School of Music
U N C G
UNCG Symphony Orchestra
Robert Gutter, music director
with:
Andrew Willis, piano
Andrés Milá-Prats, guest conductor
Sunday, December 9, 2007
3:30 pm
Cone Ballroom, Elliot University Center
Program
Rienzi Overture Richard Wagner
(1813-1883)
Mr. Milá-Prats, conductor
Mysterious Voices of Wind, Moon, Trees, and Dreams Mark Engebretson
World Premiere (b. 1964)
Intermission
Piano Concerto No. 2 in Bb Major, Op. 83 Johannes Brahms
Allegro non troppo (1833-1897)
Allegro appassionato
Andante
Allegretto grazioso
Mr. Willis, piano
Program Notes:
Rienzi Overture - Richard Wagner
Wagner completed the book of "Rienzi," based upon Bulwer’s novel, in 1838, and began the
music in the autumn of that year. It was finished in 1839, and performed for the first time in
Dresden in 1842. The overture is in the regular form, for "Rienzi" was written before Wagner had
taken his new departure in music, and is based upon some of the themes in the opera. It opens
with a slow movement, announced in trumpet calls, introducing after a few measures an
impressive theme in the strings, Rienzi’s Prayer for the People. This is repeated by woodwinds
and brasses with accompaniment in violins and violas. At the close of the repeat the main section
begins with the theme sung by the chorus at the end of the first act, in which occurs also the
battle hymn assigned to the brasses fortissimo, and combined with the theme of Rienzi’s Prayer.
An episode based on the theme of the slow movement leads to the second subject, sung in the
finale of the second act. In the reprise, the second subject is connected with a counter theme in
the trombones. A Coda of most vigorous intensity, founded on the battle hymn, closes the
overture.
Mysterious Voices of Wind, Moon, Trees, and Dreams - Mark Engebretson
Colonel Jim Roueche was a fixture of music and art life for a long time in Greensboro, NC. A
colorful figure, he attended countless concerts at the School of Music and was well known to the
students, faculty and public. Colonel Jim was in the habit of leaving copies of magazines-travel
magazines, Forbes, the New Yorker, whatever he had- in the mailboxes of the faculty. He often
included notes ranging in subject from the magazine content to life, war and art. One day not too
long before Col. Jim passed away (after a rich and eventful life), he left a New Yorker in my box,
with a note addressed to saxophonist Susan Francher (my wife) and myself. he wrote, "I know
you both hear the mysterious voices of wind, moon, trees and dreams." In that way, Jim gave a
title to this composition. It is dedicated to him, with deep thanks for his love of music and his
support of artistic results. The work was commissioned by UNCG orchestra director, Robert
Gutter, with funds from the UNCG Summer Excellence program.
- Mark Engebretson
Piano Concerto No. 2 - Johannes Brahms
Just before his 45th birthday, in 1878, Johannes Brahms began sketching out themes for his
second piano concerto. His first, completed almost 20 years earlier in 1859, had met with a less
than enthusiastic reception, and Brahms had avoided tackling another. However, by 1878
Brahms was a famous and critically acclaimed composer, with two symphonies under his belt (he
had just completed Symphony No. 2 in 1877), and perhaps he finally felt that he was up to the
challenge.
After working out a few themes following a trip to Italy, Brahms put the music aside to write his
violin concerto, then returned to the piano concerto intermittently for the next three years. He
completed the piece in 1881, and wrote to his friend Elisabeth von Herzogenberg that he had
finished "a tiny little piano concerto with a wisp of a scherzo." This was his joke, of course, since
he knew his piano concerto was one of the largest since Beethoven's "Emperor" concerto.
Brahms's ‘wisp' of a scherzo made the piece especially unusual, since instead of the typical
three-movement form he enlarged the concerto to a symphonic, four-part size. The scherzo, in
fact, may have been intended originally for the violin concerto.
Brahms and a friend performed a two-piano version of the new work in a private concert for
friends. Conductor Hans von Bülow heard of the piece and invited Brahms to play it in rehearsal
with his orchestra in Meiningen, after which Brahms premiered it publicly at the Redoutensaal in
Budapest on November 9, 1881. Unlike his first piano concerto, the second piano concerto in B
flat was met with popular and critical approval, and soon became part of the standard repertoire.
Von Bülow even encouraged Franz Liszt to review the piece. Although Brahms had turned the
older composer down when invited to join Liszt's Neue Deutsche Musik Verein, Liszt apparently
had no hard feelings and praised Brahms for a "distinguished work of art, in which thought and
feeling move in noble harmony."
The concerto's four-part form makes the work especially problematic for the soloist, both in
endurance and because the second-movement scherzo needs to be energetically offset from the
first movement, yet not detract from the first movement's fire. The soloist performs more as a
partner with the orchestra than in some concerti, playing passages of octaves or sixths, huge
chords, and complex rhythms along with the orchestra. The work also boasts a significant part for
the principal cellist in the third movement.
The first movement, Allegro non troppo, opens with a theme played by a single horn, followed by
a piano cadenza that brings us to the exposition. The stormy development segues to the final
restatement of the opening theme, with a brilliant maestoso coda. Then that atypical scherzo
follows, Allegro appassionatoin D minor. Although offset briefly by a trio in D major, the movement
is mainly dark and, yes, passionate.
The Andante finally calms things, opening with a tender cello solo (Brahms later recalled this
melody in a song, "Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer," ever softer is my slumber). The piano
expands on this in a quiet cadenza. Although the central section is more high-strung, the overall
effect of the movement is of peaceful introspection.
The closing Allegretto grazioso is indeed graceful--but quickly evolves into spirited virtuoso work
for the piano soloist. The form of the movement is a seven-part rondo, A-B-A-C-A-B-A, and is
expanded to huge proportion to balance what has come before. Orchestra and piano share
equally in the rousing, brilliant close.
Performers:
Robert Gutter is currently Director of Orchestral Activities at
the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and also serves
as Music Director of the Philharmonia of Greensboro. In 1996
he received an appointment as Principal Guest Conductor of
the National Symphony Orchestra of the Ukraine in Kiev. He is
founder and artistic director for the International Institute for
Conductors which has had workshops in Kiev,Catania, and
most recently in Bacau, Romania. In his 35 years
as a professional conductor he has devoted himself to both
professional and non-professional orchestras in over twenty
five countries and in the major cities of New York, Washington
D.C., Paris, London, Vienna, Milano,Firenze, Stuttgart, and St.
Petersburg. In addition to his symphonic engagements, he has
appeared with opera companies both in the United States and
in Europe. Prior to accepting his orchestral posts in North
Carolina in 1988, he served as Music Director and Conductor of
the Springfield, Massachusetts Symphony. In 1986 he was named "Conductor Emeritus" of that
orchestra. As an instrumentalist, Gutter served as principal trombonist with the Washington
National Symphony. He holds the bachelor and Master degrees from Yale University.
Pianist Andrew Willis performs in the United States and
abroad on pianos of every period. Noted for his mastery of
early keyboard instruments, Willis recorded several
Beethoven sonatas in the first complete recording of the cycle
on period instruments, a project directed by Malcolm Bilson
and presented in concert in New York, Utrecht, Florence, and
Palermo, in which his recording of Op. 106 was hailed by The
New York Times as “a ‘Hammerklavier’ of rare stature.” He
has also recorded Schubert lieder and Rossini songs with
soprano Julianne Baird, early-Romantic song cycles with
soprano Georgine Resick, and music of Rochberg, Schickele,
Luening, Kraft, and Ibert with flutist Sue Ann Kahn.
Willis has appeared as soloist with period-instrument chamber
orchestras such as The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, the
Apollo Ensemble, and the Philadelphia Classical Symphony.
Recent recital appearances include the National Music Museum, the Bloomington Early Music
Festival, and early-music societies in San Diego, Los Angeles, and London. At the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro, where he has been a member of the keyboard faculty since 1994,
he serves as Director of the biennial Focus on Piano Literature, at which he premiered Martin
Amlin’s Sonata No. 7 in 2000; he recording this and other Amlin works is a new release on
Albany Records. He is currently investigating further aspects of historical performance,
performing Chopin on an 1848 Pleyel grand, and J. S. Bach and Italian masters on a replica of a
1735 Florentine piano.
Andrew Willis studied piano with Mieczyslaw Horszowski at The Curtis Institute of Music, with
George Sementovsky and Lambert Orkis at Temple University, and with Malcolm Bilson at
Cornell University. For a number of years, his multifaceted musical career was based in
Philadelphia, where he served as keyboardist of The Philadelphia Orchestra for several seasons.
Andrés Milá-Prats was born in Buenos Aires in 1976. He
received his degree in Orchestral Conducting from the
Catholic University of Argentina where he studied Orchestral
Conducting with Guillermo Scarabino, Choral Conducting
with Néstor Andrennacci and Guillermo Opitz, and
Composition with Marta Lambertini and Julio Viera. He also
participated in Master classes with Charles Dutoit, Luis
Gorelik and Sergio Feferovich, and has conducted several
Orchestras and Ensembles in Argentina and Chile. He
received a National Fellowship in Argentina for further
studies in Conducting with Bruno D’Astoli and Musical
Analysis with Federico Wiman. In addition, Andrés has
carried out several projects that included premieres of New
Music from young composers. He is now pursuing a Master’s degree in Music Performance at
UNCG where he studies with Robert Gutter.
UNCG Symphony Orchestra
Violin 1
Will Selle, concertmaster
Allison Willet
Andrew Liggit
Elizabeth Cansler
Megan Morris
Song Haein
Lisa Gattuso
Chris Bridgman
Annalisa Chang
Kyrsten Wicker
Violin 2
Michael Cummings, principal
Casey Ogle
Chris Thurstone
Kim Jennings
Caleb Lackey
Derrick Foskey
Veronica Allen
Amy Morse
Viola
Nicole Peragine, principal
Laura Andersen
Chrissy Fuchs
Laurie Rominger
Caitie Leming
Elizabeth Adamik
Corrie Franklin
Noelle Saleh
Elizabeth Green
Patrick Parker
Amanda Huber
Violoncello
Michael Way, principal
Kevin Lowery
Megan Johnson
John Gemperdine
Jonathan Frederick
Sarah Dorsey
Contrabass
Kit Polen, principal
Stephen Jackson
Stella Heine
Sanders Davis
Robert Dixon
Alex Young
Stewart McLemore
Harp
Clarke Carriker
Librarian and Personnel Manager
Andrés Milá-Prats
Flute
James Miller ◊
Laura Kaufman ◊
Amanda Robbins-Hughes
Piccolo
Tike Douthit ◊
Oboe
Thomas Pappas ◊
Jim Davis ◊
English Horn
Brittany Joyce ◊
B-flat Clarinet
Kelly Austermann ◊
Bryan Goddard ◊
Meg Harrison
Bass Clarinet
Jay Welborn
Bassoon
Leah Plimpton ◊
Ann Shoemaker ◊
Contrabassoon
Chris Akins
Horn
Philip Kassel ◊
Nick Lee ◊
Austin Macdonald
Alex Allred
Trumpet
Michelle Brown, principal
James Dickens
Clay Perry
Michael Schietzelt
Trombone
Paul Palm, principal
Scott Smith
Lawrence Evans
Tuba
Mike Robinson
Piano
Pablo Gusmão
Percussion
Mathew Hill, principal
Lane Summerlin
Melissa Kessler
Joseph Cox
Anthony Grier
◊ Co-principal
