Promenade Concert

Promenade Concert No.398

This concert is over. Date: Fri. 23. September 2022 14:00 (13:00)

Venue: Suntory Hall Venue Info Seat

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Artists

Kazuhiro KOIZUMI, Conductor

Profile

Program

Beethoven: Symphony No.6 in F major, op.68, "Pastorale"

Program Notes
Respighi: Fontane di Roma

Program Notes
Respighi: Pine di Roma

Program Notes

Ⅰ Awakening of happy feelings on arriving in the country: Allegro ma non troppo
Ⅱ By the brook: Andante molto mosso
Ⅲ Merry gathering of country folk: Allegro
Ⅳ Thunderstorm: Allegro
Ⅴ Shepherdʼs song − Happy and thankful feelings after the storm: Allegretto

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

　The dividing line between program music and absolute music is a thin one, but Beethoven proved him-self a master of both in his Sixth Symphony. Although the work has been produced with scenery, with characters who move about on stage, and as part of the cinema classic Fantasia, Beethoven took care to advise that the symphony is “more an expression of feeling than painting.” The composerʼs own love for the pleasures of the country are well-known. The time he spent in the woods outside Vienna offered his tortured soul precious solace and peace of mind. To quote the composer: “How glad I am to be able to roam in wood and thicket, among the trees and flowers and rocks. No one can love the country as I do … In the woods there is enchantment which expresses all things.”
　The symphony received its first performance in Vienna as part of that incredible marathon concert of December 22, 1808 at the Theater an der Wien, an all-Beethoven concert that also included the Fifth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto, Choral Fantasy and some vocal and choral music.
　The symphonyʼs opening places us immediately in relaxed, beatific surroundings. The day is sunny, warm and abounding in natureʼs fragrances and gentle breezes. But aside from conjuring nature image-ry, the music is remarkable for its motivic writing − virtually the entire movement is built from tiny musical cells found in the first two bars. Entire phrases and sentences are often formed from these mo-tivic ideas repeated again and again.
　The second movement invites contemplation. To Donald Francis Tovey, this is ‘a slow movement in full sonata form which at every point asserts its deliberate intention to be lazy and to say whatever oc-curs to it twice in succession, and which in doing so never loses flow or falls out of proportion.”
　The Sixth is the only symphony in which Beethoven departed from the four-movement format. The remaining three movements are played without interruption. Rough, peasant merry-making and danc-ing are portrayed, but the boisterous festivities suddenly stop when intimations of an approaching storm are heard. There is not much time to take cover; a few isolated raindrops fall, and then the heav-ens burst open. Timpani, piccolo and trombones, all hitherto silent in the symphony, now make their entrances.
　With the tempest over, a shepherdʼs pipe is heard in a song of thanksgiving for the renewed freshness and beauty of nature. The joyous hymn is taken up by the full orchestra as if, to quote Edward Downes, “in thanks to some pantheistic god, to Nature, to the sun, to whatever beneficent power one can per-ceive in a universe that seemed as dark and terrifyingly irrational in Beethovenʼs day as it can in ours.”

　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 The Fountain of Valle Giulia at Dawn
Ⅱ The Triton Fountain in the Morning
Ⅲ The Fountain of Trevi at Midday
Ⅳ The Villa Medici Fountain at Sunset

Ottorino Respighi: Born in Bologna, July 9, 1879; died in Rome, April 18, 1936

　The early twentieth-century figure Ottorino Respighi was a many-talented, multi-faceted musician: violinist, violist, conductor, educator, administrator, editor, and composer who wrote songs like a German, operas like an Italian, and orchestral music like a Russian. An early stint as principal violist in the St. Petersburg Opera Orchestra was followed by a period as violinist in the Mugellini Quintet (1903-08), all the while studying composition with Luigi Torchi and Giuseppe Martucci in his native Bologna, with Rimsky-Korsakov in Russia, and with Max Bruch in Berlin. In 1908, he turned his back on per-forming and devoted the rest of his life to composition.
　A strong interest in history brought forth such works as Mary of Egypt (a “mystery” play with music), Belkis, Queen of Sheba (ballet), the Botticellian Triptych (orchestral portraits) and the operas Semir-ama and King Enzo. Respighiʼs fascination for music of bygone eras led to many of his more popular works, including the potpourri Rossiniana, the ballet La Boutique fantasque (also based on Rossiniʼs music), The Birds (old harpsichord pieces), and Ancient Airs and Dances (seventeenth- and eighteenth-century lute music). Less well known are the Concerto gregoriano for violin and the Concerto in the Mixolydian Mode for piano, both incorporating Gregorian chants and ancient church modes.
　Respighiʼs interest in historical matters also brought forth the music by which he is best remembered today, a trilogy of symphonic evocations of ancient Rome: The Fountains of Rome (1916), The Pines of Rome (1924) and Feste romane (Roman Festivals, 1928). All three works burst with brilliant effects, resplendent orchestration and intoxicating rhythms, largely learned from Respighiʼs teacher Rimsky-Korsakov, but also derived from personal study of the scores of Richard Strauss, Debussy and Stravin-sky.
　Rome, the “Eternal City,” was a “natural” for a musician of Respighiʼs antiquarian inclinations, a city steeped in history, studded with monuments and statues, richly endowed with great art and architec-ture. The composer wondered aloud why no one “had ever thought of making the fountains of Rome sing, for, after all, they are the very voice of the city.” In The Fountains of Rome, Respighiʼs purpose was, as he stated in the introduction the score, “to give expression to the sentiments and visions sug-gested to him by four of Romeʼs fountains at the hour in which the character of each is most in harmo-ny with the surrounding landscape, or in which their beauty appears most suggestive to the observer.” The first performance was given, appropriately enough, in Rome on March 11, 1917, with Antonio Guarnieri conducting the Augusteo Orchestra. The Fountains of Rome was Respighiʼs first big success as an orchestral composer. The work remained for many years his most famous composition, and it is still regarded as one of his finest.
　In the score published by Ricordi, Respighi wrote a description of the sights and sounds evoked by the four connected sections:
　“The first part of the poem, inspired by the Fountain of Valle Giulia, depicts a pastoral landscape; droves of cattle pass and disappear in the fresh damp mists of a Roman dawn.
　“A sudden loud and insistent blast of horns above the whole orchestra introduces the second part, the Triton Fountain. It is like a joyous call, summoning troops of naiads and tritons, who come running up, pursuing each other and mingling in a frenzied dance between the jets of water.
　“Next there appears a solemn theme borne on the undulations of the orchestra. It is the Fountain of Trevi at midday. The solemn theme, passing from the woodwind to the brass instruments, assumes a triumphal character. Trumpets peal; across the radiant surface of the water there passes Neptuneʼs chariot, drawn by sea horses, and followed by a train of sirens and tritons. The procession then vanish-es while faint trumpet blasts resound in the distance.
　“The fourth part, the Villa Medici Fountain, is announced by a sad theme which rises above a subdued warbling. It is the nostalgic hour of sunset. The air is full of the sound of tolling bells, birds twittering, leaves rustling. Then all dies peacefully into the silence of the night.”

　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 The Pines of the Villa Borghese
Ⅱ Pines Near a Catacomb
Ⅲ The Pines of the Janiculum
Ⅳ The Pines of the Appian Way

　In The Pines of Rome, Respighi does not so much attempt to portray nature, but rather uses landscapes with pines in and around Rome as points of departure to conjure up visions and reminiscences of the great city. “The century-old trees which so characteristically dominate the Roman landscape become witnesses to the principal events in Roman life,” wrote the composer. As with The Fountains of Rome, the first performance was given in Rome with the Augusteo Orchestra. Bernardino Molinari led the or-chestra on December 14, 1924.
　In the score published by Ricordi, Respighi wrote a description for each of the four sections, which are played without pause: Freely adapted and expanded, the text runs as follows:
　I. The Pines of the Villa Borghese − Children are at play in the pine grove of the Villa Borghese, dancing the Italian equivalent of “Ring around a Rosy”; they mimic marching soldiers and battles; they chatter like excited swallows at evening, then swarm away. Triangle, bells, celesta, piano and harp contribute to the shimmering brilliance. Suddenly the scene changes to
　II. Pines Near a Catacomb − We see the shadows of the pines, which crown the entrance to a catacomb. From the depths rises a mournful chant (low horns) which floats through the air like a solemn hymn, then slowly and mysteriously dies away. The liturgical connection is relevant when we recall that the early Christians used the catacombs as safe places of worship when their sect was banned.
　III. The Pines of the Janiculum − A slight tremor disturbs the night air. The full moon reveals the profile of the pines on the Janiculum, a hillside park near the Vatican. A nightingale is singing. The use of the recorded birdsong represents the first time a well-known composer employed modern recording playback techniques within a musical work. In a magazine article of 1925, Respighi stated: “I do not believe in sensational effects for their own sake. … I simply realized that no combination of wind in-struments could quite simulate the real birdʼs song. Not even a coloratura soprano could have pro-duced an effect other than artificial. So I used the phonograph.”
　IV. The Pines of the Appian Way − Misty dawn over the Appian Way, the ancient highway extending 560 kilometers from modern Brindisi to Rome. A magical countryside guarded by solitary pines. The indistinct, incessant rhythm of muffled footsteps. In the poetʼs mind appears a vision of past glories: In the grandeur of the rising sun, an army advances inexorably on the Capitoline Hill to the accompani-ment of brass fanfares. Among the many notable orchestral features in The Pines of Rome is the use of six buccinas (ancient Roman war trumpets) for the fanfares in the final movement. Allowing that such exotica may not be available today, Respighi indicated in the score that these parts could be played on modern bugles or other instruments instead. The buccinas enter in pairs, adding their colors and strength to the orchestral mass that grows to a deafening roar of sound in a fitting accolade to “Rome the Eternal.”

　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.
　

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