Overture to "Yeomen of the Guard"
Sir Arthur Sullivan

"The Yeomen of the Guard" opened at the Savoy in 1888.  It is  said by some to be Sullivan¹s finest.  Though Sir Arthur was the musical partner in that famous collaboration, librettist W.S. Gilbert, a dealer in  linguistical magic and spells,  actually deserves  credit for some of this music that was inspired  by his ingenious rhythms.

The setting is the Tower of London in the time of Shakespeare, with a man condemned to die on a false charge of sorcery.  To avoid leaving his estate to his accuser, he secretly marries Elsie, a strolling singer who loves another, but expects conveniently to become an instant wealthy widow.  His escape leads to plenty of plot complications, broken hearts, and an
emotional round of joy and despair.

Violin Concerto
Samuel Barber

Samuel Barber, an excellent baritone, began his studies at the Curtis Institute with an emphasis on singing.  He composed only as a sideline, but composition quickly took over.  After Arturo Toscanini conducted his Adagio for Strings to rhapsodic reviews in 1938, Barber never looked back.  He won a Pulitzer Prize for his opera, Vanessa, (1958) and for  his Piano Concerto (1962).  Though he was already lauded as one of America's most talented composers in the 1930s,  modernists in academic circles distained his neo-Romantic style.  Schoenberg had persuaded them toward a more intellectual dissonance.  Admirers of Barber¹s music can be thankful that hewent on doing his thing (his words).

The Violin Concerto was commissioned in 1939 by businessman Samuel Fels for his young protegé, Iso Briselli, who rejected as "too easy"  the first two movements. (These are appreciated today  for their dramatic phrases and colorful harmony).  The finale, marked presto in moto perpetuo,  was written in a more modern vein, and leaves the soloist frantically racing along a seemingly endless trail of notes.  Bricelli rejected this movement as "unplayable".

He had cause for regret: the work went on to a triumphal premiere in 1941, played instead by Albert Spalding  with the Philadelphia Orchestra.  It  is now  regularly  enjoyed in concert halls around the world.

Symphony No. 38, in D Major K504, "Prague"
W. A. Mozart

Joannes Chrisostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus (he used the German form, Gottlieb, and later the Latin version, Amadeo) Mozart had the most productive period of his brief life in the last three years of  his twenties.  In addition to  twelve piano concertos, he wrote six great string quartets, a lot of other chamber music, and the opera, "The Marriage of Figaro". He had broken from operatic conventions with his racy plots about humans, (rather than gods and goddesses). In 1786, his thirtieth year, he began writing instrumental works different from the musical conventions of his time.  The "Prague" symphony is much more complex than  symphonies normally had been, and makes greater technical demands on the performers.

The introduction begins with  repeated notes played in unison and soon diverges to become more chromatic, culminating in a D minor chord that leads to dramatic modulations.  The Allegro starts with  the D, repeated by the first violins in syncopation, while the other strings intone a simple motif only half as fast as the first violins.  A new theme deveops-- a mellifluous cantibile (singing)  tune in the violins with the bassoons in counterpoint.   Then Mozart introduces a  series of harmonic intricacies by changing a single note (A-sharp instead of A-natural in the second violins).
 
The second movement has three distinct themes: the first sings; the second
displays  dynamic contrasts; and the third creates  enchanting effects in a
string of short motifs with a  conversation between the winds and strings.
The symphony concludes with a dashing Presto.
 

Program notes by  Ginger Kuper