476 6157 EDWARD ELGAR SYMPHONY NO. 1 SOSPIRI CHANSON DE MATIN POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE MARCHES 1 & 3 SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BERNARD HEINZE TASMANIAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA DAVID STANHOPE WEST AUSTRALIAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA DAVID MEASHAM QUEENSLAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PATRICK THOMAS CD 3
EDWARD ELGAR 1857-1934 Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major, Op. 55 [54 44] 1 I. Andante (Nobilmente e semplice) Allegro 21 46 2 II. Allegro molto 7 30 3 III. Adagio 12 36 4 IV. Lento Allegro 12 48 Sydney Symphony Orchestra Bernard Heinze conductor 5 Sospiri (Sighs), Op. 70 4 30 Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra David Stanhope conductor 6 Chanson de Matin (Morning Song) orchestral version, Op. 15 No. 2 3 47 West Australian Symphony Orchestra David Measham conductor Military Marches ( Pomp and Circumstance ), Op. 39 7 No. 1 in D major 6 40 8 No. 3 in C minor 6 27 Queensland Symphony Orchestra Patrick Thomas conductor Total Playing Time 76 41 2 3
Symphony No. 1 Elgar s First Symphony is a musical time machine that so some critical opinion has it returns us to a period of opulence, paternalism, the Empire on which the sun never set; of Australia as a colony; of Britain as home. Fashionable critics of the 1930s through to the 1950s were quick to condemn Elgar s symphonies. W.J. Turner called them Salvation Army symphonies. Cecil Gray referred to their lack of spiritual breadth and understanding the frequent triviality and tawdriness of [their] material. And Sir Thomas Beecham called the First Symphony neo-gothic, the equivalent of the towers of St Pancras Station. Nevertheless, the notion that the symphonies represent the official musical branch of British imperialism, that they are simply extended versions of a Pomp and Circumstance march, does not stand up to attentive listening. The first audiences of the A-flat Symphony enjoyed the work precisely because its language conveyed a musical understanding of cultures and landscapes beyond those of the green and pleasant land and its Empire. The 19-year-old Neville Cardus, later to become chief critic of the Manchester Guardian (and, for a time, the Sydney Morning Herald), was at the premiere: Those of us who were students were excited at last to hear an English composer addressing us in a spacious way, speaking a language which was European and not provincial. No English symphony existed then, at least not big enough to make a show of comparison with a symphony by Beethoven or Brahms and go in the program of a concert side by side with the acknowledged masterpieces, and not be dwarfed into insignificance. Elgar was 50 before he produced a symphony, and it was a long time coming. It may be that the composer of the Enigma Variations and The Dream of Gerontius already Britain s most famous musical figure was fearful for his reputation and for his fragile faith in himself should so major a declaration as a first symphony be a failure. But after nearly a decade of procrastination, an Italian holiday in the Northern winter of 1907 got Elgar going on his first symphony, and once it had taken hold of him he completed it in just a few months. Whatever doubts lay in Elgar s mind about this ambitious work were banished on the night of its premiere in Manchester on 3 December 1908, when conductor Hans Richter called the composer to the stage not only at the conclusion of the symphony but after the Adagio, to a storm of cheers and applause. The greatest symphony of modern times, Richter called the work, and not only in this country. Within 18 months the symphony had been played 100 times, in Britain and the United States, in Vienna, Berlin, Leipzig, St Petersburg, Toronto, Sydney, Budapest and Rome an incredible sweep of success before the age of radio. The opening of the symphony is a solemn slow march. Elgar introduces it quietly, its unpredictable rhythms and harmonies set to a stalking bass line; and then more triumphantly, fortissimo. This theme has a decisive influence on the rest of the symphony; its arrival at any point acts as a sign that the musical events surrounding it are about to change. After the introduction, Elgar shifts into a remote key for the main Allegro; music of strife and turbulence, in great contrast to the splendours left behind. A tender second subject for violins and clarinets is soon tossed aside for another passage of great ferocity; the opening march theme tries to reassert itself but is swept away. As Cardus said of his first hearing of these wild juxtapositions: fountains of string tone, brass instruments in ricochet; no such virtuoso orchestration had been heard before in the music of an Englishman. There is a particularly lovely episode for solo violin, harps, solo cello and woodwind, which Elgar asks to be played in a veiled and remote manner. But moments of tenderness and repose are banished by the urge for conflict, and the mood becomes hazy and doubtful at the close. Elgar did not call his second movement a scherzo because it is not playful or humorous, yet it serves this function. The unsettled theme that opens this Allegro molto soon gives way to a malicious quick march, which becomes gleefully evil. Elgar then quickly eases us away into a short, delicate trio episode for strings and woodwind, which he once asked to be played like something you hear down by the river. But, equally swiftly, this collides with a vehement return of the quick march, now scored virtuosically for the brass. As the texture clears, the heartbeat of the music seems to slow down almost to a complete stop the slow movement has begun. My dear friend, the dying Jaeger ( Nimrod of the Enigma Variations) wrote to Elgar after reading through the score of this symphony, that is not only one of the very greatest slow movements since Beethoven, but I consider it worthy of that master. Richter agreed. It is a rare expression of contentment in Elgar s music, and at times seems to be describing a state of bliss. The main theme is, astonishingly, a notefor-note transformation of the Allegro molto s first tune into music of nobility and consolation. The second subject is more passionate, even operatic; the arrival of a new, unexpected, gentle, wide-ranging theme towards the movement s end brings us, in Jaeger s words, near to Heaven. If the Adagio is a sanctuary, the finale opens with a soft, sinister tread. We can make out a new, heavily accented tune on trombones, but are then plunged into a tempestuous Allegro, 4 5
which opens with a jagged theme for the strings. The new, accented tune rises in fury before being interrupted by the return of the slow march that dominated the symphony s beginning, but in a new key, so that, like an old friend changed by circumstance and experience, it is difficult at first to recognise. Finally this recurring presence stages a blazing return, but must battle its way through an astonishing orchestral barrage of shocks and explosions before struggling through to affirmation and exultation. Elgar himself spoke of this symphony embodying a massive hope for the future, but hope is not certainty, and to conclude this work so ambiguously speaks of Elgar s own feelings about the discrepancy between the actual even the possible and the ideal. It is this, ultimately, that makes him a modern spirit, whatever may have been said about the outward manner and appearance of his music. Sospiri Edited from an annotation by Phillip Sametz As Europe exploded into war in 1914, Elgar s Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, already a hugely successful work, surged to new heights of popularity. Britain entered the war on August 4; on August 15, the Proms audience raised the roof of Queen s Hall in their enthusiasm for Elgar s mighty anthem. The buoyant mood continued with renditions of Pack Up Your Troubles and Now God Be Thanked Who Has Matched Us with His Hour. But in amongst all the patriotic fervour was the first performance of Sospiri, an extraordinary work of profound sorrow and despair. Later audiences can easily relate the work s anguished tone to the misery of the Great War, but Sospiri, written some months before the outbreak of war, is not an elegy for war dead. Its origins probably lie in more personal tragedy: two close friends, Lord Northampton and Julia Worthington, had recently died within a few days of each other. Already depressed by these losses, Elgar was further hurt when the London Symphony Orchestra refused to renew his contract as principal conductor. He persevered with the composition of his large-scale orchestral work Falstaff, but the premiere in October 1913 was greeted merely with cold respect. A distraction of sorts came in December, in the form of a new kind of contract from the gramophone company His Master s Voice and the music publisher W.W. Elkin: the two short pieces Elgar was to write would be recorded before any public performance, with the publication of the score to follow the recording. Carissima, the first of the pieces, is light, almost pastoral music with no hint of sadness. Sospiri, however, belongs to a different world. The grief of Elgar s 1909 Elegy, says biographer Michael Kennedy, is a formal expression of condolence compared with the wounded heart-cry of Sospiri. In the original contract, the piece was called Soupir d amour, Love s Sigh, presumably to set it up as a companion piece to the popular Salut d amour, Love s Greeting. Before settling on the Italian title Sospiri, Elgar experimented with calling the piece Absence; its tragic intensity and grave beauty seem to come from what Elgar once described as his insidest inside. Chanson de Matin Classical music has tended to turn up its nose at salon music : that light, pleasant, tuneful some would say, polite music which provided the soundtrack to middle-class society as the 19th century moved into the 20th. Salon music was comfortable and non-threatening; it posed no intellectual challenge to its listeners, but simply offered them unashamed musical enjoyment. Not surprisingly, it was hugely popular, and a major money-spinner for composers and publishers. Light-weight it may be, but salon music attracted the attention of plenty of serious composers, from Chopin to Sibelius. Elgar was no exception. Certainly there was a financial incentive, but Elgar was too much of a musician to allow himself to simply toss off the standard clichés, and his salon pieces are miniature masterworks, full of freshness and originality. Chanson de Matin or Morning Song was written in 1889 as a cheerful companion to the more intense Chanson de Nuit, Night Song. Both were originally written for violin and piano, and in this form they were performed at a concert at Windsor Castle in honour of Queen Victoria s 80th birthday. Elgar sent orchestral versions of both pieces to his publisher, Novello s, on 4 January 1901. The fashionable French titles, adding continental cachet, were doubtless chosen to boost sales, but the music needed no help; the pair quickly established themselves as two of his most popular works. Elgar biographer Michael Kennedy describes Chanson de Matin as one of those uniquely Elgarian, fresh-as-dew, bruised-innocence pieces, which defy analysis of their extraordinary capacity to move and delight the listener. Pomp and Circumstance Marches For most people there is only one Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D major, with the stirringly patriotic melody of the Trio section. Around the time of its composition, it met with considerable derision, because of its popular feel. Critics felt that any melody that could be sung with such ease by the masses could only be described as puerile. Fortunately Elgar did not take such shallow criticism to heart, commenting: I did not see why the ordinary quick march should not be 6 7
treated on a large scale in the way that the waltz, the old-fashioned slow march and even the polka have been treated by the great composers; yet all marches on the symphonic scale are so slow that people can t march to them. I have some of the soldier instinct in me and so I have written two marches of which, so far from being ashamed, I am proud. Audiences ignored the critics, and with the Boer War generating a massive wave of British pride and patriotic enthusiasm, the rousing Trio of the first Pomp and Circumstance March became almost a second national anthem. At its first Proms outing, on 22 October 1901, the people simply rose and yelled, wrote conductor Henry Wood. I had to play it again with the same result; in fact they refused to let me get on with the programme I went off and fetched Harry Dearth who was to sing Hiawatha s Vision but they would not listen. Merely to restore order, I played the march a third time. When Queen Victoria died and plans were underway for the coronation of her successor, Edward VII, it was that Trio melody which Elgar chose, on the new king s suggestion, as the basis of the finale to his Coronation Ode. Elgar s publisher, Jaeger, dismissed the idea: I say, you will have to write another tune for the Ode I have been trying much to fit words to it. That drop to E & bigger drop afterwards are quite impossible in singing any words to them, they sound downright vulgar. Just try it. The effect is fatal. But Elgar persisted, working with poet Arthur C. Benson (who declared himself a very willing librettist, & will rewrite & correct to any extent so do not scruple to suggest that any passage whatever is unsuitable from the musical point of view ), and the tune has been popularly known ever since as Land of Hope and Glory. Elgar intended to write six of these marches, but only completed five. One was apparently intended to be for a soldier s funeral, though in the event none of the marches is in any way funereal. In January 1901, surely referring to the Trio melody which was to become so famous, he wrote to Jaeger, In haste and joyful (Gosh! man I ve a got a tune in my head). In May, he declared to Dora Penny ( Dorabella of the Enigma Variations), I ve got a tune that will knock em knock em flat. (Though, curiously, after the Coronation, when the new king congratulated the composer on the Trio tune, Elgar replied, I ve been carrying that around in my pocket for 20 years. ) The first two marches were published together in 1901; No. 3, in C minor, was written in 1905, and has none of the knock em flat grandeur of No. 1. It is, says biographer Michael Kennedy, a subtle work, with a hint of mystery in its opening bars, and a Trio section of lyrical and quite un-military charm. Natalie Shea Bernard Heinze Born in Shepparton, Victoria, in 1894, Bernard Heinze studied at the Royal College of Music in London, at the Schola Cantorum in Paris under D Indy and Nestor Lejeune, and in Berlin under Willy Hess. Returning to Australia in 1923, he joined the staff of the Melbourne University Conservatorium the following year; he served as Professor from 1925 until 1956. The University Symphony Orchestra, which he had created out of a number of orchestral groups on campus, was amalgamated with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1932; Heinze, who had been conducting the University orchestra, continued as conductor of the MSO until 1949. He also conducted the Melbourne Royal Philharmonic Society from 1927 to 1953. It was, however, in his roles as Director-General of Music to the Australian Broadcasting Company (1929-1932) and Music Advisor to its successor the Australian Broadcasting Commission (from 1932) that Bernard Heinze made his greatest contribution to Australian musical life. Outstanding international artists became regular visitors to this country. Young audiences, in particular, benefitted from his tenure: his energetic commitment to youth and schools concerts continued through his ABC appointment, and it was Heinze who inaugurated the ABC s Youth Series concerts in 1947. Bernard Heinze was Director of the NSW Conservatorium from 1956 to 1966; he became Chairman of the then Australian Council of the Arts Music Advisory Committee in 1968. Knighted in 1949, in 1976 he was created a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for his services to Australian music. Sir Bernard Heinze died in 1982. 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 iconic Sydney Opera House where the Sydney Symphony gives more than 100 performances each year, the Orchestra also performs concerts in a variety of venues around Sydney and regional New South Wales. International tours to Europe, Asia and the USA have earned the Orchestra world-wide recognition for artistic excellence. Critical to the success of the Sydney Symphony has been the leadership given by its former Chief Conductors including Sir Eugene Goossens, Nikolai Malko, Dean Dixon, Willem van Otterloo, Louis Frémaux, Sir Charles Mackerras, Stuart Challender and Edo de Waart. Also contributing to the outstanding success of the Orchestra have been collaborations with legendary figures such as George Szell, Sir Thomas Beecham, Otto Klemperer and Igor Stravinsky. 8 9
Maestro Gianluigi Gelmetti s appointment in 2003 as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director followed a ten-year relationship with the Sydney Symphony as a guest conductor. He also holds the position of Music Director at Rome Opera. Gelmetti s particularly strong rapport with French and German repertoire is complemented by his innovative programming in the Shock of the New concerts and performances of contemporary Australian music. The Sydney Symphony s award-winning Education Program is central to the Orchestra s commitment to the future of live symphonic music, developing audiences and engaging the participation of young people. The Sydney Symphony maintains an active commissioning program promoting the work of Australian composers and in 2005 Liza Lim was appointed Composer-in-Residence for three years. In 2007, the Orchestra celebrates its 75th anniversary and the milestone achievements during its distinguished history. David Stanhope David Stanhope is one of Australia s leading conductors, and has notable achievements in repertoire from Bach to Birtwistle. His many seasons with Opera Australia include the Australian stage premiere of Berg s Lulu, and definitive performances of operas by Britten and Janáček. Although he has given a large number of premieres of Australian music and is a regular guest conductor with Australia s finest contemporary music group, Sydney Alpha Ensemble, his repertoire extends beyond the 20th century, and he has given memorable seasons of operas such as Fidelio and Eugene Onegin as well as concerts of standard Classical and Romantic repertoire. David Stanhope has also conducted the soundtracks for a number of feature films, including Babe, Paradise Road and Children of the Revolution. He is an expert on the music of Percy Grainger, and recorded all the solo piano music for the film Passion as well as being the hand double for actor Richard Roxburgh. David Stanhope has a professional background as a principal horn-player, and later as a bass trombonist. He has a growing reputation as a composer, particularly in the field of music for large wind and brass ensembles. He has also appeared on numerous ABC Classics releases as both pianist and conductor; his most recent CD is with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, conducting a disc of tuba concertos, including works by Vaughan Williams and Lovelock. Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Established in 1948, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra is acclaimed as one of the world s finest small orchestras. Resident in the purposebuilt Federation Concert Hall, Hobart, the TSO presents more than 60 diverse concerts across Tasmania and mainland Australia each year. German-born Sebastian Lang-Lessing has been the orchestra s Chief Conductor and Artistic Director since 2004. With a full-time complement of 47 musicians, the TSO s core repertoire is the music of the Classical and early Romantic periods. It is, however, a versatile orchestra, equally at home in jazz, popular music and light classics, and recognised internationally as a champion for Australian music. The TSO presents annual subscription seasons in Hobart and Launceston, and since its inception has regularly toured regional Tasmania and mainland Australia. The Orchestra appears at major Australian arts festivals and in 2005 initiated an annual Sydney Season. International touring has seen the TSO in North and South America, Greece, Israel, South Korea, China, Japan and Indonesia. The TSO regularly records for radio, CD, film and TV. Its recordings on international and Australian CD labels have garnered critical praise, and the TSO is the only Australian orchestra to have released a complete set of the Beethoven symphonies, conducted by David Porcelijn, and a complete cycle of Schumann symphonies, conducted by Sebastian Lang-Lessing. In 2003 the Orchestra launched its Australian Music Program under Program Director Richard Mills. Since then the TSO has released eleven titles and recorded a further five discs as part of the TSO s Australian Composer Series on ABC Classics. David Measham Born in Nottingham, England in 1937, David Measham began his career as a violinist in the BBC Symphony Orchestra, moving on to become Co-Leader of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Second Violin of the London Symphony Orchestra. At the same time, he had long held a passion for conducting he conducted his first concert at the age of 13 and he studied with Norman Del Mar at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 1971, he made his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducting Strauss s Don Quixote on two hours rehearsal when the scheduled conductor fell ill. In the recording studio, he worked with such artists as Pete Townshend (Tommy, 1972), Neil Young (Harvest, 1972) and The Beatles in a full orchestral version of Sergeant Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In 1974 he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in Rick Wakeman s Journey to the Centre of the Earth, touring America and Japan; the following year, he conducted the New World Symphony Orchestra for Wakeman s Myths and Legends of King Arthur. 10 11
As Principal Conductor (1974-1981) and Principal Guest Conductor (1981-1986) of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, David Measham gave many first performances, and embarked on a program of taking music to the people, leading the orchestra in concerts in industrial venues, shopping complexes and rural areas. He also led the Orchestra s first overseas tour, to Singapore. From 2002 to 2004, he presented the radio series Both Sides of the Podium for ABC Classic FM. David Measham died in 2005. West Australian Symphony Orchestra The West Australian Symphony Orchestra is Western Australia s largest and busiest performing arts company. It plays a central role in the heart of musical life in Western Australia, performing over 170 concerts each year with some of the world s most illustrious conductors and soloists to audiences in excess of 180,000. Founded in 1928, the WASO has 83 full-time musicians performing at a number of venues including the Perth Concert Hall, Art Gallery of Western Australia and Kings Park and Botanic Garden. In addition to its own classical concerts, the WASO performs with the West Australian Opera and West Australian Ballet, with the Perth International Arts Festival, and in collaboration with a number of local performing arts companies including TURA New Music for the Totally Huge New Music Festival. The West Australian Symphony Orchestra has an extensive commissions program. Through its Summer and Contempo Series, the WASO regularly joins forces with international and Australian pop musicians to create concerts that fuse popular contemporary artists with classical music. Patrick Thomas Just one month older than the ABC, Patrick Thomas was born in Brisbane in 1932. His long association with the national broadcaster and its orchestras began in his early teens, when he performed as a flautist in 1944, continuing when he joined the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in 1951. He later turned his focus to conducting, and from 1978 to 1986 he was the ABC s Federal Conductor in Residence. Previous posts during the 1960s and early 70s included appointments as resident conductor for the national opera and ballet companies; assistant conductor of the South Australian (now Adelaide) Symphony Orchestra and music director of the ABC s radio chorus, the Adelaide Singers; and Chief Conductor of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. From 1973 until 1977 he was Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. He performed internationally as a guest conductor, including engagements with the BBC Philharmonic and the Hallé Orchestra, and from 1988 to 1991 he was Artistic Director of Wellington City Opera in New Zealand. His Australian activities included hundreds of concerts with the ABC orchestras, studio recordings, and a popular and distinctive series of school concerts. He promoted the performance of Australian music, a lifetime commitment recognised by an Australian Government Creative Artists Fellowship in 1990, the same year he received the Sir Bernard Heinze Award. In 1978 he was honoured as a Member of the British Empire (MBE). Queensland Symphony Orchestra The Queensland Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert in 1947, and quickly established itself as a major cultural force within the state of Queensland. In 2001, the QSO amalgamated with the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra to form The Queensland Orchestra, acknowledging over fifty years of musical heritage while forging a new identity in Australian music. The Queensland Orchestra combines classical brilliance with contemporary charm. No stranger to performing alongside international and highprofile national artists, the Orchestra has accompanied such artists as Harry Connick Jnr, kd lang, Dionne Warwick, Andrea Bocelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Anthony Warlow and george. The orchestra also regularly attracts the talents of world-renowned conductors and musicians. Engaging with audiences of all musical tastes and interests, The Queensland Orchestra is committed to excellence, versatility and variety. Its vision to touch the hearts and minds of all Queenslanders through music is achieved through an eclectic and entertaining program of more than 70 concerts annually, from great orchestral classics, new commissions and the more intimate Baroque repertoire, through to celebration Proms and cinema favourites. As part of the Orchestra s commitment to be accessible to all Queenslanders, the Orchestra tours both northern and regional Queensland. Its extensive education program presents concerts to a broad range of young audiences, from preschoolers through to secondary school music extension students, and plays to approximately 30,000 children annually. Outside of its own program, the Orchestra is regularly involved in the state s most prestigious arts and music festivals and every year plays for seasons presented by the Australian Ballet, Opera Queensland and Queensland Ballet. The Queensland Orchestra has also received significant recognition as a recording artist and in 2004 was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Classical Album for the ABC Classics disc Peter Sculthorpe Songs of Sea and Sky. 12 13
Executive Producers Robert Patterson, Lyle Chan Mastering Virginia Read Editorial and Production Manager Hilary Shrubb Publications Editor Natalie Shea Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd Cover Photo Stefano Amantini Atlantide Phototravel/Corbis Biography of Patrick Thomas provided courtesy of the Sydney Symphony. ABC Classics thanks Yvonne Frindle (Sydney Symphony), Alexandra Alewood and Melissa Kennedy. 1995 7, 8, 2001 6, 2005 5, 2007 1-4 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Universal Music Group, under exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights of the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting, lending, diffusion, public performance or broadcast of this record without the authority of the copyright owner is prohibited. 14 15