SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL PIANO FESTIVAL Victoria Concert Hall MEI YI FOO NELSON GOERNER LEON MCCAWLEY CHRISTIAN ZACHARIAS
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M ESSAGE FROM T H E A R T I S T I C D I R E C TO R L I M YA N
26 years ago, my enlightened and perhaps overly-supportive parents took the bold decision to send their eldest son, then barely a teenager, away to boarding school, alone in a distant land thousands of miles from home. The school in question was a specialist music school; which at the time was certainly an unconventional path of study offering an uncertain future. Coincidentally, that same year saw the inaugural edition of the Singapore International Piano Festival, just in time for the summer holidays. This serendipitous accident of timing was both an inspiration and a reassurance that my chosen course of study was of relevance in Singapore. In the subsequent quarter century, growing up (literally and musically) alongside the development and establishment of the Piano Festival as one of the leading festivals in the region, it has always been a fixture and highlight of the concert calendar for me. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that one day I would have the responsibility of ensuring the continued success of the festival; and I am both honoured and humbled to be offered the chance to carry on the stellar work of my illustrious predecessors, Mr Goh Yew Lin, Dr Chang Tou Liang and Mr Lionel Choi. That SIPF is where it is today, is testament to their extraordinary leadership and artistic vision – building relationships with international artistes, agencies and audiences; whilst putting together intriguing, interesting programmes of the highest artistic quality. In particular, Lionel really pulled out all the stops for last year’s bumper-sized celebration of the festival’s 25th anniversary, including the singular feat of securing Martha Argerich for two performances with Darío Alejandro Ntaca and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. At this point, I would like to acknowledge the people who have helped me settle into my first year with the Piano Festival for your patience and advice; and everyone at Singapore Symphony Group whose tireless work behind the scenes all contribute to the smooth running of the festival. A special mention also of our brilliant piano technician Walter Haass – this year marks the 25th year he is supporting us with his expertise, and we are privileged to have his help getting the pianos to the best possible condition for each of our pianists. Speaking of the pianists, I am excited to be presenting four artistes whose diverse and contrasting programmes reflect their unique personalities. I have always admired Sa Chen’s sound from the few competitions in which we participated together (and which she always seemed to win!); whilst
Ronan O’Hora not only taught me for seven years but continues to be a mentor to this day – and he will share his wisdom and insights In Conversation. I am also looking forward immensely to hearing Gilmore Artist Award winner Kirill Gerstein live with his eclectic programme exploring death and heroism; and last but certainly not least the exciting young Swiss pianist Louis Schwizgebel who has stepped in on very short notice for the indisposed Ingrid Fliter. Wishing you an enjoyable, rewarding and revelatory experience at SIPF 2019.
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Lim Yan Artistic Director
PROGR AMME T H U , 3 0 T H M AY 2 019 V I C TO RI A CO N C ERT H A L L
SA CHEN
FRANCK
Prélude, Choral, et Fugue
CHOPIN
Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27 No. 2 6'00 Nocturne No. 12 in G major, Op. 37 No. 2
MESSIAEN
Regard de l’Esprit de joie from Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus
Intermission
20'00
20'00
DEBUSSY
Selections from Twelve Études
Concert duration: 1 hr 50 mins There will be a post-concert autograph session with Sa Chen
38'00
5'45
9'45
3 0 T H M AY 2 019
SA CHEN
Born in Chongqing, China, Sa Chen (陈萨) has been delighting audiences worldwide since 1996 when, aged 16, she appeared live on BBC Television in the final of the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition. She was the youngest contestant then, and subsequently participated at the Chopin Piano Competition (2000) and 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (2005). She is the only pianist in history to be a prize winner in all three top international piano competitions. 4
Described as “one of the brightest performers of her generation” by Classic FM, Sa Chen has since worked with many celebrated conductors and orchestras around the world. Her performances have taken her to renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Tonhalle and Sydney Opera House, as well as at the Louvre in Paris. She is regularly invited to major festivals, including the International Chopin Festival in Poland and the Lockenhaus Music Festival in Austria. In 2002, Sa Chen was selected for the prestigious Tokyo series “The 100 Great Pianists of the Twentieth Century” and as the cover artist of the inaugural issue of Gramophone magazine’s Chinese edition. She was named one of Top Ten Chinese Artists by French magazine L’Officiel in 2009. In 2010, Chopin’s bicentennial year, Sa Chen was awarded the prestigious Chopin Art Passport by the Polish Government.
A Steinway Artist, she has recorded for several labels, including Harmonia Mundi, BIS and Pentatone. Her 2008 Chopin album on Pentatone won the Best CD Award by Classic FM. Her 2015 album “Memories Lost” on BIS, featuring modern Chinese compositions with Chinese Orchestra was described as “the most interesting and successful recording of new Chinese music so far” by BBC Music Magazine. Sa Chen performed the world premieres of piano concertos by Chinese composers Wang Xilin (2013), and Australia-based Julian Yu's Xinqiban (“New Start”), commissioned by the China National Centre for the Performing Arts. In the 2018/19 season, Sa will perform in Italy, France, the US, Singapore, Macau and China, and her debut at the Salzburg Festival. This recital marks Sa Chen’s Singapore International Piano Festival debut.
Prélude, Choral, et Fugue Under the strict tutelage of an ambitious and autocratic father, Franck was compelled to follow the profession of a virtuoso. He was forced to compose virtuosic party pieces under parental pressure for superficial salon gatherings in hopes of public approval. By the age of 11, the young boy was performing his own works in public performances organised by his father. Franck’s unhappy early career as a young piano prodigy could well have pushed him away from composing for the piano when he finally gained his independence as an adult.
immortal by Bach in his Well-Tempered Clavier, Franck eventually decided to include an intermediary choral section as a unifying factor between the two traditional movements. Through the use of his signature cyclic compositional technique, whereby themes are presented and repeated in different guises throughout the three sections, Franck created an emotional and soul-searching platform of mystical harmony and unity. FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810 –18 4 9 )
Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27 No. 2
Devoting his entire life to church and organ music, it was not until 1884 that he turned back to composing for solo piano. Vincent d’Indy, French composer and a devoted student of Franck, speaks of the motivation behind the creation of the Prélude, Choral et Fugue:
Nocturne No. 12 in G major, Op. 37 No. 2
“For some time past composers had ceased to write serious works for the pianoforte [..] Although the great specialists of the piano had added to its technique some new and ingenious details; [..] as yet no musician had added any fresh artistic material to the monument which Beethoven had left us. In short, though the technique of the piano and the style of writing for it had become transcendent, the music intended for the instrument alone had certainly degenerated; [..] Cesar Franck, struck by the lack of serious works in this style, set to work with a youthful fervour which belied his sixty years to try if he could not adapt the old aesthetic forms to the new technique of the piano.”
Liszt’s comments on Chopin’s rubato accurately sums up the technique of expressivity in which one should master when attempting his Nocturnes. Like the trunk of the tree, the pulse running through the piece is grounded and stable. The melody, on the other hand, like the leaves rustling in the wind, must be free. Inheriting the form from Irish composer John Field, Chopin added his stamp of sentimentality, poetic melancholy and refined lyricism in his nocturnes, earning him the review as “one of the creators of the typically romantic idiom and as such one of the most original and remarkable creative geniuses in musical history” from Music critic Paul Henry Lang.
The premiere of the piece was given in 1885 by its dedicatee, Marie Poitevin, who was praised for her “powerful and colourful sonority, transcendental mechanism and above all, rare artistic conscience, which imposes on her a duty to sacrifice nothing to effect and gives to her playing remarkable purity of style.” This triptych reflects a modern take on traditional musical form and language. Expanding on the formal Baroque structure of a Prelude and Fugue made
“Look at these trees, the wind plays in the leaves, stirs up life among them, the tree remains the same, that is Chopinesque rubato.”
The Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27 No. 2 is the second of two nocturnes that Chopin composed in Paris in 1835. It was dedicated to Countess Therese Apponyi, wife of the Austrian ambassador to Paris and a frequent hostess to the composer. The piece opens with an intoxicating and almost haunting melody in the key of D-flat major, which immediately creates a mood of melancholy. Moreover, evidence of strong vocal influence is reflected in the use of fioritura (florid embellishments) and wide leaps
SA CHEN
CÉSAR FR ANCK (18 2 2 –18 9 0 )
SA CHEN
in the melodic line. Setting itself apart from most nocturnes, the parallel thirds and sixths in this piece create a resemblance of an operatic duet, unlike the usual single-lined cantilena (lyrical melody line). Claude Debussy commented that this piece is “among the most beautiful music ever written [..] which often takes flight toward the forest where the fairies alone hold sway over our minds.” Similarly, the Nocturne in G major, Op. 37 No. 2 is characterised by its euphonious harmonisation. The unusual opening melody in thirds and sixths, paired with the lightheartedness of the 6/8 meter, immediately draws our attention to the dance-like gracefulness of the barcarolle. The second subject then takes us into a new realm of ethereal dreams. Robert Schumann commented that this nocturne “differ[s] from his earlier ones chiefly through greater simplicity of decoration and more quiet grace [..] of that nobler kind under which poetic ideality gleams more transparently.”
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OLIVIER MESSIAEN (19 0 8 –19 9 2 )
Regard de l’Esprit de joie (“Gaze of the Spirit of Joy”) from Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus (“Twenty Gazes Upon the Infant Jesus”) Vehement dance, drunken horn-like tonalities, transport of the Holy Spirit… the joy of God’s love in the soul of Jesus Christ. — I have always been struck by the fact that God is happy — and that His continual and ineffable joy inhabited the soul of Christ. Joy is, for me, a transport, an intoxication in the maddest sense. — Form: Oriental dance in the extreme-low range, in unequal neumes, like plainchant. First development on the “theme of joy”. Asymmetrical swelling. Three hunting-tune-like variations. Second development on the “theme of joy” and “theme of God”. Then, reprise of the Oriental dance, with the extreme-low and extreme-high ranges together. Coda on the “theme of joy”.
– Messiaen’s Commentary (Translations by Dennis Vannier) Catholic, ornithologist, colorist, rhythmicist, to name a few, Olivier Messiaen was regarded as one of the most significant and unique composers of keyboard music in the modern era who had composed works in nearly every musical genre. Vingt Regards sur l’EnfantJésus (“Twenty Gazes of the Infant Jesus”) is a two-hour masterpiece for solo piano written by Messiaen in 1944 for Yvonne Loriod, his student and second wife. It is one of the most critically celebrated works of the 20th century. The tenth piece of Vingt Regards, Regard de l’Esprit de joie is loud, manic, rumbustious and more importantly physically demanding for the performer. It highlights the master’s brilliant manipulation of metallic sonorities through the use of modal harmonies, development of themes, glittering dissonances, bird songs and percussive climaxes. This piece also reflects Messiaen’s mastery of rhythms which was inspired by more than 250 species of birds, as well as Greek, Hindu and Balinese music. Sheer virtuosity and immense concentration are essential in the execution of the piece in order to generate the vigour, power and excitement that the composer had so brilliantly created. Essentially, Messiaen’s ultimate purpose in this work is to demonstrate the intensity of his steadfast Catholic faith through the elements of colour, harmony and rhythm. CL AUDE DEBUSSY (18 6 2 –1918 )
Selections from Twelve Études 1. Pour les “cinq doigts” d'après Monsieur Czerny 3. Pour les quartes 6. Pour les huit doigts 7. Pour les degrés chromatiques 8. Pour les agréments 9. Pour les notes répétées 11. Pour les arpèges composés 12. Pour les accords
In 1914, Germany had declared war on France. At that time, Debussy was in failing health, both mentally and physically. Although illness had already begun to sap his strength, it did not stop him from executing his plans for composition. On the contrary, it came as a surprise to Debussy that in the midst of all the rigour and hardships of war, he began to compose more than he had in years. As a composer who lived in a time of war, a period of loss, turmoil and relations, his works became a reflection of the changing sociological conditions. These works include En Blanc et Noir for two pianos as well as his projected set of six sonatas for various instrumental combinations in homage of French composers of the 18th century, whose completion was interrupted by his death in 1918. Debussy completed his Twelve Études in 1915, a year after the outbreak of the war and three years before his death. He dedicated them to Chopin, one of the forerunners of the genre. Another reason for the dedication was the fact that Debussy was preparing new editions of Chopin’s piano works (during the time of the war when German editions were unobtainable) and was greatly inspired by them. They are also Debussy’s last and final testament for solo piano works. Divided into two books of six numbers, they are each titled with a compositional or performing technique that the pianist has to tackle with fingertip sensitivity and finely executed pedalling. Debussy warns us, rather sarcastically, that the Études “treat pianists to their just deserts... and frighten the fingers… Apart from the question of technique, these Études will be a useful warning to pianists not to take up the musical profession unless they have remarkable hands… You break your left hand in them, in gymnastics almost Swedish. They all conceal a rigorous technique beneath flowers of harmony where flies are not caught with vinegar!”
However, despite being etudes, they are not only technical studies but musical tone poems that challenge a whole new level of pianism. Some might even argue that their musical qualities outweigh the technical challenges, which according to the composer, is daunting enough. The Études direct attention to Debussy’s intimate, transparent and detailed sound world through the complexity in sonority and texture. Margit Rahkonen, interpreter and scholar of Debussy, commented that “the nature of Debussy’s idiom and the fertile disparity between the basic idea of the concept of ‘etude’ and Debussy the composer are precisely what set his Études apart.” Programme notes by Lin Tonglin
SA CHEN
“I’ve invested a lot of passion and faith in the future of these Études. I hope you’ll like them, both for the music they contain and for what they denote” – Debussy to Durand
PROGR AMME F R I , 31S T M AY 2 019 V I C TO RI A CO N C ERT H A L L
RONAN O’HOR A
BEETHOVEN
Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 “Pathétique”
BRAHMS
Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5
Intermission
20'00
40'00
20'00
BRAHMS
Selections from Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118
BEETHOVEN
Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 “Appassionata”
Concert duration: 2 hrs There will be a post-concert autograph session with Ronan O’Hora
17'00
30'00
31S T M AY 2 019
RONAN O’HOR A
The British pianist Ronan O’Hora has performed throughout the world, playing with such orchestras as the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, the BBC Symphony, Royal Philharmonic and English Chamber Orchestras, the Academy of St. Martin-in-theFields, Hallé Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Zurich Tonhalle, Netherlands Radio Chamber, Philharmonia Hungarica, Brno Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony, Florida Philharmonic and Queensland Philharmonic. 9
He has performed in every major country in Europe as well as in the USA, Canada, Australasia and South Africa working with leading conductors such as Kees Bakels, Matthias Bamert, Hans Vonk, James Judd, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Bramwell Tovey, Hans Vonk, Edo de Waart, Takuo Yuasa and Lothar Zagrosek as well as appearing at many notable music festivals like Salzburg, Gstaad, Ravinia, Montpelier, Bath, Harrogate and Brno. Born in Manchester in 1964, Ronan O’Hora studied there at the Royal Northern College of Music with Professor Ryszard Bakst. He has won many important awards that have included the Dayas Gold Medal, the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians and the Stefania Niekrasz Prize, which is awarded every five years to an outstanding exponent of Chopin. Broadcasts on radio and television world-wide have included a televised recital for the Chopin Society in Warsaw, a televised performance of
Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with the Netherlands Radio Symphony, two programmes of chamber music by Mozart for BBC TV, as well as over 80 concerts on BBC Radio 3. Ronan O’Hora has made highly regarded recordings on the Tring International, Virgin Classics, Dinemic and Fone labels in which he has covered concertos by Mozart, Grieg and Tchaikovsky in addition to solo piano repertoire by Schubert, Brahms, Debussy, Schumann, Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Satie plus chamber music by Fauré, Britten, Debussy, Dvořák and Mozart in a discography which extends to over 30 CDs. Ronan O’Hora was appointed Head of Keyboard Studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in September 1999. This recital marks Ronan O’Hora’s Singapore International Piano Festival debut.
RONAN O’HORA
Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms were two intellectuals at odds with passionate souls. Beethoven struggled with deafness and tensions with his nephew. In addition, the speculations surrounding his ‘Immortal Beloved’ suggest that his personal life was strewn with bitter disappointments. As a young man, Brahms aspired towards Robert Schumann’s hefty expectations, only to be judged later as living under the shadow of Beethoven. Furthermore, one wonders whether his melancholic nature was the outcome of a devotion towards Clara Schumann that never amounted to anything more than a close friendship. Tonight’s programme narrates the stormy passions and tender intimacies these two men faced in life through music.
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L U D W I G VA N B E E T H O V E N (17 7 0 –18 2 7 )
Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 “Pathétique” 1. Grave – Allegro di molto e con brio 2. Adagio cantabile 3. Rondo: Allegro Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8 was nicknamed “Grande Sonate Pathétique” by Beethoven’s publisher and in this case, to the composer’s own liking. The nickname foretells the emotional intensity to be unleashed. This work, together with his Fifth Symphony and Coriolan Overture, are the great manifestations of Beethoven’s powerful use of the key of C minor. The first movement, Grave – Allegro di molto e con brio opens with solemnity in a slow introduction where dotted rhythms and expanding registers foreshadow Romantic drama. A chromatic scale cascades downwards in an emphatic gesture, leading into the hushed frenzy of the exposition, with its rumbling octave tremolos in the first theme, and exhilarating
hand crossings and pedal points in the second theme. Composed in 1798, this sonata belongs to the early period of Beethoven’s compositions. Already at this point, the respect Beethoven’s musical innovations was garnering enabled him to live off his earnings independently. This explains Beethoven’s daring to return to the slow introduction not just at the end of the movement, but at the opening of the development too. Here, Beethoven brazenly modulates from G minor to E minor in just four bars before we are hit with the chaos of the development. The theme of the Adagio cantabile earned its fame even before its numerous re-interpretations in popular culture. Its lyricism tugs imploringly at one’s heart strings. Tenderness is heightened by the key of A-flat major, a welcome respite from the tumult of C minor. In an exploration of musical fabric, the melodic form of the theme does not change but the texture that accompanies it with each reiteration morphs from broken chords in the middle voices to arpeggiations in the left hand and at the end, the use of triplets; a subtle showing of the different faces of Beethoven’s sentimentality. The third movement lunges back to C minor with the ascending motif in the second theme of the first movement, now redefined as the rondo theme. There is a certain delicacy to this movement though undercurrents of urgency can be heard in the syncopations and continuous running eighth notes in the accompaniment. The music often explodes in an emotional outburst just before the return of the rondo, and certainly does so unapologetically one final time at the end of the sonata. JOHANNES BRAHMS (18 3 3 –18 9 7 )
Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5 1. Allegro maestoso 2. Andante espressivo 3. Scherzo: Allegro energico 4. Intermezzo: Andante molto 5. Finale: Allegro moderato ma rubato
As it turned out, the third piano sonata by Brahms was a culmination of his sonatas in many ways. The strong pathos conveyed is no less impactful than the music of his idol. As if in contemplation of spirituality, the first movement, Allegro maestoso, contrasts a tragic funeral march in the first theme in F minor with an ethereal poetry in the second theme in A-flat major. The subsequent Andante espressivo segues from spirituality to sentimentality as Brahms quotes poetry by Sternau as marked in the score: Der Abend dämmert, das Mondlicht scheint, da sind zwei Herzen in Liebe vereint, und halten sich selig umfangen. Twilight falls, the moonlight shines, Two hearts are united in love, and keep themselves in bliss enclosed. In the music, fragile falling thirds can be likened to twilight falling while enrapturing repetitive patterns in the accompaniment are as mesmerizing as moonlight. The two hearts enclosed in bliss are portrayed by themes in A-flat and D-flat major appearing in alternation. This would be the last time Brahms would wear his heart so openly on his sleeve as he was later associated with the Absolutists in the war of the Romantics. Brahms’ contributions to the piano sonata lie in the magnitude and symphonic writing. The traditional sonata contains three or four movements, but this sonata consists of five. The third movement, Scherzo, is the midpoint of the entire work. Wide leaps, virtuosic octaves and grandiose chordal writing that traverse a
wide range of registers draw out rich orchestral sonorities from the piano. Piano character pieces form a large output of Brahms’ piano works. In the fourth movement, the boundaries between sonata and character piece are blurred as Brahms titles it Intermezzo, which is often used for character pieces. Subtitled Rückblick, or backward glance, it is a programmatic reinterpretation of previous movements; the intimacy of the falling thirds motif from the second movement is juxtaposed with rhythms of the funeral march from the first movement. Joseph Joachim, violinist and a close collaborator of Brahms, adopted the Romantic German phrase Frei aber Einsam, (“free but lonely”), as his personal motto. The first letters of this phrase, F-A-E, are featured in an episode of this free rondo, the Finale. Such use of a musical cryptogram is reminiscent of Schumann. Therefore, much as the dominating rhythmic drive of the final movement expresses seething turbulence, it is also a tribute to two musicians Brahms admired greatly. JOHANNES BRAHMS
Selections from Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118 2. Intermezzo in A major – Andante teneramente 3. Ballade in G minor – Allegro energico 6. Intermezzo in E-flat minor – Andante, largo e mesto Brahms’ set of piano character pieces, Op. 118, was dedicated to Clara Schumann. On receiving both Op. 118 and Op. 119, Clara Schumann wrote in her diary: “It really is marvellous how things pour from him; it is wonderful how he combines passion and tenderness in the smallest of spaces.” Indeed, it is the minute details that beckon the ear. In No. 2, appoggiaturas in the first section are like sighs of tenderness and in the second section, descending lines camouflaged within
RONAN O’HORA
Brahms’ Piano Sonata No. 3 was written in 1853. Prior to that, Brahms had been singled out as a child of destiny in Schumann’s music journal Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. Brahms was elated but apprehensive at the expectations placed on him by one of Germany’s then leading composers. He was trying to make a name for himself in the wake of the towering output of Beethoven. After Beethoven’s 32 unique piano sonatas, each of which bore the genius of innovation, what was Brahms to do with the genre?
RONAN O’HORA
a polyphonic texture express an inner yearning. In No. 3, the first section with its abundance of rhythmic energy exudes passion, while the middle section responds alluringly with charming dotted rhythms. Op. 118 is also Brahms’ penultimate composition. The composer’s trademark melancholic streak is all the more obvious in this set as it is written towards the end of his life in 1893. It is exceptionally apparent in No. 6, in which the theme is derived from the dies irae, a medieval Latin hymn sung in requiem masses. The dies irae surfaces in various guises. From a haunting monophonic entrance to a tragic iteration later on with thicker chordal textures and syncopations, it is as if we were glimpsing in Brahms’ mind passing thoughts of mortality. L U D W I G VA N B E E T H O V E N
Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 “Appassionata” 12
1. Allegro assai 2. Andante con moto 3. Allegro ma non troppo – Presto Beethoven’s middle period of composition lasted from 1802-1812, during which he battled a loss of hearing and faced embitterment in his disapproval of Napoleon’s warmongering. The Piano Sonata No. 23 was composed during this time. It was completed in 1806 and dedicated to Count Franz von Brunswick. Furthermore, Beethoven was rumoured to have been simultaneously in love with Countess Therese von Brunswick, the sister of the dedicatee, and with Josephine von Deym at the same time. It is therefore unsurprising that a fiery angst, a result of more than one aspect of his life, rears its head in the first movement, Allegro assai. The first theme is an F minor arpeggio that threatens even in monophony because it sounds in the low registers of the piano. This is in contrast to the courageous second theme in A-flat major which is an inversion of the contour of the first theme. An emotional tug-of-war can be heard as major and minor sounds compete through the distinct employment of Neapolitan harmony. An anxious
anticipation builds with rhythms that seem to wind down to a halt, only to be shattered with outbursts that gather momentum. The middle period of Beethoven’s compositions is also dubbed the heroic period. One often associates heroism with struggle, but more inspiring is the feeling of empowerment by overcoming struggle. This is what the second movement, Andante con moto represents. It is a theme and variations, with a theme that naturally comforts through simplicity. In the ensuing variations, Beethoven gains rhythmic momentum, gathers textural density and explores higher registers, as if in a divine search for a hope to transcend all struggles. The final movement, Allegro ma non troppo – Presto, is an unravelling of the first. The arpeggiated motif in F minor, Neapolitan harmonies and dotted rhythms from the first movement are tightly spun into a web of perpetual motion in this sonata-allegro. Momentum intensifies further with the onset of the coda. This is a musical stamp of Beethoven’s persistent spirit, leaving us no doubt as to why this sonata is a hallmark of Beethoven’s heroic period. It recalls a younger Beethoven’s words, “I will take fate by the throat; it will never bend me completely to its will.” Programme notes by Khoo Hui Ling
PROGR AMME S A T, 1S T J U N E 2 019 V I C TO RI A CO N C ERT H A L L
KIRILL GERSTEIN
LISZT
Transcendental Étude No. 7 in E-flat major “Eroica”
BEETHOVEN
15 Variations and a Fugue on an Original Theme, Op. 35 “Eroica Variations” 25'00
JANÁ ČEK
Piano Sonata 1.X.1905 “From the Street”
Intermission
5'30
14'00
20'00
LISZT
Funérailles from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S.173, No. 7
ADÈS
Berceuse from The Exterminating Angel
DEBUSSY
Élégie, L.138 2'00 Les soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon
VARDAPET
Selections from Six Dances
RAVEL
Le tombeau de Couperin
Concert duration: 2 hrs
3'45
25'00
5'00
2'15
12'00
1S T J U N E 2 019
KIRILL GERSTEIN
Kirill Gerstein’s natural versatility and curiosity has led him to explore a wide range of repertoire and styles. From Bach to Adès, his playing is distinguished by a discerning intelligence, great virtuosity and a clarity of expression, which he combines with an energetic and imaginative musical presence. He has been described as “gloriously free and unfazed by technical difficulties, he made the piano sing.” (Leipziger Volkszeitung) 14
In the 2018/19 season Gerstein will give the world premiere of Thomas Adès’ new Piano Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer. Gerstein will also appear with the orchestras of the Czech Philharmonic, London Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, Guangzhou Symphony, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Dresden Staatskapelle, Danish National Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Cleveland, Cincinnati Symphony, and the Orquestra Sinfônica de São Paolo. Besides Singapore, his recitals will take place in London, Stuttgart, Lisbon, Melbourne and Copenhagen. In spring 2019, Gerstein’s recording of Busoni’s Piano Concerto was released on myrios classics, with Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto Nos. 1-3 to follow in summer 2019.
Kirill Gerstein was brought up in the former Soviet Union studying both classical and jazz piano. At 14, he moved to the US where he was the youngest student to attend Boston’s Berklee College of Music, subsequently shifting his focus to classical repertoire. Gerstein won the first of a series of prestigious accolades in 2001: First Prize at the 10th Arthur Rubinstein Competition. In 2002, he won a Gilmore Young Artist Award, and in 2010 both an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Gilmore Artist Award, which provided the funds for him to commission new works from Timothy Andres, Chick Corea, Alexander Goehr, Oliver Knussen and Brad Mehldau. A committed teacher and pedagogue, Gerstein taught at the Stuttgart Musik Hochschule from 2007-2017 and from autumn 2018, will teach as part of Kronberg Academy’s newly announced Sir András Schiff Performance Programme for Young Artists. Kirill Gerstein makes his Singapore debut in the 26th Singapore International Piano Festival.
Transcendental Étude No. 7 in E-flat major “Eroica” Liszt needs no introduction as the unparalleled 19th-century master of the piano, with the strength and capability of actually breaking early models while in the throes of a recital. His compositions revolutionised piano technique, and when they were written, barely a handful of other pianists were able to play them. This is especially true of the Transcendental Études. The early versions of these dozen etudes consist of more than 100 densely-packed pages, and Liszt ended up revising and simplifying them for a re-publication.
Unlike other variation sets, however, Beethoven upends convention by stating only the plain bass line at the beginning. Three variations of this then occur, building up the theme gradually, before the variations finally take off. What follows is then a bog-standard set of Classical variations: augmentations and diminutions, scalic runs, arpeggios, a minor-key variation, a slow variation – a whole bag of musical tricks. The slow variation eventually runs on into a coda, and immediately takes a “wrong turn”, seeming to modulate to C minor, before the fugue crashes in firmly in E-flat once again.
Eroica, or “heroic”, inspired Liszt to write a virtuosic etude full of rapid cascades of arpeggios and octaves. By his usual standards, this is not a very challenging piece, but there are enough dangers to trip up any unsuspecting pianist, and a successful performance is still a breathtaking display of skill.
Beethoven’s fugue subject is really only the first four notes of the bass line. He was known by his peers to lack skill in composing polyphony, and his choice in keeping it simple allows the music to stay light throughout, almost like a Haydn finale. The headlong tempo of the fugue keeps it exciting where the harmonic palette is lean, though the sudden grind to a halt followed by an extended coda is typically Beethovenian invention: four pages of variations tacked onto the end of the fugue then wraps up the whole piece.
L U D W I G VA N B E E T H O V E N (17 7 0 –18 2 7 )
L E O Š J A N Á Č E K (18 5 4 –19 2 8 )
15 Variations and a Fugue on an Original Theme, Op. 35 “Eroica Variations”
Piano Sonata 1.X.1905 “From the Street”
Liszt was definitely familiar with the Eroica Symphony by his teacher’s teacher, having met the great Beethoven in Vienna when he was only 11, and later arranging the entirety for piano solo. He would have known also about the Eroica Variations, a sprawling 23-minute work, with an equally long title to match: 15 Variations and Fugue on a Theme from “The Creatures of Prometheus” (Eroica). In this work, Beethoven recycles an old favourite of his to provide the theme: a short contredanse from 1800 is reused in The Creatures (1801), then used again for this set of variations (1802), before finally passing out of service in 1804 with the finale of the Eroica Symphony.
1. Foreboding (Predtucha) – Con moto 2. Death (Smrt) – Adagio The ultimately uplifting ending of the Beethoven piece is undercut immediately by a splash of blood: 1.X.1905 is Janáček’s tribute to a Czech worker, slain in the midst of a demonstration in support of a university in Brno, where Janáček spent most of his life. This piano sonata originally contained a funeral march, taken out and burnt just before the first performance, and was almost to be lost to history, with Janáček disappointed enough in it to throw the original manuscript into a river. The work was recovered only 18 years later when the original pianist, Ludmila Tučková, revealed that she had a copy in her possession.
KIRILL GERSTEIN
FR ANZ LISZ T (1811 –18 8 6 )
KIRILL GERSTEIN
Bell sounds haunt this sonata: they signal the end of each of the two movements. Scattered around these sonic signposts is music of intense emotional disturbance, attesting to the verity of Foreboding and Death. The surges in the low range in the first movement eventually erupt into real agitation; in the second, speech-like rhythms infect the key melodic idea, and the climax fails to dissipate the darkness hanging over the whole work.
This 5-minute berceuse by Thomas Adès freely draws on some of the most exquisite and memorable music from his opera The Exterminating Angel: one of the yearning, melancholy duets between the doomed lovers Beatriz and Eduardo.
FR ANZ LISZ T
CL AUDE DEBUSSY (18 6 2 –1918 )
Funérailles from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S.173, No. 7
16
A different funeral march tonight follows these two movements: Liszt’s 1849 commemoration of the Habsburg crushing of the Hungarian revolution of the previous year. Subtitled “October 1849”, the month Chopin died, it is often also interpreted as an homage to his close friend. The dark bells of Janáček lead into the thundering peals of Liszt, opening deep in the bass, interrupted by trumpet tattoos. The march starts, solemn and unyielding, though the entry of a much gentler lagrimoso theme brings light in the sadness. The left hand then starts grinding away once again, heralding a military procession, which builds over the course of several key changes into a real battle cry, with virtuosic octaves in the bass eventually taking over both hands in a powerful climax. The funeral theme then reenters, transformed into a grand procession. Liszt then pulls the rug from under the audience’s feet: after the heightened emotions of this theme, the piece abruptly breaks into fragments. A recollection of the lyrical melody; another abortive rumble in the bass; and — silence. THOMAS ADÈS ( b . 19 7 1)
Berceuse from The Exterminating Angel Commissioned by Alexandre Devals and Mimi Durand Kurihara for Kirill Gerstein.
The first performance was given by Kirill Gerstein at the Großer Saal, Wiener Konzerthaus, Austria, on 17 February 2019.
Élégie, L.138 Les soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon Debussy’s late piano pieces have never gained quite as much traction as his earlier essays in the genre. The contrast between the two books of Préludes bear this out: the first contains all the favourites (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, The Sunken Cathedral, Minstrels etc.) while the second contains music that is so sparse as to be almost ascetic. The still-later set of 12 Études (1915) go further along in Debussy’s radical experiments, and have never established firm presence on the concert stage. The Élégie, dating from the same year as the Études, presents a bleak wartime image. While several other piano pieces are tributes to fallen friends, a personal pain shines through in this piece, written in the December he was to undergo a serious operation for cancer. It is easy to draw links between this almost-improvisatory stumbling through harmonies and Debussy’s physical and emotional state, and as the music fades off into an inconclusive nothing, it is almost as if it is too painful to speak. Les soirs illuminés par l’ardeur du charbon (“Evenings illumined by the ardour of coal”) was composed presumably in the last year of Debussy’s life. Its existence was not even known until 2001, when the manuscript surfaced at a sale; it was a gift to Debussy’s coal-dealer, who supplied the family in their miserable wartime living condition. Only 24 bars long, it is suffused with surprising warmth, and recalls the
K O M I T A S VA R D A P E T (18 6 9 –19 3 5 )
Selections from Six Dances: No. 4 Shushiki Vagharshapat No. 2 Unabi of Shushi: Grave et gracieux Komitas, born Soghomon Soghomonian, actually trained and ordained as a priest at the age of 26 before travelling to Germany to study music. He then returned to Armenia, using that training to collect thousands of folksongs around the region (including in Turkey and Kurdistan). These efforts, predating Bartók and Kodály, established his reputation as the founder of Armenian classical music. The Six Dances are essentially folk dances written with piano accompaniment. The two heard tonight have been collected from Vagharshapat and Shushi (or Shusha to the local Azeris), and have accompaniments imitating local folk instruments: the tar (a plucked-string instrument) and the shvi (distant cousin of the recorder). Shushiki is a swift, light dance; Unabi, while inhabiting the same kind of sound world, is slower, more gracious, and more solemn. Musical work for Komitas ended when the Armenian genocide began, when he was captured in Turkey and deported on Red Sunday, 24 April 1915. It required the intervention of several prominent Turkish writers and musicians and a UN ambassador before the government relented and he was despatched back to Constantinople/Istanbul. He was eventually moved to a Paris psychiatric clinic, deeply affected by the destruction of his countrymen, and died a symbolic martyr in 1935.
M A U R I C E R AV E L (18 7 5 –19 3 7 )
Le tombeau de Couperin 1. Prélude. Vif 2. Fugue. Allegro moderato 3. Forlane. Allegretto 4. Rigaudon. Assez vif 5. Menuet. Allegro moderato 6. Toccata. Vif Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin, neoclassical work par excellence, is a traditional Baroque suite crossed with the spicy harmonies of early 20th century French music. Also dedicated to fallen friends, and written shortly after the death of Ravel’s mother, it takes a completely different angle of remembrance: “The dead are sad enough, in their eternal silence,” says the composer, and produced a work filled with humour, lightness, and joie de vivre. The modal harmonies that fill the Prélude (a whirling dance) and the Fugue (a reflective, raindrop-filled movement) are tossed aside by the brash dissonances of the Forlane, derived from the folk dance of the Friulians. It is from here that Ravel’s natural humour starts shining through, and the following Rigaudon is a bright white-key dance so sprightly under the fingers that it might as well be a polka. The Menuet looks around to Ravel’s other compositions in the genre: the modalities of the Menuet antique are easily heard coupled with the elegance of the slow movement from the Sonatine, all in the same key as the Menuet on the name of Haydn. And the little bit of technical brilliance in the Rigaudon is let fully loose in the finale: a truly virtuosic Toccata, as full of repeated notes and dangerous leaps as anything in Scarlatti’s sonatas. Programme notes by Thomas Ang (except for Berceuse from The Exterminating Angel – notes provided by Kirill Gerstein)
KIRILL GERSTEIN
fuller piano texture of the Images — or, indeed, the first book of Préludes, where “sounds and scents float on the evening air” (Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir).
PROGR AMME S U N , 2 N D J U N E 2 019 V I C TO RI A CO N C ERT H A L L
LOUIS SCHWIZGEBEL
18
SCHUBERT
No. 2 in A-flat major from Four Impromptus, D935, Op. 142
CHOPIN
Selections from 24 Preludes, Op. 28
RAVEL
Ondine from Gaspard de la Nuit
DEBUSSY
L’Isle joyeuse
Intermission
6'00
5'00
20'00
MUSSORGSKY
Pictures at an Exhibition
35'00
Concert duration: 1 hr 45 mins There will be a post-concert autograph session with Louis Schwizgebel
17'00
6'00
2 N D J U N E 2 019
LOUIS SCHWIZGEBEL
Born in Geneva in 1987, Swiss-Chinese pianist Louis Schwizgebel has been described as an “insightful musician” by the New York Times and “already one of the great masters of the piano” by Res Musica. At age 17 he won the Geneva International Music Competition and, two years later, the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. In 2012 he won second prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition and was invited to become a BBC New Generation Artist in 2013. Schwizgebel has performed with orchestras across the globe, including the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Zurich Tonhalle, Nagoya and Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestras, Utah Symphony and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (NYC) amongst others. He has worked with conductors such as Gardner, GražyniteTyla, Krivine, Collon, Thierry Fischer, Weilerstein, Shani, Ticciati, Slatkin, Langrée, Gaffigan, Rouvali and Gabel amongst others. Schwizgebel performs regularly in his native Switzerland, both in recital and with orchestras; he has played in major festivals including Progetto Martha Argerich, Menuhin Festival Gstaad and Verbier Festival and in 2016 made his debut at the Lucerne Festival. In 2014 he made his BBC Proms debut with an electrifying televised performance of Prokofiev’s First Concerto. Recent recital highlights include
performances at London’s Wigmore Hall, Festival de Radio France, Klavierfest Ruhr, Rheingau Festival, Fribourg International Piano Series, Munich’s Herkulesaal and on tour across Hong Kong and China. Highlights of Schwizgebel’s 18/19 season include debuts with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Ulster Orchestra and RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and returns to the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Musikkollegium Winterthur. Chamber music highlights include his debut at the International Music Festival Koblenz and returns to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Wigmore Hall where he appears in three concerts across the season, both in recital and in trio with Benjamin Beilman and Narek Hakhnazaryan. This recital marks Louis Schwizgebel’s Singapore International Piano Festival debut.
LO U I S S C H W I ZG EB EL
20
FR ANZ SCHUBERT (17 9 7 –18 2 8 )
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810 –18 4 9 )
No. 2 in A-flat major from Four Impromptus, D935, Op. 142
Selections from 24 Preludes, Op. 28
Schubert lived fast and died young, it might be said. He wrote the psychological masterpieces Der Erlkönig and Gretchen am Spinnrade at the tender age of 18, songs that still go unparalleled in the German repertoire; reinvented the song cycle, turned out several symphonies, sonatas, and church and chamber works; entered a new maturity in the last three years of his life, writing astonishing works like the Cello Quintet; and was gone at age of 31, having struggled with syphilis and its symptoms for the last few years.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
Among the more than 1000 compositions, spanning miniature waltzes to gigantic symphonies, lies a staple of the pianist’s repertoire: the Schubert Impromptu. In these pieces, Classical improvisation is cross-bred with various movements of a Classical sonata and given life of its own, some of them lasting more than ten minutes. Schubert wrote eight of these, divided into two sets of four, and the second of the later set is presented tonight. It begins as a light minuet, full of galant poise and elegance. The cosy lyricism and neatly squared phrases belie the drama lying in wait, however, since the lilting rhythm gathers a kind of weight in its repetitions, and the subtle chromatic notes Schubert uses eventually develop into a firm declamation. The opening calm returns, and the minuet is rounded off in a neat ternary ABA’ form. Flowing triplets introduce the trio, which recalls the watery songs of earlier years (Auf dem Wasser zu singen, for example, or Wohin?), but a quick turn to the minor heralds the real darkness hiding within, and the series of harmonies leading to the big climax are almost ecstatically revelling in this dramatic turn of events. All calms down eventually, and the minuet returns, made perhaps more fragile by the events of the past. Programme note by Thomas Ang
1 in C major: Agitato 2 in A minor: Lento 3 in G major: Vivace 4 in E minor: Largo 13 in F-sharp major: Lento 17 in A-flat major: Allegretto 15 in D-flat major: Sostenuto
The 24 Preludes, Op. 28, are an epic yet exquisitely intimate exploration of what it means to be human. They contain some of Chopin’s most personal, radical and enigmatic music. In his review of the Preludes, Robert Schumann hailed Chopin as “the boldest, the proudest poet-soul of these times”. Other composers in the early 19th century, including Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Joseph Christoph Kessler, the dedicatee of Chopin’s Preludes, have also composed sets of Preludes in every key. However, their pieces were conceived within the practice of preluding and were intended to serve as quasi-improvisatory preambles to larger compositions. On the other hand, Chopin’s Preludes were, in the words of Franz Liszt, “compositions of an order entirely apart”. Chopin transformed the genre of the prelude, dismissing the notion that a prelude was merely an introduction to another more substantial composition. Chopin himself performed selected preludes in small groups or presented individual preludes as self-sufficient concert pieces, each a world unto itself. Each one of Chopin’s 24 Preludes stands alone as a perfect, complete entity, yet simultaneously resonates within a much larger whole. The Preludes take the listener on a journey through a wide spectrum of moods, colours, textures and forms of musical expression. In the very opening of the cycle, the joyous C major Prelude (No. 1) is immediately contrasted by the morbid, barren landscape of the A minor Prelude (No. 2), one of Chopin’s most bizarre and harmonically ambiguous compositions. The
The E minor Prelude (No. 4) is a picture of paralysing grief. The stasis of its harmonic rhythm and melodic line fractures slowly and incrementally, one semitone at a time, accumulating tension that eventually erupts in anguish. In contrast, the F-sharp major Prelude (No. 13) is an oasis of bliss while the A-flat major Prelude (No. 17) is carefree and exultant. The famous Prelude in D-flat major (No. 15), nicknamed the “Raindrop” ends the selection for this evening. Chopin himself used this nickname and wrote the word “rainy” on a student’s copy of the music. According to Chopin’s partner, the writer George Sand, the inspiration for this prelude came during a rainstorm while they were staying in a monastery on the island of Majorca. She wrote that this prelude demonstrated Chopin’s genius, “filled with the mysterious sounds of nature, but transformed into sublime equivalents in musical thought”. Programme note by Abigail Sin
M A U R I C E R AV E L (18 7 5 –19 3 7 )
once so spare yet pianistically resourceful. It is remarkably akin to Bertrand’s uncanny precision at suggesting – rather than merely narrating – his morbid fascination with the bizarre and the grotesque. Indeed, beneath the music’s deceptively aloof and enigmatic surface lurks an absorption with the violent and fantastic. Tonight’s programme features the first piece in the set, Ondine. This is a lushly evocative tonepainting of a water-sprite plying her coquettish wiles through continual cascades of water: imagine concentric circles of water becoming wider and wider before the water is calmed. Atmosphere in Ondine is therefore everything. The syncopated shimmer of harmony which appears in subtly changing forms through Ondine, whilst highly intricate, exists essentially for an expressive purpose, and the final ripples of sound – depicting the pensive recitative then diabolic laughter of the fatally alluring nymph (who, until now, seemed relatively free from menace) as she fades away – are hauntingly graphic. Gaspard is certainly, as Alfred Cortot once put it, “among the most astonishing examples of interpretative virtuosity ever contrived by the industry of composers.” Programme note by Lionel Choi
Ondine from Gaspard de la Nuit Vapid though the prose-poems of Aloysius Bertrand might have been, the ghoulish nightmarish world in which they inhabit inspired such imaginative cunning and resource from Maurice Ravel, who must have been affected all the more deeply as his father was then mortally ill. Composed in 1908 and based on Bertrand’s three Fantasies à la manière de Rembrandt et de Callot (1836), Ravel’s dark triptych, Gaspard de la nuit – loosely referring to “Satanic visions of the night” – is a true marvel at not just capturing the sinister resonance of dreams, magic and evil charms, but in also being a prodigiously wellcrafted piece of piano writing. Ravel’s curious and inimitable alchemy (with more than a nod to transcendental Lisztian style) is music at
CL AUDE DEBUSSY (18 6 2 –1918 )
L’lsle joyeuse Often translated as “Isle of Joy”, this piece more properly describes a joyous island, regardless of inhabitants. The opening piano gambit thus resembles a birdcall, and it is easy to see each musical event thereafter as literally descriptive of something happening: waves on a shore, perhaps, or animals stirring as the morning beckons. Debussy is described as an “impressionist” today, though much of his musical aesthetic stemmed from an attempt to combat what he saw as the overwhelming Wagnerism from Germanic lands. Having dabbled in decadence
LO U I S S C H W I ZG EB EL
sunny G major Prelude (No. 3) features filigree passagework in the left hand, which ripples with quicksilver energy.
LO U I S S C H W I ZG EB EL
and Romanticism in his early compositions, Debussy was adamant that French music should have its own character, and decried the attempts of French composers to follow in Wagner’s footsteps. He turned to art for inspiration, and indeed, Monet is the painter with whom Debussy is most often paralleled: soft shades of colour in minute brushstrokes, the interplay of light and shadow, the mists, the air of wistfulness. Whole-tone scales and the Lydian mode pervade this piece, bending traditional tonal procedures. Beyond this technical description, words struggle to describe a piece as organic as this. Programme note by Thomas Ang
MODEST MUSSORGSKY (18 3 9 –18 81)
Pictures at an Exhibition
22
Promenade 1. Gnomus Promenade 2. Il vecchio castello Promenade 3. Les Tuileries 4. Byd o Promenade 5. Ballet des poussins dans leur coque 6. Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuyle Promenade 7. Limoges – le marché 8. Catacombae: Sepulcrum romanum; con mortuis in lingua morta 9. La Cabane sur des pattes de poule 10. La Porte des Bogatyrs de Kiev (La Grande Porte de Kiev) Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition of 1874 – an enormous musical elegy to the composer’s friend, the artist Victor Alexandrovich Hartmann who had died in the summer of the previous year – provoked a massive outcry, the real reasons for which are not particularly clear. Some commentators have suggested that the likes of Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov were shocked by the underlying ruggedness of the writing, mistaking the vigorous audacities for cheap, vile parody, so much so that the latter and many others later strove to “revise” the
work in different ways, their aim (among other things) to iron out Mussorgsky’s original roughhewn liberties. But then again, had they not been already exposed to the celebrity of Liszt, whose similarly raw, pungent harmonies in works like the Totentanz had already taken the world by storm at least a decade earlier? A better explanation might perhaps be that Mussorgsky’s uncompromising originality – not just in terms of the work’s broad conception but also in the vividness and intensity of his writing that, to some, far outshone Hartmann’s modest talents – flew in the face of his compatriots’ own styles at that time. And at least among pianists and pianophiles today, it is felt that the vigour of Mussorgsky’s original text, with its unorthodox pianism and all, hardly needs to be smoothened out; if anything, it is not only the most authentic but also the most convincing. The work essentially depicts the many feelings and emotions of the composer strolling round a Hartmann exhibition, his amble subtly changing in mood at different times and captured by a deceptively simple, folk-inspired pentatonic Promenade theme which recurs between tableaus, of which Mussorgsky selected ten: Gnomus (“The Gnome”) – a dwarf of the nightmarish, malignant and grotesque variety, its random, disjointed scampering and darting movements musically depicted with the sharpest differentiation in note figurations, tempo and dynamics. Il vecchio castello (“The old castle”) – a medieval structure of melancholic beauty, finding eloquent expression in a troubadour’s nostalgic lament, tellingly marked con dolore, of “old, unhappy, far-off things/And battles long ago”. Les Tuileries (“In the Tuileries Gardens”) – the mischievous taunts of children playing in the gardens of Paris. Byd o – a passing heavy Polish ox-drawn cart, its puffing and panting movement steady and lumbering. Ballet des poussins dans leur coque (“Ballet of the unhatched chicks”) – the comical wriggling of chickens in their shells to the tune of a frisky, brilliantly rhythmic scherzo.
Limoges – le marché – the cackling chatter of gossiping women in the marketplace at Limoges. Catacombae: Sepulcrum romanum; con mortuis in lingua morta (“Catacombs: Roman Sepulchre; With the Dead in a Dead Language”) – an oasis of pulsating and shimmering sepulchral calm, the Promenade theme is stealthily reworked to portray rows of skulls in a dimly-lit tomb, followed by a hallucinatory episode as the spirit of the dead artist addresses its dead audience “in the language of the dead”. La Cabane sur des pattes de poule (“The Hut on fowl’s legs”) – a vivid portrayal of Baba-Yaga, the fiercest witch in Russian folklore, in frenzied flight across the sky, accompanied by shrieking owls. La Grande Porte de Kiev (“The Great Gate of Kiev”) – a final, majestic procession through the magnificent Bogatyrs’ Gate at Kiev, concluding terrifically with a final reappearance of the Promenade theme, garbed in all the grandiose splendour of ceremony, complete with distinctively Russian sounds of tolling and pealing bells. Such imaginative cunning and resource, along with Mussorgsky’s uncanny sense of disenchantment and overall obsession with death and all things dark, are fodder for the virtuoso performer to produce his most inspired and unique work. There is plenty of room for him to appropriately challenge received wisdom at every level. After all, among other things, Mussorgsky’s manuscript has no metronome marks, and few composers would ever insist on blind fidelity to dynamic markings above tasteful imaginative re-creation. Programme note by Lionel Choi
LO U I S S C H W I ZG EB EL
Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuyle – Two Polish Jews, one of whom rich and pompous while the other poor and wheedling, their contrasting states of mind played out as if they were in one and the same person.
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Programmes (SSO) Ms Kua Li Leng Ms Teo Chew Yen Ms Jodie Chiang Community Outreach Ms Vanessa Lee Choral Programmes Ms Regina Lee Ms Whitney Tan Programmes (VCH) Ms Erin Tan ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT Mr Ernest Khoo (Head) Orchestra Mr Chia Jit Min Concert Operations Ms Kimberly Kwa Ms Chin Rosherna Mr Ramayah Elango Mr Md Fariz bin Samsuri Library Mr Lim Lip Hua Ms Priscilla Neo Ms Wong Yi Wen
Customer Experience Mr Randy Teo Ms Dacia Cheang Ms Nur Shafiqah bte Othman DEVELOPMENT & PARTNERSHIPS Ms Peggy Kek (Head) Corporate Communications Ms Leong Wenshan Ms Haslina Hassan Development Mr Anthony Chng Ms Chelsea Zhao Ms Nikki Chuang MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS Ms Cindy Lim (Head) Mr Chia Han-Leon Ms Myrtle Lee Ms Jana Loh Ms Hong Shu Hui Ms Sherilyn Lim Ms Melissa Tan
Finance, IT & Facilities Mr Rick Ong Mr Alan Ong Ms Goh Hoey Fen Mr Jeffrey Tang Mr Md Zailani bin Md Said Human Resources & Administration Mr Desmen Low Ms Melissa Lee Ms Evelyn Siew Legal Mr Edward Loh SINGAPORE NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA Ms Pang Siu Yuin (Head) Mr Tan Yong Qing Ms Tang Ya Yun ABRSM Ms Hay Su-San (Head) Ms Patricia Yee Ms Lai Li-Yng Mr Joong Siow Chong
22 & 23 Nov 2019, 7.30PM Victoria Concert Hall Tickets: $15 - $88
20 & 21 May 2020, 7.30PM Victoria Concert Hall Tickets: $25 - $98
25 & 26 Jul 2019, 7.30PM Victoria Concert Hall Tickets: $15 - $88
13 Sep 2019, 7.30PM Esplanade Concert Hall Tickets: $15 - $88
JOINTLY PRESENTED BY
SEONGJIN CHO IN RECITAL (SOUTH KOREA)
10 SEP 2019 TUE, 7.30PM
ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL
Mozart Fantasia in D minor, K.397 Mozart Piano Sonata No.3 in B-flat, K.281 Schubert Fantasie in C major, Op.15 (D.760), “Wanderer Fantasy” Intermission Berg Liszt
Piano Sonata, Op.1 Piano Sonata in B minor, S.178
2hrs (including 20min intermission)
BOOK NOW!
TICKETS FROM $40.
WWW.ESPLANADE.COM/SEONG-JIN-CHO Tickets from Esplanade Box Office and SISTIC authorised agents. SISTIC hotline: 63485555. Admission age: 6 & above. Full ticketing details at www.sistic.com. Terms and conditions apply.
EXCLUSIVE SPONSOR
Information correct at time of print. Photo credit © Harald Hoffmann / DG
PROGRAMME
12th EDITION VICTORIA CONCERT HALL ESPLANADE RECITAL STUDIO
30 Nov – 8 Dec 2019
N AT I O N A L
PIANO & VIOLIN COMPETITION 2019 APPLY NOW!
www.sso.org.sg/npvc Registration closes: 12 July 2019 • Open to ages 25 years and below. • The Artist category is open to Singapore citizens, Permanent Residents (PRs) and foreigners studying, working or residing in Singapore. • The Senior, Intermediate and Junior categories are open to Singapore citizens and PRs only.
NATIONAL PIANO & VIOLIN COMPETITION
ORGANISED BY THE SINGAPORE SYMPHONY GROUP
SUPPORTED BY
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The SSO is a charity and not-for-profit organisation. You can support us by donating at www.sso.org.sg/donate The mission of the Singapore Symphony 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.