TAIWAN PHILHARMONIC CHIN: DANCING SONG FROM THREE ABORIGINAL SONGS FOR ORCHESTRA

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1 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018, 8PM Segerstrom Center for the Arts Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall Pre-concert lecture by Brian Lauritzen, 7pm TAIWAN PHILHARMONIC Shao-Chia Lü, conductor Stephen Hough, piano Dancing Song from Gordon CHIN Three Aboriginal Songs for Orchestra (b. 1957) (North American Premiere) SHAO-CHIA LÜ Piano Concerto No. 1 Franz LISZT S. 124, E-flat major ( ) La mer I. Allegro maestoso II. Quasi adagio III. Allegretto vivace Allegro animato IV. Allegro marziale animato - I N T E R M I S S I O N - I. De l'aube à midi sur la mer II. Jeux de vagues III. Dialogue du vent et de la mer Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2 I. Lever du jour II. Pantomime III. Danse générale Claude DEBUSSY ( ) Maurice RAVEL ( ) Stephen Hough appears by arrangement with CM Artists. Mr. Hough s recordings are available on the Hyperion, BIS, Chandos, Warner Classics labels. North American representation for the Taiwan Philharmonic: MKI Artists One Lawson Lane, Suite 320, Burlington, VT CHIN: DANCING SONG FROM THREE ABORIGINAL SONGS FOR ORCHESTRA (NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE) I have chosen traditional folk songs from three aboriginal tribes for the subjects they depict and how they inspire me musically when I hum those melodies quietly to myself. Thanks to the generally less complicated pitch content and rhythmic patterns of these aboriginal songs, I was given lots of freedom to develop my own ideas. All three songs I based my work on are characteristic in their own way, which gave me a good sense of direction. I can elaborate with variations of the original materials while maintaining a unifying musical style. Tonight, the orchestra is performing the third and final movement, Uyas Mgeli (Dancing Song) of the Sediq tribe. Although rare, all dates, times, artists, programs and prices are subject to change. Photographing or recording this performance without permission is prohibited. Kindly disable pagers, cellular phones and other audible devices. 11

2 ABOUT THE PROGRAM The previous two movements deal mostly with diatonic materials. As a result, by the time I started working on the third movement, I had developed a longing for a chromatic theme. While the musical material used in the beginning of this movement is my own creation, I manage to give it a dance-like quality, as Uyas Mgeli suggests, a song for dance. The true Uyas Mgeli appears later at the second segment of this movement. The old and the new themes take places one after the other, and the Uyas Mgeli eventually prevails as the movement develops, depicting a vivid picture of people dancing in the winds, leaping onto the treetop, through the bluest sky, stomping their feet with the heartiest rhythm, joyfully anticipating the coming of a new life. Copyright Gordon Chin LISZT: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1, S. 124, E-FLAT MAJOR Liszt was a bundle of 19th century aesthetic contradictions co-existing in one complex and fascinating human at once pyrotechnic showman and rigorous formal craftsman, swaggering extrovert and spinner of lyrically intimate melodies, genre-busting maverick and deeply respectful reckoner with traditions past. All polarities are on display in Liszt s First Piano Concerto, which he began composing in the 1840s (although it did not reach its final, published form until 1856, undergoing several revisions as the heretofore piano-focused Liszt learned to orchestrate; some drafts are titled Concerto Symphonique, signifying the composer s intention for soloist and orchestra to function as equal partners). Liszt premiered the concerto in 1855, with Hector Berlioz conducting. The key setting of E-flat major and the choice to open with an extensive cadenza for the soloist both nod to Beethoven s Emperor concerto, an iconoclastic predecessor that Liszt knew and loved. However, Liszt s approach to the concerto genre diverges from Beethoven s in that it is cyclic there are no breaks between movements, and thematic material across sections is interrelated (i.e., a new melody may be derived from a previous theme) or recontextualized (i.e., a motive that appeared in one guise will be recast later in a strikingly different character). A sense of unity emerges, the parts corresponding to the whole. The First Piano Concerto comprises four linked movements: a resolute Allegro with blazing octaves and excursions into free fantasy for the piano, an Adagio influenced by the bel canto style, a Puckish scherzo in which the triangle is prevalent, and a Presto finale incorporating themes from all prior sections, ending with a thrilling bravura riff on the motive that kicked off the first movement. This opening motive is rumored to mimic the declamation of the phrase, Das versteht Ihr alle nicht, ha-ha! ( You all do not comprehend this! ) supposedly, Liszt was thumbing his nose at the conservative critics whom he knew would be aghast. (We might hear the ha-ha! as a Mephistophelian cackle, given Liszt s lifelong attraction to the Faust myth). On premiering, the concerto met its share of detractors Eduard Hanslick, in an especially savage burn, declared it a concerto for triangle but Liszt s amalgamation of melodic gift, formal innovation, and sheer technical brilliance secured the piece a place in the repertoire. Ambitious conservatory students and seasoned professionals still attempt to scale its heights every year, drawn to a derring-do and radical virtuosity that remains slightly beyond comprehension. 12

3 DEBUSSY: LA MER Perhaps the only definitive observation that one could make about the sea is that it changes. Anyone who has spent a few hours observing the tides, or on a boat experiencing the vagaries of the waves, has been privy to the perpetual self-reinvention of this roiling, majestic, and sometimes violent ecosystem. The medium of music, unfolding in time, is especially well-equipped among the arts to enact the variations and transformations of natural forces. Much of the vocabulary that we use to describe the ocean maps metaphorically onto musical processes: dynamics swell and recede, percussion pounds and crashes, flutes float, violins shimmer, harps undulate. Debussy s La Mer, the ultimate sonic seascape, does more than represent the ocean it embodies it. Young Debussy was at one point destined for a maritime life: his father, who had served in the Navy, expected his eldest son to follow suit, or at least to find a respectable position as a mercantile sailor. Instead, Claude was steered into a musical career by a family friend, but the ocean and the element of water remained powerful sources of inspiration for the composer (an incomplete smattering of Debussy s waterworks includes Reflets dans l Eau, En Bateau, Ondine, and Poissons d Or). La Mer was based less on a particular encounter with the sea than on Debussy s composite, constructed memories of it (in fact, Debussy conceived of these Three Symphonic Sketches while landlocked at his in-laws home in Burgundy in 1903). Hokusai s famous woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa and the paintings of J.M.W. Turner also informed Debussy s inner vision. La Mer was unusual for its time in that it did not depict any human protagonists. Symphonic poems orchestral works modeled after literary premises or extramusical scenes and events had been in vogue since the mid-nineteenth century, but usually invoked mythology or psychological narrative; even the most abstract and metaphysical tone-poems, like Strauss Death and Transfiguration or Liszt s Cradle to Grave, centered on subjective human experience. La Mer, by contrast, simply captured a force of nature in all its beauty, terror, and complexity. Debussy s three movements, respectively titled Dawn till midday on the sea, Play of wind and waves, and Dialogue of the wind and sea, all resist the formalism of symphonic discourse, instead favoring capricious shifts of key and tempo, and continuous free development of motives. Delicate, mysterious passagework foams and churns its way into thundering grandeur, then relents, then regroups ever-changing, ever-evolving, just like the sea. RAVEL: DAPHNIS ET CHLOÉ, SUITE NO. 2 Ravel s big break came in 1909, when impresario Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballet Russes tapped the up-and-coming composer to write a score for a new production. Daphnis et Chloé premiered in 1912, after a protracted development hell in which Ravel was chronically behind schedule. This was due in part to his communication block with choreographer Michel Fokine ( Fokine doesn t speak a word of French, and I only know how to swear in Russian, Ravel wrote to a friend. ) The eventual production received lukewarm reviews: the choreography, music, and set seemed mismatched, and the performers (including Vaslav Nijinsky as ABOUT THE PROGRAM 13

4 ABOUT THE PROGRAM Daphnis) were under-rehearsed. But Ravel s luscious, lyrical, and fiendishly acrobatic score stood out, and has since become a beloved standard of the orchestral repertoire. The ballet s plot is drawn from a Greek romance attributed to the writer Longus (3rd century AD), though Ravel and Fokine encountered the myth through the sixteenth-century French poet Jacques Amyot. The story is a classic will-they-or-won t-they compounded by some nymphs, satyrs, and pillaging pirates: Daphnis and Chloé, orphans and best friends since childhood, are in love but are loathe to admit it. Forces conspire against them one spring morning a flock of nymphs momentarily tempt Daphnis, a braggart rival shepherd named Dorcon sets his sights on Chloé, Daphnis and Dorcon engage in a dance-off to win a kiss from Chloé. Daphnis triumphs, but the victory is short-lived, as a band of pirates comes to the island and kidnaps Chloé. The nymphs summon Pan, who journeys to the pirates grotto with his army of satyrs, spooking the abductors until they relinquish their captive. Chloé returns to Daphnis, and in gratitude the couple reenacts the story of Pan and his love, the nymph Syrinx. The entire ensemble rejoices in a bacchanal. Ravel called his composition a Symphonie Choréographique, and in his scoring we feel both the tight motivic control of symphonic writing and the pure kinetic force of dance. The second orchestral suite features three tableaux from the second half of the ballet. Lever du jour, at first tranquil and then rapturous, sees Daphnis and Chloé reunited at daybreak; Pantomime is the lovers homage to the Pan and Syrinx story, with Pan s flute erupting virtuosically from the orchestra; Danse générale is the ballet s closing bacchanal, a swirling, frenzied tour-de-force in 5/4 time. Diaghilev s dancers complained about the asymmetrical meter and struggled to navigate it, but today s audience members may have trouble staying in their seats for this propulsively danceable showstopper. Copyright Alana Murphy SHAO-CHIA LÜ, CONDUCTOR Taiwan-born conductor Shao-Chia Lü studied music in Taipei, later at Indiana University in Bloomington, in the United States, and also at Vienna s College of Music. His training resulted in important first prizes at three renowned international conductor competitions: Besançon (France), Pedrotti (Italy) and Kondrashin (the Netherlands). Shao-Chia Lü accepted positions as General Music Director of the Koblenz Theatre ( ), the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz ( ), and the Staatsoper Hannover ( ). Shao-Chia Lü appears regularly as guest conductor at several world-renowned opera houses, including the Opera Australia in Sydney and Melbourne, the English National Opera, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Den Norske Opera in Oslo, Gothenburg Opera, Oper Frankfurt, Staatsoper Hamburg and Stuttgart, Deutsche Oper and Komische Oper Berlin. Alongside his opera activities, Lü is equally at home on concert podiums. Lü has worked frequently with many leading European orchestras, such as the Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestra dell Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Norwegian and Swedish Radio Orchestras, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, 14

5 ABOUT THE ARTISTS TAIWAN PHILHARMONIC (YUNG NIEN WANG) Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, SWR Stuttgart, the Göteborgs Symfoniker, Staatskapelle Weimar, Frankfurter Museumsorchester and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. In Asia, Lü has worked with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, NHK, New Japan Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, KBS Symphony Orchestra and leading orchestras in China. Shao-Chia Lü has been Music Director of the Taiwan Philharmonic (the National Symphony Orchestra) since August TAIWAN PHILHARMONIC Founded in 1986, the Taiwan Philharmonic, also known as the National Symphony Orchestra at home, is hailed as one of the best orchestras in the Asian Region and became the resident orchestra of the National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center in Starting April 2014, the NSO has become an affiliate orchestra to the National Performing Arts Center. Led by renowned conductor Shao-Chia Lü as its 5th music director starting August 2010, the NSO has increased the country s cultural richness and music educational strength throughout Taiwan. The NSO with 99 members presents a 40- week musical season of approximately 75 concerts/chamber recitals and one opera 15

6 ABOUT THE ARTISTS production each year. It also launches educational programs and outreach projects constantly. Tour performances are regularly offered throughout Taiwan and overseas. It has toured to Vienna, Paris, Berlin, Geneva, Milan, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Sapporo, Tokyo, Yokohama, Seoul, Hong Kong and major cities in China. The NSO works with internationally acclaimed conductors, such as Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Krzysztof Penderecki, Rudolf Barshai, Leonard Slatkin, Christopher Hogwood, Oleg Caetani, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Michael Sanderling, Vassily Sinaisky, Osmo Vänskä, Hans Graf and soloists, including Midori, Vadim Repin, Hilary Hahn, Ray Chen, Yo-Yo Ma, Gautier Capuçon, Alban Gerhardt, Mischa Maisky, Sol Gabetta, Martin Grubinger, Louis Lortie, Kun-Woo Paik, Stephen Hough, Stephen Kovacevich, Sabine Meyer, Reinhold Friedrich, Leonidas Kavakos, Yuja Wang and many others. The NSO has extended its artistic reach, becoming involved in theater and opera productions, such as working with Lin Hwai-min, the world-renowned choreographer and founder of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Austrian digital artist Klaus Obermaier, and opera stage directors Tobias Richter, Moffatt Oxenbould, Hans-Peter Lehmann, Andreas Homoki, and James Robinson. In addition to its record-breaking semi-stage concert operas Der Ring des Nibelungen, and Elektra, the NSO has collaborated with world-class opera houses for its multinational productions, such as Der Rosenkavalier (Deutsche Oper am Rhein, 2007), Carmen (Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Norwegian National Opera, and Opera Australia, 2009), Madama Butterfly (Opera Australia, 2012), Fidelio (Opernhaus Zurich, 2015) as well as in-house production Die Walküre (2013), Salome (2014), Otello (2016), Il Trittico (2017), and Parsifal (2018). STEPHEN HOUGH, PIANO One of the most distinctive artists of his generation, Stephen Hough combines a distinguished career as a pianist with those of composer and writer. Named by The Economist as one of Twenty Living Polymaths, Hough was the first classical performer to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2014 New Year s Honors. Since taking first prize at the 1983 Naumburg Competition in New York, Hough has performed with the world s major orchestras and given recitals at the most prestigious concert halls. He is a regular guest at festivals such as Salzburg, Aspen, Blossom, Tanglewood, Edinburgh, La Roque-d'Anthéron and BBC Proms, where he has made more than twenty-five appearances. Highlights of Mr. Hough s season include performances at Lincoln Center s Mostly Mozart Festival, with The Cleveland and Minnesota orchestras, the Vienna Symphony, London Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and a West Coast tour with the Taiwan Philharmonic with performances in Seattle, San Diego and Orange County. Recent highlights include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, and the 16

7 STEPHEN HOUGH (SIM CANNERTY CLARKE) San Francisco, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Detroit, St. Louis, Dallas and Sydney symphonies. In 2018 he was Artist-in-Residence at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, performing a cycle of all five Beethoven concertos. Recent recitals include performances at New York s Carnegie Hall and London s Royal Festival Hall (International Piano Series), and in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto and Paris among others. As a composer, Hough has been commissioned by Wigmore Hall, Musée du Louvre, London s National Gallery, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, the Genesis Foundation, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Indianapolis Symphony, the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation, Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi and the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. His music is published by Josef Weinberger Ltd. Stephen Hough s first novel, The Final Retreat, was published by Sylph Editions in March 2018, and he has written for The New York Times, The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian and the Evening Standard. He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, a Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, and is on the faculty of The Juilliard School in New York. ABOUT THE ARTISTS Hough s extensive discography of more than 60 CDs has garnered international awards including the Diapason d Or de l Année, several Grammy nominations, and eight Gramophone Awards including Record of the Year and the Gold Disc. Recent releases include solo piano works by Debussy, Hough s Dream Album, and a live recording of Schumann and Dvořák s piano concertos with Andris Nelsons and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, all for Hyperion Records. His award-winning ipad app The Liszt Sonata was released by Touch Press in

8 TAIWAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA ROSTER CONDUCTOR LAUREATE Günther Herbig RESIDENT CONDUCTOR Yin-Fang Chang FIRST VIOLIN Ting-Yu Wu I-Ching Li Hao-Tun Teng Yi-Chun Chen Yu-Lin Kuo Ji-Hung Lin Kun-Hao Liang Yee-Nong Chen Hsiao-Ching Cho Cecilia Fang Jiachi Huang Ting-Fang Lee Chia-Chi Lai Meng-Ying Lin Chia-Hao Lee Chih-Hong Tseng Chu-Chun Tsai SECOND VIOLIN Yi-Ju Chen Cheng-Mei Sun Wen-Tso Chen I-Hui Wu Ching-Hsi Lee Yen-Yi Huang Tsu-Mei Ku Hsin-Jung Kang Mei-Jain Li Jen-Fu Chung Meng-Fong Tsai Chang-Wen Hung Wei-Hong Chen Chih-Hsiang Wang MUSIC DIRECTOR SHAO-CHIA LÜ VIOLA Grace Huang Chi-Chuan Teng Chao-Ying Lu Yea-Chyi Hwang Jing-Yi Lee Juin-Ling Shieh Meng-San Lu Szu-Chi Li Jubel Chen Ping-Chang Tsai Yen-Ting Wu Ya-Han Huang CELLO Lana Hsiung Yi-Shien Lien Chih-Yin Wei You-Wen Chou I-Ting Chen Yi-Hsien Lin Jih-Sheng Huang Pinwei Su Ying-Chi Tang Yu-Wen Wang DOUBLE BASS Yung-Ho Fu Yi-Jung Su Chun-Shiang Chou Su-Yu Wang Hsiao-Ching Huang Shu-Yi Wang Pei-Chih Lien Hsin-Chieh Tsai FLUTE Anders Norell Chika Miyazaki Chuin Lee Ya-Hsin Hsiao PICCOLO Mei-Chuan Chung OBOE I-Ching Wang Tung Nguyen Hoang Shu-Ting Yang ENGLISH HORN Ming-I Lee CLARINET May-Lin Ju Kai-Ting Chang Wei-I Chu Cheng-Jung Sun BASSOON Kai-Yu Jian I-Hsiu Chen Ling-Feng Kao CONTRABASSOON En-Yi Chien HORN Yi-Hsin Cindy Liu Pin-Chun Liu Jen-Hsien Huang Wan-Ju Wang Yu-Mien Tsao Yi-Ting Chung TRUMPET Nicolas Rusillon Chang-Po Chen Ching-Min Chang Loo-Kit Chong Shan Lee TROMBONE Kun-Ying Lee Hang-Fat Shiu Chung-Sheng Chen TUBA Fujita Keisuke TIMPANI Sebastian Efler Ting-Chuan Chen PERCUSSION Jer-Huei Chen Chen-Hsing Chen Pi-Tzu Yang Chun-Yeh Wang Chia-Che Hsu HARP Shuen Chieh Chia-Yuan Liang KEYBOARD Yu-Ting Hsu Special thanks to Ti Huang as the associate clarinet principal of this concert. Concertmaster Associate Concertmaster Principal Associate Principal Assistant Principal On Leave Season Contracted Musicians Auxiliary BASS TROMBONE Hsiao-Yun Peng 18

9 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Lydia Wenchen Kuo Manager, Planning & Production Ying-Fan Lai Manager, Marketing & Development Paul Wang Manager, Administration & Secretary of Music Director Yun-Yuh Wang PLANNING & PRODUCTION Coordinator/MD Assistant Koay Yee Fei Programme Coordinator Linglin Shih Yu-Fen Huang Yu-Ching Yang Librarian Brittney Kao Stage Manager Kuan-Hsun Kao Production Coordinator Ching-Han Su Assistant Stage Manager Yen-Lin Li MARKETING & DEVELOPMENT Project Manager, Marketing & Development Gloria Lo Project Manager, International Affairs Nancy Lu Marketing Coordinator Michelle Liu Zoe Kao Pei-Xuan Lian Vivian Chen ADMINISTRATION Assistant Manager, Personnel Bibi Lin Legal Affairs Cary Liu Administrator Eileen Lin Ching I Chen Administration Assistant Yuny Chang LEGAL CONSULTANT Hsin-Ho Lin CONCERT DRAMATURGIST Yuan-Pu Chiao RECORDING PARTNERSHIP NSO-ON-CAMPUS LECTURE SERIES SPONSORED BY TNUA & NSO Internship Program FOR MKI ARTISTS Managing Director John Zion Director of Operations Brooke Quiggins Saulnier Producer & Company Manager John C. Gilliland III Stage Manager Tom Eirman FOR 8VA MUSIC CONSULTANCY Managing Directors Patricia Price Matt Herman ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS THE TAIWAN PHILHARMONIC THANKS ITS SPONSORS AND FRIENDS WITHOUT WHOM THIS TOUR WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE Chen-Hsiang Liu 劉振祥 Juliana Tzeng Silicon Valley Ballet Academy Ling Lee, 李玲 Sue Fan 溫隆信 David L. Wen Dr. Ye-Ming Wu San Francisco Taipei Sister City Committee 19