Tour Partner. Chamber Music New Zealand presents. Anderson & Roe. Piano Duo. Touring NZ March

Transcription

1 Tour Partner Chamber Music New Zealand presents Anderson & Roe Piano Duo Touring NZ March

2 Auckland Melbourne Singapore Music brings us closer Congratulations Chamber Music New Zealand, we re thrilled to be in creative partnership with you. Here s to a vibrant year of Music Up Close, delighting audiences and delivering meaningful experiences for all New Zealanders. voice.co.nz

3 Anderson & Roe Piano Duo 1 CHAMBER MUSIC NEW ZEALAND presents ANDERSON & ROE PIANO DUO BERNSTEIN / ANDERSON & ROE Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs Pg 5 JOHN ADAMS Hallelujah Junction Pg 5 ANDERSON & ROE Hallelujah Variations (Variations on a Theme by Leonard Cohen) Pg 6 THE BEATLES / ANDERSON & ROE Let It Be Pg 6 Interval BERNSTEIN / ANDERSON & ROE West Side Story Suite Pg 7 GLUCK / ANDERSON & ROE Ballet from Orphée et Eurydice Pg 8 BIZET / ANDERSON & ROE Carmen Fantasy Pg 8 DURATION: 120 minutes - including interval. Programme notes written by Sarah Chesney. Notes include adaptations of copy written by Anderson and Roe. Saturday 10 March, 7.30pm Auckland Town Hall Sunday 11 March, 5pm Gallagher Academy Hamilton Tuesday 13 March, 7.30pm Theatre Royal New Plymouth Wednesday 14 March, 7.30pm Globe Theatre Palmerston North Thursday 15 March, 7.30pm MTG Century Theatre Napier Saturday 17 March, 7.30pm Michael Fowler Centre Wellington Sunday 18 March, 6pm Old St John's Church Nelson Tuesday 20 March, 7.30pm The Piano Christchurch Thursday 22 March, 7.30pm Glenroy Auditorium Dunedin Friday 23 March, 7.30pm Civic Theatre Invercargill *The Artists reserve the right to make changes to the programme The Auckland concert will be recorded for broadcast by RNZ Concert

4 2 Chamber Music New Zealand Kia ora tātou It is a pleasure to welcome Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe to Aotearoa on their first tour for Chamber Music New Zealand. A couple of years ago, I overheard the musicians of The Egmont Trio talking about Anderson & Roe. They whetted my curiosity and, at the first opportunity, I looked them up on YouTube. I was immediately hooked. What I loved was first, their virtuosity and engaging musicianship, but also their ability to find ways of projecting the character of the music that they perform. They are witty, charming and communicative. Yet, they are also utterly committed to the music that they perform, whether that is Mozart, Bernstein or Leonard Cohen. These concerts are going to be pure fun and musically satisfying. This is the beginning of CMNZ s 2018 season. If you haven t already looked at the other concerts that we re offering this year, I urge you to do so and to think about converting tonight s concert into the first element in a subscription package. Never before have I felt so confident that we have a lineup of great artists and a really enticing variety of ensemble types and styles. The CMNZ 2018 season is like a yearlong festival high quality and with a wide and diverse appeal. The Anderson & Roe tour is being supported by VOICE Brand Agency who are new national touring partners. They are doing great things for us our new brand identity is an exciting start and you ll see more of our work together as the year goes on. Enjoy the concert. Peter Walls Chief Executive Music Up Close Chamber Music New Zealand Please respect the music, the musicians, and your fellow audience members, by switching off all cellphones, pagers and watches. Taking photographs, or sound or video recordings during the concert is strictly prohibited unless with the prior approval of Chamber Music New Zealand.

5 Photo: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco ANDERSON & ROE PIANO DUO Known for their adrenalized performances, original compositions, and notorious music videos, GREG ANDERSON and ELIZABETH JOY ROE are revolutionising the piano duo experience for the 21st century. Described as the most dynamic duo of this generation (San Francisco Classical Voice), rock stars of the classical music world (Miami Herald), and the very model of complete 21st-century musicians (The Washington Post), the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo aims to make classical music a relevant and powerful force around the world. Their albums on the Steinway Label (When Words Fade, An Amadeus Affair, and The Art of Bach) were released to critical acclaim and have spent dozens of weeks at the top of the Billboard Classical Charts, while their Emmynominated, self-produced music videos have been viewed by millions on YouTube and at international film festivals. Since forming their dynamic musical partnership in 2002 as students at The Juilliard School, Anderson & Roe have toured extensively worldwide as recitalists and orchestral soloists, presented at numerous international leader symposiums, and appeared on MTV, PBS, NPR, and the BBC. A live performance by Anderson & Roe was handpicked to appear on the Sounds of Juilliard CD celebrating the school s centenary. Highlights of the 2017/18 season include concerts throughout North America (including their Kennedy Center debut), Europe, Asia, and New Zealand; concerto appearances with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Rochester Philharmonic; the release of their latest album, Mother Muse; and webcast hosting for the 15th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

6 Many of the works you will hear tonight are arrangements of dances or dramas, emphasising the physical nature of piano performance and the capacity of highly theatrical music to upstage traditional genre boundaries. Likewise, many of the composers represented tonight are celebrated for their expertise in knitting diverse genres and musical perspectives together. This sense of transcendence of styles, forms, eras, and timbres extends to the meanings imbued in several works. John Adams Hallelujah Junction and the variations based on Leonard Cohen s Hallelujah encourage us to meditate on the composition of the word hallelujah itself; its syllables, sounds, and sensibility. By the same token, Let it Be awakens the same sentiment of praise and self-reflection. From the poignant simplicity of the Beatles melody-driven song, Anderson and Roe move to the noble simplicity of Gluck s late 18thcentury ballet, Dance of the Blessed Spirits. The oldest piece in the programme tells the timeless tale of Orpheus the God of music, who suffered for his doubt and describes another meditative space: the Elysian fields, eternal arcadia of Greek myth. Leonard Bernstein who would have turned 100 this year composed two of the programme s works. First, Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs starts us off with its rousing big band licks. Following Gluck s Dance of the Blessed Spirit, the West Side Story Suite, is also based on a ballet (via the acclaimed musical),and narrates an ultimately tragic sequence of events. New York s starcrossed lovers were never destined for a happy ending; nor were Georges Bizet s Spanish gypsy Carmen and her former lover, Don José. These operatic melodies from Carmen as evocative and gripping as ever in this piano arrangement provide a flourishing finale.

7 Anderson & Roe Piano Duo 5 BERNSTEIN / ANDERSON & ROE Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs Jazz with a Baroque twist: in this arrangement of Bernstein s Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs, two pianos embrace the challenge of channeling counterpointed big band riffs. JOHN ADAMS Hallelujah Junction Adams, one of the most successful and prolific living composers, capitalises on the pianos identical timbres to create rippling, cyclical motions. In his spin on musical genres and traditions, Leonard Bernstein takes the Baroque Prelude and Fugue forms as the background (or, riff) to this work originally for jazz ensemble. He composed each of the three movements to showcase different sections and soloists from the ensemble in 1949, but the work only premiered in 1955, on television broadcast. While Al Gallodoro first performed the clarinet solo, Bernstein dedicated Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs to the celebrated jazz clarinetist and band leader Benny Goodman. This year marks 100 years since Bernstein s birth, and this two-piano arrangement retains all the zing of the original. The first movement, Prelude, alternates blasts of sound with muted sequences. The parts unite in satisfying swing style before yielding to the sudden contrasts typical of Baroque music once more. Next, in characteristic Fugue form, the initial theme is successively taken up by different lines. This creates a counterpoint over which floats a lyrical melodic line. The last movement, Riff, reimagines all the power of a full big band. After a brief moment of calm, the final section s frantic acceleration will leave you exhilarated. Windows down, driving on the open road. John Adams work for two pianos feels free and expansive, even without knowing that Hallelujah Junction is a blink-and-you-miss it spot on the highway near the California Nevada border. Suggesting a gradually changing landscape, the modal harmonies smoothly transform across repeated motivic material. Adams describes the piece as musical onomatopoeia, in which he starts with a three-syllable abbreviation -le-lu-jah before moving to even semiquavers. In turn, this rolling pattern of semiquavers surrenders to heavy chords, before the opening three-syllable theme returns. The intensity builds to the final, exhilarating section, as the first syllable is added to complete the word and shift the sense of pulse. Throughout Hallelujah Junction the identical timbres of the pianos magnify the rhythmic ambiguity this syllabic motif triggers. What is more, the ten-fingered chords resonate to generate an undulating continuum of sound that would be impossible to recreate with instruments of different sonorities. Written in 1996, the work premiered in California, some 220 miles straight down Route 80 from Hallelujah Junction.

8 6 MUSIC UP CLOSE ANDERSON & ROE Hallelujah Variations Hallelujah, as Leonard Cohen describes it, suggests a moment of introspection among these uplifting and winding variations. THE BEATLES / ANDERSON & ROE Let It Be Cohen s Hallelujah flows smoothly into the popular title track of the Beatles 1970 album. This inventive arrangement highlights gospel choirinspired sonorities. A 1984 cult classic, Leonard Cohen s most wellknown song is a meditation on the elusive nature of love and the search for atonement. The lyrics are emotionally complex, and the meaning of hallelujah itself seems to shift throughout the song. Alternating between despair, yearning, ecstasy, and praise, Hallelujah emerges as a call that is not solely religious, but profoundly human. Cohen himself called it the moment when you embrace [all the irreconcilable conflicts of life] and you say, Look, I don't understand a thing at all Hallelujah! This experience, and the almost otherworldly transcendence amid human struggle that Beethoven and Schubert unearthed in their late works, influenced the writing of these variations. As a nod to the elliptical nature of the song, the eight variations are structured as four pairs. Unusually, the clearest statement of the theme follows the chorale-like Variation 1. Variations 3 and 4 bustle away from the harmonic progressions of the original song. The serpentine configurations in the third set of variations evoke Schubert s idiomatic four-hand piano writing. The concluding two variations are expansive in structure and mood; they meander, then build toward a rapturous conclusion. Throughout the ages motherhood has inspired the genesis of countless works of art, from fables and sacred paintings to theatrical tragedies and, of course, music of all genres. Perhaps the prototype of creation, motherhood inspired the duo to use their full creative potential in arranging and interpreting the Beatles Let It Be. In this classic song, Paul McCartney pays poignant and powerful tribute to his mother, Mary, who tragically died of an embolism when he was only 14; the song s lyrics and gospelinflected tone, also invokes the Virgin Mary, the ultimate maternal icon: When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be, let it be. In this arrangement, the duo assume the roles of dueling gospel pianists, underscoring the redemptive uplift of the song s message and the power of music to illuminate the darkness.

9 7 BERNSTEIN / ANDERSON & ROE West Side Story Suite The Sharks or the Jets? Enter the musical landscape of New York s gang scene, infused with jazz idioms and Latin rhythms. GENERATION FUTURE OF YOU THE CLASSICAL MUSIC UNDER THE AGE OF 35? The drama and tunes of Leonard Bernstein s much-loved musical West Side Story from the playful to the tragic abound in this arrangement for two pianos. The musical reinvents Shakespeare s Romeo and Juliet, tackling the social issue of rival gangs in New York City. At a local dance, Tony falls in love with Maria. The pair are caught up in a fight between Riff, Tony s best friends and the leader of the Jets (an established gang) and Bernardo, Maria s brother and the leader of a new Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks. After both Riff and Bernardo die, Maria tries to send a message to Tony via Anita, Bernardo s girlfriend. Gang violence and revenge cause Tony s death before he and Maria can reunite. Bernstein collaborated with writer Arthur Laurents and choreographer Jerome Robbins, producing the work over nearly eight years to premiere in In 1995, Robbins adapted the musical for ballet, as West Side Story Suite. The music captures key scenes and moods, from the permeating Maria theme and Tonight (the balcony scene) to the percussive Mambo and edgy The Rumble. Unlock new classical music experiences Get pay your age tickets! Remember student tickets are only $10* For more information: 0800 CONCERT ( ) chambermusic.co.nz/genyou *Booking fees apply

10 8 Chamber Music New Zealand GLUCK / ANDERSON & ROE Ballet from Orphée et Eurydice A piece displaying the control and elegance of Classical style, Gluck s Dance of the Blessed Spirits exemplifies the soothing effect of a sweet melody. BIZET / ANDERSON & ROE Carmen Fantasy However beguiling and exotic Carmen s melodies are, neither she, nor Don José, can avoid the motive that suffuses Bizet s score, foreshadowing death. During the 18th-century, cultural preoccupation with Classical antiquity led to the formation of the Classical style (often associated with the music of Haydn and Mozart). In 1756, the archaeologist Johann Winckelmann observed, The general eminent characteristic of Greek masterpieces is ultimately a noble simplicity and a calm greatness. Twenty years later, Christoph Willibald Gluck expressed a similar aim for his music, writing I thought that my chief endeavour should be to search for a grand simplicity. Noble simplicity is poignantly evident in Gluck s 1774 opera Orphée et Euridice, based on the famous Greek legend of Orpheus. The opera tells the poetically tragic story in which Orpheus attempts to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld after she dies on their wedding day. Anxious and yearning for Eurydice, Orpheus breaks the one condition of their escape: that he must not glance back as he guides Eurydice from the underworld. Orpheus loses her again, this time for eternity. Act II opens with the Dance of the Blessed Spirits a ballet set in the Elysian Fields, the hauntingly beautiful resting place of souls in Greek mythology. The ballet was originally scored for the ethereal combination of solo flute with string accompaniment. A concert fantasy in the grand Romantic tradition, the Carmen Fantasy for Two Pianos weaves together several distinct scenes from Georges Bizet's beloved opera Carmen. The arrangement begins with the Danse Bohémienne from Act IV, a ballet almost always cut from modern performances of the opera. (Bizet used the same material in his L'Arlésienne Suite.) The Aragonaise follows, originally the entr acte to Act IV, just before the opera s climactic bullfight. Next appears the famous "Habanera" from Act I, in which the gypsy Carmen sings L amour est un oiseau rebelle (Love is a rebellious bird), and the Act III Card Aria, in which the hands dealt foretell Carmen and Don José are doomed to die. Following this terrifying omen of death, the music cuts to the Flower Song from Act II, a scene that epitomises the love Don José and Carmen once shared. This juxtaposition highlights the opera s tragic climax: Don José s murder of Carmen. The fantasy concludes with the Act II gypsy dance. The music accelerates in a whirlwind of fevered rhythm, Basque tambourines, and ecstatic dance.

11 Photo: Hannah Beattie MUSIC UP CLOSE Help Share The Joy Pubs. Parks. Street corners, stages. New York, London. Tonight, here. It doesn t matter where Anderson and Roe play piano, joy rushes in. Pop, jazz, romantic, baroque music from their fingers becomes music in your heart. And joy is what we ll bring you all season long, beginning with this dazzling tour. We want to bring more New Zealanders up close to this music, close enough to touch, with another year of award-winning Accessible Concerts personal encounters between musicians and young people who have not had the chance to experience music, or joy, quite like this. I went to the accessible concert last week at Te Whaea. What a joy it was it s a brilliant thing for Chamber Music New Zealand to foster. One of the most moving experiences I have had. - CMNZ subscriber We need your support to present Music Up Close in Can you help share the joy? Will you play your part in presenting Music Up Close? Visit: chambermusic.co.nz/donate-online-now Phone: encore@chambermusic.co.nz

12 Thank You! To all of our generous donors who support CMNZ throughout the year. Founders' Circle Members Anonymous Graeme Edwards Arnold and Reka Solomons The Estate of Jenni Caldwell The Estate of Aileen Claridge The Estate of Walter Freitag The Estate of Chisne Gunn The Estate of Warwick Gordon Harris The Estate of Joan Kerr The Estate of Monica Taylor Ensemble ($10,000+) Anonymous Robin & Sue Harvey Kaye & Maurice Clark Gill and Peter Davenport Peter and Carolyn Diessl Professor Jack Richards Octet ($5,000+) M Hirschfeld Children's Trust Hylton LeGrice and Angela Lindsay The Lyons Family - in memory of Ian Lyons Kerrin and Noel Vautier Lloyd Williams and Cally McWha Quintet ($2,500+) Joy Clark John and Trish Gribben Ann Harden Jane Kominik Collin Post Arnold and Reka Solomons Peter and Kathryn Walls Quartet ($1,000+) Anonymous (2) Donald and Susan Best Roger and Joanna Booth Philip and Rosalind Burdon MD and MA Carr Rick and Lorraine Christie Roger Christmas The Cranfylde Charitable Trust Peter and Rae Fehl Finchley Trust Dame Jennifer Gibbs Patricia Gillion David and Heather Hutton Linda MacFarlane Elizabeth McLeay Roger and Jenny Mountfort Barbara Peddie Roger Reynolds Martin and Catherine Spencer Basil & Jenny Stanton Alison Thomson Ann Trotter Judith Trotter Anna Wilson Bruce Wilson and Jill White Ann Wylie David Zwartz Trio ($500+) Anonymous (5) Diane Baguley Philippa Bates Harry and Anne Bonning JD Cullington Jonathan Cweorth Graeme and Di Edwards Hanno Fairburn Tom and Kay Farrar John Farrell Anne French Consulting Ltd Belinda Galbraith Pat Gibson Laurie Greig Douglas and Barbara Holborow E Prof Les Holborow Michael Houstoun and Mike Nicolaidi Caroline List Fiona Macmillan and Briony Macmillan Margaret Malaghan Raymond and Helen Matias AE McAloon Andrew and Mary McEwen Shelley and Euan Murdoch Prue Olde Miles Rogers Sylvia Rosevear Peter and Juliet Rowe John and Kathryn Sinclair Ross Steele Priscilla Tobin David Tripp Patricia Unger Richard and Elaine Westlake Tim Wilkinson Every gift of $5 or more is eligible for tax purposes and provides you with a tax credit, a receipt will be issued for tax deduction purposes.

13 A MUSIC LISTENING MANIFESTO by Greg Anderson & Elizabeth Joy Roe Allow music to transform you. The prerequisites for transformation: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them. Embrace the new. It takes courage to depart from familiarity and escape your comfort zone: only with change is there life. Make every encounter new. Every listening adventure no matter how seemingly familiar or repetitive is new. All musical occasions are an opportunity for transformation, growth, and discovery. The musical experience is yours. You live it. You create it. Your engagement is a vital ingredient. Woah. The music doesn t always happen where we think it ought to. Instead, it happens somewhere else in the silence, in the reverb on the walls, in the performer s gasp for air. Music comes charged with a palpable energy created by its surroundings at that very moment. Under any other circumstance, it would be different. Go deep. Really deep. Some treasures are freebies, but many more are buried in the sand, perceived only under the microscope, or clouded in the murky depths of the mind. The deeper you go, the more likely you will find something of value. Listen as if it were the last time your ears could hear. Savor it. Nature is beautiful because it is untouched by humans, but music is beautiful because it is a human creation. Music is direct interaction with the human spirit. Be open to other life, whether it be the composer s life, the performer's life, or the lives of those around you ( yes, even the noisemaker to your left). Other people s lives are more weird and wonderful than we could ever imagine. By absorbing the musical complexity of the human condition, you will walk away transformed. Join the party. Music is an interactive event that serves our primordial need to share in something greater than ourselves. As E.M. Forster said, Only connect. Music is a pliant collaboration actively involving all participating factors: performers, composers, listeners, and musical elements. Relish the conflict, euphoria, frustration, and innumerable creative possibilities that arise with collaboration. Liberate yourself from technological trappings and to-do lists. Just be present with and within the music. Close your eyes. Focus on the sonic essence of the music. Read the entire manfesto online at andersonroe.com/listening-manifesto

14 REGIONAL CONCERTS Board Lloyd Williams (Chair), Quentin Hay, Gretchen La Roche, Bruce Phillips, Matthew Savage, Vanessa Van den Broek, Kerrin Vautier Staff Chief Executive, Peter Walls Artistic Manager, Catherine Gibson Artistic Assistant, Jack Hobbs Education and Outreach Coordinator, Sue Jane Operations Coordinator, Rachel Hardie Development Manager, TBC Development Executive, Virginia Close Marketing Manager, Shelley Davis Design & Print Coordinator, Darcy Woods Marketing & Communications Coordinator, Alessandra Orsi Ticketing & Database Coordinator, Laurel Bruce Publicist, TBC Office Administrator, Becky Holmes Branches Auckland: Chair, Victoria Silwood; Concert Manager, Bleau Bustenera Hamilton: Chair, Murray Hunt; Concert Manager, Gaye Duffill New Plymouth: Concert Manager, Catherine Martin Hawkes Bay: Chair, June Clifford; Concert Manager, Rhondda Poon Manawatu: Chair, Graham Parsons; Concert Manager, Virginia Warbrick Wellington: Concert Manager, Rachel Hardie Nelson: Chair, Annette Monti; Concert Manager, Clare Monti Christchurch: Concert Manager, Jody Keehan Dunedin: Chair, Terence Dennis; Concert Manager, Richard Dingwall Southland: Chair, Rosie Beattie; Concert Manager, Jennifer Sinclair Regional Presenters Marlborough Music Society Inc (Blenheim), Christopher's Classics (Christchurch), Cromwell & Districts Community Arts Council, Geraldine Academy of Performance & Arts, Musica Viva Gisborne, Music Society Eastern Southland (Gore) Arts Far North (Kaitaia), Aroha Music Society (Kerikeri), Chamber Music Hutt Valley, Motueka Music Group, Oamaru Opera House, South Waikato Music Society (Putaruru), Waimakariri Community Arts Council (Rangiora), Rotorua Music Federation, Taihape Music Group, Tauranga Musica Inc, Te Awamutu Music Federation, Upper Hutt Music Society, Waikanae Music Society, Wanaka Concert Society Inc, Chamber Music Wanganui, Warkworth Music Society, Wellington Chamber Music Trust, Whakatane Music Society, Whangarei Music Society. Level 4, 75 Ghuznee Street PO Box 6238, Wellington 0800 CONCERT ( ) /ChamberMusicNZ MAZZOLI TRIO (violin, viola, cello ) Tauranga Warkworth Lower Hutt Kerikeri BEHN QUARTET (violin, violin, viola, cello ) Kerikeri Whangarei Rotorua Palmerston North Wellington Upper Hutt Nelson Invercargill Cromwell Christchurch TORU (flute, viola, harp) Motueka Gore Lower Hutt Wanganui Warkworth Tauranga Rotorua 11 March 18 March 26 March 8 June 14 April 15 April 18 April 20 April 22 April 23 April 24 April 27 April 28 April 1 May 9 May 13 May 16 May 17 May 19 May 20 May 22 May Chamber Music New Zealand 2018 No part of this programme may be reproduced without the prior permission of Chamber Music New Zealand. Gisborne 25 May

15 THANK YOU A special thank you to all of our sponsors and funding partners. Core Funder Supporting Funder National Touring Partners National Business Partners Regional Partners Education & Community Partners Key Funding Partners CMNZ recognizes the following funders who generously support our work. Funding Partners Bendigo Valley Charitable Foundation Community Trust of Southland Dunedin City Council Eastern & Central Community Trust First Light Community Foundation Four Winds Foundation Invercargill Licensing Trust Judith Clark Memorial Fund Mt Wellington Foundation New Plymouth District Council Otago Community Trust Pelorus Trust Pub Charity Rātā Foundation Southern Trust The Adam Foundation Trust House Trust Waikato TSB Community Trust Turnovsky Endowment Trust Wellington City Council Wellington Community Trust Winton & Margaret Bear Charitable Trust

16 Core Funder Chamber Music New Zealand presents Behn Quartet DVOŘÁK / JACK BODY / RAVEL & more The Behn Quartet stands out with a controlled powerful and expressive sound De Uitkijkpost, Heiloo Touring NZ: 14 April 1 May For booking information visit chambermusic.co.nz/behnquartet 0800 CONCERT ( )