Program Notes: May 16, 1999
In 1881, when Dvorák's Sixth Symphony in D Major received its premiere in Prague, he had only just emerged as a composer of international stature, thanks to the enthusiastic support of Johannes Brahms and the success of his first set of Slavonic Dances in 1878. Naturally enough, since Dvorák's previous symphonies were virtually unknown, the Sixth Symphony was introduced to the world as "Symphony No. 1," and it is only in the last few decades that a more accurate chronology of his symphonies has corrected the original numbering. The buoyant optimism of the work undoubtedly owes much to Dvorák's recently changed circumstances, and, indeed, much in the first and last movements may be taken as grateful homage to Brahms, bringing to mind the latter's Symphony No. 2 (1877), also in D major. On the face of it, Brahms would seem to have had the advantage in the close relationship that developed between the two composers, since he was eight years senior to Dvorák and by far the more established; nevertheless, Brahms was ruefully envious of Dvorák's superb gift for melody. For his part, Dvorák worked hard to please Brahms in this symphony, drawing heavily on the Viennese symphonic tradition; thus, not only does he borrow from Brahms himself, but he also employs a rich harmonic vocabulary reminiscent of Schubert, and alludes obviously to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in the slow movement, both in key and in detail. But the scherzo movement is pure Dvorák, at his most nationalistic. Adapting one of the most distinctive of the dance types he had exploited in his Slavonic Dances, Dvorák here produces a fiery orchestral furiant on a grand scale, replete with striking cross rhythms that move freely between metrical groupings of two and three. (Perhaps the ultimate compliment was paid this movement by Bernard Herrmann, who "composed" a slight variant of the opening for the credit sequence of Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 film North by Northwest.) Those with sharp ears may notice a telling bow to the Viennese tradition of sophisticated thematic integration, when the main theme of the first movement returns as a local climax within the furiant, and returns yet again to launch the finale -- this time played backwards!
Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture (1829-32) makes an ideal opening for tonight's program in two ways. First, it reminds us that the nationalism of Dvorák and other late nineteenth-century composers had its musical roots in the romanticized exoticism of an earlier generation. And second, it is the companion piece to the work that closed our season a year ago -- Mendelssohn's Third Symphony -- which, like tonight's overture, was inspired by the composer's youthful infatuation with Scotland. As in the symphony, one can hear echoes in the overture of both the legends and the rugged terrain of Scotland, with Mendelssohn's seething, abrupt harmonic shifts at the opening representing the ferocious sea surrounding "Fingal's Cave" in the Hebrides, the fabled home of the bard Ossian. From a later perspective, one can find several ironies in Mendelssohn's great success in setting "Scotland" to music. Mendelssohn's own heritage, as an assimilated German Jew, placed him, at least by aspiration, within a competing nationalist tradition. Moreover, the supposedly ancient Ossian has since been discredited as the invention of his discoverer, James Macpherson (1736-96). And finally, Mendelssohn's Scottish works, however "inauthentic," have had precisely the same appeal for audiences as Dvorák's nationalist works: that of hearing the German symphonic tradition dressed up in exotic garb. In light of the frequently contested authenticity of various nationalisms, it is worth pondering that the intense Czech nationalist feeling of Dvorák and his contemporaries in the later nineteenth century drew heavily on the "ancient" poetry found in the Dvur Kralove manuscript, an 1817 literary "discovery" no less spurious than Macpherson's Ossian.
Commissioned by and composed for David Stenske, Prey of Time's Passing is cast in a single movement that divides into episodes of varying lengths. The violin alternately solos and interweaves with the orchestra whose character ranges from the ultra-delicate to the monolithic. The title refers to a passage from The Waterfalls of Slunj by Heimito von Doderer (translated by Eithne Wilkens and Ernst Kaiser). "Here, deep in one's innermost being, one could sense the sonorous flowing of time, and this was because it moved at a more stately pace, not rushing or flitting past. Here one was no longer the prey of time's passing..."
--- Raymond Knapp
Michael Jon Fink has had his instrumental and electronic music presented at the Green Umbrella Series of the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, New Music L.A., Monday Evening Concerts, the SCREAM Festival, the Fringe Festival, New Music America, Festival Commune di Chiesa, the Martes Musicales, the Marquette Festival of New Music, several CalArts Contemporary Music Festivals, and at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions). He has performed and recorded with the Negative Band (on Finnadar Records), Stillife (on Contagion Records) and is a featured composer on the Cold Blue Anthology (Cold Blue Records). His most recent CD release is Thread of Summer (1990) for clarinet and string quartet (Raptoria Caam label). Recent works include "Spring Steps Into Darkness" for Bass Clarinet and Orchestra (1992) commissioned and premiered by the Antelope Valley Symphony with Marty Walker, soloist, in May, 1992 and "Mind of Winter" for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra (1994) commissioned and premiered by the Classical Philharmonic with Douglas Masek, soloist in February, 1994. Masek performed the work again with the Santa Monica Symphony in October, 1994. "Temptation To Flower" for 18 players (1995) composed especially for the CalArts New Century Players was premiered in March, 1995. "Touchless Light Alone" a concerto for cello and orchestra was premiered in May, 1998 by Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick with the Symphony of the Canyons. Michael Fink has also composed incidental music for two plays of William Butler Yeats: "The Herne's Egg" (performed in 1993) and "Deirdre" which was featured at the 1996 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
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