Symphony Orchestra
Robert Gutter, music director
Matthew Troy, guest conductor
Monday, December 5, 2005
7:30 pm
Aycock Auditorium
Program
Egmont Overture, Op. 84 Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)
Matthew Troy, conductor
Concerto for clarinet and string orchestra, Op. 31 Gerald Finzi
Allegro vigaroso (1901-1956)
Adagio, ma senza rigore
Rondo: Allegro giocoso
Kelly Burke, clarinet
Intermission
Symphony no. 2 in b minor Alexander Borodin
Allegro (1833-1887)
Prestissimo
Andante
Finale
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The hall is equipped with a listening assistance system.
Patrons needing such assistance should contact an usher in the lobby.
Program Notes
Egmont Overture, op. 84
In his drama Egmont, Goethe (1787) relates the fight of Count Egmont (1522-1568) against the
despotic Duke of Albe. Egmont is a famous Flemish warrior and the duke of Albe represents the
Spanish invader. Though under threat of arrest Egmont refuses to run away and give up his ideal
of liberty. Imprisoned and abandoned because of the cowardliness of his people and despite the
desperate efforts of his mistress Klärchen he is sentenced to death.
Thus, faced with her failure and despair Klärchen puts an end to her life. The play ends on the
hero's last call to fight for independence. His death as a martyr appears as a victory against
oppression.
Egmont is a political manifesto in which Egmont's craving for justice and national liberty is
opposed to the despotic authority of the duke of Albe. It is also a drama of destiny in which the
Flemish nobleman, with fatalism, accepts the dire consequences of his straightness and honesty.
When in 1809 the Burgtheater of Vienna asked Beethoven, a great admirer of Goethe, to
compose incidental music for a revival of the play, he accepted with enthusiasm. It recalled
themes close to his own political preoccupations, already expressed in his opera Leonore
(renamed Fidelio, in the definitive 1814 version) and in his overture Coriolan (in 1807). Besides
the Overture, he wrote nine pieces of incidental music, of great quality but a little disconnected,
culminating with beautiful Klärchen's Death.
Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra, op. 31
Gerald Finzi was born in London in 1901. His childhood had been unhappy and unsettled,
probably due to the early deaths of his three elder brothers and his father. Between 1918 and
1922 he studied composition with Sir Edward Bairstow, and he also studied with R O Morris for a
brief period in 1925. Finzi was a shy and introverted young man, and held only one musical post,
that of Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music from 1930 to 1933. His career
was spent outside the 'establishment', combining his work as a freelance composer with his
work/hobby as an expert apple-grower.
After the Second World War (which he spent working for the Ministry of War Transport
Department) he settled with his family at the home near Newbury, which he had built with his wife
Joy in 1939. These post-war years proved to be Finzi's richest period of musical composition. He
had developed a delicate individual style through works like Dies Natalis, the Ode to St Cecilia's
Day (premiered by Boult in 1947) and of course through his many songs. As the conductor of The
Newbury String Players, Finzi had developed an affinity for, and an understanding of, the
nuances of the string orchestra. Perhaps for this reason many of his works contain divided-string
writing, the Clarinet Concerto being an especially good example.
Finzi’s letters of 1948/9 to Frederick Thurston (now owned by his widow, Thea King) show Finzi's
desire to write well for the solo instrument, and Thurston must have provided him with just the
kind of expertise needed to accomplish this. The first performance of the concerto took place on 9
September 1949 at the Three Choirs Festival with Finzi conducting.
It opens with a strong outburst from the orchestra, the bass line constantly rising to twist the
harmonies in new directions. The first entry of the clarinet pays little heed to this introduction, the
solo part rather preferring to move things along in a more pastoral way. Two more attempts by
the strings to add tempest to the movement fail to stir the clarinet, which calms the orchestra
down to a rippling accompaniment, so reminiscent of Finzi's songs. An orchestral climax brings
the movement to what was originally its final eight strongly-stressed bars. After the first
performance Vaughan Williams persuaded Finzi to precede these final bars with a cadenza,
which allows the clarinet to reflect on both the turbulent and gentle moods of the first movement.
The second movement begins quite magically with first and second violins answering each other
in plaintive mood, the clarinet adding two distant cadenzas. This opening motif is taken up to form
the main material of the slow movement which builds up bar by bar to the return of the main
theme in all its power and full harmonic strength, The clarinet guides us through the coda, again
based on the same motif, and the movement ends on a rising figure which, as it comes to rest,
fades away to nothing.
The Finale begins with a jaunty eleven-bar introduction before the clarinet enters with a lilting tune
in the best English folksong style. The middle part of the movement changes pulse (3/4 as
opposed to the earlier 2/2 melody) and Finzi uses this change of stress to bring in gentler themes
which contrast well with the earlier virtuoso clarinet writing. The first tune soon returns, however,
and through his reworking of this earlier material the composer guides us by a slowing down of
the tempo to the sublime re-entry of the clarinet's first melody from the beginning of the concerto.
An attempt by the strings to slip back into the folk-tune music is halted by the clarinet as it insists
that the concerto ends on a series of brilliant flourishes.
Notes by Alun Francis
Symphony No. 2 in B minor
Borodin's Second Symphony was begun in 1871, finished in 1876, and was first heard in
Petrograd in 1877. The first movement opens with a vigorous unison in the strings, reinforced by
bassoons and horns, the theme forming the foundation of the whole movement. The second
division is announced by the woodwinds, the two alternating and leading to the second subject,
presented by the 'cellos and subsequently by the woodwinds. After the first theme is repeated by
full orchestra, development begins, leading to the recapitulation fortissimo. A Coda, constructed
on the theme, closes the movement.
The second movement opens with a theme for first and second horn followed by a passage in the
strings in unison, which alternates with the first theme until the Trio is reached. A melody follows
for the clarinet with harp and triangle accompaniment and a Coda closes the movement
pianissimo.
A solo for clarinet opens the third movement, followed by a plaintive folk song for the horn,
passing in modified form to the woodwinds. A new passage follows, leading up to a climax and
the clarinet solo, with which the movement began, closes the movement. The third leads directly
into the fourth movement, the opening theme being announced by full orchestra. The second
subject appears in the clarinet, followed by flute and oboe, with accompaniment of harp and
strings. The first theme is then developed by the three trombones and tuba, followed by the
strings and woodwinds. The second subject follows the recapitulation of the opening material
closes the movement.
Emergency Exit Information & Concert Etiquette
Patrons are encouraged to take note of exits located on all levels of the auditorium. In an
emergency, please use the nearest exit, which may be behind you or different from the one
which you entered. Please turn off all cellular phones, pagers, and alarm watches. As a
courtesy to other audience members and to the performers, please wait for a break in the
performance to enter or exit the hall
Soloist
Kelly Burke joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1989. She is
currently the principal clarinetist of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra and bass clarinetist of
the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra. Equally at home playing Baroque to Bebop, she has
appeared in recitals and as a soloist with symphony orchestras throughout the United States,
Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, and Russia. An avid chamber musician, Burke is
frequently heard in concert with the Mallarmé Chamber Players, for whom she plays both clarinet
and bass clarinet, the East Wind Trio d'Anches, Middle Voices (clarinet, viola and piano), and the
Cascade Wind Quintet. Burke's discography includes several recent releases with Centaur
Records: The Russian Clarinet , with works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Glinka, Melkikh, and
Goedicke; Middle Voices: Chamber Music for Clarinet and Viola, featuring works by several
American composers; and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Chamber Music featuring the quintet and
nonet. She has also recorded for Telarc, Albany and Arabesque labels. Burke has received
several teaching awards, including UNCG's Alumni Teaching Excellence Award, the School of
Music Outstanding Teacher Award, has been named several times to Who's Who Among
America's Teachers, and was recently honored with the 2004 UNC Board of Governor's Teaching
Excellence Award. She is the author of numerous pedagogical articles and the critically acclaimed
book Clarinet Warm-Ups: Materials for the Contemporary Clarinetist . She holds the BM and MM
degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the DMA. from the University of Michigan. Burke
is an artist/clinician for Rico International and Buffet Clarinets.
Conductors
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 thirty 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.
Matthew Thomas Troy, assistant conductor of the UNCG Symphony Orchestra, received his
Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, studying viola under Dr.
Scott Rawls. Upon graduating, Troy began playing principal viola in The Philharmonia of
Greensboro. Since then Troy has been featured as a Guest Conductor on many occasions and
has conducted concerts as part of the Opus Concert Series and Music for a Sunday Evening in
the Park. Other guest conducting engagements have been with the Greensboro Symphony
Youth Chamber Orchestra among others. Currently completing the Master of Music at UNCG,
studying with Robert Gutter, Troy has already been selected to serve as an Adjunct Professor of
Music at Wake Forest University as Conductor of the Orchestra in the fall of 2004. Other
professional experience includes currently serving as Assistant Conductor of the Salisbury
Symphony Orchestra, as well as Conductor of the Salisbury Youth Orchestra and Assistant
Conductor of the Winston-Salem Youth Symphony. Also, remaining active as a teacher, Troy is
in his third year on the string faculty of the Music Academy of North Carolina with a thriving studio
where his student have won local and state awards. Not limiting himself to instrumental music,
Troy is also an experienced vocalist. He has sung with the Greensboro Opera Company, and
has been featured as a clinician for high school choral students at Salisbury State University in
Salisbury, MD. From 2001-2003 Troy was the Music Director/Conductor for Triad Harmony
Express, a men’s a cappella chorus, and has written arrangements for their repertoire. In the
summer of 2005 he attended the Medomak Conductors Retreat, in Maine, where he studied with
renowned conductor Kenneth Kiesler.
UNCG Symphony Orchestra
Robert Gutter, director
Violin I
Latannia Ellerbe, concertmaster
Gretchen Heller, assn’t concertmaster
William Selle
Laura Doyle
Elizabeth Larson
Elizabeth Cansler
Annalisa Chang
Elizabeth Malcolm
Shelley Blalock
Amy E. Moore
Holley Ross
Holly Sitton
Violin II
Michael Cumming, principal
Matthew Troy, assn’t principal
Jared Matthews
Andrew Liggitt
Brittany Ellis
John Duncan
Amy K. Johnson
Vanessa Hall
Kimberly Jennings
Kristen Walton
Rachel Godwin
Kristin Bailes
Viola
John Ward, principal
Patrick Scully, assn’t principal
Susannah Plaster
Lindsey Parsons
Joseph Driggars
Laura Andersen
Anne Marie Whitmann
Caitie Leming
Christina Fuchs
Amber Autry
Alex Beard
Violoncello
Brian Hodges, principal
Meaghan Brown Skogen, assn’t principal
Brian Carter
Jesse McAdoo
Michael Way
Kendall Ramseur
Joe Kwon
Kevin Lowry
Sarah Bearden
Rebecca Wade
Sara Dorsey
Krista Britt
Harp
Clarke Carriker
Librarian: Lindsey Parsons
Personnel manager: Carol Lowe
Double Bass
Paul L. Quast, principal
Patrick Byrd, assn’t principal
Di Wang
Michael DiTrolio III
Kit Polen
Stella Heine
Ryan Mack
Stephen Jackson
Brent Rawls
Stuart McLemore
Flute
Allison Flores, co-principal
Laura Pritchett, co-principal
Yana Romanova
Oboe
Shelly Hypes
Cheshire Moon
Emily Muldoon, co-principal
Katie Woolsey, co-principal
Clarinet
Sarah Lloyd, principal
Kelly Smith
Holly Kortze
Bassoon
Rebecca Hammontree, principal
Justin Thompson
Horn
Kendal Alley
Mary Boudreault, co-principal
Tara Cates, co-principal
Philip Kassel
Shannon Rose Witt
Trumpet
James Dickens
Mark Hibshman, principal
Jeff Kindschuh
Trombone
Frank Beaty
Nicholas Goehring
Paul Pietrowski, principal
Tuba
Brent Harvey
Percussion
Braxton Sherouse, principal
Thad Lowder
David Fox
Tim Heath
Matthew Watlington
