© KAUPO KIKKAS
琴 Piano
Alexander Ullman
20.11.2021 (
香港
Sat) 7:30pm
會
音樂
HK City Hall Concert Hall Conductor
Ola Rudner 香港小 樂團 香港 行政區政 Hong Kong Sinfonietta is financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
香港小 樂團為香港 會 Hong Kong Sinfonietta is the Venue Partner of the Hong Kong City Hall
Great Piano Concertos: Alexander Ullman Plays Rachmaninov No 3 Conductor
德
琴 Piano
Ola Rudner
Alexander Ullman 1977/1980
D小
30 的
15
E小
98
交響 的 的 的
的 的
的
Programme
Arvo Pärt
Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten (1977/1980)
Rachmaninov
Piano Concerto No 3 in D minor, Op 30 Allegro ma non tanto Intermezzo: Adagio – Finale: Alla breve
– 15-minute intermission – With support from
Brahms
Symphony No 4 in E minor, Op 98 Allegro non troppo Andante moderato Allegro giocoso – Poco meno presto – Tempo I Allegro energico e passionato – Più allegro
House Rules 位
Dear Patrons
為
位 音
行 及 多謝 位 In order to make this performance a pleasant experience for the artists and other members of the audience, please refrain from recording, filming, taking photographs, and also from smoking, eating or drinking in the auditorium. Please ensure that your mobile phones and any other sound and light emitting devices are switched off before the performance. Thank you for your kind co-operation.
香港小交響樂團 Hong Kong Sinfonietta Audience Survey 謝
香港小 音樂會
樂團 有
會
紀念
Thanks for coming to our concert! We would love to have your feedback. Please complete our questionnaire online or at the reception for a chance to win a limited edition gift.
1
香港小交響樂團 Hong Kong Sinfonietta Music Director Emeritus: 葉 Principal Guest Conductor: 柏
音樂總
香港小
樂團
香港
YIP Wing-sie Christoph POPPEN
Tiny Galaxy Concerts
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One of Hong Kong’s flagship orchestras, Hong Kong Sinfonietta has achieved significant local and international recognition for its passionate performances and innovative programming which have brought music closer to the community. Since 1999, Hong Kong Sinfonietta has collaborated with an illustrious array of international musicians and groups, including in recent years Nicolas Altstaedt, Vilde Frang, Ilya Gringolts, Martin Helmchen, James MacMillan, Sergei Nakariakov, Krzysztof Penderecki, JeanGuihen Queyras, Fazıl Say, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Mariinsky Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, The Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet and Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. A regular participant at all the major festivals in Hong Kong including the Hong Kong Arts Festival and Le French May, the orchestra also partners regularly with Hong Kong Ballet and Opera Hong Kong in their staged productions. In 2018, the orchestra organised the 1st Hong Kong International Conducting Competition, which attracted 310 applications from 49 countries/regions. As an avid believer of keeping music alive and contemporary, Hong Kong Sinfonietta – the Venue Partner of the Hong Kong City Hall since 2009 – performs year-round with over 100 performances a season, presenting not only standard orchestral repertoire but also newly commissioned works, as well as specially-designed concert series for different audiences and age groups, including Good Music for Babies/Kids, Know Your Classical Music, Short-cut to Classical Music and HKS McDull Music Project. The orchestra also frequently ventures into new initiatives, recently receiving wide acclaim for its groundbreaking Back On Stage concert film series, as well as the Tiny Galaxy Concerts online series featuring performances recorded at a fascinating hostel in Hong Kong. In 2021, the orchestra co-curated the “Life is Art” film festival with MOViE MOViE, while continuing to break down barriers between music and audience with free chamber concerts held regularly at Hong Kong City Hall.
Launched in 2006, the HKS Artist Associate scheme provides a platform for intensive collaboration with local artists from different arts disciplines to expand the horizon of classical music. The orchestra’s discography includes CDs of works by Chinese composers on HUGO, and three double-CD albums This is Classical Music on DECCA which have been awarded Platinum and Gold Records. In 2018, The Passage Beyond in Concert by Leon Ko, was released on DECCA. On tour, Hong Kong Sinfonietta has been invited to perform in North America in Canada and New York City; in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay in South America; in Europe at prestigious festivals in France including Festival International de Piano La Roque d’Anthéron and Festival de Musique Menton, in Germany at Gezeitenkonzerte Ostfriesland, at Beethoven Easter Festival in Poland, in Switzerland at Tonhalle Zürich, Geneva Victoria Hall and Fribourg, at festivals in Italy including the Michelangeli Festival, in Portugal at the Marvão International Music Festival, and in Lithuania; in China at China Shanghai International Arts Festival (Expo 2010), in Beijing at the National Centre for the Performing Arts; in Japan at La Folle Journée and Asia Orchestra Week; in Korea at the Tongyeong International Music Festival and in Singapore at the Esplanade, and at National Concert Hall Taipei and National Taichung Theater. Hong Kong Sinfonietta has thrived under the direction of Music Director Yip Wing-sie – one of Asia’s most respected conductors – since 2002. Having taken on the new role of Music Director Emeritus since May 2020, she and Principal Guest Conductor Christoph Poppen are responsible for the artistic development of the orchestra before the next Music Director is appointed.
香港小 樂團有限公司 團 The Hong Kong Sinfonietta Limited is a registered charity. 香港 98 3 3/F Winsan Tower, 98 Thomson Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong Tel : (852) 2836 3336 Email: enquiries@hksinfonietta.org Website: www.HKSL.org
3
Conductor
Ola Rudner 德
騰
樂樂團
為德國 利 利
樂團
區樂團 蘭
領樂團
利
名音樂
士
金
音樂學院 華
定
音樂
音樂 德
及
文化會
蘭
音樂學院
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樂樂團
樂團 歌
樂團
院
樂團
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國
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樂團
樂
樂團
樂團
樂團
樂團及音樂 德
德 國
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先
小
琴
名
琴
小 樂團
及
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1995
德
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立
2001-2003
歌
門
樂
女 樂團
樂團
BBC
歌
院樂團 音樂
RAI
華 4
樂樂團及
國
為多
唐
名 德
及
樂團
利
金 利
金
成
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院樂團
樂樂團
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及
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多 人
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音樂
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樂團
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院
多
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2010
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為
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授
務
及及澳洲政
音樂成
樂樂團 香港
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Swedish conductor Ola Rudner started his career as a high-profile violinist, having been a prizewinner of the Paganini Competition, the assistant of the legendary Sandor Vègh, and concertmaster of various orchestras such as the Camerata Salzburg, Volksoper Wien and Wiener Symphoniker. In 1995, he founded the Philharmonia Wien, and from 2001-2003, he was the Chief Conductor of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in Australia. He was Chief Conductor of the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento in 2003-2006, and the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen from 2008-2016. Since 1997, Rudner has conducted all the major Australian orchestras – the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the orchestras of Melbourne, Queensland, Tasmania, Adelaide and Perth – while also having conducted most of the major orchestras in Scandinavia. Other orchestras he ha s w or k e d w ith i n c l u d e th e Lo n d o n Ph ilha r m onic Orche s tra , B B C S y mp h o n y Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, Deutschen Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Wiener Symphoniker, Bremen Philharmonic, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Fondazione Arena di Verona, Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della RAI, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, Orchestra del Teatro la Fenice, Orchestra del Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania, Orchestra Filarmonica Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos etc. Following his appointment as Chief Conductor of the Württembergische Philharmonie, he transformed the orchestra into one of Germany’s top regional orchestras, regularly taking the orchestra on tour to Spain, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Switzerland and Italy, to halls like the Vienna Musikverein, Liszt Academy Budapest, Tonhalle Zürich, KKL Luzern, Palau de la Música de València and Sala Verdi Milano. In recent years, he enjoyed highly successful collaborations with Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Arctic Philharmonic, Royal Swedish Opera, Polish National Radio Orchestra Katowice, Vienna
Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Chile and others. The 2021/2022 season includes returning to Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Osaka Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Tonkünstler Orchestra. Since 2010, he has regularly toured in Japan with the Orchestra of the Volksoper Wien. Rudner is also an important opera conductor regularly invited to the opera houses of Australia, Austria, Sweden and Italy. In Salzburg, he conducted Carmen, followed by Don Pasquale and Il Barbiere di Siviglia. His repertoire includes Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Così Fan Tutte, The Marriage of Figaro, La Clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo, Beethoven’s Fidelio, Bizet’s Carmen and Verdi’s Il Trovatore and La Traviata, as well as operettas by Offenbach, Strauss, Lehár and Kalman. In 2019, he conducted a successful series of Donizetti’s L‘Elisir d‘Amore in Verona. He has recorded for BIS Records, Harmonia Mundi, ABC Classics, Camerata Tokyo and Amadeus. With the Württembergische Philharmonie, he has recorded Romantische Ouvertüren, Mendelssohn’s Third, Fourth and Fifth symphonies, and works by Grieg (Holberg Suite) and Lars Erik Larsson (Pastoral Suite) for ARS Productions. For Antes Edition, he recorded Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suites. For the CPO label, he made a celebrated first recording of the two symphonies by Giovanni Sgambati, Italy’s forgotten Romantic composer. Rudner has an extensive repertoire ranging from Bach to contemporary composers like Ferran Cruixent and compatriot Rolf Martinsson, who dedicated a piece to Rudner and his orchestra. His special attention concerns the interpretation of the Classical repertoire from Haydn to Brahms and Bruckner, for which he has received great critical acclaim. Rudner is the recipient of the order of merit for services rendered to the Republic of Austria. He also received the Centenary Medal for his outstanding musical work in Australia.
5
琴 Piano
Alexander Ullman 樂 士
國
-
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及
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會
11
18
11
20
Praised for his subtle interpretations and refined technical mastery, British pianist Alexander Ullman has impressed audiences and critics worldwide with his deep understanding of the scores he interprets, his elegant touch and crystalline phrasing. Having come to international attention since winning the 2011 Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in Budapest and 2017 International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Utrecht, Ullman was represented by the Young Classical Artists Trust from 2014 to 2017, and has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Budapest Radio Orchestra and Korean Symphony Orchestra, as well as the New Jersey, Fort Worth and Montreal symphonies, working with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Giancarlo Guerrero, Miguel HarthBedoya, Valentin Uryupin and Cristian Mǎcelaru. Ullman has performed at London’s Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Kimmel Center, Kennedy Center, Seoul Arts Center, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and has been featured in the Nottingham and Oxford international piano series, on BBC Radio 3, France Musique and MDR Klassik. Chamber music highlights include performances at the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Pablo Casals Festival in Prades and La Jolla Summerfest with performers such as the Dover Quartet, violinists Barnabás Kelemen and Aleksey Semenenko, and cellist Michael Petrov. In the 2017/2018 season, he closed the Lille Piano(s) Festival with Orchestre de Picardie under Jean-Claude Casadesus. Recent highlights include performances with the National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra in Beijing under Markus Stenz, Orquestra Simfònica
de Barcelona under Josep Vicent, as well as his débuts at the Lucerne Piano Festival and Montreal Chamber Music Festival. He also made his début with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra and performed recitals in Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Georgia, Mexico, Korea and his native UK. The 2021/2022 season sees his evening recital début at Wigmore Hall and débuts with Münchner Symphoniker under Joseph Bastian and Hong Kong Sinfonietta under Ola Rudner. He also returns to the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Klavierfestival Ruhr, and performs a recital for Premiere Performances Hong Kong. In 2019, Ullman’s first album on Rubicon, featuring Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite, Prokofiev’s Six Pieces from Cinderella, as well as Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Firebird suites, received rave reviews. In 2022, the label will release a second album featuring Liszt’s Piano Concerto No 1 and 2 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Litton, coupled with the composer’s Piano Sonata in B minor. Born in London in 1991, Ullman studied at the Purcell School, the Curtis Institute and the Royal College of Music, completing his Artist Diploma as the Benjamin Britten Piano Fellow in 2017 (awarded by the Philip Loubser Foundation). His teachers have included William Fong, Leon Fleisher, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Robert McDonald, Dmitri Alexeev, Ian Jones and Elisso Virsaladze.
Alexander Ullman is invited through a collaboration between Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Premiere Performances in bringing international artists to Hong Kong. He gave two concerts during his visit: “Alexander Ullman: 3 Sonatas” (co-presented by Hong Kong Sinfonietta) (18 Nov) and “Great Piano Concertos: Alexander Ullman Plays Rachmaninov No 3” (20 Nov). 7
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Programme Notes 1977... 1909… and 1885: tonight’s concert takes a backwards journey through almost a century of music with works that each, in their own way, references the past. Brahms, was acutely aware of musical history – he had an impressive collection of music manuscripts and was an exceptional editor – and in his last symphony, his Fourth, he fashioned a thrilling final movement in an old Baroque form: the passacaglia – a set of variations over a ground bass. If you ever need an example of something old becoming something new, this is it. Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto was composed specially for his own American début in 1909. He spent the previous summer – said to have been the happiest of his life, although characteristically he little mentioned it in his published recollections – on his wife’s family’s country estate at Ivanovka: walking, riding, working on the farm and writing the concerto. On his Atlantic passage he practised the solo part on a dummy keyboard in his cabin, and thus was ready for the première on Sunday afternoon 28 November in New York, conducted by Walter Damrosch. Shortly afterwards, the second New York performance was given by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Gustav Mahler, who impressed the composer/soloist in the care he took over the score (Mahler repeated the whole first movement after the scheduled end of a rehearsal, with no queries from the thoroughly converted players). Although warmly received, some criticism was levelled at the concerto’s loose structure and large-scale architecture, and it was only when the likes of Vladimir Horowitz, Alexander Helman and Walter Gieseking mastered it in the 1930s that it first achieved the popularity it deserved. A decade later, in the face of the Bolshevik Revolution, Rachmaninov was to leave his beloved Russia forever, spending his time between America and his new home in Switzerland. For a long while he was unable to compose, handicapped by his homesickness, and all his works are imbued with a deep sense of Russianness. Soviet Russia has also had an indelible effect on the life and work of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. His early iconoclastic works were condemned by the authorities, but that is not why he developed a new style. Having studied with Heino Eller, those early iconoclast and serialist works, including the first two symphonies and works such as Pro et Contra, Collage on B-A-C-H and Credo, were written in the decade from 1958 (while he was a sound engineer for Estonian Radio). Then, from 1976 onwards, in a complete change of style, Pärt has used what he describes as “tintinnabuli” style. Here his music is pared back to what may seem to be the simplest of building blocks, the diatonic scale and the triad, but from which Pärt has uncovered a rich vein of immediately approachable music which works on many levels, especially when based on religious texts.
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This change of direction was very conscious, and in the period between these two distinct phases, 1968 to 1976, Pärt went back to basics: studying early music from plainchant to polyphony as well as writing out sketchbooks of monodies in an attempt to “learn how to walk again as a composer”. The only interim work was the Third Symphony (1971); apart from that Pärt kept all his compositional experiments private. Then, in 1976, a confluence of events acted as a catalyst: “At the moment my own tintinnabular style was about to be born, my life was tightly bound up with the Estonian Hortus Musicus and its leader Andres Mustonen. At that time the world of ancient music opened up before us and we were full of enthusiasm. This atmosphere had the effect of a midwife for my new music.” Tonight’s work was one of the first in this new style.
Arvo Pärt (born 1935)
Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten (1977/1980) After years of silence, Pärt issued a plethora of works in 1977 – Arbos, Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, Fratres and Tabula Rasa are probably the best known – where the conjunction of descending or ascending scales based around a triad (often with bells) were explored in many ways. In the notes to the first recording of three of the above works (ECM label), Pärt explained further: “Tintinnabulation is an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers – in my life, my music, my work. In my dark hours, I have the certain feeling that everything outside this one thing has no meaning. The complex and many-faceted only confuses me, and I must search for unity. What is it, this one thing, and how do I find my way to it? Traces of this perfect thing appear in many guises – and everything unimportant falls away. Tintinnabulation is like this. Here I am alone with silence. I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played. This one note, or a silent beat, or a moment of silence, comforts 16
me. I work with very few elements – with one voice, with two voices. I build with the most primitive materials – with the triad, with one specific tonality. The three notes of the triad are like bells. And that is why I called it tintinnabulation.” It was at the end of this period of discovery for Pärt that Benjamin Britten died. Pärt comments: “In the past years we have had many losses in the world of music to mourn. Why did the date of Benjamin Britten’s death – 4 December 1976 – strike such a chord in me? During this time I was obviously at the point where I could recognise the magnitude of such a loss. Inexplicable feelings of guilt, more than that even, arose in me. I had just discovered Britten for myself. Just before his death I began to appreciate the unusual purity of his music – I had had the impression of the same kind of purity in the ballads of Guillaume de Machaut. And besides, for a long time I had wanted to meet Britten personally and now it would not come to that.” Pärt’s tribute is cast in the simplest of forms, for strings and bell. Based on a descending A minor scale, which is repeated by the five string sections
at different tempi (the violas achieving some independence from the two violin parts and the cello and bass parts), the mesmeric music has an instant emotional effect on audiences (it is said that it reduced Peter Pears to tears), the string textures getting ever more sonorous as the scales descend, seemingly infinitely slowly in solemn song, topped and tailed by the high ringing bell. There is a depth to the music, which seems to be built out of stillness and silence. “My music was always written after I had long been silent in the most literal sense of the word. When I speak of silence, I mean the ‘nothingness’ out of which God created the world. That is why, ideally, musical silence is sacred. Silence is not simply given to us, but in order that we may draw sustenance from it. The sustenance is no less valuable to me than the air I breathe. There is an expression: to live on air and love. I’d like to rephrase this: if you approach silence with love, music may result. A composer often has to wait a long time for this music. It is this reverent sense of expectation that constitutes the brief silence of which I am so fond.” Pärt’s Cantus was premiered by the Estonian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Tallinn, May 1977, conducted by Eri Klas. Gennady Rozhdestvensky introduced it to Britain at the BBC Proms that summer, and it rapidly became Pärt’s calling card.
Instrumentation of this work Strings: 1st & 2nd violins, violas, cellos, double basses Percussion: chimes
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873–1943)
Piano Concerto No 3 in D minor, Op 30 Allegro ma non tanto Intermezzo: Adagio – Finale: Alla breve Sharing its indulgence in rich, romantic melodies and soundworld with his Second Piano Concerto, Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto is (despite its longer length) more tightly organised and apparently seamless. Created very much as a whole, with a central Intermezzo introducing a more relaxed pace between the epic qualities of the outer movements, it can easily be seen as Rachmaninov’s most symphonic concerto, bridging the gap between his youthful, more lavish works with the more intricate and detailed “American” works – the Paganini Rhapsody, the Symphonic Dances and the Third Symphony. The first movement opens with a direct, simple tune in octaves on the piano, over a pulsing orchestral rhythm, which immediately betrays its composer. Rachmaninov, when asked if he had based the first subject on a folk melody, simply said that it “wrote itself. I was thinking only of sound. I wanted to sing the melody on the piano as a singer would sing it”. But it has been suggested that its resemblance to the old Russian monastic chant “Thy Tomb, O Saviour, Soldiers Guarding” is more than pure coincidence; perhaps Rachmaninov had heard it as a boy in Novgorod visiting his grandmother… The accompaniment is important too, as it will be used in the development. After swapping tune and accompaniment between orchestra and piano, the second subject is eventually introduced, first in short conversational snatches (very much based on the opening accompaniment) between soloist and orchestra; then in a full romantic cantabile passage for, principally, the soloist alone. The development, mainly derived from the first theme (which returns to open the section), leads not to the expected recapitulation but instead, by way of innovation, to an epic cadenza, with soft wind and horn calls midway. In fact, Rachmaninov composed two 17
cadenzas, the second shorter but technically no less difficult: both sharing the music towards the end. A short coda leaves expectancy in the air – no dramatic ending here – allowing the central Intermezzo to carry through the architecture without breaking the mood. Although the Intermezzo’s key is D-flat major (an unusual key as the concerto’s tonic is D minor), it actually opens in A major with falling strings, then an oboe and horn melody, poetically mournful. The orchestral exploration of the theme is suddenly interrupted wildly by the soloist leading to a set of variations with much soloistic bravura. A waltz in F-sharp minor with fluttering triplet passages for the piano leads back to D-flat (or rather its enharmonic equivalent: C-sharp) and to the main theme. An orchestral passage acts as a coda, allowing the pianist a much-needed break, before once again rushing back in with dramatic bravura for a connecting passage, gaining confidence with infinite style and flourish, which modulates the key from C-sharp to D minor to lead straight into the Finale. Three chords herald the dashing, tattoo-like wind motif that underpins the romantic and passionate theme taken immediately by the soloist. A soft pulsing string tone forms the central section under the soloist's acrobatics. Note the flute and horn solos, over rippling passage work, before timpani rolls herald the return to the opening themes, each this time introduced a tone lower, allowing D minor to be re-established. The excitement is continually built up in the pounding coda (side drum et al) with leaping soloist and strident orchestration. Majestically the music floods the senses and surges to its final climax.
Instrumentation of this work Strings: 1st & 2nd violins, violas, cellos, double basses Woodwinds: flutes (2), oboes (2), clarinets (2), bassoons (2) Brass: horns (4), trumpets (2), trombones (3), tuba (1) Percussion: timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, suspended cymbal Solo piano
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Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Symphony No 4 in E minor, Op 98 Allegro non troppo Andante moderato Allegro giocoso – Poco meno presto – Tempo I Allegro energico e passionato – Più allegro Brahms’ Fourth (and last) Symphony was composed during the summers of 1884 and 1885 at Mürzzuschlag in Styria. Brahms and Ignaz Brüll played it through on two pianos to an assembled crowd, one of whom, the writer Max Kalbeck, found the passacaglia an unfitting end to a symphony and so recommended that it be published as a separate work. He also told Brahms to drop the Scherzo and compose two new movements to end the work. Typically Brahms simply stuck to his guns: if variation form was good enough for Beethoven in the Finale of his Eroica Symphony, then it was good enough for Brahms. The première was in Meiningen, rehearsed by Hans von Bülow, but conducted by the composer himself on 25 October 1885. Present was the newly appointed assistant conductor of the orchestra, Richard Strauss. The first audiences were unsure of the symphony, but the Viennese took it to their hearts. At a performance given by the Vienna Philharmonic on 7 March 1897, less than a month before his death, Brahms was given a great ovation. Von Bülow described it as “quite stupendous” and Brahms’ beloved Clara Schumann was full of praise. The first sonata-form movement has no preliminaries, with a lilting theme, long and leisurely on violins that starts with a falling third, the interval that characterises the whole symphony (the two outer movements are in E minor, with the two inner ones either in C – the Scherzo – or certainly veering towards it – the Andante moderato – encompassing the overall impression of this falling interval). Elaborated and expanded, the theme passes between the wind and strings,
growing in stature. A hunting call on wind (dotted crotchet–semiquaver–triplet figure) introduces the second theme for horns and cellos then violins over staccato utterances from the rest of the orchestra. Brahms richly forges the ensuing exposition with pizzicato chords and then more lyrical passages, also using the hunting call motif. He departs from usual symphonic practice by not repeating the exposition, although he kids us that he will by repeating the opening eight bars at the start of the development. After strident orchestration, the strings have a mysterious, shifting passage which is broken by the hunting call to make way for the rest of the development. The recapitulation leads to the coda where the opening lilting theme is given out forcefully by cellos, basses and horns, with equally strident echoes from the rest of the orchestra. Four definite timpani beats close the movement. The Andante moderato is also in sonata form. Horn, bassoon, oboe and flute intone the rhythm that permeates the movement. Over pizzicato reiteration on strings, the clarinets and bassoons introduce the main theme, another lyrical one, which is then handed to the other winds. When the strings take this theme, triplet semiquavers suffuse the accompaniment. The cellos introduce the broad cantabile second subject with ebbing and flowing violin accompaniment. Delicately developed, with a more strident middle section where the triplet rhythms return in force, the movement ends after the horn reintroduces the opening rhythms (recalling the alternation between C and E major) for the music to die quietly away.
With the woodwinds, they introduce the eight-bar ground bass theme taken from Bach’s Cantata BWV 150: Nach Dir, Herr, Verlanget Mich (For Thee, O Lord, I Long), on which the whole movement is based. The whole edifice is constructed as a passacaglia (that is, with a constantly repeated accompanying bass line). In total there are 30 variations, with the eight-bar ground bass skilfully preserved. Brahms uses various combinations of instruments for his variations, from a beautiful single flute solo to the whole orchestra. The movement ends with a coda of tremendous breadth and energy (Più allegro). In turning to an almost disused form to end his last and most challenging symphony, Brahms showed his skill in not only assimilating all before him, but his ability to look forward.
Instrumentation of this work Strings: 1st & 2nd violins, violas, cellos, double basses Woodwinds: flutes (2), piccolo (1), oboes (2), clarinets (2), bassoons (2), contrabassoon (1) Brass: horns (4), trumpets (2), trombones (3) Percussion: timpani, triangle
The following Allegro giocoso is the only symphonic scherzo Brahms ever wrote, adding piccolo, contrabassoon and a ringing triangle to highlight the high spirits of this jolly movement, where the main theme is introduced at the outset, tutti and fortissimo. Dispensing summarily with the frivolous instrumental additions of the Scherzo, the Finale adds – for the first time in the work – trombones.
© Nick Breckenfield, 2021 British programme-note writer Nick Breckenfield was the Classical Music and Opera Editor for whatsonwhen.com for 13 years and now works for the Borletti-Buitoni Trust
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香港小交響樂團 Hong Kong Sinfonietta 音樂總
Music Director Emeritus: 葉 YIP Wing-sie which awards young classical music artists Principal Guest Conductor: 柏 Christoph POPPEN
團 HKS Artist Associates
Charles KWONG (2020-2022)
Violin 德
小
樂團
金 署
樂團
McDull (2019-2020)
Leon KO (2018-2019)
小 琴
(2016-2018)
莉
Wilson SHIEH (2015-2016)
CHU Pak-him (2014-2015)
潘
賢 MAK Su-yin (2014-2015)
Wendy LAW
葉
(2013-2014)
LOO Sze-wang (2012-2013)
Yuri NG (2011-2013)
Colleen LEE (2010-2011)
KIM In-sun
Oboe
LE Hoai-nam
Clarinet
Acting Assistant Concertmaster
Mami FUKUHARA
Principal Second Violin
Bassoon 慶生 Horn 文慶 東 慶璋 陳 文 小
Elvis CHAN LAU Sum-yin Christina BEAN Ringo CHAN NGAN Sing-on LUNG Kwan-wai Kenny TANG Wing-shuen Rebecca
陳 龍
樂 國芝
(2008-2009)
賢 NG Cheuk-yin (2006-2008)
葉俊
HUANG Shan MAN Hay
Trombone 基 陳學賢
Christopher RODGERS CHAN Hok-yin
LAM Wing-tsan Akihiro MURAMOTO
樂 Percussion 周 小
Masami NAGAI Santiago COSTA MARTÍNEZ HUANG Tun-pin
Notes 1. Guest Principal Oboe – SZE Yu-hey Kenneth ( ) 2. Guest Principal Bassoon – AU Kai-see Tiffany ( ) 3. Freelance Musicians: Violin 小 CHAN Ming-chak Alvin (陳 ), Vanessa CHAN (陳 ), CHUA Vince Eliezer N. (蔡 FENG Lok-yee ( ), Otto KWAN ( ), WONG Chun-hong John ( 俊 ) Viola Cecilia HO ( 永 ), Melvin WONG (王 ) Cello Cecilia CHAN (陳 ), JIM Wai-man ( ) Double Bass CHAN Ping-chi (陳 智), Harty TAM ( ) Flute HUI Wing-hang Bob ( 榮 ) Bassoon CHEUNG On-ki Angel (張 )
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文
Timpani
Double Bass 永
PAW Man-hing Hermann Masumi HIGASHIDE SHUM Hing-cheung CHAN Kar-man Cheryl
Trumpet
Tuba 林榮
CHANG Pei-chieh Laurent PERRIN HO Kwok-chee Karey LEE Eun-sol PARK Si-won YIP Chun-hei Eric
張
CHIN Hing-sang (On Leave) Minako TAGUCHI
Bass Trombone 文 KONG Tze-man Jason
Cello
輝 Samson YOUNG
FONG Hiu-kai Johnny CHEN Chiu-yuan
陳
Viola 陳 劉
華 Jason LAI (2009-2011)
Akiyo UESUGI
Concertmaster
CAI Pak-yi CHAN Shaw-nan Sharon Kiann CHOW JIA Shu-chen John KRUER Sally LAW Ambrose LUI LUO Wei-min PANG Hiu-wan POON Ka-mei Camille YANG Min-yu YANG Yu-si YIP Siu-hay
蔡柏 陳 周
CHAN Hing-yan
陳慶
Flute James CUDDEFORD
CHAU Chin-tung Rieko KOYAMA
Harp 士
Ann HUANG
Keyboard 偉
Alan CHU
Principal Assistant Principal Orchestral Associate
賢),
香港小交響樂團 Hong Kong Sinfonietta Limited Honorary Governors
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司
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行
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樂團 樂團 陳成
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林
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陳
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