UC Davis Symphony Orchestra: “The Forgotten Offerings”
Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center
Messiaen: Les Offrandes oubliées
Olivier Messiaen (1908–92) wrote this three-part orchestral piece after completing his studies at the Paris Conservatory; it was the first public performance of one of his works. Messiaen was a deeply religious composer. His Les Offrandes oubliées comprises three parts: The Cross, The Sin, and The Eucharist. Messiaen was also greatly influenced by great French composers of his time, particularly Debussy, Dukas, and Ravel, and also the music of the Far East, from its exotic instruments to its complex and seemingly free rhythms.
Sam Nichols: This Is Not a Toy for a Child with David Russell, cello (artist-in-residence)
David Russell, cello, is a strong advocate of new music, and has performed with Phantom Arts Ensemble for American Music, Dinosaur Annex, Collage New Music, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Firebird Ensemble, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, and the Fromm Foundation Players at Harvard. He is a founding member of the Furious Band, an ensemble devoted to the exploration and performance of works by young composers. Recent projects include the premiere of Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon’s chamber opera Comala in Mexico City. Russell has been a member of the Wellesley College faculty since 2005 and was last heard in performance at UC Davis with the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra and its premiere of Laurie San Martin’s Cello Concerto.
Sibelius: Symphony No. 3 in C Major
Jean Sibelius (1865–1957), as Professor D. Kern Holoman writes, is “the very symbol of his nation.” His symphonic work has been “adopted, the world over, into the core repertoire.” After completing composition studies at the University of Helsinki, he returned to Finland in 1892 and began writing in his own style, a style soon identified as uniquely Finnish. Sibelius did not start writing his symphonies until later in his career, and his Third Symphony departs from his first two, which are sometimes thought of as romantic and nationalistic. The third symphony is more classical than romantic, has only three movements, and is full of choral-like passages. Known for writing pieces simultaneously, Sibelius was working on Luonnotar and Marjatta at the same time as the Third Symphony, and at one point in the second movement the material evokes themes from Luonnotar.
