BEETHOVEN 5: EPIC

Friday 12 June 2020 / 7:30PM Saturday 13 June 2020 / 7:30PM Jack Singer Concert Hall Showcase

SPONSORS + SUPPORTERS

New Commission Supporter: DeBoni New Works Guest Artist Supporter: Naomi + John Lacey Virtuoso Programme Concert Supporter: Rozsa Foundation Conductor Couturier: Umberto Custom Tailors Ltd.

PROGRAMME

Rune Bergmann, conductor Dorothy Chang, composer Inon Barnatan, piano

Dorothy Chang Skizzen (Sketches) 10'

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major (Emperor) 38' I. Allegro II. Adagio un poco mosso III. Rondo: Allegro

Intermission 20'

Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 I. Allegro con brio II. Andante con moto III. Allegro IV. Allegro 31' This concert features the debut of a new work by Canadian composer Dorothy Chang, commissioned by the Calgary Philharmonic. She has provided the following programme note:

SKIZZEN (SKETCHES) (WORLD PREMIERE)

Dorothy Chang (b. 1970)

In composing my new work, Skizzen (Sketches), I took inspiration from Beethoven’s famous sketchbooks that survive in libraries around the world. Drawing from sketches and material from his fifth symphony, I sought not to re-compose Beethoven’s music, but instead to reference his ideas in raw form, when they were merely flashes of inspiration and not yet developed into one of the most significant compositions Beethoven was to create. As they appear in his sketchbooks, these fragments are incomplete, disconnected, and often in only rough outline form. Some pages are curiously barren; others densely covered with chaotic scribbles, scratches, headless note-stems, and messy inkblots. Similarly, Skizzen presents a selection of Beethoven’s musical fragments, at times distinctly recognizable and elsewhere transformed, emerging from and returning to a haze of obscurity. Certain musical moments appear in just brief flashes; others spin off into new directions and interpretations, much as a composer explores the potentialities of a musical germ during the composition process. One might listen as one would view a faded and brittle document that captured the very initial sparks of a masterpiece, some 200 years ago.

PIANO CONCERTO NO. 5 IN E-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 73 (EMPEROR)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 to 1827)

Beethoven composed the Emperor Concerto from 1808 to 1809, against the backdrop of Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise to the zenith of his power. Beethoven had admired the so-called ‘Little Corporal’ for his early devotion to the

humanitarian ideals of the French Revolution. Once Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804, Beethoven’s attitude changed instantly to scorn.

In May 1809, French troops besieged and captured Vienna. While Beethoven was composing this concerto, their regular artillery bombardments were chipping away at the last shreds of his hearing. He fled to his brother’s house and covered his ears with pillows to reduce the noise. Rather than reflecting his distress, this regal, expansive concerto is proud and defiant. Perhaps he intended it as a hopeful forecast of Bonaparte’s ultimate defeat, or a manifesto praising the virtues of the common man over those of a dictator.

SYMPHONY NO. 5 IN C MINOR, OP. 67

Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven completed Symphony No. 5 during the first months of 1808. It, as well as Symphony No. 6, premiered on 22 December 1808. Like Symphony No. 3, it is filled with innovations, most impressively the tracing of an emotional arc from turbulence to triumph. That satisfying journey gives it the power to stir audiences on a fundamental level, embracing them in a common sense of victory. This generosity of spirit is the foundation stone of Beethoven’s reputation.

On another innovative front, the fifth calls for an orchestra larger and richer than any that Haydn and Mozart had used. Piccolo, contrabassoon, and trombones here made their debuts in the symphonic orchestra, giving the music extra weight and brilliance. The fifth proved enormously influential, as similarly epic symphonies by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Nielsen, and Rachmaninoff (among many others) have demonstrated.

It has perhaps the most familiar opening of any piece of classical orchestral music, which ushers in the most intense symphonic first movement that anyone had composed up to that time. The veiled closing measures of the third movement point to a tragic conclusion. In another act of innovation, Beethoven maintained the music’s forward momentum by dispensing with the typical inter-movement stop and leading us straight on to the exultant Finale.

DOROTHY CHANG

Composer

Described as “evocative and kaleidoscopic” (Seattle Times), the music of composer Dorothy Chang often reflects an eclectic mix of musical influences ranging from popular and folk music to elements of traditional Chinese music. Many of her works are inspired by place, time, memory, and personal histories. Chang’s catalogue includes over 70 works for solo, chamber, and large ensembles with a particular interest in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaboration, including works for mixed Chinese and Western ensembles as well as for theatre, opera, and dance. Chang’s music has been featured in concerts and festivals across North America and abroad, with performances by the Albany Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony, Manitoba Chamber, Pittsburgh Symphony, Queens Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber, Seattle Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, and Victoria Orchestras, and by chamber ensembles including eighth blackbird, the Smith Quartet, the Chicago Saxophone Quartet, Turning Point Ensemble, and Music from China, among others. From 2005 to 2008, Chang served as a Music Alive Composer-in-Residence with the Albany Symphony Orchestra. In 2003, she joined the music faculty at the University of British Columbia, as a Professor of Music.

INON BARNATAN

Piano

“One of the most admired pianists of his generation” (New York Times), Inon Barnatan is celebrated for his poetic sensibility, musical intelligence, and consummate artistry. He opened his tenure as Music Director of California’s La Jolla Music Society Summerfest in 2019. He is a regular soloist with the world’s foremost orchestras and conductors, including 2019/2020 collaborations with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Royal Stockholm Symphony, and Cincinnati Symphony. The recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, Barnatan is also a sought-after recitalist and chamber musician. This season he makes his solo debut at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, returns to Alice Tully Hall, and reunites with cello partner Alisa Weilerstein on tour. Passionate about contemporary music, he has commissioned and performed works by many composers. Barnatan’s latest recording features Beethoven’s complete piano concertos, with Alan Gilbert and London’s Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Barnatan’s acclaimed discography also includes Messiaen’s 90-minute masterpiece Des canyons aux étoiles; Rachmaninov & Chopin: Cello Sonatas; two solo Schubert albums; and Darknesse Visible, named BBC Music’s “Instrumentalist CD of the Month” and one of the New York Times’ “Best of 2012.”