PROGRAM NOTES
Erberk Eryılmaz: Rakı Havası
“Rakı Havası for Woodwind Quintet and Optional Davul was commissioned by WindSync in 2019. The work is inspired by the celebratory drinking tunes and dances of the northwest region of Turkey. Rakı is Turkey's national alcoholic drink and mainly produced from the grapes and aniseed of the region. This drink does not only influence the human body but has also influenced the folk music of the region with super cheerful and explosively energetic music in 9/8 meter. For an authentic performance, drinking by the performers is recommended, but for an accurate performance, maybe not.”
--Erberk Eryılmaz, 2020
Johann Strauss II/arr. Schulz-Evler: Concert Arabesques on Themes from On the Beautiful Blue Danube
One of the best-known pieces in Western classical repertoire, On the Beautiful Blue Danube is a rich example of the dance pieces that earned Johann Strauss II the nickname ‘The Waltz King.” The original piece, composed in 1866 and rarely heard today, was a satirical work for men’s choir poking fun at the Austrian army. The familiar orchestral version was later created for the 1867 Paris World’s Fair.
Pianist Adolf Schulz-Evler’s version of the Blue Danube is not a faithful transcription but rather a fanciful elaboration. Structured as an introduction with five waltzes, the piece is designed for soloists to show off their virtuosity. Among countless late-19th century showpieces based on popular orchestral repertoire, the Schlz-Evler has shown remarkable staying power with multiple publication runs, high-profile recordings, and performances worldwide.
Ludwig Thuille: Sextet for Piano and Winds in Bb major, Op. 6
Ludwig Thuille enjoyed a fruitful career as a composer and teacher in Munich during the late 19th century. Even though he specialized in opera, his chamber music is his best-known repertoire today. Thuille’s lifelong friend Richard Strauss ultimately found more fame, as did his student Ernest Bloch, but Thuille had a sizable influence on classical music in the United States, both as an author of a widely used theory textbook and as the instructor of Henry Spalding, eventual chair of the music department at Harvard.
Strauss himself was instrumental in arranging the 1888 premiere of Thuille’s Sextet for Piano and Winds, which had taken two long years to complete. Like Strauss, Thuille favored the french horn for characteristic late romantic melodies. The music is reminiscent of Liszt and Brahms at times and full of good humor.
Camille Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals
Subtitled “Grand Zoological Fantasy,” Carnival of the Animals is an 1888 suite for chamber orchestra, originally written for a house concert celebrating Mardi Gras. Saint-Saëns dashed off all fourteen movements in a matter of days, and while he wrote to friends that the piece was wildly fun to write, he also worried that it would ruin his reputation as a serious composer and barred further performances until after his death. As such matters often go, this forbidden piece has become his most beloved work.
The menagerie of Carnival of the Animals is depicted through music that mimics the calls and behaviors of the animals like the elephant, the kangaroo, and the cuckoo. Saint-Saëns also slips in some social commentary (like “Personages with Long Ears,” which compares music critics to braying donkeys), jokes (like the “Pianists,” animals who must practice their scales all day), and musical quotes (like the slow can-can in “Tortoises,” plus nods throughout to Mozart, Rossini, and Saint-Saëns himself).
WindSync’s version of Carnival of the Animals premieres tonight. Two of the instruments of the wind quintet--the flute and the clarinet--are borrowed from the original instrumentation, but the double reeds and French horn have been added, and the two piano parts have been reduced to one soloist. The characters of WindSync’s auxiliary instruments bring out the personalities of the animals, from the chirpy piccolo, to the grumbly contrabassoon, to the lyrical English horn. The performance is accompanied by pre-recorded shadow puppetry designed by Chad Shohet.
Erberk Eryılmaz: Rakı Havası
“Rakı Havası for Woodwind Quintet and Optional Davul was commissioned by WindSync in 2019. The work is inspired by the celebratory drinking tunes and dances of the northwest region of Turkey. Rakı is Turkey's national alcoholic drink and mainly produced from the grapes and aniseed of the region. This drink does not only influence the human body but has also influenced the folk music of the region with super cheerful and explosively energetic music in 9/8 meter. For an authentic performance, drinking by the performers is recommended, but for an accurate performance, maybe not.”
--Erberk Eryılmaz, 2020
Johann Strauss II/arr. Schulz-Evler: Concert Arabesques on Themes from On the Beautiful Blue Danube
One of the best-known pieces in Western classical repertoire, On the Beautiful Blue Danube is a rich example of the dance pieces that earned Johann Strauss II the nickname ‘The Waltz King.” The original piece, composed in 1866 and rarely heard today, was a satirical work for men’s choir poking fun at the Austrian army. The familiar orchestral version was later created for the 1867 Paris World’s Fair.
Pianist Adolf Schulz-Evler’s version of the Blue Danube is not a faithful transcription but rather a fanciful elaboration. Structured as an introduction with five waltzes, the piece is designed for soloists to show off their virtuosity. Among countless late-19th century showpieces based on popular orchestral repertoire, the Schlz-Evler has shown remarkable staying power with multiple publication runs, high-profile recordings, and performances worldwide.
Ludwig Thuille: Sextet for Piano and Winds in Bb major, Op. 6
Ludwig Thuille enjoyed a fruitful career as a composer and teacher in Munich during the late 19th century. Even though he specialized in opera, his chamber music is his best-known repertoire today. Thuille’s lifelong friend Richard Strauss ultimately found more fame, as did his student Ernest Bloch, but Thuille had a sizable influence on classical music in the United States, both as an author of a widely used theory textbook and as the instructor of Henry Spalding, eventual chair of the music department at Harvard.
Strauss himself was instrumental in arranging the 1888 premiere of Thuille’s Sextet for Piano and Winds, which had taken two long years to complete. Like Strauss, Thuille favored the french horn for characteristic late romantic melodies. The music is reminiscent of Liszt and Brahms at times and full of good humor.
Camille Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals
Subtitled “Grand Zoological Fantasy,” Carnival of the Animals is an 1888 suite for chamber orchestra, originally written for a house concert celebrating Mardi Gras. Saint-Saëns dashed off all fourteen movements in a matter of days, and while he wrote to friends that the piece was wildly fun to write, he also worried that it would ruin his reputation as a serious composer and barred further performances until after his death. As such matters often go, this forbidden piece has become his most beloved work.
The menagerie of Carnival of the Animals is depicted through music that mimics the calls and behaviors of the animals like the elephant, the kangaroo, and the cuckoo. Saint-Saëns also slips in some social commentary (like “Personages with Long Ears,” which compares music critics to braying donkeys), jokes (like the “Pianists,” animals who must practice their scales all day), and musical quotes (like the slow can-can in “Tortoises,” plus nods throughout to Mozart, Rossini, and Saint-Saëns himself).
WindSync’s version of Carnival of the Animals premieres tonight. Two of the instruments of the wind quintet--the flute and the clarinet--are borrowed from the original instrumentation, but the double reeds and French horn have been added, and the two piano parts have been reduced to one soloist. The characters of WindSync’s auxiliary instruments bring out the personalities of the animals, from the chirpy piccolo, to the grumbly contrabassoon, to the lyrical English horn. The performance is accompanied by pre-recorded shadow puppetry designed by Chad Shohet.