Concerts & Events

In this concert, the YSO pays tribute to the rich history of Ireland and Scotland. Our John Williams piece this evening is from the movie Far and Away, a blend of traditional Irish music and orchestra. Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy incorporates folk tunes. The program ends with the first symphony published by an American female composer, Amy Beach’s “Gaelic” Symphony, which features a lush, Romantic orchestral style and melodies influenced by Irish folk songs.

John Towner Williams
(b. February 8, 1932)
Suite from Far and Away
(1992)

Far and Away is a 1992 epic American West romantic adventure film directed by Ron Howard. Starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, who were married at the time, the story is about Irish immigrants seeking their fortune in 1890s America, eventually taking part in the Land Run of 1893. The music is a mixture of traditional Irish instrumentation and conventional orchestra, with featured performances by the Irish musical group The Chieftains and a revised version of the song Book of Days by Enya. The film received mixed reviews, praising its visual aspects but critical of the story. Thanks to Williams and the Chieftains, the music captures fully the Irish flavor and romantic excitement of land settlement in the West as portrayed in the story.

Max Christian Friedrich Bruch
(January 6, 1838-October 2, 1920)
Scottish Fantasy in E-flat major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 46
(1880)

German composer and conductor Max Bruch composed his first piece at nine and an opera at age twenty. He loved folk music as a source of melody, and several of his compositions have connections to music of other cultures. Composed in Berlin during the winter of 1879-1880, Scottish Fantasy was dedicated to virtuoso violinist Pablo de Sarasate. Though Bruch actually visited Scotland for the first time a year after the work was premiered, he had access to a collection of Scottish music at the Munich Library in the late 1860s, and he quotes several Scottish folk tunes in the piece.

The first movement begins ominously. The first theme is built on the folksong “Through the Wood Laddie.” The soloist is the focus of attention with the orchestra providing general support. This melody stays relatively intact throughout the movement, moving through a variety of harmonies and textures.

The second movement is built on the folksong “The Dusty Miller.” The tune is presented aggressively and then immediately elaborated, with virtuosic flourishes from the soloist and exciting interludes from the orchestra. After an impressive variety of moods and ornamented versions of the original melody, a surprising return of “Through the Wood Laddie” serves as a sentimental transition to the third movement.

The third movement begins with a quote of “I’m A’ Doun for Lack O’ Johnnie.” After the tune is presented by the soloist, a set of variations ensues with increasing range and numbers of notes. The contrasting middle section of the movement uses the second phrase of the folksong to expand the range of expression. The first part of the song returns, creating a musical bookend for the movement.

The fourth movement begins with a boisterous statement of “Hey Tuttie Tatie.” This folksong is then taken through many different harmonies and combinations of textures, with the soloist “improvising” with increasing intensity. Eventually, a calmer section is followed by flashy scales and arpeggios, a brief sentimental return to the first phrase of “Through the Wood Laddie,” and a final boisterous refrain of “Hey Tuttie Tatie.”

Bruch conducted the premiere with the Liverpool Philharmonic Society on February 22, 1881, with Joseph Joachim as soloist. Bruch was unhappy with Joachim’s performance, however, describing him as having “ruined” the work.  Bruch conducted the work with Sarasate at a Philharmonic Society concert in St. James’s Hall on March 15, 1883. The Scottish Fantasy is a signature piece by Bruch that is widely heard today.

Amy Marcy Cheney Beach
(September 5, 1867-December 27, 1944)
Symphony in E minor, Op. 32 (“Gaelic”)
(1894)

Amy Beach was the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music, and one of the first American composers, male or female, to succeed without the benefit of European training. She published over 300 works during her lifetime. She was also a virtuoso pianist and toured extensively in Germany and America. She was born in Henniker, New Hampshire. In 1875, her family moved to the Boston area so she could study piano and composition. She made her piano debut in 1883 which led to several performing opportunities, including a performance with the Boston Symphony in 1885.

Amy was 18 years old when she married Dr. Henry Harris Aubrey Beach, a Boston surgeon and amateur singer twenty-four years her senior. She lived with cultural restrictions similar to those experienced by other talented women such as Fanny Mendelssohn. She did remember her life as happy, however, and achieved success within these restrictions.

When Antonín Dvořák visited America in 1892-1895, he suggested that the roots of American music were represented best in Native-American and African American music. Beach disagreed, however, suggesting that American composers “should be far more likely to be influenced by old English, Scotch or Irish songs, inherited with our literature from our ancestors.” These songs served as the inspiration for her “Gaelic” Symphony, the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. It was premiered October 30, 1896, by the Boston Symphony. The orchestral sound is clearly influenced by mainstream European Romanticism, but there is additional edge which lends excitement to the music as it develops.

The symphony begins with a chromatic rumble in the strings as if the sea is turbulent and the wind is swirling. An energetic first theme based on the folksong “Dark is the Night” adds drama and symbolism. A lush contrasting theme, an Irish tune called “Conehobhar,” follows. The movement ebbs and flows between the two themes with a variety of solos distributed to the winds and brass, ending with an exciting final section of fanfares and flourishes.

In the second movement, a lilting siciliano rhythm combines with a pastoral melody that borrows from another folksong, “Goirtin Ornadh.” A contrasting faster section turns the sentimental song into a lively dance. A series of variations take the tune through a variety of moods. The music abruptly stops, and the pastoral melody returns, this time featuring the English horn. After one more lush orchestral outpouring, the movement makes a final rush to the end.

The slow third movement opens with an expressive, melancholy melody in the strings. Two more Gaelic folksongs are borrowed for this unhurried, fully developed piece involving the whole orchestra. The fourth movement begins dramatically with a forthright theme. No new folksongs are used in this movement, but materials from the first three movements return as a sort of musical summary. A calmer contrasting section settles things down, but it doesn’t last long. The low strings play a long melody that offers optimism. Next, the brass take a turn with a boisterous section tinged with seriousness. A surprising variety of instrument combinations and abrupt contrasts in style follow. In true late-19th-century fashion, an extended ending provides several moments where it appears the movement will end. The final gesture uses the orchestra in full voice.

Scholars have found additional layers of meaning in the symphony, including connotations of sadness, excitement, and sympathy for suffering and overcoming obstacles at home and when emigrating to a new land. Some heralded this symphony as a great work, while others found problems that were subsequently blamed on her gender—such was the plight of female composers at the time. Despite considerable fame and recognition during her lifetime, Beach’s music was largely neglected after her death in 1944. As her music has been revived, it has been received with deep appreciation for her skill and range of expression.

Violinist David Kim was named Concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1999. Born in Carbondale, Illinois in 1963, he started playing the violin at the age of three, began studies with the famed pedagogue Dorothy DeLay at the age of eight, and later received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School.

Mr. Kim continues to appear as soloist with orchestras across the country and appears as concertmaster of the nine-time Emmy Award-winning All-Star Orchestra on PBS stations across the USA and online at the Khan Academy. He regularly presents masterclasses at schools such as the Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School and the Australian National Academy of Music. Mr. Kim’s first book was released in 2022: The Audition Method for Violin, published by GIA Publications. This long-awaited collection of standard orchestral excerpts walks the reader through each work with his suggestions on execution, audition strategy, bowings and fingerings.

Mr. Kim is a frequent touring guest of famed modern hymn writers Keith and Kristyn Getty at venues such as the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall. He also is a regular performer around the nation at events for YoungLife, Illuminations and The Gathering. Mr. Kim serves as Distinguished Artist at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. He frequently serves as an adjudicator at international violin competitions such as the Menuhin and Sarasate.

Mr. Kim has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from Eastern University in suburban Philadelphia, the University of Rhode Island and Dickinson College. His instruments are a J.B. Guadagnini from Milan, Italy ca. 1757 on loan from The Philadelphia Orchestra and a Francesco Gofriller ca. 1735. Mr. Kim exclusively performs on and endorses Larsen Strings from Denmark.