Winter Warmer - Online Concert Program

Winter Warmer Concert

Fusion String Ensemble
Unity Boston
70 Colchester Street
Brookline, Massachusetts

Friday, January 27, 2012 at 7:30PM

(In celebration of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 256th Birthday)
$8

CONCERT PROGRAM

Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni

L’Estro Armonico, Op. 3, Concerto No. 10 in B minor for four violins, cello and strings, RV 580 by Antonio Vivaldi

I. Allegro

II. Largo - Larghetto

III. Allegro

John Lyneis, Flora Lee, Sarah Izen, Abe Dewing, violins ~ Amy Nolan, cello

Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler

III. 4. Adagietto

- INTERMISSION -

Quintet in G by Michael Hsu - A Boston Premiere!

IV. Tempo di Dance Party

Serenade No. 6 for Orchestra in D major ("Serenata Notturna"), K. 239 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

I. Marcia (maestoso)

II. Minuetto

III. Rondo (allegretto)

Abe Dewing, violin ~ John Lyneis, violin ~ Ken Allen, viola ~ Nate Haggett, double bass ~ Natalie Shelton, timpani

MUSICIANS

Violins

Flora Lee, Concert Maestro

Abe Dewing

Jessica Garbern

Sarah Izen

John Lyneis
Klenda Martinez

Violas
Ken Allen

Madeline DiLorenzo
Erika Shira
Molly Shira

Celli

Kevin Hedrick

Kate Miller

Amy Nolan

Double Bass
Nate Haggett

Harpsichord / Organ
Timothy Blalock

Timpani

Natalie Shelton

Harp
Smadar Levy

Flute

Alley Lacasse

Conductor
Richard Romanoff

PROGRAM NOTES

Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana
by Pietro Mascagni
Cavalleria Rusticana (Rustic Chivalry) is the most famous opera written by Mascagni (b. 1863, d. 1945) and is part of today’s mainstream opera repertoire. It made the 26-year-old Mascagni instantly world-famous in 1890 when it won the opera contest of music publisher Sonzogno in Italy. “Cav” launched the so-called verismo movement in opera and inspired such works as Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci. The libretto, based on a short story by famed Sicilian writer Giovanni. Verga, tells of the story a young Sicilian man, Turiddu, who is unfaithful to his fiancée Santuzza, because he is in love with his ex-girlfriend, the now married Lola. When Santuzza discovers Turiddu’s infidelity, she reveals it out of spite to Lola’s husband, Alfio, who provokes a duel with Turiddu and kills him. The intermezzo has figured in the soundtrack of several films, most notably in the opening of Raging Bull and in The Godfather Part III, which featured a performance of the opera as a key part of the film's climax.

L’Estro Armonico, Op. 3, Concerto No. 10 in B minor for four violins, cello and strings, RV 580
by Antonio Vivaldi
L'Estro Armonico (the harmonious inspiration) is a book of twelve string concertos written by Antonio Vivaldi (b. 1678, d. 1741) and first published in 1711. The concertos were written at least partly while he was working at the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage in Venice where girls were trained to be musicians. The concertos are arranged in four groups of three, each containing a solo, double and quadruple concerto. After Corelli's Opus IV, the book was the most popular set of concertos throughout the 18th century. The concertos exemplify several methods of writing parts for solo players and accompaniment part, and the methods used in them were frequently analyzed and used as guidelines for writing future concerti. This can be particularly noticeable in the Larghetto movement of this concert, four distinct methods of arpeggiation in the various parts are played simultaneously.

Symphony No. 5
by Gustav Mahler
III. 4. Adagietto
The Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler (b. 1860, d. 1911) was composed in 1901 and 1902, mostly during the summer months at Mahler's cottage at Maiernigg. Mahler had experienced severe health problems in February 1901 when he suffered a sudden major hemorrhaging. His doctor later told him that he had come within an hour of bleeding to death. The composer spent quite a while recuperating and doubtless was shaken by the experience. The musical canvas and emotional scope of the work, which lasts over an hour, are huge. After the first public performance of the symphony, Mahler is reported to have said, “Nobody understood it. I wish I could conduct the first performance fifty years after my death.” During the early part of the century, music programmers didn’t believe whole Mahler symphonies would be acceptable to audiences, and the Adagietto was frequently performed alone.

The British premiere of the entire Fifth Symphony came thirty-six years after the Adagietto alone had been introduced in 1909. The Adagietto continues to be the most performed of Mahler's pieces. Notable uses of the movement include the soundtrack to the 1971 Luchino Visconti film, Death in Venice, a performance conducted by Leonard Bernstein at the mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, on the burial of Robert Kennedy, and the as the program music for ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir from Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 World Championships. The movement is peculiar to its era, in that it is scored for strings and harp alone with the rest of the orchestra silent throughout. It lasts for approximately 10 minutes, with the added instruction by Mahler to play ‘sehr langsam’ (very slowly). This has led to certainconductors taking the movement well over its normal duration, in some cases nearly 12 minutes.

Quintet in G
by Michael Hsu
IV. Tempo di Dance Party
The String Quintet in G was composed by Michael Hsu (b. 1978) in spurts between 1999 and 2008. Originally titled "Manc Rhythms" to honor the hometown of British band New Order (Manchester, UK), the quintet is replete with syncopated rhythms reminiscent of synthpop dancetracks. The playful outer movements were dedicated to violinist Becky Tinio (EnsembleLeonarda). The final movement, "Tempo Di Dance Party", loosely follows a Rondo format, in which the refrain features syncopated "orchestra hits", harmonic "hi-hats" in the first violin, rhythmic bass in the second cello, and Elfman-esque chord progressions. The melody from the "B" section is taken from "Almond Eyes", an indie/new-wave song composed by Hsu in 1998. The piece culminates in an ever-accelerating Coda, and a rock-concert ending featuring the first cello.

Serenade No. 6 for orchestra in D major ("Serenata Notturna"), K. 239
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
I. Marcia (maestoso)
II. Minuetto
III. Rondo (allegretto)
The serenade, along with the divertimento and notturno, were popular pieces in the 18th century written to be played as atmosphere music at parties, wedding receptions, and other festive gatherings. There was no standard instrumentation or length, but the common mood was a light and pleasant one that evoked conversation, flirtation, and similar amusements. This occasion or patron for which Mozart (b. 1756, d. 1791) composed this particular serenade is unknown. The work is scored for two small "orchestras," one comprising four soloists: two violins, viola and double-bass; the other, two violins, viola, cello (without bass) and timpani. The Serenata notturna comprises three compact movements: a genteel march (with a timpani solo!) better suited to crinolines than to khakis; a country-dance minuet; and a spirited rondo, one of whose episodes probably quotes two rustic melodies familiar to the Salzburgers of the time, but which are now forgotten.

Special thanks for making this all possible:

Christ Church Unity ~ Kyle Dewing ~ Betsy Kane ~ Lewis Malaver ~ Melanie Maz ~ Katherine Miller ~ Reverend Evrol Officer ~ Ashley Sullivan ~ Fritz Weingardner ~ Celeste Wilson ~

You, our fantastic audience!