BEACH CITIES SYMPHONY NEWSLETTER
AND CONCERT INFORMATION
VOLUME XIII, NO. 3
March 2006
THE
BEACH CITIES SYMPHONY
BARRY BRISK, music director
PRESENTS
FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2006
Marsee Auditorium, El Camino College
Crenshaw Blvd. at Redondo Beach Blvd.
FREE ADMISSION and FREE PARKING
Concert time: 8:15 p.m., pre-concert lecture: 7:30
p.m.
Information: (310) 379-9725 or (310) 539-4649
PROGRAM
Violin
Concerto in D minor, Op. 47, by Jean Sibelius
Elmer Su, violin soloist
Euryanthe
Overture by Carl Maria von Weber
Symphony No. 7 in A, Op. 92, by Ludwig van Beethoven
Copland Photo
The
photo of composer Aaron Copland appeared in our January 27 program booklet, was
taken by Peter Landecker from the violin section during his high school summer
music camp experience in 1960.
"My
parents sent me to the Indian Hill Music Camp in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and
there were several composers in residence", Dr. Landecker remembers. "At
the time I was taking black and white photos, then developing the film and
printing the pictures in my small Bronx apartment bathroom. I still remember the
chemical reek, and trying to block out the stray light. At the time, I was using
an Exakta, the first ever single lens reflex camera, and either Plus-X or Tri-X
film."
Dr. Landecker, a Senior Staff Scientist in Northrop Grumman's Space Technology Division, is on the Board of the Beach Cities Symphony Association and maintains our web site. He plays violin in the orchestra and is still taking pictures from his stand position: you can find examples at http://BeachCitiesSymphony.org/photos.htm.
Letter
from Bob Peterson
President,
Beach Cities Symphony Association
Recently
the largest bequest in Beach Cities Symphony history, $10,000, was received from
the estate of Billyanna Niland. This was given in the name of her late mother,
Viola Niland, a teacher of piano and owner and operator of Niland's Mortuary,
originally on Pacific Coast Highway near Beryl Street in Redondo Beach.
Dr.
Niland grew up in the residence part of the mortuary, hearing music while her
mother taught. After college she taught Dentistry at the university level in
Oregon. When her mother passed away, she returned and took over the mortuary
business, which was moved to 5310 Torrance Blvd. near Bishop Montgomery High
School.
Billyanna
Niland became a regular member and supporter of the Beach Cities Symphony in the
mid 1970s and attended many of our concerts. After retiring, she sold the
mortuary business to David Rice, who changed its name to Rice Mortuary, Years
later he sold it to Ronald F. Day of White and Day Mortuaries, and today there
are around eight in the family of mortuaries in the South Bay who continue to
support the Beach Cities Symphony by advertising in our printed programs.
This
gift was a boon to our organization, showing that bequests may come as surprises
from any source. Our thanks go to Billyanna Niland and her family. Should you
have an interest in naming the symphony in your will, attorney Erin L. Prouty,
who is a board member of the Beach Cities Symphony Association, will be happy to
assist you with suggestions. For further information, please contact me at
310-539-4649, or call our information number: 310-379-9725.
Baby
Bloomers
Members
of the inner voices of strings in our orchestra have quietly been assuring that
a new generation of players will be ready to join the Beach Cities Symphony. The
movement started in the Violin II section with Anja Cerone delivering baby Ella
a couple of months ago and Sally Tierney announcing her son Christopher's birth
recently. Not to be outdone, violist Emiko Takagi is anticipating birth of her
baby in April, and Allison Gutierrez, a member of the viola section before
moving to Texas last season, is expecting in May.
Elmer
Su
Elmer
Su, our soloist on March 24, was born in Fujian province and attended Shanghai
Conservatory. Upon graduation he became concertmaster of the Fujian Symphony and
also starred in solo appearances throughout China.
In
1987 Mr. Su came to the United States to further his violin studies. He first
attended the University of San Diego and then the University of Southern
California, where he studied with Alice Schoenfeld. For six years he was a
member of the Konzertrio under Edwin Deveney;
currently he serves as concertmaster of the United Chinese Musicians
Symphony and the Livic Chamber Orchestra in Los Angeles. He has made several
recent concert tours of China and last soloed with the Beach Cities Symphony in
March of 2003 in a
performance of The Butterfly Lovers.
Mr.
Su's name is also familiar to our audiences through his students' successful
performances in the South Bay region's MTAC annual Artists of the Future
concerto competition. His recent winners have included Hannah Kahng in 2002,
Jessie Chen in 2005, and Kristie Su in 2006. Kristie, who is Elmer Su's
10-year-old daughter, will play the first movement of the Goldmark Violin
Concerto in A minor on May 12 in our last concert of the 2005-06 season.
Elmer Su and his daughter Kristie
The
Finnish composer Jean (born Johan) Sibelius began writing the first version of
his violin concerto in D minor in 1903 and premièred it in Helsinki in February
1904 with Viktor Novek as soloist. Sibelius revised the original and introduced
the definitive version in 1905. The soloist this time was the concertmaster of
the Berlin Court Orchestra with the famed composer Richard Strauss as conductor.
The Sibelius violin concerto reached international late-Romantic repertory status alongside the concertos of Brahms and Tchaikovsky only after Jascha Heifetz began performing it in the 1930s. Its soulful solo cadenzas and dramatic technical displays have made it an audience favorite ever since.
Program
Notes
for March 24 Concert
Overture to Euryanthe, Op. 81
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Robert Schumann, enraptured over an 1847 revival of Weber’s opera Euryanthe,
wrote: “It is a chain of sparkling jewels from beginning to end — all
brilliant and flawless . . . and how the instruments sound! They speak to us
from the innermost depths.” However, when Euryanthe was first performed
in Vienna in 1823, it met with failure. This was due to Helmina von Chézy’s
weak libretto, which borders on the incomprehensible. Regardless of the
libretto’s shortcomings, it inspired Weber to write some of his finest music.
Euryanthe and Der Freischütz were among the strongest influences
in Richard Wagner’s future writing. But whatever impact Euryanthe may
have had on later developments in German opera, only its flavorful overture has
passed the test of time.
A brilliant introduction signifies the reliance of Adolar (the male lead) upon
the faithfulness of Euryanthe (his bride). The opening theme of the overture is
announced in all the woodwinds, supported by the full power of the orchestra.
The second theme is a graceful melody suggesting Adolar’s hope as he looks
forward to a meeting with her. A tutti full of color leads to a Largo
in the muted violins, accompanied by violas, at the beginning of the development
which depicts the famous “ghost music” from the opera’s first act. After a
pause on the last note of the Largo, the basses give out an episode which
leads back to the most brilliantly elaborated first subject, establishing the
heroic mood of the drama. The return of the second theme and an effective coda
close the overture.
--Bill Malcolm
Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Johan Julius Christian Sibelius (later calling himself simply Jean in honor of
an admired uncle) was born only a few months after the assassination of Abraham
Lincoln in 1865. He wrote his Violin Concerto in 1903, shortly after his Second
Symphony, and subsequently revised it as he did so many of his works. The
original version was performed in Helsinki on February 8, 1904, with Victor
Novacek as soloist and Sibelius conducting. In its final version, the Concerto
was first heard at the Singakademie in Berlin on October 19, 1905, with Karl
Halir of the Joachim Quartet playing under the baton of Richard Strauss. It
received its first American performance with the New York Philharmonic in 1906
with the American violinist Maud Powell. Not until the first recording in the
late 1930s (Jascha Heifetz/Sir Thomas Beecham and the London Philharmonic) did
the concerto begin to achieve familiarity in the concert halls.
The above facts reveal little regarding the frustrations that surrounded this
concerto. Six years of letters and journals are filled with the many
disappointments. Whether from the frustrations that gave birth to his concerto
or for other reasons, Sibelius never wrote another concerto for that instrument
or any other. He joined the distinguished company of great composers who also
had written only one violin concerto: Beethoven, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky.
Nevertheless, Sibelius had an affection for the work that lasted all his life.
The violin was his instrument. There is a charming story often told that as a
boy he would climb a huge rock overlooking a lake and there, with only water and
trees and stones to hear, would play his violin in a communion with nature. When
his musical studies were completed he taught violin for several years and played
second violin in the string quartet at the Helsinki conservatory. His journal
entry on his 25th birthday .. December 8, 1890 .. reads "It is a sadness
that touches my soul. I realize today that I shall never be a great violinist .
. . ."
The concerto is in the usual three movements and embraces all hallmarks of a
romantic piece. The lyricism and rhapsodic themes of the first movement are
treated with a serious and somber mood that continues into his melancholic
melody of the second movement. The bold and fantastic third movement, in Rondo
form, is often dubbed a Danse Macabre. This is the part of the concerto
holding the technical challenges that demand the highest level of a violinist's
capabilities. It is notable for its rhythmic dance figures throughout and the
stunning “glassy” octaves of the solo violin that bring the concerto to its
conclusion.
--Rebecca Rutkowski
Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Opus 92
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Composer David Lang, recently describing Beethoven’s role as a cultural
revolutionary, used another musical icon to make his point: “You don’t
listen to a Mozart symphony and imagine Mozart asking himself how loud, how
high, how quickly can it change. He was not taking the orchestra out on a test
drive.” In contrast, “Beethoven is really involved in that question, how can
he push everything he’s inherited to its limit.” Beethoven, he sums up, is
“relentlessly innovative.”
To extend Lang’s metaphor, if Beethoven is test driving the orchestra, then
the Seventh Symphony is his Lamborghini. From the ascending scales of the
opening Poco sostenuto, through the famous second movement Allegretto,
the wild dance of the third movement Presto, and the exhilaration of the
final Allegro con brio, every instrument in every section is revved up to
show the full range of its power and abilities.
To honor this Promethean composer, the Los Angeles Philharmonic during its
current season is presenting “Beethoven Unbound,” its name for a full cycle
of all nine Beethoven symphonies. The allusion is to the Greek god Prometheus,
who brought fire and thus civilization, including all the arts, to humankind.
His punishment for defying Zeus was to be chained to a mountain crag and
tortured for eternity. Prometheus became for the Romantic age a symbol of revolt
against tyranny and was the hero of Shelley’s verse play Prometheus Unbound
(1820). Beethoven is the eternal fire bringer of the music world: heroic,
tormented, capable of greatness in the midst of personal agonies.
Despite ill health and increasing deafness, Beethoven began composing Symphony
No. 7 in 1811 and completed it, along with Symphony No. 8, in 1812. This is the
same year he wrote passionately to his famous (and unnamed) “Immortal
Beloved,” evidently married and forever unavailable. The first public
performance of the Seventh was in Vienna on December 8, 1813, with the composer
conducting. According to an eyewitness report, the second movement was greeted
with such enthusiasm that it was immediately repeated. At the same time,
Beethoven premièred Wellington’s Victory, a popular success in its day
but now rarely performed.
--Toni Empringham
Our
Final Concert of the Season
May
12, 2006
Music
Teachers Association of California, South Bay Branch, Artists of the Future
soloists:
Goldmark
Concerto for Violin in A minor, first movement: Kristie Su (age 10)
Shostakovich
Piano Concerto No. 2 in F, first movement: Rachel H. Chung (age 13)
Rachmaninoff
Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp, first movement: Ian Counts (age 16)
Kabalevsky
Piano Concerto Op. 50, first movement: Kathryn Wu (age 14)
Also
on the program:
Gioachino
Rossini: Barber of Seville Overture
Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34
New Beach Cities Symphony Association Members
Jennifer
Floto
Mr.
& Mrs. James Gere
THANK
YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR ORGANIZATION!
Raffle
Prize Winners
Raffle
Prize winners at our January 27th concert: John Bauer of Torrance and Nilan
Kincaid of Hawthorne won CDs donated by Border's. George Pelzman of El Segundo
won the floral arrangement from Lily's Flowers & Gifts and the Kodak
EasyShare Digital Camera, while Ernest Wade won the gift certificate for dinner
at Second City Bistro in El Segundo.
Special raffle prizes at the March 24th concert will once again include dinner for two at Second City Bistro, as well as a special gift basket valued at $100 from The Gifted Basket in Manhattan Beach. Tickets are $2 each, or three for $5.
Special
Eagle Scout Mentor Award
On Saturday, March 25th, the day after they performed together in the orchestra's March concert, BCSO violinist Daniel Coffee presented concertmaster Rebecca Rutkowski with an Eagle Scout Mentor pin at Daniel's Eagle Court of Honor in Redondo Beach. Both members and friends of the BCSO were present to witness Rebecca's surprise.
Daniel "pins" Rebecca
Daniel and his grandmother, Toni Coffee (center) with Rebecca Rutkowski at the reception following the ceremony
Information
Beach
Cities Symphony Association, Inc.
P.O.
Box 248
Redondo Beach, CA 90277-0248
Beach
Cities Symphony News information: 310-379-9725, 310-539-4649, or
http://BeachCitiesSymphony.org
or info@BeachCitiesSymphony.org.
Editors: Toni Empringham, Margaret McWilliams
Graphics:
David Schwartz, Ralph Dame
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