DEBUSSY 100: LA MER

LAN SHUI Music Director

SUBSCRIPTION CONCERT

DEBUSSY 100: LA MER 3 November 2018

Esplanade Concert Hall

Performing Home of the SSO Lan Shui, conductor Lu Wei, violin Hu Shengnan, percussion

In memory memor y of our dear first violin

SUI JING JING 1958 – 2018 Sui Jing Jing was a member of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra for close to 32 years. He was formerly a member of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Jing Jing was also a well-loved teacher to his students, and we will remember him for his role in nurturing the next generation of musicians, as well as his contributions to the growth of the SSO. We will miss his kind and warm presence dearly.

3 Nov 2018, Sat

DEBUSSY 100: LA MER Singapore Symphony Orchestra Lan Shui, conductor EDVARD GRIEG

Peer Gynt: Suite No. 1, Op. 46 15’

1. Morning 2. Death of Åse 3. Anitra’s Dance 4. In the Hall of the Mountain King YE XIAOGANG

Mount E’mei, for violin, percussion and orchestra 17’ (Singapore Premiere)

Lu Wei, violin Hu Shengnan, percussion

Intermission 20’

CLAUDE DEBUSSY

Jeux, poème dansé in one act 17’

La Mer 23’

1.

2.

3.

De l’aube à midi sur la mer (From Dawn to Noon on the Sea) Jeux de vagues (Play of the Waves) Dialogue du vent et de la mer (Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea)

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 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.

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 Damrau, 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.

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.

LU WEI violin Lu Wei is the Concertmaster of Deutsches Symphony Orchester Berlin, Guest Concertmaster of Berliner Philharmoniker, and the first violinist selected to join the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.

Lu Wei began learning the violin with his father at age three, later entering the primary-middle school attached to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing where he studied with Wang Zhilong and Lin Yaoji.

Lu Wei has been praised by such worldfamous masters as Isaac Stern, Ruggiero Ricci, Itzhak Perlman, Salvatore Accardo, Igor Oistrakh, Ida Haendel, Uto Ugi, Henry Meyer and Yuri Bashmet. In 1997, after attending his performance in Beijing, Anne-Sophie Mutter sponsored Lu Wei for further studies through her foundation.

After obtaining his scholarship, he studied with Franco Gulli in Indiana Bloomington, United States, and Herman Krebbers in Amsterdam, Holland, and Ingolf Turban in the Stuttgart Conservatory of Music.

Lu Wei has held concerts and recitals in the North and South Americas, Europe, Australia and Asia, performing as soloist with many world-class orchestras such

as the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scotland National Orchestra, Nuernberg Opera House, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra and China Philharmonic. He is one of few violinists in the world who has performed as soloist in concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Musikverein Wien, Philharmonie Berlin and Sydney Opera House.

Lu Wei is the only Chinese violinist who became Guest Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic. Since 2009, he has been giving masterclasses for solo and chamber music in the Great Wall International Music Festival in Beijing and other festivals. From 2011, he played as a chamber music partner and Concertmaster of Mutter’s Virtuosi with Anne-Sophie Mutter, touring the world.

Lu Wei performs on the Italian violin “Joseph Rocca” 1843, kindly sponsored

by Mr Bai Peng.

HU SHENGNAN percussion Born in Jiangsu, China, Hu Shengnan showed an extraordinary talent in music in her early childhood. She began to play the piano at the age of five and later, the xylophone. In 1996, Hu entered the music school affiliated to the Central Music Academy of China in Beijing, where she majored in percussion instruments with Zhao Ji. In 2002, Hu enrolled in the China Central Academy of Music and in the same year, entered Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz and studied with Gerald Fromme and Ulrike Stadler.

Hu was awarded the highest scholarship by the Austrian government and hailed to be one of the most promising students and percussionists of the Universität.

In 2007, Hu enrolled in Hochschule fuer Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin. She studied with Li Biao, Rainer Seegers and Franz Schindlbeck, and graduated with a Performing Arts degree together with scholarship awarded by Berlin National Culture Foundation.

Hu received many awards including the coveted Gold Prize at Hummel International Percussion Instrument Competition in Munich, Silver Prize and Best Timpanist at the International Percussion Instrument Competition in Bulgaria.

Hu Shengnan can play over two hundred different percussion instruments, whether keyboard percussion instruments or drums from any part of the world. Hu’s unique stage style and interpretations have always impressed the audience.

She has played with orchestras around the world, including in Europe and China.

She is frequently invited to give recitals at music festivals such as BAD KISSINGEN and The Best of Berlin, Kassel Music Festival, Young Euro Classic Festival Berlin, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Linz International Percussion Music Festival and Leoben Music Festival. In 2008, Hu was invited to play at the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics 2008.

She is also the founder and Artistic Director of “Cycle Percussion Berlin” 2011.

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 Lu Wei^ 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 Lim Shue Churn^ Sui Jing Jing (1958-2018) Karen Tan William Tan Wei Zhe Yew Shan^

Lee Shi Mei^ Chikako Sasaki* Margit Saur 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 Hyunjae Bae^ Nayoung Kim^ Marietta Ku Luo Biao Julia Park Shui Bing Tan Wee-Hsin Janice Tsai Wang Dandan Wei Jun Ting^ Yang Shi Li CELLO Ng Pei-Sian Principal Yu Jing Associate Principal Guo Hao Fixed Chair Chan Wei Shing Christopher Mui^ Jamshid Saydikarimov^ Ryan Sim^ Song Woon Teng Theophilus Tan^ Oleg Vasilevskiy^ Wang Yan Wang Zihao* Wu Dai Dai Zhao Yu Er

SECOND VIOLIN

DOUBLE BASS

Li Qing^ Principal Michael Loh Associate Principal Hai-Won Kwok Fixed Chair Nikolai Koval*

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 Hu Qiuzi^ Carolyn Hollier Elaine Yeo COR ANGLAIS Elaine Yeo Associate Principal CLARINET Ma Yue Principal Li Xin Associate Principal Liu Yoko Tang Xiao Ping BASS CLARINET Tang Xiao Ping Assistant Principal BASSOON Wang Xiaoke Principal Liu Chang Associate Principal Christoph Wichert Zhao Ying Xue

HORN Han Chang Chou Principal Gao Jian Associate Principal Jamie Hersch Associate Principal Marc-Antoine Robillard Associate Principal TRUMPET Jon Paul Dante Principal David Smith Associate Principal Lau Wen Rong Sergey Tyuteykin Douglas Waterston^ TROMBONE Allen Meek Principal Damian Patti Associate Principal Samuel Armstrong BASS TROMBONE Wang Wei Assistant Principal TUBA Hidehiro Fujita Principal TIMPANI Christian Schiøler Principal Jonathan Fox Associate Principal PERCUSSION Jonathan Fox Principal Mark Suter Associate Principal Lim Meng Keh Lu Pei Hsien^ Zhu Zheng Yi HARP Gulnara Mashurova Principal Huang Yu Hsin^

CONTRABASSOON 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 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 2

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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

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

L ARGE GIF T S The SSO recognises large gifts in a variety of ways, including the naming of a position in the Orchestra. Endowing a Musician Chair associates your name with an orchestral position that has a special significance to you.

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Join our p r e s t ig ious l is t of c or p or at e pat r on s a nd sp on s or s Support Singapore’s national orchestra and form a special relationship with one of the country’s most celebrated arts groups. By committing to growing the arts through the SSO, you can increase your organisation’s visibility and reach an influential and growing audience. Corporate donors may also enjoy attractive tax benefits.

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Thank you for attending Debussy 100: La Mer

Bernstein's rarely heard Serenade is a violin concerto in all but name. And just like tonight's Mount E'mei concerto, it too features a large array of percussion instruments including xylophone, glockenspiel, chimes, Chinese blocks and tambourine - sounds very Bernstein, doesn't it?

SERENADE WITH SOYOUNG YOON ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL 29 NOV 2018 Michał Nesterowicz, conductor Soyoung Yoon, violin

Besides the novelty of our guest trumpet soloist, this programme features an exciting French/Spanish programme, including De Falla's Three-Cornered Hat Suite No. 2, and Ravel's Bolero, not to mention Saint-Saëns' Suite algérienne.

Absolutely delicious.

TINE THING HELSETH ARUTIUNIAN TRUMPET CONCERTO ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL 5 JAN 2019 Jun Märkl, conductor Tine Thing Helseth, trumpet

For violin fans, we'd like to bring your attention further down the calendar to this completely Mendelssohn concert featuring three of his unfailing classics, The Hebrides Overture, Scottish Symphony and the evergreen Violin Concerto, starring the young and rising Stefan Jackiw.

FAMILIAR FAVOURITES: MENDELSSOHN VIOLIN CONCERTO ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL 27 APR 2019 Josep Pons, conductor Stefan Jackiw, violin

Our third Red Balloon Series concert features the Threshold percussion concerto written by LA Philharmonic Principal Timpani Joseph Pereira. The Singapore premiere stars our very own Principal Timpani, Christian Schiøler and the Maraca2 percussion duo.

You should see the massive list of percussion instruments involved...

RHYTHMS, RITES AND RENEWALS ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL 3 MAY 2019 Pascal Rophe, conductor Maraca2, percussion Christian Schiøler, timpani

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E DVAR D GRIEG (18 4 3–19 07 ) Peer Gynt: Suite No. 1, Op. 46 15’ Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906), Norway’s most famous playwright, wrote Peer Gynt in 1867. The long, highly involved story – more suitable for reading than for acting – relates the adventures of Peer, a liar, egotist and an all-around irresponsible and unpleasant character who leaves his homeland to roam the world in a restless search for happiness, his churlish behavior earning him the contempt of everyone he encounters. Ibsen realised that the addition of musical interludes and melodramas (music played over spoken text) would add to the dramatic effectiveness of Peer Gynt, so he asked Grieg if he would be interested in such a collaboration. The results were revealed to the world on 24 February 1876 in Christiania (present-day Oslo). In 1888, Grieg chose four of the more substantial musical numbers and arranged them into a suite.

Morning depicts the idyllic beauty and stillness of sunrise – not over the majestic fjords of Norway as one might blithely imagine – but over the desert of northern Africa where Peer wakens in Act IV. After years of wandering, Peer returns home for the Death of Åse, his mother, who dies in his arms. Anitra’s Dance is written for strings with delicate flecks of colour from the triangle. The scene is Morocco, where Peer is entertained by the beautiful

daughter of his Bedouin host. In the Hall of the Mountain King is set in the world of Norwegian fairy-tale. Hideous little trolls chase and torment Peer. The music consists of 19 varied repetitions of a fourbar theme, which increases in volume and speed to a highly effective conclusion.

Instrumentation 2 flutes piccolo 2 oboes 2 clarinets 2 bassoons 4 horns 2 trumpets 3 trombones tuba timpani triangle, cymbals, bass drum strings World Premiere 24 Feb 1876 First performed by SSO 11 Mar 1980

YE X IAOGANG (b. 1955) Mount E’mei, for violin, percussion and orchestra 17’ (Singapore Premiere)

Among his many appointments, Ye is Vice Chairman of China’s Musicians’ Association, Vice President of the Central Conservatory of Music, and Founder and Artistic Director of Beijing Modern Music Festival, the biggest contemporary music festival in the Far East. He has received numerous prizes and awards from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and the US, in the fields of composition, culture and education.

Ye’s oeuvre comprises symphonic works, chamber music, stage works and film music, and much of his music bears a connection to Chinese culture and tradition. His representative compositions include The Last Paradise, Horizon, Twilight in Tibet, My Far Away Nanjing and Nine Horses. In The Song of the Earth for soprano and orchestra, premiered

World Premiere 21 Jul 2016, Chengdu First performed by SSO 3 Nov 2018

PROGRAMME NOTES

Born on 23 September 1955, Ye Xiaogang is regarded as one of China’s leading contemporary composers. From 1978 to 1983, he studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in China, where he was later appointed Resident Composer and Lecturer; and from 1987 at the Eastman School of Music, New York.

His former teachers include Du Minxin, Samuel Adler, Joseph Schwantner, Louis Andriessen and Alexander Goehr.

Instrumentation 2 flutes piccolo 2 oboes cor anglais 2 clarinets bass clarinet 2 bassoons contrabassoon 4 horns 3 trumpets 3 trombones tuba timpani glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba, chimes, triangle, cymbals, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, bass drum, whip harp piano strings Solo percussion: glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba, chimes, pitched gongs, Tibetan gongs, Tibetan bowls, Chuang gongs, small & medium gongs, flat gongs, suspended gongs, tom-toms, march drum, bass drum, wood frog, wood fish and wood blocks.

in January 2005, Ye uses the original Chinese texts on which Mahler based his symphonic work of the same name. The work has received performances in New York, Munich, Berlin, Venice, Rome and Lucerne. The composer’s deep attachment to nature and Buddhist religion is shown especially in composition series such as the Tibet Series: Twilight of the Himalayas (2013).

In August 2008, Ye’s piano concerto Starry Sky was premiered during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing

by Lang Lang. Accompanied by dance and light shows the live broadcast was watched by three billion people worldwide.

Mount E-mei, for violin, percussion and orchestra, is a duet concerto commissioned by the Sichuan Philharmonic Orchestra and Beijing Symphony Orchestra, written specifically for the guest soloists tonight, violinist Lu Wei and percussionist Hu Shengnan. The piece is based on folk music collected by the composer in the E’mei area of Sichuan Province, and inspired by the breathtaking scenery, profound historical culture and long-standing influence of the Buddhist music of that region. The music consists of landscape, humanistic history and religious culture, shows the calm inner realm of the composer’s heart, and reflects key developments in the innermost thoughts of the composer.

Notes adapted by SSG

Themes from: Battlestar Galactica (1978) Hawaii Five-O Charlie's Angels X-Files Miami Vice Moonlighting Dallas M*A*S*H The Love Boat Golden Girls Greatest American Hero Friends ER House of Cards Law & Order Game of Thrones Star Trek Discovery Sex & The City Downton Abbey Fame Don't Stop Believing

C L A UDE DE B U S S Y (18 62–1918) Jeux (“Games”), poème dansé in one act 17’ Jeux was Debussy’s last purely orchestral work, written within the span of three weeks in August 1912. It resulted from a commission by Sergei Diaghilev for his Ballets russes. However, when Debussy learned that the scenario called for a tennis game interrupted by an airplane crash, he balked. Furthermore, there were to be only three solo dancers, no corps de ballet, and no traditional dances. Debussy was eventually won over with the promise of twice the originally quoted fee, but even with the removal of the airplane crash, the composer was not particularly eager to work. Only financial need drove him to comply. The first performance took place in Paris on 15 May 1913, conducted by Pierre Monteux.

What makes Jeux a compositional landmark is its approach to form and content. Debussy deliberately avoided any reference to a logical, ordered sequence of musical events, preferring instead to create a mosaic of fragments that seemed superficially unrelated, yet held together only by a couple of recurring and constantly changing motifs and by a subtle inner tension almost impossible to analyse. The effect produced was a series of fleeting, ever-changing musical images. In the use of orchestral colour too, the score is remarkable for its richness, subtlety and variety. The scoring changes

Instrumentation 2 flutes 2 piccolos 3 oboes cor anglais 3 clarinets bass clarinet 3 bassoons contrabassoon 4 horns 4 trumpets 3 trombones tuba timpani xylophone, triangle, tambourine, cymbals, suspended cymbals 2 harps celesta strings World Premiere 15 May 1913, Paris First performed by SSO 14 Nov 2015

constantly in kaleidoscopic hues and patterns, is often of chamber music delicacy, and even at the climaxes there is never a moment where every instrument is required.

The jeux (“games”) of the title refer not only to tennis but to love as well.

The whole affair can be as innocent or risqué as each choreographer – or listener – wishes to make it. After a brief introduction, the curtain rises on an empty park. A tennis ball falls on the stage. A young man dressed in a tennis outfit leaps across the stage and disappears. Two timorous girls appear. They start to dance, and are joined by the young man who has been observing them stealthily. He joins one of the girls, provoking mild jealousy in the other, who eventually gets her turn at the man’s attention. The action continues as they chase, embrace and hide from each other. Finally the man succeeds in bringing them all together in an ecstatic three-way kiss. Suddenly another ball bounces in. Alarmed, the characters all scamper away.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING https://www.sso.org.sg/listen/albums/ debussy-jeux Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Lan Shui (BIS Records, 2017)

C L A UDE DE B U S S Y La Mer (“The Sea”) 23’ Few works so richly and evocatively portray the sea as Debussy’s trois esquisses symphoniques (“three symphonic sketches”). Oddly enough, though, the music was not written anywhere near the sea, but rather in various inland locations, including the Burgundian mountains and Paris. In La Mer, Debussy portrays the sea in its various moods, but does not attempt explicit images in sound; rather, through sonorities he seeks to stir the memories, emotions and imagination, permitting each listener a personal perception of the sea.

The first performance took place on 15 October 1905 at the Concerts Lamoureux in Paris, Camille Chevillard conducting.

The first part, From Dawn to Noon on the Sea, begins very quietly, with slow, mysterious murmuring. Through sonority itself, Debussy evokes the sensation of peering into the very depths of the dark, mysterious sea. As the sea awakens, the orchestral colours brighten and motion quickens. The music swings into a rocking 6/8 meter, and we hear a leisurely call from the muted horns. A mosaic of melodic fragments fills the music in constantly changing sonorities. One of these is heard in the divisi cellos, and is developed into an impressive climax. After subsiding, a new melodic idea, a noble chorale-like passage, appears and slowly grows to paint a majestic picture of the sea under the blazing noonday sun.

Play of the Waves is full of sparkle and animation. Like the first sea picture, melodic fragments are developed in an ever-changing mosaic of orchestral hues.

The range and delicacy of Debussy’s scoring fascinate at every turn – even the “ping” of the triangle has evocative power.

Debussy’s biographer Oscar Thompson describes this music as “a world of sheer fantasy, of strange visions and eerie voices, a mirage of sight and equally a mirage of sound. On the sea’s vast stage is presented trance-like phantasmagoria so evanescent and fugitive that it leaves behind only the vagueness of a dream.”

The final seascape, Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea, opens restless, gray and stormy, the music suggesting the mighty surging and swelling of the water.

Melodic fragments from the first movement return. The activity subsides, and out of the mists comes a haunting, distant call, like that of the sirens, perhaps, high in the woodwinds. The music again gathers energy. Finally, we hear once more the grandiose chorale motif from the first sea picture, and La Mer ends in a great spray of sea water surging through the orchestra in spectacular colours.

Programme notes by Robert Markow (except Mount E’mei)

RECOMMENDED LISTENING https://www.sso.org.sg/listen/albums/ debussy-la-mer Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Lan Shui (BIS Records, 2014)

Instrumentation 2 flutes piccolo 2 oboes cor anglais 2 clarinets 3 bassoons contrabassoon 4 horns 3 trumpets 2 cornets 3 trombones tuba timpani tam-tam, cymbals, triangle, bass drum, glockenspiel 2 harps strings World Premiere 15 Oct 1905, Paris First performed by SSO 30 Sep 1988

b oa r d of dir ec tor s & COMMITTE e S board of directors Mr Goh Yew Lin (Chair) Ms Yong Ying-I (Deputy Chair) Mr Ang Chek Meng Mrs Odile Benjamin Mr Chng Hak-Peng Mr Lionel Choi Mr Warren Fernandez Prof Arnoud De Meyer Mr Heinrich Grafe Ms Liew Wei Li Ms Lim Mei Mr Sanjiv Misra Mr Andreas Sohmen-Pao Mr Paul Tan Dr Kelly Tang Mr Yee Chen Fah

SSO Council HUMAN RESOURCES Committee Ms Yong Ying-I (Chair) Prof Arnoud de Meyer Mr Yee Chen Fah Dr Kelly Tang Endowment Fund Committee Mr Goh Yew Lin (Chair) Mr David Goh Mr Sanjiv Misra Audit Committee Mr Yee Chen Fah (Chair) Mr Heinrich Grafe Ms Lim Mei

Nominating and Executive Committee

SNYO Committee

Mr Goh Yew Lin (Chair) Prof Arnoud de Meyer Mr Paul Tan Ms Yong Ying-I

Ms Liew Wei Li (Chair) Mr Ang Chek Meng Ms Vivien Goh Dr Kee Kirk Chin Mrs Valarie Wilson

Musicians’ Committee Mr Chan Wei Shing Mr Jon Paul Dante Mr Jamie Hersch Mr Ng Pei-Sian Mr Mark Suter Mr Christoph Wichert Mr Yeo Teow Meng

Prof Cham Tao Soon (Honorary Chair) Mr Alan Chan (Chair) 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 SSO LADIES’ LEAGUE Mrs Odile Benjamin (Chair) Mrs Kwan Lui (Deputy Chair) Mrs Celeste Basapa Mrs Maisy Beh Mrs Kim Camacho Mrs Rosy Ho Ms Judy Hunt Prof Annie Koh Dr Julie Lo Mrs Clarinda TjiaDharmadi-Martin Ms Paige Parker Ms Kris Tan Ms Manju Vangal Mrs Grace Yeh

MANAGEMENT CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Mr Chng Hak-Peng

CEO OFFICE

PROGRAMMES (VCH)

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Ms Shirin Foo Mr Lim Yeow Siang Mr Edward Loh Mr Chris Yong

Ms Erin Tan

Mr Rick Ong (Head) Mr Alan Ong (Finance) Ms Goh Hoey Fen (Finance) Mr Jeffrey Tang (IT) Mr Md Zailani bin Md Said

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 Md Sufiyan 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 Ms Jodie Chiang Community Outreach Ms Kathleen Tan Ms Vanessa Lee Choral Programmes Ms Regina Lee Ms Whitney Tan

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“The Singapore Symphony Orchestra applies itself with notable sensibility, energy and colouristic finesse to some core Debussy.”

- Gramophone, 2014, on La Mer

"Shui’s control of the work’s fleeting contrasts and fluidity are beautifully realized by every section of the orchestra..."

- Fanfare, 2018, on Jeux

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