RSNO Friday Night Club: An Evening with Järvi

Friday Night Club Fri 1 May 2020: 7.30pm

An Evening with Järvi Neeme Järvi Conductor Catriona Morison Mezzo-Soprano Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Recorded on Sat 2 Nov 2019, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Supported by Jennie S. Gordon Memorial Foundation

This performance was recorded for the RSNO Archive. Supported by the Iain and Pamela Sinclair Legacy.

RSNO Friday Night Club: An Evening with Järvi

Excerpts from Sylvia, ou La nymphe de Diane Léo Delibes

(1836-1891)

FIRST PERFORMED Full ballet: 14 June 1876, Palais Garnier, Paris DURATION Excerpts: 25 minutes From Act III 1. Strette-Galop From Act I 2. Intermezzo 3. Valse lente From Act III 4. Pizzicati 5. Violin solo 6. Marche 7. Cortège de Bacchus A contemporary and colleague of Bizet, Léo Delibes was a prolific composer for the stage with many operas to his credit, of which Lakmé (1883) retains a place in the repertory. He was also hugely admired (by Tchaikovsky, for instance) as a composer of ballet: the fulllength Coppélia (1870) and Sylvia (1876) are still regularly performed.

The latter is set in mythological Greece, its first Act in a sacred wood, where forest dwellers are worshipping a statue of Eros. The shepherd Aminta is in love with Sylvia – devotee of the goddess Diana – whose arrival along with her fellow huntresses is announced by a stirring fanfare. After their exhausting hunt, she and her companions decide to bathe [2, 3].

Sylvia’s other admirer, Orion the hunter, arrives to spy on them: the nymphs spot Aminta

Scotland’s National Orchestra

watching them as well. Sylvia is indignant when Aminta declares his love, her aversion causing her to shoot an arrow at Eros. Aminta stands in front of the statue and is wounded instead; the angry god of love’s response is to shoot an arrow at Sylvia, who is grazed by it and leaves.

Pleased to see his rival Aminta wounded, Orion hides when Sylvia, feeling guilty for having wounded Aminta, returns. Suddenly Orion seizes and abducts her. Barely alive, Aminta is unable to prevent him from doing so until an elderly sorcerer brings him back to consciousness. Aminta prays to Eros to help him rescue Sylvia. The sorcerer turns into Eros himself, pointing Aminta in the direction Sylvia has been taken.

The second Act takes place in a cave on Orion’s island, where Sylvia rejects him, gets him drunk and appeals for help to Eros, who arrives and shows her a vision of Aminta awaiting her return. They set off to find him.

Act III is set near the Temple of Diana, where worshippers of Bacchus are celebrating the grape harvest with a procession and bacchanal [6, 7]. Eros arrives with his retinue: one of his slaves dances seductively for Aminta [4].

Drawn to her, he is amazed when Eros removes the slave’s veil and she is revealed as Sylvia [5].

There follows a general dance of rejoicing [1].

Suddenly Orion arrives and he and Aminta fight.

Pursued by Orion, Sylvia attempts to enter the shrine. Diana smites Orion while denying the lovers entrance, until Eros shows her a vision of her former beloved shepherd Endymion and she relents. Sylvia and Aminta are united with the blessing of both gods. © George Hall

What was happening in 1876?

1 Jan The Burton-upon-Trent Bass Brewery’s Red Triangle became the world’s first registered trademark symbol 14 Feb Edinburgh-born Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for the telephone, as did – the same morning – Elisha Gray, who in 1874 had demonstrated one of the earliest electric musical instruments 4 Jun The first Transcontinental Express steamed from New York to San Francisco in 83 hours and 39 minutes 25-26 Jun The Battle of the Little Bighorn, aka Custer’s Last Stand, resulted in defeat for the United States Army’s 7th Cavalry at the hands of combined Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho forces 7 Aug Mata Hari, Dutch exotic dancer and spy, was born 13 Aug Richard Wagner inaugurated the Bayreuth Festival, culminating on 17 Aug with the premiere of his Götterdämmerung, completing the first full performance of Der Ring des Nibelungen 4 Nov Johannes Brahms’ First Symphony was premiered in Karlsruhe 25 Dec Muhammad Ali Jinnah, first governor general of Pakistan, was born

RSNO Friday Night Club: An Evening with Järvi

Excerpts from Carmen Georges Bizet (1837-1875)

FIRST PERFORMED Full opera: 3 March 1875, Opéra-Comique, Paris DURATION Excerpts: 12 minutes 1. Prelude to Act I 2. Habanera 3. Card Trio: Carmen’s solo ‘Voyons, que j’essaie à mon tour...En vain, pour éviter’ 4. Seguidilla Now one of the most famous operas in the world – the website Operabase.com places it at number 4 in the current popularity stakes, with 613 professional performances in 201819 alone – Bizet’s opera had a slow start at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1875, when both its heroine’s behaviour and her onstage murder went down badly with the first-night audience; now its colour, drama and emotional realism make it one of the most iconic of operas, several of its numbers having entered popular culture.

Bizet himself died young, only three months into what was his masterpiece’s lukewarm initial run, and therefore did not live to make the kind of standard orchestral suite from Carmen that would have added to its popularity at the time.

That task was undertaken by his friend and fellow-composer Ernest Guiraud (18371892), who made two such collections, regularly performed in the concert hall ever since; but conductors are free to make their own selections, and tonight’s four numbers represent just such an option.

All the extracts comprise important musical and dramatic moments in the opera. The Prelude to Act I bursts upon the audience with all the colour and excitement of the paso doble music associated with the bands playing in the bullring at the end of the opera.

When Carmen sings the Habanera (a dance originally from Cuba) in Act I, it effectively introduces her to the audience, together with her attitude to love: this is another piece based on popular music, in this instance borrowing heavily from the song El arreglito by the Spanish Basque composer Sebastián Iradier (18091865). Bizet had originally assumed this to be a folk song, and therefore something he could straightforwardly utilise, though when he discovered its authorship he acknowledged it in the published vocal score.

Next is Carmen’s solo from the so-called Card Trio in Act III, when she reads in the cards her own death and that of Don José, the lover she’s about to reject.

Last is the Seguidilla, Carmen’s other Act I solo and the piece in which she effectively seduces Don José, persuading him to allow her to escape – the moment when he tarnishes his military reputation and his fate becomes permanently linked to hers. Bizet authority Richard Langham Smith has pointed out that the piece doesn’t really conform to the standard type of the Spanish dance for which it is named, but certain of its musical characteristics are clearly Spanish and relate to that most Spanish of instruments, the guitar. © George Hall

Scotland’s National Orchestra

HABANERA L’amour est un oiseau rebelle Que nul ne peut apprivoiser, Et c’est bien en vain qu’on l’appelle, S’il lui convient de refuser.

Rien n’y fait, menace ou prière, L’un parle bien, l’autre se tait, Et c’est l’autre que je préfère, Il n’a rien dit, mais il me plaît.

Love is a rebellious bird That none can tame, And it is well in vain that one calls it, If it suits it to refuse.

Nothing to be done, threat or prayer, The one talks well, the other is silent, And it’s the other that I prefer, He said nothing, but he pleases me.

L’amour!

Love!

L’amour est enfant de bohème, Il n’a jamais, jamais connu de loi, Si tu ne m’aimes pas, je t’aime, Si je t’aime, prends garde à toi!

Si tu ne m’aimes pas, Si tu ne m’aimes pas, je t’aime!

Mais si je t’aime, si je t’aime, Prends garde à toi!

Love is a gypsy child, It has never, never known the law, If you don’t love me, I love you, If I love you, be on your guard!

If you don’t love me, If I love you, be on your guard!

But if I love you, if I love you, Be on your guard!

Si tu ne m’aimes pas, etc.

If you don’t love me, etc.

L’oiseau que tu croyais surprendre Battit de l’aile et s’envola, L’amour est loin, tu peux l’attendre; Tu ne l’attends plus, il est là!

Tout autour de toi, vite, vite, Il vient, s’en va, puis il revient, Tu crois le tenir, il t’évite, Tu crois l’éviter, il te tient!

The bird you hoped to catch Beat its wings and flew away, Love is far, you can wait for it; You no longer await it, there it is!

All around you, swift, swift, It comes, goes, then it returns, You think to hold it fast, it flees you, You think to flee it, it holds you!

L’amour!

Love!

L’amour est enfant de bohème, etc.

Love is a gypsy child, etc.

Si tu ne m’aimes pas, etc.

If you don’t love me, etc.

VOYONS, QUE J’ESSAIE À MON TOUR...EN VAIN, POUR ÉVITER Voyons, que j’essaie à mon tour Carreau, pique...la mort!

J’ai bien lu...moi d’abord.

Ensuite lui...pour tous les deux la mort!

Let’s see, I’ll try a turn Diamond, spade...death!

I read it well...me first.

Then him...for both all death!

RSNO Friday Night Club: An Evening with Järvi

En vain pour éviter les réponses amères, En vain tu mêleras, Cela ne sert à rien, les cartes sont sincères Et ne mentiront pas!

In vain in order to avoid harsh remarks, In vain you shuffle, That settles nothing, the cards are sincere and won’t lie!

Dans le livre d’en haut si ta page est heureuse, Mêle et coupe sans peur, La carte sous tes doigts se tournera joyeuse, T’annonçant le bonheur.

In the book on high if your page is happy, Shuffle and cut without fear The card under your fingers will turn itself up happily Announcing its good luck.

Mais si tu dois mourir, si le mot redoutable Est écrit par le sort, Recommence vingt fois, la carte impitoyable Répétera: la mort!

But if you must die, if the dreaded word Is written by fate, Try again 20 times, the pitiless card [will say] again: death!

Encore! Encore! Toujours la mort!

Encore! De désespoir!

Toujours la mort!

Again! Again! Always death!

Again! Despair!

Always death!

SEGUIDILLA Près des remparts de Séville, Chez mon ami, Lillas Pastia J’irai danser la Seguedille Et boire du Manzanilla.

J’irai chez mon ami Lillas Pastia.

Oui, mais toute seule on s’ennuie, Et les vrais plaisirs sont à deux; Donc, pour me tenir compagnie, J’emmenerai mon amoureux!

Mon amoureux, il est au diable, Je l’ai mis à la porte hier!

Mon pauvre coeur trés consolable, Mon coeur est libre comme l’air!

J’ai les galants a la douzaine, Mais ils ne sont pas à mon gré.

Voici la fin de la semaine; Qui veut m’aimer? Je l’aimerai!

Qui veut mon âme? Elle est à prendre.

Vous arrivez au bon moment!

J’ai guere le temps d’attendre, Car avec mon nouvel amant, Près des remparts de Séville, Chez mon ami, Lillas Pastia!

Near the walls of Seville, At my friend’s place, Lillas Pastia I will dance the Seguedilla And drink Manzanilla.

I will go to the home of my friend Lillas Pastia.

Yes, all alone one can get bored, And real pleasures are for two; So, to keep me company, I’ll take my lover!

My love, he is the devil, I did away with him yesterday!

My poor heart, very consolable, My heart is free as a bird!

I have a dozen suitors, But they are not to my liking.

This is the end of the week; Who will love me? I will love him!

Who wants my soul? It is for you to take.

You arrive at the right time!

I have little time to wait, Because with my new lover, Near the walls of Seville, I will go to my friend, Lillas Pastia!

Scotland’s National Orchestra

Catriona Morison MEZZO-SOPRANO On the concert platform, Catriona made her BBC Proms debut in 2019 singing Elgar’s Sea Pictures with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Elim Chan. She has performed Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the RSNO and Thomas Søndergård, Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with the BBC NOW and Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal, and Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer with the Philharmonisches Orchester Heidelberg.

Catriona also gave the world premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s This Frame is Part of the Painting at the BBC Proms, commissioned for her by BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.

Winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Main Prize and joint Song Prize 2017, Edinburgh-born Scottish-German mezzosoprano Catriona Morison was a member of the ensemble of Oper Wuppertal from 2016 until 2018, after which she became a resident artist there. In Wuppertal she has sung roles including Nicklausse (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Charlotte (Werther), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Kleiner Araber (Juliette), Prinzessin Clarice (The Love for Three Oranges) and Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro). Guest engagements have taken her to the 2019 Edinburgh International Festival as Wellgunde (Götterdämmerung) with the RSNO, Oper Köln as Cherubino, Bergen National Opera as Charlotte, Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar as Annina (Der Rosenkavalier) and Theater Erfurt as Giove/Pisandro (Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria). She made her Salzburg Festival debut in 2015 as part of the Young Singers Project.

As a recitalist, Catriona works regularly with Malcolm Martineau, Simon Lepper, Joseph Middleton and the young Japanese pianist Yuka Beppu. She recently paired up with soprano Soraya Mafi to perform with Graham Johnson in his renowned Songmakers’ Almanac recital series. A new project sees her team up with Armenian soprano Anush Hovhannisyan and Malcolm Martineau.

Catriona has performed oratorio across Europe and Russia in repertoire ranging from Bach to Vaughan Williams. She recorded Ethel Smyth’s Mass in D for Chandos, and performed it with Sakari Oramo and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Catriona is a current BBC New Generation Artist and was awarded an Honorary Professorship of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2017. She trained at the RCS, the Universität der Künste in Berlin, Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar and the Thüringer Opernstudio. She continues to study with Professor Siegfried Gohritz.

RSNO Friday Night Club: An Evening with Järvi

Neeme Järvi CONDUCTOR Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Vienna Symphony Orchestra, as well as the major orchestras in the USA, and regular engagements with the NHK and Singapore symphony orchestras.

In September 2019 he conducted the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra at the Musikverein Vienna, International Bruckner Festival Linz, Dvořákova Praha International Music Festival and Festspielhaus Bregenz.

The head of a musical dynasty, Neeme Järvi is one of today’s most highly respected maestros.

Currently he is Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. He holds the titles of Conductor Laureate of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Principal Conductor Emeritus of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Chief Guest Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. Over his long and highly successful career he has also held positions with orchestras across the world such as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Residentie Orkest The Hague.

A prolific recording artist, he has amassed a discography of over 500 recordings, including more than 130 with the RSNO alone.

Recent and future seasons include engagements with the Chicago Symphony

Neeme Järvi has been honoured with many international awards and accolades, such as the Barclay de Tolly’s Friends Club Order of Merit Award (2019), the Gramophone Lifetime Achievement Award (2018), the Echo Classical Award (Neeme Järvi with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, 2017), and the International Record Prize Toblach in 1993 (Mahler Symphony No3, London Symphony Orchestra) and 2011 (Mahler Symphony No7, Residentie Orkest). In his native country he has an honorary doctorate from the Music and Theatre Academy and the Order of the National Coat of Arms from the President of the Republic of Estonia. He also holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Aberdeen.

Neeme Järvi appeared most recently with the RSNO in Edinburgh and Glasgow in February 2015, in a programme of Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

Scotland’s National Orchestra

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Fri 8 May Norrington Conducts DEBUSSY Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune Debussy Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra Sir Roger Norrington Conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet Piano

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RSNO Friday Night Club: An Evening with Järvi

Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950, and was awarded Royal Patronage in 1977. The Orchestra’s artistic team is led by Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård, who was appointed RSNO Music Director in October 2018, having previously held the position of Principal Guest Conductor. Hong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan succeeds Søndergård as Principal Guest Conductor. They are joined by Assistant Conductor Junping Qian.

The RSNO performs across Scotland, including concerts in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Perth and Inverness. The Orchestra appears regularly at the Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC Proms, and has made recent tours to the USA, China and throughout Europe.

The Orchestra is joined for choral performances by the RSNO Chorus, directed by Gregory Batsleer. The RSNO Chorus evolved from a choir formed in 1843 to sing the first full performance of Handel’s Messiah in Scotland. Today, the RSNO Chorus is one of the most distinguished large symphonic choruses in Britain, with a membership of around 160. The Chorus has performed nearly every work in the standard choral repertoire, along with contemporary works by composers including John Adams, Howard Shore and James MacMillan.

Formed in 1978 by Jean Kidd, the acclaimed RSNO Junior Chorus, under its new director Patrick Barrett, also performs regularly alongside the Orchestra. Boasting a membership of over 400 members aged from 7 to 18, it has built up a considerable reputation singing under some of the world’s most distinguished conductors and appearing on radio and television.

The RSNO has a worldwide reputation for the quality of its recordings, receiving two Diapason d’Or awards for Symphonic Music (Denève/ Roussel 2007; Denève/Debussy 2012) and eight GRAMMY Awards nominations. Over 200 releases are available, including the complete symphonies of Sibelius (Gibson), Prokofiev (Järvi), Glazunov (Serebrier), Nielsen and Martinů (Thomson) and Roussel (Denève) and the major orchestral works of Debussy (Denève). Thomas Søndergård’s debut recording with the RSNO, of Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, was released on Linn Records in 2019.

The RSNO’s pioneering learning and engagement programme, Music for Life, aims to engage the people of Scotland with music across key stages of life: Early Years, Nurseries and Schools, Teenagers and Students, Families, Accessing Lives, Working Lives and Retired and Later Life.

The team is committed to placing the Orchestra at the centre of Scottish communities via community workshops and annual residencies across the length and breadth of the country.

Scotland’s National Orchestra

On Stage FIRST VIOLIN

CELLO

HORN

LEADER

PRINCIPAL

ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

Sharon Roffman Lena Zeliszewska ASSOCIATE LEADER

Mátyás Mézes Adela Bratu Barbara Paterson Jane Reid Caroline Parry Ursula Heidecker Allen Elizabeth Bamping Lorna Rough Susannah Lowdon Mireia Ferrer Judith Choi-Castro Liam Lynch

Aleksei Kiseliov

Andrew McLean

Betsy Taylor Arthur Boutillier William Paterson Rachael Lee Sarah Digger Anne Brincourt Miranda Phythian-Adams

Stephanie Jones Martin Murphy David McClenaghan Christine McGinley

DOUBLE BASS

Robert Baxter Jason Lewis

Margarida Castro ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

TRUMPET

Christopher Hart PRINCIPAL

CORNET

SECOND VIOLIN

Michael Rae Paul Sutherland John Clark Sally Davis Chris Sergeant

PRINCIPAL

FLUTE

PRINCIPAL

Xander van Vliet Marion Wilson Harriet Wilson Nigel Mason Michael Rigg Wanda Wojtasinska Anne Bünemann Robin Wilson Kirstin Drew Katie Jackson Carole Howat Colin McKee VIOLA

Tom Dunn PRINCIPAL

David Greenlees Asher Zaccardelli Lisa Rourke David Martin Claire Dunn Katherine Wren Maria Trittinger Francesca Hunt David McCreadie

Katherine Bryan PRINCIPAL

Janet Richardson PRINCIPAL PICCOLO

OBOE

Adrian Wilson PRINCIPAL

Jason Lewis Rebecca Wilson TROMBONE

Dávur Juul Magnussen Lance Green Alastair Sinclair

PRINCIPAL BASS TROMBONE

TUBA

Mark Reynolds GUEST PRINCIPAL

Peter Dykes

TIMPANI

CLARINET

PRINCIPAL

Josef Pacewicz GUEST PRINCIPAL

Duncan Swindells

PRINCIPAL BASS CLARINET

Paul Philbert PERCUSSION

John Poulter

ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

BASSOON

Liz Gilliver Jonathan Chapman

PRINCIPAL

HARP

David Hubbard Luis Eisen Anthea Wood Paolo Dutto

PRINCIPAL CONTRABASSOON

Pippa Tunnell

We hope that you are enjoying the RSNO’s Friday Night Club performances The RSNO is a registered charity, and, with many others, will be severely impacted by this crisis, which is touching the lives of each and every one of us. The support of our audiences and supporters continues to inspire and uplift us, now more than ever. We would like to take this opportunity to send our support and best wishes to you and your families during this challenging time.

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Please donate online at rsno.org.uk/support-rsno or visit rsno.org.uk/circle to join today.

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We are a family and a community brought together by music. When our Orchestra returns to the stage, we look forward to welcoming you back to the RSNO and enjoying many more great concerts together.