FRENCH CLASSICS 23–26 NOVEMBER 2018 Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall
CONCERT PROGRAM
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Fabien Gabel conductor Beatrice Rana piano Fiona Campbell mezzo-soprano Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus Warren Trevelyan-Jones chorus master Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.3 INTERVAL
Debussy/Dean Ariettes Oubliées Ravel Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No.2
Pre-concert talk (Friday & Saturday) Join Megan Stellar, founder and editor of Rehearsal Magazine, for a pre-concert conversation on-stage at Hamer Hall from 6.15pm. Post-concert conversation (Monday) Join composer and ABC Classic FM producer, Andrew Aronowicz, for a post-concert conversation inside the Stalls Foyer of Hamer Hall from 8.30pm. Running time: One hour and 45 minutes, including a 20-minute interval 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. 2
mso.com.au
(03) 9929 9600
MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
FABIEN GABEL CONDUCTOR
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.
Fabien Gabel is music director of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, and was appointed music director of the French Youth Orchestra in 2017.
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.
His 2017–18 schedule saw guest appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra at their Blossom Festival, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Hessian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Weimar, Houston Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington DC), Helsinki Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, and Orchestre de Paris. Fabien Gabel has worked with soloists such as Emmanuel Ax and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and singers such as Natalie Dessay. Recordings include Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 5 with Louis Schwizgebel and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Fabien Gabel made his professional conducting debut in 2003 with the Orchestre National de France.
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BEATRICE RANA PIANO
FIONA CAMPBELL MEZZO-SOPRANO
Beatrice Rana came to public attention in 2011 after winning First Prize and all special jury prizes at the Montreal International Competition. In 2013 she won the Silver Medal and Audience Award at the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
Proclaimed “outstanding” and “best mezzo-soprano in Australia” by The Australian, multi award-winning performer Fiona Campbell is one of Australia’s most versatile and beloved singers. A mother, producer and ABC presenter, accomplished international performer, recitalist and recording artist, Fiona has consistently entranced audiences and received wide critical acclaim for her powerful performances and exquisite musicianship.
Beatrice Rana has performed at the world’s most prestigious venues and with conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Yuri Temirkanov and Zubin Mehta. Among orchestras she has appeared with the London Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, NHK Symphony, and Orchestre National de France. Recent appearances have included concerts with the Tonkünstler Orchestra at the Vienna Musikverein and Chopin with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Recent recordings include Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety with Antonio Pappano and the Academy of Saint Cecilia and Bach’s Goldberg Variations.
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Much in demand as a principal artist with all the finest orchestras and ensembles in Australia, Fiona is a fierce advocate for the arts and gaining national prominence through her involvement in music education, artistic direction and her media presence.
MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS
WARREN TREVELYAN-JONES MSO 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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PROGRAM NOTES CLAUDE DEBUSSY
(1862–1918)
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) Published in 1876, Stéphane Mallarmé’s eclogue l’après-midi d’un faune is a monument of symbolist poetry, reflecting in its sumptuous but fragmentary language the erotic fantasies of a drowsy faun – a mythical half-man, half-goat – on a hot, languid Sicilian afternoon. Running like a thread through the imagery of fruit and flowers and naked nymphs are references to music, specifically to the syrinx. This instrument, the ‘pan-pipes’, was fashioned by the god Pan from reeds into which a young nymph, desperate to escape his amorous attentions, had been transformed. One such reference, to the syrinx’s ‘sonorous, airy, monotonous line’, would become the kernel of Debussy’s musical rendering of the poem. (Debussy hated hearing his music described as ‘what imbeciles call impressionism’ and preferred his work to be compared to Symbolist poetry.) Inviting Mallarmé to hear the work in 1894, he described ‘the arabesque which…I believe to have been dictated by the flute of your faun’. In fact the work’s genesis was in a proposal by Mallarmé to present a staged version of his poem at an avant-garde theatre in 1891. By now he knew and admired some of Debussy’s vocal music, and went so far as to announce in the newspaper that the staged version would include music by the young composer ‘M de Bussy’. 6
The project fell through, but Debussy’s imagination had been whetted. The orchestral piece that finally appeared made an immediate and positive impact with the audience, if not the critics, and may be said to be Debussy’s breakthrough work. In 1912 it was choreographed and danced by Nijinsky, whose erotic performance caused one of those typically Parisian fracas. The first phrase of the solo flute arabesque with which the piece begins has rightly been described as a founding moment in modern music. Its chromatic, rhythmically ambiguous line traces and retraces the equally ambiguous interval of the tritone: like the material elsewhere in the work that is derived from the whole-tone scale, it is in no clearly discernible key, as is shown by the varied ways in which it is harmonised on its subsequent reappearances. The second half of the melody provides more ‘conventional’ motifs that are taken up from time to time by the rest of the orchestra. Mallarmé’s poem rhymes, but otherwise avoids traditional forms or a narrative line; similarly, Debussy’s piece avoids the goal-directed development and tonal architecture that informs 19th-century symphonism. As Pierre Boulez puts it, ‘What was overthrown was not so much the art of development as the very concept of form itself.’ Musical events, like the vivid splashes of colour that first answer the flute, are there for the immediate pleasure they give; climaxes are approached by simple repetition of motifs; the most extended melody is a richly scored, Massenet-like tune at the work’s midpoint, accompanied by layered, rocking ostinatos.
The faun’s dream is overcome by sleep and the ‘proud silence of noon’, and the piece ends with flutes, muted horns and the glitter of harp and antique cymbals, fading to nothingness. © Gordon Kerry 2017 The Melbourne Symphony first performed this work on 12 September 1940 under conductor Sir Bernard Heinze, and most recently in October 2014 with Benjamin Northey.
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
(1891–1953)
Piano Concerto No.3 Andante – Allegro Andantino (with variations) Allegro non troppo Prokofiev was a virtuoso pianist, who made an authoritative recording of his own Third Concerto. One of his most successful and popular concert works, the concerto shows the most typical aspects of his mature musical style in ideal balance: a mixture of rather Romantic passages with incisive, humorous, sometimes even grotesque episodes. This is obvious right at the start: the opening Andante melody for clarinet is lyrical, almost wistful, and Russian-sounding. But immediately the piano comes in, the music becomes very busy, incisive, almost icy. The lyricism of the opening will return in place of a ‘development’ section in the middle of the first movement. Prokofiev conceived musical materials for his first three concertos in the years before he left Russia at the time of the 1917 Revolution. The first two concertos, in their driving rhythms and crunching discords, illustrate Prokofiev’s not altogether
unwelcome casting as the ‘enfant terrible’ of Russian music, and evoked a corresponding critical reaction (‘cats on a roof make better music,’ wrote one Russian critic of Concerto No.2). No.3, on the other hand, shows much more of the tunefulness and accessibility which it is wrong to regard as having entered Prokofiev’s music only after he returned to Russia in the early 1930s. The lyrical opening of this piano concerto, completed in 1921, recalls that of the First Violin Concerto of 1916–17. Even earlier, the great Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev had perceived Prokofiev’s true musical nature: ‘Few composers today have Prokofiev’s gift of inventing personal melodies, and even fewer have a genuine flair for a fresh use of simple tonal harmonies… he doesn’t need to hide behind inane theories and absurd noises.’ The Third Piano Concerto reflects Prokofiev’s world-travelling existence around the time of its creation. He had been collecting its themes for over ten years by the time he put them together in 1921. Prokofiev rarely threw away anything that might come in handy later on. He began the concerto in Russia in 1917, completed it in France in 1921, and gave the premiere later that year in Chicago, where his opera The Love for Three Oranges was premiered. An American critic wrote of the concerto, ‘It is greatly a matter of slewed harmony, neither adventurous enough to win the affection nor modernist enough to be annoying.’ You can’t win! A New York critic was wrong, but more perceptive, when he wrote, ‘It is hard to imagine any other pianist than Mr Prokofiev playing it.’ Prokofiev’s own playing pioneered a new kind of piano 7
virtuosity. A rewarding piece for any virtuoso, this concerto is formally clear and satisfying, full of memorable tunes harmonised and orchestrated with a peculiarly personal piquancy, and sufficiently of our time to be bracing and refreshing. The second movement is a set of five variations on a theme Prokofiev had composed in 1913, intending it even then for variation treatment. This theme has an old-world, rather gavotte-like character, which in the first variation is treated solo by the piano in what Prokofiev describes as ‘quasisentimental fashion’. Then the tempo changes to a furious allegro, one of the abrupt contrasts in which the concerto abounds. After a quiet, meditative fourth variation, and an energetic fifth one, the theme returns on flutes and clarinets in its original form and at its old speed, while the piano continues at top speed but more quietly. This has been compared to a sprinter viewed from the window of a train. Prokofiev’s own program note describes the finale as beginning with a staccato theme for bassoons and pizzicato strings, interrupted by the blustering entry of the piano: The orchestra holds its own with the opening theme, however, and there is a good deal of argument, with frequent differences of opinion as regards key. Eventually the piano takes up the first theme and develops it to a climax. With a reduction of tone and slackening of tempo, an alternative theme is introduced in the woodwinds. The piano replies with a theme that is more in keeping with the caustic humour of the work. 8
The unabashedly Romantic ‘alternative theme’ is worked up to an emotional pitch that shows Prokofiev as having more in common with Rachmaninov than is usually suspected, and both as owing much to Tchaikovsky. Then the opening returns in a brilliant coda. David Garrett © 2003 The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra first performed this concerto in September 1941 with conductor Sir Bernard Heinze and pianist Raymond Lambert, and most recently in November 2010 with Tadaaki Otaka and Philippe Bianconi.
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
(1862–1918)
Orch. by Brett Dean (born 1961)
Ariettes oubliées (Forgotten Songs) for mezzo-soprano and orchestra Brett Dean remembers the idea of orchestrating Debussy’s Ariettes oubliées coming up in a conversation with mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená and Sir Simon Rattle. The program for the Australian World Orchestra concerts in 2015 was to begin with Debussy’s Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun (as does the program for tonight’s concert by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra). They became excited at the idea of making the first half all-Debussy, and Kožená mentioned how she loved singing his Ariettes oubliées. The trouble was, no one knew of orchestrations of these songs, let alone orchestrations by Debussy himself. All agreed, though, that the songs’ accompaniments seemed to invite orchestral realisation. Dean thought so, and it was to him all were turning to be the orchestrator. Dean, for practical and artistic reasons, took his lead for the makeup of his
orchestra from Debussy’s Faun. Only a few instruments have been added. Debussy himself had not orchestrated these songs. The challenge for Dean was not necessarily to orchestrate as Debussy would have but, in Dean’s words, ‘to honour Debussy’s sound world’ and to help the singer make the listener realise, as Dean exclaims, ‘what remarkable songs these are!’. Although Dean has played a lot of Debussy, in orchestras and as a chamber musician, he came to these songs fresh – by and large they were a discovery for him. He did look at how at least one other composer had gone about it: Colin Matthews in his orchestrations of Debussy’s piano preludes (for a bigger orchestra). Dean’s orchestrations reveal some of the orchestral style of his own compositions. One thing he recognises as typical is how he sometimes suggests the effect of Debussy’s held piano chords, by allowing all but three solo violins to drop out. Many of Dean’s additions seek to achieve the often shimmering surface of Debussy’s orchestral sound, and this requires additional figuration. There is reduction, too: some of the writing for piano in the fast Chevaux de bois would be simply impractical in the very short note values possible on the piano, so semiquaver triplets in the strings replace Debussy’s demisemiquavers. The lower keys and especially the more richly coloured sonorities of the orchestra seemed to ask at times for a broader, more sustained musical pace, so Dean more than once extends phrases with extra bars, in the orchestral codas.
Debussy’s soprano keys, bringing an enhanced need to keep textures airy and transparent. This suits Debussy’s take on Verlaine’s poems, but Dean finds a partial exception in the final song, Spleen, where Debussy’s ideas seem to him, like the poem, heavier in feeling, even a little Wagnerian – Dean’s cue for some Tristan und Isoldelike orchestration, with prominent cor anglais. Dean feels that the aesthetic challenge was to avoid ‘reinventing the Debussyan wheel’. The songs of Ariettes oubliées are full of word-painting. But their immensely sophisticated composer was far from a simplistic impressionist. So Debussy might well have done what Dean does, where at the very moment in Chevaux de bois where the poem mentions ‘the sound of oboes’, the oboes stop playing. But the same song’s festivities (and reference to the ‘triumphant cornet’) couldn’t be denied a trumpet, and once added to the orchestra it seemed right in other places too. David Garrett © 2015 This is the first performance of Brett Dean’s orchestration of Debussy’s Ariettes oubliées by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Kožená’s mezzo-soprano voice invited a downward transposition from 9
Debussy’s Ariettes oubliées An ‘ariette’ is a pleasant little song, found in the lighter forms of French lyric theatre, so the title refers to ‘Forgotten songs’, or more literally ‘Forgotten ariettas’. Why ‘forgotten’? The title is Debussy’s, as is this selection of poems by Verlaine. Three are from Romances sans paroles (where they are called Ariettes), one from Paysages belges, Green and Spleen are from Aquarelles. Debussy’s settings were published separately by Girod in 1888, then gathered and republished as Ariettes oubliées in 1903. The songs were not neglected, or forgotten by Debussy – the oblivion of the title is merely poetically suggestive (songs I’d forgotten). Debussy dedicated the revised and republished songs to Mary Garden, in 1902 the first Mélisande in his opera. Debussy had already set three Verlaine poems, including Clair de lune, and the popular Mandoline. But in the Ariettes, as that matchless guide to French song Pierre Bernac has written: ‘Debussy’s personality suddenly breaks out with all its rarest and most precious qualities – his first great masterpieces.’ Debussy not only captures each poem’s mood, but follows the meaning of each phrase, almost each word, ‘and magically expresses it musically’. Verlaine’s poetry has a musical quality, and titles like Songs (Romances) without words show his own musical awareness. Much of his visual imagery is impressionist, and the words suggest the painterly analogue of softly shaded water colour. Fauré and Debussy as young men were drawn to the poems inspired by Verlaine’s own youthful love. Some iron entered the poet’s soul when he became fascinated by the stronger personality of his fellow poet Rimbaud. Verlaine spent time in a Belgian jail for shooting Rimbaud when they quarrelled. This is the Verlaine of the boredom of Il pleure dans mon coeur, the weariness and anxiety of Spleen.
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MAURICE RAVEL
(1875–1937)
Daphnis et Chloé: Suite 2 Daybreak Pantomime General Dance (Bacchanale) The Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev commissioned many of the orchestral scores that have become modern classics. In 1909, he brought his Ballets Russes to Paris, and commissioned Ravel to write a ballet to a scenario by Michel Fokine based on the tale of Daphnis and Chloe, a pastoral romance attributed to the Greek writer Longus, who lived in the 2nd/3rd century CE. Ravel lingered over this, arguably his greatest score. In it, he sought to depict the Greece of his dreams which, he said, ‘is very similar to that imagined and painted by French artists at the end of the 18th century’. He constructed the work symphonically according to a strict plan of key sequences and out of a small number of themes, subtitling it ‘a choreographic symphony in three parts’.
Now ‘Suite 2’ begins, one of the most graphic portrayals of sunrise in the orchestral literature. Imitation birdsong and the piping of shepherds unite Daphnis with Chloé. In tribute to Pan, Daphnis and Chloé mime Pan’s courtship of Syrinx, accompanied by a florid solo flute (Pantomime). The General Dance represents the joyful celebration of the lovers and shepherds. Composed in 5/4 (a time signature with five beats to the bar), this metre initially posed some difficulty for Diaghilev’s dancers – until they found a way of using their boss’s name as a mnemonic (DIA-ghi-lev, SERgei DIA-ghi-lev…). Gordon Kalton Williams Symphony Australia © 1997/2008 The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra first performed Suite 2 from Daphnis et Chloé on 4 May 1940 under conductor Antal Dorati, and most recently in April 2017 with Long Yu.
First presented as a ballet at the Théâtre du Châtelet on 8 June 1912, Daphnis has since become a staple of the concert hall, where it is usually heard in the form of two suites, or ‘fragments symphoniques’. Tonight you will hear Suite 2, comprising the last 20 minutes or so of the original ballet. The ballet begins with the idyll in which Daphnis and Chloé fall in love. Chloé is abducted by pirates, and three nymphs invoke the god Pan to come to Daphnis’ aid. As Fokine’s scenario goes: ‘All flee in bewilderment. The scenery seems to melt away…’ 11
TEXT CLAUDE DEBUSSY Ariettes oubliées Fiona Campbell mezzo-soprano Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus
C’est l’extase langoureuse C’est l’extase langoureuse, C’est la fatigue amoureuse, C’est tous les frissons des bois Parmi l’étreinte des brises, C’est, vers les ramures grises, Le choeur des petites voix.
It is ecstasy This is languorous ecstasy, this is the lassitude of love, this is all the shiverings of the woods amidst the embrace of the breezes, this, near the grey boughs, is the choir of tiny voices.
Ô le frêle et frais murmure! Cela gazouille et susurre, Cela ressemble au cri doux Que l’herbe agitée expire… Tu dirais, sous l’eau qui vire, Le roulis sourd des cailloux.
Oh, the frail and fresh murmuring! It twitters and whispers. It sounds like the gentle cry breathed out by the ruffled grass… You would say, beneath the swirling water, the muffled rolling of the pebbles.
Cette âme qui se lamente En cette plainte dormante C’est la nôtre, n’est-ce pas? La mienne, dis, et la tienne, Dont s’exhale l’humble antienne Par ce tiède soir, tout bas?
This soul lamenting in this slumbering complaint, it is ours, is it not? Mine, say, and yours, breathing out the humble anthem in this warm evening, so quietly?
Il pleure dans mon coeur Il pleure dans mon cœur Comme il pleut sur la ville; Quelle est cette langueur Qui pénètre mon cœur?
Tears fall in my heart Tears fall in my heart as it rains on the town. What is this languor that penetrates my heart?
Ô bruit doux de la pluie, Par terre et sur les toits! Pour un cœur qui s’ennuie, Ô le bruit de la pluie!
Oh, soft sound of the rain on the ground and on the roofs! For a listless heart, oh, the sound of the rain!
Il pleure sans raison Dans ce cœur qui s’écœure. Quoi! nulle trahison?… Ce deuil est sans raison.
Tears fall for no reason in this sickened heart. What! No treason? For this mourning there is no reason.
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C’est bien la pire peine, De ne savoir pourquoi Sans amour et sans haine Mon cœur a tant de peine!
It is indeed the worst torment not to know why, without love and without hate, my heart has so much pain!
L’ombre des arbres L’ombre des arbres dans la rivière embrumée Meurt comme de la fumée, Tandis qu’en l'air, parmi les ramures réelles, Se plaignent les tourterelles.
The shadow of the trees The shadow of the trees, in the misty river, dies like smoke, whereas up there, amidst the real branches, the doves sing their plaint.
Combien, ô voyageur, ce paysage blême Te mira blême toi-même, Et que tristes pleuraient dans les hautes feuillées Tes espérances noyées!
How much, o traveller, this wan landscape reflected you, wan yourself, And how sadly, in the high foliage, your drowned hopes wept!
Chevaux de bois Tournez, tournez, bons chevaux de bois, Tournez cent tours, tournez mille tours, Tournez souvent et tournez toujours, Tournez, tournez au son des hautbois.
Merry-go-round Turn, turn, good wooden horses, turn one hundred, one thousand turns; turn often and go on turning, turn, turn to the sound of the oboes.
L’enfant tout rouge et la mère blanche, Le gars en noir et la fille en rose, L’une à la chose et l’autre à la pose, Chacun se paie un sou de dimanche.
The child all red and the mother white, the lad in black and the girl in pink, one down-to-earth and the other showing off, each treating himself to a Sunday penny’s worth.
Tournez, tournez, chevaux de leur cœur, Tandis qu’autour de tous vos tournois Clignote l’œil du filou sournois, Tournez au son du piston vainqueur.
Turn, turn, horses of their heart whilst around all your whirlings, squints the eye of the crafty pickpocket, turn to the sound of the triumphant cornet. Please turn your page quietly 13
C’est étonnant comme ça vous soûle D’aller ainsi dans ce cirque bête, Rien dans le ventre et mal dans la tête, Du mal en masse et du bien en foule.
It is amazing how intoxicating it is going round like this in this stupid circle, nothing in the tummy and aching in the head, heaps of pain and loads of fun.
Tournez, dadas, sans qu’il soit besoin D’user jamais de nuls éperons Pour commander à vos galops ronds, Tournez, tournez, sans espoir de foin.
Turn, geegees, without ever needing pointless spurs to drive you on your circular gallops, turn, turn, without hope of hay.
Et dépêchez, chevaux de leur âme Déjà voici que sonne à la soupe La nuit qui tombe et chasse la troupe De gais buveurs que leur soif affame.
And hurry, horses of their soul, here already is nightfall, ringing for supper and chasing away the throng of happy drinkers famished by their thirst.
Tournez, tournez! Le ciel en velours D’astres en or se vêt lentement. L’église tinte un glas tristement. Tournez au son joyeux des tambours!
Turn, turn! The sky in velvet adorns itself slowly with stars of gold. The church sadly tolls a knell. Turn to the merry beating of the drums.
Green Voici des fruits, des fleurs, des feuilles et des branches Et puis voici mon cœur qui ne bat que pour vous. Ne le déchirez pas avec vos deux mains blanches Et qu’à vos yeux si beaux l’humble présent soit doux.
Green Here are fruits, flowers, leaves and branches, and here too is my heart, which beats for you alone. Do not tear it with your two white hands, and may the humble gift seem sweet to your so lovely eyes.
J’arrive tout couvert encore de rosée Que le vent du matin vient glacer à mon front. Souffrez que ma fatigue à vos pieds reposée Rêve des chers instants qui la délasseront.
I arrive still covered in dew which the morning wind comes to freeze to my brow. Suffer my weariness, rested at your feet, to dream of the dear moments which will bring repose.
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Sur votre jeune sein laissez rouler ma tête Toute sonore encore de vos derniers baisers; Laissez-la s’apaiser de la bonne tempête, Et que je dorme un peu puisque vous reposez.
On your young breast let me rest my head still ringing with your last kisses; let it grow calm again after the good storm, and let me sleep a little, since you are resting.
Spleen Les roses étaient toutes rouges Et les lierres étaient tout noirs.
Spleen The roses were all red, and the ivy was black.
Chère, pour peu que tu te bouges, Renaissent tous mes désespoirs.
Dearest, if you so much as move, all my despair returns.
Le ciel était trop bleu, trop tendre, La mer trop verte et l’air trop doux.
The sky was too blue, too tender, the sea too green and the air too soft.
Je crains toujours, – ce qu’est d’attendre! – Quelque fuite atroce de vous.
I always fear – what it is to wait! – some dreadful abandonment by you.
Du houx à la feuille vernie Et du luisant buis je suis las,
I am weary of the holly with its varnished leaf, and of the gleaming box tree,
Et de la campagne infinie Et de tout, fors de vous, hélas !
and of the boundless countryside, and of everything but you, alas!
Paul Verlaine (1844–1896) English translations © David Garrett 15
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 Dale Barltrop Concertmaster
Sophie Rowell
Concertmaster 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 Chisholm & Gamon#
Mark Mogilevski Michelle Ruffolo Kathryn Taylor Michael Aquilina#
Jacqueline Edwards* Susannah Ng* Nicholas Waters* SECOND VIOLINS Matthew Tomkins
Principal The Gross Foundation#
Robert Macindoe Associate Principal
Monica Curro
Assistant Principal Danny Gorog and Lindy Susskind#
Mary Allison Isin Cakmakcioglu Tiffany Cheng Freya Franzen Cong Gu Andrew Hall Isy Wasserman Philippa West Patrick Wong Roger Young Michael Loftus-Hill* VIOLAS Christopher Moore Principal Di Jameson#
Lauren Brigden
Mr Tam Vu and Dr Cherilyn Tillman#
Katharine Brockman Christopher Cartlidge Michael Aquilina#
Anthony Chataway
Dr Elizabeth E Lewis AM#
Gabrielle Halloran Maria Solà#
Trevor Jones Fiona Sargeant Cindy Watkin Elizabeth Woolnough William Clark* Helen Ireland* Isabel Morse*
Assistant Principal
Miranda Brockman
Geelong Friends of the MSO#
Rohan de Korte
Andrew Dudgeon#
Keith Johnson Sarah Morse Angela Sargeant Maria Solà#
Michelle Wood
Andrew and Theresa Dyer#
DOUBLE BASSES Steve Reeves Principal
Andrew Moon
Associate Principal
Sylvia Hosking
Assistant Principal
Damien Eckersley Benjamin Hanlon Suzanne Lee Stephen Newton
Sophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser#
Axel Ruge* Esther Toh* FLUTES Prudence Davis Principal Anonymous#
Wendy Clarke
Associate Principal
Sarah Beggs PICCOLO Andrew Macleod
CELLOS
Principal
David Berlin
OBOES
Principal MS Newman Family#
Rachael Tobin
Associate Principal
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Nicholas Bochner
Jeffrey Crellin Principal
Thomas Hutchinson Associate Principal
Ann Blackburn
The Rosemary Norman Foundation#
Emmanuel Cassimatis* COR ANGLAIS Michael Pisani Principal
CLARINETS David Thomas
Principal
TRUMPETS
MSO BOARD
Shane Hooton
Chairman Michael Ullmer
Associate Principal
Tristan Rebien*
Guest Associate Principal
William Evans Rosie Turner
John and Diana Frew#
TROMBONES Brett Kelly
Philip Arkinstall
Principal
Craig Hill Robin Henry*
Tim and Lyn Edward#
Associate Principal
BASS CLARINET Jon Craven Principal
BASSOONS Jack Schiller
Principal
Elise Millman
Associate Principal
Richard Shirley Mike Szabo
Principal Bass Trombone
TUBA Timothy Buzbee Principal
Principal
PERCUSSION
CONTRABASSOON
John Arcaro
Brock Imison
Robert Cossom Timothy Hook* Evan Pritchard* Leah Scholes* Lara Wilson*
HORNS Stefan Bernhardsson* Guest Principal
Saul Lewis
Acting Associate Principal
Company Secretary Oliver Carton
Christopher Lane
Robert Clarke
Matthew Ventura*
Board Directors Danny Gorog Margaret Jackson AC Di Jameson David Krasnostein David Li Hyon-Ju Newman Glenn Sedgwick Helen Silver AO
TIMPANI**
Natasha Thomas Colin Forbes-Abrams*
Principal
Managing Director Sophie Galaise
Principal
Tim and Lyn Edward#
HARP Yinuo Mu
Abbey Edlin
Principal
Trinette McClimont Alexander Morton*
CELESTE
# Position supported by
Louisa Breen*
* Guest Musician
Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM#
Bronwyn Wallis*
** Timpani Chair position supported by Lady Potter AC CMRI 17
MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS
CHORUS MASTER Warren Trevelyan-Jones REPETITEUR Tom Griffiths SOPRANO Aviva Barazani Anne-Marie Brownhill Eva Butcher Isabela Calderon Alice Cole Ella Dann-Limon Laura Fahey Catherine Folley Carolyn Francis Camilla Gorman Juliana Hassett Penny Huggett Gwen Kennelly Anna Kidman Natasha Lambie Maggie Liang Clancye Milne Catriona NguyenRobertson Tian Nie Caitlin Noble Karin Otto Tiffany Pang Natalie Reid Beth Richardson Janelle Richardson Mhairi Riddet Elizabeth Rusli
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Natalia Salazar Jillian Samuels Lydia Sherren Freja Soininen Elizabeth Tindall Fabienne Vandenburie Tara Zamin ALTO Satu Aho Ruth Anderson Cecilia Björkegren Jane Brodie Elize Brozgul Serena Carmel Young-Hee Chan Nicola Eveleigh Lisa Faulks Jill Giese Natasha Godfrey Jillian Graham Ros Harbison Sue Hawley Kristine Hensel Judy Longbottom Joy Lukman Helen MacLean Rosemary McKelvie Stephanie Mitchell Alison Ralph Maya Rodingen Lisa Savige Julienne Seal Libby Timcke
TENOR Alexandra Amerides Matthew Castle John Cleghorn Keaton Cloherty Geoffrey Collins Simon Gaites David Henley Lyndon Horsburgh Wayne Kinrade Michael Mobach Nathan Guan Kiat Teo BASS Maurice Amor Alexandras Bartaska Richard Bolitho Roger Dargaville Ted Davies Andrew Ham Joseph Hie Jordan Janssen Evan Lawson Gary Levy Douglas McQueenThomson Vern O’Hara Liam Straughan Tom Turnbull Foon Wong Ned Wright-Smith Maciek Zielinski
Handel’s Messiah Jan Willem de Vriend conductor Jeanine De Bique soprano | Nicholas Tolputt countertenor Andrew Goodwin tenor | Stephan Loges bass | MSO Chorus SATURDAY 15 DECEMBER | 7pm SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER | 5pm Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall
Book now mso.com.au
19 (03) 9929 9600
Supporters MSO PATRON The Honourable Linda Dessau AC, Governor of Victoria
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
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 Sidney Myer Free Concerts Supported by the Myer Foundation and the University of Melbourne
The Cybec Foundation
PLATINUM PATRONS $100,000+
The Pratt Foundation
Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO
The Ullmer Family Foundation
John Gandel AC and Pauline Gandel
Anonymous (2)
The Gross Foundation
Lady Potter AC CMRI
ARTIST CHAIR BENEFACTORS Associate Conductor Chair Benjamin Northey Anthony Pratt Orchestral Leadership Joy Selby Smith Cybec Assistant Conductor Chair Tianyi Lu The Cybec Foundation
David and Angela Li MS Newman Family Foundation Anthony Pratt The Pratt Foundation Lady Potter AC CMRI Ullmer Family Foundation Anonymous (2)
VIRTUOSO PATRONS $50,000+
Associate Concertmaster Chair Sophie Rowell The Ullmer Family Foundation
Di Jameson
2018 Soloist in Residence Chair Anne-Sophie Mutter Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO
Harold Mitchell AC
Young Composer in Residence Ade Vincent The Cybec Foundation
PROGRAM BENEFACTORS
David Krasnostein and Pat Stragalinos Kim Williams AM
IMPRESARIO PATRONS $20,000+ Michael Aquilina
Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program The Cybec Foundation
The John and Jennifer Brukner Foundation
East Meets West Supported by the Li Family Trust
Margaret Jackson AC
Meet The Orchestra Made possible by The Ullmer Family Foundation
Andrew Johnston
MSO Audience Access Crown Resorts Foundation, Packer Family Foundation
John and Lois McKay
MSO Building Capacity Gandel Philanthropy (Director of Philanthropy)
Mary and Frederick Davidson AM
Mimie MacLaren Maria Solà Anonymous (1)
MAESTRO PATRONS $10,000+
Leon Goldman
Kaye and David Birks
Louis Hamon OAM
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 Peter Hunt AM and Tania de Jong AM 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 Chisholm & Gamon John and Lyn Coppock 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
Jennifer Gorog HMA Foundation 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 Andrew and Judy Rogers Rae Rothfield Max and Jill Schultz Jeffrey Sher QC and Diana Sher OAM Diana and Brian Snape AM 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 (5)
ASSOCIATE PATRONS $2,500+ Dandolo Partners Will and Dorothy Bailey Bequest David Blackwell OAM Anne Bowden Bill Bowness Julia and Jim Breen Lynne Burgess Oliver Carton 21
Ann Darby, in memory of Leslie J. Darby
Marlyn and Peter Bancroft OAM
Natasha Davies, for the Trikojus Education Fund
Adrienne Basser
Merrowyn Deacon
Janice Bate and the Late Prof Weston Bate
Sandra Dent
Janet H Bell
Peter and Leila Doyle
John and Sally Bourne
Duxton Vineyards
Michael F Boyt
Lisa Dwyer and Dr Ian Dickson
Patricia Brockman
Jaan Enden
Dr John Brookes
Dr Helen M Ferguson
Stuart Brown
Elizabeth Foster
Suzie Brown OAM and Harvey Brown
Mr Peter Gallagher and Dr Karen Morley
Roger and Col Buckle
Dina and Ron Goldschlager
Jill and Christopher Buckley
Colin Golvan AM QC and Dr Deborah Golvan
Shane Buggle
Louise Gourlay OAM
Dr Lynda Campbell
Susan and Gary Hearst
John Carroll
Colin Heggen, in memory of Marjorie Drysdale Heggen
Andrew Crockett AM and Pamela Crockett
Jenkins Family Foundation
Beryl Dean
John Jones George and Grace Kass Irene Kearsey and M J Ridley The Ilma Kelson Music Foundation Bryan Lawrence
Panch Das and Laurel Young-Das Rick and Sue Deering Dominic and Natalie Dirupo John and Anne Duncan Jane Edmanson OAM
John and Margaret Mason
Valerie Falconer and the Rayner Family in memory of Keith Falconer
H E McKenzie
Grant Fisher and Helen Bird
Allan and Evelyn McLaren
Barry Fradkin OAM and Dr Pam Fradkin
Alan and Dorothy Pattison
Applebay Pty Ltd
Sue and Barry Peake
David Frenkiel and Esther Frenkiel OAM
Mrs W Peart
David Gibbs and Susie O’Neill
Graham and Christine Peirson
Janette Gill
Julie and Ian Reid
Greta Goldblatt and the late Merwyn Goldblatt
Ralph and Ruth Renard
George Golvan QC and Naomi Golvan
Peter and Carolyn Rendit
Dr Marged Goode
S M Richards AM and M R Richards
Prof Denise Grocke AO
Tom and Elizabeth Romanowski
Max Gulbin
Dr Michael Soon
Dr Sandra Hacker AO and Mr Ian Kennedy AM
Peter J Stirling
Jean Hadges
Jenny Tatchell
Michael and Susie Hamson
Frank Tisher OAM and Dr Miriam Tisher
Paula Hansky OAM
Anonymous (5)
Merv Keehn and Sue Harlow
PLAYER PATRONS $1,000+
Tilda and Brian Haughney Anna and John Holdsworth
David and Cindy Abbey
Penelope Hughes
Christa Abdallah
Basil and Rita Jenkins
Dr Sally Adams
Christian and Jinah Johnston
Mary Armour
Dorothy Karpin
Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society
Brett Kelly and Cindy Watkin
Dr Rosemary Ayton and Dr Sam Ricketson
Dr Anne Kennedy
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Julie and Simon Kessel
Elaine Walters OAM and Gregory Walters
Kerry Landman
Edward and Paddy White
Diedrie Lazarus
Nic and Ann Willcock
William and Magdalena Leadston
Marian and Terry Wills Cooke
Dr Anne Lierse
Lorraine Woolley
Gaelle Lindrea
Richard Ye
Dr Susan Linton
Anonymous (16)
Andrew Lockwood Elizabeth H Loftus Chris and Anna Long The Hon Ian Macphee AO and Mrs Julie Macphee Eleanor & Phillip Mancini Annette Maluish In memory of Leigh Masel Wayne McDonald Ruth Maxwell Don and Anne Meadows Ian Morrey and Geoffrey Minter new U Mildura Wayne and Penny Morgan Anne Neil 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 Peter Rose and Christopher Menz
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
MSO PATRON COMMISSIONS All the World’s a Stage Iain Grandage Commissioned by Mary Davidson Clarinet Concerto Paul Dean Commissioned by Andrew Johnston Missed Tales III – The Lost Mary Finsterer Commissioned by Kim Williams AM Snare Drum Award test piece 2018 Commissioned by Tim and Lyn Edward
Liliane Rusek Martin and Susan Shirley Penny Shore Dr Sam Smorgon AO and Mrs Minnie Smorgon Dr Norman and Dr Sue Sonenberg 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
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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
The Hon. Rosemary Varty Mr Tam Vu Marian and Terry Wills Cooke Mark Young Anonymous (27) 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
Cameron Mowat
TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS
David Orr
Collier Charitable Fund
Pauline and David Lawton
Rosia Pasteur Elizabeth Proust AO
Crown Resorts Foundation and the Packer Family Foundation
Penny Rawlins
The Cybec Foundation
Joan P Robinson
The Marian and E.H. Flack Trust
Neil Roussac
Freemasons Foundation Victoria
Anne Roussac-Hoyne
Gandel Philanthropy
Suzette Sherazee
The International Music and Arts Foundation
Michael Ryan and Wendy Mead
The Scobie and Claire Mackinnon Trust
Anne Kieni-Serpell and Andrew Serpell
The Harold Mitchell Foundation
Jennifer Shepherd
The Sidney Myer MSO Trust Fund
Profs. Gabriela and George Stephenson
The Pratt Foundation
Pamela Swansson
The Robert Salzer Foundation
Lillian Tarry
Telematics Trust
Dr Cherilyn Tillman
Anonymous
Mr and Mrs R P Trebilcock Michael Ullmer Ila Vanrenen
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Honorary Appointments Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO Life Members John Gandel AC and Pauline Gandel Life Members Sir Elton John CBE Life Member Lady Potter AC CMRI Life Member Mrs Jeanne Pratt AC 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)
Geoffrey Rush AC Ambassador
The MSO Conductor’s Circle is our bequest program for members who have notified of a planned gift in their Will.
THE MSO HONOURS
Enquiries P (03) 8646 1551 E philanthropy@mso.com.au
THE MEMORY OF
John Brockman OAM Life Member The Honourable Alan Goldberg AO QC Life Member Ila Vanrenen Life Member
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‘ 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
Major Partners
Venue Partner
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