Overture Magazine - 2014-2015 January-February 2015 | Page 34

{ program notes
it sings a benign and very nostalgic
melody as if from a distance. The animals react to this by returning to their
polka, reaching a point of near riot before
the now more distant posthorn returns,
this time magically answered by first
violins in high register. But all this loveliness cannot tame the animals, who react
with an amazing orchestral crescendo
from pianissimo to triple forte in just a
few measures.
Again a huge contrast as the fourth
movement, “What man tells me,” begins
very slowly with an oscillating motive
in muted cellos and basses and the alto
soloist gravely intoning the words of
Nietzsche’s “Midnight Song” from Thus
Spake Zarathustra. The entire movement
swings between D Major and D minor,
representing the two poles of Lust or “joy”
and Weh or “woe”— mankind’s hope vs.
his earthly condition.
Fifth Movement: Suddenly the joyous
voices of children imitating bells break in
as the women’s chorus launches a bright,
naive chorus taken from the German poetry collection Mahler loved, Des Knaben
Wunderhorn (“The Child’s Magic Horn”).
Women and children represent the angels
above mankind, and they offer a message
of celestial comfort and salvation. Midway
through, the alto soloist enters pleading
for mercy for her sins, but the angels tell
her not to weep.
Sixth Movement: Symphony No. 3
ends with a long, intensely beautiful slow
movement, “What love tells me,” referring to nature’s highest plane: the divine
love of God. The comfort offered now is
much deeper than the angels’ innocent
assurances. This D-Major movement is in
the form of a theme (actually more than
one) with continuous variations. It begins
with strings alone presenting the first of
the themes, all of which aspire upward
toward the divine. Gradually instruments
are added, and the movement builds to
two climaxes in which the heavens almost
seem to open. But the greatest climax is
saved for the final moment: a glorious
blaze of D Major that brings this monumental symphony to a cathartic close.
Notes by Janet E. Bedell, Copyright ©2015

32 O v ertur e |

www. bsomusic .org

Jo s e ph Meye rho ff Sym pho ny Hall

Garrick Ohlsson Plays Rachmaninoff
Friday, February 6, 2015 — 8 p.m.
Saturday, February 7, 2015 — 8 p.m.
Marin Alsop, Conductor
Garrick Ohlsson, Piano

Sergei Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, opus 18
Moderato
Adagio sostenuto
Allegro scherzando

GARRICK OHLSSON

INTERMISSION

Ottorino Respighi
Church Windows
The Flight into Egypt

Saint Michael Archangel
The Matins of Saint Claire

Saint Gregory the Great

Ottorino Respighi
The Pines of Rome
The Pines of the Villa Borghese
Pines near a Catacomb
The Pines of the Janiculum
The Pines of the Appian Way
The concert will end at approximately 10 p.m.

The appearance of Garrick Ohlsson is made possible through the generosity
of the Alvin and Fanny Blaustein Thalheimer Guest Artist Fund.

Marin Alsop

For Marin Alsop’s bio., please see pg. 7.

Garrick
Ohlsson

Since winning
the 1970 Chopin
International Piano
Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson
has established himself worldwide as a

musician of magisterial interpretive and
technical prowess. Ohlsson is noted for
his masterly performances of the works
of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert,
and Romantic repertoire. Although long
regarded as one of the world’s leading
exponents of the music of Frédéric Chopin, Ohlsson commands an enormous
repertoire of more than 80 concertos,
ranging from Haydn to works of the
21st century.