Open Rehearsal: Banned and Boycotted: Music of Bartók and Shostakovich

November 08, 2018

Overview

Few rival Bartók and Shostakovich in writing works both socially resonant and disruptive. Despite roots in the folk music tradition, Bartók’s beguiling ballet score, The Miraculous Mandarin, faced censorship in the composer’s home country during his lifetime. The lurid tale of prostitution, theft, fraud, and murder was deemed too depraved and perverse for the public, and its deviance emerged like a shriek from the moral vacuum of World War I.

A beleaguered Shostakovich, long subjected to brutal bullying by the government under the Stalin regime, kept his sardonic Violin Concerto No. 1 hidden for years. When he finally felt it was safe to share it with the public, he deliberately printed its early composition date—a wordless reminder to all of the political atmosphere that had choked its creation.

Conductor Jakub Hrůša, the SF Symphony, and violinist Karen Gomyo join forces for this powerful and creatively defiant program.

Open Rehearsals are working rehearsals. The pieces rehearsed are at the conductor’s discretion.

Concert Extras

Inside Music, an informative talk by Elizabeth Seitz, begins one hour prior to concerts. Free to ticketholders. Learn More.

Off-The-Podium, a post-concert question and answer session session, w/ Hrůša & Gomyo

At A Glance

SHOSTAKOVICH
Violin Concerto No. 1 1948 | 36 mins

In the mid-twentieth century, the Soviet arts policy was committed to the idea that to be worth anything, a work had to make a political or ideological statement—of course, a “correct” one. Dmitri Shostakovich’s position in relation to that policy was never wholly secure. In the interest of self-preservation, the composer kept this sardonic concerto locked away for years in a private desk drawer. When he finally felt it was safe to share with the public, he deliberately printed its early opus number (indicating the true date of its composition)—a wordless reminder of the political atmosphere that had choked its creation. LISTEN FOR: The third movement ends in an immense cadenza for the soloist, which builds from mournfulness into total abandon, recalling melodies from earlier in the concerto. More |

BORODIN
Symphony No. 2 1876 | 28 mins

Alexander Borodin was a research chemist by trade, but his non-working hours were given over to music. Together with an odd assemblage of part-time composers—namely Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui, and Mussorgsky—Borodin was a member of the “Mighty Handful.” Many of Borodin’s masterworks, such as his Second Symphony, reflect the group’s passionate embrace of Russian folk sources. LISTEN FOR: A contemporary critic posited that Borodin had a program in mind for this symphony. The first movement would be a gathering of Russian warriors; the third, a bayan, or mythic bard; and the fourth, a “scene of heroes feasting to the sound of the gusli [a folk instrument of the zither family] amid the exultation of a great host of people.” DID YOU KNOW? The powerful outburst that begins the symphony was borrowed (along with various other Borodin tunes) to generate the Broadway musical Kismet in 1953. More |

BARTÓK
Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin 1919 | 22 mins

Béla Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin—a lurid tale of prostitution, fraud, theft, and murder—was censored for being too depraved and perverse for the public. It opens with a clamorous depiction of the big city: “I lead the highly respectable listener from the crowded streets of a metropolis to a [ruffian’s] den,” Bartók wrote. From there the music tracks the events of the storyline with music that suffocates and overwhelms. It is this harsh, pounding music that is woven throughout the piece, signaling violence. LISTEN FOR: This is a standout piece for the clarinet not only for the difficulty of its part, but for the irresistible episodes of lyric beauty that contrast with the overall atmosphere. The clarinet’s serpentine and seductive phrases epitomize the sultry “songs of allurement” of one of the main characters in the plot—a beautiful girl—and are testament to Bartók’s inimitable storytelling talents. More |

JEANETTE YU is Editorial Director and STEVEN ZIEGLER is Managing Editor at the San Francisco Symphony.

Artists

Jakub Hrůša

Conductor

Karen Gomyo

First Violin

San Francisco Symphony

Program

Dmitri Shostakovich

Violin Concerto No. 1

Borodin

Symphony No. 2

Béla Bartók

Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin

Born in Tokyo, violinist Karen Gomyo began her musical career in Montreal and New York before making Berlin her home. Her 2018-19 season highlights include debuts with the Philharmonia Orchestra with Jakub Hrůša, the Royal Northern Sinfonia with Karina Canellakis, and the BBC Symphony with Ben Gernon at the opening concert of the Dubai Proms, as well as returns to the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, and the orchestras of Minnesota, Houston, Oregon, Saint Louis, Vancouver, and Dallas. She made her San Francisco Symphony debut in 2007.

In Europe, Ms. Gomyo has most recently performed with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, Danish National Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Radio France, Residentie Orkest, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Polish National Radio Orchestra, and the WDR Symphony Köln. Future engagements include her debut with the German Radio Orchestra Saarbrücken and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

Strongly committed to contemporary works, Ms. Gomyo gave the North American premiere of Matthias Pintscher’s Violin Concerto No. 2, Mar'eh with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the composer, as well as Pēteris Vasks's Vox Amoris with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra conducted by John Storgårds. In May 2018, she performed the world premiere of Samuel Adams’s Chamber Concerto—written for Ms. Gomyo and commissioned by the Chicago Symphony’s Music Now series for their twentieth anniversary—with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

In recital and chamber music Ms. Gomyo has performed in festivals throughout North America and Europe, including recent appearances at the Seattle Chamber Festival, Australian Festival of Chamber Music, with Jeremy Denk at his Milton Court/Barbican residency, and at her annual chamber music project with the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. Future plans include a new piano trio collaboration with Olli Mustonen and Julian Steckel. She has also collaborated with tango legend Pablo Ziegler, bandonéon player and composer JP Jofre, and Finnish guitarist Ismo Eskelinen.

Ms. Gomyo participated as violinist, host, and narrator in a documentary film produced by NHK Japan about Antonio Stradivarius called The Mysteries of the Supreme Violin, which was broadcast worldwide on NHK WORLD. She plays on the 1703 “Aurora, ex-Foulis” Stradivarius violin, bought for her exclusive use by a private sponsor.

Open Rehearsal: Banned and Boycotted: Music of Bartók and Shostakovich

Overview

Concert Extras

At A Glance

Sponsors

Open Rehearsal: Banned and Boycotted: Music of Bartók and Shostakovich

Open Rehearsal: Banned and Boycotted: Music of Bartók and Shostakovich