Thursday December 10, 2009

Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor; Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
Leonard Bernstein: Opening Prayer
Leonard Bernstein: Symphony No. 1 (Jeremiah) (10/9-11/09)
Also, Charley anticipates Kantorei's concerts this weekend, and talks with conductor Richard Larson about their new CD, "Little Tree."
Charles Forsberg: Exaltation of Christ
Auf Houkom: Rune of Hospitality
Michael Fink: What Sweeter Music
Eric Barnum: Sweeter Still
Stephen Paulus (arr.): Ding Dong Merrily on High
Alex Komodore, guitar; Monika Vischer, flute; Kantorei/ Richard Larson
"Little Tree" CD 1-2,5-6,12 4:17 + 4:15 + 2:05 +4:36 + 2:10



Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990): Symphony No. 1 (Jeremiah)
I. Prophecy: Largamente
II. Profanation: Vivace con brio
III. Lamentation: Lento

``In the summer of 1939,'' Bernstein wrote, ``I made a sketch for a Lamentation for soprano and orchestra. This sketch lay forgotten for two years, until in the spring of 1942 I began a first movement of a symphony. I then realized that this new movement, and the Scherzo that I planned to follow it, made logical concomitants with the Lamentation. Thus the Symphony came into being, with the Lamentation greatly changed, and the soprano supplanted by a mezzo-soprano.''
Bernstein planned to enter the work in a competition sponsored by the New England Conservatory. With the deadline for submission just ten days away, his sister Shirley and friends helped him complete the orchestration and prepare the full score. They made the deadline (December 31, 1942) and hustled the work up to Boston. Jeremiah didn't win the contest--a work by Gardner Read did--but Fritz Reiner invited Bernstein to conduct the work with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Jennie Tourel was the soloist at the first performance on January 28, 1944. The Symphony won the Music Critics Circle award that same year.
When the New York Philharmonic played the Symphony in March, 1944, Bernstein supplied a program note: ``The Symphony does not make use to any great extent of actual Hebrew thematic material. The first theme of the Scherzo is paraphrased from a traditional Hebrew chant, and the opening phrase of the vocal part in the Lamentation is based on a liturgical cadence still sung today in commemoration of the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon. Other resemblances to Hebrew liturgical music are a matter of emotional quality rather than of the notes themselves.
``As for programmatic meanings, the intention is again not one of literalness, but of emotional quality. Thus the first movement (Prophecy) aims only to parallel in feeling the intensity of the prophet's pleas with his people; and the Scherzo (Profanation) to give a general sense of the destruction and chaos brought on by the pagan corruption within the priesthood and the people. The third movement (Lamentation), being a setting of poetic text, is naturally a more literary conception. It is the cry of Jeremiah, as he mourns his beloved Jerusalem, ruined, pillaged and dishonored after his desperate efforts to save it. The text is from the book of Lamentations.''
The score calls for mezzo-soprano, piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, E flat clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, piano and strings.

Text of Jeremiah Symphony
Chapter l, 1-3
Eicha yashva vadad ha'ir
Rabati am
Hay'ta k'almana;
Rabati vagoyim
Sarati bam'dinot
Hay'ta lamas.

(How doth the city sit solitary,
That was full of people!
How is she become as a widow!
She that was great among the nations,
And princess among the provinces,
How is she become tributary!)

Bacho tivkeh balaila
V'dim'ata al leheiya;
Ein la m'nahem
Mikol ohavciha;
Kol re'cha bag'du va;
Hay la l'oyevim.

(She weepeth sore in the night,
And her tears are on her cheeks;
She hath none to comfort her
Among all her lovers;
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her.
They are become her enemies.)

Galta Y'huda meoni
Umerov avoda;
Hi yashva vagoyim,
Lo matz'a mano'ah;
Kol rod'feha hisiguha
Bein hamitzarim.

(Judah is gone into exile because of affliction,
And because of great servitude;
She dwelleth among the nations,
She findeth no rest.
All her pursuers overtook her
Within the narrow passes.)

Chapter l, 8
Het hat'a Y'rushalayim...
Eicha yashva vada ha'ir
...almana.

(Jerusalem hath grievously sinned...
How doth the city sit solitary
...a widow.)

Chapter 4, 14-15
Na'u ivrim bahutzot
N'go'alu badam;p
B'lo yuchlu
Yig'u bilvusheihem.

(They wander as blind men in the streets,
They are polluted with blood,
So that men cannot
Touch their garments.)

Suru tame! kar'u lamo,
Suru, suru! al tiga'u...

(Depart, ye unclean! they cried unto them,
Depart, depart! touch us not...)

Chapter 5, 20-21
Lama lanetzah tishkahenu..
Lanetzah ta'azvenu...

(Wherefore dost Thou forget us forever,
And forsake us so long time!...)

Hashivenu Adonai elecha...

(Turn Thou us into Thee, O Lord...)