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Edmonton’s David Eggert, winner of the prestigious Eckhardt-Gramatté Prize in 2006, performs the beloved First Cello Concerto by Camille Saint-Saëns. Principal Bass Trombone Christopher Taylor performs a delightful and tuneful work by Eric Ewazen, and the orchestra romps through vivacious showpieces by Emmanuel Chabrier.
*Please note, Gilles Vonsattel was originally scheduled to perform Grieg's Piano Concerto on November 21. He will perform that work on Sunday, January 30, 2011 instead.*
Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1
Ewazen: Ballade for Bass Trombone
Chabrier: Fête Polonaise, Danse slav
Russo: FrateVento
Estacio: Borealis
Ticket Information
$65 Dress Circle (A)
$53 Terrace (B)
$39 Orchestra (C)
$25 Upper Circle (D)
$20 Orchestra Front (F)
Tickets subject to applicable service charges.
The next Sunday Showcase performance is Grieg's Piano Concerto on January 30, 2011.
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Program Info
Chabrier: Le roi malgré lui: Fête Polonaise (10')*
Fauré: Pavane, Opus 50 (8')*
Ewazen: Ballade for Bass Trombone (14')*
Christopher Taylor, bass trombone
Chabrier: Le roi malgré lui: Danse slav (5')*
Intermission
Russo: FrateVente (6')*
Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Opus 33 (19')*
David Eggert, cello
Estacio: Borealis (16')*
*Indicates approximate performance duration
Program Notes
Le roi malgré lui: Fête polonaise & Danse slav
Emmanuel Chabrier (b. Ambert, Puy-de-Dôme, 1841 / d. Paris, 1894)
Emmanuel Chabrier’s opera Le roi malgré lui (“The Reluctant King”) premiered on May 18, 1887 and, virtually from that first performance, has struggled under the weight of a plot that the Viking Opera Guide said, “must be among the most complicated ever undertaken by an opera composer.” Chabrier himself was one of three librettists who tried to get the story by François Ancelot to the stage.
The tale concerns the king of Poland, who doesn’t particularly want to be the king, and the extremely convoluted machinations he and others go through, wrestling with power and responsibility. The Polish connection gave the imaginative Chabrier ample opportunity to provide colourful music and rich orchestration – aspects that are readily demonstrated in the two orchestral excerpts to be heard tonight. The Danse slav (“Slavic dance”) is a charming and cheerful rouser, while the the Fête polonaise cleverly combines a Polish dance (the mazurka) with a waltz, and takes place at a glittering ball that opens the opera’s second act – an opening the Guide goes on to say which, “in its full form, with voices, is the ballroom scene to end all ballroom scenes.”
Pavane, Op.50
Gabriel Fauré (b. Pamiers, Ariège, 1845 / d. Paris, 1924)
After writing the orchestral version of Pavane, Gabriel Fauré was obliged to write later versions for orchestra and choir, woodwinds with solo flute, and for piano alone. Its popularity is understandable; Fauré takes an old, graceful dance form (a pavane is a processional dance in duple time, with steps taken forward, then back in the same manner), and adds to it his ethereal textures and harmonic colours. The original orchestral version dates from 1887, and was dedicated to the Vicomtesse Elisabeth Greffuhle.
A solo flute dominates the opening minutes of the dance, accompanied by pizzicato strings. More winds join in, with lower strings presenting a quiet counter-melody. The music broadens out, with strings intoning the main theme, leading to a dramatic pause. A section of surprising passion and moment interrupts the measured dance, though it gently creeps back in, taking over once more, though its stately procession is now mixed with more reflective moments now and then. It ends gently with woodwinds once again over pizzicato strings.
Ballade for Bass Trombone
Eric Ewazen (b. Cleveland, Ohio, 1954)
While composer Eric Ewazen has made writing for brass instruments a bit of a specialty, he is not limited to it. In fact, this afternoon’s work, for the second-lowest brass instrument in the orchestra, was originally intended as a work for clarinet. But Ewazen’s admiration for trombonist Charlie Vernon changed his mind, and the work in its present formed premiered at the University of Illinois in 1996.
The form known as the “ballade” has undergone a great transformation in meaning and conception. A very specific song form in the Renassiance, it was Chopin who conceived the instrumental ballade as a long, dramatic work, in which a sense of poetry is implied. Ewazen’s Ballade for Bass Trombone is scored for an orchestra of harp and strings. It is a rondo of sorts, in an A-B-A-B-A form. “The Ballade showcases Charlie’s wonderful ability to float long, lyric lines and to dazzle the listener with his energetic vitality and golden tone,” Ewazen wrote. ESO Bass Trombone Principal Christopher Taylor, therefore, has a challenging task this afternoon. “The piece seems to rise out of a mist…sing, dance and play,” Ewazen goes on, “and quietly, peacefully disappear again into the mist.”
FrateVento
John Paul Russo, OFM Cap. (b. 1967)
Program note by the composer:
John Paul Russo, OFM Cap. is a composer who is also a member of a religious order in the Roman Catholic Church called the Capuchin-Franciscan Friars, as the initials after his name indicate. He is usually called “Brother John.” He presently lives at a friary in Union City, New Jersey. Brother John began piano lessons at age nine and then began composing at the age of 11, and has been producing works ever since. During his high school years he attended a community music school and studied theory and composition. He went on to study composition at the Eastman School of Music (1985-89) and then at Indiana University (1989-90). In 1991, he decided to join the Capuchins where he spent several years in formation and ministry to the poor. In the summer of 2007, he assumed his present position as Director of Vocations for his province in New Jersey. Brother John has won several national awards for his works, including a Rockefeller Foundation prize, 2 ASCAP awards, and a Charles Ives Scholarship from the National Academy of Arts and Letters.
Brother John composed FrateVento (“Brother Wind”) in September of 2005. The work is based on the third movement of a seven-movement suite for piano (Canticle Odes) also by Brother John. St. Francis of Assisi wrote his Canticle of Brother Sun in the eleventh century in Italy. In this famous poem, he expresses the praise given to God through various elements of creation, addressing them as brother or sister depending on their gender in Italian. FrateVento is a musical impression of St. Francis’ description of Brother Wind. He says, “Praise to You my Lord through Brother Wind, and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather through which You give sustenance to Your creatures.” The evocations inspired by this quote are dominated by a persistent restlessness in the music, or a perpetuum mobile as it is called, reflecting the restless rush of the wind. There are also some wispy, rushing scales and sudden key shifts that allude to the cloudiness or vagueness St. Francis suggests. The overall contented mood of the work, and particularly the quiet rush of the section before the ending, are meant to reflect St. Francis’ idea of serenity. The final gesture of the piece sweeps upward like a draft of wind … even visually – through the final “upbow” indication – by the way the bows fly up off the strings!
Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op.33
Camille Saint-Saëns (b. Paris, 1835 / d. Algiers, 1921)
Unique among French composers of his era, Camille Saint-Saëns regularly, and often, wrote “concertante” works, pieces for a solo instrument plus orchestra. Some were single-movement showcase vehicles, but he also wrote many full-form concertos. His First Cello Concerto is, in fact, a little bit of both. Written in 1872 and premiered the following year, the concerto was dedicated to Saint-Saëns’ friend, cellist and composer Adrien-François Servais, though it was another cellist, the Belgian Auguste Tolbecque, who gave the premiere.
While the concerto is in three distinct sections, it differs from many concertos proper in that it is played without pauses between the sections. It is a relatively short work, compared to the titanic concertos being produced by Saint-Saëns’ German contemporaries. The work also has a cyclical sense to it; the darting theme stated at the outset of the first movement by the cello is stated almost exactly by an oboe at the start of the third, and it is the major theme of both. The opening section itself moves like a swift-flowing stream, with both cello and orchestra sharing the dramatic drive. The middle of this opening movement slows things only briefly, with double stops and sforzando bowing in the cello as the pace picks up once again. The central section begins with a curiously anachronistic feel – a dainty minuet straight out of the style galant of Haydn’s time more than a hundred years before. The cello here shows its lyrical side, intoning a graceful melody to the gentle accompaniment. In the final section, the cellist is put through some virtuosic paces, though the cello’s singing nature is never overlooked. The pace becomes more headlong, then slows contemplatively before the dash to the finish.
Borealis (1997 ESO commission)
John Estacio (b. Newmarket, Onatrio, 1966)
Program note by the composer:
The first time ever I experienced the glorious spectacle of the Aurora Borealis was a few short years ago when I arrived in Edmonton. Up until that moment I had to settle for textbook explanations and a geography teacher's descriptions. I had no idea what I was seeing when I first noticed the majestic curtains of swirling green light in the sky one crisp October evening until a friend confirmed that it was indeed the Northern Lights. I was completely captivated and awestruck by the magical sight; how could I not be inspired to compose a piece of music?! Having recently completed two serious compositions, it was the right time to revisit a style for unabashed lyrical melodies and joyous bright orchestral colours that Borealis would require.
The first movement is meant to be awe-invoking; the ephemeral nature of these celestial happenings is represented by the sudden colourful outbursts followed by movements of near silence. The movement begins with the strings playing a major chord and then gradually glissing (bending the pitch) until they all arrive at a different chord; for me, this musical gesture captures the essence of bending curtains of light and serves as a recurring motive throughout this movement. A solo flute introduces fragments of a melody; this melody is not heard in its entirety until later in the piece when it is performed by a solo bassoon and then an English horn. The strings perform the melody and the composition swells to its climax featuring the brass and the sound splashes provided by the percussion. The movement concludes with a unique auditory effect in the percussion section that again attempts to convey the enchanting and magical quality of the borealis.
For the second movement, I wanted something that would be a formidable contrast to the subtle nature of the first movement, a celebrated dance of celestial light. The music for Scherzo (meaning "playful") has more of a fervent and animated energy to it being inspired by the notion of dancing celestial lights (title changed to Wondrous Light, 2004). A nimble melody introduced by the oboe is developed intervallically and rhythmically throughout the composition. Sudden swells in volume accompanied by quick glissandos were inspired by the swirling curtains of green light which twist and turn and vanish suddenly in the night sky. Towards the conclusion of this movement the nimble theme is transformed into a noble melody performed as a traditional chorale by the trombones, and then repeated by the full orchestra.
Click here to view a video of John Estacio speaking about Borealis.
Click here to view a video of John Estacio speaking about Borealis.
Artist Bios
William Eddins, conductor
William Eddins is in his sixth season as Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure, he has made it a priority that he conduct performances in nearly every subscription series the orchestra has presented, as well as a wide variety of special concerts and galas.
Bill Eddins began playing the piano at age five, but was bitten by the conducting bug while in his sophomore year at the Eastman School of Music. In 1989, he decided to begin conducting studies with Daniel Lewis at the University of Southern California. Assistant Conductorships with both the Minnesota Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony (the latter under the leadership of Daniel Barenboim) honed his skills even further.
Mr. Eddins has many interests outside music. He is fond of biking, tennis, reading, pinball, and cooking. He recently completed building his own recording studio at his home in Minneapolis, where he lives with his wife Jen (a clarinetist), and their sons Raef and Riley. While conducting has been his principal pursuit, he continues to perform on piano in Edmonton and elsewhere. He accepts a limited number of guest appearances each year. In 2008, he conducted a rare full staging of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess for Opéra de Lyon, which won him great acclaim, leading to a repeat engagement in Lyon in July and September 2010, as well as Edinburgh in August 2010, and in London in September 2010. During August 2009, Bill toured South Africa, conducting three gala concerts with soprano Renée Fleming and the kwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra.
David Eggert, cello
Known for a dominating stage presence and imaginative interpretation, David Eggert has an inventive approach to the traditional repertoire while fostering a strong commitment to musical creation of our time. Solo appearances in Europe and North America herald the 25-year old as an upcoming talent. This season, he will play recitals in Israel, Turkey, Slovenia, and Austria, as well as concerts closer to home in Montréal and Cleveland. Born in Edmonton in 1985, Mr. Eggert was taught by Tanya Prochazka, with whom he studied for 13 years. At the age of 16, he won first prize at both the Canadian Music Competition and the National Music Festival playing string quartet, and toured Canada as principal cellist of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. After high school, he studied for two years in Boston with Lawrence Lesser. He then moved to Montréal, for studies with Matt Haimovitz.
Focusing on 20th- century repertoire, David Eggert won first prize at the 2006 Eckhardt-Grammaté Competition, and completed a successful tour of 18 Canadian cities as part of the grand prize. He also won first prizes at the ARAM Concours de Musique de Repentigny, Québec, and the TD Canada Trust Festival Competition in Elora, Ontario. Mr. Eggert currently lives in Salzburg, Austria, where he completing his Master’s degree at the Mozarteum as a student of Clemens Hagen of the Hagen String Quartet. He plays a 1871 Niccolo Bianchi cello, generously loaned to him by the German Music Foundation. David Eggert is the recipient of the 2009 Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Award administered by the Canada Council for the Arts. Awards are presented annually to the most talented young applicants.
This is Mr. Eggert’s debut with the ESO.
Christopher Taylor, bass trombone
A native Edmontonian and a graduate of the University of Alberta, Christopher Taylor has performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra since 1975. Christopher studied with former ESO trombonist Dr. Malcolm Forsyth and furthered his education in Los Angeles and Chicago. Before entering university he was a member of the Edmonton Youth Orchestra, the Cosmopolitan Band, the Banff Festival Orchestra, and the Canadian Chamber Orchestra. He was a founding member of the Malcolm Forsyth Trombone Ensemble and the Festivo Brass Quintet. Since 1981, Christopher has held the position of Instructor of Bass Trombone and Brass Ensemble at the University of Alberta. Christopher has appeared in the ITV Concert series with international artists such as Henry Mancini and Anne Murray, and in showbands with Bob Hope and Red Skelton. He is active as a freelance musician and has appeared as a soloist and chamber player in North America and Europe. Christopher's free time interests include hiking, sailing, painting, sculpture, photography and travel.
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