Friday December 4, 2009

Charley talks with Colorado Symphony principal hornist Michael Thornton about his appearance with the Orchestra tonight and tomorrow.
Ludwig van Beethoven: “Allegro moderato” (1st movement) from Horn Sonata in F major, Op.17
Michael Thornton, horn; Anne Epperson, piano 6:07
KVOD Performance Studio 12/15/05 MS
Also, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra
Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
Edward Elgar: Enigma Variations, Op.36 34:06 (7/13/07)
And, Charley talks with another CSO horn player, David Brussel, the new conductor of the Broomfield Civic Orchestra, which has a concert Sunday.
Franz Strauss: Nocturno, Op.7 (5:51)
Michael Thornton, horn; Anne Epperson, piano
Eric Ewazen: Dance
Julie Duncan Thornton, flute; Michael Thornton, horn; Anne Epperson, piano 6:01
CPR Performance Studio 12/15/05 MS


Edward Elgar (1857-1934): Variations on an Original Theme, Opus 36 (Enigma)
Theme: Andante
I. L'istesso tempo
II. Allegro
III. Allegretto
IV. Allegro di molto
V. Moderato
VI. Andantino
VII. Presto
VIII. Allegretto
IX. Adagio
X. Intermezzo: Allegretto
XI. Allegro di molto
XII. Andante
XIII. Romanza: Moderato
XIV. Finale: Allegro--Presto

``Dedicated to My Friends Pictured Within,'' Elgar's Enigma Variations consist of musical portraits of thirteen of the composer's friends, and a finale depicting Elgar himself. Elgar never revealed either the significance or the origin of the theme, which he labeled Enigma in the score. The theme came to him, he said, ``after a long and tiresome day's teaching, aided by a cigar.''
Here is the cast of characters, in the order of their appearance as variations: 1) Caroline Alice, Elgar's wife; 2) pianist Hew David Stuart-Powell; 3) actor Richard Baxter Townshend; 4) Elgar's neighbor William Meath Baker; 5) Richard Penrose Arnold, Matthew Arnold's son; 6) violist Isobel Fitton; 7) architect Arthur Troyte Griffith; 8) pianist Winifred Norbury; 9) ``Nimrod,'' or Arthur Jaeger, Elgar's close friend; 10) ``Dorabella,'' or Dora Penny; 11) organist George Robertson Sinclair and his bulldog, Dan; 12) cellist Basil Nevinson; 13) (the score is marked only with three asterisks and the word ``Romanza''), believed to be Lady Mary Lygon. The last variation is really the finale, a portrait of Elgar himself.
The first performance of the Enigma Variations was conducted by Hans Richter on June 19, 1899, in London. The critic for The Times complained that ``it is evidently impossible for the uninitiated to discuss the meaning of the work,'' but admitted that ``on the surface'' the work was ``exceedingly clever, often charming and always original, and excellently worked out.'' Another review said that ``the Variations stand in no need of a programme; as abstract music they fully satisfy.''
The subject of the ``Nimrod'' variation, Arthur Jaeger, wrote: ``Here is an English musician who has something to say and knows how to say it in his own individual and beautiful way....He writes as he feels, there is no affectation or make-believe. Effortless originality--the only true originality--combined with thorough savoir-faire and, most important of all, beauty of theme, warmth and feeling are his credentials, and they should open to him the hearts of all who have faith in the future of our English art and appreciate beautiful music wherever it is met.''
After his name on the score, Elgar wrote: ``This is the best of me, for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved and hated like another; my life was as the vapour and is not; but this I saw and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory.''
The score calls for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, bass drum, triangle, cymbals, organ and strings.