RedlandsSymphony

MOZART 1756-1791

Orchestration

2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, Timpani, strings

Program Notes

When Mozart moved to Vienna in 1781 to live out what would be the last ten years of his life, he had every reason to believe that fame and fortune would certainly come his way. Vienna was, after all, the musical capital of Europe. One could expect to find there the most discriminating and intelligent of audiences. Unfortunately for Mozart, they were also fickle audiences, sensitive for the most part only to the politically influenced preferences of the court. He found it difficult to gain the respect of the powerful men who surrounded Emperor Joseph II and, thus, languished over four years as a composer of brilliant, but largely neglected, works.

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STRAUSS 1864-1949

Orchestration

Solo oboe, 2 flutes, 1 English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, Timpani, strings

Program Notes

Richard Strauss will probably always occupy a precarious position in the history of Western music. This is because he was born into the late 19th century German romantic tradition at a time when it was dying. He spent the first decade of his mature career writing the tone poems (Till Eulenspiegel, Don Juan, Also Sprach Zarathustra, etc.) that Wagner and Liszt might have written had they lived longer. All are considered significant works. The next decade he carried on the German operatic tradition with Salome, Elektra, and Der Rosenkavalier. At that point he celebrated his fiftieth birthday and considered his career to be near its end. He lived forty-five more years.

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CASTILLO present

Orchestration

Solo oboe, solo English horn, 1 piccolo, 1 flute, 1 clarinet, 1 bass clarinet, 1 bassoon, 1 contrabassoon, 2 horns, timpani, percussion, strings

Program Notes

The Rhapsody came about in a funny kind of way.

As I was speaking to Liang Wang about what piece he wanted to perform with the Redlands Symphony, he suggested that we play something together. I insisted that we wanted him to play something solo. But he continued to press his point. I jokingly said that I didn’t want to play an Albinoni or Vivaldi concerto and would prefer something more interesting and new. Wang replied: “Well then, write something yourself!”

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HAYDN 1732-1809

Orchestration

2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, Timpani, strings

Program Notes

Haydn’s many successes in life were often due in part to being in the right place at the right time. He came from a family of amateur musicians living in Rohrau, Austria, who recognized the potential of Franz Joseph and sent him at age six to a school in Hainburg to obtain a better musical education than he would have received at home. Two years later he was accepted as a chorister at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. For the next twenty years he lived in Vienna where he received a good musical education and embarked on a career as a freelance violinist, singer and composer. In 1761, he was offered one of the best music positions in Europe, that of Vice-Kapellmeister (later Kapellmeister) for the Esterhazy family, a job he was to hold for the next twenty-nine years.

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Maestro Jon Robertson is now in his twenty-sixth season as music director and conductor or the Redlands Symphony Orchestra. The extraordinary quality of this orchestra is attributed to the blend of devotion he has for the musicians and his artistic vision.

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Liang Wang joined the New York Philharmonic in September 2006 as Principal Oboe; in February 2009 he performed The “EXTASE” Oboe Concerto by Cheng Qi Gang in Carnegie Hall with his hometown orchestra. In February 2008, he performed the Richard Strauss Oboe Concerto with The New York Philharmonic in Hong Kong. Previously, he was principal oboe of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (2005-06), principal oboe of the Santa Fe Opera in 2004-05 season, and principal oboe of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra in the 2003-04 season. He is on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.

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