Ravinia 2021 - Issue 1

ANNA WEBBER (ELLING) younger brother of Schumann, and just as North German, Protestant, and unworldly he—writing waltzes! There is only one word which solves the enigma, and that is—Vien- na. … Brahms’s waltzes are the fruit of his residence in Vienna, and a fruit of the very sweetest kind. … Those who watch with sympathy the development of this straight- forward and deep but previously, perhaps, one-sided talent will greet the waltzes as a sign of a rejuvenated and refreshed receptivi- ty.” Brahms dedicated the printed score of his waltzes to Dr. Hanslick. These pieces may represent the first offspring of Brahms’s intoxication with Viennese life, but they were not his last. He produced three different versions of op. 39: for four-hands pi- ano (1865), solo piano (1865), and two pianos (1867). The waltz’s phenomenal popularity in Vienna encouraged Brahms to plunge deeper into the form. He also composed two waltz collections for four-part chorus accompanied by four-hands piano: the 18 Liebeslieder Wal- zer , op. 52 (1868–69), and the 15 Neue Lieb- eslieder Walzer , op. 65 (1874). This unusual vocal/instrumental ensemble demonstrates how completely the dance had permeated Viennese musical life since its emergence at the end of the 18th century. The ballroom dances by Joseph Lanner and the Strauss family represented only the tip of the waltz iceberg. Concert halls, theaters (opera and operetta), and private salons all played host to this elegant triple-meter dance. Only church music seemed impervious to its direct sway, although who knows what subtle influences remain undiscovered. The Sixteen Waltzes, op. 39, display remark- able emotional and expressive variety within narrow stylistic confines. Brahms expands the boundaries of waltz style through changes in tempo, modality (major and minor), and “personality.” His first three pieces employ the typical waltz tempo and phrase lengths, although the third turns for the first time to minor. The fourth piece becomes more impas- sioned. Brahms resumes a graceful tempo in the fifth. No. 6 adds rapid cross-rhythms, toy- ing with the expected three-beat pattern. After two more “standard” waltzes comes the wist- ful, minor-key ninth. The shortest of the set (at sixteen measures), No. 10 contains surging two-measure phrases. The eleventh meanders between minor and major keys. This ton- al pattern reverses in No. 12, and prominent contrapuntal lines are added to the interior of the keyboard texture. After two more extro- verted pieces comes the familiar waltz-lulla- by—No. 15 in A-flat major. Brahms leaves the listener with a soulful minor-key waltz. Four Piano Pieces, op. 119 Many of Brahms’s compositions for the piano come from his early years of growing renown. Not only did he compose numerous sets of variations, three sonatas, and ballades and dances for the solo piano, but he also wrote for chamber combinations that included the piano. When Brahms left his native Hamburg for Vienna in 1862, his interest in solo piano composition shifted from variations and dances to freer, more improvisatory pieces. Nearly all of the later solo-piano works are entitled capriccios, intermezzos, rhapsodies, or fantasies. These works come from widely separated dates during his 35 years in Vienna: there were two sets of piano pieces from 1878–79 and four sets from 1892–93. His last solo piano compositions were the Four Piano Pieces, op. 119. Brahms complet- ed this set in 1893 at his summer residence at Ischl, although some may have been sketched earlier. This valedictory collection included three lyrical intermezzos and a spirited rhap- sody. In May 1893, Brahms promised to send at least one unidentified intermezzo from op. 119 to Clara Schumann. “It teems with discords. These may be all right and quite ex- plicable, but you may not perhaps like them, in which case I might wish that they were less right but more pleasing and more to your taste. It is exceptionally melancholy, and to say ‘to be played very slowly’ is not sufficient. Every bar and every note must be played as if ritardando were indicated, and one wished to draw the melancholy out of each one of them, and voluptuous joy and comfort out of the discords. My God, how this description will whet your appetite!” –Program notes © 2021 Todd E. Sullivan Johannes Brahms by Rudolf Krziwanek (1890s) GARRICK OHLSSON, piano For Garrick Ohlsson’s biography, see page 36. CAROUSEL STAGE 8:00 PM TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2021 KURT ELLING and CHARLIE HUNTER † † Ravinia debut KURT ELLING One of the foremost jazz vocalists of the past 25 years, Kurt Elling is continuing to gather honors, earlier this year winning his sec- ond Grammy Award among 14 nominations stretching back to his debut on the Blue Note label in 1995 with Close Your Eyes . The new- est winning disc, Secrets are the Best Stories , joins his 2009 set Dedicated to You , a tribute to John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. El- ling’s accolades also include a 14-year run atop DownBeat ’s Critics and Readers polls and 12 Male Vocalist of the Year prizes from the Jazz Journalists Award, as well as three Prix du Jazz Vocal (France), two Echo Awards (Germany), and two Edison Awards (the Netherlands). In addition to recording and performing with his own combos, Elling has played alongside such art- ists as Branford Marsalis, Danilo Pérez, Stefon Harris, Fred Hersch, James Morrison, and Charlie Hunter, as well as with larger ensembles like the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Bob Mintzer Big Band, BBC Concert Symphony, Holland’s Metropole Orchestra, Irish Radio and Television Orchestra, Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, and the WDR Orchestra and Big Band in Germany. In the tradition of pioneers Eddie Jefferson and Jon Hendricks, Elling regularly adds to vocal jazz by writing and recording signature lyrics to the music of foundational composers like John Coltrane, Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, and Joe Zawinul, often incor- porating references to classic poetry and prose. Additionally, he has co-created multidisciplinary works for the City of Chicago and the Steppenwolf Theatre, and is collaborating on a jazz musical titled The Big Blind , which has been previewed at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Elling has been a trustee and vice chairman of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and a resident artist of the Monterey and Singapore Jazz Festivals. Featured tonight is music from his new album with Charlie Hunter, SuperBlue , due to be released this fall. Kurt Elling first performed at Ravinia in 1995 and tonight makes his first return since 2009, for his fifth appearance at the festival. CHARLIE HUNTER With a career spanning 25 years and dozens of albums across such venerable labels as Blue Note, Concord, and Ropeadope, Charlie Hunter is in a category of his own among jazz guitarists. Inspired by the styles of Joe Pass and Tuck Andress, extending into the bass range with their six-string guitars for broader melodies, Hunter developed special seven- and eight-string guitars to take the technique a step further and create truly polyphonic soundscapes unifying tasty bass parts, me- lodic leads, and swinging rhythms. He re- corded with Blue Note from his sophomore disc, Bing, Bing, Bing! (1995), through 2001’s Songs from the Analog Playground , which saw him collaborate with such labelmates as Kurt Elling, Norah Jones, and Mos Def. Hunter has also collaborated with the likes of John Mayer and D’Angelo, and most recently with singer-songwrit- er Lucy Woodward ( Music! Music! Music! , 2019) and drummer Carder McLean. Charlie Hunter is making his first appearance at Ravinia. RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIA MAGAZINE 51