Winter Concert 2019
Saturday January 19, 2019 7:30 PM at St. Stephen's Church
- Offenbach - Overture to 'Orpheus in the Underworld'
- Clarke - Comodo e amabile
- Collier & Dean - Concerto for Vibraphone and Bass
- Marquez - Danzon No. 2
- Nielsen - Symphony 3
Jacques Offenbach - Overture to “Orpheus in the Underworld”
Born: Cologne, June 20, 1819
Died: Paris, October 5, 1880
Although German by birth, Offenbach adopted France as his home, and his music is considered quintessentially French in character. Accepted as a student at the Paris Conservatoire at age 14, he found academic work boring, and left after a year, establishing an international career as a cellist. His real interest, however, was the musical theater, and it is for his work in this field that he is remembered - and beloved - today.
To satisfy this ambition, Offenbach leased small theater in Paris (the Opera Comique was uninterested) in 1858 and began presenting his small scale productions with a small orchestra and a few singers. The enterprise eventually floundered and at the point of bankruptcy, the company presented Orpheus in the Underworld, which is generally considered to be the first actual operetta, and which influenced the later works of Johann Strauss, Franz Lehar, and Gilbert and Sullivan.
Orpheus met with little success until critic Jules Janin reviewed a performance and declared it “a profanation of holy and glorious antiquity in a spirit of irreverence that bordered on blasphemy.” Naturally, Parisians flocked to the theatre to see what Offenbach had done. Whether Janin was really the bluestocking he appeared to be, or simply felt that the work defamed Gluck, whose grand opera Orpheus et Eurydice was obviously parodied in Offenbach’s work, we don’t know. What we do know is that Offenbach subsequently had a hit on his hands, and continues to do so, as the piece has remained popular ever since.
The overture features a rousing introduction followed by several featured instrumental solos (clarinet, oboe, cello, and violin) before closing with the famous Infernal Galop, or more commonly known “can-can”.
Born: Cologne, June 20, 1819
Died: Paris, October 5, 1880
Although German by birth, Offenbach adopted France as his home, and his music is considered quintessentially French in character. Accepted as a student at the Paris Conservatoire at age 14, he found academic work boring, and left after a year, establishing an international career as a cellist. His real interest, however, was the musical theater, and it is for his work in this field that he is remembered - and beloved - today.
To satisfy this ambition, Offenbach leased small theater in Paris (the Opera Comique was uninterested) in 1858 and began presenting his small scale productions with a small orchestra and a few singers. The enterprise eventually floundered and at the point of bankruptcy, the company presented Orpheus in the Underworld, which is generally considered to be the first actual operetta, and which influenced the later works of Johann Strauss, Franz Lehar, and Gilbert and Sullivan.
Orpheus met with little success until critic Jules Janin reviewed a performance and declared it “a profanation of holy and glorious antiquity in a spirit of irreverence that bordered on blasphemy.” Naturally, Parisians flocked to the theatre to see what Offenbach had done. Whether Janin was really the bluestocking he appeared to be, or simply felt that the work defamed Gluck, whose grand opera Orpheus et Eurydice was obviously parodied in Offenbach’s work, we don’t know. What we do know is that Offenbach subsequently had a hit on his hands, and continues to do so, as the piece has remained popular ever since.
The overture features a rousing introduction followed by several featured instrumental solos (clarinet, oboe, cello, and violin) before closing with the famous Infernal Galop, or more commonly known “can-can”.
Rebecca Clarke - Comodo et Amabile
Born: Harrow, England, August 27, 1886
Died: New York, NY, October 13, 1979
Rebecca Clarke is one of the twentieth century’s outstanding woman composers. Her output is not large, but her compositions are remarkable for their superb craftsmanship and intense emotionalism. Born in England to an American father and a German mother, she began music study as a child and entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1903, allegedly withdrawing two years later when her father objected to her teacher’s marriage proposal. That teacher, violinist Percy Hilder Miles, ultimately bequeathed his Stradivarius instrument to Clarke, the sale of which, years later, allowed her to endow the Royal Academy’s May Mukle prize for an outstanding cellist, an honor which is still bestowed annually.
Moving to the Royal College of Music (1907-1910), she studied viola with Lionel Tertis and composition with Charles Villiers Stanford. When her difficult father cut off funds and ordered her from the family home, she left the Royal College and supported herself as a violist, making a reputation as a chamber musician. She also attracted the attention of Sir Henry Wood, who invited her to play in his orchestra, making her one of the first professional female orchestral musicians.
Clarke relocated to the United States in 1916, where she continued her work as a chamber musician, and began composing the major chamber works that established her reputation: a viola sonata which has become a staple of the repertoire, an emotionally wrenching piano trio influenced by the Great War, and a rhapsody for cello and piano which was sponsored by the renowned American arts patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge.
Clarke returned to England for a while, but at the outbreak of World War II, she was in New York on tour and unable to obtain a visa to return home. A chance meeting with pianist (and founding faculty member of the Juilliard School) James Friskin, who was an old acquaintance from Royal College days, resulted in their marriage and permanent settlement in New York City. Friskin died in 1967, Clarke in 1979.
The Comodo e Amabile on today’s program was composed for string quartet in 1924, and is played here with the addition of a bass to the usual string quartet configuration. This one movement piece has drawn similarities with the first movement of Debussy’s String Quartet. The melody, both lilting and melancholy, is subjected to Clarke’s usual treatment consisting of polyrhythms, mostly tonal harmonies, and much contrapuntal writing. Along with another one movement Poemfor the same instruments, Clarke’s works comprise an important addition to the string quartet/orchestra repertoire.
Born: Harrow, England, August 27, 1886
Died: New York, NY, October 13, 1979
Rebecca Clarke is one of the twentieth century’s outstanding woman composers. Her output is not large, but her compositions are remarkable for their superb craftsmanship and intense emotionalism. Born in England to an American father and a German mother, she began music study as a child and entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1903, allegedly withdrawing two years later when her father objected to her teacher’s marriage proposal. That teacher, violinist Percy Hilder Miles, ultimately bequeathed his Stradivarius instrument to Clarke, the sale of which, years later, allowed her to endow the Royal Academy’s May Mukle prize for an outstanding cellist, an honor which is still bestowed annually.
Moving to the Royal College of Music (1907-1910), she studied viola with Lionel Tertis and composition with Charles Villiers Stanford. When her difficult father cut off funds and ordered her from the family home, she left the Royal College and supported herself as a violist, making a reputation as a chamber musician. She also attracted the attention of Sir Henry Wood, who invited her to play in his orchestra, making her one of the first professional female orchestral musicians.
Clarke relocated to the United States in 1916, where she continued her work as a chamber musician, and began composing the major chamber works that established her reputation: a viola sonata which has become a staple of the repertoire, an emotionally wrenching piano trio influenced by the Great War, and a rhapsody for cello and piano which was sponsored by the renowned American arts patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge.
Clarke returned to England for a while, but at the outbreak of World War II, she was in New York on tour and unable to obtain a visa to return home. A chance meeting with pianist (and founding faculty member of the Juilliard School) James Friskin, who was an old acquaintance from Royal College days, resulted in their marriage and permanent settlement in New York City. Friskin died in 1967, Clarke in 1979.
The Comodo e Amabile on today’s program was composed for string quartet in 1924, and is played here with the addition of a bass to the usual string quartet configuration. This one movement piece has drawn similarities with the first movement of Debussy’s String Quartet. The melody, both lilting and melancholy, is subjected to Clarke’s usual treatment consisting of polyrhythms, mostly tonal harmonies, and much contrapuntal writing. Along with another one movement Poemfor the same instruments, Clarke’s works comprise an important addition to the string quartet/orchestra repertoire.
Tom Collier & Dan Dean - Piece for Electric Bass, Vibraphone, and Orchestra
Tom Collier and Dan Dean grew up across the street from one another in West Seattle and have played music together professionally for over 50 years. As a duo, Tom and Dan have recorded and performed in concert with artists such as Ernie Watts, Don Grusin, Howard Roberts, Bobby Shew, Alex Acuna, Emil Richards, Shelly Manne, Bud Shank, William O. “Bill” Smith, Fred Radke, Mike Vax, and Gary Herbig, just to name a few. Two of Collier & Dean’s own albums have received much international critical acclaim including Whistling Midgets and Duets, nominated by Earshot Magazine in 2005 for jazz album of the year. Collier & Dean released their third album in 2014, Sleek Buick (Origin Records), featuring several outstanding musicians including Alex Acuña, Don Grusin, Ernie Watts, Gary Herbig, and Allen Vizzutti. The album received widespread jazz and contemporary music radio airplay throughout the United States, Canada and Europe and was placed on the 2015 GRAMMY ballot for Best Jazz Instrumental album.
TOM COLLIER, vibes, marimba, percussion. Retired Director of the Percussion and Jazz Programs at the University of Washington School of Music, Professor Emeritus Tom Collier has performed and recorded with many important classical, jazz, and popular artists, in addition to recording and performing with his own jazz group. He is a veteran of more than 60 years in music - his first public appearance was at age five, on xylophone, and his first professional performances were made as a nine-year-old marimba virtuoso.
Collier has appeared in concert with many important jazz and popular artists, including Eddie Daniels, Roger Kellaway, Frank Zappa, Ry Cooder, Emil Richards, Larry Coryell, Bill Frisell, Laurendo Almeida, Buddy DeFranco, Diane Schurr, Peggy Lee, Herb Ellis, Ernestine Anderson, Natalie Cole, Mannheim Steamroller, The Beach Boys, Gina Funes, Della Reese, Walt Wagner, and many more. Although his primary focus in recent years has been jazz, Collier has also performed occasionally as a featured mallet soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Bellevue Philharmonic, Northwest Chamber Orchestra, and the Denver Symphony.
As a solo artist, Tom has recorded several albums featuring original compositions beginning with Illusion in 1988 on TC Records featuring Collier (playing vibes, marimba, synthesizer, and drums) with Los Angeles-based saxophonist Gary Herbig. Pacific Aire, released on Nebula Records in 1990, featured West Coast legendary saxophonist Bud Shank, keyboardist Don Grusin, New York pianist Peggy Stern, Seattle bassist Chuck Deardorf, and Maui-based drummer Michael Buono. A series of recordings for Origin and Origin Classical labels began with 2004’s Mallet Jazz featuring marimba/percussion extraordinaire Emil Richards and noted jazz drummer Joe Porcaro (as well as Dan Dean on bass), 2010’s Mallet Fantastique, and 2012’s Tom Collier Plays Haydn, Mozart, Telemann and Others. That recording, featuring Tom performing both parts of noted classical violin duets on vibraphone and marimba (by overdubbing), was placed on the 2013 GRAMMY ballot for best Classical Instrumental Album.
Before his retirement from the University of Washington School of Music in 2016, Tom was awarded a Royalty Research Grant by the University in 2014 to produce three new recordings in three different settings. The first project, a solo vibraphone album entitled Alone In The Studio, was released on Origin Records in March 2015. A second recording, Across The Bridge, was released by Origin in November, 2015 and featured nine original compositions for jazz quartet. World-renowned guitarists Bill Frisell and Larry Coryell joined Collier on this recording along with drummers Ted Poor and John Bishop as well as electric bassist/guitarist Dan Dean who also produced the album. The third project, an experimental free improvisation trio album entitled Impulsive Illuminations was released on Origin Records in November 2016. Guitarist Bill Frisell joined Tom once again on this session along with pianist Richard Karpen, trumpeter Cuong Vu, legendary free-form trombonist Stuart Dempster, and avant-garde clarinetist William O. Smith. All three albums were placed on GRAMMY ballots in various jazz categories respectively for 2016, 2017, and 2018.
DAN DEAN, electric bass, vocalist, recording engineer, producer. Achieving international recognition through his fifty-plus-year career as an electric bassist, vocalist, award- winning producer, composer, and recording engineer, Dan Dean is a truly multi-faceted artist constantly seeking new challenges and outlets for expressing the music he hears.
As an electric bassist, Dean has performed with the some of the finest musicians and musical organizations of our time, including: Shelly Manne, Howard Roberts, The Great Guitars (Herb Ellis, Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessell), Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, B.B. King, Eddie Harris, Blue Mitchell, Harold Land, Buddy DeFranco, Donny Hathaway, Tom Scott, Dave Grusin, Don Grusin, Ernestine Anderson, Peggy Lee, Ernie Watts, the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, Walt Wagner, Freddie Hubbard, Bill Mays, Della Reese, Emil Richards, Joe Porcaro and many others. In 2010, Dan released an electric bass/piano duo album on the Origin label, 2-5-1 (the most common chord progression in jazz) featuring world-renowned pianists Kenny Garrett, George Duke, Larry Goldings, and Gil Goldstein. The album received world-wide acclaim and was clearly one of the best jazz recordings of the year.
In 2017, Dan released his first album as a vocalist, Songs Without Words, on the Origin Classical label. The album came about in a very unusual way. In preparation for a recording of solo electric bass with string orchestra, Dean arranged works by JS Bach, Vivaldi, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff, and Albinoni. With the budget and organizational constraints of recording large ensembles, he decided to try adapting the arrangements to his voice. What began as a "what if" experiment turned into a musically ambitious, technically challenging effort. Often angelic, or haunting, or exuberant, Songs Without Words emerged as a culmination of his musical experiences over a lifetime, captured by a single microphone. The album was placed on the 2018 GRAMMY ballot in the “Best Classical Vocal Album” as well as “Best Engineered Classical Album”.
Dan has received numerous broadcast and film awards including the Cannes Golden Lion, Addy Awards, Telly Awards, Best of the West Awards, Clio Awards, IBA Awards, IBA "Spike" Award. The Dan Dean Sample Libraries have received three Keyboard Magazine’s “Key Buy” awards, Electronic Musician magazine’s “Best Buy” endorsement, as well as earning a total of 35 stars in Sound On Sound magazine. In 1980, Dan received a National Endowment for the Arts Composition Award in Jazz Composition in recognition for his innovative pieces for electric bass and bass/guitar synthesizers.
Dean also has been a major contributor to music education. He is the author of the widely successful Hal Leonard Series for Electric Bass Method Books 1, 2, and 3; Hal Leonard Electric Bass Studio Series Books 1, 2, and 3; Bass Trax; and other related projects. He has been a member of the teaching faculties in Jazz studies and electric bass, at Western Washington University, Olympic College, and Shoreline College.
PIECE for ELECTRIC BASS, VIBRAPHONE, and ORCHESTRA was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony in 1979 to be performed several times with the orchestra at various public high school assembly concerts. Collier and Dean collaborated on the composition with Dean writing essentially the opening and closing sections of the piece and Collier contributing much of the middle variation and improvisation dialogues between the duo and orchestra. Rather than using the traditional format of a classical concerto, Collier and Dean structured the piece as a Third Stream composition featuring thoroughly composed orchestral parts interjected by virtuosic, jazzy bursts of composed and improvised vibraphone and electric bass lines. Dean’s angular, rhythmically complex opening and closing themes are effectively contrasted by Collier’s more melodic middle composed and improvised passages.
Piece for Electric Bass, Vibraphone, and Orchestra has been performed several times by the duo over the years. In addition to the Seattle Symphony concerts in 1979, Collier and Dean have appeared as guest soloists with the Olympia Symphony, Bremerton Symphony, Bellevue Symphony, and Everett Symphony. Most recently, a wind ensemble arrangement of the piece was completed by Timothy Salzman, Director of the University of Washington Wind Ensemble, with the Duo performing the piece with Salzman’s elite student group.
Tom Collier and Dan Dean grew up across the street from one another in West Seattle and have played music together professionally for over 50 years. As a duo, Tom and Dan have recorded and performed in concert with artists such as Ernie Watts, Don Grusin, Howard Roberts, Bobby Shew, Alex Acuna, Emil Richards, Shelly Manne, Bud Shank, William O. “Bill” Smith, Fred Radke, Mike Vax, and Gary Herbig, just to name a few. Two of Collier & Dean’s own albums have received much international critical acclaim including Whistling Midgets and Duets, nominated by Earshot Magazine in 2005 for jazz album of the year. Collier & Dean released their third album in 2014, Sleek Buick (Origin Records), featuring several outstanding musicians including Alex Acuña, Don Grusin, Ernie Watts, Gary Herbig, and Allen Vizzutti. The album received widespread jazz and contemporary music radio airplay throughout the United States, Canada and Europe and was placed on the 2015 GRAMMY ballot for Best Jazz Instrumental album.
TOM COLLIER, vibes, marimba, percussion. Retired Director of the Percussion and Jazz Programs at the University of Washington School of Music, Professor Emeritus Tom Collier has performed and recorded with many important classical, jazz, and popular artists, in addition to recording and performing with his own jazz group. He is a veteran of more than 60 years in music - his first public appearance was at age five, on xylophone, and his first professional performances were made as a nine-year-old marimba virtuoso.
Collier has appeared in concert with many important jazz and popular artists, including Eddie Daniels, Roger Kellaway, Frank Zappa, Ry Cooder, Emil Richards, Larry Coryell, Bill Frisell, Laurendo Almeida, Buddy DeFranco, Diane Schurr, Peggy Lee, Herb Ellis, Ernestine Anderson, Natalie Cole, Mannheim Steamroller, The Beach Boys, Gina Funes, Della Reese, Walt Wagner, and many more. Although his primary focus in recent years has been jazz, Collier has also performed occasionally as a featured mallet soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Bellevue Philharmonic, Northwest Chamber Orchestra, and the Denver Symphony.
As a solo artist, Tom has recorded several albums featuring original compositions beginning with Illusion in 1988 on TC Records featuring Collier (playing vibes, marimba, synthesizer, and drums) with Los Angeles-based saxophonist Gary Herbig. Pacific Aire, released on Nebula Records in 1990, featured West Coast legendary saxophonist Bud Shank, keyboardist Don Grusin, New York pianist Peggy Stern, Seattle bassist Chuck Deardorf, and Maui-based drummer Michael Buono. A series of recordings for Origin and Origin Classical labels began with 2004’s Mallet Jazz featuring marimba/percussion extraordinaire Emil Richards and noted jazz drummer Joe Porcaro (as well as Dan Dean on bass), 2010’s Mallet Fantastique, and 2012’s Tom Collier Plays Haydn, Mozart, Telemann and Others. That recording, featuring Tom performing both parts of noted classical violin duets on vibraphone and marimba (by overdubbing), was placed on the 2013 GRAMMY ballot for best Classical Instrumental Album.
Before his retirement from the University of Washington School of Music in 2016, Tom was awarded a Royalty Research Grant by the University in 2014 to produce three new recordings in three different settings. The first project, a solo vibraphone album entitled Alone In The Studio, was released on Origin Records in March 2015. A second recording, Across The Bridge, was released by Origin in November, 2015 and featured nine original compositions for jazz quartet. World-renowned guitarists Bill Frisell and Larry Coryell joined Collier on this recording along with drummers Ted Poor and John Bishop as well as electric bassist/guitarist Dan Dean who also produced the album. The third project, an experimental free improvisation trio album entitled Impulsive Illuminations was released on Origin Records in November 2016. Guitarist Bill Frisell joined Tom once again on this session along with pianist Richard Karpen, trumpeter Cuong Vu, legendary free-form trombonist Stuart Dempster, and avant-garde clarinetist William O. Smith. All three albums were placed on GRAMMY ballots in various jazz categories respectively for 2016, 2017, and 2018.
DAN DEAN, electric bass, vocalist, recording engineer, producer. Achieving international recognition through his fifty-plus-year career as an electric bassist, vocalist, award- winning producer, composer, and recording engineer, Dan Dean is a truly multi-faceted artist constantly seeking new challenges and outlets for expressing the music he hears.
As an electric bassist, Dean has performed with the some of the finest musicians and musical organizations of our time, including: Shelly Manne, Howard Roberts, The Great Guitars (Herb Ellis, Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessell), Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, B.B. King, Eddie Harris, Blue Mitchell, Harold Land, Buddy DeFranco, Donny Hathaway, Tom Scott, Dave Grusin, Don Grusin, Ernestine Anderson, Peggy Lee, Ernie Watts, the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, Walt Wagner, Freddie Hubbard, Bill Mays, Della Reese, Emil Richards, Joe Porcaro and many others. In 2010, Dan released an electric bass/piano duo album on the Origin label, 2-5-1 (the most common chord progression in jazz) featuring world-renowned pianists Kenny Garrett, George Duke, Larry Goldings, and Gil Goldstein. The album received world-wide acclaim and was clearly one of the best jazz recordings of the year.
In 2017, Dan released his first album as a vocalist, Songs Without Words, on the Origin Classical label. The album came about in a very unusual way. In preparation for a recording of solo electric bass with string orchestra, Dean arranged works by JS Bach, Vivaldi, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff, and Albinoni. With the budget and organizational constraints of recording large ensembles, he decided to try adapting the arrangements to his voice. What began as a "what if" experiment turned into a musically ambitious, technically challenging effort. Often angelic, or haunting, or exuberant, Songs Without Words emerged as a culmination of his musical experiences over a lifetime, captured by a single microphone. The album was placed on the 2018 GRAMMY ballot in the “Best Classical Vocal Album” as well as “Best Engineered Classical Album”.
Dan has received numerous broadcast and film awards including the Cannes Golden Lion, Addy Awards, Telly Awards, Best of the West Awards, Clio Awards, IBA Awards, IBA "Spike" Award. The Dan Dean Sample Libraries have received three Keyboard Magazine’s “Key Buy” awards, Electronic Musician magazine’s “Best Buy” endorsement, as well as earning a total of 35 stars in Sound On Sound magazine. In 1980, Dan received a National Endowment for the Arts Composition Award in Jazz Composition in recognition for his innovative pieces for electric bass and bass/guitar synthesizers.
Dean also has been a major contributor to music education. He is the author of the widely successful Hal Leonard Series for Electric Bass Method Books 1, 2, and 3; Hal Leonard Electric Bass Studio Series Books 1, 2, and 3; Bass Trax; and other related projects. He has been a member of the teaching faculties in Jazz studies and electric bass, at Western Washington University, Olympic College, and Shoreline College.
PIECE for ELECTRIC BASS, VIBRAPHONE, and ORCHESTRA was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony in 1979 to be performed several times with the orchestra at various public high school assembly concerts. Collier and Dean collaborated on the composition with Dean writing essentially the opening and closing sections of the piece and Collier contributing much of the middle variation and improvisation dialogues between the duo and orchestra. Rather than using the traditional format of a classical concerto, Collier and Dean structured the piece as a Third Stream composition featuring thoroughly composed orchestral parts interjected by virtuosic, jazzy bursts of composed and improvised vibraphone and electric bass lines. Dean’s angular, rhythmically complex opening and closing themes are effectively contrasted by Collier’s more melodic middle composed and improvised passages.
Piece for Electric Bass, Vibraphone, and Orchestra has been performed several times by the duo over the years. In addition to the Seattle Symphony concerts in 1979, Collier and Dean have appeared as guest soloists with the Olympia Symphony, Bremerton Symphony, Bellevue Symphony, and Everett Symphony. Most recently, a wind ensemble arrangement of the piece was completed by Timothy Salzman, Director of the University of Washington Wind Ensemble, with the Duo performing the piece with Salzman’s elite student group.
Arturo Marquez - Danzon No. 2
Born: Alamos, Sonora, Mexico, September 20, 1950
Born in the Mexican province of Sonora, Arturo Márquez was the only one of nine siblings who became a musician. Both his father and grandfather were musicians - his father a mariachi musician, his grandfather a folk musician. He began composing at age 16, and studied first at the Mexican Music Conservatory and then, via a Fulbright scholarship, at the California Institute of the Arts.
Danzon is a venerable musical genre in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico, especially in the region of Veracruz. In its traditional form, the music takes the form of a stately dance, similar to a habanera, with syncopated rhythms and pauses in which the dancing couple stops to listen to the instrumentalists’ virtuosic passages.
Marquez composed the piece in 1994 on a commission from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The work achieved worldwide popularity through performances by the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra whose conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, featured it on international tours in 2007. The work became a phenomenon and it’s easy to hear why. It’s loaded with Latin charm, rhythm and excitement.
The inspiration for the work came to Márquez after a visit to a ballroom in Veracruz. In the composer’s own words: “I discovered that the apparent lightness of the danzón hides a music full of sensuality and rigor,” and added: “…it is a personal way of expressing my admiration and feelings towards real popular music.”
A lot takes place in the piece’s duration. Opening with a sinuous duet for clarinet and piano, he introduces the rhythmic figure that populates the entire piece. Gradually other instruments join in, and soon the fireworks are in full display with a rousing and joyously infectious mass of sound and rhythm. A couple of quieter interludes and solos for various instruments briefly calm the frenzy, but soon the excitement builds again and the piece comes to a thrilling conclusion.
Born: Alamos, Sonora, Mexico, September 20, 1950
Born in the Mexican province of Sonora, Arturo Márquez was the only one of nine siblings who became a musician. Both his father and grandfather were musicians - his father a mariachi musician, his grandfather a folk musician. He began composing at age 16, and studied first at the Mexican Music Conservatory and then, via a Fulbright scholarship, at the California Institute of the Arts.
Danzon is a venerable musical genre in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico, especially in the region of Veracruz. In its traditional form, the music takes the form of a stately dance, similar to a habanera, with syncopated rhythms and pauses in which the dancing couple stops to listen to the instrumentalists’ virtuosic passages.
Marquez composed the piece in 1994 on a commission from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The work achieved worldwide popularity through performances by the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra whose conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, featured it on international tours in 2007. The work became a phenomenon and it’s easy to hear why. It’s loaded with Latin charm, rhythm and excitement.
The inspiration for the work came to Márquez after a visit to a ballroom in Veracruz. In the composer’s own words: “I discovered that the apparent lightness of the danzón hides a music full of sensuality and rigor,” and added: “…it is a personal way of expressing my admiration and feelings towards real popular music.”
A lot takes place in the piece’s duration. Opening with a sinuous duet for clarinet and piano, he introduces the rhythmic figure that populates the entire piece. Gradually other instruments join in, and soon the fireworks are in full display with a rousing and joyously infectious mass of sound and rhythm. A couple of quieter interludes and solos for various instruments briefly calm the frenzy, but soon the excitement builds again and the piece comes to a thrilling conclusion.
Carl Nielsen - Symphony No. 3 “Sinfonia Espansiva”
Born: Norre Lyndelse, Denmark, June 9, 1865
Died: Copenhagen, Denmark, October 3, 1931
Symphony No. 3
Denmark’s most important composer had the advantage of parents who, while poor, encouraged their son in his musical education. Nielsen’s teenage talent as a cornet player resulted in a stint in a military band, and ultimately to a place at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. An extended post as violinist in the Royal Danish Orchestra followed.
Nielsen managed a modest living as violinist and teacher while establishing himself as a composer. A scholarship afforded him an opportunity for travel in the early 1890s and it was during a stay in Paris he met, and ultimately married, the gifted sculptor Anne Marie Brodersen. The marriage was a stormy one, complete with long separations (Anne Marie was dedicated to her career as well as to her family, and she travelled a great deal), infidelities, and ultimately a respectful détente. Interestingly, when Nielsen died in 1931, his wife was commissioned to create a monument to his memory, but disagreements about the design led to her subsidizing its construction herself.
Nielsen’s early attempts at symphonic music show the influences of Grieg and Brahms, and he much admired Bach and Mozart, but he soon felt the impulse toward experimentation in his own compositions. His first symphony (1890-92) clearly shows the influence of Brahms and a grounding in traditional symphonic form. Already by the time of his second symphony (1901-02), which is also traditional in form, there are hints of the many directions in which Nielsen’s musical language will travel.
Overall, Nielsen’s compositional philosophy is somewhat difficult to pin down. Like his fellow Scandinavian Jan Sibelius, his music often suggests the magnitude and the majesty of nature, and while time-honored rules of harmony, structure and counterpoint do appear in his works, they do so inconsistently. The result is a broadening of perspective, and as he creates each new symphony, he is further motivated by conviction and self-confidence. In this respect, his development is sometimes compared to that of Beethoven, who composed as Classicism was giving way to Romanticism. Nielsen’s work in turn takes Romanticism as its point of departure and ventures into territory even more foreign than that of Beethoven. The organic nature of his symphonies is tellingly described by the British music critic Robert Simpson who wrote: “Most of his mature works treat a chosen key as a goal to be achieved or an order to be evolved, and his final establishment of the key has all the organized inevitability….with which a flower appears at a plant’s point of full growth.”
In the Sinfonia Espansiva, Nielsen abandons allegiance to tradition and makes it clear from the outset that rhythm will be this work’s creative force. No gradual unfolding of a musical landscape here. Nielsen’s orchestra steps right up and with great emphasis repeatedly approaches a waltz-like section and is finally swept away in it. The serene second movement paints an idyllic landscape featuring wordless vocal solos from a soprano and baritone, incorporating the voices into the orchestral fabric. The third movement, Allegretto un poco, also somewhat reserved in character, has been described as a harmonic no-mans land with horn calls “sounding the infinite depths”. The final movement opens in hymn-like character and contains a subtle theme and variations, returning to the theme in a jubilant conclusion. Nielsen himself described this movement as a “hymn to the joy of work”.
Born: Norre Lyndelse, Denmark, June 9, 1865
Died: Copenhagen, Denmark, October 3, 1931
Symphony No. 3
- Allegro espansivo
- Andante pastorale
- Allegretto un poco
- Finale: Allegro
Denmark’s most important composer had the advantage of parents who, while poor, encouraged their son in his musical education. Nielsen’s teenage talent as a cornet player resulted in a stint in a military band, and ultimately to a place at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. An extended post as violinist in the Royal Danish Orchestra followed.
Nielsen managed a modest living as violinist and teacher while establishing himself as a composer. A scholarship afforded him an opportunity for travel in the early 1890s and it was during a stay in Paris he met, and ultimately married, the gifted sculptor Anne Marie Brodersen. The marriage was a stormy one, complete with long separations (Anne Marie was dedicated to her career as well as to her family, and she travelled a great deal), infidelities, and ultimately a respectful détente. Interestingly, when Nielsen died in 1931, his wife was commissioned to create a monument to his memory, but disagreements about the design led to her subsidizing its construction herself.
Nielsen’s early attempts at symphonic music show the influences of Grieg and Brahms, and he much admired Bach and Mozart, but he soon felt the impulse toward experimentation in his own compositions. His first symphony (1890-92) clearly shows the influence of Brahms and a grounding in traditional symphonic form. Already by the time of his second symphony (1901-02), which is also traditional in form, there are hints of the many directions in which Nielsen’s musical language will travel.
Overall, Nielsen’s compositional philosophy is somewhat difficult to pin down. Like his fellow Scandinavian Jan Sibelius, his music often suggests the magnitude and the majesty of nature, and while time-honored rules of harmony, structure and counterpoint do appear in his works, they do so inconsistently. The result is a broadening of perspective, and as he creates each new symphony, he is further motivated by conviction and self-confidence. In this respect, his development is sometimes compared to that of Beethoven, who composed as Classicism was giving way to Romanticism. Nielsen’s work in turn takes Romanticism as its point of departure and ventures into territory even more foreign than that of Beethoven. The organic nature of his symphonies is tellingly described by the British music critic Robert Simpson who wrote: “Most of his mature works treat a chosen key as a goal to be achieved or an order to be evolved, and his final establishment of the key has all the organized inevitability….with which a flower appears at a plant’s point of full growth.”
In the Sinfonia Espansiva, Nielsen abandons allegiance to tradition and makes it clear from the outset that rhythm will be this work’s creative force. No gradual unfolding of a musical landscape here. Nielsen’s orchestra steps right up and with great emphasis repeatedly approaches a waltz-like section and is finally swept away in it. The serene second movement paints an idyllic landscape featuring wordless vocal solos from a soprano and baritone, incorporating the voices into the orchestral fabric. The third movement, Allegretto un poco, also somewhat reserved in character, has been described as a harmonic no-mans land with horn calls “sounding the infinite depths”. The final movement opens in hymn-like character and contains a subtle theme and variations, returning to the theme in a jubilant conclusion. Nielsen himself described this movement as a “hymn to the joy of work”.
Program notes by Michael Carroll