DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PROGRAM NOTES

Composed 1891 | Premiered April 1892

Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. at Congregation Shaarey Zedek

Friday, March 17, 2023 at 8 p.m. at Meyer Theater, Monroe Community College

Sunday, March 19, 2023 at 3 p.m. at Seligman Performing Arts Center

MICHAEL BALKE, conductor

TAI MURRAY, violin

Antonín Dvorˇák Carnival Overture, Op. 92 (1841 - 1904)

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 53

Allegro ma non troppo

Adagio ma non troppo

Finale: Allegro giocoso ma non troppo

Tai Murray, violin

Intermission

Myroslav Skoryk Melody (1938 - 2020)

Composed 1879 | Premiered October 14, 1883

B. Sept. 8, 1841, Nelahozeves, Bohemia D. May 1, 1904, Prague, Czech Republic Scored for 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, english horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings. (Approx. 9 minutes)

Life was sweet for Dvořák as his 50th birthday approached in 1891. Whether the composer was feeling philosophical that year, we can only surmise. But more than one commentator has seen his cycle Nature, Life, and Love, composed in 1891, as the product of midlife musing. The Carnival Overture forms the middle panel in this triptych and was composed between July and September 1891. All three parts, including the overtures In Nature’s Realm and Otello, were performed for the first time at a concert in Prague in April 1892, a farewell for the composer before he departed for the New World.

B. September 8, 1841, Nelahozeves, Bohemia (now Czech Republic)

D. May 1, 1904, Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic)

Scored for solo violin, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, and strings. (Approx. 31 minutes)

Antonín

Dvořák was encouraged to tackle a violin concerto by Joseph Joachim, one of the foremost violinists of the 19th century and a lifelong friend of Johannes Brahms (whose masterful violin concerto, written for Joachim, needs no defense here). Although Joachim quite liked the early drafts that Dvořák shared, he found the final product troubling, mostly because it dispensed with the customary orchestral exposition. Joachim found excuses to not perform the work, which frustrated Dvořák; the composer eventually sought to premiere the work with a different violinist, and only years later would Joachim begin to see the piece’s beauty.

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 (1770 - 1827)

I. Adagio Molto - Allegro con brio

II. Larghetto

III. Scherzo: Allegro

IV. Allegro Molto

The Carnival Overture plunges directly into the festivities, whirling the listeners along before they have half a chance to demur. Only once is the celebratory mood broken, before taking up the development of his themes, Dvořák pauses for a reflective interlude in slow tempo, mulling over the “nature” theme—based on a series of rocking thirds—that recurs in all three overtures in the set. For a moment we can savor woodwind writing as luscious as any Dvořák ever penned, but suddenly, the party begins again, and there will not be a moment’s rest until the final chords.

The DSO last performed Dvořák’s Carnival Overture in November 2018, conducted by Cristian Măcelaru. The DSO first performed the piece in February 1920, conducted by Ossip Gabrilowitsch.

The concerto opens with a pair of brief and dramatic orchestral statements—but not a true exposition—presenting glimpses of the first movement’s principal theme. Each is answered by the solo violin. The featured instrument’s responses begin purposefully, taking up the orchestra’s material, but they end in cadenza like rhapsodies. The orchestra’s third attempt yields a more complete thematic exposition, but the soloist soon rejoins the proceedings, leading a lively exploration of the principal subject and the more lyrical subsidiary idea. Dvořák offers only an abbreviated recapitulation of the opening material before continuing without pause into the central Andante. This second movement opens with music of hymn like serenity, moves through more impassioned episodes, and finally returns to the tranquil vein in which it began. The finale is of altogether different character, suggesting the spirited village dances of Dvořák’s native Bohemia.

The DSO most recently performed Dvořák’s Violin Concerto in A minor in December 2021, conducted by Jader Bignamini and featuring violinist Hilary Hahn. The DSO first performed the work in January 1928, conducted by Victor Kolar and featuring violinist Gustav Kleiner.

B. July 13, 1938, Lviv, Ukraine

D. June 1, 2020, Kyiv, Ukraine

Scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings.

(Approx. 3 minutes)

Born in 1938 in Lviv, Ukraine, Myroslav Skoryk made immense contributions to Ukrainian musical life and the world’s musical heritage. Skoryk’s own musical journey began at the age of 6, when his grandmother’s sister—none other than the famous Ukrainian opera singer Solomiya Krushelnytska—recognized his impeccable hearing abilities and encouraged him to attend music school. His young musical studies were abruptly interrupted when his family was deported to Siberia amidst intensifying Soviet repressions. Here, he continued to play piano, and his talent continued to be recognized. On his time in Siberia playing the piano, Skoryk stated, “they started to consider me a prodigy, and they drove me to the regional town of Kemerovo and showed everyone saying whatever the number of notes you press for him, he will name all of them at once.”

Skoryk was finally able to return to his hometown of Lviv after Stalin’s death in 1953, where he enrolled in the local conservatory and began composing. He found great success in composition, writing a great variety of repertoire spanning from works for orchestra, chorus, ballet, and opera to jazz and popular music, as well as the scores for more than 40 films. Later in his career, he accepted a position to teach composition and theory at the Lviv Conservatory and the Kyiv Conservatory, and also served as the Artistic Director of the National Opera of Ukraine. His compositional influences consist of Carpathian folk music to the avant-garde.

Skoryk’s Melody— originally scored for flute and piano and later arranged for violin and orchestra—was composed in 1982 for the Soviet war film Vysokyy pereval (The High Mountain Pass), with the intention of “conveying an understanding of tragedy that cannot be expressed in words,” as stated by the composer himself. This film was set in the aftermath of World War II and was subjected to Soviet censorship, which led to the negative depiction of Ukrainian nationalism. Skoryk agreed to compose this work for the film’s director Volodymyr Denysenko in hopes of subversively conveying the film’s tragic and emotional themes.

Melody has since become one of Ukraine’s national spiritual anthems, skyrocketing in popularity following the tragic 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine as a proclamation of global solidarity with Ukraine. In an address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the US Congress in March 2022, the piece was played accompanying a video of the destruction of the country. Based on common patterns of Ukrainian folk music, this piece is also a central part of the concert program of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra’s tour in Europe and has been selected for its recognizability and sentimentality.

This performance marks the DSO’s premiere of Melody by Myroslav Skoryk.

Composed 1801-1802 | Premiered April 5, 1803

B. December 1770, Bonn, Germany

D. March 26, 1827, Vienna, Austria

Scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. (Approx. 34 minutes)

Beethoven wrote his

Second Symphony in 1802, during a troubling period in his life. For several years he had noticed a progressive deterioration in his hearing, and he grew increasingly depressed as his condition worsened. But the Symphony No. 2 hints at none of that—in fact, it is as vibrant and joyous as any work in the symphonic literature, completely dissociated from Beethoven’s personal struggles.

Beethoven wrote the symphony at Heiligenstadt, a village outside Vienna where his doctor suggested he go for a medical retreat. He had written sketches for the piece in the winter of 1801, and brought them to Heiligenstadt to fully realize them in the summer sun. By the time he returned to Vienna, in the early autumn of 1802, the score was all but complete.

In form and style, the second symphony still belongs to the 18th century—its dimensions and spirit being closer to the symphonic works of Haydn and Mozart than to Beethoven’s own later essays in this genre. The first movement begins with a slow introduction, common and predictable at the time, but this prologue is more expansive and more powerful than any by Beethoven’s forerunners. Its purpose is not merely to precede the main body of the movement, but to gather energy and momentum that can only be released in a quicker tempo, giving the ensuing Allegro a gripping, necessary intensity.

The second movement suggests a nocturnal serenade, and by contrast the ensuing scherzo is a high-energy romp. Its sudden forte crashes and off-beat accents reflect Beethoven’s rough humor, and this jocular spirit carries over into the finale. Here, sudden outbursts and rhythmic surprises again enliven the music, the energy of which rivals the first movement.

The DSO most recently performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in January 2019, conducted by Pablo Rus Broseta. The DSO first performed the piece in November 1920, conducted by Ossip Gabrilowitsch.