Des Moines Symphony

Celebration Finale
By Robert Markow

SIBELIUS: SYMPHONY NO. 7 IN C MAJOR, OP. 105

(in one movement)

JEAN SIBELIUS: Born in Tavastehus (Hämeenlinna), Finland, December 8, 1865; died in Järvenpää (near Helsinki), September 20, 1957

The Seventh is Sibelius' final symphony, the culmination of a lifetime of work in the direction of concision, compression and organic unity within symphonic form. In this twenty-minute work, the composer presents a seamless tapestry of motives, all interrelated, all rigorously and logically controlled so as to create, as he expressed it, "an inner connection between all the motifs." Sibelius' Seventh is the ne plus ultra of the single-movement symphony.

Fantasia sinfonica. Afterwards he decided that it did indeed fulfill the requirements of symphonic design - not of symphony in the classical form of the model established by Haydn and Mozart, or even of the later works by Brahms and Tchaikovsky, but in the genre: a large-scale work striving for organic unity among its constituent. There is scarcely a moment of silence in the entire symphony; ideas and motifs follow one another without pause, at times overlapping, dovetailing and intertwining as well. 

There are really no themes one can leave the concert hall humming, yet the symphony abounds in memorable ideas and events. The opening rap on the tympani is often regarded as a kind of "call to attention." The ensuing scale-like passage in the strings constitutes one of the "seeds" or "germs" that will engender many of the symphony's subsequent motivic elements. Three times throughout the symphony the solo trombone delivers a noble incantation that cuts effortlessly through the dense polyphony around it; each of these incantations is a kind of landmark on the symphony's journey to its final cadence in C major. The Vivacissimo is another of the memorable moments, as strings and woodwinds in turn race skittishly in every direction.

As this symphony fits no traditional mold, yet is obviously continuously active in the unfolding of musical events, former Cleveland annotator Klaus Roy suggests that the listener experience it as a "tone poem without a story or picture."  Hence, each listener must create his or her own program. Another annotator (Timothy Day) finds in its conclusion "a resolution ... the dignified calm of a human spirit which has struggled and won through in a hostile environment."

Despite its relative brevity and the concentrated attention it demands, the Seventh Symphony exudes an epic character. Robert Simpson grandly regards it "like a great planet in orbit, its movement vast, inexorable, seemingly imperceptible to its inhabitants. [It] has both the cosmic motion of the earth and the teeming activity that is upon it; we are made to observe one or the other at the composer's will."

RAVEL: PIANO CONCERTO IN G

MAURICE RAVEL: Born in Ciboure, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France, March 7, 1875; died in Paris, December 18, 1937

                                                        I. Allegramente

                                                       II. Adagio assai

                                                      III. Presto

the Lamoureux Orchestra on January 14, 1932. Ravel had originally intended to play the piano part himself, but because of declining health, he granted the solo role to Marguerite Long, while he conducted.A number of elements combined to influence the style and form of the Concerto. Music of the Basques is immediately evident in the opening bars, for instance, where the exuberant piccolo theme bears strong relation to the folksong style of the Basques. The second theme, played first by the piano, suggests the influence of neighboring Spain. Ravel had spent much time in the Basque country during the summer and autumn of 1929, when he began to write the Concerto. Ravel's Basque hometown of Ciboure (a tiny seacoast town on the Bay of Biscay where France and Spain meet) honored him the following year, strengthening the composer's ties to his homeland.

The jazz influence is even more pronounced, stemming from Ravel's tour throughout the United States in 1928. He visited the jazz clubs of New Orleans and Harlem, and no doubt heard, among others, Paul Whiteman's orchestra. With George Gershwin he struck up a mutually admiring friendship. The influence of Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F can be felt in Ravel's Concerto, especially in the first movement with its "blues" notes, jazz harmonies and rhythms.

Ravel professed that "the music of a concerto should, in my opinion, be lighthearted and brilliant, and not aim at profundity or at dramatic effects." In this respect his Concerto in G succeeds splendidly, and Ravel liked to refer to it as a divertissement de luxe.

                                     I. Adagio - Allegro moderato - Poco adagio

                                    II. Allegro moderato - Presto - Maestoso - Allegro

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS:  Born in Paris, October 9, 1835; died in Algiers, December 16, 1921

The Third Symphony was written in early 1886 as the result of a commission from the Philharmonic Society of London. The first performance took place in St. James's Hall in London on May 19 of that year. It was a gala event of course, with the Prince and Princess of Wales (Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) in attendance. Saint-Saëns conducted his symphony after having already appeared as soloist in Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto in the same concert. The public loved the symphony, and critical reception was generally favorable, though some critics grumbled about its unorthodox design. 

The entire symphony is based on the principle of continual transformation of a "motto" theme. This theme makes its first full appearance in the restless series of short detached notes in the violins, following the slow, mysterious introduction. The attentive ear will pick out this theme in its rhythmic and coloristic metamorphoses throughout the symphony - at varying times flowing and lyrical, detached and fragmented, broad and noble, or agitated and restless. The melodic line is also sometimes altered as well.