September 2011

Diane Walsh

The Future Begins

  • Saturday, September 24, 2011 - Laxson Auditorium, Chico, 7:30 pm
  • Sunday, September 25, 2011 - Cascade Theatre, Redding, 2:00 pm

Click the links above for program notes.

Conductor Kyle Wiley Pickett will give a free pre-concert talk one hour before the concerts begin. Pre-concert talks are sponsored by Richard and Pat Macias (Chico) and Allen & Dahl Mortuary (Redding).

For single tickets to Sept. 24 concert at Laxson Auditorium, Chico, click here.
For single tickets to Sept. 25 concert at Cascade Theatre, Redding, click here.

More ticket info, including subscriptions...

Videos on YouTube to enhance your enjoyment of the concerts - recommended by Music Director Kyle Wiley Pickett

keeping score

Keeping Score - A wonderful San Francisco Symphony program about the history and music of The Rite of Spring.

Rite of Spring

San Francisco Symphony performance of The Rite of Spring.

Rite of Spring

Joffrey Ballet 1987 reconstruction of the original Nijinsky choreography for The Rite of Spring.

Beethoven concerto

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 - Claudio Arrau and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

 

Program Notes

 

Diane Walsh, piano

An esteemed artist of distinction, the American pianist Diane Walsh is regularly heard on disc and in recital, chamber music and concerto performances throughout the world. In addition to possessing a vast and varied repertoire, ranging from Bach to Berg, her recent work on the theatre stage has brought wider recognition of her superlative musical gifts.

In the fall of 2007, Diane Walsh joined the cast of 33 Variations, the new play by Moisés Kaufman in its debut production at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. The work is focused on Beethoven’s last years and his composition of the Diabelli Variations, which Ms. Walsh performs on stage throughout the play. After a subsequent run at the La Jolla Playhouse, 33 Variations opened on Broadway at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, starring Jane Fonda and with Ms. Walsh as the pianist. From February through May 2009, she appeared in 113 performances. Ms. Walsh returned to 33 Variations, again starring Ms. Fonda, for a five-week run at Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Theatre in February, 2011.

Diane Walsh has been guest soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra and the orchestras of Austin, Delaware, Indianapolis, San Francisco, St. Louis and Syracuse, and toured with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Abroad, she appeared with the radio symphony orchestras of Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart, as well as orchestras in Brazil, The Netherlands, The Czech Republic and Russia. In recital, Ms. Walsh has been presented in many of the country’s most distinguished venues, among them New York City’s 92nd Street Y, Merkin Concert Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Miller Theatre, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC and Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, while international sites include Wigmore Hall (London), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Philharmonic Hall (Leningrad), Dvorák Hall (Prague) and the Mozarteum (Salzburg).

An active recording artist, Diane Walsh has released 16 discs of diverse repertoire for Biddulph, Composers Recordings, Inc., KOCH International, Newport Classic, Nonesuch, Sony and Stereophile. Jonathan Digital Recordings has issued the Beethoven Diabelli Variations and, most recently, volume two of the complete Schubert Piano Sonatas.

Diane Walsh is constantly in demand as a chamber musician, frequently performing at the music festivals of Bard, Chesapeake, Marlboro, Santa Fe, Strings Music Festival and the International Musician’s Seminar in Cornwall. She has collaborated with the Brentano, Fine Arts, Lydian and Mendelssohn string quartets, and is a member of both the Walsh-Drucker-Cooper Trio and La Fenice (comprised of piano, string trio and oboe). For several seasons, Ms. Walsh served as Artistic Director of the Skaneateles Festival in upstate New York, a tenure during which she presented world-renowned performers and designed and performed in innovative programs that included An Evening with Bill Irwin and The Love Letters of Robert and Clara, set to music by the Schumanns.

Among her many honors and awards, Diane Walsh includes the Concert Artists Guild International Competition and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. She was winner of top prizes in the Munich ARD and Salzburg Mozart competitions, as well as Maryland’s William Kapell International Competition and Italy’s Busoni International Competition. A prizewinner in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, she also won that competition’s chamber music award.

Diane Walsh is a member of the piano faculty of New York City’s Mannes College The New School for Music. Ms. Walsh is a Steinway artist.

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Procession of the Nobles - Rimsky-Korsakov

Master of orchestration and a leader of Russian nationalism, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) first embarked on a career in the Russian Navy before choosing music. While in the Navy he studied and acquired the ability to compose proficiently for an entire orchestra. His compositions have become widely studied, and his book on orchestration is still used at some universities. As a teacher, he influenced following generations of composers through students like Igor Stravinsky. Although most well known in western culture for his orchestral works, Rimsky-Korsakov also composed  operas, which are themed around Russian history and folk songs, and frequently explore the fantasy world of  the supernatural.

Mlada, actually half opera and half ballet, was composed between 1889 and 1890 . The work shows Wagnerian influence on Rimsky-Korsakov’s strong roots in Russian folktales and affinity for the fantastical. Procession of the Nobles is performed as an introduction to the second act where a large festival is going on. The overture begins with bright brass leading the procession. As it continues, various sounds of the festival are introduced and punctuated by the percussion. The beginning theme of the procession returns and leads to an energetic finish.

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Piano Concerto No. 4 - Beethoven

Intense, innovative, and inspiring are all characteristics frequently mentioned in reference to the great Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). Trained as a performer on  piano, violin, viola and organ, Beethoven  chose the career of a concert pianist. Although composition provided some income, Beethoven quickly achieved fame as a virtuoso pianist while living in Vienna. Unfortunately, before the age of thirty Beethoven began to experience a devastating loss of hearing.

This impairment brought about the most difficult period in Beethoven’s life; he contemplated suicide for a time. His conscious decision to overcome the obstacle marked a new maturity and a depth of character that became evident in his compositions. Piano Concerto No. 4 was  the final concerto that Beethoven was able to perform himself due to his deafness.

The  Concerto was composed between 1805 and 1806. It marks the end of a period of composition dominated by solo piano works, and the beginning of a period of prominent orchestral works. Known to make his own rules, Beethoven pressed forward into the Romantic Era with innovation and rule breaking. When his compositions were criticized, Beethoven reportedly said, “The rules don’t permit it? Very well: I permit it!” 

Dedicated to friend, patron, and pupil Archduke Rudolph of Austria, Piano Concerto No. 4 is scored for solo piano, flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. It is not until the final movement that all the instruments play simultaneously. Each movement has a different orchestration and combination of instruments.
After changes in piano mechanism during the early 19th century, this concerto was the first work where Beethoven wrote in specific instructions for pedal use, employing  the sustain pedal as well as  techniques with the other pedals to change tone colors.

Throughout the Concerto No. 4, Beethoven presents a theme in one key, then has another group present the same theme in a different key. This creates a unique effect;  the listener experiences a variety of moods and emotions.
Allegro moderato begins in a subdued manner with piano chords  followed by quiet strings. Although subdued, there is joy in the lilting short-short-short-long rhythm, which Beethoven also used in his Symphony No. 5. The restrained beginning gives way to a flurry of activity as the piano gains momentum. Along with modulations of keys, the rhythmic techniques can change a listener’s emotion. Beethoven commonly uses a rhythmic pattern of two in the orchestra while the piano performs a pattern in three, creating tension and an effect that the piece is gathering speed.
Andante con moto begins broadly with a grand statement in the strings, followed by a gentle and almost meek answer in the piano. The conversation continues in the same manner until the strings  give way to the piano. The second movement is the darkest of the three, with emotion and depth shown through beautiful lyricism.

Rondo begins with a sparkling flurry of activity by the soloist after a quiet string introduction. As the entire ensemble first performs together, Beethoven shows what his group is capable of – a mix of mischief, virtuosity, and power. He again uses the technique of changing tonal centers to change listener’s emotions. The movement is organized in a way reminiscent of sonata form as themes return and are expanded.

Many parallels to Beethoven’s life can be read into his music. He gave great thought and consideration to the battle of good versus evil, to heaven versus hell. His own life had considerable challenges which  added to the conflict. Listening to pieces like Piano Concerto No. 4 from the middle of Beethoven’s career, we can learn more about who Beethoven was, what his struggles were, and about ourselves and our own perseverance in the face of adversity.

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The Rite of Spring - Stravinsky

For some, the name Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) elicits images of controversy and chaos. That reputation was earned by three famous ballets commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev, The Fire Bird (1910), Petrushka (1911), and The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du Printemps) (1913). With them, Stravinsky became the most influential composer of the early twentieth century.

The Rite of Spring marks a transition into a new era in Stravinsky’s career. Studying with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, he held back his personal creativity to compose works acceptable to his mentor. In the three famous ballets, the more conservative, slightly exotic style became uniquely his own. After The Rite of Spring, the boundaries that Stravinsky pushed were never to return. The Rite of Spring has become the most discussed and analyzed work of the twentieth century.

Stravinsky subtitled The Rite of Spring “Scenes from Pagan Russia”. In the famous first performance, the audience whistled and stomped their feet and left before the end. Stravinsky was devastated. The orchestra had never expressed distaste in rehearsals. The intense reaction from the audience was due as much to the visual aspect of the ballet's jarring nature as to the new music. It was not until the music was performed without the ballet that audiences started to appreciate its intense creativity and revolutionary ideas. 

A suite of thirteen scenes depicting the primitive, barbaric life of the Slavic region, The Rite of Spring is in two parts. The first part is titled, “The Kiss of The Earth” and begins with a beautiful solo bassoon. The rhythm feels as though there is no meter at all. As the introduction progresses, there is a hint of a pulse, but it is not until the piece becomes more established that a regular pulse can be felt. Stravinsky’s ability to create complex rhythms and use multiple meters makes for intense but interesting “organized chaos”. A picture of a spring celebration in the hills is painted. There is a fortune-telling old woman, and young women with painted faces who dance the spring dance. The music at the spring dance is accented and steady, with multiple layers all heard separately. At the festival, games are played, but are  interrupted by the arrival of an old man who blesses the earth. The second part, “The Great Sacrifice,” takes place at night as virgins dance to choose a victim. The chosen one is pointed out by fate, and then honored by the rest with a marital dance. She is turned over to the wise old man and then sacrifices herself with the great holy, sacrificial dance. Throughout the work, Stravinsky uses multiple clashing tonal centers, inventive rhythmic devices and folk melodies that established The Rite of Spring as a unique mix of traditional Russian elements and exotic primitivism. A revolutionary door was opened with an influence that now reaches into the twenty-first century.

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