Thursday Nights Out 2015/16

THURSDAY Nights Out 2015/16

YOU WON’T JUST HEAR MUSIC AT BBC SSO CONCERTS: you’ll FEEL it...

Glasgow City Halls bbc.co.uk/bbcsso

City Halls 2015/16

Thursday Nights Out

...we’re not kidding.

There will be moments when you’ll actually sense the hairs standing up on the back of your neck, when you’ll feel the floor shaking under you, when you’ll feel waves of sound rushing over you and through you. When you’ll feel that you can reach out and touch the music itself...

All concerts are scheduled to be recorded for future transmission or broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

RELAX AFTER WORK OR SET YOUR PULSE RACING! There are so many different types of music this season that you’re bound to find something to suit your mood. Clear your mind with tranquil music to soothe and console or get caught up in the extraordinary sound of a LIVE symphony orchestra. See pages 4/5 for some suggestions.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT iN THE HEART OF THE MERCHANT CITY The Merchant City is packed with award-winning restaurants and bars so enjoy a meal before or after the concert, or an interval drink at one of the City Halls bars. City Halls is on Candleriggs, easily accessible by public transport and with lots of nearby parking.

TICKETS FROM JUST £12.50 Did you know that this season over 6000 seats are priced a t u n d e r £20? And with tickets starting at £12.50 you can experience some of the greatest music ever written, performed by a world-class orchestra at affordable prices.

Plus there are discounts for seniors, students, unemployed and disabled patrons.

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra BBC Scotland City Halls, Candleriggs Glasgow G1 1NQ Email: bbcsso@bbc.co.uk

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Thursday Nights Out

City Halls 2015/16

WHAT KIND OF NIGHT OUT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

FOR BLOWING AWAY THE COBWEBS

FOR EPIC, HEARTBREAKING BEAUTY

FOR OPEN MINDS & EARS

FOR MAKING YOUR PULSE RACE

Stressed? Had a tough day at work? Need to recharge the batteries? These works will make you feel refreshed with their poise, elegance and tranquillity...

Sweeping strings and aching, slow melodies: this is music that goes right to the emotional heart of the matter while ravishing your ears. These works are both profound and passionate...

Get the blood pumping with these edge-of-yourseat thrillers that’ll blow the roof off City Halls and bring the audience to its feet.

SIBELIUS SYMPHONY No.6

MAHLER’S SYMPHONY No.10

Bored at Beethoven? Snoozing through Schumann?

Right, here are some works that rethink the sounds an orchestra can make, expressing ideas and emotions in new, startling ways. If you love being challenged by contemporary art then these works are perfect for you...

Page 7

“Pure, cool water” was how Sibelius described his music. And the Sixth Symphony is like a fresh, flowing mountain stream. Dive in!

MOZART’S PIANO CONCERTO No.9

Page 10

There’s no one like Mozart to make you feel human again. Written when Wolfgang was only 21, it’s a bright, joyous concerto filled with light, and has been dubbed “one of the greatest wonders of the world.”

BEETHOVEN’S ‘PASTORAL SYMPHONY’ Page 10

Close your eyes and let Beethoven lead you through summer pastures complete (typically) with a storm and a rainbow of musical radiance at the end. Like inhaling lungfuls of fresh air.

Page 6

Mahler’s final work, reconstructed from his sketches, packs a lifetime of love and pain into a massive work of great power and emotion. The opening movement is as sweeping and moving as the famous Adagietto used in the film Death in Venice.

ELGAR’S ‘ENIGMA VARIATIONS’

Page 8

Includes the famous ‘Nimrod’ variation. That’s all we’re saying.

MAHLER’S THE SONG OF THE EARTH Page 9 Mahler again, and this work for two singers and orchestra ends with a long, heart-rending farewell that celebrates love, friendship, nature, life and death.

Stupendously beautiful.

TCHAIKOVSKY’S ‘MANFRED’ SYMPHONY Page11 Nobody wrote music with more full-blooded emotion than Tchaikovsky and Manfred contains some of his most personal and passionate music.

Cracking tunes too.

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UNSUK CHIN

Pages 7, 9, 11

This season the orchestra is playing three works by the South Korean composer Unsuk Chin. She blends Korean folk and American pop music with the classical tradition to create exotically colourful, arresting soundworlds.

WORLD PREMIERES

Pages 7, 11

There’s something thrilling about being present at the premiere of a new work and we’ve two this season from Gareth Williams (Fields of Light) and Tom Harrold. We can’t tell you more than that... you’ll have to turn up to find out more!

BRETT DEAN’S DRAMATIC PERSONAE Page 12 Written by one of Australia’s leading composers, this concerto from 2013 is blend of drama and humour, and is a great excuse to catch the most electrifying trumpet player on the planet, Håkan Hardenberger.

MAHLER’S SYMPHONY No.1

Page 13

From its hushed, glittering beginning to its stormy, celebratory final movement, Mahler’s First is a solid-gold orchestral showstopper full of brassy joy and knife-edge twists and turns.

BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTOS

Page 12

On two consecutive Thursdays the young Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin takes on two of the largest concertos ever written, each a huge work that requires volcanic energy, break-neck pacing and dizzyingly difficult playing.

PICTURES FROM AN EXHIBITION

Page 10

With blazing trumpets, chiming bells and crashing cymbals, you’ll certainly know when to start clapping and cheering when this work comes to its end! Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s piano work is a crowd pleaser that has been exciting audiences for almost 100 years.

BEETHOVEN’S SYMPHONY No.7

Page 12

Dance music 19th century style: bracing energy abounds in this late symphony by Beethoven which uses rhythm to propel itself forward with a manic, headlong energy. Wagner used to dance round his house to it...

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Thursday Nights Out

City Halls 2015/16

EPIC, HEART-BREAKING BEAUTY

GRIPPING, INVIGORATING REFRESHMENT

RAVISHING NEW SOUNDS and CLASSIC ROMANCE

Thursday 24 September 2015, 7.30pm

Thursday 8 October, 7.30pm

Thursday 5 November, 7.30pm

OPENING NIGHT: MAHLER 10

SIBELIUS 5, 6 & 7

SCHUMANN’S SECOND SYMPHONY

Sibelius Symphony No.5 Sibelius Symphony No.6 Sibelius Symphony No.7

Glazunov Violin Concerto Mahler Symphony No.10

Thomas Dausgaard conductor

James Ehnes violin Donald Runnicles conductor

From the radiant sunrise that opens the Fifth to the deep tranquillity of the Sixth and the windswept peaks of the Seventh, Jean Sibelius’s last three symphonies are like a force of nature. Join our Chief Conductor-Designate, Thomas Dausgaard, for an exhilarating journey through one of the 20th century’s greatest – and most inspiring – musical minds.

There’s no atmosphere quite like Opening Night of the season, and what a work to begin with! Epic and monumental, Mahler’s Tenth is a work where cries of love and cries of pain finally resolve in music of shattering honesty and heart-breaking beauty.

This is music that explores the great questions of life.

“Mind de-numbing stuff, some parts of my brain got reconnected.” twitter comment

Richard Strauss Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks Unsuk Chin Šu Schumann Symphony No.2 Wu Wei sheng Markus Stenz conductor The Sheng is a mouth-organ rooted for over three millennia in Chinese culture. In Unsuk Chin’s ravishing Šu it’s paired with a symphony orchestra to produce revelatory new sound worlds - you’ve probably never heard a piece of music like this!

Also on the menu, an uproarious musical romp from Richard Strauss, and deep romance in the form of Schumann’s noble Second Symphony.

A JOURNEY THROUGH DARKNESS and LIGHT Thursday 22 October, 7.30pm

ALISA WEILERSTEIN PLAYS SHOSTAKOVICH Gareth Williams Fields of Light BBC Commission, World Premiere Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.2 Dvořák Symphony No.7 Alisa Weilerstein cello Rafael Payare conductor Catch two of the greatest young talents in the classical music world in a concert that embraces both light and darkness. Acclaimed American cellist Alisa Weilerstein is joined by her husband, conductor Rafael Payare, for a dark, haunted 20th century concerto by Dmitri Shostakovich that’s balanced by a World Premiere and a symphony of grand passions and tender secrets.

Image Gustav Mahler

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Image Alisa Weilerstein (Decca/© Harald Hoffman)

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City Halls 2015/16

Thursday Nights Out

LEST WE FORGET

YEARNING AND TRANSCENDENCE

Thursday 19 November, 7.30pm

Thursday 3 December, 7.30pm

ELGAR’S ‘ENIGMA VARIATIONS’

BBC SSO 80TH BIRTHDAY CONCERT

Butterworth/Russman Orchestral Fantasia Walton Cello Concerto Coles/Brabbins Sorrowful Dance UK Premiere Elgar ‘Enigma Variations’

Matthias Pintscher Idyll UK Premiere Mozart Oboe Concerto Mahler The Song of the Earth

Nicolas Altstaedt cello Martyn Brabbins conductor

François Leleux oboe Sarah Connolly contralto Andrew Staples tenor Matthias Pintscher conductor

‘Nimrod’ is the most famous of Elgar’s ‘Enigma variations’, a series of musical variations suggested by his friends. Its sweeping majesty and sense of sorrow is paired with music from two composers killed in the Great War (including Scottish composer Cecil Coles), and contrasted with William Walton’s sun-kissed Cello Concerto. A concert that won’t fail to leave you moved.

The orchestra marks its 80th birthday with Mahler’s The Song of the Earth, a song cycle that looks life and death straight in the eye, from youthful revels and binge drinking (no, really), to a final leave-taking of yearning beauty and transcendent stillness. But before then a joyous concerto from Mozart and a modern journey from darkness to light with a UK Premiere from this concert’s conductor, Matthias Pintscher.

A TOUCH OF HOLLYWOOD GLAMOUR

“Not normally a classical musical goer but blown away.”

Thursday 14 January 2016, 7.30pm

VOLKOV CONDUCTS THE SEVEN STARS’ SYMPHONY Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Unsuk Chin Clarinet Concerto Koechlin Seven Stars’ Symphony Kari Kriikku clarinet Ilan Volkov conductor There’s nothing in 20th century music quite like The Seven Stars’ Symphony: a sumptuous, swooning orchestral love-letter to Hollywood’s film-stars, filled with melodies as glamorous as Greta Garbo, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin themselves.

There’s even space for Mickey Mouse, as the concert opens with the work that inspired his appearance in Disney’s Fantasia.

twitter comment

Image Nicolas Altstaedt by Marco Borggreve

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Image Matthias Pintscher by Andrea Medici

Image Marlene Dietrich (The Kobal Collection, BBC, Don English)

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Thursday Nights Out

City Halls 2015/16

REFINEMENT, ENERGY, ELEGANCE

CHORAL MUSIC STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART

Thursday 28 January, 7.30pm

Thursday 10 March, 7.30pm

JONATHAN BISS PLAYS MOZART

BEETHOVEN’S MISSA SOLEMNIS

Haydn Overture: L’isola disabitata Mozart Piano Concerto No.9 Leclair Suite from ‘Scylla et Glaucus’ Haydn Symphony No.100 ‘Military’

Kim-Lillian Strebel soprano Stephanie Lauricella mezzo-soprano Dimitri Pittas tenor Marko Mimica bass Edinburgh Festival Chorus Christopher Bell Chorus Master Donald Runnicles conductor

Jonathan Biss piano Nicholas McGegan conductor 18th century London had never heard anything like Haydn’s ‘Military’ symphony – a piece so riotously entertaining that even elegant society ladies found themselves yelling with glee. This smash hit symphony is paired with the 21-year old Mozart’s masterly re-invention of the piano concerto, played by the young American pianist Jonathan Biss, and two works hand-picked by early music expert Nicholas McGegan.

“From the heart – may it go straight to the heart” wrote Ludwig van Beethoven on the manuscript of this huge choral work. It’s an intimate self-portrait of a human soul, profoundly beautiful and almost unbearably moving. Don’t miss an international line-up of soloists and the stunning Edinburgh Festival Chorus.

Image Jonathan Biss by Benjamin Ealovega

SENSUALITY, SOLEMNITY AND SUNSHINE

BROODING, INTENSE PASSION

Thursday 11 February, 7.30pm

Thursday 3 March, 7.30pm

Thursday 7 April, 7.30pm

MUSSORGSKY’S ‘PICTURES FROM AN EXHIBITION’

RUNNICLES CONDUCTS THE ‘PASTORAL’ SYMPHONY

TCHAIKOVSKY’S ‘MANFRED’ SYMPHONY

Glinka Valse fantaisie Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1 Mussorgsky Pictures from an Exhibition

Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune James MacMillan Violin Concerto Beethoven Symphony No.6 ‘Pastoral’

Tom Harrold New Work BBC Commission, World Premiere Unsuk Chin Violin Concerto Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony

Boris Brovtsyn violin Alexander Vedernikov conductor

Vadim Repin violin Donald Runnicles conductor

Viviane Hagner violin Ilan Volkov conductor

There are few more gripping documents of Soviet life than Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto; a brooding political thriller of a piece, with a core of raw emotion. Mussorgsky’s whirlwind trip around an art gallery, meanwhile, is one of the most popular classical showpieces ever written - and with its everchanging variety of moods, stirring tunes and rousing finale (cymbals, chiming bells, you name it) it’s easy to see why.

Debussy’s prelude to a ballet that scandalised Paris is a dreamy, sultry, hothouse of an opener. Part of Sir James MacMillan’s Violin Concerto from 2009 was inspired by a dream and is dedicated to the memory of his mother. Beethoven’s rousing symphony, meanwhile, uses radiant music and instantly hummable tunes to paint a picture of the countryside in full bloom.

Tchaikovsky’s music is loved across the world for its heart-on-sleeve outpourings of emotion but his ‘Manfred’ symphony has been unfairly neglected.

It’s named after Byron’s outcast hero (banished for his forbidden desires) and is full of brooding; passionate music that equals Tchaikovsky’s other more famous symphonies for intensity and sweeping romance.

FULL-BLOODED RUSSIAN GRANDEUR

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“An epic and cathartic experience: loved every heart-breaking note.” twitter comment

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Thursday Nights Out

City Halls 2015/16

A BLAZE OF GLORY

PULSE-RACING CLASSICS

Thursday 21 April, 7.30pm

Thursday 12 May, 7.30pm

RACHMANINOV’S SYMPHONIC DANCES

KOZHUKHIN PLAYS BRAHMS

Ives The Unanswered Question Brett Dean Dramatis personae Scottish Premiere Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances

Brahms Piano Concerto No.1 Beethoven Symphony No.7

Håkan Hardenberger trumpet Michael Francis conductor The sound of the trumpet dominates the first half of this concert: Charles Ives’s mysterious The Unanswered Question sees a solo trumpet pose the same musical question over and over to an indifferent orchestra, while Håkan Hardenberger, the most electrifying classical trumpet player in the world today, shows off his skills in a recent concerto. Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, meanwhile, give all the instruments in the orchestra the chance to shine at blazing full power.

Denis Kozhukhin piano Thomas Dausgaard conductor You might need to lie down once these two works of elemental energy get you all fired up. Brahms’s volcanic First Piano Concerto is both a bracing contrast and a perfect counterpart to Beethoven’s barnstorming symphony. The young Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin is a favourite with Glasgow audiences and takes on Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto the following week.

BRILLIANCE AND MAJESTY Thursday 19 May, 7.30pm

CLOSING NIGHT: RUNNICLES CONDUCTS MAHLER 1 Brahms Piano Concerto No.2 Mahler Symphony No.1 Denis Kozhukhin piano Donald Runnicles conductor There’s never been a first symphony to match Mahler’s, and from the glistening stillness of its visionary opening to its final, epic ascent from the inferno to paradise, it’s one of those pieces that simply brings audiences cheering to their feet. It’s a suitably joyous ending to this 80th anniversary season – and to a concert that begins with the poetry and warmth of Brahms’s expansive Second Piano Concerto: a Romantic master at his bighearted best.

“Just got home from Runnicles conducting @bbcsso. Heart broken.

Emotional wreck. Filled with wonder. #fabulous.” twitter comment

Image Håkan Hardenberger ©Marco Borggreve

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Image Denis Kozhukhin by Felix Broede

Image Donald Runnicles by John Wood

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Thursday Nights Out

City Halls 2015/16

PLAN YOUR NIGHT OUT GETTING TO CITY HALLS

AT CITY HALLS

Q: WHERE IS CITY HALLS?

Q: DO I HAVE TO GET DRESSED UP? DO PEOPLE WEAR FORMAL DRESS?

A: City Halls is located in Glasgow’s Merchant City, on Candleriggs, between Ingram Street and Wilson Street.

Q: WHAT’S THE NEAREST PARKING TO CITY HALLS? A: You can park near City Halls at a discounted rate on the night of a performance from 6.00pm at the multi-storey facilities at Q-Park on Candleriggs and Albion Street; this includes parking for disabled patrons. Other car parking facilities close to City Halls include the NCP Glasshouse on Glassford Street and car parks on the east side of High Street, in addition to metered on-street parking throughout the area.

Q: WHAT PUBLIC TRANSPORT RUNS NEAR CITY HALLS? A: City Halls is within easy walking distance of Argyle Street, Queen Street, High Street and Central railway stations as well as St. Enoch and Buchanan Street subway stations. Buchanan Bus Station is a 15 minute walk away. Nearby bus routes include numbers 2, 6, 7/7A, 18, 21, 43, 60/60A, 61, 64, 75, 240, 255, 263 and 267.

A: The simple answer is ‘no’. You can wear what you like. The orchestra members don’t wear bow ties and tails so why should you? You can be as smart or as causal as you like. If it’s a special occasion feel free to dress up!

Q: IS FOOD AVAILABLE AT CITY HALLS BEFORE THE CONCERT? A: No, but the Merchant City and the centre of Glasgow is full of restaurants and bars where you can enjoy food before or after the concert.

Q: WHAT HAPPENS IF I CLAP IN THE ‘WRONG’ PLACE? HOW WILL I KNOW WHEN TO CLAP? A: Most people don’t clap until a piece of music has completely finished (e.g. after all the movements of a symphony) to keep a sense of tension throughout the performance. That means they can let rip at the end! However sometimes audiences are so excited that they will clap spontaneously at a great performance and who can blame them. It’s not a crime.

The best piece of advice is that if you don’t know the piece of music you’re listening to, hold off until everyone else starts to clap.

Q: ARE THERE BARS AT CITY HALLS?

Q: WHAT ACCESS FACILITIES ARE AVAILABLE?

A: Yes, there are two bars in City Halls: the Candleriggs Bar at the opposite end of the promenade from the Recital Room and the Bazaar Bar on the ground floor. Beat the queues by pre-ordering your interval drinks.

A: All entrances at City Halls are fully accessible with lifts to ever y level of the auditorium.

Wheelchairs are available on request and can be pre-booked via the box office. Guide dogs are welcome at City Halls.

Q: CAN I KEEP MY MOBILE PHONE ON? A: No. Like many events we ask you to turn off your phone during the concert – or at least have it on silent mode. But we’re also usually broadcasting on BBC Radio 3 so it’s doubly important your phone doesn’t intrude on the concert.

CITY HALLS WILSON STREET

Image Alan McAteer Photography

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Images Mark Hamilton Photography

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BOX OFFICE: 0141-353 8000 bbc.co.uk/bbcsso

HOW TO GET TICKETS

HOW TO BOOK

Tickets*:

Book Online: bbc.co.uk/bbcsso Phone the Box Office: 0141-353 8000 Book in person: from City Halls or the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Box Offices.

£25.00, £21.00, £18.00, £12.50

Over 60s: £2 off full price single tickets Students, Under 16s and Unwaged: £6* (proof of status required) Registered Disabled: Disabled patrons and a companion receive 50% off any single full price ticket.

Booking 4 or more concerts?

Opening Hours: Mon – Sat, 12 noon – 6pm (later on concert evenings).

Sundays: Opening hours vary.

Please contact the box office to confirm.

A Season Ticket will save you up to 30%.

Call the Box Office on 0141-353 8000 for more details. * Venue

Booking Fees

Glasgow Concert Halls Box Office charges a fee of £1.50 on all telephone bookings and £1 on all online bookings. There will be a £1 charge if you wish your tickets posted to you.

The information in this brochure was correct at the time of publishing.

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra reserves the right to amend artists and programmes for any of the listed concerts if necessary.