CONCERT PROGRAMME OCTOBER 2021
SAYAKA SHOJI – SPIRIT OF THE VIOLIN THE SOUND OF MENDELSSOHN KAM NING – THE ARTISTRY OF STRINGS
Oct 2021 SAYAKA SHOJI – SPIRIT OF THE VIOLIN 14 & 15 Oct 2021, Thu & Fri Esplanade Concert Hall
THE SOUND OF MENDELSSOHN 21 & 22 Oct 2021, Thu & Fri Esplanade Concert Hall
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KAM NING – THE ARTISTRY OF STRINGS 27 & 28 Oct 2021, Wed & Thu Victoria Concert Hall
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For the enjoyment of all patrons during the concert: • Please switch off or silence all electronic devices. • Please minimise noises during performance. If unavoidable, wait for a loud section in the music. • No photography, video or audio recording is allowed when artists are performing. • Non-flash photography is allowed only during bows and applause when no performance is taking place. Go green. Digital programme books are available on www.sso.org.sg. Photographs and videos will be taken at these events, in which you may appear. These may be published on the SSO’s publicity channels and materials. By attending the event, you consent to the use of these photographs and videos for the foregoing purposes.
T Pre-concert Talk on our Facebook page and YouTube channel
SINGAPORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 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. 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. 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.
Under the Music Directorship of Lan Shui from 1997 to 2019, 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. In 2020, the SSO appointed renowned Austrian conductor Hans Graf as its Chief Conductor. In a time greatly disrupted by COVID-19, the SSO continued to keep music alive and lift spirits up through a multitude of digital concerts and videos, which crossed a million views in six months. The SSO has released more than 50 recordings in its 40-year history, with more than 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”. The orchestra has also released albums of contemporary works linked to East Asia, including works by Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Bright Sheng, Alexander Tcherepnin, and others. The SSO has also collaborated with such great artists as Lorin Maazel, Charles Dutoit, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Neeme Järvi, Gustavo Dudamel, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Diana Damrau, Martha Argerich, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Janine Jansen, Leonidas Kavakos and Gil Shaham.
H ANS G RAF Chief Conductor 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.
© BRYAN VAN DER BEEK
SAYAK A SH OJI – SPIR IT OF TH E V IOL IN | 14 & 1 5 O C T 2 0 2 1
HA N S G RAF Chief Conductor
Hans Graf is a frequent guest with major orchestras around the world including with the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, the Seoul, Hong Kong and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestras. Hans Graf’s discography includes all symphonies of Mozart and Schubert, the complete orchestral works by Henri Dutilleux and the world premiere recording of Zemlinsky’s opera Es war einmal. His recording of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck with the Houston Symphony won the ECHO Klassik 2017 award and the Grammy 2018 for Best Opera Recording.
The Austrian conductor Hans Graf is the Chief Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra from the 2020/21 concert season. He held the role of Music Director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra 2001–2013, making him the longest-serving Music Director in the orchestra’s 100 year history. Prior to this, he was Music Director of the Calgary Philharmonic and of the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. He has also held the post of Music Director at the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg and the Basque National Orchestra.
Hans Graf has been made Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur by the French Government (2002) and was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honour of the Republic of Austria (2007). He is also Professor Emeritus for Orchestral Conducting at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg. 4
S A Y A KA S H O JI – SPIR IT OF TH E V IOL IN | 14 & 15 OCT 2021
S A YA KA SH O J I violin
© KISHIN SHINOYAMA
Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji is internationally recognised for her musicianship, brilliant technique and enduring strength on stage, performing an extensive repertoire of classic masterworks as well as newly commissioned works. Following a successful summer of debuts including the BBC Proms and the Blossom Festival, the 2021/22 season will see her performing Schumann’s Violin Concerto with Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Enescu Philharmonic and Illinois Symphony Orchestra. She will also debut with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra under Lan Shui and give performances with Toulon Orchestra and return to St Petersburg Philharmonic to play Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.
A prolific recording artist, Shoji has released several albums on Deutsche Grammophon including Sibelius and Beethoven Violin Concertos with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov. With Gianluca Cascioli she has recorded the complete Beethoven Sonatas for Piano and Violin.
In chamber music projects, she will collaborate with pianist Iddo Bar-Shai, and with dancer/choreographer Saburo Teshigawara at the Philharmonie de Paris. Alongside successful recital tours with Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson across Europe and Japan, Shoji has also created an experimental video project, ‘Synesthesia’, transforming her internal musical image into visible form.
In 1999 Shoji took first prize as the youngest and first Japanese winner of the Paganini Competition and went on to win the Mainichi Art Award in 2016, one of Japan’s most prestigious awards. She plays a Recamier Stradivarius c.1729 kindly loaned to her by Ueno Fine Chemicals Industry Ltd.
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TH E SOU ND OF M ENDEL SSOH N | 21 & 2 2 O C T 2 0 2 1
He appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras, among others the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Munich, Hamburg, Oslo philharmonics, the Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Montreal, Melbourne orchestras, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Orchestre de Paris. Jun Märkl has an extensive discography of more than 50 CDs, including the complete Schumann symphonies with the NHK Symphony, Mendelssohn and Wagner with the MDR, Ravel, Messiaen and a 9-CD recording of Debussy with Lyon which lead to honoration by the French Ministry of Culture in 2012 with the “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.”
J U N M ÄRK L conductor Jun Märkl is a highly-respected interpreter of both symphonic and operatic Germanic repertoire, and also for his idiomatic explorations of the French impressionists. His long-standing relationships at the state operas of Vienna, Berlin, Munich and Semperoper Dresden have been complemented by his directorships of the Nationaltheater Mannheim (1994-2000), Orchestre National de Lyon (2005-2011), MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig (20072012) and the Basque National Orchestra (2014-2017).
Born in Munich, Märkl’s father was a distinguished concertmaster and his mother a solo pianist. Jun Märkl studied at the Musikhochschule in Hannover, with Sergiu Celibidache in Munich and Gustav Meier in Michigan. In 1986, he won the conducting competition of the Deutsche Musikrat and a year later won a scholarship from the Boston Symphony Orchestra to study at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. 6
T H E S O U N D OF M ENDEL SSOH N | 21 & 22 OCT 2021
KAM NING violin
diverse interests, Ning is a founding member of Loco Motive, a bluegrass and jazz trio with cellist, Sebastian Walnier and double bassist, Lisa De Boos. Ning was Professor of Violin on the faculty of the Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles between 2017 and 2020. She is currently on the violin faculty of the Yehudi Menuhin School, UK.
As a recording artist, her recordings have won rave reviews by American Record Guide, Fanfare and Crescendo magazines. In 2002, Ning was invited to perform at the National Inauguration of the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore. Between 2011 and 2017, she was Artistic Director of Het Kamerorkest Brugge, which earned a reputation for its innovative energy for contemporary music under her leadership. She also regularly guest directs the strings of the Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz. As a musician of
As a born-again Christian, she has been an Ambassador for International China Concern, a Christian charity that cares for the abandoned and disabled in China. Kam Ning plays on a 1668 Nicolas Amati on generous loan from the Rin Collection, Singapore. 7
K AM N IN G - T H E AR TI S TR Y OF S T RI N GS | 2 7 & 2 8 OC T 2 0 21
Hailed by Strad magazine as a “strong artistic personality”, Singaporean violinist Kam Ning has performed all over the world. As Second Prize winner at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2001, she was praised by Belgium’s De Standaard as “manifestly the best violinist of the competition”, winning the Flemish Radio and Television Audience Prize that same year. She has performed under the batons of Yehudi Menuhin, Lorin Maazel, Okko Kamu, Lan Shui and Louis Langree, and has collaborated in chamber music with Yehudi Menuhin, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Marie Hallynck and Louis Lortie amongst many others.
SEC O N D V IOL IN
T HE ORC HE S T R A HANS GRAF Chief Conductor ANDREW LITTON Principal Guest Conductor CHOO HOEY Conductor Emeritus LAN SHUI Conductor Laureate EUDENICE PALARUAN Choral Director WONG LAI FOON Choirmaster
Michael Loh Associate Principal Nikolai Koval* Hai-Won Kwok Chikako Sasaki* Margit Saur Shao Tao Tao Wu Man Yun* Xu Jueyi* Yeo Teow Meng Yin Shu Zhan* Zhao Tian* VIO L A Manchin Zhang Principal Guan Qi Associate Principal Gu Bing Jie* Fixed Chair Marietta Ku Luo Biao Julia Park Shui Bing Janice Tsai Dandan Wang Yang Shi Li
FIRS T VI OL I N
C EL L O
(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*
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 D O U B LE BAS S Yang Zheng Yi Associate Principal Karen Yeo Fixed Chair Olga Alexandrova Jacek Mirucki Guennadi Mouzyka Wang Xu
FLUTE
TR U M P ET
Jin Ta Principal Evgueni Brokmiller Associate Principal Roberto Alvarez Miao Shanshan
Jon Paul Dante Principal David Smith Associate Principal Lau Wen Rong TR O M B O N E
PICCOLO Roberto Alvarez Assistant Principal
Allen Meek Principal Damian Patti Associate Principal Samuel Armstrong
OBOE Rachel Walker Principal Pan Yun Associate Principal Carolyn Hollier Elaine Yeo COR ANGL AI S Elaine Yeo Associate Principal CLARINET Ma Yue Principal Li Xin Associate Principal Liu Yoko Tang Xiao Ping BAS S CL AR I NE T Tang Xiao Ping Assistant Principal BAS S OON
B A SS T R O MBONE Wang Wei Assistant Principal TU B A Tomoki Natsume Principal TIM P A N I Christian Schiøler Principal P ER CU SSIO N Jonathan Fox Principal Mark Suter Associate Principal Mario Choo Lim Meng Keh H A RP Gulnara Mashurova Principal
Liu Chang Associate Principal Christoph Wichert Zhao Ying Xue CONTRAB AS S OON Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal HORN Gao Jian Associate Principal Jamie Hersch Associate Principal Marc-Antoine Robillard Associate Principal Hoang Van Hoc
* With deep appreciation to the Rin Collection for their generous loan of string instruments. 1 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. 2 Chan Yoong-Han performs on a David Tecchler, Fecit Roma An. D. 1700 donated by Mr Goh Yew Lin. Musicians listed alphabetically by family name rotate their seats on a per programme basis.
Musicians SAY AKA S HO JI – S P IRIT OF T HE VI OL I N | 1 4 & 1 5 OC T 2 021
FIRST VIOLIN Kong Zhao Hui Acting Concertmaster/ Associate Concertmaster Zhang Si Jing Cao Can Kong Xianlong Ye Lin Foo Say Ming SECOND VIOLIN Xu Jueyi Wu Man Yun Shao Tao Tao Nikolai Koval Margit Saur VIOLA Manchin Zhang Gu Bing Jie Janice Tsai Marietta Ku CELLO Yu Jing Song Woon Teng Wu Dai Dai
FLUTE Jin Ta Miao Shanshan OBOE Rachel Walker Carolyn Hollier CLARINET Li Xin Liu Yoko BASSOON Christoph Wichert Zhao Ying Xue HORN Marc-Antoine Robillard Hoang Van Hoc TRUMPET Jon Paul Dante Lau Wen Rong TIMPANI Christian Schiøler
DOUBLE BASS Yang Zheng Yi Jacek Mirucki
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TH E SOUN D O F MEN D EL S S OHN | 2 1 & 2 2 OC T 2 0 2 1
FIRST VIOLIN Kong Zhao Hui Acting Concertmaster/ Associate Concertmaster Kong Xianlong Karen Tan Duan Yu Ling William Tan
CELLO Ng Pei-Sian Wu Dai Dai Wang Yan
SECOND VIOLIN Xu Jueyi Zhao Tian Margit Saur Shao Tao Tao Yin Shu Zhan
FLUTE Jin Ta Miao Shanshan
VIOLA Manchin Zhang Gu Bing Jie Julia Park Shui Bing
DOUBLE BASS Yang Zheng Yi Jacek Mirucki
OBOE Pan Yun Elaine Yeo
BASSOON Liu Chang Christoph Wichert HORN Marc-Antoine Robillard Gao Jian TRUMPET David Smith Lau Wen Rong TIMPANI Christian Schiøler
CLARINET Ma Yue Liu Yoko
K AM NIN G – T HE A RTIS TRY OF S T RI NGS | 2 7 & 2 8 OC T 2021
FIRST VIOLIN Chan Yoong-Han Acting Concertmaster/Fixed Chair Foo Say Ming Cao Can Zhang Si Jing Wei Zhe Jin Li SECOND VIOLIN Ye Lin Hai-Won Kwok Xu Jueyi Nikolai Koval Wu Man Yun Yeo Teow Meng
VIOLA Guan Qi Luo Biao Yang Shi Li Marietta Ku CELLO Yu Jing Song Woon Teng Wang Yan Zhao Yu Er DOUBLE BASS Karen Yeo Jacek Mirucki
* Guest musician 11
KEYBOARD Shane Thio*
SAYAK A SH OJI – SPIR IT OF TH E V IOL IN | 14 & 1 5 O C T 2 0 2 1
SAYA KA S HOJ I – SPI RI T O F T HE VI O L I N R OM A N T I C D I S C O V E R I E S 14 & 15 Oct 2021, Thu & Fri Esplanade Concert Hall Singapore Symphony Orchestra Hans Graf Chief Conductor Sayaka Shoji violin
B R U CK N E R
Adagio from String Quintet in F major (arr. string orchestra) SSO PREMIERE
16 mins
S C HU M AN N
Violin Concerto in D minor
33 mins
S C HU B E RT
Symphony No. 3 in D major, D.200
26 mins Concert Duration: approximately 1 hr 30 mins (with no intermission)
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Wilhelm Altmann, in his Chamber Music Handbook for String Players, wrote: ‘If the only thing Bruckner had ever written for string instruments had been the slow movement to his string quintet, his reputation would have been secured for all time. The entire work is so admirable that it is hard to believe that its creator had little familiarity with string chamber music.’
This famous slow movement, Adagio, is scored in the unusual key of G major, traditionally considered unfriendly for string players. With none of the open strings available either to play or for sympathetic resonance, the resulting tone of the instruments is notably muted. Nevertheless, the unique introspective sound colour is one that takes the listener directly to heaven, with a long-breathed hymn-like violin melody unfolding above a series of throbbing chords. This is music of affirmation and there is no sense of resignation to an inevitable and unwishedfor fate. The tonal colour is quite unique, especially when the cello falls silent. This unexpected masterpiece was to become one of Bruckner’s most frequently-performed compositions during his lifetime.
“The entire work is so admirable that it is hard to believe that its creator had little familiarity with string chamber music.” While Bruckner must have known Beethoven’s late string quartets, the harmonic palette is uniquely Bruckner’s own. The idea of composing a string quintet began with the famous Viennese violinist Josef Hellmesberger Sr, then director of the Vienna Conservatory and concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Bruckner was so taken with the idea that the result was an absolutely unique work. Symphonic in scale yet remaining intimate and warm, it lends itself well to arrangements for string orchestra.
Instrumentation strings World Premiere 17 Nov 1881, Vienna (first three movements) 13
S A Y A KA S H O J I – SPIR IT OF TH E V IOL IN | 14 & 15 OCT 2021
ANTON BRUCKNER (1824–1896) Adagio from String Quintet in F major (1878–1879) (arr. string orchestra) SSO PREMIERE
SAYAK A SH OJI – SPIR IT OF TH E V IOL IN | 14 & 1 5 O C T 2 0 2 1
ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856) Violin Concerto in D minor (1853) I II III
In kräftigem, nicht zu schnellem Tempo Langsam Lebhaft, doch nicht schnell
Robert Schumann is usually cited as a composer for piano. He wrote almost exclusively for piano until his marriage in 1840 to Clara Wieck, which seems to have inspired him to begin writing vocal music. That he wrote a Violin Concerto still surprises many. It was written in 1853 for the 22-yearold Hungarian celebrity violinist Joseph Joachim, who came from a prominent Jewish community under the protection of the Esterházys. Unfortunately, after playing it through for Schumann with the Hannover Court orchestra where Joachim was concertmaster, Joachim never performed the concerto in public. After Schumann’s attempted suicide in February 1854 and later decline and death in a sanatorium, Joachim felt the morbid associations with Schumann’s madness were too much. With the agreement of his widow Clara and Brahms (co-executors of the musical estate), the work was never published in the Complete Edition of Schumann’s works and remained practically unknown. The manuscript eventually ended up in the Prussian State Library in Berlin with the proviso that it was not to be performed until 100 years after Schumann’s death (1956). But history takes such strange paths.
occult, frequently participating in spiritualist séances. Jelly claimed that in one such session, an unknown spirit urged her to find and perform an unpublished work for violin. When asked his name, the spirit spelled out on the ouija board “r-o-b-e-r-t-s-c-h-u-man-n”. The score was located in the Prussian State Library, and against the wishes of Schumann’s daughter Eugenie (it was still 19 years before the end of the proviso), prepared for publication by Schott with the assistance of composer Paul Hindemith. On account of their Jewishness, neither Jelly d’Arányi nor Yehudi Menuhin (who had the permission of Joachim’s heirs) were allowed to give the first performance, and the Nazi government insisted that it be given in Berlin by a German violinist. So it was premiered in 1937 by Georg Kulenkampff and the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Karl Böhm, before Nazi luminaries Robert Ley and Joseph Goebbels, and the event
In the interbellum, two of Joachim’s greatnieces who were both concert violinists lived in London, and Jelly d’Arányi, the younger, had a decided interest in the 14
The second movement langsam (“slowly”) ebbs and flows emotionally with subtle charm and staying power, as a syncopated counter-melody in the cellos provide a foil to the solo violin. The wistful melody closely resembles a theme Schumann claims was dictated to him by Schubert in a séance, a theme that was published as Schumanns letzer musikalischer Gedanke (“Schumann’s last musical thought”), and his variations (Geistervariationen or “Ghost variations”) on these were also suppressed and unpublished until the 1930s. This brief dreaming interlude, short and inconclusive, merges into the finale Lebhaft, doch nicht schnell (“Lively but not fast”) without pause.
A table-turning séance (1853). Spiritualism was fashionable in the mid-19th century.
could be described in the press as “By the permission of the Führer… Robert Schumann has entered Valhalla”. The work, considered a failure for decades, was heralded as a masterpiece to replace Mendelssohn’s popular Violin Concerto (then banned due to Mendelssohn’s Jewish heritage).
The finale is built around a dance-like refrain, reminiscent of a polonaise, lively and subtly recalling the themes of the first movement, while the central section utilising a syncopated cello counter-melody harks back to the second movement. Toward the end, there are bravura scales that sparkle, but true to Schumann’s autumnal restraint, even this exists for the music’s sake.
Yehudi Menuhin called the concerto the “historically missing link” between the Beethoven and the Brahms concertos, and it forms a grand minor-key counterpart to Beethoven’s. The concerto only actually has the first movement in D minor, but that is enough to set the scene – a key of despair, darkness, and tragedy, the same key Mozart used for his Requiem and the opening of Don Giovanni. The first movement is marked In kräftigem, nicht zu schnellem tempo (“in a strong, not too fast pace”), and has a melancholic introspective mood, even in the vigorous principal theme announced by
Instrumentation 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings World Premiere 26 Nov 1937, Berlin First performed by SSO 18 Nov 1983 (Jenny Abel, violin) 15
S A Y A KA S H O J I – SPIR IT OF TH E V IOL IN | 14 & 15 OCT 2021
the orchestra and the second lyrical theme taken by the first violins, both of which are taken up by the soloist, expanded, developed and recapitulated in suspensefilled dialogue with the orchestra.
SAYAK A SH OJI – SPIR IT OF TH E V IOL IN | 14 & 1 5 O C T 2 0 2 1
FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828) Symphony No. 3 in D major, D.200 (1815) I II III IV
Adagio maestoso — Allegro con brio Allegretto Menuetto and Trio Presto vivace are revealed through the development of the movement.
At the age of 18, most youths haven’t much of a clue where life is going, but Schubert was travelling a different path. That year, 1815, was the most prolific of his life, seeing him write four operas, two masses, oodles of choral music, two celebrated piano sonatas, 145 songs, and two symphonies including his Symphony in D major, composed in the space of 26 days between 24 May and 19 July. He also managed to fit in some songs, sacred choral music, and an operetta in that period. It is worth remembering that all this was a side hobby – he had a full-time job as a schoolteacher, a side gig as a private music teacher, and took composition lessons with Antonio Salieri twice a week.
The second movement is a good-natured Allegretto (the manuscript sketches show he originally intended an Adagio), and the third movement is a minuet with an elegant waltz reminiscent of the Austrian country ländler dances. The Presto vivace finale begins quietly then gives us an explosion of energy in a lively tarantella that, in the boldness of its harmonies and dramatic contrasts, reveals the voice of Schubert’s hero Beethoven. While it was probably performed privately in 1815, the first public performance did not happen until 19 February 1881 in London. Schubert’s first six symphonies were rarely performed until Antonín Dvořák began to play them in Prague in the last quarter of the 19th century, saying ‘the more I study them, the more I marvel’.
Schubert’s manuscript tells us he started the work on 24 May, concurrently writing the Adagio maestoso introduction and the start of the Allegro and put it aside, returning to it on 11 July and finishing the entire work in eight days. Great haste, certainly, but then many artists work at astonishing speed, and Schubert was one of them – he once composed an entire song, fully formed, on the back of a Vienna café menu – channeling Mozart, as it were.
Programme notes by Edward C. Yong
Instrumentation 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings
The opening Adagio maestoso is stately and balanced in the Viennese style, and we can almost hear the poised voice of Papa Haydn speaking, before the bubbly Allegro con brio reveals Mozart bouncing out from behind the curtains. Contrasts of colour and light
World Premiere 19 Feb 1881, London First performed by SSO 24 May 2006 16
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TH E SOU ND OF M ENDEL SSOH N | 21 & 2 2 O C T 2 0 2 1
T H E S OUND OF M EN D ELSS O HN ESSENCE OF BEAUTY 21 & 22 Oct 2021, Thu & Fri Esplanade Concert Hall Singapore Symphony Orchestra Jun Märkl conductor Kam Ning violin
M END E L SSO H N
Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
26 mins
Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 “Italian”
27 mins
Concert Duration: approximately 1 hr 10 mins (with no intermission)
T Watch our online Pre-Concert Talk on our Facebook page and YouTube channel.
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T H E S O U N D OF M ENDEL SSOH N | 21 & 22 OCT 2021
FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809–1847) Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was a polymath and pretty much a genius. His childhood musical exploits were legendary: making his performance debut at nine, and writing his string symphonies – which are performed by many secondary school orchestras today – between the ages of 12 and 14. He wrote his first symphony for full orchestra at 15, his famous string octet at 16, and the Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream at 17. From these compositions alone, one would have already come to the conclusion that he was an absolutely extraordinary child prodigy. That is however not the complete picture of his phenomenal talents. He was also a notable painter. Many of his paintings are displayed in the Mendelssohn House in Leipzig, and even in the Library of Congress in Washington DC; you can see them with a simple google search. He mastered German, French and English, wrote poems, and translated Greek plays. Mendelssohn’s genius and outstanding artistic achievements were celebrated across Europe. He eventually became Music Director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and an acquaintance of Queen Victoria and King Albert later in life.
3D sculpture and render by Hadi Karimi Source: hadikarimi.com
Tonight, we will listen to some of his most popular compositions – the Violin Concerto and the Italian Symphony.
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TH E SOU ND OF M ENDEL SSOH N | 21 & 2 2 O C T 2 0 2 1
Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 (1838–1844) I II III
Allegro molto appassionato Andante Allegretto non troppo – Allegro molto vivace
The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto was the result of a strong friendship between Mendelssohn and Ferdinand David. They first met in their teens and David became one of the foremost violin virtuosos of his day. When Mendelssohn was appointed Music Director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, he appointed David as concertmaster. Later, when Mendelssohn founded the Leipzig conservatory, David was one of the first he appointed to his faculty.
In the summer of 1844, Mendelssohn finally returned to the Violin Concerto, and although he had previously written another Violin Concerto (in D minor) in his youth, he worked closely with David to mould the solo violin part for this Concerto. He regularly wrote to David to find out how playable the parts were, whether it was “written correctly and smoothly”, and about balance between the soloist and the various orchestral instruments. This composing-in-partnership style was later repeated by many composers for their Violin Concertos, including Brahms, Elgar, Stravinsky, Bartók, and Shostakovich, all seeking technical advice from their violin virtuoso friends.
“The Germans have four violin concertos … the most inward, the heart’s jewel, is Mendelssohn’s.”
After just one and a half bars of E minor, anchored by pulsating timpani and bass, the solo violin swoops in with the main subject of the first movement. Mendelssohn wrote to David, “you ask that it should be brilliant … the whole of the first solo is to be for the E string.” This brilliantly passionate melody soars high. The solo violin descends over three octaves, gently settling into its lowest note – G – which forms the base for the tranquil second subject, introduced by the flutes and clarinets.
– Joseph Joachim
Mendelssohn wrote to David in 1838, “I would like to write a violin concerto for you next winter, there’s one in E minor in my head, and its opening won’t leave me in peace.” The in-demand composer-conductor then went on to write a series of other masterpieces, including two symphonies, “Hymn of Praise” and “Scottish” (which he finally completed), incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the Piano Trio in D minor.
Mendelssohn placed the solo cadenza right before the reprise of the main theme, or the recapitulation. This was at an earlier point than the audience members of his day would have expected it to be placed, and later inspired the cadenza placement of Tchaikovsky’s own Violin Concerto. 20
movement, before a reprise of the song brings the movement to an almost religious close.
The cadenza owes much to David’s influence, both in length and in clarifying Mendelssohn’s denser original – “so short that it barely made an impression”, according to reviewer Ivan Hewett writing in response to Daniel Hope’s recording of the “original” cadenza. The cadenza’s positioning allows the violin to continue spinning its arpeggios when the orchestra returns with the main theme.
Another bridge passage mulls on and recalls the middle section of the second movement, before a fanfare announces the arrival of the third movement. The fairy lights and puckish music of A Midsummer Night’s Dream are recalled in a delightful and sparkling dance for the violin. There is still space for Mendelssohn’s trademark broad, swinging tunes to make an appearance, and these alternate and combine with the dancing fairies to bring the Concerto to a spirited end.
A few years earlier, Mendelssohn had experimented with having his Scottish Symphony performed without a break between movements, no doubt inspired by Schumann’s D minor Symphony. In this Concerto, Mendelssohn linked the first two movements together, with a bassoon holding onto one note from the final chord of the first movement. Slowly, other instruments join in, as the music transitions and coalesces into the ‘song without words’ of the second movement. Its simplicity and beauty belies its lyricism; this melody was later set to words by Andrew Lloyd Webber in Jesus Christ Superstar, as “I don’t know how to love him”. A passionate middle section recalls the surge of the preceding
Instrumentation 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings World Premiere 13 Mar 1845, Leipzig First performed by SSO 28 Jun 1979 (Lee Pan Hon, violin) 21
T H E S O U N D OF M ENDEL SSOH N | 21 & 22 OCT 2021
View of Lucerne – watercolour by Mendelssohn, 1847
TH E SOU ND OF M ENDEL SSOH N | 21 & 2 2 O C T 2 0 2 1
Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 “Italian” (1833) I II III IV
Allegro vivace Andante con moto Con moto moderato Saltarello. Presto
When he turned twenty-one, Mendelssohn, like many other young people in prepandemic times, travelled across Europe, explored the different countries and met some friends. For this well-connected and increasingly famous young man, one of these friends was the 80-year-old master of German literature, Goethe. Goethe encouraged Mendelssohn to head to Italy and the young Mendelssohn spent 10 months there, slowly making his way across the country.
bass line. Despite this solemnity, warm and tender melodies remind us of the Mediterranean sunshine. The Minuet in the third movement flows gracefully, and the contrasting Trio contains some light militaristic fanfares for the horns and woodwinds. A musical storm launches the fourth movement, inspired by an energetic Neapolitan dance – the saltarello. The flutes start the rapidly skipping theme, and it passes through and across the orchestra, building to a fiery and thrilling finale.
Mendelssohn’s impressions of Italy are captured in a series of watercolour paintings and this effervescent symphony. He was thoroughly enthralled by the landscape, lifestyle, history, and Mediterranean weather – which must have been particularly compelling for someone who grew up in the comparative gloom of Northern Germany!
It is probably surprising to many people today to discover that Mendelssohn was never satisfied with this symphony, and actually rewrote the last three movements before he died, removing much of its innocent joy in the process. Nevertheless, the (original) Italian Symphony which you will hear today has enjoyed immense popularity with audiences over the years.
The first movement is perhaps Mendelssohn’s cheeriest composition, with irrepressibly sparkling woodwinds setting the backdrop for the surging violin melody, which leaps with joy. There are some turbulent episodes in the middle, but these are quickly banished as the clear blue skies – which Mendelssohn absolutely loved – return.
Programme notes by Christopher Cheong
Instrumentation 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings World Premiere 13 May 1833, London
Mendelssohn was inspired by a religious procession he observed in the streets of Naples for the second movement, as a sombre melody is woven over a stately
First performed by SSO 8 Feb 1979 22
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K AM NING – TH E AR TISTR Y OF STR ING S | 27 & 2 8 O C T 2 0 2 1
K AM NING – TH E ARTI STR Y O F S T R I N GS B R ID G I N G E R A S 27 & 28 Oct 2021, Wed & Thu Victoria Concert Hall Singapore Symphony Orchestra Kam Ning violin/leader
HA YD N
Violin Concerto No. 1 in C major
19 mins
BARTÓK
Divertimento
24 mins Concert Duration: approximately 1 hr (with no intermission)
24
I II III
Allegro moderato Adagio Finale. Presto Adagio starts out solely for plucked strings and no keyboard. The violin sings a beautiful high line throughout, with a dramatic low dive bringing in the full bowed sound of the orchestra, carrying the violin off to a quiet end. The Finale, in bright humour, calls upon the soloist’s agility in keeping the dance going while dealing with all the challenges Haydn throws.
It is easy to forget just how long Haydn’s career was. He remained prolific to the end, chalking up hundreds of large-scale works, but what is truly interesting is how his career reached from the late Baroque, through the Classical period, and stretched to the cusp of Romanticism. He was born when J. S. Bach was still alive, rubbed shoulders and traded music with Mozart, and, nearing sixty, met a youthful Beethoven for the first time. Known for his symphonies and string quartets, it is also easy to overlook Haydn’s contributions in other genres. His concerti and operas are almost never performed, strangely enough: they are, alongside Mozart’s, at the height of the Classical manner, as the violin concerto performed tonight proves. Haydn wrote this violin concerto for Luigi Tomasini in 1768, and, like the symphonies he was writing in this period, still employed keyboard continuo as part of the ensemble. There are passages in the orchestral tutti that sound almost like Vivaldi, but once the violin enters, the truly galant style shines forth. Haydn was no stranger to the violin, having studied the instrument from his very earliest years, and the solo part is full of sparkling double stops and high-position fireworks.
Instrumentation Continuo (harpsichord), strings World Premiere Unknown
As expected for a concerto from this era, there are three movements in a fast-slowfast pattern, but in a typically Haydnesque stroke of genius, the accompaniment for the
First performed by SSO 28 Feb 2010 (Cho-Liang Lin, violin)
25
KA M N I N G – TH E AR TISTR Y OF STR ING S | 27 & 28 OCT 2021
JOSEPH HAYDN (1732–1809) Violin Concerto No. 1 in C major (1768)
K AM NING – TH E AR TISTR Y OF STR ING S | 27 & 2 8 O C T 2 0 2 1
BÉLA BARTÓK (1881–1945) Divertimento (1939) I II III
Allegro non troppo Molto adagio Allegro assai
Bartók’s music is impossible to discuss without referring to his lifelong love for folk music, and the Divertimento is no exception: it opens immediately with the modal inflections of a violin melody over pulsing chords. It is especially poignant to realise that Bartók composed this in the quiet of the Swiss mountains, completely unaware of the outbreak of World War II. Bartók was an outspoken opponent of fascism during its tightening grip on Europe in the 1930s, and, by the end of 1937, was seriously weighing the idea of emigration. He stayed in Budapest largely to take care of his elderly mother and to organise locally against the hard right, but when the Swiss patron Paul Sacher wrote to Bartók for a commission, even offering a chalet to work in in Switzerland, he must have felt that it would have been churlish to refuse. Preparations for the performance of the piece continued in neutral Switzerland, and, within four months of the Basel première, he fled for the United States, never to see Europe again.
Bartók's signature on his high-school-graduation photograph (1899)
the last movement belies its compositional complexity, with a full double fugue at its heart. Programme notes by Thomas Ang
Despite the musical fashions of the time, and Bartók’s own claims, this piece is in no way a “concerto grosso”, even if it does sometimes play a solo quartet against the larger mass of strings. The first movement is a light, buoyant sonata form, contrasted dramatically by Bartók’s favourite “night music” style in the dark and dissonant middle movement. The playful dance of
Instrumentation strings World Premiere 11 Jun 1940, Basel First performed by SSO 14 Jul 1979 26
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Chan Tze Law, Conductor Kate Liu, Piano Programme: Igor Stravinsky - Pulcinella Suite W.A. Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 Kurt Weill - Symphony No. 2 "Symphonic Fantasy" Tickets available from $18 via SISTIC. Concessions and group buys available
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