RACHMANINOV S SECOND SYMPHONY

Transcription

1 SEASON 2007 TEA & SYMPHONY RACHMANINOV S SECOND SYMPHONY Friday 9 November 11am Sydney Opera House Concert Hall Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor SERGEI RACHMANINOV ( ) Symphony No.2 in E minor, Op.27 Largo Allegro moderato Allegro molto Adagio Allegro vivace The music in today s concert has been recorded for broadcast across Australia on ABC Classic FM 92.9 on Thursday 15 November at 8pm. Estimated timing: 60 minutes The performance will conclude at approximately 12.05pm. Cover images: see page 9 for captions PRESENTING PARTNER Biscuits at Sydney Symphony Tea & Symphony concerts kindly supplied by Kambly 2 Sydney Symphony

2 THE ARTIST Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor In the years since Vladimir Ashkenazy first came to prominence on the world stage in the 1955 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, he has built an extraordinary career not only as one of the most renowned and revered pianists of our times, but as an inspiring artist whose creative life encompasses a vast range of activities. Conducting has formed the largest part of his musicmaking for the past 20 years. He was Chief Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic from 1998 to 2003, and took up the position of Music Director of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo in He will take up the new position of Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor to the Sydney Symphony in Alongside these roles, Vladimir Ashkenazy is also Conductor Laureate of the Philharmonia Orchestra, with whom he has developed landmark projects such as Prokofiev and Shostakovich Under Stalin (a project which he also took to Cologne, New York, Vienna and Moscow and later developed into a TV documentary) and Rachmaninoff Revisited at the Lincoln Center, New York. He also holds the positions of Music Director of the European Union Youth Orchestra and Conductor Laureate of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and he maintains strong links with a number of other major orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra (of whom he is a former Principal Guest Conductor), San Francisco Symphony, and Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin (Chief Conductor and Music Director ). He continues to devote himself to the piano, building his comprehensive recording catalogue with releases such as the 1999 Grammy award-winning Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues, Rautavaara s Piano Concerto No.3 (which he commissioned), and Rachmaninov transcriptions. His latest releases are recordings of Bach s Wohltemperierte Klavier and Beethoven s Diabelli Variations. A regular visitor to Sydney over many years, Vladimir Ashkenazy s most recent appearances with the Sydney Symphony were in 2006, when he conducted an all- Rachmaninov concert featuring The Bells. His future artistic role with the Orchestra will include collaborations on composer festivals, major recording projects and international touring activities. DECCA: VIVIANNE PURDOM 3 Sydney Symphony

3 ABOUT THE MUSIC Sergei Rachmaninov Symphony No.2 in E minor, Op.27 Largo Allegro moderato Allegro molto Adagio Allegro vivace This fervent, warm-hearted symphony has never been out of fashion with the public that loves Rachmaninov s music, but between the two world wars, perhaps until the 1970s, its emotional grandeur was mistrusted by many critics. It was also, for many years, the usual practice to perform it with disfiguring cuts, which the composer had reluctantly approved in the hope of securing further performances. (Nowadays it is nearly always performed complete, though usually without the repeat of the exposition in the first movement.) The symphony is now established as one of the most popular of all Russian orchestral works. Max Harrison s words about musical fashion seem particularly apt: Composers great and less great win their place in music history through having ideas of their own, and as time passes it counts for little whether these were cast in an advanced or traditional language. The circumstances of the symphony s composition are unremarkable: between 1906 and 1909 Rachmaninov and his family spent much of each year in Dresden, where there was time to compose in peace, where he could hear fine performances in the city s opera house, and where the concerts of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra were only a short journey away. These Dresden years were his most consistently fruitful as a composer: his First Piano Sonata, the tone poem The Isle of the Dead, and his initial work on the Third Piano Concerto all date from this productive period. A secretive composer at the best of times, he was particularly reluctant to discuss his work on this symphony with colleagues. The premiere of his Symphony No.1 in 1897 was a fiasco so shattering to Rachmaninov that he composed almost nothing for three years. He was now cautious about its successor, and before he had finished orchestrating it in the first months of 1907 he told friends that it was a repulsive work, that he was already sick of it, and that he did not know how to write symphonies anyway. But its first performances, Keynotes RACHMANINOV Born Oneg (Novgorod region), 1873 Died Beverly Hills CA, 1943 In 1892 Rachmaninov graduated from the Moscow Conservatory with the Great Gold Medal. His future as a pianist and a composer promised to be equally golden, and although his First Symphony received a disastrous premiere in 1897, he eventually rallied with his Second Piano Concerto (1901) and with the Second Symphony that we hear this morning. SYMPHONY NO.2 Unlike the First Symphony, the Second Symphony, premiered in 1907, was warmly greeted in both St Petersburg and Moscow. It remains the best-loved of Rachmaninov s symphonies, and it would be so even if its most gorgeous melody hadn t been appropriated for a pop song. As Rachmaninov s first symphony after the creative hiatus that followed Symphony No.1, the Second Symphony reflects a newfound confidence of style and above all a powerful new lyricism. The Adagio third movement is the clearest example of heart-wrenching melody, but the whole symphony sings. Technically a 20th-century work, it is imbued with the spirit of Romanticism: expansive, intense, and direct in its emotions. At the same time Rachmaninov retained the unifying strategies he d adopted for his First Symphony, and the proportions and orchestration are Classically inclined. 4 Sydney Symphony

4 which Rachmaninov conducted himself, were great successes, and the work was awarded a major Russian composition prize in The Second is Rachmaninov s only symphony to date from the years of his full-blown Romantic style, the period which might be said to end with the growing astringency evident in the Etude-Tableaux, Op., 39, and with his flight from Russia shortly thereafter. At roughly 65 minutes, Rachmaninov s Second is as expansive as the symphonies of his contemporaries Mahler and Elgar, but it is not of their kin it is more direct in its expressive ambitions, throwing itself without reservation into each successive emotion. Although it has the emotional extravagance of the big Richard Strauss tone poems, this symphony declares no interest in their contrapuntal virtuosity. Rachmaninov s counterpoint is concerned primarily with establishing a fitting context for a wealth of melodic writing; and formally, there is none of the radical compression with which Sibelius was experimenting at this time. In the boldness of its profile and intensity of feeling, this symphony is the work of a profoundly original mind. In one important characteristic, the Second is typical of its time it is, like the symphonies of Bruckner, Mahler and Elgar, post-wagnerian in its time-scale and ambitions, particularly in its frequent changes of key within movements, the long span of its melodies, the way Rachmaninov creates harmonic tension by refusing to return to established keys at expected moments, and the use of motto themes to bind the individual movements together. Yet, structurally, the symphony is quite conventional: a first movement in sonata form (complete with a slow introduction); a scherzo and trio; and, following the Adagio, a vigorous finale of well-bred Classical proportions. Its orchestration, too, is Classically inclined. The weight of the argument is given to the strings is a phrase used repeatedly by annotators to describe Rachmaninov s scoring of the Second Symphony, but this remark disguises the sensitivity with which the string voicings are placed. There is much expressive, high writing for the violas, particularly in the first movement; the wealth of warm divisi writing for the violins is one of the symphony s hallmarks; and the colours of the low strings vary with remarkable sensitivity. Rachmaninov s Second is more direct in its expressive ambitions, throwing itself without reservation into each successive emotion. 5 Sydney Symphony

5 It is the cellos and basses we hear first, in the quiet opening bars of the Largo introduction. This is our initial encounter with the symphony s three inter-related motto themes, and when the Allegro proper begins, we see that the movement s main theme a yearning, winding idea given to the violins has been derived from the third of these. There is also a short, suave second subject for oboes and clarinets, which is answered and extended by the strings. The development begins with brief solos for violin and clarinet reminiscences of the movement s main theme that emerge between fragmentary orchestral quotations and transformations of the other themes we have already heard. The atmosphere becomes seriously tempestuous before we reach the recapitulation, which is based largely on the suave second subject. The movement ends with a force and power very different from the dark brooding with which it began. The physical energy of the scherzo is a bright light after the shifting orchestral perspectives of the opening movement. In the middle of its festivities, a clarinet solo leads us to one of Rachmaninov s glowing Romantic melodies, written in characteristic step-wise fashion, and stretching itself luxuriantly across 23 bars of music before we return to the scherzo music proper. Rachmaninov then pauses before announcing the beginning of the trio with a startling tutti exclamation. A vivid fugue, in which the movement s main theme is passed fleetingly around the whole orchestra, leads to a restatement of all the major scherzo material until, in the coda, the jaunty atmosphere is interrupted by solemn brass chantings of the symphony s second motto theme, after which the movement seems to slither off into its own dark corner. The glorious Adagio is the most overtly Wagnerian movement in the work, sounding at times like a Russian meditation on the world of Tristan und Isolde. This is Rachmaninov the composer and conductor of operas, and here is perhaps the greatest love duet never written for the stage. The movement begins mid-phrase, almost as if we are eavesdropping, with the violins playing what we think will be the movement s main tune. It is, in fact, the last phrase of the melody we are about to hear: one of Rachmaninov s greatest creations, a long, sinuous clarinet solo, captivating in its ingenuity and length, floating on a bed of shifting, weaving harmonies. The violins then take What tune is that? The opening gesture of the Adagio of the Second Symphony was borrowed by songwriter Eric Carmen for his 1975 hit Never Gonna Fall in Love Again it made it to No.11 in the charts. The glorious Adagio is perhaps the greatest love duet never written for the stage. 6 Sydney Symphony

6 up the theme we overheard at the Adagio s opening, before the cor anglais and oboe adopt an equally vocal, interrogative theme. At this point we are engulfed in a richly ambiguous, Tristan-esque world, with floating harmonies and key relationships. After a passionate climax, the dream continues with beautiful solos for violin, horn, flute, oboe and clarinet. The movement ends tranquilly. The finale immediately establishes an atmosphere of frenetic jollity; indeed, the fizzing triplets given to bassoons, flutes, clarinets and strings seem to mimic the sound of laughter. Was Rachmaninov ever again this unbuttoned? The mood soon becomes conspiratorial, however, as a march theme is announced by the brass. Then the main theme returns, before ascending stratospherically in preparation for a new melody of great lyrical beauty, given to the strings (minus the double basses) to play as a kind of impassioned chorale against throbbing triplets by the wind and brass. Then themes from previous movements are recalled before we reach a remarkable passage in which, gradually, the whole orchestra creates a vortex of scales, evoking the bell sounds so beloved of this composer. The exhilarating conclusion gives great and embracing prominence to the finale s second theme, before racing to its shining, emphatic coda. When this symphony was new, music critic Philip Hale declared that its early popularity revealed a weakness in its composition, and that one day the work would be buried snugly in the great cemetery of orchestral compositions. The increasing popularity of Rachmaninov s Symphony No.2 since the 1970s is a victory for the broad commonwealth of music-lovers over the small, influential critical fraternity who once declared it obvious and naïve. It might even be a signal that a concern for human feeling is the primary value most audiences seek in music old and new. PHILLIP SAMETZ 1996/2007 The Second Symphony calls for three flutes (one doubling piccolo), three oboes (one doubling cor anglais), two clarinets, bass clarinet and two bassoons; four horns, three trumpets, three trombones and tuba; timpani and percussion (bass drum, cymbal, snare drum, glockenspiel); and strings. The Sydney Symphony first performed Rachmaninov s Second Symphony in 1939 with Bernard Heinze, and most recently in 2002 with Alexander Lazarev. Lost and Found Rachmaninov s manuscript score for the Second Symphony was long thought lost, but in 2004 it turned up in a Swiss cellar missing its binding, title page and the opening pages of the music as well as the last page, but otherwise a complete score in the composer s hand. The manuscript was authenticated by Geoffrey Norris Rachmaninov specialist and music critic for the London Telegraph and is now on display at the British Library. 7 Sydney Symphony

7 Rachmaninov? Rachmaninoff a spelling history Would Rachmaninoff care how we spell his name? The young Sergei Vasil yevich had already lost the final letter of his name (a hard symbol) in a reform of Cyrillic early in the 20th century when it changed from to. Transliteration to European languages creates a number of different spellings, and a scan of early editions of the English Musical Times provides an interesting compendium. The first reference to the young composer occurred in 1893, where the Rachmaninow spelling was used, while an announcement of the publication of his earliest piano pieces in 1894 heralded the first use of Rachmaninoff. In 1899, when the 26 year old gave his first performance in London, his name was spelt Rachmaninov, a spelling that gained increasing currency in England after the composer s death (and which was adopted by the ABC and other cultural institutions here). Variations continued, with Rakhmaninov in 1913, Rakhmaninof in 1915, and in 1920, Rachmaninof. However, it is interesting that the variant spellings have persisted, since the composer spent over a third of his life in the West. Indeed, a decision may have been made as early as 1892, when S. Rachmaninoff appeared on one of his early manuscripts. The original publications of his music most frequently used this spelling (the exception appears to be the use of Rachmaninow ), and it was also seen on the records he released and on his concert programs. A longer discussion on this topic can be found at: sydneysymphony.com/ Rachmaninov The composer s characteristically elegant signature LEBRECHT MUSIC & ARTS 8 Sydney Symphony

8 Rachmaninoff was how his name appeared on his identification papers, and the spelling can be noted on his tombstone in New York state. It is also used by his heirs to this day. While the respected Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians for years used the authoritative Library of Congress Transliteration System spelling Rakhmaninov, the composer s preferred orthography as seen in his characteristically elegant signature is now more generally found in biographies and other academic literature. SCOTT DAVIE 2007 Rachmaninov Festival the timeline 1893 The Rock, Op Capriccio on Gypsy Themes, Op Symphony No.1, Op.13 premiered Compositional hiatus following the disastrous reception of the First Symphony 1901 Piano Concerto No.2, Op Symphony No.2, Op Isle of the Dead, Op Piano Concerto No.3, Op Vocalise, Op Rachmaninov leaves Russia and eventually settles in the US 1926 Piano Concerto No.4, Op.40 (revised 1941) 1930s Builds a home for himself in Switzerland 1934 Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op Symphony No.3, Op.44 (revised 1938) 1940 Symphonic Dances, Op.45 What s on the cover During the 2007 season Sydney Symphony program covers will feature photos that celebrate the Orchestra s history over the past 75 years. The photographs on the covers will change approximately once a month, and if you subscribe to one of our concert series you will be able to collect a set over the course of the year. COVER PHOTOGRAPHS (clockwise from top left): Ernest Llewellyn, former Concertmaster of the SSO, recording a halfhour recital for ABN-2 in the early 1960s; piccolo part prepared for the first international tour in 1965; SSO Prom Concert audience playing penny whistles in McCabe s Mini Concerto for organ, orchestra and 485 penny whistles (17 February 1968); Principal Flute, Janet Webb with Principal Oboe, Guy Henderson and second oboe, Carol Helmers; Vladimir Ashkenazy goes through the score with Principal Viola Roger Benedict (left) and Concertmaster Dene Olding (2004); Stravinsky, assisted by Robert Craft, rehearses for his concert with the SSO in GOVERNMENT SUPPORT The Sydney Symphony is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council and by the NSW Ministry for the Arts. 9 Sydney Symphony

9 SALUTE PRINCIPAL PARTNER GOVERNMENT PARTNERS The Company is assisted by the NSW Government through Arts NSW PLATINUM PARTNER MAJOR PARTNERS GOLD PARTNERS SILVER PARTNERS REGIONAL TOUR PARTNERS BRONZE PARTNERS MARKETING PARTNERS Australia Post Beyond Technology Consulting Bimbadgen Estate Wines J. Boag & Son Vittoria Coffee Avant Card Blue Arc Group Lindsay Yates & Partners 2MBS Sydney s Fine Music Station 10 Sydney Symphony

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11 Sydney Symphony Founded in 1932, the Sydney Symphony has evolved into one of the world s finest orchestras as Sydney has become one of the world s great cities. Resident at the Sydney Opera House, the Orchestra also performs throughout Sydney and regional New South Wales, and has toured internationally. Critical to the Orchestra s success has been the leadership given by its former Chief Conductors, including Sir Eugene Goossens, Willem van Otterloo, Louis Frémaux, Sir Charles Mackerras, Stuart Challender and Edo de Waart, as well as collaborations with legendary figures such as George Szell, Sir Thomas Beecham, Otto Klemperer and Igor Stravinsky. Maestro Gianluigi Gelmetti is now in his fourth year as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, a position he holds in tandem with that of Music Director at the prestigious Rome Opera. This year the Orchestra celebrates its 75th anniversary. PATRON Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO GOVERNOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES Gianluigi Gelmetti CHIEF CONDUCTOR AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR SPONSORED BY EMIRATES John Conde AO CHAIRMAN Libby Christie MANAGING DIRECTOR FIRST VIOLINS Dene Olding Concertmaster Kirsten Williams Assoc. Concertmaster Sun Yi Assoc. Concertmaster Kirsty Hilton Asst Concertmaster Fiona Ziegler Asst Concertmaster Carl Pini Guest Principal Julie Batty Sophie Cole Jennifer Hoy Jennifer Johnson Georges Lentz Nicola Lewis Alexandra Mitchell Léone Ziegler Emily Long# Alexander Norton# Emily Qin# Martin Silverton# SECOND VIOLINS Marina Marsden Emma West Asst Principal Pieter Bersée Maria Durek Emma Hayes Shuti Huang Stan Kornel Benjamin Li Nicole Masters Philippa Paige Biyana Rozenblit Maja Verunica Alexandra D Elia# Anthea Hetherington Leigh Middenway* VIOLAS Anne-Louise Comerford Yvette Goodchild Robyn Brookfield Sandro Costantino Jane Hazelwood Mary McVarish Leonid Volocesky Felicity Tsai Jacqueline Cronin# Jennifer Curl# Joanna Tobin Rosemary Curtin* Nicole Forsyth* CELLOS Catherine Hewgill Nathan Waks Leah Lynn Kristy Conrau Elizabeth Neville Tim Nankervis Adrian Wallis David Wickham Rowena Crouch# Janine Ryan# Martin Penicka DOUBLE BASSES Kees Boersma Alex Henery Neil Brawley Principal Emeritus David Campbell Steven Larson Richard Lynn David Murray Jennifer Druery# Jill Griffiths* HARP Louise Johnson FLUTES Janet Webb Emma Sholl Carolyn Harris PICCOLO Rosamund Plummer OBOES Shefali Pryor Ngaire de Korte* COR ANGLAIS Alexandre Oguey CLARINETS Francesco Celata Christopher Tingay BASS CLARINET Craig Wernicke BASSOON Matthew Wilkie Fiona McNamara HORNS Ben Jacks Robert Johnson Geoff O Reilly Principal 3rd Lee Bracegirdle Marnie Sebire Casey Rippon# Saul Lewis* TRUMPETS Daniel Mendelow Anthony Heinrichs John Foster TROMBONES Ronald Prussing Joshua Davis# BASS TROMBONE Christopher Harris TUBA Steve Rossé TIMPANI Richard Miller PERCUSSION Rebecca Lagos Adam Jeffrey Colin Piper Ian Cleworth* Brian Nixon* Bold = Principal Italics = Associate Principal # = Contract Musician = Sydney Symphony Fellow * = Guest Musician = Courtesy Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE TRUST Mr Kim Williams AM (Chair) Mr John Ballard, Mr Wesley Enoch, Ms Renata Kaldor AO, Ms Jacqueline Kott, Mr Robert Leece AM RFD, Ms Sue Nattrass AO (leave), Mr Leo Schofield AM, Ms Barbara Ward, Mr Evan Williams AM EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT ACTING CHIEF EXECUTIVE Sue Nattrass AO DIRECTOR, FACILITIES Paul Akhurst DIRECTOR, FINANCE & SYSTEMS David Antaw DIRECTOR, MARKETING & DEVELOPMENT Naomi Grabel DIRECTOR, PERFORMING ARTS Rachel Healy DIRECTOR, PEOPLE & CULTURE Rick Browning DIRECTOR, INFORMATION SYSTEMS Claire Swaffield DIRECTOR, TOURISM & VISITOR OPERATIONS Maria Sykes SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE Bennelong Point GPO Box 4274 Sydney NSW 2001 Administration (02) Box Office (02) Facsimile (02) Website sydneyoperahouse.com This is a publication. / SHOWBILL PUBLISHER Playbill Proprietary Limited / Showbill Proprietary Limited ACN ABN Pacific Highway, Pymble Telephone: (02) Fax: (02) admin@playbill.com.au Website: Executive Chairman and Advertisement Director Brian Nebenzahl OAM, RFD Managing Director Michael Nebenzahl Editorial Director Jocelyn Nebenzahl Director Production Chris Breeze / TS S91 12 Sydney Symphony