Program Notes

BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37

PRICE: Symphony No. 1

BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 (1796-1803)
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)

A music-lover listening to Beethoven’s C-minor Piano Concerto may entertain recollections of an earlier C-minor Piano Concerto, the brooding, even despairing one that Mozart composed in 1786. During Mozart’s lifetime, however, it could be played only from manuscript parts. It was not published until 1800, the same year Beethoven brought the first movement of his own C-minor Piano Concerto into reasonably finished form. Beethoven was an admirer of the Mozart work. Walking with the pianist-and-composer Johann Baptist Cramer, he overheard an outdoor performance (or perhaps a rehearsal) of Mozart’s C-minor Concerto. He is reputed to have stopped in his tracks, called attention to a particularly beautiful motif, and exclaimed, with a mixture of admiration and despondency, “Cramer, Cramer! We shall never be able to do anything like that!” “As the theme was repeated and wrought up to the climax”—according to the account of Cramer’s widow—“Beethoven, swaying his body to and fro, marked the time and in every possible manner manifested a delight rising to enthusiasm.”

By the dawn of the 19^th century, Beethoven was gaining considerable notice in Vienna. On April 2, 1800, at Vienna’s Burgtheater, he had undertaken his first benefit concert (in those days, a benefit concert being understood to mean “for the benefit of the composer”). He planned to unveil his C-minor Piano Concerto on that high-profile occasion but managed to complete only the stormy first movement and a detailed sketch of the second by the time the date arrived. He stopped working on the piece until the opportunity for another prominent concert arose, which it did in 1802. But for some reason that concert was cancelled, and again Beethoven devoted himself to other more immediately profitable projects rather than finish his concerto.

By the time he completed the noble second movement and the rather jaunty third, the composition of the C-minor Concerto stretched over some three and a half years, not including preliminary sketches, which reached back to 1796—plus a further year if you count the time it took him to actually write out the piano part, and yet another five beyond that until he wrote down the first-movement cadenza. Neither of these last two was necessary as long as Beethoven was the soloist; he knew how the piece should go, after all. Nonetheless, the fragmentary state of the piano score caused considerable stress for Beethoven’s colleague Ignaz von Seyfried, who served as page-tuner at the premiere. “He gave me a secret glance whenever he was at the end of one of the invisible passages,” Seyfried reported, “and my scarcely concealable anxiety not to miss the decisive moment amused him greatly and he laughed heartily during the jovial supper which we ate afterwards.”

PRICE: Symphony No. 1

Symphony No. 1 in E minor (1931)
FLORENCE BEATRICE PRICE (1887-1953)

In 1943, Florence Price wrote to Serge Koussevitzky, the music director of the Boston Symphony and a champion of new American orchestral works, hoping to interest him in her symphonies, of which she had composed three and would shortly complete another. She opened bluntly: “To begin with I have two handicaps—those of sex and race. I am a woman; and I have some Negro blood in my veins. Knowing the worst, then, would you be good enough to hold in check the possible inclination to regard a woman’s composition as long on emotionalism but short on virility and thought content;—until you shall have examined some of my work?”

Such a letter would not be written today, thanks partly to people like Price who persevered against a background in which subjugation was assumed. She composed her Symphony No. 1 in 1931 and the following year it won first prize in the orchestral category of a competition sponsored by the National Association of Negro Musicians. (She also submitted her Piano Sonata, which took first prize in the keyboard division.) This caught the attention of Frederick Stock, music director of the Chicago Symphony, who led his orchestra in this work in 1933 at the Century of Progress International Exposition, the first time any major American orchestra performed a symphonic piece by an African-American woman.

Price’s Symphony No. 1 was inspired by and modeled on the Symphony From the New World by Antonín Dvořák, who had urged African-American musicians to create concert works that drew on vernacular traditions. Although Price does not quote specific pieces here, she does incorporate sounds of a readily recognizable African-American folk idiom. The first movement is an Allegro in sonata form with Dvořákian overtones. The second is a leisurely slow movement; the sonorous brass choir at its opening lends an ecclesiastical flavor, a reminder that Price often worked as a church organist. The vernacular spirit reaches its height in the spirited third movement. It offers a symphonic treatment of the vigorous antebellum folk dance known as the juba, which characteristically involved “body percussion”—stomping feet, perhaps, or drumming with the hands against the chest. Price uses more standard orchestral percussion but she also introduces “wind whistles” here; we don’t know exactly what she had in mind, but any sort of whistle could suggest the exuberance of onlookers at early juba gatherings. Wrote Price, “I have incorporated a juba as one of the several movements because it seems to me to be no more impossible to conceive of Negroid music devoid of the spiritualistic theme on the one hand than strongly syncopated rhythms of the juba on the other.” A vigorous Presto brings the symphony to a close.

Artist Bios

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor

Yannick Nézet-Séguin is the music director for The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Yefim Bronfman, piano

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor

Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead The Philadelphia Orchestra through at least the 2025-26 season, an extraordinary and significant long-term commitment. Additionally, he became the third music director in the history of the Metropolitan Opera, beginning with the 2018-19 season. This consolidates his professional activity around two of the world’s pre-eminent artistic organizations, concentrating and honing his musical future.

Nézet-Séguin, who holds the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair, is an inspired leader of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Widely recognized for his musicianship, dedication, and charisma, he has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most thrilling talents of his generation. His intensely collaborative style, deeply rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called him “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.”

Nézet-Séguin has taken The Philadelphia Orchestra to new musical heights in performances at home in the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts; at the Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center; in Philadelphia neighborhoods; and around the world. His concerts of diverse repertoire attract sold-out houses, and he continues to make connections within Philadelphia’s rich arts community, showing his commitment to engaging music lovers of all ages across the region. In his seventh season as music director, he launches exciting artistic initiatives, including the culmination of a multi-year celebration of the centenary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth with a symphonically staged production of Candide; Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, featuring the athletic and inventive choreography of Philadelphia-based Brian Sanders; and the world premiere of Hannibal’s community commission Healing Tones.

Nézet-Séguin is embraced by the musicians of The Philadelphia Orchestra and by audiences wherever they perform. He made his inaugural tour with the Orchestra during the 2014 Tour of Asia and the following year led the ensemble on their first European tour together. In September 2015, he conducted the Orchestra in two performances for Pope Francis as part of the World Meeting of Families, at the Festival of Families and the Papal Mass. In 2016 and 2017, NézetSéguin and the Orchestra returned to Asia. In 2018, they toured Europe and Israel to much critical acclaim. “Music director and orchestra were once again able to display their astonishing symbiosis,” said Der Standard. And Ynet commented, “The connection between The Philadelphia Orchestra and its conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, is truly incredible in its unmediated closeness.”

Under Nézet-Séguin’s leadership, the Orchestra returned to recording with a CD on the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions of works by Bach. Their second disc for the label, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with pianist Daniil Trifonov, was released in August 2015, and their third disc,

Bernstein’s MASS, was released in March 2018. In Nézet-Séguin’s inaugural season, the Orchestra returned to the radio airwaves, with weekly Sunday afternoon broadcasts on WRTI-FM. In 2017, they also began a national series on SiriusXM.

Nézet-Séguin has been artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000, and in summer 2017 he became an honorary member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He was music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic from 2008 to 2018 (he is now the ensemble’s honorary conductor) and was principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic from 2008 to 2014. He enjoys close collaborations with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony. He has also made wildly successful appearances with many of the world’s other most revered ensembles, including the Boston Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and all the major Canadian orchestras. Throughout Europe and North America, his appearances have left indelible marks on the international classical music scene, making him one of the most sought-after conductors in the world.

Nézet-Séguin’s talents extend beyond symphonic music into the world of opera and choral music. His critically acclaimed performances at New York’s Metropolitan Opera (where he has appeared annually since his debut in 2009, including the opening of the 2015 season), Milan’s La Scala, London’s Royal Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, Netherlands Opera, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, and the historic Salzburg Festival demonstrate that he is an artist of remarkable versatility and depth.

Nézet-Séguin and Deutsche Grammophon (DG) embarked on a major long-term collaboration in July 2012; he signed an exclusive contract with the label in May 2018. His upcoming recordings will include projects with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Orchestre Métropolitain, with which he will also continue to record for ATMA Classique. Additionally, he has recorded with the Rotterdam Philharmonic on DG, EMI Classics, and BIS Records, and the London Philharmonic for the LPO label.

A native of Montreal, Nézet-Séguin studied piano, conducting, composition, and chamber music at Montreal’s Conservatory of Music and continued his studies with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini; he also studied choral conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College.

Nézet-Séguin was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2012, one of the country’s highest civilian honors; Companion to the Order of Arts and Letters of Quebec in 2015; an Officer of the Order of Quebec in 2015; and an Officer of the Order of Montreal in 2017. His other honors include Musical America’s 2016 Artist of the Year, a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, Canada’s National Arts Centre Award, and the Prix Denise-Pelletier, the highest distinction for the arts awarded by the Quebec government. He has also received honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec in Montreal; the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia; Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, NJ; McGill University; the University of Montreal; and the University of Pennsylvania.

Photo credit: Hans Van Der Woerd

Yefim Bronfman, piano

Internationally recognized as one of today's most acclaimed and admired pianists, Yefim Bronfman stands among a handful of artists regularly sought by festivals, orchestras, conductors and recital series. His commanding technique, power and exceptional lyrical gifts are consistently acknowledged by the press and audiences alike.

In celebration of the 80th birthday of Maestro Temirkanov, Mr. Bronfman’s 2018-19 season begins with a European tour with St. Petersburg Philharmonic. This is followed by a Scandinavian tour with The Royal Concertgebouw and Maestro Gatti with orchestral concerts in Europe during the season including Paris (Orchestre National de France), London (LPO), Cologne (WDR), Rome (Santa Cecilia), Berlin (Philharmonic), and Vienna Philharmonic on tour. In the US he will return to orchestras in Cleveland, New York, Los Angeles, Houston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, San Francisco and Dallas, and in recital can be heard in New York (Carnegie Hall), Berkeley, Stanford, Aspen, Madrid, Geneva, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich, Berlin, Naples, Rome and on tour in the spring with mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena.

He has also given numerous solo recitals in the leading halls of North America, Europe and the Far East, including acclaimed debuts at Carnegie Hall in 1989 and Avery Fisher Hall in 1993. In 1991 he gave a series of joint recitals with Isaac Stern in Russia, marking Mr. Bronfman's first public performances there since his emigration to Israel at age 15. That same year he was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest honors given to American instrumentalists. In 2010 he was honored as the recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane prize in piano performance from Northwestern University.

Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union, Yefim Bronfman immigrated to Israel with his family in 1973, where he studied with pianist Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. In the United States, he studied at The Juilliard School, Marlboro School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music, under Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher, and Rudolf Serkin. He is a 2015 recipient of an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music.

Yefim Bronfman became an American citizen in July 1989.

Photo: Dario Acosta

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Bravo! Vail orchestral concerts take place at Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater (GRFA) located at 530 S. Frontage Rd E Vail, CO 81657

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FREE concert parking is available at the Vail Parking Structure (241 South Frontage Road East, Vail) and the Lionshead Parking Structure (395 South Frontage Road West, Vail). A Town of Vail Special Event express bus provides continuous service from both parking structures to the GRFA before and after concerts. We expect that bus capacity for each bus will be limited to 40 or fewer people. Limited $10 parking is available at Ford Park by the Tennis Center (500 South Frontage Rd). Additional $10 parking is available at the Vail Athletic/Soccer Field lot.

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Via Gore Creek Trail: 15-minute scenic walk
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Low-profile lawn chairs are available at the GRFA to rent for $10. You may also rent a lawn chair by contacting the Bravo! Vail Box Office at 877.812.5700.

What are some general rules of concert etiquette?

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Bravo! Vail enriches people's lives through the power of music by producing the finest performances by the greatest artists; fostering music education; and promoting a lifelong appreciation of the arts. We strive to provide the best experience for all audiences. As we continue to maintain this high level of service, our in-house box office happily manages the ticketing and seating process for our patrons.  The price of each ticket helps offset production costs, artist fees and housing, and other expenses associated with the performance. However, ticket sales revenue covers less than half of what it costs to present world-class music in Colorado's most beautiful mountain setting. 

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A five percent service fee is applied to tickets sold through BravoVail.com and an eight percent fee for tickets sold by phone, and in-person through official Bravo! Vail ticketing sources. These fees are proportionate to the ticket's listed price. Additional venue fees may apply. To make our pricing clear to ticket buyers, we do not fold ticketing fees into base ticket prices.  All service fees are non-refundable.

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YANNICK RETURNS

THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA

Friday, July 16 | 6:00PM

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Program Notes

BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37

PRICE: Symphony No. 1

Artist Bios

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor

Yefim Bronfman, piano

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