TMSO Special 2020 (10/11) │ Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra

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Artists

Toshiaki UMEDA, Conductor
Kyoko TABE, Piano

Profile

Program

Beethoven: Coriolan Overture, op.62

Program Notes
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.4 in G major, op.58

Program Notes
Dvořák: Symphony No.7 in D minor, op.70 B.141

Program Notes

Ludwig van Beethoven: Born in Bonn, December 16, 1770; died in Vienna, March 26, 1827

Unlike Beethovenʼs Overtures to Egmont, Prometheus, The Ruins of Athens or King Stephen, which are only the first of a long series of musical numbers written to accompany a staged play, the Overture to Coriolan stands alone as an independent work. It was written ostensibly to open a performance of the play by his friend, the Viennese poet and playwright Heinrich Joseph von Collin (1771-1811), but in fact the more pressing reason was probably that the composer happened to need a new overture to open his own concerts, and indeed, the first performance of the Overture took place at a private concert at the palace of Prince Lobkowitz in March of 1807. The Coriolan of Collinʼs play derives from Shakespeareʼs last tragedy, Coriolanus, and ultimately from Plutarchʼs account, works Beethoven himself knew well.

Coriolanus, born Gaius Marcius (late sixth/early fifth century B.C.), acquired his popular name through an act of extraordinary bravery, by leading the Romans to victory over their traditional enemy, the Volscians, and capturing the city of Corioli. For this he received the honorary name Coriolanus. Nevertheless, back in Rome, he became embroiled in political issues and found himself exiled. To avenge this terrible injustice, Coriolanus, in bitterness and fury, switched his allegiance to the Volscians and led them against Rome. They laid siege to the city, with Coriolanus rejecting all ambassadors and emissaries until the Romans sent his wife, mother and young son. Coriolanus finally relented, but this so angered the Volscians that they murdered him. (In Collin, this becomes suicide.) Obviously a story like this probes
the trials and tribulations of a human soul, makes heroic attempts to resolve weighty issues, and involves the conflict of noble ideals (in this case, pride and love) – all themes close to Beethovenʼs heart. In addition, Beethoven surely felt an affinity with Coriolanus’ qualities of individualism, daring, stubbornness and loneliness.

Fourteen introductory bars set the mood by hurling forth stern unisons in the strings and defiant, slashing gestures from the full orchestra. The conflict raging in the heroʼs soul is depicted in the contrast between the two principal themes. The first theme, in C minor, is full of restless, nervous energy, music of dark menace and angry expostulations. This eventually gives way to a soaring, lyrical idea in E-flat major that suggests to many listeners the desperate pleading of Coriolanʼs mother and wife. Although Beethoven probably had no specific program in mind, the striking use of silences, the abrupt contrasts of agitation and lyricism, the rhythmic restlessness and inner turmoil of the music all coalesce in a magnificent character portrait.
Program notes by Robert Markow

Robert Markow's musical career began as a horn player in the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He now writes program notes for orchestras and concert organizations in the USA, Canada, and several countries in Asia. As a journalist he covers the music scenes across North America, Europe, and Asian countries, especially Japan. At Montreal's McGill University he lectured on music for over 25 years.

Ⅰ Allegro moderato
Ⅱ Andante con moto
Ⅲ Rondo: Vivace

It is the nature of many concertgoers today to test the waters of new music hesitantly and carefully. Im-agine, then, the circumstances under which Beethovenʼs Fourth Piano Concerto was given its first public performance ̶ as one of seven(!) works all heard by the Viennese for the first time, all by the same com-poser, and four of them of major dimensions. This four-hour marathon concert took place on December 22, 1808 in Viennaʼs Theater an der Wien. It was a freezing cold evening, which meant conditions inside the unheated hall were uncomfortable, to say the least. In addition, Beethovenʼs music was generally considered to be advanced and difficult both to play and to understand. It was truly a daunting prospect for most concertgoers that night. Considering the cluttered context in which the Fourth Concerto was first heard, it is perhaps not so surprising that it failed to leave a vivid impression. It is music of a lyrical, intimate bent and with great subtlety of expression, especially in comparison with many of Beethovenʼs previous works and to other works on that marathon concert of premieres.

There are many bold, innovative and radical touches to this concerto. The most famous and most obvi-ous of these is the unprecedented solo introduction. Up to this time, a concerto had always opened with a long exposition for the orchestra alone (actually, there was one exception: Mozart had combined solo-ist and orchestra in the exposition of K. 271), but here Beethoven gives the first five bars to the unac-companied piano playing the first movementʼs principal theme in a mood of quiet restraint. The orches-tra responds in a harmonically remote key (another surprise), and goes on to present and develop other themes. The soloist re-enters in a quasi-cadenza passage, and then joins the orchestra in a closely-woven tapestry of themes, motifs and rhythmic patterns. It is worth noting that the three-note rhythmic cell that runs like a motto through the entire movement has its direct parallel in the opening movement of the Fifth Symphony, which was composed concurrently with this concerto. An abundance of trills, arpeggios, scales and other virtuosic baggage can be found, but this material is so well integrated into the musical structure that one never perceives it as empty showmanship.

The slow movement is, if anything, even more compelling and innovative than the first. In just a little over five minutes (one of the shortest slow movements of any well-known concerto) there unfolds one of the most striking musical dialogues ever written. Initially we hear two totally different musical ex-pressions: the orchestra (strings only) in unison octaves ̶ imperious, assertive, angry, loud, angular; and the solo piano fully harmonized ̶ meek, quiet, legato. Over the span of the movement the orchestra by stages relents and assumes more and more the character of the soloist. Tamed, seduced, won over, taught, assuaged and conquered are some of the terms used to give dramatic or literary interpretation to this remarkable musical phenomenon.

The rondo finale steals in quietly, without pause, bringing much-needed wit, charm and lightness after the tense, dark drama of the slow movement. Trumpets and timpani are heard for the first time in the work. Like the first movement, it is full of interesting touches, including a rhythmic motto and a sono-rous solo passage for the divided viola section. A brilliantly spirited coda brings the concerto to its con-clusion.
Program notes by Robert Markow

Robert Markow's musical career began as a horn player in the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He now writes program notes for orchestras and concert organizations in the USA, Canada, and several countries in Asia. As a journalist he covers the music scenes across North America, Europe, and Asian countries, especially Japan. At Montreal's McGill University he lectured on music for over 25 years.

Ⅰ Allegro maestoso
Ⅱ Poco Adagio
Ⅲ Scherzo: Vivace
Ⅳ Finale: Allegro

Antonín Dvořák: Born in Mühlhausen, Bohemia (now Nelahozeves, Czech Republic), September 8, 1841; died in Prague, May 1, 1904

The New World may be the most famous of Antonín Dvořákʼs nine symphonies, but many consider the Seventh in D minor to be his greatest. The composer himself had no small opinion of this symphony, and succeeded in doubling the initial price offered for it by his publisher Simrock. It is hardly surprising that the symphony turned out so well, for Dvořák was spurred on by several important factors.

In 1884, the Royal Philharmonic Society of London conferred on him an honorary membership, in con-junction with which came a commission to write a new symphony. Dvořákʼs fame and international stature were by now considerable, and wanting to maintain this standing, he put his best effort into the work. He even stated that his intention was to write a symphony “which must be such as to shock the world.” London figured prominently in Dvořákʼs travels (1884 marked his third visit there), but he was a Bohemian nationalist at heart and wanted his music to bring fame and glory to his homeland. (The jaunty rhythmic pattern of the third movement is a splendid manifestation of the native blood coursing through his veins.) His ambition to do his absolute best was also stimulated by the Third Symphony of Brahms, which Dvořák considered the finest symphony of recent years. Dvořákʼs new symphony was written in Prague in the short space of three months. The world premiere was given by the London Philharmonic on April 22, 1885 with the composer conducting. Dvořák wrote to Simrock that “it had an exceptionally brilliant success,” a view upheld in the press.

The Seventh is the darkest, most intense and most serious of Dvořákʼs symphonies. A sense of inner tragedy and reserved strength pervades throughout, a quality perceived right in the ominous opening theme in the lower range of the violas and cellos. This theme almost immediately shows its capacity for spawning new material; following a quiet echo in the clarinets, the theme almost continually transforms itself, metamorphosing into a jagged twisting affair, then into a lyrically sweeping motif for the solo horn before culminating in a magnificent outburst for the full orchestra. All this may be considered the first theme group, which is contrasted with the more pastoral second, a gracefully flowing theme in B-flat major presented by the woodwinds. From these ideas Dvořák then continues to weave a tautly constructed movement, arranging the fragments and pieces in a mosaic of superb symphonic logic.

The slow movement opens with an exquisite passage of idyllic charm, scored for woodwind quartet and harmonized like a Bach chorale. The mood of other-worldly serenity pervades much of the movement, though there are occasional emotional disturbances. Donald Francis Tovey found passages of this movement to equal those of some slow movements in Beethoven and Bruckner symphonies in their profound and lofty thought.

The Scherzo is propelled by an irresistible dance rhythm, which manages to be simultaneously graceful and powerful. As an added attraction to this intriguing rhythmic impetus, a flowing counterpoint in the lower strings is often present as well (it is first heard in the opening bars). The relentless momentum and dramatic intensity are temporarily checked during the Trio, which is marked by a relaxed, playful and folksy character.

Unlike Beethovenʼs Fifth or Brahmsʼs First, this symphony does not trace the journey from a gloomy, turbulent beginning to a triumphant conclusion. The mood of dark tragedy and restless defiance continues to the end. Along the way the finale encompasses moments of passionate lyricism, fearsome resolve and darkly burnished sonorities. Otakar Šourek described this symphony as “a composition of monumental proportions, unified in all its parts, bold in design, of material without flaw or fracture, a composition which is one of the greatest and most significant symphonic compositions since Beetho-ven.”
Program notes by Robert Markow

Robert Markow's musical career began as a horn player in the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He now writes program notes for orchestras and concert organizations in the USA, Canada, and several countries in Asia. As a journalist he covers the music scenes across North America, Europe, and Asian countries, especially Japan. At Montreal's McGill University he lectured on music for over 25 years.

Ticket Price

	S	A	B	C	Ex
General	¥6,500	¥5,500	¥4,500	¥3,500	¥2,500

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TMSO Special 2020 (10/11)

Artists

Toshiaki UMEDA (Conductor)

TABE Kyoko (Piano)

Program

Ticket Price

Baby sitting Service

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