Last updated: July 7, 2022
Program
DINUK WIJERATNE A Letter from the Afterlife
DAVID Concertina for trombone
BARBER Knoxville: Summer of 1915
GRIEG Holberg Suite
Repertoire
A Letter from the Afterlife
Dinuk Wijeratne conducts tonight a string orchestra arrangement of his A Letter from the Afterlife, which was originally composed in 2014 for the Afiara Quartet as the first of Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems. As he’s explained,
I found the concept of this unique project to be irresistible: ‘Pop’-influenced music for a Classical string quartet, almost as irresistible as the musicians involved. The ‘Afiaras’ (as I like to call them) are astonishingly equidistant from tradition and innovation. And so, I sought to create for them my own kind of ‘collision of old and new’, where the beauty and meaning of vintage poems might inspire the kind of loops, grooves, and catchy tunes heard in Pop.
A Letter from the Afterlife is based on a poem from the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1048–1131). Here’s the English translation by Edward Fitzgerald (1809–1883):
I sent my Soul through the Invisible,
Some letter of that After-life to spell:
And by and by my Soul return’d to me,
And answer’d “I Myself am Heav’n and Hell.
Wijeratne notes that “the melody is, in fact, a setting of the poem’s text with the words stripped away.” It is first introduced by a solo viola, against a pulsating rhythmic loop played by a solo violin. Gradually, sonority and intensity build with each iteration of the melody, now played by groups of instruments, with the driving rhythms feeling more insistent. After reaching a brief peak, the tension dissipates, and the process begins again. This time, it rises to a dramatic climax on the first of two musical quotes from Franz Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” Quartet—an aggressive theme announced by the cellos. First violins follow with the second quotation—a delicate, questioning phrase. According to the composer, “They, ironically, struck me as being Pop-like and so I allowed them to emerge as though improvised; then to be improvised upon.” Later, the piece culminates on a full orchestral unison statement of the first quote, then drives relentlessly to the end.
Concertino for Trombone
I. Allegro maestoso
II. Andante: Marcia funebre
III. Allegro maestoso
German composer Ferdinand David’s Trombone Concertino is one of the earliest works for solo trombone and orchestra. He wrote it in 1837 for Carl Traugott Queisser (1800–1846). At the time, David, a virtuoso violinist, was concertmaster and Queisser was principal violist in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, which was then conducted by Felix Mendelssohn. Queisser was also a trombone virtuoso, renowned throughout Europe—the composer Robert Schumann described him as “God of the trombone”. As a soloist with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, Queisser was featured over two dozen times, including in premieres of new works, such as this Concertino in a “large concert” on December 14, 1837. The work was well received and Queisser went on to perform it in numerous concerts in and outside Leipzig. Later in the 19th century, with Leipzig established as a centre of trombone playing, the Concertino became an important part of the instrument’s repertoire. It continues to be one of the most frequently played trombone compositions worldwide and is David’s best-known work.
The Concertino is appealing and well-crafted, combining the structural and textural clarity of 18th century (“Classical”) music, with 19th century (“Romantic”) rhythmic drive, drama, harmony, and lyricism. For the soloist, it demands not only technical dexterity but also sensitive musicianship to portray a wide variety of expressive styles—from bold, sonorous statements, to dazzling runs, to gentle, song-like melodies.
The piece unfolds in three movements without breaks. Warm phrases intoned by the woodwinds open the first movement, after which there’s a fiery full-orchestra outburst. The solo trombone responds with a grand first theme that shows off the full range of the instrument. After a transition of martial character, a sweet and tender second theme is introduced by violins and violas, followed by the trombone’s take. The soloist then returns to lively motifs to round off the section. A stormy orchestral episode ensues; when the trombone enters again, it’s in short dramatic bursts, like an opera recitative, which leads into an extended solo cadenza.
After the trombone’s soliloquy, the funeral march begins. The main theme is a solemn lament, which, in dialogue with the strings, reaches an anguished peak. There’s then a poignant reminiscence, swelling with heart-warming fondness, before descending back into the grief of the march’s procession. Out of these depths, against an agitated backdrop, violins and upper woodwinds trade off surging, ascending motifs, and we emerge into the bright joy of the finale. Here, the first movement’s themes are recalled in sequence, then briefly developed. Together, trombone and orchestra close the Concertino with a triumphant finish.
Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Jonelle Sills, soprano)
Commissioned by the American soprano Eleanor Steber, Knoxville: Summer of 1915 is a “lyric rhapsody” by Samuel Barber. Steber premiered the work in 1949, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitsky. The text is from an autobiographical prose poem by James Agee (1909–1955) and is a nostalgic reflection on a childhood summer in Knoxville, the year before his father’s death. Barber closely identified with the poem, who noted that it “particularly struck me because the summer evening he describes in his native southern town reminded me so much of similar evenings, when I was a child at home.” Moreover, it resonated with his experience of the long illness and subsequent death in August 1947 of his own father, to whom he dedicated this work.
Barber used a third of Agee’s original poem, specifically choosing the closing paragraphs, which “I put it into lines to make the rhythmic pattern clear.” Musically, as musicologist Benedict Taylor has aptly described, the “nostalgia and wistful tone of Agee’s poem is translated into Barber’s music by several markers for childhood, past time, and musical nostalgia.” These elements include a recurring lullaby refrain and a simple, folk song–like vocal line. The diverse timbres of the orchestra’s instruments vividly evoke the various sights and sounds described in the poem. To guide listening, the text is provided in full below with brief commentary on the music.
The introduction, with the sounds of the English horn, clarinet, bassoon, and harp create a pastoral setting, conjuring up a simpler time and place. The voice enters, with the words on the primary lullaby theme, and gentle, rocking accompaniment.
It has become that time of evening when people sit on their porches, rocking gently and talking gently and watching the street and the standing up into their sphere of possession of the trees, of birds' hung havens, hangars. People go by; things go by. A horse, drawing a buggy, breaking his hollow iron music on the asphalt: a loud auto: a quiet auto: people in pairs, not in a hurry, scuffling, switching their weight of aestival body, talking casually, the taste hovering over them of vanilla, strawberry, pasteboard, and starched milk, the image upon them of lovers and horsemen, squared with clowns in hueless amber.
An urgent episode disrupts the reverie with the noise and bustle of daily urban life, here represented by the sounds of a streetcar, emulated by staccato woodwinds and plucked strings, among other effects.
A streetcar raising into iron moan; stopping; belling and starting; stertorous; rousing and raising again its iron increasing moan and swimming its gold windows and straw seats on past and past and past, the bleak spark crackling and cursing above it like a small malignant spirit set to dog its tracks; the iron whine rises on rising speed; still risen, faints; halts; the faint stinging bell; rises again, still fainter; fainting, lifting, lifts, faints foregone: forgotten.
Another brief episode follows, that, with muted strings, has a wistful, magical quality, as the voice tenderly recalls this memory:
Now is the night one blue dew, my father has drained, he has coiled the hose.
Low on the length of lawns, a frailing of fire who breathes…
It then sinks back into the lullaby refrain.
Parents on porches: rock and rock. From damp strings morning glories hang their ancient faces.
The dry and exalted noise of the locusts from all the air at once enchants my eardrums.
The third episode introduces a new melodic motif, and the music becomes somewhat unsettled and intensifies—through wide leaps in the violins and the infusion of more chromatic harmonies—as the voice contemplates “their people” around them and the ephemerality of life.
On the rough wet grass of the backyard my father and mother have spread quilts. We all lie there, my mother, my father, my uncle, my aunt, and I too am lying there. … They are not talking much, and the talk is quiet, of nothing in particular, of nothing at all. The stars are wide and alive, they all seem like a smile of great sweetness, and they seem very near. All my people are larger bodies than mine, … with voices gentle and meaningless like the voices of sleeping birds. One is an artist, he is living at home. One is a musician, she is living at home. One is my mother who is good to me. One is my father who is good to me. By some chance, here they are, all on this earth; and who shall ever tell the sorrow of being on this earth, lying, on quilts, on the grass, in a summer evening, among the sounds of the night.
The pastoral music from the introduction returns; the voice intones an impassioned prayer, to which the orchestra responds with an intense climax.
May God bless my people, my uncle, my aunt, my mother, my good father, oh, remember them kindly in their time of trouble; and in the hour of their taking away.
For one last time, the lullaby returns. On the final words, which, in Barber’s view, “expresses a child’s feeling of loneliness, wonder, and a lack of identity in that marginal world between twilight and sleep,” the voice soars to ethereal heights above the orchestra.
After a little I am taken in and put to bed. Sleep, soft smiling, draws me unto her: and those receive me, who quietly treat me, as one familiar and well-beloved in that home: but will not, oh, will not, not now, not ever; but will not ever tell me who I am.
On the lullaby’s rocking motif, the orchestra draws the rhapsody to a reflective close.
Knoxville: Summer of 1915 Libretto (PDF 188.91 KB)
Holberg Suite, Op. 40
I. Praeludium: Allegro vivace
II. Sarabande: Andante
III. Gavotte: Allegretto
IV. Air: Andante religioso
V. Rigaudon: Allegro con brio
In 1884, at the peak of his career as a musician and composer, Edvard Grieg was commissioned to write a work in celebration of the bicentenary of the Norwegian-Danish writer and playwright Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754). He composed the Holberg Cantata for male voices for the occasion but as he was completing it, he also wrote a set of piano pieces, which he titled “From Holberg’s Time: Suite in the olden style”. The following year, he arranged this suite for string orchestra—the form in which it’s best known today.
Grieg modelled the Holberg Suite on the instrumental form that was popularized during the Baroque period, the one in which Holberg lived. It consists of a series of stylized dances, that is, music that’s meant to be listened to rather than danced to, but retains the distinguishing characteristics (tempo, meter, rhythms) of these dance types. The movements are unified by being all in the same tonality; G, in the case of this work (and for the most part G major, except for excursions into G minor for the Air and the Rigaudon). In general, Grieg sought to evoke this older style in his Holberg Suite, rather than imitate it.
The opening Praeludium features a vigorous galloping rhythm with forceful accents and dramatic crescendos. Overtop, violins play a delicate melody that progresses down by step. The mood shifts to stormy with thrilling cascading passages, then suddenly quiet, with a haunting phrase. Later, the initial music is reprised with some variation, and ends with a grand flourish.
The Sarabande is a slow dance in triple metre with its characteristic emphasis on the second beat. This one has some quirky touches, such as the plucked basses joining in halfway through the first part. In the second half, solo cello takes the poignant phrase from the violins, after which two other cellos join to create a close-knit trio. The remaining strings enter and rise to a warm peak, then subside at the close.
Grieg takes inspiration from the Gavotte’s signature double upbeat to create an uplifting theme made of ascending motifs, with accents highlighting the dance rhythm. The Gavotte bookends a central Musette, with cellos intoning a drone and the upper strings playing circular patterns above, evoking the Baroque-era French bagpipe from which the musical style takes its name.
The Air is a moving song without words—set in G minor, it has an affecting melancholy. Violins introduce the lyrical melody with its expressive embellishments, after which it’s taken up by the cellos and double basses. In the second half, the violins enter into a duet with solo cello, after which they reach an emotional climax. It recedes, only to build to intensity once more before dissipating quickly at the end.
The final movement is a Rigaudon, a lively French dance. Here, the tune is given to solo violin and viola who play rapid, energetic figures, against a quietly plucked backdrop. By complete contrast, the gentle middle section, in the minor mode, employs the warmth of the full ensemble. The Rigaudon returns to close the Suite with an exuberant finish.
Program notes by Dr. Hannah Chan-Hartley
Artists
Sri Lankan-born Dinuk Wijeratne is a JUNO, ECMA and SOCAN award-winning composer/conductor/pianist described as “exuberantly creative” (New York Times) and as “an artist who reflects a positive vision of our cultural future” (Toronto Star). He is a lively disrupter who crosses traditionally held musical boundaries, equally at home with symphony orchestras and string quartets, Tabla players and DJs. He has worked in international venues as poles apart as the Berlin Philharmonie and Amsterdam’s North Sea Jazz Festival.
Dinuk has twice performed in Carnegie Hall with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble and alongside tabla legend Zakir Hussain. Dinuk has also appeared at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Opera Bastille, The Lincoln Center, Teatro Colón, and in venues in Sri Lanka, Japan, and the Middle East. He was featured as a main character in What Would Beethoven Do? – the documentary about innovation in classical music featuring Eric Whitacre, Bobby McFerrin, and Ben Zander. Dinuk has composed specially for almost all of the artists and ensembles with whom he has performed, to name a few: Suzie LeBlanc, Kinan Azmeh, David Jalbert, Sandeep Das, Ramesh Misra, Ed Hanley, Eric Vloeimans, Buck 65, the Gryphon Trio, the Apollo Saxophone Quartet, the Afiara and Cecilia String Quartets, and the symphony orchestras of Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Nova Scotia, Buffalo, and KwaZulu Natal (South Africa).
Dinuk grew up in Dubai and then studied composition at the Royal Northern College of Music (U.K.). He subsequently joined the Juilliard studio of Oscar-winner composer John Corigliano. Conducting studies followed at Mannes College under David Hayes, and doctoral studies with composer Christos Hatzis at the University of Toronto.
He is the recipient of the Canada Council Jean-Marie Beaudet award for orchestral conducting; the NS Established Artist Award; NS Masterworks nominations for his Tabla Concerto and piano trio Love Triangle; double Merritt Award nominations; Juilliard, Mannes & Countess of Munster scholarships; the Sema Jazz Improvisation Prize; the Soroptimist International Award for Composer-Conductors; and the Sir John Manduell Prize – the RNCM’s highest student honor. His music and collaborative work embrace the great diversity of his international background and influences.
Canadian Soprano Jonelle Sills has been praised for her “...warm, full, elastic tone.” (Schmopera) Ms. Sills has recently been named as one of CBC Music’s classical “30 under 30” performers for 2020.
Some past roles include Mimì, Musetta (La Bohème), Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro), Roselinde (Die Fledermaus), Micaëla (Carmen) and Female Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia). Sills is a 2019 Dora award winner for “Outstanding performance of an Ensemble” in Vivier’s Kopernikus with Against the Grain Theatre.
Currently based in Toronto, Sills holds an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School at The Royal Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from York University. Sills originated the role of Esther in Prestini’s, Vavrek and Strassberger’s Silent Light as a Resident artist at Banff Centre’s Opera in the 21st Century Program. Jonelle is honoured to be joining Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program for their 2020/2021 season.
Trevor Wilson is an Ottawa-born conductor and composer who has been praised for his “close rapport with his players” and the “passion and clarity” he brings to performances. In recent times, Trevor has conducted performances with the University of Ottawa Orchestra and, during the 2021–22 season, participated in the Orchestre Métropolitain’s Orchestral Conducting Academy under the mentorship of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Trevor is Conductor Emeritus of the Ottawa Pops Orchestra, having co-founded the organization in 2017. In summer 2019, he also served as the Assistant Conductor of the National Academy Orchestra of Canada under Boris Brott. Trevor completed his graduate studies in orchestral conducting under Marin Alsop at the Peabody Conservatory, where he also served as Assistant Conductor to the Peabody Choruses under Edward Polochick.
Hillary Simms, Trombone
Hillary Simms is a young dynamic trombonist from Torbay, Newfoundland and Labrador. Praised as “one of the rising stars in the trombone world for her stellar playing, infectious personality and deep musicianship” (Jens Lindemann), Ms. Simms started the year 2020 by being named Stratford Symphony’s 2020 Emerging Artist and by being a co-founder of The Canadian Trombone Quartet: Canada’s first professional all female trombone quartet who had their inaugural performance this past January.
Hillary was a performing artist in the first ever Canadian Women’s Brass Conference held in Toronto and a featured guest artist at the Memorial University of Newfoundland’s “Paddi-versary Extravaganza” Trombone Event. Her accomplishments include winning the Division II Solo Competition at the American Trombone Workshop, receiving second place prize for brass at the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal Concours Manuvie, being a finalist in the Latzsch Trombone Festival Solo Competition and The International Trombone Festival Robert Marstellar Solo Competition as well as being named a recipient of the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Award.
Hillary has recently played with the Canadian Opera Company, The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra and can be heard playing lead trombone on the CD “Then is Now” recorded at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity with Jens Lindemann and Matt Catingub released January 21st, 2020.
Hillary holds a Bachelors in Music Performance from McGill University, a Masters in Music Performance from Yale University and has recently completed an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School, studying with Gordon Wolfe. Hillary intends to start her Doctorate of Musical Arts from Northwestern University in the fall of 2020.
Since its debut in 1969, the National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra has been praised for the passion and clarity of its performances, its visionary educational programs, and its prominent role in nurturing Canadian creativity. Under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra reflects the fabric and values of Canada, reaching and representing the diverse communities we live in with daring programming, powerful storytelling, inspiring artistry, and innovative partnerships.
Alexander Shelley began his tenure as Music Director in 2015, following Pinchas Zukerman’s 16 seasons at the helm. Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and former Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra (2009–2017), he has been in demand around the world, conducting the Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Stockholm Philharmonic, among others, and maintains a regular relationship with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and the German National Youth Orchestra.
Each season, the NAC Orchestra features world-class artists such as the newly appointed Artist-in-Residence James Ehnes, Angela Hewitt, Joshua Bell, Xian Zhang, Gabriela Montero, Stewart Goodyear, Jan Lisiecki, and Principal Guest Conductor John Storgårds. As one of the most accessible, inclusive, and collaborative orchestras in the world, the NAC Orchestra uses music as a universal language to communicate the deepest of human emotions and connect people through shared experiences.