THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Kazuhito Yamashita
Guitarist

MONDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 6, 1989, AT 8:00

RACKHAM AUDITORIUM, ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN

PROGRAM

Variations on a Theme of Mozart, Op. 9 ................................. SOR

Sonata No. 1 for Unaccompanied Violin, BWV 1001 .................... BACH

(arranged by Yamashita)
Adagio
Fuga
Siciliano
Presto

Folios I, II, and III ............................................. TAKEMITSU

INTERMISSION

Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, "From the New World" .......... DVORAK
(arranged by Yamashita)
Allegro molto
Largo
Molto vivace
Allegro con fuoco

RCA Red Seal Records.

Kazuhito Yamashita appears by arrangement with IMG Artists, New York City.
Cameras and recording devices are not allowed in the auditorium.
Halls Cough Tablets, courtesy of Warner Lambert Company, are available in the lobby.

Ninth Concert of the 111th Season Twenty-seventh Annual Chamber Arts Series
PROGRAM NOTES

Variations on a Theme of Mozart, Op. 9 ...................... FERNANDO Sou

(1778-1839)
One cannot help but draw parallel life styles of one historical musical figure to another.
In the case of Sor, his up and down artistic development is similar to Mozart, Beethoven,
Schubert, and to a certain degree, Haydn. His basic musical training occurred within a religious
environment, his military service included administrative obligations, he was patronized by
various political and noble personages (e.g., Manuel Godoy, the "Prince of Peace" during the
Napoleonic invasion of Spain, and the Duchess of Alba, Goya's subject for certain paintings,
catered to his artistic needs), and in the, final act of the mature artist there was little
recognition of his talents by his own countrymen.
Today, there is no question as to his contributions to the guitar literature and especially for
his effort in extending the fingerboard harmonic vocabulary. What Mozart and Beethoven did
for the piano, Sor did for the guitar. One of this country's keyboard scholars, William S.
Newman, wrote in his book The Sonata in the Classic Era: "The creative worth of Sor's sonatas
is high. The ideas, which grow out of the instrument, yet stand up well enough apart from it,
are fresh and distinctive. The harmony is skillful and surprisingly varied, with bold key changes
and with rich modulations in the development sections."
A musical form that Sor explored throughout his sixty works is the theme and variation
structure. One of his most famous works in this form, popularized by Segovia, is Opus 9,
Variations on an air from The Magic Flute, which Sor dedicated to his brother. Mozart wrote
The Magic Flute in the last year of his life, intended as popular Viennese entertainment, but with
his touch, it was transformed into a work of art. The theme Das klinget so herrlicht (It jingles
so softly) occurs toward the end of Act I, when Papageno, playing his magic chimes, sets
Monastatos and his slaves to dancing and saves Pamina from their clutches. The work opens
with a dramatic introduction marked Andante largo, followed by the theme that is slightly
altered from the original and somewhat ornamented. There are five variations and a short coda.
Ron Purcell (Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center)

Sonata No. 1 for Unaccompanied Violin, BWV 1001 .. JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
(1685-1750)
Toward the end of the seventeenth century, the technique of polyphonic performance on a
stringed instrument was fully developed, especially with the guitar and lute family. With the
violin family, the matter of figured bass accompaniment was the practice of the day. Therefore,
one rarely heard an unaccompanied performance on these instruments. Taking hints from the
past and basing structures of the utmost complexity upon them, Bach composed two sets of
unaccompanied sonatas (partitas), six for violin and six suites for cello.
The sonatas (partitas) for unaccompanied violin were written during Bach's Cothen
period, 1717-23, at the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen. In this set for violin, there
are three sonatas and three partitas. The main difference between a sonata and partita is the
overall contents. The sonata structure is more abstract and normally does not include dance
movements, whereas the partitas usually are made up of a sequence of the typical baroque
dances, i.e., prelude, allemande, sarabande, and gigue. Bach's sonatas were the forerunners of
the early classical sonata beginning with a slow movement, then a fast, followed by another
slow and fast movement.
Rhapsodical in style, the opening Adagio movement of the Sonata No. 1 is characteristic of
Bach. The Fuga is an animated movement, with the runs and arpeggios alternating with the
polyphony of the fugue. Then, from the sweet, pastoral character of the Siciliano, it moves on to
the brilliant climax of the Presto.
Ron Purcell

Folios I, II, and III ........................................ TORU TAKEMITSU

(b. 1930)
Tokyo-born Toru Takemitsu is almost as much a poet or painter in sound as a composer.
At the age of eighteen, he began two years of private study of composition, but his principal
teacher, he has said, was "daily life, including all of music and nature." The music that has
most interested him is reflected in his work; it ranges from the expressive chromaticism of
Schoenberg and Berg to the romanticized, mystic, nature-studies of Olivier Messaicn and the
electronic manipulation of natural sounds in the musique concrete of Pierre Schaeffer.
In his early years in the arts, Takemitsu joined with a group of painters and a few other
musicians in organizing an experimental laboratory in Tokyo to explore new aesthetic paths.
Later, he was associated with the Institute for Twentieth Century Music, which studied and
performed the newest music from Europe and America, and in 1966, hejoined conductor Seiji
Ozawa in starting a biennial festival of contemporary music. By 1970, the time had come when
new creative, artistic ideas could begin to move in the opposite direction: outward from Japan
to the United States and Europe. Takemitsu was in the forefront of this movement as artistic
director of the "Space Theater" for Expo '70 in Osaka that year, and his extraordinary
installation there of advanced technological developments that lent themselves for use as media
of artistic expression had a wide influence in the rest of the world. In 1975, he visited the United
States and gave a seminar in composition at Harvard University.
Two works by Takemitsu have been performed in Ann Arbor: his String Quartet No. 1,
subtitled "A Way a lone," composed in 1981 and performed by the Tokyo String Quartet in
1982, and "Rain Tree," a work scored for vibraphone, two marimbas, and croatales, performed
by the ensemble Nexus in 1984. His "Folios" for guitar date from 1974.
Leonard Burkat

Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, "From the New World" ANTONIN DVORAK
(1841-1904)
Dvorak moved to the "New World" in 1892 to become director of the National Con-
servatory of Music in New York. His stay in America, curtailed by homesickness for his native
Bohemia, lasted for only three years. Nonetheless, he composed some of his most successful
compositions during this time, among them the symphony heard this evening. In explaining
the symphony's subtitle, Dvorak stated that it signified "Impressions and Greetings From the
New World." While various American musical influences are in evidence Dvorak is said to
have listened to Negro spirituals and native American Indian music with much interest the
composer acknowledged that his work remained "genuine Bohemian music." Even so, he
described the presence of the various American influences: "I tried to write only in the spirit of
those national American melodies."
An Adagio introduction is followed by the main theme with syncopated rhythms and a
jaunty character. The second theme is notable, primarily because of its more than casual
resemblance to the melody of the spiritual, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot."
The Largo movement is, perhaps, one of the most celebrated in the symphonic repertoire.
One cannot help but hear a certain plaintiveness in its principal theme, perhaps even the
melancholy of homesickness, in the hauntingly beautiful melody. Two subsidiary ideas break
the subdued spell of the movement thus far with a bucolic tune. Dvorak ends the movement
with a return to the main melody, and it ends as it had begun, contemplatively, with a few quiet
chords.
The Scherzo has the character of a ritual Indian dance. After the rhythmic main theme, with
its interplay of duple and triple groupings, the Trio section contains two spirited Trios, both
exuding a rustic, charming quality. A coda re-introduces the principal theme of the first
movement.
The main theme of the concluding movement, Adagio conjuoco, eventually gives way to a
dancing triplet theme, followed by a romantic melody. Variants of themes from earlier
movements are then interwoven with this material, which culminates with the reappearance of
the Largo movement's opening chords. In the coda, Dvorak presents in combination the
opening themes of the first and last movements.
The arrangement of previously composed music for plucked strings has a long history: the
earliest pieces for renaissance lute were arrangements and adaptations of vocal music; Bach
made his own arrangement of his Fifth Cello Suite for baroque lute; and Tarrega initiated a
continuing tradition of arranging music of Albeniz for guitar. In an effort to expand the
literature for the guitar and increase the guitar's listening audience, Yamashita has taken a
fearless approach to transcribing "re-writings," as he calls them. In addition to his New World
arrangement, he has transcribed other large pieces for solo guitar, including Mussorgsky's
Pictures at an Exhibition, Stravinsky's Firebird, and Rimsky-Korsakov's complete Scheherazade.
During Yamashita's Ann Arbor duo-appearance with James Galway in 1986, the guitarist
gave his Hill Auditorium audience a preview of the New World transcription, when he per-
formed the Largo. Of the Largo movement, which he also played in Washington's Kennedy
Center on the same tour, the Post reviewer wrote: "The highlight of the evening was Dvorak's
Largo . . . Yamashita played it with power and great tenderness, ending with a stunning
strummed pianissimo." In another city, Vienna, Yamashita was reported by Ovation Magazine
to have "mesmerized" a standing-room-only audience with his January 1988 performance of
this symphony.

About the Artist

At the age of 28, Japanese guitarist Kazuhito Yamashita is rapidly gaining recognition as
one of the world's foremost guitar virtuosos. A dazzling technique and expressive artistry have
brought praise from audiences and critics alike, and his recordings and performances of original
transcriptions of such works as Pictures at an Exhibition, Firebird, and the New World Symphony
have already become legends in guitar circles.
Born in Nagasaki, Mr. Yamashita first began studying the guitar at the age of eight with
his father and still credits his father with being the biggest influence on him. At age 16, he won
first prize in the Ramirez Competition in Spain, the Alessandria Competition in Italy, and the
Nineteenth International Guitar Competition in Paris. In 1978, he performed throughoutjapan
and one year later made his debut with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, followed by a
concert tour that took him to 20 Japanese cities. The year 1978 also saw his European debut in
Paris, where he was greeted as a major new discovery. Two years later, he appeared at the
Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and was immediately engaged for a six-recital tour throughout
the Netherlands the following season. His Canadian debut came in 1984 with an appearance at
the Toronto Guitar Festival, and his London recital debut came one year later, along with
recitals in Austria and Germany.
Among Kazuhito Yamashita's fans is flutist James Galway, with whom he recently
recorded an album for RCA Red Seal entitled "Italian Serenade," and with whom Mr.
Yamashita made his first American tour in 1987. Their performances in Ann Arbor, New
York, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C. were a triumph for the young
Japanese virtuoso and resulted in two sold-out recital tours for him in Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Chicago, New York, Boston, Saint Louis, Toronto, and Vancouver, among other
cities. His current season includes solo appearances at the 1989 International Guitar Festival, at
Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, chamber music concerts with the Tokyo String Quartet
in Boston and New York, and his second appearance in Ann Arbor.
Mr. Yamashita is currently involved in recording collaborations with the London
Philharmonic Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin and with the Tokyo String Quartet, both
for RCA.

UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY

Board of Directors
John W. Reed, President Thomas E. Kauper, Secretary
David B. Kennedy, Vice President Norman G. Herbert, Treasurer
Gail W. Rector, President Emeritus
Robert G. Aldrich Patrick B. Long John Psarouthakis
James J. Duderstadt Judythe R. Maugh Ann S. Schriber
Richard L. Kennedy John D. Paul Herbert E. Sloan
Kenneth C. Fischer, Executive Director

Concert Guidelines
To make concertgoing a more convenient and pleasurable experience for all patrons, the Musical
Society is implementing the following policies and practices throughout the season:
Starting Time for Concerts The Musical Society will make every attempt to begin its
performances on time. Please allow ample time for parking. Latecomers are asked to wait in the
lobby until seated by ushers at a predetermined time in the program so as not to disturb performers or
other patrons.
Children Children attending a University Musical Society event should be able to sit quietly
in their own seats throughout the performance. Children not able to do so, along with the adult
accompanying them, may be asked by an usher to leave the auditorium. (Every child must have a
ticket.)
Of Coughs and Decibels Reprinted from programs in London's Royal Festival Hall: "During a
recent test in the hall, a note played mezzo forte on the horn measured approximately 65 decibels of
sound. A single 'uncovered' cough gave the same reading. A handkerchief placed over the mouth
when coughing assists in obtaining a pianissimo."
Please take advantage of Warner Lambert's generosity in providing Halls Cough Tablets in the
lobby prior to and during intermissions of the concerts.
A Modern Distraction With the advent of the electronic beeping and chiming digital
watches, both audience members and performing artists will appreciate these being turned off or
suppressed during performances. In case of emergency, advise your paging service of auditorium and
seat location and ask them to phone University Security at 763-1131.

This activity supported by Michigan Council for the Arts.

UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY

Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Ml 48109-1270 Phones: (313) 764-2538/763-TKTS