CAB Notes 

Vol. 2 Issue 5                                         The Electronic Newsletter for Concert Artists of Baltimore
                                                                 Edward Polochick, Artistic Director

Message from the Maestro

The great diversity and abundance of American music never ceases to amaze and fascinate me. I must admit, however, that when I think of American music, my thoughts tend to center around a limited number and type of composers—Barber, Bernstein, Copland, Sessions, Carter, Harris, etc.—basically the “great ‘Classical’, dead” ones! It’s only when I find myself in a situation which prompts me to reflect on “American” music (such as, writing this article….which, by the way, I absolutely loathe doing, more because I find writing so very painful, rather than being, at heart, a lazy person—a true confession!) that I truly begin to marvel at the scope of “American” music. It is probably due to the fact that the 20^th Century alone contains such a wealth of diverse styles and genres that I get stuck in the 1900s. But one shouldn’t overlook the contributions of 19^th Century, and even 18^th Century “American” composers which range from Billings, and even Benjamin Franklin, to Griffes, Carpenter, and MacDowell. And if we extend the boundaries from within our U.S. borders from Canada to the north, all the way to Argentina to the south of us, the world of “American” music greatly expands.

Although we are remaining firmly within the 20^th Century for our season finale concert, we have nonetheless extended the boundary of “American” music to include Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera. However, our program A Royal Invitation on May 14^th, 8pm, at the Gordon Center For Performing Arts, opens with one of the 20^th Century’s most popular pieces of music—Samuel Barber’s Adagio For Strings. Born in West Chester PA in 1910, Barber began studying piano at age six, and quickly realized that his life was destined to be in music. At the ripe old age of nine, he announced his vocation in a note written to his mother: “I was meant to be a composer and I will be I’m sure….don’t ask me to try to forget this unpleasant thing and go play football—please!” By 14 he was enrolled in the newly founded Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and studied piano, composition, singing and conducting. At Curtis he also formed a life-long friendship with Gian Carlo Menotti, with whom he collaborated on many different music projects.

Barber’s compositional output includes a broad range of stage, chamber, piano, choral, orchestral and vocal works in a style which he himself insisted was “personal…born of what I feel…I am not a self-conscious composer.”  His music exemplifies a discipline and use of traditional forms, which have earned him a reputation of a classicist. His harmonies are lush, mainly tonal, and his music is infused with a beautiful lyricism, which also defines him as a neo-Romantic. And although he was severely criticized during his lifetime for adhering to these traits, his music has withstood the test of time and continues to be programmed regularly by orchestras, opera companies and chamber music series throughout the world.

The circumstances surround the composition of the Adagio for Strings is a fascinating one.  Having been awarded the Pulitzer Travelling Scholarship, Barber journeyed throughout Europe in 1935 and again in 1936, the year he won the coveted Prix de Rome. It was during his residency at the American Academy in Rome that Barber wrote his String Quartet, Op.11, which the newly-formed Curtis String Quartet was supposed to have premiered. But Barber struggled with it and as a result it was not ready for their proposed tour; it was instead debuted by the Pro Arte Quartet in Rome on December 14, 1936. During the summers of these years Barber and Menotti visited with the great maestro Arturo Toscanini at his villa on Lake Maggiore. Toscanini, having just heard Barber’s Symphony #1 performed at the Salzburg Festival, asked to see some of Barber’s music. Barber sent him an Essay for Orchestra and an arrangement he made for string orchestra of the slow Adagio movement from his Op. 11 String Quartet. He never heard from Toscanini and his scores were returned without comment. When Menotti went to say farewell, to the Maestro at the end of the summer, Barber, who was hurt and offended by Toscanini’s seeming lack of interest in his music, refused to visit Toscanini and instead feigned illness. Toscanini, realizing what had happened, said to Menotti: “I know he [Barber] is not ill. Tell him not to be mad. I’m not going to play one of this pieces, I’m going to play them both.” The maestro had already memorized both scores and, not needing them, had simply sent them back. Toscanini led the premiere of what has come to be known as Adagio for Strings with the NBC Symphony in November 5, 1938 and the rest is history. Millions heard the original broadcast and it created such an overwhelming response that Toscanini recorded it and even took it on the NBC Symphony’s 1940 tour of South America (the only work by an American composer that Toscanini would consider!).

The Adagio for Strings is a beautifully lyrical, impassioned score. The intense, solemn and restrained character of the work has led to its frequent use as mourning music, much to Barber’s distress. And because it has acquired the reputation of connoting great sadness or sorrow, it has been used as the soundtrack to films such as El Norte, The Elephant Man and Platoon, and has also been performed at the funerals of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. (in fact, even the New York Philharmonic performed it to mark Barber’s own death in 1981).

The Cello Concerto of Samuel Barber, like most of his works, is infused with lush harmonies peppered with some dissonances, beautiful melodies (especially the middle movement) and dramatic statements. Like his piano concerto, this cello concerto was tailored to fit the musical and technical prowess and personality of its dedicatee and debut performer, Russian cellist Raya Garbousova. He spent hours listening to her play most of her repertory in order to understand and capture her performing style and natural affinities. The concerto beautifully reflects her personality with even a few “Russianisms” thrown in here and there.

The concerto is in the traditional three-movement structure with the opening movement stating many themes and fragments, which Barber develops throughout the work. The second movement is an exquisite lyrical setting with muted orchestral strings and a mesmerizing siciliana rhythm (a rhythm which creates a rocking, or lulling sensation, by dividing the beat into a triplet pattern which is repeated over and over, e.g., the famous Barcarolle of Offenbach, or the Pifa (“Pastoral”) Symphony in the first part of Handel’s Messiah). The final movement exhibits a spectacular dramatic dialogue between the soloist and orchestra, poignant pauses, and recitative-like writing for the solo cello. This movement constantly reminds us of Barber’s great affinity for opera and the theater.

We are exceedingly fortunate to have as our soloist, CAB’s principal cellist, Gita Ladd. Gita is a cellist of great power and passion; her technical facility is awesome and her tone is warm and sumptuous. Anyone who has heard Gita play will tell you how outstanding an artist she is; she always reveals an uncanny musical insight with everything she performs. Last season she and I collaborated in Dvôrák’s Cello Concerto in Lincoln, Nebraska and she absolutely wowed the orchestra and audience. We both have been eagerly looking forward to performing the great Barber work for cello and orchestra; we both feel it is one of the most significant contributions to this genre of the 20^th century.

After intermission we offer a more light-hearted piece of music by Domenick Argento, which we recorded 7 or 8 years ago. Argento, known mainly for his composing of opera and who hails from York, PA, is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory and lives just outside of Minneapolis, where he serves on the faculty of the University of Minnesota.

Commissioned by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in 1964, A Royal Invitation superbly portrays the story about the invitation and subsequent attendance of the Queen of Tonga at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.  The Queen of Tonga caused a scandal by arriving in London dressed in leopard skins. And, at the coronation, she would not, despite the rain, put her umbrella up in the vicinity of Queen Elizabeth, as umbrellas are an ancient emblem of the very highest rank. The Queen of Tonga endeared herself to the Brits, partly by learning the fox trot, and the press had a field day on the event.

Argento’s tone paining of the event is absolutely brilliant. His use of the Rule Britannia theme is a unifying aspect of the score. He portrays various countries with various solo instruments and clever ethnic rhythms and harmonies to depict emissaries traveling throughout the world to deliver the Royal Invitation: flute in the style of a polonaise for Poland, a plaintive melody on the oboe to portray Middle Eastern culture, dueling bassoons in a tarantella to portray Spain, and so on. Even a comical “two-step” dance imitates the Queen of Tonga trying to learn the fox trot! What fun!.

And to close the program, we’ve selected an exciting, compelling and energetic work by Argentinean composer, Alberto Ginastera, entitled Estancia [an Argentine ranch]. Commissioned by the American Ballet Caravan in 1942 as a stage work based on Argentine country life, the full ballet, Estancia, was not staged until 1952. But in 1943, Ginastera excerpted certain movements from the ballet which he combined into an orchestral suite of dances and it is in this form that we will perform this magnificent composition on May 14^th. This symphonic suite in four movements: Los trabajadores agricolas [The Workers of the Land]. Danza del trigo [Dance of the Wheat], Los peones de hacienda [The Cattle Men], and Malambo, Danza final [Malambo: Final Dance]. With the exception of the gentle and graceful second dance, this work is brilliant and propulsive, built largely on short, recurring rhythms and melodic patterns that accumulate an enormous amount of energy—sure to blow the roof off the place!

It’s an exciting and beautifully contrasting program of music, which, with the exception of the Adagio for Strings, rarely gets performed. I hope you will join us on the 14^th and please bring a friend (or 2 or 3)—this is music worth sharing! And please look for our exciting upcoming season of events.

See you at the Gordon Center!

Edward Polochick

Artistic Director

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