Strings Sensational
with Kellan Toohey - Clarinet
Saturday, January 25, 2025
7:30 – 9:30 PM
Boulder Adventist Church
The Boulder Chamber Orchestra
Bahman Saless
conductor
Kellan Toohey
clarinet
Program
Peter Boyer (b. 1970)
Three Olympians (2000)
I. Apollo
II. Aphrodite
III. Ares
Gerald Finzi (1901–1956)
Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra, Op. 31 (1949)
I. Allegro vigoroso
II. Adagio ma senza rigore
III. Allegro giocoso
Kellan Toohey - Clarinet
Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)
Serenade for Strings, Op. 22 (1875)
I. Moderato
II. Tempo di Valse, Trio. Allegro con moto
III. Scherzo. Vivace
IV. Larghetto
V. Finale. Allegro vivace
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Kellan Toohey
Clarinet
Clarinetist Kellan Toohey is an avid performer whose varied career includes recitals and solo appearances, chamber music, teaching, and orchestral playing. He holds a DMA from the University of Colorado and his teachers include Daniel Silver, Bil Jackson, and Jon Manasse.
An active orchestral player, Mr. Toohey currently holds the positions of Principal clarinetist in the Boulder Chamber Orchestra and Associate Principal Clarinetist in the Fort Collins Symphony, Wyoming Symphony and Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra. He has performed across the US, Europe, and in […]
PROGRAM NOTES
Peter Boyer (b. 1970)
Three Olympians (2000)
This work was commissioned by the Conductors Institute, Harold Farberman, Artistic Director, for performance by its 30-plus conductors at Bard College in the summer of 2000. The commission request was for a work that had three contrasting movements or sections, which would call for different aspects of technique and approach from the conductors. In thinking about my interest in Greek mythology, I decided that creating three “mini-portraits” of Greek mythological figures would both fulfill this requirement and supply some general imagery on which to draw. Thus the word “Olympians” in the title is not be understood in the modern-day “athletic” sense of the word, but in the ancient Greek sense: an Olympian was a resident of Olympus, the home of the Greek gods. There were twelve Olympians, all “major deities.” The three which inspired the music in this case — Apollo, Aphrodite, and Ares — were all children of Zeus, but each had a different mother. Apollo is the most multi-faceted of these three, the god of reason and intelligence, music, prophecy, medicine, and the sun.
Of course, the musical portrayals of Apollo have been endless, with Stravinsky and Britten providing noteworthy (and daunting) 20th-century examples. For me, Apollo meant “classical” harmony and phrasing, and a great deal of energy. Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty, which to me unambiguously called for lyrical melody. Ares was the god of war, which to me translated as relentless rhythm, as well as a chance to exploit some of the more menacing effects of which strings are capable. The unison Gs in this movement are a nod to Holst’s famous portrayal of Mars (the Roman incarnation of Ares). This work is unabashedly tonal, straightforward, and hopefully a good deal of fun.
Program Notes by the Composer
Gerald Finzi (1901–1956)
Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra, Op. 31 (1949)
The letters of 1948/9 to Thurston (now owned by his widow, Thea King) show Finzi’s desire to write well for the solo instrument, and Thurston must have provided him with just the kind of expertise needed to accomplish this. The first performance of the concerto took place on 9 September 1949 at the Three Choirs Festival with Finzi conducting.
It opens with a strong outburst from the orchestra, the bass line constantly rising to twist the harmonies in new directions. The first entry of the clarinet pays little heed to this introduction, the solo part rather preferring to move things along in a more pastoral way. Two more attempts by the strings to add tempest to the movement fail to stir the clarinet, which calms the orchestra down to a rippling accompaniment, so reminiscent of Finzi’s songs. An orchestral climax brings the movement to what was originally its final eight strongly stressed bars. After the first performance Vaughan Williams persuaded Finzi to precede these final bars with a cadenza which allows the clarinet to reflect on both the turbulent and gentle moods of the first movement.
Program Notes by Alun Francis
Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)
Serenade for Strings, Op. 22 (1875)
The Serenade for Strings in E major was completed within a fortnight in the spring of 1875. Its atmosphere reflects an auspicious time in the composer’s life: Dvořák was enjoying his first successes on the concert platform, and he had also succeeded in acquiring a state scholarship for the first time. The work is a document of the composer’s exceptional sense of small forms. In five short movements, clearly constructed around a three-part song form, he exposes solid thematic material with the aid of rich imagery. The music of the Serenade flows easily and naturally with a sense of immediacy, its character idyllic and peaceable. A typical trait of the composition is its frequent imitation of themes in various voices; Dvořák reinforces the cyclical nature of the form by quoting the main theme of the first movement before the coda of the final movement. The Serenade in E major is one of the composer’s most popular and most frequently performed works.
Back in the summer of 1875 viola player in the Vienna Philharmonic Alois Alexander Buchta attempted to include the Serenade in the programme of one of the orchestra’s concerts, but to no avail. Dvořák was still unfamiliar in Vienna at that time. The premiere of the work, held on 10 December 1876 at Prague’s Žofín Palace, was such a success that the Serenade was immediately put forward again for the programme of the following Slavonic Concert, as it was known. Soon afterwards it was presented in Brno on 22 April 1877 by Leoš Janáček. That same year, on the initiative of music critic Václav Vladimír Zelený, a group of Dvořák’s friends got together to raise money for the publication of the piano score of the Serenade with Prague publisher Emanuel Starý. The full score and parts were published in 1879 by Berlin publisher Bote & Bock. Dvořák thought very highly of the Serenade and so, in 1877, he enclosed it with his fourth application for a state scholarship. He conducted the work himself six times: for the first time in August 1877 in Lipník nad Bečvou (the first documented instance of the composer as conductor), then in Prague on 17 November 1878, in Chrudim on 24 April 1879, in Mladá Boleslav on 27 October and subsequently in Prague on 17 April 1887 and 13 October 1894.
Program Notes by the Antonín Dvořák Institute