2020 SEASON
MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) gave its inaugural performance at Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS (DFP) on 17 August 1998. With the initial search for outstanding musicians involving a worldwide audition tour, the result was a symphony orchestra made up of musicians from 25 nations, including Malaysians, a remarkable example of harmony among different cultures and nationalities. A host of internationally-acclaimed musicians have performed with the MPO including Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Yehudi Menuhin, Joshua Bell, Harry Connick Jr., JosĂŠ Carreras, Andrea Bocelli, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Chris Botti and Branford Marsalis, many of whom have praised the MPO for its fine musical qualities and vitality. With each new season, the MPO continues to present an exciting programme of orchestral music drawn from over three centuries, as well as the crowd-pleasing concert series. Its versatility transcends genres, from classical masterpieces to film music, pop, jazz, traditional, contemporary and commissioned works.
The MPO regularly performs in major cities of Malaysia. Internationally, it has toured Singapore (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2018), Japan (2001, 2009 and 2017), Korea (2001), Australia (2004), China (2006 and 2019), Taiwan (2007) and Vietnam (2013). The MPO has also released 21 commercial CDs. Its Education and Outreach Programme (ENCOUNTER) reaches beyond the concert platform to develop musical awareness and appreciation through dedicated activities at such diverse venues as schools, colleges, hospitals and community centres. The MPO’s commitment to furthering musical interest in the nation has been the creation of the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (MPYO); its debut concert at DFP in 2007 was followed by a Peninsula Malaysia tour. The MPYO has also performed in Sabah and Sarawak, Singapore, Brisbane, Hong Kong and Jakarta. The MPO remains steadfast in its mission to share the depth, power and beauty of great music. Its main benefactor is PETRONAS and its patron is YABhg. Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah Haji Mohd Ali.
Fri 9 Oct 2020 Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Gerard Salonga, conductor PROGRAMME PĂ„RT BEETHOVEN
Fratres for Strings and Percussion 9 mins Symphony No. 5 36 mins
All details are correct at time of publishing. Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS reserves the right to vary without notice the artists and/or repertoire as necessary. Copyright Š 2020 by Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS (Co. No. 462692-X). All rights reserved. No part of this programme may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright owners.
GERARD SALONGA conductor
Gerard Salonga is currently the Resident Conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) in Kuala Lumpur, a position he has held since January 2019. For two seasons, he served as Assistant Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra from 2016 to 2018 and was the Music Director of the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra in Manila from 2012 to 2020. Salonga has assisted and covered distinguished conductors such as Jaap van Zweden, Jun Märkl, Hans Graf, Yu Long, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mark Wigglesworth and Leonard Slatkin. He has also conducted the Philippine Philharmonic, Shanghai Opera House Orchestra and Chorus, Kunming Nie-Er Symphony, Evergreen Symphony of Taiwan, Orchestra Victoria and the Bangkok, Singapore and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. His arrangements have been performed by orchestras such as the Hong Kong Philharmonic, RTE Concert Orchestra, New York Pops, Guangzhou Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Cincinnati Pops, BBC Symphony and Royal Philharmonic. He has also collaborated as arranger/conductor with artists such as Lea Salonga, Wang Leehom, Wu Tong, Tengku Irfan, Michael Ball, Blake, Il Divo, Danielle de Niese, Ksenija Sidorova, Shen Yang, James Ehnes and The Beach Boys. In 2018, Salonga conducted the Sydney Symphony and TaikOz in the world premiere of Australian composer Lachlan Skipworth’s Breath Of Thunder at the Sydney Opera House which earned an APRA AMCOS (Australian art music) nomination for Performance Of The Year. In 2019, he collaborated with pianist Cecile Licad and the Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester (South Denmark Philharmonic) on a new recording of the works of George Gershwin released on the Danacord label and was immediately invited to make his subscription debuts with the orchestra in Sønderborg and Flensburg in 2021. As a conductor of musical theatre, he has led the orchestras for the Manila stagings of Carousel, They’re Playing Our Song, Dreamgirls, Baby, West Side Story and Little Women. In 2019, he conducted Sweeney Todd for Atlantis Theatrical in Manila and in Singapore for Singapore Repertory Theatre. He is a four-time recipient of the Aliw Award for best musical director and twice winner of the Gawad Buhay Philstage Award. In 2012, Salonga was honoured as one of The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM), the Philippines’ highest civilian award to achievers under the age of 40. In 2021, he will make return visits to the Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester, Philippine Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Singapore Symphony Orchestras while continuing his work with the MPO, as well as working with the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (MPYO) and Orchestra of The Filipino Youth.
So popular is Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony today that it is nearly impossible to imagine a time when it was considered “difficult modern music”. But we need to remember that all music was modern once and that artists of all kinds are often in advance of the times in what they present to us. The contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is one of the few composers living today whose music has been readily accepted by the great majority of listeners. He has created a unique style that most can relate to, a style founded on quietude, serenity, stasis and austerity ̶ just the opposite of what Beethoven offers in his Fifth Symphony. ARVO PÄRT (b. 1935) Fratres for Strings and Percussion (1977/1983/1991) The Background Estonian-born Arvo Pärt, who just turned 85 (11 September), is one of the most visible representatives of a musical style that stresses simple materials, pure diatonic harmony, an austere mood, a sense of timelessness and haunting intensity. His musical training took place in Tallinn, where he remained until 1980. When he received permission to emigrate, his destination was initially Israel, but while en route via Vienna, Pärt decided instead to settle in Berlin, where he still resides.
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Pärt began his compositional career writing neoclassical piano pieces, went on to become Estonia’s first twelve-tone composer and later toyed with collage forms. In the mid-1970s he turned to a new style, the one for which he is renowned today and which has earned the moniker “Holy Minimalism”. This style, or technique, incorporates two lines of music simultaneously to the same rhythm, one revolving around the notes of a scale,
the other around a triad. Pärt calls this technique tintinnabuli (the plural of tintinnabulum, Latin for “bells”). “Music as a form of prayer”, a “constant stillness”, and “oriental spirituality” are terms often used to describe Pärt’s music. These qualities are all much in evidence in Fratres (brothers, or brethren), a family of compositions based on the same original score of 1977 for early music ensemble, each arranged for a different combination of instruments. These include string quartet, cello octet, violin and piano, and string orchestra with percussion. The latter is the version we hear at this concert, created in 1983 and revised in 1991. The first performance was given in Göteborg, Sweden, in May of 1983.
edition.cnn.com Photo of Göteborg, Sweden, where the first performance of Fratres was given.
The Music Over a drone bass, a hymnlike subject consisting of slowly shifting chords is heard nine times in succession, each repetition pitched a third lower than its predecessor and each separated by the ritualistic knocking of muted bass drum and claves. Every chord contains one of the three notes of the A-minor triad (A, C or E) in a middle voice, conferring the tintinnabuli effect so vital to Pärt’s creative process.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (1807)
I. Allegro con brio II. Andante con moto III. Allegro IV. Allegro
The Background Most people acknowledge that Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is the most popular work in the genre ever written. Anyone who doubts this fact may be referred to a recent issue of the journal International Piano (March 2020), which reported that as of publication date, there had been 923 recordings made of this symphony. No one has counted the live performances given since the premiere over two hundred years ago, but they must number in the hundreds of thousands, perhaps even in the millions. That premiere was part of a marathon concert given on 22 December, 1808 in Vienna’s Theater an der Wien. The concert lasted four hours, with a single intermission. The audience sat and heard, in a freezing hall (in order) the Sixth Symphony (Pastoral), the concert aria “Ah! perfido”, two movements from the Mass in C, the Fourth Piano Concerto, the Fifth Symphony, another movement from the Mass, a solo piano improvisation and the Choral Fantasy. As if all this weren’t enough in itself, nearly every work was a world premiere! The experience was quite obviously a heady and trying one for everyone, musicians and audience alike. For starters, the Fifth Symphony’s opening movement contained not a single tune that could be hummed afterwards. The music demanded a greater degree of technical proficiency from the musicians than found in most any previous symphony. There was solo material for nearly every instrument. The piccolo, contrabassoon and trombones made their first appearances in purely symphonic music (though they had long been employed in opera orchestras). The final two movements were linked. Modern music! Oh dear! Early audiences were astounded. Berlioz, always one to respond to innovative playbill.org
genius, is reported to have met his former teacher, the French composer François Lesueur, after a performance, whereupon Lesueur exclaimed: “It moved and excited me so much that my head was reeling. One should not be permitted to write such music”. “Calm yourself”, replied Berlioz; “it will not be done often”. For a present-day assessment of what Beethoven’s Fifth means to us, let us turn to the words of musicologist Klaus G. Roy: “Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is the most powerful work of musical rhetoric in orchestral literature. It does not beg you, the listener, to agree with its message; it does not cajole or attempt to persuade; it demands imperiously that you accept it. Few are skeptical enough to resist; most are convinced immediately that the composer means what he says and submit to a will stronger than theirs”. The Music The opening movement consists almost entirely of an intense, concentrated onslaught of a four-note rhythmic cell that unfolds with unparalleled energy and can leave an audience gasping under its emotional impact. The second movement provides all the melody the first movement lacked. It is in double variation form, meaning that Beethoven alternates two different themes (a favourite device of Haydn, a composer Beethoven adored). The first is the consoling subject presented in the opening measures by violas and cellos, the second is heard initially in clarinets and bassoons in Beethoven’s familiar militaristic vein. Beethoven did not call the third movement a scherzo, as he had in some of his previous symphonies, but it is one in all but name with its insistent pulsation in rapid triple meter. The “ta-ta-ta-taaah” motif of the first movement was not absent in the second (it could be heard embedded in the second, militaristic theme), but in the third it returns with a vengeance, blared forth first by the horns, then the full orchestra. The contrast provided by the central trio section could not be greater, the music infused with Rabelesian jollity. The emotional peak of the symphony arrives in the finale. Traditionally, the finale represented merely a lightweight, festive ending. But in the Fifth, the finale assumes a new role, acquiring the status of triumphal solution, the grand peroration that resolves conflicts and tensions of the preceding movements.
Formerly a horn player in the Montreal Symphony, Robert Markow now writes programme notes for that orchestra and for many other musical organizations in North America and Asia. He taught at Montreal's McGill University for many years, has led music tours abroad, and writes for many leading classical music journals, including American Record Guide, Fanfare, Opera, Opera News, The Strad and Symphony. He travels regularly to Europe, Asia and Australia in search of musical stimulation.
MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA CONDUCTOR LAUREATE Kees Bakels
VIOLA Co-Principal Gábor Mokány
OBOE Section Principal Simon Emes
RESIDENT CONDUCTOR Gerard Salonga
Ong Lin Kern Sun Yuan Fan Ran Thian Ai Wen Celina Baran
COR ANGLAIS Principal Niels Dittmann
FIRST VIOLIN Co-Concertmaster Peter Daniš Principal Ming Goh Co-Principal Zhenzhen Liang Maho Daniš Martijn Noomen Sherwin Thia Runa Baagöe Miroslav Daniš Evgeny Kaplan Marcel Andriesii Tan Ka Ming Petia Davies SECOND VIOLIN Section Principal Timothy Peters Assistant Principal Luisa Theis Stefan Kocsis Anastasia Kiseleva Catalina Alvarez Ionuț Mazareanu Chia-Nan Hung Yanbo Zhao Ling Yunzhi Robert Kopelman
CELLO Co-Principal Csaba Körös Assistant Principal Steven Retallick Sub-Principal Mátyás Major Gerald Davis Laurențiu Gherman Julie Dessureault Elizabeth Tan Suyin Sejla Simon Lee Seulki DOUBLE BASS Section Principal Wolfgang Steike Jun-Hee Chae Naohisa Furusawa Raffael Bietenhader Andreas Dehner FLUTE Co-Principal Yukako Yamamoto Sub-Principal Rachel Jenkyns PICCOLO Principal Sonia Croucher
Note: Sectional string players are rotated within their sections. *Extra musician.
CLARINET Section Principal Gonzalo Esteban Co-Principal David Dias da Silva Sub-Principal Matthew Larsen
TRUMPET Section Principal Sergio Pacheco Co-Principal William Theis Sub-Principal Jeffrey Missal Assistant Principal Matthew Dempsey TROMBONE Section Principal Marques Young Co-Principal Fernando Borja
BASS CLARINET Principal Chris Bosco
BASS TROMBONE Principal *Chee Chow Ming
BASSOON Section Principal Alexandar Lenkov Sub-Principal Denis Plangger
TIMPANI Section Principal Matthew Thomas
CONTRABASSOON Principal Vladimir Stoyanov HORN Section Principal Grzegorz Curyła Co-Principal James Schumacher Sub-Principals Laurence Davies Kartik Alan Jairamin Assistant Principal Sim Chee Ghee
PERCUSSION Section Principal Matthew Prendergast Sub-Principals Joshua Vonderheide Tan Su Yin HARP Principals Tan Keng Hong
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DEWAN FILHARMONIK PETRONAS Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS (DFP) is Malaysia’s first concert hall dedicated to classical music and home to the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO). Located at the PETRONAS Twin Towers, it was officially opened on 17 August 1998 by the Patron of the MPO, YABhg. Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah Haji Mohd Ali and Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. Designed by Cesar Pelli, the hall takes its inspiration from the traditional shoe-box shape of the great 19th century European concert halls with the magnificent Klais Pipe Organ providing a spectacular backdrop to the stage. The hall seats 920 people at one time which includes box seats, corporate suites and a royal suite. Acoustics experts Kirkegaard & Associates have incorporated unique acoustical devices into its design to maximize the hall’s natural qualities. DFP plays an integral part in the music and cultural landscape of the city of Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia. It continues to enthral audiences since the day it first opened its doors. World renowned orchestras that have performed here include the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, BBC Symphony and Vienna Symphony.
Beyond classical music, DFP has hosted ensembles of jazz and world music genres such as the Count Basie Orchestra, Yellowjackets, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Mezzoforte, Igudesman & Joo, Pink Martini and Gotan Project. International superstars who have graced the stage are Harry Connick Jr., Diana Krall, Anoushka Shankar, Laura Fygi, Zakir Hussain, Larry Carlton, Harvey Malaihollo, Ruth Sahanaya and Judika. Among renowned Malaysian artists who have mesmerized audiences at DFP include SM Salim, Sheila Majid, M Nasir, Siti Nurhaliza, Jamal Abdillah, Khadijah Ibrahim, Ramli Sarip, Ella, Yuna, Faizal Tahir, Dayang Nurfaizah and Misha Omar. It also provides the platform for the talents of young Malaysians from the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (MPYO). DFP’s success is attributed to its exceptional architectural design, superior acoustics and recording studio modelled after the legendary Abbey Road Studios. As the first purpose-built concert hall in Malaysia, DFP will continue to provide Malaysians with world-class music experiences through innovative programmes and repertoire every season.
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