August 30 - Opus 20: Earthshaking!


THE OPUS PROJECT
Opus 20

8pm, Saturday, August 30, 2014
Diablo Valley College Music Building, Viking Drive, Pleasant Hill, CA


Sergei Taneyev (1856-1915)       
     Piano Quartet, Op. 20 (1906)
          II. Adagio piu tosto largo


                        The Opus Project Piano Quartet


Alexander Gretchaninoff (1864-1956)   
     Four Melodies, Op. 20 (1899)
          IV. The Captive (Alexander Pushkin, 1799–1837)

                        Jill Wagoner, Soprano / Maria Reeves, Piano
                                   
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)       
     Don Juan, Op. 20 (1899)
          Allegro molto con brio

                        The Opus Product Orchestra


Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)       
     Malinconia, Op. 20 (1900)
          Adagio pesante

                        Elizabeth Morrison, Cello / Maria Reeves, Piano


Albert Roussel (1869-1937)       
     Two Melodies, Op. 20 (1919) (René Chalupt, 1885-1957)
          I. The Bachelor of Salamanca

                        Jill Wagoner, Soprano / Maria Reeves, Piano


Hugo Alfven (1872-1970)       
     A Legend of the Skerries, Op. 20 (1921)
          Introduction

                        Video

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)   
     Spring, Op. 20 (1902)
          Allegro moderato - Introduction
Gustav Holst (1874-1934)       
     Songs from [Alfred Tennyson{1809-1892}'s] "The Princess" [1847],
                        Op 20a (1905)
                        I. Sweet and Low - Verse 1

                        Jill Wagoner, Soprano, The Opus Project Orchestra

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)   
     Herzgewächse (Foliage of the Heart), Op. 20 (1911)
          (Maurice Maeterlinck, 1862-1949,
          Serres chaudes: Feuillage du cœur, 1889)
          Conclusion

                        Jill Wagoner, Soprano / Mark Alburger, Piano


Leonardo de Lorenzo (1875-1962)   
     Two Pieces, Op. 20  (1917)
          II. Valse Pathetique - Theme

                        Alan Kingsley, Flute / Maria Reeves, Piano


Reinhold Gliere (1875-1964)       
     String Quartet No. 2 (1905)
          I. Allegro moderato - Introduction

                        The Opus Project String Quartet

Bela Bartok (1881-1945)       
     Eight Improvisations on Hungarian Folk Songs, Op. 20 (1920)
          I. Molto moderato


Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)   
     Six Songs, Op. 20 (1909)
          I. In the Dark Moon
Josef Matthais Hauer (1883-1959)    
     Atonal Music, Op. 20 (1922)
          I.

                        Jill Wagoner, Soprano / Mark Alburger and Maria Reeves, Piano


Anton Webern (1883-1945)       
     String Trio, Op. 20 (1927)
          II. Very belabored and full of expression
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)       
     Scythian Suite, Op. 20 (1915)
          I. Adoration of Veles and Ala: Allegro feroce

                        The Opus Project String Trio and Orchestra

Darius Milhaud (1892-1975)       
     Four Poems of Leo Latil [1890-1915], Op. 20 (1914)
          I. Abandonment - Introduction

                        Jill Wagoner, Soprano / Maria Reeves, Piano

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)       
     The Nusch-Nuschi, Op. 20 (1920) (Franz Blei, 1871-1942) 
          Fast and very lusty
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)       
     Music for the Theatre (1925)
          IV. Burlesque - Conclusion


Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987)   
     Prelude, Op. 20, No. 1 (1934)
          I.
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)   
     Symphony No. 3 in Eb Major ("The First of May"), Op. 20 (1929)
          Allegro molto

                        The Opus Project Orchestra / Video           

Samuel Barber (1910-1981)       
     Excursions for Piano, Op. 20 (1944)    
          II. Blues


Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000)       
     Nocturne for Harp, Op. 20 (1937)
John Cage (1912-1992)       
     Bacchanale (1940)   
          Fast / Faster...   

                        Mark Alburger, Piano / Video   

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)   
     Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20 (1940)   
          II. Dies irae - Conclusion)
Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)   
     String Quartet No. 1, Op. 20 (1948)
          I. Allegro violonte ed agitato - Introduction



Madeleine Dring (1923-1977)   
     Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Piano (1968)
          II. Andante semplice / III. Allegro giocoso

                        The Opus Project Wind Piano Trio, String Quartet, and Orchestra

George Crumb (b. 1929)       
     Night Music I (1963)
          II. Notturno II: "Piccola Serenata" - grazioso
Oliver Knussen (b. 1952)       
     Where the Wild Things Are, Op. 20 (1983)
          Overture


Mark Alburger (b. 1957)       
     Embedded Inventions, Op. 20 (1979)
          XII. Shimmer (Henry) / XIII. Stravinsky (Requiem)


          XIV. Cha-Cha


Scott Stirling (b. 1970)       
     The Reluctant Trapezist (2011)


Michael Stubblefield (b. 1989)   
     Schlußstück (2014)

                        Jill Wagoner, Soprano / Mark Alburger, Piano /
                            The Opus Project Orchestra / Video


                    THE OPUS PROJECT ORCHESTRA

Mark Alburger                    Music Director and Conductor

Flute       
Alan Kingsley*

Oboe
Eva Langfeldt*

Clarinet
Keith Leung

Alto Saxophone
Tim Machajewski

Bassoon
Michael Garvey
Tim Machajewski

Trumpet
Michael Cox
Sue Leonardi

Horn
Jan Pusina
Bob Satterford

Trombone
Scott Sterling

Soprano
Jill Wagoner

Tenor
Mark Alburger

Piano
Mark Alburger
Maria Reeves*

Percussion
Ken Crawford
Jill Wagoner

Violin I
Carolyn Lowenthal*

Violin II
Keith Leung
Milton Wong*

Viola
Kat Walsh*
Milton Wong*

Cello
Elizabeth Morrison*
Aaron Urton*

Bass
Michael Stubblefield

*The Opus Project Trios and Quartets


THE OPUS PROJECT presents

OPUS 21: Of Age - 8pm, Saturday, September 27, 2014, Diablo Valley College Music Building, Viking Drive, Pleasant Hill, CA
A Multi-Media Event, with Alan Kingsley, Jill Wagoner, and the The Opus Project Woodwind Quintet and Orchestra

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)        Symphony No. 1, Op. 21, No. 1 (1800)
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)            A Midsummer Nights Dream, Overture, Op. 21 (1826)
Gustav Holst (1874-1934)            A Summerset Rhapsody, Op 21 (1907)   
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)        The Wasps: March Past of the Kitchen Utensils (1909)
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)        Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21, No. 7 (1912)
Bela Bartok (1881-1945)            Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 21 (1921)
Anton Webern (1883-1945)            Symphony, Op. 21 (1928)
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)            Chout, Op. 21 (1915)
Darius Milhaud (1892-1975)            Le Château, Op.21 (1914)   
Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)            Sancta Susanna, Op. 21 (1921)
Lennox Berkeley (1903-1989)        A Festival Anthem, Op. 21, No. 2 (1945)
Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987)        Improvisation for Violin and Piano, Op. 21 (1934)
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)        Japanese Romance, Op. 21, No. 1 (1932)   
Samuel Barber (1910-1981)            Capricorn Concerto, Op. 21 (1944)
Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000)            Suite in D Minor, Op. 21 (1933)
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)            Diversions for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 21 (1940)
Vincent Persichetti (1915-1987)            Pastorale, Op. 21
Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)        Pampeana No. 2, Op. 21 (1950)
Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006)            The Smoke (Overture), Op. 21 (1948)
Oliver Knussen (b. 1952)            Higglety Pigglety Pop!, Op. 21 (1985)
Mark Alburger (b. 1957)            Missa "The a Deux", Op. 21 (1980)
Scott Sterling (b. 1970)         Scherzo Round (2014)   
Michael Stubblefield (b. 1989)        Northrend Tides (2013)


Alexander Gretchaninoff (1864-1956)   
     Four Melodies, Op. 20 (1899)
          IV. The Captive 
          (Alexander Pushkin, 1799–1837, The Captive of the Caucasus, 1822)

Сижу за решеткой в темнице сырой.
Вскормленный в неволе орел молодой,
Мой грустный товарищ, махая крылом,
Кровавую пищу клюет под окном,

Клюет, и бросает, и смотрит в окно,
Как будто со мною задумал одно;
Зовет меня взглядом и криком своим
И вымолвить хочет: «Давай улетим!

Мы вольные птицы; пора, брат, пора!
Туда, где за тучей белеет гора,
Туда, где синеют морские края,
Туда ,где гуляем лишь ветер… да я!…»

Imprisoned, I’m caged in a dungeon that’s dank,
A young eaglet, fed but on slavish grains rank,
Then aggrieved, my companion flies nigh, flapping wings,
And food, fresh, still bloody, to my window brings.

He pecks it, casts it through my bars with his beak,
Then stares at me,  as if his heart heard me speak,
With looks that are calling, with calls that would say,
If shrieks could find words, “Come! Let’s fly, fly away!

We’re free spirits, brother, let’s go, the time’s right!
Let’s rise through the clouds to the peak ever white!
Let’s soar to the borders of blue sea and sky,
And stroll on the wind where just wind strolls -- and I!”


Albert Roussel (1869-1937)       
     Two Melodies, Op. 20 (1919) (René Chalupt, 1885-1957)
          I. The Bachelor of Salamanca

Où vas-tu, toi qui passes si tard
Dans les rues désertes de Salamanque
Avec ta toque noire et ta guitare
Que tu dissimules sous ta mante ?
Le couvre-feu est déjà sonné
Et depuis longtemps, dans leurs paisibles maisons,
Les bourgeois dorment à poings fermés.
Ne sais-tu pas qu'un édit de l'alcade
Ordonne de jeter en prison
Tous les donneurs de sérénade,
Que les malandrins couperont ta chaîne d'or
Et que la fille de l'Almirante
Pour qui vainement tu te tourmentes
Se moque de toi derrière son mirador?
Where are you going, walking so late
In the empty streets of Salamanca
With your black cap and your guitar
Hidden beneath your coat?
The curfew has sounded,
And long ago, in their peaceful houses,
The bourgeois sleep with closed fists.
Don't you know that the mayor
has ordered the inprisonment
of all serenaders,
That thugs will rip off your gold chain,
and that the Admiral's daughter
who sends you into vain torments
mocks you from behind her balcony?


Gustav Holst (1874-1934)       
     Songs from [Alfred Tennyson{1809-1892}'s] "The Princess" [1847],
          Op 20a (1905)
          I. Sweet and Low   

Sweet and low, sweet and low,   
  Wind of the western sea,   
Low, low, breathe and blow,   
  Wind of the western sea!   
Over the rolling waters go,           
Come from the dying moon, and blow,   
  Blow him again to me;   
While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.


Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)   
     Herzgewächse (Foliage of the Heart), Op. 20 (1911)
          (Maurice Maeterlinck, 1862-1949,
          Serres chaudes: Feuillage du cœur, 1889)

Zum Krystall dem blauen
Sendet sie ihr mystisches Gebet.

To the crystal blue
she sends her mystical prayer.


Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)   
     Six Songs, Op. 20 (1909) (Tadeusz Miciński, 1873-1918)
          I. In the Dark Moon

Dans la lune sombre et froide,
ou les etoiles meurent en silence,
Dans l'ombre grave et mysterieuse,
je cherche sa douce image,
et mon coeur en detresse
Ne la retrouve plus

In the moon dark and cold ,
where the stars die in silence,
In the shadow serious and mysterious,
I search its soft image,
and my heart in distress
finds nothing.


Darius Milhaud (1892-1975)       
     Four Poems of Leo Latil [1890-1915], Op. 20 (1914)
          I. Abandonment - Introduction

Pourquoi, pourquoi m'avez vous abandonné?
Il fait nuit et le grand vent de la fin de l'hiver souffle.
Il siffle dans la cheminée 
et sous les portes, et m'entoure de froid.
Dehors il doit secouer les arbres follement,
s'élancer dans les rues, contournant les maisons,
et bondir dans les campagnes au dessus des collines 
et des bruyères mortes.

Why, why have you abandoned me?
It is night and the great end-of-winter wind breathes.
It whistles in the fireplace
and under the doors, and surrounds me with cold.
Outside it must shake the trees foolishly,
jumping in the streets, bypassing the houses,
and pouncing in the countryside below the hills
and the dead heather.


Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)       
     The Nusch-Nuschi, Op. 20 (1920) (Franz Blei, 1871-1942)
          Fast and very lusty

Ich bin der Diener des schonen Herrn Zatwai
und heisse Tumtum.
Mein Herr ist sehr verliebter Artung,
und ich bekomme immer die Schlage,
wenn es schlecht usgeht.
Da hat er sich nun in den Kopf gesetzt, eine Frau des Kaisers, den Krischna segne habe ihm heute morgen von ihrem Fenster aus ein
gewisses Zeichen gemacht, und ich soll sie nun holen. 
Da druben ist der Frauenpalast.
Wenn ich nur wusste, welche von den vier Frauen es ist!
Aber wenn das Zeichen das Rechte war,
wird sie mich es schon merken lassen,
Wenn ich den verabredeten Schrei des Buliingvogels nachmache.  Da wird sie die Strickleiter
an dem Faden hinaufziehen
und heruntersteigen in meine Arme

I am the servant of the good Lord Zatwai
and my name is Tum Tum.
My master is very artful in love,
and I always suffer the consequences,
if anything goes wrong.
He's set for this woman of the emperor, and --
praise to Krishna -- a sign was made
from the palace window this morning, and I am here to arrange for her escape.
She's in the harem somewhere. 
If I only knew, which of the four women she is!
But if signals are correct,
I'll know soon enough,
when I imitate the agreed-upon cry of the Buliing-bird.
Then there will be a rope ladder
pulled up by a thread,
and she'll climb down into my arms.