Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra concert season 2018 / 19 Lighthouse Poole’s Centre for the Arts
Kirill Karabits Chief Conductor
Welcome to the 2018 / 19 Concert Season at Light One hundred and twenty-five years since a local paper wrote “It seems as if the new band will catch on” we launch the new season in good heart with the BSO performing at the highest level under the outstanding leadership of Chief Conductor Kirill Karabits. Kirill’s musical journey with Orchestra and audience is sure to be a thrilling one once again, not least at the opening of the season with Mahler’s epic Resurrection Symphony. Alongside symphonies by Beethoven, Shostakovich, Dvořák, Terterian and Saint-Saëns, Kirill continues his exploration of the music of Strauss and also Elgar – in addition to the First Symphony, the season finishes with his choral masterpiece The Dream of Gerontius. What better way to celebrate Kirill’s 10th anniversary as Chief Conductor, longer than any other BSO Principal Conductor since Sir Dan Godfrey himself.
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra thouse in Poole Marking the 100th Anniversary of the end of the First World War, a number of works have been programmed including Nielsen’s Fourth Symphony, which celebrates the “inextinguishable will to live”, a suite from Prokofiev’s intense and colourful War and Peace and the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Testament. Remembrance Sunday will also see a special concert featuring music and poetry to commemorate those who gave their lives. Our commitment to developing artistic relationships continues, and we are delighted that both Karl-Heinz Steffens and Ion Marin will be appearing twice in the season. We welcome main season debuts from a range of guest artists including conductors Ben Gernon, Jacek Kaspszyk, Clemens Schuldt and Jamie Phillips, and are especially delighted to welcome the outstanding cellist Johannes Moser as our Artist-in-Residence for the season.
As ever our range of concerts are designed to inspire our loyal regular supporters whilst finding many ways to welcome new audiences of all ages and tastes. With the recruitment of the world’s first professional disabled-led ensemble, BSO Resound, and the winning of Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friendly Organisation of the Year award, the BSO is demonstrating that, 125 years on, it is leading the way on crucial cultural agendas. As one of the UK’s leading arts charities, our work to empower the lives of communities across our diverse region would not be possible without your help. I would like to thank everyone who supports this remarkable company to build a strong future. I look forward to welcoming you to another season of great music making. Dougie Scarfe Chief Executive
wednesday
Monumental Mahler The title Resurrection has erroneously led to the inference that Mahler composed this symphony on a religious impulse. While it is certainly true that the inspiration for the choral finale came to Mahler in the course of a church service he attended, he specified that the symphony is actually an extension of, or sequel to, the personal narrative represented in his First Symphony. It is thus a more personal, and yet hardly less universal, concept of “resurrection” that Mahler undertook to convey in this music, characteristic of his own vision of human aspiration and idealism which informs so many of his works, and particularly those of his Wunderhorn period.
It is the largest symphony ever made in terms of forces, length and harmonic boldness – monumental chords are not uncommon, used to astonishing effect throughout and leading inexorably to its apocalyptic finale. By contrast, the textures of Ligeti’s Lontano are made up of shifting, drifting clouds of sound created by multiple statements of the same line at different speeds. Meaning “distant” the title indicates a sense of changing perspectives and the overall low dynamic level makes the whole piece sound like it is coming from a distance before disappearing at the end beyond the limits of hearing.
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october 7.30 pm
ligeti Lontano mahler Symphony No.2 ‘Resurrection’ Kirill Karabits conductor Lise Lindstrom soprano Nadine Weissmann mezzo-soprano Bournemouth Symphony Chorus
Supported by
Stephen Elder & Vanessa Claydon
wednesday
10
Divine Sublime
mozart Serenade No.10 ‘Gran Partita’ beethoven Symphony No.7
“Just a simple pulse, like a rusty squeezebox... and then high above it, an oboe, a single note hanging there unwavering until a clarinet took it over sweetening it into a phrase of such delight. This was a music I’d never heard... I was hearing the voice of God.” The adagio from Mozart’s sublimely beautiful Serenade could be an instrumental version of one of his opera ensembles, with oboe, clarinet and basset horn singing their heartfelt melismas over a serene accompaniment. The whole work is a truly immaculate piece which represents the summit of wind music. Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony’s appeal is not hard to understand. The ambition of the first movement, beauty of the second, the breathlessness of the scherzo, and relentless energy of the finale never fail to impress audiences. Its dance elements, vitality, and almost frenzied sense of celebration are conveyed principally through rhythm – the “apotheosis of the dance itself ” as described by Wagner.
october 7.30 pm
Kirill Karabits conductor
wednesday
Masters of Melody Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony is his largest work for orchestra. Full of themes which slowly emerge, reappear and reach intense climaxes, it is a truly luscious piece, shown best in the glorious adagio. Its unqualified success vindicated Rachmaninov’s compositional powers, drawing upon his talent for creating ardent, emotionally compelling melodies. Filled with passionate musical outbursts and lovingly quiet interludes it remains an audience favourite. Bruch’s concerto was his first major work, yet it is one of his best – a rich, wonderfully lyrical expanse of music offering melodies tailor-made for the violin and explosive technical fireworks in equal measure. The orchestral writing, too, fully complements the solo part with its richness and drama.The Magic Flute is one of Mozart’s most enduring and endearing operas. The overture, after a sombre opening of weighty trombone chords, skips off in a gleeful, fugal allegro, notable for Mozart’s brilliant use of counterpoint and dynamic contrasts.
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october 7.30 pm
mozart The Magic Flute Overture bruch Violin Concerto No.1 rachmaninov Symphony No.2 Ben Gernon conductor Nikita Boriso-Glebsky violin
Supported by
Dave & Jan Pointer
wednesday
24
Songs from the Heart
wagner Siegfried Idyll r strauss Four Last Songs brahms Symphony No.4
For a composer who made his reputation on music of extraordinary complexity and busyness, the Four Last Songs clearly represent a mellowing, simplification and directness by Strauss – music of autumnal warmth that echoes the poems; words and music alike draw the listener in. The orchestra is luminous throughout, and the soprano soars and vocalises in the ecstasy of unconstrained lyricism. Three of the texts deal with evening, nightfall, or autumn—all images connected with Strauss’ constant thoughts of mortality. The Fourth Symphony is at once a summation of Brahms’ learning and technique, and a work of art that for all its complexities cuts as close to the heart as music can. Of all his works, it displays Brahms’ essence most completely – a cosmos of textures, tempos and moods, culminating in music of unsurpassed grandeur. On a much smaller scale, composed as a “symphonic birthday gift” to his wife Cosima and their new-born son Siegfried, the Siegfried Idyll shows a rarely seen, intimate side of Wagner – a gentle song of contentment and gratitude.
october 7.30 pm
Karl-Heinz Steffens conductor Allison Oakes soprano
In memory of
Canon & Mrs Ivor Jeffrey-Machin
“the bournemouth symphony orchestra is its shining sophisticated self” BBC Music Magazine January 2018
wednesday
The Power of Life
Saleem Ashkar
Grieg is beloved for his lyricism which derives from Norwegian folk tunes and the Romantic tradition to which he belongs, and the striking, opening gesture of his Piano Concerto is perhaps one of the most recognisable in all of classical music. Based on descending seconds and thirds, it is but one sign of how Norwegian folk music was making its impact upon his emerging style and dazzling originality. Written at the height of the First World War, instead of writing music about the devastating power of war, Nielsen took the opposite approach with his Fourth Symphony. It is a tectonic musical struggle between the forces of destruction and the inextinguishable will to live and culminates in one of the most uplifting and thrilling of all symphonic climaxes. Má Vlast is considered a paragon of Czech nationalism – celebrating Czech culture and history, the countryside, and, especially, its people. Though often performed as a series of independent pieces, it is unified by a general topic as well as by specific musical themes. Vyšehrad depicts a castle overlooking Prague.
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october 7.30 pm
smetana Vyšehrad grieg Piano Concerto nielsen Symphony No.4 ‘Inextinguishable’ James Feddeck conductor Saleem Ashkar piano
wednesday
7
Testament
glière Les Sirens turnage Testament (world premiere) prokofiev War and Peace Suite
In October 1944, a private Moscow audience attended the modest premiere of Prokofiev’s opera War and Peace based on Tolstoy’s epic novel about Napoleon’s 1812 invasion of Russia. Prokofiev had hoped it would resonate with audiences enduring a devastating new invasion by Nazi Germany in World War II but it came and went with little fanfare and would not be performed in full, and on stage, until 1957. By then, it was a very different opera – a massive four and a half hour production full of military bombast and swelling patriotic anthems as demanded by the Stalinist authorities, complete with a caricature of Hitler replacing Napoleon. Reflecting the calamity of the current conflict in Eastern Ukraine, Mark Anthony Turnage’s
november 7.30 pm
Kirill Karabits conductor Natalya Romaniw soprano
Testament explores the fate of refugees through the eyes of contemporary Ukrainian poets and starkly manifest in the Sergei Prokofiev International Airport in Donetsk – a structure, now in ruins, named in honour of the Ukraine-born composer whose tormented War and Peace has become a paean to Russian military might. Glière’s The Sirens paints an evocative picture of those enchantresses that lured sailors to their doom. Cellos and harps at the outset depict the depths of the sea out of which the Sirens themselves finally appear. Their song intertwines seductively with the dashing theme of an unsuspecting sailor, and then with a crash of the cymbals, they mercilessly drag their victim underwater before calm is restored.
sunday
Always Remembered Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Lighthouse join forces to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War, and remember all those who died and suffered. This epic and moving programme of great music and readings features favourites including Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, Mars from Holst’s The Planets, popular soldiers’ songs from the period, Karl Jenkins’ Benedictus from The Armed Man and Elgar’s Nimrod. The performance also features recitations of poems by wartime poets Siegfried Sassoon and John McRae and heartfelt letters home from the trenches written by Dorset soldiers.
11
november 4pm
David Hill conductor Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and Youth Chorus
wednesday
14
Romantic Start to Finish
schubert Symphony No.8 ‘Unfinished’ bruckner Symphony No.9
No-one really knows why Schubert never finished his B minor symphony. With numerous other aborted fragments it may well have been that he was growing dissatisfied with symphonic form as he had been practising it and was striving for something on a far larger scale, something to compare with the dramatic energy and scope shown by Beethoven. But with these two most perfect movements, Schubert ushered in the age of the Romantic symphony – the variety and immediacy of the themes suffusing the work are breathtaking. It is powerful, satisfying music; perhaps it was left unfinished because it could not, need not be finished.
november 7.30 pm
Ion Marin conductor
In the case of Bruckner’s final symphony, even though it too was never completed, the issue of valediction is not mere conjecture. Whatever Bruckner’s intentions were for his Ninth when he began working on it, it turned out to be a clearly defined gesture of farewell. The sense of closure and finality is great, as if he subconsciously knew that this was the last music he would write. Bruckner’s musical imagination, epitomised in this symphony, was conditioned by the landscape of his upbringing – a countryside of peasants and priests, and the unhurried rhythms of rural life, as well as the solemn splendour of Baroque churches and their Catholic ritual.
saturday
Smooth Classics II Enjoy another evening of the world’s most relaxing symphonic music including four of the most beautiful slow movements from piano concertos by Rachmaninov, Mozart, Beethoven and Shostakovich.
dvok Serenade – larghetto shostakovich Piano Concerto No.2 – andante satie Gymnopédie No.1 rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2 – adagio bizet Intermezzo from Carmen mozart Piano Concerto No.21 – andante elgar Nimrod sibelius Valse Triste mozart Eine kleine Nachtmusik – romanze beethoven Piano Concerto No.5 – adagio tchaikovsky Symphony No.5 – andante cantabile
17
november 7.30 pm
BSO Young Conductor in Association
Anna Fedorova piano
“no other regional british orchestras – few london ones, for that matter – offer more interesting programming than the bso” The Daily Telegraph November 2017
wednesday
Unmistakable Voices Shostakovich was just 19 when he wrote his Pulcinella marked an important turning point, precocious First Symphony as a graduation exercise heralding his “neo-classical” style which was to in composition at the Leningrad Conservatory. dominate his later works. Unlike his earlier ballets, Youthful symphonies seldom reveal their composer’s characterised by huge orchestras and innovative true voice, but this symphonic debut immediately rhythms, it is simple and sparse, using Pergolesi’s speaks in his own distinctive idiom, juxtaposing the melodies and bass lines with little change. Yet he ironic with the romantic, the intimate with the still puts his own unmistakable stamp on the bombastic, and the chromatic with the diatonic. music. Walton’s Cello Concerto is introspective This is the signature sound that is heard throughout and reflective. Wistful Romanticism and lush his storied career melded from an exceptionally harmonies evoke the peace and tranquility of broad exposure to contemporary music whilst the English countryside. It is a carefully balanced studying. Not one for staying the same, Stravinsky’s work; sizzling virtuosity is occasionally interrupted compositional style changed radically in his career. by moments of poignant lyricism.
28
november 7.30 pm
stravinsky Pulcinella Suite walton Cello Concerto shostakovich Symphony No.1 Kirill Karabits conductor Johannes Moser cello
Supported by
The Stacey Family
“i sat back, happy to follow the trail of the music’s magical transformations and an orchestra glorious in hues and texture” The Times August 2017
wednesday
Russian Winter With his Second Piano Concerto, Rachmaninov not only overcame his writer’s block, but he found a new voice as a composer – one with a perfect knack for unforgettable tunes, dazzling pianistic effects, an effortless flow of ideas, and a suave sense of style. Despite his worries, the premiere was a major triumph and it quickly became his greatest hit and one of the most popular concertos of the 20th century. Rising out of mysterious depths, Rachmaninov quickly lets loose the first of many striking themes that litter the work. At just 28, in love and about to be married, no wonder he exhibits a youthful confidence in a mature work imbued with a sincere, heartfelt passion that continues to captivate audiences.
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december 7.30 pm
The fresh, sweet and delicate lightness-of-touch of Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony betrays none of the nagging self-doubt that attended its creation. He gave some descriptive titles to the first movements: Reveries of a Winter Journey and Land of Desolation, Land of Mists. Also emerging from the mists, the Prelude to Khovanshchina was described by Mussorgsky as “depicting dawn over the Moscow River, matins at cock crow, the patrol, and the taking down of the chains”. Short but very effective, it begins delicately, a beautiful tune emerging which soon grows and becomes more animated as Moscow is revealed – church domes lit by the rising sun.
mussorgsky Khovanshchina Prelude rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2 tchaikovsky Symphony No.1 ‘Winter Daydreams’ Antonio Méndez conductor Alexei Volodin piano
Supported by
John & Ruth Lang
Christmas & New Year with the BSO wednesday 12 december 7.30 pm
sunday 16 december 3pm & 7pm
Handel’s Messiah
The Snowman
Nicholas McGegan conductor Mary Bevan soprano Diana Moore mezzo-soprano tba tenor William Berger baritone Bournemouth Symphony Chorus
patterson Little Red Riding Hood blake The Snowman Hugh Brunt conductor Pui Fan Lee narrator
saturday 22 december 7.30 pm
sunday 23 december 7.30 pm
tuesday 1 january 3pm
Last Night of the Christmas Proms
Celebration of Christmas Carols
New Year’s Day Johann Strauss Gala
Pete Harrison conductor
Gavin Carr conductor Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and Youth Chorus
Thomas Rösner conductor Fflyr Wyn soprano
wednesday
16
Domestic Harmony
beethoven Violin Concerto r strauss Symphonia Domestica
The Symphonia Domestica is a multi-movement symphony describing a day in the life of the Strauss family. After introducing the Papa (Strauss), the Mama (Pauline) and the Baby (Franz), there follows a flowing commentary on domesticity. Scenes portrayed include the baby being admired by crooning relatives and a screaming tantrum at being put to bed, a very suggestive moment of passion and an enormous family row. Ending with a bonding love theme, it is with this special act of ‘blessing’ that the work transcends mere mundane description to become a metaphysical hymn to domestic love. Beethoven’s Violin Concerto possesses all the grandeur of those he wrote for the piano, exceeding the scale of any violin concerto that preceded it. However it is admired more for its sheer beauty than for its innovations and is now firmly established as one of the most beloved violin concertos in the repertoire.
january 7.30 pm
Kirill Karabits conductor Augustin Hadelich violin
Supported by
Sir Neville & Lady Simms
Augustin Hadelich
wednesday
Backward Glimpses The Symphonic Dances proved to be Rachmaninov’s last work, and the music suggests a new direction he might have pursued had fate granted him more time. In contrast to the lush harmonies and sweeping melodic lines that pervade his earlier style, it offers a more modern sound of leaner textures and sharper harmonies. He creates a wondrous kaleidoscope of instrumental colours, from the mellow crooning of an alto saxophone to the dry-bones clatter of a xylophone. With its incisive dance rhythms inspired by folk and jazz, the work finally explodes with visceral energy. It did not take long for Saint-Saëns’ Second Piano Concerto to become a perennial favourite. Its novelty shows a youthful high-spiritedness and somewhat inorganic juxtaposed themes and
movements. A famous witticism claimed “It begins with Bach and ends with Offenbach” and indeed its unusual introspective, improvisatory opening is reminiscent of Bach. The skill of Saint-Saëns the pianist shines throughout, with its virtuosic passages and arpeggios, ultimately sparking to the finale’s tempestuous pyrotechnics. But this exquisite concerto is a hallmark of Saint-Saëns the composer as well, characterised by his beautiful turns of phrase and harmonic diversions. Ravel greatly admired Schubert’s collection of Valses Nobles andValses Sentimentales, inspiring him to write his own cycle of eight solo piano waltzes which he later orchestrated – each a sparkling jewel.
23
january 7.30 pm
ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales saint-saëns Piano Concerto No.2 rachmaninov Symphonic Dances Jacek Kaspszyk conductor Benjamin Grosvenor piano
Supported by
Terence & Annette O’Rourke
wednesday
Pastoral Brahms The Second Symphony might be described as Brahms’ “Pastoral”, a total contrast to the dramatic and very serious First. Its song-like melodies are imbued with a gentle and lyrical quality – in their simple beauty the themes give the impression of having been written down as a result of spontaneous inspiration. In Brahms’ own words, “a delightfully happy spirit” pervades the whole work, and with its sunny themes Viennese audiences immediately took to it. In his Violin Concerto Dvořák was influenced by several facets of the Czech personality – and the boisterous finale with its dance-like passages is reminiscent of his popular Slavonic Dances. Although it is said that Schumann had no genuine theatrical talent and that he was inept at writing for orchestra, the powerful overture he composed for Manfred proves otherwise. Masterfully and economically scored and with an unerringly dramatic pace, it immediately casts a spell with its unsettled opening that grows in passion and urgency, setting the scene for the action that will follow.
30
january 7.30 pm
schumann Manfred Overture dvok Violin Concerto brahms Symphony No.2 Clemens Schuldt conductor Baiba Skride violin
wednesday
6
Johannes Moser
prokofiev Adagio from Cinderella rachmaninov Cello Sonata Op.19 rachmaninov Vocalise prokofiev Cello Sonata Op.119
The achingly beautiful, haunting lyricism of early Rachmaninov and the soaring effusiveness of late Prokofiev are brought together by German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser and the Russian pianist Andrei Korobeinikov in this special recital. Composed during troubled periods in the composers’ lives, the cello sonatas are life-affirming works. Rachmaninov’s arresting sonata is not unlike his perennially popular Second Piano Concerto: a journey from brooding melancholy to untrammelled joy, with a transcendentally beautiful slow movement. Prokofiev wrote his outstanding sonata while labouring under considerable hardship. It is by turns restrained and movingly lyrical, but the hair-raising final movement with its bravura passagework ends the work in a blaze of defiance. “Both Rachmaninov and Prokofiev are genius musical storytellers,” Moser said in a recent interview. “Both have their own very personal and individual language, but they are at the same time deeply rooted in the epic Russian tradition.”
february 7.30 pm
Johannes Moser cello Andrei Korobeinikov piano
Supported by
Terence & Annette O’Rourke
bso artist-in-residence recital “moser and korobeinikov bring both muscle and imagination to these two epic russian sonatas” BBC Music Magazine March 2017
wednesday
20
Fateful Fourth
mozart Symphony No. 26 mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 tchaikovsky Symphony No.4
Among Tchaikovsky’s most popular works, the Fourth Symphony is a meticulously structured meditation on Fate written at a time of great emotional turmoil. As he admitted, it is autobiographical; turbulent but finally triumphant. The principal idea of the work is the implacability of Fate, a force that “poisons the soul” by impeding the individual’s quest for peace and fulfilment. In a glorious burst of activity, Mozart composed twelve superlative piano concertos from February 1784 to December 1786. They were deeper in feeling, broader in scope and richer in colour than any he had written before. No.21 is built on a fully symphonic scale, with an orchestral backing that matches the solo part for interest and variety. Mozart balances forcefulness, elegance and wit with perfect ease. The dreamlike andante is based on the simplest of materials; its effect, nevertheless, is magical whilst the concluding rondo echoes with the laughter of comic opera. The much earlier Symphony No.26 is scattered with dramatic touches reminiscent of the ‘Sturm und Drang’ symphonies of Haydn.
february 7.30 pm
Kees Bakels conductor Ronald Brautigam piano
Supported by
Roger Higgins
“the passion shone through in the bso’s performance as the musicians thrillingly conveyed the complex moods of this weighty symphony” The Times February 2018
wednesday
Superhuman Strauss Strauss had an extraordinary knack when it came to figuring out how to begin pieces. In Also Sprach Zarathustra he opens with the famous orchestral sunrise referring to the part in Nietzsche’s book when Zarathustra, an ancient Persian prophet who has dwelled on a mountaintop for ten years, watches a new day begin. It was not Strauss’ intention to write philosophical music or to portray Nietzsche’s great work in musical terms, but rather to suggest the evolution of the human race from its origins, through its various phases of development (religious and scientific), right up to Nietzsche’s idea of the ‘superhuman’. Where Nietzsche employed resonant symbols, parables, and wordplay, Strauss achieves something comparable in purely musical terms,
eliciting a sense of what is at stake by manipulating key relationships, as well as through his phenomenal technique of orchestration. The influence of Mozart is apparent throughout Beethoven’s C Major Piano Concerto. The piano’s role ornaments the orchestral material, but the broad artistic expressiveness shows Beethoven’s embrace of the emerging Romantic mood of the day. The Third Leonore Overture stands as one of the great emblems of the heroic Beethoven, a potent and controlled musical embodiment of a noble humanistic passion. Too strong and big a piece, with music of rapturous, fiery energy as well as profound darkness, it was always going to be more than a mere introduction.
27
february 7.30 pm
beethoven Leonore Overture No.3 beethoven Piano Concerto No.1 r strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra Karl-Heinz Steffens conductor Andrew Tyson piano
wednesday
6
Magical Fairytales
ravel Mother Goose Suite rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.1 stravinsky Petrushka (1911)
Stravinsky’s great ballet, inspired by the immensely popular puppet plays of 19th century Russia, has gone through a fascinating series of metamorphoses since first conceived as a concert piece. The score is one of his most brilliant achievements, bursting with the energy and inventiveness of youth. The depth of characterisation is astonishing; Stravinsky gives the melancholy puppet enough personality to make listeners care about him, without letting us forget that he is made of straw and cloth, not flesh and blood. Audiences were already familiar with the Second and Third Concertos before Rachmaninov revised the First in 1917. It is very different from his later works; in exchange for fewer memorable melodies, this concerto incorporates elements of youthful vivacity and impetuosity in a concise and spirited fashion. Emerging from an exquisite piano suite for four hands based on the Mother Goose tales, Ravel’s full ballet music contains his musical fingerprint at every turn: melodies are clear, the orchestration is elegant, rhythms are precise, and the harmonies evoke a delicate, magical world.
march 7.30 pm
Ion Marin conductor Alexander Gavrylyuk piano
Supported by
Arts University Bournemouth
saturday
Williams v Zimmer Two titans of the film music world compete head to head! In a concert featuring some of the best scores of John Williams and Hans Zimmer, the cream of recent movie music is brought together in one place. Award-winning soundtracks of some of the most iconic films of all time include Star Wars, Gladiator, The Da Vinci Code, Schindler’s List, Harry Potter, Interstellar, ET, Batman Begins, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Last Samurai, Pirates of the Caribbean, Superman and many, many more.
16
march 7.30 pm
Pete Harrison conductor
wednesday
20
Music for the Soul
vaughan williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis tippett A Child of Our Time
The oratorio A Child of Our Time was Tippett’s artistic and emotional response to the events that led to the ‘Kristallnacht’ pogrom of November 1938. Tippett used as his formal and historical models the Bach Passions and Handel’s Messiah which share with this contemporary morality the subject of the death of an individual set against the universal background of human suffering. His use of the spiritual as a contemporary equivalent for the Lutheran chorale of the Bach settings draws the listener more closely into the drama through the spirituals’ unique verbal and musical metaphor. The Tallis melody that is the basis for Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia is one of nine he contributed to the Psalter of 1567 for the first Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury. It is heard in its complete form three times and serves as the source for a wonderful miasma of variants and developments in this rich orchestral composition written for a large string orchestra divided into three parts. Although it is not specifically religious music, it seems to speak to the spirit.
march 7.30 pm
David Hill conductor Lauren Fagan soprano Christine Rice mezzo-soprano Samuel Sakker tenor Simon Shibambu bass Bournemouth Symphony Chorus
Simon Shibambu
wednesday
East Meets West A true national composer who opened new ways and fearful grimaces on brass – all delivered with in development of modern symphonic music, Avet venomous intensity. Orient et Occident, subtitled Terterian’s unique creative vision puts his name ‘Grand March’, begins in the West with a rousing amongst the most outstanding artists of our time. march melody that leads to a stirring, processional He developed an obsession with the mystique of legato. The middle section is a nod to Turkish (what the single sound, and this took him to paradoxical Saint-Saëns considered Eastern) Janissary music, thresholds where profound meaning almost tips with melodies for oboes and bassoons and jangling into absurdity, where hyper-expressivity almost tips percussion. We return to the West with a fugue into pure noise. The Third Symphony begins with on the original theme that leads to an exciting, arresting thumps on the timpani, not heralding accelerating finale. Saint-Saëns said that he had anything else, just there as a kind of ritual incantation. “given everything I was able to give” to his Third Other ingredients include inscrutable bass-register Symphony and it is true that with its virtuosic piano grunts accompanied by fragile-sounding bells, almost passages, brilliant orchestral writing and the audacious inaudible passages of drifting microtones, and use of organ, the work truly does make a statement piercing bagpipe-like noises with whooping horns – there is simply nothing else quite like it.
27
march 7.30 pm
saint-saëns Orient et Occident terterian Symphony No.3 saint-saëns Symphony No.3 ‘Organ’ Kirill Karabits conductor Harutyun Chkolyan duduk / zurna Arshaluys Tadevosyan duduk / zurna
Supported by
Richard Lewis
“the colours change from bright van goghs to dusky monochrome, as vivid as bizet’s orchestration, sparklingly dispatched by the bournemouth symphony orchestra” The Times June 2017
wednesday
Acclaimed Elgar When Elgar’s First Symphony was premiered in Manchester in 1908, it was immediately hailed a triumph and a long-awaited landmark – as England’s First Symphony in effect – a true masterpiece. After the conclusion of the adagio, the audience’s response was so enthusiastic that, prior to launching the finale, conductor Hans Richter summoned Elgar to the stage for a bow. A work of magnificent grandeur and emotional depth it begins with a broad, noble theme, binding it together and recurring at intervals throughout before eventually emerging as a triumphant march at the very end. Saint-Saëns composed his ‘Egyptian’ concerto in the temple town of Luxor. The music is among his most exotic, displaying influences from Javanese and Spanish as well as Middle Eastern music. He said that the piece represented a sea voyage – the piano and orchestra produce impressionistic sounds emulating frogs and the chirping of Nile crickets. Elgar’s first major orchestral work, Froissart describes the medieval age of knights and ladies, of chivalry and romance, of Arthur and Guinevere.
3
april 7.30 pm
elgar Froissart Overture saint-saëns Piano Concerto No. 5 elgar Symphony No.1 Kirill Karabits conductor Lucas Debargue piano
wednesday
10
Echoes of Home
smetana Vltava tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 sibelius Symphony No.1
With Sibelius already a star in his native Finland, his First Symphony was eagerly awaited. It did not disappoint. Never before had a work of such stature emerged from Northern Europe, unveiling the previously unheard character of Nordic music. Although not nationalistic, it is clearly a work by a skilled composer who already had a musical voice of his own, and much of the musical personality that makes his later symphonies so distinctive is already visible. Sounding ‘old’ and ‘new’ at the same time, with tempestuous mood-swings, it is both dramatic and austere throughout. Despite its popularity, Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto remains refreshingly original with its exciting and exceptional opening, and richly forged musical dramas of powerful virtuosity and uncommon sensitivity. Vltava is the most frequently performed of the six pictorial tableaux of Smetana’s Má Vlast. It depicts the flow of the eponymous river from its source in the Šumava Mountains to Prague and beyond, on the way passing a hunting party and a village wedding.
april 7.30 pm
Jamie Phillips conductor Denis Kozhukhin piano
Denis Kozhukhin
wednesday
Past and Present Grieg’s music somehow always satisfies the soul. And so it is with one of his greatest works, his homage to Danish author Ludwig Holberg, a contemporary of Bach, Handel and Scarlatti. Grieg fashioned his suite in the image of the music Holberg would have heard in his times. The recently rediscovered C Major Concerto consists of sturdy, confident music, written with a wonderfully developed sense for what the cello can do. It shows that Haydn’s pleasure in odd phrase lengths and other rhythmic surprises was part of his musical personality from the beginning. The music is delightful in detail and masterful in design.
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may 7.30 pm
On all counts, Mozart’s Symphony No.29 is a fine specimen of gallant writing: poised, polite and faithful to the Viennese classical balance between grace and energy. Its light-hearted charm and elegance intend a work which is truly meant to entertain and delight. Mozart’s ability to draw the maximum of colour and expression out of a very small orchestra is outstanding. Celebrated as “the real thing”, Jonathan Leshnoff ’s music has been lauded as “distinct from anything else that’s out there.” Cohesively constructed and radiantly lyrical, his compositions have earned international acclaim for their striking harmonies, structural complexity, and powerful themes.
grieg Holberg Suite haydn Cello Concerto in C leshnoff Suite for Cello, Strings & Timpani (world premiere)
mozart Symphony No. 29 Johannes Moser cello / director BSO Young Conductor in Association
wednesday
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Czech Mates
suk Scherzo Fantastique dvok Piano Concerto dvok Symphony No.5
Dvořák’s Piano Concerto is a beautiful and life-affirming work, rich in his characteristic melodic abundance and vivid colouring. Lyric and dramatic elements are effectively contrasted in the opening movement. The slow movement is an idyll of serenity with its theme of noble simplicity, the basis for a dialogue between soloist and orchestra that reaches no great climax but sustains a convincing atmosphere of deep peace prior to the vigorous finale. His Fifth Symphony is a milestone work, one of those remarkable pieces that allow creative artists to unlock doors to new possibilities. It has all the power and invention required to beguile, transport and agitate its audience, particularly in the stormy finale. Written in 1903, Suk’s sunny Scherzo Fantastique is partly an homage to his father-in-law, Dvorřák. It has two themes in the first part, a lively dance for woodwinds and a waltz introduced by the cellos, before a slow polka leads to an exuberant conclusion.
may 7.30 pm
Kirill Karabits conductor Sunwook Kim piano
Supported by
Michael & Judy Buckland
“karabits keeps a steady hand on the structural tiller, eliciting an impressively secure orchestral response and excavates plenty of ear-pricking detail� Gramophone Magazine December 2017
wednesday
Elgar’s Dream Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius was thought by many to be outlandishly modern at the time of its completion in 1900. Telling the story of the journey of a pious man’s soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory, the subject originally caused uproar within the English church due to its overtly Catholic overtones, yet is now acclaimed as one of the great choral masterpieces and one of Elgar’s most popular works. At once intensely personal and universal, its expression and nature are best identified by means of the quotations Elgar placed in the manuscript. At the head of the score he wrote the initials A.M.D.G. (Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam – To the Greater Glory of God). And at the end he included a quotation from John Ruskin.“This is the best of me. For the rest, I ate and drank, and slept, loved and hated, like another; my life was as the vapour and is not; but this I saw and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory.”
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may 7.30 pm
elgar The Dream of Gerontius Kirill Karabits conductor James Rutherford bass / baritone Bournemouth Symphony Chorus
Supported by
Steve Edge
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra would like to thank the following supporters principal funder
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