Wednesday March 17, 2010

Colorado Music Festival Chamber Orchestra
Michael Christie, conductor
Antonín Dvořák: String Serenade in E major, Op.22 30:26
Zoltán Kodály: Dances of Galánta 17:00 (7/20/08)
Also, Charley anticipates the Colorado Music Festival winter series this weekend.
Wolfgang Mozart: " Allegro" (4th movement) from String Quintet in C minor, K.406
Colorado Music Festival Chamber Players (Jessica Guideri, Dominique Corbeil, violins; Matthew Dane, Ethan Hecht, violas; Judith Glyde, cello) (2/24/08) 24:20

Antonin Dvorák (1841-1904): Serenade for Strings in E major, Opus 22
I. Moderato
II. Tempo di Valse
III. Scherzo: Vivace
IV. Larghetto
V. Finale: Allegro vivace

Dvorák's Serenade for Strings was composed in just twelve days, between May 3 and 14, 1875. A planned performance by Hans Richter and the Vienna Philharmonic the following fall never materialized. The first performance took place in Prague on December 10, 1876. Adolf Cech conducted the combined string sections of the Czech and German Theater Orchestras. A Viennese performance had to wait until 1884.
Biographer John Clapham writes: ``Both the light-hearted Scherzo and the Finale start canonically, and the Trio of the Waltz and the Larghetto are both enriched when their melodic themes are repeated canonically. The first movement is simple and child-like, but the subdivision of violas and cellos gives it richness and the expressive interjections of the violins during the main theme are telling. The Waltz and Trio have decided charm, and are linked together by a rhythmic motif....When the melody of the beautiful Larghetto is compared with the Trio theme in the second movement they are found to be two versions of the same basic musical thought.''

Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967): Dances of Galánta

For seven years, Kodály's father was railway station master at Galánta, a small town on the main line between Budapest and Vienna. During the summer of 1933, his son memorialized the town in his Dances of Galánta. Zoltán wrote the piece for the eightieth anniversary of the Philharmonic Society of Budapest, which gave the first performance on October 23, 1934 under Ernö Dohnányi's direction.
Kodály based his material on several sources. There were his memories of ``the most beautiful seven years of my childhood'' and the gypsy bands he heard in Galánta. Also, he consulted a collection of Hungarian dances published in Vienna around 1800, which included a number of pieces ``after several gypsies from Galánta,'' including the old Magyar recruiting dances, the verbunkos music.
In the spring of 1935 the Galánta and Marosszék dances were combined to form a ballet, titled A Rebel's Tale, first produced at the Budapest Opera. Despite adverse reviews--``plot and music are at cross purposes''--the ballet made the rounds of various German theaters in the late 1930s.
The score calls for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, percussion and strings.