LAN SHUI Music Director
PRESIDENT’S YOUNG PERFORMERS CONCERT 21 September 2018 Victoria Concert Hall Home of the SSO
Joshua Tan, conductor Kong Xianlong, violin
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21 Sep 2018, Fri
PRESIDENT’S YOUNG PERFORMERS CONCERT Singapore Symphony Orchestra Joshua Tan, conductor GIOACHINO ROSSINI Overture to L’Italiana in Algeri 9’00
WOLFGANG AMADEUS Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K.219 “Turkish” 31’00 MOZART 1. Allegro aperto 2. Adagio 3. Rondeau
Kong Xianlong, violin
Intermission 20’00
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 26’00 1. 2. 3. 4.
Adagio molto – Allegro con brio Andante cantabile con moto Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace
Concert duration: 1 hr 40 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 ing a p or e S y mp hon y Or c he s t r a
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.
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.
The SSO makes its performing home at the 1,800-seat state-of-the-art Esplanade 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.
Notable SSO releases under BIS include a Rachmaninov 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 Damrau, Martha Argerich, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Janine Jansen, Leonidas Kavakos and Gil Shaham.
“A fine display of orchestral bravado for the SSO and Shui” The Guardian
Joshua Tan conductor Second Prize winner of the 2008 Dimitri Mitropoulos International Competition, Singaporean conductor Joshua Kangming Tan’s rise to prominence on the international scene has been marked by successful debuts in Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, Mariinsky Hall and Bunkamura. A graduate of The Juilliard School and the Eastman School of Music (High Distinction), he is an awardee of numerous scholarships and awards, such as the Young Artist Award, Singapore (2011), Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Award, NAC-Shell Scholarship, and the SSO/MOE Scholarship. Tan has conducted orchestras all around the world, in countries such as Singapore, China, Japan, Taiwan, Macau, Russia, Germany, and America. These orchestras include the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Beethoven Bonn Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, amongst others. He has studied with various eminent conductors such as James DePreist, Charles Dutoit, David Zinman and Kurt Masur.
A versatile conductor, Tan is at home with both symphonic and operatic works. His substantial repertoire for opera includes La Traviata, Rigoletto, Der Fliegende Holländer, Lohengrin, Carmen, Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, Così fan tutte, and Turandot, among others. He has also served as cover conductor for Christoph Eschenbach and Lorin Maazel. He is also equally adept with ballet productions and music for film/ multimedia. Tan is presently Associate Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra and Director of the Asia Virtuosi. He has served successful stints as Resident Conductor of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (China) Orchestra, and as Principal Conductor of the Guiyang Symphony Orchestra.
Kong Xianlong violin Kong Xianlong, born into a musical family in Singapore in 1996, started violin lessons at the age of four with his grandfather, Kong Guangtian. He soon made his first public debut at the age of six. Since then, he has appeared as soloist in many occasions in Singapore and China. In 2007, he won the Second Prize in the Junior Section of the National Piano & Violin Competition in Singapore and subsequently the First Prize in the Intermediate Section in 2009. In 2011, he won the First Prize in the Senior Section of the National Piano & Violin Competition in Singapore and performed Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy with the Singapore National Youth Orchestra in the Esplanade Concert Hall under the baton of Darrell Ang. In the following year, he won the First Prize in the Senior category and the Best Chinese Work Prize at the 2012 Hong Kong International Violin Competition. His solo appearance includes collaboration with the China Philharmonic Orchestra, performing the Mozart Concertone for Two Violins in Beijing, April 2015. He was selected to join the Young Artist Programme at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore when he was in Secondary
Three in Dunman Secondary School. He had lessons with world-renowned violinists such as Qian Zhou, Cho-Liang Lin, Tong Weidong, Wang Hong, David Takeno, Keng-Yuen Tseng, Kam Ning, Walter Verdehr and Boris Kuschnir. Currently a third year undergraduate in the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, he is also a freelancer in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Kong has been studying with Qian Zhou since 2009. He is playing a 1751 Michael Platner violin generously loaned by Mr and Mrs Rin Kei Mei.
SSO MU S ICIAN 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 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 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 Kartik Alan Jairamin^
PICCOLO Roberto Alvarez Assistant Principal OBOE Rachel Walker Principal Pan Yun Associate Principal Carolyn Hollier Elaine Yeo
TRUMPET Jon Paul Dante Principal David Smith Associate Principal Lau Wen Rong Sergey Tyuteykin TROMBONE
Elaine Yeo Associate Principal
Allen Meek Principal Damian Patti Associate Principal Samuel Armstrong
CLARINET
BASS TROMBONE
Ma Yue Principal Li Xin Associate Principal Liu Yoko Tang Xiao Ping
Wang Wei Assistant Principal
BASS CLARINET
TIMPANI
Tang Xiao Ping Assistant Principal
Christian Schiøler Principal Jonathan Fox Associate Principal
COR ANGLAIS
TUBA Hidehiro Fujita Principal
BASSOON Wang Xiaoke Principal Liu Chang Associate Principal Christoph Wichert Zhao Ying Xue
PERCUSSION Jonathan Fox Principal Mark Suter Associate Principal Lim Meng Keh Zhu Zheng Yi
CONTRA BASSOON Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal
HARP Gulnara Mashurova 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 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.
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Igor Yuzefovich, Concertmaster The GK Goh Chair
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Thank you for attending the President's Young Performers Concert 2018
LARS VOGT MOZART PIANO CONCERTO 21 VICTORIA CONCERT HALL 19 & 20 OCT 2018
Mozart's 21st Piano Concerto is famous for its elegant Andante, used in the classic film Elvira Madigan. Hear this scintillating and charming work led by the acclaimed Lars Vogt, who will conduct from the piano. Lars Vogt, conductor/piano Sponsored by
MASTER OF VIOLIN: JAMES EHNES VICTORIA CONCERT HALL 23 OCT 2018
With an endless stream of superlative reviews in his wake, the artistry of Canadian violinist James Ehnes is the unmissable spotlight of this recital, featuring works by Beethoven, Ravel, Brahms and Corigliano. James Ehnes, violin Andrew Armstrong, piano
FAMILIAR FAVOURITES: TALES OF LOVE ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL 15 NOV 2018
Richard Lin, winner of the 2015 Singapore Violin Competition, is showcased in Korngold's cinema-inspired Violin Concerto. The attractive fairy-tale programme also features Cinderella and The Sleeping Beauty. Kees Bakels, conductor Richard Lin, violin
SERENADE WITH SOYOUNG YOON ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL 29 NOV 2018
Serenade with Soyoung Yoon, another young and up-and-coming violinist from South Korea, in this concert comprising Bernstein's Serenade - alongside Beethoven's vigorous Eighth Symphony. Michał Nesterowicz, conductor Soyoung Yoon, violin
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GIOACHINO RO S S INI (1792–18 6 8) Overture to L’Italiana in Algeri 9’00 Rossini was arguably the most famous person of his era, rivalled only by Napoleon. Born after Mozart’s death, Rossini nonetheless greatly admired his music. Beethoven, however, was still very much alive and the two met in Vienna in 1822. Rossini, then 30 years old, was rich and famous, while the 52-year-old Beethoven was widely recognised as a genius, but was deaf and living in squalor.
In the opera, Isabella has been shipwrecked while trying to find her lost lover, Lindoro, who has been captured by Mustafà, the Bey of Algiers. Isabella finds herself cast ashore near Mustafà’s palace, who is immediately smitten with her. Through her cunning, Isabella and Lindoro manage to escape, with Mustafà swearing off Italian girls forever.
Instrumentation piccolo 2 oboes 2 clarinets bassoon 2 horns 2 trumpets bass drum, cymbals, triangles strings World Premiere 22 May 1813, Venice First performed by SSO 22 Nov 1979
PROGRAMME NOTES
Beethoven envied the younger composer’s success, but muttered “Rossini would have been a great composer if his teacher had spanked him enough”. He urged the younger composer to stick to frothy comic operas, which Rossini dispatched with phenomenal ease and speed. Rossini quipped that it took him four minutes to compose an aria, while he claimed L’Italiana in Algeri, his second runaway hit of 1813, took just 18 days to complete (some skeptics quibble and assert that it was actually 27). It was the first of Rossini’s operas to hold a place in the modern repertoire.
The overture begins with eight measures of pizzicato strings leading to the surprise entrance of the entire orchestra. The main theme is introduced by the woodwinds, while the second is played by the oboe answered by the piccolo. Propelled forward by a crescendo known as the Rossini Rocket, one of the composer’s favourite musical devices in which melody, harmony and rhythm are fused to create a frenzy of sound, the overture ends with repeated chords to the crash of cymbals.
WOL F GANG AMA DEU S MOZ ART (175 6 –1791) Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K.219 “Turkish” 31’00 As a child Mozart had traveled throughout Europe, but at the age of 18 found himself trapped in a dead-end job in the service of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. The position paid well, but he had to produce an enormous amount of music in a style pleasing to his employer, lead the choir and give music lessons; worst of all he was a mere servant and treated as such. The Prince-Archbishop was also becoming increasingly annoyed by his frequent absences from Salzburg. January 1775 found him in Munich for the successful premiere of his opera La finta giardiniera shortly before his 19th birthday. Returning to Salzburg in early March, he was instructed to stay put and produce music for the upcoming visit of Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria, the son of the Empress Maria Theresa. (He would become the second employer and patron of the young Beethoven.) The fruits of his labour included five violin concertos, composed between April and December of that year. Recent research indicates that No. 1 most probably dates from 1773, and if so it is his earliest known concerto. Although mostly associated with the keyboard, Mozart had been taught the violin by his father Leopold, himself a violinist and the author of a standard treatise on violin playing. His son however
never became a violin virtuoso, despite the father’s admonition that if he applied himself he could become the greatest violinist in Europe. He thus wrote concertos with his own playing skills in mind. When Antonio Brunetti replaced him as the leader of the court orchestra in 1776, he requested some changes to the concertos and the young composer obliged. The five concertos demonstrate the amazing development of Mozart’s composing powers during this time and their depth of expression is hinted at in just a couple of his prior works. As one commentator has observed, “Mozart matured musically at the speed at which the rest of us think”. Concerto No. 5, completed on 20 December 1775, embodies the strides that he had made, particularly in the abundance of its melodies and the sophistication of its orchestration. The first movement begins in the customary manner with an opening orchestral section of ascending arpeggios that end unexpectedly with the entry of the solo violin. Mozart rarely used the aperto marking, which means “open” in Italian, and indicates that even at a fast tempo the music should be played in a broad, majestic manner. A brief, dreamlike Adagio, only six-measures long, follows before the opening Allegro Aperto reappears with the violin reentering playing an exciting, new melody. The second movement is considerably longer than the slow movements of the other four concertos. Orchestrated for pairs of oboes and horn, as well as
strings, the solo violin soars above the sparse orchestration in endless streams of beautiful melodies. It was one of the movements that Brunetti requested be reworked for him as he found it too “studied” for his taste. The substitute movement still exists as K.261, but the original is always performed nowadays.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING 1) Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 2 in D major K.211 - Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K.219 “Turkish” Eduard Serov, Leningrad Orchestra of Ancient and Modern Music & Boris Gutnikov (Balt Music Jsc fka BOMBA PITER, 2015)
World Premiere c. 1775 First performed by SSO 10 Apr 1981 (Pavel Prantl)
PROGRAMME NOTES
For the final movement, Mozart uses the French Rondo marked in the tempo of a minuet. The graceful dance however is interrupted by a wild, fast Turkish-style march, from which the concerto acquired its nickname. Mozart actually employed a combination of Hungarian tunes and music from one of his early operas, but anything earthy or exotic was deemed Turkish at the time. Order is restored with the return of the minuet, with the violin again playing another new melody. The concerto ends with a surprising, subtle final nod from the violin.
Instrumentation 2 oboes 2 horns strings
LUDW IG VAN B EETHOVEN (1770 –18 27 ) Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 26’00 Beethoven’s Third and Fifth symphonies are universally deemed to be watershed events, both in his development as a composer and in the history of Western culture. They are among mankind’s most profound artistic achievements celebrating the heroic in all of humanity, and ultimately in the composer himself, as he struggled with his ever increasing deafness and isolation. The importance of Symphony No. 1 in his evolution as a musician and the development of the form, however, is not to be discounted. It too was a revolutionary work. Beethoven began sketching the symphony as early as 1795, but most likely completed it during the months leading up to its premiere in Vienna on 2 April 1800. It was dedicated to Gottfried, Freiherr van Swieten, a Dutch-born Austrian diplomat and amateur musician, best remembered today as the patron of several great composers of the Classical era, including Haydn, Mozart, and of course, Beethoven. The long gestation period was due at least in part to financial reasons, as well as the prevailing musical tastes of the day. In the 18th century, instrumental music was considered inferior to opera and vocal music. Performances of symphonies were confined to the homes of aristocrats for their private pleasure, or in concerts
arranged for and paid for by the composers. Beethoven ushered in a new era where instrumental music was deemed capable of expressing the full range of human experience and emotion, at first gaining an equal footing with vocal music, and then overtaking it in the eyes of many. The economic factor was that Beethoven was primarily known as a pianist, whose compositions delighted his aristocratic patrons as well as the musical elite. The sales of printed editions of his piano works meant royalties, while full orchestral scores were seldom published. The fact that Beethoven’s First Symphony was brought out in a limited edition in 1803 by a group of British publishers reflected the public’s evolving musical aesthetics, as much as the work’s artistic merit. The slow introduction to the first movement would have come as a surprise to the audience at the first performance, as would have the circuitous route that Beethoven takes through the keys of F major and G major before squarely landing on the home key of C major. The remainder of the movement follows the conventional sonata form, but is peppered with sforzandos, a favourite music device of Beethoven’s in which a note is played with a pronounced stress or accent. A series of quasi-fugal entrances introduces the lovely song that is the basis of the Andante, second movement. The orchestra’s role is to accompany the melody, which is played primarily by the strings, although it is heard in the woodwinds towards the end of the movement.
The actual revolutionary aspect of the symphony, which in most ways adhered to the classical norms, was its third movement. Although Beethoven termed it a menuetto, it was a scherzo in all but name. Beethoven neither invented, nor was the first to use the scherzo, but with his next symphony the menuetto would be gone for good, and the third movement of the Ninth Symphony would almost singlehandedly usher in the Romantic era.
Programme notes by Rick Perdian
World Premiere 2 Apr 1800, Vienna First performed by SSO 21 May 1979
PROGRAMME NOTES
The finale starts with a short slow introduction, but after a bang lands on the key of G major and quickly accelerates into a lively Allegro. It is very much in the style of Haydn, who was Beethoven’s teacher. The final twelve measures are played fortissimo, bringing the symphony to a triumphant and unconditional conclusion.
Instrumentation 2 flutes 2 oboes 2 clarinets 2 bassoons 2 horns 2 trumpets timpani strings
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
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Prof Cham Tao Soon (Honorary Chairman) Mr Alan Chan (Chairman) Mr Choo Chiau Beng Dr Geh Min Mr Goh Geok Khim Mr Khoo Boon Hui Prof Tommy Koh Mr JY Pillay Dr Stephen Riady Ms Priscylla Shaw Dr Gralf Sieghold Mr Andreas Sohmen-Pao Dr Tan Chin Nam Ms Tan Choo Leng Mr Tan Soo Nan Mr Wee Ee Cheong
Ms Liew Wei Li (Chairlady) Mr Ang Chek Meng Ms Vivien Goh Dr Kee Kirk Chin Mrs Valarie Wilson
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The Singapore Symphony Orchestra is a charity and not-for-profit organisation. You can support us by donating at www.sso.org.sg/donate.
sso.org.sg