Starburst Jessie Montgomery (b. 1981)

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Symphony No. 96 in D major (Miracle) Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809)

I. Adagio—Allegro I I. Andante I II. Menuetto: Allegretto I V. Finale: Vivace assai

presentsELLIOT MOORE, MUSIC DIRECTOR

HAYDN’S MIRACLEwith

Elliot Moore, Music DirectorMatthew Zalkind, Cellist

October 16, 2021 at 7:00 pm • October 17, 2021 at 4:00 pmStewart Auditorium at The Longmont Museum • 400 Quail Rd, Longmont, CO

Serenade for 13 Wind Instrumentsin E flat major, Opus 7

Variations on a Rococo Theme in A major, Opus 33

PROGRAM NOTES by Charley Samson, copyright 2021.

Starburst JESSIE MONTGOMERY (b.1981)

Born in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Montgomery has degrees from the Juilliard School and New York University and is currently a Graduate Fellow in Music Compo-sition at Princeton University. Her teachers include Sally Thomas, Joan Tower, Derek Bermel, and Laura Kaminsky. A founding member of PUBLIQuartet, she is currently a member of the Catalyst Quartet. Since 1999, she has been affiliated with the Sphinx Organization, which supports young African-American and Latino string players.

Starburst was commissioned by the Sphinx Organization, and first performed by the Sphinx Virtuosi at the New World Center in Miami in September, 2012. In her program note, Montgomery writes: “This brief one-movement work for string orchestra is a play on imagery of rapidly changing musical colors. Exploding gestures are juxtaposed with gentle fleeting melodies in an attempt to create a multidimensional sound-scape. A common definition of a starburst: ‘the rapid formation of large numbers of new stars in a galaxy at a rate high enough to alter the structure of the galaxy sig-nificantly’ lends itself almost literally to the nature of the performing ensemble who premiered the work, the Sphinx Virtuosi, and I wrote the piece with their dynamic in mind.”

PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)

“My love for Mozart is so overpowering that just to speak of him makes me feel tears in my eyes,” wrote Tchaikovsky, who regarded Mozart as “the Christ of music” and “the greatest of all composers.” Tchaikovsky’s adoration of Mozart is reflected in the Variations on a Rococo Theme, which he finished in December, 1876. The work was first performed on November 30, 1877 in Moscow, with Nikolai Rubin-stein conducting. The soloist was Tchaikovsky’s fellow professor at the Moscow Con-servatory, Wilhelm Fitzenhagen. When he conducted it in Wiesbaden, Franz Liszt was moved to remark: “Here, at last, is music again.” After a short orchestral introduction, the solo cello enters with the rococo theme, followed by seven variations. “Each variation,” writes biographer Edwin Evans, “has a charm and a piquancy of its own, and is accompanied by orchestration of that lu-cid, dainty type of which Tchaikovsky was such a master when it suited his purpose.”

Variations on a Rococo Theme in A major, Opus 33

RICHARD STRAUSS (1864-1949)

“The respectable work of a music student” was Strauss’s later assessment of his Serenade for 13 Winds. He was sixteen years old and still in school when he wrote it in 1881. Franz Wüllner conducted the first performance in Dresden on Novem-ber 27, 1882. Meanwhile conductor Hans von Bülow, an old enemy of Strauss’ father, who had already heard and disliked some of the younger Strauss’s works, suddenly changed his mind when he heard the Serenade. He added the piece to his pro-grams and even took it on the road with his Meiningen Court Orchestra. When the tour reached Berlin, von Bülow hired Strauss as his assistant. Strauss succeed-ed his benefactor as principal conductor in 1885.

“It is a charming piece of music,” writes William Mann, “laid out most skilfully for the instruments; and it shows the germ of Strauss’s adult musical idiom. Fairly obviously modelled on Mozart’s serenade Andantes it shows us other influenc-es--Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms--and on the way looks forward to the Strauss that we know better.”

Symphony No. 96 in D major (Miracle) FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809)

The Symphony No. 96 has been called the Miracle because of a bizarre incident that actually occurred after the first performance of the Symphony No. 102. Albert Dies, an early Haydn biographer, tells the story: “the curious audience…left their seats and crowded toward the orchestra the better to see the famous Haydn quite close. The seats in the middle of the floor were thus empty, and hardly were they empty when the great chandelier crashed down and broke into bits, throwing the numerous gathering into great consternation. As soon as the first moment of fright was over, and those who had pressed forward could think of the danger they had luckily escaped and find words to express it, several persons uttered the state of feelings with loud cries of ‘Miracle! Miracle!’” Dies later asked Haydn about the incident. The composer replied, “I know nothing about it.” The Symphony No. 96 was first performed on March 11, 1791 at the Hanover Square Rooms in London. “I created a furor with a new Symphony,” Haydn wrote to his friend Luigia Polzelli. The historian Charles Burney described an “electrical effect on all present” and “such a degree of enthusiasm as almost amounted to frenzy.” The Diary reported that “the audience was so enraptured, that by unani-mous desire, the second movement was encored, and the third was vehemently demanded a second time also, but the modesty of the Composer prevailed too strongly to admit a repetition.”

Serenade for 13 Wind Instrumentsin E flat major, Opus 7

The great Haydn scholar H.C. Robbins Landon called the work “a miracle of sophistica-tion, wit, beautiful orchestration, and charm. The second movement, to which the trum-pets and kettledrums contribute a dramatic effect when they enter in the minor section, shows off the London wind players and also contains a particularly beautiful cadenza—just as if the movement were from a concerto—using among other things two solo vio-lins, which weave a gently running pattern through the rich texture of the full band. The minuet is a stirring movement with almost march-like grandeur, while the trio is an Austrian waltz for solo oboe and strings…. The symphony is flanked by two elegant movements: the first has a stately slow introduction followed by a scintillating allegro, while the last…is a racy and brilliant rondo with all sorts of diversions (an angry section in the minor, a sec-tion for the wind band alone, including soft trumpets and drums).”

BIOCellist, Matthew Zalkind

Praised for his “impressive refinement, eloquent phras-ing, and singing tone” by The New York Times, American cellist Matthew Zalkind regularly performs throughout the United States and abroad as a recitalist, soloist, and chamber musician. Zalkind was awarded First Prize in the Washington Inter-national Competition, as well as top prizes in the Beijing International Cello Competition and Korea’s Isang Yun International Competition.

As a soloist, Zalkind has performed recitals at the Phil-lips Collection in Washington, DC, the Moscow Conser-vatory in Moscow, Russia, The Dame Myra Hess series in Chicago, the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater in Washington, DC and the Beijing Concert Hall in Beijing, China. Zalkind has performed concerti with the Utah Symphony, the Albany Symphony, the Hongzhou Phil-harmonic, Musica Viva Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Tongyeong International Music Festival Orchestra, the Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra, the Juilliard Symphony Orchestra, and numerous North

American orchestras. He has performed concerti with celebrated conductors Ludovic Morlot, Thierry Fischer, Giancarlo Guerrero, and David Alan Miller, among others.

Zalkind regularly participates in numerous festivals including Marlboro and “Musicians from Marlboro” tours, Olympic Music Festival, Innsbrook Institute, Twickenham Festival, and Music from Angel Fire. With his partner Alice Yoo, Zalkind is the Co-Artistic Director of the brand-new Denver Chamber Music Festival, a destination for world class chamber music in Colorado. More information can be found at denverchambermusicfestival.org. Mr. Zalkind is a dedicated teacher and serves as the cello professor at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music. His students have established themselves on national and international Concert stages.

Violin 1Ben Ehrmantraut, ConcertmasterNaira Poghosyan, Associate ConcertmasterCarol OsborneFred JewellAnna Lugbill

Violin 2James Nance, PrincipalHolly Sidney, Associate PrincipalEmily FenwickBecky RuttenbergRae Ann Norrell

ViolaChue Vue, PrincipalSarah BahinXareny PolancoHaley Nordeen

CelloAthita Kuankachorn, PrincipalRob Stahly, Associate PrincipalJaiden UrsichRet David North

BassJennifer Motycka, PrincipalMaeve Celedon

FluteKay W. Lloyd, PrincipalRachelle Crowell

OboeMargaret Davis, PrincipalGrace Stringfellow

ClarinetRandel Leung, PrincipalKevin Sakai

BassoonCody Tripp, PrincipalSteve Hanna

HornMaddie Levinson, PrincipalMaria LongMichael SgrecciHaley Funkhouser

TrumpetNoah Mennenga, PrincipalJeremiah Kersting

TimpaniEujin Jung

LONGMONT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

TICKETS AVAILABLE at LONGMONTSYMPHONY.ORG/TICKETS

UPCOMING PERFORMANCESNovember 13, 2021•7:30pm at Vance Brand Auditorium

American Nostalgia: Barber & Dvorakfeaturing soprano Leberta Lorál

December 19, 2021 • 4:00pmat Westview Presbyterian Church

Candlelight: A Baroque Christmas

Patron

In memory of Ruth HoweLinda WeberIn memory of Sue WiseBill Wysocki

Donor

Jesse JennerPaul and Diane RickardUC Health Longs Peak Hospital FoundationMargaret Spangler

Sponsor

Tina Davis StudioRichard and Darcy JudayMedtronic Grant FundsSarah Snyder

Honorary

Sally and Stephen FossIn memory of Michael HirotaRex LabotteRobert and Ann Parsons

Benefactor

Lynn and Helen Clark FundCarol and Tony KeigStevan and Jan Kukic

Bronze Baton

IBM Corp Matching GrantsDr. Rowlin Lichter

Gold Baton

Stapp Interstate ToyotaJudi Watson

Platinum Baton

Bill and Ann BoettcherLinda FettermanMichael and Carol Minelli FoundationHarvey and Carol Yoakum

WITH GRATITUDE TO OUR GENEROUS CONTRIBUTORS:

SPONSORED BY:

October 17, 2021•4pm