CONCERT PROGRAM BEETHOVEN EMPEROR CONCERTO

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Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven by Karl Jäger CONCERT PROGRAM BEETHOVEN EMPEROR CONCERTO Wednesday, May 23, 2018 8:00pm Thursday, May 24, 2018 8:00pm Osmo Vänskä conductor Yefim Bronfman piano Kaija

1 Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven by Karl Jäger CONCERT PROGRAM BEETHOVEN EMPEROR CONCERTO Wednesday, May 23, :00pm Thursday, May 24, :00pm Osmo Vänskä conductor Yefim Bronfman piano Kaija Saariaho Ciel d hiver (Winter Sky) Charles Ives Symphony No. 2 I. Andante moderato II. Allegro molto (con spirito) III. Adagio cantabile IV. Lento maestoso V. Allegro molto vivace Intermission Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 Emperor I. Allegro II. Adagio un poco mosso III. Rondo: Allegro 12

2 THE DETAILS Kaija Saariaho Ciel d hiver (Winter Sky) 10 Born: Helsinki, Finland, Oct 14, 1952 Composed: 2013 Ciel d hiver (Winter Sky) is Saariaho s arrangement of the second movement of her orchestral piece, Orion, from 2002, commissioned by Musique Nouvelle en Liberté. The world première took place on April 7, 2014 at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, given by Orchestre Lamoureux, conducted by Fayçal Karoui. Ciel d hiver opens with a haunting piccolo solo, the melody of which is then continued in turns by solo violin, clarinet, oboe, and muted trumpet, while the strings, harp, and piano provide shimmering, atmospheric accompaniment. Very gradually, the orchestral texture thickens with multilayered polyphony; first, in a section featuring a sky-high descending motif in the woodwinds and upper strings in alternation with darker, deeper growls in the piano and lower strings, then an episode with the brass intoning chords in ascending layers. Near the end, the slow tempo becomes slower still, and the piano emerges with an ethereal melody a few notes cycling through various permutations (the celesta similarly ruates on a slower-moving motif) against the backdrop of expressive string glissandos and the sounds of crotales, glass chimes, and bowed vibraphone. Program note by Hannah Chan-Hartley ABOUT THE COMPOSER Kaija Saariaho is a proent member of a group of Finnish artists who are making a worldwide impact. She studied in Helsinki, Fribourg, and IRCAM in Paris; while at the latter, Saariaho developed techniques of computer-assisted composition and acquired fluency in working on tape and with live electronics. This experience influenced her approach to writing for orchestra, with its emphasis on the shaping of dense masses of sound in slow transformations, for example, in Verblendungen (1984), and her preoccupation with colour and texture, such as in Du Cristal (1989) and à la Fumée (1990). Although much of her catalogue comprises chamber works, she has turned increasingly to larger forces and broader structures, such as in Orion (2002), Laterna Magica (2008), Circle Map (2008). From the later 90s, Saariaho has turned to opera, with outstanding success: L amour de loin (2000), Adrian Mater (2006), Emilie (2010), and the oratorio La passion de Simone (2006). Saariaho has claimed the major composing awards: Grawemeyer Award, Wihuri Prize, Nemmers Prize, Sonning Prize, and Polar Music Prize. 13

3 THE DETAILS Charles Ives Symphony No Born: Danbury, Connecticut, USA, Oct 20, 1874 Died: New York City, New York, USA, May 19, 1954 Composed: ; rev It expresses the musical feelings of the Connecticut country folk around here (Redding and Danbury) in the 1890s... It is full of the tunes they sang and played then, and I thought it would be a sort of bad joke to have some of these tunes in counterpoint with some Bach tunes. Charles Ives on Symphony No. 2 A millionaire insurance executive by trade, Ives somehow found time to compose several hundred pieces, large and small. True to his quirky, Yankee-individualist nature, he tried to have just a few of them performed. It has only been since his death that his music has come to be recognized as the cornerstone of a distinctively American school of composition. In his finest works may be heard, as in the creations of no other composer, all the energy, warmth, and humorous, life-loving spirit of Charles Ives s America. Naturally, the first of his four symphonies ( , composed during his student years) is the least individual. In its (relatively) straightforward and folkinfluenced style, it resembles the music of such contemporary composers as the Czech Antonín Dvořák, whose New World Symphony, coloured by the music of African Americans and Native Americans, had premièred in New York in In Symphony No. 2, Ives made far more widespread use of American folk tunes, hymns, and marches than in No. 1, as well as themes by Bach, Wagner, and Brahms. He wove all this together with original themes, some of which date back as far as his teens. He also moved away from the lush orchestration of No. 1 toward an appealing simplicity. Leonard Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic in the première on February 22, Ives heard a broadcast of the performance and expressed his approval, as did the press. The TSO will perform the critical edition that the Charles Ives Society published in 2004, as edited by Jonathan Elkus. The first movement is moderate in tempo, warm in sound and expression. The second bustles along joyfully to a grandiose conclusion. Nostalgic yearning pervades the hymn-like third movement. The brief, majestic fourth movement leads without pause to the finale. Composer Bernard Herrmann, a longtime friend of Ives, wrote of the last movement, The symphony orchestra has been swept aside, to make way for country fiddlers and the fireman s band, for a Fourth of July jubilation, the shouting of children, a politician s speech, and Old Glory. Program note by Don Anderson 14

4 Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 Emperor 38 Baptized: Bonn, now in Germany, Dec 17, 1770 Died: Vienna, Austria, Mar 26, 1827 Composed: 1809 Beethoven s last concerto, a locus classicus of his heroic style, was composed early in 1809, in part while the French army under Napoleon laid siege to Vienna. That conflict perhaps influenced the concerto s often militaristic bearing (especially in the long first movement), though the nickname Emperor did not originate with the composer. The concerto was first performed by Johann Christian Friedrich Schneider, in Leipzig in November 1811; Beethoven s prize pupil, Carl Czerny, was the soloist for the Vienna première in The composer himself, by this time nearly deaf, never played it in public. It begins with a brilliant piano cadenza a defiance of convention, but a fitting introduction to a work grand in scale and elevated in rhetoric, with a technically demanding solo part that looks ahead to the bravura and glitter of the early Romantic virtuoso concerto. Beethoven does not abandon Classical form here, however: once the cadenza is past, a long orchestral passage duly introduces the subject matter of the first movement. There are two main themes, both marches the first swaggering, the second gentle. As the movement unfolds, these themes are varied and extended, recast in ever-new, colourful, often Romantic guises, bringing in new motifs along the way. The recapitulation is heralded by another cadenza. Near the end, however, just where one expects a cadenza, Beethoven notes in the score, Do not play a cadenza, but instead proceed immediately to the following namely, a briefly cadenza-like passage that further develops the main themes. The second movement is a lyrical, deeply Romantic meditation, dreamy rather than dramatic and of sometimes heartbreaking beauty. (Carl Czerny claimed that the religious songs of devout pilgrims were in Beethoven s d when he wrote the hymn-like main theme.) The second and third movements are linked, with the pianist musing over a motif that foreshadows the finale, which has a joyous, fanfarelike main theme and the rhythmic profile of traditional hunt music. This finale is noally a rondo, though in the middle, Beethoven forgets all about contrasting episodes and instead muses for several utes over his main theme, offering ever more rarified and ornately decorated variations on it. Near the end, we are left with the piano accompanied only by quiet timpani taps, until whirling piano scales and the orchestra s last nod to the main theme bring the concerto rousingly to a close. Program note by Kevin Bazzana 15

THE ARTISTS Osmo Vänskä conductor Osmo Vänskä made his TSO début in April 2000.

Other key highlights include 15 recordings, winning a GRAMMY Award in 2014 for Best Orchestral Performance (for their second Sibelius album), initiating and conducting the annual Future Classics

5 THE ARTISTS Osmo Vänskä conductor Osmo Vänskä made his TSO début in April Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra for over a decade, Osmo Vänskä has led the Orchestra on five major European tours, as well as an historic trip to Cuba in May Other key highlights include 15 recordings, winning a GRAMMY Award in 2014 for Best Orchestral Performance (for their second Sibelius album), initiating and conducting the annual Future Classics concert, and various educational projects. In great demand as a guest conductor, in 2017/18, he débuts with Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, SWR Sinfonieorchester, and National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, and returns to Orchestre de Paris, San Francisco Symphony, and the Seoul and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestras, amongst others. Further concerts include appearances with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, following his appointment as its Honorary Conductor in A distinguished recording artist, primarily for the BIS label, his latest release is a recording of Mahler s Symphony No. 6, with the Minnesota Orchestra, followed by last year s release of Symphony No. 5. Together, they have also recorded the complete Beethoven and Sibelius symphony cycles, on BIS, to rave reviews. Yefim Bronfman piano Yefim Bronfman made his TSO début in November Internationally recognized as one of today s most acclaimed and admired pianists, Yefim Bronfman stands among a handful of artists regularly sought by festivals, orchestras, conductors, and recital series. Mr. Bronfman s 2017/18 season includes concerts with the Israel Philharmonic on their US tour, followed by concerts in Munich, London, and Vienna with the Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra. He returns to the orchestras of New York, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, Indianapolis, and Toronto, and tours with the Vienna Philharmonic. In Europe, he can be heard in Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, and London, and on tour with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. A tour in Asia with the London Symphony Orchestra brings the season to a close. He has given numerous solo recitals in the leading halls of North America, Europe, and Asia, including acclaimed débuts at Carnegie Hall in 1989 and Avery Fisher Hall in In 1991, he was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, and in 2010, he was honoured as the recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from Northwestern University. 16

rhinegold education: subject to endorsement by ocr Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A, K. 622, first movement Context Scores AS PRESCRIBED WORK 2017

rhinegold education: subject to endorsement by ocr Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A, K. 622, first movement Context Scores AS PRESCRIBED WORK 2017 94 AS/A LEVEL MUSIC STUDY GUIDE AS PRESCRIBED WORK 2017 Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A, K. 622, first movement Composed in 1791 (Mozart s last instrumental work, two months before he died), dedicated to