Triple Doubles Coming Soon!

The VSO is proud to announce the forthcoming release of Triple Doubles, a recording project spanning three years and starring the VSO, violinist Jaime Laredo, cellist Sharon Robinson, and conductors Sarah Hicks and Troy Peters. The CD features three double concerti written for Jaime and Sharon by composers David Ludwig, Daron Hagen, and Richard Danielpour. The CD is slated for release this November on Bridge Records. Pre-order your copy today! Keep reading!

Program notes: Made in Vermont Music Festival

The Made in Vermont Music Festival Statewide Tour crisscrosses Vermont during our glorious fall foliage season, bringing classical chamber works to eight communities along the way. The tour begins in Johnson on September 23 and continues on to Vergennes (9/24), Derby Line (9/25), Lyndonville (9/29), Bellows Falls (9/30), Randolph (10/1), Woodstock (10/2), and Castleton (10/3). Tickets are available now at the Flynn Regional Box Office online, in person, or by calling (802) 86-FLYNN. The concert includes a fond look backward at summer with Honegger’s serene Pastorale d’été. A salute to autumn follows naturally, in a world premiere commission by award-winning composer Robert Paterson. Music Director Jaime Laredo is featured in one of Mozart’s most humorous pieces, Serenata Notturno, in which the timpanist gets equal billing with a solo string quartet! Sibelius’ Valse Triste, beloved of filmmakers, portrays an unearthly waltz by spectral couples. The performance concludes with Haydn’s Symphony No. 53, aptly nicknamed L’Imperiale. Keep reading for the program notes for this series.

Serenata Notturno No. 6 in D Major, K. 239
W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born only six years after the death of Bach, was the most wide-ranging of composers in the idioms he adopted, absorbing musical elements from both past and present. In his more popular works, such as his serenades or divertimenti he would sometimes adopt the old concerto form or alternatively write a suite of dances after the old French manner.

The Serenata Notturno employs the concerto form. In fact, it is very much like the Baroque concerto grosso familiar to the earlier composers– Corelli, Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel. In such a three movement concerto, the larger body of players (the ripieno) is set off against the concertino, or smaller group. In this case the ripieno consists of the main string body, minus double bass but with tympani, while the concertino consists of a quartet of two violins, viola, and double bass. The interplay of these two groups provides contrast, variety, and not a little humor.

Yet the sound and internal organization of the Serenata Notturno are very different from that of a Baroque concerto. By Mozart's time the style of music had changed. The basso continuo, performed by a keyboard instrument, was disappearing. Vivaldi and other composers of the baroque period also witnessed in their later years a falling away in the use of counterpoint. Deemed archaic, it was being replaced by short aria-like phrases from the Italian and French operatic traditions when Mozart was born (in 1756) and three years later when the older Haydn entered the service of the Esterhazy family as court composer.

The new idiom was known as the style galant because of its tuneful elegance and charming stylishness. It is this style that Mozart learned and mastered as a boy, and which pervades his early music such as this Serenata Notturno. Written in January 1776, it may have been devised for the city of Salzburg's New Year's celebrations. No one is sure of its exact purpose, but its joyous lighthearted spirit, tinged with little patches of humor, suggest Mozart in a happy frame of mind, despite his increasingly irksome dealings with his boss, the demanding and unpleasant Archbishop of Salzburg.

The first movement, as the title Marcia suggests, is indeed march-like, but in the light genteel manner of the prevailing gallant style. It is also arranged in the simple sonata-allegro form of the early classical period, with a strong first subject followed by a gentler second. Mozart has fun in his brief development section with syncopations, string plucking and tympani noise, before the return of the two opening subjects.

The second movement Menuetto continues in a similarly charming vein. The dotted rhythm brings a kind of jaunty elegance to the dance, where the middle Trio section, given to the concertino group, is characterized by a lighter touch, with delightful triplet figures weaving dainty traceries around the main melody.

The main theme of the third movement Rondo moves along at a brisk pace, but then is halted in its tracks by one of those Mozartian interruptions we often come across during the course of his final movements. This time it is an Adagio, played with due seriousness by the smaller concertino group. It sounds very much like a dig at the Baroque solemnities of the earlier generation (very Handelian in fact), but Mozart scholar Alfred Einstein suggests that this brief tune, along with the next much faster one, refer to popular tunes of the day probably well-known to the local populace. And as Mozart so easily slid into these little diversions, so does he slide out of them and back to the main Rondo theme, to finish off the piece in a lively fashion.



Pastorale d’été
Arnold Honegger (1892-1955)

Pastorale d’été (Summer Pastorale) is a short symphonic poem for chamber orchestra inspired by a vacation trip the composer took in the Swiss alps in 1920. The score is inscribed with an epigraph by the poet Arthur Rimbaud: “J’ai embrassé l’aube d’été” (I have embraced the summer dawn). The mood is atmospheric and restrained: it seems to be a musical impression of a peaceful early morning in the mountains. The work begins with a languorous soaring theme in the French horn, which is then taken up by the strings. Flute and clarinet tell us the birds are already singing. The middle section is more lively, and colorfully orchestrated; the main theme returns to close the piece in the placid manner of the opening.

Honegger was one of six French composers traditionally bracketed together as the “Les Six,” a composers’ avant garde of the 1920s. Honegger, however, went his own way, not being interested in the new craze for jazz, and admiring rather than disavowing Wagner, Debussy, and Ravel. He stood instead for the classical virtues of balance and craftsmanship, and was drawn to Romantic imagery. The editor of the 1924 pocket score of this piece declared, “Pastorale d’été is absolute music which steers clear from descriptive tendencies.” This is nonsense! Pastorale d’été is a perfect example of illustrative music at its most exquisite.



Robert Paterson
Dark Mountains

Vermont is famous for its green mountains, but I often find myself taking long drives through the mountains at night or on overcast days, when the mountains lose color and become gray silhouettes. Many roads in Vermont are so dark, particularly in the Northeast Kingdom, that you need to use headlights, even during the day. Dark Mountains is meant to portray the beauty and grandeur of the mountains and the peacefulness of the open roads, but also the darkness and occasional treacherous passes one may encounter during the evening hours. The piece is in three connected sections. The first section portrays the calmness and austerity of a quiet evening. The second is inspired by a fast drive down winding country roads, with twists and turns, frequent tempo changes and shifting gears. The final section evokes the feeling of looking at the nighttime sky with moonlight shining through the trees and the sounds of nature in the distance.

I would like to thank the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Jaime Laredo, David Ludwig and the VSO staff for the opportunity to write this piece. This orchestra holds a special place in my heart, since my wife and I played in the orchestra years ago and I have many friends in the orchestra.
This piece is commissioned by and dedicated to the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Jaime Laredo, Music Director, for the 2011 Made in Vermont Music Festival statewide concert tour

– Robert Paterson



Valse triste, Op. 44, No. 1
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

Valse triste (Sad waltz) is a short orchestral work by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It was originally part of the incidental music he composed for his brother-in-law Arvid Jarnefelt’s 1903 play Kuolema (Death). In 1904 Sibelius revised the piece, which was performed in Helsinki on April 25 under the current title. It was an instant hit with the public, took on a life of its own, and remains one of Sibelius’ signature pieces.

The background to the music as it functions within the original play is expanded upon by the program notes for the production:

It is night. The son, who has been watching beside the bedside of his sick mother, has fallen asleep from sheer weariness. Gradually, a ruddy light is diffused through the room: there is a sound of distant music. The glow and the music steal nearer until the strains of a waltz melody float distantly to our ears. The sleeping mother awakens, rises from her bed and, in her long white garment, which takes the semblance of a ball dress, begins to move silently and slowly to and fro. She waves her hands and beckons in time to the music, as though she were summoning a crowd of invisible guests. And now they appear, these strange visionary couples, turning and gliding to an unearthly waltz rhythm. The dying woman mingles with the dancers; she strives to make them look into her eyes, but the shadowy guests one and all avoid her glance. Then she seems to sink exhausted on her bed and the music breaks off. Presently she gathers all her strength and invokes the dance once more, with more energetic gestures than before. Back come the shadowy dancers, gyrating in a wild, mad rhythm. The weird gaiety reaches a climax; there is a knock at the door, which flies wide open. The mother utters a despairing cry, the spectral guests vanish, the music dies away. Death stands on the threshold.

A synthesizer version of Valse triste was used in Making The Shining, a documentary by Stanley Kubrick’s daughter about her father’s film. The music was also used in the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday. The animated film Allegro Non Troppo used Valse triste in “Feline Fantasies,” a segment about the ghost of a cat roaming around the ruins of the house it once inhabited.



Symphony No. 53 in D Major, L’Imperiale
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

In 1761, Haydn was hired as assistant Kapellmeister by the Esterhazy family, for whom he was to work for 32 years. These fabulously wealthy Hungarian nobles maintained one of the best musical establishments in Europe. As a servant of Prince Esterhazy, Haydn reported for orders twice a day. He had to select and manage an orchestra, conduct two concerts a week, organize the music library, copy music, and of course compose. Although Haydn was chronically overworked (on one of his scores, he corrected an error, noting “Written while asleep” ) and missed the gaiety of Vienna’s social life, on the whole, he felt fortunate. “My Prince was always satisfied with my work. Not only did I have the encouragement of constant approval, but as conductor of the orchestra I could experiment, find out what made a good effect and what weakened it, so I was free to alter, improve, add, or omit, and be as bold as I pleased. Cut off from the world, I had no one to bother me and was forced to become original.” Although his fame soon spread beyond Esterhaza, Haydn was always modest about his talents. He attributed most of his success to hard work. “I was never a quick writer,” he said, “and composed with care and diligence.” He was forced to admit, however, “I did, of course, have talent.”

That talent is very evident in his wonderful Symphony No. 53. No one seems quite clear about the subtitle “L’imperiale,” but the most obvious explanation is that it was played for the imperial court during one of their state visits to the Esterhazy castle of Kittsee. It became the most popular of all of Haydn’s pre-Paris symphonies. “Elegant” is the first adjective that occurs to describe the work; yet there rich passages of exceptional beauty as well.

James Webster has grouped the Symphony No. 53 with others of the same period (1770s) and categorized Haydn’s writing during this time as “theatrical and popular.” Prince Esterhazy may have instructed Haydn that he had gone too far in the experimentation of his Sturm und Drang period; whatever the reason, there is a definite stylistic change in works from this period. Haydn seems to be turning his increasing technical command towards entertainment.

The second movement is in double variation form (ABA1B1, etc.), a format which Haydn perfected in slow movements from works he composed in this decade. This beautiful symphony reaches its peak in an amazing finale—and there is a choice to be made! There are multiple finales--at least four that we know of—for this work, although two of them may not have been written by Haydn. The first, composed in 1777, was an adaptation of the overture to an unknown opera. The second originally had no flute or timpani parts, but H. Robbins Landon added them in the Eulenburg edition he edited. In case you are curious, we will be using the former in our performance today. Keep reading!

Vermont Music Now 15: Joan Tower

VSO New Music Advisor David Ludwig chats with composer Joan Tower.

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Program notes: December 4 Masterworks Concert

On Saturday, December 4, the VSO and the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts will co-present the second Masterworks concert installment this season. Grammy-award winning sextet eighth blackbird and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon team up for a performance of Higdon's "On A Wire" for sextet and orchestra. eighth blackbird will perform an intimate concert at the FlynnSpace on Sunday, December 5. Contact FlynnTix for a 20% discount on tickets for both events. This package must be redeemed either in person at the Flynn Box Office or by calling (802) 86-FLYNN. No other discounts apply. Only valid on new ticket purchases, while tickets are available. Single tickets for the Masterworks Series concert on Saturday, December 4, can be purchased through FlynnTix online or by calling (802) 86-FLYNN. Keep reading for the program notes for this concert.

Overture to Euryanthe
Carl Maria von Weber (1726-1826)

“My reception when I appeared in the orchestra to conduct the premiere of Euryanthe was the most enthusiastic that one could imagine,” wrote Weber to his wife the day after the premiere on October 25, 1823. “There was no end to it. At last I gave the signal for beginning. Stillness of death. The Overture was applauded madly, and there was a demand for a repetition, but I went ahead so that the performance might not be too long or drawn out.” After the success of its first season, the opera was doomed, handicapped by its inane libretto. But the spontaneity and imaginativeness of the music have kept the overture in the standard repertoire. Schumann was enchanted by it: “It is a chain of sparkling jewels from beginning to end—all brilliant and flawless.”

With a grandiose flourish, Weber sets the mood of his tragic opera. The brass and woodwinds announce the theme by which the hero proclaims his reliance on God and his beloved Euryanthe. In the development section, the famous ghost music is orchestrated for eight muted solo violins, and this is later combined with the majestic opening melody. The poignant progression from the tragic to the triumphant concludes definitively in a grand coda.

Weber’s works, including Euryanthe, greatly influenced the development of the Romantic opera in Germany, and anticipated Wagner. Berlioz praised his gift for orchestration in his Treatise on Instrumentation, while Debussy remarked that the sound of the Weber orchestra was obtained through the scrutiny of the soul of each instrument.



On A Wire, Concerto for Sextet and Orchestra
Jennifer Higdon (1962- )

The composer writes: "Composing a concerto for one soloist and orchestra is a bit of a balancing act…so imagine throwing in five more soloists. On A Wire is eighth blackbird’s high-wire act of a concerto. Having already written two chamber works for this group, I am familiar with their ability to do all sorts of cool things on their instruments, from extended techniques, to complex patterns, to exquisitely controlled lyrical lines. I also admire the pure joy that emanates from their playing, no matter the repertoire. Written as a one-movement work, it highlights the group as an ensemble, allows each member to solo, and utilizes some of their unique staging: the players move about and perform beyond their respective primary instruments (the work begins with bowed piano). So imagine six blackbirds, sitting on a wire…." The world premiere of On A Wire took place at Symphony Hall in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 3, 2010, with soloists eighth blackbird, and Robert Spano conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

On A Wire is a co-commission by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Akron Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the West Michigan Symphony, the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and the Cabrillo Festival.

Read more about Jennifer Higdon.
Read more about eighth blackbird.



Symphony No. 2 in D Major
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

Jean Sibelius was born in the small Finnish town of Tavastehus, the son of a regimental doctor. A sensitive child drawn to the beauty of nature and art, his early pursuits in music on the piano, violin and in composition grew organically out of the desire of a shy child to find a comfortable way to express his inner thoughts and feelings.

Sibelius borrowed a year from his musical career in an attempt to study law, but the muse was too possessive and his parents gave their blessing to his enrollment in the Institute of Music. There he made several close friends, and one of them, Adolf Paul, gave this portrayal of him: "He did not seem to dwell on this earth. His nature was delicate and impressionable; his sensitive imagination found outlet in music at the slightest provocation. His thoughts always strayed, his head was always in the clouds, and he continually expressed such original and bizarre ideas that...in his normal mood he was like the rest of us drunk."

In 1899 Sibelius' studies took him to Berlin and Vienna, and in the latter city he met Brahms whose works at that time dominated the world of symphonic music. Sibelius' reverence for Brahms reveals itself in his early work, but a more powerful and fateful alliance was yet to be made which would make a life-long imprint on his music.

At the end of his formal training in 1891, Sibelius returned to Finland, where he joined a group of idealistic young musicians who called themselves "Young Finns." Strongly patriotic, they were committed to the movement for Finnish liberation from Russian domination. The fact that the Russian government denied freedom of speech and press did not discourage Sibelius, who was most used to speaking through his music: "...for me, music begins where words cease." Rather, this suppression of the usual forms of communication made Sibelius' music a comparative shout for freedom and national unity that stirred the hearts of all Finns.

Comfortably married and settled in a teaching position at the Musical Institute, Sibelius began to create a national Finnish music. He broke most ties with German and Russian romanticism and through extraordinary originality, fervent national identity and a profound love of nature created the completely recognizable and unduplicated genre of Finnish Romanticism. It is characterized by tonal landscapes and orchestrations which give almost visual images of the country, and emotional empathy with its natives.

The Second Symphony was written in 1901, shortly after Finlandia had firmly established him as a national hero. Georg Schneevoigt, a close friend and famous interpreter of Sibelius, ascribed a program to the work: the first movement (Allegretto) represents the quiet pastoral life of the Finns undisturbed by thoughts of oppression. The second movement (Andante, ma rubato) rings with patriotic fervor, but the threat of brutal rule over the people brings with it timidity of the soul. The scherzo of the third movement (Vivacissimo) brings the awakening of national feeling and the desire to organize in defense of rights. A long crescendo leads without pause into the final movement (Allegro moderato) which expresses the hope and comfort in the anticipated coming of a deliverer.

Sibelius composed five more symphonies between the years 1907 and 1924. He was recognized internationally as one of the greatest symphonic composers since Brahms. In 1924, tired of giving concerts and of the discomforts of travel, he retired to Arnola, to compose nothing more than a set of piano pieces in 1929. As though he had concentrated a lifetime of creativity in a few furious years, Sibelius devoted the rest of his life to small-town pleasures and the serenity of seclusion.

– Hilary Hatch
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Vermont Music Now 14: Jaime Laredo

In this episode of Vermont Music Now, New Music Advisor David Ludwig chats with VSO Music Director Jaime Laredo about playing, conducting, and programming contemporary music.

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In their opinion: A conversation on the state of new music

The following is a short conversation between composer and Middlebury College professor Peter Hamlin and the VSO's Executive Director, Alan Jordan. They consider new music and help you understand barriers involved in bringing it to the stage, the politics behind it, and how the classical realm functions in regards to the new stuff. What do you think? Are you open to new works or just a fan of the classics?

I was thinking about new music and how audiences react to it. And also thinking what that says about the health of classical music today.

It seems to me that there are two opposite things happening in the national classical music scene that are both not good. One is a hunger by audiences for certain kinds of accessible music but no real mechanism for getting that music more widely created, supported and heard. I really do feel that there are “gatekeepers” (funding agencies, critics, etc.) who are not helpful to the creation of “populist” new music, and I think a big part of the “crisis” of modern music is that people aren’t writing popular new music in nearly enough numbers. Made in Vermont is a wonderful program that addresses this need, but nationwide there isn’t enough of it. It struck me how passionate and excited audiences have been about Don Jameson’s piece. This is a success story that we should replicate as much as possible.

The opposite concern is that audiences also don’t seem to understand the importance of avant-garde and experimental music. Like “pure research” in science, it may not make immediate connections with large audiences, but it is an important laboratory that continues to reinvigorate music. For orchestras to flourish and remain relevant, they need to be, at least in part, a crucible for new ideas.

These seem to be conflicting positions, but I actually think they can reinforce each other. I think part of the intolerance audiences have for more challenging music is that it is so rare for them to hear a new piece that they can genuinely and deeply fall in love with.
For what it’s worth, I’ll tell a favorite story about an orchestral premiere of mine in New Hampshire some years back. Before the concert, a guy in the audience overheard that I was the composer of the new work, and he turned around and gave me a long and impassioned speech about why he hated new music, how the new pieces were always the worst ones on the program, and on and on. After the piece, he turned to me and said, “Congratulations, I didn’t hate it!”

Peter S. Hamlin, Middlebury

* * * * *
Peter:

What a great e-conversation starter. You're right--nobody wants to fund new pops music (although there have been some efforts by several larger orchestras to co-commission new pops programs, but I think that effort is as much about sight as it is sound). In many places, orchestras and other presenters have formed commissioning clubs: groups of individuals who contribute a set amount to be part of a commissioning process. The group occassionally meets with the composer and perhaps orchestra artistic personnel to get a "report" on progress. This sometimes includes some "give and take" feedback with the audience. Talk about getting folks "invested!"

We are looking into commissioning a violin concerto for our concertmaster, Katherine Winterstein, by Kenji Bunch, who is well-known in Vermont through the Craftsbury Chamber Players. It's a major project the VSO cannot undertake on its own. The price tag will probably be around $25,000. I wonder if we might be able to create a commissioning club in Vermont for such projects?

I don't see any problem with incorporating both thorny and beautiful/ethereal into the same work. Movie and TV composers do it all the time. David Ludwig's symphony certainly did that too. What turned a generation of audience off was 40 minutes of non-stop thorniness!

To be continued...

Alan Jordan, VSO Executive Director Keep reading!

Vermont Music Now 12: Sarah Hicks

Well, I guess this episode slipped under the Blog radar! It was supposed to be up here way back in May. This was a particularly entertaining taping for Vermont Music Now. Sarah Hicks and host David Ludwig have some history, which opened the door for lots of joking around. Enjoy! Read more to watch the video.

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VSO on VPR Classical tomorrow night (Sept. 8)

On Wednesday, September 8, beginning at 7 p.m., VPR Classical, VPR's 24-hour classical music network, will feature a recording of the VSO's September 2003 performance of Troy Peters' "Between Hills Briefly Green" as part of the nationally broadcast program, "Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin."

VPR's Cheryl Willoughby says, "Earlier this summer I was contacted by the producers of the national radio program, "Exploring Music With Bill McGlaughlin" because they were putting together a program called "Director's Choice", featuring music choices from a select handful of music programmers from around the country. I was asked to submit a few of my favorite pieces to share with the wider radio audience. I submitted four, and I learned today that three of them will be featured in the program airing on Sept. 8th. One of these is Troy Peters' "Between Hills Briefly Green", and the performance they're using will be a live concert recording with the VSO led by Jaime Laredo."

Tune in! Visit VPR's website for the VPR Classical station in your area. Keep reading!

Vermont Music Now No. 11: Laura Koplewitz

VSO New Music Advisor David Ludwig interviews Vermont composer Laura Koplewitz. Keep reading to watch the video.



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Program Notes: January 29-31

The VSO takes it on the road this month with a stellar program featuring a World Premiere of David Ludwig's Symphony No. 1, "Book of Hours," a performance of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto played by world-renowned pianist André Watts, and Mendelssohn's Hebrides. Jaime Laredo leads the charge in Bellows Falls (1/29), Burlington (1/30), and Rutland (1/31). Read the program notes and watch a multimedia program note on David's piece after the jump.


The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave), Op. 26
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

By the time Mendelssohn was in his late teens, he had already achieved two compositional triumphs: his Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream and his Octet for Strings. His talents and gifts extended beyond music as well: in 1826 he enrolled at the University of Berlin, studying a variety of subjects from geography to aesthetics. He was quite a sketcher of landscapes, and he loved to travel.

It was on one particular trip to Scotland that Mendelssohn received the inspiration for The Hebrides. Along with his friend Karl Klingemann, Mendelssohn stopped first in Edinburgh, and then continued west to the Inner Hebridean islands, sketching landscapes as he went. On a sea voyage to the island of Staffa, Mendelssohn had his first glimpse of the spectacular Fingal's Cave, named for a hero of Scotch and Irish legend. Visitors can be rowed directly into the cave, two hundred and twenty-seven feet long, richly decorated with seaweeds, lichens, and stalactites, where the constant murmuring of the waves has given it another Gallic name, “the cave of music.” The story goes that Mendelssohn, upon first seeing the grandeur of the cave with its organ-like pillars of red-brown basalt and hearing the musical sounds made by the rushing water, immediately began to draft the opening melodies of the overture right there in the boat. In actuality, Mendelssohn's correspondence suggests that the themes occurred to him on the mainland of the Inner Hebrides before embarking. (While on board, Klingemann's writings confirm, Mendelssohn was much too seasick to be inspired!) In his letters, the composer refers to the work both as “The Hebrides” and “The Solitary Isle.” The first published score was entitled “Fingal’s Cave,” but the orchestra parts said “The Hebrides.” It has become customary to use both of the last designations.

The beginning motive, which reappears throughout, suggests the sound of waves rolling in and out of the cavern. In his three revisions of the piece, Mendelssohn tinkered extensively with the development section, which he worried "tastes more of counterpoint than of whale oil and seagulls." An exciting coda brings to a close a work which Wagner asserted to be "one of the most beautiful pieces we possess."


Symphony No. 1, "Book of Hours"
David Ludwig (1972- )

I. Matins & Lauds: i thank You God for most this amazing* – E.E. Cummings (1894-1962)
i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

 *“i thank you God for most this amazing” from COMPLETE POEMS, by E.E. Cummings, edited by George J. Firmage, used with the permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.  Copyright © 1950, 1978, 1991 by the Trustees for the E.E. Cummings Trust.  Copyright © 1979 by George James Firmage.

II. Prime: from The Book of Hours – Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)
Ich lebe mein leben im wachsenden Ringen,
die sich über die Dingen ziehen.
Ich werde den letzen vielleicht nicht vollbringen,
aber versuchen will ich ihn.

Ich kreise um Gott, um den uralten Turm,
und ich kreise jahrtausendelang;
und ich weiß nocht nicht: bin ich ein Falke, ein Sturm
oder ein großer Gesang.

I live my life in growing rings
which spread around the things about me.
I might never accomplish the last one,
but that is what I will try to do.

I make circles around God, around that most ancient tower,
and I circle a thousand years long;
and I still do not know: am I a falcon, a storm
or a great song.

III. Terce: Sand – Sara Goudarzi (b. 1976)
If my memories were sand
with every wave they'd start anew

And dance
unconscious of earlier strikes to their grain

And journey
                       to every shell
                                               coral
                                                           and cranny

They'd sit on a child's foot and play in the Sun

or castle in the blue

They'd forget the once river rock they were
banging head with every curve
shattering each day

If my memories were sand
they'd merrily play wave after wave
and forget each spot every few

©2004 Sara Goudarzi Reprinted with the permission of the author. This poem first appeared in The Adirondack Review.
 
IV. Sext: The winds have died, but flowers go on falling; – Ryokan (1758-1831)

The winds have died, but flowers go on falling;
birds call, but silence penetrates each song.

The Mystery! Unknowable, unlearnable.
The virtue of Kannon.

V. None: Zwielicht – (“Twilight”) Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857)
(Music from R. Schumann’s Liederkreis)
Dämmrung will die Flügel spreiten,
Schaurig rühren sich die Bäume,
Wolken ziehn wie schwere Träume -
Was will dieses Grau'n bedeuten?

Hast ein Reh du lieb vor andern,
Laß es nicht alleine grasen,
Jäger ziehn im Wald und blasen,
Stimmen hin und wieder wandern.

Hast du einen Freund hienieden,
Trau ihm nicht zu dieser Stunde,
Freundlich wohl mit Aug' und Munde,
Sinnt er Krieg im tück'schen Frieden.

Was heut müde gehet unter,
Hebt sich morgen neu geboren.
Manches bleibt in Nacht verloren -
Hüte dich, bleib wach und munter!

Twilight begins to spread its wings,
The trees stir ominously,
Clouds come like heavy dreams --
What does this gloominess mean?

If you have a favorite little deer,
Do not let it graze alone;
Hunters roam the forest and blow horns,
Voices wandering in and out.

 If you have a friend down here below,
 Do not trust him in this Hour;
 He might he seem friendly in eye and mouth,
 But he makes plans for war in treacherous peace.

 What today descends wearily down,
 Will lift itself tomorrow born anew.
 Many things at night go lost--
 Guard yourself--be awake and alert!

VI. Vespers: from the Book of John 1:5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

VII. Compline: Hashkiveinu (“Lay us down”) – traditional
Hashkiveinu Adonai Eloheinu l'shalom,
v'haamideynu malkeinu l'chayim,

ufros aleinu sukat sh'lomecha,
v'takneinu b'eitzah tovah mil'fanecha,
v'hoshieinu l'maan sh'mecha
V'hagen baadeinu,

v'haseir meialeinu oyeiv, dever
v'cherev v'raav v'yagon,
v'haseir satan mil'faneinu umeiachareinu,
uvtzeil k'nafecha tastireinu,

ki El shomreinu umatzileinu atah,
ki El chanun v'rachum atah

Ushmor tzeyteinu u-vo-einu,
l'chayim ulshalom,
mei-atah v'ad olam,
ufros aleinu sukat sh'lomecha,

Baruch atah Adonai, hapores sukat shalom aleinu,
v'al kpl amo Yisrael, v'al Yerushalayim.
 
Grant us, oh God, that we lie down in peace
and raise us up, our Guardian, to life renewed.

Spread over us the shelter of your peace.
Guide us with Your good counsel; for your Name’s sake, be our help.
Shield and shelter us beneath the shelter of your wings.

Defend us against our adversaries,
illness, war, famine, and sorrow,
Remove evil from before us and behind us.

For you, God, watch over us and deliver us. 
For you, God, are gracious and merciful.

Guard our going out and coming in,
to life and to peace, for eternity.
Spread over us the shelter of your peace.

Blessed are you, oh God, whose shelter of peace is spread over us.
Over all of your people of Israel and over Jerusalem.


A thousand years ago, you would find a “Book of Hours” in many homes.  It was an illuminated prayer book, helping the reader keep God in mind during the hours of the day with prayers, psalms, and biblical excerpts.  Some were quite simple, with modest illustrations and text.  Others were luxuriously decorated and adorned in gilt illumination.

I think about the importance of prayer in our lives–more as a function of hope than as of a religious expression, even though that is its principal source.  Prayer is common to all societies and to people in all walks of life, in some form or another.  There are basic kinds of prayer: supplication, exaltation, those that show our humility, and those that ask for great things from the ether.  But whatever the purpose, all prayer unites us as human beings.  As we seem to perilously catapult into the 21st Century, I decided that my first symphony should be like a contemporary Book of Hours; a kind of musical “magical realist’s” take on what this prayer book would look like today, and, ultimately, a reflection of hope.

Taking my musical cues from the form of a traditional “Book of Hours,” I set the piece in seven movements from the Liturgy of the Hours that the Book helped to maintain.  I then chose accompanying poems from different times, places, and cultures to inspire the piece.  Some are religious meditations, while others are taken directly from scripture.  Others, still, are modern invocations of desires or dreams.  And so, as the times of day are kept in these poems–from the early morning and bright breaking of dawn to the black of night–so too does my own Book of Hours take the journey from brightness to darkness over the course of its twenty-five minutes.

The first movement, informed by the Cummings poem “i thank You God for most this amazing,” opens with the idea of the quiet solitude before dawn, represented in orchestral unity.  This unison motive introduces each movement, one way or another, throughout the piece, but is not fully realized until the very end.  After the brightness of the first movement are the hopeful sentiments of Rilke’s poem from a collection of his early works–also called “The Book of Hours.”  Rings in the shapes of the music reflect the importance of the rings in his life-affirming words.  The third movement is more contemplative, as is the poem “Sand,” by the wonderfully gifted Persian-American writer Sara Goudarzi.  A bell is heard in the opening of the piece to bring the listener into focus on the words; string chords wash over each other in the background while a solo cello wanders through the music.

The fourth movement uses the words of Zen poet Ryokan as a departure point to invoke the driving sound of Japanese taiko drumming (with slight adjustments made to the timpani!).  This is a transition to the looming darkness of the fifth: an orchestration and arrangement I have made of Schumann’s “Twilight”–itself a setting of poem by his contemporary Joseph Eichendorff.  This darkness descends into a kind of madness in the sixth movement, which is a frenetic fugue inspired by the words from the opening of the Gospel of John.  At the end of the movement, the music plunges finally into chaos.

Order is found again at the last part of the work as the solo horn ushers in the final seventh movement, the “Hashkiveinu.”  This is a traditional Hebrew prayer--something of the equivalent of “Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep.”  I was both introduced to this liturgy and taught the translation and meaning of the words by Rabbi Daniel Sklar.  Dan also gave me a greater understanding of the importance of this text.  The night time prayer of antiquity was an earnest one–in the meagerness of life in ancient times even surviving the night was not a given.  How can we be sure that the sun will come up tomorrow?  But it does, and it always does, and so the ending of the Book of Hours is about not only the sun rising again, but of hope that we may continue to be reborn in our own lives, defiant of pain and violence, and stronger in our humanity together.

--David Ludwig





Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 73, “Emperor”  
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Beethoven actually wrote seven works which could be called piano concertos.  The first was a manuscript of 32 pages, composed when he was all of fourteen years old.  There is, as well, a version of his violin concerto that he arranged for piano and orchestra.  The five piano concertos we accept as representative works were all written after the young composer had made Vienna his home.  Between 1798, the year that Beethoven composed and performed his first piano concerto, and 1809, the year he composed his final piano concerto, considerable changes had take place in both Beethoven and Vienna.

In 1808, Beethoven had premiered his Piano Concerto No. 4, with himself as the maestro and soloist as usual.  The event was chilling, both physically and emotionally.  The program was four hours long, the theater was freezing cold, and the conductor/soloist was deaf.  An eyewitness account by Ludwig Spohr described the debut of the piano concerto:  “It was by no means enjoyment, for, in the first place, the piano was woefully out of tune, which, however, troubled Beethoven little, for he could hear nothing of it; and, secondly, of the former so much admired excellence of the virtuoso scarcely anything was left, in consequence of his total deafness.…I felt moved with the deepest sorrow at so hard a destiny.”

By 1809, Vienna too was suffering a hard destiny under the siege and occupation of Napoleon after his victory at Wagram.  Beethoven would find refuge in his brother Carl’s basement when the bombardment grew too loud, covering his head with pillows to protect what little hearing he had left.  His republican sentiments betrayed by the predations of Napoleon and his financial situation eroded by the devaluation of Austrian currency, Beethoven had no love for the French invaders.  Seated in his favorite coffee house one day, he shook his fist at the back of a passing French officer.  “If I as a general,” he said, ”knew as much about strategy as I the composer know about counterpoint, I’d give you fellows something to think about.”

So it came to pass that the premiere of the Piano Concerto No. 5 was two years after the composition of the work; it was neither conducted nor performed by Beethoven; and it was not in Vienna.  It was first heard in Leipzig on November 28, 1811, under the baton of Johann Philipp Christian Schulz, with Friedrich Schneider as soloist.  The Allgemeine Musik Zeitung of the following January called the work “one of the most original, imaginative, and most effective, but also one of the most difficult of all existing concertos….  It could not have been otherwise than that the crowded audience was soon put into such a state of enthusiasm that it could hardly content itself with the ordinary expressions of recognition and enjoyment.”

The Vienna debut at the hands of Carl Czerny a couple months later was not as successful, with accusations thrown at Beethoven that he could be “understood and appreciated only by connoisseurs.”  It was this performance, however, which may have been the source of the concerto’s nickname, as a French army officer was supposed to have been overheard acclaiming the work as “an emperor among concertos.”  Most likely the nickname was endowed by an early publisher in an effort to convey the work’s “grand dimensions and intrinsic splendor.”  Certainly the name was not given by Beethoven:  he had no love for emperors of any sort, and was particularly stung by the behavior of his former hero, Napoleon.

I.  Allegro – After three sweeping introductory chords with piano flourishes, the principal theme is introduced by the orchestra.  A subsidiary theme is presented in pizzicato strings in Eb minor, and then heard in the horns in Eb Major.  The piano enters and offers its versions of the themes.  Development and dialogue lead to the point where a closing cadenza would be expected.  Here Beethoven instructs the pianist:  “Don’t make a cadenza here, but attack what follows immediately.”  It is actually Beethoven’s written-out version of a cadenza on the main two themes, and the orchestra accompanies the latter half of the cadenza in a closing coda.


II.  Adagio un poco mosso – Muted violins present a hymn-like melody, which is followed by “quasi-variations” in the piano (as Sir George Grove characterizes them).  After the third variation, the bassoons sustain a B-natural, and then the entire orchestra unceremoniously sinks a half step to a B-flat, over which the piano starts to toy with the rondo theme of the finale that follows.  There is no break between this movement and the finale.


III.  Rondo: Allegro – In a brilliant and unique invention, Beethoven presents interwoven rondo and sonata forms.  The surging opening theme is the refrain of a rondo, and the repeats of this first subject encompass the introduction and development of a second, more singing subject.  The intricacies of form are rendered invisible by the impression of complete spontaneity throughout the movement, which closes as piano chords descend and die away over a repeated rhythm in the timpani.

--Hilary Hatch


André Watts, piano

André Watts burst upon the music world at the age of 16 when Leonard Bernstein chose him to make his debut with the New York Philharmonic in their Young People's Concerts, broadcast nationwide on CBS-TV.  Only two weeks later, Bernstein asked him to substitute at the last minute for the ailing Glenn Gould in performances of Liszt's E-flat Concerto with the New York Philharmonic, thus launching his career in storybook fashion.  More than 45 years later, André Watts remains one of today's most celebrated and beloved superstars.

A perennial favorite with orchestras throughout the US, Mr. Watts is also a regular guest at the major summer music festivals including Ravinia, the Hollywood Bowl, Saratoga, Tanglewood and the Mann Music Center. Recent and upcoming orchestral engagements include appearances with the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras, New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, and the St. Louis, Atlanta, Detroit, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Dallas, Seattle and National symphonies. During the 2009/10 season he travels to Japan in July to appear as a featured artist at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo and returns in the fall for an extensive tour of recital and orchestral appearances.

André Watts has had a long and frequent association with television, having appeared on numerous programs produced by PBS, the BBC and the Arts and Entertainment Network, performing with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center among others.  His 1976 New York recital, aired on the program Live From Lincoln Center, was the first full length recital broadcast in the history of television and his performance at the 38th Casals Festival in Puerto Rico was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cultural Programming. Mr. Watts’ most recent television appearances are with the Philadelphia Orchestra on the occasion of the orchestra’s 100th Anniversary Gala and a performance of the Brahms Concerto No.2 with the Seattle Symphony, Gerard Schwarz conducting, for PBS.

Mr. Watts’ extensive discography includes recordings of works by Gershwin, Chopin, Liszt and Tchaikovsky for CBS Masterworks; recital CD’s of works by Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt and Chopin for Angel/EMI; and recordings featuring the concertos of Liszt, MacDowell, Tchaikovsky and Saint-Saens on the Telarc label. He is also included in the Great Pianists of the 20th Century series for Philips.

A much-honored artist who has played before royalty in Europe and heads of government in nations all over the world, André Watts was selected to receive the Avery Fisher Prize in 1988.  At age 26 he was the youngest person ever to receive an Honorary Doctorate from Yale University and he has since received numerous honors from highly respected schools including the University of Pennsylvania, Brandeis University, The Juilliard School of Music and his Alma Mater, the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. In June 2006, he was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl of Fame to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his debut (with the Philadelphia Orchestra).

Previously Artist-in-Residence at the University of Maryland, Mr. Watts was appointed to the newly created Jack I. and Dora B. Hamlin Endowed Chair in Music at Indiana University in May, 2004. Keep reading!

Two Musicians on our January Concert Program

Alan Jordan interviews Jeremy Levine, the VSO's principal timpanist, and Elizabeth Young Levine, a VSO violinist. They chat about our January concerts with André Watts in Bellows Falls, Burlington, and Rutland, traveling around Vermont with the VSO, and the music of David Ludwig (whose Symphony No. 1, "Book of Hours" will be premiered the weekend of January 29-31).

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Vermont Music Now No. 10: Gwyneth Walker

VSO New Music Advisor and accomplished composer David Ludwig interviews Vermont composer Gwyneth Walker on this latest episode of Vermont Music Now. Ms. Walker expounds on her many years as a professional composer, making her living solely from the craft. She gives advice on the business of composing and the classical music industry. Click "Keep reading!" to watch.

Keep reading!

Vermont Music Now Episode 9: Tim Woos and Josh Morris

David Ludwig recently completed his Music Alive! Residency with the VSO. We utilized his expertise and knack for teaching and enlightening budding musicians in a number of ways. Other organizations did the same, such as the Vermont MIDI Project. In this episode of Vermont Music Now, David chats with Tim Woos and Josh Morris, two gifted young composers involved with VT MIDI that David has mentored. The opening credit music is a piece by Tim called "Assembly Line" and the closing credits are accented with one of the short movements from Josh's piece "6x6x6," which was composed for the VSO. Watch the episode after the jump.

Keep reading!

Vermont Music Now Episode 7: Troy Peters

VSO New Music Advisor David Ludwig (who just barely completed his two-year stint as our Composer-in-Residence) interviews Troy Peters, a long-time friend and fellow composer. Troy is also Music Director for the Vermont Youth Orchestra (for a little while longer, anyway).



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Audience reaction and critical acclaim for Masterworks finale

The VSO ended its 2008/2009 Masterworks Series, "Music of OUR Time," with a fiery performance at the Flynn Center on Saturday, May 2, 2009. Click the link below to read a review of the concert by Jim Lowe for the Times Argus. Watch the short video for reactions from audience members, musicians, and Jaime Laredo, to the season as a whole.

Jim Lowe's review in the Times Argus.



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Vermont Music Now Episode 6: Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble

Our Composer-in-Residence and New Music Advisor David Ludwig interviews Steve Klimowski, director of and clarinetist for the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble. Click to watch the episode.


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Program Notes: January 24 & 25

"Winter Romance" is the theme of this concert, to be performed Saturday, January 24 at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington and again on Sunday, January 25 at the Paramount Theatre in Rutland. Sarah Hicks will lead soloists Jaime Laredo, violin, and Sharon Robinson, cello, with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra in pieces by Jorge Martín, our own composer-in-residence David Ludwig (pictured, with Sarah Hicks), and Sergei Prokofiev. Read on for program notes....

Jorge Martín
Romance for Orchestra

In 1999, the VSO commissioned me to write a short piece of music for the “Made in Vermont Music Festival” fall statewide tour. The performing ensemble was a "Mozart orchestra;” that is to say, a few winds, a bunch of strings, no brass or percussion. But I set out to make the ensemble sound not like a "Mozart orchestra"--lush rather than lean. So when the VSO decided to program the work in the Masterworks season and asked me if I could expand the orchestration, it was not a big stretch to do so (to unleash its inner lushness, as it were), and I agreed. Although I was told I had the resources of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet orchestra, I only added a few more winds, horns, brass, and harp, but no percussion. I added a few measures to the middle section to give the brass a moment to make themselves felt.

To Mozart “Romanze” meant a lyrical slow movement with a stormy middle part. In my piece the storm passes quickly, like a spasm of anger or regret. The work is a meditation on a short melodic motif that floats throughout in many guises, mostly beatific and sweet. The title “Romance” suggests a story, but I did not have a specific one in mind as I wrote. I encourage the listener to hear a story made up as the music unfolds!

-- Jorge Martín

Jorge Martín (born in Cuba, 1959) has received numerous awards and commissions. Concert Artists Guild, Close Encounters With Music, Cantori New York and the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble are among those who have commissioned works; he won the 2003 Vermont Music Teachers commission award. In 2001 he was one of the featured composers in New York City Opera's "Vox: Showcasing American Composers." In 1999 he received a generous Cintas Fellowship for creative artists of Cuban descent, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Academy Award in Music in 1998, which included a stipend and a recording grant. In 2005 Mr. Martín was awarded a fellowship by the Bogliasco Foundation for a month-long residency at a villa near Genoa on Italy's Ligurian coast. Mr. Martín was awarded an artist's residency at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs in 1993 and again in 2003.

Mr. Martín has recently composed a full-scale opera, Before Night Falls, based on the memoir by Reinaldo Arenas, presently in development. His prize-winning one-act opera Tobermory has been performed in Eugene, New Orleans, Kansas City and at the Lake George Opera Festival. Beast and Superbeast, a set of four one-act operas, based on Saki short stories with libretti by Andrew Joffe, was presented in 1996 in both Washington D.C. (Bethesda) and New York City to critical acclaim. His chamber music has been performed around the US and Europe. His piano music is available on CD, "Steps" (on the Albany label) performed by Jeanne Golan.

In the spring of 2000, baritone Sanford Sylvan toured the premiere of The Glass Hammer, an hour-long song cycle on poems by Andrew Hudgins, with pianist David Breitman; Carnegie Hall presented them in May of 2000 at Weill Recital Hall in a performance of that work. The duo has recorded the cycle and is available on the Koch International Classics label. The work was performed last year in Brooklyn and Chapel Hill by Jonathan Hays and Craig Ketter.

This season Cantori New York will be presenting the world premiere of "Fatso," a large cantata for soprano, chorus and ensemble, commissioned by the group. The Vermont Philharmonic has also commissioned a new work from Mr. Martín to celebrate their 50th anniversary this season. For more, please visit www.jorgemartin.com.


David Ludwig
Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra

My Double Concerto is about three kinds of love: Eros, Agape, and Philia, as told in three ancient stories. The music of the first movement is based on a tale from Homer’s Odyssey, imagining the last night Odysseus and Calypso spend together before he leaves her after ten years of living on a desert island with each other. The music is sensual and rhythmic, and the solo instruments play together in almost every measure. The second movement is based on the medieval story of Tristan and Iseult, dwelling in forbidden courtly love as the two characters are not permitted to be together in love until they finally meet in death. The soloists play separately in this slow music until the very end of the movement. The third and last movement is about love of brotherhood and mankind as it embodies the story of the life of Buddha. The music becomes bright and celebratory, with ringing bells and chimes returning in its dancing rondo form.
-- David Ludwig

The Philadelphia Inquirer has called David Ludwig’s music “entrancing,” noted that it “promises to speak for the sorrows of this generation,” and the New York Times has praised it for its “expressive directness.” His works (many commissioned by prestigious artists and ensembles) have been widely performed in the U.S. and abroad.

Born in Bucks County, P.A., Ludwig received a B.M. from the Oberlin Conservatory with Richard Hoffmann and his M.M. from the Manhattan School of Music. He continued post-graduate work at The Curtis Institute of Music with Richard Danielpour, Jennifer Higdon and Ned Rorem, and at the Juilliard School where he studied with John Corigliano. He is now in the PhD degree program at UPenn as the George Crumb Fellow in Music. Ludwig joined the musical studies faculty of The Curtis Institute in 2002 and the composition department in 2005. He is the artistic director of the Curtis 20/21 New Music Ensemble

Recipient of the First Music Award, an Independence Foundation Fellowship, a Theodore Presser Foundation Career Grant, The Stott Award, The Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings competition award, and the Fleischer Orchestra Award, he has been twice nominated for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Stoeger Award. Ludwig has further been awarded a Meet the Composer Music Alive! residency grant, an American Composers Forum Community Partners and Subito grant and a Composers Assistance Program award from the American Music Center.

Ludwig was the Young Composer in residence at the Marlboro Music School for three consecutive years. In addition to Marlboro, he has been in residence at the Yaddo and MacDowell artist colonies. He is currently a resident artist at the Gardner Art Museum in Boston and is the resident composer and permanent New Music Advisor of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. This summer, he continued festival residencies as a composer-in-residence at the acclaimed Newburyport Chamber Music Festival. Ludwig is also the composer-in-residence at the New York Summer Music Festival where he is the director and instructor of the NYSMF Young Composers Workshop.


Sergei Prokofiev
Romeo & Juliet Suite

The idea for Romeo and Juliet was first suggested to Prokofiev by the Kirov Theater in Leningrad, which was eager to stage a new ballet by the composer. The project fell through and was then taken up by the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Although it was the longest ballet he had ever written, it took Prokofiev only four months to compose, and at the end of the summer of 1935, he presented the piano score to the theater directorate. It was rejected as unsuitable for the dance.

Adopting the well-used fallback ploy of many frustrated composers whose work encounters difficulty of an extra-musical nature (petulant choreographers, producers, patrons, and the like), Prokofiev developed from his score two orchestral suites and ten piano pieces which were performed in Russia in 1936 and 1937. The ballet itself continued to be, in his words, “rather unlucky.”

Part of the problem lay in Prokofiev’s insistence on a happy ending, with Juliet being found alive in the tomb by Romeo. This, he said, was purely choreographic: “living people can dance, the dying cannot.” He was convinced to alter his stance by a remark made to him which pointed out that even his own music expressed no real joy at the end, and by choreographers who assured him that a tragic ending could be expressed in the dance.

The ballet made its debut in the Brno Opera of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and was performed two years later at the Kirov Theater and in 1946 by the Bolshoi. For the ballet performances, certain changes were made in the score in terms of heavier orchestration and some additional music.

The complete ballet is rarely heard in concert form due to its length, but the suites from the original score (and a third suite dating from 1946) are often performed. As Prokofiev explains his suites in his autobiography, “Some numbers were taken directly from the ballet without alteration; others incorporated diverse other material.”

Suite 2, No. 1 The Montagues and the Capulets: The Duke forbids further fights between the warming families; the Capulet knights perform a heavy-footed dance; Juliet participates in a coldly formal dance with Paris, the fiancé chosen for her by her family.

Suite 2, No. 2 The Young Girl Juliet: Juliet laughingly resists the Nurse’s efforts to get her dressed for the ball; her mother tells her of the plan to marry her to Paris.

Suite 1, No. 1 Folk Dance: In the full ballet, this dance opens the second act, and is followed by public merrymaking. The dance is marked by slapping tambourines and jaunty brass solos.

Suite 2, No. 5 Romeo and Juliet Before Parting: The lovers bid farewell after their first and last night together.

Suite 1, No. 7 The Death of Tybalt: Tybalt fatally wounds Mercutio in a duel; Romeo duels with Tybalt, killing him; Tybalt’s funeral procession.

Suite 2, No. 7 Romeo at Juliet’s Tomb: Juliet’s funeral procession; a grieving Romeo arrives and poisons himself.

Suite 3, No. 6 The Death of Juliet: A sleeping Juliet awakens to find her lover dying, and joins him in death.

--Hilary Hatch


Sarah Hicks, conductor

Noted in the New York Times as part of “a new wave of female conductors in their late 20’s through early 40’s”, Sarah Hatsuko Hicks‘s versatile and vibrant musicianship has secured her place in “the next generation of up-and-coming American conductors.” She joined the Minnesota Orchestra as Assistant Conductor beginning in the 2006-2007 season, where she is lead conductor of the new “Inside the Classics” series, and concurrently holds the position of Staff Conductor at the Curtis Institute of Music. She completed a two-year tenure as Associate Conductor of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra in June of 2007. A cover conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra since 2003, she has guest conducted on their Family Concerts, Millenium Stage and summer series. She has collaborated with numerous soloists, including Nigel Kennedy and Hilary Hahn; in addition, she has acted as assistant conductor to such luminaries as James Levine, Sir Neville Marriner, Zubin Mehta and Yuri Temirkanov.

Ms. Hicks’s past positions include Resident Conductor of the Florida Philharmonic, Assistant Conductor of the Reading Symphony Orchestra and Assistant Conductor of the Philadelphia Singers, the chorus of the Philadelphia Orchestra, whom she has led in radio broadcasts heard nationwide. She has also been Music Director of the Hawaii Symphony, an ensemble she founded in 1991 in her hometown of Honolulu, which she led for five seasons. Ms. Hicks has guest conducted extensively both in the States and abroad, including the Milwaukee Symphony, Detroit Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Silesian State Philharmonic and the Charleston Symphony. In November 2007, she made her South Korean debut with the Prime Philharmonic, conducting the premier of Solbong Kim’s “War Requiem”, which was also recorded by EMI Korea and broadcast live on Korean television.

Ms. Hicks was invited to Japan by the New National Theatre Tokyo, where she acted as assistant conductor to a production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflote and has performed Verdi’s Aida with the East Slovak State Opera Theater. Her extensive work with the Curtis Opera Studio include performances of Poulenc’s Dialogue des Carmelites and numerous vocal concerts; she led the Opera Studio in a production of Handel’s Alcina in April 2005.

A committed proponent of the performance of new music, Ms. Hicks regularly leads the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in readings, recordings and performances of contemporary works. In addition to premiering works by young composers from both the Curtis Institute and the University of Pennsylvania (as coordinator and conductor of the Penn Composers Project), she has collaborated with Ned Rorem, Richard Danielpour and Jennifer Higdon. She has also conducted performances with Composers in the Shape of a Pear (Cleveland), premiering avant-garde works, and has been a guest conductor of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. Her most recent collaborations include the premiere and recording of John Hedge’s chamber opera, “The Invitation.”

In Ms. Hicks was a member of the Faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music from 2000-2005 and continues her affiliation with Curtis as Staff Conductor. She has prepared the Symphony Orchestra of the Curtis Institute for readings and concerts with leading conductors including Wolfgang Sawallisch and Sir Simon Rattle. Her work with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra led to a one-season appointment as assistant conductor to the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra, an ensemble that she trained intensively for Music Director James Levine.

Sarah Hatsuko Hicks was born in Tokyo, Japan and raised in Honolulu, HI. Trained on both the piano and viola, she was a prizewinning pianist by her early teens. She received her BA magna cum laude from Harvard University as a composition major; her AIDS Oratorio was premiered at Harvard University in May of 1993 and received a second performance at the Fogg Art Museum. She holds an Artists’ Degree in conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with renowned pedagogue Otto-Werner Mueller. Ms. Hicks’s talents have been recognized with numerous prizes and scholarships; she received the Thomas Hoopes Prize for composition and Doris Cohen Levy Prize for conducting from Harvard University, and she was the recipient of the Helen F. Whitaker Fund Scholarship and a Presser Award during her time at Curtis.

In her spare time, Ms. Hicks enjoys running, yoga, her two large dogs and singing in garage bands.

In the January 11 Reno Gazette-Journal, Forrest Hartman writes, "The Reno Philharmonic continues its conductor search today when Sarah Hatsuko Hicks leads the orchestra through the first of two concerts featuring guest pianist Frederick Moyer. Hicks -- one of five finalists competing for the philharmonic's open music director job -- is assistant conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra and staff conductor at the Curtis Institute of Music. She is also a self-confessed 'pop culture maven.' Says Hicks, 'I think I have a greater willingness to delve into other things and to look at what we do differently. I work with a lot of pop artists. I have a relationship with Ben Folds, who's a big rocker. I do a lot of shows in that realm as well, which I find is important. I also bring that to the classical stuff I do. When I was at the Richmond Symphony, we did a series called 'Kick Back Classics,' which were concerts in a club, and the audience members brought me shots of Wild Turkey between pieces. It was a really different way of looking at how you can present classical music.'"


Jaime Laredo, violin

“…music-making of unusually high quality – the sort of playing which comes only from understanding, love, painstaking care, and, quite simply, great ability.”

- The Guardian, London

Approaching his 50th year before audiences across the globe, Jaime Laredo has excelled in the multiple roles of soloist, conductor, recitalist and chamber musician. Since his stunning orchestral debut at the age of eleven with the San Francisco Symphony, he has won the admiration and respect of audiences, critics and fellow musicians with his passionate and polished performances. That debut inspired one critic to write: 'In the 1920's it was Yehudi Menuhin; in the 1930's it was Isaac Stern; and last night it was Jaime Laredo.' His education and development were greatly influenced by private coaching with eminent masters Josef Gingold, Pablo Casals, Ivan Galamian and George Szell. At the age of seventeen, Jaime Laredo won the prestigious Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition, launching his rise to international prominence.

The upcoming season (2008-09) will include several conducting engagements, including appearances Fort Wayne Philharmonic, where he is the Artistic Advisor, the Albany Symphony Orchestra, and the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, in addition to his Music Directorship with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Laredo will continue to collaborate with his wife Sharon Robinson in several Duo performances, as part of an ambitious project to premiere and record newly commissioned double concerti across the U.S. The Duo will open their season in with Miklos Rozsa’s Sinfonia Concertante, with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, and the world premiere of David Ludwig’s Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra will be performed with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra under the baton of guest conductor Sarah Hicks. As a special celebration of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s 70th birthday, Ms. Robinson and Mr. Laredo will perform her Double Concerto, which was written especially for the Duo, with the Detroit Symphony under the baton of Hans Graf. They will also be performing The Muse and the Poet by Saint-Saens.

During the past season, Mr. Laredo conducted the Seattle Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Alabama Symphony, and the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. As the violinist of the Laredo-Robinson Duo with cellist Sharon Robinson, he appeared with Nashville Symphony, Delaware Symphony, and Sacramento Philharmonic in the world premiere of Daron Hagen’s Double Concerto; as a chamber musician, he presented multiple chamber music concerts at the 92nd Street Y in New York where he’s also the Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Series, including a special Beethoven Trio marathon with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. Other chamber music engagements throughout the season included concerts in Massachusetts, Arizona, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C. (Kennedy Center), Detroit, Miami, Indianapolis, Albuquerque, and back to 92nd Street Y for the New York premiere of Richard Danielpour’s piano quartet Book of Hours – a special commission for the Trio’s 30th anniversary two years ago.

The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio celebrated its 30th anniversary with major concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the 92nd Street Y in New York, and was also heard in Boston, Philadelphia, Fort Worth, Tucson, La Jolla, El Paso, and Lisbon, Hamburg, Copenhagen in Europe and Calgary, Canada. They commissioned the stellar American composer Richard Danielpour for a new Piano Quartet, performed in 10 cities nationwide in 2006-’07 and 2007-’08. On the recording front, KOCH International Classics released the Trio’s new recording of Arensky & Tchaikovsky trios, as well as re-releases from their vast existing discography. Their most recent project includes a complete 4-Disc Brahms Cycle of the complete trios, scheduled to be released in the fall of 2008.

As a highly sought after conductor and solo violinist, Mr. Laredo appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia Festival in August 2006, followed throughout the season by engagements with the Seattle Symphony, the Vermont Symphony where he’s the Music Director, the Utah Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall and the 92nd Street Y. He also appeared in recitals with legendary pianist Leon Fleisher at UCLA Royce Hall and New York’s Zankel Hall, among other venues.

In 2005 Mr. Laredo accepted a chaired position at the Indiana University School of Music. During the same year, Mr. Laredo balanced solo and conducting dates with the intense chamber music schedule of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, Winner of Musical America's Ensemble of the Year 2002.

With his wife, cellist Sharon Robinson, who also joined the faculty of Indiana University School of Music, Jaime Laredo performs and records extensively. Highlights of the celebrated Duo’s past seasons have included the New York premiere at Carnegie Hall of In the Arms of the Beloved, Richard Danielpour's 2002 Concerto for Violin and Cello written for the Duo to celebrate 25 years of marriage. The April 2005 performance in New York as well as a subsequent performance in Philadelphia were led by Michael Stern, who conducted the world premiere and the recently released recording. To commemorate the Duo’s 30th anniversary, Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson commissioned a new work from composer Andy Stein as well as a new double concerto from Richard Danielpour. In addition, Naxos released the Double Concerto by Ned Rorem, also written for Laredo-Robinson, with the Iris Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Michael Stern.

Mr. Laredo is in demand worldwide as a conductor and a soloist. He has been Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra since 1999 and is also the Artistic Director of the Brandenburg Ensemble. The 2005-06 season saw him leading the Detroit Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, New York String Orchestra and Virginia Symphony, as well as soloing with the St. Louis Symphony in October 2005.

Mr. Laredo has recorded close to one hundred discs. He has received the Deutsche Schallplatten Prize and has been awarded seven Grammy nominations. He won the Grammy Award for a disc of Brahms Piano Quartets which he performed with his close colleagues and frequent chamber music collaborators, renowned pianist Emanuel Ax, celebrated violinist Isaac Stern, and distinguished cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

As Artistic Director of New York's renowned Chamber Music at the Y series, Mr. Laredo has created an important forum for chamber music performances which has developed a devoted following. His stewardships of the annual New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis have become beloved educational pillars of the string community. A principal figure at the Marlboro Music Festival in years past and more recently with the Aspen Music Festival, he has also been involved at Tanglewood, Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, and the Hollywood Bowl, as well as the festivals in Italy, Spain, Finland, Greece, Israel, Austria, Switzerland and England.

Born in Bolivia, Jaime Laredo resides in Vermont and Indiana with his wife Sharon Robinson.


Sharon Robinson, cello

“Sharon Robinson was the cello soloist,and her performance was simply masterful.”
- Washington Post

Winner of the Avery Fisher Recital Award, the Piatigorsky Memorial Award, the Pro Musicis Award, and a Grammy nominee, cellist Sharon Robinson is recognized worldwide as a dynamic artist and one of the most outstanding musicians of our time. Whether as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, or a member of the renowned Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, critics, audiences and fellow musicians worldwide respond to what the New York Times called “an artistic personality that vitalizes everything she plays.” Her guest appearances with orchestra include the National Symphony, the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and San Francisco Symphonies, and in Europe, the London Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Zürich’s Tonhalle Orchestra, and the English, Scottish and Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestras.

Appointed to the renowned cello faculty of Indiana University School of Music in 2005, Ms. Robinson divides her time between teaching, solo engagements, performing with her husband, violinist and conductor Jaime Laredo, and touring with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. Throughout the 2008-‘09 season, Ms. Robinson will continue to collaborate with her husband Jaime Laredo in several Duo performances, as part of an ambitious project to premiere and record newly commissioned double concerti across the U.S. The Duo will open their season with Miklos Rozsa’s Sinfonia Concertante, with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. The world premiere of David Ludwig’s Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra will be performed with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra under the baton of guest conductor Sarah Hicks. As a special celebration of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s 70th birthday, Ms. Robinson and Mr. Laredo will perform the Double Concerto, which was written especially for the Duo, with the Detroit Symphony under the baton of Hans Graf. They will also be performing The Muse and the Poet by Saint-Saens. Additionally, Ms. Robinson will be featured this season in Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra, and Mr. Laredo conducting.

During the 2007-‘08 season Sharon Robinson and violinist Jaime Laredo performed the world premiere of Daron Aric Hagen’s double concerto Masquerade with the Sacramento Philharmonic. The Duo also presented a recital in New York City featuring Suite for Two by Andy Stein, a work written for their 30th anniversary, while the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio played the New York premiere of Richard Danielpour’s piano quartet Book of Hours at the 92nd Street Y– a special commission for the Trio’s 30th anniversary, which was celebrated during the 2006-‘07 season.

Past seasons have included performances commemorating Ms. Robinson’s and Mr. Laredo’s 30th wedding anniversary, including a newly commissioned work from composer Andy Stein as well as a new double concerto from Richard Danielpour. In addition, Naxos released the Double Concerto by Ned Rorem, also written for Laredo-Robinson, with the Iris Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Michael Stern. The husband-wife team also appeared with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, the Nashville Symphone, the Austin Symphony, as well as at Carnegie Hall and the Mostly Mozart Festival. 2001 marked the beginning of the tenure of Sharon Robinson and Jaime Laredo as co-artistic directors of the Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle, the beloved annual summer series at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

Ms. Robinson's television appearances have included The Tonight Show, The Today Show, The Kennedy Center Honors on CBS, and a profile on CBS Sunday Morning and the Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor on NPR. Equally impressive are her festival engagements, which have included Spoleto, Mostly Mozart, Aspen, London's South Bank, Madeira, Granada, Edinburgh and Prague's Autumn Festival where she performed the Dvorák Cello Concerto at the famous Dvorák Hall.

Born into a musical family (her father was a bass player, her mother a violinist and all her siblings are string players), Ms. Robinson gave her first concert when she was seven and has since received numerous honors and awards. As winner of the Avery Fisher Recital Award, Ms. Robinson appeared on Lincoln Center's Great Performers series, giving the premiere of Ned Rorem's After Reading Shakespeare, a work she commissioned and performed on the Dick Cavett Show, and recorded for Naxos. Ms. Robinson's close relationships with today's composers have led to numerous commissions for solo and chamber works as well as concerti from Leon Kirchner, Arvo Pärt, Stanley Silverman, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, David Ott, Katherine Hoover, Richard Danielpour, Andy Stein, Darin Aric Hagan and Ned Rorem.

Renowned for her chamber music performances, Sharon Robinson co-founded the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio thirty-two years ago and has collaborated with Rudolf Serkin and Alexander Schneider at the Marlboro Music Festival, Leon Fleisher, Rudolf Firkušný, Yo-Yo Ma, Eugene Istomin, Itzhak Perlman, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Mstislav Rostropovich, Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, and the Emerson, Guarneri, Miami, Juilliard, Orion and Tokyo Quartets. In December 2001, Musical America named the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio the 2002 Ensemble of the Year.

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Episode 5: Daron Hagen

David Ludwig interviews composer Daron Hagen about opera, "Masquerade," a double concerto he wrote for Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson, and the current climate of the compositional world, on the current episode of Vermont Music Now. Keep reading!

Jaime Laredo to play Vivaldi's The Four Seasons ten times over eleven days!

The Vermont Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 15th annual Made in Vermont Music Festival Statewide Tour this fall, playing at 10 special venues across the state from September 25 through October 5. The popular music tour promises a colorful program to complement Vermont’s glorious foliage season.

Honoring the changing seasons takes on new meaning as world-renowned violinist and VSO music director Jaime Laredo performs Vivaldi’s crowning achievement, The Four Seasons, possibly the most popular violin solo piece ever written, and so appropriate to play during the foliage season. The program also includes two gems for strings: Grieg’s Holberg Suite and Gershwin’s charming Lullaby. In keeping with the VSO tradition of commissioning a new piece every year, the program also includes, "Autumn Rhapsody," a world premiere by Pierre Jalbert.

The tour includes the following locations:

Thursday, September 25 – Middlebury, Mahaney Center for the Arts, 8 p.m.
Friday, September 26 – Johnson, Johnson State College Dibden Center for the Arts, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, September 27 – Lyndonville, Lyndon State College Alexander Twilight Theatre, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, September 28 – Derby Line, Haskell Opera House, 3 p.m.
Monday, September 29 – Castleton, Castleton State College Fine Arts Center, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, October 1 – Bellows Falls, Bellows Falls Opera House, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, October 2 – Manchester, Southern Vermont Arts Center Arkell Pavilion, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, October 3 – Vergennes, Vergennes Opera House, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 4 – Randolph, Chandler Music Hall, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 5 – Lebanon, NH, Lebanon Opera House, 7:30 p.m.

The 2008 Made in Vermont Music Festival Statewide Tour is co-sponsored by the Vermont State Colleges and Chittenden Bank, and is supported in part by grants from the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art. Additional support has been provided by the Lintilhac Foundation.

Tickets cost $22 for adults, $18 for seniors age 65 and older, $12 for Vermont State College faculty and staff, $12 for students and children under 18, and $6 for VSC students. For additional information or to purchase tickets, please call the Flynn Regional Box Office at 802-863-5966 or visit FlynnTix online. Tickets may also be purchased at local outlets. For details, please visit the VSO website or call 800-876-9293, ext. 10.
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Pierre Jalbert and "Autumn Rhapsody"

Pierre Jalbert (b. 1967) is one of the most highly regarded American composers of his generation, earning widespread notice for his richly colored and superbly crafted scores. Focusing primarily on instrumental works, Jalbert has developed a musical language that is engaging, expressive, and deeply personal. Among his many honors are the Rome Prize, the BBC Masterprize, and most recently, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's 2007 Stoeger Award, given biennially “in recognition of significant contributions to the chamber music repertory.”

Jalbert grew up in South Burlington, Vermont, where he studied both piano and composition with Arlene Cleary. Beginning piano lessons at the age of five, he entered and won regional competitions for young pianists, and began to write his own music at eleven, earning several composition awards while in his teens.

Jalbert studied at Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a PhD in composition under principal teacher George Crumb. He won the Rome Prize in 2000-2001, and was awarded the BBC Masterprize in 2001 for his orchestral work In Aeternam, selected from among more than 1,100 scores by a jury that included Marin Alsop, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and Sir Charles Mackerras. In Aeternam has been performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the California, Hartford, San Antonio, and Santa Rosa Symphonies, and the Orlando and Rhode Island Philharmonic.

Other major works for orchestra include big sky (2005), commissioned by the Houston Symphony and performed by the ensemble at Carnegie Hall; Symphonia Sacra (2001), written for the California Symphony; Chamber Symphony (2004), commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and Fire and Ice (2006), commissioned for the Oakland East Bay, Marin, and Santa Rosa Symphonies through Meet the Composer Foundation's Magnum Opus Project.

Jalbert has served as Composer-in-Residence with the California Symphony (1999-2002), Chicago’s Music in the Loft Chamber Music Series (2003), and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (2002-05).

Jalbert's music is tonally centered, incorporating modal, tonal, and sometimes quite dissonant harmonies while retaining a sense of harmonic motion and arrival. He is particularly noted for his mastery of instrumental color: in both chamber works and orchestral scores, he creates timbres that are vivid yet refined. His rhythmic shapes are cogent, often with an unmistakable sense of underlying pulsation. Driving rhythms often alternate with slow sections in which time seems to be suspended.

While his music is not programmatic, Jalbert draws inspiration from a variety of sources, including natural phenomena. He composed big sky after visiting Big Bend National Park in Texas, a place of starkly contrasting mountain, desert, and river environments. In Icefield Sonnets for string quartet, Jalbert created transparent, glassy textures in response to poems by Anthony Hawley about life in northern latitudes. The Baltimore Sun called it “fresh [and] dynamic,” praising its “luminous colors and propulsive rhythms.” Jalbert also set Hawley’s texts directly in a 2005 song cycle of the same title, scored for soprano, baritone, and piano trio with percussion.

Spiritual concerns are also central to Jalbert’s work. Symphonia Sacra (2001), inspired by the splendor of Roman churches and cathedrals, incorporates plainchant melodies. Les espaces infinis, another orchestral score from 2001, is described by the composer as “a quiet meditation on the nature of time and space.” The Los Angeles Times observed that “the piece, which begins and ends quietly, but achieves a resonant climax at its center, holds the listener through a canny blend of instrumental colors and combinations, chromatic but not dissonant, and ultimately pleasing.”

Pierre Jalbert is Associate Professor of Composition and Theory at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston, where he has taught since 1996. His music is published by the Theodore Presser Co.

Jalbert says of "Autumn Rhapsody:"

My Autumn Rhapsody was inspired by the autumn landscape in Vermont, when the trees present a multi-colored tapestry, and the wind begins to blow colder than summer. One of my favorite places in Vermont is on the Long Trail, on the top of Mount Belvidere, near Jay Peak. There's a fire tower on top which one can climb up and see the surrounding mountains of Vermont and Canada for many miles. I had this image in mind when starting work on this piece.

Written for string orchestra, the piece, all in one continuous movement, begins with a slow, lyrical and somewhat mysterious music. The music is very still, creating a sense of suspended time. This gradually gives way to a faster, more animated, and energetic music ("the wind begins to blow colder than summer"). This section is characterized by strings playing measured tremolos, the rapid, rhythmic movement of the bow across the strings. This builds to a furious climax until suddenly dissipating and the opening returns, but only for a brief moment.

Throughout my formative years in Vermont, I studied piano and composition with Arlene Cleary. She was an extremely energetic and tireless advocate for music, always striving to make herself a better musician, and helped me to do so as well. This piece is dedicated to her. Keep reading!