Program Notes  by Dr. Lorne Tepperman

Salzburg Symphony K 136                                                              Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  (1756-1791)   

Mozart composed this Salzburg Symphony or Divertimento and its two companions K 137 and K 138 in 1772, when he was 16.  He was about to travel from Salzburg to Milan with his father, to supervise production of his opera Lucio Silla and may have written them to have pieces ready to offer potential patrons there. Or they may have been for home use, as background music for evenings at the Archbishop of Salzburg’s court - or as delightful entertainment for any courtiers who might have cared to listen purposefully. Mozart’s letters do not make his intentions for these three delightful pieces clear, but in any event they have claimed their place among his most popular works.

The first movement allegro is in typical sonata form enriched by the young genius’s creative élan. A lyrical andante follows, and then a final presto with amusingly contrasting themes.

Prayer in a Green Cathedral - Concerto for Oboe and Strings                         Kevin Wilks Lau  (1982 -        )

Notes by the composer                                                                                                  

In February of 2020, oboist Caitlin Broms-Jacobs and I met to discuss the new concerto I was writing for her and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. She expressed a desire for a work that would take advantage of the oboe’s natural lyricism, and I was only too happy to oblige. My early sketches seemed to suggest a work that would be fundamentally sunny and romantic in disposition; I remember the phrase “petals in the Sun” floating across my mind more than once, so much so that it almost became the work’s title.

This ‘sunniness’ is still reflected in the opening bars, where the oboe intones an expressive, cantabile melody atop a bed of shimmering F-sharp minor. This melody, to me, is suggestive of a seed with the potential of new life; indeed, it becomes the motivic spine of the whole concerto, growing in all directions like the branches of a tree.

This pastoral, romantic imagery - of trees and deep lakes and mysterious forests - suffused my imagination during the creation of the work’s first few minutes. It was around this time that I stumbled across a painting by the Cuban painter Tomás Sánchez, titled “Prayer in a Green Cathedral.” I found both the title and the painting - in which the boughs of an idyllic forest form the outline of an arch, like the entrance to Nature’s cathedral - immensely evocative, mirroring the spirit with which I was writing this music, and chose to give the concerto this name.

As the music unfolds, however, the music begins to darken, as I found myself gripped by the archetype of the forest as the site of (often painful) transformation. The music passes through several stages - from a slow, hymn-like procession, to a scherzo teeming with mysteries, to a spirited dance with glimpses of radiance - before culminating in a cadenza for the soloist. The coda attempts to revisit the joy of the opening, but the joy proves elusive; a desolate denouement in C minor (the farthest interval from F-sharp) awaits, and we hear an inversion of the initial melody on the solo violin, its character tragically altered.

No doubt the challenging events of 2020 - some personal, others experienced by all - as well as the threat of imminent environmental catastrophe played a role in the eventual course taken by this music. I hope, nonetheless, that Prayer in a Green Cathedral will prove ultimately an uplifting experience for those performing it, and for those listening.

Piano Concerto in F Minor, BWV 1056                                           Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto No. 5 in F minor captures the emotional power and technical proficiency typical of his keyboard compositions in each of its three contrasting movements.

The first movement Allegro is dramatic and intense. It features a driving, rhythmic theme that weaves through a series of harmonies and contrapuntal lines typical of Bach's writing. The middle Largo, in contrast with the first movement, features a serene, lyrical melody. With its introspective and somewhat mournful quality, the movement evokes deep feeling within a simple structure. The final Presto is lively and spirited, with a brisk tempo that brings the concerto to an exciting conclusion. The movement is full of intricate passages and a sense of joyful celebration.

Baroque-period composers often recycled works from one genre for another, and sometimes re-cast other’s works. This likely derived its first and last movements from Bach’s Violin Concerto in G minor and its middle movement from the Oboe Concerto in F Major. The middle movement samples the opening a flute concerto by Georg Philipp Telemann, as the respective soloists play almost identical lines for the first two and a half measures; evidence that the Telemann concerto was probably written first indicates that Bach intended a musical salute to his friend.

Though it was originally written for the harpsichord, present-day performances of the concerto often feature the piano. It is the briefest of Bach’s keyboard concertos but garners special admiration for its poignant Largo, which Bach also incorporated as the sinfonia in his Cantata BWV 156. Coupled with its underlying somber tone, the middle movement displays Bach's ability to elicit a vocal quality from keyboard instruments.

Bach was especially fond of concertos. The keyboard concertos included in the BWV catalogue as numbers1052-1065 include pioneering works in the genre for keyboard instruments. Some are adaptations of earlier works for other instruments; the concertos for a single harpsichord like this evening’s work were written around 1738-1739 while Bach was director of the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig. They served to showcase Bach's keyboard prowess and provide entertainment for the noble household.

Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44                                                            Robert Schumann  (1810-1856)

Orchestra version by Nurhan Arman

Schumann composed this Piano Quintet in 1842, his “year of chamber music,” when he produced an astonishing constellation of wonderful works in just over nine months: three Opus 41 string quartets dedicated to Felix Mendelssohn, this Piano Quintet, the Piano Quartet (Opus 47) and his first his piano trios, published later as the Opus 88 Fantasiestücke.

This quintet is Schumann’s greatest chamber work and also one of the greatest chamber works ever written, deploying four movements drastically different from each other, each a masterpiece in its own right, as well aligning within a cycle unified by the finale’s reprise of the first movement’s bold opening. It has influenced many other composers including Brahms, Dvořák, Franck, Dohnányi and Shostakovich.

Schumann dedicated the quintet to his wife Clara. She was going to perform the piano part in its first performance, a private concert in December 1842 at the home of friends. But she fell ill and Mendelssohn stepped in and sight-read the highly-demanding piano part. Mendelssohn made some suggestions to Schumann after the performance which led to some adjustments in the second and third movements, including the addition of a second trio to the third movement. Clara did play the piano part at the quintet's first public performance in January 1843 in the Leipzig Gewandhaus, and continued to play it often throughout the rest of her life.

The first movement opens with a noble statement by the entire ensemble before lines quickly diverge into a passionate musical conversation. Each voice argues, agrees and sometimes picks up and completes someone else’s sentence, often suddenly carrying it away in a new direction. The coda ends with a playful Mendelssohn-style cadenza and a witty burst of contrary motion.

The second movement is a solemn funeral march pierced by unexpected gleams of light and sudden interjections, as happens just after the cello line has united with the violins in a heartfelt lament and suddenly the mournful march is interrupted by a cry of terror that precipitates the movement’s abrupt conclusion.

The Scherzo’s first trio section may have been meant as a tribute to Clara, as it present a descending four-note motive from Schumann’s 10 Impromptus on a Theme of Clara Wieck, Opus 5.  The same motive also recurs in the base line in the introduction of the first movement of his “Spring” Symphony No. 1. More than usual for most couples in the 19th Century, Schumann respected and relied on his wife’s professional ability and collegial support.

Three themes are stated and interwoven in a variety of ways and different keys in the Finale, a tour de force of chamber writing. The last movement caps this tremendous work with an astonishing coda, in which a hint of the first movement’s opening theme appears just before the movement’s flow stops altogether and the theme springs forth triumphantly in a single piano line. The pianist continues to play the first movement theme with their right hand while their left and the other instruments play the finale’s own first theme as a fugue, leading to dramatic, magnificent conclusion.

BIOGRAPHIES

Marianna Shirinyan, Pianist  Pianist Marianna Shirinyan is one of the most sought-after pianists in Europe today. Her vibrant, virtuoso musicianship keeps her in demand as a soloist and as a chamber musician. She plays with great sensitivity, understanding, technical brilliance and beauty of tone in a wide range of repertoire. She is a frequent guest at many international music festivals including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Schwetzinger Festspiele, MDR Summer Music Festival and the Festspillene in Bergen.

Marianna has received Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s prestigious P2 award for her contribution to Danish musical life, the Critics’ Prize from the Association of Danish Reviewers and just recently the Honorary Carl Nielsen Award. 

Marianna has appeared in solo appearances with the Bavarian Radio Symphony; Danish National Symphony; the Oslo, Helsinki and Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestras; Potsdammer Kammerakademie; Göteborg Symphony Orchestra; and Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, among others.  She has recorded an extensive, brilliant discography that ranges from albums of piano solo works by Chopin, Gade, and Romantic and contemporary collections, to concertos by Mozart and Beethoven and many collaborations with singers and instrumental colleagues. Her latest release of Rachmaninov Suites for two pianos with her former student Dominik Wizjan has been highly praised.

Marianna is a professor of piano at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen and guest professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo as well as curating several chamber music festivals across Europe.

Caitlin Broms-Jacobs, Oboist Renown for her “gorgeous singing tone” and “sensitive musicality”, (Winnipeg Free Press) Caitlin Broms-Jacobs enjoys a multifaceted career of orchestral, recital, chamber music, and concerto performances.  She is the principal oboist of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, a position she has held since 2009.  Caitlin has been lauded as “always sublime”, and “a delightfully musical player, with elegant tone and delivery” (Winnipeg Free Press).  Caitlin has appeared several times as a soloist with the MCO, playing concertos by Vivaldi, Bach, and others. Caitlin’s solo and chamber music performances were featured on the MCO’s 2021 livestream concert series, and her recent arrangement and performance with her MCO colleagues of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations was highly regarded.  In April 2022, Caitlin was  featured as soloist with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra for the premiere of Prayer in a Green Cathedral, a new oboe concerto written especially for her by one of Canada’s finest composers, Kevin Lau.

Caitlin can often be heard performing with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra as guest principal oboist; she has played countless concerts with the WSO, including numerous performances in the pit for the Manitoba Opera and Royal Winnipeg Ballet.  Caitlin has appeared on several occasions as a valued guest principal for the Calgary Philharmonic, as well as for the Group of 27 Chamber Orchestra.  She has performed with orchestras across Canada including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the National Ballet Orchestra and has performed frequently as principal for Canzona Chamber Choir and MusikBarock ensemble, playing oboe, oboe d’amore, and English Horn in concerts of music by J.S. Bach.

Caitlin served as principal oboist of the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra, and has played under esteemed conductors such as Andrey Boreyko, Jun Markl, JoAnn Falletta, Nello Santi, Yakov Kreizberg, Bramwell Tovey, Daniel Raiskin, and Anne Manson. Caitlin previously held the position of principal oboist of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. 

An avid chamber musician, Caitlin has presented numerous recitals in Winnipeg and across Canada, and has been featured for many seasons on Winnipeg’s Millennium recital series.  Her performances with pianist Madeline Hildebrand have been greatly appreciated for their expressive music making, compelling and unusual repertoire, as well as for the duo’s captivating spirit. 

Caitlin premiered contemporary works for oboe and English Horn for Groundswell New Music as a soloist and with chamber ensemble; her performances have been broadcast on CBC radio and Classic 107.   Caitlin was the Artistic Director and co-founder of the highly successful Liberty Village New Artist Series, a series of chamber music concerts held at the Academy of Spherical Arts in Toronto in 2009. 

Originally from Toronto, Caitlin studied with Keith Atkinson at the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Young Artists Performance Academy.  She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Richard Killmer. Caitlin furthered her studies with San Francisco Symphony Orchestra principal oboist Eugene Izotov.  

Sinfonia Toronto now in its 26th season, has toured twice in Europe, in the US, South America and China, receiving glowing reviews. It has released six CD’s, including a JUNO Award winner, and performs in many Ontario cities. Its extensive repertoire includes all the major string orchestra works of the 18th through 21st centuries, and it has premiered many new works. Under the baton of Nurhan Arman the orchestra’s performances present outstanding international guest artists and prominent Canadian musicians.

Maestro Nurhan Arman has conducted throughout Europe, Asia, South America, Canada and the US, returning regularly to many orchestras in Europe. Among the orchestras Maestro Arman has conducted are the Moscow Philharmonic, Deutsches Kammerorchester Frankfurt, Filarmonica Italiana, St. Petersburg State Hermitage Orchestra, Orchestre Regional d’Ile de France, Hungarian Symphony, Arpeggione Kammerorchester, Milano Classica and Belgrade Philharmonic.

Sinfonia Toronto respectfully acknowledges that we work in the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation 

and the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat and Haudenosaunee peoples