Revolutionary Minds

Saturday, April 5, 2008, 8 pm
Lincoln Theater, University of Hartford
200 Bloomfield Avenue
West Hartford, Connecticut

Wagner: Prelude and Love’s Death from Tristan and Isolde
It is perhaps an odd practice to perform these two selections together as one as they consist of the opera’s Prelude and its final scene. Nearly four hours of music separate these selections but in performing them together in an orchestral setting we hear two extraordinary passages of Wagner’s music. The opening notes of the Prelude are given to the cellos after which we hear the so-called Tristan chord, a chord so original in its invention as be considered the first utterances of the modern movement which might otherwise be said to have begun with Debussy in 1894. The opera was completed in 1865 and demonstrates Wagner’s use of leitmotifs. There are two in the Prelude, the first being of Declaration and Desire and the second of Gazing, the Love Potion and Deliverance. The theme of the opera’s conclusion is the Lovedeath. It is great music of a controversial genius.

Chopin: Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise
The Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise has a curious history. The second part of the work, the Grande Polonaise, was written first for piano and orchestra in 1830, the same year of his First Piano Concerto. When publishing the work in 1836 Chopin added his Andante spianato of 1834, a work he originally conceived for solo piano. The new compilation of the two works now exists in two versions, the first for piano alone and the one performed here with Chopin’s added orchestral colorations. The piano part in each case is the same.

Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
This greatest of symphonies was completed two-hundred years ago in 1808. It has only suffered through over-exposure – who does not know its opening four notes? – but on hearing it complete and in a concert hall one hears why it has been so popular since its premiere in Vienna. It is an extraordinarily crafted work and those with some knowledge of music theory can be led through a detailed analysis of the piece and marvel at its construction. Every note of the first movement can be shown to have a musical purpose and every theme, however different they seem to be from each other, can be shown to be inter-related. The Fifth Symphony is the first of the so called Tragedy to Triumph symphonies (Brahms’ First and Mahler’s Fifth also come to mind), beginning in the dark reaches of C minor and concluding in a blaze of glory in C major.