, teaching many violin students and leading the orchestra and string quartet of the Russian Musical Society. From 1872 to 1874 Wieniawski toured the United States with Rubinstein. In 1875 Wieniawski replaced Henri Vieuxtemps as violin professor at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles.

He is known for techniques such as left-hand pizzicato, harmonics, large leaps, and many double stops. What is sometimes called the “Russian bow grip” ought to be called the “Wieniawski bow grip”: Wieniawski taught his students his own kind of very stiff bowing that allowed him to play a “devil’s staccato” with ease. The first violin competition named after Wieniawski took place in Warsaw in 1935, and the International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition has been held every five years since 1952.

Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Bach wrote the Brandenburgs about 1720, (before his move to Leipzig) when he was Capellmeister to the Prince of Anhalt-Cothen. Brandenburg is the Russian province immediately west and south of Berlin, and Bach had originally presented these concertos to the Margrave of Brandenburg. The special significance of the Brandenburg concertos is the fact that, as a group, they abandon the standard type of concerto grosso and use a variety of solo combinations. The concise motifs of the first movements, all suggest a strong Italian influence. Whenever Bach assembled a collection of pieces, he tried to make them as diverse as possible, and musicians have always delighted in the timbral variety of the Brandenburgs, which constantly define and articulate the succession of musical events by textures and color. The 3rd Brandenburg showcases all the violin and viola parts as soloistic at some point, and all contribute to the tutti in what is texturally the most inventive of the five concertos. The 3rd Concerto also has unusual three-way symmetries with the violins, violas and cellos with continuo.

Balzene Suite for Strings
György Orbán (b. 1947)
Hungarian-Transylvanian composer György Orbán was born on the 12th of July, 1947 in Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mureş). He studied composition at the Cluj Academy of Music between 1968 and 1973 with Todupanál and Eisikovits as well as music theory with Jagamas. After graduating he worked as a theory teacher at the same institution.

In 1979 he moved to Hungary, where he still lives. Until 1990 he was the musical editor of the Budapest Musical Publishing Company. Meanwhile he taught theory and composing at the Liszt Ferenc Music Academy, in Budapest from 1982.

In 1991 he was awarded the prestigious music award named after Bartók-Pástory.

His early style is close to western vanguard which is most characteristic in his Triple Sextet composed in 1979. He entered this piece in the International Composer Competition in Paris, 1989. Then later, in the mid-1980s he turned his attention towards the neo-romantic style.

His choral pieces composed for liturgical purposes are closely related to the Hungarian choral traditions and they also contain some jazz elements. Several of his songs and choral pieces are full of humorous elements.

He also composed nine masses for orchestra and organ along with several solo songs. Among his orchestral works, the two Serenades are most outstanding. Mostly he composed his chamber music for the combination of string and keyboard instruments. His film and theatre music has attracted attention, and he also composed three suites and three sonatas.

He composed three series for string orchestra (the other two are: Fevilles d’Album, and Farewell), the title and subtitle of which is dedicated to Count Rassumoffsy. It is indeed the same person who was the Maecenas/patron of Beethoven. He was a diplomat (or maybe a spy) at the beginning of the 1800s in Vienna. His name is closely connected to the first string-quartets of Beethoven and this is the reason why Orbán also included his name in the title of his Balzene Suite.

Short themes are heard quoting the dance music of the past 200 years from the waltz to the tango. The stage performance of the whole cycle is due to the merit of the Reményi Ede chamber orchestra.

Cuban Medley
Ernesto Lecuona (1895–1963)
Arr. by Alfredo Munar
Lecuona was a Cuban composer with a prodigious melodic gift. There is nothing quite like a Lecuona song and the composer wrote 406 of them, many of which were adapted, and rearranged over the years for various instrumental and vocal combinations by Lecuona and others. “Malagueña,” “Siboney,” “Noche Azul” and the Oscar-nominated “Siempre En Mi Corazon,” are among the most famous. A prolific theatre composer, he wrote zarzuelas, operettas, theatre reviews, ballets, and an opera. Today, he is remembered principally for his great zarzuelas. Lecuona’s talent for composition has influenced the Latin American world in a way quite similar to George Gershwin in the United States, in his case raising Cuban music to classical status. Lecuona wrote a great deal of film music in the ‘30s and ‘40s for such major studios as MGM, 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers and, in 1942, was nominated for an Academy Award.

Renowned Cuban pianist/arranger, Alfredo Munar, collaborated often with Lecuona. A long-time resident of the US, he recently was nominated for a Grammy Award, and has been awarded the first Arturo Toscanini Musical Award by the JFK Library for Minorities. He re-created the zarzuela “Cecilia Valdés” with Soprano, Marta Pérez, directing the 1965 performance for the impresario, Rudolf Bing at the Metropolitan Opera as the first performance of the work outside Cuba.

“Karabali” is written by Lecuona in Afro-Cuban rhythm, “Las Perlas de to Boca” (The pearls of your mouth) by Eliseo Grenet, is in the tempo Bolero Antiguo, and sung by a young man to his girlfriend, describing the pearls that she keeps in her beautiful red box (her red lips) — trying to convince her to kiss him. “Marta,” is a lyric love song by famed Cuban composer Moises Simons, who also wrote “El Manisero” (The Peanut Vendor), sung by Judy Garland in A Star Is Born. “Quiereme Mucho” by Gonzalo Roig (composer of the famous operetta Cecilia Valdes) is a Criolla-Bolero, and is considered the second Cuban National Anthem. This arrangement was commissioned by the Symphony of the Americas for the 2009 Summerfest.

Panama Medley
Arr. by Alfredo Munar
“Viva Panamá,” “Que te Parece Cholito” and “El Tambor” (drum typical to Panamanian folkloric melodies) are all of folkloric origin. “Taboga,” written by Ricardo Fabregas, is a bolero, picturing this beautiful and romantic island just off the coast of Panama City. “Hoy Vuelves a mi Lado” (Today You Return to My Side) is a haunting expression of love.

These compositions all display Panama’s rich history of culture, musical rhythms, and intense spirit, and are mostly local dances such as the Cumbia, Tamborera, Pasillo, Bolero and Conga.

Aaron Copeland
Hoedown
Aaron Copland (November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American composer of concert and film music, as well as an accomplished pianist. Instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, he was widely known as "the dean of American composers." Copland's music achieved a balance between modern music and American folk styles. The open, slowly changing harmonies of many of his works are said to evoke the vast American landscape. He also incorporated percussive orchestration, changing meter, polyrhythms, polychords and tone rows in a broad range of works for concert hall, theater, ballet, and films. Aside from composing, Copland was a teacher, lecturer, critic, writer, and conductor.

Copland composed the ballet Rodeo, in 1942. It is a tale of a ranch wedding, written around the same time as Lincoln Portrait. Rodeo is an enduring composition for Copland and contains many recognizable folk tunes, well-blended with Copland's original music. Notable in the final movement, is the striking "Hoedown". This was a re-creation of Appalachian fiddler W. M. Stepp's version of the square-dance tune "Bonypart" ("Bonapart's Retreat"), which had been transcribed for piano by Ruth Crawford Seeger and published in Alan Lomax and Seeger's book, Our Singing Country (1941). For the "Hoedown" in Rodeo Copland borrowed note for note from Seeger's piano transcription of Stepp's tune. This fragment is now of the best-known compositions by any American composer, having been used numerous times in movies and on television, including commercials for the American beef industry.