ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-SIXTH SEASON Chicago Symphony … · 5. Ballet of the Chicks in Their Shells (CSO) 6. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle (JLCO) 7. Limoges, the Market Place (CSO) 8.

PROGRAM

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-SIXTH SEASON

Chicago Symphony OrchestraRiccardo Muti Zell Music Director Yo-Yo Ma Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant

Friday, March 3, 2017, at 8:00

Edwin Outwater ConductorJazz at Lincoln Center OrchestraWynton Marsalis Trumpet

GlinkaOverture to Ruslan and Ludmila

EllingtonSelections from The RiverSpringMeanderGiggling Rapids

MussorgskyPictures from an Exhibition Promenade (CSO) 1. Gnomus (CSO) Promenade (CSO) 2. The Old Castle (JLCO) Promenade (JLCO) 3. Tuileries (CSO)—Tuileries Swing (JLCO) 4. Bydlo (CSO) Promenade (CSO)— 5. Ballet of the Chicks in Their Shells (CSO) 6. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle (JLCO) 7. Limoges, the Market Place (CSO) 8. Catacombs: Sepulcrum romanum (CSO)— Promenade: Cum mortius in lingua mortua (CSO) 9. The Hut on Hen’s Legs (Baba-Yaga) (JLCO)— 10. The Great Gate of Kiev (CSO and JLCO)

MarsalisAll-American Pep from Swing Symphony

There will be no intermission.

This performance is generously sponsored by Patricia Hyde and the Komarek-Hyde-McQueen Foundation.

Funding for educational programs during the 2016–17 Symphony Center Presents Jazz season has been generously provided by Dan J. Epstein, Judy Guitelman, and the Dan J. Epstein Family Foundation.

Symphony Center Presents and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association are grateful to WDCB 90.9 FM for its generous support as media sponsor for this performance.

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COMMENTS by Phillip HuscherCOMMENTS by Phillip Huscher David Kopplin Luke Howard

Mikhail GlinkaBorn June 1, 1804; Novospasskoye, RussiaDied February 15, 1857; Berlin, Germany

Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila

Unlike Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Mikhail Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmila was planned with the cooper-ation of its famous poet, Alexander Pushkin, who agreed to help in the elusive task of turning

literature into opera. But Pushkin died at the age of thirty-seven, the victim of a senseless duel over his wife’s honor, just as he was beginning to work on the libretto. (Pushkin’s long narrative poem had been recommended to Glinka shortly after the success of his first opera, A Life for the Tsar, in 1836.) After Pushkin’s death, Glinka began composing without a libretto—an uncon-ventional procedure that didn’t, at first, appear to hamper him; he eventually called on his friends to help with the text. (One, a particularly enthusiastic amateur dramatist, drew up a complete scenario, “in a quarter of an hour while drunk,” according to the composer.)

Set in pagan Russia, the opera revolves around Ruslan’s attempt to rescue the abducted Ludmila and thus win her hand in marriage. The plot hinges on elements that figure in several operas better known to us in this country—an evil

dwarf, a sleeping potion, and both a magic sword and a magic ring. Although the libretto captures little of the depth and richness of Pushkin’s text, the score is recognized as a landmark of Russian opera, and it was decisive in earning Glinka the textbook title of Father of Russian Music. (Stravinsky later said, “All music in Russia stems from him.”)

Ruslan and Ludmila was only a moderate success at the first performance in December 1842 (it was badly cast and under-rehearsed) and established itself in the repertory only after Glinka’s death. The opera was played 285 times in Saint Petersburg in 1892, the year of its fiftieth anniversary.

T he Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila is the only music by Glinka regularly played outside Russia today (the Overture to

A Life for the Tsar pops up occasionally). The music is largely drawn from the last act of the opera, when Ruslan and Ludmila wed; Ruslan’s act 2 aria provides lyrical contrast. The dwarf Chernomor makes a fleeting appearance accom-panied by the whole-tone scale—a historical curiosity that has earned the score a spot in music history books.

—Phillip Huscher

COMPOSED1837–42

FIRST PERFORMANCEDecember 9, 1842; Saint Petersburg, Russia

INSTRUMENTATIONtwo flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, strings

APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME5 minutes

Above: Watercolor of Glinka by Y.F. Yanenko, 1840s

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COMPOSED1970

FIRST PERFORMANCEJune 25, 1970, New York City

INSTRUMENTATIONpiccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, piano, strings

APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME19 minutes

Duke EllingtonBorn April 29, 1899; Washington, D.C.Died May 24, 1974, New York City

Selections from The River

Though Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington began his career performing the popular music of his day, he is now widely recog-nized among the greats of American music of any genre and era. Born in Washington (D.C.), Ellington began piano

lessons at the age of seven, and just short of graduating high school, dropped out to pursue music. Though he was establishing himself in D.C. as a pianist and bandleader, his friend, drummer Sonny Greer, convinced Ellington to move to New York City. By the late 1920s, Ellington had become a proven performer and bandleader with over half a dozen hit records to his credit. A long-term gig at Harlem’s famed Cotton Club, which was featured on a weekly radio show, brought Ellington and his band to national, and eventually international attention. By the end of the 1940s, he and his band had charted hit records over seventy times, many his own compositions.

Jazz historian Gunther Schuller noted that “[Ellington’s] musical vision went way beyond the standard view of jazz.” Ellington also understood the dramatic possibilities of his music, collabo-rating with theatrical revues as early as 1925 in Harlem, even writing an unproduced opera (Boola) in 1939, not to mention musicals, incidental music for the theater, and film scores—most notably for Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder (1959). Late in his career, Ellington had been pondering writing a ballet, and Lucia Chase, director of the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), helped make that happen, commissioning Ellington and

dancer/choreographer Alvin Ailey to create a work for her company’s thirtieth anniversary in 1970.

Ellington’s methods were unorthodox. From the 1940s until the end of his career, he main-tained a grueling tour schedule; consequently, his composing started after his gigs, sometimes continuing into the late morning. Indeed, Ailey and Ellington began work on The River at 1:30 a.m., after Ellington’s gig in Vancouver. As night turned to day, Ellington showed Ailey his concept of a work using a river as a metaphor for the passage from birth to death. By their next meeting a few months later, Ellington had immersed himself in music about water, from Handel’s Water Music to Debussy’s La mer; plus, he had his own themes to play for Ailey. Then weeks passed, as did deadlines.

With Ellington’s schedule, both Ailey and Chase began to worry about getting a score in time. About a month before its scheduled pre-miere, Ellington came to New York with a com-pleted recording of the score, though by then, Ailey wasn’t able to choreograph all of the scenes in time. Seven Dances from a Work in Progress Entitled The River was premiered on June 25, 1970, at Lincoln Center, with Ellington’s friend and collaborator Ron Collier creating orchestral arrangements for that performance. Ailey added other choreography later, and The River became a staple of the ABT.

T he work begins with “Spring.” Ellington described this movement as “a new-born baby in his crib . . . wiggling,

gurgling, squirming, squealing . . .” Note the opening horn solo, the english horn that fol-lows, and an extended drone that gives way to a dramatic climax.

Above: Ellington publicity photo, 1940s

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Above: Mussorgsky, ca. 1865

“Meander” grows out of a bluesy opening riff . An extended fl ute solo follows. Th is music does indeed meander, moving next to a 12/8 feel, then into a waltz, returning to a persistent take on the bluesy opening, and fi nally to fl ute again. Ellington described this movement as a “baby fi nding an open door to the outside world.”

Th e baby explores that world in “Giggling Rapids.” A piano introduction gives way to an up-tempo jazz waltz, with a chirpy melody set against bebop lines in brass, then strings. It ends with a boisterous shout chorus.

—David Kopplin

Modest MussorgskyBorn March 21, 1839; Karevo, RussiaDied March 28, 1881; Saint Petersburg, Russia

Pictures from an Exhibition

Of the fi ve mostly amateur Russian composers regarded as “Th e Mighty Handful”—Balakirev, Borodin, Cui, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov—it was Mussorgsky who had the least amount of formal musical training. Yet it

was Mussorgsky’s music that became widely known internationally, including some of the most famous compositions to emerge from nineteenth-century Russia: A Night on Bald Mountain, Pictures from an Exhibition, and the operas Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina.

Mussorgsky’s desire to formulate a distinctly Russian style in music led him to the artworks

of nationalist painter Victor Hartmann. An 1874 retrospective exhibition of Hartmann’s works inspired Mussorgsky to compose a suite for piano in memory of his artist friend. Working at a feverish pace, he reportedly wrote the entire suite, Pictures from an Exhibition, in the fi rst three weeks of June 1874, but it wasn’t published until after his death.

Th is suite has since been orchestrated at least a dozen times, most famously in 1922 by Ravel. Even though Mussorgsky wrote it for piano, he seems to have been thinking orchestrally. Th e thick chords and complicated passagework, unidiomatic for the piano, lend themselves to performance by a larger ensem-ble. Th is evening’s performance includes the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) alternating

V. Hartmann. Canary Chicks in Their Shells; a costume sketch for Gerber’s ballet Trilbi. Watercolor

V. Hartmann. A Poor Jew. Pencil, watercolor

V. Hartmann. A Rich Jew in a Fur Hat. Pencil, sepia, lacquer

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between movements from Ravel’s orchestration and orchestrations written by current JLCO members. These jazz arrangements were com-missioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association for this performance.

T he suite opens with a Russian-sounding promenade (marked explicitly “nel modo russico” in the score) that recurs period-

ically as a transition from one image to the next. Gnomus is based on Hartmann’s design for a deformed toy nutcracker, represented by leaping melodies of awkward intervals. In the Old Castle (arranged by Victor Goines), a medieval trouba-dour sings a Russian melody in an Italian siciliano rhythm. This is followed by a jazz orchestration of the promenade by Marcus Printup. Tuileries (in arrangements by Ravel and Vincent Gardner) depicts the famous gardens in Paris, with children scampering and shouting playfully. The heavy burdens of a Polish ox cart are symbolized by the plodding chords of Bydlo. The Ballet of the Chicks in Their Shells was one of Hartmann’s designs for a charming scene in Julius Gerber’s ballet Trilbi, in which child dancers wear egg costumes, with their heads and limbs poking out.

The second half of the suite begins with Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle, a double portrait that

shows a fashionable Jewish man alongside a poor Jew who has kept his Yiddish name rather than Germanize it, in an arrangement by Ted Nash. The Market Place at Limoges depicts two French women gossiping energetically. Catacombs fol-lows immediately, its slow tempo and low chords imitating the distant sound of a church organ.

The caption for the portrait Con mortuis in lingua mortua (With the dead, in a dead language) reads, “The creative spirit of the departed Hartmann leads me to the skulls and invokes them: the skulls begin to glow faintly.” The Hut on Hen’s Legs (arranged by Chris Crenshaw) is based on the legendary Russian witch, Baba-Yaga, whose hut is shaped like a clock but is perched on chicken legs for mobility. Mussorgsky’s music depicts Baba-Yaga riding through the air on her pestle, which she uses to grind children’s bones in her oversized mortar.

The final movement, the Great Gate of Kiev, was inspired by Hartmann’s plans for a massive gate that was never built. Mussorgsky includes Russian Orthodox chant and pealing bells in this movement, with a final reference to the prom-enade theme, alternating between Ravel and Marcus Printup’s orchestrations.

—Luke Howard

V. Hartmann. Paris Catacombs. Watercolor V. Hartmann. Baba-Yaga’s Hut on Hen’s Legs. Sketch for a clock in Russian style, pencil

V. Hartmann. Design for Kiev City Gate: Main façade. Pencil, watercolor

COMPOSED1874

INSTRUMENTATIONthree flutes and two piccolos, three oboes and english horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and

contrabassoon, alto saxophone, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, glocken-spiel, bells, triangle, tam-tam, rattle, whip, cymbals, side drum, bass drum, xylophone, celesta, two harps, strings; jazz orchestra

APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME42 minutes

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Wynton MarsalisBorn October 18, 1961; New Orleans, Louisiana

All-American Pep from Swing Symphony

COMPOSED2010

FIRST PERFORMANCEJune 10, 2010; Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Sir Simon Rattle conducting

INSTRUMENTATIONthree flutes and piccolo, three oboes and english horn, three clarinets and bass clarinet, three bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, bongo bell, bongos, brake drum, car horn, chimes, claves, congas, cowbells, cymbals, drum set, ethnic hand

drum, glockenspiel, güiro, marimba, police whistle, roto-toms, siren, snare drum, stomping board, tambourine, timbales with bell, tom-toms, triangle, vibes, washboard, whip, woodblocks, xylophone), strings, jazz band

APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME11 minutes

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Wynton Marsalis was, and is, a “ jazz com-poser.” Steeped in the jazz tradition, a New Orleans native, and son of a jazz pianist and educator, he is an improviser, through and through. This distinguishes his music

from that of the others on this program: Marsalis’s works include sections for jazz soloing and improvisation, and his music is also infused with that ineffable quality of jazz: swing.

In the book How Jazz Can Change Your Life, Marsalis noted that

On the jazz bandstand, swing is the single objective, the core that makes us all want to work together. Jazz—the music—is the collective aspirations of a group of musicians, shaped, given logic, and organized under the extreme pressure of time. When we all work together, the music swings, and when we don’t, it doesn’t.

Marsalis describes his Symphony no. 3, the Swing Symphony, as a “symphonic meditation” on the evolution of swing, with the symphony orchestra and jazz orchestra as equal partners. It is also a celebration of jazz history.

T he second movement starts with what Marsalis calls “American pep.” It is the 1920s dance, the Charleston, reimag-

ined, though here it is more rough-hewn and zany, complete with car horns, sirens, and police whistles. Alto saxophone improvises a solo mid-way through, followed by the symphony orches-tra having its way with the popular dance. A slow section follows, with baritone saxophone taking the lead. Marsalis calls this a “tango ballad, with a sweet romantic mood.” The next section is peppy and joyful, “an upbeat kind of . . . ‘happy days are here again’—Broadway show [music],” notes Marsalis. Improvisation in the jazz trom-bone section is also featured, adding yet another textural layer to this nuanced movement.

—Dave Kopplin

Phillip Huscher is the program annotator for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Dave Kopplin is an associate professor of music at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona), director of the Cal Poly Jazz Band, and a writer for performing arts organizations across the country.

An associate professor of music at Brigham Young University, Luke Howard is a program annotator for the Aspen Music Festival, the 92nd Street Y, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

© 2017 Chicago Symphony Orchestra