Season Finale
Camille Saint-Saëns, Caprice on Danish and Russian Airs for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet and Piano
Kris Maloy, Flourish: A Concertino in Molto Perpetuo for Clarinet and Piano
Lee Hoiby, Selected art songs
Felix Mendelssohn, Concert Piece for Clarinet, Bassoon and Piano no. 2 in d minor, Op. 114
Ferenc Farkas, Antique Dances for Wind Quintet
Francis Poulenc, Sextet for Piano and Wind Instruments
Camille Saint-Saëns, Caprice on Danish and Russian Airs for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet and Piano, op. 79. Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) was a French Romantic composer, pianist and organist. Like Mozart and Mendelssohn, he was a true child prodigy. Inspired by Liszt, Wagner and Berlioz, he was a prolific composer in every musical genre. His musical philosophy was to create “elegant lines, harmonious colors and a beautiful succession of chords.” In addition to his musical talents, Saint-Saëns was interested in advanced mathematics, languages, physics, astronomy, archeology and geology, and he wrote plays and books on many subjects. He composed this Caprice in 1887 for a concert tour to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he was to play for Tsar Alexander III’s empress, who was the daughter of the King of Denmark. The work combines Danish and Russian themes with contrasting piano and woodwind passages. Saint-Saëns died at age 86 in Algeria, playing and conducting until the very end of his life.
Kris Maloy, Flourish: A Concertino in Molto Perpetuo for Clarinet and Piano. Dr. Kris Maloy is adjunct professor of composition and saxophone and director of jazz studies at Oklahoma City University. He has composed for orchestra, wind ensemble, chamber orchestra, chamber ensemble and solo instruments. During its 2007-08 Season, Brightmusic commissioned him to compose a new work entitled Quartet in Four Actions for Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano, which received its world premiere at Brightmusic’s January 22, 2008 concert. Tonight’s work was commissioned by our Co-Artistic Directors Chad Burrow and Amy I-Lin Cheng (known as “Duo Clarion” when they perform in two-person ensemble). We are delighted that Chad and Amy have chosen a Brightmusic concert to premiere this new work.
Lee Hoiby, Four Selected Art Songs. Hoiby is a living American composer, born in 1926. He studied piano at Cornell and Mills College and was about to embark on a career as a concert pianist when he received a scholarship to study composition at the Curtis Institute of Music. He has composed operas, choral music, chamber music, solo piano works and settings of poetry for voice and instrumental accompaniment (referred to as “Lieder” in German and “art songs” in English). His operas have included literary settings from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and “Romeo and Juliet” to Tennessee Williams’ “Summer and Smoke.” This evening’s concert will feature four of Hoiby’s art songs: Jabberwocky (Lewis Carroll), In the Wind of the Wand (John Fandel), What If … (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) and Be not Afeard (William Shakespeare). See www.leehoiby.com.
Felix Mendelssohn, Concert Piece for Clarinet, Bassoon and Piano No. 2 in D minor, op. 114. Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was a German Romantic musician of many talents. He sang; played the violin, piano and organ; conducted; and composed. He came from a wealthy German family and was educated privately. By age 12, he was an experienced composer. From 1833-35 he was the music director in Dusseldorf, In 1835 he became the music director in Leipzig where he conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. His compositional style was conservative by Romantic standards, employing classical forms and emphasizing balance, proportionality and craftsmanship. He composed this three-movement work in 1832 for composer Heinrich Joseph Baermann and his son Carl; its first performance was a private performance with the Baermanns. The senior Baermann was responsible for its orchestration.
Ferenc Farkas, Antique Dances for Wind Quintet: Farkas (1905-2000) was a Hungarian composer. For many years, he served as professor of composition at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. He wrote more than 700 works, primarily in the Hungarian and Italian musical traditions. The Antique Dances were based on 17th Century Hungarian folk dances. By applying early Baroque harmony and counterpoint to these rondos, Farkas sought to replicate provincial Hungarian Baroque folk music. See www.ferencfarkas.org.
Francis Poulenc, Sextet for Piano and Wind Instruments: Poulenc (1899-1963) was born to a wealthy French family, which afforded him the private study of piano and composition. Initially intrigued by the music of Debussy, Ravel, Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Bartók, he became a member of the Les Six group which stressed lack of pretension, nostalgia and overt sentimentalism in their music. He believed that the French, like the Germans and Russians, could “write profound music” but French music was “leavened with that lightness of spirit without which life would be unendurable.” He composed this Sextet in 1932, revised it in 1939 and first performed it in 1940. It is one of his most popular works, and it certainly meets Poulenc’s own standards of emotional depth and French wit.
