Go to TTU Home Page
Bryan Symphony Orchestra wishes to thank
J.C. Bradford & Company, Cookeville
Office
and
an anonymous friend of the Orchestra
for their generosity in sponsoring the October 4 concert
As you know, last spring the votes were cast to merge the Guild with the symphony board. In doing so, we allowed ourselves the union of two already strong organizations into one, affording us the opportunity to take the best of both and become even stronger. What has emerged is an entity that is proving to be extremely adept and hard-working while enthusiastically taking on new and innovative projects.
The volunteer branch of the new Association is quite alive and well. The steering committee has met several times to gather ideas and plan for both short and long term goals, as well as to re-design our approach for gaining more community interest and support.
Examples of some of the changes include the addition of family, as well as individual memberships, promotional materials with our name and logo, and parties to open and close the concert season. The emphasis is on reaching out to the community in new and different ways in hopes of reaching a whole new group of citizens, particularly children.
The education outreach efforts are to be greatly expanded this year with programs reaching all the way down to the kindergarten level, thanks to the guidance of our new education chairperson, Linda Ferriera. The volunteers play a large role in bringing all these efforts to life, and we are needed now more than ever.
Be watching your mailbox for your "Symphony Soiree" invitation, October 2 at the home of Alice and Walter Derryberry. This inauguration of the Bryan Symphony Orchestra Association should be a most pleasurable evening with entertainment, food and drink, a mini-auction, and as always, another wonderful preview of that Sunday's concert. We would like to make this an annual event to start each new season. Hope to see you there!
All of your thoughts and ideas are always welcome as we head into this new and exciting era. I am grateful to be working with such enthusiastic and hard-working individuals, and look forward to having you join us. As the Cy Coleman song proclaims, "The best is yet to come!"
Jan Tate, Volunteer Coordinator
The pre-symphony activities will be continued, plans are being made for other activities to benefit the Orchestra, and the Association was represented at the recent Fall Fun Fest in downtown Cookeville.
We may need to smooth some rough places as we operate the merged corporation, but the end in view is an efficient and successful orchestra for many seasons. Hopefully, you will be able to do your bit by joining the Association. You may join at any concert, by contacting the symphony's office at 372-6088, or at any activity conducted by the Association.
With best wishes for a happy, successful and melodious orchestral season.
Ten years later, he has numerous CD recordings to his credit with recent releases of the cello concerti by Prokofiev and Strauss with the Koelner Rundfunk Orchestra, and a duo album with pianist Bruno Canino performing Schubert and Brahms.
As a soloist, Jan Vogler has performed with major orchestras under the batons of renowned conductors, such as Hans Vonk, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Hartmut Haenchen, Marek Janowski, Michael Jurowski and Christopher Perick.
His concert tours across Europe, Japan, China, and the United states brought him high praise by the press. The Chicago Sun Times stated, "... he brought us long passionate phrases full of emotional coloring." His playing was described by the Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten as "... and immaculate musical interpretation, executed with fascinating beauty of sound."
A native of Berlin, he studied the cello at age six with his father Peter Vogler and later with Heinrich Schiff. He plays a cello made in 1712 by Joseph Guarneri.
We all benefit when we set aside a block of our day from the hectic pace of our lives for a time oriented toward meaningful experience. It is my hope that each concert this season will offer just that, and if we achieve even a portion of that goal, we have done very much for ourselves and for the manner in which we live.
Now, to the music.
I am told that Beethoven despised the music of Rossini, and I have
often wondered it had to do with two entirely different views regarding musical
humor. For all of his "monumental" characteristics, seriousness of purpose,
and ground breaking practices, Beethoven could be very funny in his music. I
can think of several passages in the symphonies which inevitable make me smile
at Beethoven's coarse humor.
There is a place in the Ninth's Finale which contrasts a sublime moment - the chorus is singing the word "Gott" (God) - with a passage led by the contrabassoon in a low register. There is an earthy quality to the moment - the divine presence and the dirty, bumbling feet of mankind. Two views of joy: one provoking awe and the other a chuckle.
Rossini's humor is different: slick, effortless, of endless variety, and rarely subtle. It is theatrical humor, and one never forgets that this is a composer whose true home is Italian opera. If Beethoven is close to the realm of Voltaire in his humor, Rossini might make one think of Vaudeville instead.
One of my favorite spots in the Overture to "Semiramide" is fairly soon after the Introduction. The Allegro section has begun quite softly with a characteristically delightful loud chord from the whole orchestra, whose purpose is to interrupt the musical flow. It is as if you are driving off to a picnic and suddenly your tire blows without warning. You've barely left the driveway, and you have to patiently replace the tire before you can continue your trip. That chord is louder than Haydn's famous one in the Surprise Symphony, and it is infinitely funny - a perfect beginning to an opera. The double irony is that the opera, "Semiramide", was TRAGEDY! Leave it to Rossini to get us smiling regardless of what might be coming afterwards.
By the way, Rossini's stock in trade is the use of crescendo (to gradually get louder) - so well-known that the term Rossini Crescendo is used in music which is not even by this composer. The idea is a recurring musical passage, which is repeated louder each time with new music layered upon old with each new repetition. It can be heard when large sections of the overture end, and I think you'll agree that the practice can make quite a climax.
Here again, one can understand Beethoven's aversion to Rossini's music. The German would have never used such an obvious device, and it must have galled him that Rossini's music was so popular. It is the miracle of rossini's music that such a simple device CAN be used and still be fresh so many years and hearing later.
Much of Rossini's music has fallen into obscurity, but the overtures seem timeless, and I am confident that the overture to "Semiramide" will be a delightful way for you to begin listening to our new season.
The Saint-Saens "Cello Concerto No. 1" is a favorite of audiences the world over. It is one of the most melodic concertos I know. Saint-Seans had that incredible ability to create audience immediately and staying power in his very best works. This concerto has shown both, and I encourage you to read the biography of our soloist for this work elsewhere in this newsletter. I truly believe that we are in for a treat!
We finish this concert with a symphony by the eminent American composer and teacher Howard Hanson. His most popular symphony is the Second, subtitled the Romantic. That name is well-earned, because the composer used a traditional language - rich harmonies; long, singable melodic lines; lush orchestration - to create a serious symphony, which is immediately approachable.
The work combines a rich emotional journey with excellent craft, and you might find yourself admiring both during the course of listening to this wonderful American symphony. If you don't know this work yet, I think you'll be adding a new title to your personal list of "favorites."
See you in October!
John Dodson
The resulting organization will have a governing board composed of twelve voting members from the community, four voting members from TTU (one being the Chairman of the Department of Music and Art), and three non-voting (advisory) members (the orchestra's conductor, the executive director, and an orchestra representative).
The Board will have officers, and the following standing committees: publicity, education, and strategic development and sponsorship, as well as an Arts Council Representative and a Volunteer Coordinator.
The Volunteer Coordinator will be responsible for committees, such as membership, receptions, social events (luncheons), newsletter, tickets, and various fund-raising projects. The Board will meet on a monthly basis.
Membership in the Association will be either as an individual ($15) or as a family ($20). The new Association will strive to include families and will emphasize education.
Concert previews will continue, as in the past. Occasional business meetings will occur throughout the year for the membership.
The structure of the new Association should eliminate the duplication of the two former organizations and unify their function, while retaining the best features of both.
Return to Music and Art Home Page
This information maintained by Michael E. Clark