Elgar's Cello Concerto

Friday 5 May / 7:30PM

Saturday 6 May / 7:30PM

Jack Singer Concert Hall

Curated Series 2

Supported by

Concert Supporter: Hayes Family

Guest Artist Supporter: Naomi + John Lacey Virtuoso Program Program

Ramón Tebar, conductor Stéphane Tétreault, cello

Alexander Borodin Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor

I. Dance of the Polvtsian Maidens

II. Polovtsian Dance

Edward Elgar Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85

I. Adagio

II. Lento

III. Adagio

IV. Allegro

Sergei Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances, Op. 45

I. Non allegro – Lento – Tempo I

II. Andante con moto (Tempo di valse)

III. Lento assai – Allegro vivace

Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor

Alexander Borodin

(1833 to 1887)

Alexander Borodin’s career as a doctor and professor of chemistry left him little time for music. His magnum opus, the opera Prince Igor, l, lay incomplete at his death, despite nearly 20 years of intermittent labour. It was finished (and, to some extent, actually composed) by his friend, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Rimsky’s pupil, Alexander Glazunov. Drawn from Russian history, the plot concerns the 12th-century conflict between the forces of Igor, a Russian prince, and Konchak, the leader of an Eastern tribe, the Polovtsians. After Konchak takes Igor prisoner, he offers to set him free if he swears never to attack the Polovtsians again. Igor refuses. Konchak cannot help but admire his adversary’s bravery. To divert him from his melancholy state, he calls upon his people to entertain the Prince. They do so in the barbaric and poetic Polovtsian Dances.

Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85

Edward Elgar (1857 to 1934)

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World War I changed Europe forever, not only on the map but also in its citizens’ hearts and minds. For Edward Elgar, the leading English composer of the pre-war era, the effects of the political upheavals and battlefield carnage were devastating. The warmth and confidence that illuminated and helped to popularize such pieces as the Enigma Variations diminished markedly, never fully returning to their previous level. Elgar gave voice to the saddening of his world, to its growing inwardness and pessimism.

Other composers, such as Igor Stravinsky, turned to the lean textures and buoyant optimism of Neo-Classicism. Meanwhile, Arnold Schoenberg and his disciples deconstructed traditional musical procedures to pursue new means of expression.

In the warm, noble voice of the cello, Elgar found the perfect medium to express his brooding, nostalgic postwar emotions. The premiere of the Cello Concerto took place in London in 1919. Elgar conducted, with Felix Salmond playing the solo part.

It is a restrained piece compared to the more outgoing virtuoso concertos of the 19th century.

Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 to 1943)

Sergei Rachmaninoff began work on Symphonic Dances, his final composition, during the summer of 1940. It took its toll upon him, both physically and emotionally. At the final rehearsal, he turned to the orchestra and said, “Years ago, I composed for the great (basso, Feodor) Chaliapin. Now, he is dead, and so I compose for a new kind of artists, the Philadelphia Orchestra.” Eugene Ormandy conducted the first performance in January 1941. The largely negative reception crushed Rachmaninoff.

For decades, Symphonic Dances remained the stepchild of his major works for orchestra. The last 25 years have witnessed strong growth in appreciation of this moody, multi-faceted and spectacularly orchestrated work, as testified by numerous live performances and studio recordings. Rhythm plays a powerful role in it, but in terms of scale, quality of themes and ingenuity of development, it is much more a symphonic work than a balletic one.

It continued his obsession with the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath), a sombre melody drawn from the medieval plainchant Mass for the Dead. He had previously quoted it in several works, including the tone poem The Isle of the Dead and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for piano and orchestra.

Program notes by Don Anderson © 2023

Ramón Tebar Conductor

Spanish Conductor Ramón Tebar is currently Conductor in Association with the Orquesta de Valencia and Artistic Director of Opera Naples. He was previously Artistic Director of the Florida Grand Opera and Principal Guest Conductor of Valencia’s Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. As a guest conductor, Tebar regularly conducts such auspices at the Vienna State Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Teatró Colon, San Francisco Opera, Royal Swedish Opera, Teatro Regio di Parma, Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, as well as the Copenhagen Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Munich Radio Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, Spanish National Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony, the RTVE Orchestra in Madrid, and London’s Philharmonia, to name a few. Throughout his career, Tebar has had the pleasure of working with some of the operatic world’s greats, including such luminaries as Montserrat Caballé and Renata Scoto, and his work can be heard on recordings with Joseph Calleja and the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana on the DECCA label, and with Gregory Kunde and the Orquesta Sinfonica de Navarra on Universal.

Stéphane Tétreault Cello

In addition to numerous awards and honours, Stéphane Tétreault was the 2019 recipient of the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts. He is also the 2022 laureate of the Prix Opus for Performer of the Year, awarded by the Conseil québécois de la musique and accompanied by a Canada Council grant. In 2016, Tétreault made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin and performed at the prestigious Gstaad Menuhin Festival in Switzerland. During the 2017/2018 Season, he took part in the Orchestre Métropolitain’s first European tour with Yannick NézetSéguin and made his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His debut CD, recorded with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and conductor Fabien Gabel was chosen as 'Editor’s Choice' in the March 2013 issue of Gramophone Magazine. His second album with pianist MarieÈve Scarfone, featuring works from Haydn, Schubert, and Brahms, was chosen as Gramophone Magazine’s 'Critic’s Choice 2016' and recognized as one of the best albums of the year. Tétreault plays the 1707 “Countess of Stainlein, Ex-Paganini” Stradivarius cello, generously loaned to him by Sophie Desmarais.