By David Amos
SAN DIEGO — I find pleasure in planning concerts that have a particular theme. I feel that audiences also sense continuity and satisfaction when the entire program has a unifying element, as was the case in concerts of last April, when the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra presented Hebraic Voices.
This time, the prevailing theme is music with titles and descriptions of weather, the seasons, day and night, and some of the Earth’s beautiful landscapes. Therefore, In Nature covers the delightful music of these two upcoming programs.
There is little argument that Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F Major, The Pastoral is one of the greatest descriptions of Nature ever composed for symphony orchestra. Many of us were first introduced to this hypnotically beautiful music when we saw Walt Disney’s historic film Fantasia. Beethoven, although nearly completely deaf at the time of this composition, was able to capture in his mind and transfer to paper the sounds of peasants frolicking in the countryside, the gentle flow of a brook, more peasant merrymaking, a violent storm, and the concluding movement, a prayer of thanksgiving. I still marvel at this symphony’s sounds, depicting running water, dripping water, thunder, wind, and the songs of birds, all wrapped up in a beloved masterpiece.
All of the above was expressed with instruments only, no voices or words. And, the Pastoral Symphony was one of the earliest examples in music history of what we call Program Music, music that tells a story, with a running description of an event, place, or person. This was a change from absolute music which was the norm up to that time, music for its own sake and beauty relying on style, balance, creativity, and impeccable craftsmanship.
But program music had a story to tell. Nineteenth-Century audiences embraced the new style, and composers were glad to use the new concept, which worked out very nicely with passions of growing nationalism and demand for self expression in the creative arts.
The program will continue with a work by the Middle Baroque master, Antonio Vivaldi. We know that he wrote hundreds and hundreds of concertos, the most popular being The Seasons, four concertos for violin and strings. Here, we have a flute concerto, known as La Notte,” The Night”, that with its dark sonorities gives us the sense of obscurity, in its slow as well as fast movements.
Playing this concerto is one of TICO’s own, our principal flutist Steven Hardy. He is a native San Diegan, and a member of the orchestra since 1988. During his daytime hours, he is director of medical dosimetry and clinical technology for Genesis Healthcare’s radiation oncology division.
The Czech-Bohemian composer Bedrich Smetana wrote many memorable works, mainly operas. But the most performed of his creations is the set of six tone poems, composed as homage to his fatherland. Ma Vlast, or My Country which honors a different aspect of his home; from this set of pieces you would immediately recognize the one titled The Moldau, which contains the melody which became Hatikvah. For this program, however, we will present the fourth in the series, the lush and emotional From Bohemia’s Meadows and Fields.
Concluding the concert will be the colorful Autumn movement from Alexander Glazunov’s ballet The Seasons. The prolific Glazunov was the “link” between the great Russian composers of the 19th Century, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, to the Twentieth Century masters, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev. His music is rich, accessible, rhythmic, and masterfully orchestrated.
These two concerts will have at the podium a guest conductor, Jerome Summers, who will be visiting us from Canada. He was born and educated in British Columbia, where he became a member of the Vancouver Symphony and CBC Vancouver Radio Orchestras. After acquiring graduate degrees in composition from the University of British Columbia, he undertook studies in conducting at the prestigious Toho Gakuen in Tokyo. A versatile musician, he has established a distinguished career as a conductor, composer, and clarinetist.
Maestro Summers has acquired widespread recognition and critical acclaim as one of Canada’s most vital musicians. He has recently been appointed as the Artistic Director of the annual “Summer at West Lake” festival in China. Having served six seasons as the Stratford (Ontario) Symphony Orchestra’s founding conductor, this is also his 15th season serving as Music Director of the International Symphony of Sarnia/Port Huron. As well, he is a professor Emeritus at the University of Western Ontario.
We are happy to welcome Jerome Summers for his second visit with TICO.
The two concerts will take place on Sunday, June 10, at 3:00 p.m., and Tuesday, June 12, at 7:30 p.m., both at the Cohen Social Hall of Tifereth Israel Synagogue.
For more information, individual or group tickets, reservations or directions, call (619) 697 6001, or you can buy your tickets on line at www.tiferethisrael.com/TICO.
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Amos is conductor of the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra (TICO) and has guest conducted orchestras around the world. He may be contacted at david.amos@sdjewishworld.com