Ravinia 2021 - Issue 2

CHERYL MAZAK (ZUKERMAN); JENNIFER TAYLOR (FORSYTH); MARCO BORGGREVE (WOSNER) ; I ; No. 2 opens with the violin and cello—joined later by the piano—presenting the Allegro first theme. The cello descends to its low reg- ister for a secondary theme before the key- board offers a graceful third theme accompa- nied by string pizzicatos. Development begins with material from the first theme. The cello introduces an expressive minor-key variation of the first theme in augmented rhythmic values. All three main themes re- turn in the tonic key. An extended coda re- calls motives from the main melodies before summoning minor-key material from the development. Dramatic multiple stops in the strings and piano chords conclude this move- ment in major. Brahms’s Andante con moto offers five vari- ations on a melancholy, gypsy-like theme stated in octaves by the violin and cello. The first is quiet and expressive with melodic mo- tives passed among the three instruments. In the second variation, the theme begins in the piano, then joined by the violin and cel- lo. The third opens with long multiple stops in the strings, answered by full chords in the piano. The music turns to major with a lilt- ing 6/8 meter in the fourth variation. Strings again present long melodic phrases in the minor-key final variation. The Scherzo is a minor-key movement characterized by rap- id repeated notes and brisk upward surges. A somewhat slower trio in major provides con- trast before the lively scherzo music returns in a varied form. Brahms again introduces three themes of widely contrasting character in his sonata-form Finale . The broad coda builds in rhythmic and dynamic intensity in its drive to the conclusion. –Program notes © 2021 Todd E. Sullivan Photograph of Brahms by C. Brasch (Berlin, 1889) ZUKERMAN TRIO Recognized around the world for his ar- tistic talents as a performer and conductor, Pinchas Zukerman continually seeks new avenues to inspire and motivate future gen- erations of musicians through education and outreach. To this end, he teamed up with four of his protégés in 2002 to form the Zukerman ChamberPlayers. In 2011 Zukerman, cellist Amanda Forsyth, and pianist Angela Cheng began to give separate performances of duo and trio repertoire in addition to their work with the ChamberPlayers on quartet and quintet works. With regular invitations to ap- pear at festivals such as Ravinia, Edinburgh, Verbier, and Bravo! Vail, the BBC Proms, and other venues around the world, they for- mally established the Zukerman Trio in 2013 and have since given performances in Japan, China, Australia, Spain, Italy, France, Hun- gary, South Africa, Istanbul, Russia, as well as throughout the United States and South America. Since 2020, pianist Shai Wosner has completed the trio. Pinchas Zukerman , who has been awarded the National Med- al of the Arts and the Isaac Stern Award for Artistic Excellence, is Conductor Emeritus of the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Can- ada and artistic director of its Young Artist Program. He also heads the Zukerman Per- formance Program of the Manhattan School of Music, where he pioneered the use of dis- tance-learning technology in the arts. From 1999 to 2015, Juno Award winner Amanda Forsyth was principal cellist of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, with which she also regularly appeared as a soloist and in cham- ber ensembles. She also appears on numerous recordings across the Fanfare, Marquis, Pro Arte and CBC labels. Pianist Shai Wosner commands a broad repertoire, from Beetho- ven and Schubert to Ligeti and the music of today, that has earned him an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, among other honors. He is on the faculty of Boston’s Longy School of Music. Following ChamberPlayers concerts dating back to 2004, the Zukerman Trio first per- formed at Ravinia in 2014 and tonight makes its fourth appearance at the festival. 8:00 PM THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2021 CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PINCHAS ZUKERMAN, conductor and violin MOZART Adagio for violin and orchestra, K. 261 Rondo for violin and orchestra, K. 373 Pinchas Zukerman, violin ELGAR Serenade for Strings Allegro piacevole Larghetto Allegretto BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 2 Adagio molto—Allegro con brio Larghetto Scherzo: Allegro Allegro molto There will be no intermission in this program. Ravinia expresses its appreciation for the generous support of Featured Sponsor The Negaunee Foundation . PAVILION WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–91) Adagio in E major, K. 261 Scored for two flutes, bassoon ad libitum , two horns, strings, and solo violin At the request of Antonio Brunetti, first vi- olinist at the Salzburg court of Archbishop Colloredo, Mozart composed a substitute slow movement for his Violin Concerto in A major, K. 219, in 1776. Mozart and Bru- netti both presumably performed this work as violin soloists, along with the other four Salzburg concertos. The Italian musician thought enough of the composer’s violin playing to praise it before his Mozart’s father, who related the moment to his son: “Brunet- ti now praises you to the skies! But when I was saying the other day that after all you played the violin passably , he burst out [in Italian]: ‘What? Nonsense! Why, he could play anything!” The petition for a new slow movement was no incrimination against the composer’s understanding of the instrument. The original piece merely sounded “too arti- ficial,” according to Brunetti’s tastes. Mozart willingly created this E-major Adagio , which has since been performed as an independent work. Rondo in C major, K. 373 Scored for two oboes, two horns, strings, and solo violin In a letter written to his father Leopold on April 8, 1781, Wolfgang outlined a private con- cert given before Prince Rudolf Colloredo, fa- ther of the archbishop of Salzburg, the Mo- zarts’ employer: “Today (for I am writing at 11 o’clock at night) we had a concert, where three of my compositions were performed—new ones, of course; a rondo [K. 373] for a concerto for [Antonio] Brunetti; a sonata with violin accompaniment [K. 379 (373a)] for myself, which I composed last night between 11 and 12 (but in order to be able to finish it, I only wrote RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIA MAGAZINE 41