James Ehnes — violinist, conductor

When James Ehnes last took the helm at an MCO concert, Holly Harris commented in her Free Press review that "what became fascinating was seeing him now use the orchestra as an extension of his own musicality. It’s a testament to his skill and clarity of vision that the MCO players were (as) responsive as his fabled $4.5 million Stradivarius …"

He did it last season, too, down under, conducting orchestras in Melbourne, Adelaide and Auckland, deftly trading bow for baton and back again.

The world may be Ehnes’s stage, but we like him closer to home, in Westminster Church!

Pre-concert event

Seven Oaks Middle School String Ensemble;
Barbara Hamilton, director; 6:45 pm

Programme

Josef Suk
Meditace na staocesky chorál ‘Svaty Vaclave,’ op. 35
(Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale ‘Saint Wenceslas’)

Johann Sebastian Bach
Violin Concerto in E Major (BWV 1042)

Jean Sibelius
Andante festivo

Jean Sibelius
Suite for Violin and Strings, op. 117

Josef Suk
Serenade in E flat major, op. 6

Concert sponsors: Angela & Robert Ross

James Ehnes

“No collection of virtuoso showpieces demands greater technical prowess than Paganini’s 24 Caprices. Yet James Ehnes, whose artistry suggests that in Paganini’s age he would have enjoyed similar stature to the great man, succeeds impressively in being more than merely thrilling … this is not simply a high-wire act. It’s playing of phenomenal control, allied to musicianship of the highest order” — The Times (London), October 2009.

Hailed as “the Jascha Heifetz of our day” (Globe and Mail), violinist James Ehnes is widely considered one of the most dynamic and exciting performers in classical music. He has performed in over 30 countries on five continents, appearing regularly with many of the world’s most well-known orchestras and conductors.

In 2010/11 James had a busy year travelling worldwide to perform as soloist, recitalist, chamber player and conductor (no-one present at the time could ever forget the stunning MCO concert in which the Ehnes/Armstrong/deMaine Trio performed Ravel and Tchaikovsky). He also added to his extensive discography of over 25 recordings with the release of two new recordings: a disc of Bartok’s two Violin Concertos and the Viola Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda (Chandos) and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Sydney Symphony and Vladimir Ashkenazy (Onyx). His most recent release, featuring the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and Octet (ONYX), has been earning raves worldwide: “dazzling” (Classic FM), “a pure delight” (BBC Music Magazine), “outstanding and unreservedly recommended” (Daily Telegraph), “It just doesn’t get any better than this” (MusicWeb International).

His recordings have been honoured with many international awards and prizes, including a Grammy, a Gramophone and 6 Juno Awards. His Juno Award-winning release of Homage (Onyx), a CD/DVD set featuring performances on 12 of the greatest violins and violas ever made, all belonging to the extraordinary Fulton Collection, continues to garner exceptional reviews.

James Ehnes was born in 1976 in Brandon, Manitoba. He began violin studies at the age of four; at age nine he became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin. He studied with Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School of Music, and from 1993 to 1997 at The Juilliard School, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music upon his graduation. Mr. Ehnes first gained national recognition in 1987 as winner of the Grand Prize in Strings at the Canadian Music Competition. The following year he won the First Prize in Strings at the Canadian Music Festival, the youngest musician ever to do so. At age 13, he made his orchestral solo debut with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Among the numerous awards and prizes he has won is the first-ever Ivan Galamian Memorial Award, the Canada Council for the Arts’ prestigious Virginia Parker Prize, and a 2005 Avery Fisher Career Grant. In October 2005, James was honoured by Brandon University with a Doctor of Music degree (honoris causa) and in July 2007 he became the youngest person ever elected as a Fellow to the Royal Society of Canada. On July 1st 2010 the Governor General of Canada appointed James a Member of the Order of Canada.

James Ehnes plays the ‘Marsick’ Stradivarius of 1715. He currently lives in Bradenton, Florida, with his wife Kate.

Meditation on the Old Bohemian Chorale, ‘Saint Wenceslas,’ Op. 35a
Josef Suk

Suk played a major role in the musical life of his native land (Bohemia, later renamed Czechoslovakia). He was active as a composer and teacher, and as a violinist for more than 40 years in the acclaimed Czech Quartet. He composed numerous piano works, songs and chamber pieces. His finest creations are his orchestral compositions, headed by the dramatic Asrael (Angel of Death) Symphony, and the delightful suite, A Fairy Tale.

The First World War was declared in July 1914. This distressed Suk to the point that he put aside the piece he was composing, a massive choral/orchestral work called Ripening. At that time, the Czech lands were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Fearing that political pressure would force the Czech Quartet to perform the Austrian national anthem at the beginning of its concerts throughout the duration of the war, Suk set out to compose a work that they could perform instead, one that would give their audiences a glimpse of hope for a better future, and inspire their patriotic pride. For these purposes, he created this lovely, warm-hearted Meditation in just two hours of concentrated effort during August 1914. He also prepared the version for string orchestra that you will hear at this concert.

The source material is a traditional medieval song about Wenceslas (c. 907-935 ad), the country’s patron saint. From the three versions of it that Suk located, he chose the most popular, rather than the oldest or the one that was most faithful to the original. He gave particular emphasis to the portion of the melody that accompanies the words, “Protect us and our offspring from destruction.”

Violin Concerto No. 2
in E Major, BWV 1042
Johann Sebastian Bach

No direct evidence is available to place Bach’s violin concertos at a particular time in his career. In terms of style and activities, however, the six years he spent in the German town of Anhalt-Cöthen seem the most likely period. He was a skillful violinist, although he was far better known as an organist. Carl Philipp Emanuel, the most famous of his sons, stated: “In his youth, and until the approach of old age, he played the violin cleanly and penetratingly.” Bach wrote exceptionally well for the violin because, as Carl continues, “He understood to perfection the possibilities of all stringed instruments.” Many Bach concertos exist in arrangements featuring a variety of solo instruments. He transcribed this glowing Violin Concerto in E Major for harpsichord. The outer sections bustle with energy. The most remarkable portion is the slow second movement, an especially beautiful creation with the character of a vocal aria.

Andante festivo
Jean Sibelius

Side by side with Sibelius’s epic symphonies and tone poems rests a series of shorter, lighter works. He devoted as much care to them as he did to his more ambitious creations; only the scale is different.

In 1922, the owners of a factory in a Finnish city, Säynätsalo, commissioned him to compose a celebratory cantata for the twenty-fifth anniversary of their building. He responded with the brief Andante festivo for string quartet instead. He prepared this version for string orchestra eight years later.

Its purity, nobility and passion have led some writers to call it the closest he came to making a religious statement in music (is the final cadence an Amen?) These qualities have led to its being performed on state occasions in Finland.

On New Year’s Day, 1939, the seventy-three-year-old composer, who had not conducted an orchestra for more than a decade, led the Finnish Radio Orchestra in an especially intense performance of the piece. That was the last time he stood in front of an orchestra. Beamed by short-wave radio to the World’s Fair in New York, it was recorded on a wax cylinder. It is the only recorded example of his conducting.

Suite for Violin and Strings, Op. 117
Jean Sibelius

The young Sibelius considered undertaking a career as a violin soloist, but composition became his primary focus instead. In addition to the mighty Concerto in D Minor of 1903/04, he composed several appealing shorter works for violin and orchestra, including six Humoresques and a pair of Serenades. His final such work was this Suite, which dates from 1929. Although he lived another 28 years, he composed nothing of substance for the remainder of his life.

Throughout the late 1920s and for some years beyond, he struggled with the creation of an Eighth Symphony. In the end he destroyed it, most likely because of his severe self-criticism, and perhaps because he had reached the conclusion that he had taken his symphonic practices to their logical conclusion in No. 7.

In October 1928, a New York music publisher, Carl Fischer, wrote to Sibelius and expressed an interest in “works for piano, voice and piano and violin and piano … We would like to recommend that you write some characteristic numbers in the form of an orchestral suite comprising three numbers … we have every reason to believe that an orchestral suite along these lines from your pen would be a very commercial proposition.” Sibelius responded with four sets of miniatures: one for piano solo (Op. 114), two for violin and piano (Opp. 115 and 116) and the Suite for Violin and String Orchestra. Apparently he intended to designate the Suite as Op. 117, but he seems to have changed his mind.

Fischer rejected all the pieces, writing in September 1929, “We must reluctantly inform you that in view of the extremely unfortunate constellation in the music publishing field in the United States, it seems to us inadvisable to publish compositions of the high standard which you have submitted to us.” Sibelius marked the score of the suite ‘Sketch. To be reworked!’ He never fully followed up on this intention, and he never heard the work performed. With the permission of his heirs, the premiere took place in Lahti, Finland, on 8 December 1990, at a concert celebrating his one-hundred-and-twenty-fifth birthday. John Storgårds was the soloist and Osmo Vänskä conducted. The suite was finally published after that.

Unusually, Sibelius gave the movements of the suite English titles; perhaps he was thinking of Carl Fischer’s location. It is a light, tuneful, pastoral work, one which may have offered him respite and solace during the difficult work on the Eighth Symphony. The most attractive movement is surely the second, a sweet, gentle evocation of a spring evening. A frisky perpetual motion piece featuring pizzicato orchestral strings concludes the suite.

Serenade for Strings in E-flat Major, Op. 6
Josef Suk

Suk graduated from the Prague Conservatory in 1891, but he stayed on an extra year to study composition with the great composer, Antonín Dvorák. This proved crucial to both his professional and personal lives. He became Dvorák’s favourite pupil, and some of his music — early works such as this delectable Serenade in particular — is cast in the mould of his teacher’s warm-hearted, folk-influenced style.

Serious and sombre describe much of the music that Suk composed for Dvorák’s class, however, including the Dramatic Overture he created for his graduation in 1892. At that time, Suk entered into a romantic relationship with Dvorák’s daughter Otylka. They married in 1898.

Soon after Suk’s graduation, Dvorák sent him off on holiday with the following suggestion: “It’s summertime now, so go and make something cheerful for a change, some respite from these eternal pomposities in minor keys.” The eighteen-year-old Suk responded with this serenade. He composed the first three movements while visiting his home town, and the finale that autumn. The Prague Conservatory Orchestra gave the first complete performance on 25 February 1894. It so strongly impressed Johannes Brahms, who had already done much to promote the music of Dvorák, that he recommended it to his publisher. It came into print in 1896.

Suk’s piece does show the influence of the Serenade for Strings, which Dvorák had composed in 1875, but it has enough individuality and creative assurance to stand as much more than a simple act of imitation. The first movement is relaxed and genial. Suk follows it with the sort of gentle, lilting waltz that both Dvorák and Tchaikovsky had included in their serenades for strings. The poignancy that wells up in the central section of the waltz comes to the fore in the third movement, the most substantial and serious of the four. The finale is vigorous and joyful, but Suk finds room in it for more thoughtful moments, too.

Dvorák didn’t have a chance to hear Suk’s Serenade until 1894, when he returned from his first visit to America. He expressed his approval, adding this playful comment: “You will never get very far: you write too big notes — save paper! Still, Handel also wrote big notes and yet he was a great composer!”