LAN SHUI Music Director
President’s Young Performers Concert 29 September 2017 Victoria Concert Hall Home of the SSO
Sponsored by
Joshua Tan, conductor Kang Chun Meng, euphonium
29 Sep 2017, Fri
President’s Young Performers Concert Singapore Symphony Orchestra Joshua Tan, conductor ER YENN CHWEN
Symphonia Anamneseos, a Symphony of Remembrance 20’00
PHILIP WILBY
1. Kyrios 2. Megalyno 3. Invictus 4. Agon 5. Amnos
Euphonium Concerto (Singapore Premiere) 18’00
1. Non troppo allegro – Dance: Zeibekikos 2. Andante – Allegro vivace Kang Chun Meng, euphonium Intermission 20’00 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 “Eroica” 47’00
1. Allegro con brio 2. Marcia funèbre: Adagio assai 3. Scherzo: Allegro vivace 4. Finale: Allegro molto
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.
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About the SIM Group The Singapore Institute of Management (SIM Group) is the leading private provider of a diverse range of education pathways and professional training in Singapore, known for its philosophy of lifelong learning and the quality of its programmes. Founded in 1964 on the initiative of the Economic Development Board to support Singapore’s industrialisation, we are today a diverse and vibrant organisation with a wide range of programmes, activities and services. A professional society, SIM has more than 37,000 individual and corporate members who enjoy a suite of learning courses, published resources and networking events. The SIM Group offers its education and training services through four brands: SIM Global Education SIM Global Education (SIM GE) is the leading private education institution in Singapore. It offers more than 80 academic programmes ranging from its own diploma and graduate diploma courses to Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes with top ranking and reputable universities from Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States. Drawing about 20,000 full-time and part-time students and adult learners from over 40 countries, SIM GE adopts a holistic learning approach to equip students with a global edge. Besides building their intellect and skills needed to thrive at the workplace, SIM GE hones the soft skills of students through a wide range of career development and student life activities, amid a culturally diverse campus environment. SIM International Academy SIM International Academy (SIM IA), a new education arm under SIM, offers Cambridge programmes developed and awarded by Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), United Kingdom, to students aged 12 and up. The curriculum of SIM IA is designed to focus on applied learning in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) as well as the Humanities. Taught by faculty experienced in local and international curricula, students are nurtured to become curious learners, community builders and creative leaders. Beyond academics, students’ learning experience is enriched through co-curricular activities, service-learning and a boarding programme. Students can also explore tertiary education pathways at SIM GE after graduating from SIM IA. SIM Professional Development SIM Professional Development (SIM PD) offers a holistic and immersive professional learning experience for C-suite executives and PMEs to grow their skills through training and exposure to top global thinking and management best practices. Our executive programmes, business insights events and professional interest groups plug learners in more ways than one into an extensive learning network to stay versatile, innovative and market ready. Over 11,000 professionals have benefited annually from these programmes. In addition, SIM PD offers companies customised learning solutions that optimally meet their organisational and business needs. Platform E Platform E is more than an entrepreneurship programme, or an incubator or accelerator. It is Singapore’s most comprehensive entrepreneurship ecosystem that grows both the idea and the entrepreneur. It combines rigorous knowledge programmes with practical approaches to produce resilient entrepreneurial leaders with viable business plans. The programmes take place in a habitat and community conducive for building entrepreneurship. The 25,000 square feet co-working space is designed to immerse aspiring entrepreneurs in an environment where they can engage with like-minded people to germinate and cross-pollinate ideas, and test and arrive at solutions that will lead to business propositions.
ME S S AG E F R OM T HE S ING A P OR E S Y MP HON Y OR C HE S T R A A warm welcome to the President’s Young Performers Concert, back again in the beautiful home of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Concert Hall. I want to express our appreciation and an especially warm welcome to President Halimah Yacob, who is here with us this evening at her first SSO concert as President. This concert is an opportunity for some of Singapore's brightest young talents to share the stage with our national orchestra. Many of the young soloists of previous editions of this SSO flagship have gone on to pursue distinguished careers in music, and this year we are proud to present 21-year-old Kang Chun Meng, a young master of an instrument not often seen on the symphonic stage: the euphonium. A graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Chun Meng is a professional musician in the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band, and Principal Euphonium of the Lion City Brass Band. Tonight he will perform the Euphonium Concerto by British composer Philip Wilby. I wish to thank our sponsor, the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), for its continual support of the series for the past 17 years, since its inception in 2001. Please join me in wishing our young soloist every success as he pursues his musical dreams in the years ahead. I wish you all a most enjoyable evening.
GOH YEW LIN CHAIRMAN SINGAPORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Message from the S ingapore Instit u te of M anagement German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel once said, “Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion”. I would add this: one life is all we have; a life lived with passion is a life well-lived. For over 50 years, the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) has been passionate about empowering people through lifelong learning. We strongly believe that continual learning is not just a key determinant of success but an end worthy in itself. Our doors are open to anyone who hungers to learn and our platforms for learning go beyond classrooms to embrace online learning and learning through sharing and networking. Tonight, we are witnessing the passion of a young musical talent, Mr Kang Chun Meng. As we enjoy the fruit of his passion and that of the SSO musicians, let us also be inspired by the hard work and dedication they have put into this concert. The countless hours they have spent in gruelling practice has enabled us to enjoy a splendid performance. This is the 17th year that SIM is supporting the SSO President’s Young Performers Concert (PYPC). Tonight we are very honoured that President Halimah Yacob is here to grace her very first PYPC. We are also grateful to the SSO for this opportunity to support local young musicians in the pursuit of their love of music.
TAN SOO JIN CHAIRMAN, SIM GOVERNING COUNCIL SINGAPORE INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT
Singapore S ymphony Orchestra ‘A fine display of orchestral bravado for the SSO and Shui’ The Guardian
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. 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. 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 Rachmaninov series, a Debussy disc, Seascapes featuring sea-themed music by Debussy, Frank Bridge, Glazunov and Zhou Long, and the firstever 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, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Leonidas Kavakos and Gil Shaham.
Joshu a Tan conductor
Second Prize winner of the 2008 Dimitris Mitropoulos International Competition, Singaporean conductor Joshua Tan’s rise to prominence on the international scene has been marked by successful debuts in Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, Mariinsky Hall, Bunkamura, Shanghai, Beijing and Taiwan. He was featured as the top Singaporean musical talent in 2009 by the Singapore newspaper, Lianhe Zaobao. He has also won numerous awards and scholarships, including the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Award, NAC-Shell Scholarship, SSO/MOE Scholarship and is the first-ever recipient of the Charles Schiff Conducting Prize from the Juilliard School for outstanding achievement. In 2011, he received the Young Artist Award of Singapore. Tan has studied with leading conductors James DePreist, Charles Dutoit, David Zinman and Kurt Masur. He has conducted the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, Beethoven Bonn Orchestra, St Petersburg State Symphony, Russiche Kammerphilharmonie, National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra (NCPA), China Philharmonic, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic and many more orchestras from China and Japan. In opera, Tan has conducted La traviata, Tosca, Rigoletto, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola, Der fliegende Holländer, Lohengrin, Carmen, Don Giovanni, Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, Così fan tutte and was also cover conductor for Christoph Eschenbach and Lorin Maazel. Adept with film/multimedia, Tan is a Disneyapproved conductor and gave the Asian premiere of Fantasia. He has also conducted for the BBC’s Planet Earth Series. Tan is presently Associate Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Principal Conductor, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra. He was Resident Conductor, NCPA Orchestra from 2009 to 2012. Highlights of the 2016/17 season include debuts with Sinfonia Varsovia, Japan Century Orchestra, Swan Lake and Giselle in Tokyo, Turandot, L’elisir d’amore in Singapore. Tan is a graduate of the Juilliard School and the Eastman School of Music (High Distinction).
K ang C hun Meng euphonium
Born in 1996, Kang Chun Meng has been hailed as one of the most exciting young brass soloists in Singapore. Currently, he serves as a professional musician in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Central Band, and the Principal Euphonium of the Lion City Brass Band. A graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), Chun Meng first began learning the euphonium at the age of nine under the guidance of Singaporean euphonium player, Mr Ng Kok Hin, before moving on to British euphonium soloist Mark Glover from 2013 to 2016. He has also been tutored by renowned soloists such as Shoichiro Hokazono, Adam Frey and Steven Mead. As a soloist, he has performed with several ensembles including the Singapore Wind Symphony, Philharmonic Youth Winds and the Singapore Sounds Orchestra, making him the first solo euphonium player in Singapore to perform with an orchestra. With his undying passion for music, Chun Meng aims to push the limits of his instrument and aspires to become a world-class virtuoso, to bring the euphonium into the light it deserves both locally and abroad. Chun Meng is the first Besson artist in Singapore, and performs on a Besson Prestige BE2052 Euphonium.
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SSO MU SIC I A NS Lan Shui Music Director joshua tan Associate Conductor jason lai Associate Conductor andrew litton Principal Guest Conductor Choo Hoey Conductor Emeritus Eudenice Palaruan Choral Director
FIRST VIOLIN Igor Yuzefovich° Concertmaster, The GK Goh Chair Lynnette Seah 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* 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 Lim Chun^ Luo Biao Shui Bing Tan Wee-Hsin Janice Tsai^ 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* Peter Wilson 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 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 Elaine Yeo
COR ANGLAIS Elaine Yeo Associate Principal
TUBA Hidehiro Fujita Principal
CLARINET Ma Yue Principal Li Xin Associate Principal Liu Yoko Tang Xiao Ping
TIMPANI Christian Schiøler Principal Jonathan Fox Associate Principal
BASS CLARINET Tang Xiao Ping Assistant Principal BASSOON Liu Chang Associate Principal Christoph Wichert Zhao Ying Xue
PERCUSSION Jonathan Fox Principal Mark Suter Associate Principal Lim Meng Keh Zhu Zheng Yi HARP Gulnara Mashurova Principal
CONTRA BASSOON Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal HORN Han Chang Chou Principal Gao Jian Associate Principal Jamie Hersch Associate Principal Marc-Antoine Robillard Associate Principal Hoang Van Hoc^ Kartik Alan Jairamin TRUMPET Jon Paul Dante Principal David Smith Associate Principal Lau Wen Rong Sergey Tyuteykin TROMBONE Allen Meek Principal Damian Patti Associate Principal Samuel Armstrong BASS TROMBONE Wang Wei 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 ^ Musician on temporary contract Musicians listed alphabetically rotate their seats on a per programme basis.
upcoming concerts
5 October 2017
Thu | 7.30pm Esplanade Concert Hall Subscription Concert
STEVEN ISSERLIS • ELGAR CELLO CONCERTO SUK Scherzo Fantastique, Op. 25 ELGAR Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 GLAZUNOV Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 55 Darrell Ang, conductor Steven Isserlis, cello Pre-concert Talk 6.30pm | Esplanade Concert Hall Foyer
14 October 2017
Sat | 7.30pm Esplanade Concert Hall Subscription Concert
STEPHEN HOUGH • RACHMANINOV PIANO CONCERTO 1 LUTOSLAWSKI Symphony No.4 RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 1 SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No.1 in F minor, Op. 10 Hannu Lintu, conductor Stephen Hough, piano OPEN REHEARSAL 14 Oct, 9.30am - 12pm | Esplanade Concert Hall | Open to public Pre-concert Talk 6.30pm | library@esplanade
mu sician chairs
igor yuzefovich Concertmaster The GK Goh Chair The GK Goh Chair is endowed by the Family and Friends of Mr Goh Geok Khim
GUO HAO Fixed Chair Cello The Fixed Chair Cello is supported by
C ORP OR AT E SE AT S The Singapore Symphony Orchestra appreciates the support of companies in our Corporate Seats scheme. The scheme supports the Orchestra through regular attendance of subscription concerts. $20,000 and above Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore (Pte) Ltd
Up to $10,000 Hong Leong Foundation Nomura Asset Management Singapore Ltd Prima Limited Santa Lucia Asset Management Stephen Riady Group of Foundations
This list is for donations from 1 Jun 2016 to 25 Aug 2017. For more information or to make a donation, please contact the Development & Sponsorship Team at 6602 4238 / 6602 4237 or peggykek@sso.org.sg.
heartfe lt thanks to the family and F RIE NDS of mr goh geok khim In appreciation of a major gift from the Family and Friends of Mr Goh Geok Khim on the occasion of his 85th birthday on 17 July 2017, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra is pleased to announce the naming of the SSO Concertmaster position, the GK Goh Chair.
Igor Yuzefovich Concertmaster The GK Goh Chair Endowed by the Family and Friends of Mr Goh Geok Khim
A S tanding Ovation to our Donors and sponsors PATRON SPONSOR
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ER YENN CHWEN ( b. 1965 ) Symphonia Anamneseos, a Symphony of Remembrance 20’00 Symphonia Anamneseos, transliterated from Greek, literally means “music of remembrance produced by several voices.� Scored for full symphony orchestra in five movements, it does not have any structural semblance to the classical or romantic symphony. The Kyrios (Lord) begins with stately F-sharp chords punctuated by the timpani and low strings, interjected with colourful chords initially exclaimed in dotted rhythm on the woodwinds and then the brass and strings together. The majestic opening gradually subsides to a quiet flowing melody first announced by the clarinet, which serves as the unifying theme of the entire work. Amidst the shimmering labyrinth, echoes from the opening call out antiphonally from different sections of the orchestra. As the interwoven textures fade to silence, the melody is announced once again by the horn, surrounded by tremolo strings and heavenly echoes, drifting into the unfathomable beyond. The Megalyno (Exultation) is a quasi-fugato in the style of a scherzo. The joyous fugal subject presents itself in many guises. Initially introduced by the flute and tossed around the woodwind, it is later given to the brass and percussion with complex metre changes. The entire movement is scored in a texture resembling chamber music, instruments combined in delicate collaboration. With a mischievous rhythm, the percussion presents the third fugal section. The climax drops to a soft but energetic final episode. The theme returns mysteriously in the woodwinds before the explosively brilliant ending. The Invictus (Unconquerable) is a stark contrast to the mercurial Megalyno. Inspired by the 1849 poem by William Ernest Henley, it explores the dark side and defiant nature of the human will, striving to be "master of my fate" and "captain of my soul." The movement opens with aggressive brass chords that lead to a frenzied climax, diving into passages of angry pulsating chords in the strings and woodwinds. After a sad and solemn middle section, a ghostly interplay between the strings and woodwinds builds to an ultimate expression of defiance portrayed by the downward leap of the major 7th interval and the opening portion of the theme in shrill unison. The Agon (Struggle) begins with a brief moment of repose, harking back to the peaceful and ethereal opening movement. The pace soon quickens and underneath the turmoil, the theme advances steadily but inevitably toward the Tempo di valse, in which the struggle and turmoil gradually subsides. A portion of the Kyrios is recalled at the end. The Amnos (Lamb) is a song of adoration and praise. The inverted theme is first heard in the strings and then the brass. The elegant valse returns, surrounded by the dotted rhythm from Kyrios. It relaxes to a final appearance of the inverted theme soaring in the first violins while the woodwind answers with a seamless ascending scale that dissipates into the heavens. Programme note by Er Yenn Chwen
26 October 2017 7.30pm I Victoria Concert Hall A renowned international organist popular for her sold-out silent film programmes, Dorothy Papadakos brings the Phantom of the Opera film’s raw terror to justice on the magnificent organ with an imaginatively improvised score that is sure to frighten even the Concert Hall’s resident Phantom. We invite you to dress in your best Halloween costume! Film screening of the 1929 Phantom of the Opera silent film - “The 1929 silent horror film classic THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA starring Lon Chaney, the Man of a Thousand Faces”
Tickets: $20 Concessions: $15 I Family of 4 package: 20%
PATRON SPONSOR
SPONSORED BY
SSO.ORG.SG/VCHORGAN
PHILIP WILBY ( b. 1949 ) Euphonium Concerto 18’00 Born in 1949, Philip Wilby studied music at Oxford University, and performed as a violinist in the Academy of Ancient Music and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He was a lecturer at the University of Leeds from 1972, teaching composition amongst other modules. It was in 1991 when the BBC-commissioned Paganini Variations launched his reputation as a major band composer. The Variations became remarkably popular and has been performed by many school and community bands. Today, while Wilby has composed for varied instruments, ensembles and choruses, he is still best known as a composer for the band, and has been commissioned to write works for major band competitions worldwide. Commissioned by Robert Childs for his graduate recital at the University of Leeds, the Euphonium Concerto was completed on New Year’s Eve in 1995, and premiered by Childs in 1996. Childs requested for challenging parts in the Concerto – passages at extreme registers, triple tonguing, and soft high notes. Childs also extended several fast passages and changed a scalic run to a glissando at the end of the piece, with the intention of being able to showcase the full range of techniques available on the euphonium. These suggestions were included as optional ossia passages by Wilby. The Euphonium Concerto is in four movements, organised into two parts. The first movement opens with a flourish, before its two themes are introduced – an aggressively rhythmic one, complemented by a more lyrical tune. Wilby had originally planned to subtitle this movement “Sarajevo Song”, after the Yugoslav War which was raging at that time, but “then that turned sour” so he decided against it. The movement segues without a break into the quick and rhythmic dance-like second movement which evokes the Zeibekiko dance – a Greek folk dance which involves lifting tables with the dancer’s teeth and even some plate-smashing. In Wilby’s words, Part Two opens with “the emotional heart of the composition” in the third movement, “with an exploratory section which re-examines some of the opening material surrounded by cadenzas,” and a “simple cantilena.” After some introspection, the music builds up to launch the fourth movement, “with a rapid fugal section, [moving] inexorably towards a climatic return of the music of the opening bars of the work.”
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN ( 1 7 7 0 - 1 8 2 7 ) Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 “Eroica” 47’00 For several years, Beethoven had intended to name a symphony after General Napoleon Bonaparte. He began work on this symphony in 1803, shortly after finishing his Second Symphony the year before. In May 1804, after learning that General-turned-First Consul Bonaparte had declared himself Emperor of the French, Beethoven’s student Ferdinand Ries recounted that the composer “went to the table, took hold of the title page by the top, tore it in two, and threw it to the floor.” Another account states that Beethoven took a knife and scratched out the words “intitulata Bonaparte” (entitled Bonaparte) from the title page. When the Symphony was finally published, the title page indicated “Sinfonia Eroica (Heroic Symphony) … composed to celebrate the memory of a great man.” There is also a heroic figure evoked in this Symphony – the Titan Prometheus from Greek mythology, who created humanity, stole fire from the Greek gods and gave it to mankind, and was condemned to eternal punishment. Beethoven had written a ballet, The Creatures of Prometheus, in 1801, based on this myth, from which a theme from the ballet’s finale features in the Eroica. The Symphony confounded the audience of its day, with critics writing that, in addition to having “too much that is glaring and bizarre”, it was “unendurable to the mere music lover” and just too long. Beethoven acknowledged this particular problem, noting in the preface to the first edition that “This symphony, being purposely written at greater length than usual, should be played nearer the beginning than the end of a concert … lest, if it is heard too late when the audience are fatigued by the previous pieces, it should lose its proper and intended effect.” Today, the Eroica is regarded as one of the greatest and most revolutionary works of western art music. Two strident chords start the first movement, and the cellos sail ahead with the swinging main theme of this movement, which Edward Downes has suggested may have been derived from the Prometheus theme of the finale. It quickly gives way to a dialogue between the various wind instruments, before it returns and dominates the landscape, trying to resolve its inbuilt harmonic tension. The tension however continues to build, into what Downes called “an explosion of harmonic dissonance and syncopated rhythms that seem a cataclysm of nature”, after which Beethoven continued to confound expectations, by having the horn enter the recapitulation “early”. Ries recalled, “At the first rehearsal of the Symphony…thinking that a blunder had been made, I said: ‘Can’t the damned hornist count?—it sounds horribly false!’ I think I came pretty close to getting a box on the ear.” A shuddering funeral march pervades the second movement, setting the symphonic precedent for Wagner’s and Mahler’s great funeral marches. It is continuously pushed
forward by the basses, and two interludes offer a respite from the sombre atmosphere. The first, led by the winds, provide some radiance to illuminate proceedings, and the second strengthens the march into a determined double fugue. Downes opined that Beethoven “portrayed heroism, or rather, heroic grief” in this movement. A brisk and often very quietly performed third movement ensues, its relentless motion providing a strong onward drive, with a trio of horns evoking some rural hunting memories. George Grove hailed this scherzo as “the very first time the traditional diversion (the scherzo, or minuet) was invested with a proportion and breadth to compare with the other movements of a symphony.” Beethoven fashions a titanic set of eleven variations and coda from the Prometheus theme in the fourth movement. Beginning with the bass line before the theme comes in, he creates a remarkable variety of ideas – with fugues, virtuoso moments, and even a rural dance. At the same time, he also captures humorous, graceful, apprehensive and solemn moments in between, before a glorious coda concludes this revolutionary masterpiece. Programme notes by Christopher Cheong
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