Grande
Ronde Symphony prepares for season's second concert
Published: Feb. 3, 2004
by Sandra
Ellston
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Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestra
director Leandro Espinosa will perform his own oboe concerto.
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The second concert of this year’s Grande Ronde
Symphony season on Feb. 25 at 7:30 in McKenzie Theater features three
exciting pieces, both familiar and new. A real treat will be Conductor
Leandro Espinosa leading the orchestra in playing his own oboe concerto,
composed within the last five years.
The program begins with Carl Maria von Weber’s
(1786-1826) “Der Freischütz Overture.” This is the
opening to what could be called the first Romantic Germanic opera,
which introduced the popular motif of bargaining with the devil. In
the story told by the opera, a good young man is under extreme pressure.
In order to marry the girl he loves, he must fulfill the town’s
tradition of having to hit (by “free-shooting”) an extremely
difficult target in the presence of the prince. Because his desire
is stronger than
his recent luck, he agrees to use some magic bullets cast by the devil,
which always hit the mark. Seven magic bullets are cast: three for
his use, three for his rival, and the last bullet, the seventh, for
the devil, who will determine its target. At the crucial moment a
dove appears and
the prince orders the dove to be shot. The dove places itself just
where the girlfriend is, so that all of the people think she is slain,
while she
has only fainted. The devil appears and panic reigns. The truth is
finally
known about the bargain, and people are in shock. Then a hermit descends
from his isolation and admonishes them that they themselves had perpetrated
the real evil in supporting such unrealistic traditions, bringing
obstacles
to real love. The hero is forgiven. He must prove that he is a good
man for
a year, and then he is allowed to marry. The piece is important as
a
mainstay of our western musical tradition, and it was widely influential
on
later composers, like Wagner, who worshiped von Weber.
Espinosa’s composition, “Concerto for Oboe,
Strings, and Percussion,” will
feature visiting concert soloist Marsha Burkett on oboe. This piece
is
based on an alternative system of musical “serialism” invented
by Espinosa.
The revision of traditional musical series has been an on-going project
of
Espinosa since 1997. This attempt was made to revitalize the approach
to
serialism by proposing a different application, a reconceptualization.
This
system provides more freedom for the composer than the traditional
ways.
The oboe concerto is based on two series: one, a mathematical proportion
(a
series made by nature): 1:7, projected on a grid of nine. The second
series
is man-made. Both series interplay as the human and divine element.
The
first, based on a mathematical formula perhaps representing the trajectory
of a human soul, resembles a religious chant and is in a sense pre-existent
in the universe, as the music implicit in the formula. This appears
primarily in the oboe and percussion parts. As the formula is an infinite
number, so the divine element continues at the end, without complete
resolution. The “human element” is created by Espinosa,
carried mostly by
the strings. This section is finite and ends in peaceful resolution.
The concert concludes with a perennial favorite, Ludwig
von Beethoven’s
(1770-1827) “Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major,” the “Eroica.”
Originally this
symphony was to be dedicated to Napoleon, but when he crowned himself
emperor, Beethoven, a fervid republicanist, changed the dedication
to
Prince Lobkowitz. The symphony begins remarkably, with no introduction.
At
the time this seemed capricious and iconoclastic. Similarly, there
is new
development in the coda, against all rules. When the symphony premiered,
it was widely criticized as being too long and too complex. Today
it is
known as a brilliant classic. It was here that Beethoven remade the
“Scherzo” into a powerful form rather than an interlude
of popular
tunes. The concluding “Allegro” also makes history as an
homage to
Beethoven’s teacher, Haydn, by turning what begins as a vulgar
joke into
the sublime.
Tickets are available at the door, at the EOU Bookstore,
and at Sunflower
Books. Price for a single concert is $10 adult, $8 senior, and $5
student.
