JAC VAN STEEN CONDUCTS FAURÉ Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 November 2018 7.30pm | Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall Jac van Steen conductor Wei-Ting Wu violin Charlotte Bowden soprano James Atkinson baritone RCM Symphony Orchestra RCM Chorus
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JAC VAN STEEN CONDUCTS FAURÉ Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 November 2018, 7.30pm Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall Jac van Steen conductor Wei-Ting Wu violin Charlotte Bowden soprano James Atkinson baritone RCM Symphony Orchestra RCM Chorus Lucy Griffiths chorus director Franck (1822–1890)
Les Éolides
(10’)
L Boulanger (1893–1918)
D'un soir triste
(11’)
Dutilleux (1916– 2013)
Sur le même accord
(10’)
Requiem i Introit et Kyrie ii Offertory iii Sanctus iv Pie Jesu v Agnus Dei vi Libera me vii In Paradisum
(36’)
INTERVAL Fauré (1845–1924)
Our evening of French music begins with Les Éolides, a symphonic poem based on Greek classical mythology. Aeolus is the Greek god of the wind and the Éolides are the breezes which are sent by Poseidon to aid Odysseus in his return voyage. Marking 100 years since the death of Lili Boulanger, the first woman to win the Prix de Rome composition prize, D'un soir triste was written in 1918, shortly before her death at age 24. Sur le même accord was commissioned for the London Philharmonic Orchestra and premiered in 2002. The piece is built around a six-note chord played by solo violin. Finally, the gentle yet powerful Requiem by Fauré, brings together RCM instrumentalists and chorus in combination for this most moving masterpiece. Watch the concert on Thursday 15 November at www.rcm.ac.uk/live
Franck Les Éolides op 26 Franck’s symphonic poem was inspired by Leconte de Lisle’s poem about the daughters of Aeolus, the wind god. It was premiered on 13 May 1877 at a concert organised by the Société Nationale de Musique, an organisation which had been founded in 1870 specifically to promote French music. Though Franck was Belgian by birth, he was a highly influential and much-loved figure on the Parisian music scene, both as a composer and as a teacher of composition and organ. Les Éolides is a descriptive orchestral work of a type popular in the second half of the 19th century: Liszt influenced many other European composers, including Saint-Saëns and Franck, to compose instrumental music inspired by a work in another art form. Franck’s characteristic chromatic restlessness and reiterated melodies is ideally suited to an imaginative portrayal of eternally shifting breezes. L Boulanger D’un soir triste D’un soir triste (‘Of a Sad Evening’) was conceived as a sombre pendant to the lively D’un matin de printemps. The principal themes of the two works resemble each other in their melodic shape and use of dotted rhythms, and they are both in predominantly minor-ish modes, though Boulanger shows how similar musical material can convey very different moods in different contexts. In common with many Boulanger instrumental works, D’un soir triste exists in several versions: for orchestra, cello and piano and piano trio. The orchestral manuscript is in Nadia Boulanger’s hand, following indications left by her sister in the piano trio score. It is likely the publisher Ricordi encouraged these transcriptions for different potential markets, and they probably provided the descriptive title. Like many of Boulanger’s works in slow tempo, D’un soir triste features a measured procession of chords underpinned by sustained or reiterated pitches. Occasionally, the melody is preceded by an upwardly swooping gesture reminiscent of the Baroque French overture. The piece is most notable for its orchestration, initially based on the central register of the string section, often joined by the harp (an instrument the composer herself played). The first climax, after about four minutes, leads to powerful drum strokes and muted brass, marked funèbre, douloureux (funereal, painful), a section that recalls Boulanger’s short choral piece Pour les funérailles d’un soldat (‘For the Burial of a Soldier’, 1912). Given that D’un soir triste was composed during the First World War, this reminiscence is surely deliberate. A fuzzy passage with predominant violas, celesta and harp leads to a reprise of the opening material, and the concluding ascending violin line does not entirely dispel the sombre mood of the piece.
Dutilleux Sur le même accord, Nocturne pour violon et orchestre Sur le même accord was commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and premiered at the Royal Festival Hall, London on 28 April 2002. Written for Anne-Sophie Mutter, the piece is built around a six-note chord first presented as a single line, which repeats and builds using double stopping. As the motif expands through the orchestra, it is heard as a chord in various inversions. It does not form the entire musical material of the piece, but its characteristic intervals and frequent reappearance at its original pitch ensures that it is easily recognisable whenever it does appear. Dutilleux had previously composed a violin concerto, L’arbre des songes (‘The Tree of Dreams’; 1979–85) and he was prompted to write a second violin and orchestra work by Mutter, whom he got to know well through the Swiss philanthropist and conductor Paul Sacher. Sur le même accord shares its conception – and almost its title – with a piano study, Sur un même accord (1976). More broadly, the notion of a focal chord or set of pitches which act as a quasi-tonal centre is one of Dutilleux’s fingerprints. Its subtitle, ‘Nocturne for violin and orchestra’, also uses a title of which the composer was fond, as he had previously used it for two movements of his string quartet Ainsi la nuit (1973–6). Sur le même accord is around ten minutes long and moves quickly through a wide variety of moods which often change abruptly. His mercurial orchestral writing includes a typically elaborate part for timpani, and the piece’s lively wit makes it stand out in Dutilleux’s oeuvre. Fauré Requiem Gabriel Fauré ended his career as one of France’s most respected composers and Director of the Paris Conservatoire, but he himself was from a non-musical family from southwest France and was not a Conservatoire graduate. Rather, from the age of nine he studied at the Ecole Niedermeyer, a small church music-oriented school. Church modes combined with tonality inflected his music from his earliest works, such as Cantique de Jean Racine (1864–5), which won a school composition competition. Camille Saint-Saëns, his piano teacher at the Ecole Niedermeyer, was a lifelong mentor and friend. Fauré originally wrote his Requiem for a funeral service at the Madeleine, the church very near the Place de la Concorde for which he was principal organist. This first version had only five movements (the Introit and Kyrie, Sanctus, Pie Jesu, Sanctus and In Paradisum), the Offertoire and Libera me being added at a later date. (This sequence of movements was also used by Maurice Duruflé in his 1948 Requiem.) It was composed for an unusual orchestra with a solo violin but no other violins. The upper choral parts and Pie Jesu solo movement were sung by boys for
its original ecclesiastical performance, though Fauré preferred female singers for concert performances. He reworked the score again at the turn of the 20th century for full orchestra, and this is the version we are hearing tonight. The touching simplicity and melodic appeal of Fauré’s Requiem are coupled with a unique harmonic language that effortlessly fuses tonality and modality and incorporates unusual substitute chords. Fauré once said that he composed his Requiem ‘for pleasure.’ Its mood is a world away from that of other popular 19thcentury Requiems such as Verdi’s; rather than present the listener with a fearinducing image of the Last Judgement, Fauré prefers to console and comfort the living. © Caroline Potter, 2018
Introit and Kyrie Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Te decet hymnus, Deus in Sion: et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem. exaudi orationem meam, ad te omnis caro veniet.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. To you God, hymns of praise are sung in Sion: and a vow shall be paid to you in Jerusalem. Lord, hear my prayer, all flesh shall come to you.
Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison.
Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us.
Offertory O Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae, libera animas defunctorum de poenis inferni et de profundo lacu. de ore leonis, ne absorbeat tartarus, ne cadant in obscurum. Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus. tu suscipe pro animabus illis, quarum hodie memoriam facimus. fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam. Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus. Amen.
O Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls of the dead from the pains of hell and from the deep pit. from the lion’s mouth, Let them not be swallowed up, nor fall into darkness. Our sacrifices and prayers to you, Lord, we offer with praise. Receive them for the souls of those whom we remember today. Make them, Lord, to pass from death to life, As once you promised to Abraham and his seed. Amen.
Sanctus Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis.
Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.
Pie Jesu Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem, sempiternam requiem.
Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest, eternal rest.
Agnus Dei Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem, sempiternam requiem. Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine: cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. Libera me Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna, in die illa tremenda, quando coeli movendi sunt et terra: dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem. Tremens factus sum ego et timeo, dum discussio venerit, atque ventura ira. Dies illa, dies irae, calamitatis et miseriae, dies magna et amara valde. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.
In paradisum In paradisum deducant angeli: in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat et cum Lazaro quondam paupere aeternam habeas requiem.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world: grant them rest, eternal rest. May perpetual light eternal shine upon them, Lord, with your saints forever, for your tender mercy’s sake. Grant them eternal rest, Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. Deliver me, Lord, from eternal death on that dreadful day when the heavens and the earth shall be moved, and you shalt come to judge the world by fire. I am trembling and afraid, at the destruction that shall come, and also at your coming wrath. Day of mourning, day of wrath, of calamity, of misery, Day of mourning, the great day, and most bitter. Grant them eternal rest, Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the angels lead you to Paradise, may you be received by the martyrs and bring you into the holy city of Jerusalem. May the chorus of angels greet you, and with Lazarus, once a beggar, may you have eternal rest.
Jac van Steen Jac van Steen was born in the Netherlands and studied orchestra and choir conducting at the Brabants Conservatory of Music. Since participating in the BBC Conductors Seminar in 1985, he enjoys a very busy career and conducts the best orchestras in Europe, which included the posts of Music Director and Chief Conductor of the National Ballet of the Netherlands, the orchestras of Bochum, Nürenberg, the Staatskapelle Weimar, The Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra of Dortmund, Musikkollegium Winterthur and Principal Guest Conductor at the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. At present he is Principal Guest Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra and the Prague Symphony Orchestra. He made his debut with Opera North in 2013 as well as with the Volksoper in Vienna. In 2015 he made a very successful debut at the Garsington Opera. He returned to Opera North with performances of Puccini’s Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica, the Volksoper Vienna with Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane and Garsington Opera in 2017 with Debussy's Pelleas and Melisande. Jac van Steen visits the UK regularly with the British orchestras such as the Philharmonia, the City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Philharmonic and Ulster orchestras and made his debut in Tokyo with the New Japan Philharmonic. Jac van Steen participates in numerous recordings for the BBC, as well as live- broadcasts of his concerts. There are a substantial number of CD recordings of his work with various orchestras. Besides his activities as conductor, he is dedicated to teaching and is Professor for Conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague. He also regularly works with the Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham’s School of Music (Manchester) as well as the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music (London). In May and June 2018 he led the Jette Park Young Artists showcase organised by the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London.
Wei-Ting Wu Born in Taiwan, Wei-Ting has lived in the UK from the age of 13, first studying at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Lutsia Ibragimova and currently at the Royal College of Music on the master’s course with Radu Blidar. He has worked with musicians including Viktor Tretyakov, Alina Ibragimova and Maxim Vengerov, and performed in venues such as the Taiwan National Concert Hall, Wigmore Hall and Windsor Castle. Wei-Ting performs on a 1759 Michele Deconet violin, on loan to him by kind permission of the Chi-Mei Cultural Foundation of Tainan, Taiwan. Charlotte Bowden Charlotte is in her first year of a Masters of Performance degree, studying with Rosa Mannion and Caroline Dowdle. She is the Linda Beeley Scholar, a Help Musicians UK Ian Fleming Award holder, and is supported by the Josephine Baker Trust. She is also a Britten-Pears Young Artist having studied the title role in Handel’s Theodora earlier this year with Sarah Connolly and Christian Curnyn and is currently covering roles including Second Woman in Dido and Aeneas with English Touring Opera. During her undergraduate Charlotte was a regular soloist in the prestigious Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata Series. She sang in the final concert of the Oxford Lieder Festival's Schubert Project with Sarah Walker and was awarded both the Marjorie Thomas Art of Song Prize and the Michael Head Prize at the RAM. Upcoming highlights include Handel Messiah at Snape Maltings, Bach St Matthew Passion at Salisbury Cathedral, and Bach Magnificat and Haydn The Creation for the Leith Hill Music Festival.
James Atkinson James Atkinson is a baritone on the postgraduate course at the Royal College of Music, where he studies with Alison Wells and Simon Lepper. He is kindly supported by a Pidem Scholarship, the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Tillett Trust, an Alfred Alexander Award, and the Josephine Baker Trust. With the RCM Opera Studio, James has sung the roles of Le Gendarme (Les mamelles de Tirésias), Blazes (The Lighthouse) and Le Fleuve (Les fêtes d'Hébé) – in collaboration with l'Académie de l'Opéra national de Paris – and covered the role of Pausanias (Une éducation manqué). James recently performed with British Youth Opera, singing the role of Lysander (The Enchanted Island). Recent concert performances have included Haydn's The Creation, Bach’s St John and St Matthew passions, the requiems of Fauré and Mozart, a showcase recital at the Oxford Lieder Festival, and a masterclass with Thomas Quasthoff at Wigmore Hall. Lucy Griffiths Lucy Griffiths is one of the most respected conductor-animateurs of her generation. Having studied and won several prestigious prizes in the UK and Canada, her leadership experience ranges across vocal and instrumental music-making with professional, amateur, youth and adult ensembles at the very highest level of each. It has seen her appear on TV and radio, premiering new works, adjudicating competitions, touring extensively throughout the UK and internationally, and working alongside some of the world's finest musicians and directors. Lucy is Assistant Director of Music at the University of Warwick and Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra's Junior Choir. She is a leading expert in the field of music education and engagement, specialising in vocal outreach, and also works as a designer and presenter of educational and family concerts.
RCM Symphony Orchestra and Chorus The Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra plays with conductors and musicians of the highest international stature, and is frequently invited to perform in prestigious venues across London and beyond. The members of the RCM Symphony Orchestra are some of the world’s very best young instrumentalists. They have chosen to study at the RCM because of its unrivalled blend of superlative teaching, extensive performance opportunities, and close connections with the orchestral profession. In addition to the many professors who are active professional instrumentalists, the RCM participates in side-by-side and other experience schemes with, amongst others, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of English National Opera, the Philharmonia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. This enables students to experience professional conditions and achieve professional standards before they graduate. The RCM’s long tradition of highquality orchestral training has launched the careers of many distinguished orchestral players over several decades. The RCM Chorus has been a leading ensemble in the College for many years. The ensemble is the largest at the RCM with around 150 musicians performing together. Following preparation with some of the leading choral trainers, the chorus performs with the RCM Symphony Orchestra to sell-out audiences. The size of the ensemble has enabled the choir to undertake a variety of large-scale repertoire with some of the world’s most celebrated conductors. These have included Bernard Haitink for Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé in Autumn 2016 and Michael Rosewell for Mozart’s Requiem in 2017. Founded in 1882, the RCM moved to its present site on Prince Consort Road in 1894. Illustrious alumni include Benjamin Britten, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Dame Joan Sutherland, Sir Thomas Allen, Sir Colin Davis, John Wilson, Alina Ibragimova, Gerald Finley and Dame Sarah Connolly. In addition to its 800 full time students, the College engages dynamically with a wider and more diverse community of children and adults through a dedicated range of creative activities delivered by RCM Sparks’ education and participation projects, RCM Junior Department programme and the Creative Careers Centre. A further development is the growing schedule of live-streamed concerts and masterclasses which can be viewed on www.rcm.ac.uk. The RCM would like to thank the following orchestra and chorus coaches: Gaby Lester (violin) Bekki Chambers (viola) Tim Gill (cello) Colin Paris (bass) Nigel Black (brass)
Tim Lines (woodwind and tutti woodwind, brass percussion, harp & celeste) Ben Palmer (tutti strings and tutti orchestra) Mark Biggins (deputy chorus director)
Violin I Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux Arda Karakaya Iida Lymi Maxime Morise Katherine Yoon Hanna Thiesen Karolina Sutt Yingxuan Li Ezgi Sarikcioglu Sherry Shen Mathilde Marsal Tory Sawyer Liam Keneally Violin II Richard Thomas Winnie Law Auguste Janonyte Xingchen Guo Sania Lin Kellija Moncaka Alex Collins Yaqi Yao Mila Ferramosca Cara Laskaris Stefano D’Ermenegildo Viola Geeta Nazareth Ana Dunne-Sequi Duncan Commin Irene Katsenelson Connie Pharoah Ethan Rouse Elisabeth Plaza Serrano Jose Freitas Tuoyu Li Hyun Jin Soh
Cello Wallis Power Lavinnia Rae Tamaki Sugimoto Jaclyn Rosenfeld Cristina Cooper Puebla Elize Sera Xiaodi Xu Ekaterina Solomennik
Trumpet Antoine Sarkar Elliot Phelps Christopher Bowman
Bass Philip Nelson Daniel Tancredi Jon Mendiguchia Peter Farthing Ketan Curtis Frances Emery
Tuba Barnaby Slade
Flute Imogen Royce (pic) Marco Leung Oboe Henrietta Cooke Joel Wilson Becca Whitehouse (cor) Clarinet Lauren Brown Jonathan Leeds Lewis Graham (bass) Bassoon Blair Shepperd Tamara Snyder Peter Bolton (contra) Horn Diana Sheach Ollie Johnson Kristina Yumerska Alexander Boukikov
Trombone Nicolas Kent James Bluff Thomas Williams (bass)
Timpani Max Heaton Percussion Alexander Maxted Cindy Cheng Harp Imogen Ridge Bethan Griffiths Organ Domenico Gioffre Celeste Lantian Gu Personnel correct at the time of going to print. Italics denote section principals.
Soprano May Abercrombie Hilary Aeschliman Ruby Barber Zoe Barnett Mirjam Bartol Maddie Boreham Issy Bridgeman Olivia Carstairs Susie Choi Winnie Chua Mary Conley Hope Cramsie Jess Edom Sofía Gómez Alberto Holly Graham Daniela Guillen Garcia Susannah Hardwick Josie Hawthorn Eun Kim Bertha Kum Melody Lau Jess Lawley Chaeyoung Lee Shanshan Li Katie Mazur Charis Morgan Eyra Norman Ilayda Oguz Grace O'Malley Ceferina Penny Rebekah Scamp Lena Segal Peiyao Shan Tsz Wong Tsz Yeung
Alto Cristiana Achim Louisa Baker Layla Baratto Helena Bartlett Vera Beumer Amy Birse Birgit Born Elif Cansever Nien Chai Jessie Chua Clara Chung Phoebe Clarke Anna Crawford Timea Daradics Madeleine Dawson Nick Drey Akili Farrow Maria Filippova Julia Flint Olivia Gandee Issy Haley-Porteous Yuki Hammyo Rachele Howes Marianne Huang Yueyin Natasha Humphries Zea Hunt Bingbing Jiang Chenmei Jiang Sadie Kerslake Kel Kim Bobie Lai Polina Makhina Morgane Matteuzzi Xiongyufan Miao Arilyn Mitchell Anna Munoz Eliza Nagle Emma Pelkiewicz Ana Pozo Frederica Vieira Campos Marie Sato
Beatriz Vila Emily Sierra Agnija Silicka Rozalia Sobecka Izabela Stefanska Beth Stone Peiyao Su Otoha Tabata Susu Tang Lexie White Hellena Yang Ella York Shuyi Zhang Tenor Daniel Bell Tom Bennett Sacha Betrand Jack Campbell Aidan Chan James Cobb Pietro Fresa Leo Glenister Sam Harris Yuljin Jo Dafydd Jones Laurence Kilsby Tiago SoaresSilva Avi Taler Toby Warr Yinzhi Yuan
Bass Pablo Barrios Joe Bate Alex Blinko Tayfun Bomboz Eliott Bougant Felix Broden Alden Bronson James Burton Max Calver Joe Dawson Arthur Di Francesco Joel Dixon Damir Durmanovic Will Fielding Jesse Francis Ben Gautier Connor Gingell Jack Gionis Sam Grade Rustam Gubkin-Mateyski Rob Hao
Mebrakh HaughtonJohnson Parvis Hejazi Nico Samuel Hird Cameron Hughes Yiorgos Ioannou Michael Kang Thomas Kelly Ian Lim Yu-Chieh Lin Robbie Marrs Aruth Masrangsan Max Mitchell Henry Morley Andrew Mulhern Joel Munday Daniel Murphy Henry Newton Toshanbor Nongbet James Parkinson Jasper Perry
Thibaut Pesnel Antoine Pichon Daniel Pico Villalgordo Simo Sisevic Johan Smith Darren Sng Rennie Sutherland Edward Sykes James Tett Kishan Thakrar Zhaoliang Yuan Tymon Zgorzelski Kirill Zheleznov Andrew Zhou Nick Zhou Jiajin Zhou Rehearsal Pianists Thomas Kelly Hamish Brown Elliot Launn Leanne Singh-Levett
ESSENTIAL HAYDN Wednesday 21 November 2018, 7.30pm | Inner Parry Room Xingchen Guo violin Yingxuan Li violin Tiffany Cheng viola Xiaodi Xu cello Maja Persson flute Becca Whitehouse oboe Josh Pyman clarinet Kristina Yumerska horn Alma Mei Wilson bassoon Imogen Royce flute Joel Wilson oboe Anna Webster clarinet Ollie de Carteret horn Peter Bolton bassoon Zoë Darbyshire Morning Peace and Magnolia Flowers (world premiere) Haydn String Quartet in G minor op 74 no 3 The Rider Jennifer Higdon Autumn Music Mozart Divertimento in F major K 213 Our Essential Haydn series continues with the most famous among Haydn’s six quartets of 1793, the last in G minor, popularly known as The Rider. Ticket: £5 RCM Box Office 020 7591 4314 | www.rcm.ac.uk/events