March 2002
Newsletter
BARRY
BRISK, MUSIC DIRECTOR
PRESENTS
LINDA LOVE
IN A PERFORMANCE OF
SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS FOR PIANO &
ORCHESTRA
BY CESAR FRANCK
ON FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2002
Marsee
Auditorium, El Camino College
Crenshaw
Blvd. at Redondo Beach Blvd.
FREE
ADMISSION & FREE PARKING
CONCERT
TIME: 8:15 P.M.
pre-concert
lecture: 7:30 P.M.
Information:
(310) 379-9725 or (310) 539-4649
ALSO FEATURING:
SUITE FROM THE MUSIC FOR THE ROYAL
FIREWORKS by G. F. HANDEL
TRANSCRIBED FOR ORCHESTRA by HAMILTON HARTY
DEATH & TRANSFIGURATION by RICHARD
STRAUSS
LINDA
LOVE, our soloist
on March 29, comes from a musical family and received her first piano lessons
from her mother, Sylvia Amsterdam Shlutz. Subsequently she worked with many
excellent teachers, including Aube Tzerko and Sara Compinsky, and in 1996
participated in the Leonardo Project at Concordia University in Montreal,
Canada, under the direction of Phil Cohen. She won first prize in piano in the
Orange County Young Musicians Contest and first prize for the interpretation of
Romantic music in the International Piano Recording Competition. After
graduating cum laude from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music, she was
a member of the faculty of Loyola Marymount University for 13 years and
continues to teach privately. Ms. Love’s solo recitals have taken her to many
universities, private homes, and recital series. She has performed as soloist
with the Young Musicians Foundation Orchestra, the UCLA Symphony, the
California Chamber Symphony, the Antelope Valley Symphony, Symphony of the
Canyons, the San Luis Obispo Symphony, and the American Youth Symphony. In May
of 2002, she will be playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17, K. 453, and the
Clara Schumann Concerto with the Valley Symphony conducted by Robert
Chauls.Symphonic Variations by César Franck was first performed in 1886, when
the composer was 63. As Irving Kolodin
noted, this work is not simply a series of variations, but rather “the equivalent
of a three-movement concerto without interruption, such as a truly inspired
Frenchman would conceive as the proper scheme for a collaboration of piano and
orchestra, . . .” Linda Love calls the
piece “magical,” “poetic,” and “a neglected masterpiece.” She notes its
similarities in the first third to the Andante movement of Beethoven’s Fourth
Piano Concerto. “That part has a quiet mysticism,” she says, congruent with
Franck’s religious nature. Although less than 20 minutes in length, Symphonic
Variations explores a gamut of emotions and transformations, by turns
rhapsodic, strong and passionate, ending in a joyous dance in which soloist and
orchestra become contrapuntal partners. Experiencing a live performance of this
beautiful, seldom performed work is a rare privilege.
It was six years ago that it
occurred to me to present in the form of a tone poem the dying hours of a man
who had striven towards the highest idealistic aims, maybe indeed those of an
artist. The sick man lies in bed, asleep, with heavy irregular breathing;
friendly dreams conjure a smile on the features of the deeply suffering man; he
wakes up; he is once more racked with horrible agonies; his limbs shake with
fever--as the attack passes and the pains leave off, his thoughts wander
through his past life; his childhood passes before him, the time of his youth
with its strivings and passions and then, as the pains already begin to return,
there appears to him the fruit of his life’s path, the conception, the ideal
which he has sought to realize, to present artistically, but which he has not
been able to complete, since it is not for man to be able to accomplish such
things. The hour of death approaches, the soul leaves the body in order to find
gloriously achieved in everlasting space those things which could not be
fulfilled here below.*
So wrote Richard Strauss in 1894. In 1888, at the age of 25, he had
begun to compose Death and Transfiguration (Tod und Verklärung), one of ten
tone poems which he completed between 1886 and 1914. Several of them have
literary sources: drama (Macbeth), poetry (Don Juan), medieval German legend
(Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche), philosophy (Also sprach Zarathustra),
the novel (Don Quixote). Others, including Death and Transfiguration, came from
his own imagination. His primary influence for these compositions was Franz
Liszt, who at the height of the Romantic period wrote 12 symphonic poems as
well as other programmatic works incorporating literary, dramatic, and
pictorial elements in an effort to free music from its rigid classical
forms.
Strauss wanted his tone poems to be heard and enjoyed as music, and
insisted that knowing the “story” behind a work was not necessary in order to
appreciate it. Nevertheless, parts of Death and Transfiguration are so graphic
that, as Heinz Becker writes in his introduction to the Berlin Philharmonic
recording, the composer, with “the keenly observing gaze of a physician,”
succeeds in “creat[ing]“ a cardiogram in sound,” as the dying subject’s
heartbeat accelerates, slows down, becomes erratic, and finally stops
altogether. In 1949, as he lay terminally ill at the age of 85, Strauss told
his daughter-in-law, “Dying is just the way I composed it in Tod und Verklärung.”
Why did the process of dying interest a young, vigorous man like
Strauss? George R. Marek ascribes the choice to “the spirit of the times, that
dream-drenched epoch that explored darkness and death,” a Post-Romantic
fascination with decay that gave rise to the Decadent movement in literature
and art at the turn of the century. But what separates Strauss’s drama of death
from contemporary creations is the transfiguration at the end of the imagined
scenario. The word has the same meaning in both German and English. Defined as
“chang[ing] into a more elevated, glorious, or spiritual form” by the Oxford
English Dictionary, it resonates with religious significance. The
Transfiguration of Christ occurs in three of the four gospels; this account in
Matthew 17:1-9 is from the 1966 edition of the Jerusalem Bible:
Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up
a high mountain where they could be alone. There in their presence he was
transfigured: his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as
the light. Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them; they were talking with
him. Then Peter spoke to Jesus. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘it is wonderful for us to be
here; if you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses and
one for Elijah. He was still speaking when suddenly a bright cloud covered them
with shadow, and from the cloud there came a voice which said, ‘This is my Son,
the Beloved; he enjoys my favor. Listen to him.’ When they heard this, the
disciples fell on their faces, overcome with fear. But Jesus came up and
touched them. ‘Stand up, he said, ‘do not be afraid.’ And when they raised
their eyes they saw no one but only Jesus. As they came down from the mountain
Jesus gave them this order, ‘Tell no one about the vision until the Son of Man
has risen from the dead.’
The inner circle of apostles has witnessed a scene which they are unable
to interpret because they do not know what is going to happen in the weeks to
come. They have heard the voice of God and glimpsed the immortality of their
teacher, who has been elevated in their eyes to a level that places him with
the figures of the Old Testament that represent the laws and the prophets. The
passage is paradoxical in its promise of death and immortality.
Strauss presents a similar paradox in his scenario for Death and
Transfiguration: only by dying can the artist achieve perfection. Hearing the
last eloquent C Major chords of this piece, we may feel the composer came very
near his goal.
*Quoted in Norman Del Mar, Richard
Strauss: A Critical Commentary on His Life and Work (NY: 1962-72), I, 77-78.
JOANNE SATTERBURG,
Assistant Concertmaster of the Beach Cities Symphony for the past two years,
will be avoiding a scheduling conflict at the next concert on March 29 by a
narrow margin. As Pastor of the First United Methodist Church of Torrance, she
will be presiding at the 5 p.m. Good Friday service that day, leaving her
barely an hour to get to Marsee Auditorium for the downbeat. Her appearance at
both events illustrates her commitment to her parishioners and to her 38-year
membership in the orchestra.
Joanne began violin lessons in the fourth grade and continued her music
studies through college. She grew up in Kingsburg, 20 miles south of Fresno,
and graduated from Fresno State University (now CSU Fresno), majoring in Music
Education. She was a member of both the elementary and secondary Fresno-Madera
Counties Honor Orchestras and also played with the Fresno Philharmonic while in
college.
Joanne met her future husband,
Mel, while still in high school when she played a violin solo at his sister’s
wedding. Mel came to Southern California to teach in the Centinela Valley High
School District, and in 1964, after graduating from college, Joanne joined him
here. After their marriage she taught at Lincoln School in Redondo Beach for
four years, then stayed home to raise their two children, Cheryl and Randy.
During this time she became involved in church life through teaching Sunday
school and participating in Bible study classes at Riviera United Methodist
Church. Eventually her participation became a vocation to help others. A
measure of her dedication was that, despite her intense dislike of freeway
driving, she made the 90-minute trip to Claremont several times a week. She earned a Master of Divinity degree from
the Claremont School of Theology and was ordained in 1992.
Joanne joined the staff at Riviera in 1897 and remained there while
studying for the ministry. Her first parish as a minister was Wayside United
Methodist Church in Lomita, where she served for five years; she has been at
First United since 1998. In July she will be assisted by a full-time associate
pastor, but currently she works many long hours and frequently gives up her one
day a week off to serve and stay in touch with her 350 parishioners and others
who need her help. The rewards are great, however, especially “Seeing the joy
that comes when people acknowledge God’s mercy and blessings in their lives,
and then extend those blessings to others.”
Only once does Joanne remember being discriminated against because of
being a woman in what most still think of as a man’s profession. “It was my
first wedding,” she recalls, “and the couple looked shocked when they realized
I was going to perform the ceremony.” The solution? “The groom got a male
minister from a nearby wedding chapel, and we officiated together.” This
measure satisfied the couple, who evidently wanted to make sure that they were
“really married.” Aside from that episode, she has not encountered any negative
reactions among her parishioners. “I think it helps, my having come to the
ministry later in life,” she reflects. “I’ve been a teacher, a wife and mother.
Sometimes people find it easier to talk or ask for help if they know I’ve
experienced these things.”
Because her life as a pastor fills up so many hours right now, Joanne
says playing in the Beach Cities Symphony is her main form of recreation. She
joined as soon as she came to Torrance in 1964, and therefore she has seen some
changes over the years. One of the major positive differences, she notes, is
that a majority of the Symphony Association Board of Directors are members of
the orchestra, including Chairman of the Board Martin Wood and President Bob Peterson.
Bob admires the way Joanne has made music, and the Beach Cities Symphony, a
priority in her extremely busy life. Even while simultaneously serving on the
staff at Riviera and attending graduate school, she continued to practice,
attend weekly rehearsals, improve steadily as a musician, and play the majority
of concerts over the past 38 years. “She sets a wonderful example,” he says.
MUSICAL
TITANS COME TO TORRANCE:
Ann Gresham, a free-lance entertainment writer who reviewed our January
18 concert in the Daily Breeze, had many good things to say about the
performance as led by Music Director Barry Brisk. She began by calling Brisk’s
program choices “an elegant concept, aligning the works of three musical titans
with the beginning of a new year.” After describing the background and unusual
features of Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments, Gresham commented: “It
was reassuring to hear Brisk’s ensemble enter into Stravinsky’s unique musical
language with such confidence and understanding.” She also praised the strength
and confidence of soloist Rebecca Rutkowski in the final movement of Bach’s
Violin Concerto in D Minor, and concluded by noting the way in which Brisk,
conducting without a score, evoked “moments of authentic power and beauty” in
the ensemble’s rendition of the Beethoven Fifth Symphony which rounded out the
evening.
One very special audience member at the January concert was Norma Gass.
Norma, a charter member of the orchestra who now lives in Camarillo, drove to
Torrance especially to attend the performance, returning the next day after
spending the night with friends. Other out-of-town attendees included Josh Dame
and Jennie Samples, who drove up from San Diego, and Ned Forsyth, who took
advantage of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday to drive 700 miles from Arcata
(best known as the home of Humboldt State University), escape the rain for a
few days, and listen to great music. Let us know at our next concert if you or
your guests are long-distance music appreciators. You can give the information to our lobby personnel, or contact
Margaret McWilliams by e-mail: MMcWRedondo@aol.com.
OUR
REMAINING 2OO1-O2 CONCERT SEASON:
Handel, Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351 (arr. Hamilton Harty)
Franck, Symphonic Variations:
Linda Love, piano soloist
R. Strauss, Death and Transfiguration
Delibes, Coppelia Ballet Suite No. 1
Music Teachers Association of California Artists of the Future:
Mozart, Concerto No. 5 for Violin & Orchestra: First Movement,
Allegro Aperto. Hanna J. Kahng, soloist
Chopin, Concerto No. 1 in E Minor for Piano & Orchestra: First
Movement, Allegro Maestoso. Paul Cartianu, soloist
Mozart, Concerto in G Major for Flute & Orchestra: First Movement,
Allegro Aperto. Stacey Wallace, soloist
Shostakovich, Concerto in F, Op. 102, for Piano & Orchestra: First
Movement, Allegro. Rie Takahashi, soloist
Wagner, Rienzi Overture
WE
WELCOME NEW SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION MEMBERS:
Shirley Whitman Browne
John Kirk
MATCHING
FUNDS CORPORATIONS:
Arco
Best Foods
Honeywell (Allied Signal)
Los Angeles Times
Mattel
TRW
Thank you for supporting our
organization!
Beach
Cities Symphony Assn.
Post Office Box 248
Redondo Beach CA 90277-0248
Information line: 310-379-9725 or
310-539-4649
Visit our web page:
beachcitiessymphony.org
To receive e-mail reminders of
upcoming concerts, contact Dr. Peter Landecker: landecker@cyberdude.com
Text: Toni Empringham
Graphics: Ralph Dame
Editor/Advisor: Margaret McWilliams
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