Bella Hristova, violin

Demarre McGill, flute

Jessica Choe, piano

May 1, 2022 @ 3:00 PM

Joan Tower (1938- )
FANFARE FOR THE UNCOMMON WOMAN NO. 1 (3')

Jonathan Leshnoff (1973- )
ELEGY (8')*

Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942)
DOUBLE CONCERTO FOR FLUTE AND PIANO  (23')

1. Allegro
2. Andante
3. Allegro con spirito

- featuring Demarre McGill & Jessica Choe

^Intermission

John Williams (1932- ) 
THEME FROM SCHINDLER'S LIST (5')

- featuring Bella Hristova

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
VIOLIN CONCERTO (45')

1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Larghetto
3. Rondo. Allegro

- featuring Bella Hristova

*Elegy is a co-commission with the Tennessee Holocaust Commission

Dr. Ryan Dudenbostel’s informative and engaging Pre-Concert Lecture about the program will air in the week before our concert, on the BSO website here.

• Joan Tower composed six Fanfares for the Uncommon Woman between 1986 and 2016.
• Jonathan Leshnoff’s Elegy was written on a co-commission by the Bellingham Symphony and Tennessee Holocaust Commission.
• Erwin Schulhoff’s Double Concerto was written for the composer himself and his friend, the virtuoso flutist René Le Roy, to play together.
• The opening timpani strokes of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto lay the groundwork for the work’s entire first movement.

PROGRAM NOTES

Like reaching a great mountain vista, sometimes receiving the full impact of a piece of music requires a bit of a hike—both in terms of time invested and mental endurance expended. The climax in the sixth and final movement of Mahler’s Third Symphony would have none of its heavens-opening effect without the hour-and-a-half of music that precedes it. But in other cases, a piece can get its point across in just a few moments. For composers, making a single, clear argument within a matter of minutes can be just as difficult, if not more so, than unfolding a wide-ranging musical essay over a longer span of time. Three of the pieces on this afternoon’s program are by living American composers, and are of this latter variety: concise statements that pack a punch from their first moments.

John Williams (b. 1932) is probably the most recognized American composer living today, not just for his iconic film scores, but also for a diverse body of standalone concert works. In his cinematic writing, Williams is a musical chameleon, masking his compositional voice to match the physical and emotional environment of the story he is depicting. His music for Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film, Schindler’s List, predominantly features the solo violin in themes subtly imitative of Chopin. Largely absent are woodwind and brass timbres, reflecting the film’s black-and-white coloring.

A life-long devotee of condensed single-movement forms, Joan Tower (b. 1938) is among the first American women to have shattered the glass ceiling of classical composition. Tower was the co-founder and pianist for the trailblazing Da Capo Chamber Players for over fifteen years, and much of her early work is chamber music written for that group. However, in the 1980s, she set her sights on bigger things, and has subsequently received commissions from nearly every major orchestra in the US, along with countless international institutions.

Tower wrote six Fanfares for the Uncommon Woman between 1986 and 2016, each scored for a unique combination ranging from a pair of brass quintets to full orchestra. The title is of course a play on Aaron Copland’s ubiquitous Fanfare for the Common Man (1942), and the first of Tower’s fanfares is set for an identical instrumentation. Intense and forward-leaning from its first bursts of percussion, the piece is an exercise in perpetual motion. Rapid flourishes of trumpets and horns interweave and stack up tall chords note by note. As the title suggests, the spirit of this music is triumphant, unapologetic, and bursting with unlimited potential.

Baltimore-based composer Jonathan Leshnoff (b. 1973) has received recent commissions from Carnegie Hall, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Kansas City, Nashville, and Pittsburgh. His new work, Elegy, was written on a co-commission by the Bellingham Symphony and Tennessee Holocaust Commission. See special section below for Leshnoff's program notes.

Among these musical voices who continued to shine through unspeakable oppression was the Czech composer and pianist Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942). A child prodigy, Schulhoff began composing prolifically from a young age, and at the urging of the elderly Antonín Dvořák, he enrolled in the Prague Conservatory at the age of ten. Schulhoff was the recipient of the Mendelssohn Scholarship in both 1913 and 1918, allowing him to travel abroad to study with such prominent composers as Debussy and Max Reger.

Schulhoff had much in common with his better-known German contemporaries Paul Hindemith and Kurt Weill: all were deeply influenced by American jazz and the dance music they heard in the cabarets of Weimar Germany in the 1920s. They were also outspoken social commentators and openly critical of Nazism. Both Hindemith and Weill were forced to flee to the United States after Hitler came to power. But Schulhoff, however, decided to remain in Prague, despite repeated warnings by friends and colleagues. When it finally became clear his safety was in jeopardy, it was too late. Attempts to immigrate to the United States and Soviet Union failed, and he was arrested and sent to the Wülzburg concentration camp in the winter of 1941. He died there of tuberculosis in August of 1942. 

Hard-edged and crystal-clear in its textures and counterpoint, Schulhoff’s Double Concerto for Flute and Piano represents its composer at the height of his powers. It is the second in a pair of pieces Schulhoff wrote in early 1927 for the flutist René Le Roy, who would go on to perform with the New York City Opera and teach at the Paris Conservatoire. The piano part was written with Schulhoff himself in mind. Cast in three terse movements, the tone is direct and severe, yet somehow playful—particularly in the concluding Rondo—with the orchestra acting as something of a Greek chorus commenting on the dialogue between the two soloists.

The least needs to be said about Ludwig van Beethoven’s (1770-1827) expansive Opus 61 Violin Concerto of 1806. From beginning to end, it epitomizes the extroversion, optimism, and humor of Beethoven’s “heroic” middle period. Though not well-received at its premiere (most likely owing to Beethoven’s procrastination; the soloist Franz Clement had to sight-read portions of it in the performance), it became the model for nearly every subsequent violin concerto in the century to follow, inspiring masterworks by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bruch, Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, and Sibelius, among countless others. Of particular note is the unusually prominent role of the timpani strokes at the opening, which reveal themselves to be the germ of the entire first movement. Beethoven was a greater advocate for the timpani than perhaps any other composer in history, elevating the instrument from a musical punctuation mark to a fully melodic member of the orchestra. Opus 61 is Beethoven’s only violin concerto, but its content is of such brilliance that it is hard to imagine how even a genius like Beethoven could have followed it with a sequel. 

^{Copyright © 2022 Ryan Dudenbostel}

^{Ryan Dudenbostel is the Director of Orchestral Studies at Western Washington University, where he conducts the WWU Symphony Orchestra, coordinates the graduate program, and directs the contemporary music ensemble NowHearThis! Previously, he was Music Director of the El-Sistema-based Santa Monica Youth Orchestra in Los Angeles. He recently served as Interim Artistic Director of the Marrowstone Music Festival, and regularly returns to LA for concerts with the Jacaranda new music series.}

^{Program notes sponsored by: Garland Richmond & Richard Stattelman}

“Elegy”

10 minutes

Jonathan Leshnoff (b. 1973, New Brunswick, NJ)

4 horns, timpani, harp and strings

Elegy is a 10-minute composition co-commissioned by the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra and the Tennessee Holocaust Commission. The commission derived from Music Director Yaniv Attar’s long friendship with Leshnoff. Attar approached Leshnoff in 2018 about writing a work for BSO’s Harmony from Discord initiative, which celebrates music that transcends oppression. Leshnoff’s Elegy is a work that is written especially for this initiative.

Leshnoff writes:

Elegy is scored for the unusual combination of horns, harp, timpani and strings. These instruments were selected for their darker color, a natural fit for this composition which is introspective and somber. Elegy is written in memory of the thousands of nameless people who suffered under oppression. 

Writing a new composition for the Harmony from Discord series, I chose to musically depict these two contrasting moods with two contrasting ideas: a somber, dark theme that dominates the beginning of the work and a hopeful, brighter theme that is heard in the middle. Elegy starts with this lonely and contemplative theme first played by the violins and then slowly spreading throughout the string section, with the harp offering a haunting echo. After a brooding cadence, the hopeful theme is introduced in the horns. Full of moving lines and sweeping harmonies the music builds to a resounding climax, accompanied by the timpani grounding the ensemble in successive strikes. After a cascading cadence, the dark opening theme again returns, but this time, the hopeful theme intertwines itself with the darker theme, symbolic of the hope that has emerged through the dark, discordant eras of history. The piece notably ends on a major chord.

We are so grateful for our generous sponsors!

Season: Peoples Bank & Bellingham Porsche/Audi

Harmony from Discord series: Carol & David Robinson 

Guest Artists: Marvin & Joan Wayne, Seeking Health 

For a full list of BSO's sponsors, please visit our website sponsor page.

Musicians performing in this concert are in bold.

Music Director

Yaniv Attar (bio)
The Jack & Marybeth Campbell Music Director 

Violin I

Dawn Posey (bio)
The Garland Richmond & Richard Stattelman Concertmaster

Shu-Hsin Ko
Assistant Concertmaster

Emily Bailey

Laura Barnes

David Bean

Carolyn Canfield §

Gaye Davis

Joanne Donnellan

Irene Fadden

Matt Gudakov

Madeline Massey

Yelena Nelson

Sandra Payton

Krissy Snyder

John Tilley

Karen Visser

Bill Watts

Violin II

Yuko Watanabe
The Debbie & Steve Adelstein Principal 2nd Violin

Heather Ray
Assistant Principal 2nd Violin

Linnea Arntson

Liza Beshara

Judy Diamond

Kathy Diaz

Geneva Faulkner

Ben Morgan

Lenelle Morse

Audrey Negro

Cecile Pendleton

Carla Rutschman

Tara Kaiyala Weaver

Joy Westermann

Viola

Morgan Schwab 
The Byron & Becky Elmendorf Principal Viola

Katrina Whitman §
Acting Assistant Principal Viola

Kacey Bradt

Jo Anne Dudley

Eric Kean §

Natalie Louia

Valerie McWhorter

Casey Mullin §

Michael Neville

Jim Quist

Corey Welch

Cello

Nick Strobel
The Phyllis Allport Principal Cello

Samantha Sinai
Acting Principal Cello

Tallie Jones
The John W. Tilley Jr. Assistant Principal Cello

Brian Coyne

Erin Esses Lusk

Noel Evans

Omar Firestone

Jeremy Heaven

Rebekah Hood-Sava

Barb Hunter

Coral Marchant

Mary Passmore

Bette Ann Schwede

Daniel Watterson

Bass

Mark Tomko
The Charli Daniels Principal Bass

Eirik Haugbro
Assistant Principal Bass

Faye Hong

Anna Jull

Amiko Mantha

Flute

Deborah Arthur
The Marcela Berg & Michael Addison Principal Flute

Gena Mikkelsen
Assistant Principal Flute

Piccolo

Gena Mikkelsen
The Carol & Dennis Comeau Piccolo

Alto Flute

Deborah Arthur

Oboe

Kristen Fairbank
Co-Principal

Gail Ridenour
Co-Principal
The Ridenour Family Principal Oboe

Ken Bronstein

Jen Weeks §

English Horn

Ken Bronstein
The Dick & Sherry Nelson English Horn

Gail Ridenour §

Clarinet

Erika Block
The Gordon & Rosalie Nast Principal Clarinet

Emily Prestbo

David Kappele

Bassoon

Phillip Thomas
The Brian and Marya Griffin Principal Bassoon

Jackson Stewart-DeBelly
Assistant Principal Bassoon

Terhi Miikki-Broersma

Horn

Brad Bigelow
The George and Crystal Mills Principal Horn

Jack Champagne

Kristi Kilgore

Greg Verbarendse

Trumpet

Karolyn Labes
The Bill & Leslie McRoberts Principal Trumpet

Steve Sperry
Assistant Principal Trumpet

Del Vande Kerk

Trombone

Phil Heft
The Wendy Bohlke & Brian Hanson Principal Trombone

Brian Thomson

Bass Trombone

Bob Gray

Jeff Flint §

Tuba

Mark Lindenbaum
The Marty & Gail Haines Principal Tuba

Timpani

Stephanie L. Straight
Principal Timpani

Percussion

Kay Reilly
Co-Principal
The Valerie McWhorter & Dean Altschuler Principal Percussion

Melanie Sehman
Co-Principal
The Barbara & Michael Ryan Principal Percussion

Jamie Ihler

Harp

Jill Whitman
The Cinda & Stuart Zemel Principal Harp

Sophie Baird-Daniel §

Keyboard

Andrea Rackl
The Sibyl Sanford Principal Keyboard

§ Substitute

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