Battle Creek Symphony
Saturday, february 11, 2012, 7:30 pm
W.K. Kellogg Auditorium
jonathan carney, violin
Four blazing gems. Stravinsky’s fantasia for ballet, the Pulcinella Suite. Piazzolla‘s sexy tango The Seasons with violin virtuoso Jonathan Carney. Plus Mozart at the pinnacle of creative passion: Symphony No. 38, "Prague," and Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending.
Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending
Mozart Symphony No. 38, "Prague"
Stravinsky Pulcinella
Piazzolla The Seasons
Advance tickets start at just $8
Together with the orchestra tonight we will travel from Germany to Russia to Argentina, from the home of Mozart to that of Stravinsky and, most recently, to that of the South American composer, Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla. And in time we’ll go from 1786, when Mozart composed his 38th symphony to the second half of the last century, when Piazzolla revolutionized the tango, carrying it dramatically into the world of jazz.
First of all we’ll hear a suite of music from the one-act comic ballet “Pulcinella” by Russian and later European and American composer, Igor Stravinsky. Pulcinella, the hero, and his girlfriend Pimpinella, have problems, for Pimpinella becomes jealous when see sees Pulcinella kiss another woman. Pulcinella is stabbed but is resurrected by a magician friend, eventually forgiven by Pimpinella, and at the end they are married.
Stravinsky didn’t compose all of the music for his ballet “from scratch.” He often took other composers’ themes, but then he recreated them with his own distinctive modern melodies, harmony and rhythm.
”Pulcinella” is often considered to be the first piece of Stravinsky's neoclassical period.
Next, solo violinist Jonathan Carney and the strings will play the winter and spring portions of Argentine “nuevo tango” composer Piazzolla’s composition, “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.” This work was originally composed as four separate pieces, although Piazzolla and his friends performed them together from time to time. The pieces were scored for his favorite quintet group consisting of violin (or viola), piano, electric guitar, double bass and bandoneón, which is a South American version of a button-accordion or concertina. Later, however, this work and others were rearranged for larger groups. The arrangement we will hear tonight is from the 1990s, by Russian composer and arranger, Leonid Desyatnikov.
The next selection, Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending” was inspired by a poem about a skylark by the Victorian poet George Meredith. Williams first composed this work for violin and piano in 1914, but then he expanded it to violin and orchestra in 1920. This work has been extremely popular and was recently found to be even more frequently purchased and listened to than four all-time favorites, Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto, Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and Vaughan Williams' own Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
The lark is rather plain-looking bird, but it sings so beautifully and loudly that it can be heard even after it can no longer be seen.
Shelley wrote one of his immortal poems about the Skylark, and one cannot help but think that Shelley’s poem also served to inspire Vaughan Williams.
Finally, the symphony will play Mozart’s 38th Symphony which premiered in Prague in 1787. This particular work, unlike most of Mozart’s symphonies, begins with a slow introduction called an Adagio, which is, of course, generally the descriptive name for a second movement.
This symphony’s second movement is an Andante, and then finally the last movement is a Presto. Notice the prominence of the flute counterpointing the main melody in the third movement.
So sit back and enjoy an amazing variety of music from different time periods, styles, moods and even continents.
Linda Jo Scott, program annotator
Jonathan Carney, violin
Born in New Jersey in 1963, Jonathan Carney hails from a musical family with all six members having graduated from The Juilliard School. After completing his studies with Ivan Galamian and Christine Dethier, he was awarded a Leverhulme Fellowship to continue his studies in London at the Royal College of Music.
After making successful tours of the Americas, Europe and the Far East as both leader and soloist with numerous international ensembles, including the orchestras of Los Angelos, Vancouver and Helsinki, Jonathan Carney was invited by Vladimar Ashkenazy to become leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He made his debut with the orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in 1991 and has since appeared as a soloist in many of the concert halls in Britain and the continent working with conductors such as Gatti, Kreizberg and Yuri Temirkonov as well as an extensive tour of South America with Yehudi Menuhin. Other recent engagements include the BBC Philharmonic, the Residentie Orchestra of the Hague and the Baltimore Symphony. 2005-2006 season includes European tours with violinist sister Laurie performing the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with the Basque National Orchestra and the Bournemouth Symphony and the continental premiere of the Britten Double Concerto with Daniele Gatti and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
From 1994 to 2000, Jonathan Carney was also Concertmaster of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; performances have included the Bruch, Mozart, Brahms, Janecek and Nielson concertos, a live BBC broadcast of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending at the Barbican, and the Bottesini Grand Duo.
In addition to his recordings for CBS Masterworks, Decca, ASV and Naxos, Jonathan Carney is regularly featured on the BBC and has most recently recorded solo works by John Cage and Bruno Moderna. He was also Director of the Royal Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble and has recorded over twenty discs for Tring International including The Four Seasons, The Lark Ascending and Mozart’s Third and Fifth Concertos, as well as the Sinfonia Concertante. He has recorded the Brahms G major and Frank sonatas, Beethoven’s Archduke and Ghost triosandthe Spring and Kreutzer sonatas. New releases include a disc of virtuoso works of Sarasate and Kreisler, an award winning recording of the Nielson concerto with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for the Naxos label and Michael Nyman’s The Piano Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carney. An avid exponent of 20th-century music, his solo repertoire also includes works by Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Janacek, Paul Hindemith, Glass, Cage, Takemitsu, Maxwell Davis, Benjamin Britten, William Bolcom and John Corigliano.
Mr. Carney lives in Maryland with his wife Ruthie and their three children, Hannah, Luke, and Gracie. His violin is a 1687 Stradivarius, the Mercur-Avery.
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