Saturday November 13 2010 at 7:30PM

in Collaboration with Cantabile Singers

Robert Farr, conductor

Mountain View United Methodist Church Boulder

• Chip Michael,    Exchanging Glances (world premiere)
• Schubert, Mass no. 2
• Brahms, Symphony no. 1

Life presents us with many trials and tribulations, and all adventures have their own seemingly insurmountable obstacles.  In wake of the genius of Beethoven, even Johannes Brahms questioned his ability to create symphonic masterpieces.  His First Symphony took more than 20 years to complete, and throughout he pays tribute to the master before him.  Brahms also had a soft spot in his heart for Franz Schubert.  Schubert’s Second Mass went on a sordid journey of its own.  It was in fact stolen for some time and attributed to a mischievous Slovakian composer.  Well after Schubert’s death the work was resurrected by Franz’s brother Ferdinand and reconstructed into the masterpiece the Boulder Symphony will present in collaboration with the Cantabile Singers.

EXCHANGING GLANCES
Notes by Chip Michael, Composer-in-residence

The inspiration behind this piece is that certain kind of magic immortalized by Rogers and Hammerstein in “Some Enchanted Evening”. Flirtations across an empty space often start with Exchanging Glances. But before we can begin the flirtation, there must be a proper mood. While the glances are harmless and fun, they quicken the pulse and come more frequent. Is there alcohol involved, or just a desire to connect? Regardless of the outcome, there is an alternate existence for those involved, not so much a stoppage of time, but moving to something outside of normalcy.

Written as a companion piece to Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, Exchanging Glances has the same instrumentation but a very different feel. Rather than using E minor, I begin the piece in E Phrygian eventually shifting to G major and then to E Aeolian (or E minor) eventually ending in E major.

The structure is somewhat Sonata Allegro, somewhat Sonata Rondo. In blending modes, forms and rhythmic patterns the piece is bound together through tentative glances, as if we are never really sure whether those glances are directed at us or someone else.

Robert Farr

Robert Farr has been Music Director and conductor of Cantabile Singers  since 1992.  He is responsible for the group’s musical quality and is an  integral part of  our success. Robert received his Bachelor of Music degree in  organ and church music from Stetson University and received a Master of  Sacred Music degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.  He has served as organist-choirmaster in churches in Florida, New Jersey,  Michigan and Boulder.