MOZART FLUTE & HARP CONCERTO IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE 2022 VOILAH! FRANCE SINGAPORE FESTIVAL
MOZART FLUTE & HARP CONCERTO SUPPORTED BY
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Latecomers will not be admitted until a suitable break in the programme. This is usually after the first piece of music is finished, or it could even be during the intermission. It differs from concert to concert depending on the programme. Our honest advice: don't be late!
25 & 26 Nov 2022, Fri & Sat
Victoria Concert Hall
30 Nov & 1 Dec 2022, Wed & Thu
Victoria Concert Hall
7 & 8 Dec 2022, Wed & Thu
Esplanade Concert Hall
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• For the Mozart concerts above, non-flash photography is allowed only during bows and applause when no performance is taking place.
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Autograph session
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. In 2021, the SSO clinched third place in the prestigious Orchestra of the Year Award by Gramophone.
In July 2022, the SSO appointed renowned Austrian conductor Hans Graf as its Music Director, the third in the orchestra’s history after Lan Shui (1997–2019) and Choo Hoey (1979–1996). Prior to this, Hans Graf served as Chief Conductor from 2020, leading the SSO in keeping music alive during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SSO makes its performing home at the 1,800-seat state-of-the-art Esplanade Concert Hall. More intimate works, as well as outreach and community performances
take place at the 673-seat Victoria Concert Hall, the Home of the SSO. The orchestra performs over 60 concerts a year, and its versatile repertoire spans all-time favourites and orchestral masterpieces to exciting cutting-edge premieres. The SSO launched its digital concert hall, SSOLOUNGE, in 2021. Bridging the musical traditions of East and West, Singaporean and Asian musicians and composers are regularly showcased in the concert season.
Beyond Singapore, 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 second performance at the Berlin Philharmonie. In 2014 the SSO’s debut at the 120th BBC Proms in London received critical acclaim in the major UK newspapers The Guardian and The Telegraph. The SSO has also performed in China on multiple occasions.
The SSO has released more than 50 recordings, with over 30 on the BIS label. The most recent critically acclaimed albums include a Rachmaninoff box set (2021), Richard Strauss’ “Rosenkavalier and Other Works” (2020), and three Debussy discs “La Mer”, “Jeux” and “Nocturnes”. A Four Seasons album and a complete Mozart Violin Concerto cycle with Chloe Chua and Hans Graf will be released in the near future.
The SSO has also collaborated with such great artists as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Joe Hisaishi, Neeme Järvi, Okko Kamu, Hannu Lintu, Andrew Litton, Lorin Maazel, Martha Argerich, Ray Chen, Diana Damrau, Stephen Hough, Janine Jansen, Leonidas Kavakos,
Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham and Krystian Zimerman.
The SSO is part of the Singapore Symphony Group, which also manages the Singapore Symphony Choruses, the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, and the VCHpresents chamber music series, the Singapore International Piano Festival and the biennial National Piano & Violin Competition.
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 our diverse communities.
HANS GRAF Music Directorconductor
Ludovic Morlot takes over as Music Director of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra in September 2022. His élan, elegance and intensity on stage have endeared him to audiences and orchestras worldwide, from the Berlin Philharmonic to the Boston Symphony. During his eight years as Music Director of the Seattle Symphony he pushed the boundaries of traditional concert programming, winning several Grammys.
He is now Conductor Emeritus in Seattle, and in 2019 he was appointed Associate Artist of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
with whom he has had a close relationship over many years. His tenure in Seattle formed a hugely significant period in the musical journey of the orchestra. His innovative programming encompassed not only his choice of repertoire, but theatrical productions and performances outside the traditional concert hall space. There were numerous collaborations with musicians from different genres, commissions and world premieres. Morlot has released 19 recordings with the Seattle Symphony Media label which was launched in 2014.
Morlot has conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, London Philharmonic and Budapest Festival orchestras, and many of the leading North American orchestras. He has also appeared extensively in Asia and Australasia, notably with the Seoul Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras. Festival appearances have included the BBC Proms, Wien Modern, Edinburgh, and Aspen festivals.
Trained as a violinist, he studied conducting at the Pierre Monteux School (USA) with Charles Bruck and Michael Jinbo. He continued his education in London at the Royal Academy and then at the Royal College as recipient of the Norman del Mar Conducting Fellowship.
Flutist, educator and composer, Jin Ta has been in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) as Principal Flute since 1998.
In 1991, after completing his studies at the Central Music Conservatory (Beijing) with Professor Zhu Tong De, he entered the University of Michigan on a full-scholarship. In 1995, he studied with Professor Fenwick Smith at the New England Conservatory of Music and was selected as an Artist Diploma candidate in 1997. During the eight years he spent in the U.S., Jin Ta won numerous flute competitions including the Silver Prize in the National Flute Talk Competition and NFA Young Artist Competition (1995), First Prize in the James Pappoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition (1996), Israel Haifa International Flute Competition (2001), among many others.
Besides performing with the SSO, Jin Ta is dedicated to teaching. He has taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and LaSalle College of the Arts. He is also a founding faculty member of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (National University of Singapore). His students are now working in many professional orchestras in China, Taiwan and Korea. Jin Ta is also a self-taught composer and has published
a number of works such as his First Flute Sonata, and Second Sonata, “Mongol”. He frequently gives talks and masterclasses in China, Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea.
During the COVID-19 circuit breaker period, he and his wife Yu Jing (SSO Associate Principal Cello) created a flute education WeChat channel “Lumino’s art of flute” (小 鲁仔长笛艺术). This channel focusses on contributing free online flute lessons for both college level students and young flutists, and musical stories for children.
Gulnara Mashurova was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She started piano studies at the age of six and by age nine was chosen to study harp at the Pre Moscow Conservatory with Natalia Sibor. From 1991 to 1993, she studied with Vera Dulova at the Moscow Conservatory. Gulnara received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Harp Performance from the Juilliard School as a Jerome Green full scholarship recipient studying under Nancy Allen, Principal Harpist of the New York Philharmonic. She received her second Master’s in Orchestra Performance with a full scholarship from the
© BRYAN VAN DER BEEKManhattan School of Music studying under Deborah Hoffman, former Principal Harpist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Gulnara was a regular substitute with the New York Philharmonic both in live performances and recordings and has toured extensively with the Orchestra. She has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Sospeso Contemporary Ensemble, Absolute Ensemble, Stamford Symphony, Empire State Opera and Silkroad, the organization founded by Yo-Yo Ma.
She has appeared as a soloist with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Flagstaff Symphony and the Thailand Philharmonic. In 2006 and 2007, Gulnara travelled to her native Kazakhstan to promote harp repertoire by performing concertos, recitals and chamber music.
In 2003, Gulnara joined the Singapore Symphony Orchestra as Principal Harpist and is on the faculty of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. She performs on a Lyon and Healy Style 23 harp.
Andrew Litton is Music Director of the New York City Ballet, former Principal Guest Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Laureate of Britain’s Bournemouth Symphony and Music Director Laureate of Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic. Under Litton’s leadership the Bergen Philharmonic gained international recognition through extensive recording and touring. For his efforts, Norway’s King Harald V knighted Litton with the Norwegian Royal Order of Merit. His many honours also include Yale’s Sanford Medal, the Elgar Society Medal, and an honorary Doctorate from the University of Bournemouth.
Litton was Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony from 1988–1994. As Music Director of the Dallas Symphony from 1994–2006, he hired over one third of the players, led the orchestra on three major European tours, and appeared four times at Carnegie Hall. His discography boasts over 135 recordings.
This season, Litton returns to the Bournemouth and Singapore Symphony Orchestras. He has recently conducted the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the 2021 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, and will be making appearances with NFM Wrocław
Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonie Zuidnederland, among others. An avid opera conductor with a keen theatrical sense, Litton has led major opera companies such as the Metropolitan Opera, The Royal Opera Covent Garden, Opera Australia and Deutsche Oper Berlin. In Norway, he was key to founding the Bergen National Opera, where he led numerous acclaimed performances.
An accomplished pianist, Litton often performs as a soloist, conducting from the keyboard. He is also an acknowledged expert on and performer of Gershwin’s music and serves as Advisor to the University of Michigan Gershwin Archives.
Born in Yamaguchi, Japan, 1997, Seika Ishida began playing the piano at age three and has studied with Yuko Yamane, Masahi Katayama, the late Hiroko Nakamura, and Jasminka Stancul. She has completed her Bachelor’s (2020) and Master’s Degrees (June, 2022) with the highest score at University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and continues her piano studies there as a postgraduate student, with Anna Malikova.
Since presenting her first European performance in 2007, she has been
awarded the Second Prize in the First Rosario Marciano International Piano Competition in Vienna, Austria, where she also received Best Schubert, Best New Piece, and Best Young Artist prizes. She also won the Second Prize at the 19th Hamamatsu International Piano Academy Competition (2015) and First Prize at the Second Krystian Tkaczewski International Piano Competition (2017), among other awards. In 2018, she made her debut in Germany (Essen & Krefeld) and Spain (Madrid), where audience described “Seika was impeccable in everything, spectacular piano technique, masterfully mastered the sound range of the Shigeru Kawai.” In September 2019, she was awarded the First Prize, as well as the Best Chinese Works Prize at the Third Zhuhai International Mozart Competition, where she performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 under the baton of Lavard Skou Larsen. In February 2020, she received the diploma and the Best Compulsory Work Prize at the 14th International Mozart Piano Competition in Salzburg.
She was a soloist in the concert “Ein Fest für Beethoven” held in Vienna in April 2022, where she performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Webern Symphonie Orchester, which was broadcasted on the ORF TV (Austrian national public broadcaster).
Although he performed on stage for the first time as a seven-year-old boy, Krystian Zimerman’s career began in earnest after a series of competition wins in 1975.
Since then Zimerman has performed more than 2,000 concerts worldwide, with 138 conductors as well as in recitals and chamber concerts. For over 43 years he has collaborated and made recordings with leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony, BBC Symphony, Boston Symphony, among many others, working on projects with renowned conductors like Karajan, Bernstein, Ozawa, Kondrashin, Boulez, Rattle, and Giulini. Zimerman’s recordings have been released exclusively by Deutsche Grammophon since 1976. For his recording of Chopin concertos where he served as both conductor and pianist, he received a Gold record as well as a Quadruple Platinum record. In 2017, a CD of the two late sonatas of Schubert was released as his first solo album in 25 years, winning acclaim throughout the world. The most recent CD of Szymanowski piano works was recorded and released to commemorate the 140th anniversary of this Polish composer, and it topped the billboard chart within one month.
2018 was the 100th birth anniversary of Leonard Bernstein, with whom Krystian Zimerman collaborated over a period of 15 years. The two artists worked together
with many orchestras to record pieces by Stravinsky, Beethoven, Brahms, and Bernstein. During those recordings, Zimerman promised that he would perform with Bernstein on his 100th birthday. To celebrate this anniversary, he performed Bernstein’s 2nd Symphony throughout the world with orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic and London Symphony. The CD of this work performed with Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Simon Rattle was released by Deutsche Grammophon in 2018 and is one of the most magnificent homages ever paid to this great composer-conductor. The expression of gratitude and respect to his predecessors has always served as a driving force for Zimerman as an artist.
As a broad-based grantmaking organisation, Tote Board works closely with stakeholders and partners to support broad and diverse worthy projects in the sectors of Arts & Culture, Community Development, Education, Health, Social Service and Sports. Through these projects, Tote Board helps to uplift the community by giving hope to vulnerable groups and improving the lives of all in Singapore. ToteBoardSG
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’s goal is to help build a flourishing society. We want to inspire positive change and contribute towards building an inclusive, resilient and vibrant community, while fostering a caring and compassionate nation.
Associate Conductor
Conductor Emeritus
LAN SHUI
Conductor Laureate
Choral Director
WONG LAI FOON
Choirmaster
(Position vacant) Concertmaster, GK Goh Chair Kong Zhao Hui1
Associate Concertmaster Chan Yoong-Han2 Fixed Chair Cao Can* Chen Da Wei Duan Yu Ling Foo Say Ming Jin Li Kong Xianlong Cindy Lee Karen Tan William Tan Wei Zhe Ye Lin* Zhang Si Jing*
Tseng Chieh-An Principal Michael Loh Associate Principal Nikolai Koval* Sayuri Kuru Hai-Won Kwok Chikako Sasaki* Margit Saur Shao Tao Tao Wu Man Yun* Xu Jueyi* Yeo Teow Meng Yin Shu Zhan* Zhao Tian*
Manchin Zhang Principal Guan Qi Associate Principal Gu Bing Jie* Fixed Chair Hyunjae Bae Joyce Huang Marietta Ku Luo Biao Julia Park Shui Bing Janice Tsai Dandan Wang Yang Shi Li
CELLO
Ng Pei-Sian Principal, The HEAD Foundation Chair Yu Jing Associate Principal Guo Hao Fixed Chair Chan Wei Shing Jamshid Saydikarimov Song Woon Teng Wang Yan Wu Dai Dai Zhao Yu Er
Yang Zheng Yi Associate Principal Karen Yeo Fixed Chair
Olga Alexandrova Jacek Mirucki Guennadi Mouzyka Wang Xu
Jin Ta Principal, Stephen Riady Chair
Evgueni Brokmiller Associate Principal
Roberto Alvarez Miao Shanshan
Roberto Alvarez Assistant Principal
OBOE
Rachel Walker Principal
Pan Yun Associate Principal 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
Liu Chang Associate Principal Christoph Wichert Zhao Ying Xue
CONTRABASSOON
Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal
Gao Jian Associate Principal
Jamie Hersch Associate Principal Marc-Antoine Robillard Associate Principal Hoang Van Hoc
TRUMPET
Jon Paul Dante Principal David Smith Associate Principal Lau Wen Rong
TROMBONE
Allen Meek Principal Damian Patti Associate Principal Samuel Armstrong
BASS TROMBONE
Wang Wei Assistant Principal
TUBA Tomoki Natsume Principal
TIMPANI Christian Schiøler Principal
PERCUSSION
Jonathan Fox Principal Mark Suter Associate Principal Mario Choo Lim Meng Keh HARP
Gulnara Mashurova Principal
With deep appreciation to the Rin Collection for their generous loan of string instruments.
Kong Zhao Hui 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.
Chan Yoong-Han performs on a David Tecchler, Fecit Roma An. D. 1700, courtesy of Mr G K Goh. Musicians listed alphabetically by family name rotate their seats on a per programme basis.
FIRST VIOLIN
Li Qing Guest Concertmaster
FIRST VIOLIN
Igor Yuzefovich Guest Concertmaster
SECOND VIOLIN
Martin Peh
OBOE
Celia Craig Guest Principal
HORN Bryan Chong
FIRST VIOLIN
Igor Yuzefovich Guest Concertmaster
Lim Shue Churn
SECOND VIOLIN
Yew Shan
DOUBLE BASS
Julian Li
HORN Bryan Chong
MOZART FLUTE & HARP CONCERTO | 25 & 26 NOV 2022 SEIKA ISHIDA PLAYS MOZART | 30 NOV & 1 DEC 2022 SSO GALA: KRYSTIAN ZIMERMAN IN CONCERT | 7 & 8 DEC 2022
An elevated experience awaits on board the world’s most awarded airline
LE BŒUF SUR LE TOIT –MILHAUD, MOZART AND SPRING
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Ludovic Morlot conductor
Jin Ta flute* Gulnara Mashurova harp*
Le Bœuf sur le Toit, Op. 58 SSO Premiere
25 & 26 Nov 2022, Fri & Sat Victoria Concert Hall 15 mins 30 mins 20 mins 30 mins
Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major, K. 299* Intermission Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 38 “Spring”
Concert Duration: approximately 1 hr 50 mins (with 20 mins intermission)
Le Bœuf sur le Toit, Op. 58 (1919) SSO
Darius Milhaud is often categorised as a neo-classicist based on his association with the loose collective of composers called Les Six: five French and one Swiss, all of whom were friends and colleagues with the glitterati of western European cultural life, championed by the writer and critic Jean Cocteau. The label may very well be accurate based on the vast range of things that have been labelled “neoclassical”, but it is meaningless when applied to someone who had a musical range as large as Milhaud.
The sunny flavours of his music may be attributed to his Provençal upbringing — indeed, the main conservatory in Aix-enProvence is named after him — but also to the years he spent as French cultural attaché in Brazil, where he luxuriated in the sounds and rhythms of Brazilian popular and folk music. The opening of this piece is an original theme composed to sound like a maxixe, a type of Brazilian dance that arose out of the tango and habanera and eventually contributed to the samba genre.
Originally, Milhaud intended to offer the music to Charlie Chaplin as the accompaniment to a silent film, but that fell through and the music was eventually premiered as a surrealist ballet with a scenario by Cocteau. While there is a distinct lack of real plot or narrative in the ballet, the title of the piece itself (“The Ox on the Roof”) comes from an old French legend of a man who insisted on keeping a calf in his top-floor Parisian apartment, only to find it had become too large to move anywhere else when it was grown. It also gained an
English title when it was presented across the Channel, and as “The Nothing Doing Bar” it was so successful it spawned touring productions in the early 1920s.
Milhaud’s typical nods to bitonality appear throughout: when a key is well-established, he often includes “comments” from elsewhere in the orchestra that hint at a dissonant other key. As early as the second page of music, the flute and clarinet are already “commenting” in E-flat and F-sharp over the bright C major maxixe, and as the music builds, such dissonant sprinklings increase in frequency and rudeness. The loud brass accompaniment with C major and G major chords in the middle of a G-flat major section less than two minutes in is a great example of what to expect in the rest of the ballet score!
2 flutes (1 doubling on piccolo), oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, trombone, bass drum, güiro, tambourine, tambourine provençale, strings
World Premiere 21 Feb 1920, Paris
Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major, K. 299 (1778)
Mozart’s “middle period” K. 299 (written when he was a youth of twenty-two) turned out to be the only piece of music he wrote for the harp – a commission from the fluteplaying Duke of Guînes for his daughter, who played the harp.
In the 1770s, the harp was still in development as an orchestral instrument. It had its popular uses in folk and other “low” music, but was still regarded as a plucked piano where the classical tradition was concerned. By writing for this combination, Mozart was well ahead of his time; the 19th century would produce much more music for flute and harp. Apparently, he must have found the experience strange, since the harp never returned in any of his future music. Mozart’s concerto form here is a standard fast-slow-fast, and he does not venture far from the expected harmonies. The bright C major is a key that suited the early harp, and there is precious little chromaticism throughout, though there is a notable section in the rondo finale where the theme returns in the minor key instead of the expected major.
The chamber orchestra used here is even smaller than the orchestras Mozart employed for his concertante works, no doubt with the low volume of the 18th-century harp in mind. The usual complement of strings is there, but to that is added only a pair of oboes and a pair of horns, presumably not to get in the way of the much higher solo
flute line. The harp, meanwhile, is treated as a sort of analogue to the piano, with plenty of accompanimental figures to the much more individualistic flute part. Unusually enough, in the intervening 250 years, no other work for this combination of flute, harp, and orchestra has made it into regular performance.
Instrumentation 2 oboes, 2 horns, strings
World Premiere Unknown
First performed by SSO 3 Mar 1989 (Marisa Robles, harp; Richard Adeney, flute)
Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 38 “Spring” (1841)
I II III IV
Andante un poco maestoso. Allegro molto vivace Larghetto Scherzo. Molto vivace Allegro animato e grazioso
Schumann’s symphonies form a much less unified body of work when placed beside the towering achievements of his Lieder output. They have been more or less maligned throughout their performance history, with several composers seeing fit to “fix” balance issues and orchestration oddities, most famously Mahler. Some others have even orchestrated his piano pieces to add to the body of his orchestral music (Tchaikovsky’s version of some of the Symphonic Etudes is a great example).
While his strengths always lay in the smallscale and miniature, his wife Clara had been encouraging his attempts at symphonic writing. Noting that his piano music had always seemed to strive for something beyond the instrument’s capabilities, and knowing that he admired her compositional skill at orchestration, she kept trying to bring him to the symphony as a genre, until, in a burst of inspiration in January 1841, he sketched the musical thrust of the entire work in four days, and completed its orchestration over the next month.
The symphony had its premiere in Leipzig under the leadership of Mendelssohn, and it was warmly welcomed by the musical cognoscenti, who gave it the nickname of “Spring” and its literary association with an Adolf Böttger poem (Frühlingsgedicht, “Spring Poem”). Schumann had indeed originally included subtitles for each of its movements, but removed them before
publication, though he would go on to speak of its spring-like spirit and of the music coming alive.
In the early part of the Romantic period, the orchestra was still undergoing various stages of post-Beethovenian expansion, and Schumann’s contribution was to demand a much larger set of timpani re-tunings, involving a third drum — the first major orchestral work to require more than two. An opening fanfare demonstrates an extended brass section too, with four horns and three trombones, though this moves quickly into an upbeat Allegro molto vivace that is lively and forward-looking.
The slow movement is beautifully judged, and moves subtly between the strings and
Fishing in Spring, the Pont de Clichy (Asnières) (1887) by Vincent van Gogh
brass chorales in some of Schumann’s best orchestral writing. It rushes straight into the Scherzo, an unusual Schumann formal innovation, and the cyclical nature of Schumann’s musical imagination comes to light as the first trio recalls ideas from the first movement. The final movement behaves almost like a Haydn finale, with its lively syncopations and chattering strings over a dance-like accompaniment, but it also recalls the final theme from the piano cycle Kreisleriana. An unusually operatic coda closes out the piece, Schumann triumphantly closing off his first major foray with sequences and an increased pace until the final B-flat major exclamation.
Programme notes by Thomas Ang
2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, triangle, strings
World Premiere 31 Mar 1841, Leipzig
First performed by SSO 13 May 1980
30 Nov & 1 Dec 2022, Wed & Thu
Victoria Concert Hall
Andrew Litton conductor
Seika Ishida piano1 Jin Ta flute2
Poem for Flute and Orchestra2 SSO Premiere
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 4661 Intermission
Orchestral Suite No. 3 in G major, Op. 55
9 mins 30 mins 20 mins 41 mins
Concert Duration: approximately 2 hrs (with 20 mins intermission)
History is full of what-ifs, and American composer Charles Tomlinson Griffes is one of them. A New York native, he left his studies as a performer at the Stern Conservatory and went into composition, studying briefly in Berlin with Engelbert Humperdinck. Returning to the USA, he became a music teacher in a boys’ school, which while grim and unrewarding, brought him some measure of financial stability, allowing him to compose and have the summers free. He composed mostly for the piano, chamber ensembles, and the voice (his art songs are still popular in American concert halls).
A meticulous diarist, his diaries provide a rich insight into life, both musical and otherwise, in New York City from 1907 to 1919. They chronicle the work he put into his music, from personally correcting proofs and preparing copies of his own large orchestral scores due to being unable to afford editors or copyists, to the ceaseless pursuit of performance opportunities, to the struggles with his publisher Schirmer. Much of the content of his diaries were destroyed by his sister after his death to hide his homosexual identity, for publication of these would have not only ruined his reputation, but also of the men in his social circle mentioned by name, in an age when public acceptance of different sexualities was very different.
From a young age, he had an unusual sensitivity to colour, and was fastidiously well-groomed and dressed. This sensitivity to aesthetics carried over into his music, and he had a preoccupation with the association
of certain keys to certain colours. At any rate, his music is the most famous American contribution to musical Impressionism, and the exotic, mysterious sound of French Impressionists influenced him greatly during his time in Europe. The result is a small and unique output of work that has been described as “some of the most beautiful music ever composed by an American”.
Essentially a one-movement concerto for flute and orchestra, the Poem for Flute and Orchestra, composed in 1918, was premiered in November 1919 by the New York Symphony Orchestra. The opening sets a dreamy atmosphere with the basses and strings, before the flute flutters in. This opening will be a refrain throughout the work, giving continuity to what seems an exploration of lush chromaticism, polyrhythms, and textures. The flute alternates between feverishly energetic dances and languid reflective episodes, making for striking soundscapes. The New York Tribune called it a “composition of much grace and variety of expression, rich in melodic ideas and written with an unusual feeling both for the solo instrument and for the orchestra. If Americans can but continue to produce such works, all talk of the unrequited native composer will be speedily set at rest.” Unfortunately, this task had to be left to his successors.
Griffes caught the influenza during the worldwide Spanish Flu pandemic, collapsing right after a Carnegie Hall performance of his music in December 1919, eventually dying in April 1920 at the age of 35, right when his career began to take off. What if Griffes
had continued with piano performance studies instead of taking up composition? What if he did not have the support and networking of his bathhouse friends and acquaintances? What if he had lived a longer life? All fascinating questions to which we will never know the answers.
Instrumentation 2 horns, bass drum, gong, snare drum, tambourine, harp, strings
World Premiere 16 Nov 1919, New York
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791)
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 (1785)
I II III
Allegro Romanza Rondo. Allegro assai
Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 was written in a fit of inspiration and premiered in 1785. When he wrote this, Mozart was living in Vienna and giving subscription concerts, which gave him a substantial income. Mozart and his wife Constanze adopted a lavish lifestyle, moving into an expensive apartment, sending their son Karl Thomas to an expensive boarding school, and kept servants. In short, Mozart was doing very well – socially and financially secure. Between 1782 and 1785, Mozart’s subscription concerts premiered three or four new piano concertos in each season, with himself as soloist.
Being one of only two in a minor key, this concerto has captivated listeners with its dramatic and dark passion. D minor is, for Mozart, the key of tragedy and emotional conflict. The young Beethoven particularly admired Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 – so much so, in fact, that he composed a cadenza for the work, and it was the only one he played in public. Throughout the 19th century, it was the sole concerto by Mozart that was regularly performed –
evidently its dark beauty spoke to musicians and audiences raised on Chopin and Liszt.
The first movement, opening with throbbing D minor chords, is clearly about rhythm and tension, almost setting the stage, just like the terrifying D minor chords that open Don Giovanni and accompany Don Juan being dragged down to hell, then going down to an ominous quiet for the piano to make its appearance. In all of Mozart’s previous concerti, when the piano enters, it repeats the theme established by the orchestra. Here, the piano begins with its own highly individual phrases, without once repeating those signature D minor chords in the entire movement. Conversely, the piano’s opening singing recitative lines are not imitated by the orchestra. A tense relationship ensues, almost like a dialogue between protagonist and chorus in a Greek tragedy. Here Mozart pushes the piano concerto into a space where it almost intersects with symphony and opera.
The second movement is a serene B-flat major Romanza, which starts as a lyrical and serene piano solo, but goes into a second theme in the relative key of G minor, which Mozart’s father Leopold called “the noisy part with the fast triplets”, recalling the unrest of the prior movement.
The final movement is a charged and forceful rondo which, in its darkness and power, anticipates the minor-key finale of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. Finally, just as the chilling D minor of Don Giovanni ends in the brilliance of D major, so too this dramatic concerto ends in D major in a cheerful coda that is equivalent to the tidy happy ending required by the 18th century opera stage.
Instrumentation flute, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings
World Premiere 11 Feb 1785, Vienna
First performed by SSO 15 Apr 1980 (Lola Belle Wee-Wong, piano)
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893)
Orchestral Suite No. 3 in G major, Op. 55 (1884)
I II III IV
Élégie (Andantino molto cantabile)
Valse mélancolique (Allegro moderato)
Scherzo (Presto)
Tema con variazioni (Andante con moto)
In 1884, Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky returned to Russia from Paris to receive from Tsar Alexander III the Order of Saint Vladimir (fourth class), which included a title of hereditary nobility, and a personal audience with the Tsar. Buoyed by this success, he began writing a symphony and a piano concerto concurrently. Inspiration takes one down some strange pathways, and somehow during the creative process, the planned piano concerto turned into the Concert Fantasia in G, Op. 56, with the intended first movement of the symphony becoming its final movement, while the symphony became the Orchestral Suite No. 3 in G, Op. 55.
The mood of the introductory Élégie, as in much of his music, is melancholy with an edge of sombreness. His score for Swan Lake had been criticized for being “too symphonic”, but this suite was later used for Balanchine’s choreography at the New York City Ballet in 1970. Both the Élégie and Valse, scored for full orchestra and regular in form, are particularly emotive and display Tchaikovsky’s gift for orchestral writing and colour. The Scherzo brings irrepressible energy with mischievous woodwinds punctuated by triangle, drum, and tambourine. “Scherzo” is Italian for “joke”, and Tchaikovsky seems to have gone to town in experimenting with colours here.
The real meat of the work comes in the final movement, the Tema con variazioni
(“theme with variations”). The theme is first presented simply by violins with a light chordal accompaniment, followed by 12 variations:
1. Unison strings.
2. Unison strings with other instruments lightly accompanying.
3. Flutes take melody in the first part, then the clarinets, then back to flutes.
4. Change of theme for full orchestra.
5. Theme is given counterpoint.
6. Theme appears in quaver triplets.
7. The theme appears as a chorale.
8. Cor anglais takes the theme, accompanied by strings.
9. Violins take the theme, accompanied by clarinet and four horns.
10. Capriccio for violin solo, with only short orchestral passages.
11. Double basses and bassoon carry the theme, punctuated by other instruments.
12. The theme appears in form of a Polacca — the Italian word for the Polonaise. Stately and showy, it is highly decorated, bringing the suite to a close.
3 flutes (1 doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, snare drum, tambourine, triangle, harp, strings
World Premiere 24 Jan 1885, St. Petersburg, Russia
First performed by SSO 11 Oct 1991
7 & 8 Dec 2022, Wed & Thu
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Krystian Zimerman piano/conductor
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
Esplanade Concert Hall 34 mins 20 mins 34 mins
Intermission Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60
Concert Duration: approximately 1 hr 45 mins (with 20 mins intermission)
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Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 (1805)
I II III
It is the nature of many concertgoers today to test the waters of new music hesitantly and carefully. Imagine, then, the circumstances under which Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto was given its first public performance – as one of seven(!) works all heard by the Viennese for the first time, all by the same composer, and four of them of major dimensions. This fourhour marathon concert took place on 22 December 1808 in Vienna’s Theater an der Wien. It was a freezing cold evening, which meant conditions inside the unheated hall were uncomfortable, to say the least. In addition, Beethoven’s music was generally considered to be advanced and difficult both to play and to understand. It was truly a daunting prospect for most concertgoers that night.
Considering the cluttered context in which the Fourth Concerto was first heard, it is perhaps not so surprising that it failed to leave a vivid impression. It is music of a lyrical, intimate bent and with great subtlety of expression, especially in comparison with many of Beethoven’s previous works and to other works on that marathon concert of premieres. In fact, it was virtually forgotten until Mendelssohn revived it in 1836, nine years after the composer’s death.
There are many bold, innovative and radical touches to this concerto. The most famous and most obvious of these is the unprecedented solo introduction. The orchestra responds in a harmonically remote key (another surprise), and goes on to present and develop other themes. The soloist re-enters in a quasi-cadenza passage, and then joins the orchestra in a closely-woven tapestry of themes, motifs and rhythmic patterns.
The slow movement is, if anything, even more compelling and innovative than the first. In just a little over five minutes (one of the shortest slow movements of any wellknown concerto) there unfolds one of the most striking musical dialogues ever written. Initially we hear two totally different musical expressions: the orchestra (strings only) in unison octaves – imperious, assertive, angry, loud, angular; and the solo piano fully harmonised – meek, quiet, legato. Over the span of the movement the orchestra by stages relents and assumes more and more the character of the soloist. Tamed, seduced, won over, taught, assuaged and conquered are some of the terms used to give dramatic or literary interpretation to this remarkable musical phenomenon.
Theater an der Wien anonymous watercolored pen and ink drawing, ca. 1800
The rondo finale steals in quietly, without pause, bringing much-needed wit, charm and lightness after the tense, dark drama of the slow movement. Trumpets and timpani are heard for the first time in the work. Like the first movement, it is full of interesting touches, including a rhythmic motto and a sonorous solo passage for the divided viola section. A brilliantly spirited coda brings the concerto to its conclusion.
Instrumentation flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings
World Premiere c. Mar 1807, private concert in Vienna
First performed by SSO 6 Nov 1981 (Joerg Demus, piano)
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60 (1806)
I II III IV
In 1806, Beethoven spent the summer as a guest of his Bohemian patron, Karl Alois, Prince Lichnowsky, at his country seat in Silesia (now divided up between Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic).
On a visit to the nearby castle of Count Oppersdorff, the count commissioned a new symphony from Beethoven, and thus we came to have the Fourth Symphony, premiered in Vienna in 1807. Sandwiched between the two giants: Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” and Symphony No. 5, it has suffered comparative neglect.
The symphony begins with an ominous minor-key Adagio where the theme is first played on the double basses and then carried upwards suspensefully through the strings and winds – it is as if we have woken up in a dark room and trying to figure out where we are in the brooding gloom. A series of major chords announce that we have found the curtains and thrown them open, with light suddenly streaming in through the Allegro vivace – and then the music alternates between major and minor as it develops back in the ‘right’ key of B-flat major. The development is ingenious in how it leads us back to the recapitulation, a codetta based on the main theme.
The Adagio second movement in E-flat major is in rondo form, and unusually features timpani, as well as rather animated sections still echoing the rhythms of the
opening movement. The third movement reflects Beethoven’s pushing of boundaries – what was normally an ABA becomes an ABABA in his hands, and the traditional minuet gives way to a scherzo.
The final movement was marked Allegro ma non troppo and shows the influence of Beethoven’s teacher Haydn. Cheerful animated semiquavers in the strings form the first subject and keep the mood light, while a second subject from the oboe gives us some textural change. The motum perpetuum is interrupted when snatches of the main theme are suddenly played at half speed or punctuated by rests, as if the orchestra were breaking down as a joke, before the full orchestra abruptly comes back for the punchline.
YongInstrumentation
flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings World Premiere c. Mar 1807, private concert in Vienna
First performed by SSO 13 Feb 1981
Auditions will be held for shortlisted Singaporean instrumentalists performing concertos written for their instrument and Singaporean vocalists performing any vocal work with orchestra.
Applicants should be Singapore citizens and be no more than 25 years of age, as of 1 July 2023.
Applicants are invited to submit their online application by 31 December 2022, with the following items:
1. Biography including their date of birth, musical background and contact information 2. A high-quality video featuring a recent performance of a complete concerto with either piano or orchestra accompaniment, with composer name, duration of each movement and edition (if applicable) of the work clearly labelled.
For application enquiries, please contact: pypc@sso.org.sg
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