NCH International Concert Series 2018/2019
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Sir Andrรกs Schiff
conductor/piano
Saturday 23 March 2019
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International Concert Series 2018/2019
Welcome/Fáilte Tonight, we are delighted to welcome to the National Concert Hall the esteemed pianist and conductor Sir András Schiff with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. After a gap of nearly eight years, Sir András Schiff returns to perform a programme of Brahms and Schumann with this fine orchestra. Described as ‘truly revelatory’ both the OAE and Sir Andras Schiff provide a remarkable musical pairing. The London-based orchestra is a distinctive ensemble playing on period-specific instruments who continue to question, adapt and innovate through their various recordings, interesting partnerships and concerts. In 2018 Sir András Schiff, who has established a close relationship with the orchestra, accepted the role of Associate Artist, complementing his own interest in performing on period keyboard instruments. Tonight, he performs on his very own Blüthner piano which has been shipped-in specially for this evening’s concert. Our thanks go to The Irish Times for their continued support of the NCH International Concert Series and to our sponsors, corporate associates, Patrons, Friends and you the audience. I hope you have a memorable evening of great music in the company of these wonderful musicians and return for more concerts as part of the season.
Simon Taylor Chief Executive
Maura McGrath Chairperson
Board Of Directors Maura McGrath Chair • James Cavanagh • Rebecca Gageby Gerard Gillen • Eleanor McEvoy • Máire O’Connor Michael O’Donovan • John Reynolds • Don Thornhill Patron Michael D. Higgins President of Ireland 1
International Concert Series 2018/2019
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International Concert Series 2018/2019
Programme Schumann KonzertstĂźck for Four Horns and Orchestra in F major Op. 86* Schumann Symphony No. 4 in D minor Op. 120 INTERVAL Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor Op. 15
*Soloists: Roger Montgomery, Martin Lawrence, Gavin Edwards and David Bentley.
REMINDERS Mobile Devices Please ensure all mobile devices are switched off during the performance. Camera, Video and Recording Equipment Camera, video and recording equipment are NOT permitted in the auditorium. Intervals and Timings Interval will be 20 minutes. Latecomers will not be admitted until there is a suitable break in the performance. 3
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Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
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“Sir András Schiff and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment... were truly revelatory.” Bachtrack.com
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In 1986, a group of inquisitive London musicians took a long hard look at that curious institution we call the Orchestra and decided to start again from scratch. They began by throwing out the rulebook. Put a single conductor in charge? No way. Specialise in repertoire of a particular era? Too restricting. Perfect a work and then move on? Too lazy. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was born. And as this distinctive ensemble playing on period-specific instruments began to get a foothold, it made a promise to itself. It vowed to keep questioning, adapting and inventing as long as it lived. Those original instruments became just one element of its quest for authenticity. Baroque and Classical music became just one strand of its repertoire. Every time the musical establishment thought it had a handle on what the OAE was all about, the ensemble pulled out another shocker: a Symphonie Fantastique here, some conductor-less Bach there. All the while, the Orchestra’s players called the shots. At first it felt like a minor miracle. Ideas and talent were plentiful; money wasn’t. Somehow, the OAE survived to a year. Then to two. Then to five. It began to make benchmark recordings and attract the finest conductors. It became the toast of the European touring circuit. It bagged distinguished residencies at the Southbank Centre and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. It began, before long, to thrive. And then came the real challenge. The ensemble’s musicians were branded eccentric idealists, and that they were determined to remain. In the face of the music industry’s big guns, the OAE kept its head. It got organised but remained experimentalist. It sustained its founding drive but welcomed new talent. It kept on exploring performance formats, rehearsal approaches and musical techniques. It searched for the right repertoire, instruments and approaches with even greater resolve. It kept true to its founding vow.
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In some small way, the OAE changed the classical music world too. It challenged those distinguished partner organisations and brought the very best from them, too. Symphony and opera orchestras began to ask it for advice. Existing period instrument groups started to vary their conductors and repertoire. New ones popped up all over Europe and America. And so the story continues, with ever more momentum and vision. The Night Shift series of informal performances have redefined concert parameters. Its base at London’s Kings Place has fostered further creativity, such as Bach, the Universe and Everything, a trailblazing Sunday morning series with contributions from esteemed scientists. And from 2017, it started Six Chapters of Enlightenment, six extraordinary seasons exploring the music, science and philosophy of the golden age from which the Orchestra takes its name. Remarkable people are behind it. Simon Rattle, the young conductor in whom the OAE placed so much of its initial trust, still cleaves to the ensemble. Iván Fischer, the visionary who punted some of his most individual musical ideas on the young orchestra, continues to challenge it. Mark Elder still mines for luminosity, shade and line. Vladimir Jurowski, the podium technician with an insatiable appetite for creative renewal, has drawn from it some of the most revelatory noises of recent years. And, most recently, it’s been a laboratory for John Butt’s most exciting Bach experiments and Sir András Schiff’s masterful piano sounds. All six of them share the title Principal Artist. Of the instrumentalists, many remain from those brave first days; many have come since. All seem as eager and hungry as ever. They’re offered ever greater respect but continue only to question themselves. Because still, they pride themselves on sitting ever so slightly outside the box. They wouldn’t want it any other way. ©Andrew Mellor
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Sir András Schiff
Born in Budapest in 1953, Sir András Schiff studied piano at the Liszt Ferenc Academy with Pál Kadosa, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados; and in London with George Malcolm. Having collaborated with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, he now focuses primarily on solo recitals, play-directing and conducting.
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©Joanna Bergin
piano
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Since 2004, Sir András has performed the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas in over twenty cities, including Zürich where the cycle was recorded live for ECM. Other acclaimed recordings for the label include solo recitals of Schubert, Schumann and Janáček, alongside J.S. Bach’s Partitas, Goldberg Variations and Well-Tempered Clavier. In recent years his Bach has become an annual highlight of the BBC Proms. Elsewhere, he regularly performs at the Verbier, Salzburg and Baden-Baden festivals; the Wigmore Hall, Musikverein and Philharmonie de Paris; on tour in North America and Asia; and in Vicenza, Italy where he curates a festival at the Teatro Olimpico. Vicenza is also home to Cappella Andrea Barca - a chamber orchestra consisting of international soloists, chamber musicians and friends he founded in 1999. Together they have appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lucerne Festival and Salzburg Mozartwoche; while forthcoming projects include a tour of Asia and a cycle of Bach’s keyboard concertos in Europe. Sir András also enjoys a close relationship with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Orchestra of the Age Enlightenment. In 2018, he accepted the role of Associate Artist with the OAE, complementing his interest in performing on period keyboard instruments. He continues to support new talent, primarily through his “Building Bridges” series which gives performance opportunities to promising young artists. He also teaches at the Barenboim-Said and Kronberg academies and gives frequent lectures and masterclasses. In 2017 his book “Music Comes from Silence,” essays and conversations with Martin Meyer, was published by Bärenreiter and Henschel. Sir András Schiff’s many honours include the International Mozarteum Foundation’s Golden Medal (2012), Germany’s Great Cross of Merit with Star (2012), the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal (2013), a Knighthood for Services to Music (2014) and a Doctorate from the Royal College of Music (2018).
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Programme Notes Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Konzertstück for Four Horns and Orchestra in F major Op. 86 Lebhaft – Sehr lebhaft Romanze – Ziemlich langsam Sehr lebhaft This unusual work dates from 1849 - the year Robert Schumann also completed his Adagio and Allegro for horn and piano Op. 70 and his Jagdlieder (Hunting Songs) for male voices with four horns accompaniment Op. 137. Schumann was experimenting with the opportunities presented by the valve-horn, then undergoing its development process. Prior to this, horn players were obliged to create their pitches by skilled manipulation within the instrument bell. This often led to what one might describe as ‘out-of-tune’ notes and uneven sounding scales. Adding valves made pitch production somewhat easier and more reliable. However, that being the case, the horn is still one of the most difficult orchestral instruments to play. In 1849 – a particularly busy time for the composer – the Schumanns were living in Dresden, a city that boasted about its excellent orchestra. Besides, this ensemble had among its ranks one of the finest exponents of the valve-horn – the French-born musician Joseph Rudolph Lewy. His virtuosity inspired Schumann to compose both the aforementioned Adagio and Allegro and this evening’s Konzertstück. Apparently Schumann originally scored the solo parts for one pair of the old style instruments and one pair of the then modern horns. However, he had second thoughts but suggested one of the two optional orchestral horn parts could be an old ‘natural’ instrument. The work, despite its title Konzertstück (Concert piece), is really a proper concerto.
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The Schumanns had moved to Dresden in 1847 with Robert’s general health and mental condition showing considerable improvement. The composer regarded the Konzertstück – three independent movements linked by transitions – as one of his ‘best pieces’ and according to Schumann scholar, the late Joan Chissell, his ‘writing for the four solo valve-horns is highly original and, in the two faster flanking movements, sometimes even recklessly brilliant’. In sonata form, the exuberant opening Lebhaft (lively), with its interwoven solo parts, is one of Schumann’s most adventurous and elaborate first movements. It has a festive character with, it has been said, ‘a kind of undercurrent feverish giddiness’. Almost all the movement’s melodic material is built from the horns’ triple-rhythm aggressive fanfare. This is followed by an equally extrovert four-note leaping upward idea. The four soloists then compete with each other contrapuntally. Schumann’s second subject is more restrained and his central development section presents some expressively lyrical passages with the horns displaying their more sensuously mellow tones. However, the movement’s recapitulation returns to assertive panache with some extremely high notes for the first horn. The lilting first theme of the song-like Romanze – rather slow, but without dragging - begins in the cellos, followed by oboes and then picked up by the horns. It owes something to Schumann’s 3rd Rhenish Symphony, which recalls memories of him attending a ceremony in Cologne’s great Gothic cathedral. There is a mystical feeling about the music. The horns engage 'call and respond’ contrapuntal lines and the ensuing echo effects are also shared between the orchestra and the soloists. There is a prophetic hint of Brahms, whom Schumann would later meet and greatly admire, in the particularly warm melody introduced by the orchestra and then passed to the horns over a gently plucked accompaniment. The opening idea returns to close the movement.
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The Sehr lebhaft (Very lively) Finale – one of Schumann’s most thrilling - follows without a break. Trumpet calls introduce it and set in motion a movement of almost continuously relentless rhythmic activity where virtuoso scale passages are propelled between orchestra and soloists. There is some respite in the development section here with a return of the Brahmsian chorale-like melody from the middle of the earlier Romanze. But the hyper-energetic bustle returns to bring Schumann’s Konzertstück to an ebullient conclusion. The piece had its première in Leipzig’s Gewandhaus on 25th February 1850. Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Symphony No. 4 in D minor Op. 120 Ziemlich langsam – Lebhaft Romanze: Ziemlich langsam Scherzo: Lebhaft Langsam - Lebhaft If there was a degree of experimentation in Schumann’s Konzertstück, played before the interval, there was another in what is now known as his 4th Symphony. Although keeping a four-movement format, it moves away from strict classical symphonic tradition. The most innovative of his quartet of symphonies, the four movements of the D minor, which has a single large-scale design, are to be played without a break. Indeed, early on Schumann considered calling the work a Symphonic Fantasia wondering whether or not it was a genuine symphony. Despite its high opus number - 120 - Schumann actually composed his D minor Symphony in September 1841, soon enough after the première of his 1st Symphony under Mendelssohn’s direction in Leipzig’s Gewandhaus on 31st March that year. It was extremely well received. However, when Mendelssohn was not available to conduct the first performance of the D minor Symphony this was undertaken by the Gewandhaus concertmaster Ferdinand David on 6th December 1841. 12
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The reception was lukewarm leaving Schumann disappointed although he was still confident about the Symphony’s merits and believed these would be eventually recognised. Some reviews were positive, as were those of Schumann’s Op. 52 Overture, Scherzo and Finale heard for the first time in the same concert. However, Schumann decided against publishing the Symphony and laid it aside. A decade elapsed before he returned to it when, at the height of his powers, he made extensive revisions. Among other things, he refined his orchestration and made the transitions and connections between the movements more compelling. In its new form, the D minor Symphony had its première, under Schumann’s direction, in Düsseldorf on 3rd March 1853 as part of the Spring Music Festival of the Lower Rhine. As two other symphonies – the C major Op. 61 and the E flat Op. 97 – had appeared in the meantime, when the D minor was published the following year it was given the opus number 120. Despite Schumann’s enthusiasm, there were some, including Johannes Brahms, who were dissatisfied with the D minor’s revision. In fact, some time after Schumann’s death in 1856, Brahms resurrected the first version of the work and made it available as an alternative. This was much to the annoyance of Schumann’s widow, Clara. Although a close friend of Brahms, she could not accept the possibility that Robert would have rewritten a score without altogether improving it. However, it is the second version of the Symphony that has established itself in the concert repertoire. Showing an influence of Haydn, the Symphony begins with a majestically impressive slow introduction. It has a pensive motif that will return again and again in both rhythmic and melodic transformations to give the Symphony a sense of unity. This introduction runs accelerando into the main Lebhaft (lively) section of the sonata form movement and more or less ignites the main subject, heard initially on the violins, and drawn from the motif of the Introduction. A subsidiary subject 13
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is also processed from the same source. The movement is built to a splendid climax with three stimulating chords. These will also form part of the themes of the ensuing Scherzo and Finale. Later, a beautifully shaped melody appears and implies that it is really the movement’s second subject. Following further extensive and inventive development the music proceeds to the spacious coda that leads the movement to its conclusion. The exquisitely fashioned Romanze is brief but comely. The oboe intones an elegiac tune. It could be a courtly Renaissance dance and in Schumann’s original version a guitar accompanied it. The languorous air of the first movement’s introduction returns and is enhanced by the graceful embroidery of the first violin’s elegant solo. The courtly dance motif is heard again before the Romanze concludes. Interestingly, there is a similarity to the Romanze’s principal theme in the Poco allegretto movement of Brahms’ F major Third Symphony of 1883. Schumann’s Scherzo here is robust and energetic. It also presents a new motif although it reprises the vigorous climax of the first movement as well. Some commentators believe it to have a resemblance to an idea in the minuet of Johann Kalliwoda’s First Symphony – one of this composer’s popular works at the time. The Schumanns knew the Bohemian composer and violinist and were familiar with his music. Be that as it may, the similarity to Kalliwoda’s minuet here does not detract in any way from Schumann’s own composition. The following Trio section is particularly gentle in its recall of the delicate figurations of the solo violin in the earlier Romanze. Flutes and clarinets add their own flowing comments. The Scherzo is repeated and, following the example of Beethoven in his 4th, 5th and 7th Symphonies, Schumann allows his Trio to return. However, he slows it down as it slips into the pianissimo bars of the Langsam introduction to his Finale.
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This in turn forms a bridge to the dramatically charged Lebhaft. As might now be expected there are reminiscences of the previous movements and with ever-increasing liveliness, Schumann intensifies his mood of jubilant light-heartedness. Two contrasted songlike ideas are also initiated and developed before eventually leading into the elaborate coda with which Schumann brings his Symphony to its presto conclusion. INTERVAL Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor Op. 15 Maestoso Adagio Rondo: Allegro non troppo Any mention of Brahms makes me think of Seán O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars. In Act I Mrs Gogan recounts to Fluther Good an incident regarding her young neighbour Nora Clitheroe. Recently married and bemoaning her lot living in a tenement house, Nora said to Mrs Gogan, ‘I wouldn’t like to spend me last hour in one, let alone spend me life in a tenement’. Mrs Gogan gave Fluther her response. ‘Many a good one, says I, was reared in a tenement house’. Brahms, as it happened, was born in a shabby tenement in Hamburg’s Gängeviertal (Lane Quartet) – a disreputable area known locally as ‘Adulterers’ Walk’. However, such humble surroundings did not deter him from becoming one of the finest pianists and respected composers of the latter half of the 19th century. Brahms’s father Johann – a freelance musician – quickly recognised his son’s unusual talent and did all in his power to nurture it, despite the limitations of the family’s financial circumstances.
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Brahms made a spectacular debut as a virtuoso pianist shortly before his 16th birthday, but ensuing engagements were few and far between. The fledgling composer supplemented the family income by playing the piano in taverns, dance halls, Hamburg’s City Theatre and, occasionally, in a ‘fine house’, which brought more favourable remuneration. Gradually his fortunes improved and he became known more as a brilliant pianist than a composer. Encountering established violinist Joseph Joachim was fortuitous as the latter gave Brahms a letter of introduction to Robert and Clara Schumann in Düsseldorf. They met on 30th September 1853 and Brahms played some of his music for them. Afterwards Schumann wrote, ‘he proved to be a player of genius, transforming the piano into an orchestra’. Schumann was 43, Clara 34 and Brahms – shy, lean, blond and handsome – was 20. They became close friends, which in Clara’s case lasted until her death in 1896. Robert had, of course, died in the asylum in Endenich, near Bonn, in 1856, two years after his attempted suicide by leaping into the Rhine in Düsseldorf. Brahms became the family’s constant support and it was around this time of turmoil and anguish that the music, which would eventually become this evening’s concerto, began to germinate. Brahms had been struggling with the urge to write something grand and important but hearing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony for the first time threw him off course. What he hoped would become a symphony began instead to take shape as a sonata for two pianos. When completed, he and Frau Schumann played it together. Clara wrote in her diary, ‘it struck me as quite powerful, quite original, conceived with great breadth and more clarity than his earlier things’. Brahms conception was obviously orchestral and symphonic in scope but difficulties remained to be resolved.
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It took another of Brahms’s friends, pianist/composer Julius Grimm, to suggest a solution – a piano concerto. Brahms agreed with the first two movements of the sonata reworked as the concerto’s Maestoso and Adagio. Brahms decided on a new finale while the third movement of the sonata found its way into the composer’s Ein Deutsches Requiem. But all this took time, and with Joachim conducting the Hanover Court Orchestra, Brahms gave the work a ‘reading rehearsal’ on 30th March 1858. The public première, with the same forces on 22nd January 1859, was reasonably well received, but the second performance in Leipzig, with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Ferdinand David, was hissed. The audience, who liked ‘virtuosic brilliance, dazzling cadenzas, not too many minor keys or music that was tragic’ had few of their wishes granted. Brahms was hurt but decided to make some changes before the concerto was published in 1861. Clara Schumann took the work into her repertoire playing it in several German cities, including Leipzig where it had enormous success in 1874. The Maestoso opens with a startlingly disturbed and menacing theme that has both drama and ambiguity with the strings suggesting B flat major rather than D minor. The theme, it has been said, ‘hurls like a thunderbolt’. Its second half is repeated and developed, ‘culminating in a burst of heavy trills that cascade through the orchestra like a shower of fiery sparks’. When this tempestuousness dies down, a lyrical second theme appears. A kind of lullaby, it becomes quite reflective in its deliberate pace. Although pointing towards silence, this notion is shattered as the opening theme returns even more forcefully than before. Eventually the storm subsides and the piano makes its entry almost unobtrusively with a waltz-like melody that is calm and undemonstrative. However, tranquillity does not last and a period of conflict follows.
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In time, another theme offers respite. It comes in a chorale-like passage for the soloist, echoed by the strings and leading to a ‘rare moment of exaltation for the brass’. The piano then decides to ruminate on all that has previously happened. The orchestra gives an agitated response after which the soloist returns to the drama of the opening. Timpani roll fiercely in D as the piano, in a spirit of opposition, plays emphatically in E flat. These disagreements are resolved and the main key re-established. There are massive orchestral outbursts with the soloist obliged to also engage the dramatic utterances with which the movement began. The completely contrasted Adagio is appealingly gentle. Brahms wrote on his manuscript, Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Despite their religious connotation, the words suggest a double dedication – one, to the deceased Schumann (whom Brahms often called master or ‘Dominus’) and two, to his widow, whom Brahms had come to worship. The composer wrote to Clara about the movement, ‘I am also painting a lovely portrait of you. It is to be the Adagio’. Strings and woodwind set the mood for the piano’s meditative theme. This leads to a rhapsodic sequence that can be disturbed by occasional impassioned, and almost aggressive, gestures. If the opening Maestoso came without a cadenza, Brahms makes amends somewhat here with one that is short and slow before the movement is brought to its pianissimo conclusion. The piano introduces the principal theme of the colossal Rondo. Joachim enjoyed its ‘pithy bold spirit’. Balancing the first movement, it proceeds with immense energy that combines the ‘brilliance of a 19th century showpiece with symphonic weight’. There are two further subjects with the first really a variation of the main theme and the second not developed at any great length. Towards the end there is a cadenza, which Brahms indicates as quasi Fantasia and this leads to the coda that brings this remarkable Concerto to its majestic finish. Programme notes Pat O’Kelly © 2019 18
International Concert Series 2018/2019
International Concert Series 2018/2019 Saturday 30 March 2019, 8pm
Tuesday 21 May 2019, 8pm
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Pinchas Zukerman violin/conductor
Boston Symphony Chamber Players Programme to include works by Françaix, Mozart and Gandolfi
Programme to include works by Vaughan Williams and Mozart
Friday 14 June 2019, 8pm London Symphony Orchestra Gianandrea Noseda conductor Daniil Trifonov piano Philip Cobb trumpet Antoine Tamestit viola
Friday 26 April 2019, 8pm Tara Erraught mezzo-soprano John O’Conor piano Programme to include works by Strauss, Mahler and Rossini
Programme to include works by Beethoven, Shostakovich and Berlioz
Thursday 9 May 2019, 8pm Marc-André Hamelin piano Programme to include works by Schumann, Fauré and Chopin
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International Concert Series 2018/2019
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Sir Andrรกs Schiff conductor/piano Violin Aisslinn Nosky, leader Ken Aiso Leonie Curtin Debbie Diamond Christiane Eidsten Dahl Alice Evans Dominika Feher Jane Gordon Rachel Isserlis Julia Kuhn Roy Mowatt Andrew Roberts Stephen Rouse Beatrice Scaldini Jayne Spencer Kinga Ujszaszi Lucy Waterhouse
Cello Luise Buchberger Catherine Rimer Andrew Skidmore Helen Verney Ruth Alford Eric de Wit
Viola Benedikt Schneider Nicholas Logie Martin Kelly Annette Isserlis Katie Heller Marina Ascherson
Oboe Daniel Bates Leo Duarte
Double Bass Jan Zahourek Cecelia Bruggemeyer Christine Sticher Markus van Horn Flute Lisa Beznosiuk Katy Bircher Neil McLaren
Clarinet Antony Pay Katherine Spencer
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Bassoon Meyrick Alexander Helen Storey Horn Roger Montgomery Martin Lawrence Gavin Edwards David Bentley Ursula Paludan Monberg Nicholas Benz Trumpet David Blackadder Phillip Bainbridge Trombone Philip Dale Martyn Sanderson Andy Lester Timpani Adrian Bending Sir Andrรกs Schiff principal artist John Butt principal artist Sir Mark Elder principal artist Ivรกn Fischer principal artist Vladimir Jurowski principal artist Sir Simon Rattle principal artist William Christie emeritus conductor Sir Roger Norrington emeritus conductor Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Management Chief Executive Crispin Woodhead
Orchestra Manager Philippa Brownsword Projects Director Jo Perry Development Director Emily Stubbs Director of Finance & Operations Ivan Rockey Education Director Cherry Forbes Director of Marketing & Audience Development John Holmes PR Director Katy Bell International Tour Management by Askonas Holt Ltd Chief Executive Donagh Collins Head of Tours and Projects Sergio Porto Bargiela Senior Project Manager Suzanne Doyle Project Administrator Esther Killisch
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