Ravinia 2021 - Issue 1

PAVILION 8:00 PM FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2021 CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MARIN ALSOP, conductor JORGE FEDERICO OSORIO, piano JOAN TOWER Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1 * MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 Allegro Adagio Allegro assai Jorge Federico Osorio BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 Poco sostenuto—Vivace Allegretto Presto Allegro con brio There will be no intermission in this program. * First performance at Ravinia Ravinia expresses its appreciation for the generous support of Featured Sponsor The Negaunee Foundation and the CSO Opening Night Consortium . The CSO Opening Night Consortium comprises an anonymous donor, Jane and David Casper, Don and Susan Civgin, Larry and Barbara Field and Family, Mesirow Financial, Pamela B. and Russ M. Strobel, and Paul and Mary Yovovich. JOAN TOWER (b. 1938) Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1 Scored for three trumpets, four horns, three trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, medium bass drum, three cymbals, high gong, medium gong, large tam-tam, two cymbals, tom-toms, large bass drum, medium temple blocks, and triangle When the Houston Symphony commissioned pianist and composer Joan Tower in 1986 to contribute a new work to its Fanfare Project, her thoughts drifted to the most recognizable fanfare in American classical music, Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man , a pa- triotic fanfare for brass and percussion com- pleted in November 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Eugene Goos- sens. Tower soon conceptualized Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman as a tribute to Cop- land—the same instrumentation and an opening theme reminiscent of the elder statesman’s—but equally a celebration of women she admired. “I thought I would be more fair, balance things out a bit,” she ex- plained in a 2015 interview with the Library of Congress. Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman , the first in a series of six short instrumental fanfares composed between 1986 and 2016, honors “women who take risks and who are adventur- ous.” Tower dedicated the score to American conductor Marin Alsop, who recorded the first five fanfares with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in 1999 and who premiered the or- chestral version of Fanfare No. 6 with the Bal- timore Symphony Orchestra on May 7, 2016. The Library of Congress added the Colorado Symphony Orchestra’s recording of the first five Fanfares to its National Recording Reg- istry in 2015, recognizing them as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important” works. Joan Tower WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–91) Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488 Scored for one flute, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, strings, and solo piano Mozart realized artistic productivity of the most stupendous variety in the six months between October 1785 and April 1786. This musical harvest surpassed any similar period in his lifetime, when judged in terms of vol- ume and quality. New compositions appeared in staggering numbers: three piano concer- tos, various vocal/orchestra works for his Ma- sonic lodge, isolated pieces for violin and pia- no, substitute numbers for operas, the Singspiel The Impresario , and the comic opera The Marriage of Figaro . One author estimated that Mozart averaged writing six pages of mu- sic on 12-stave paper per day. Heaping onto this colossal schedule, Mozart organized his typical Lenten subscription concerts, several benefit programs, and pri- vate recitals. The Lenten programs especially taxed his stamina. Eighteenth-century audi- ences regularly demanded new works from composer-virtuosos, and Mozart graced the 1786 season with a magnificent trilogy of pia- no concertos: in E-flat major (K. 482), A ma- jor (K. 488), and C minor (K. 491). Writers often comment on the challenges Mozart faced while shuttling between oper- atic and concerto genres. In so doing, they overlook the fundamental similarities be- tween these forms. Each deals with dramatic conflict between “characters” and the devel- opment of their “personalities.” In opera, the protagonists wear a human face, while the concerto highlights an inanimate musical in- strument. Mozart knew no rivals in his abil- ity to convey the richness of human emotion through metallic strings and ivory keys. The Concerto in A major flawlessly blends popular appeal with technical challenge Anonymous portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (mid-1780s) RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIA MAGAZINE 45