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September 18, 2024

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Grace Notes: Bach, Timbres, Sphere and a Groove

Programs outside the norm, from the 18th to the 21st centuries

By Peter Alexander Sept. 18 at 10:05 p.m.

The Boulder Bach Festival (BBF) and guest artists will take audiences back to 18th-century Venice in a program entitled “Anonimo Veneziano” (Anonymous Venetian) 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder.

The program, with the BBF’s music director/violinist Zachary Carretin and the COmpass REsonance ensemble (CORE Ensemble), will feature violinist Nurit Pacht from NewYork, harpsichordist Chris Holman from Cincinnati, and theorbist Keith Barnhart, an historical plucked instruments specialist who is also the BBF’s educational coordinator.

Nurit Pacht

The program opens with the famous Adagio attributed to 18th-century Italian composer Tomaso Albinoni and featured in many film scores. In fact, the Adagio was composed by 20th-century Italian musicologist Remo Giazotto. A scholar of Albinoni’s music Giazotto claimed that the Adagio was based on a fragment of an Albononi trio sonata that he found on a manuscript that has since mysteriously disappeared. 

The remainder of the program will be filled out with genuine Albinoni works, the complete Sinfonie e Concerti a cinque (Sinfonias and concertos for five instruments), op. 2, that were published in Venice in 1700. This important collection is rarely performed complete. The BBF performance, which will  be played without intermission, is expected to take approximately 75 minutes.

 Pacht holds a degree in historical performance from the Juilliard school and is known as a specialist in both music by living composers, including works written for her, and music of the Baroque. She was a top prize winner in the Irving Klein International Music Competition in California, the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Switzerland, and the Kingsville International Music Competition in Texas. She has toured widely in Europe and the United States. She teaches privately in New York City.

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“Anonimo Veneziano”
Boulder Bach Festival CORE Ensemble, Zachary Carrettin, conductor/violinist
With Nurit Pracht, violin, Chris Holman, harpsichord, and Keith Barnhart, theorbo

  • Remo Giazotto: “Adagio in G minor by Tomaso Albononi”
  • Tomaso Albinoni: Sinfonie e Concerti, op. 2

4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21
Dairy Arts Center Gordon Gamm Theater

TICKETS

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The Boulder Chamber Orchestra’s (BCO)chamber concert titled “Mixed Timbres,” postponed from last April due to the power outage caused by high winds, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, in the Boulder Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

The concert will feature the BCO’s 2023-24 artist-in-residence, pianist Hsing-ay Hsu, performing with two members of the orchestra—cellist Julian Bennett and clarinetist Kellan Toohey. All four works on the program use the ensemble of piano, clarinet and cello, a mix of timbres that has a limited but interesting repertoire.

Hsing-ay Hsu

Beethoven’s Op. 11 is one of the earliest works for the combination. It is sometimes known as the “Gassenhauer Trio,” taken from the popularity of the theme that Beethoven uses for variations in the final movement. In Vienna, a Gassenhauer (from Gasse, an alleyway) referred to a simple song that was so popular that it was heard all over town. The theme Beethoven used was taken from a popular music theater work, L’amor marinaro (Seafaring love) by Joseph Weigl.

Brahms’s Trio op. 114 is one of four chamber works the composer wrote for the clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld in the last years of his life. Brahms’s admiration for Mühlfeld’s playing was reflected in the comment of one of the composer’s friends who wrote that in the Trio, “it is as though the instruments were in love with each other.”

Like Brahms’s Trio, Fauré’s D minor Trio was one of his last compositions. Although Fauré originally planned the Trio for piano, clarinet and cello, it was published as a traditional piano trio, with violin in place of the clarinet. The BCO performance of the first movement restores the instrumentation that Fauré first imagined for the trio.

Emily Rutherford’s “Morning Dance” for piano, clarinet and cello was commissioned by Toohey in 2017. A native of Colorado, Rutherford is a graduate of Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif., and the Longy School of Music in Los Angeles.

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“Mixed Timbres”
Hsing-ay Hsu, BCO Artist in residence, piano
With Boulder Chamber Orchestra members Kellan Toohey, clarinet, and Julian Bennett, cello

  • Gabriel Fauré: Piano Trio in D minor, I. Allegro ma non troppo
  • Beethoven: Trio in B-flat major for piano, clarinet and cello, op. 11
  • Brahms: Trio in B-flat for piano, clarinet and cello, op. 114
  • Emily Rutherford: Morning Dances

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21
Boulder Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 345 Mapleton Ave.

TICKETS

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The Sphere Ensemble, a 14-member string ensemble, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in 1924 with performances of their own all-strings arrangement of the Rhapsody.

The program, presented Saturday in Boulder and Sunday in Denver (Sept. 21 and 22; details below), will also include works by other jazz musicians including James P. Johnson, Hazel Scott and Winton Marsalis. Also on the program are arrangements of music from the Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Turtles and Andrew Bird; and pieces by Shostakovich, Stephen Foster and the classical-era composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, among others. 

Sphere Ensemble

In addition to the live performances, a live stream will be available from 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21 through 10 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29. 

This kind of eclectic programming, mixing sources and genres, is typical of the Sphere Ensemble, often in arrangements made by members of the ensemble. The “About” page on their Website explains, “We prioritize music by composers that are often overlooked in classical music programs. . . . From classical to classic rock, from baroque to hip hop, Sphere always chooses music that excites us.”

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“Bridges”
Sphere Ensemble

  • Aldemaro Romero: Fuga con Pajarillo
  • Dmitri Shostakovich: Prelude and Fugue in D-flat Major (arr. Chris Jusell)
  • Stephen Foster: “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair” (arr. Alex Vittal)
  • Squirrel Nut Zippers: The Ghost of Stephen Foster (arr. Sarah Whitnah)
  • Andrew Bird: Orpheo Looks Back (arr. Sarah Whitnah)
  • C.W. Gluck: Orfée et Eurydice, Danses des Ombres Heureuses
  • Brenda Holloway: You’ve Made Me So Very Happy (arr. David Short)
  • The Turtles: Happy Together (arr. Dave Short)
  • James Price Johnson: Charleston (arr. Alex Vittal)
  • Hazel Scott: “Idyll” (arr. Sarah Whitnah)
  • Wynton Marsalis: “At the Octoroon Balls”
    —“Rampart St. Rowhouse Rag”
  • George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (arr. Alex Vittal)

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21
Nomad Playhouse, 1410 Quince Ave., Boulder

3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22
Truss House, 3400 Atkins Ct., Denver

Livestream: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21–10 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29

In-person and livestream TICKETS

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The Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra will have a new series of intimate performances during the 2024-25 season, designed to bring their musicians into more informal spaces and give audiences the opportunity to hear them in smaller groups.

The repertoire will be a little different from the Macky concerts, too, featuring music by pop sensations from Lizzo to Taylor Swift alongside pieces by living composers including Philip Glass and Jessie Montgomery. And just for fun, they might throw in some Vivaldi as well.

These concerts, collectively the “Shift” series, will feature several different programs, each presented first at Planet Bluegrass in Lyons and then taken to small venues in Longmont and Boulder. The first program, played by a string quartet of principal players from the orchestra, opens next Wednesday at Planet Bluegrass (7 p.m. Sept. 25; details below). Titled “Groove,” it will be repeated at the Dickens Opera House in Longmont at 6:30 p.m.Monday, Nov. 25.

Wildflower Pavilion at Planet Bluegrass, Lyons

The second program, also for string quartet, is titled “Americana: Redefined” and will be presented in October and February. A third program featuring a brass quintet from the orchestra, “Brass & Brews,” will be presented in October and April;  see the Boulder Phil Web page for details on all currently scheduled performances.

Mimi Kruger, the Boulder Phil’s executive director, said, “The idea is that people can get to know our musicians and these composers and connect in a different way. These are obviously smaller venues, but also a little bit more casual.”

She said that discussions about ways to showcase the individual musicians of the orchestra led them to look for new venues. “The idea came up to launch it through Planet Bluegrass (because) they have a series at the Wildflower Pavilion,” she said. “We’re doing all three there, but we also wanted to take them to other venues, so the first two will get repeated at Dickens Opera House in Longmont—that’s a great little place!”

The Phil’s Web page says pretty much the same thing, in more promotional language: “The Shift Series lifts the facade of the stereotypical orchestral concert . . . in unique venues along the Front Range.”

Kruger recommends watching for future announcements, as further performances are under consideration, featuring the orchestra’s woodwind players. 

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“GROOVE”
Boulder Philharmonic string players: Ryan Jacobsen and Hilary Castle-Green, violin; Stephanie Mientka, viola; and Amanda Laborete, cello

  • Takashi Yoshimatsu: Atomic Hearts Club Quartet, Movement I
  • Justin Bieber: “Peaches” (arr. Alice Hong) 3’
  • Dinuk Wijeratne:Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems: “Letter from the afterlife”
  • Carlos Simon: “Loop”
  • Michael Begay: “Forest Fires”
  • Lizzo: “ Good As Hell” (arr. Alice Hong)
  • Jessie Montgomery: “VooDoo Dolls”
  • Philip Glass: String Quartet No. 3: VI “Mishima/Closing” 4’
  • Taylor Swift: “All Too Well” (arr. Alice Hong)
  • Wijeratne: Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems: “I will not let you go”
  • Ed Sheeran: “Shape of You” (arr. Alice Hong)
  • Due Lipa: “Dance the Night” (arr. Zack Reaves)
  • Jessica Meyer: “Get into the NOW”: III. “Go Big or Go Home”
  • Vivaldi: Summer: Moment III (arr. Naughtin)

7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 25
Planet Bluegrass, Lyons, Colo.

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6:30 Monday, Nov. 25
Dickens Opera House, Longmont Como.

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September 5, 2024

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Boulder Phil opens season with guest conductor

Boulder native Francesco Lecce-Chong subs for Michael Butterman

By Peter Alexander Sept. 5 at 9 p.m.

The Boulder Philharmonic opens its 2024–25 season Sunday afternoon in Macky Auditorium (4 p.m. Sept. 8) with music by Tchaikovsky and Mendlessohn. Sixteen-year-old rising musical star Amaryn Olmeda will be the soloist for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. 

The concert will be led by guest conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong, substituting for an indisposed Michael Butterman. In addition to the concerto, Lecce-Chong will lead the orchestra in Mendelssohn’s “Reformation” Symphony, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, and English Renaissance composer John Dowland’s Lachrimae antiquae (Ancient tears).

Francesco Lecce-Chong

A familiar presence to the Philharmonic’s audience, Butterman was scheduled to conduct the program. However, he was diagnosed with lymphoma, and in a recently posted YouTube video says “I’m going to have to watch my energy (and) stay away from crowds.”

He has had to curtail his activities with all four orchestras he conducts, in Boulder; Shreveport, La., where he lives; Williamsburg, Va.; and Lancaster, Penn. Nevertheless, he says “I feel very good, my doctors are optimistic (and) I hope to be back as soon as it’s practical—hopefully later on this fall.”

Growing up in Boulder County, Lecce-Chong was extremely active in the local youth classical music scene, both as violinist and pianist. He is returning to Colorado for his first opportunity to conduct the Boulder Phil. The program he will lead was selected by Butterman as the season opener, except for one piece that was selected by a vote of the orchestra’s season subscribers, the Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Also on the program is Lachrimae antiquae (Antique tears) by the English Renaissance composer John Dowland. Written around 1600 as “Flow my Tears,” a song with lute accompaniment, it was arranged by Dowland for viol consort (an ensemble of string instruments) in a set of seven versions of which the Lachrimae antiquae is the first.

Each of the seven settings represents a different kind of tear, including sighing tears, sad tears, insincere tears and lover’s tears. As an expression of deep melancholy, the collection is considered one of Dowland’s most personal expressions. Another piece he wrote around the same time has the punning title “Semper Dowland, semper dolens” (always Dowland, always mournful). The Phil will play a transcription of the music for viol consort for modern strings.

The centerpiece of the concert will be Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. As popular as it is, the concerto has not been presented by the Boulder Phil in many seasons. The concerto was composed in 1878. Tchaikovsky was in Switzerland, where he went to recover from the emotional damage from his brief marriage. 

The concerto was initially dedicated to the Hungarian virtuoso Leopold Auer, who however refused to perform it. The premiere was given instead by Russian violinist Adolph Brodsky, to whom Tchaikovsky later dedicated the work. In spite of mixed initial reviews, it eventually became one of the most popular staples of the violin repertoire. 

Amaryn Olmeda

At only 16, Olmeda has already started building an impressive musical resume. Born in Melbourne, Australia, she won the Sphinx Competition at 13, a national competition for string players. She currently studies at the New England Conservatory of Music. In addition to performances with the Sphinx Virtuosi chamber ensemble, she has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle Symphony and Buffalo Philharmonic, among other major groups.

The final work on the program is Mendelssohn’s “Reformation” Symphony in D major/minor. It was comprised in 1830 for the 300th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession, one of the foundational documents of the Lutheran church. The second symphony Mendelssohn wrote, it was not published until 1868, 21 years after the composer’s death, leading to its numbering as his Fifth Symphony.

The symphony includes themes familiar to Lutheran congregations. The slow introduction makes use of the so-called “Dresden Amen,” a seven-note cadence sung by Lutheran choirs in Dresden and the German state of Saxony. Symbolic of the Protestant movement, it has been used by Wagner, Bruckner and other composers.

The final movement of the symphony is based on the chorale “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” (A mighty fortress is our God), composed by Martin Luther. In spite of the widespread popularity of Mendelssohn’s orchestral music, the Fifth Symphony is not as well known as either the Third (“Scottish) or Fourth (“Italian”) symphonies.

Growing up in the Boulder area, Lecce-Chong played in the  Longmont Youth Symphony and was an assistant to the the conductor of the Boulder Youth Symphonies. In 2002 he won first prize in the PeakArts Young Soloist Competition. After leaving Colorado he attended the Curtis Institute of Music, the Mannes College of Music, and Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Italy. 

He served as associate conductor of the Pittsburgh and Milwaukee symphonies, and is currently conductor of the Santa Rosa Symphony in California and artistic partner with the Eugene, Oregon, Symphony. He has appeared with orchestras around the U.S. including the San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

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“Tchaikovsky & Mendelssohn”
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Francesco Lecce-Chong, guest conductor
With Amaryn Olmeda, violin

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
John Dowland: Lachrimae antiquae (Antique tears)
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 in D major/minor (“Reformation”)

4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8
Macky Auditorium

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May 1, 2024

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Season closing events in Boulder and Longmont

Programs feature piano quartet, acrobatics and film music

By Peter Alexander May 1 at 4:38 p.m.

The Boulder Piano Quartet presents it’s final concert of the 2023-24 season Friday featuring music by Dvořák and the 19th-century French musical prodigy Mélanie Hélène Bonis Domange, known as Mel Bonis (7 p.m. May 3 at the Academy University Hill; further details below).

This will be the fourth and final performance this concert season to feature a guest violinist with the Quartet, appearing in place of their former violinist Chas Wetherbee, who died in 2023. The guest violinist for this performance will be Hilary Castle Green. 

Mel Bonis

This program is the second time that the Boulder Quartet has played music by Bonis, who is virtually unknown in the United States. About a year ago in May 2023, they played her Second Piano Quartet. This year they are playing her First Quartet in B-flat major.

Born in 1858, Bonis taught herself to play piano and entered the Paris Conservatory at 16. She was in the same class with Debussy, and studied composition with Cesar Franck. At the time women were not expected to be composers, and Bonis was urged by her parents to marry an older businessman. Because he didn’t like music, she gave up composing for a number of years. 

Later she met a former classmate who encouraged her and connected her with publishers, which led her to begin writing music again. She wrote the First Piano Quartet soon after, in 1901. When the composer Camille Saint-Saëns heard the Quartet, he is supposed to have said “I never thought a woman could write such music.” After her husband died in 1918, Bonis devoted herself to music.

Dvořák won the Australian State Prize for composition—in effect a grant to allow artists the time for creative work—in 1875. At 34 years of age he was still relatively unknown to the larger musical world, even though he had written four symphonies, seven string quartets, three operas, and other works. During that year he wrote a number of larger pieces, including his Symphony No. 5, his Serenade for Strings and the Piano Quartet No. 1 in D major. 

The Quartet is in the standard classical chamber-music structure of three movements, arranged fast, slow, fast. Unlike other quartets of the time, the piano is not placed separate from, or against the strings, as if it were a chamber concerto. Instead the four parts are more fully integrated. Though only three movements, the Quartet is an expansive work. It was not performed for nearly five years, however, having its premiere in Prague in 1880. 

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Boulder Piano Quartet: Matthew Dane, viola, Thomas Heinrich, cello, and David Korevaar, piano, with guest violin Hilary Castle Green

  • Mel Bonis: Piano Quartet No. 1 in B-flat major
  • Dvořák: Piano Quartet No. 1 in D major, op. 23

7 p.m. Friday, May 3, Academy Chapel Hall, Academy University Hill
Admission free with advance reservations

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The Boulder Philharmonic will continue its relationship with the performing group Cirque de la Symphonie with two performances Saturday in Macky Auditorium (2 and 7:30 p.m. May 4; details below).

Classical music’s answer to Cirque du Soleil, Cirque de la Symphonie presents aerialists, jugglers, ribbon dancers, acrobats, contortionists and other acts to the accompaniment of classical music performed live on stage. Macky Auditorium will be especially rigged for the aerial acts, and the front of the stage reserved for other performers. The performance of selected short classics will be conducted by Renee Gilliland, associate director of orchestras at CU Boulder.

Renee Gilliland

This will be the fifth time that the Boulder Phil has hosted Cirque de la Symphonie at Macky. Their last previous appearance was in 2018. While limited tickets are still available for both scheduled performances Saturday, previous Cirque performances have sold out.

Gilliland earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in orchestral conducting and literature from CU Boulder, a Master of Music in viola performance with an outside area in conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music in music education and certificate of violin performance from the University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music. She was also awarded an Artist Diploma in orchestral conducting from the University of Denver where she was assistant conductor of the Lamont School of Music Symphony and Opera Theater orchestras.

She was formerly music director of the CU Anschutz Medical Orchestra and associate conductor of the Denver Philharmonic.

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“Cirque Returns”
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Renee Gilliland, conductor
With Cirque de la Symphonie

  • Dvořák: Carnival Overture, op. 92 (orchestra only)
  • Ary Barroso: Aquarela do Brasil
  • Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F Major, III. Poco Allegretto
  • Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 1, Les Toreadores
    —Carmen Suite No. 2, Danse Bohème
  • Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A major (“Italian”), IV. Saltarello (orchestra only)
  • Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol, Scena e canto gitano
    —Fandango asturiano
  • Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Suite, Danse des petits cygnes
  • Mikhail Glinka: Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila (orchestra only)
  • Rimsky-Korsakov: The Snow Maiden Suite, Danse des Bouffons
  • Leroy Anderson: Bugler’s Holiday
  • Smetana: The Bartered Bride, “Dance of the Comedians” (orchestra only)
  • Johann Strauss, Jr.: “Thunder and Lightning” Polka
  • Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Suite, Valse
  • Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 1, Les Toreadores

2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 4
Macky Auditorium

TICKETS

NOTE: Indications of which pieces are played by the orchestra alone without Cirque performance added 5/2.

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The Longmont Symphony Orchestra (LSO) concludes its 2023-24 concert season Saturday (May 4) with “A Tribute to John Williams,” featuring the music of one of Hollywood’s greatest film composers.

John Williams

The Pops Concert, at 7 p.m. in Longmont’s Vance Brand Civic Auditorium, will be under the direction of the LSO’s music director, Elliot Moore. The program will include music from the soundtracks for Star Wars, Jurassic Park, E.T. and Harry Potter, among other popular films.

With more than 1100 tickets already sold, there are only a few seats left at time of posting. Because of the size of crowd expected, the LSO advises attendees to arrive early. Overflow parking from the Skyline High School lot will be available at the Timberline School lot,  on Mountain View Avenue.

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Tribute to John Williams
Longmont Symphony Orchestra, Elliot Moore, conductor

  • Music of John Williams

7 p.m. Saturday, May 4
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium, Longmont

Limited seats available HERE

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April 25, 2024

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Music from Haydn to Mariachi on a busy weekend

Boulder Phil, Boulder Chorale and Takács Quartet 

By Peter Alexander April 25 at 10:05 p.m.

It’s spring and thoughts at the Boulder Philharmonic turn to romance.

Their next concert under music director Michael Butterman, titled in fact “Spring Romance,” features a fleet and evocative musical meditation on the season, D’un matin de printemps (Of a spring morning) by Lili Boulanger. 

Also on the program to be performed Saturday (April 27; details below) at Macky Auditorium, Spanish/Mallorcan violinist Francisco Fullana will perform Saint-Saëns’s Violin Concerto No. 3 with the orchestra. The program concludes with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.

Lili Boulanger

The younger sister of the famous music teacher Nadia Boulanger, Lili died at the tragically young age of 24. The first female winner of the Prix de Rome composition prize, Lili showed precocious musical talent as young as four, when she accompanied her older sister to classes at the Paris Conservatoire. Long overshadowed by Nadia’s success, Lili and her music have become more prominent in recent years. 

Written in 1918, D’un matin de printemps was one of the last works she completed. It was written in versions for solo violin, flute, and piano, for piano trio, and for orchestra. The score’s origin as a solo piece is reflected in passages traded among first chair string players. 

A native of Mallorca, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean, Fullana won an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2018. A versatile performer, he performs both 19th-century Romantic repertoire with major orchestras world wide, and early music that he has played as artist-in-residence with the ensemble Apollo’s Fire.

Dedicated to and premiered by the Spanish virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate, Saint-Saëns’s Third Concerto is one of his most frequently performed pieces for violin and orchestra. Characterized by colorful themes and virtuoso flourishes, it has often been chosen by young violinists as a debut concerto. The most striking moment comes at the beginning of the finale, when the violinist plays a recitative-like passage before proceeding to an energetic main theme.

One of the composer’s most popular works, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony is also one of his most emotionally wrought symphonies. Often gripped with insecurity, Tchaikovsky initially thought the Fifth Symphony was a failure. “There is something repellant about it,” he wrote. After Brahms heard it and praised the symphony, however, Tchaikovsky wrote “I have started to love it again.”

The symphony’s dramatic progression has suggested to many listeners that there is an underlying story, or program. The composer, however, insisted that the Fifth—unlike the Fourth and Sixth symphonies—was not programmatic. Regardless of what any listener hears within the score’s drama, however, its emotional force has made it one of the most popular pieces in the orchestral repertoire.

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“Spring Romance”
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Butterman, conductor
With Francisco Fullana, violin

  • Lili Boulanger: D’un matin de printemps (Of a spring morning)
  • Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 3
  • Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

7 p.m. Saturday, April 27
Macky Auditorium

TICKETS

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While the Boulder Philharmonic is thinking about Spring, the Boulder Chorale and conductor Vicki Burrichter are musically off to Mexico for a Fiesta de las Luces (Festival of lights).

Their next program, to be presented Saturday and Sunday in Boulder and Longmont (April 27 and 28; see below) features Los Coyotes, an award-winning Mariachi Band from Uvalde, Texas, High School, as well as the Boulder Chorale’s children’s choir Bel Canto. The program is a celebration of Mexican culture in music, including both Mariachi music and other Mexican songs.

Los Coyotes, Uvalde High School, Texas

Founded in 1999, Los Coyotes won the Texas University Interscholastic League (UIL) Mariachi Championship in 2023. The outcome of the championship included a powerful feature article in Rolling Stone Magazine one year ago. The article brought out, among other things, the consoling impact of Mariachi music in Uvalde after the school shooting of 2022, and how a small program had grown into state champions under their current director, Albert Martinez.

As part of their visit to Colorado to perform with the Boulder Chorale, Los Coyotes have presented a workshop for local Mariachi students at Longmont’s Skyline High School, and have other appearances planned in addition to their concerts with the Boulder Chorale. Their full schedule is available HERE.

Each performance listed below will be preceded at 3:30 p.m. by a presentation by Burrichter and Martinez.

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Fiesta de las Luces: Songs of Mexico
Boulder Chorale, Vicki Burrichter, conductor
With Los Coyotes, Mariachi band from Uvalde, Texas, High School, Albert Martinez, director;  and the Boulder Children’s Choir Bel Canto

Program of Mariachi music and Mexican songs arranged for chorus

4 p.m. Saturday, April 27 at First United Methodist Church, Boulder
4 p.m. Sunday, April 28, at Vance Brand Civic Auditorium, Longmont

TICKETS

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The Takács Quartet wraps up their 2023–24 season of campus concerts Sunday and Monday (April 28 and 29; see details below). This was the quartet’s 49th season. 

The Sunday performance is sold out, but a few tickets are still available at the time of posting for Monday’s performance, and tickets are also available for the livestream of Sunday’s concert, which will be available online through Monday, May 6.

The program comes from the heart of the Classical/Romantic repertoire, opening with string quartets by Haydn and Schubert. To close out the concert, two additional CU music faculty members—violist Erika Eckert and cellist Meta Weiss—join the quartet to perform Brahms’s String Sextet in G major.

Most of Haydn’s string quartets were published in sets of six, which was the standard for most printed music at the time. Each published set generally has an opus number for the full set, with works numbered 1–6 within the set. The Quartet in D minor, op. 42, is an exception, however, as it stands alone as a single work issued as op. 42. 

It has been speculated that because it is a relatively simple quartet, Op. 42 might have been part of a planned set of three shorter works that were commissioned by two Spanish nobles, but never completed. It is in the standard four movements, in the order Andante ed innocentemente (walking speed and innocently), Minuet—Trio, Adagio and Presto.

Schubert’s String Quartet in B-flat was written in 1814, when the composer was only 17. It was never published during Schubert’s lifetime, so when it finally came out in 1863, it was given the late opus number of 168, even though it was an early work. Schubert wrote the quartet very quickly, completing the first movement in only four and a half hours, and the entire quartet in nine days. With such speed, it is not surprising that it is one of seven quartets Schubert completed in little more than a year.

Takács Quartet. Image by Amanda Tipton Photography.

All his life Brahms was wary of being compared to Beethoven. That likely why it took him 14 years to complete his first symphony, published when he was in his 40s, and why he destroyed his first 20 attempts at writing a string quartet. It is also sometimes speculated that he completed his two string sextets before his three quartets because they were not easily compared Beethoven’s masterful string quartets.

In any case, the Sextet in G major was written when Brahms was living comfortably near the resort town of Baden-Baden. The first movement contains a musical reference to the first name of the singer Agathe von Siebold, to whom Brahms had been briefly engaged some years before. Her significance to the composer is indicated by the fact that when he finished that movement, her wrote in a letter, “Here I have freed myself from my last love.”

Surprisingly, the Sextet was first performed in Boston in October 1866, a month before the European premiere in Zurich.

# # # # #

Takács Quartet
With Erika Eckert, viola, and Meta Weiss, cello

  • Haydn: String Quartet in D minor, Op. 42
  • Schubert: String Quartet in B-flat Major, D112
  • Brahms: String Sextet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 36

4 p.m. Sunday, April 28 SOLD OUT
7:30 p.m. Monday, April 29

Grusin Music Hall, CU Imig Music Building

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Boulder Phil presents “The Best of Boulder”

Cellist David Requiro, oboists Sarah Bierhaus and Max Soto featured Sunday

By Peter Alexander Feb. 8 at 8:10 p.m.

The Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra often brings renowned soloists to Macky Auditorium.

In recent years, their guests have included pianists Angela Cheng, Simone Dinnerstein and Garrick Ohlsson; violinists Rachel Barton Pine, Anne Akiko Meyers and Hilary Hahn; cellists Astrid Schween and Zuill Bailey; and the Marcus Roberts Trio. Local artists have not been ignored—the late concertmaster Charles Wetherbee was a repeat soloist, and Grammy-winning violist, CU faculty and Takács Quartet member Richard O’Neill played with the orchestra in 2022.

Cellist David Requiro

But now conductor Michael Butterman and the orchestra have devoted their next concert to presenting local artists as soloists. Under the title “The Best of Boulder,” the performance at 7 p.m. Sunday (Feb. 11 in Macky Auditorium; details below) will feature cellist David Requiro from the CU College of Music playing Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme; and oboists Sarah Bierhaus—the Phil’s principle oboist—and Max Soto in composer Viet Cuong’s Extra(ordinarily) Fancy. 

Other works on the program are Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte as the opener, and Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony—his last and one of his most celebrated works—as the concert’s finale.

Sarah Bierhaus

Cuong was born in California and grew up in Georgia. He has written in program notes that Extra(ordinarily) Fancy, a concerto for two oboes and orchestra, was partly inspired by Baroque-era oboe concertos by Vivaldi and Albinoni.

Max Soto

“After a short Vivaldi-esque introduction that establishes the main melodic ideas of the piece, the oboists go at it,” he wrote. “They mock each other, squawk at each other, and even talk over each other. The orchestra observes and joins in as the oboists continually bicker back and forth, all culminating in a reconciliation where the once-hesitant oboist learns (and even enthusiastically performs) a few multiphonics [a distorted sound that produces more than one pitch] alongside the other oboist.”

Tchaikovsky drew both inspiration and comfort from Mozart. He once wrote in a letter, “I not only love Mozart, I worship him . . . It is to Mozart that I am obliged for the fact that I have dedicated my life to music.” His orchestral Suite No. 4 was written as a tribute to Mozart, and came to be known as “Mozartiana.”

Another work that shows his reverence for Mozart and the classical style is his Variations on a Rococo Theme, composed in 1876 with the assistance of cellist Wilhelm Fitzenhagen. In fact, Fitzenhagen made numerous changes in the piece, including changing the order of variations and adding details in the solo part. It was Fitzenhagen’s version that was ultimately published.

The theme is not from the Rococo period, but is one that Tchaikovsky wrote in the style of that period, roughy 1740–70 between the Baroque and Classical eras. After the theme there are seven variations (excluding one that Fitzenhagen cut out) in varying moods, but all in a graceful and loosely classical style. More genial than some of Tchaikovsky’s music, this has proven one of his most popular pieces. 

Caroline Shaw

One of the most successful composers today, Caroline Shaw became the youngest winner of the Pulitzer Prize in music in 2013, and she is a member of the Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth. Also a violinist, she has written a number of works for string quartet, including Entr’acte. Although the inspiration may not be obvious to the listener, she wrote Entr’acte after hearing one of Haydn’s quartets, and later arranged it for string orchestra. She wrote of Haydn’s quartet, “I love the way some music suddenly takes you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass, in a kind of absurd, subtle, Technicolor transition.”

Mozart wrote his last three symphonies—Nos. 39, 40 and 41—potentially for a concert series during the summer of 1788, although there is no definite evidence that the Symphony No. 41 was played at that time. By the early 19th century, it was known as the “Jupiter Symphony”—perhaps so named by the English impresario Johann Peter Salomon but definitely not by Mozart.

The four movements follow the standard classical structure of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. The most striking movement is the finale, a quintuple fugue that is both a vivid demonstration of the composer’s mastery of counterpoint and a brilliant ending to the symphony—and any concert.

# # # # #

“The Best of Boulder”
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Butterman, conductor
With David Requiro, cello; Sarah Bierhaus, oboe; and Max Soto, oboe

  • Caroline Shaw: Entr’acte
  • Viet Cuong: Extra(ordinarily) Fancy
  • Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme
  • Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C major, K551 (“Jupiter)

7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 11
Macky Auditorium

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NOTE: A correction was made on Feb. 9. An earlier version of this story misspelled two names. It is Caroline Shaw, not Carolyn, and Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, not William Fitzhagen.

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Dreamy and jazzy world premiere by Boulder Philharmonic

Ricardo Morales played a new Clarinet Concerto by Aldo López-Gavilán

By Peter Alexander Jan 8 at 12:15 a.m.

The Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra and renowned clarinetist Ricardo Morales presented the world premiere of a concerto by Cuban composer Aldo López-Gavilán yesterday afternoon (Jan. 7) in Macky Auditorium. Michael Butterman conducted.

Ricardo Morales

Principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Morales is one of the most distinguished clarinet soloists today. His performance of López-Gavilán’s concerto—a work at times dreamy, quirky, playful and jazzy—had all the hallmarks of a top-rate performance. His fluid, resonant tone was captivating, and he was fully equal to the fiercely virtuosic passages of the scampering final movement. The Boulder Phil has a record of bringing notable soloists to Macky Auditorium, but none will exceed Morales for flair and artistry. (Disclosure: as a clarinetist I was delighted to hear Morales in person.)

The concerto unfolds in a traditional three-movement format. The first starts with pensive lines floating above the orchestra before settling into oddly off-beat rhythms in the orchestra. The movement proceeded energetically, even when the tumbling lines of the solo part were not clearly audible above the orchestra. These roulades colored the music without leaving a memorable imprint.

The second movement began as a mildly jazzy lullaby in which Morales’s velvety sound perfectly fit the music’s mood. Later, the soloist offered flitting, bird-like decoration over a gentle ebb and flow in the orchestral strings.

The final movement emerged suddenly with playful, romping rhythms that featured the clarinet at its best: brilliant, jaunty, scampering here and there with abandon. This frisky material was interrupted by a contrasting passage with a lazy clarinet line accompanied by pinging mallet percussion. As soon as the listener got into that calmer mood, the scampers began again, skipping to a breakneck finish. 

Under Butterman’s firm direction, the Phil made a strong case for López-Gavilán’s music. This is a concerto that should be welcomed by all clarinetists. It will please audiences with its varied moods and overall good nature, while the soloist has opportunities for both gentle expression and virtuoso flourishes.

Also López-Gavilán

The concerto was paired on the first half of the program with López-Gavilán’s three-movement piano concerto, titled Emporium, with the composer as soloist. A work that López-Gavilán and the Phil presented here in 2019, it was nevertheless welcome again. First begun as a birthday gift for López-Gavilán’s twin daughters’ ninth birthday, it is a gently ingratiating piece rather than a heroic concerto in the Romantic mold.

López-Gavilán was an ideal soloist, both in his command of the various classical, Afro-Cuban, jazz  and even church-hymn elements of the score, and in his evident devotion to the music. I particularly enjoyed the middle movement, which featured ominous drum rolls and eerie chords—a scary story for López-Gavilán’s girls?—that resolves safely into a hymn that almost sounds familiar before settling into sweet and comforting material. That benediction suddenly sweeps into full chords as the boisterous finale busts forth. Here I imagine that the children have awakened with energy.

It was in this movement that López-Gavilán showed his formidable technique. A cadenza-like passage leads to a grandiose finish. Once again the orchestra performed admirably, especially the solid, punctuating chords of the finale. Butterman apologized for bringing Emporium back to Macky again so soon, but the audience embraced the return enthusiastically.

The concert concluded with a somewhat subdued performance of Mussorgsky’s much-loved Pictures at an Exhibition in the familiar Ravel orchestration. After a brisk opening promenade in the solo trumpet, the character and mood of each picture—from the “Old Castle” with its saxophone minstrel, to the romping children of the “Tuileries,” to the lumbering oxcart “Bydlo, and on to the concluding “Great Gate of Kiev”—was carefully attended to.

Too carefully? The performance seemed restrained. The individual solos were generally well played by the Phil’s first-rate players, especially the woodwinds, and the contrasts between pictures were well delineated. I would single out the saxophone solo, and the flittering woodwinds in the “Tuileries” and “Unhatched Chicks” for special praise.

But the Macky stage cannot hold an orchestra large enough to provide the full impact of the “Great Gate,” even with strong brass and staunch percussion sections. “Baba Yaga’s Hut,” with its percussion blows and emphatic chords, was a fierce highpoint of the performance, but elsewhere more was wanted.

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Boulder Philharmonic brings Caribbean spice to Macky Jan. 7

Recording of performances will be Phil’s first commercial release

By Peter Alexander Jan. 4 at 7:40 p.m.

The Boulder Philharmonic welcomes two guest artists from Caribbean islands for their concert Sunday (4 p.m. Jan. 7, Macky Auditorium)‚ composer/pianist Aldo López-Gavilán from Cuba and clarinetist Ricardo Morales from Puerto Rico.

Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra in Macky Auditorium

Morales will play the world premiere of the Clarinet Concerto by López-Gavilán, who will also reprise his Emporium for piano and orchestra, which he played with the Phil in 2019. Completing the program will be Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in the familiar Ravel orchestration.

And in a first for the orchestra, portions of the program—the pieces by López-Gavilán—will be recorded for commercial release on the Reference Recordings label. Both the dress rehearsal and the performance will be recorded, with a make-up session afterward to patch any problems in the live recordings.

The full recording will feature both the Clarinet Concerto and Emporium, and additional solo performances by López-Gavilán. Conductor Michael Butterman says that “early fall of 2024 would be a likely target date” for the recording to be released.

Aldo López-Gavilán

Butterman first encountered López-Gavilán’s music when he heard a performance of Emporium on the NPR program “Performance Today.” That show has been one of his favorite sources for music he might not otherwise hear. “If it were not for that radio program, I don’t know what I would ever conduct,” he says, laughing.

“In 2018 I heard this amazingly interesting (music). It was one of those moments where you get to where you’re going and well, ‘I’m not going in now because I have to figure out what this is!’” Once he learned the title and the composer, he contacted López-Gavilán’s US management and arranged for him to play Emporium with the Phil the very next season.

That performance was so successful that Butterman started thinking of other ways to promote López-Gavilán’s music. “As soon as we had that success in 2019, the then-executive director and I got together and said, ‘this is a piece that really deserves to be heard.’ (I asked) could we figure out a way to record it with him?

“I knew that he had been writing a clarinet concerto, for his cousin in Cuba, and so the idea of putting them together has been in my mind for at least three years now. And I’m glad that we’re finally able to do it!”

López-Gavilán brings an interesting mix of jazz and classical background to his music. The son of a conductor and pianist, he grew up surrounded by classical music, but he also was drawn to the Afro-Cuban jazz he heard in his homeland. He performs in both realms.

He began Emporium as a gift for his twin daughters. “The whole thing is based on a theme that I dedicated to my daughters for their birthday, when they were nine,” he wrote in program notes. “I improvised this theme in the middle of the night, just to give them a surprise. Later, I started to play what would be the first movement with my jazz trio.

“Later on, I decided to orchestrate it [as a concerto], because I was invited . . . to perform at Classical Tahoe. You find that main theme from the first movement throughout the entire work, but with variations.”

Butterman says that the title Emporium evokes “a retail establishment with little bit of everything. I think Aldo’s use of that title reflects  that he is drawing on all sorts of influences in his musical life—classical music, Afro-Cuban jazz, more traditional jazz, and so on. It has a great deal of organic unity, however. He has a theme that he presents near the beginning that is used throughout, and so while it is eclectic, it’s not without a binding thread.”

Ricardo Morales

The Clarinet Concerto is written for a chamber orchestra, rather than the full Romantic orchestra of Emporium: single winds, horn and trumpet, plus fairly extensive percussion. As Butterman describes the style, “the outer movements are rhythmically complex, and it gets jazzy. The second movement is more lyrical and starts slowly but gets quicker. 

“There’s lots of opportunities for the clarinetist to do pitch-bending [and] the sorts of jazz-derived inflections that you might expect in a concerto by somebody that has so much jazz background. It feels very Latin, very Cuban, especially the last movement.”

The soloist, Ricardo Morales is from a neighboring island to Cuba, Puerto Rico, but Butterman says that’s not why he is the guest for this concert. “He’s perhaps that best clarinetist in the world right now,” he says. “And he’s a charming guy, too!”

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition hardly needs an introduction to classical music audiences. It was written in 1874 as a piano piece to honor the artist and designer Viktor Hartmann, a friend of Mussorgsky who had died suddenly at the age of 39. Each movement was inspired by a painting by Hartmann included in a memorial show of his works. Later the highly virtuosic piano score was arranged for orchestra by Maurice Ravel, creating one of the most colorful and popular pieces in the symphonic repertoire.

# # # # #

“Vignettes and Promenades”
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Butterman, conductor
With Aldo López-Gavilán, piano, and Ricardo Morales, clarinet

  • López-Gavilán: Clarinet Concerto (world premiere)
    —Emporium
  • Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, arr. Ravel

4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 7
Macky Auditorium
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December 13, 2023

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GRACE NOTES: Two more concerts in 2023

Boulder Piano Quartet, Boulder Phil Holiday Brass Dec. 15 & 17

By Peter Alexander Dec. 13 at 6:15 p.m.

The Boulder Piano Quartet continues its season of guest violinists Friday (7 p.m. Dec. 15, Chapel Hall at the Academy) with Jubal Fulks, a faculty member at the University of Northern Colorado College of Music.

Fulks joins standing Boulder Piano Quartet members Matthew Dane, viola, Thomas Heinrich, cello and David Korevaar, piano, for two late Tomantic-era quartets, by the little known composer Amanda Röntgen-Maier and a young Richard Strauss. 

Fulks is the second of four guest violinists who will appear with the Boulder Piano Quartet during their 2023–24 season. All are appearing in place of the quartet’s long-time previous violinist, Chas Wetherbee, following his untimely death last year. Remaining concerts by the quartet during the current season will be Jan. 19 and May 3 at the Academy.

The quartet likes to include one piece by an unfamiliar composer on each program, to go with pieces by better known composers. Clearly the unknown composer for Dec. 15 is Röntgen-Maier. The first female graduate of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, she married Julius Röntgen, the son of her violin teacher, who himself became a well known composer.

Her Quartet in E minor is her final major composition, written on a trip to Norway in 1891. It pairs well with the Quartet in C minor of Richard Strauss, a comparably late-Romattic work written 1884-85. Written when the composer was 20, it is one of his earliest works and shows the influence of Brahms.

– – –

Boulder Piano Quartet Jubal Fulks, guest violin, with Matthew Dane, viola, Thomas Heinrich, cello and David Korevaar, piano

  • Amanda Röntgen-Maier: Piano Quartet in E minor (1891)
  • RIchard Strauss: Piano Quartet in C minor (1884-85)

7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15
Chapel Hall, The Academy, 833 10th St., Boulder
Free with reservation, available HERE

Concert funded by the Ruth M Shanberge Chamber Music Fund in memory of Academy resident Ruth Shanberge.

 # # # # #

Holiday Brass, an ensemble of brass and percussion players from the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, will present the Phil’s annual Holiday concert, under the direction of Gary Lewis, at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, at the Mountain View Methodist Church, 355 Ponca Place in Boulder.

In the words of the Boulder Phil Web page, the program “includes a variety of beloved holiday tunes, ranging from traditional carols to popular holiday songs, all arranged to showcase the sound of the brass and percussion ensemble.”

– – –

Holiday Brass
Boulder Philharmonic Brass ad Percussion Gary Lewis, conductor

  • Seasonal music including traditional carols and holiday songs from the pop repertoire  

4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17
Mountain View Methodist Church, 355 Ponca Place, Boulder

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Boulder Phil brings music of hope to audience

World premiere by Jeffrey Nytch, “Land Without Evil” by Richard Scofano, and Brahms

By Peter Alexander Nov. 13 at 12:20 a.m.

The Boulder Philharmonic with conductor Michael Butterman presented a concert in Macky Auditorium last night (Nov. 12) of music expressing hope and optimism.

Michael Butterman and the Boulder Philharmonic in Macky Auditorium

Titled “Visions of a Brighter Tomorrow,” the program featured Brahms’s uplifting Symphony No. 1, a musical depiction of a “Land without Evil” by Argentinian composer/bandoneonist Richard Scofano, and the world premiere of a new piece by CU music professor Jeffrey Nytch. In very different ways, all three pieces fulfilled the spirit of the concert’s title.

The concert opened with Nytch’s Beacon, a piece written in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Boulder Star. Speaking before the performance, Nytch explained that he was inspired not only by the star as a symbol of the Holidays, but also it’s role as a source of consolation and comfort in times of stress in the community, including the days after 9/11, the King Soopers shooting and the Marshall Fire.

CU Prof. Jeffrey Nytch

Beacon is undoubtedly an effective concert opener, starting with bright sounds, transitioning into the mournful reflectiveness of somber emotions, and returning to the brightness of the Holiday season. My only question is whether it is too Boulder-centric to be widely performed, because it the kind of piece that on a musical basis alone should reach a wider audience.

The opening captures our cultural perceptions of the Holiday season so well that I expected to look up and see images of snowy but brightly-lit streets filled with revelers carrying home their Christmas packages. After a sparkly (Nytch’s word), high-pitched introduction, lyrical horns are accompanied by fluttery woodwinds, followed by soaring strings. 

For the central section, Nytch recalls CU cello student Louis Saxton, who played at the makeshift memorial outside of King Soopers in the days following the shooting. The familiar opening of Bach’s Suite No. 1 for solo cello, one of the pieces that Saxton played, was freely adapted to the orchestral setting. Played by the Phil’s principal cellist Charles Lee, it had an eloquent flexibility. The score quickly returns to a Holiday mood with bright statements in the brass and more sparkly timbres. 

This new score was played with evident care and commitment by the orchestra. It was actually Nytch’s second world premiere in two days, since he adapted parts of Beacon for brass quintet as a “Boulder Star Fanfare” that was played Saturday at the official lighting ceremony on the roof of the Boulder Museum. An effective occasional piece, this should become an annual part of the lighting ceremony.

The performance of Scofano’s La Tierra sin mal (The land without evil) featured Scofano on bandoneon—a concertina associated with the tango music of Argentina—and a performance by Boulder’s 3rd Law Dance/Theatre. The score convey’s Scofano’s image of an idyllic paradise, a world that has no pain. As such it is a more than pleasurable journey that features insistent Latin rhythms as well as moments of peacefulness that seem to come from another world, one exotic to our north American ears.

In a convincing and impactful performance, Butterman and the Phil conveyed well the imagery of the score. The bandoneon part, expressively played by Scofano, is generally part of the orchestral texture, so I cannot judge him as a soloist. Likewise, I am in no sense a dance critic; I will only note that the dancers, limited to the front of the stage, made creative use of their narrow space. To my eye, the choreography responded meaningfully to the music without slavishly following the score, gesture by gesture.

Butterman gave a cogent music-appreciation introduction to Brahms’s First, pointing out its connection to Beethoven, especially the latter’s “Ode to Joy,” while describing the mood and affect of each movement in turn. Although abbreviated, it was an almost Bernstein-like presentation. In performance, Butterman emphasized the turn from a dramatic, tense C minor in the opening movement, to a jubilant C major at the end.

The sound throughout the symphony was a little hazy where it needed to be decisive, but in Macky Auditorium it’s difficult to know if that is the orchestra or the unreliable acoustic. If there were no audience, I would wandered about and see if I could find a better spot to listen; the front balcony is often better than anywhere on the main floor.

That said, individual solos in the winds—clarinet, flute, oboe—were all outstanding. The individual players of the Phil are exceptional and always worthy of careful listening. I found the slow movement the least successful, carefully executed but too blurry to take flight. The third movement Intermezzo, “poco allegretto e grazioso,” was the most rewarding movement, gently moving with a nice flow and, again, good woodwind playing. 

The lack of clarity was most problematic in the finale, which never took fire or landed with the impact it can have at its best. Again, I attribute that in part to the hall, which often deadens warmth and suppresses richness of sound. I have been told that the Phil generally sounds better in other halls. I look forward to an opportunity to test that report.

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Boulder Phil celebrates “Visions of a Brighter Tomorrow”

Subjects of Sunday’s concert range from the Boulder star to Guaraní mythology

By Peter Alexander Nov. 9 at 3:15 p.m.

Michael Butterman heard a musical vision of a land without evil and immediately wanted to perform the piece in Boulder.

The conductor of the Boulder Philharmonic was listening to the NPR program “Performance Today” on the radio and heard La Tierra sin Mal (The land without evil) by Argentine composer and bandoneon player Richard Scofano. “I heard the last five minutes or so, which has harp and bandoneon (a concertina popular in Argentina) and sustained strings, and it’s just so beautiful,” he says. “Almost paradise-like music.”

Richard Scofano with bandoneon

Scofano’s piece was the starting point for a program titled “Visions of a Brighter Tomorrow” that the Phil will perform Sunday (7 p.m. in Macky Auditorium). Scofano will perform as the bandoneon soloist for his piece, which will feature dancers from Boulder’s 3rd Law Dance Company. The program also includes the world premiere of Beacon, a new piece by CU professor Jeffrey Nytch that celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Boulder Star; and Brahms’s First Symphony.

“I love the way that Scofano integrated the bandoneon with the rest of the orchestra,” Butterman says. “It’s a featured instrument, but I would not call it a concerto. He uses the bandoneon as just another color, part of the orchestral texture.”

The idea of the piece came from a myth of the Guaraní people, an indigenous group from Paraguay and Argentina. According to their mythology, they are searching for a place revealed by their ancestors where people live without suffering, what they call “the land without evil.” 

“I wondered whether there was a narrative arc to this piece,” Butterman says. “I could imagine a filmmaker being inspired to create something visual to go with it. So I approached 3rd Law, one of the wonderful dance companies we have in Boulder, and (asked) if they might be interested in setting choreography to this work.

“I don’t know what approach they are taking, and I don’t think (Scofano) knows either, but he was game to allow us to do it. (La Tierra sin Mal) would be a lovely piece as music, but I’m intrigued by the possibility that dance will bring to the work as well.”

Butterman was looking for a piece to go with the Scofano on the first half of the program when Nytch approached him with an idea. Nytch learned that this year is the 75th anniversary of the Boulder Star that is lit during the Holidays and wanted to write a piece to celebrate the occasion. 

Jeffrey Nytch

“They normally light (the star) right around Veterans Day, which is almost exactly when we will perform this concert,” Butterman explains. “I know the star very well from my years in Boulder, and it’s always a heart-filling sight. Since it’s our mission as an orchestra to reflect our community, it just seems an absolutely appropriate idea.”

Nytch was inspired to write Beacon when he attended the lighting ceremony for the star a year ago. “There are those rare occasions where you get a spark of an idea, and you immediately know what it should be,” he says. “Before I got home that night I knew I wanted to write an orchestra piece and call it Beacon. I was already hearing musical ideas. It was incredible how quickly this just locked into place.”

Especially inspiring to Nytch was the fact that the Star has been displayed at times of community tragedies, including the Marshall Fire and the King Soopers shooting, as well as the Holidays. “That was a really powerful idea, that there’s this beacon that shines over the city during good times and bad times,” he says.

As director of the Entrepreneurship Center for Music at CU, Nytch knew how to move forward. He worked with the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, who are responsible for the star, and put together funding for the composition and the performance. “We have 10 individual donors, coordinating through the Chamber, and Premiere Members Credit Union stepped in to help with the production costs,” he explains.

With the funding in place, he went to Butterman and the Phil. Nytch had written other successful pieces for the orchestra, and since Beacon was already paid for, and especially because it fit the date and the program so well, they were delighted to present the premiere.

Both Butterman and Nytch describe the opening of the piece as “sparkly,” portraying the brightness of the star in the Holiday season. Nytch says he thought, “O my gosh, I’m using every high, sparkly instrument there is—piano and harp and glockenspiel and piccolo!”

Cellist Louis Saxton playing at the memorial for the King Soopers shooting victims. Photo by Hart Van Denburg/CPR News

To contrast with the brightness of the opening fanfare, he wanted to write something that reflected the more sombre moments when the star has been lit. He remembered the cello student at CU, Louis Saxton, who had just left the King Soopers store before the shooting there, and later brought his cello to the makeshift memorial outside the store and played Bach cello suites. 

“I couldn’t get that image out of my head,” Nytch says. “That idea of meeting horrific violence with beauty is the turning point, where we go from this dark place back into this place of light and hope. And so there is a quote of the Bach Cello Suite. It’s a little snippet that drifts in and then the music turns the corner and begins to build back up again.”

Later Nytch realized that the sparkly fanfare unintentionally shared the bass line and musical gestures with the Bach. “When I realized that my brain just exploded,” Nytch says. “That’s when you know that something is right.”

To complete the program, Butterman chose the First Symphony of Brahms. It seemed to fit the occasion, he thought, because the final movement has a theme that famously resembles the theme to Beethoven’s jubilant “Ode to Joy.” The Symphony progresses from C minor to C major, ending with “a very uplifting and positive feeling,” Butterman says. “It has an epic quality that seems appropriate when one is contemplating the idea of utopia.”

Nytch agrees completely. “When I saw the rest of the program, I thought, this really is perfect, because I adore that symphony,” he says. “It’s my favorite of the four Brahms symphonies. It has moments of struggle and reflection but the end is just so gloriously hopeful. 

“It just lifts you up.”

# # # # #

“Vision of a Brighter Tomorrow”
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Butterman, conductor
With Richard Scofano, bandoneon, and 3rd Law Dance/Theater

  • Jeffrey Nytch: Beacon (world premiere)
  • Richard Scofano: La Tierra sin Mal (The land without evil)
  • Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C major

7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12
Macky Auditorium

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