Houston Sinfonietta Russian Concert February 1 2004

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Russian Concert Sunday February 1, 2004 at 3:30 PM at St. Michael Catholic Church 1801 Sage Road Houston, Texas 77056	Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture Mikhail Glinka Serenade in C for Strings, Opus 48 Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 in Bb, Op. 100 Sergei Prokofieff Richard W. Pickar, Guest Conductor

Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture Mikhail Glinka 1804-1857	Mikhail Ivanovitch Glinka (1804-1857) was born in Smolensk and was brought up in his father's country estate where he heard a great deal of folk music as well as performances by his uncle's small private orchestra. He studied piano in St. Petersburg with the Irish composer John Field, the inventor of the piano nocturne which was later brought to a very high level of perfection by Frederick Chopin. At thirty years of age, he went to Berlin and Milan to study composition. In 1836 he composed the opera The Life of the Tsar, which has Italian influence, but is also strongly influenced by Russian folk music. His next opera, Russlan and Ludmilla was written in 1842 and is based on a fantasy type poem by Pushkin. This opera laid the foundations of true Russian national style in music, including both the Russian folk influence and the oriental character encountered in many Russian compositions. The story is a fairy tale in which Ludmilla is the beautiful daughter of the Grand Duke Sviatoslav of Kiev and Russlan is one of three suitors who compete for her, and Ludmilla's favorite. After some fantastic adventures, in which Ludmilla is abducted first by evil spirits and then by a wizard called Chernomor. Russlan saves her, and everything ends happily. The overture reflects the festive mood of the happy ending. The bright colors and the clear orchestration of the overture have established a Russian tradition which has been carried on by Rimsky-Korsakoff, Stravinsky and Prokoffief.

Serenade in C for Strings, Opus 48 Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky 1840-1893	Tchaikovsky was born in Viatka in 1840 and died at St Petersburg in 1893. He began his life as a civil servant but left that job to devote himself to music. He studied at the Conservatory at St. Petersburg but, unlike Balakireff or Rimsky-Korsakoff, he did not seek inspiration entirely in the Russian folk music. His temperament and sensitivity, however, are typically Russian. In any case, Tschaikowsky became popular in Britain and the United States before the more thoroughly Russian composers did. Tschaikowsky wrote many orchestral works including ten operas, seven symphonies, three piano and one violin concertos, three ballets, chamber works, songs and piano works. The Serenade for Strings in C-major Op. 48 starts with a movement in Sonatina form, which is followed by a Waltz. The third movement, Elegy, is a lyric piece and the Finale is a lively movement built on a Russian theme.

Symphony No. 5 in Bb, Op. 100 i. Andante ii. Allegro Marcato iii. Adagio iv. Allegro Giocoso Sergei Prokofieff 1891-1953	Born in Sontsovka, in 1891 and extraordinarily precocious, he had written an opera by the time he was eight. At twelve he entered the Conservatory at St. Petersburg where he studied composition with Liadov, Rimsky -Korsakoff and Tcherepnine and piano with famous pianist and teacher Annette Esipoff. He graduated at nineteen with highest honors and impressed his teachers and audiences with his Classical Symphony, his percussive piano pieces, and his Scythian Suite, whose discords established him as an enfant terrible of the Russian music. In 1918, immediately after the Bolshevik Revolution, Prokoffief left Russia via Siberia from which he reached Japan and the United States. In 1921 he premiered his famous Third Piano Concerto in Chicago. From 1923 to 1933 Prokoffief lived in Paris, making a name of himself and getting great acclaim in his native land, in which he returned when Hitler became the Fuehrer of Germany. In Russia he continued composing to great acclaim, until 1948, when all modern art in the U.S.S.R. was severely criticized. Prokoffief who had written his best work, the Fifth Symphony in 1944, did soften up his style in the seventh Symphony, but by 1950, the Soviets stopped criticizing their composers and Prokoffief, Shostakovitch and others were rehabilitated. The Fifth Symphony in B-flat Major was written in 1944 after he returned to Moscow from eastern Russia where the Soviets had moved him in order to protect him from the war. The first performance was conducted by Prokoffief and took place in an atmosphere of national celebration after a great Soviet victory against the Nazis in the Vistula River. According to Prokoffiev' s biographer , Israel Nestyev, "the opening bars of the symphony were heard against the thunderous background of an artillery salute". The first movement is an Andante, in traditional form that ends in an impressive coda. The critics have said that it glorifies the strength and beauty of the human spirit. The second movement, Allegro Marcato, is a mercurial, lively scherzo, both light hearted and sardonic. The third movement Adagio, is primarily a lyric movement but has an agitated climax half way through. The clarinet ends it with a gracefully rising arpeggio. The last movement, Allegro Giocoso, starts softly but builds up in typical Prokoffief manner, into a dazzling and dynamic ending.
	notes by George Blytas
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