The Falmouth Chamber Players Orchestra, under the direction of guest conductor and featured pianist Andrew Jonathan Welch, will present its fall concerts on Saturday, November 4, and Sunday, November 5. Both concerts are at 3 PM at John Wesley United Methodist Church in Falmouth.
The program includes Overture No. 2 in D Major by Emilie Mayer, Symphonic Variations by César Franck, with Welch performing on piano, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1.
Welch is artistic director of the Falmouth Chorale, director of music ministries at Allin Congregational Church in Dedham, artistic director of the Epiphany Festival, and teaches at Brown university, the New England Conservatory, and privately. An accomplished pianist, he recently recorded a CD with trumpet player Luke Spence and saxophonist Noah Getz on Albany Records.
“We’re fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Andrew Jonathan Welch as our guest conductor for the fall program,” said Melanie Hayn, president of the FCPO. “Andrew has a wonderful attention to detail and great insights into the pieces, which makes rehearsals a pleasure.
“Andrew will also be playing the piano solo on Franck’s Symphonic Variations, and it’s given us a great appreciation into the dialogue between soloist and orchestra. I think the audience will especially enjoy this work.”
César Franck (1822-1890) was a French Romantic composer, a virtuoso pianist, organist, and music teacher who wrote Symphonic Variations in 1885. Described as “a superb blending of piano and orchestra” by one writer and “a flawless work and as near perfection as a human composer can hope to get in a work of this nature,” by another, Symphonic Variations was said to be inspired by a Belgian folk dance and demonstrates Franck’s use of “cyclic unity,” in which a theme is developed into multiple variations.
“I am thrilled to be leading Franck’s Variations Symphoniques from the keyboard for the upcoming Falmouth Chamber Players concert,” said Welch. “It is a work that portrays a vast emotional landscape, but ends in a joyous, captivating triumph. The powerful optimism of its finale connects it with the other two works on the program; in combination, the three pieces make for a thrilling concert.”
Emilie Mayer (1812-1883) was unique in her era: a prolific woman composer, both popularly and critically acclaimed, who traveled and performed widely throughout Europe. She wrote eight symphonies, at least 15 concert overtures, and a number of chamber music works. Unfortunately, after her death, her work was rarely performed. Recent interest in women composers has helped bring attention to her works.
“I first heard one of Emilie Mayer’s works last year, and immediately had to research to see what else she had written,” said Hayn. “I was astonished to find she was a very prolific composer, since I’d never heard any of her works before.
“Her Overture No. 2 in D minor is playful with great interplay between the winds and strings, and there’s a great heroic horn line that ushers in the final phrases of the piece.”
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C Major, which premiered in 1800 when he was 30, reflects the influences of Mozart and Hayden, but also demonstrates his own musical personality, including his prominent use of a Harmonie, or wind ensemble, within the work, which gave wind instruments a greater prominence, and enlivening the traditional third movement stately minuet as a spritely scherzo. The symphony is light-hearted, eloquent, spirited, and musically complex, bridging the Classical and Romantic periods and revealing Beethoven’s artistry, innovation, and revolutionary approach to composing.
“FCPO played Beethoven’s first symphony just a year after our first concert, in November 2009,” said Hayn. “We have six members of the original ensemble performing the work for a second time at this concert. It’s a unique opportunity to re-visit this piece, with so many new musicians who have joined over the intervening years, including ten for whom this will be their first concert with us.”
A donation of $20 for adults is suggested, with free admission for students. Tickets are available only at the door. For more information about the concert and the Falmouth Chamber Players Orchestra, visit falmouthchamberplayers.org.
The FCPO is funded in part by the Falmouth Cultural Council, the Mass Cultural Council, the Falmouth Fund of the Cape Cod Foundation, Cape Cod Melody Tent, and the Woods Hole Foundation.
Notes on The Arts 