My Homeland Fr 13 September 2024 • 20.15 Su 15 September 2024 • 14.15
PROGRAMME
conductor Valentin Uryupin
clarinet Paul Meyer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K 622 (1791)
• Allegro
• Adagio
• Rondo: Allegro
Intermission
Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884)
Má Vlast (My Homeland) (1874–79)
• Vyšehrad (The High Castle)
• Vltava (The Moldau)
• Šárka
• Z českých luhů a hájů (From Bohemia’s ..Woods and Fields)
• Tábor
• Blaník
Concert ends at around 22.30/16.30
Most recent performances by our orchestra:
• Mozart Clarinet Concerto: Mar 2017, clarinet
Julien Hervé, conductor Gustavo Gimeno
• Smetana Má Vlast: Jan 1993, conductor Libor Pešek
One hour before the start of the concert, Sam Wamper will give an introduction (in Dutch) to the programme, admission €7,50. Tickets are available at the hall, payment by debit card. The introduction is free for Vrienden.
Cover: The Moldau at Prague. Photo Anthony Delanoix (Unsplashed)
Blaník. Omslagillustratie door Antonín König voor de eerste uitgave van Smetana’s partituur (1894) Richard-Strauss-Institut
Blaník: over illustration by Antonín König for the first edition of Smetana’s score (1894)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Unfinished portrait by Joseph Lange (1789–90)
Lifelong love
It is a crying shame that at many schools the teaching of music by expert teachers continues to suffer cutbacks. After all, a lifelong love of music can be sparked by an enthusiastic role model.
In the early 70’s I myself had the opportunity for a weekly music lesson from a teacher who closely resembled Geppetto from the Disney cartoon Pinocchio. The man stole my heart with his interpretation of Vltava, the second poem from the suite Má Vlast by Bedřich Smetana. Not only did he conduct in front of the class like a wild man, but he illustrated everything with photos and explained the composition with loud singing and piano playing. I was hooked, and still am, even though it would be much later before I discovered the beauty of Má Vlast in its entirety.
Human voice
During these music lessons we were also introduced to Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto. And this too was a fascinating encounter, if only on account of the final year of the composer, during which he composed with death hard at his heels.
The clarinet was rather a new instrument when Mozart composed his concerto in 1791, having first heard its sound twelve years earlier during a visit to Milan. Back then he was not
immediately sold on the instrument; that would have to wait for another year when he heard it played for the first time by clarinettist Anton Stadler. ‘I never knew that the clarinet could imitate the human voice so well’, Mozart is reported to have said to Stadler. He then put the instrument in the spotlight in the Clarinet Quintet composed for Stadler, the clarinet solos in his opera La Clemenza di Tito and the Concert Allegro for basset horn. These works formed the prelude to the Clarinet Concerto, Mozart’s final, completed work before his untimely death. Mozart composed the work specially for Stadler’s own clarinet; one whose lower range was extended by four even deeper notes. However, to make the piece playable on more conventional instruments, the publisher had these lowest notes printed an octave higher. It is this that explains the sometimes big leaps in the version for ordinary clarinet that would make the work so famous.
Six symphonic poems
We have largely Stadler and Mozart to thank for the speed with which the clarinet conquered the world. Within no time at all the instrument had established a permanent place in the western tradition of symphonic and chamber music. When Bedřich Smetana composed his celebrated suite Má Vlast, he gave the orchestra’s two clarinets a formidable part. But even more than the coming of age of the clarinet, we hear in the work how Czech culture found its voice.
Due to the after-effects of a syphilis infection, Smetana was virtually deaf when he began this symphonic suite in 1874. But none of this is reflected in the music. Vyšehrad, the powerful opening poem, depicts in vivid detail the history of the castle that towers high above Prague. The harp of the mythical bard Lumír introduces us to the tale with a theme of four notes that will also recur in the following movements. We hear how the castle walls rise, and give a home to various kings through the ages. Destruction from enemy bombardment does not signify the end: the castle rises again, bigger and stronger than before, and still crowns the hill on the east bank of the Vltava river in Prague.
Idylls and battlegrounds
The Vltava is immediately the subject of the suite’s second, most famous and beloved poem. As Smetana explained: ‘The composition describes the course of the Vltava, beginning as two small springs that converge. The river passes through forests and meadows through a landscape where country folk celebrate a wedding. We see water nymphs dancing in the moonlight; castles, palaces and ruins adorn nearby rocky outcrops. At the St John’s Rapids, the Vltava grows deep and wide, and flows into Prague, alongside castle Vyšehrad. It then disappears magically into the distance, flowing into the Elbe.’
The third poem, Šárka, revives the legend of the eponymous heroine, who seduces the cruel knight Ctirad in order to overpower him and his fighting men with her army of women. The fourth poem, Z českých luhů a hájů (From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields), paints a lush, pastoral idyll of the Bohemian landscape. The fifth poem Tábor is another nod to history that this time deals with the struggle of the Hussites, followers of Johannes Hus, who were
at the forefront of Czech nationalism. The main theme is based on a Hussite chorale. This leads on to the final poem, Blaník, which ends by actually quoting from the main theme of Tábor. It depicts the knights of Saint Wenceslas, the nation’s patron saint, who lie asleep within the mountain of Blaník, ready return to battle in the nation’s hour of need.
Water nymphs are dancing in the moonlight; castles, palaces and ruins adorn nearby rocky outcrops
Declaration of love
Ideally, all six poems should be played in sequence, just as in this performance. In this way the audience hears the unfolding of a great symphonic work, full of meaningful connections – a passionate declaration of love from a Czech composer to his home nation. But Smetana had no objection to the various poems being performed individually. Which is fortunate, because it means that Vltava could flow well beyond its national borders to win over me and countless people of my generation to a lifelong love of classical music (I would later discover that this piece was part of a national music curriculum), thanks to the passion shared by our music teachers.
Paul Janssen
Valentin Uryupin • conductor
Born: Lozova, Ukraine
Education: clarinet and conducting at the Moscow State Conservatory with Evgeny Petrov and Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, masterclass with Kurt Masur, assistantships with Vladimir Jurowski, Valery Gergiev, Teodor Currentzis
Awards: Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition 2016 (Third Prize)
Breakthrough: 2017, winner International Conducting Competition Sir Georg Solti, Frankfurt
Subsequently: guest appearances with Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, SWR Symphonieorchester, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Mariinsky Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra; chief conductor Rostov Symphony Orchestra (2015–2021) and Novaya Opera Moscow (2021–2022); opera at the State Operas of Berlin, Hannover, Stuttgart; Teatro Real Madrid, Athens Opera, Bregenz Festival
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2024
Paul Meyer • clarinet
Bron: Mulhouse, France
Education: clarinet at the conservatories of Paris and Basel; conducting with Charles Bruck and John Carewe
Breakthrough: 1982, winner Eurovision Young Musicians Competition
Subsequently: solo appearances with Orchestre de Paris, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, NHK Tokyo, collaborations with Martha Argerich, Benny Goodman, Gidon Kremer, Mstislav Rostropovitch
As a conductor: founder Orchestre de Chambre d’Alsace, chief conductor Chamber Orchestra Mannheim (since 2018), guest appearances with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
Order of merit: Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres
Debut Rotterdams Philharmonic: 2024
Photo: Edith Held
Photo: Daniil Rabovsky
Musicians Agenda
Proms: A Night at the Opera
Fri 20 Sep 2024 • 20.30
Sat 21 Sep 2024 • 20.30
conductor Bassem Akiki
soprano Emily Pogorelc
Rossini, Verdi and Puccini Overtures and arias
Thu 26 Sep 2024 • 20.15
Fri 27 Sep 2024 • 20.15
conductor Lahav Shani
piano Martha Argerich
Roukens Con spirito (world premiere)
Bartók Piano Concerto No. 3
Dvořák Symphony No. 9
Fri 27 Sep 2024 • 17.30
piano Martha Argerich and Lahav Shani
percussion Danny van de Wal and Martijn Boom
Rachmaninoff Suite No. 2
Bartók Sonata for two pianos and percussion
Thu 3 Oct 2024 • 20.15
conductor Joana Mallwitz
piano Leif Ove Andsnes
Prokofiev Overture War and Peace
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3
Hindemith Symphony Mathis der Maler
Ravel La valse
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Chief Conductor
Lahav Shani
Honorary Conductor
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Principal Guest Conductor
Tarmo Peltokoski
First Violin
Marieke Blankestijn, concertmeester
Quirine Scheffers
Hed Yaron Meyerson
Saskia Otto
Arno Bons
Rachel Browne
Maria Dingjan
Marie-José Schrijner
Noëmi Bodden
Petra Visser
Sophia Torrenga
Hadewijch Hofland
Annerien Stuker
Alexandra van Beveren
Marie Duquesnoy
Second Violin
Charlotte Potgieter
Frank de Groot
Laurens van Vliet
Elina Staphorsius
Jun Yi Dou
Bob Bruyn
Eefje Habraken
Maija Reinikainen
Babette van den Berg
Melanie Broers
Tobias Staub
Sarah Decamps
Viola
Anne Huser
Roman Spitzer
Galahad Samson
José Moura Nunes
Kerstin Bonk
Janine Baller
Francis Saunders
Veronika Lénártová
Rosalinde Kluck
León van den Berg
Olfje van der Klein
Jan Navarro
Cello
Emanuele Silvestri
Joanna Pachucka
Daniel Petrovitsch
Mario Rio
Eelco Beinema
Carla Schrijner
Pepijn Meeuws
Yi-Ting Fang
Double Bass
Matthew Midgley
Ying Lai Green
Jonathan Focquaert
Robert Franenberg
Harke Wiersma
Arjen Leendertz
Ricardo Neto
Javier Clemen Martínez
Flute
Juliette Hurel
Joséphine Olech
Manon Gayet
Flute/Piccolo
Beatriz Da Baião
Oboe
Karel Schoofs
Anja van der Maten
Oboe/Cor Anglais
Ron Tijhuis
Clarinet
Julien Hervé
Bruno Bonansea
Alberto Sánchez García
Clarinet/ Bass Clarinet
Romke-Jan Wijmenga
Bassoon
Pieter Nuytten
Lola Descours
Marianne Prommel
Bassoon/ Contrabassoon
Hans Wisse
Horn
David Fernández Alonso
Felipe Santos Freitas Silva
Wendy Leliveld
Richard Speetjens
Laurens Otto
Pierre Buizer
Trumpet
Alex Elia
Simon Wierenga
Jos Verspagen
Trombone
Pierre Volders
Alexander Verbeek
Remko de Jager
Bass Trombone
Rommert Groenhof
Tuba
Hendrik-Jan Renes
Percussion
Danny van de Wal
Ronald Ent
Martijn Boom
Adriaan Feyaerts
Harp
Charlotte Sprenkels