LAN SHUI Music Director
subscription concert
Steven Isserlis • Elgar Cello Concerto 5 October 2017 Esplanade Concert Hall Performing Home of the SSO
Darrell Ang, conductor Steven Isserlis, cello
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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
5 Oct 2017, Thu
Steven Isserlis • Elgar Cello Concerto Singapore Symphony Orchestra Darrell Ang, conductor
JOSEF SUK
Scherzo Fantastique, Op. 25 (Singapore Premiere) 14’00
EDWARD ELGAR
Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 30’00
1. Adagio – Moderato 2. Lento – Allegro molto 3. Adagio 3. Allegro – Moderato – Allegro, ma non troppo Steven Isserlis, cello Intermission 20’00
Steven Isserlis will sign autographs in the stalls foyer
ALEXANDER GLAZUNOV
Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 55 34’00
1. Allegro maestoso – Allegro 2. Scherzo: Moderato 3. Andante 4. Allegro maestoso
Concert duration: 1 hr 55 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 ‘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 alltime 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 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, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Leonidas Kavakos and Gil Shaham.
DARRE L L ANG conductor
Darrell Ang's triumph at the 50th Besançon International Young Conductor's Competition, where he took all three top awards – Grand Prize, Audience Prize and Orchestra Prize - launched his international career, leading to numerous conducting engagements with orchestras in Europe, Russia and Asia. Darrell was subsequently selected to join the prestigious International Conductors' Academy of the Allianz Cultural Foundation - he remains grateful to his mentors Lorin Maazel and Esa-Pekka Salonen. His first disc on Naxos featuring Chinese composers Zhou Long and Chen Yi was nominated for a Grammy in 2016, the same year Darrell was appointed the Artistic/Music Director of The Sichuan Orchestra of China. Most recently, Darrell was spotted by Valery Gergiev, who immediately invited him to conduct at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and Vladivostok. In his native Singapore, he became the youngest-ever Associate Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra - working closely with Music Director Lan Shui - and also served as Music Director of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO). As chief conductor of the NTSO Taiwan-China Youth Orchestra, Darrell brought together the best young musicians from China and Taiwan in high-profile concerts in Beijing and Taipei. Darrell began to play violin and piano at age four. As a teenager, he followed his dreams to Vienna, and St. Petersburg, studying conducting under Leonid Korchmar in the tradition of the legendary Ilya Musin. 20th century Russian music, along with French and contemporary Asian repertoire, is central to his artistic identity. Darrell continued his studies at Yale, becoming its first Conducting Fellow. His composition Fanfare for a Frazzled Earth was commissioned by LANXESS and premiered by the SNYO in 2011. Darrell is fluent in English, German, French, Italian, Russian and Mandarin.
S TE V EN IS SER L IS cello
Steven Isserlis enjoys a varied career as soloist, chamber musician, educator, author and broadcaster. He appears regularly with the world’s leading orchestras, and gives recitals in major musical centres. He has a strong interest in historical performance, working with many periodinstrument orchestras, and is a keen exponent of contemporary music, having premiered many new works, including Tavener’s The Protecting Veil and Adès’s Lieux retrouvés. Steven’s award-winning discography includes almost the entire standard repertoire for cello. His latest releases include the Brahms Double Concerto with Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields (Sony), concertos by Haydn and CPE Bach in which he directs the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Hyperion), and a WW1-themed recital with Connie Shih, with some extra pieces played on the “Trench cello” (BIS). Since 1997, Steven has been Artistic Director of the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove, Cornwall. He has created three musical stories for children, with the composer Anne Dudley, and has written two children’s books about the great composers. A new book, a commentary on Schumann’s Advice for Young Musicians, was published by Faber in September 2016. The recipient of many awards, Steven’s honours include a CBE in recognition of his services to music; the Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau, the Glashütte Original Music Festival Award and the Wigmore Hall Gold Medal. He performs on the 1726 Marquis de Corberon (Nelsova) Stradivarius, loaned to him by the Royal Academy of Music.
SSO MU SICIAN S 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 Lim Shue Churn^ 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 Lim Chun^ Liu Hang^ Liu Kuan# Luo Biao Shui Bing Tan Wee-Hsin Janice Tsai^ Yang Shi Li Yeo Jan Wea^ CELLO Ng Pei-Sian Principal Yu Jing Associate Principal Guo Hao Fixed Chair Chan Wei Shing Ding Xiao Feng^ 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
Ma Li Ming^ Jacek Mirucki Julian Li^ Wang Xu FLUTE Jin Ta Principal Evgueni Brokmiller Associate Principal Roberto Alvarez Miao Shanshan
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
Roberto Alvarez Assistant Principal
Jon Paul Dante Principal David Smith Associate Principal Lau Wen Rong Sergey Tyuteykin
OBOE
TROMBONE
Rachel Walker Principal Pan Yun Associate Principal Carolyn Hollier Elaine Yeo
Allen Meek Principal Damian Patti Associate Principal Samuel Armstrong
PICCOLO
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 Liu Chang Associate Principal Christoph Wichert Zhao Ying Xue CONTRA BASSOON
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 Zhu Zheng Yi HARP Gulnara Mashurova Principal
Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal
*With deep appreciation to the Rin Collection for their generous loan of string instruments. °Igor Yuzefovich plays an instrument generously loaned by Mr & Mrs G K Goh ^Musician on temporary contract Member of the Shanghai Orchestra Academy 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 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
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he a r t f e lt t h a nk s to t he fa mily a nd FRIENDS of mr g oh g eok k him 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
u p comi n g con c ert s
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
19 October 2017
Thu | 7.30pm Esplanade Concert Hall
SSO GALA • JANINE JANSEN SIBELIUS The Swan of Tuonela SIBELIUS Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 DVORÁK Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 Daniel Blendulf, conductor Janine Jansen, violin Pre-concert Talk 6.30pm | library@esplanade
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J O SEF S UK (1874 -193 5) Scherzo Fantastique, Op. 25
14’00
The year Josef Suk was born, 1874, was a particularly fertile one for composers. It was also the year that produced Schoenberg, Ives, Holst, Serge Koussevitzky and Franz Schmidt, to mention only well-known names. Suk’s early musical training was with his father, also named Josef. Several other teachers contributed to his education, but it was Dvorák from whom he derived the greatest inspiration. Suk became Dvorák’s star pupil, he followed in his teacher’s footsteps stylistically (at least for a while) and married his daughter Otilie in 1898. Suk seemed destined for a lifetime of happiness until both his wife and father-in-law died within fourteen months of each other in 1904 (Dvorák) and 1905 (Otilie). Suk was also a professional violinist, and played second violin in the quartet he helped found in 1891. The Czech Quartet would give more than 4,000 concerts over a span of more than four decades, with Suk the only founding member to remain until the quartet disbanded in 1933. The composer’s grandson Josef (1929-2011) was also a violinist, one with an international reputation as a soloist, who continued the family line of violinist Josef Suks. Instrumental music, especially for orchestra, was Suk’s specialty, and the 15-minute Scherzo fantastique provides a fine example. Composed in 1903, it has no program per se to support the “fantastique” of the title, but each listener is free to create a scenario of his or her choosing, or simply to let the fairytale mood and kaleidoscopic orchestration work its aural magic. The subtle play of orchestral colour, and the ever-changing dynamics and rhythmic patterns keep the mind and ear continuously engaged. There are two main themes – a rhythmic, dancelike subject played mostly by woodwinds in the opening bars, and a gliding, waltz-like theme heard a bit later in the strings. In the central section Suk adds to the development of the two themes a rich overlay of ornamental figuration such as might be imagined coming from a well- stocked aviary.
E DWAR D E L GAR (18 57-193 4) Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
30’00
The Cello Concerto was Elgar’s last important work, completed in the summer of 1919. Elgar was to live for another fifteen years, but with the death of his wife in 1920, who had been such a deep source of both personal and professional aid to the composer, inspiration to create seemed to have left Elgar. Without her he felt dejected, lost, melancholic to an even greater degree than before. Indeed, moods of despair, disillusionment and inferiority had haunted him throughout his life – lack of social status, insecurity about the popularity of his music, and especially the Great War contributed to these moods. Into his Cello Concerto Elgar poured his most personal utterances and the sense of resignation that affects those in the autumn of their lives. The mournful, poignant tone of the cello seems to emphasize this quality, further heightened by the restraint with which Elgar uses the orchestra in this work. Though unsuccessful at its premiere, the concerto quickly became a favourite with cellists and audiences alike, and it has remained one of the Elgar’s best-known works. The first performance took place in Queen’s Hall, London, on 26 October 1919 with the composer conducting the London Symphony. Felix Salmond was the soloist. Ten years later, the great English violist, Lionel Tertis (1876-1975) undertook to make a transcription for his instrument (at the time repertory for solo viola was extremely scant). The concerto is in four movements, each distinctive, each with its own hallmarks of Elgar’s inimitable style. The first movement opens with an Adagio, beginning with a sombre but striking passage for the soloist alone and stretching across all four strings of the instrument simultaneously. Violas pick up the theme and weave a quietly flowing theme. “In its world-weary way,” writes musicologist Michael Kennedy, it is the music of autumn smoke and falling leaves.” Woodwinds initiate the second theme, somewhat brighter in mood.
The second movement follows after the briefest of pauses, and is notable for the alternation of its light, scherzo-like passages of quicksilver writing and deft orchestration with a heavier, jaunty theme. Donald Francis Tovey called the movement “impish”. The third movement stands in greatest possible contrast. Though only sixty bars in length, this Adagio is one of Elgar’s most sublime pages. To quote Kennedy again, it is “a lament for thoughts that lie too deep for tears, perfectly suited to the cello at its most songfully sustained, and ending with a dominant cadence, as if the tonic key was too positive”. The finale is cast in rondo form, with its swaggering, self-assured principal theme alternating with contrasting episodes. In a gesture of nostalgia, Elgar brings back the solo cello’s theme of broken chords that opened the concerto, but a strong, final recurrence of the rondo theme sweeps away the memory of things past with a grand flourish.
A L E X ANDER G L A Z UNOV (18 6 5 -193 6) Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 55
34’00
As we noted with Suk in 1874, the year of Glazunov’s birth, 1865, was also a particularly bountiful one for composers, yielding birthdays for Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen, Paul Dukas, Albéric Magnard, Paul Gilson and Alexander Glazunov. Glazunov’s life span exactly straddled two centuries, while his musical style straddled two cultures – first, the Russian nationalism of his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov; second, a Europeanized classicism derived from the great Austro-German masters like Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms. Glazunov’s career represents a perfect example of a composer who did everything correctly, followed all the rules, earned tremendous respect, and made an enormously successful career for himself. He was precocious as well, writing his first symphony at the age of 16. He traveled throughout America and Europe, and received honourary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge. Glazunov steadfastly refused to have anything to do with the new currents swirling around Europe, resisting the advanced chromaticism of Wagner, the polyphonic complexities of Strauss, and the atonal explorations of Schoenberg. No, Glazunov stuck to the past, to tradition, and he stuck exceedingly well. He continually astonished colleagues with a prodigious memory, impeccable compositional technique, and the incredible ease with which he tossed off composition after composition. But, as Andrew Huth has noted, “this sheer facility, it has been suggested, was eventually to have an adverse effect on his creative energy; composition was so easy for him that he seems never to have felt the need to renew his style or subject himself to that degree of self-criticism which might have raised his huge talent to the level of genius.” If Glazunov does not today command quite the respect he once enjoyed, his music is still eminently pleasing for its lyrical impulses and fine craftsmanship. His output is almost entirely instrumental – not surprising as the composer was proficient on piano, violin, cello, bassoon, horn, clarinet and flute. Glazunov’s large orchestral catalogue includes eight symphonies (plus a ninth left incomplete), the ballets Raymonda and The Seasons, and a number of works with titles that other composers had already used or were later to use: The Sea (Debussy), Carnaval Overture (Dvorák), Ouverture solennelle (Tchaikovsky), Le Chant du Destin (Brahms) and Salome’s Dance (Richard Strauss). His Concerto for Saxophone is one of the very few to hold a place in the repertory for that instrument.
The Fifth Symphony was first performed in St. Petersburg on 17 November, 1896, conducted by the composer. Glazunov dedicated it to his colleague Sergei Taneyev. Formally, the work holds no surprises. It is an expansive, four-movement symphony lasting about 35 minutes and written in the standard Romantic tradition of Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Dvorák. The symphony opens with a slow introduction in which the principal theme of the ensuing Allegro is adumbrated. Critic Boris Asafiev has described the movement as “joyous in mood and full of youthful spirits. . . . It seems as if a great inexhaustible power is just about to burst and overflow impetuously and boisterously”. The second movement is an imaginatively scored Scherzo, replete with glistening effects from triangle, bells and flutes, and suggestive of Mendelssohn in its deft orchestration. The lyrical effusions of the slow movement are twice briefly interrupted by stentorian chords in the brass, but otherwise the movement features wide-arching melodic lines, passionate intensity and voluptuous string writing, all of which serve as a perfect foil for the finale. No fewer than four themes are found in the blazing Allegro maestoso, most of them sounding as if derived from Russian folksong and dance. Brass and percussion work overtime as Glazunov’s Fifth Symphony roars to a spectacular conclusion. Programme notes by Robert Markow
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Prof Cham Tao Soon (Chairman) Mr Alan Chan Ms Chew Gek Khim 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
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