Ravinia 2019, Issue 5, Week 9

talent from Hamburg easily met the first great promise that “there would and must suddenly appear someday one man who would be singled out to make articulate in an ideal way the high- est expression of our time, one man who would bring us mastery, not as a result of a gradual development, but as Minerva, springing fully armed from the head of Cronus.” Schumann’s second prediction placed far heavi- er burdens on Brahms, the emerging composer: “Later, if he will wave his magic wand to where massed forces, in the chorus and orchestra, lend their strength, there lie before us still more wondrous glimpses into the secrets of the spir- it world.” Over a 21-year period (1855–76), his Symphony No. 1 limped slowly and painfully to completion. Brahms may have waved the mag- ic wand, but the orchestra resisted his musical incantations. His Piano Concerto No. 1 mirrors—on a less ex- aggerated, but no less arduous scale—the strug- gle between a relatively familiar keyboard me- dium and the unsolved mysteries of symphonic writing. Close friends initially heard excerpts as a three-movement sonata for two pianos in March 1854. Stunned by Robert Schumann’s re- cent attempted suicide, the despondent protégé cast a thick veil of Romantic tragedy over the sonata. Clara Schumann, who joined Brahms in this performance, wrote that the sonata “ap- peared to me to be quite powerful, quite orig- inal, noble and clearer than anything before.” This score has long since disappeared. Sensing his musical ideas constricted by the two-piano medium, Brahms decided on a rad- ical transformation: the sonata expanded into a four-movement symphony in D minor. How- ever, the composer faltered at this stage. His orchestration technique was inadequate to the task, and ideas for the finale quickly dissipated. On the advice of his friend Julius Otto Grimm, Brahms cast aside the incomplete finale and two middle movements (the scherzo’s main theme ultimately survived as the funeral march “Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras” in the German Requiem ), leaving only the first movement for a new project: the Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor. The opening Maestoso gains its breadth through Brahms’s typically spacious lines and Romantic passion in combination with the somewhat an- tiquated double-exposition form inherited from the Classical period. A large segment for orches- tra alone (in old-fashioned 6/4 time) introduces the main melodies, most crucially the jumpy, disjointed first theme in the violins. Brahms intentionally delays the piano’s entrance, for the keyboard imbues new thematic interest and a sense of calm. Development, though brief, con- tains a relieving episode in major. Alteration and expansion of the principal melodies contin- ues throughout the recapitulation. In a letter to Clara Schumann on December 30, 1856, Brahms offered insight into the subsequent movement: “I am also painting a tender portrait of you, which is to become the Adagio .” This piece sustains profound lyrical beauty over a vast expanse. Above one sketch of the first theme, Brahms wrote the words Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini (Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord). Writers have deciphered this cryptic remark variously. Malcolm Mac- Donald noted the identical rhythmic scansion of the text and melody. Domine unquestionably refers to Robert Schumann, whom Brahms fre- quently addressed as Mynheer Domine in corre- spondence. Some imagine the “blessed one” to be Clara, despite the masculine pronoun qui . Another possible interpretation exists, one pre- viously overlooked in the literature. “He who comes in the name of [Schumann]” might have been Brahms himself, offering tender comfort to Clara, whose husband had died earlier that year, on July 29. Several formal structures blend together in the finale: rondo, sonata, and variation. In Mozarte- an fashion, the piano introduces the dramatic refrain theme, which possesses an ambiguous rhythmic profile. Brahms offers emotional re- lief in two contrasting areas, both major-key transformations of the main theme. The cen- tral portion develops the refrain extensively, occasionally employing fugal techniques. A cadenza—termed “quasi Fantasia” by Brahms— spreads out over a significant portion of the movement. Piano and orchestra combine for a bold, concluding statement of the refrain. –Program notes © 2019 Todd E. Sullivan RAFAEL PAYARE, conductor A former student of Venezuela’s El Sistema, Ra- fael Payare began to study conducting in 2004 with José Antonio Abreu and has since led all the major ensembles of his native country, in- cluding the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra (of which he has also been principal horn) in performances in Caracas and on tour in Toron- to. As a member of the ensemble, he participated in tours and recordings under such conductors as Giuseppe Sinopoli, Claudio Abbado, Simon Rattle, and Lorin Maazel. Following his victory at the Malko Conducting Competition in 2012, Payare quickly became an in-demand guest con- ductor around the world. He has since appeared with such leading ensembles as the Chicago, London, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras; Mahler Chamber Orchestra; Czech, Los An- geles, and Munich Philharmonics; Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; NDR Elbphilhar- monie Orchestra, Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, and NHK Symphony; Dresden State Orchestra; and German Symphony Orchestra (Berlin). He has also led the Vienna Philhar- monic in concerts at the Musikverein, Paris’s Théâtre des Champs Elysées, and most recently the Vienna Konzerthaus. Over the past year, Pa- yare’s engagements included returns to the Phil- harmonia Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philhar- monic, Bamberg Symphony, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and BBC Symphony Or- chestra, as well as debuts with Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra and the Detroit and Montreal Sym- phony Orchestras. He will give his first concert as music director of the San Diego Symphony this fall, and he was also named music director of the Ulster Orchestra in 2017 following his BBC Proms debut with the ensemble, having been its principal conductor since 2014. Payare made his operatic conducting debut at the Royal Swedish Opera leading Puccini’s Madama But- terfly in 2015 and returned two seasons later for the same composer’s La bohème . He just com- pleted his Glyndebourne debut conducting Ros- sini’s The Barber of Seville , and he also recently led a new production of Verdi’s La traviata with Malmö Opera. Rafael Payare made his Ravinia debut in 2015 and is making his first return to the festival. Johannes Brahms JULY 29 – AUGUST 4, 2019 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE 99