Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
Anne Manson, Music Director
Karl Stobbe, Concertmaster
Westminster United Church
27 October 2009

Scott Yoo, guest conductor

 

Jeffrey Ryan (b. 1962)
Vesica piscis

CBC commission for the MCO
Premiere performance, 2 December 2003

Jeffery Cotton (b. 1957)
Suite from ‘Pyramis & Thisbe’

1. Divertissement I
2. Pas de deux I (Thisbe’s Dream)
3. Solo (Thisbe’s Lament)
4. Pas de deux II
5. Prelude and Divertissement II

Intermission

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Divertimento in d major (k 251)

1. Molto allegro
2. Menuetto
3. Andantino
4. Menuetto
5. Rondo: Allegro assai
6. Marcia alla francese

Concert sponsor / Payworks
Season sponsor / The Great-West Life Assurance Company
Print media sponsor / Winnipeg Free Press
Radio media sponsors / CBC Radio 2 98.3, CBC Radio One 990,
Espace musique 89,9 and Golden West Radio

 

Scott Yoo

After beginning his musical studies at age three, Scott Yoo performed Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the Boston Symphony at age twelve. He received first prize in the Josef Gingold International Violin Competition (1988), first place in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions (1989), and the Avery Fisher Career Grant (1994). After graduating with honors and a B.A. in Physics from Harvard University (1993), Mr. Yoo founded the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra (1994), conducting the orchestra in its series at Jordan Hall in Boston, as well as over ninety performances on tour.

Yoo is Music Director and Principal Conductor of the 38-year old Festival Mozaic, which presents over thirty orchestral, choral and chamber music concerts and events each year on California’s Central Coast. Since 2003, he has served as Conductor of the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, a 4-week intensive training program for young musicians.

As a guest-conductor, Mr. Yoo has led the Colorado, Dallas, Indianapolis, San Francisco and Utah Symphonies. He regularly conducts the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and led their 2006 Elliott Carter Festival. He has conducted the New World Symphony, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and the orchestras of Charlotte, Columbus, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Kansas City, Louisville, Mexico City, Nashville, and Phoenix. In Europe, he conducted the City of London Sinfonia, Orchestre de Bretagne and the Estonian National Symphony. He made his debut with the Seoul Philharmonic in 2007, and will debut with Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra in Tokyo in 2009. He also continues his long-standing relationship with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.

An avid proponent of contemporary music, Yoo has premiered 47 works by 22 composers. With Metamorphosen, Mr. Yoo has recorded with violinist Mark O'Connor for Sony Classical; John Harbison's chamber orchestra works with soprano Dawn Upshaw for Archetype, nominated for a 1999 National Public Radio Performance Today Award; and vocal works of Earl Kim with sopranos Benita Valente and Karol Bennett for New World, named a 2001 "Critics Choice" by the New York Times. His recent recording projects include complete orchestral works of Earl Kim with the RTE National Orchestra of Ireland for Naxos and works of Mozart and Elliott Carter for Bridge Records.

Scott Yoo studied violin with Roman Totenberg, Albert Markov, Paul Kantor and Dorothy DeLay, and conducting with Michael Gilbert and Michael Tilson-Thomas.

Vesica piscis
Jeffrey Ryan

Jeffrey Ryan created the string orchestra
composition, Vesica piscis, in 2003, on commission from
the MCO. He has written the following note:

The vesica piscis (rhymes with ‘Jessica Crisis’) is a figure found in Sacred Geometry. It is formed by two identical circles which are overlapped so that the circumference of each one touches the centre of the other. The almond-shaped intersection is the vesica. Examples of it abound in art and architecture, especially in garden designs, mosaics, and religious imagery. The vesica piscis is thought to symbolise the idea of ‘seeing eye-to-eye,’ the intersection that represents the mutual understanding of two equal individuals.

It is this idea of balance, symmetry, and common ground that inspired my musical imagination. The shape and curve of the circles, and the spaces within them, are represented sonically through register, density and pitch reflections, and visually through the ‘choreography’ of movement which expands and contracts across the ensemble. The central section of the piece, the vesica itself, becomes more intimate through the use of four soloists, while the accompanying players rearticulate the outline. The second circle is not a mere duplication of the first, however — these two equal individuals bring unique perspectives to the shared musical ideas. As the piece draws to a close, we realise that we began at the end, as the opening measures are heard again, and the eternal cycle continues.

Suite from ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’
Jeffery Cotton

In 1990, Jeffery Cotton returned to Germany as a Guggenheim Fellow,
and lived in Berlin during the German Reunification. During this time he began
composing his ballet Pyramus and Thisbe, a work which was premiered some
twelve years later in an orchestral suite version. Scott Yoo conducted
the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra at the New England
Conservatory of Music in Boston, on 20 April 2002.
The composer has written the following note:

The story of Pyramus and Thisbe is familiar: they are young lovers in ancient Babylon. Their families forbid them to see one another, so one night they plan to steal away. Through misinterpreted signals and premature martyrdom, both end up dead and their families devastated. In the 2000 years since Ovid wrote Pyramus and Thisbe, there have been many retellings of it, most notably by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet. Most adaptations of the poem have been unsympathetic to the tragic pair. Even Shakespeare could not resist and openly spoofed Ovid’s characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But when I returned to Ovid’s original parable I found a compelling detail: the two lovers live as neighbours, and their houses share a common wall that separates them. But they find a small crack through which they can whisper their devotion to one another, and make their fatal plans.

My ballet had a providential beginning. A well-timed application to the Guggenheim Foundation in the summer of 1989, to “write an opera [sic] about the construction of the Berlin Wall, based on the myth of Pyramus and Thisbe,” allowed me to move to Berlin in April of 1990, six months after the Wall first opened. I knew Berlin well by then, and was anxious to visit the usual Cold War landmarks to see what was new. But I discovered that the most interesting changes were taking place in the everyday lives of Berliners. Streets were reconnected for the first time in 40 years; commerce, both over and under the table, was thriving; people were moving freely through all parts of the city.

So I began composing. I soon realized that my musical ideas were not very operatic. The brisk rhythms and busy melodies suggested a different treatment. The sketches went into a drawer and remained there until 2001. When I dug them out that year, I realized they reflected exactly my experiences of Berlin. I decided then to resurrect them as a ballet.

My Pyramus and my Thisbe are just as reckless as Ovid’s characters, but in this modernized telling these are also people with an agenda. The music that accompanies Thisbe’s dream about Pyramus, for example (the first pas de deux), portrays her sentimental fantasies about him. Her emotions are fluid, she is ravished and also wary. But she ultimately sees him as a magnificent animal, ready to protect and love her and give her the life she deserves. The reality of Pyramus is less noble than Thisbe imagines, as portrayed in the second pas de deux (fourth movement).

Ovid’s parable is seen as a dissertation on love and devotion. But at the end of the poem Ovid puts a different spin on things. When Pyramus is falsely led to believe that Thisbe is dead, he plunges his sword into his side, not wanting to live if he cannot be with her. But when Thisbe arrives moments later and tries to rouse Pyramus, Ovid plays a cruel trick:

He heard the name of Thisbe,
and he lifted his eyes,
with the weight of death heavy upon them,
And saw her face, and closed his eyes.†

Thus Ovid forces Pyramus to realize, at the moment of death, that he is not the tragic lover, but a fool. At his worst moment, a wall fell out of the sky.

† Metamorphoses, Book 4, lines 143-145.
Translation by Rolf Humphries,
Indiana University Press, 1955.

Divertimento in D major (K 251)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart composed this light-hearted gem quickly but with great skill and imagination in Salzburg during July 1776. The haste may have been related to the virtually simultaneous creation of the far more vast and intricate ‘Haffner’ Serenade, which premiered on July 22. He probably created the divertimento as a gift to celebrate either the birthday or the name day of his beloved older sister, Maria Anna (Nannerl), on July 26. It plays to her taste for French music by spotlighting the oboe, an instrument developed primarily in France, and by concluding with a march in French Style. The instrumentation is for oboe, two horns and strings. Save for the occasional prominence of the oboe, it is an ensemble work, with materials distributed evenly among the ranks.

The six compact movements open with a brisk and cheery allegro. It is based on a single, folk-like theme, passed back and forth between major and minor. The first minuet is a stately, almost mock-serious affair. The gracious central trio calls upon strings alone. The following andantino is exceptionally songful and flowing. Perhaps its tenderness reflects the depth of his brotherly love.

The second minuet has an unusual structure. Instead of the typical ABA form, it consists of a theme and three variations, with the theme restated between each. It is also the most soloistic movement, with oboe and strings taking turns in the spotlight. Mozart intersperses the refrain of the dashing rondeau with episodes in folk music style. They may be popular airs of the day, or Nannerl’s favourite tunes, quoted as in-jokes or special surprises for her. After a pause mid-way through, Mozart pulls a new, artless and cheeky folk-style theme out of his hat. The concluding march features the double-dotted rhythm characteristic of French ceremonial music.

 

 

Anne Manson / Music Director and Conductor

MCO's 2010/11 season is sponsored by The Great-West Life Assurance Company.
Support has been received from Media sponsors The Winnipeg Free Press, CBC Radio One 990,
CBC Radio 2 98.3, Espace musique 89,9 and Golden West Radio. Heartstrings gala sponsor:
Mann Financial Assurance Limited. Sponsor of open dress rehearsals: Canadian Bridge Federation.
Arts Accessibility Program: Sun Life Financial.

© 2010 Manitoba Chamber Orchestra