Sparkle
Shafer Mahoney
b. Albany, New York, USA / July 16, 1968
First performance by the RPO.
Shafer Mahoney graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University, and earned graduate degrees at the Eastman School of Music, where he was a Sproull Fellow. His compositions have been performed around the world and at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, and Miller Theater. His music – which critics have described as “dazzling,” “tonal and imaginative,” and “gorgeous” – has won many national awards, including two from BMI, a Morton Gould Award from ASCAP, and the Bearns Prize from Columbia University. Absolute Ensemble’s recording of his music was nominated for a GRAMMY Award.
Recent commissions include works for the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, New York Youth Symphony, Albany Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Relâche, the Cassatt Quartet, the Corigliano Quartet, and the American Brass Quintet. Future commissions include new works for the Lubbock Symphony, the Degas Quartet, and the wind ensembles of the Big 12 universities. Mr. Mahoney is an Associate Professor at the City University of New York and on the faculty of The Juilliard School, where he teaches advanced orchestration.
He has supplied the following note regarding his piece, Sparkle.
"Sparkle is a rhythmic, celebratory work, about four minutes long. It was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and first performed on September 15, 2005, under the direction of Gerard Schwarz. The energetic and optimistic nature of this work was inspired by a rush-hour glimpse of the Chrysler Building on a sunny Manhattan morning. The incredible sparkle of the building’s metallic crown, combined with the caffeinated bustle of the city, created a vivid impression which I wanted to capture in music.
"Sparkle begins quietly, with a simple ostinato for pizzicato strings and percussion. This pattern is the “backbone” of the work and features dozens of colorful percussion instruments – some traditional (triangle, tambourine, woodblock), some from jazz and Latin music (hi-hat and ride cymbals, castanets, bongos), and some from the local hardware store (sandpaper blocks and a piece of metal pipe). Once this ostinato is established, the piece concentrates on a series of playful, syncopated solos for flutes, oboes, and clarinets. These passages feature the kinds of scalar flourishes and unpredictable bursts of notes we often associate with jazz. Gradually, the composition builds momentum. As these syncopated melodies move to other sections of the orchestra, including the strings, horns, and, finally, the entire brass choir, they take on a more lyrical, majestic character. The work culminates in a joyful passage in the key of C Major – the only moment in Sparkle when the entire orchestra plays together."
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
b. Kamsko-Votkinsk, Russia / May 7, 1840
d. St. Petersburg, Russia / November 6, 1893
First performed by the RPO on December 12, 1923; Vladimir Shavitch, conductor; Tina Lerner, piano. Last performed August 2, 2008; Michael Butterman, conductor, Norman Krieger, piano.
This ever-popular concerto caused a major rift between Tchaikovsky and Nikolay Rubinstein. After composing it in a rapid seven weeks over the year-end holidays of 1874-1875, Tchaikovsky played it through for Rubinstein, an accomplished concert pianist and teacher, seeking solely his comments on the piano writing. To Tchaikovsky’s horror, Rubinstein condemned every aspect of the piece in the strongest terms possible. This is how Tchaikovsky described the episode to his patron, Nadezhda von Meck: “It appeared that my concerto was worthless, that it was unplayable, that passages were trite, awkward, and so clumsy that it was impossible to put them right, that as a composition it was bad and tawdry, that I had filched this bit from here and that bit from there, that there were only two or three pages that could be retained, and that the rest would have to be scrapped or completely revised. ‘I shall not alter a single note,’ I answered, ‘I shall publish the work exactly as it is!’” Tchaikovsky did in fact make a few changes, but he refused to undertake anything like the massive overhaul Rubinstein suggested.
Perhaps fearing that the concerto might meet with a frosty reception and embarrass him in front of his friends and colleagues, he arranged for German pianist Hans von Bülow to give the premiere, not in Russia but in America. The first performance took place in Boston on October 25, 1875. Tchaikovsky needn’t have worried. The concerto scored a sensational triumph, launching it on the path to its indestructible popularity. In gratitude, he dedicated it to Bülow. Rubinstein quickly recanted his view. He conducted the first Moscow performance before the year was out, and went on to perform the solo part on numerous occasions.
The concerto’s opening movement is longer than the second and third combined. This broad canvas begins with a sweeping introductory section, one of the major sources of the concerto’s popularity. Its function served, it never recurs. The balance of this movement contrasts a lively first theme with a pair of wistful, haunting counter-subjects. An elaborate development section ushers in a substantial, dramatic solo cadenza. A brief, forceful coda concludes the movement.
The outer panels of the slow movement are all wistfulness and tender romance, framing a bright, tripping middle section that quotes a French popular song entitled Il faut s’amuser et rire (We must enjoy ourselves and laugh). The finale bursts forth vigorously, then melts into another of those lyrical tunes so typical of Tchaikovsky. A thunderous climax and a scampering conclusion bring the concerto home.
Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op. 100
Sergei Prokofiev
b. Sontsovka, Ukraine / April 27, 1891
d. Moscow, Russia / March 5, 1953
First performed by the RPO on December 5, 1946; Erich Leinsdorf, conductor. Last performed on January 18, 2003; Christopher Seaman, conductor.
In June 1944, Prokofiev took up residence at a vacation estate near Ivanovo, 80 kilometers west of Moscow. Far from the bustle and noise of the big city, and with all material needs taken care of, he was free to compose expansively and in quiet contentment.
“In the summer of 1944 I wrote my Fifth Symphony, to which I attach great importance,” he stated, “firstly because of its thematic material, and secondly because with this work I returned to the genre of the symphony after a break of 16 years. I thought of the Fifth as a work glorifying the human spirit. I wanted to sing of man free and happy, his strength, his generosity, and the purity of his soul. I cannot say that I chose this theme; it was innate in me and had to be expressed.”
He conducted the first performance himself, in Moscow on January 13, 1945. The symphony’s immediate popularity sprang in part from its representing precisely what Soviet audiences needed: a hopeful vision of better times after six years of horrific conflict. It has maintained its reputation (it is his most frequently performed large-scale concert work) through its superb balance of grandeur, powerful emotions, and sparkling wit.
The four movements alternate slow and fast tempos. The first generates an impression of optimism, rising to a climax of overwhelming heft and forcefulness. A bustling movement laced with typically biting Prokofiev humor follows. The dark, questioning third movement mirrors the matching section of Shostakovich’s Fifth, which since its debut in 1937 had been the model for Soviet symphonic tragedies. The finale opens in a mood of gentle musing, only to shift to an impudent, carnival-like atmosphere that sweeps the music along joyfully to the resounding conclusion.
© 2009 Don Anderson. All rights reserved.
