Education &

Community

www.AlabamaSymphony.org

Alasdair Neale, conductor

2012-2013

COFFEE

CONCERTS

GOLIJOV Last Round

BRAHMS Symphony No. 1

About the Alabama Symphony Orchestra

The Alabama Symphony Orchestra is the only full-

time, professional orchestra in the state of Alabama.

For more than 70 years, the ASO has shared the joy of

music and performances of the highest quality with

audience members of all ages. The ASO gives over

140 concerts a year, including the Masterworks Se-

ries, Pops Concerts, Education Concerts, and special

performances with the Alabama Ballet, Opera Bir-

mingham, and the Alabama Symphony Chorus. This

season also marks the third year of the new Alabama

Symphony Youth Orchestra, a full orchestra for musi-

cians ages 12 to 22.

The ASO is led by Music Director Laureate Justin

Brown, but is also conducted by Principal Pops Con-

ductor Chris Confessore and Assistant Conductor Ro-

derick Cox. The Orchestra is made up of 54 full-time

Musicians. To read more about individual ASO Musi-

cians, visit www.alabamasymphony.org and click on

“Meet the Musicians.”

Jay Evans, principal trombone

What is it like to be a musician in an orchestra?

A dream come true.....most days!

Tell us about your first important mu-sical experience. One of the most memorable musical experiences came while a fellow at the Tanglewood Mu-

sic Festival...I guess the icing on the cake was that the con-ductor for the weekend was none other that Leonard Bernstein! That’s a Tchaikovsky 4th Symphony I will never forget!

What advice do you have for students who want to be-come musicians? Go for it! Music is a part of you, wheth-er you play it, teach it, or just listen to it. I knew I wanted music to be my focus very early on, and the most fortu-nate part is that I had enabling parents who supported my sister and I wholeheartedly.

What’s on your iPod? My ipod is multi-purpose. I like to run to movie music like Gladiator, Conan the Barbarian and anything by Thomas Newman, like the Green Mile or Shawshank Redemption. Or classic rock like Journey, Chi-

cago, Jefferson Starship and Van Halen. For just listen-ing or studying I have Bach, Bartok, Bruckner and Mahler Symphonies, Schumann, and Shostakovich. Also, Wynton Marsalis, Frank Rosolino (jazz trombonist), Pat Metheny, Frank Sina-tra, James Taylor, then maybe some Flo-rida and Red Chili Peppers!

MEET A MUSICIAN

The Instrument Families of the Orchestra Strings

There are four major instruments in the string family: violin,

viola, cello, and double bass. The body of these instruments

are hollow and are made of wood that is glued together. The

strings are made of either nylon, steel, or animal gut and are

attached to a tail piece at the bottom and wrapped around

pegs at the top stretching tightly across the bridge to pro-

duce their assigned pitches.

Woodwinds

There are three different ways a woodwind instru-

ment produces sound: air blown across the instrument

(flute), across a single reed (clarinet), and across two

reeds (oboe & bassoon). Reeds are small pieces of

cane that help produce sound by vibrating. A single

reed vibrates against the mouthpiece when air is

blown between them and a double reed produces

sound when air is forced between the two reeds.

Brass

The main instruments of the brass family are

trumpets, horns, trombones, and tuba. Brass

instruments produce sound when the player

buzzes his or her lips into a metal mouthpiece.

To produce higher or lower pitches, the player

adjusts the opening between their lips called

the aperture, making it smaller for higher

pitches and larger for lower pitches. The long-

er the length of tubing on the instrument, the

lower the instrument sounds and the shorter

the length of tubing, the higher the instrument

will sound.

Percussion

Instruments in the percussion instruments are played by being struck, scraped, or

shaken. These instruments are classified as being tune or non-tuned. Tuned instru-

ments play specific pitches just like the strings, brass, and woodwinds while non-tuned

instruments produce a sound with an undefined pitch such as a knock on a door.

Last Round

ABOUT THE COMPOSER

Osvaldo Golijov grew up in an Eastern European Jewish household

in La Plata, Argentina. Born to a piano teacher mother and physi-

cian father, Golijov was raised surrounded by classical chamber

music, Jewish liturgical and klezmer music, and the new tango of

Astor Piazzolla.

Upon moving to the United States in 1986, Golijov earned his

Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied with

George Crumb, and was a fellow at Tanglewood, studying with

Oliver Knussen.

Golijov is Loyola Professor of Music at College of the Holy Cross in

Worcester, MA, where he has taught since 1991. He also taught for

several years at Tanglewood, has led workshops at Carnegie Hall with

Dawn Upshaw and teaches in the summers at the Sundance Compos-

ers Lab.

ARGENTINE MUSIC

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Argen-

tina was little more than a settlement. Slowly, the

British began moving in to develop the railroads

and by the early twentieth century, most of the

population was immigrants from Europe.

When people think of Argentina, they often think

of Tango. Tango is a type of music that is a fusion

of many different styles of music, a result of the

cosmopolitan nature of the country.

The major influences of Tango are:

Songs of rural gauchos

Habanera (Cuba)

Polka and Mazurka (Slavic)

Contradanse (Spain)

Flamenco (Andalucia)

Italian Folk Songs

What other genres/styles of music can be consid-

ered a “fusion”?

What is a “folk song”?

Can you think of any American folk songs?

REFLECT

Last Round

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Golijov's Last Round, for string orchestra, was commis-

sioned by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

and premiered in the fall of 1996. "I composed Last Round

(the title is borrowed from a short story on boxing by Julio

Cortázar) as an imaginary chance for Piazzolla's spirit to

fight one more time," Golijov wrote. "The piece is con-

ceived as an idealized bandoneón. There are two move-

ments: the first represents the act of a violent compres-

sion of the instrument and the second a final, seemingly

endless opening sigh (it is actually a fantasy over the re-

frain of the song 'My Beloved Buenos Aires,' composed by

the legendary Carlos Gardel in the 1930s). But Last Round

is also a sublimated tango dance. Two quartets confront

each other, separated by the focal bass, with violins and

violas standing up as in the traditional tango orchestras.

The bows fly in the air as inverted legs in criss-crossed

choreography, always attracting and repelling each other,

always in danger of clashing, always avoiding it with the

immutability that can only be acquired by transforming

hot passion into pure pattern."

*John Henken is the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Director of Publica-

tions

“La Cumparsita” (Traditional Tango) Piazzolla “Libertango” (tango nuevo) Golijov “Last Round”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkfzK_nX-QM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipR7sMrhdDQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtNaNQ9pLVo

LISTEN & COMPARE

A bandoneón

ASTOR PIAZZOLLA

Piazzolla is perhaps the most famous Argen-

tine Tango composer and bandoneón player.

He revolutionized the traditional tango, cre-

ating his own genre known as tango Nuevo

or New Tango. Tango Nuevo was a clear re-

flection of mid-twentieth century Argentina:

political, cultural, and economic turmoil.

Today, Tango Nuevo incorporates elements

of jazz and classical music and vice versa as

you will hear in the music of Golijov.

Symphony No. 1

ABOUT THE COMPOSER

Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, Ger-

many although he spent most of his life living

in Vienna, Austria. He started studying piano

at the age of seven and helped his impover-

ished family by earning money performing at

dance halls.

Brahms started composing at an early age as

well, although his compositions were not heard until he went on tour

as an accompanist where he met Joseph Joachim, a great violinist.

One of the biggest influences on the success of Brahms’ career as a

composer was the friendship of Clara and Robert Schumann, also

composers. Brahms learned from Schumann the value of studying

counterpoint so he studied the manuscripts of Bach, Orlando di Lasso,

and Palestrina which all had a great effect on his symphonic writing.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

If it weren’t for his unrelenting perfectionism, Brahms would have completed his first symphony much sooner than he did. Brahms’ extreme perfectionism caused him to destroy some of his works. This self-criticism is justified, however, because in the years after Beethoven, each new symphony was scrutinized—and often criticized—according to criteria that included the quali-ty of its individual themes; their sustainability to a symphonic movement; the effectiveness of the thematic work, including motivic development and counterpoint; and the unity of co-herence demonstrated by the work as a whole. One final push that convinced Brahms to complete his First Symphony, was the words of Richard Wagner. Wagner de-clared that after Beethoven’s Ninth no further symphonies in the traditional mold could be written; rather, absolute music would have to be “redeemed” in the music drama. Wagner set out to create musical dramas and produced his Ring des Nibelungen cycle. It has been suggested that it may have been the premiere of the Ring at Bayreuth in 1876 that en-couraged Brahms to complete at last his First Symphony, in order to reclaim the Beethovenian symphonic mantle.

Ludwig van Beethoven

“You have no idea how it feels to hear

behind you the tramp of a giant

like Beethoven.”

- Johannes Brahms

Symphony No. 1

The first movement begins with a slow introduction in 6/8 meter energized by the heart-beats of

the timpani supporting the full orchestra. The violins announce the upward-bounding main theme

in the faster tempo that launches a magnificent, seamless sonata form. The second movement

starts with a placid, melancholy song led by the violins. After a mildly syncopated middle section,

the bittersweet melody returns in a splendid scoring for oboe, horn, and solo violin. The brief third

movement, with its prevailing woodwind colors, is reminiscent of the pastoral serenity of Brahms'

earlier Serenades.

The finale begins with an extended slow introduction based on several pregnant thematic ideas.

The first, high in the violins, is a minor-mode transformation of what will become the main theme

of the finale, but here broken off by an agitated pizzicato passage. A tense section of rushing scales

is halted by a timpani roll leading to the call of the solo horn, a melody originally for Alphorn that

Brahms collected while on vacation in Switzerland. The introduction concludes with a noble cho-

rale intoned by trombones and bassoons, the former having been held in reserve throughout the

entire Symphony just for this moment. The finale proper begins with a new tempo and one of the

most famous themes in the repertory, a stirring hymn-like melody that resembles the finale of Bee-

thoven's "Choral" Symphony.

*www.kennedy-center.org

Beethoven Symphony No. 9, mvt 4 Brahms Symphony No. 1, mvt 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekHcrG2BCWE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEOG9HNX_Sk

LISTEN & COMPARE

DID YOU KNOW?

Traditional Alphorns

Alphorns were originally

played in the Alps as a

means of communication.

They can range anywhere

from 10 ft. to 13 ft. in

length!

Listen for the French horns

mimicking an alphorn call

at 5:00 in the Brahms re-

cording below.

MORE ABOUT THE MUSIC

Do you see the similarities in the contour of the 2 lines?

Beethoven’s Chorale

Brahms’s Chorale

Alabama Symphony Orchestra

Education & Community Engagement Staff

Liz Hartin, Education & Community Engagement Manager

Robert Grossman, Education Coordinator/ASYO manager

Meg Ford, Education Assistant

The 2012-2013 Concert Guides were written and designed by Liz Hartin.

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SPONSORS!

Becoming an Education Partner is a way for corporate leaders to specifically sup-

port the ASO’s many educational programs including our education concert se-

ries, in-school programs and performances, teacher’s guides and training for

young musicians, including the Alabama Symphony Youth Orchestra. The Educa-

tion Partners are vital to the ASO because they provide support to essential edu-

cation programs that are not underwritten by ticket sales or fees. The Education

Partners allow the ASO to change young people’s lives in our community through

music and enhance their education.

ASO EDUCATION PARTNERS

Prestissimo, $10K +

Alabama State Council on the Arts

The Symphony Volunteer Council

The Daniel Foundation of Alabama

The Goodrich Foundation

Wells Fargo

City of Birmingham

Robert R. Meyer Foundation

Symphony 30

Alabama Power Company

BBVA Compass

Hill Crest Foundation

American Cast Iron Pipe Co.

Comer Foundation

Joseph S. Bruno Charitable Foundation

Ligon Industries, LLC

Shelby County Commission

Susan Mott Webb Charitable Trust

The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham

Strings for Students

Estate of Charles E. Young

The Belk Foundation

City of Mountain Brook

City of Vestavia Hills

Jim Wilson & Associates

Publix Super Markets Charities

Vivace, $5,000-$9,999

Molton, Allen & Williams, LLC

Macy's Foundation

City of Hoover

City of Pelham

The Framin' Shoppe

Mayer Electric Supply Co.

Medical Properties Trust

The Robins & Morton Group

Southern Natural Gas Co.

Wade Sand & Gravel Co.

General Growth Properties

Presto, $2,500-$4,999

Mr. and Mrs. Braxton Goodrich

Greer Capital Advisors, LLC

Marathon Corporation

Schreiber LLC

Stone & Sons Electrical Contractors,

Inc.

Stringfellow Lumber Company

Allegretto, $1,000-$2,499

King Acura

Birmingham Hide & Tallow Inc.

Brookline Securities, Inc.

DeShazo Crane Company

McGriff Seibels & Williams Inc.

Proxsys, Inc.

Strickland Trading Company

Superior Mechanical, Inc.

Andantino, $500-$999

Interconn Resources, Inc.

Lawler Ballard VanDurand

Lawler Foundry Corporation

M3 Resources

Motion Industries

Sostenuto, $250-$499

Hare, Wynn, Newall & Newton

Cobbs Allen & Hall Inc.

Deep South Freight

Petra Life Services, Inc

Adagio, $100-$249

Honda Manufacturing of Alabama

Porter, Porter & Hassinger, P. C.

Western Supermarkets Inc.

Wilcox & Allen

Alabama Symphony Youth Orchestra

Upcoming Concerts

SPRING CONCERT

Sunday

May 5, 2013 4pm

TCHAIKOVSKY Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture

VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS Scherzo alla Marcia

STRAVINSKY Firebird Suite

*Auditions for the 2013-14 season will be held on May 11

& 12, 2013. Visit www.AlabamaSymphony.org/asyo.htm

for more info