BERNSTEIN CELEBRATION
concert program BERNSTEIN CLASSICS 15 AUGUST | 7.30pm
BERNSTEIN ON BROADWAY 18 AUGUST | 7.30pm
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Sir Andrew Davis Chief Conductor
featuring S I R A N D R E W DAV I S • L A N G L A N G • B R I A N C OX V E R D I ’ S R E Q U I E M • H A N S E L A N D G R E T E L • B O L É R O • and more
S U B S C R I B E AT M S O . C O M . A U
THE MSO CELEBRATES LEONARD BERNSTEIN Vincent Plush In August 1974, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra gave three concerts in the Melbourne Town Hall. Their conductor was Leonard Bernstein.
Side Story re-defined the American theatre. Rarely is the spirit of the theatre absent, even in works like the Chichester Psalms and the Jeremiah Symphony, which burn as eternal testimony to his Jewish faith.
Conductor, composer, pianist, educator, philosopher, humanitarian, political activist and social irritant, the man known as Lenny was everywhere. From the Broadway stage to the synagogue, from the loftiest concert halls of Europe to the war-ravaged hills of Israel, from the Camelot of JFK to the Watergate tapes, Lenny was the Everyman of American music, universally known and (mostly) admired for his capacity to distil the American experience into his music.
Few composers have created music so memorable that it percolates in your head as you leave the concert hall. Actually, it remains in our lives forever, exhilarating and enriching us, refreshing universal truths and, like Candide himself, offering prospects for “the best of all possible worlds”. Thanks, Lenny, and Happy Birthday. For nearly 20 years, the Australian composer and writer Vincent Plush lived and worked in North America. An expert in and advocate for 20th century Australian and American music, he has recently completed a PhD in Adelaide and will shortly take up a position at the University of Melbourne.
These MSO’s concerts celebrate the range of his boundless talents. With its explosive Puerto Rican street rhythms and heart-wrenching love songs inspired by his principal mentormodels, Copland and Mahler, West
Bernstein Celebration Artists
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Bernstein Classics Program notes
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Texts
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Orchestra
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Chorus
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Bernstein on Broadway Program notes
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Orchestra
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Supporters
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These concerts will be recorded for video broadcast on Foxtel Arts. In consideration of your fellow patrons, the MSO thanks you for silencing and dimming the light on your phone. The MSO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which it is performing. MSO pays its respects to their Elders, past and present, and the Elders from other communities who may be in attendance.
Cover: Leonard Bernstein by Paul de Hueck, Courtesy of the Leonard Bernstein Office
MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Established in 1906, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an arts leader and Australia’s oldest professional orchestra. Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis has been at the helm of MSO since 2013. Engaging more than 4 million people each year, the MSO reaches diverse audiences through live performances, recordings, TV and radio broadcasts and live streaming. Its international audiences include China, where MSO has performed in 2012, 2016 and most recently in May 2018, Europe (2014) and Indonesia, where in 2017 it performed at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Prambanan Temple. The MSO performs a variety of concerts ranging from symphonic performances at its home, Hamer Hall at Arts Centre Melbourne, to its annual free concerts at Melbourne’s largest outdoor venue, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. The MSO also delivers innovative and engaging programs and digital tools to audiences of all ages through its Education and Outreach initiatives.
mso.com.au |
(03) 9929 9600 3
BRAMWELL TOVEY CONDUCTOR
SARAH FOX SOPRANO
Bramwell Tovey becomes the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director Emeritus in its centenary season (2018-19). With the VSO he has conducted major cycles of Beethoven, Brahms and Mahler, instituted a contemporary music festival, and helped establish the VSO School of Music. He has also been Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. Tovey is a GRAMMY® and Juno award-winning conductor and recently received the Betty Webster Award from Orchestras Canada.
Sarah Fox is equally at home in opera, folksong and musical theatre. Her roles at Covent Garden have included Micaëla (Carmen), Asteria (Tamerlano), Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and Woglinde (Wagner’s Ring). Her roles at Glyndebourne have included Mozart’s Zerlina and Susanna. Elsewhere she has appeared at the Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence Festivals, Royal Danish Opera, De Vlaamse Opera and Opera North, among others. She has worked with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and performed with Rufus Wainwright and with John Wilson and his Orchestra. Recordings range from Arminta (Mozart’s Il re pastore) to Cole Porter in Hollywood. Recent concerts have included Bruckner’s Te Deum and Mendelssohn’s ‘Lobgesang’ at Britain’s Three Choirs Festival.
Bramwell Tovey is a composer and pianist as well as conductor. He was the last-minute substitute conductor at the opening night of the London Symphony Orchestra’s Leonard Bernstein Festival in the presence of Bernstein himself, and was invited by Bernstein to Tanglewood in the summer of 1986.
NICHOLAS TOLPUTT COUNTER-TENOR
LIANE KEEGAN ALTO
Nicholas graduated from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in 2014 and was a 2016 Young Artist for Pacific Opera. An established artist with the Brisbane Baroque Festival, Nicholas has performed in each festival to date with highlights including singing in Purcell’s King Arthur (2016) and covering the role of Medoro in Handel’s Orlando (2014).
Liane received the Opera Foundation Australia Shell Royal Covent Garden Scholarship, which enabled her to study at the National Opera Studio London. She attended the AIMS Summer School in Graz Austria on the Opera Australia Foundation Scholarship, and in 1997, won a Bayreuth Bursary from the Wagner Society of Great Britain.
In 2017 Nicholas performed the role of Ottone in Lyric Opera’s The Coronation of Poppea. Recent oratorio and cantata performances include the alto solos Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater. In 2018, Nicholas made his international debut as the alto soloist in The New Zealand Dance Company’s OrphEus: A Dance Opera. Upcoming engagements include the role of David in Saul (Sydney Philharmonia) and the alto solo in Handel’s Messiah (MSO).
Liane came to the attention of both critics and public alike with roles including Azucena (Il Trovatore) for Opera of South Australia, Ulrica (Un Ballo in Maschera) for Opera Australia, and Offred’s Mother (The Handmaid’s Tale). Concert appearances have included Mozart’s Requiem with Sir Neville Mariner and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Barbara in Korngold’s Violanta at the 1997 BBC Proms conducted by Paul Daniel, and Waltraute in Die Walküre with Antonio Pappano at the Edinburgh Festival.
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BRENTON SPITERI TENOR
BRETT POLEGATO BARITONE
In 2012, Brenton Spiteri won first prize in the Herald Sun Aria, which allowed him to pursue overseas study in singing and languages. Subsequently, he was a resident young artist at Opéra Lyon for two seasons, where his roles included Maréchal Trac in Le Roi Carotte, and Mercurio in l’Incoronazione di Poppea.
Brett Polegato has appeared at venues such as the Lincoln Center, La Scala, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Opéra National de Paris, Glyndebourne, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. He has collaborated with conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Daniele Gatti, Andris Nelsons, Bernard Haitink, Seiji Ozawa, Jeffrey Tate, Marc Minkowski, and Martyn Brabbins.
Australian performance highlights include Tamino, The Magic Flute (State Opera South Australia); Schoolmaster/Mosquito, Cunning Little Vixen (Victorian Opera); Nadir, The Pearlfishers (Melbourne Opera); Clotarco, Armida (Pinchgut Opera). In 2018, he will perform Sam Sawnoff in The Magic Pudding for Victorian Opera and Mathan in Athalia for Pinchgut Opera. For Sydney Chamber Opera, he created the role of Ashley Crowther in the Helpmann Award Nominated Fly Away Peter, receiving critical acclaim for his “charismatic warmth and vocal agility”.
Recent roles include the Celebrant in Bernstein’s Mass with the Orchestre National de Lille and Balstrode in Britten’s Peter Grimes with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. In the 2016-17 season he created the role of Father Thomas Nangle in John Estacio’s new opera, Ours. Recordings include Elgar’s Sea Symphony, a solo disc To A Poet with pianist Iain Burnside, Bach’s Coffee Cantata and Kálmán’s The Duchess of Chicago.
MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS
WARREN TREVELYAN-JONES CHORUS MASTER
For more than 50 years the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus has been the unstinting voice of the Orchestra’s choral repertoire. The MSO Chorus sings with the finest conductors including Sir Andrew Davis, Edward Gardner, Mark Wigglesworth, Bernard Labadie, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Manfred Honeck, and is committed to developing and performing new Australian and international choral repertoire.
Warren Trevelyan-Jones is the Head of Music at St James’, King Street in Sydney and is regarded as one of the leading choral conductors and choir trainers in Australia. Warren has had an extensive singing career as a soloist and ensemble singer in Europe, including nine years in the Choir of Westminster Abbey, and regular work with the Gabrieli Consort, Collegium Vocale (Ghent), the Taverner Consort, The Kings Consort, Dunedin Consort, The Sixteen and the Tallis Scholars.
Commissions include Brett Dean’s Katz und Spatz, Ross Edwards’ Mountain Chant, and Paul Stanhope’s Exile Lamentations. Recordings by the MSO Chorus have received critical acclaim. It has performed across Brazil and at the Cultura Inglese Festival in Sao Paolo, with The Australian Ballet, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, at the AFL Grand Final and at Anzac Day commemorative ceremonies.
Warren is also Director of the Parsons Affayre, Founder and Co-Director of The Consort of Melbourne and, in 2001 with Dr Michael Noone, founded the Gramophone award-winning group Ensemble Plus Ultra. Warren is also a qualified music therapist.
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BERNSTEIN CLASSICS WEDNESDAY 15 AUGUST 2018
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Bramwell Tovey conductor Nicholas Tolputt counter-tenor Liane Keegan alto Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus Copland Orchestral Variations Mahler Rückert-Lieder INTERVAL Bernstein Symphony No. 1 Jeremiah Bernstein Chichester Psalms Pre-concert conversation Join us for a pre-concert conversation with Vincent Plush inside Hamer Hall from 6.15pm. Running time: 2 hours, including a 20-minute interval
PROGRAM NOTES AARON COPLAND (1900-1990)
Orchestral Variations Theme: Grave – Variations I – XX – Coda The 1920s were tumultuous and formative for the young Aaron Copland. He spent the earliest years of the decade in Paris, absorbing the lessons of French literature and painting, and studying with the greatest teacher of the age, Nadia Boulanger. The decade (which ended, of course, with the Wall Street Crash) saw several important early works for piano: the Sonata of 1921, the Concerto of 1926, several Piano Blues and the Piano Variations of 1930. The Concerto and Variations, both presented after his return to the USA, were not well received: audiences didn’t care for the kind of jazz-infusion of the concerto, and the Variations were too confronting. When he sent the score to Walter Gieseking, the German pianist replied that ‘this composition is very interesting and most original, but…a work of such severity of style is not possible among the normal type of concert-goers.’ Nevertheless, it remained a favourite of the composer’s; he felt it had a ‘rightness’. After working on it for some time, ‘one fine day when the time was right, the order of the variations fell into place.’ It consists of a theme, 20 variations and a coda – the theme being a four-note cell which Copland subjects to rigorous manipulation derived from the practice of Schoenberg. It is not the ‘big sky’ 6
Copland of Appalachian Spring or Rodeo, or the ‘grand style’ Copland of the Third Symphony, but rather the uncompromising modernist whose late Music for a Great City left the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy at a loss for words. Disappointed that the piano work had not achieved greater currency, Copland returned to it in 1957 and made this orchestral version of it for the Louisville Orchestra. It was, as he observed, ‘a unique challenge to think of this material in terms of orchestral colour’: the Piano Variations have a lapidary character thanks to Copland’s exploitation of the instrument’s percussive nature. While, in rethinking the piece for orchestra, Copland maintained that character at the outset – the austere and angular theme is stated by various instruments doubled by timpani – he did, overall, treat the original as ‘a piano sketch with orchestral possibilities’, thus freeing himself to make more opulent sounds, while keeping the piece rigorously organised. After the terse statement of the theme, a somewhat more sustained version appears, followed in turn by a more elaborately harmonised and scored variation, where the third introduces whimsical dotted figures. The short variations thus go on to exploit striving passages in octaves and heraldic fragments of brass writing. There are unexpected passages of quiet lyricism, such as the delicate woodwinds of Variation XI, a turning-point in the otherwise steady march of the music toward more and more powerful rhetoric. We hear hints of rhythmic intricacy and occasionally diaphanous moments in the ballet scores, and fleeting glimpses of the ‘grand style’, especially in the substantial, third-part coda that concludes the piece. Sadly, the piece was not an unmixed success. As one newspaper noted: ‘New-Old Copland Work Cheered, Also Jeered’. © Gordon Kerry 2018 This is the first performance of this work by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
GUSTAV MAHLER (1860-1911)
Rückertlieder (five songs to poems of Friedrich Rückert) Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft Um Mitternacht Liebst du um Schönheit Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen Liane Keegan alto Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866) experienced the upheavals of Europe during the Napoleonic wars and held the position of professor of oriental languages at various German universities before retiring to the country to concentrate on poetry. Mahler started setting poetry by Rückert in 1901, at the same time as he began work on his Fifth Symphony, and ultimately produced two sets of songs to Rückert’s verse. The Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the death of children) has
BERNSTEIN CLASSICS PROGRAM NOTES
been described as Mahler’s greatest song-cycle, though at the time he was accused of ‘self-tormenting exhibitionism’. The poetry grew out of Rückert’s own grief at the loss of his two children; Mahler responds in music that memorialises his own brother who died in childhood. ‘It hurt me to write them,’ Mahler said of the songs, ‘and I grieve for the world which will one day have to hear them.’ Mahler also worked on setting a further group of five Rückert poems. He published them as separate works (for voice and piano initially), but after his death a publisher grouped them together with two songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (the collection of folk-poetry which so inspired the composer) and, with the benefit of hindsight, named them Sieben Lieder aus letzter Zeit – effectively, ‘Seven last songs’. The five Rückertlieder do not constitute a song-cycle, in that there is no overarching narrative as in Schubert’s Winterreise, or central theme as in the Kindertotenlieder. The songs can therefore be sung in whatever order the soloist decides. There are some recurrent poetic ideas, however, one of which is the subject of the first of the songs to be composed. Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder (Do not look into my songs) dramatises the conviction of many artists that a poem or song should not be seen until it is finished, and that the work itself should happen in secrecy, as bees make honey in the privacy of their hive. Mahler, of course, can’t resist the gentle evocation of bees in the song’s accompaniment. Always sensitive to the beauties of the natural environment, Mahler then set Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft (I breathed the scent of linden); the poet describes entering a room where a sprig from a linden (or lime-tree), picked by the beloved, is filling the house with the fragrance of love. The delicacy of the orchestration and the seemingly rhapsodic form of the song beautifully represent the subtlety of the scent and the fragility of the emotion. Um Mitternacht (At midnight) dramatises the soul’s experience of existential despair in imagery of an empty universe and eternally suffering humanity. Mahler eschews any orchestral warmth by omitting the string sections from this song. The climax of the song (and its power is such that it is frequently placed last in performance) arrives as the poet commends all things into the hand of God. Liebst du um Schönheit (If you love for beauty) offers sets of short stanzas, matched by Mahler’s strophic musical form, in which the poet admits he can’t offer beauty or treasure to the beloved but will love for love’s sake, faithfully and forever. Arguably Mahler’s greatest single song, Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (I am lost to the world) is, like Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder, about the artist’s necessary withdrawal from the world in order to make art. Mahler, of course, was one of the busiest and most visible musicians of his time, making time to compose only during his precious summer vacations. But this song makes clear how singleminded an artist must be; the reward for creation is to live alone ‘in my heaven…my love…my song’. The melody of
this song is used in heavily modified form in the famous Adagietto of the Fifth Symphony, and its plangent opening pages look forward to the ecstatic dissolution of Das Lied von der Erde (1911). While the Rückertlieder make no claims to being a cycle, the five songs each examine some aspect of those three things that are brought together in Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen: heaven, love and song. Gordon Kerry © 2007 The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra first performed Mahler’s Rückertlieder on 9 February 1974 with conductor Henry Krips and baritone Jonathan Summers. The MSO’s most recent performance took place on 11 September 1979 with Georg Tintner and mezzo-soprano Yvonne Minton.
LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990)
Symphony No.1, Jeremiah Prophecy Profanation Lamentation Liane Keegan alto ‘It is impossible for me to make an exclusive choice among the various activities of conducting, symphonic composition, writing for the theatre or playing the piano. What seems right for me at any given moment is what I must do…’ So Leonard Bernstein wrote in the 1940s, and so it was when he created this, his first large-scale orchestral work. There were many ‘banner’ years in Bernstein’s crowded musical life, but 1944 was one of the most remarkable. He had made his conducting debut at the New York Philharmonic in November 1943; by the end of the following year he had conducted the symphony orchestras of Pittsburgh, Boston and Montreal, and had made his Hollywood Bowl debut, and this symphony, the ballet Fancy Free, and the musical On the Town – for which Bernstein composed the score – had all premiered. All three works would become major successes and announce that a new, multi-faceted musical voice had arrived on the American scene. Jeremiah was Bernstein’s response to a competition sponsored by the New England Conservatory of Music in 1942; he had a mad scramble to meet the deadline, so much so that his sister Shirley and several of Bernstein’s friends were roped in to help get the score and parts ready on time. This is the first of many Bernstein works concerned with a crisis of faith (including his two subsequent symphonies and his Mass). According to Jewish tradition, the biblical Jeremiah lived around the year 600 BC, and was the principal author of the books of Jeremiah, Kings and Lamentations. He prophesied Jerusalem’s destruction by invaders from the north, as Israel had been unfaithful to the laws of the covenant and had forsaken God. According to Bernstein, the symphony’s opening Prophecy – intense and often anguished – aims to ‘parallel in feeling the intensity 7
BERNSTEIN CLASSICS PROGRAM NOTES
of the prophet’s pleas with his people’. The Profanation is a feverish, rhythmically vibrant scherzo which, the composer wrote, ‘gives a general sense of the destruction and chaos brought on by the pagan corruption of the priesthood and the people’. The final Lamentation introduces the mezzosoprano soloist, representing Jeremiah mourning his beloved Jerusalem. The city is, in the composer’s words, ‘ruined, pillaged and dishonoured after his desperate attempts to save it’. Yet there is also consolation, even hope, in the symphony’s final moments. Jeremiah is an exceptionally single-minded piece, and as Bernstein biographer Humphrey Burton wrote: ‘It remains unequalled among mid-20th century symphonies for the fervour with which it reaches out to audiences.’ It debuted at an almost unbearably poignant moment, just as the wider world was coming to an understanding of the Nazis’ ‘final solution’. ‘How can I be blind to the problems of my own people? I’d give everything I have to be able to strike a death blow at Fascism,’ Bernstein told a journalist when the work was performed for the first time, in Pittsburgh. The symphony’s success was swift and assured: it was voted outstanding new classical work of the season by the New York Music Critics circle, and broadcast to a coast-to-coast radio audience by the NBC Symphony Orchestra while, by 1947, Bernstein had conducted it across the USA, in Prague and in Jerusalem. The part of his life devoted to composing orchestral music had got off to an incredible start. © Phillip Sametz 2018 The only previous performance of this symphony by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra took place on 5 August 1978 under the direction of Elyakum Shapirra. The soloist was Lauris Elms.
LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990)
Chichester Psalms I. Psalm 108 vs. 2, Psalm 100 II. Psalm 23, Psalm 2 vs. 1-4 III. Psalm 131, Psalm 133 vs. 1 Nicholas Tolputt counter-tenor Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus After six seasons as the New York Philharmonic’s Music Director, years of hectic travel and guest conducting, and always torn between the imperatives of composing and conducting, in 1964/65 Leonard Bernstein took a year’s sabbatical. The year began poorly when plans for a Broadway show based on Thornton Wilder’s play The Skin of Our Teeth collapsed. However a commission arrived from an unexpected source – Walter Hussey, the Dean of England’s Chichester Cathedral whose choir joined forces every year with those of the cathedrals of Winchester and Salisbury to present the Southern Cathedrals Festival. Hussey was a visionary arts patron responsible for commissions from Benjamin Britten, 8
William Walton, Marc Chagall, W.H. Auden, Graham Sutherland, and Henry Moore. The seed planted by John Birch, the Cathedral’s Organist and Choirmaster, was bold: to ask a world-renowned conductor, a ‘Broadway composer’ of Jewish background, to compose for a very Anglican affair. ‘The sort of thing that we had in mind was perhaps, say, a setting of the Psalm 2, or some part of it, either unaccompanied or accompanied by orchestra or organ, or both,’ wrote Hussey to Bernstein. ‘Many of us would be very delighted if there was a hint of West Side Story about the music.’ A wave of ecumenism swept through the Anglican church in the early 1960s, and the Psalms, common texts for Jews and Christians, was fruitful territory for Bernstein, whose concern, that he could only ‘think of these Psalms in the original Hebrew’, was swiftly allayed by Hussey. The orchestration calls for three trumpets, three trombones, two harps, timpani, percussion, and strings. The original conception, for a chorus of men and boys, was given its premiere in Chichester Cathedral in July 1965, while two weeks earlier Bernstein had conducted the world premiere in New York with the New York Philharmonic and the Camerata Singers. The work opens with music Bernstein’s mentor Aaron Copland might have written – open-air, extrovert music, the choir blazing words from Psalm 108: ‘Awake, psaltery and harp!’. This confident opening breaks into an ebullient, jazzy 7/4 setting of Psalm 100, with percussion writing much to the fore in ‘Make a joyful noise’. The second movement begins with a musical image of the psalmist David, the boy treble (or counter-tenor) accompanied by harp, keening the opening lines of Psalm 23. Sopranos and altos take up this melody, but its message of peace is insidiously undermined by the tenors’ and basses’ cabalistic chanting of verses from Psalm 2, ‘Why do the nations rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?’, creating a distinct tension throughout the rest of this movement. The final movement opens with passionate string writing that dissolves all tension by way of a long, generous melody in 10/4 time setting words from Psalm 131. Out of this gorgeous warm sonority, the chorus, now unaccompanied, complete the work with a verse from Psalm 133, ‘How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together’, a vision of peace before the final ‘Amen’. Months after the premiere Bernstein wrote a delightful verse: These Psalms are a simple and modest affair. Tonal and tuneful and somewhat square, Certain to sicken a stout John Cager, With its tonics and triads in B-flat major. Jonathan Grieves-Smith © 2018 The only previous performance of the Chichester Psalms by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra took place on 9-11 November 2000 with conductor Yaron Traub, treble soloist Mark Casey and the Melbourne Chorale Ensemble.
BERNSTEIN CLASSICS TEXTS
GUSTAV MAHLER Rückertlieder (five songs to poems of Friedrich Rückert) Liane Keegan alto 1. Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder
1. Do not look at my songs
Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder! Meine Augen schlag’ ich nieder, Wie ertappt auf böser Tat. Selber darf ich nicht getrauen, Ihrem Wachsen zuzuschauen. Deine Neugier ist Verrat!
Do not look at my songs! My eyes are lowered as if caught in a malicious act. Even I do not dare to watch them as they grow: your inquisitiveness is treason!
Bienen, wenn sie Zellen bauen, Lassen auch nicht zu sich schauen, Schauen selbst auch nicht zu. Wenn die reichen Honigwaben Sie zu Tag gefördert haben, Dann vor allen nasche du!
Bees too, when building their cells let no-one behold them, neither do they perceive themselves. When the rich honeycomb is hauled into the light of day then you shall be the first to taste the sweetness.
2. Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft
2. I breathed a gentle fragrance
Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft. Im Zimmer stand Ein Zweig der Linde, Ein Angebinde Von lieber Hand. Wie lieblich war der Lindenduft!
I breathed a gentle fragrance. In the room stood a branch of a lime tree, a gift from a dear hand. How lovely was the lime fragrance!
Wie lieblich ist der Lindenduft! Das Lindenreis Brachst du gelinde; Ich atme leis Im Duft der Linde Der Liebe linden Duft.
How lovely is the lime fragrance! The sprig from the lime tree you plucked so gently; softly I breathed Love’s delicate fragrance.
3. Um Mitternacht
3. At midnight
Um Mitternacht Hab’ ich gewacht Und aufgeblickt zum Himmel; Kein Stern vom Sterngewimmel Hat mir gelacht Um Mitternacht.
At midnight I awoke and looked up to the Heavens; no star in the busy firmament smiled on me at midnight.
Um Mitternacht Hab’ ich gedacht Hinaus in dunkel Schranken. Es hat kein Lichtgedanken Mir Trost gebracht Um Mitternacht.
At midnight my thoughts stretched out beyond the darkness and no friendly light brought consolation to me at midnight.
Um Mitternacht Nahm ich in acht Die Schläge meines Herzens; Ein einz’ger Puls des Schmerzens War angefacht Um Mitternacht.
At midnight I heeded the beating of my heart; a single pulse of pain was roused at midnight.
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BERNSTEIN CLASSICS TEXTS
Rückertlieder continued
Um Mitternacht Kämpft’ ich die Schlacht, O Menschheit, deiner Leiden; Nicht konnt’ ich sie entscheiden Mit meiner Macht Um Mitternacht.
At midnight I fought the battle, O humanity, of your suffering, but could not resolve it with my strength at midnight.
Um Mitternacht Hab’ ich die Macht In Deiner Hand gegeben Herr über Tod und Leben, Du hältst die Wacht Um Mitternacht!
At midnight I gave up all my strength into your hand; Lord over death and life, You keep watch at midnight!
4. Liebst du um Schönheit
4. If you love for beauty
Liebst du um Schönheit, o nicht mich liebe! Liebe die Sonne, sie trägt ein gold’nes Haar! Liebst du um Jugend, o nicht mich liebe! Liebe den Frühling, der jung ist jedes Jahr! Liebst du um Schätze, o nicht mich liebe! Liebe die Meerfrau, sie hat viel Perlen klar! Liebst du um Liebe, o ja – mich liebe! Liebe mich immer, dich lieb ich immerdar!
If you love for beauty, do not love me! Love the sun, with its golden hair! If you love for youth, do not love me! Love the Spring, which is young every year! If you love for treasure, then do not love me! Love the mermaid, who has many bright pearls! If you love for love, oh yes, then love me! Love me always, as I will always love you!
5. Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
5. I have lost touch with the world
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen Mit der ich sonst viele Zeit verdorben; Sie hat so lange nicht von mir vernommen, Sie mag wohl glauben, ich sei gestorben!
I have lost touch with the world where once too much time I wasted. For so long has nothing been heard of me that those who think of me imagine me dead.
Es ist mir auch gar nichts daran gelegen, Ob sie mich für gestorben hält. Ich kann auch gar nichts sagen dagegen, Denn wirklich bin ich gestorben der Welt.
It is nothing to me that they think me dead. I cannot say that they are wrong, for truly I am dead to the world.
Ich bin gestorben dem Weltgetümmel Und ruh’ in einem stillen Gebiet. Ich leb’ allein in meinem Himmel, In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied.
I am dead to the world’s tumult and rest in calm domains. I live alone in my Heaven in my devotion, in my song.
Translations by David Vivian Russell Symphony Australia © 2000
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LEONARD BERNSTEIN Symphony No.1, Jeremiah III. Lamentation Liane Keegan alto Ēcha
From The Lamentations of Jeremiah
1: 1-3
1: 1-3
Ēcha yashva vadad ha-ir Rabati am Hay’ta k’almana; Rabati vagoyim Sarati bam’dinot Hay’ta lamas.
How doth the city sit solitary, That was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, And princess among the provinces, How is she become tributary!
Bacho tivkeh balaila, V’dim’ata al lecheya; Ēn la m’nachēm Mikol ohaveha; Kol reeha bag’du va; Hayu la l’oy’vim.
She weepeth sore in the night, And her tears are on her cheeks; She hath none to comfort her Among all her lovers; All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They are become her enemies.
Galta Y’huda mēoni, Umērov avoda; Hi yashva vagoyim, Lo matsa mano-ach; Kol rod’feha hisiguha Ben hamitsarim.
Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, And because of great servitude; She dwelleth among the heathen, She findeth no rest. All her persecutors overtook her Between the straits.
1: 8
1: 8
Chēt chata Y’rushalyim… (Ēcha yashva ha-ir …k’almana.)
Jerusalem hath grievously sinned… (How doth the city sit solitary …a widow.)
4: 14-15
4: 14-15
Na-u ivrim bachutsot N’go-alu badam, B’lo yuchlu Yig’u bilvushēhem.
They have wandered as blind men in the streets, They have polluted themselves with blood, So that men could not Touch their garments.
Suru tamē! kar’u lamo, Suru, suru! al tiga-u…
Depart ye, it is unclean! they cried unto them, Depart, depart! touch not…
5: 20-21
5: 20-21
Lama lanetsach tishkachēnu… Lanetsach taazvēnu…
Wherefore dost Thou forget us forever, And forsake us so long time?…
Hashivēnu Adonai ēlecha…
Turn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord…
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BERNSTEIN CLASSICS TEXTS
LEONARD BERNSTEIN Chichester Psalms I. Psalm 108 vs. 2, Psalm 100 II. Psalm 23, Psalm 2 vs. 1-4 III. Psalm 131, Psalm 133 vs. 1 Nicholas Tolputt counter-tenor Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus I Ps. 108, vs. 2:
I Ps. 108, vs. 2:
Urah, hanevel, v’chinor! A-irah shahar! � Ps. 100, entire Hariu l’Adonai kol haarets. Iv’du et Adonai b’simha. � Bo-u l’fanav bir’nanah. D’u ki Adonai Hu Elohim. Hu asanu, v’lo anahnu. � Amo v’tson mar’ito. Bo-u sh’arav b’todah, Hatseirotav bit’hilah, � Hodu lo, bar’chu sh’mo. Ki tov Adonai, l’olam has’do, � V’ad dor vador emunato.
Awake, psaltery and harp: I will rouse the dawn!
II Ps. 23, entire
II Ps. 23, entire
Adonai ro-i, lo ehsar. � Bin’ot deshe yarbitseini, Al mei m’nuhot y’nahaleini � � Naf’shi y’shovev, Yan’heini b’ma’aglei tsedek, � L’ma’an sh’mo. Gam ki eilech B’gei tsalmavet, Lo ira ra, Ki Atah imadi. Shiv’t’cha umishan’techa Hemah y’nahamuni. � Ta’aroch l’fanai shulchan Neged tsor’rai Dishanta vashemen roshi Cosi r’vayah. Ach tov vahesed � Yird’funi kol y’mei hayai, � V’shav’ti b’veit Adonai L’orech yamim.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters, He restoreth my soul, He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness, For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk Through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, For thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff They comfort me.
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Ps. 100, entire Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endureth to all generations.
Thou preparest a table before me In the presence of mine enemies, Thou anointest my head with oil, My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy Shall follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.
Ps. 2, vs. 1-4:
Ps. 2, vs. 1-4:
Lamah rag’shu goyim Ul’umim yeh’gu rik? Yit’yats’vu malchei erets, V’roznim nos’du yahad � Al Adonai v’al m’shiho. � N’natkah et mos’roteimo, V’nashlichah mimenu avoteimo. Yoshev bashamayim Yis’hak, Adonai � Yil’ag lamo!
Why do the nations rage, And the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against His anointed. Saying, let us break their bands asunder, And cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens Shall laugh, and the Lord Shall have them in derision!
III Ps. 131, entire
III Ps. 131, entire
Adonai, Adonai, Lo gavah libi, V’lo ramu einai, V’lo hilachti Big’dolot uv’niflaot Mimeni. Im lo shiviti V’domam’ti, Naf’shi k’gamul alei imo, Kagamul alai naf’shi. Yahel Yis’rael el Adonai � Me’atah v’ad olam.
Lord, Lord, My heart is not haughty, Nor mine eyes lofty, Neither do I exercise myself In great matters or in things Too wonderful for me. Surely I have calmed And quieted myself, As a child that is weaned of his mother, My soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the Lord From henceforth and forever.
Ps. 133, vs. 1:
Ps. 133, vs. 1:
Hineh mah tov, Umah naim, Shevet ahim � Gam yahad. Amen.
Behold how good, And how pleasant it is, For brethren to dwell Together in unity. Amen.
SEPHARDIC HEBREW PRONUNCIATION GUIDE TO THE TRANSLITERATION All vowels and diphthongs as in Italian ch as in the german word ach ē as in weigh g as in go h as in hope h slightly guttural H r� rolled as in Italian s as in son sh as in fish ts as in wits y as in yes z as in zeal
An apostrophe (’) after a consonant (e.g. hay’ta) is a short neutral vowel as in the first syllable of variety or as in the last syllable of the French word table.
Please turn your page quietly 13
BERNSTEIN CLASSICS MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Sir Andrew Davis Chief Conductor
Benjamin Northey
Associate Conductor Anthony Pratt#
Tianyi Lu
Cybec Assistant Conductor
Hiroyuki Iwaki
Conductor Laureate (1974–2006)
FIRST VIOLINS
VIOLAS
FLUTES
TRUMPETS
Christopher Moore Principal
Prudence Davis
Shane Hooton
Di Jameson#
Fiona Sargeant
Associate Principal
Lauren Brigden
Mr Tam Vu and Dr Cherilyn Tillman#
Katharine Brockman Christopher Cartlidge Michael Aquilina
#
Dale Barltrop
Anthony Chataway
Sophie Rowell Concertmaster
Gabrielle Halloran
Concertmaster
Dr Elizabeth E Lewis AM#
The Ullmer Family Foundation#
Kirsty Hilton*†
Guest Associate Concertmaster
Peter Edwards
Assistant Principal John McKay and Lois McKay#
Kirsty Bremner Sarah Curro
Michael Aquilina#
Peter Fellin Deborah Goodall Lorraine Hook Anne-Marie Johnson Kirstin Kenny Ji Won Kim Eleanor Mancini Mark Mogilevski Michelle Ruffolo Kathryn Taylor
Maria Solà#
Robert Macindoe Associate Principal
Monica Curro
Assistant Principal Danny Gorog and Lindy Susskind#
Mary Allison Isin Cakmakcioglu Freya Franzen Cong Gu Andrew Hall Isy Wasserman Philippa West Patrick Wong Roger Young Aaron Barnden* Michael Loftus-Hills*
William Evans Rosie Turner
John and Diana Frew#
PICCOLO
TROMBONES
Andrew Macleod
Brett Kelly
Principal
Principal
OBOES
Tim Dowling*
Jeffrey Crellin
Richard Shirley
Guest Associate Principal
COR ANGLAIS
David J. Saltzman*
David Berlin
Michael Pisani
TIMPANI**
Principal MS Newman Family#
Rachael Tobin
Associate Principal
Thomas Hutchinson Associate Principal
Ann Blackburn
The Rosemary Norman Foundation#
Rachel Curkpatrick*
Principal
CLARINETS David Thomas
Nicholas Bochner
Principal
Miranda Brockman
Associate Principal
Assistant Principal
Geelong Friends of the MSO#
Rohan de Korte Keith Johnson Sarah Morse Angela Sargeant
Principal The Gross Foundation#
Sarah Beggs Lauren Gorman*
Guest Associate Principal
CELLOS
Andrew Dudgeon
Matthew Tomkins
Associate Principal
Tristan Rebien*
Principal
Nicholas Waters* SECOND VIOLINS
Wendy Clarke
Associate Principal
Trevor Jones Cindy Watkin Elizabeth Woolnough Caleb Wright William Clark* Ceridwen Davies*
Michael Aquilina
#
Principal Anonymous#
#
Maria Solà#
Michelle Wood
Andrew and Theresa Dyer#
Mee Na Lojewski* Josephine Vains*
Philip Arkinstall Craig Hill
Tim and Lyn Edward#
Mike Szabo
Principal Bass Trombone
TUBA Timothy Buzbee Principal
Brent Miller* PERCUSSION Robert Clarke Principal
John Arcaro
Tim and Lyn Edward#
Principal
Robert Cossom Timothy Hook* Evan Pritchard* Greg Sully*
BASSOONS
HARP
Jack Schiller
Yinuo Mu
BASS CLARINET Jon Craven
Principal
Elise Millman
Associate Principal
Principal
Melina van Leeuwen*
Natasha Thomas
PIANO/CELESTE
DOUBLE BASSES
CONTRABASSOON
Donald Nicolson*
Steve Reeves
Brock Imison
Principal
Andrew Moon
Principal
Associate Principal
HORNS
Sylvia Hosking
Saul Lewis
Assistant Principal
Damien Eckersley Benjamin Hanlon Suzanne Lee Stephen Newton
Sophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser#
Kylie Davies* Vivian Siyuan Qu* Esther Toh*
Acting Associate Principal
Ian Wildsmith*
Guest Principal Third
Abbey Edlin
Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM#
Trinette McClimont Rebecca Luton* Alexander Morton* # Position supported by * Guest Musician † Courtesy of Sydney Symphony Orchestra ** Timpani Chair position supported by Lady Potter AC CMRI
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BERNSTEIN CLASSICS MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS
Warren Trevelyan-Jones Chorus Master Tom Griffiths Phillipa Safey Repetiteurs SOPRANO Philippa Allen Aviva Barazani Anne-Marie Brownhill Eva Butcher Samantha Davies Laura Fahey Rita Fitzgerald Catherine Folley Susan Fone Camilla Gorman Emma Hamley Penny Huggett Tania Jacobs Gwen Kennelly Anna Kidman Clancye Milne Caitlin Noble Susie Novella Karin Otto Tiffany Pang Natalie Reid Janelle Richardson Mhairi Riddet Jo Robin Elizabeth Rusli Natalia Salazar Jillian Samuels Jemima Sim Shu Xian Freja Soininen Chiara Stebbing Emily Swanson Elizabeth Tindall Fabienne Vandenburie Ivy Weng
ALTO
BASS
Ruth Anderson Catherine Bickell Kate Bramley Jane Brodie Elize Brozgul Alexandra Cameron Serena Carmel Alexandra Chubaty Katharine Daley Nicola Eveleigh Lisa Faulks Jill Giese Ros Harbison Jennifer Henry Kristine Hensel Sara Kogan-Lazarus Joy Lukman Helen MacLean Christina McCowan Rosemary McKelvie Stephanie Mitchell Nicole Paterson Alison Ralph Helen Rommelaar Kerry Roulston Lisa Savige Julienne Seal Libby Timcke Jenny Vallins
Richard Bolitho Roger Dargaville Ted Davies Andrew Ham Andrew Hibbard Joseph Hie Jordan Janssen Evan Lawson Gary Levy Vern O’Hara Alexander Owens Stephen Pyk Liam Straughan Tom Turnbull Foon Wong Simon Wright Maciek Zielinski
TENOR James Allen Alexandra Amerides Tony Barnett Steve Burnett Peter Campbell Geoffrey Collins James Dipnall David Floyd Simon Gaites Wayne Kinrade Michael Mobach Jean-Francois Ravat Nathan Guan Kiat Teo Tim Wright
mso.com.au
(03) 9929 9600 15
BERNSTEIN ON BROADWAY SATURDAY 18 AUGUST 2018
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Bramwell Tovey conductor Sarah Fox soprano Liane Keegan alto Brenton Spiteri tenor Brett Polegato baritone Bernstein On The Town: Lonely Town Bernstein Three Dance Episodes from On The Town: Times Square 1944 Bernstein On The Town: Come Up To My Place Bernstein Ain’t Got No Tears Left Gershwin A Foggy Day Gershwin The Goldwyn Follies: Love is Here To Stay Bernstein Wonderful Town: A Quiet Girl Bernstein Three Dance Episodes from On The Town: Lonely Town pas de deux Bernstein Wonderful Town: A Little Bit In Love Bernstein Wonderful Town: It’s Love INTERVAL Bernstein Candide: Overture Bernstein Peter Pan: Dream With Me Bernstein Candide: I Am Easily Assimilated Bernstein Fancy Free: Danzon Variation Sondheim A Little Night Music: Send In The Clowns Bernstein West Side Story: I Feel Pretty Bernstein West Side Story: Suite No. 1
Pre-concert conversation Join us for a pre-concert conversation with Vincent Plush and Stephen McAllan inside Hamer Hall from 6.15pm. Running time: 2 hours, including a 20-minute interval
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PROGRAM NOTES If memory serves me correctly, Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts used to be shown on Melbourne’s Channel 10, when Channel 10 was Channel 0 broadcasting from new studios in Nunawading. Even then, Leonard Bernstein was known to straddle the worlds of classical and popular music. He wrote symphonies and conducted the New York Philharmonic. He conquered Broadway. Leonard Bernstein, though born in Massachusetts to a beauty products supplier and his wife, became musical New York’s chief representative. This concert celebrates Bernstein’s Broadway, with works premiered or set there. ON THE TOWN On the Town was arguably Bernstein’s first real Broadway success, composed in 1944 not long after he had written his first symphony (Jeremiah), and not very long after he had become a household name when standing in at short notice for Bruno Walter conducting the New York Philharmonic on a national broadcast. It contains typically brash, infectious, tender music of the sort that became a Bernstein signature. The plot concerns three young sailors on shore leave for 24 precious hours prior to embarkation and trying to squeeze in as much fun as their last full day of ‘liberty’ will allow. The plot-line – kind of a chase – allows for rambunctious high spirits but also subtle allusions to sadder moments. It’s not all ‘chasing broads’. Gabey is looking for real love and his number ‘Lonely Town’ injects some real tenderness into the show. One of the most striking features of On the Town is the prevalence of dance numbers (a result of the influence of co-creator, choreographer Jerome Robbins). The concert work Three Dance Episodes capitalises on this choreographic strength. Episode III is based on the Act I finale when all the sailors come to Times Square for some fun. In Bernstein’s brash, shouting orchestration and spiky rhythms we can hear the crowdedness, anxiety and desperate fun of ‘every-moment-matters’ wartime New York. Bernstein always worried whether his music was deep, but in the context of the show, this is poignant. Will these fun-loving boys return? In the meantime, some ‘broads’ chase the boys. Female cab driver Hildy wants Chip to ‘come up to my place’, getting increasingly frustrated with his wish to see the sights. On the Town was written at frenetic pace. At one stage Bernstein and his lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green worked in hospital while Bernstein and Green were recovering from minor operations. But On the Town was subject to the cuts, rewrites and amplifications that are customary in a Broadway musical composed at high speed, especially after director George Abbott was brought in. ‘Ain’t Got No Tears Left’ is one such cut. Kind of a nightclub number, it proves that Bernstein, who conducted Schumann, Strauss, Rózsa and Wagner on that careerlaunching Saturday afternoon broadcast, could make a creditable contribution to the Great American Songbook.
BERNSTEIN ON BROADWAY PROGRAM NOTES
FOGGY DAY IN LONDON TOWN / LOVE IS HERE TO STAY Prior to Bernstein there was another New York composer who aimed to straddle what was then the classical/popular music divide, and that was George Gershwin. Bernstein’s senior thesis at Boston’s Harvard University explored how two of his favourite American composers, Gershwin and Copland (both born in Brooklyn), ‘had responded creatively to jazz and Latin-American influences to create a national musical style’ (to quote Humphrey Burton’s Bernstein biography). Gershwin first came to fame with a number he wrote as a ‘song plugger’ on Tin Pan Alley – Swanee, recorded in 1920 by Al Jolson. But Gershwin always aspired to write music for the concert hall and his biggest orchestral hit – Rhapsody in Blue – predates some of his best-known shows. Gershwin moved to Hollywood after the apparent failure of Porgy and Bess (West Side Story’s only competitor for the title of Great American Opera?) and composed music for films. ‘A Foggy Day in London Town’ was introduced by Fred Astaire in A Damsel in Distress. ‘Love is Here to Stay’ was written for The Goldwyn Follies. It was George’s last composition before his death, on 11 July 1937. WONDERFUL TOWN Though not as popular as On the Town, Wonderful Town (1953) is another of Bernstein’s works set in New York, this time the East Village, an exciting, intimidating beacon to two young Midwestern girls, an aspiring writer and aspiring actress. The lyricist duo of Comden and Green again wrote the words, as they had for On the Town, and although Wonderful Town never quite achieved On the Town’s acclaim and lacks the wartime background that gives On the Town that extra bit of poignancy, it contains some great numbers. ‘A Quiet Girl’ is sung after editor Bob Baker has hurt aspiring writer Ruth Sherwood’s feelings by telling her she should write what she knows, not indulge in flights of fancy. ‘A Little Bit in Love’ is sung when Eileen finds herself infatuated with Frank Lippencott, a Walgreens supermarket manager. When Bob quits his job in defence of one of Ruth’s stories, Eileen is chuffed by Bob’s defence of her sister and assures him that ‘It’s Love’ that he feels for Ruth. CANDIDE Wonderful Town was really, in Burton’s words, a ‘sparkling entertainment’. Candide was a more serious proposition. Candide premiered on Broadway (in 1956), but in a sense dramatised Bernstein’s constant vacillation between Broadway and the so-called ‘serious’ stage. Candide was based on Voltaire’s 1759 satirical novel of Enlightenment optimism about a young man who attempts to hold to his mentor’s philosophy that ‘all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds’ even after all sorts of setbacks, including earthquake, Spanish Inquisition, losing (temporarily) his beloved who is prostituted and raped… Lillian Hellman, who wrote the script, intended the musical as a critique of Eisenhower’s America and McCarthyism (hence the
Inquisition), but her earnest approach sat oddly with music that poured out of Bernstein faster almost than a storyline could frame it. In Broadway terms Candide was at first a flop even though its Original Cast Album became popular. It took six lyricists and three or so new scripts before the work achieved a final version, much closer to opera. Its overture, however, was always the ‘best overture for a Broadway show ever’ (in critic Mark Swed’s recent words). PETER PAN Of all the music in Bernstein’s output, incidental music for plays is possibly the least appreciated. He wrote music for Aristophanes’ The Birds and for Jean Anouilh’s play about Joan of Arc, The Lark (in a translation by Hellman). He also wrote a film score (On the Waterfront), but the music for Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie’s 1904 play about the boy who never grows up, is some of Bernstein’s simplest and most accessible music. Bernstein wrote the music for a 1950 Broadway production starring Boris Karloff and Jean Arthur. He was only meant to write a few dances and incidental cues, but found himself ‘losing his head’ composing much more than that. Biographer Humphrey Burton says that Bernstein’s ‘songs display the innocent directness of the child’s mind and because of the limited singing skills of the Peter Pan case they are simpler and more diatonic than anything in [Bernstein’s recent] I Hate Music cycle…’ Bernstein sailed for Europe before the show opened, leaving composer friend Marc Blitzstein in charge, a responsibility Blitzstein later regretted. Among the casualties of the Broadway process: the best song, ‘Dream With Me’, was cut. Bernstein considered that he was taking time off to compose this show so what was he ‘taking time off’ from? He had conducted the world premiere of Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla-symphonie at Tanglewood the previous December. Then, a week later, taken part in the Boston Symphony’s first telecast. Overseas, while Peter Pan was playing on Broadway, he conducted numerous performances of his next symphony – No.2, The Age of Anxiety. BERNSTEIN’S LATIN DANCE STYLE It would be fair to say that Leonard Bernstein was almost volcanically creative – composer, conductor, TV presenter; symphonist, soloist, song-writer. Not only did he write the music for Candide but he was also one of the lyricists. ‘I am Easily Assimilated’ occurs after Candide has found his true-love Cunegonde alive (after all) and fled with her and the Old Lady to Buenos Aires, where the Old Lady persuades Cunegonde to live in the palace with the governor, remarking that she is easily assimilated. It is a brilliantly funny song – with a touch of autobiography about it. Rovny-Gubernya, supposed birthplace of the Old Lady, is the hometown of Bernstein’s Polish forebears.
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BERNSTEIN ON BROADWAY PROGRAM NOTES
‘I Am Easily Assimilated’ is a prime example of Bernstein’s ability to compose in a Latin dance style as is his Danzón from Fancy Free, based on a Cuban style. Fancy Free, a ballet, was the precursor of On the Town. The storyline was similar if slimmer – the adventures of three sailors on leave. But it had enough potential for George Abbott to propose a full-blown musical from it. Actually, the work is a reminder that the energy of Bernstein’s music makes it ripe for dance. COLLABORATION WITH SONDHEIM Bernstein was fortunate in his collaborators. Robbins is cited above, as are Lillian Hellman, and Comden and Green. Aaron Copland and Laurence Olivier took part in the Boston Symphony telecast, already mentioned. It’s as if you can pair Bernstein’s name with any other great
performing artist of the 20th century. The lyricist for West Side Story, perhaps Bernstein’s greatest show, was Stephen Sondheim, who would go on to write the lyrics for Gypsy (promoted for the job by West Side Story collaborators Jerome Robbins and Arthur Laurents) and then become his own composer/lyricist starting with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Although Sondheim was a protégé of Oscar Hammerstein II (of Rodgers and Hammerstein fame), Sondheim’s later shows took a more quizzical, less optimistic view of human relations. A Little Night Music (1973) is based on an Ingmar Bergman film, Smiles of a Summer Night, concerning the relations between five couples. ‘Send in the Clowns’ was a late inclusion, added when Sondheim realised the character Desiree needed a second-act song. It’s a song for someone who has seen it all before – as critic Max Cryer describes it: ‘an anthem to regret for unwise decisions in the past’. Sondheim got to write the lyrics for West Side Story when he ran into Arthur Laurents at a party. Laurents knew that Bernstein’s regular lyricists Comden and Green were tied up in Hollywood. He liked what he had seen of Sondheim’s lyrics in a show called Saturday Night and he suggested that Sondheim audition for Bernstein. Sondheim later admitted that he thought he could have written lyrics that were less self-conscious. Maria is a 17-year-old street girl, yet she opines, ‘It’s alarming how charming I feel’. But second thoughts don’t alter the song’s classic status. WEST SIDE STORY Having worked with Jerome Robbins on Fancy Free and On the Town, Bernstein was no doubt receptive when Robbins approached him and playwright Arthur Laurents in 1947 with the idea for a modern-day Romeo and Juliet, set on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. By the time the collaborators could find time in their diaries to begin work on the show, though, the location had shifted to Manhattan’s west side and the original conflict become one between white kids and Puerto Ricans. Robbins’ conception called for much of the work to be told through dance and this is why Bernstein’s own symphonic suite revolves around the Mambo and so on. This concert suite, however, concentrates on the music of Maria and Tony, the ill-fated lovers, including Tony’s meditation on the name ‘Maria’, their realisation that despite ethnic differences they have ‘One Hand, One Heart’ and perhaps ‘Somewhere’ a ‘place for us’. West Side Story was Bernstein’s fourth show after On The Town, Wonderful Town, and Candide. It opened its New York run in September 1957 and the 1961 film version garnered ten Academy Awards. What productive decades Bernstein had in the 1940s and 50s, and what a mark he left on Broadway in that period – soon he would be seen on television screens in Australia on Sunday afternoons. Gordon Kalton Williams © 2018
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BERNSTEIN ON BROADWAY MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Sir Andrew Davis Chief Conductor
Benjamin Northey
Associate Conductor Anthony Pratt#
Tianyi Lu
Cybec Assistant Conductor
Hiroyuki Iwaki
Conductor Laureate (1974–2006)
FIRST VIOLINS
VIOLAS
FLUTES
TRUMPETS
Christopher Moore Principal
Prudence Davis
Shane Hooton
Di Jameson#
Fiona Sargeant
Associate Principal
Lauren Brigden
Mr Tam Vu and Dr Cherilyn Tillman#
Katharine Brockman Christopher Cartlidge Michael Aquilina
#
Dale Barltrop
Anthony Chataway
Sophie Rowell Concertmaster
Gabrielle Halloran
Concertmaster
Dr Elizabeth E Lewis AM#
The Ullmer Family Foundation#
Peter Edwards
Assistant Principal John McKay and Lois McKay#
Kirsty Bremner Sarah Curro
Michael Aquilina#
Peter Fellin Deborah Goodall Lorraine Hook Anne-Marie Johnson Kirstin Kenny Ji Won Kim Eleanor Mancini Mark Mogilevski Michelle Ruffolo Kathryn Taylor
Maria Solà#
Associate Principal
Robert Macindoe Associate Principal
Monica Curro
Assistant Principal Danny Gorog and Lindy Susskind#
Mary Allison Isin Cakmakcioglu Freya Franzen Cong Gu Andrew Hall Isy Wasserman Philippa West Patrick Wong Roger Young Michael Loftus-Hills*
Jeffrey Crellin
Mike Szabo
Thomas Hutchinson
Maria Solà
Michelle Wood
Andrew and Theresa Dyer#
Anna Pokorny*
Tim and Lyn Edward Principal Bass Trombone
Associate Principal
TUBA
Ann Blackburn
Timothy Buzbee
The Rosemary Norman Foundation#
Rachel Curkpatrick*
Principal
David J. Saltzman* TIMPANI** Brent Miller*
Principal
PERCUSSION
CLARINETS
Robert Clarke
David Thomas
Associate Principal
#
Principal
Richard Shirley
Miranda Brockman
Keith Johnson Sarah Morse Angela Sargeant
John and Diana Frew#
OBOES
Principal
Andrew Dudgeon#
William Evans Rosie Turner
Brett Kelly
Principal
Nicholas Bochner Assistant Principal
Guest Associate Principal
Andrew Macleod
Michael Pisani
Rachael Tobin
Tristan Rebien*
TROMBONES
David Berlin
Principal MS Newman Family#
Associate Principal
PICCOLO
COR ANGLAIS
Rohan de Korte
Principal The Gross Foundation#
Sarah Beggs Lauren Gorman*
CELLOS
Tiffany Cheng* Nicholas Waters*
Matthew Tomkins
Associate Principal
Principal
Michael Aquilina
SECOND VIOLINS
Wendy Clarke
Trevor Jones Cindy Watkin Elizabeth Woolnough Caleb Wright William Clark* Ceridwen Davies*
Geelong Friends of the MSO#
#
Principal Anonymous#
Philip Arkinstall Craig Hill
Principal
John Arcaro
Tim and Lyn Edward#
Robert Cossom Evan Pritchard*
BASS CLARINET
HARP
Jon Craven
Yinuo Mu
BASSOONS
PIANO/CELESTE
Jack Schiller
Donald Nicolson*
Principal
Principal
Elise Millman
Associate Principal
Principal
SAXOPHONE Tim Wilson*
DOUBLE BASSES
Natasha Thomas
GUITAR
Steve Reeves
CONTRABASSOON
Doug de Vries*
Principal
Andrew Moon
Associate Principal
Sylvia Hosking
Assistant Principal
Damien Eckersley Benjamin Hanlon Suzanne Lee Stephen Newton
Sophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser#
Vivian Siyuan Qu* Esther Toh*
Brock Imison Principal
HORNS Saul Lewis
Acting Associate Principal
Ian Wildsmith*
Guest Principal Third
Abbey Edlin
Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM#
Trinette McClimont Alexander Morton*
# Position supported by * Guest Musician ** Timpani Chair position supported by Lady Potter AC CMRI 19
SUPPORTERS MSO PATRON The Honourable Linda Dessau AC, Governor of Victoria
Sidney Myer Free Concerts Supported by the Myer Foundation and the University of Melbourne
CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO Gandel Philanthropy The Gross Foundation Harold Mitchell Foundation David and Angela Li Harold Mitchell AC MS Newman Family Foundation Lady Potter AC CMRI Joy Selby Smith The Cybec Foundation The Pratt Foundation The Ullmer Family Foundation Anonymous (1) ARTIST CHAIR BENEFACTORS Associate Conductor Chair Benjamin Northey Anthony Pratt Orchestral Leadership Joy Selby Smith Cybec Assistant Conductor Chair Tianyi Lu The Cybec Foundation Associate Concertmaster Chair Sophie Rowell The Ullmer Family Foundation 2018 Soloist in Residence Chair Anne-Sophie Mutter Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO Young Composer in Residence Ade Vincent The Cybec Foundation PROGRAM BENEFACTORS Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program The Cybec Foundation East Meets West Supported by the Li Family Trust Meet The Orchestra Made possible by The Ullmer Family Foundation MSO Audience Access Crown Resorts Foundation, Packer Family Foundation MSO Building Capacity Gandel Philanthropy (Director of Philanthropy) MSO Education Supported by Mrs Margaret Ross AM and Dr Ian Ross MSO International Touring Supported by Harold Mitchell AC MSO Regional Touring Creative Victoria, Freemasons Foundation Victoria, The Robert Salzer Foundation, Anonymous The Pizzicato Effect (Anonymous), Collier Charitable Fund, The Marian and E.H. Flack Trust, Scobie and Claire Mackinnon Trust, Supported by the Hume City Council’s Community Grants Program
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PLATINUM PATRONS $100,000+ Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO John Gandel AC and Pauline Gandel The Gross Foundation David and Angela Li MS Newman Family Foundation Anthony Pratt The Pratt Foundation Lady Potter AC CMRI Joy Selby Smith Ullmer Family Foundation Anonymous (1) VIRTUOSO PATRONS $50,000+ Di Jameson David Krasnostein and Pat Stragalinos Harold Mitchell AC Kim Williams AM IMPRESARIO PATRONS $20,000+ Michael Aquilina The John and Jennifer Brukner Foundation Mary and Frederick Davidson AM Margaret Jackson AC Andrew Johnston Mimie MacLaren John and Lois McKay Maria Solà MAESTRO PATRONS $10,000+ Kaye and David Birks Mitchell Chipman Tim and Lyn Edward Danny Gorog and Lindy Susskind Robert & Jan Green Hilary Hall, in memory of Wilma Collie The Hogan Family Foundation International Music and Arts Foundation Suzanne Kirkham The Cuming Bequest Gordan Moffat AM Ian and Jeannie Paterson Elizabeth Proust AO Xijian Ren and Qian Li Glenn Sedgwick Helen Silver AO and Harrison Young Gai and David Taylor Juliet Tootell Alice Vaughan Harry and Michelle Wong Jason Yeap OAM – Mering Management Corporation
PRINCIPAL PATRONS $5,000+ Christine and Mark Armour John and Mary Barlow Barbara Bell, in memory of Elsa Bell Stephen and Caroline Brain Prof Ian Brighthope David Capponi and Fiona McNeil May and James Chen Wendy Dimmick Andrew Dudgeon AM Andrew and Theresa Dyer Mr Bill Fleming John and Diana Frew Susan Fry and Don Fry AO Sophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser Geelong Friends of the MSO R Goldberg and Family Leon Goldman Jennifer Gorog HMA Foundation Louis Hamon OAM Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM Hans and Petra Henkell Hartmut and Ruth Hofmann Doug Hooley Jenny and Peter Hordern Dr Alastair Jackson AM Rosemary and James Jacoby Dr Elizabeth A Lewis AM Norman Lewis, in memory of Dr Phyllis Lewis Peter Lovell Lesley McMullin Foundation Mr Douglas and Mrs Rosemary Meagher Marie Morton FRSA Dr Paul Nisselle AM The Rosemary Norman Foundation Ken Ong, in memory of Lin Ong Bruce Parncutt AO Jim and Fran Pfeiffer Pzena Investment Charitable Fund Rae Rothfield Max and Jill Schultz Jeffrey Sher QC and Diana Sher OAM Profs. G & G Stephenson, in honour of the great Romanian musicians George Enescu and Dinu Lipatti Tasco Petroleum Mr Tam Vu and Dr Cherilyn Tillman The Hon. Michael Watt QC and Cecilie Hall Lyn Williams AM Anonymous (2) ASSOCIATE PATRONS $2,500+ Dandolo Partners Will and Dorothy Bailey Bequest David Blackwell OAM
Anne Bowden Julia and Jim Breen Lynne Burgess Oliver Carton John and Lyn Coppock Ann Darby, in memory of Leslie J. Darby Natasha Davies, for the Trikojus Education Fund Merrowyn Deacon Sandra Dent Peter and Leila Doyle Duxton Vineyards Lisa Dwyer and Dr Ian Dickson Jaan Enden Dr Helen M Ferguson Mr Peter Gallagher and Dr Karen Morley Dina and Ron Goldschlager Leon Goldman Colin Golvan AM QC and Dr Deborah Golvan Louise Gourlay OAM Susan and Gary Hearst Colin Heggen, in memory of Marjorie Drysdale Heggen Jenkins Family Foundation John Jones George and Grace Kass Irene Kearsey and M J Ridley The Ilma Kelson Music Foundation Bryan Lawrence John and Margaret Mason H E McKenzie Allan and Evelyn McLaren Alan and Dorothy Pattison Sue and Barry Peake Mrs W Peart Graham and Christine Peirson Julie and Ian Reid Ralph and Ruth Renard Peter and Carolyn Rendit S M Richards AM and M R Richards Tom and Elizabeth Romanowski Diana and Brian Snape AM Peter J Stirling Jenny Tatchell Frank Tisher OAM and Dr Miriam Tisher Anonymous (8) PLAYER PATRONS $1,000+ David and Cindy Abbey Christa Abdallah Dr Sally Adams Mary Armour Dr Rosemary Ayton and Dr Sam Ricketson Marlyn and Peter Bancroft OAM Adrienne Basser Janice Bate and the Late Prof Weston Bate Janet H Bell John and Sally Bourne Michael F Boyt Patricia Brockman Dr John Brookes
SUPPORTERS Stuart Brown Suzie Brown OAM and Harvey Brown Roger and Col Buckle Jill and Christopher Buckley Shane Buggle John Carroll Andrew Crockett AM and Pamela Crockett Panch Das and Laurel Young-Das Beryl Dean Rick and Sue Deering Dominic and Natalie Dirupo John and Anne Duncan Jane Edmanson OAM Valerie Falconer and the Rayner Family in memory of Keith Falconer Grant Fisher and Helen Bird Elizabeth Foster Barry Fradkin OAM and Dr Pam Fradkin Applebay Pty Ltd David Frenkiel and Esther Frenkiel OAM David Gibbs and Susie O’Neill Merwyn and Greta Goldblatt George Golvan QC and Naomi Golvan Dr Marged Goode Prof Denise Grocke AO Max Gulbin Dr Sandra Hacker AO and Mr Ian Kennedy AM Jean Hadges Michael and Susie Hamson Paula Hansky OAM Merv Keehn & Sue Harlow Tilda and Brian Haughney Anna and John Holdsworth Penelope Hughes Basil and Rita Jenkins Dorothy Karpin Brett Kelly and Cindy Watkin Dr Anne Kennedy Julie and Simon Kessel Kerry Landman Diedrie Lazarus William and Magdalena Leadston Dr Anne Lierse Gaelle Lindrea Dr Susan Linton Andrew Lockwood Elizabeth H Loftus Chris and Anna Long The Hon Ian Macphee AO and Mrs Julie Macphee Eleanor & Phillip Mancini In memory of Leigh Masel Ruth Maxwell Don and Anne Meadows Ian Morrey and Geoffrey Minter new U Mildura Wayne and Penny Morgan Patricia Nilsson Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James
Kerryn Pratchett Peter Priest Treena Quarin Eli Raskin Raspin Family Trust Joan P Robinson Cathy and Peter Rogers Andrew and Judy Rogers Peter Rose and Christopher Menz Martin and Susan Shirley Penny Shore Dr Sam Smorgon AO and Mrs Minnie Smorgon Dr Norman and Dr Sue Sonenberg Dr Michael Soon Lady Southey AC Geoff and Judy Steinicke Jennifer Steinicke Dr Peter Strickland Pamela Swansson Ann and Larry Turner David Valentine Mary Valentine AO The Hon. Rosemary Varty Leon and Sandra Velik David and Yazni Venner Sue Walker AM Elaine Walters OAM and Gregory Walters Edward and Paddy White Nic and Ann Willcock Marian and Terry Wills Cooke Lorraine Woolley Richard Ye Anonymous (21) THE MAHLER SYNDICATE David and Kaye Birks Mary and Frederick Davidson AM Tim and Lyn Edward John and Diana Frew Francis and Robyn Hofmann The Hon Dr Barry Jones AC Dr Paul Nisselle AM Maria Solà The Hon Michael Watt QC and Cecilie Hall TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS Collier Charitable Fund Crown Resorts Foundation and the Packer Family Foundation The Cybec Foundation The Marian and E.H. Flack Trust Freemasons Foundation Victoria Gandel Philanthropy The International Music and Arts Foundation The Scobie and Claire Mackinnon Trust The Harold Mitchell Foundation The Sidney Myer MSO Trust Fund The Pratt Foundation The Robert Salzer Foundation Telematics Trust Anonymous
CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE Current Conductor’s Circle Members Jenny Anderson David Angelovich G C Bawden and L de Kievit Lesley Bawden Joyce Bown Mrs Jenny Brukner and the late Mr John Brukner Ken Bullen Peter A Caldwell Luci and Ron Chambers Beryl Dean Sandra Dent Lyn Edward Alan Egan JP Gunta Eglite Mr Derek Grantham Marguerite Garnon-Williams Drs Clem Gruen and Rhyl Wade Louis Hamon OAM Carol Hay Tony Howe Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James Audrey M Jenkins John Jones George and Grace Kass Mrs Sylvia Lavelle Pauline and David Lawton Cameron Mowat David Orr Rosia Pasteur Elizabeth Proust AO Penny Rawlins Joan P Robinson Neil Roussac Anne Roussac-Hoyne Suzette Sherazee Michael Ryan and Wendy Mead Anne Kieni-Serpell and Andrew Serpell Jennifer Shepherd Profs. Gabriela and George Stephenson Pamela Swansson Lillian Tarry Dr Cherilyn Tillman Mr and Mrs R P Trebilcock Michael Ullmer Ila Vanrenen The Hon. Rosemary Varty Mr Tam Vu Marian and Terry Wills Cooke Mark Young Anonymous (26) The MSO gratefully acknowledges the support of the following Estates: Angela Beagley Neilma Gantner The Hon Dr Alan Goldberg AO QC Gwen Hunt Audrey Jenkins Joan Jones Pauline Marie Johnston
Joan Jones C P Kemp Peter Forbes MacLaren Joan Winsome Maslen Lorraine Maxine Meldrum Prof Andrew McCredie Miss Sheila Scotter AM MBE Marion A I H M Spence Molly Stephens Jennifer May Teague Jean Tweedie Herta and Fred B Vogel Dorothy Wood HONORARY APPOINTMENTS Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO Life Members Sir Elton John CBE Life Member Lady Potter AC CMRI Life Member Mrs Jeanne Pratt AC Life Member Geoffrey Rush AC Ambassador The MSO honours the memory of John Brockman OAM Life Member The Honourable Alan Goldberg AO QC Life Member Ila Vanrenen Life Member
The MSO relies on your ongoing philanthropic support to sustain our artists, and support access, education, community engagement and more. We invite our suporters to get close to the MSO through a range of special events. The MSO welcomes your support at any level. Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible, and supporters are recognised as follows: $1,000+ (Player) $2,500+ (Associate) $5,000+ (Principal) $10,000+ (Maestro) $20,000+ (Impresario) $50,000+ (Virtuoso) $100,000+ (Platinum) The MSO Conductor’s Circle is our bequest program for members who have notified of a planned gift in their Will. Enquiries: P (03) 8646 1551 E philanthropy@mso.com.au
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Honouring John Gandel AC and Pauline Gandel Tonight, as we pay tribute to the legendary Leonard Bernstein, we also celebrate two outstanding patrons – John Gandel AC and Pauline Gandel. We are delighted to welcome John and Pauline as MSO Honorary Life Members. In doing so, we are acknowledging their extraordinary commitment to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra over many years. In 1978, John and Pauline established the Gandel Charitable Trust. Now known as Gandel Philanthropy, today it is one of the largest philanthropic family funds in Australia, giving to a variety of causes including Judaism, education, medical causes and the arts. The strength of the Gandels’ commitment to MSO is reflected in the variety of projects they give to – both on and off the stage. From helping MSO purchase a new grand piano, to supporting our education and community activities, John and Pauline Gandel’s generosity has enabled us to continue our mission to touch the lives of as many people as possible through high-quality music-making experiences. A generous grant from Gandel Philanthropy enabled MSO to tour to Europe and the UK in 2014. More recently, in 2017 Gandel Philanthropy awarded MSO a three-year capacity-building grant to co-fund the position of Director of Philanthropy – a role which is integral to ensuring a bright and prosperous future for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. From all of us at MSO, thank you John and Pauline for your outstanding generosity and belief in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BOARD MSO BOARD Chairman Michael Ullmer Managing Director Sophie Galaise Board Members Andrew Dyer Danny Gorog Margaret Jackson AC David Krasnostein David Li Hyon-Ju Newman Helen Silver AO Company Secretary Oliver Carton
‘ We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.' – Arthur O’Shaughnessy
Come dream with us by adopting your own MSO musician! Support the music and the orchestra you love while getting to know your favourite player. Honour their talent, artistry and life-long commitment to music, and become part of the MSO family. Adopt Principal Harp, Yinuo Mu, or any of our wonderful musicians today.
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Principal Partner
Government Partners
Premier Partners
Venue Partner
Major Partners
Education Partners
Supporting Partners
Quest Southbank
The CEO Institute
Ernst & Young
Bows for Strings
The Observership Program
Trusts And Foundations
Sidney Myer MSO Trust Fund, The Gross Foundation, MS Newman Family Foundation, The Ullmer Family Foundation, Erica Foundation Pty Ltd
Media And Broadcast Partners
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