Adagietto: For My Wife by Singapore Symphony

LAN SHUI Music Director

SUBSCRIPTION CONCERT

ADAGIETTO: FOR MY WIFE 28 September 2018 Esplanade Concert Hall

Performing Home of the SSO Lan Shui, conductor Piotr Anderszewski, piano

28 Sep 2018, Fri

ADAGIETTO: FOR MY WIFE Singapore Symphony Orchestra Lan Shui, conductor BÉLA BARTÓK

Piano Concerto No. 3 in E major 23’

1. Allegretto 2. Adagio religioso 3. Allegro vivace

Piotr Anderszewski, piano

Intermission 20’

Piotr Anderszewski will sign autographs in the stalls foyer.

GUSTAV MAHLER

Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor 68’

PART I • Trauermarsch: In gemessenem Schritt • Stürmisch bewegt. Mit grösster Vehemenz

PART II • Scherzo: Kräftig, nicht zu schnell PART III • Adagietto: Sehr langsam • Rondo-Finale: Allegro giocoso; frisch

Concert duration: 2 hrs 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

LAN SHUI conductor Lan Shui is renowned for his abilities as an orchestral builder and for his passion in commissioning, premiering and recording new works by leading Asian composers. As Music Director of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra since 1997, American Record Review noted that Shui has “turned a good regional orchestra into a world-class ensemble that plays its heart out at every concert”. Together they have made several acclaimed tours to Europe, Asia and the United States and appeared for the first time at the BBC Proms in September 2014. Lan Shui held the position of Chief Conductor of the Copenhagen Phil from 2007 to 2015, and from 2016 he became their Conductor Laureate. He recently concluded a four-year period as Artistic Advisor of the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. As a guest conductor, Shui has worked with many orchestras. In the United States he has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and Baltimore and Detroit symphony orchestras. In Europe he has

performed with Deutsches SymphonieOrchester Berlin, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Gothenburg Symphony, Tampere Philharmonic and Orchestre National de Lille. In Asia he has conducted the Hong Kong, Malaysian and Japan Philharmonic orchestras and maintains a close relationship with the China Philharmonic and Shanghai Symphony. Since 1998 Shui has recorded over 20 CDs for BIS – including a Rachmaninov series, a “Seascapes” disc and the first-ever complete cycle of Tcherepnin’s symphonies with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra – and also music by Arnold and Hindemith with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, which has received two Grammy nominations. Lan Shui is the recipient of several international awards from the Beijing Arts Festival and the New York Tcherepnin Society, the 37th Besançon Conductors’ Competition in France and Boston

University (Distinguished Alumni Award) as well as the Cultural Medallion – Singapore’s highest accolade in the arts. Born in Hangzhou, China, Shui studied composition at the Shanghai Conservatory and graduated from the Beijing Central Conservatory. He continued his graduate studies at Boston University while at the same time working closely with Leonard Bernstein at the Tanglewood Music Festival. He has worked together with David Zinman as Conducting Affiliate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, as Associate Conductor to Neeme Järvi at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and with Kurt Masur at the New York Philharmonic and Pierre Boulez at The Cleveland Orchestra.

Piotr Anderszewski piano Piotr Anderszewski is regarded as one of the outstanding musicians of his generation. He appears regularly in recital at such concert halls as the Wiener Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Théâtre des ChampsÉlysées and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. His collaborations with orchestra have included appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He has also placed special emphasis on playing and directing, working with orchestras such as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Camerata Salzburg. In the 2018-2019 season Anderszewski will appear with (among others) the Philharmonia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. His recitals in Europe will take him to the Berlin Philharmonie, the Lucerne Music Festival, Wiener Konzerthaus and Munich Herkulessaal. He will also embark on a recital tour of the USA to include Alice Tully Hall in New York

and San Francisco. Other projects include a residency in Lisbon with the Gulbenkian Orchestra and a European tour with the Belcea String Quartet. Piotr Anderszewski has been an exclusive artist with Warner Classics/ Erato since 2000. His first recording was Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, which received several prizes. He has also recorded Grammy-nominated discs of Bach’s Partitas Nos. 1, 3 and 6 and Szymanowski’s solo piano works, the latter also receiving a Gramophone award in 2006. Anderszewski’s disc of Bach’s English Suites Nos. 1, 3 and 5, released in November 2014, went on to win both a Gramophone award and an ECHO Klassik award in 2015. His most recent recording of two late Mozart concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe was released in January 2018.

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

SSO MU SICIAN 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 Jonathan Carney^ 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 Ming-Feng Hsin^ Principal Michael Loh Associate Principal Hai-Won Kwok Fixed Chair Kong Xianlong^ Nikolai Koval*

Lee Shi Mei^ Chikako Sasaki* Margit Saur Julie Savignon^ Shao Tao Tao Ikuko Takahashi^ 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 Yeo Jan Wea^ CELLO Ng Pei-Sian Principal Yu Jing Associate Principal Guo Hao Fixed Chair Chan Wei Shing Lin Juan^ 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 Foo Yin Hong^ Ma Li Ming^ Jacek Mirucki Wang Xu

FLUTE Jin Ta Principal Evgueni Brokmiller Associate Principal Roberto Alvarez Miao Shanshan PICCOLO Roberto Alvarez Assistant Principal OBOE Rachel Walker Principal Pan Yun Associate Principal Carolyn Hollier Hu Qiuzi^ Elaine Yeo

Jamie Hersch Associate Principal Marc-Antoine Robillard Associate Principal Bryan Chong^ Hoang Van Hoc^ TRUMPET Jon Paul Dante Principal David Smith Associate Principal Lau Wen Rong Sergey Tyuteykin TROMBONE Allen Meek Principal Damian Patti Associate Principal Samuel Armstrong

COR ANGLAIS

BASS TROMBONE

Elaine Yeo Associate Principal

Wang Wei Assistant Principal

CLARINET

TUBA

Ma Yue Principal Li Xin Associate Principal Liu Yoko Tang Xiao Ping

Hidehiro Fujita Principal

BASS CLARINET Tang Xiao Ping Assistant Principal BASSOON Wang Xiaoke Principal Liu Chang Associate Principal Christoph Wichert Zhao Ying Xue

TIMPANI Christian SchiĂ¸ler Principal Jonathan Fox Associate Principal PERCUSSION Jonathan Fox Principal Mark Suter Associate Principal Lim Meng Keh Tan Pei Jie^ Zhu Zheng Yi HARP

CONTRABASSOON

Gulnara Mashurova Principal

Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal HORN Han Chang Chou Principal Gao Jian Associate 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 Adagietto: For My Wife

LARS VOGT MOZART PIANO CONCERTO 21 VICTORIA CONCERT HALL 19 & 20 OCT 2018

Another tale of love, albeit one that ends tragically, is the 1967 Swedish film Elvira Madigan - the name borrowed and made famous in the classical music world by Mozart's 21st Piano Concerto. Written nearly 200 years before the film, its intoxicating Andante captures the ephemeral joy of the love affair. German conductor-pianist Lars Vogt shines a light on it over two nights at the VCH. Lars Vogt, conductor/piano Sponsored by

OLLI MUSTONEN PROKOFIEV PIANO CONCERTO 2 ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL 26 OCT 2018

Prokofiev's five piano concertos are among the most important of 20th century piano concerto repertoire. Finnish pianist Olli Mustonen and conductor Hannu Lintu have recently released a complete cycle on the Ondine label. They return to Singapore to perform No. 2, and we'll have the CDs available at Mustonen's autograph session. Hannu Lintu, conductor Olli Mustonen, piano

THE MODERN MAN: MAHAN ESFAHANI VICTORIA CONCERT HALL 28 NOV 2018

Try a different keyboard this November: Iranian-American harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani is "a superstar whose musicianship, imagination, virtuosity, cultural breadth and charisma far transcends the ivory tower in which the harpsichord has traditionally been placed." - The Times. Find out how he has revolutionized the harpsichord scene. Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord

LAN SHUIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FAREWELL MAHLER RESURRECTION ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL 25 & 26 JAN 2019

Written about a decade before his Fifth Symphony, Mahler's Resurrection Symphony is a monumental statement of conviction and affirmation - a fitting swansong of outgoing SSO Music Director Lan Shui. Lan Shui, conductor Miah Persson, soprano Anna Larsson, mezzo-soprano

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Igor Yuzefovich, Concertmaster The GK Goh Chair

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B É L A B ARTÓK (18 81–194 5) Piano Concerto No. 3 in E major 23’ One of the last pieces Bartók ever worked on, the Third Piano Concerto was intended as a surprise gift for his wife, after they had both fled Hungary at the onset of war. They had settled into a new life in America by then, having arrived in the autumn of 1940. Bartók was diagnosed with leukaemia in 1944, far too late for any real treatment to be done, though he continued composing to the end of his life. Bartók was already well established in America, with the Concerto for Orchestra proving an extremely successful masterpiece. But he never really felt at home, and was homesick for his native soil. In the opening measures we hear a folk-like theme spring forth, full of snappy rhythms. But the music is calm and sunny, almost nostalgic: quite unlike the angular style of earlier works. The orchestra moves in a classical manner, trading quips with the solo piano. Even though there are great climaxes in this movement, the overall mood is one of peace, and the virtuoso displays from the pianist never occur for the sake of showmanship; the solo and orchestra parts are tightly woven together, and function as a single musical unit. The second movement is wide and expansive, recalling the modal flavour of church music. Lush string textures recall film music of that period, however, before the piano erases any hint of decadence

Instrumentation 2 flutes, 1 doubling on piccolo 2 oboes, 1 doubling on cor anglais 2 clarinets, 1 doubling on bass clarinet 2 bassoons 4 horns 2 trumpets 3 trombones tuba timpani bass drum, cymbals, snare drum, tam-tam, xylophone strings World Premiere 8 Feb 1946 First performed by SSO 28 Aug 1981 (Béla Síki)

with a silently pealing chorale. Some musicians have drawn links between the tonal character of this movement with possible American influences: Copland’s incredibly popular Appalachian Spring premiered in 1944, when this piece was being written. However, it is more likely that he was recalling the music of his Catholic youth — indeed, the music turns back to more typical Bartók chromaticism around halfway through, and the energy keeps increasing, leading into the third movement.

Full of vigour, this last movement inhabits the same soundworld as the Concerto for Orchestra, right down to the cross-rhythms and use of fugato. Here, we hear late Bartók at his most freewheeling, with big brass fanfares, thick polyphony, use of all sorts of devices (inversion, imitation, modal mixtures), and even a mixture of styles (an oddly Classical-style passage appears just after the midpoint).

Programme note by Thomas Ang

RECOMMENDED LISTENING 1) Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 25 & 27 Chamber Orchestra of Europe & Piotr Anderszewski (Parlophone Records Limited, 2018)

PROGRAMME NOTES

Bartók would not live to hear this concerto, nor would he survive long enough to present his wife with his gift. He died in September 1945, leaving the last 17 bars unorchestrated. His other big project, the Viola Concerto, did not fare quite as well as this: it remained in sketches until completed by his friend Tibor Serly. It was also Serly who finished the orchestration work on this piano concerto after Bartók’s death, and it was finally performed in February 1946.

G U S TAV MAHL ER (18 6 0 –1911)

faith and quasi-religious messages tend to be replaced by moods of tragic irony, bitterness and cynicism.

Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor 68’

The Fifth Symphony is in five movements, further grouped into three large units, with a huge scherzo serving as the fulcrum to a pair of movements on either side. The opening movement starts with a funeral march, a type of music found in every one of Mahler’s ten symphonies except the Fourth and Eighth. To the ponderous, thickly scored tread of the march is added a gentle lament in the strings. Suddenly the music erupts in wild, impassioned strains. The ever-changing, kaleidoscopic aspect of Mahler’s orchestration is heard in its fullest expression. Eventually the funeral march music reasserts itself, and after a nightmarish climax, the movement disintegrates in ghostly echoes of the trumpet call.

Mahler composed the piano score of his Fifth Symphony during the summer months of 1901 and 1902 and did the initial orchestration during the fall of 1902, but thereafter he continually revised the work. According to his wife Alma, “from the Fifth onward, he found it impossible to satisfy himself; the Fifth was differently orchestrated for practically every performance.” After the official world premiere in Cologne in 1904, with Mahler conducting the Gürzenich Orchestra, there were numerous important changes, and the same pattern followed performances in Amsterdam (1906), Vienna (1908) and Munich (1909). Shortly before his death, Mahler declared, “I have finished the Fifth. I actually had to re-orchestrate it completely. Evidently the routines I had established with the first four symphonies were entirely inadequate for this one – for a wholly new style demands a new technique.” That “new style” stemmed in large part from Mahler’s new-found and deep acquaintance with the music of Bach, a style that conductor Bruno Walter called “intensified polyphony”. Compared with his earlier symphonies, the orchestral fabric has become more complicated – more instruments playing more different lines at the same time. Mahler’s style is now generally less lyrical, more angular and hard-edged. Hymns of love, childlike

The second movement shares many qualities with the first, both emotionally and thematically. Easily identifiable variants and transformations of the first movement’s melodic material can be found. The turbulent, stormy mood continues and is even intensified. Paroxysms of violent rage race uncontrolled in some of the most feverish music ever written. Quiet interludes recall the funeral lament of the first movement. Towards the end of the movement gleams a ray of hope – the brass proclaim a fragment of a victory chorale, an anticipatory gesture that will find its fulfillment in the symphony’s closing pages. The despair and anguish of Part I are abruptly dismissed by the life-affirming

third movement, Scherzo (Part II) – the longest and most complex scherzo Mahler ever wrote. The tremendous energy that infuses the scherzo segments alternates with nostalgic and wistful interludes in waltz or Ländler rhythm. Though the movement is not meant to be programmatic, one is tempted to imagine Mahler’s Austrian landscapes, the peasant dances and the bustle and joy of life. The role of the principal horn becomes nearly that of a concerto soloist.

A single note from the horn dispels the romantic mood, and the merry Rondo-Finale is on its way. The interconnectedness of the final two movements is seen not only in the first four notes of the rondo theme (an exact inversion of the first four notes of the Adagietto theme), but in the use of the Adagietto theme as the subject of a fugal episode. Some of Mahler’s most vibrant, exuberant, wildly extroverted music is found in this Finale. Near the end the brass chorale is recalled, heard previously in the second movement but now bursting forth in full glory and triumph. The metamorphosis from grief and death to joy and life is complete.

Programme note by Robert Markow

PROGRAMME NOTES

Part III consists of the fourth movement, Adagietto and the Finale. In the Adagietto, scored only for strings and harp, we return to a romantic dream world familiar from Mahler’s earlier works, a world of quiet contemplation, benign simplicity, inner peace and escape from harsh reality. The Adagietto is surely the most famous single movement in all Mahler, a phenomenon dating back to its prominent use in the popular film Death in Venice (1971). The love story in that film was homosexual, distant, and unfulfilled, but into the Adagietto, composed in 1901, Mahler poured all the passionate love he felt for Alma Schindler, who would become his wife a year later. Evidence that this movement served as a “love letter” to Alma is found at the top of the first page of the Adagietto in the personal score of conductor Willem Mengelberg, one of Mahler’s closest associates: “This Adagietto was Gustav Mahler’s declaration of love for Alma. Instead of a letter, he sent her this in manuscript form; no other words accompanied it.” At the bottom of the page are the words: “He tells her everything in tones and sounds.” Gilbert Kaplan, in an extensive essay published

in 1992, points out that “it was this symphony that dominated their first summer together, and Alma played a personal role in its creation. While Mahler was scoring the symphony, Alma would copy it out. … She later made a fair copy of the whole score.”

Instrumentation 4 flutes, all doubling on piccolos 3 oboes, 1 doubling on cor anglais 3 clarinets, 1 doubling on E-flat clarinet, 1 doubling on bass clarinet 3 bassoons, 1 doubling on contrabassoon 6 horns 4 trumpets 3 trombones tuba timpani snare drum, triangles, tam-tam, glockenspiel, whip, cymbals, bass drum with cymbals, bass drum harp strings World Premiere 18 Oct 1904, Cologne First performed by SSO 15 Sep 1989

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ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT Mr Ernest Khoo (Head) Orchestra Mr Chia Jit Min Ms Tan Wei Tian Concert Operations Ms Kimberly Kwa (Production Manager) Ms Chin Rosherna Mr Ramayah Elango Mr Md Fariz bin Samsuri Library Mr Lim Lip Hua Ms Priscilla Neo Ms Wong Yi Wen PROGRAMMES (SSO) Ms Kua Li Leng (Head) Ms Teo Chew Yen Community Outreach Ms Kathleen Tan Ms Vanessa Lee Choral Programmes Ms Regina Lee Ms Whitney Tan

DEVELOPMENT & PARTNERSHIPS Ms Peggy Kek (Head) Corporate Communications Ms Leong Wenshan Mr Chris Yong Development Mr Anthony Chng Ms Chelsea Zhao Ms Nikki Chuang MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS & CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Ms Cindy Lim (Head) Mr Chia Han-Leon Ms Myrtle Lee Ms Jana Loh Ms Hong Shu Hui Ms Melissa Tan Ms Dacia Cheang Ms Nur Shafiqah bte Othman

HUMAN RESOURCES & ADMINISTRATION Mr Desmen Low Ms Melissa Lee Ms Evelyn Siew SINGAPORE NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA Ms Pang Siu Yuin (Head) Ms Yuen May Leng Mr Tan Yong Qing Ms Tang Ya Yun ABRSM Ms Hay Su-San (Head) Ms Patricia Yee Ms Lai Li-Yng Mr Joong Siow Chong

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