Season Opener - Symphonic Romantics
Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 8:00 PM 
Join the Waltham Symphony Orchestra for an evening of symphonic romantics, from Liszt to Rachmaninov. Amira Acre joins the WSO in the legendarily difficult Rachmaninov Third Piano Concerto, one of the most recognized works from the piano repertoire. The program begins with a Halloween treat, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Paul Dukas
Paul Dukas, The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Franz Liszt, "Les Preludes," Poème Symphonique
Sergei Rachmaninov, Piano Concerto No. 3
Kennedy Middle School Auditorium -- 655 Lexington Street, Waltham, MA
Program Notes
Paul Dukas (October 1, 1865 - May 17, 1935) – L’Apprenti Sorcier (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) 
People young and old alike all know the story of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice if only because of its immortal presentation in the 1940 Disney film “Fantasia.” Although this work by Dukas is based on a poem by Goethe, the myth itself is as old as humanity, and all cultures and traditions have a variation on the theme. It is the story of the apprentice who wants to climb the steps of the tree of knowledge too fast, without having the appropriate control and mastery of the craft.
In Goethe’s poem, the old sorcerer departs his workshop, leaving his young apprentice with his usual chores. But like any young boy, he does not like the menial tasks of filling buckets of water and using a broom to clean up the floor. He decides to use the magic he has seen his master use and has himself started to learn in order to have his broom do the cleaning by itself. But the apprentice is not yet a qualified magician and is not fully trained. In fact, although he knew the spells to start the automatic cleanup process, he does not know how to stop it! When the floor and soon the entire room become flooded he realizes that things are out of control.
Trying to stop the broom, he splits it into two pieces with an axe. Unfortunately, each of the pieces becomes a new broom, picking up a new pail, fetching water and emptying it into the workshop. Now the room fills up with water but at twice the speed. Finally the sorcerer returns, and highly amused by the unfortunate position of his apprentice, breaks the spell immediately and the workshop returns to its normal state. The poem concludes with the moral of the story: only the master himself can call powerful spirits.
The Disney version of the work is very faithful to Goethe’s poem with the exception of the master’s reaction to the mess. Where in the original poem the master is amused, the Disney version shows a very angry master who kicks the apprentice out of the room.
The work by Dukas was composed in 1897 and is categorized as a symphonic poem subtitled “scherzo after a ballad by Goethe.” The piece was first published in 1897 and its success has been constant since then, making it one of the most performed works of the music literature.
Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 - July 31, 1886) – Les Préludes, Poème Symphonique
Les Préludes represents the very first time the term “Symphonic Poem” (or “Tone Poem”) was used for an orchestral work describing situations, moods and narrating a storyline. The full title “Les préludes (d’après Lamartine)” refers to an Ode (poem) by the French poet Alphonse de Lamartine, “Nouvelles meditations poétiques” (New Poetic Meditations).
The original published score includes a preface, not written by Lamartine and 
modified a few times:
What else is our life but a series of preludes to that unknown Hymn, the first and solemn note of which is intoned by Death? - Love is the glowing dawn of all existence; but what is the fate where the first delights of happiness are not interrupted by some storm, the mortal blast of which dissipates its fine illusions, the fatal lightening of which consumes its altar; and where in the cruelly wounded soul which, on issuing from one of these tempests, does not endeavour to rest his recollection in the calm serenity of life in the fields? Nevertheless man hardly gives himself up for long to the enjoyment of the beneficent stillness which at first he has shared in Nature’s bosom, and when “the trumpet sounds the alarm”, he hastens, to the dangerous post, whatever the war may be, which calls him to its ranks, in order at last to recover in the combat full consciousness of himself and entire possession of his energy.
The genesis of the Preludes is a complicated one. It all started in 1844 while Liszt visited the French city of Marseille, and met the Marseille poet, Autran, who gave him a series of four unpublished poems, “Les quatre elements” (the four elements). Before leaving Marseille, Liszt composed the first element, called “Aquilon,” originally a work written for chorus and orchestra. Later on, during a tour of Spain and Portugal, and a return to Marseille and then to Weimar, Liszt composed the three other movements representing the three other elements.
Liszt subsequently removed the choral part and it became very clear that in many ways it was an autobiographical work, describing the highs and lows of an artist’s existence; in fact, the life of a hero. This hero is the archetype of a man who cannot live without participating in battles regardless for the reason and despite the fact that he may lose or even die. The work clearly shows the duality of the romantic hero, the “masculine” side, combative and warrior-like, and the “feminine” side, more at peace with itself and regenerating itself in nature. The work presents two main themes illustrating this duality, the first representing the heroic warrior hymn in the purest romantic tradition, and the second, the serene melody of appeasement, comfort and regeneration so important for a warrior on leave prior to returning to battle.
The first performance of the work was given February 23, 1854, at a concert at the “Hoftheater” in Weimar, Liszt conducting. The first performance in the US was in New York in 1859.
Sergei Rachmaninov (1 April 1873 [O.S. 20 March]–28 March 1943) – Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
Sergei Rachmaninov is equally known as a gifted composer and an extraordinary pianist. He has often been called the last true representative of the romantic lineage. Rachmaninov was heavily influenced by Tchaikovsky and descends from an impressive lineage of Russian romantic composers. However, his music, although tonal, is totally original.
Rachmaninov truly reveals himself in piano music, especially his piano concertos. Those works, especially his third piano concerto, are less works of dialogue between an all powerful piano and an accompanying orchestra than they are rhapsodic symphonies where the piano is an integral part of the orchestra while also the solo instrument. He not only understands the piano intimately, but also has a total mastering of the orchestral idiom.
Rachmaninov studied Piano and Composition in St. Petersburg and in Moscow. He was one of the best concert pianists of his generation, and to this day some of his interpretations are unrivaled. He spent the first part of 
his life in Europe then was invited to tour the United Stated as a concert pianist in 1909. He returned to Europe, but was again invited to the USA for a series of engagements in 1918. Eventually he settled in the US and died in California in 1943.
For his first US tour in 1909, Rachmnaninov needed a signature place, a piece that would be representative of his compositional style and genius. That piece was his Third Piano Concerto. Rachmaninov finished composing the concerto on September 23, 1909 and dedicated it to pianist Josef Hoffman who never performed it, finding it too difficult for him. The first performance was given on November 28, 1909 in New York and a second performance a few weeks later with Gustav Mahler conducting. The Third Concerto has become one of the most appreciated works of the piano repertoire and is considered to this day one of the most difficult piano concertos ever composed. Although musicologists, pianists and other musicians still disagree on this, it is fair to say that this concerto breaks new grounds with its rhapsodic style and harmonic writing.
The concerto was in part responsible for the close friendship established between Rachmaninov and Vladimir Horowitz. In fact, Horowitz recorded the piece several times over his career and it was considered one of his signature pieces. To this day the concerto remains one of the most widely performed and recorded piano concertos, having been tackled by virtually all major pianists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Rachmaninov permitted many cuts in the piece to make it shorter in length and indeed some pianists in the past made some cuts in the concerto to make it playable for them. Today, however, the piece is performed in its entirety.
The concerto is written in three movements, 1. Allegro ma non troppo (D minor), 2. Intermezzo: Adagio (F sharp minor/D flat major), and 3. Finale: Alla breve (D minor to D major). Rachmaninov tries to follow an approximation of traditional sonata form—at least in the first movement—until his genius cannot fit in the strict sonata structure. Instead, he incorporates a rhapsodic form within a loose sonata form structure with elements from the first and second themes being repeated. Most notable is the first movement cadenza. It is written as an extremely difficult exercise in piano dexterity, its tone being powerfully lyrical and highly dramatic. Curiously enough, he rewrote the cadenza later, the new cadenza being more subdued in tone, imitating the principle of the toccata, implementing scales and arpeggios in harmonic progressions. However, it was not an entire rewrite since at mid-point both cadenzas join.
The second movement, slow and beautiful, is comprised of a series of variations around two themes. There is short cadenza then the movement transitions immediately into the third movement. The third movement is comprised of variations on the themes encountered in the first movement. It is based on a loose sonata form without any formal development. It concludes the concerto with the beautifully romantic and passionate second theme in D major.