SCHUBERT: SYMPHONY #9, THE GREAT
The Symphony No. 9 in C, was written in 1825/6, at the height of Schubert’s musical maturity and during a period of comparative professional and personal success in the composer’s tragically short life. The music was not performed publically until 1839, more than ten years after Schubert’s death, as it was considered too long and too difficult to play by the Vienna Philharmonic to whom it had been entrusted.
The Symphony follows a Beethovenian standard four-movement format:
- A C major Andante (slow introduction) leading without pause into an Allegro with a faster (Piu Moto) coda
- A more lyrical “slow” movement at walking pace (Andante), in A minor, beginning with a famous solo for oboe
- A Scherzo (dance music in fast 3) in C, with a contrasting Trio in A major
- A boisterous Finale, in the “home” key of C.
Especially notable is the way a rising motif, played by two soli unison French horns at the opening of the symphony, hides embedded in the principal themes of each of the succeeding movements. This cyclic unity, in addition to a high degree of rhythmic repetition within the movements, helps render the “Great C Major” a singular and overwhelming experience both to perform and to hear.
John Williams (b.1932)
In a career that spans over six decades, John Williams has composed some of the most famous film scores of all time, including Superman, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and almost all of Steven Spielberg's films (including the Indiana Jones series, Schindler's List, E.T., Jurassic Park, and Jaws). He has also composed the theme music for four Olympic Games, the NBC Nightly News, and numerous television series and concert works. John Williams is the second most nominated person in Oscar history (behind just Walt Disney), has won 21 Grammy Awards, and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004. Williams was born in New York and moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1948. He attended UCLA and, after a service in the Air Force, returned to New York to study piano at the Juilliard School. During this time he worked as a jazz pianist in clubs, before finally returning to L.A. and working in the film industry with composers such as Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman, and Franz Waxman. Williams began writing music for television programs in the 1950s (Gilligan’s Island, Lost In Space). In 1974 he first teamed with a young filmmaker named Steven Spielberg on The Sugarland Express, repeatedly reteaming over the years to become one of the most iconic director/composer pairings in film history. Spielberg introduced Williams to George Lucas for the 1977 film Star Wars, which soundtrack went on to sell over 4 million copies. Williams has also led countless orchestras worldwide, most notably as conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980-1993. Williams’s first saxophone concerto, Escapades, is based on his soundtrack for the Spielberg film, Catch Me if You Can, and depicts the journey of the successful young con artist, Frank Abagnale, Jr.
Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
Astor Piazzolla is the single most important figure in the history of the tango. He took an earthy, sensual, often disgraceful folk music and elevated it into a sophisticated form of art music. Piazzolla was also a virtuosic performer with unparalleled mastery of the bandoneon (a large button accordion). Born in Mar del Plate to Italian parents and raised in New York, his blend of styles reflects his many cultural influences growing up. He began his career playing the bandoneon on the radio in New York and later in the cabarets of Buenos Aires. Becoming bored with traditional tango, he went to Paris in 1954 to study classical composition with Nadia Boulanger who urged him to use his Argentinean roots in finding his own voice. He returned to Buenos Aires and began performing his newly dubbed “nuevo tango” style with his own ensembles - reworking the traditional tango rhythms and forms, infusing them with often harsh dissonances as well as classical and jazz elements, and eliminating the dancers and vocalists typically part of the tango. While his music earned him ruthless criticism from the tango purists of Argentina for his abandonment of tradition, his new style found an enthusiastic audience amongst young Argentines, a craze which quickly spread through his recordings and concerts during the 70’ and 80’s, bringing him enormous international acclaim throughout Europe and Latin America, and eventually the rest of the world. |
