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Guest conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong makes his Seattle Symphony debut conducting the orchestra in Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony, and Seattle Symphony Principal Bassoon Seth Krimsky steps into the spotlight to perform Miguel del Águila’s Malambo on the Benaroya Hall stage, broadcasting live on Thursday, June 17, 2021, at 7:30pm on Seattle Symphony Live.

PROGRAM INFORMATION

THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2021, AT 7:30PM
Beethoven Pastoral Symphony
DELTA | MASTERWORKS

Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Seth Krimsky, bassoon
Seattle Symphony

MIGUEL DEL ÁGUILA    Malambo for Solo Bassoon and String Orchestra

SETH KRIMSKY, BASSOON

PAUSE

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN    Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, “Pastoral”

Awakening of cheerful feelings on arriving in the country: Allegro ma non troppo
Scene by the brook: Andante molto mosso
Happy gathering of villagers: Allegro—
Lightning, Thunderstorm: Allegro—
Shepherd’s Song: cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm: Allegretto

2020–2021 Season Streaming Sponsor: Scan Design Foundation
2020–2021 Masterworks Season Sponsor: Delta Air Lines
Beethoven Pastoral Symphony is generously underwritten by Dr. Pierre and Mrs. Felice Loebel.
 

PROGRAM NOTES

MIGUEL DEL ÁGUILA

Malambo for Solo Bassoon and String Orchestra

WORK COMPOSED: 2016
WORK PREMIERED: July 2016 at Talis Music Festival in Switzerland

Born and educated in Montevideo, Uruguay, Miguel del Águila graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and studied at the Universität für Musik un Darstellende Kunst and the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna. Águila is a three-time Grammy nominee, and his music has been performed by major artists such as Lukas Foss, the Sphinx Virtuosi and the Orchestra of the Americas. He is currently based in Seattle, Washington and serves as the 2021 composer-in-residence with the Danish Chamber Players/Ensemble Storstrøm.

His bassoon concerto, Malambo for Solo Bassoon and String Orchestra is one of three versions of the same work for different instruments and ensembles. Its name comes from the malambo, a centuries-old dance performed in competition by Argentine gauchos (cowboys). The increasingly quick, powerful footwork is the focus of the dance, magnifying the dancer’s ability and skill. In addition to the malambo, Águila also draws upon the Venezuelan/Colombian Joropo, the Galerón Llanero and Mexican Jarabe. Unlike Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, the accompanying work on this program, Águila has a clear story in mind for this piece, which he outlines in notes partially quoted below:

“As the sound of bells trigger memories of a sad past event, the bassoon (here the main protagonist), sings alone a melody only accompanied by distant birds and insects. After a second ringing of the bells the bassoonist decides to ignore the sad memories and join in a dance taking place near him …. My music here represents only the abstraction of these dances [malambo, Joropo, Galerón Llanero & Jarabe] in my memory and rendered in my own musical language and rhythm which in this case consists of alternating 12/16–7/16 meter.  In the midst of the dance the bells ring again and the bassoonist, now overwhelmed by memories, becomes immersed in his own thoughts. Away from the rest he sings an expressive song which grows in intensity until the dissonant bells (in his head) finally trigger an emotional climax that dissolves in darkness. Suddenly, as if waking up from a dream, the dance resumes. This time, without interruptions, it gains momentum building up to a joyous, life affirming ending.”

Scored for solo bassoon; strings.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, “Pastoral”

BORN: December 16, 1770, in Bonn, Germany
DIED: March 26, 1827, in Vienna, Austria
WORK COMPOSED: 1802–1808
WORK PREMIERED: December 22, 1808 at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Austria, with the composer conducting.

For the majority of the twentieth century, and so far in the twenty-first, a classical concert typically features a short orchestral piece, a concerto and a symphony. Programming two symphonies in one concert is atypical, due to the necessary endurance. But on December 22, 1808, Beethoven was less concerned with the musicians’ and listeners’ stamina and more concerned with a successful performance of two new symphonies: his Symphony No. 5 in C minor and Symphony No. 6 in F major, “Pastoral.” (The concert also featured his Fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy; with such long, heavy repertoire, it did not go well.)

Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony had crystalized several months earlier, in the small town of Heiligenstadt, Vienna (also the site where the composer came to terms with his growing deafness in 1802). The story of artists running to the hills to escape the stress and fast pace of city life, to rejuvenate body and spirit, has become standard to the point of cliché. Cliché because it’s true; for Beethoven it happened in 1802 and again in 1808. His holiday not only helped him finish the symphony but provided descriptive and emotive elements for the work itself. The F major symphony’s style connects to the centuries-old pastoral tradition, characterized by imitation of nature sounds, drones, reed pipes and foregrounding of flutes and oboes in the instrumental texture.

This connection with the pastoral tradition suggests that the “Pastoral” Symphony is an early example of programmatic music. However, Beethoven made a point that this work was “more the expression of feeling than [realistic] painting.” Though he references visual aspects of the country via the movements’ titles, he was less concerned with musically representing the flora and fauna than the emotions they elicited. Such visual flexibility aided its inclusion in American popular culture over a century later: Beethoven’s (edited) Symphony No. 6 was the soundtrack for the Greek mythology segment of Walt Disney’s 1940 film, Fantasia.

The Allegro ma non troppo, or Awakening of cheerful feelings on arriving in the country, is built on a light and jaunty rhythm. The movement is in sonata form, which consists of the following sections: (1) the exposition establishes the primary and secondary themes; (2) the development takes these themes into different harmonic and melodic directions; (3) the recapitulation reintroduces the primary and secondary themes in their original state.

The Andante molto mosso, or Scene by the brook, is tender and elegant; near the end, Beethoven breaks with his anti-programmatic stance by evoking the calls of a nightingale, quail and cuckoo in the flute, oboe and two clarinets, respectively. The Allegro—, or Happy gathering of villagers, is a rambunctious whirlwind of activity; the rhythms, orchestration and articulations combine to evoke a village gathering, replete with conversation, eating and dancing. This quickly concludes via an attacca into the fourth movement, Allegro—, or Lightning, Thunderstorm. Scalar passages and stepwise figures imitate high winds; sudden fortissimos are the flashes of lightening and rumbles of thunder. The texture thins as the storm dissipates and a flute and clarinet herald the finale, Allegretto, or Shepherd’s Song: cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm. The use of forte dynamics, tremolo in the high registers, melodic rumblings in the lower strings, and brief moments of mezzo and piano dynamics in the coda create a resplendent conclusion to a symphony that is direct, engaging and joyful.

Scored for 2 flutes and piccolo; 2 oboes; 2 clarinets; 2 bassoons; 2 horns; 2 trumpets; 2 trombones; timpani; strings.

© 2021 A. Kori Hill