program notes {
in Paris performances of Shakespeare’s
Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, and that
spectacular program symphony expressed
his frustrated passion for her. His fatal
mistake was to marry her in 1833, a union
that went south almost from day one and
taught him it was far better to sublimate
desire into music.
Furthermore, Berlioz had just organized and conducted one of his mammoth concerts — mobilizing more than
1,000 performers! — to celebrate the
close of the international Festival of
Industrial Products in Paris on August 1.
At this extravaganza before an audience
of 8,000, he nearly collapsed on the
podium, and his doctor immediately
ordered a rest cure in the warm sunshine
of Nice on the French Riviera. There the
composer regained both his health and
creative energies. composing the last of
his colorful concert overtures, the fiery
Le Corsaire (“The Pirate”).
In his three mature overtures —
Benvenuto Cellini, Roman Carnival and
Le corsaire — the radical Berlioz developed a very personal, iconoclastic formal
approach that shattered the sonata-form
template for 19th-century overtures. In C
Major, Le Corsaire opens with arresting
gestures: a virtuosic whirlwind of string
scales that collides with the intricate
syncopations of the equally agitated
woodwinds. Then Berlioz presents a slow
Adagio section, featuring a pensively
beautiful melody in A-flat Major.
All too soon this lovely music is broken
off, the orchestra cranks itself back to
C Major, and the main Allegro section
ensues with a reprise of the whirling string
scales and syncopations. The brass hints
at the swashbuckling principal theme, but
the violins finally unfurl it. Almost unrecognizable in the faster tempo, the Adagio
melody then returns for contrast. Despite
the lack of an orthodox development
section, Berlioz keeps revisiting his bold
theme in new and exciting ways, the best
being the brass’s dashing, totally uninhibited proclamation just before the end.
Trio in A minor
Maurice Ravel
Born in Ciboure, Basses-Pyrenées,
France, March 7, 1875; died in Paris,
December 28, 1937
Arranged for Orchestra by Yan Pascal Tortelier
Maurice Ravel was born in the French
Basque country near the Spanish border,
and he retained a great love for this region
all his life. One of his favorite places for
combining relaxation with composition
was the seaside resort of St. Jean-de-Luz.
There he wrote his greatest chamber work,
the Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello,
during the summers of 1913 and 1914.
But his idyll at St. Jean-de-Luz was shattered on August 4, 1914 when the start of
World War I was announced; the news
propelled him into overdrive to complete
the Trio so he could [