Presents

Spirit and Renewal

Sunday, November 9, 2025

Eisenhower Community Center

Keehun Nam, Music Director

Concert Program

Overture No. 2 in E-flat Major, op. 24, Louise Farrenc (1804–1875)

Appalachian Spring Suite, Aaron Copland (1900–1990)

Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, op. 120 (1851 version) , Robert Schumann (1810–1856)

1. Ziemlich langsam — Lebhaft
2. Romanze: Ziemlich langsam
3. Scherzo — Trio
4. Langsam — Lebhaft

Program Notes

By S.M. Pargal

Overture No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op.24 (1834)

Celebrated pianist and composer Louise Farrenc composed two orchestral overtures in the year 1834, a unique accomplishment as 19th Century female musicians were primarily featured as performers. As the first woman in the Paris Conservatoire to hold the title of Professor of Piano, she earned recognition from renowned figures in the French musical press for her pioneering spirit and dramatic capabilities as an orchestrator. Farrenc’s Second Overture stands as an impressive work of composition that demands finesse and lyrical ability from each musician with challenging fast passages and complex interplay between sections. Louise Farrenc would go on to hold the title of Professor of Piano for 31 years and her compositions received commendation from contemporaries such as Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, and Robert Schumann.

Appalachian Spring Suite (1945)

In 1944 acclaimed choreographer Martha Graham and composer Aaron Copland premiered a ballet that would earn Copland the Pulitzer Prize for Music and cement Graham’s reputation as the ‘Picasso of Dance.’ Appalachian Spring is now revered as a celebration of collaboration in the arts that helped establish the social and cultural status of American artists on the international stage, with one critic writing, “All that is best about mid-century American music is in this piece.” Nearing the end of the Second World War, Copland’s music moved away from his more polarizing dissonant compositions and into a more folksy style steeped in Americana. Meditative passages evoke imagery of tender moments between loved ones while frenetic, rapid passages sit somewhere between fear and elation without losing the passion exhibited earlier. His use of the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts” throughout the orchestral suite accompanying Graham’s choreography reflected the growth of American idealism and enduring themes of remembrance and freedom during conflict. One of the strongest themes in the ballet as a whole is the intergenerational effects of wartime and the way it shapes our understanding of the places we call home, an evergreen motif that has only become more relevant with time.

Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, op. 120 (1851)

Described as the most romantic of Schumann’s orchestral pieces, his Symphony in D Minor has two distinct versions: the original 1841 composition and the 1851 revision that would reach publication. Clara Schumann, who wed Robert in 1840, stood by the 1851 reorchestration despite notable disagreement from Johannes Brahms. The Schumanns became a legendary team throughout the 1840s with Clara’s steadfast love and support encouraging Robert to keep composing despite his psychotic episodes that placed him on the brink of the same madness that would claim his life in 1856. His First Symphony was a testament to the genius accompanying the madness- composed in four days- although it followed a very conventional structure. The Fourth Symphony would be different, despite Schumann beginning to work on it just months after the premiere of his First. Perhaps attributable to his creative abilities or his worsening mental state, his first draft of the Fourth Symphony was completed in a week. Taking organizational inspiration from his hero, Ludwig van Beethoven, and his good friend, Hector Berlioz, the Symphony in D Minor has a much more cyclical nature, exploring multiple facets of the same motifs to a near obsessive extent. The final orchestration of the Symphony in D Minor stands apart from Schumann’s earlier works as a darker and more dramatic piece with an unorthodox format without breaks between movements. Distinct lyrical themes can be found returning and re-appearing ac ross movements with variations and developments that shape the piece into the Romantic masterwork known today. The 1851 restructuring made its premier with
Schumann conducting at the end of 1852, a decade after he began and four years before his death.

Biographies

Keehun Nam, Music Director

Nam currently serves as the Artistic Director of the Southeast Minnesota Youth Orchestras, where he conducts the top ensemble and sets the artistic vision for the season. He has served in numerous leadership roles, including Interim Director of Orchestras at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, Musical Director of the Ithaca College Sinfonietta, and Founder of the Vanderbilt Commodore Orchestra. Nam’s guest conducting appearances span both North America and Europe, with performances in Berlin, St. Petersburg, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria.

A native Minnesotan, Nam grew up in Eden Prairie and holds a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from Ithaca College and a Bachelor’s degree in Musical Arts from Vanderbilt University.

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