New Jersey Symphony Presents Beethoven The Hero

Three performances by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in March will underscore musical development and change from the classical to the contemporary, and will also introduce the young Latvian violinist, Baiba Skride, to audiences across the state. Under the baton of Neeme Järvi, the concerts begin with A.S. In Memoriam by Swedish composer Rolf Martinsson, a work in which the composer states he has "sought to mirror the vocabulary, gesture and musical characters present in the works of Arnold Schoenberg."

The piece is dedicated to Maestro Järvi and will have its United States premiere at these performances. Next, violinist Baiba Skride performs the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 2. Playing the Stradivarius "Wilhelmj" violin (1725), she makes her debut with the NJSO. Closing the program, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra offers Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony in Eflat Major, Op. 55. Powerful and passionate, the work is said to represent an important turning point in the composer's life and compositional style.

The three exclusive New Jersey performances will be presented on Friday, March 2, 2007 at 8 pm in Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton, Saturday, March 3, 2007 at 8 pm in Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark and Sunday, March 4, 2007 at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. The popular preconcert series, Classical Conversation, hosted by Principal bassoon Robert Wagner, will take place one hour prior to the concert on March 4 in New Brunswick and is free for all ticket holders.

Single ticket prices start at $20 for most venues.

Rolf Martinsson's musical roots are to be found in the works of early 20th century composersthe strong French and German influences of Ravel, Berg and Schoenbergamong others. His special love for Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht, (Transfigured Night, a string sextet composed in 1899 and then reworked for string orchestra), had great impact on the creation of A.S. In Memoriam. "I find Verklärte Nacht deeply moving. I have listened to it hundreds of times, just for the beauty of the music," says Martinsson.

The 12minute piece, written in 1999 for string orchestra, underscores the resonance of the Golden Age Collection, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's exquisite collection of rare string instruments. Maestro Järvi premiered the piece with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in 2001 and has performed it often around the world. This version, larger in instrumentation than the original, is dedicated to Järvi and marks its United States premiere. Martinsson, born on May 1, 1956 in Kristianstad, Sweden, studied composition at the Malmo Academy of Music with SvenEric Johanson, Hans Eklund, and Jan W. Morthenson, coming into contact as well with England's Brian Ferneyhough. But he immersed himself into classical music very much on his own, listening to recordings and attending concerts, all of which solidified a familiarity with the techniques of modern composition. Martinsson's works thus far include music for orchestra, choir, chamber music and radio theater. They also represent broad instrumental range, including concerti for brass, strings and flute and percussion. A dedicated jazz enthusiast and jazz pianist, he prefers to play in that idiom for his own enjoyment and says, "It gives me an extra dimension in my relation to the instrument, apart from the classical playing."

With the submission of his first symphony (Symphony in F, Op. 10) as a graduation exercise from the Leningrad Conservatory, Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich began his career as one of the most consequential Russian composers of his time. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, he was just 20 when the work was introduced to Western Europe in 1926. Five years later, having met with great success, it was performed by Arturo Toscanini in New York. More than 40 years later, and nineteen years after he composed his first concerto for violin, Shostakovich composed the Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 129. As with his first violin concerto, it was written with the dazzling Russian violinist of the day, David Oistrakh, in mind. And again, Oistrakh premiered the work, this time with Kirill Kondrashin conducting the Moscow Philharmonic. Through tapes and telephone discussion, much collaboration ensued among composer and artists prior to the initial performance in 1967, as Shostakovich had broken his leg and was unable to attend rehearsals.

Approximately thirty minutes long, the three movements of the work, Moderato, Adagio and Adagioallegro present the soloist with significant technical and interpretive challenges. It is scored for violin solo, strings, woodwinds and four horns. It characteristically defines melody and rhythmic patterns, which here are often exchanged between violin and winds. Cadenzas culminate each movement, the third and most extensive of which captures bits and pieces previously heard in the concerto as a whole.

Politically, there was discussion as to whether or not Shostakovich embraced the Communist ideology. Whatever conclusions one might entertain regarding his politics, Shostakovich's music speaks for itself. An extraordinarily prolific composer who relied on classic tonality, his work remains an integral part of the repertoire for orchestra, instrumental and vocal soloists, chamber musicians, opera and ballet.

Often referred to by music historians as the most defining work of the composer's middle period, Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, 'Sinfonia Eroica,' represents a marked departure in his compositional style. Longer, far more difficult for musicians to execute and interpret, and difficult for audiences of the day to appreciate, the Eroica is a work of passion, intensity and complexity.

Written more than 200 years ago, the 1803 composition made its public premiere performances in 1805 at the Theater an der Wien, an historic theater in Vienna. The symphony consists of four movements including, Allegro con brio; Marcia funebra: Adagio assai; Scherzo: Allegro vivace; Trio and Finale: Allegro molto; Poco andante; Presto and was composed during a period of political upheaval in Europe. The French Revolution had propelled Napoleon Bonaparte to power. Beethoven, keenly aware of the historical events of his time and devoted to the principles of democracy, was appalled that this revolutionary hero whom he had so admired and thought would lead Europe away from the prevailing monarchical rule, had instead crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804.

Originally intending to dedicate the symphony to Napoleon, the enraged composer is reported to have gone to his writing table and ripped the title page declaring, "Is he too, then, nothing more than an ordinary human being? Now he, too, will trample on the rights of man and indulge only his ambition!" The name Bonaparte was dropped, the beginning of the work rewritten and the symphony was published in 1806 as "Sinfonia Eroica," followed by Beethoven's own subtitle, "Heroic Symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man." Its final dedication was to Prince Lobkowitz, Beethoven's patron, in whose palace it had had its first private performances.

The enormous effect this symphony would eventually have on audiences and on future symphonic composition was recognized early by the musicians who first performed it. Almost immediately, they declared it a masterwork. In 1807, Leipzig musicians prepared "this most difficult of all symphonies" with extra rehearsals for which they accepted no payment, "except for the honor and special enjoyment of the work."

Maestro Neeme Järvi marks his second year as Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, a partnership that heralded a muchanticipated new era for the orchestra. Born in Tallinn, Estonia in 1937, Järvi emigrated with his family to the United States in 1980, where he debuted with major orchestras across the country and signed with Columbia Artists. He currently also serves as Chief Conductor of the Hague Residentie Orchestra in the Netherlands and is Music Director Emeritus of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor Emeritus of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, (the National Symphony Orchestra of Sweden), Conductor Laureate of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and First Principal Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. Making frequent appearances with major orchestras around the world, Maestro Järvi's busy schedule has, nonetheless, permitted a distinguished discography of over 350 recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, Chandos, BIS, Orfeo, EMI and BMG labels. At 25, Latvian violinist Baiba Skride is rapidly becoming a major force in the international world of music. In selecting her third CD, Shostakovich & Janáèek: Violin Concertos, as its June 2006 disc of the month, the quintessential magazine for violinists, The Strad, raved, "One of the most exciting young talents to have emerged since Itzhak Perlman burst on the scene in the late 1960s."

Having won first prize in the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in 2001, Skride subsequently debuted with the Munich Philharmonic, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Tonhalle Orchester, and the Philharmonia Orchestra in Europe. She made her first appearance in the United States with the St. Louis Symphony in 2003, returning, at the invitation of that orchestra, in 2006. She has also appeared with The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Baltimore, Detroit, Cincinnati and Houston Symphonies.

Born in Riga, Latvia in 1981 into a musical family, Skride has a deep commitment to chamber music. She and her sister, pianist Lauma Skride, have toured together and developed an excellent reputation as a duo. This gifted young violinist continually garners exceptional praise from critics.

She plays the Stradivarius "Wilhelmj" violin (1725), which the Nippon Music Foundation has graciously loaned to her, and now records exclusively for Sony Classical. The three March performances with the NJSO, under Maestro Järvi's direction, mark her debut with the Orchestra, though she has performed with Järvi previously. -- www.njsymphony.org