Tuesday Evening, February 25, 2020, at 8:00Isaac Stern Auditorium / Ronald O. Perelman Stage

THE JUILLIARD SCHOOL

presents

Juilliard OrchestraDAVID ROBERTSON, Conductor

STEPHEN KIM, Violin

STEVEN MACKEY Beautiful Passing (2008) (b. 1956) STEPHEN KIM, Violin

Intermission

GUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor (1901–02) (1860–1911) Erster Teil 1. Trauermarsch: in gemessenem Schritt, Streng, Wie ein Kondukt 2. Stürmisch bewegt, mit grösster Vehemenz Zweiter Teil 3. Scherzo: Kräftig, nicht zu schnell Dritter Teil 4. Adagietto: Sehr langsam 5. Rondo-Finale: Allegro

Performance time: approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes, including an intermission

This performance is made possible with support from the Celia Ascher Fund for Juilliard.

PLEASE SWITCH OFF YOUR CELL PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES.

Notes ON THE PROGRAM by James M. Keller

Growing up in northern California, Steven Mackey engaged in a favorite activity of male teenagers—playing electric guitar in rock bands. His awareness of “concert music” developed a bit later, in the course of studies at the University of California, Davis; State University of New York at Stony Brook; and Brandeis University (from which he holds a Ph.D.). Since 1985 he has taught at Princeton University, and in 1991 he was awarded that school’s first-ever distinguished teaching award.

At about the time he joined the Princeton faculty, Mackey revived his interest in the electric guitar. He has composed two concerto-like works spotlighting that instrument plus a double concerto for violin, electric guitar, and string orchestra; and he has often appeared playing electric guitar with notable ensembles, including the Kronos and Arditti Quartets. That instrument has become a signature sound in many of his scores, though not in Beautiful Passing, his violin concerto from 2008. One suspects the electric guitar might threaten to overpower the other instruments in an orchestral texture that, ultimately, must partner a solo violin. Instead, Mackey employs a modest orchestral complement of double winds (plus bass clarinet and doublings on piccolo, English horn, E-flat clarinet, and contrabassoon) and strings (with harp and piano), though with a rich percussion section, which is another of his hallmarks. Here, the

percussion is managed by a timpanist and two other players; they sometimes employ special techniques, like bowing gongs and cymbals or dropping tennis balls onto the head of a kettledrum.

Although Mackey principally composes for instrumental ensembles, his catalogue also includes several vocal and stage works. One of them, the multidisciplinary Slide (2009), for actor/singer, electric guitar, and instrumental ensemble, won the 2012 Grammy for best small ensemble performance. He is much drawn to the contrast inherent in the concerto format. Apart from Beautiful Passing and the concertos with electric guitar, he has written such orchestral works to feature flute, trumpet, viola, piano, organ, timpani, and percussion.

Mackey’s pieces often display a psychedelic quality. “The material in my music—the tunes, chords, and textures––tend to explore fringe modes of consciousness rather than brand-name emotion or logical thought,” he has written. “Generally speaking, these fringe modes are alert and lucid as opposed to trance-like. Often it is the unlikely combination of otherwise simple elements that transcends and confounds familiar patterns.”

Beautiful Passing is a deeply personal piece. “The governing metaphor of the work,” he said, “has to do with the violin gaining control of its own

Beautiful Passing STEVEN MACKEYBorn February 14, 1956, in Frankfurt, GermanyLives in Princeton, New Jersey

Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor GUSTAV MAHLERBorn: July 7, 1860, in Kalischt, or Kalište, BohemiaDied: May 18, 1911, in Vienna

Throughout his career Gustav Mahler balanced the competing demands of his dual vocation as a composer and conductor. Responsibilities on the podium and in the administrative office engulfed him during the concert season, forcing him to relegate his composing to the summer months, which he would typically spend as a near-hermit in some pastoral spot in the Austrian countryside. His getaway while writing his Fifth Symphony was Maiernigg, a bump on the map on the south shore of the Wörthersee in the southern Austrian region of Carinthia. He completed construction of his villa there while this work progressed during the summers of 1901 and 1902.

He was escaping a Vienna that had become a source of inordinate stress. He had just been ousted as director of the Vienna Philharmonic following a

three-year tenure in which the normal roller coaster of Viennese musical politics was rendered more intense by the anti-Semitic sentiments that often dogged him. He was hanging on to his other principal position, as director of the Vienna Court Opera, but his anxiety at work was leading to frequent medical problems. Another important event occurred while he was working on this piece: In November 1901, he met Alma Schindler, who was just then concluding a fling with her composition teacher, Alexander von Zemlinsky. Gustav and Alma married a few months later, having already set about making their first baby. It would be a complicated and often unhappy marriage, though they stayed together until Mahler’s death. In 1902, the newlywed Mahlers were already having problems, not least of which, as far as Alma was concerned, were

destiny, competing with, commanding, and ultimately letting go of the orchestra. This metaphor arises from my experience, during the composition of the piece, watching my mother gain control of her destiny to the point of predicting the day she would let go, predicting the day of her death. Her last words to me were, ‘Please tell everyone I had a beautiful passing.’”

Mackey has provided this guide for lis-teners:

Beautiful Passing is in two halves separated by a violin cadenza. The first half deals with the interaction between the sharply contrasting ma-terials of the violin and the orchestra. The orchestra develops something of

a group mentality, a mass hysteria that is both scary and funny. It isn’t so much malevolent as it is mechani-cal and oblivious to the nuance of the violin. That insensitivity is threaten-ing but, like a bull in a china shop, also somewhat funny to observe with enough distance. Gradually, a few members of the orchestra hear the voice of reason and become support-ive of the violin. After a cadenza that impresses the orchestra with flutter-ing delicacy the violin introduces its own version of brutality—crushing triple stops—which command, for the first time, a consensus between the orchestra and soloist. In this sec-ond part they retain the individuality but conspire toward common goals, unlike the first part.

the frequent visits paid by one of their neighbors, a Wagnerian soprano with whom Gustav had had an affair some years earlier.

What Mahler achieved during those two summers marked his return to the purely instrumental symphony. His First Symphony had been strictly orchestral, but the three that followed it all expanded the forces by using singers, as soloists, in chorus, or both. But if Mahler’s Fifth Symphony is not unusually radical in its forces, extensive though they are, his use of those forces is profoundly imaginative. On top of that, its structure is curious indeed. The piece unrolls over five movements (rather than the classic four of most symphonies), and those movements are grouped into three overriding sections: the first and third sections both comprise two movements, while the Scherzo stands in the middle as a section unto itself. From its opening trumpet fanfare to its majestic conclusion some 70 minutes later (and a semitone higher, since the underlying tonality moves from C-sharp into D), Mahler’s Fifth Symphony traces a vast panorama of human emotions.

The Adagietto of Mahler’s Fifth is the most famous movement from any Mahler symphony. The conductor Willem Mengelberg claimed that it was an encoded love letter from Gustav to Alma—a fact he insisted both parties had

confirmed to him. Scored for only strings and harp, it stands apart from the rest of the symphony in its basic sound; and its character—pensive, soulful, nostalgic, more resigned than mournful—renders it uniquely memorable.

Notwithstanding its great popularity, the Adagietto represents only a fraction of the emotional spectrum of this symphony. Bruno Walter, Mahler’s assistant in both Hamburg (1894–96) and Vienna (beginning in 1901), witnessed the creation of the Fifth Symphony. He characterized it thus: “A work of strength and sound self-reliance, its face turned squarely towards life, and its basic mood one of optimism. A mighty funeral march, followed by a violently agitated first movement, a scherzo of considerable dimensions, an adagietto, and a rondo-fugue, form the movements.” In 1911, Mahler remarked that his Fifth Symphony had come to represent “the sum of all the suffering I have been compelled to endure at the hands of life.” For us, too, it may convey suffering, but also joy, hope, and many other aspects of the human condition.

—James M. Keller

James M. Keller, the program annotator of the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony, is the author of Chamber Music: A Listener’s Guide (Oxford University Press).

MEET THE ArtistsDAVID ROBERTSON, Conductor

David Robertson is a sought-after figure in the worlds of opera, orchestral music, and new music. A champion of contemporary composers and an advocate for his art form, Robertson is the chief conductor and artistic director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and recently completed a 13-year tenure as music director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He has served as artistic leader to many musical institutions, including the Orchestre National de Lyon, and—as a protégé of Pierre Boulez—Ensemble Intercontemporain. With frequent projects at the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Théâtre du Châtelet, and San Francisco Opera, he also conducts the leading orchestras of the world: New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Amsterdam, Berlin, Beijing, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, where he served

as principal guest conductor. Devoted to supporting young musicians, Robertson became Juilliard’s director of conducting studies, distinguished visiting faculty, in September 2018. He has received numerous awards and in 2011 was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the government of France.

CH

RIS

LE

ESTEPHEN KIM, Violin

From Cupertino, California, violinist Stephen Kim won third prize at the 2019 Queen Elisabeth and 2018 Premio Paganini international violin compe-titions as well as second prize at the 2016 Sendai International Violin Com-petition. His recent seasons included seven performances of Brahms’ Violin Concerto during a tour in Belgium, a two-month tour of the U.S. performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, tours in Korea, Japan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Macao, and performances at the Verbier Festival Academy, Stradivari So-ciety recital series, and Kingston Cham-ber Music Festival. In Seoul, Kim gave a free performance for disabled young

musicians and led master classes to in-spire and spread a passion for music.

As a teen, he won major prizes at the 2015 Seoul and 2014 Yehudi Menuhin international violin competitions and was the first person in the Aspen Music Festival’s history to win all three of its violin competitions. Kim studied with Shmuel Ashkenasi, Joseph Silverstein, and Aaron Rosand at the Curtis Insti-tute of Music, where he received the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fellowship and

was awarded the school’s 2018 Curtis/Milka violin artist prize. He is studying for his master’s at Juilliard with Hyo Kang. Kim plays the 1725 “ex-Moller” Guarnerius del Gesù on generous loan from the Samsung Foundation of Cul-ture of Korea and the Stradivari Society of Chicago.Syril H. and Walter A. Frank Scholarship, Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship

JUILLIARD ORCHESTRA

JUILLIARD ORCHESTRA ADMINISTRATION

Juilliard’s largest and most visible student performing ensemble, the Juilliard Orchestra is known for delivering polished and passionate performances of works spanning the repertoire. Comprising more than 350 students in the bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, the orchestra appears throughout the season in concerts on the stages of Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, and Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater. The orchestra is a strong partner to Juilliard’s other divisions, appearing in opera and dance productions, as well as presenting an annual concert of world premieres by Juilliard student composers. The Juilliard Orchestra welcomes an impressive roster of world renowned guest conductors

this season including Marin Alsop, Karina Canellakis, Elim Chan, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Mark Wigglesworth, Jörg Widmann, and Keri-Lynn Wilson as well as faculty members Jeffrey Milarsky and David Robertson. The Juilliard Orchestra has toured across the U.S. and throughout Europe, South America, and Asia, where it was the first Western conservatory ensemble allowed to visit and perform following the opening of the People’s Republic of China in 1987, returning two decades later, in 2008. Other ensembles under the Juilliard Orchestra umbrella include the conductorless Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, Juilliard Wind Orchestra, and new-music groups AXIOM and New Juilliard Ensemble.

Adam Meyer, Director, Music Division, and Deputy Dean of the CollegeJoe Soucy, Assistant Dean for Orchestral StudiesJoanna K. Trebelhorn, Director of Orchestral and Ensemble OperationsMatthew Wolford, Operations ManagerDaniel Pate, Percussion CoordinatorLisa Dempsey Kane, Principal Orchestra LibrarianMichael McCoy, Orchestra LibrarianAdarsh Kumar, Orchestra Personnel ManagerMichael Dwinell, Orchestral Studies CoordinatorMegan Zhang, Orchestra Management Apprentice

JUILLIARD ORCHESTRADavid Robertson, Conductor

ViolinKatherine Woo, ConcertmasterLucas Stratmann,

Principal SecondRabia BrookeKatherine (Kit Ying) ChengJeongah ChoiGabrielle DespresNjioma Chinyere GreviousLudvig Norum GudimJeremy Lap Hei HaoAbigail HongYigit KaratasHoJung KimJoshua KimNikayla KimMiyu KuboAriel Seunghyun LeeSayuri KuruHaokun LiangPeter LinKJ McDonaldCoco MiJason MoonKenneth Ryu NaitoNaoko NakajimaKelly TalimHelenmarie VassiliouHaoge WangJaewon WeeEliza WongJessica Jo-Tzu Yang

ViolaTabitha Rhee, PrincipalNatalie ClarkeDevin CowanLydia GrimesJames Chanha KangLaura LiuDevin MooreSamuel RosenthalSarah Semin SungShuhan WangCameren WilliamsKayla Williams

CelloDavid Bender, PrincipalClara AbelRaphael BodenDrew ConeDrake DriscollDaniel HassEunae JinYun-Ya LoJoshua McClendonWangshu Xiang

Double BassParis Myers, PrincipalDaniel ChanBlake HilleyJacob KolodnyVincent LucianoZachary MarzulliBennett NorrisJustin SmithXingyuan Weng

Flute/PiccoloHéléna Macherel, PrincipalChris Wong, PrincipalYiding ChenMei Stone

OboePablo O’Connell, PrincipalGabriel Young, PrincipalAlexandra von der Embse

English HornAlexandra von der Embse

ClarinetKeeheon Nam, PrincipalSunho Song, PrincipalPhillip Solomon

E-flat ClarinetKeeheon NamSunho Song Bass ClarinetPhillip Solomon

BassoonMorgan Davison, PrincipalRebecca G. KrownEmmali Ouderkirk

ContrabassoonRebecca G. Krown

French HornDavid Alexander, PrincipalHannah Miller, PrincipalLogan BryckLee CyphersJessica ElderJaimee ReynoldsLauren Robinson

TrumpetAnthony Barrington, PrincipalWilliam Leathers, PrincipalBen KeatingHuanyi Yang

TromboneCarlos Jiménez Fernández,

PrincipalAddison Maye-Saxon,

PrincipalMarco Gomez

Bass TromboneMarco Gomez

TubaJoshua Williams

TimpaniChristopher Keum ChoiSimon Herron

PercussionChristopher Keum Choi,

PrincipalMizuki Morimoto, PrincipalJake BordenYoon Jun Kim

KeyboardSeoyon Susanna MacDonald

HarpMiriam Ruf