Gallery Of Greats Signature

CLASSICS SERIES
Our season opener is visionary and visual.
See the art that inspired the music. Hear a
piece – so brilliant in its own right –
completely transformed by a lush orchestral
arrangement. Experience a “symphony of
light and sound” envisioned more than a
century ago, but never realized – LIVE!
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Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra
Live it Up! 2012|13
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Center Stage
The Music
Modest Moussorgsky
Pictures at an Exhibition
Gallery of
Greats
September 22 & 23, 2012
Jung-Ho Pak, Conductor
Adam Neiman, Piano
Anna Gawboy, Musicologist
Justin Townsend, Lighting Designer
Steve Bearse, Lighting Technician
Erica Horn, Narrator
Chatham Chorale
Joseph Marchio, Music Director
Stephen Paulus
Voices from the Gallery
Text by Joan Vail Thorne
American Gothic (Grant Wood)
The Garden of Earthly Delights
(Hieronymus Bosch)
Infanta Margarita
(Diego de Velázquez)
She-Goat (Pablo Picasso)
Nude Descending a Staircase
(Marcel Duchamp)
Mona Lisa (Leonardo da Vinci)
Dance at Bougival (Auguste Renoir)
Adam Neiman
Visions
Alexander Scriabin
Prometheus: Poem of Fire
INTERMISSION
Modest Moussorgsky
Pictures at an Exhibition
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I
Perfectly Intertwined in
Our Gallery of Greats
n Peter Webber’s film, The Girl with the Pearl Earring,
based on Tracy Chevalier’s novel, Scarlett Johansson
portrayed a character painted by the 17th-century Dutch
master Vermeer van Delft without speaking a single word.
Just like film, music can bring a silent image to life. The
works you’re going to hear in the first half of today’s program
were all inspired by drawings, paintings and sculptures. In the
second half, you’ll hear a work in which sound and image
were conceived as an inseparable unit from the start.
One of the first composers who responded to art in this
way was Modest Moussorgsky (1839-1881), a Russian who
had little interest in “absolute music,” music that had no
explicit connection to the world beyond the notes. Among
his most important works are two monumental operas
(Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina) based on Russian
historical topics, a symphonic poem about a witches’ Sabbath
(Night on Bald Mountain) and a piano piece, Pictures at an
Exhibition. In the latter piece, Moussorgsky walks through an
exhibit of drawings by his recently deceased friend, architect
Victor Hartman, recording his impressions and the walk
through the exhibit itself.
The work begins with a “Promenade.” The melody
returns several times to represent the composer moving
from one picture to the next. The first picture, Gnomus, is
a toy nutcracker in the shape of a dwarf. Its strange and
unpredictable movements are illustrated quite vividly.
After the “Promenade,” we enter The Old Castle, where a
Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra
troubadour [medieval courtly singer] sings
a wistful song. Next, we hear Bydlo, the Polish
oxcart, slowly approaching and departing as its
ponderous melody gets louder and then softer.
A much shortened “Promenade,” more lyrical
in tone than before, leads into the Ballet of the
Unhatched Chicks, based on designs Hartman
had made for a ballet at the Maryinsky Theatre in
St. Petersburg. In the ballet, a group of children
appeared dressed up as canaries; others,
according to a contemporary description, were
“enclosed in eggs as in suits of armor,” with only
their legs sticking out of the eggshells.
The next picture is titled Samuel Goldenburg
und Schmuÿle. Hartman had painted a number of
characters from the Jewish ghetto in Sandomierz,
Poland, including a rich man in a fur hat and a
poor one sitting with his head bent. Although
Moussorgsky left no explanation of the movement,
most view it as an argument between two Jews of
different status.
In Catacombs, Hartman’s watercolor shows
the artist with a friend and a guide holding a
lantern; the group is examining the underground
burial chambers in Paris near a large pile of skulls
which, in Moussorgsky’s imagination, suddenly
begin to glow. The “Promenade” theme appears
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completely transfigured, as the inscription in the
score says, Cum mortuis in lingua mortua (“With
the dead in a dead language”).
The Hut on Fowl’s Legs: Baba Yaga evokes the
witch of Russian folktales. According to legend,
Baba Yaga lures children into her hut then eats
them. In one version, she “crushes their bones
in the giant mortar in which she rides through
the woods propelling herself with the pestle and
covering her tracks with a broomstick.” Hartman
designed a clock in the form of the famous hut;
only a sketch survives. The movement’s rhythm
hints at the ticking of a giant clock. The music is
wild, loud and mysterious.
The “witch music” continues directly into the
grand finale (The Knights’ Gate in the Ancient City
of Kiev), inspired by an ambitious design Hartman
submitted for a competition but never built. For
the immense architectural structure, Moussorgsky
provided a grandiose melody resembling a church
hymn with rich harmonies. This theme alternates
with a more subdued second melody, harmonized
like a chorale. Near the end, the movement
incorporates the “Promenade” theme and leads
directly into the magnificent final climax that, in
many ways, symbolizes the grandeur of old Russia.
Many now consider Pictures at an Exhibition
to be one of the greatest piano compositions
of all time. However, the piece, written in 1874,
remained unknown until 1922 when French
composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) transcribed it
for orchestra.
Today, you’ll have the unique opportunity to
hear both. Virtuoso Adam Neiman will perform
the piece the composer envisioned. Phenomenal.
Then, we’ll perform the piece with Ravel’s lush
orchestral arrangement. You will not only feel as
if you’ve heard this beautiful piece for the very
first time. You will also experience a unique
“collaboration” between two brilliant minds that
lived worlds apart. Transforming.
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The Music
The Artist
Stephen Paulus
Voices from the Gallery
There’s a world of music inside
As we smile at the witty commentaries, we feel
both strangely connected to and detached from
the works of art. Paulus’ music faithfully captures
the changing moods of the images, amplifying the
message and offering another level of commentary
to the exhibits.
Today you will hear these movements:
Grant Wood (1892-1942), American Gothic
Hieronymus Bosch (cca. 1450-1516), Garden of Earthly Delights
Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), The Infanta Margarita
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), She-Goat
Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), Nude Descending a Staircase
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Mona Lisa
Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Dance of Bougival
Erica Horn
Narrator, Voices from the Gallery
Erica Horn, a professional musician and graduate of the American
Academy of Dramatic Arts, has narrated many classical pieces,
including Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat at the Interlochen Center
for the Arts and, on numerous occasions, the works of Paul Salerni’s
The Old Witch and the New Moon and The Big Sword and the Little
Broom. Her favorite acting roles include Jean Brodie in The Prime
of Miss Jean Brodie and Alexandra Keffuffle in the time-travelling
comedy On the Verge or the Geography of Yearning, which was part
of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.
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Adam Neiman
Photo: Sacha Dean Biyan
More than one hundred years after Moussorgsky,
American composer Stephen Paulus took his
audience on another virtual museum tour in Voices
from the Gallery (1991). This time it was not a solo
show but rather a whole crash course in art history,
from Antiquity to the 20th century.
Paulus wrote, “The goal of Voices from the
Gallery is to allow these works, many of them
quite familiar, to be experienced anew with the
ears rather than the eyes and perhaps to provide
an impetus for us to reacquaint ourselves with
them.” According to the author of the narration, the
ability of art to ‘speak’ to its viewers was suggested
by André Malraux’s study of art history, Voices of
Silence.
Playwright and director Joan Vail Thorne,
who has collaborated with Paulus on numerous
occasions, provided the text which reveals what
the characters in the paintings might be thinking.
“When I first got into music at five years old, my original intention was to be a
composer. I was inspired by Mozart, Ravel and Rachmaninoff – seduced, really –
and I knew that I had a world of sound in me, too. I soon fell in love with playing
the piano, but I have never lost my love of composition.” – Adam Neiman
If it seems implausible that a five-year-old knew he
would become a composer, consider this: Adam
Neiman comes from a family of musicians and
educators. He made his concerto debut at the age
of eleven in Los Angeles’ Royce Hall. At fifteen, he
became the youngest medalist in the history of the
Casagrande International Piano Competition in Italy.
He also became the youngest-ever winner of the
Gilmore Young Artist Award.
While most kids were running through the school
halls, Neiman took on concert halls, making his
Washington D.C. and New York recital debuts at
the Kennedy Center and the 92nd Street Y. He won
Juilliard’s Bachauer International Piano Competition
twice and seized the coveted Avery Fisher Career
Grant. And, we’ve just entered his post-graduate years.
The Musician
Soloist. Recitalist. Chamber Musician. Recording Artist.
Neiman’s rare blend of power, bravura, imagination,
sensitivity and technical precision – along with
an encyclopedic repertoire that spans nearly sixty
concerti – have made him the premier pianist of his
generation. His solo engagements have taken him
across the globe. He’s performed with every major
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orchestra (including the CCSO in 2009) and made
numerous guest appearances with celebrated string
quartets. Adam Neiman Live in Recital received
American Record Guide’s “Critics Choice” Award
for two consecutive years, and Neiman earned
a Grammy nomination for his live performance
of Brahms Rhapsodies, Op. 79 at the Gilmore
International Keyboard Festival.
The Composer
For someone who “only composes when inspired
to do so,” the thirty-something Neiman has created
works for solo piano, chamber music and voice. He
completed his first string quartet and is now finishing
his first symphony. Today you will hear Visions, a
“mystical and spiritual” work inspired by a vision he
had while daydreaming.
The Future
After Neiman’s concerto debut at age 11, Clavier
Magazine wrote, “Adam Neiman gave a performance
that rivaled those of many artists on the concert stage
today… his playing left listeners shaking their heads
in disbelief.” More than two decades later, he still has
listeners shaking their heads. In sheer awe.
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The Music
Alexander Scriabin
Prometheus: Poem of Fire
HEARING CENTER
Sound System Sponsor
T
he Russian composer Alexander
Scriabin (1872-1915) was obsessed
with the idea that a work of art
could change reality. He believed that special
combinations of sound and light could produce
sympathetic vibrations in the human body,
dissolving matter and eliciting mystical effects. In
the final years of his life, Scriabin planned to create
a Mysterium, a massive multimedia ritual that
he hoped would bring about universal spiritual
transfiguration. Scriabin’s grandiose ambitions
The time has come for a vision
so far ahead of its time
By Anna Gawboy
for the Mysterium were cut short by his death in
1915. Prometheus: Poem of Fire Op. 60, composed
over the years 1908-1910, remained Scriabin’s final
large-scale composition and was, and is, his only
experiment combining sound and light.
Scriabin was inspired by the Greek myth of
Prometheus as it
was interpreted
by the
theosophical
writer Helena
Blavatsky. She viewed the story of the rebellious
titan who stole fire from the gods as an allegory
for the most important moment in human
evolution: the acquisition of intellect. Blavatsky
associated the “sacred spark” of the mind with
both celestial light and earthly electricity.
Scriabin’s Prometheus is scored for a large
orchestra, organ, choir, virtuoso solo piano and
a mysterious instrument called the “tastiera per
luce.” The luce, or light keyboard, was supposed
to project a play of changing colors meticulously
coordinated with the music. Scriabin worked with
an electrical engineer to design a luce for the 1911
Moscow premiere, but early-twentieth technology
was incapable of fulfilling Scriabin’s incredibly
forward-looking vision. He decided to withdraw
the luce from the first performance. Prometheus
has often been performed without lights in the
century since.
The luce part has remained something of an
enigma. Scriabin’s notation for lights was difficult
to interpret, and some of the rhythms and
effects were impossible to realize with traditional
theatrical lighting. In recent decades, technological
advances have made it increasingly feasible to
come closer to Scriabin’s original vision. Today’s
performance will include a lighting design based
on my research from Scriabin’s notation and
realized by lighting designer Justin Townsend.
We will draw on our experience collaborating on
a previous version of Prometheus with the Yale
Symphony Orchestra.
Continued next page >
Anna Gawboy
Justin Townsend
Musicologist
Lighting Designer
What began as an interesting notion turned into an incredible odyssey.
While researching for her Ph.D dissertation at Yale, Gawboy obtained
a copy of a first-edition score of Prometheus – with Scriabin’s highly
detailed annotations for lights. She realized then that the composer had “imagined a
light show that far exceeded the technological capacity of his own time.” In an article for Yale Graduate School
she said, “I knew the score and had ideas regarding the ways the lights interacted with the music and shaped
the dramatic action…” However, she needed the expertise and creative vision of a lighting designer “to
make Scriabin’s century-old directions come to life.” Enter Justin Townsend. In 2010, after a year-long series of
conversations, the duo collaborated with the Yale Symphony Orchestra to produce a new staging of Alexander
Scriabin’s Prometheus: Poem of Fire. You can watch the symphony of light and sound they created there on
YouTube. Their collaboration with Maestro Pak and the orchestra is singular – and LIVE!
This maverick lighting and set designer has been described as
curious, brilliant and innovative – someone to keep an eye on. His
work has taken him from the heart of Broadway to the west coast
and abroad. Recently, he designed Bloody Bloody Andrew on
Broadway and earned nominations for both the Outer Critics Circle
award and the Henry Hewes award. In 2006, he received the Rising
Star Award from the United States Institute for Theatre Technology.
Townsend is no stranger to Massachusetts. He received his BA
from UMass Amherst and is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at
Northeastern University where he teaches lighting and set design.
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Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra
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The Music
Symphony of Light and Sound
Continued
The lush textures and soaring melodies of
Prometheus resonate with music belonging
to the nineteenth-century orchestral tradition,
but its experimental harmonic language places
it firmly in the twentieth century. Like other
compositional innovators of his time, Scriabin
avoided the major-minor tonal system.
Instead, he composed Prometheus using a
six-note scale called the mystic chord, which
gives the work a mysterious, otherworldly
sound. The changing colors of the luce part
not only help contribute to the mystical
atmosphere, but they also have an intimate
relationship to the music’s structure. A fastermoving sequence of colors marks the rhythm
of harmonic changes, while slower moving
changes divide the work into seven distinct
sections corresponding to Blavatsky’s seven
evolutionary stages of humanity.
Scriabin believed there was a relationship between
color and sound and developed a system to define
and depict it. You’ll see how he envisioned this multisensory experience in today’s concert. However, some
people are “genetically pre-wired” to associate colors
with sounds. This is a form of synesthesia – of which
there are many. Some people associate colors with
numbers, letters or certain words. Others associate
objects with tastes, smells or physical sensations. The
sensory “pairings” are involuntary, but consistent for
each synesthete. What if:
Every time you play middle “C” on the keyboard
you see lime green?
Every time you see the letter “P” it’s yellow?
Every time you hear a violin, your left knee
twitches?
Every time you see a mailbox, you taste
strawberries?
dining guide
You might be a synesthete. If you are, you’re in good
company. Many believe composer Franz Liszt, poet
Charles Baudelaire and painter Vasily Kandinsky were.
Eddie van Halen and Billy Joel, too.
Chatham Chorale
Joseph Marchio, Music Director
The Chatham Chorale, now celebrating its 42nd season, is known for its rich repertoire of classical and popular
choral music. The Chorale consists of approximately 100 auditioned singers from across the Cape. The Chamber
singers, a smaller chorus of 30 singers chosen from the larger group, perform music with lighter orchestration
appropriate for small venues. In addition to today’s performance, the Chatham Chorale will join a host of special
guests for our Cape Cod Holiday concert. Visit chathamchorale.org for their full season schedule.
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Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra
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