Bard Music Festival
Program Ten • Berlioz’s Transformation of the World of Sound
August 18
Berlioz’s innovative instrumental soundscapes had an extraordinary and liberating impact on the composers who followed. Program Ten pairs his Chant sacré, in a reconstruction of the lost version for saxophones, with a sampling of the unorthodox sonorities he helped inspire. These include pieces respectively showcasing the cornet, by virtuoso cornetist Baptiste Arban; bassoon, by Edward Elgar; and French horn, by Richard Strauss, who edited and updated the Treatise on Instrumentation. Such works helped open the door for some of the 20th century’s most adventurous sounds, by Berlioz’s compatriots Edgard Varèse and Olivier Messiaen, who shared his focus on timbre; Italian experimentalist Luciano Berio, whose trombone showpiece calls for extended techniques and theatricality; and American minimalist Steve Reich, whose Clapping Music eschews traditional instrumentation altogether. The program concludes with Six Bagatelles for wind quintet by Hungarian modernist György Ligeti, for whom timbre and texture were both vital structural elements.
Program
11 am • Preconcert Talk with Richard Wilson
11:30 am • Performance: Anna Polonsky, piano; New Hudson Saxophone Quartet; Bard Festival Wind Ensemble; and others
Hector Berlioz (1803–69)
Chant sacré (1829; arr. 1844; arr. Davis)
New Hudson Saxophone Quartet
Jean-Baptiste Arban (1825–89)
Fantaisie and Variations on The Carnival of Venice (1861)
Zachary Silberschlag TŌN ’18, cornet
Anna Polonsky, piano
Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
Andante for horn and piano, Op. posth. (1888)
Eric Reed, horn
Anna Polonsky, piano
Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Romance for bassoon and piano, Op. 62 (1910)
Thomas English, bassoon
Anna Polonsky, piano
Eugène Bozza (1905–91)
Andante et Scherzo (1938)
New Hudson Saxophone Quartet
Edgard Varèse (1883–1965)
Density 21.5 (1936, rev. 1946)
Alex Sopp, flute
Olivier Messiaen (1908–92)
Le merle noir (1951)
Alex Sopp, flute
Anna Polonsky, piano
Steve Reich (b. 1936)
Clapping Music (1972)
Pei Hsien Lu TŌN ’26
Nick Goodson TŌN ’25
Luciano Berio (1925–2003)
Sequenza V (1966)
Stephen Whimple TŌN ’25, trombone
György Ligeti (1923–2006)
Six Bagatelles (1953)
Allegro con spirito
Rubato. Lamentoso
Allegro grazioso
Presto ruvido
Adagio. Mesto
Molto vivace. Capriccioso
Alex Sopp, flute
Hsuan-Fong Chen, oboe
Thomas English, bassoon
Alec Manasse, clarinet
Eric Reed, horn
Artists & Scholars
Anna Polonsky
Piano
Alex Sopp
Flute
Alec Manasse
Clarinet
Hsuan-Fong Chen
Oboe
Zachary Silberschlag TŌN ’18
Cornet
Thomas English
Bassoon
Eric Reed
Horn
Stephen Whimple TŌN ’25
Trombone
Pei Hsien Lu TŌN ’26
Nick Goodson TŌN ’25
New Hudson Saxophone Quartet
Richard Wilson
Musicologist, Preconcert Talk
Plan Your Visit
Eat & Stay
Nearby villages and towns in the Hudson Valley boast a large selection of restaurants, as well as a variety of hotels, motels, inns, and bed & breakfasts.
Eat & StayDirections
Bard College’s main campus is located in Annandale-on-Hudson (a hamlet of Red Hook), New York, on the east bank of the Hudson River, about 90 miles north of New York City and 220 miles southwest of Boston. The Taconic State Parkway and the New York State Thruway provide the most direct routes to our campus. Click the Google map below, or get directions by entering the following address into your GPS: 35 Henderson Circle Drive, Red Hook, NY 12571.
From the East
If you are traveling from east of the Hudson River in New York State, take the Taconic State Parkway to the Red Hook / Route 199 exit, drive west on Route 199 through the village of Red Hook to Route 9G, turn right onto Route 9G, drive north 1.7 miles, turn left onto Entrance Road, then turn left onto Campus Road.
From the West
If you are traveling from west of the Hudson River, take the New York State Thruway (I-87) to exit 19 (Kingston), take Route 209 (changes to Route 199 at the Hudson River) over the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge to Route 9G, turn left onto Route 9G, drive north 3.3 miles, turn left onto Entrance Road, then turn left onto Campus Road.
About the Venue
Olin Hall
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