NEC Symphony + Paul Biss: Zwilich, Rachmaninoff, Dvořák

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich | Jubilation (1996)

Program note

Jubilation was commissioned by the University of Georgia for the occasion of the opening of the Performing and Visual Arts Center at the University of Georgia. The commissioning of new music to inaugurate a new edifice is an ancient and, for me, a very meaningful tradition. One easily imagines other Athenians of another time and place marking the opening of their Parthenon with music celebrating the occasion. Certainly, buildings from the Cathedral in Florence, Italy, to our own Carnegie Hall began their public lives with special music filling the new spaces. So I considered it a great honor as well as a great pleasure to play the privileged role of writing music for the opening of this new Performing and Visual Arts Center at the University of Georgia in Athens. But concert halls exist for the music that draws us together in a community of performers and listeners, and therefore Jubilation celebrates the opening of the new concert hall by celebrating the orchestra. Though short, the piece is almost a concerto for orchestra, emphasizing its vibrant colors and contrasts, the virtuosity of its players, and the orchestra?s almost unparalleled ability to give voice to musical drama.
-Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

Sergei Rachmaninoff | Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, op. 18

Moderato
Adagio sostenuto - Più animato - Tempo I
Allegro scherzando

INTERMISSION

Antonín Dvořák | Symphony No. 8 in G Major, op. 88

Allegro con brio
Adagio
Allegretto grazioso - Molto vivace
Allegro ma non troppo