CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
The New York Pops

Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Friday, April 3rd, 2009 at 8:00 PM

“splendidly gutsy”—Gramophone

Hear some of America’s most beloved show tunes, including selections from Annie, Applause, Bye Bye Birdie, and more! Join the New York Pops and some of Broadway’s hottest soloists in a special 80th-birthday salute to the prolific award-winning composer Charles Strouse.

The New York Pops
Martin Yates, Conductor
Guest Artists:
·· Stephen Bogardus
·· Gregg Edelman
·· Debbie Gravitte
·· Rebecca Luker
·· Karen Mason
·· Emma Rowley
·· Eric Jordan Young
Young People's Chorus of New York City
Francisco J. Núñez, Artistic Director

Celebrating the composer of Annie, Applause, Bye Bye Birdie at 80!

Encore:
STROUSE "I Don't Need Anything But You" from Annie

Sponsored by Aon

Program Notes:

Charles Strouse has fascinated me as a musician since 1992, when I was asked to conduct the studio recording of the Broadway cast of Nick & Nora. Despite the fear of “jumping in,” I had the most wonderful four days playing the score of this most amazing of composers. Charles is unusual in the world of music theater: Despite having studied with the celebrated composer Aaron Copland and the strict teacher Nadia Boulanger, he really did start out with an interest in writing popular music. Being determined to do this at the highest level is one of the most obvious qualities in Charles’s music; writing such wonderful and original melodies in so many various styles is another.

Having properly studied composition, Strouse did what so few other Broadway composers have done: He totally immersed himself musically in the style and intricacies of the various backgrounds of his stage shows. He has never been shy of putting heavy musical demands on both his singers and his musicians. His ear for melodic invention has been remarkable, and the fact that many of his songs have becomes standards feels like an accidental afterthought as his songs are always written to propel the storyline of his shows rather than simply to stop them whilst the singer belts out “the hit.”

Charles Strouse writes his songs specifically for the show he is working on at the time. He doesn’t have a drawer full of tunes ready to shoehorn into any upcoming situation, and this makes each of his shows individual musically. Think of the score for Golden Boy; how it positively vibrates with the energy of an under-privileged side of society, whilst Rags brilliantly recreates the sound world of American ragtime colliding with the Klezmer tunes from Eastern Europe at the start of the 20th century. In the award-winning Applause Charles drew on his great knowledge of theater music and dished up a delicious Broadway score with a powerhouse punch. He parodies his serious nature superbly in the effervescent music he wrote for It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman. Even the shows of his that were not deemed to be hits at the time have moments of exquisite beauty and genius. Listen to the score of Dance a Little Closer and you’ll be amazed at the power of the song “Another Life.” I will forever be thrilled to have been able to conduct the Nick & Nora recording, a score of such craftsmanship that it is begging to be heard again.

That this one composer could write all these wonderful scores and many more as well is heartening to all of us who love the music of Broadway. To those out there who are not taken with the genre, fear not: Charles Strouse has written piano concertos, an opera, song cycles, and even a ballet. With a musical pedigree such as his should we be surprised?

—Martin Yates