Les belles heures ("The Beautiful Hours")

World Premiere, CSO Co-commission

• Born: May 5, 1970 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France
• Work Composed: 2021–2022, co-commissioned by the CSO with support from Ann and Harry Santen.
• Premiere: This weekend’s concerts are the work’s world premiere.
• Instrumentation: solo oboe, 3 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, bass drum, glockenspiel, high hat, suspended cymbals, temple blocks, triangle, vibraphone, wood block, xylophone, harp, strings
• Duration: approx. 18 minutes

Conceived in three movements, this concerto for oboe evokes three "poetic phases" of the day: L’heure bleue, that period between day and night when the sky fills up with a darker blue than the earlier sky blue. It is during the first instants of l’heure bleue that all the birds start to sing, and in summer the fragrance of the flowers becomes more intense. L’heure exquise is the moment of “a vast and tender appeasement” as Verlaine writes in the poem that I quote in the epigraph of this slow movement. L’heure fugitive is the time of pleasures and love, the “carpe diem” of Horace, with these verses of Lamartine as an epigraph: “So, let us love, so, love! from the fleeting hour let us hasten and enjoy it!”

The first movement (the longest of the three), L’heure bleue, is patterned on two themes: the first, disjointed and delicate, is set out by the soloist; the second, very expressive, is given by the violins. The development of the themes passes in turn from scherzando to lyrical to end in a cadenza performed by the soloist accompanied by a quivering orchestra. Nature is filled with songs, murmurs and rustlings. Then, in the recapitulation, after the strong and exultant return of the first theme, everything calms down in an orchestral shimmering.

The second movement, L’heure exquise, is in ternary form and dreamy in nature. The tender confidence of the soloist leads to the central part on a D pedal: time seems suspended and the soloist weightless. The third part recaptures the tender motif of the beginning, but winds down into a slow ecstasy.

The third movement, L’heure fugitive, asserts an almost uninterrupted pulsation on a funky motif. Only a few more lyrical measures, accompanied by the harp, allow for a breath of air before the return of the rhythmic trance that concludes in the frenzy of the soloist and the orchestra.

—Guillaume Connesson

Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27

• Born: March 20/April 1, 1873 (Julian/Gregorian calendars, but the composer regarded April 1 as his birthday), Oneg (near Semyonovo), Russia
• Died: March 28, 1943, Beverly Hills, CA
• Work composed: 1906–1907
• Premiere: February 8, 1908, St. Petersburg, conducted by the composer
• Instrumentation: 3 flutes (incl. piccolo), 3 oboes (incl. English horn), 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel, snare drum, strings
• CSO subscription performances: First Performance: February 1918, Henry Hadley conducting at Emery Auditorium. Most Recent: February 2017, Edo De Waart conducting at Taft Theatre. Recorded by the CSO twice: 2007 Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 conducted by Paavo Järvi and 2001 Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2, Vocalise conducted by Jesús López Cobos.
• Duration: approx. 60 minutes

More than a decade separates Rachmaninoff’s first two symphonies. The composer considered the First Symphony a disaster and was reluctant to make a second attempt in the genre. He could not stand listening to rehearsals or to the one performance the work received during his lifetime. At its premiere the audience was hostile and the critics were vitriolic. After the fiasco of the First Symphony, Rachmaninoff’s self-confidence was badly shaken. He was unable to compose anything for the next three years. He began to drink heavily. Although he did eventually come out of his depression, thanks to the help of a psychiatrist who specialized in post-hypnotic suggestion, Rachmaninoff never returned to the First Symphony. It lay unknown in the Leningrad Conservatory library until it was eventually reconstructed, from the orchestral parts, four years after his death.

When Rachmaninoff eventually decided, with some trepidation, to try his hand once again at composing a symphony, he at first told no one. He was living in Dresden, Germany at the time, far away from the distractions of his hectic career in Russia. When his friend Alexander Siloti visited him, Rachmaninoff confided that he was working on a symphony. Siloti invited him to conduct it in Saint Petersburg and, without waiting for a response, informed the press of the upcoming premiere. Another friend wrote from Saint Petersburg, asking about the work. Rachmaninoff explained:

A month ago, or more, I really did finish a symphony, but to this must be added the phrase “in rough draft.” I have not announced it to “the world,” because I want first to complete it in final form. While I was planning the orchestration, the work became terribly boring and repulsive to me. So I threw it aside and took up something else. Thus “the world” would not have known, yet, about my work—if it hadn’t been for Siloti, who came here and pulled out of me news of everything I have done and of everything that I am going to do. I told him that there will be a symphony. That’s how I’ve already received an invitation to conduct it next season! And news of this symphony has flown everywhere. I can tell you privately that I am displeased with the piece.

Later the composer wrote to his friend Nikita Morozov:

As for the quality of these [recent projects], I must say that the worst is the [Second] Symphony. When I get it written [and orchestrated] and then correct my First Symphony, I give my solemn word—no more symphonies. Curse them! I don’t know how to write them, but mainly, I don’t want to.

Despite his misgivings about the Second Symphony, and despite his insecurity as a conductor, Rachmaninoff did agree to lead the premiere in Saint Petersburg. He also introduced the work in Moscow a week later and then in Warsaw. The public reacted enthusiastically. The composer was vindicated as a symphonist.

The famous German conductor Artur Nikisch, who often made guest appearances in Russia, was eager to perform the symphony. As sometimes happens with well-known conductors, Nikisch let his fame take the place of diligent work. Confident that the Moscow orchestra knew the work, as Rachmaninoff had already conducted it with that ensemble, Nikisch managed to direct the concert without having rehearsed the work at all. In fact, he had not even looked at the score! Had Moscow not already heard the piece well played, this disastrous performance might have condemned the Second Symphony to the same fate that the First had suffered.

After these early performances, Rachmaninoff revised the work for publication. He dedicated it to composer Sergei Taneyev. Some months later Rachmaninoff met Nikisch in London. The conductor asked, “So, how is my [!] Symphony?” The composer replied that it was being published. Nikisch, assuming that the work was dedicated to him, scheduled it in Berlin and Leipzig. When the printed score became available, the conductor bought a copy, only to discover the title page headed “To Taneyev.” The arrogant Nikisch thereupon cancelled the German performances, although the programs had already been printed. Rachmaninoff feared that this public rejection of the symphony by one of the foremost conductors in Europe would bode ill for the work’s future. To his surprise, however, it was soon awarded the prestigious (and lucrative) Glinka Prize.

Despite Rachmaninoff’s misgivings and Nikisch’s vengeance, the Second Symphony has become Rachmaninoff’s best-loved purely orchestral work, far surpassing in popularity his other two symphonies.

The symphony is a large, brooding, romantic work, more closely related to the 19th than to the 20th century. The orchestration throughout is lush and impassioned, with considerable activity in the inner parts of the dense counterpoint. An interesting feature is the frequency of sustained notes in the bass register. The result is slowly changing harmonies, which give the symphony an imposing, monolithic quality beneath its varied melodies and motives.

Like many large 19th-century symphonies, the Rachmaninoff Second is pervaded by a single figure. It is first heard at the very opening, in the low strings. Its identifying characteristic is the alternation of a note and another note a step lower. This motive is also present in the prominent violin theme, which answers the initial presentation of the motive.

The two opening ideas, which both contain the basic motive, are developed throughout the extensive introduction. When the allegro finally arrives, its violin theme contains the motive, as does the lyric second theme. One result of the first movement’s obsession with this one figure is that it favors motives and their combination over full-blown melodies. We must wait for later movements to hear the overwhelming expressiveness of Rachmaninoff’s lyricism.

The frequent upward surges toward climaxes in the first movement are balanced by the opening horn theme of the second movement. This scherzo tune has an essentially descending shape, as does its answer in the violins. A second theme in the strings (introduced and accompanied by wistful clarinet arpeggios) provides the long melodic line absent from the first movement. Like the scherzo theme, this tune descends, at least at first. It changes direction, however, as it prepares for the return of the scherzo mood.

The spiky trio theme, a “perpetual motion” in staccato strings, is treated in a quasi-fugal manner. Two factors prevent it from functioning as a true fugue—the motivic repetition within the theme and the fact that subsequent entrances are in the same key. The scherzo returns after this brief polyphonic interlude.

The slow movement begins with a string melody of soaring romantic beauty—a love theme rivaling in passion Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet. After just four measures, however, this theme gives way to a long clarinet melody—beautiful in its own way, but lacking the emotional fervor of the first melody. This second tune transfers to the strings in preparation for a relaunching of the opening melody. Again we are frustrated by hearing only four measures of this quintessentially romantic music. This time it is replaced by more active music. The music builds gradually toward a powerful climax. Notice the activity within the orchestral sonority as the climax approaches. After a pause, Rachmaninoff at last provides what the movement has been yearning for—a development of the opening theme. This takes place first in a series of solos for horn, violin, English horn, flute, oboe and clarinet. The love theme, so long understated, at last pervades the music—even while other materials are recalled—until the end of the movement.

The expansive finale starts vigorously, but soon we hear a ghostly march based on the fundamental motive. There is also a lyrically romantic melody and a quotation of the lush theme from the slow movement. After the final, soaring statement of the finale’s lyrical tune, a brief but excited coda ends the work.

—Jonathan D. Kramer

Music Director, Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair

Louis Langrée has been Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since 2013, Music Director of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center since 2003 and recently appointed Director of Théâtre national de l'Opéra Comique. Known for imaginative programming, Langrée began his Cincinnati tenure with Jennifer Higdon’s On a Wire with Eighth Blackbird; Copland’s A Lincoln Portrait, narrated by Maya Angelou; and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Two of his Cincinnati recordings were Grammy-nominated for Best Orchestral Performance: Transatlantic, with works by Varèse, Gershwin, and Stravinsky; and Concertos for Orchestra, featuring world premieres by Sebastian Currier, Thierry Escaich, and Zhou Tian. His Pelléas et Mélisande trilogy contrasted settings by Fauré, Debussy, and Schoenberg. A multi-season Beethoven [R]evolution cycle has paired the symphonies with world premieres and 20th-century masterworks, as well as recreation of the legendary 1808 Akademie. During the COVID pandemic, Langrée was a catalyst for the Orchestra’s return to the stage in the fall of 2020 with a series of digitally streamed concerts, and then in January 2021 welcoming in-person audiences to Music Hall.

Between the start of his tenure and the conclusion of the CSO’s upcoming 2021-22 season, Langrée and the CSO will have commissioned or co-commissioned 36 new orchestral works and he will have conducted 30 premieres from a wide range of composers, including Julia Adolphe, Daníel Bjarnason, Jennifer Higdon, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Kinds of Kings, David Lang, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Caroline Shaw, Julia Wolfe., and the world premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Symphony No. 6, his final opus. Langrée and the Orchestra also commissioned 20 composers to write solo instrument fanfares for CSO musicians during the COVID pandemic, including Michael Abels, Marcos Balter, Peter Boyer, Courtney Bryan, Bryce Dessner, Ted Hearne, Tyshawn Sorey, Georgia Stitt and Du Yun, whose new works were premiered on the Orchestra’s website.

To date, Langrée has appointed 17 of the Orchestra’s musicians, including hiring Stefani Matsuo as the Orchestra’s first female Concertmaster. Other appointments include Associate Principal Percussion, Associate Principal Second Violin, First Assistant Concertmaster, Assistant Principal Horn, Principal Tuba, Principal Clarinet, Second/Assistant Principal Trombone, Principal Bassoon, Second Flute, Second Oboe, three section violists, two section violins, and a section cellist. In the coming season, there will be auditions for Associate Principal Timpani and section percussion, Associate Concertmaster, Associate Principal Flute, Piccolo, and Section Bass. Langrée has also worked closely with the CSO/CCM Diversity Fellows, mentoring them individually and welcoming them to perform within the Orchestra.

A regular presence at Lincoln Center since his 1998 debut, Langrée has conducted around 250 concerts and productions, including more than 50 Metropolitan Opera performances; has taught Juilliard School masterclasses; appeared with the CSO as part of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series; and made his New York Philharmonic guest conducting debut in March, 2020. Langrée has raised the artistic profile and repertoire of the Festival Orchestra well beyond the classical period, from Lully to Magnus Lindberg.

An advocate for the music of our time, Langrée has conducted premieres by Julia Adolphe, Daníel Bjarnason, Anna Clyne, Jonathan Bailey Holland, David Lang, Nico Muhly, André Previn, Caroline Shaw, and Julia Wolfe among numerous others including, with the CSO, the world premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Symphony No. 6, the composer’s final opus. Among the many period-instrument ensembles he has worked with are the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Freiburg Baroque, Concerto Köln, and Orchestre des Champs-Elysées.

Louis Langrée has guest conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, and Leipzig Gewandhaus among others. In addition to the Met, he frequently conducts at the leading opera houses including the Vienna Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Bavarian Staatsoper, and at festivals including Glyndebourne, Aix-en-Provence, BBC Proms, Edinburgh International, and the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

Langrée was previously music director of the Orchestre de Picardie, Opéra National de Lyon, Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, and chief conductor of the Camerata Salzburg. A native of Alsace, France, he is a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.

Dwight Parry, oboe

Dwight Parry has been the principal oboist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since his appointment in 2007. Previously, he held the same position with the San Diego Symphony and was a Fellow with the New World Symphony. He has performed as guest principal oboist with groups including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Deutsches Symphonie of Berlin. Originally from coastal Southern California, he found his passion for music studying piano, voice and jazz saxophone. It was not until late in high school, however, that he began playing the oboe, taking lessons from Joel Timm, and truly found his calling. He received his master’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music with John Mack and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California with Allan Vogel and David Weiss, a gentleman who also taught him to surf!

Parry performs and teaches internationally in concertos, recitals, masterclasses and chamber music. Past appearances have featured the works of Mozart, Goossens, Haydn, Bach, Strauss, Vivaldi, Albinoni, Barber, Françaix and Marcello.

Parry is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Oboe at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Additionally, he has served as interim faculty or guest lecturer at the University of Michigan, Ohio University, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He also teaches privately and gives masterclasses at schools and festivals throughout the year. His summer activities include faculty positions at the Interlochen Academy for the Arts and the Stellenbosch Festival in South Africa. He was a judge and featured performer in the 2018 Sony International Oboe Competition held in Tokyo, Japan.

When not performing, you’ll often find Parry in the audience for concerts and shows, including Broadway, jazz and bluegrass, as well as opera and symphony performances. He spends the rest of his time hiking, running, volunteering, tossing frisbees, reading and creating curiosities in the kitchen.

Dwight Parry is a Loreé Artist.

Guillaume Connesson, composer

Guillaume Connesson, born in 1970, is one of the world’s most widely performed French composers. Commissions are at the origin of most of his works (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, among others), including Pour sortir au jour, commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (2013) and Les Trois Cités de Lovecraft, a co-commission of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National de Lyon. Moreover, his music is regularly played by numerous orchestras, including the Brussels Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C., Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Orchestra.

He won a Victoire de la Musique award in 2015 and 2019, as well as the Sacem Grand Prize in 2012. His discography includes, among others, two monographs of chamber music and three symphonic monographs on the Deutsche Grammophon label. The first, Lucifer, and the third, Lost Horizon, obtained a “Choc” from Classica magazine. The second, Pour sortir au jour, earned numerous critical distinctions such as the Diapason d’Or de l’Année and the Classica Choc de l’Année.

After studies at the Conservatoire National de Région in Boulogne-Billancourt (his birthplace) and the Paris Conservatoire, he obtained premiers prix in choral direction, history of music, analysis, electro-acoustic and orchestration.

He has been professor of orchestration at the Aubervilliers-La Courneuve Conservatory since 1997.

From 2016 to 2018, he was in residence with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra as well as with the Orchestre National de Lyon. From 2019 to 2021, he was in residence with the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France.

en.guillaumeconnesson.net

LOUIS LANGRÉE, CSO Music Director
- Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair

JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL, Pops Conductor
- Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair

Matthias Pintscher, CSO Creative Partner

Damon Gupton, Pops Principal Guest Conductor

François López-Ferrer, CSO Associate Conductor
- Ashley and Barbara Ford Chair for Associate Conductor

Wilbur Lin, Pops Assistant Conductor
- Ashley and Barbara Ford Chair for Assistant Conductor

FIRST VIOLINS

Stefani Matsuo
Concertmaster
—Anna Sinton Taft Chair

Charles Morey
Acting Associate Concertmaster
—Tom & Dee Stegman Chair

Philip Marten
First Assistant Concertmaster
—James M. Ewell Chair++

Eric Bates
Second Assistant Concertmaster
—Serge Shababian Chair

Kathryn Woolley
—Nicholas Tsimaras–Peter G. Courlas Chair++

Anna Reider
—Dianne & J. David Rosenberg Chair

Mauricio Aguiar§

Minyoung Baik

James Braid
—Marc Bohlke Chair given by Katrin & Manfred Bohlke

Michelle Edgar Dugan

Rebecca Kruger Fryxell
Clifford J. Goosmann and Andrea M. Wilson Chair

Gerald Itzkoff
—Jean Ten Have Chair

Lois Reid Johnson
—Anne G. & Robert W. Dorsey Chair++

Sylvia Mitchell
—Jo Ann & Paul Ward Chair

Luo-Jia Wu

SECOND VIOLINS

Gabriel Pegis
Principal
—Al Levinson Chair

Yang Liu*
—Harold B. & Betty Justice Chair

Scott Mozlin**
—Henry Meyer Chair

Kun Dong

Cheryl Benedict

Evin Blomberg§

Rachel Charbel
—Ida Ringling North Chair

Elizabeth Furuta†

Chika Kinderman

Hyesun Park

Paul Patterson
—Charles Gausmann Chair++

Stacey Woolley
—Brenda & Ralph Taylor Chair++

VIOLAS

Christian Colberg
Principal
—Louise D. & Louis Nippert Chair

Paul Frankenfeld*
—Grace M. Allen Chair

Julian Wilkison**

Rebecca Barnes§

Christopher Fischer

Stephen Fryxell
—Melinda & Irwin Simon Chair

Caterina Longhi

Denisse Rodriguez-Rivera

Joanne Wojtowicz

CELLOS

Ilya Finkelshteyn
Principal
—Irene & John J. Emery Chair

Daniel Culnan*
—Ona Hixson Dater Chair

Norman Johns**
—Karl & Roberta Schlachter Family Chair

Matthew Lad§
—Marvin Kolodzik Chair

Susan Marshall-Petersen
—Laura Kimble McLellan Chair++

Hiro Matsuo

Theodore Nelson
—Peter G. Courlas–Nicholas Tsimaras Chair++

Alan Rafferty
—Ruth F. Rosevear Chair

BASSES

Owen Lee
Principal
—Mary Alice Heekin Burke Chair++

James Lambert*
—Thomas Vanden Eynden Chair

Matthew Zory, Jr.**+
—Trish & Rick Bryan Chair

Boris Astafiev§

Ronald Bozicevich
—Donald & Margaret Robinson Chair

Rick Vizachero

HARP

Gillian Benet Sella
Principal
—Cynthia & Frank Stewart Chair

FLUTES

Randolph Bowman
Principal
—Charles Frederic Goss Chair

Henrik Heide*†

Haley Bangs
—Jane & David Ellis Chair

PICCOLO

[OPEN]
—Patricia Gross Linnemann Chair

OBOES

Dwight Parry
Principal
—Josephine I. & David J. Joseph, Jr. Chair

Lon Bussell*
—Stephen P. McKean Chair

Emily Beare

ENGLISH HORN

Christopher Philpotts
Principal
—Alberta & Dr. Maurice Marsh Chair+

CLARINETS

Christopher Pell
Principal
—Emma Margaret & Irving D. Goldman Chair

Joseph Morris*
Associate Principal and Eb Clarinet
—Robert E. & Fay Boeh Chair++

Ixi Chen
Vicky & Rick Reynolds Chair in Honor of William A. Friedlander

BASS CLARINET

Ronald Aufmann

BASSOONS

Christopher Sales
Principal
—Emalee Schavel Chair++

Martin Garcia*

Hugh Michie

CONTRABASSOON

Jennifer Monroe

FRENCH HORNS

Elizabeth Freimuth
Principal
—Mary M. & Charles F. Yeiser Chair

[OPEN]*
—Ellen A. & Richard C. Berghamer Chair

Molly Norcross**
Acting Associate Principal
—Sweeney Family Chair in memory of Donald C. Sweeney

Lisa Conway
—Susanne & Philip O. Geier, Jr. Chair

Duane Dugger
—Mary & Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Chair

Charles Bell

TRUMPETS

Robert Sullivan
Principal
—Rawson Chair

Douglas Lindsay*
—Jackie & Roy Sweeney Family Chair

Steven Pride
—Otto M. Budig Family Foundation Chair++

Christopher Kiradjieff

TROMBONES

Cristian Ganicenco
Principal
—Dorothy & John Hermanies Chair

Joseph Rodriguez**
Second/Assistant Principal Trombone

BASS TROMBONE

Peter Norton

TUBA

Christopher Olka
Principal
—Ashley & Barbara Ford Chair

TIMPANI

Patrick Schleker
Principal
—Matthew & Peg Woodside Chair

Michael Culligan
Acting Associate Principal

[OPEN]*
—Morleen & Jack Rouse Chair

PERCUSSION

David Fishlock
Principal
—Susan S. & William A. Friedlander Chair

Michael Culligan*

[OPEN]*
—Morleen & Jack Rouse Chair

Marc Wolfley+

KEYBOARDS

Michael Chertock
—James P. Thornton Chair

Julie Spangler+
—James P. Thornton Chair

CSO/CCM DIVERSITY FELLOWS

Maalik Glover, violin

Mwakudua waNgure, violin

Tyler McKisson, viola

Javier Otalora, viola

Max Oppeltz-Carroz, cello

Luis Parra, cello

Samantha Powell, cello

Luis Celis Avila, bass

Amy Nickler, bass

LIBRARIANS

Christina Eaton
Principal Librarian
—Lois Klein Jolson Chair

Elizabeth Dunning
Acting Associate Principal Librarian

Adam Paxson
Interim Assistant Librarian

STAGE MANAGERS

Brian P. Schott

Phillip T. Sheridan

Daniel Schultz

Andrew Sheridan

§ Begins the alphabetical listing of players who participate in a system of rotated seating within the string section.

*  Associate Principal

**  Assistant Principal

† One-year appointment

‡ Leave of absence

+ Cincinnati Pops rhythm section

++ CSO endowment only

~ Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation