Azul

Opening Night: Azul

Friday, August 7, 8:00pm Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium

Jamey Haddad, percussion; Cyro Baptista, percussion] 

PROGRAM NOTES: 

Amphitheatre (2000) - U.S. premiere

Brett Dean (b. 1961)

Amphitheatre was commissioned by Symphony Australia for Music Director Daniel Harding‘s first Australian tour with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Harding and the Orchestra introduced Amphitheatre on June 16, 2000 at the Queensland Concert Hall in Brisbane, Australia. This performance is the American premiere. Dean has written the following note:

Amphitheatre, commissioned by Symphony Australia, is a dramatic scene for large orchestra. It is in one (essentially slow) movement, and takes its title from the opening of German author Michael Ende‘s mesmerizing children‘s book Momo,in which he describes the ruins of an ancient Roman amphitheatre situated on the outskirts of a big, modern city. Amphitheatres came in all shapes and sizes; magnificent ones in major cities were fitted out with lavish golden carpets and sunshades, massive columns and statues. Simple theatres in smaller towns made do with straw roofing and modest decorations. They were a reflection of the people and communities that built them; the main thing was that everyone had somewhere to gather in order to experience theatre, to satisfy their hunger for stories and spectacles, to be part of their culture.

The other unifying factor amongst most of these round or oval structures, whether large or small, was that they were made of massive blocks of stone. The initial musical idea in this orchestral amphitheatre, an oscillating chord change first heard in the brass, becomes the stone blocks upon which this piece‘s structure is built. Through a change of colors, from the low brass, to winds, strings and then back to brass we take in different perspectives of the same object, as if taking a walk around it‘s circumference.

The other motivic group that takes on more significance as the piece progresses consists of distant, heralding trumpet fanfares, reminiscences of past glories that took place in the old stone walls, momentarily replacing the stillness of time frozen. Like the tiered seating of these ancient arenas, radiating outwards from centre stage, the layers of sound and textures unfold and expand. In this process, the fanfares become increasingly larger than life and eventually almost grotesque in their directness.

However as quickly as these phantasies have erupted, so too do they dissipate, becoming once again little more than distant echoes of a bygone age. As Ende describes it, the daydreaming tourist returns to his senses, takes a photo and departs from the scene. "Then stillness is reinstated to the stony roundness."

Rise from the Dark (1985, rev. 2007) - World premiere

David Heath (b. 1956)

Heath has written the following note:

I wrote Rise from the Dark in 1985 and this performance at Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music will be its world premiere. Rise from the Dark was written in honor of a child whose premature death affected me deeply. I tried to put into this piece the whole lifetime's experience that had been missed, and so, despite the tragedy, there is a triumphant quality there as well. The three sections are essentially fast, slow, fast, although there are many detours on the way. It is very different from my piece Colourful World that was introduced at the Festival a couple of years ago, but is still based rhythmically and harmonically on the music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis, and structurally on classical music. I hope you like it.

Azul  (2006, rev. 2007)

Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960)

Cabrillo Festival audiences were introduced to the music of Osvaldo Golijov last season with two works: Last Round for string orchestra (1996) and Omaramor for solo cello (1991), the latter performed by Matt Haimowitz. This season Golijov returns with a full, four-movement cello concerto and is present as a Festival Guest Composer as well.

Commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Azul (Blue) was introduced at the Tanglewood Festival in Massachusetts on August 4, 2006. Yo-Yo Ma performed the solo cello part, with Michael Ward Bergeman, hyperaccordion, Jamey Haddad, percussion and the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Donald Runnicles. It was revised slightly the following year to suit soloist Alisa Weilerstein. Azul is dedicated to Alicia Golijov.

Azul program notes not yet released.