LAN SHUI Music Director
SUBSCRIPTION CONCERT
LARS VOGT • MOZART PIANO CONCERTO 21 19 & 20 October 2018 Victoria Concert Hall Home of the SSO
Lars Vogt, conductor / piano
Sponsored by
ME S S AG E F R OM S inga p ore A ir l ines Dear Friends, It is with great pleasure that Singapore Airlines partners with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra for yet another highly anticipated performance tonight, Lars Vogt – Mozart Piano Concerto 21. Since its founding in 1979, the SSO has established itself as a premier orchestra in Asia winning recognition around the world. Through artistic excellence in classical music, the SSO has touched lives and enriched the cultural scene in Singapore, including playing a significant role in educating young people. Tonight’s concert will feature the works of three great composers – Webern, Mozart and Schumann – as well as pianist and conductor Lars Vogt, one of the leading musicians of his generation. We are sure that tonight’s performance will be a treat. We wish all of you a very memorable and enjoyable musical journey this evening. Thank you.
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19 & 20 Oct 2018, Fri & Sat
LARS VOGT • MOZART PIANO CONCERTO 21 Singapore Symphony Orchestra Lars Vogt, conductor/piano ANTON WEBERN
Langsamer Satz 10’
WOLFGANG Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K.467 29’ AMADEUS MOZART 1. Allegro maestoso 2. Andante 3. Allegro vivace assai
Lars Vogt, piano
Intermission 20’ ROBERT SCHUMANN
Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61 38’
1. 2. 3. 4.
Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo Scherzo: Allegro vivace Adagio espressivo Allegro molto vivace
Concert duration: 1 hr 50 mins Go green. Digital programme booklets are available on www.sso.org.sg. Scan the QR code in the foyer to view a copy.
S inga p ore S y mp hon y Or c hes t ra Since its founding in 1979, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) has been Singapore’s flagship orchestra, touching lives through classical music and providing the heartbeat of the cultural scene in the cosmopolitan city-state. In addition to its subscription series concerts, the orchestra is well-loved for its outdoor and community appearances, and its significant role educating the young people of Singapore. The SSO has also earned an international reputation for its orchestral virtuosity, having garnered sterling reviews for its overseas tours and many successful recordings.
Concert Hall. More intimate works and all outreach and community performances take place at the 673-seat Victoria Concert Hall, the home of the SSO. The orchestra performs 100 concerts a year, and its versatile repertoire spans all-time favourites and orchestral masterpieces to exciting cutting-edge premieres. Bridging the musical traditions of East and West, Singaporean and Asian musicians and composers are regularly showcased in the concert season. This has been a core of the SSO’s programming philosophy from the very beginning under Choo Hoey, who was Music Director from 1979 to 1996.
The SSO makes its performing home at the 1,800-seat state-of-the-art Esplanade
Since Lan Shui assumed the position of Music Director in 1997, the SSO has
performed in Europe, Asia and the United States. In May 2016 the SSO was invited to perform at the Dresden Music Festival and the Prague Spring International Music Festival. This successful five‑city tour of Germany and Prague also included the SSO’s return to the Berlin Philharmonie after six years. In 2014 the SSO’s debut at the 120th BBC Proms in London received critical acclaim in the major UK newspapers The Guardian and Telegraph. The SSO has also performed in China on multiple occasions. Notable SSO releases under BIS include a Rachmaninoff series, a “Seascapes” album, two Debussy discs “La Mer” and “Jeux”, and the first-ever cycle of Tcherepnin’s piano concertos
and symphonies. The SSO has also collaborated with such great artists as Lorin Maazel, Charles Dutoit, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Neeme Järvi, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Diana Damra, Martha Argerich, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Janine Jansen, Leonidas Kavakos and Gil Shaham. The SSO is part of the Singapore Symphony Group, which also manages the Singapore Symphony Choruses, and the Singapore National Youth Orchestra. The mission of the Group is to create memorable shared experiences with music. Through the SSO and its affiliated performing groups, we spread the love for music, nurture talent and enrich Singapore’s diverse communities.
Lars Vogt conductor / piano Lars Vogt has established himself as one of the leading musicians of his generation. Born in the German town of Düren in 1970, he first came to public attention when he won second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition and has enjoyed a varied career for over 25 years. His versatility as an artist ranges from the core Classical repertoire of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms to the Romantics Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff through to the dazzling Lutoslawski concerto. Lars is now increasingly working with orchestras as a conductor and in September 2015 took up his post as Music Director of Royal Northern Sinfonia at Sage Gateshead. As a conductor Lars has also worked with many leading orchestras including the Cologne and Zurich Chamber Orchestras, Camerata Salzburg, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, Frankfurt Museumorchester and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. This season features conducting debuts with Singapore and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras, Warsaw Philharmonic and the Orchestre de
Chambre de Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. Lars performs as a soloist this season with, among others, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and St Louis and Baltimore Orchestras. He returns to North America for a tour with Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff including New York (Carnegie Hall), Washington, D. C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver. He will also perform recitals in London, Salzburg, Barcelona and Beijing. During his prestigious career Lars has performed with many of the world’s great orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Deutsches SymphonieOrchester Berlin, Bayerischer Rundfunk Munich, Staatskapelle Dresden, Wiener Philharmoniker, London Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony and NHK Symphony.
Supporting the Local Arts and Cultural Scene Partner of SSO since 1978 NSL is a long-standing sponsor for Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO). We have been instrumental in helping the Orchestra reach out to the community-at-large as SSO brings music to the world. A leading industrial group in the Asia Pacific with businesses in Precast & Prefabricated Bathroom Unit and Environmental Services, NSL believes that while achieving business goals is important, its actions need to also create a positive impact on the community, environment and all stakeholders.
NSL LTD 77 Robinson Road #27-00 Robinson 77 Singapore 068896 Tel: 6536 1000 I Fax: 6536 1008 I www.nsl.com.sg
23 Oct 2018 | 7:30PM VICTORIA CONCERT HALL Canadian violinist James Ehnes makes his Singapore debut together with pianist Andrew Armstrong in an intimate recital. BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata No. 1 in D major, Op. 12 RAVEL Violin Sonata No. 2 in G major BRAHMS Scherzo from F.A.E. Sonata (Sonatensatz) CORIGLIANO Sonata for Violin and Piano
"Ehnes and Armstrong are stunningly responsive... with a sense of propulsion, yet without overlooking its moments of delicacy." - Gramophone PRESENTED BY
SSO MU S ICI A N S Lan Shui Music Director joshua tan Associate Conductor andrew litton Principal Guest Conductor Choo Hoey Conductor Emeritus Eudenice Palaruan Choral Director WONG LAI FOON Choirmaster
FIRST VIOLIN Igor Yuzefovich1 Concertmaster, The GK Goh Chair Emily Davis^ Concertmaster Lynnette Seah2 Co-Concertmaster Kong Zhao Hui* Associate Concertmaster Chan Yoong-Han Fixed Chair Cao Can* Chen Da Wei Duan Yu Ling Foo Say Ming Gu Wen Li Jin Li Cindy Lee Sui Jing Jing Karen Tan William Tan Wei Zhe SECOND VIOLIN Anne Søe^ Principal Michael Loh Associate Principal
Hai-Won Kwok Fixed Chair Nikolai Koval* Lee Shi Mei^ Chikako Sasaki* Margit Saur Shao Tao Tao Lillian Wang Wu Man Yun* Xu Jue Yi* Ye Lin* Yeo Teow Meng Yin Shu Zhan* Zhang Si Jing* VIOLA Zhang Manchin Principal Guan Qi Associate Principal Gu Bing Jie* Fixed Chair Marietta Ku Luo Biao Julia Park Shui Bing Tan Wee-Hsin Janice Tsai Wang Dandan Yang Shi Li CELLO Ng Pei-Sian Principal Yu Jing Associate Principal Guo Hao Fixed Chair Chan Wei Shing Song Woon Teng Wang Yan Wang Zihao* Wu Dai Dai Zhao Yu Er DOUBLE BASS Guennadi Mouzyka Principal Yang Zheng Yi Associate Principal Karen Yeo Fixed Chair Olga Alexandrova Jacek Mirucki Wang Xu
FLUTE
HORN
Jin Ta Principal Evgueni Brokmiller Associate Principal Roberto Alvarez Miao Shanshan
Han Chang Chou Principal Gao Jian Associate Principal Jamie Hersch Associate Principal Marc-Antoine Robillard Associate Principal
PICCOLO
TRUMPET
Roberto Alvarez Assistant Principal
Jon Paul Dante Principal David Smith Associate Principal Lau Wen Rong Sergey Tyuteykin
OBOE Rachel Walker Principal Pan Yun Associate Principal Carolyn Hollier Hu Qiuzi^ Elaine Yeo
TROMBONE Allen Meek Principal Damian Patti Associate Principal Samuel Armstrong
COR ANGLAIS Elaine Yeo Associate Principal
BASS TROMBONE Wang Wei Assistant Principal
CLARINET Ma Yue Principal Li Xin Associate Principal Liu Yoko Tang Xiao Ping BASS CLARINET
TUBA Hidehiro Fujita Principal TIMPANI Christian Schiøler Principal Jonathan Fox Associate Principal
Tang Xiao Ping Assistant Principal PERCUSSION BASSOON Wang Xiaoke Principal Liu Chang Associate Principal Christoph Wichert Zhao Ying Xue
Jonathan Fox Principal Mark Suter Associate Principal Lim Meng Keh Zhu Zheng Yi HARP
CONTRA BASSOON
Gulnara Mashurova Principal
Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal
*With deep appreciation to the Rin Collection for their generous loan of string instruments. Igor Yuzefovich plays an instrument generously loaned by Mr & Mrs G K Goh 2 Lynnette Seah performs on a J.B. Guadagnini of Milan, c. 1750, donated by the National Arts Council, Singapore, with the support of Far East Organization and Lee Foundation. ^Musician on temporary contract Musicians listed alphabetically by family name rotate their seats on a per programme basis. 1
Thank you for attending Lars Vogt: Mozart Piano Concerto 21
SSO 40TH ANNIVERSARY GALA ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL 18 JAN 2019
Beethoven's magnificent Emperor Piano Concerto was written a mere 25 years after Mozart's 21st. They don't just illustrate the difference between the Neo-Classical and Romantic styles, but shows what Mozart might have done had he lived longer than 35. Lan Shui, conductor Lim Yan, piano
CHRISTOPHER PARK PLAYS MOZART VICTORIA CONCERT HALL 22 & 23 FEB 2019
The young and gifted German-Korean pianist Christopher Park presents another Mozart classic, the D minor Piano Concerto No. 20, a dramatic and no less beautiful counterpart to his 21st. Bruno Weil, conductor Christopher Park, piano Sponsored by
MASTER OF THE HARP VICTORIA CONCERT HALL 1 & 2 MAR 2019
Here's another early 19th century post-Mozart programme full of tunes elegant and confident. We swap the piano for harp at the VCH, with the gorgeous Harp Concerto by Boieldieu, otherwise known as "The French Mozart". Alexander Liebreich, conductor Xavier de Maistre, harp
SABINE MEYER MOZART CLARINET CONCERTO VICTORIA CONCERT HALL 22 & 23 MAR 2019
Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, written just two months before his untimely death, is a flawless gem of radiant joy and meditative serenity. Join us again at VCH for this absolute classic, with the celebrated clarinettist Sabine Meyer. Andrew Litton, conductor Sabine Meyer, clarinet
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T he G K G oh C h a ir The SSO Concertmaster Chair is named for Mr GK Goh. We would like to thank the Family and Friends of Mr Goh Geok Khim for their donations. We are especially grateful to Mr and Mrs Goh Yew Lin for their most generous donation.
Igor Yuzefovich, Concertmaster The GK Goh Chair
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A NTON W E B E R N (18 8 3–194 5) Langsamer Satz 10’ One of a trio who founded the early 20thcentury musical modernism of the Second Viennese School, Austrian composer Anton Webern is perhaps best known as a composer of vocal, instrumental, and some extraordinarily deft modernist works of remarkable integrity and concision. The son of a mining engineer turned civil servant, and an accomplished pianist and singer, much of Webern’s compositional life was shaped by his familial history as well as by the Austrian landscapes and countryside in which he spent a significant part of his childhood. A work cast deeply in Austrian idiom, Webern’s Langsamer Satz, meaning “slow movement” was inspired by a hiking trip in the mountains with the girl who would later become his wife, Wilhelmine Mörtl, daughter of his mother’s sister. Written in 1905, this delightfully antiquated work is a timeless tonal artefact of early Webern, just before the great modernist wave. Langsamer Satz was written as an academic exercise for his teacher Arnold Schoenberg, but was not publicly performed until 1962. The version that you hear this evening was scored by Gerard Schwarz and premiered in 1982. Opening with a gaping, brooding interval of a rising fourth, it slowly climbs in step-
wise motion, singing and soaring. Much of the music is rare, still and spare, radiating with a touch of cold, like a deep draught of mountain air in the sun. The music is spare, sylvan, at points otherworldly, and with singing melodies. Its minimalistic elegance comes through by way of brilliantly clear-cut lines, just on the brink of modernity. Lush and laden with a heady infusion of late-German Romantic tradition, it is immaculately crafted. Much of the score is exquisitely multi-layered, with interlocking and moving parts, like gentle pizzicatos that double as inventively programmatic touches, reminiscent of a cascade of falling water, a singing brook, or even rain. Midway through the movement, there is a moment of terrifying and dissonant darkness, after which the music rapidly resolves into calm, before returning to the opening theme. It ends quietly, in moving, tantalizing starlight.
Instrumentation strings World Premiere May 1982, New York First performed by SSO 19 Oct 2018
WOL F G A NG A M A DE U S MOZ A R T (175 6 –1791) Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K.467 29’ The sunny sibling of Mozart’s darker and contemplative Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, with which it is frequently compared, the Piano Concerto No. 21 is in contrast, incandescent, light and tuneful.
Possibly one of the most famous of all of Mozart’s piano concerti, it is also described by his own father, the formidable Leopold Mozart, as an “astonishingly difficult” work. In addition to the many challenges of musical multi-tasking or playing and conducting – of which you will see Lars Vogt undertake this evening – it is a work in which soloist and orchestral dialogue are finely matched in deft and equal partnership. The pianist has to maintain clarity in the melody while keeping everything linked and limpid; all-the-while projecting yet preserving transparency and smoothness in Mozart’s many dazzling figurations.
World Premiere 10 Mar 1785 First performed by SSO 14 May 1982 (Marie-Françoise Bucquet)
Atmospherically, much of this work is bright, with moments of quiet comedic quality. The first movement, Allegro maestoso, opens somewhat bumblingly and hesitantly; a teetering melody interspersed with rests after which it snaps into motion and with a flood of great force, rising against a backdrop of tremolos, and an escalating dramatic musical scrim against which the pianist enters. In the joyous, tuneful writing, observe the deft instrumental writing, dialogue with orchestra, and riveting modulations around which motivic material encircles in the development. The second movement, Andante, is of a rare and radical simplicity. The piano here pedals a startlingly innovative, almost abstract melodic idea based on a falling
PROGRAMME NOTES
Nicknamed “Elvira Madigan” after the 1967 Swedish film in which its second movement prominently features, the inventive and effervescent 21st was composed in the wake of his move from Salzburg to Vienna, an extraordinarily fecund time in Mozart’s life.
Instrumentation flute 2 oboes 2 bassoons 2 horns 2 trumpets timpani strings
(sixth), rising (sixth), falling (third), rising (fifth), and then falling scale. Dreamy and thoughtful, the pianist unfolds an almost silken and sumptuous solo melody, longspun against a backdrop of repeated quaver triplets as well as warm and mellow orchestral accompaniment. Bustling with movement and brimming with life, Mozart paints in the lively third movement, Allegro vivace assai, such a vivid musical picture in vibrant motion that it appears a domestic scene in an opera has come straight to life, albeit on stage, and in a concerto, filled with warmth and tuneful merriment. RECOMMENDED LISTENING 1) W.A. Mozart: Piano Concertos No. 21 in C Major, K. 467 & No. 27 in B-Flat Major, K. 595 Lars Vogt, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra & Paavo Järvi (Avi-Service for music, Cologne / Germany, 2013)
R OB E R T S CHUM A NN (1810 –18 5 6) Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61 38’ One of the finest examples of German midRomantic symphonic writing, Schumann’s Second Symphony is also an extraordinary testament of human and personal triumph over adversity. Schumann begun writing it on 12 December 1845 and all-but-completed it on the 28th, despite being assailed with medical problems from just a year before – not least a constant trumpet-like running of the note C in his mind. Eventually published in 1847, it was premiered in Leipzig in November 1846, under the baton of close friend Felix Mendelssohn. Moving and triumphant, Schumann here creates music of kinship and accord, filled with inventive use of musical intertextuality. In the last movement, for instance, listeners should look out not only for the fascinating re-emergence of motifs from the first movement, but also startling melodies that have origins in Bach, Beethoven’s song cycle An die ferne Geliebte, and Schumann himself in his Piano Fantasy in C, Op. 67 as well as his String Quartet, Op. 41, No. 2. The first movement, Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo, is set on melodic and temporal axes of unusual breath and span, in expansive 6/4 time. Opening with
a slow brass fanfare like a Bach chorale, warmly supported by the strings, the stirring and riveting movement is filled with majesty and momentum. Tremolos and rising lyricism fill the movement with hope and life.
Brooding with deep melancholy, the wistful and elegiac third movement, Adagio espressivo, is a powerful work of symphonic art that is filled with many a cloudy moment of slow, turbid, and yet thoughtful intensity of feeling. The fourth movement, Allegro molto vivace, is sunny and triumphant, with a quintessential and rousing momentum that characterised many of the movements before. Among its themes – as above mentioned – is the last song from Beethoven’s cycle An die ferne Geliebte. The atmosphere is energetic, spirited and joyous, ending in glory and light. Programme notes by Duana Chan
World Premiere Nov 1846, Leipzig First performed by SSO 26 Oct 1984
PROGRAMME NOTES
The second movement, Allegro vivace, takes the form of a scherzo with two trios. Observe the emergence of the famous B-A-C-H (‘B’ is B-flat, and ‘H’, B-natural in German notation) musical motif. Mercurial and fleet-footed, it is good-humoured and filled with liveliness and conviviality, upholding the earlier movement’s stirring atmosphere. Even in the somewhat querying dissonances with which it opens, the music quickly builds into thunderous brilliance. A downward cascade into the sylvan second subject fills the work with similar playfulness and light.
Instrumentation 2 flutes 2 oboes 2 clarinets 2 bassoons 2 horns 2 trumpets 3 trombones timpani strings
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The Modern Man —
28 Nov 2018
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Victoria Concert Hall
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