Marsalis “Well-Tempered”October 4, 2014

206-543-4880uwworldseries.org

Special Event

October 4, 2014Marsalis "Well-Tempered"

An Evening withBranford Marsalis

featuring

The Chamber Orchestraof Philadelphia

This event is presented

in partnership with

Special thanks

to our media partner

Tonight's Program

Bach Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068

Albinoni Concerto à cinque for Oboe, Strings and Continuo in C Major, Op. 9, No. 5

Allegro Adagio non troppo Allegro

Purcell Incidental Music for Strings from Abdelazar

Ouverture Rondeau Air Air Minuet Air Jig Hornpipe Air

Dornel Oboe Sonata in G Major

Prelude Fugue Gravement Gigue

Intermission

Locatelli Concerto Grosso in C Minor, Op. 1 No. 6

Adagio— Allegro Largo— Allegro

Handel “Al lampo dell' armi” and “Cara speme, questo core tu cominci” (arias from Giulio Cesare)

Bach Concerto for Oboe D'Amore, Strings and Continuo in A Major, BWV 1055a

AllegroLarghettoAllegro ma non tanto

A-6 UW WORLD SERIES

206-543-4880uwworldseries.org

Special Event

October 4, 2014Marsalis "Well-Tempered"

An Evening withBranford Marsalis

featuring

The Chamber Orchestraof Philadelphia

This event is presented

in partnership with

Special thanks

to our media partner

Tonight's Program

Bach Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068

Albinoni Concerto à cinque for Oboe, Strings and Continuo in C Major, Op. 9, No. 5

Allegro Adagio non troppo Allegro

Purcell Incidental Music for Strings from Abdelazar

Ouverture Rondeau Air Air Minuet Air Jig Hornpipe Air

Dornel Oboe Sonata in G Major

Prelude Fugue Gravement Gigue

Intermission

Locatelli Concerto Grosso in C Minor, Op. 1 No. 6

Adagio— Allegro Largo— Allegro

Handel “Al lampo dell' armi” and “Cara speme, questo core tu cominci” (arias from Giulio Cesare)

Bach Concerto for Oboe D'Amore, Strings and Continuo in A Major, BWV 1055a

AllegroLarghettoAllegro ma non tanto

encoreartsseattle.com A-7

About the Program

Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 inD Major, BWV 1068Johann SebaStian bach (1685–1750)

Based on dances, suites from the Baroque era were designed to be light of mood. Nonetheless, Bach crafted his four orchestral suites with the same clarity and integrity that we celebrate in all of his music. Number 3 has long been the most frequently performed due largely to the second movement, titled “Air,” which was arranged by violinist August Wilhelmj (1845-1908) for violin and piano, transcribed into C major. Wilhelmj indicated that the lovely tune should be played on the violin’s G-string, hence its popular nickname, “Air on a G-string.” In the 1960s, the rock band Procul Harum used a variant on the “Air” for the hit-tune “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” In its original guise the movement’s noble tread and slowly flowing melody over descending harmonies still ravishes the ear after nearly 300 years.

Concerto à cinque for Oboe,Strings and Continuo in C Major, Op. 9, No. 5tomaSo albinoni (1671–1751)

“Tomaso Albinoni is something of a biographer’s nightmare. He did not travel much beyond Italy—a visit to Munich in 1722 is his only foreign journey on record.” So wrote A. David Hogarth several decades ago in his program notes to a set of concertos by the Venetian composer. More recent articles, as in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, don’t flesh

out much more information about this self-described dilettante who wrote scads of music while remaining relatively insulated from the “normal” world of composers, due largely to his ample inheritance and hobnobbing with noble patrons.

It is known that Albinoni studied violin in his youth, but his teachers remain missing persons, as it were. He came under the influence of Vivaldi around 1710, rather early in both composers’ careers. Like Vivaldi, he adopted the “modern” three-movement concerto format with its fast—slow—fast deployment of movements. In the C Major Oboe Concerto we find animated and perky outer movements flanking an ornamented Adagio non troppo that one could imagine as having migrated from one of the composer’s many operas.

The first few notes to the opening Allegro immediately recall the beginning of the “Spring” Concerto from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, no surprise the abovementioned reference to Vivaldi influence on Albinoni. Cast in quick duple-meter, the music exudes good spirits despite the stereotypical and limited appreciation of the oboe as a sad-toned instrument. Rapid trills grace the solo lines. The Adagio non troppo lies in the minor mode and conveys an elegiac mood—the usual haunting ground of the double-reed instrument. Lovely harmonic suspensions recall Corelli’s slow movements as well as Vivaldi’s religious music. Back in the major, the final Allegro is less furiously energetic than we might expect from a devotee of Vivaldi but charms through its gentle bouncing ambience.

Incidental Music for Strings from Abdelazarhenry Purcell (1659–1695)

Henry Purcell excelled in all the forms of his day, writing fluently and with pronounced originality in instrumental, choral and vocal genres. His often-startling chromaticism and harmonic daring, hypnotic “grounds” (long, repeated melodies/accompaniments in the bass regions), and exquisite sensitivity to the English language are unrivaled in the literature.

During the final year of his life Purcell composed the Incidental Music for Abdelazar (aka “The Moor’s Revenge”), a play by Aphra Behn (1640–1689) dating from 1676, itself an adaptation of a tragedy dating from ca. 1600, Lust’s Dominion. Purcell’s opus consists of an overture and eight other instrumental pieces plus a concluding song, “Lucinda is bewitching fair” normally dropped from orchestral performances of the Incidental Music. Abdelazar has established a foothold in the repertoire because of the Rondeau theme Benjamin Britten used in his brilliant Variations on a Theme by Henry Purcell, better known as The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.

The character Abdelazar, though a slave, enjoys special status that includes his own coterie of servants as well as serving as the leader of a military unit. In love with his wife he has a clandestine relationship with the king’s wife. In the course of the story Abdelazar poisons the king

(who has murdered the slave’s father) and plans to end the queen’s life as well. Other characters have their own often nefarious plots in typical Baroque opera fashion.

The incidental music begins with a two-part French overture, a heavily-dotted (short-love rhythmic figures) minor-key section followed by a faster-paced and somewhat contrapuntal second episode. The above-named Rondeau follows, based on a rising triadic theme in the minor with brief variants in the major. A sequence of airs follows, alternating between minor and major as well as seesawing between emphatically energetic parts and comparatively laid-back episodes. Adding to the mix are a sweet and slow Minuet and two faster dances—a Jig and Hornpipe.

Sonata for Oboe and Continuoin G MajorlouiS-antoine Dornel (1685–ca. 1756)

Born the same year as Bach, Handel and Domenico Scarlatti, the French musician Louis-Antoine Dornel spent his life in Paris plying his multiple careers of composer, harpsichordist, organist (his bread-and-butter endeavor) and violinist. After assuming the position of music master of the Académie Française (1725–1742) he was obligated to compose a large motet each year, none of which has survived. During the early years of the 18th century Italian ideas were widely adopted in Paris, especially those of Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713). Given Dornel’s central role as an organist it is not surprising that his

music has a pronounced contrapuntal orientation. His Sonata for Oboe and Continuo dates from 1713 and consists of four movements—Corelli’s frequently deployed format. During the Baroque era the oboe and violin were the primary solo instruments and were often considered interchangeable.

The stately opening Prelude adopts Corelli’s sectionalized movement format of alternating slow and fast episodes. The main theme is essentially a sustained single note ending on an appoggiatura. The accompanying continuo part utilizes a typical Baroque and Corellian “walking bass.” A moderately paced Fugue ensues, urged onward by a theme gently galvanized by a series of repeated notes redolent of Corelli’s erstwhile friend Handel (who studied in Italy).

The third movement is marked Gravement and is cast in the minor. Its richly embellished main theme reflects distinctly French stylization. A sprightly, animated Gigue, with contrapuntal interplay between the soloist and the continuo, brings the delightful piece to a close.

Concerto Grosso in C Minor,Op. 1 No. 6Pietro antonio locatelli (1695-1764)

This vibrant Italian violin virtuoso earned the posthumous soubriquet, “the Paganini of the 18th century.” Locatelli seems to have emerged as from a void. An earlier belief that he studied with Arcangelo Corelli is without basis, though he may have studied with one of Corelli’s rivals, Giuseppe Valentini.

A-8 UW WORLD SERIES

About the Program

Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 inD Major, BWV 1068Johann SebaStian bach (1685–1750)

Based on dances, suites from the Baroque era were designed to be light of mood. Nonetheless, Bach crafted his four orchestral suites with the same clarity and integrity that we celebrate in all of his music. Number 3 has long been the most frequently performed due largely to the second movement, titled “Air,” which was arranged by violinist August Wilhelmj (1845-1908) for violin and piano, transcribed into C major. Wilhelmj indicated that the lovely tune should be played on the violin’s G-string, hence its popular nickname, “Air on a G-string.” In the 1960s, the rock band Procul Harum used a variant on the “Air” for the hit-tune “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” In its original guise the movement’s noble tread and slowly flowing melody over descending harmonies still ravishes the ear after nearly 300 years.

Concerto à cinque for Oboe,Strings and Continuo in C Major, Op. 9, No. 5tomaSo albinoni (1671–1751)

“Tomaso Albinoni is something of a biographer’s nightmare. He did not travel much beyond Italy—a visit to Munich in 1722 is his only foreign journey on record.” So wrote A. David Hogarth several decades ago in his program notes to a set of concertos by the Venetian composer. More recent articles, as in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, don’t flesh

out much more information about this self-described dilettante who wrote scads of music while remaining relatively insulated from the “normal” world of composers, due largely to his ample inheritance and hobnobbing with noble patrons.

It is known that Albinoni studied violin in his youth, but his teachers remain missing persons, as it were. He came under the influence of Vivaldi around 1710, rather early in both composers’ careers. Like Vivaldi, he adopted the “modern” three-movement concerto format with its fast—slow—fast deployment of movements. In the C Major Oboe Concerto we find animated and perky outer movements flanking an ornamented Adagio non troppo that one could imagine as having migrated from one of the composer’s many operas.

The first few notes to the opening Allegro immediately recall the beginning of the “Spring” Concerto from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, no surprise the abovementioned reference to Vivaldi influence on Albinoni. Cast in quick duple-meter, the music exudes good spirits despite the stereotypical and limited appreciation of the oboe as a sad-toned instrument. Rapid trills grace the solo lines. The Adagio non troppo lies in the minor mode and conveys an elegiac mood—the usual haunting ground of the double-reed instrument. Lovely harmonic suspensions recall Corelli’s slow movements as well as Vivaldi’s religious music. Back in the major, the final Allegro is less furiously energetic than we might expect from a devotee of Vivaldi but charms through its gentle bouncing ambience.

Incidental Music for Strings from Abdelazarhenry Purcell (1659–1695)

Henry Purcell excelled in all the forms of his day, writing fluently and with pronounced originality in instrumental, choral and vocal genres. His often-startling chromaticism and harmonic daring, hypnotic “grounds” (long, repeated melodies/accompaniments in the bass regions), and exquisite sensitivity to the English language are unrivaled in the literature.

During the final year of his life Purcell composed the Incidental Music for Abdelazar (aka “The Moor’s Revenge”), a play by Aphra Behn (1640–1689) dating from 1676, itself an adaptation of a tragedy dating from ca. 1600, Lust’s Dominion. Purcell’s opus consists of an overture and eight other instrumental pieces plus a concluding song, “Lucinda is bewitching fair” normally dropped from orchestral performances of the Incidental Music. Abdelazar has established a foothold in the repertoire because of the Rondeau theme Benjamin Britten used in his brilliant Variations on a Theme by Henry Purcell, better known as The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.

The character Abdelazar, though a slave, enjoys special status that includes his own coterie of servants as well as serving as the leader of a military unit. In love with his wife he has a clandestine relationship with the king’s wife. In the course of the story Abdelazar poisons the king

(who has murdered the slave’s father) and plans to end the queen’s life as well. Other characters have their own often nefarious plots in typical Baroque opera fashion.

The incidental music begins with a two-part French overture, a heavily-dotted (short-love rhythmic figures) minor-key section followed by a faster-paced and somewhat contrapuntal second episode. The above-named Rondeau follows, based on a rising triadic theme in the minor with brief variants in the major. A sequence of airs follows, alternating between minor and major as well as seesawing between emphatically energetic parts and comparatively laid-back episodes. Adding to the mix are a sweet and slow Minuet and two faster dances—a Jig and Hornpipe.

Sonata for Oboe and Continuoin G MajorlouiS-antoine Dornel (1685–ca. 1756)

Born the same year as Bach, Handel and Domenico Scarlatti, the French musician Louis-Antoine Dornel spent his life in Paris plying his multiple careers of composer, harpsichordist, organist (his bread-and-butter endeavor) and violinist. After assuming the position of music master of the Académie Française (1725–1742) he was obligated to compose a large motet each year, none of which has survived. During the early years of the 18th century Italian ideas were widely adopted in Paris, especially those of Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713). Given Dornel’s central role as an organist it is not surprising that his

music has a pronounced contrapuntal orientation. His Sonata for Oboe and Continuo dates from 1713 and consists of four movements—Corelli’s frequently deployed format. During the Baroque era the oboe and violin were the primary solo instruments and were often considered interchangeable.

The stately opening Prelude adopts Corelli’s sectionalized movement format of alternating slow and fast episodes. The main theme is essentially a sustained single note ending on an appoggiatura. The accompanying continuo part utilizes a typical Baroque and Corellian “walking bass.” A moderately paced Fugue ensues, urged onward by a theme gently galvanized by a series of repeated notes redolent of Corelli’s erstwhile friend Handel (who studied in Italy).

The third movement is marked Gravement and is cast in the minor. Its richly embellished main theme reflects distinctly French stylization. A sprightly, animated Gigue, with contrapuntal interplay between the soloist and the continuo, brings the delightful piece to a close.

Concerto Grosso in C Minor,Op. 1 No. 6Pietro antonio locatelli (1695-1764)

This vibrant Italian violin virtuoso earned the posthumous soubriquet, “the Paganini of the 18th century.” Locatelli seems to have emerged as from a void. An earlier belief that he studied with Arcangelo Corelli is without basis, though he may have studied with one of Corelli’s rivals, Giuseppe Valentini.

encoreartsseattle.com A-9

In any case, by the 1720s Locatelli was enjoying enormous financial success as a violinist, touring Italy and Germany for much of that decade before moving permanently to Amsterdam in 1729—and his concertos do sound quite a bit like Corelli’s splendid offerings. Locatelli was known for the breadth of his culture and was well-versed in philosophy, ornithology, topography and history. As a violinist he was admired for the sheer passion of his playing, and the power and brilliance which added to it. As a composer opinion was strongly partisan and divided. The eminent Dr. Burney dismissed his music as “…more surprise than pleasure” but other commentators were enamored of his novel ideas and winning melodies. He was not really an innovator but more of a consolidator of musical trends, something that had been said about J.S. Bach.

The Concerto Grosso in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 6 is a sonata da chiesa (“Church sonata”) as opposed to the sonata da camera (“Chamber sonata”). The latter type contains dance-inspired movements, the form less “frivolous” numbers simply bearing tempo indications. In actuality, composers tended to blur the lines between the sacred and secular.

All four movements that constitute Op. 1, No. 6 remain in the home key of C minor. In the opening Adagio a series of separated dark chords introduces the foursquare shaped solo violin theme that floats over sequences of chords before launching into the following Allegro. In this faster paced and contrapuntal movement the violin and remaining players toss a jaunty

theme around animatedly in contrast to the static stance of the Adagio. Another slow movement, this time marked Largo, ensues. Like the opening Adagio it ends on a cadence that leads directly without pause into the jaunty syncopated Allegro brings the concerto to a close. One notes the fine interplay between the solo violin line and the “walking bass” in the lower strings.

“Al lampo dell' armi” and “Cara speme, questo core tu cominci” (arias from Giulio Cesare)GeorGe FriDeric hanDel (1685–1759)

When Handel visited in London in 1710, after study and success in Germany and then in Italy, the world could little know that this son of a German barber-surgeon would become his adoptive country’s greatest musical monument. Absorbing the operatic style of the Italians and the contrapuntal tradition of his native land, Handel was a worldly and utterly pragmatic figure, adept at reflecting and shaping the tastes of his English public and patrons, hammering musical clichés into magnificent musical creations. Though never speaking the King’s English with real fluency and grace, he certainly understood this strange and alien tongue enough to master it in his sublime musical settings. Eminently practical, he had the sense and ability to take poorly scripted librettos and create stunning musical portraits, even on embarrassing texts.

Though the past several decades have experienced a surging interest in Baroque opera—especially stage works

by Handel, Vivaldi and Rameau—Handel’s Giulio Cesare (1724) was one of a mere handful of pre-Classical operas that received numerous performances as far back as the 1960s. In Act II, Cleopatra urges Caesar to flee to escape an assassination attempt, suggesting that she will deal with the conspirators. With ardor and dismissive bravado Caesar scorns her plan in the virtuosic aria “Al lampo dell’armi” (In the shimmering of arms). The Act I aria sung by Sesto, son of the reigning Egyptian king, Tolomeo (Ptolemy), “Cara speme, questo core tu cominci” (Dear hope, you flatter my heart) finds Handel in a tender, lyrical and reflective mood.

Concerto for Oboe D'Amore, Strings and Continuo in A Major, BWV 1055aJohann SebaStian bach

During Bach’s long and final tenure in Leipzig (1723-50), he served as Kapellmeister for the large Lutheran church where his duties, understandably, lay in the creation of liturgical music. The great bulk of his instrumental music derives from his years in Cöthen (1717-23), and it was in that princely haven that he wrote most of his original concertos. From 1729 for more than a decade, despite a heavy work load at the Thomas Kirche (church), he involved himself in the University of Leipzig’s Collegium Musicum, where he had the chance to write strictly secular, i.e., instrumental music. Virtually all of his clavier (keyboard) concertos date from that long and productive period.

Bach’s keyboard concertos first saw the light of day as violin- or oboe-concertos,

including the Concerto for Oboe d’amore, Strings and Continuo in A major, BWV 1055a. (The oboe d’amore is the predecessor of the modern English horn, which is the standard oboe’s larger sibling, tuned a fifth lower.

The opening movement is in the ritornello style of the high Baroque, i.e., a format in which the orchestra establishes a basic theme that recurs between contrasting episodes played by the solo instrument. The ritornello music, lively and buoyant, provides an attractive setting for the solo’s dance-like theme and its beguiling permutations. The heart of the concerto is firmly fixed in the Larghetto, where a descending chromatic sequence in the orchestra creates a somber passacaglia-like background against which the solo instrument sings a mournful dirge worthy of Baroque opera. With a nod towards the English gig—used often by Bach in his concerto finales—the concluding Allegro ma non tanto exudes intoxicating spirits and a return to the world of dance.

© 2014 Steven Lowe

About Branford Marsalis

NEA Jazz Master, renowned Grammy Award®-winning saxophonist and Tony Award®nominee composer Branford Marsalis is one of the most revered instrumentalists of his time.

The three-time Grammy Award® winner has continued to exercise and expand his skills as an instrumentalist, a composer, and the head of Marsalis Music, the label he founded in 2002 that has

allowed him to produce both his own projects and those of the jazz world’s most promising new and established artists. Marsalis made his Broadway debut as the composer of original music for the Tony Award® winning Broadway revival of August Wilson’s play Fences.

Marsalis received a Tony nomination in the category of category of “Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre” and a 2010 Drama Desk Award® for “Outstanding Music in a Play” for his participation. Following these successes, Marsalis was asked to score the 2011 Broadway premiere of The Mountaintop starting Samuel Jackson and Angela Bassett. Leader of one of the finest jazz Quartets today,and a frequent soloist with classical ensembles, Branford has

become increasingly sought after as a featured soloist with such acclaimed orchestras as the Chicago, Detroit, Düsseldorf, and North Carolina Symphonies and the Boston Pops, with a growing repertoire that includes compositions by Copland, Debussy, Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Milhaud, Rorem and Vaughn Williams.

His propensity for innovative and forward-thinking compels him to seek new and challenging works by modern classical composers such as modern Scottish composer Sally Beamish who, after hearing Branford perform her composition The Imagined Sound of Sun on Stone at the 2006 North Sea Jazz Festival, was inspired to re-conceive a piece in progress, Under the Wing of the Rock, which he premiered as part of the

A-10 UW WORLD SERIES

In any case, by the 1720s Locatelli was enjoying enormous financial success as a violinist, touring Italy and Germany for much of that decade before moving permanently to Amsterdam in 1729—and his concertos do sound quite a bit like Corelli’s splendid offerings. Locatelli was known for the breadth of his culture and was well-versed in philosophy, ornithology, topography and history. As a violinist he was admired for the sheer passion of his playing, and the power and brilliance which added to it. As a composer opinion was strongly partisan and divided. The eminent Dr. Burney dismissed his music as “…more surprise than pleasure” but other commentators were enamored of his novel ideas and winning melodies. He was not really an innovator but more of a consolidator of musical trends, something that had been said about J.S. Bach.

The Concerto Grosso in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 6 is a sonata da chiesa (“Church sonata”) as opposed to the sonata da camera (“Chamber sonata”). The latter type contains dance-inspired movements, the form less “frivolous” numbers simply bearing tempo indications. In actuality, composers tended to blur the lines between the sacred and secular.

All four movements that constitute Op. 1, No. 6 remain in the home key of C minor. In the opening Adagio a series of separated dark chords introduces the foursquare shaped solo violin theme that floats over sequences of chords before launching into the following Allegro. In this faster paced and contrapuntal movement the violin and remaining players toss a jaunty

theme around animatedly in contrast to the static stance of the Adagio. Another slow movement, this time marked Largo, ensues. Like the opening Adagio it ends on a cadence that leads directly without pause into the jaunty syncopated Allegro brings the concerto to a close. One notes the fine interplay between the solo violin line and the “walking bass” in the lower strings.

“Al lampo dell' armi” and “Cara speme, questo core tu cominci” (arias from Giulio Cesare)GeorGe FriDeric hanDel (1685–1759)

When Handel visited in London in 1710, after study and success in Germany and then in Italy, the world could little know that this son of a German barber-surgeon would become his adoptive country’s greatest musical monument. Absorbing the operatic style of the Italians and the contrapuntal tradition of his native land, Handel was a worldly and utterly pragmatic figure, adept at reflecting and shaping the tastes of his English public and patrons, hammering musical clichés into magnificent musical creations. Though never speaking the King’s English with real fluency and grace, he certainly understood this strange and alien tongue enough to master it in his sublime musical settings. Eminently practical, he had the sense and ability to take poorly scripted librettos and create stunning musical portraits, even on embarrassing texts.

Though the past several decades have experienced a surging interest in Baroque opera—especially stage works

by Handel, Vivaldi and Rameau—Handel’s Giulio Cesare (1724) was one of a mere handful of pre-Classical operas that received numerous performances as far back as the 1960s. In Act II, Cleopatra urges Caesar to flee to escape an assassination attempt, suggesting that she will deal with the conspirators. With ardor and dismissive bravado Caesar scorns her plan in the virtuosic aria “Al lampo dell’armi” (In the shimmering of arms). The Act I aria sung by Sesto, son of the reigning Egyptian king, Tolomeo (Ptolemy), “Cara speme, questo core tu cominci” (Dear hope, you flatter my heart) finds Handel in a tender, lyrical and reflective mood.

Concerto for Oboe D'Amore, Strings and Continuo in A Major, BWV 1055aJohann SebaStian bach

During Bach’s long and final tenure in Leipzig (1723-50), he served as Kapellmeister for the large Lutheran church where his duties, understandably, lay in the creation of liturgical music. The great bulk of his instrumental music derives from his years in Cöthen (1717-23), and it was in that princely haven that he wrote most of his original concertos. From 1729 for more than a decade, despite a heavy work load at the Thomas Kirche (church), he involved himself in the University of Leipzig’s Collegium Musicum, where he had the chance to write strictly secular, i.e., instrumental music. Virtually all of his clavier (keyboard) concertos date from that long and productive period.

Bach’s keyboard concertos first saw the light of day as violin- or oboe-concertos,

including the Concerto for Oboe d’amore, Strings and Continuo in A major, BWV 1055a. (The oboe d’amore is the predecessor of the modern English horn, which is the standard oboe’s larger sibling, tuned a fifth lower.

The opening movement is in the ritornello style of the high Baroque, i.e., a format in which the orchestra establishes a basic theme that recurs between contrasting episodes played by the solo instrument. The ritornello music, lively and buoyant, provides an attractive setting for the solo’s dance-like theme and its beguiling permutations. The heart of the concerto is firmly fixed in the Larghetto, where a descending chromatic sequence in the orchestra creates a somber passacaglia-like background against which the solo instrument sings a mournful dirge worthy of Baroque opera. With a nod towards the English gig—used often by Bach in his concerto finales—the concluding Allegro ma non tanto exudes intoxicating spirits and a return to the world of dance.

© 2014 Steven Lowe

About Branford Marsalis

NEA Jazz Master, renowned Grammy Award®-winning saxophonist and Tony Award®nominee composer Branford Marsalis is one of the most revered instrumentalists of his time.

The three-time Grammy Award® winner has continued to exercise and expand his skills as an instrumentalist, a composer, and the head of Marsalis Music, the label he founded in 2002 that has

allowed him to produce both his own projects and those of the jazz world’s most promising new and established artists. Marsalis made his Broadway debut as the composer of original music for the Tony Award® winning Broadway revival of August Wilson’s play Fences.

Marsalis received a Tony nomination in the category of category of “Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre” and a 2010 Drama Desk Award® for “Outstanding Music in a Play” for his participation. Following these successes, Marsalis was asked to score the 2011 Broadway premiere of The Mountaintop starting Samuel Jackson and Angela Bassett. Leader of one of the finest jazz Quartets today,and a frequent soloist with classical ensembles, Branford has

become increasingly sought after as a featured soloist with such acclaimed orchestras as the Chicago, Detroit, Düsseldorf, and North Carolina Symphonies and the Boston Pops, with a growing repertoire that includes compositions by Copland, Debussy, Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Milhaud, Rorem and Vaughn Williams.

His propensity for innovative and forward-thinking compels him to seek new and challenging works by modern classical composers such as modern Scottish composer Sally Beamish who, after hearing Branford perform her composition The Imagined Sound of Sun on Stone at the 2006 North Sea Jazz Festival, was inspired to re-conceive a piece in progress, Under the Wing of the Rock, which he premiered as part of the

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Dedicated to changing the future of jazz in the classroom, Marsalis has shared his knowledge at such universities as Michigan State, San Francisco State, Stanford and North Carolina Central, with his full Quartet participating in an innovative extended residency at the NCCU campus. Beyond these efforts, he is also bringing a new approach to jazz education to student musicians and listeners in colleges and high schools through Marsalis Jams, an interactive program designed by Marsalis in which leading jazz ensembles present concert/jam sessions in mini-residencies. Marsalis Jams has visited campuses in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Southwest, and later established an ongoing Marsalis Berklee Jams series with the Berklee College of Music.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans native joined forces with friend Harry Connick, Jr. to conceive the New Orleans Habitat Musicians’ Village, the newly constructed community in the city’s historic Upper Ninth Ward that provides new homes for displaced residents, including displaced musicians and their families. At the heart of the Village stands the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, a magnificent facility with performance, instructional and practice spaces and a recording studio.

Whether on the stage, in the recording studio, in the classroom or in the community, Branford Marsalis embodies a commitment to musical excellence and a determination to keep music at the forefront.

About the Chamber Orchestraof Philadelphia

A founding resident company of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia is a 33-member professional ensemble led by Music Director Dirk Brossé. The Chamber Orchestra, founded in 1964, has a well-established reputation for distinguished performances of repertoire from the Baroque period through the twenty-first century.

The Orchestra’s development was motivated in part by the desire to provide performance opportunities to young professional musicians emerging from the Curtis Institute of Music and other regional training programs but also by a desire to make substantial contribution to the City and region’s cultural life. In addition to presenting its own productions, the Orchestra started to develop an entrepreneurial approach by seeking other performance opportunities among the region’s presenter/producer community, thereby providing additional employment for its members. The ensemble also championed new music, focusing on regional composers. In total, the organization has commissioned and premiered over seventy new works.

In 1994, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, a concert pianist and conducting graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music, joined the Chamber Orchestra as Assistant Conductor. In 1998, he was named Principal Conductor and Music Director in 2004. Maestro Solzhenitsyn, in assuming the position of Conductor Laureate in

Celtic Connections festival Beamish’s home country of Scotland in January 2009. Making his first appearance with the New York Philharmonic in the summer of 2010, Marsalis was again invited to join them as soloist in their 2010-2011 concert series where he unequivocally demonstrated his versatility and prowess, bringing “a gracious poise and supple tone… and an insouciant swagger” (New York Times) to the repertoire. In 2011, the National Endowment for the Arts conferred the prestigious Jazz Masters Fellowship on the Marsalis Family, a celebration and acknowledgement of a family described by the New York Times as “jazz’s most storied living dynasty,” who have made an indelible mark, collectively and individually, on the history and the future of jazz, America’s art form.

Having gained initial acclaim through his work with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and his brother Wynton’s quintet in the early 1980s, Marsalis also performed and recorded with a who’s-who of jazz giants including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Sonny Rollins. He has also collaborated with such diverse artists as Sting, the Grateful Dead and Bruce Hornsby. His expansive interests are further reflected in his explorations in film, radio and television, including his role as the musical director of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for two years in the early 1990s. Marsalis has also acted in such popular movies such as Throw Mama from the Train and School Daze, provided music for Mo’ Better Blues and other films and hosted National Public Radio’s syndicated program Jazz Set.

2010, remains closely associated with the Orchestra.

A conductor and composer of international acclaim, Maestro Dirk Brossé enters his fifth season as Music Director of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in September 2014. In the 2014-2015 subscription season, the Orchestra will perform six concert programs from September through May in the Kimmel Center’s intimate, 600-seat Perelman Theater and one concert program in the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall. Two of the concert programs will also be performed at Lincoln University.

The Chamber Orchestra releases a digital album of each concert it performs, as well as a live high-definition (HD) video recording, through an agreement with Naxos. Live recorded MP3s of Chamber Orchestra concerts since the 2001-2002 concert season are available for download and streaming through outlets such as iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, ClassicsOnline.com, and Presto Classical. HD videos of orchestra performances from 2010 forward are available for rent and purchase through Amazon Instant Video.

The Chamber Orchestra has performed with such internationally acclaimed guest artists as Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mstislav Rostropovich, Issac Stern, Rudolph Serkin, The Eroica Trio, Jean-Pierre Rampal, The Romeros Guitar Quartet, Julie Andrews, Bernadette Peters, Ben Folds, Elvis Costello, Sylvia McNair, Steven Isserlis, Joseph Silverstein, Ransom Wilson, Gerard Schwarz, Jahja Ling and Nadja Salerno-

Sonnenberg, among others. The ensemble travels regularly, having toured the United States, Europe and Israel.

Violin IMeichen Liao-Barnes, Concertmaster/LeaderAisha DossumovaBenjamin ScottNina VieruAlex Link

Violin IIAlexandra Cutler-Fetkewicz, PrincipalMichelle BishopAzer DamirovMadison MarcucciJames Wilson

ViolaJoseph KauffmanAdelya ShagidullinaMichael DavisWilliam Hakim

CelloMichal SchmidtElizabeth ThompsonNaomi Gray

BassDaniel TurkosJerrell Jackson

HarpsichordRaphael Fusco

Exclusive North American Representation

& Tour Production of Marsalis Well-

Tempered by CAMI, LLC

5 Columbus Circle

@ 1790 Broadway NY, NY 10019

Management of Branford Marsalis by

Wilkins Management

323 Broadway

Cambridge, MA 02139

A-12 UW WORLD SERIES

Dedicated to changing the future of jazz in the classroom, Marsalis has shared his knowledge at such universities as Michigan State, San Francisco State, Stanford and North Carolina Central, with his full Quartet participating in an innovative extended residency at the NCCU campus. Beyond these efforts, he is also bringing a new approach to jazz education to student musicians and listeners in colleges and high schools through Marsalis Jams, an interactive program designed by Marsalis in which leading jazz ensembles present concert/jam sessions in mini-residencies. Marsalis Jams has visited campuses in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Southwest, and later established an ongoing Marsalis Berklee Jams series with the Berklee College of Music.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans native joined forces with friend Harry Connick, Jr. to conceive the New Orleans Habitat Musicians’ Village, the newly constructed community in the city’s historic Upper Ninth Ward that provides new homes for displaced residents, including displaced musicians and their families. At the heart of the Village stands the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, a magnificent facility with performance, instructional and practice spaces and a recording studio.

Whether on the stage, in the recording studio, in the classroom or in the community, Branford Marsalis embodies a commitment to musical excellence and a determination to keep music at the forefront.

About the Chamber Orchestraof Philadelphia

A founding resident company of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia is a 33-member professional ensemble led by Music Director Dirk Brossé. The Chamber Orchestra, founded in 1964, has a well-established reputation for distinguished performances of repertoire from the Baroque period through the twenty-first century.

The Orchestra’s development was motivated in part by the desire to provide performance opportunities to young professional musicians emerging from the Curtis Institute of Music and other regional training programs but also by a desire to make substantial contribution to the City and region’s cultural life. In addition to presenting its own productions, the Orchestra started to develop an entrepreneurial approach by seeking other performance opportunities among the region’s presenter/producer community, thereby providing additional employment for its members. The ensemble also championed new music, focusing on regional composers. In total, the organization has commissioned and premiered over seventy new works.

In 1994, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, a concert pianist and conducting graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music, joined the Chamber Orchestra as Assistant Conductor. In 1998, he was named Principal Conductor and Music Director in 2004. Maestro Solzhenitsyn, in assuming the position of Conductor Laureate in

Celtic Connections festival Beamish’s home country of Scotland in January 2009. Making his first appearance with the New York Philharmonic in the summer of 2010, Marsalis was again invited to join them as soloist in their 2010-2011 concert series where he unequivocally demonstrated his versatility and prowess, bringing “a gracious poise and supple tone… and an insouciant swagger” (New York Times) to the repertoire. In 2011, the National Endowment for the Arts conferred the prestigious Jazz Masters Fellowship on the Marsalis Family, a celebration and acknowledgement of a family described by the New York Times as “jazz’s most storied living dynasty,” who have made an indelible mark, collectively and individually, on the history and the future of jazz, America’s art form.

Having gained initial acclaim through his work with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and his brother Wynton’s quintet in the early 1980s, Marsalis also performed and recorded with a who’s-who of jazz giants including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Sonny Rollins. He has also collaborated with such diverse artists as Sting, the Grateful Dead and Bruce Hornsby. His expansive interests are further reflected in his explorations in film, radio and television, including his role as the musical director of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for two years in the early 1990s. Marsalis has also acted in such popular movies such as Throw Mama from the Train and School Daze, provided music for Mo’ Better Blues and other films and hosted National Public Radio’s syndicated program Jazz Set.

2010, remains closely associated with the Orchestra.

A conductor and composer of international acclaim, Maestro Dirk Brossé enters his fifth season as Music Director of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in September 2014. In the 2014-2015 subscription season, the Orchestra will perform six concert programs from September through May in the Kimmel Center’s intimate, 600-seat Perelman Theater and one concert program in the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall. Two of the concert programs will also be performed at Lincoln University.

The Chamber Orchestra releases a digital album of each concert it performs, as well as a live high-definition (HD) video recording, through an agreement with Naxos. Live recorded MP3s of Chamber Orchestra concerts since the 2001-2002 concert season are available for download and streaming through outlets such as iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, ClassicsOnline.com, and Presto Classical. HD videos of orchestra performances from 2010 forward are available for rent and purchase through Amazon Instant Video.

The Chamber Orchestra has performed with such internationally acclaimed guest artists as Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mstislav Rostropovich, Issac Stern, Rudolph Serkin, The Eroica Trio, Jean-Pierre Rampal, The Romeros Guitar Quartet, Julie Andrews, Bernadette Peters, Ben Folds, Elvis Costello, Sylvia McNair, Steven Isserlis, Joseph Silverstein, Ransom Wilson, Gerard Schwarz, Jahja Ling and Nadja Salerno-

Sonnenberg, among others. The ensemble travels regularly, having toured the United States, Europe and Israel.

Violin IMeichen Liao-Barnes, Concertmaster/LeaderAisha DossumovaBenjamin ScottNina VieruAlex Link

Violin IIAlexandra Cutler-Fetkewicz, PrincipalMichelle BishopAzer DamirovMadison MarcucciJames Wilson

ViolaJoseph KauffmanAdelya ShagidullinaMichael DavisWilliam Hakim

CelloMichal SchmidtElizabeth ThompsonNaomi Gray

BassDaniel TurkosJerrell Jackson

HarpsichordRaphael Fusco

Exclusive North American Representation

& Tour Production of Marsalis Well-

Tempered by CAMI, LLC

5 Columbus Circle

@ 1790 Broadway NY, NY 10019

Management of Branford Marsalis by

Wilkins Management

323 Broadway

Cambridge, MA 02139

Oct. 31, 2014LOS TEXMANIACS WITH FLACO JIMÉNEZTex Mex Conjunto, Rock, and R&B

Nov. 5, 2014 NOW ENSEMBLEFearlessly Crossing Boundariesof Musical Genres

Jan. 12, 2015 THIRD COAST PERCUSSIONHard-Grooving, Versatile, and Resourceful

Mar. 26, 2015HAMSAZ ENSEMBLEAn Immersive Persian Experience

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