Scotland’s National Orchestra 1
MOZART CLARINET CONCERTO
★★★★★
‘Exceptionally good’ The Scotsman
★★★★
‘Impressive unity’ The Times
★★★★
‘Simply wonderful’ Bachtrack
10 STUNNING CONCERTS FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS
Give the gift of music this Christmas with a ticket to the RSNO’s Digital Season Buy online at rsno.org.uk/digital-season
MOZART CLARINET CONCERTO Mozart’s hugely popular Clarinet Concerto is one of those pieces that never gets old – especially when played by clarinettist, composer and conductor extraordinaire Jörg Widmann. His own piece Fantasie is a tour de force, while Mendelssohn’s Symphony No5 looks back to Bach and the Lutheran Reformation for inspiration.
MOZART Clarinet Concerto in A Major K622 [28’] JÖRG WIDMANN Fantasie [7’] MENDELSSOHN Symphony No5 in D Major Op107 Reformation [33’] Jörg Widmann Conductor/Clarinet Royal Scottish National Orchestra RECORDED AT THE RSNO CENTRE, GLASGOW Broadcast Fri 20 Nov 2020, 7.30pm
This performance has been recorded for the RSNO Archive. Supported by the Iain and Pamela Sinclair Legacy.
Jack Hunter Director Simon Lowdon Script Supervisor Diana Dumi and Diego Almazán Camera Operators Diana Dumi Video Editor Matthew Bennett Producer and Editor Hedd Morfett-Jones Sound Supervisor
Next Digital Season Concert
BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY No6 PASTORAL Recorded at the RSNO Centre, Glasgow Broadcast date: Fri 4 December 2020, 7.30pm
Penderecki Adagio for Strings Christopher Gough Three Belarusian Folk Songs Beethoven Symphony No6 Pastoral Cornelius Meister Conductor Aleksei Kiseliov Cello Royal Scottish National Orchestra Please note, due to new COVID-19 travel and quarantine restrictions, repertoire/artists have changed from those previously advertised.
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Welcome Dear friends Welcome to the fourth concert in our Digital Season. While we are sad that we are still unable to perform concerts live for audiences in our concert halls, it has been wonderfully uplifting for the musicians and staff of the Orchestra to see so many viewers tuning in to watch our Digital Season each fortnight. From the UK to the USA, New Zealand to the Netherlands, we are delighted to bring these performances from our home here in Scotland to listeners’ homes all around the world. Thank you so much for your support – we sincerely appreciate it. This week we’re delighted to welcome Jörg Widmann, not only to perform on clarinet but also to conduct. We are grateful to Jörg for stepping in at the last minute to replace Elim Chan, our Principal Guest Conductor, who was sadly unable to be here due to travel restrictions. This week’s concert features three very different works. Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto – famously used in the film Out of Africa – needs no introduction. Following this is Fantasie, a short piece composed and performed by Jörg Widmann, which is full of eccentric virtuosity. And finally, Mendelssohn’s Fifth Symphony. Composed to mark the 300th anniversary of the Augsberg Confession, this tribute to the establishment of the Lutheran faith brings our concert to a resounding close with the majestic sound of Luther’s famous hymn Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. I hope you enjoy the performance.
Alistair Mackie CHIEF EXECUTIVE
6 Mozart Clarinet Concerto
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Royal Scottish National Orchestra
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ARTISTIC TEAM Thomas Søndergård MUSIC DIRECTOR Elim Chan PRINCIPAL GUEST CONDUCTOR Neeme Järvi CONDUCTOR LAUREATE Alexander Lazarev CONDUCTOR EMERITUS
Gregory Batsleer
1 2 3 4 5
CHORUS DIRECTOR, RSNO CHORUS
Patrick Barrett
6 CHORUS DIRECTOR, RSNO JUNIOR CHORUS
FIRST VIOLIN Maya Iwabuchi LEADER Sharon Roffman LEADER Lena Zeliszewska
7 8 9
ASSOCIATE LEADER
Emily Davis ASSOCIATE LEADER 10 Tamás Fejes ASSISTANT LEADER 11 Patrick Curlett ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL 12 Barbara Paterson SUB PRINCIPAL 13 Jane Reid 14 Caroline Parry 15 Ursula Heidecker Allen 16 Lorna Rough 17 Susannah Lowdon 18 Alan Manson 19 Elizabeth Bamping 20 SECOND VIOLIN Xander van Vliet PRINCIPAL Jacqueline Speirs ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL
21 22
Marion Wilson ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL 23 Harriet Wilson SUB PRINCIPAL 24 Nigel Mason 25 Wanda Wojtasinska 26 Paul Medd 27 Anne Bünemann 28 Sophie Lang 29 Robin Wilson 30 Emily Nenniger 31
VIOLA Tom Dunn PRINCIPAL Asher Zaccardelli
32
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
33
Susan Buchan SUB PRINCIPAL Lisa Rourke SUB PRINCIPAL David Martin Nicola McWhirter Claire Dunn Katherine Wren Maria Trittinger Francesca Hunt
34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41
CELLO Aleksei Kiseliov PRINCIPAL 42 Betsy Taylor ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL 43 Kennedy Leitch ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL 44 Arthur Boutillier SUB PRINCIPAL 45 William Paterson 46 Rachael Lee 47 Sarah Digger 48 DOUBLE BASS Ana Cordova PRINCIPAL Margarida Castro
49 50
ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL Michael Rae ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL Paul Sutherland SUB PRINCIPAL John Clark Sally Davis
51 52 53 54
FLUTE Katherine Bryan PRINCIPAL Helen Brew ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL Janet Richardson
55 56 57
PRINCIPAL PICCOLO
OBOE Adrian Wilson PRINCIPAL Peter Dykes ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL Henry Clay PRINCIPAL COR ANGLAIS
58 59 60
CLARINET Timothy Orpen PRINCIPAL CLARINET Duncan Swindells
61 62
PRINCIPAL BASS CLARINET
BASSOON David Hubbard PRINCIPAL Luis Eisen ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL Paolo Dutto
63 64 65
PRINCIPAL CONTRABASSOON
HORN Christopher Gough PRINCIPAL 66 Alison Murray ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL 67 Andrew McLean 68 ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL 69 David McClenaghan Martin Murphy ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL 70 TRUMPET Christopher Hart PRINCIPAL Marcus Pope SUB PRINCIPAL Jason Lewis ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL
71 72 73
TROMBONE Dávur Juul Magnussen PRINCIPAL Lance Green ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL Alastair Sinclair
74 75 76
PRINCIPAL BASS TROMBONE
TUBA John Whitener PRINCIPAL
77
TIMPANI Paul Philbert PRINCIPAL
78
PERCUSSION Simon Lowdon PRINCIPAL John Poulter ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL
79 80
8 Mozart Clarinet Concerto
Clarinet Concerto in A Major K622
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
FIRST PERFORMED Prague, 16 October 1791 DURATION 28 minutes Allegro Adagio Rondo: Allegro There have been many unusual and short-lived musical instruments that now exist only behind museum glass, but relatively few have the merit of being behind a genuine masterpiece. The basset clarinet – originally termed a ‘bass clarinet’ but later renamed so as not to confuse it with the development of the 19th-century instrument of that name – is one such, inspiring Mozart, in 1791, to write the late masterwork which we now know as the Clarinet Concerto in A Major.
Mozart’s muse was, however, less the instrument, more the man behind it. Mozart and Anton Stadler (1753-1812) probably first met in 1781, when the virtuoso clarinettist and basset horn player, then freelancing for several courts, played in the first performance of the composer’s sextet version of the Serenade in E Flat. Mozart noted, ‘they are poor beggars who, however, play quite well together, particularly the first clarinet and two horns’. By the time Stadler and his brother Johann, also a clarinettist, had obtained a permanent position at the Imperial court in Vienna a year later, critics, public and Mozart himself were lauding the musician’s facility on the instrument, producing a sound ‘so soft and lovely … that no one could resist it’. Mozart called him ‘Miracle of Bohemia’ and Nàtschibinitschibi, which was a humorous concatenation of ‘poor miser’ and ‘man of folly’, for Stadler had an unreliable reputation, particularly when it came to money. Mozart spent the following two years writing no fewer than 13 works for the basset horn and ensemble, a number of which he performed with Stadler. It was not until the autumn of 1791, shortly before his own death, and two years after writing the Clarinet Quintet for the basset clarinet, that Mozart began writing the Clarinet Concerto, initially for the basset horn, only to swap to the basset clarinet, whose lower range Stadler exploited so evocatively that the instrument briefly became a sensation. Comprised in its most basic form of an extension to the bottom of the clarinet to lower its range by three tones, it had been developed around 1788 by court instrument maker and fellow wind ensemble player Theodor Lotz, perhaps with the input of Stadler, although the latter somewhat predictably claimed, after Lotz’s death, that he was the sole inventor.
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The Clarinet Concerto, believed to have been premiered by Stadler in Prague on 16 October 1791, is one of Mozart’s unabashed masterpieces, a deceptively simple yet hugely sophisticated three-movement work that is known widely outside the classical world for its inclusion in the soundtracks of numerous films – and perhaps most famously in Out of Africa. Somewhat curiously, we may never know Mozart’s original notation for the Concerto, for some ten years after his death it was published in a version for clarinet, with the lower basset notes transposed an octave higher. Unfortunately, the publisher kept no note of which sections were altered, and the original autograph score was lost when Stadler toured Germany after Mozart’s death. Stadler maintained that it had been stolen, but contemporary accounts, including those of relatives of Mozart, say that he pawned it to pay off a gambling debt. Beauty of tone is paramount in a piece in which orchestra and soloist are closely integrated. There are no showstopping virtuosic feats, so the skill for the soloist comes in the maintenance of the sophisticated and quasioperatic clarinet line, which offers very few places to hide, not least in the Adagio. The apogee of Mozart’s concerto writing, it is a signifier of the direction in which his art may have further matured, had he not died less than two months later. © Sarah Urwin Jones
What was happening in 1791? 13 Mar The first part of Thomas Paine’s defence of the French Revolution, Rights of Man, was published in London 27 Apr Samuel Morse, co-developer of the electrical telegraph system, was born in Massachusetts 20 Jun Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and their immediate family were captured after trying to flee Paris to initiate a counter-revolution 21 Jun The Ordnance Survey was founded, later to become Great Britain’s national mapping agency 6 Aug The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was completed 9 Sep The capital of the United States was named after the first president, the incumbent George Washington 22 Sep English scientist Michael Faraday, pioneer in the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry, was born 4 Dec The world’s first Sunday newspaper, The Observer, was published in London 5 Dec Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna; more than 100 causes of death have since been put forward 26 Dec English polymath Charles Babbage, credited with inventing the first mechanical computer, was born
10 Mozart Clarinet Concerto
Fantasie Jörg Widmann
(Born 1973)
FIRST PERFORMED Munich, 1 March 1994 DURATION 7 minutes SCOTTISH PREMIERE As much an instrumentalist as he is a composer and conductor – as today’s concert demonstrates – Jörg Widmann is unusual among contemporary musicians in the breadth of his activities. But he sits in a long line of eminent figures from Mozart to Paganini, Liszt to Rachmaninov, who cast their considerable talents across both performing and composing. And as a renowned clarinettist, it’s perhaps no surprise that Widmann has composed so extensively for his own instrument. He views his brief solo Fantasie, written in 1993 when he was just 20, as his first real piece for clarinet. Accordingly, it’s an unapologetically showy work, full of unexpected twists and turns, collisions between hugely contrasting material, jazzy freedom and hardcore intellectual rigour. Widmann describes it as displaying ‘eccentric virtuosity’ and a ‘cheerful, ironic fundamental character’, no doubt reflecting the remarkable versatility and exuberance of both the clarinet and its player. New York Times critic Zachary Woolfe wrote that the Fantasie sounded like ‘the most beautiful circus music ever written’, and it’s hard to disagree with that assessment. In many of his more recent works, Widmann has made extensive use of unusual playing techniques, even embracing instrumental noise as a legitimate musical element. In his Fantasie, however, he restricts himself to a single unusual effect: a clarinet multiphonic. That’s a strangesounding, four-note chord that the usually single-note instrument produces when its
player presses down a particular combination of keys. It opens the piece (in what Widmann describes as a parody of contemporary music clichés), and returns to provide moments of strange sonic calm that seem to interrupt the inventive mayhem happening around them. In most of the Fantasie’s music, Widmann takes his title literally – and he advises players to approach the work with great freedom and imagination in his performance note connected with the piece. He shows off his instrument’s capabilities, with sudden dashes from one extreme of its range to the other, for instance, or melodies encompassing enormous leaps. And he explores more unusual sounds with jazzy-sounding slides between notes, or stuttering staccato utterances on a single tone. Widmann describes the Fantasie as ‘a little imaginary scene uniting the dialogues of different people in close proximity in the spirit of the commedia dell’arte’, the centuriesold Italian theatrical form that has many similarities with pantomime. Indeed, the overall effect is of a disjointed dialogue delivered by a succession of larger-than-life characters whose personalities flicker between swaggering confidence, hesitant uncertainty, hyperactive nervousness, anger, even braying laughter. But if there’s any feeling that you’re not meant to be taking this entirely seriously, Widmann underpins his fantastical creations with a rock-solid sense of structure: material returns again and again, sometimes in different guises, and he surrounds a quick, dance-like central episode with what’s more of a patchwork of competing fragments. If this is circus music, the Fantasie’s performer might well be a clown – but a clown who knows exactly what they are doing, and why. © David Kettle
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Jörg Widmann
CLARINET/COMPOSER/CONDUCTOR Jörg studied clarinet with Gerd Starke in Munich and Charles Neidich at New York’s Juilliard School. He performs regularly with renowned orchestras such as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Orchestra National de France, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, National Symphony Orchestra Washington and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. He gave the world premiere of Mark Andre’s Clarinet Concerto über at the Donaueschinger Musiktage in 2015. Other concertos dedicated to and written for him include Wolfgang Rihm’s Musik für Klarinette und Orchester (1999) and Aribert Reimann’s Cantus (2006).
Clarinettist, composer and conductor Jörg Widmann is one of the most versatile and intriguing artists of his generation. In 2019/20 he was New York’s Carnegie Hall Richard and Barbara Debs Composer Chair and artist in residence with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Palau de la Música Catalana Barcelona and Bergen International Festival. He also collaborated with chamber music partners András Schiff, Daniel Barenboim, Mitsuko Uchida, Tabea Zimmermann, Antoine Tamestit and the Hagen Quartet at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Salzburg Festival, Carnegie Hall and Vienna Konzerthaus. As a conductor, Jörg performed during 2019/20 with the Ensemble Kanazawa, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Hessisches Staatsorchester Wiesbaden. As its Principal Conductor, he led the Irish Chamber Orchestra on tour to the US, and in concerts throughout Europe.
Jörg studied composition with Kay Westermann, Wilfried Hiller and Wolfgang Rihm. His works have received many awards, most recently the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Elise L Stoeger Prize in 2009. His appointment as Daniel R Lewis Young Composer Fellow at the Cleveland Orchestra established an extraordinary artistic collaboration with the orchestra and its Principal Conductor Franz Welser-Möst, including the world premiere of the Flute Concerto, Flûte en suite, in 2011. Jörg’s opera Babylon was premiered in 2012/13 at the Bayerische Staatsoper under the baton of Kent Nagano. His Am Anfang with Anselm Kiefer premiered in 2009 at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, with Jörg acting as composer, clarinettist and conductor. Jörg has been an artist in residence at the Lucerne and Salzburg festivals, with the Bamberg Symphony and at Brussels’ BOZAR and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and was the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich’s creative chair 2015/16. He has featured in Artist Portraits at Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper and Cologne’s Philharmonie. In 2017/18 he was the first-ever Leipzig Gewandhaus Composer.
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Symphony No5 in D Major Op105 Reformation On 7 August 1829, the 20-year-old Felix Mendelssohn visited Fingal’s Cave on the Scottish island of Staffa, a trip which inspired his famous overture The Hebrides. Later on the same tour of Britain, while spending time with the owner of a North Wales lead mine, he also began to contemplate a new symphony, which would eventually become known as the Reformation.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
FIRST PERFORMED Berlin, 15 November 1832 DURATION 33 minutes Andante – Allegro con fuoco Allegro vivace Andante Chorale: Andante con moto – Allegro vivace
Earlier that year Mendelssohn had conducted a performance of J S Bach’s St Matthew Passion, the first in a century. He had also previously composed a number of works based on Lutheran chorales. The incorporation of one of these hymn tunes, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (‘A mighty fortress is our God’), into a symphony for the celebrations to mark the 300th anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession, a cornerstone document of the Protestant Reformation, must have seemed like a propitious composing opportunity. Unfortunately work was held up by the composer’s touring commitments and a bout of measles. What’s more, a work for the 25 June 1830 event in Berlin had not been officially commissioned from Mendelssohn. Instead it was the locally popular – and conservative – composer Eduard Grell (1800-1886) who submitted a perhaps more suitable piece for male chorus. Following an unsuccessful attempt to have the Symphony performed in Paris, Mendelssohn finally conducted the premiere himself in Berlin in late 1832. However, later decrying the work as ‘juvenile’, he refused to allow further performances. The Symphony wasn’t published until 1868, more than 20 years after Mendelssohn’s death, explaining its numbering
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as Symphony No5 rather than his ‘Second’ in order of composition. During the slow introduction to the opening movement, Mendelssohn quotes on the strings the ‘Dresden Amen’, a sequence of six notes composed by Johann Gottlieb Naumann (1741-1801) for the choir of Dresden’s Royal Chapel, and a theme also taken up by Richard Wagner in Parsifal, his opera of 1882. Increasingly insistent brass-calls herald the turbulent main body of the movement. There is a great sense of upheaval, indeed Beethovenian turmoil, in this Allegro con fuoco, which is brought to an abrupt halt by the return of the hushed ‘Dresden Amen’. However, the calm cannot last, and the movement ends in a dramatic vein. The short, light-on-its-feet second movement is a complete contrast to the serious mood of the first, its opening rhythmic figure and its central waltz-like section both conjuring a joyous dance in bucolic surroundings. The Andante is lyrical and elegiac, the strings monopolising – with occasional woodwind interjections – the flowing theme, before a solo flute announces Luther’s chorale Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. As more instruments join in, the initially jaunty and upbeat treatment of the melody, interlaced with original themes, culminates in a noble and powerful reiteration of the chorale for full orchestra. © Ian Brooke
What was happening in 1832? 13 Jan The Christmas Rebellion in Jamaica ended when the British Army imposed martial law and more than 300 slaves were hanged 23 Jan French painter Édouard Manet, famous for Le déjeuner sur l’herbe, was born 28 Feb Charles Darwin, aboard HMS Beagle, reached South America for the first time, at All Saints’ Bay in Brazil 22 Mar Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German author of The Sorrows of Young Werther, died 7 Jun The Reform Act, which broadened the male franchise but explicitly excluded women from voting, became law in the UK 9 Jun The Strasburg Rail Road in Pennsylvania opened, now the oldest continuously running railway in the western hemisphere 4 Jul Durham University was founded, given royal assent by William IV 21 Sep Sir Walter Scott, author of the Waverley novels, died at Abbotsford in the Scottish Borders 29 Nov American author Louisa May Alcott, best known for Little Women, was born 3 Dec Andrew Jackson was re-elected as 7th President of the United States, continuing to serve until 1837
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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. 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 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. 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 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 a 2020 Gramophone Classical Music Award for Chopin’s Piano Concertos (soloist: Benjamin Grosvenor), conducted by Elim Chan; 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 orchestra works of Debussy (Denève). Thomas Søndergård’s debut recording with the RSNO, of Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, was released 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 workshops and annual residencies.
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On Stage
FIRST VIOLIN Sharon Roffman
CELLO Aleksei Kiseliov
HORN Christopher Gough
Lena Zeliszewska
Kennedy Leitch Arthur Boutillier Sarah Digger Rachael Lee
Alison Murray
DOUBLE BASS Ana Cordova
Marcus Pope
LEADER
ASSOCIATE LEADER
Tamás Fejes
ASSISTANT LEADER
Barbara Paterson Caroline Parry Alan Manson Susannah Lowdon Jane Reid Ursula Heidecker Allen Elizabeth Bamping SECOND VIOLIN Xander van Vliet PRINCIPAL
Jacqueline Speirs Marion Wilson Harriet Wilson Emily Nenniger Paul Medd Nigel Mason Anne Bünemann VIOLA Fiona Winning GUEST PRINCIPAL
Asher Zaccardelli Susan Buchan Francesca Hunt Maria Trittinger Claire Dunn
PRINCIPAL
PRINCIPAL
Paul Sutherland John Clark FLUTE Harry Winstanley GUEST PRINCIPAL
Janet Richardson PRINCIPAL PICCOLO
PRINCIPAL
TRUMPET Christopher Hart PRINCIPAL
TROMBONE Dávur Juul Magnussen PRINCIPAL
Lance Green Alastair Sinclair
PRINCIPAL BASS TROMBONE
TIMPANI Paul Philbert PRINCIPAL
OBOE Adrian Wilson PRINCIPAL
Peter Dykes CLARINET Jordi Juan-Perez GUEST PRINCIPAL
Duncan Swindells BASSOON David Hubbard PRINCIPAL
Luis Eisen Paolo Dutto
PRINCIPAL CONTRABASSOON
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Scotland’s National Orchestra 17
Supporting the RSNO I am honoured and extremely proud to be Music Director of the RSNO. It is through the continued generosity of you, our friends, donors and supporters, that we can continue to achieve and realise the most ambitious goals of the Orchestra. The absence of musicians from the stage in 2020 has been the most difficult of times. It has reinforced for us all how vital music is in helping us overcome hardship, fear and loneliness. The creativity and dedication shown by RSNO musicians in recent months has been incredible. This is despite the pattern of our working lives being dramatically interrupted
and being separated, not just from one another, but also from our audiences and communities. I hope you will choose to support us now as we adapt and embark upon this next chapter in RSNO history. Thank you for your support
Thomas Søndergård MUSIC DIRECTOR, RSNO
RSNO Conductors’ Circle The RSNO Conductors’ Circle is an inspirational group of individual supporters at the heart of the RSNO’s Individual Giving programme. Our members’ annual philanthropic gifts enable us to realise the Orchestra’s most ambitious goals. Conductors’ Circle members support inspirational concert performances for our audiences alongside transformational education programmes in communities across Scotland, via our ground-breaking initiative Music for Life. The relationship between the RSNO and Conductors’ Circle members involves exceptional levels of access to all aspects of Orchestra life. We design bespoke private events tailored to individual interests and passions, providing insight into the artistic process and bringing our supporters further into the RSNO family. Members of the Conductors’ Circle benefit from an intimate and long-lasting connection with the RSNO Artistic Team and particularly with RSNO Music Director Thomas Søndergård, Principal Guest Conductor Elim Chan and the many
renowned guest Conductors we are privileged to welcome to the RSNO each year. This concert is dedicated to the RSNO Conductors’ Circle, in recognition of this exceptional group of supporters: Ardgowan Charitable Trust Geoff and Mary Ball Sir Ewan and Lady Brown Ian and Evelyn Crombie Carol Grigor and the Trustees of Dunard Fund Gavin and Kate Gemmell Kenneth and Julia Greig Ms Chris Grace Hartness Kat Heathcote and Iain Macneil Bruce and Caroline Minto David and Alix Stevenson Eric and Karen Young We would also like to thank those generous donors who wish to remain anonymous. For more information on Individual Giving and becoming part of the Conductors’ Circle please contact Jenny McNeely at jenny.mcneely@rsno.org.uk
18 Mozart Clarinet Concerto
Patron Programme CHAIR PATRON From musical activities in schools with the musicians of the future to working in community venues across Scotland, as a Chair Patron you are enabling RSNO musicians to explore the many facets of their art and the positive impact it has on people’s lives. Supporting an individual musician puts you at the heart of the RSNO family. You’re connected directly to the musicians on stage and get to enjoy privileged behind-the-scenes access. RSNO musicians truly appreciate our Chair Patrons and enjoy developing personal relationships with our supporters.
Assistant Conductor
Cello Aleksei Kiseliov PRINCIPAL
Horn Christopher Gough PRINCIPAL
First Violin Maya Iwabuchi LEADER Sharon Roffman LEADER
Kennedy Leitch
Alison Murray
Dunard Fund Chair
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL The David and Anne Smith Chair
Tamás Fejes Assistant LEADER
Arthur Boutiller
David McClenaghan
Rachael Lee
Trumpet Christopher Hart PRINCIPAL
The Solti Foundation Chair
The Bill and Rosalind Gregson Chair
Patrick Curlett ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL The RSNO Circle Chair
Jane Reid
The James Wood Bequest Fund Chair
Ursula Heidecker Allen
The Antony Ownsworth Chair
Alan Manson
The Hugh and Linda Bruce-Watt Chair
Elizabeth Bamping
The WL and Vera Heywood Chair
Second Violin Xander van Vliet PRINCIPAL The Hilda Munro Chair
Sophie Lang
The Ian and Evelyn Crombie Chair
Viola Lisa Rourke SUB PRINCIPAL The Meta Ramsay Chair
David Martin
The Miss Grace MM Mitchell Bequest Chair
Francesca Hunt
The Rolf and Celia Thornqvist Chair
The James Browning Chair
The Ardgowan Charitable Trust Chair The Christine and Arthur Hamilton Chair
Double Bass Ana Cordova PRINCIPAL
The Kate and Gavin Gemmell Chair
John Clark
The Gregor Forbes Chair
Flute Katherine Bryan PRINCIPAL
The David and Anne Smith Chair
Helen Brew ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL The Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust Chair
Oboe Adrian Wilson PRINCIPAL The Hedley Wright Chair
Peter Dykes
ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL Witherby Publishing Group Charitable Trust Chair
Cor Anglais Henry Clay PRINCIPAL
The Springbank Distillers Chair
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL Mr & Mrs Pierre and Alison Girard The J & A Mitchell Chair
Ms Chris Grace Hartness
Marcus Pope SUB PRINCIPAL
The Nigel and Margot Russell Chair
Trombone Dávur Juul Magnussen PRINCIPAL The Mitchell’s Glengyle Chair
Lance Green
ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL The William Cadenhead Chair
Timpani Paul Philbert
Ms Chris Grace Hartness
Percussion John Poulter
ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL The Dot and Syd Taft Chair
Director of Concerts and Engagement Bill Chandler The James and Iris Miller Chair
In memory of a dear friend, Fiona H
Bassoon David Hubbard PRINCIPAL
The James and Morag Anderson Chair
We would like to acknowledge the generous contribution of Mr Hedley Wright in supporting the RSNO Chair Patron Programme.
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LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT PATRON Our Learning and Engagement activity is structured around our Music for Life programme. From apps for babies to concerts and workshops for school children, and lunchtime concerts for older adults, the range of projects is vast. As a Patron, you will have access to our projects to bring you closer to the communities we serve across Scotland. Learning and Engagement Patrons Neil and Nicola Gordon Mr Maurice Taylor CBE Witherby Publishing Group Charitable Trust NEW WORKS PATRON The RSNO is dedicated to bringing new works and outstanding new talent to audiences across Scotland. Our New Works Patrons contribute a significant legacy to orchestral music that extends beyond the RSNO, providing new music for orchestras and audiences around the world – for generations to come. New Works Patron Susie Thomson We are also grateful to those who give but wish to remain anonymous. If you would like more information or would like to discuss how you can become part of the RSNO Family of Supporters, please contact Jenny McNeely, Head of Individual Giving and Partnerships, at jenny.mcneely@rsno.org.uk
We would like to thank all those who have made donations to the RSNO Covid Appeal over the recent months. The generosity of our supporters at this time is deeply appreciated.
Musical Memories Leave a gift to the RSNO and ensure future generations can create their own Musical Memories of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. We all have special Musical Memories. It could be learning to play an instrument when you were a child, or a special piece of music that just left you breathless the first time you heard the Orchestra play it. Maybe it was seeing a soloist you had always wanted to hear, or just a great concert shared with friends. Memories such as these make music such an important part of our lives. Leaving a gift to the RSNO in your will is the single most important way you can help us to make music and to create memories. Your legacy will support the work of the Orchestra for years to come, ensuring that we can continue to bring great music to a new generation of children, young people and adults right across Scotland. It is easy to leave a gift. After you have made provisions for family and friends, please think of the Orchestra.
Your gift is important to us and to everyone in Scotland who enjoys music. Contact your solicitor to draft a will or add a codicil to your current will. If your estate is subject to inheritance tax, a gift to a charity, such as the RSNO, is tax-free and will reduce the amount of tax payable to the Government. Please ask your solicitor for details. For more information please visit rsno.org.uk/memories If you would like to discuss this further, please contact Kirsten Reid, Individual Giving and Partnerships Officer, in the strictest confidence at kirsten.reid@rsno.org.uk To the many among you who have pledged to leave a gift already – thank you.
Scotland’s National Orchestra 21
Charitable Trusts and Foundations Charitable trusts and foundations have a long and illustrious history of supporting the RSNO, both on the concert platform and through our Learning and Engagement programmes in the community. Grants and awards of all sizes are greatly appreciated, and range from one-off donations for specific projects through to large-scale support over a number of years, including support of the acclaimed RSNO Junior Chorus and our flagship educational project, the National Schools Concert Programme. We are fortunate in having developed long-term relationships with a number of trusts who have sustained their invaluable support over many years, enabling a significant amount of our work and mission to go ahead each year that otherwise would simply not happen. Our 2020:21 Season of concerts and Learning and Engagement programmes is generously supported by the following trusts and foundations: Alexander Moncur Charitable Trust Alma and Leslie Wolfson Charitable Trust Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust Balgay Children’s Society Bank of Scotland Foundation Castansa Trust Cruden Foundation Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunclay Charitable Trust Educational Institute of Scotland Fidelio Charitable Trust Gannochy Trust Garrick Charitable Trust Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust Glasgow Educational and Marshall Trust Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Hugh Fraser Foundation Idlewild Trust James Wood Bequest Fund Jean & Roger Miller Charitable Trust Jennie S Gordon Memorial Foundation John Ellerman Foundation John Scott Trust Fund J T H Charitable Trust KPE4 Charitable Trust Leche Trust Leng Charitable Trust Murdoch Forrest Charitable Trust New Park Educational Trust Noël Coward Foundation Northwood Charitable Trust PF Charitable Trust PRS Foundation R J Larg Family Trust Robertson Trust Ronald Miller Foundation RVW Trust Solti Foundation
Stevenston Trust Tay Charitable Trust Tillyloss Trust W A Cargill Fund Walter Scott Giving Group William Syson Foundation Witherby Publishing Group Charitable Trust
We are also grateful to a number of trusts that wish to stay anonymous. If you would like more information about our work and how you can make a difference, please contact Ajda Šubelj, Head of Trusts and Projects, at ajda.subelj@rsno.org.uk
22 Mozart Clarinet Concerto
RSNO Circle The Circle is a vital part of the RSNO family. Our community of music-lovers inspire and support us. Supporting us by joining the Circle will help us to bring music to so many people, from our Learning and Engagement programmes to our brand-new digital performances. As part of our community and family, we will keep in touch with our exclusive magazine Inner Circle, our Circle member webpage and invitations to special events throughout the year. To find out more about joining the Circle please visit rsno.org.uk/circle or get in touch with our Individual Giving and Partnerships Officer, Kirsten Reid, RSNO, 19 Killermont Street, Glasgow G2 3NX Email: kirsten.reid@rsno.org.uk To all our existing Circle members, thank you. Thank you for your unwavering support that allows us to continue sharing the joy of music. Virtuoso
Ms Catherine Y Alexander Mrs A M Bennett Dame Susan and Mr John Bruce Mrs Stina Bruce-Jones Stephen and Morny Carter Philip and Mary Contini Sir Sandy and Lady Crombie Gavin and Kate Gemmell Dr M I and Mrs C R Gordon Scott and Frieda Grier Iain MacNeil and Kat Heathcote Miss A McGrory Mr James Miller CBE Meta Ramsay Mr George Ritchie Mr and Mrs W Semple Myra and David Soutar Mr Ian Taft Claire and Mark Urquhart Raymond and Brenda Williamson Mr Hedley G Wright
Symphony
Ronnie and Evelyne Anderson Mr Alan and Mrs Carolyn Bonnyman Miss L Buist Mr and Mrs J K Burleigh Mr J L Donaldson Mr I Gow Mr J D Home Mrs J Kennedy Mrs A Lamont Norma and Christine Lessels Mr A D Mackay Mr I C MacNicol Professor J and Mrs S Mavor Mrs A McQueen Miss M Michie Morag Millar Mr Miller Miss K Ridland Mr and Mrs David Robinson Mr D Rogerson Mrs Ann M Stephen Mr Alistair M and Mrs Mandy Struthers Mr and Mrs M Whelan Mrs A Wolfson
Concerto
Dr K Chapman and Ms S Adam Mr A Alstead Miss D Blackie Neil and Karin Bowman Dr M Bronte-Stewart Dr F L Brown Mr John Brownlie Mr and Mrs Burnside Mr A Campbell Sir Graeme and Lady Catto Mr R Cavanagh Myk Cichla Dr J Coleiro Mr and Mrs B H Cross Christine and Jo Danbolt Mr P Davidson Mr J Diamond Miss C Dixon-Carter OBE Mr C Ffoulkes Mr and Mrs M Gilbert Professor J R and Mrs C M Gray Richard and Linda Holden Mrs F D Inverarity Mr N Jack Mr and Mrs S G Kay Mr and Mrs W Kean Mrs M King Mr Alistair Mackie Mr D MacPherson Mr R G Madden Mr S Marwick Mr and Mrs G McAllister Mr E and Mrs S McGeachan Mr Rod McLoughlin Mrs B Morinaud Mr A Morrison Mrs A C Morrison Dr and Mrs D Mowle Dr P Osborne Mr and Mrs D Pirie Ms A and Miss I Reeve Elspeth M Robertson Miss L E Robertson Ross family Dr and Mrs G K Simpson Mr and Mrs A Stewart Mrs M Stirling
Mr G Stronach Dr G R Sutherland Mr I Szymanski Professor D E M Taylor Mr and Dr Tom Thomson Mr J B and Mrs M B Watson Mr and Mrs Wigglesworth
Sonata
Ms S Ace Mr K Allen Ms D Baines Mr O Balfour Mr N C Banks Mr N Barton Dr A D Beattie Mrs H Benzie Lord and Lady Borthwick Rev P Boylan John Bradshaw and Shiona Mackie Mrs L Brocklebank Ms H Calvert Mr E M Cameron Miss S M Carlyon Mrs H S Chalmers Mr T Cole and Mrs J Leslie-Cole Lady Coulsfield Ms K Cunningham Mr F Dalziel and Mrs S Walsh Dr J K and Mrs E E Davidson Mr and Mrs K B Dietz Mrs C Donald Jane Donald and Lee Knifton Ms P Dow Mrs P du Feu Mr John Duffy Mr and Mrs M Dunbar Mr R M Duncan Brigadier and Mrs C C Dunphie Mrs E Egan Miss L Emslie Mr R B Erskine Dr E Evans Mr D Fraser Mr D and Mrs A Fraser Mr D Frew Ms J Gardner Dr P and Dr K Gaskell
Mr W G Geddes Mrs E Gibb Mrs M Gibson Mr D Gibson Lady A V Gibson Mrs J Gilchrist Mrs M Gillan Mr R M Godfrey Dr J A Graham and Mrs H M Graham Professor and Mrs A R Grieve Mr and Mrs G Y Haig Lord and Lady Hamilton Dr P J Harper Dr N Harrison Mr and Mrs R J Hart Mr D Hartman Ms V Harvey Mrs S Hawthorn Mrs M Hayes Dr and Mrs P Heywood Bobby and Rhona Hogg Ms J Hope Mr R Horne Mr and Mrs F Howell Mrs A S Hunter Professor R N Ibbett Professor and Mrs E W Laing Mr J P Lawson Mr and Mrs J Lawson Mr R M Love Dr D A Lunt Mr and Mrs R MacCormick Mr and Mrs MacGillivray Lady Lucinda L Mackay Mr R Maizels and Ms C Tilley Dr A K and Mrs J C Martin Mr and Mrs J Martin Mr and Mrs D H Marwick Ms S McArthur Mr G McCormack Mrs L McCormick Mrs M McDonald Mrs C McGowan-Smyth Dr A H McKee Mr Patrick McKeever Mr G McKeown Ms H L McLaren Mrs E McLean
Ms Fiona McLeod Mr and Mrs B Mellon Mr and Mrs I Mills Mrs P Molyneaux Mr R Morley Mr B Morrison Mr K M Murray Mr B and Mrs C Nelson Mr and Mrs K O’Hare Professor Stephen Osborne and Frank Osborne Mr and Mrs K Osborne Dr G Osbourne Ms S Park Mr R Parry Mr J Paterson Misses J and M Penman Mr I Percival Dr M Porteous Mr J W Pottinger Miss J A Raiker Mr M Rattray Ms F Reith Mrs D A Riley Dr and Mrs D Robb Mr I Robertson Mr H and Mrs J Robson Ms A Robson Mrs E K Ross Mrs S Scott Mrs J Shanks Mr J A Shipley Dr M J and Mrs J A Shirreffs Mr E B Simmons and Mrs R Nicolson Dr Colin and Mrs Kathleen Sinclair Mr M J Smith Mrs E Smith Mr M A Snider Dr and Mrs B Stack Mrs Lorna Statham Mrs T Stevenson Rev N and Mr R Stewart Mrs R F Stewart Mr and Mrs B Tait Dr and Mrs T Thomson Mrs E B Tupman Dr S Tweedie Dr Morag Ward
Mr W Watters Dr and Mrs T Weakley Mrs V Wells Mr G West Miss M Whitelaw Dr and Mrs D T Williams Mr D Woolgar Mr R Young
Thank you to all our members of the Circle, including those who wish to remain anonymous. Every one of you makes a real difference.
24 Mozart Clarinet Concerto
A big Thank You to our supporters FUNDERS
CORPORATE SUPPORTERS
PRINCIPAL MEDIA PARTNER
PRINCIPAL TRANSPORT PARTNER
BROADCAST PARTNER
PARTNERS Glasgow Chamber of Commerce • Institute of Directors • Scots Magazine The Scottish Council for Development & Industry • Smart Graphics
PROJECT PARTNERS Abertay University • Children’s Classic Concerts • Children’s Hospices Across Scotland • Dundee University • Gig Buddies Glasgow Association for Mental Health (GAMH) • Glasgow Life • Horsecross Arts • National Youth Orchestras of Scotland Prescribe Culture (University of Edinburgh) • Royal Conservatoire of Scotland • Scottish Book Trust Tayside Healthcare Arts Trust • Usher Hall • Young Scot
CHAIR SPONSORS
If you would like more information about sponsorships, corporate partnerships or fundraising events with the RSNO, please contact Kirsten Reid, Individual Giving and Partnerships Officer, at kirsten.reid@rsno.org.uk
RSNO: Scotland’s National Orchestra 25
Royal Scottish National Orchestra PATRON
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Jenny McNeely
Her Majesty The Queen
Alistair Mackie Nicola Shephard
Graham Ramage
RSNO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
HEAD OF INDIVIDUAL GIVING AND PARTNERSHIPS GRAPHICS AND NEW MEDIA DESIGNER
Kirsten Reid
Elected Directors Dame Susan Bruce DBE CHAIR
CONCERTS AND ENGAGEMENT
John Heasley
Sam Stone
HONORARY TREASURER
Bill Chandler
DIRECTOR OF CONCERTS AND ENGAGEMENT
Hugh Bruce-Watt Kat Heathcote Linda Holden Neil McLennan Costa Pilavachi David Robinson Gurjit Singh Lalli Jane Wood
Laura Baxter
Ajda Šubelj
Michael Cameron
FINANCE AND CORPORATE SERVICES
HEAD OF LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT (MATERNITY COVER) DRIVER AND DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER
Samantha Campbell
HEAD OF LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT (MATERNITY LEAVE)
Bekah Cork
ARTISTIC PLANNING AND TOURS MANAGER
Flora Farqhuarson
Player Directors Dávur Juul Magnussen Sophie Lang Kennedy Leitch Paul Philbert Janet Richardson Lorna Rough
CREATIVE ASSISTANT
Emma Hunter
DEPUTY ORCHESTRA MANAGER
Rosie Kenneally
LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT OFFICER
Ewen McKay
HEAD OF ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT
Richard Payne LIBRARIAN
Nominated Directors Cllr Frank Docherty
Tammo Schuelke
ARTISTIC PLANNING MANAGER
GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL
Cllr Lezley Marion Cameron THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL
Company Secretary Gordon Murray
INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER HEAD OF TRUSTS AND PROJECTS
Angela Moreland
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Ted Howie
FACILITIES COORDINATOR
Jack Hunter VIDEO PRODUCER
Irene McPhail
ACCOUNTS AND PAYROLL ASSISTANT
Hedd Morfett-Jones DIGITAL MANAGER
Susan Rennie FINANCE MANAGER
Abby Trainor ADMINISTRATOR
Jade Wilson
FINANCE ASSISTANT
Matthias van der Swaagh CONCERTS ADMINISTRATOR
Craig Swindells CHORUS MANAGER
DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS
Royal Scottish National Orchestra 19 Killermont Street Glasgow G2 3NX T: +44 (0)141 226 3868 W: rsno.org.uk
PROGRAMMES EDITOR
Scottish Company No. 27809 Scottish Charity No. SC010702
EXTERNAL RELATIONS
Dr Jane Donald Ian Brooke
DEVELOPMENT BOARD
TRUSTS AND PROJECTS COORDINATOR
Christine Walker
Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale Lady Gibson Ms Ruth Wishart
Naomi Stewart
STAGE AND PRODUCTION MANAGER
RSNO COUNCIL CHAIR
INDIVIDUAL GIVING AND PARTNERSHIPS OFFICER
Constance Carter-Fraser
EXTERNAL RELATIONS ADMINISTRATOR
Raymond M Williamson
Jessica Cowley
/royalscottishnationalorchestra
Dr Robert Asher Stephen Carter OBE Alison Gregson Linda Holden
Carol Fleming
@RSNO
CHAIR
SENIOR MARKETING OFFICER HEAD OF MARKETING
@rsnoofficial
COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
Youtube.com/thersno
Catriona Mackenzie
The RSNO is one of Scotland’s National Performing Companies, supported by the Scottish Government.
Orchestra list and programme details correct at time of going to print. Contents © Copyright RSNO and named authors.