CONCERT PROGRAMME ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL SEASON

Transcription

1 CONCERT PROGRAMME ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL SEASON

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3 Sat 20 Oct 2018 at 8.30 pm Sun 21 Oct 2018 at 3.00 pm Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Mark Wigglesworth, conductor Stephen Hough, piano PROGRAMME RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini 23 mins INTERVAL 20 mins SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No mins All details are correct at time of printing. Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS reserves the right to vary without notice the artists and/or repertoire as necessary. Copyright 2018 by Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS (Co. No X). All rights reserved. No part of this programme may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright owners.

4 Mark Wigglesworth conductor Internationally renowned and Olivier Awardwinning conductor Mark Wigglesworth is one of the outstanding musicians of his generation, as much at home in the opera house as the concert hall. Recognised for his masterly interpretations, his highly detailed performances combine a finely considered architectural structure with great sophistication and rare beauty. Through a broad repertoire ranging from Mozart to Boulez, he has forged enduring relationships with many orchestras and opera houses throughout the world. Sim Canetty Clarke His book The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters was published in October by Faber & Faber. Wigglesworth has enjoyed a long relationship with English National Opera (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Così fan Tutte, Falstaff, Katya Kabanova, Parsifal, The Force of Destiny, Magic Flute, Jenufa, Don Giovanni, and Lulu), and operatic engagements elsewhere include The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny), The Metropolitan Opera, New York (The Marriage of Figaro) as well as at The Bavarian State Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Teatro Real, The Netherlands Opera, La Monnaie, Welsh National Opera, Glyndebourne, and Opera Australia. In 2017, he received the Oliver Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. On the concert platform, highlights include performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony, and the Sydney Symphony. His recordings include a critically acclaimed complete cycle of the Shostakovich Symphonies with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Mahler s Sixth and Tenth symphonies, with the Melbourne Symphony, a disc of English music with the Sydney Symphony, Britten s Peter Grimes with Glyndebourne, and the Brahms Piano Concertos with Stephen Hough. He has written articles for The Guardian and The Independent, made a six-part TV series for the BBC entitled Everything to Play For, and held positions as Associate Conductor of the BBC Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the Swedish Radio ymphony, Music Director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and most recently Music Director of English National Opera. He is currently Principal Guest Conductor of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

5 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 one of Twenty Living Polymaths by The Economist, he was the first classical performer to Sim Canetty Clarke be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in Since winning the 1983 Naumburg Competition in New York, Hough has performed with major orchestras and given recitals at the most prestigious concert halls including New York s Carnegie Hall and London s Royal Festival Hall. He is a regular guest at festivals such as the Salzburg, Mostly Mozart, Edinburgh, La Roque-d Anthéron and BBC Proms. Highlights in 2018/19 include performances with The Cleveland and Minnesota orchestras, Wiener Symphoniker, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and China National Symphony Orchestra. In the UK, he performs with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Hallé. Recent appearances include with the New York Philharmonic, and the Detroit, Dallas, Baltimore, Sydney and Singapore symphony orchestras. In 2018, he was Artist-in-Residence at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Hough s discography of over 60 CDs has garnered awards including the Diapason d Or de l Année, Grammy nominations and Gramophone Awards including Record of the Year and the Gold Disc. Recent releases include piano works by Debussy, his Dream Album and a live recording of Schumann and Dvořák s concertos with Andris Nelsons and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. His awardwinning ipad app The Liszt Sonata was released by Touch Press in As a composer, Hough has been commissioned by Wigmore Hall, Musée du Louvre, London s National Gallery, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, the Genesis and Walter W. Naumburg Foundations, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi and the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. His music is published by Josef Weinberger Ltd. Hough s first novel, The Final Retreat, was published by Sylph Editions in He has written for major newspapers. He is an Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple, an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, a Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, 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.

6 PROGRAMME NOTES Two large-scale Russian masterworks constitute the music on this programme. They were composed within a ten-year span, from the early 1930s to early 40s, and Shostakovich s symphony was premiered the very year Rachmaninoff died. Although Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich rank among the leading Russian composers of their time, their paths did not cross, as Rachmaninoff fled his homeland in 1917 in the wake of the revolution while Shostakovich remained in Russia and was allowed to travel abroad only under highly controlled conditions. Shostakovich s symphony is a graphic portrayal of the horrors of war. Rachmaninoff s Rhapsody has no programme per se but the image of death lurks in its shadow as the old Latin funeral chant for the dead, the Dies irae, makes numerous appearances in the work. SERGEI RACHMANINOFF ( ) Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (1934) The Background Rachmaninoff s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is not, as the title falsely implies, really a rhapsody at all. The term rhapsody suggests a loosely organized structure, but in fact the work follows a very clear, taut design a set of 24 variations. One might, however, associate the piano soloist with the role of the ancient Greek rhapsode, the encoreartsseattle.com specially trained singer or reciter of epic poems. Wit, charm, romance, rhythmic verve and masterly orchestration combine in what many consider to be one of Rachmaninoff s greatest compositions. It was first performed on 7 November 1934 in Baltimore with Leopold Stokowski leading the Philadelphia Orchestra and the composer at the piano. The Music The Rhapsody begins with the curiously misplaced first variation; only afterwards do we hear the theme in its original, intact form, played by violins with piano accentuations. Variations 2 to 5 all retain rhythmic tautness and drive. Finally, in Variation 6 does a more rhythmically free and sentimental tone creep in. A new theme enters at Variation 7, that old funeral chant for the dead, the Dies irae, which Rachmaninoff had incorporated into so many of his previous works. In fact, though, there is a melodic kinship between the chant theme and Paganini s. The Dies irae returns in Variation 10, a grotesque march. In between (Variations 8 and 9) a demonic quality pervades. Variation 11 is essentially a highly florid cadenza with a true rhapsodic flavour to it. Two variations in D minor follow: one a nostalgic, wistful minuet set to Paganini s fragmented theme; the other a sturdy pronouncement of the theme, still in triple meter, in a more straightforward

7 presentation. Variations 14 and 15 are in F major, with the latter almost entirely for piano alone. Dark, ominous, even ghostly stirrings seem to emanate from Variation 16. The next one does nothing to lighten the oppressive mood. Suddenly, as if emerging into the light of day, comes that famous 18th variation. The Rhapsody now proceeds swiftly to its conclusion, each variation more scintillating than the last. The gathering momentum and dazzling passage work for the soloist lead one to expect a conclusion of overwhelming bravura and force. Indeed, this expectation is almost fulfilled, but at the last moment, Rachmaninoff pulls back and, with a wicked chuckle, ends his Rhapsody quietly with a last, lost fragment of the memorable theme. DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH ( ) Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op.65 (1943) I. Adagio Allegro non troppo II. Allegretto III. Allegro non troppo IV. Largo V. Allegretto The Background rbth.com In June 1941, Hitler s army penetrated the Russian border and headed for Leningrad, determined to bring the city to its knees. It arrived on 29 August and began bombing. In response to this trauma, which lasted for months, Shostakovich wrote his Seventh Symphony, subtitled Leningrad. Two years later, the end of the war was nowhere in sight. Misery, destruction and devastation existed on a scale hitherto unknown. Now Shostakovich was moved to write another symphonic commentary on the war, a symphony that spoke of tragedy, the horrors of war, and the bitter suffering that comes in its wake. It yearns not for an exultant victory but for a quiet peace. There is no gleaming apotheosis at its conclusion, and it bears no patriotic infusions of glory. Rather than a great public statement, it is a personal and introspective reflection. The epic, sixty-minute work was first performed on 3 and 4 November 1943 by the State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Yevgeny Mravinsky. The Music The first movement, a vast Adagio, is nearly equal in length to the remaining four combined. Three main musical subjects hold the huge structure together. The first of these is a call to attention, the peremptory, agitated gesture announced in the opening bars by cellos and basses and answered by violins and violas. The second is one of those long, austere themes the composer was famous for, a theme of uncompromising loneliness, forbidding greyness, seemingly frozen in time. Also of a greyish cast and played by the violins is the third theme, a soft, gravely beautiful

8 lament sung over a gently throbbing accompaniment from the remainder of the string body. The climax of the movement arrives with spellbinding effect. Monstrous, blaring chords for the full orchestra playing fortississimo against the roar and rumble of the entire percussion section. Suddenly the terror passes, leaving in its wake a desolate landscape of pain and anguish. The movement moves steadily towards a quiet close, brooding, Hamlet-like. The second movement is a brutal musical representation of the crushing, annihilating effect of war. Shrill sounds, vulgar effects, and crassly heavy orchestration all contribute to the effect of a warlike march. If the second movement evoked the spectre of war, the third brings it directly into our presence, in some of the most hellish music ever conceived. Robert Dearling calls it a Toccata of Death. Violas set up an ostinato pattern of four equal notes per measure, a pattern that will continue relentlessly for over five hundred measures until the end of the movement, six terrifying minutes later. There are no themes here just the merciless rhythms of the war machine at work. The fourth movement arrives without pause. The war machine is suddenly halted in its tracks. The noise and frenzy quickly subside, and the music settles into a grave passacaglia (a musical procedure in which a series of variations are presented over a recurring bass line). Eleven times in succession, cellos and basses play a mournful nine-bar theme, while over it various commentaries are played out. The final movement arrives, again without pause, in a moment of pure magic a softly intoned, sustained C major triad in the clarinets, a gesture of harmonic stability we have not yet encountered in this symphony, and giving the sense of being lifted into clear air (Hugh Ottaway). Tentatively at first, then with more resolution, the solo bassoon takes up the musical thread and sets off on a meandering theme that will become the basis for a set of variations. Additional themes are introduced as well, and towards the end intrudes a final reminder of the nightmare that now passes, hopefully, for the last time.

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10 MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA CORPORATE SUITE PREMIUM MEMBERS RESIDENT CONDUCTOR Naohisa Furusawa FIRST VIOLIN Co-Concertmaster Peter Daniš Principal Ming Goh Zhenzhen Liang Maho Daniš Martijn Noomen Sherwin Thia Runa Baagöe Miroslav Daniš Evgeny Kaplan Marcel Andriesii Tan Ka Ming Petia Atanasova *Alexandru Radu *Liu-Yi Retallick *Branislava Tatic *Marco Roosink SECOND VIOLIN Timothy Peters Assistant Principal Luisa Hyams Stefan Kocsis Anastasia Kiseleva Catalina Alvarez Ionuț Mazareanu Chia-Nan Hung Yanbo Zhao Ling Yunzhi Robert Kopelman *Linda Aburto Hernandez *Yoshino Takeshita *Yu Tao-Ming *Tan Poh Kim VIOLA Gábor Mokány Ong Lin Kern Sun Yuan Fan Ran Thian Ai Wen Emil Csonka *Christoven Tan *Nemesi Judit *Yeo Jan Wea *Matilda Brunstrom *Ian Psegodschi CELLO Csaba Körös Assistant Principal Steven Retallick Sub-Principal Mátyás Major Gerald Davis Laurențiu Gherman Julie Dessureault Elizabeth Tan Suyin Sejla Simon *Simon Cobcroft *Chen Cao DOUBLE BASS Wolfgang Steike John Kennedy Jun-Hee Chae Naohisa Furusawa Raffael Bietenhader Andreas Dehner *Heinz-Peter Graf *Douglas Rutherford FLUTE *Jessica Jade Han Yukako Yamamoto Sub-Principal Rachel Jenkyns PICCOLO Principals Sonia Croucher *Roberto Alvarez Gonzalez OBOE Simon Emes *Angel Luis Sanchez Sub-Principals Niels Dittmann *Bernice Lee Wen Ting CLARINET Gonzalo Esteban David Dias da Silva Sub-Principal Matthew Larsen BASS CLARINET Principal Chris Bosco BASSOON Alexandar Lenkov *Jasen Atanasov Sub-Principal Denis Plangger CONTRABASSOON Principal Vladimir Stoyanov HORN Grzegorz Curyla James Schumacher Sub-Principals Laurence Davies Barkin Sönmezer *Aleksander Pokrywka Assistant Principal Sim Chee Ghee TRUMPET *Matthew Philip Baker William Theis Sub-Principal Jeffrey Missal Assistant Principal Matthew Dempsey TROMBONE s Fernando Borja *Marques Young *Alejandro Diaz Pineda BASS TROMBONE Principal *Jose Benavent Esparza TUBA *Hidehiro Fujita TIMPANI Matthew Thomas PERCUSSION Matthew Prendergast Sub-Principals Joshua Vonderheide *Michael Israelievitch *Tan Su Yin HARP Principal Tan Keng Hong CORPORATE SUITE CLUB MEMBER PARTNER HOTELS Note: Sectional string players are rotated within their sections. *Extra musician.

11 Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Sareen Risham BUSINESS & MARKETING MANAGEMENT Yazmin Lim Abdullah BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Wan Yuzaini Wan Yahya At Ziafrizani Chek Pa Nurartikah Ilyas Kartini Ratna Sari Ahmat Adam Aishah Sarah Ismail Affendee MARKETING Munshi Ariff Abu Hassan Hisham Abdul Jalil Farah Diyana Ismail Noor Sarul Intan Salim Muhammad Shahrir Aizat Ahmad Kusolehin Adha Kamaruddin CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT Yayuk Yulianawati Rila Jalwati Mohd Noor Music TALENT DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT Soraya Mansor PLANNING, FINANCE & IT Mohd Hakimi Mohd Rosli Norhisham Abd Rahman Siti Nur Ilyani Ahmad Fadzillah Nurfharah Farhana Hashimi PROCUREMENT & CONTRACT Logiswary Raman Norhaszilawati Zainudin HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT & ADMINISTRATION Sharhida Saad Mas Arinah Hamzah Muknoazlida Mukhadzim Nor Afidah Nordin Nik Nurul Nadia Nik Abdullah TECHNICAL OPERATIONS Firoz Khan Mohd Yunus Mohd Zamir Mohd Isa Shahrul Rizal Mohd Ali Dayan Erwan Maharal Zolkarnain Sarman Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Sareen Risham general Manager Khor Chin Yang Soraya Mansor general Manager's office Timmy Ong ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION/ ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT/ MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC YOUTH ORCHESTRA Ahmad Muriz Che Rose Sharon Francis Lihan Fadilah Kamal Francis Shireen Jasin Mokhtar Katherine Tan Jia Yiing MUSIC LIBRARY Ong Li-Huey Wong Seong Seong Muhamad Zaid Azzim Mohd Diah EDUCATION & OUTREACH Shireen Jasin Mokhtar Shafrin Sabri DEWAN FILHARMONIK PETRONAS X MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA H

12 Box Office: Ground Floor, Tower 2, PETRONAS Twin Towers Kuala Lumpur City Centre Kuala Lumpur Telephone: Online Tickets & Info: mpo.com.my malaysianphilharmonicorchestra DEWAN FILHARMONIK PETRONAS X MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA H