Youth Symphony of Southern Oregon

Taylor Wood, percussion

Taylor Wood is a winner of the Youth Symphony of Southern Oregon’s 2009 Concerto Competition.  Ms. Wood is a student at Southern Oregon University (SOU) and Oregon Connections Academy. A private percussion student of Dr. Terry Longshore, she has studied string bass with David Miller and Dr. William Jacoby. Taylor has participated in the YSSO since 2006 and currently is a member of the string bass section of Youth Symphony.

Recently, Taylor observed that she found Paul Creston’s Concertino for Marimba and Orchestra to be a “lively, exciting work that showcases the character of the marimba.” She went on to say the Concertino is “a charismatic work that features playful qualities that tease musicians and audiences alike with recurring themes and variations. Each movement of the Concertino has its own personality.”  She shared that she is “honored to have an opportunity to present this dynamic work to Rogue Valley audiences and perform it with her Youth Symphony colleagues.”

A multi-instrumentalist, Taylor was drawn to the marimba because of its rich tone, warm colors and timbre, as well as the instrument’s ability to communicate a range and depth of emotion. Its cross-cultural connections with world music styles and traditions offer musical interest both for the performer and listener. She also plays double bass, electric bass, piano, cello and percussion, and has studied Mbira, South African drumming and Zimbabwean marimba.

Taylor has been a member of numerous other ensembles including the Ashland High School (AHS) Chamber Orchestra, AHS Jazz Band and Marimba-Rutendo! Marimba Band. At present she is a member of the SOU Percussion Ensemble. Her school music teachers have included Jon Soderberg-Chase, Jenifer Carstensen, Dwayne Johnson, Louis Leger and Gerry Paré. Taylor’s community music teachers include Jan Christensen, Duane Whitcomb, Musekiwa Chingodza, Themba Mawoko and Bongo Love. She  has received numerous awards including AHS Jazz Band Newcomer of the Year, Ashland Middle School (AMS) Orchestra Student of the Year and AMS Band Student of the Year. She won the OSAA Solo and Ensemble District Competition (mallets) and placed third at the OSAA Solo and Ensemble State Competition (mallets).

Youth Orchestra

Overture to Nabucco
Giuseppe Verdi

The original – and unwieldy - title of Giuseppe Verdi’s third opera, Nabuccodonosor, was shortened to Nabucco.  His first two operas were not successful and Verdi had to be coaxed to take on the Nabucco project.  The libretto was intended for the composer Otto Nicolai and it is indeed fortunate for us that he did not get it. 

The libretto is based on the biblical story of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and his enslavement of the Hebrews.  It captured Verdi’s imagination immediately and he spent a fitful night reading the libretto and planning the opera.  Little by little he completed the work and submitted it to La Scala, the commissioning opera house, in Milan.  La Scala originally rejected it for staging because the repertory for the current season was already set.  Verdi vehemently and angrily insisted the company stage the work and Nabucco premiered on March 9, 1842, at La Scala. It was revived the following autumn for 57 more performances.  The performance record of Nabucco at La Scala remains unmatched by any other production. 

Verdi’s fame spread as the number of productions of Nabucco increased throughout the world.  Before 1851, the opera was in production in numerous major cities including Paris, London, St. Petersburg, Buenos Aries, New York, Barcelona, and on and on.

Nabucco and Verdi raised the social conscience of a nation. The opera’s story of the oppression of an entire nation at the hands of foreign overlords stirred the Italian public to action.  Verdi’s own name became a secret rallying cry for Italy’s freedom from the Austro-Hungarian Empire of which it was an unwilling part.  The letters “VERDI” now stood for the initials of the phrase “Vittorio Emanuele, Re D’Italia” (Vittorio Emanuele, King of Italy, was in exile) VIVA VERDI!  In 1881 an early Verdi biographer, Jacopo Caponi put this national fervor this way:

The overture serves as a “coming attractions reel” to the ensuing opera. It sets the mood for the ensuing drama, and a highly charged mood it is.

Symphony No. 5
Ludwig van Beethoven

Work on the Fifth Symphony occupied Beethoven for many years. Work on the symphony was done in parallel with the Sixth Symphony, the Pastorale. The two symphonies were premiered at a four-hour long concert in Vienna on December 22, 1808. At the premiere, the Fifth Symphony was listed as number six and the Sixth Symphony was listed as number five. The program consisted exclusively of premieres of Beethoven compositions, including his Fourth Piano Concerto with Beethoven as the soloist. The two symphonies are dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz and Count Rasumovsky, two of his patrons.

The symphony’s main theme, “G, G, G, E-flat,” is perhaps the best known motif in all of music. During the Second World War, the allied forces associated the motif with the Morse code for the letter “V” (dot-dot-dot-dash), standing for “Victory.”

Beethoven's words about the opening motif were, “So pocht das Schicksal an die Pforte” (So Fate knocks at the door). In a letter of the time Beethoven wrote, “I will take Fate by the throat; it shall not wholly overcome me.” If the four-note motif represents fate, then Beethoven does indeed have quite a good grip on it: the entire movement is derived from it. The motif returns in various guises throughout the symphony.

The motif is assembled into the first theme, which has the character of a gigantic collage - a thousand reflections of the motif working together like ripples on the water or like waves on the ocean. Two unison horns interrupt the vision to announce the arrival of the second theme, which comes in the strings and winds. (As advertised, this also comes from the motif.) The motif is now heard to form a satisfying little closing tune for the exposition, but soon the insistent first theme returns to alert us to the fateful business at hand.

After a little pensive musical cogitation, Beethoven commences with the development section, the particulars of which are best left to your imagination and audition. A brief oboe cadenza marks the commencement of the recapitulation and a brilliant Beethoven developmental coda.

The second movement is a lyrical set of variations. The beginning of the Scherzo movement fascinates, in the words of Hector Berlioz, like the gaze of a mesmerist or hypnotist. The direct connection to the finale through the timpani’s low C to the glory of the first entrance of the trombones in the symphony is nothing short of breath-taking. Many have described the beginning of the finale as a representation of sunrise.

The premiere of the symphony was not a success. There was only one rehearsal and the musicians got lost, requiring a restart. The theater was cold and the extreme length of the concert fatigued the audience. A subsequent performance, however, was successful causing E.T.A. Hoffmann to write the following in a review:

Youth Symphony

Concertino for Marimba and Orchestra
Paul Creston

Paul Creston (1906–1985) was largely self-taught but he composed an extensive catalog of music for orchestra, band and chamber group. He was the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, the New York Music Critics’ Circle Award, and many other honors. His music is noted for its lush harmonic language, ingenious thematic development and clear, concise musical forms.

In a 1972 interview, Mr. Creston was asked to give his advice to young composers. He advised them to completely forget about three things: fame, fortune and belief in any special talent they may possess for composing. He believed that all such talent was universal and should be cultivated in everyone.

Following are Mr. Creston’s own program notes for the Concertino:

Symphony No. 1
Ludwig van Beethoven

The First Symphony was composed in 1799 and premiered in April 1800. The concert also included piano improvisations by Beethoven. The First Symphony is the most Classical of Beethoven’s nine symphonies. It is the one that shows the most influence from his mentor Joseph Haydn. The uniquely Beethoven-esque qualities of the work are not found in its largely traditional forms, but rather in the material and treatments that fill those forms. Robert Schumann reflected on the nature of the First Symphony as compared to the Ninth Symphony:

One is struck immediately by the 12-measure introduction to the first movement. For one thing it starts in the wrong key. It starts in the subdominant, modulates to the dominant where it remains briefly before firmly establishing the tonic for the introduction of the first theme. A contemporary critic remarked, “No one will censure an ingenious artist like Beethoven for such liberties and peculiarities, but such a beginning is not suitable for the opening of a grand concert in a spacious opera house.” Beethoven already was challenging his listeners. After this brief but unsettling introduction, a classical sonata form ensues.

Somewhat atypically, the second movement is written in a sonata form like the first. The third movement, marked Minuetto, truly is a Scherzo.

Like the first movement, the finale begins with a slow introduction. This time Beethoven has the violins play a scale, first three notes, then four, five, and eventually the entire scale: Beethoven is making them practice at the concert! The movement is yet another sonata form with an extended coda.