Program Notes

'TIS THE SEASON – Saturday, December 11, 2010 

L’Arlésienne Suite No. 1 ……………………………………………Georges Bizet
The suite opens with a strong, energetic theme, which is based on the four movements of the Christmas Carol “March of the Kings”, played by the violins.  Afterwards, the theme is repeated by various sections. After reaching a climax, the theme fades away.  The second movement resembles a minuet, while the third is more emotional and muted.  The last movement, Carillon, features a repeating bell-tone pattern by the French Horns, mimicking a peal of church bells.

Exsultate jubilate, K. 165……………………………………………Wolfgang Mozart
This religious solo motet was composed at the time Mozart was visiting Milan in 1773.  It is divided into three parts: Allegro, Andanta and Allegro. The final allegro section is an "Alleluia," a jewel of a piece with its high spirits and its wit ... its music speaks unmistakably of his relaxed high spirits at the time he wrote it and of the elation and confidence that his opera-house success at brought him.

Selections from the Nutcracker Suite......Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky/arr. Ellington and Strayhorn
 In what is composer's best-known composition, Tchaikovsky takes the story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E.T.A. Hoffman and transforms it into a ballet.  Frequently performed during the Christmas season in the West, the ballet premiered at the Imperial Mariinksy Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia on December 18th, 1892.  It is comparatively short in its entirety, running at about 85 minutes in length.  Despite its brevity, the work is not lacking in recognizable melodies, which include Trepak (or Russian dance), Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, and Waltz of the Flowers.  Listen for the celesta in Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies; this instrument was relatively new at the turn of the 20th century and had not been heard in any major works before this piece.   

Since its debut and its fast ascension to the top of the mountain of popular classical music, the pieces within The Nutcracker ballet have been reworked and rearranged many times over.  One unique arrangement of the eight pieces Tchaikovsky picked for the Nutcracker Suite (not to be confused with the full ballet) is by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. The familiar melodies of the suite are wrapped in chromaticism, swung eighth notes, and new names. Trepak becomes the Volga Vouty; Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies becomes Sugar Rum Cherry; Waltz of the Flowers becomes Dance of the Floreadores.

Sleigh Ride…………………………………………………….Leroy Anderson
Anderson first got the idea for this short, lighthearted piece in a heat wave of summer 1946. Sleigh Ride quickly became a widespread seasonal favorite in Western music after its completion in 1948. The Boston Pops recorded the piece in 1949, before Mitchell Parish added the lyrics in 1950. The first known vocal recording was made in 1950 by the Andrews Sisters. Since then it has been recorded by a wide array of musicians, including Bing Crosby, Herb Alpert, Garth Brooks, Neil Diamond, The Spice Girls, The Carpenters, and Bela Fleck. 
  

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