Program Notes - Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra

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Sunday Series Recital
Chamber Music
Duo Pianists Robin McCarty & Michelle Mitchum
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Baritone Peter Sims with the Great Lakes Chamber Ensemble
Sunday January 25, 2015 4 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church of Harbor Springs
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Allegro Brillant, Opus 92 ! !
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Waltz, from the incidental music for Masquerade!
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Felix Mendelssohn
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1809 - 1847
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Aram Khatchaturian
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1903 - 1978
Duo Pianists Robin McCarty & Michelle Mitchum
Intermission
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Cantata BWV 56, Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen !!
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Aria “Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen,”
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Rectiative “Mein Wandel auf der Welt
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Aria “Endlich, endlich wird mein Joch”
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Johann Sebastian Bach
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1685 - 1750
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Dover Beach, for Voice and String Quartet, Opus 3!!
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Samuel Barber
1910 - 1981
Peter Sims, Baritone
Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra Ensemble Libor Ondras, Conductor
Lynn Hansen, Oboe; Paul Sonner, Kaylee Erlewein, Violins;
Margaret Beck, Viola; Marga Eickholt, Cello; Robert Pattengale, Harpsichord
J. S. Bach Cantata BWV 56 !
Arie
Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen,
Er kömmt von Gottes lieber Hand,
Der führet mich nach meinen Plagen
Zu Gott, in das gelobte Land.
Da leg ich den Kummer auf einmal ins Grab,
Da wischt mir die Tränen mein Heiland
selbst ab.
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Rezitativ
Mein Wandel auf der Welt
Ist einer Schiffahrt gleich:
Betrübnis, Kreuz und Not
Sind Wellen, welche mich bedecken
Und auf den Tod
Mich täglich schrecken;
Mein Anker aber, der mich hält,
Ist die Barmherzigkeit,
Womit mein Gott mich oft erfreut.
Der rufet so zu mir:
Ich bin bei dir,
Ich will dich nicht verlassen noch versäumen!
Und wenn das wütenvolle Schäumen
Sein Ende hat,
So tret ich aus dem Schiff in meine Stadt,
Die ist das Himmelreich,
Wohin ich mit den Frommen
Aus vielem Trübsal werde kommen.
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Arie
Endlich, endlich wird mein Joch
Wieder von mir weichen müssen.
Da krieg ich in dem Herren Kraft,
Da hab ich Adlers Eigenschaft,
Da fahr ich auf von dieser Erden
Und laufe sonder matt zu werden.
O gescheh es heute noch!
“Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen”
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Aria
I will gladly carry the Cross,
it comes from God's dear hand,
and leads me, after my troubles,
to God, in the renowned land.
There at last I will lay my sorrow in the
grave,
there my Savior himself will wipe away my
tears.
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Recitative
My pilgrimage in the world
is like a sea voyage:
trouble, suffering, and anguish
are the waves that cover me
and to death itself
daily terrify me;
my anchor however, which holds me firm,
is mercy,
with which my God often appeases me.
He calls thus to me:
I am with you,
I will not forsake you or abandon you!
And when the raging torrents
are come to an end,
then I will step off the ship into my city,
which is the kingdom of heaven,
where with the righteous
I will emerge out of many troubles.
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Aria
Finally, finally my yoke
must again fall from me.
Then will I fight with the Lord's strength,
then I will have an eagle's power,
then I will journey from this earth
and run without becoming fatigued.
O let it happen today!
Dover Beach (1867) by Matthew Arnold
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1822 - 1888
The sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The sea of faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long withdrawing roar,
Retreating to the breath
Of the night wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and
flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
Program Notes
Felix Mendelssohn's "Allegro Brillant, Opus 92," was written for one piano, four hands. Mendelssohn and his
sister, Fanny, were both excellent pianists and as a young composer, he composed and played duets with Fanny.
By the 1840's he had become friends with the Schumann's and he composed the "Allegro Brillant" especially to play
in a concert with Clara Schumann on March 31, 1841. The work remains one of the most challenging in the piano
repertoire. The Duo pianists will conclude their portion of the program with Khatchaturian’s piano arrangement
of the Waltz from the incidental music for the play, Masquerade, written in 1944. Michelle states: "This is just a fun
little thing..."
Bach's Cantata BWV 56, designated for the 19th Sunday after Trinity, was first performed on October 27,
1726. After Bach took the position as kapellmeister at St. Thomas School in Leipzig in 1723, he gave considerable
effort to composing cantatas and passions for the church year. He completed a five-year cycle of cantatas,
providing the appropriate music for each Sunday for a full five years (a total of almost 300 works, which included
music for special occasions.) Cantata BWV 56 was included in the third cycle of cantatas. The text, by an
anonymous poet, makes reference to the scriptures designated for that particular Sunday.
Samuel Barber, born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, was recognized as a child prodigy and when he was 9
he declared to his mother that . . ."I was meant to be a composer, and will be I'm sure." At the age of 14 he was
among the first group of students enrolled at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Barber was still a student when
he composed "Dover Beach" in 1931 when he was 21 years old. He followed it the next year with the "Overture to
the School for Scandal," which was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1933. His career soared when he
received the Prix de Rome in 1935 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1936 and 1937. Poetry was an important part of his
artistic soul, and the depth of expression in the Arnold poem spoke directly to him. A sense of melancholy and
sadness pervades the poem and Barber remarked about the timelessness of Arnold's text.
Performers' Biographies
Robin McCarty is a graduate of New York’s Houghton College School of Music. Prior to her retirement
from teaching last spring, Robin had the privilege of teaching piano to hundreds of students for over thirty-five
years. She is an accomplished accompanist having served as the pianist for the Little Traverse Choral Society in the
past and has performed with professional soloists in Northern Michigan. She has been active also as a church
accompanist and musician.
Michelle Mitchum holds the Bachelor of Music degree from Central Michigan University and following
graduation, she served as staff accompanist for a year. Michelle earned a Master of Music degree from
Northwestern University in 1985. Her passion continues to be teaching the talented students in her studio. Since
moving to Petoskey, Michelle has performed with the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra, Northern Michigan
Chorale and the Little Traverse Choral Society.
Robin and Michelle first collaborated in 1998 when they performed Gershwin’s Preludes for one piano, four
hands. They have performed on many occasions, including appearing on the GLCO Sunday Series several times.
Peter Sims received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Voice Performance from Butler University and
continued to sing professionally with the Indianapolis Opera Company while he was teaching and serving as
music director at several metropolitan churches. Here in northern Michigan serves as music director at the First
Presbyterian Church of Harbor Springs and chorus master for the GLCO. Peter’s musical highlight has been the
opportunity to sing at Carnegie Hall five times, twice with the legendary Robert Shaw.
Lynn Hansen received her Bachelor and Master degrees in Music Education from the University of Michigan. After two years as band conductor at Albion (MI) High School, she moved to Traverse City where she served as
band conductor at West Junior High School for 22 years. With a Master’s degree in Education Administration
from Central Michigan University, Lynn continued to share her commitment and passion for all things kid-related
as one of WJH’s principals for the next 11 years. The 2014-2015 season marks her 34th year as oboist with the
Traverse Symphony Orchestra and her second year with the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra.