mozart in the city - Sydney Symphony Orchestra

M OZ A RT
IN THE CITY
SELBY PLAYS MOZART
THU 28 MAR 7PM
MOZART’S GRAN PARTITA
THU 30 MAY 7PM
MOZART’S JUPITER SYMPHONY
THU 29 AUG 7PM
MOZART AND SHOSTAKOVICH
THU 17 OCT 7PM
C I T Y R E C I TA L H A L L
ANGE L PL ACE
2013 season
City Recital Hall Angel Place
Mozart in the City
PROGRAM CONTENTS
Introduction
Mystery Moments
page 5
Each Mozart in the City concert ends
with a Mystery Moment – one
delightful musical jewel to send you
into the evening with a smile. We’d
like to let the mystery linger after the
concert, but we don’t want to keep
you in unnecessary suspense, so we’ll
be revealing the name of the piece
on the Friday after each concert.
About the Artists
page 8
Thursday 28 March | 7pm
Selby plays Mozart
page 13
Thursday 30 May | 7pm
Mozart’s Gran Partita
page 19
Thursday 29 August | 7pm
Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony
page 25
Thursday 17 October | 7pm
Mozart and Shostakovich
page 31
This program book for Mozart in the City contains articles
and information for all four concerts in the 2013 series.
Copies will be available at every performance, but we invite you
to keep your program and bring it with you to each concert.
To find out the identity of the
Mystery Moment, you can:
Check our Twitter feed:
twitter.com/sydsymph
Visit our Facebook page:
facebook.com/
sydneysymphony
These web pages are public and can be
viewed by anyone.
GERTRUDE CLARKE WHITTALL FOUNDATION COLLECTION / LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
A page from the autograph score of Mozart’s Gran Partita – showing the beginning of the Adagio.
This is the movement famously described in Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, as a fictional
Salieri hears the genius of Mozart for the first time…
SALIERI: And then, right away, the concert began.
I heard it through the door – some serenade: at first
only vaguely – too horrified to attend. But presently the
sound insisted – a solemn Adagio in E flat.
It started simply enough: just a pulse in the lowest
registers…like a rusty squeezebox. It would have been
comic except for the slowness, which gave it instead
a sort of serenity. And then suddenly, high above it,
sounded a single note on the oboe.
It hung there unwavering – piercing me through – till
breath could hold it no longer, and a clarinet withdrew
it out of me, and sweetened it into a phrase of such
delight it had me trembling. The light flickered in the
room. My eyes clouded! The squeezebox groaned
louder, and over it the higher instruments wailed and
warbled, throwing lines of sound around me…
4 sydney symphony
INTRODUCTION
Mozart in stimulating company
Cast your eyes over the Mozart works in this series. In the
first and last concerts, there’s a piano concerto. One might
say the medium is the message, Mozart as soloist with an
orchestra, especially with the additional information that
Mozart played both these concertos himself. Then in the
third concert there’s one of his most famous works of all: a
symphony. The sentimentally minded may like to note that
in one concert there’s Mozart last piano concerto, in
another his last symphony. But by the time the Jupiter had
ended, its first hearers may have wondered whether they’d
ever heard a symphony where the finale was the most
ambitious and memorable movement. In the fourth
concert, we find how Mozart, years before that symphony,
had also ended a concerto with the most elaborate
movement. That would have been surprising then, but not
now. On the other hand, the style of Mozart’s music is less
familiar to us than it was to its first audiences. Two
hundred plus years have gone by!
There is one completely new piece in these concerts.
We will be the first to hear it. Again, it’s a concerto, but its
solo instrument rarely gets to play a concerto. You might
think that a double bass concerto is a very modern thing,
but you’d be wrong. There was a school of double bass
virtuosity in Mozart’s time and place, and he knew the
players – he even composed, not a concerto, but, in an aria
for bass singer, a solo part for double bass. Mary Finsterer
knows a double bass player too…
Franz Schreker is not exactly a composer of our time,
but who knows that? His is far from a household name.
You may have heard the title of one of his operas, Der ferne
Klang (The Distant Sound), but probably none of his music.
Don’t worry, what you’ll hear is beautiful, even ravishing.
And Hindemith? Can there be a case of a composer of
such acknowledged eminence whose work is so little heard
in concerts? And yet, how attractive his music often proves!
In a concert series where we’re on the lookout for novelties,
and especially for pieces putting orchestra members in the
spotlight, Hindemith may be a godsend. He composed for
virtually every instrument, solo or in combination. We’ll
hear from him a kind of 20th-century concerto grosso,
featuring solo winds, brass and harp. There’s a surprise in
it, too.
…putting orchestra
members in the
spotlight…
sydney symphony 5
KRAFFT PORTRAIT
In Vienna Mozart became known as a composer and a piano virtuoso, and his piano concertos provided
a vehicle to show off in both realms. In the 2013 Mozart in the City series we hear two.
(Posthumous portrait of Mozart by Barbara Krafft, 1819, based in part on the family portrait by Johann
Nepomuk della Croce c.1780/81, see page 22.)
6 sydney symphony
The only composer mentioned with Mozart in the titles
of these concerts is Shostakovich. Shostakovich often had
to disguise the intent of his music, because he composed
under threat. In his String Quartet No.4 he sometimes
seems to be disguising himself as something like Mozart –
Mozart in divertimento mode. But Rudolf Barshai has
blown his friend’s cover. His orchestral arrangement brings
out the deeper resonances of the music. And notice what
he calls the result: Chamber Symphony. The same title
Schreker gave his piece.
Is ‘chamber symphony’ a contradiction in terms? Surely
not, since we play the Jupiter Symphony with the same sized
forces as Schreker or Barshai’s version of Shostakovich.
The piece in this concert that really has problems with
its title is by Mozart. Let’s call it, for the moment, Köchel
361. It’s famous, these days, mainly because an especially,
indeed searingly, affecting passage from it was used in the
movie Amadeus to show Salieri what he was up against in
Mozart. But even before then, the piece was famous as
Mozart’s biggest, longest wind piece. It’s sometimes
referred to as the ‘Serenade for 13 winds’ – and you could
play it that way – but Mozart probably expected it to be
played by 12 winds, plus a double bass. It does seem to fit
with the name ‘Serenade’, having multiple movements
including two minuets, a genre familiar in Salzburg and
which 19th-century classifiers called Serenades. Such music
was often for ceremonies such as the end of the academic
year, but we can’t find an event with which to connect this
piece. Neither does it fit the conventions of the wind
ensemble music for which there was a craze in Vienna just
as Mozart arrived there – music for wind sextet (pairs of
clarinets bassoons and horns) or the Emperor’s preferred
kind of wind band, the same plus two oboes.
You may say it doesn’t really matter. More to the point, if
you haven’t heard this piece before, you may be wondering
how you’ll get on, listening to nearly an hour of music for
winds alone. But don’t worry. That’s the genius of Mozart –
varying the sound and the texture, with the help of those
extra horns and basset horns. A unique masterpiece, any
performance of which is an event. You’re expecting this to
be a highlight. But there’ll be unexpected ones, as well. This
orchestra has more than one series that could bear the
name ‘discovery’.
DAVID GARRETT © 2013
Our Bravo! newsletter is
published in the program
books for individual concerts,
with nine issues during the
year. We’ve included the
second issue for 2013 as a
sample in the back of this
program (see page 43).
If you’re interested in reading
more orchestra news and
profiles through the year, the
remaining issues can be
downloaded at
sydneysymphony.com/bravo
sydney symphony 7
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Kathryn Selby PIANO
Kathryn Selby studied at the Sydney Conservatorium, Curtis
Institute of Music, Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia, and the
Juilliard School. She was a prize winner at the Van Cliburn,
William Kapell and Young Concert Artists competitions, Bruce
Hungerford Memorial Award, and the Ferruccio Busoni
Competition, giving her a recital debut at Carnegie Hall, and she
received Churchill and Australia Council fellowships and an
Astral Foundation of New York career development grant.
While in the United States, she performed with the American
Chamber Orchestra as well as appearing as a soloist with
orchestras such as the Philadelphia, Boston Pops and San
Francisco Symphony. In Australia she has appeared for most of
the major symphony orchestras and the Australian Chamber
Orchestra, as well as performing in the Sydney Mozart and
Sydney festivals.
Since her return to Australia in 1988, she has founded several
chamber music ensembles and series, including Selby & Friends
and the popular Macquarie Trio (1992–2006), and most recently
the series A Little Lunch Music at City Recital Hall Angel Place.
Her trio TRIOZ was the first ensemble in residence at Angel
Place (2008–11). Her recordings include an all-Gershwin disc, a
solo recital disc, and chamber music recordings with the
Canberra Wind Soloists and the Macquarie Trio. In January she
was named a Member of the Order of Australia.
Roger Benedict CONDUCTOR
Roger Benedict has worked as a soloist, chamber musician,
orchestral player, teacher and conductor. He studied at the
Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (where he was
later a professor), and the International Musicians’ Seminar,
Prussia Cove. In 1991 he was appointed Principal Viola of the
Philharmonia Orchestra, and in 2002 Principal Viola of the
Sydney Symphony. He is also Artistic Director of the orchestra’s
Fellowship program, and has performed as guest principal
with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
As a soloist he has appeared with the Philharmonia
Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool
Philharmonic Orchestra Ulster Orchestra, and Orchestra
Ensemble Kanazawa, Japan, as well as with the Sydney
Symphony, most recently in Berlioz’s Harold in Italy. His
recordings include the recital disc Volupté (2010) and Vaughan
Williams’ Flos Campi with the Sydney Symphony (2011).
Roger Benedict regularly directs orchestras at the Sydney
Conservatorium and Australian National Academy of Music,
the National Youth Orchestra in London and Aldeburgh, and
the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. In addition to leading
the Sydney Symphony Fellowship program, he is a Senior
Lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, a European
Union Orchestra tutor, and was an orchestral mentor for the
YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 in Sydney.
8 sydney symphony
PRINCIPAL VIOLA
KIM WILLIAMS AM &
CATHERINE DOVEY CHAIR.
Roger Benedict plays a Carlo
Antonio Testore viola (Milan,
1753).
GERHARD WINKLER
Hansjörg Schellenberger CONDUCTOR
In the course of a long international career, Hansjörg
Schellenberger has earned respect as solo oboist with the
Berlin Philharmonic (1980–2001), as founder of the Berlin
Haydn Ensemble, as a committed teacher, and as a conductor
with wide orchestral experience.
He was never ‘just an oboist’. He played recorder as a child
(leading to his enthusiasm for baroque music) and composed,
and within four years of taking up the oboe he won a German
youth competition and was named best conductor at the
Interlochen Music Camp. At 17 he began studying oboe with
Manfred Clement and conducting with Jan Koetsier, while
pursuing academic study in mathematics.
Decades of observing, scrutinising scores and comparing
interpretations at first hand (whether on the podium or from
the orchestra), have formed the basis of a second career that
has now extended into the international sphere. In addition
to German radio orchestras and orchestras in Spain and Italy,
Hansjörg Schellenberger regularly conducts and tours with
the Camerata Salzburg. After one such tour, to Japan, the
Okayama Philharmonic Orchestra nominated him its chief
conductor.
In addition to conducting, he runs a select oboe class and
teaches woodwind chamber music in Madrid at the Escuela
Superior de Música Reina Sofía. He also performs in a duo
with his wife, harpist Margit-Anna Süß.
An extensive discography of more than 50 recordings
documents his work as a musician. In 1997 he founded his
own label, Campanella Musica, to record the music of
composers such as CPE Bach, Haydn and Beethoven, as well
as French baroque music and contemporary works.
This is Hansjörg Schellenberger’s first appearance with the
Sydney Symphony.
sydney symphony 9
KENNETH DUNDAS
Jessica Cottis CONDUCTOR
ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR
Supported by Premier Partner
Credit Suisse
Read more in Bravo!
bit.ly/Bravo2012-8
KEITH SAUNDERS
Jessica Cottis was born in Sale, Victoria and studied organ and
musicology at the Australian National University. She continued
her organ studies with Marie-Claire Alain in Paris and made her
European debut at Westminster Cathedral in 2003. A hand injury
halted her playing career and she began studying conducting at
the Royal Academy of Music, where her teachers were Colin
Metters, George Hurst and Colin Davis. On graduating in 2009
she was appointed Assistant Conductor to Donald Runnicles at
the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Conducting Fellow
at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, as well as Manson Fellow
in Composition at the RAM.
As Assistant Conductor of the Sydney Symphony, she divides
her time between Australia and Britain, where she is increasingly
in demand as a guest conductor. This season she makes debuts
with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the BBC
Philharmonic and will return to the BBC SSO and the Orchestra
of Scottish Opera.
Jessica Cottis made her BBC Proms debut in 2010 conducting
music by James Dillon, later conducting the premiere of his
cycle Nine Rivers with the BBC SSO and Les Percussions de
Strasbourg. She regularly conducts the Red Note Ensemble,
Manson Ensemble and London Sinfonietta; appears in festivals
across the UK, and has conducted opera premieres as well as
core operatic repertoire in Britain and Europe.
Kees Boersma DOUBLE BASS
Born in the Netherlands, Kees Boersma graduated from the
Victorian College of the Arts before returning to the Netherlands
to study at the Sweelinck Conservatorium, Amsterdam. He then
worked with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for two years,
performing at the Salzburg Festival, BBC Proms, and on tours to
Montreux, Lucerne, Paris, Vienna and Berlin. Returning to
Australia, he performed as principal with the State Orchestra of
Victoria and Australian Chamber Orchestra, before joining the
Sydney Symphony as Principal Double Bass in 1990.
He was a founding member of contemporary music group
ELISION, with whom he has recorded several CDs and toured
Italy and Germany, including performances at the Ultraschall
Festival in Berlin. He also performs with the Sydney Soloists, and
appears regularly with the Australia Ensemble. In 2004, he
performed Schubert’s Trout Quintet and Brett Dean’s Voices of
Angels with the Australia Ensemble during a national tour for
Musica Viva. He also appeared in the inaugural Melbourne
Spoleto Festival, performing chamber music with Joshua Bell,
Colin Carr and Carter Brey. His musical interests include
contemporary music and the solo double bass repertory of
18th-century Vienna, and in his solo appearances with the
Sydney Symphony he has performed Colin Bright’s Double Bass
Concerto, Dittersdorf ’s Divertimento for viola and double bass,
and Bottesini’s Concerto for two double basses.
10 sydney symphony
PRINCIPAL DOUBLE BASS
Kees Boersma plays a double
bass made by John Lott Snr
(London, c.1810)
Read more in Bravo!
bit.ly/Bravo2012-8
KEITH SAUNDERS
Dene Olding CONDUCTOR
Dene Olding is one of Australia’s most outstanding
instrumentalists and has achieved a distinguished career in
many aspects of musical life. In addition to his role as
Concertmaster of the Sydney Symphony, he is first violinist
for the Australia Ensemble and the Goldner String Quartet.
As a soloist, he appears regularly with the Australian
symphony orchestras and has given the Australian premieres
of Lutoslawski’s Chain 2, Carter’s Violin Concerto, and the
Glass Violin Concerto, as well as concertos by Ross Edwards
and Bozidar Kos, and Richard Mills’ Double Concerto, written
for him and his wife, violist Irina Morozova.
A graduate of the Juilliard School, in 1985 he was awarded a
Churchill Fellowship and was a Laureate of the Queen
Elisabeth of Belgium International Violin Competition. He
rejoined the Sydney Symphony as Co-Concertmaster in 2002,
having held the position from 1987 to 1994. Other
concertmaster positions have included the Australian
Chamber Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He
has conducted the Sydney Symphony and Auckland
Philharmonia, and appeared as conductor-soloist with
chamber orchestras in Australia and America.
His recordings include Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart
sonatas, concertos by Martin, Milhaud, Hindemith and
Barber, the premiere recording of Edwards’ violin concerto,
Maninyas, the complete Beethoven string quartets and a
Rachmaninoff disc with Vladimir Ashkenazy.
CONCERTMASTER
Dene Olding plays a 1720 Joseph
Guarnerius violin.
Read more in Bravo!
bit.ly/Bravo2012-7
DAN HANNEN
Avan Yu PIANO
Avan Yu was born in Hong Kong and moved to Vancouver at the
age of nine. He studied piano with Kenneth Broadway and
Ralph Markham, and is now studying with Klaus Hellwig at the
Berlin University of the Arts.
Last year he won the 2012 Sydney International Piano
Competition and was also chosen as the Mozart concerto
winner. He has appeared as soloist with Rafael Frühbeck de
Burgos and the Dresden Philharmonic, Pinchas Zukerman and
the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Bramwell Tovey and the
Vancouver Symphony, in addition to concerto appearances with
the Morocco Philharmonic, Real Filharmonía de Galicia and
Slovak Radio Orchestra, and in Canada with the Victoria
Symphony, Windsor Symphony and Nova Scotia Symphony
Orchestra.
He has performed chamber music with Yo-Yo Ma at the
National Arts Centre in Ottawa for the Prime Minster of Canada,
and appeared in recital at Carnegie Hall, the Amsterdam
Concertgebouw, Salle Cortot in Paris, Philharmonie in Berlin,
Madrid’s Nacional Auditorio de Música, Sydney Opera House,
and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. His performances have
been broadcast on public radio in the United States, Canada,
China, Spain and Germany, as well as by ABC Classic FM.
sydney symphony 11
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mozart in the city
Thursday 28 March | 7pm
City Recital Hall Angel Place
Selby plays Mozart
Roger Benedict CONDUCTOR
Kathryn Selby PIANO
This concert will be recorded for
later broadcast on ABC Classic FM.
Franz Schreker (1878–1934)
Kammersymphonie (Chamber Symphony)
Langsam, schwebend (Slow, floating) –
Allegro vivace – Adagio –
Scherzo (Allegro vivace) –
Ziemlich bewegt (Fairly agitated) –
Langsam, schwebend
The Chamber Symphony is in one movement
Pre-concert talk by David Garrett
at 6.15pm in the First Floor
Reception Room.
Visit sydneysymphony.com/talk-bios
for speaker biographies.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Piano Concerto No.27 in B flat, K595
Allegro
Larghetto
Allegro
Estimated durations: 25 minutes,
32 minutes, 5 minutes
The concert will conclude at
approximately 8.15pm.
In February we learned, with regret,
that Geoffrey Lancaster would need to
withdraw from his concerts with the
Sydney Symphony for health reasons. We
are grateful to Kathryn Selby for agreeing
to take over the program.
Mozart Mystery Moment
To be announced on Friday. See page 3 for details.
sydney symphony 13
ABOUT THE MUSIC
Longing for Spring and a distant music
The Chamber Symphony is Schreker’s only completed
symphonic work. He was primarily a composer of operas,
in which the orchestra plays a rich and elaborate part.
Schreker was also a teacher of composition. In 1912 he was
teaching at the Vienna Conservatorium. The Chamber
Symphony was completed in December 1916 to mark the
centenary of the institution where Schreker had himself
studied years earlier, and was intended ‘for the faculty of
the Royal and Imperial Academy of Music and Performing
Arts in Vienna’. Schreker himself conducted the first
performance on March 12, 1917. The players were
professors at the Academy and members of the Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra. The importance the music gives
to individual instruments might be a tribute to Schreker’s
colleagues, but in any case it suited his inclination, also
heard in his operas, for varying timbre constantly in a
shifting, shimmering textural web.
Mozart’s last piano concerto was premiered by him on
4 March 1791. It was his last performance in a public
concert, not one of his own but given by the clarinettist
Joseph Beer at Jahn’s Hall in Vienna. Mozart at this tine
had enough commissions to be able to devote himself
almost entirely to composition, writing two operas (The
Magic Flute and La clemenza di Tito), a large part of a
Requiem Mass, a clarinet concerto for Anton Stadler, and
other works. Mozart biographer Maynard Solomon
suggests that the completion of the piano concerto, his
first for three years, marks a renewal of Mozart’s creative
impulse. The first two movements may have been
composed in 1788 – lying fallow until January 1791, when
Mozart wrote a last movement on the same theme as a
song he composed for a collection of songs for children (a
commission from a bookseller). The song, ‘Longing for
Spring’, begins with the words: ‘Come, dear May, and
clothe the trees in green once more.’
Mozart’s last piano concerto has little in it to attract the
virtuoso, or the audience in search of the sensational.
Many commentators have found in it, if not a feeling of
leave-taking, at least resignation and nostalgia. For others
it heralds a new tone in Mozart’s work – one of simpler,
unassuming, sometimes even popular expression.
We think we know how to listen to Mozart…but who is
this Schreker? The title of his first staged opera is
suggestive: Der ferne Klang – The Distant Sound. The
libretto, written by the composer, tells of a young creative
14 sydney symphony
When Mozart composed his
27th piano concerto, he had no
idea it would be his last. Mozart
played it in his last public
concert as a pianist. But this is
not, as some have thought, a
‘farewell’ concerto. In 1791 he
was busy with many composing
projects. Intimate in scale and
manner, this concerto seems
to lean towards expressing
feeling, and away from
virtuosity for its own sake.
The final movement has the
same tune as Mozart’s song
‘Longing for Spring’.
IMAGNO/LEBRECHT
Franz Schreker (1878–1934)
Who was Schreker?
Schreker in 1916 was an
up-and-coming opera composer.
His operas (of which his first,
The Distant Sound, is bestknown), blend realism and
‘adult themes’ with nearsurrealism. But in the Chamber
Symphony, where there are no
words, what impresses is the
dream-like dramatic effect
and the resourcefulness of
Schreker’s orchestral writing.
Schreker’s music went out of
fashion along with his postromantic style. The Nazis
considered his operas
degenerate, and hounded him
to an early death. In recent
years there has been a Schreker
revival.
artist, Fritz, who leaves his girlfriend to search for his goal,
‘the distant sound’ – too late he realises that the secret of
this distant sound lies in nature itself. Schreker’s mixture
of realism, some daringly explicit subject matter, in an
atmosphere of sensuality, seduction, opulence and
subliminal danger, appealed to his contemporaries. In
1912 Der ferne Klang brought Schreker, at the quite advanced
age of 34, overnight fame as a leading composer of new
opera. This fame was confirmed by the operas he wrote
at the time of composing the Chamber Symphony:
Die Gezeichneten (The Marked Ones) and Der Schatzgräber
(The Treasure Seeker).
So how came Schreker to be almost completely forgotten,
until a revival in recent years? The Nazis disrupted
performances of his operas, and forced his resignation from
1931 to 1933 from the headship of music institutions in Berlin.
This contributed to the stroke that brought Schreker’s early
death. For the Nazis, Schreker’s art was an exhibit of what
sydney symphony 15
they considered decadent, degenerate. What stood in the
way of reassessment of Schreker’s achievement after the
War was that modernists, then in the ascendancy, also
had problems with his musical style. The following
generation – like his Berlin colleague Hindemith – thought
Schreker’s music too ornate and lacking a clear melodic
line. Even in Vienna, Schoenberg followers found that
Schreker clung too strongly to tonal harmony, and that his
interest in tone colour as the main structural feature of
music ran counter to their own preoccupation with
intervals (and ultimately the ‘twelve tone row’). This,
despite Schreker’s closeness to Schoenberg – he was the
first to conduct Gurrelieder, in 1913.
Schoenberg had composed his own Chamber Symphony
in 1906, for 15 solo instruments. Schreker’s piece similarly
condenses the usual four-movement form of a symphony
into one. One could try to hear in Schreker’s Chamber
Symphony, as did one advocate of Schoenbergian
modernism: ‘a sonata allegro exposition. An adagio, a
relatively lengthy scherzo. In place of a finale there is a
recapitulation of the exposition and adagio.’ But surface is
more compelling in Schreker’s piece than underlying
structure. By comparison with the music of Schoenberg,
Schreker’s seems indeterminate, more like a series of
images and states. If sonata and symphony appear at all, it
is as ghosts. This is almost ‘sound for sound’s sake’ – one
recent writer refers to Schreker’s sound-bites.
Eventually he called this piece ‘Chamber Symphony’, but
in the sketches Schreker referred to it as a tone poem.
Knowing that it uses material from an incomplete opera
called The Sounding Spheres, some find it more like latent
opera. Every question this music poses seems to open the
door to another enigma. Is the opening an introduction, or
is it the main theme? By the end we may feel that the
question posed at the beginning is the conclusion, as in the
search for the distant sound.
The recently renewed attraction to Schreker comes from
the sense that he shows a way out of late-romanticism,
different from the modernist paths – whether neo-classical,
atonal or serial. Aspects of romanticism appear, floating in
an eclectic suspended reality. Schreker may have been
pointing the way to post-modernism.
If we go with its flow, listening to Mozart’s concerto can
also be a dream-like experience. This concerto begins – as
no other music of Mozart’s does except the G minor
Symphony No.40 – with several bars of accompaniment.
16 sydney symphony
Schreker’s Chamber Symphony
(1916) is a single-movement
piece in which the four
movements of conventional
symphonic structure are
condensed and blurred in a fluid
music of shifting tempos,
colours and textures rather than
clearly discernible and worked
out themes.
On the stage you’ll see seven
winds, eleven strings, harp,
celesta, piano, timpani and
percussion – a relatively large
ensemble for a ‘chamber
symphony’.
Portrait of Mozart by his
brother-in-law Joseph Lange.
The painting is an incomplete
enlargement of a miniature
portrait from 1782–83, and would
have shown Mozart seated at a
piano.
The first theme sets the mood: free and expressive, yet
perhaps a little weary, too, each of its three phases sinking
to rest before being roused by the wind instruments. The
slow movement is simple, like a celestially beautiful
romance. The last movement has elements of the hunt,
mostly cheerful but with shadows, and with some of the
longing expressed in the words of the song on which the
music is based.
DAVID GARRETT © 2013
sydney symphony 17
Jazz Inspirations
TH IBAU D E T PL AYS G ERS H W IN
Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet brings
impeccable flair to his performances
and you’ll want to hear him in George
Gershwin’s jazz-inflected piano concerto.
SHOSTAKOVICH Jazz Suite No.1
Thu 5 Dec 1.30pm . Fri 6 Dec 8pm
Sat 7 Dec 2pm . Mon 9 Dec 7pm
James Gaffigan conductor
GERSHWIN Piano Concerto in F
PROKOFIEV Symphony No.5
Jean-Yves Thibaudet piano
ALL CONCERTS AT THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
BOOK NOW – TICKETS FROM $35*
SYDNEYSYMPHONY.COM 8215 4600 MON-FRI 9AM-5PM
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2013 season
mozart in the city
Thursday 30 May | 7pm
City Recital Hall Angel Place
Mozart’s Gran Partita
Hansjörg Schellenberger CONDUCTOR
This concert will be recorded for
later broadcast on ABC Classic FM.
Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)
Concerto for woodwinds, harp and orchestra (1949)
Moderately fast
Grazioso
Rondo (Rather fast)
Pre-concert talk by David Garrett
at 6.15pm in the First Floor
Reception Room.
Visit sydneysymphony.com/talk-bios
for speaker biographies.
Featuring Janet Webb (flute), Shefali Pryor (oboe),
Lawrence Dobell (clarinet), Roger Brooke (bassoon) and
Louise Johnson (harp)
Estimated durations: 16 minutes,
43 minutes, 5 minutes
The concert will conclude at
approximately 8.15pm.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Gran Partita –
Serenade in B flat for 13 instruments, K361
Largo – Allegro molto
Menuetto – Trio I & II
Adagio
Minuetto (Allegretto) – Trio I & II
Romanze (Adagio – Allegretto – Adagio)
Theme with variations (Andante)
Finale (Molto allegro)
Mozart Mystery Moment
To be announced on Friday. See page 3 for details.
sydney symphony 19
ABOUT THE MUSIC
Winds sound for a special event
This is a windy concert. Mozart called Vienna the land of
the piano, his main instrument, but many of his close
musical associates there were wind players, like the
clarinettist Anton Stadler and horn player Joseph Leutgeb.
In another century, a bassoonist late for a rehearsal of a
Hindemith wind quintet was astonished to find that the
composer, who could play most instruments, had stepped
in for him on a borrowed bassoon.
This concert is conducted by German oboist Hansjörg
Schellenberger. A fortnight ago, in the Sydney Opera
House, he played a concerto with the orchestra but tonight
he directs. As it turns out, this is the second year running
the Sydney Symphony has invited a prominent European
oboist to lead it in celebrating wind music and wind
playing.
Marvelling at Mozart’s creativity, we must nevertheless
realise that he had to be practical. His anxious father
Leopold, chafing in Salzburg, needed reassurance that
his son in Vienna wasn’t composing just for the sake of it.
He must have been glad to hear from Wolfgang that he
was busy composing works that ‘will bring in money now,
though not later’. Such a work was ‘A great wind piece
of a very special kind’. This was presumably a commission,
for which Mozart would be paid by Anton Stadler, his
clarinettist friend, though the music, as we will see, may
already have been written. Stadler was taking advantage
of the Lenten season, when the best wind players in
Vienna were free from their usual professional
commitments in the theatres. He was able to put together
an extraordinary number of them, 12 or 13, for a concert
on 23 March 1784. This was a Musical Academy, as such
concerts were called, organised for Stadler’s own benefit.
An eyewitness described Mozart’s music for this concert,
and the list of instruments he gives exactly matches the
‘Gran Partita’, though he writes of only four movements
being played.
This is the only known performance of any of the music
of the Gran Partita in Mozart’s lifetime. Mozart himself
doesn’t refer to Stadler’s concert, and it is more than
possible that, on the night, he was attending the premiere
by his pupil Barbara Ployer of the concerto he had written
for her, K449. Her father was a well-off patron of the
composer – so Mozart, having presumably pocketed
Stadler’s fee, and having no part to play in his own wind
music, knew what side his bread was buttered on.
20 sydney symphony
Performances of the Gran
Partita are special events, and
the orchestra needs to find,
in addition to its standard
complement of wind players,
a pair of basset horns (lower
pitched relatives of the clarinet).
The amazing thing is that the
seven movements of wind
music, heard consecutively,
are never wearying – Mozart
wonderfully contrasts pace and
mood, and colour combinations.
A grand slow introduction leads
to a tightly argued movement
with only one basic idea. In
the second of two minuets,
the second trio provides an
especially ear-tickling moment.
There is another such delight
in the fifth variation of the
penultimate movement.
Famous from the film Amadeus,
is the beginning of the Adagio,
with its long-held oboe note.
Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)
Paul Hindemith was an
outstandingly versatile musician
who could write for any
instrument and most likely play
it himself. In the 1930s he was at
the height of his reputation as
Germany’s leading composer
but chose to leave his troubled
country. During and immediately
after World War II he lived in the
United States. That’s when he
composed most of his solo
concertos for wind instruments.
Some feature more than one
soloist, in the manner of the
18th century. Hindemith caps
the games in his concerto for
woodwinds and harp with a
surprise for his wife Gertrud.
Their silver wedding anniversary
fell on the day of the concerto’s
premiere, and a famous wedding
march is unmistakable…
Mozart wasn’t the only composer to miss his own
premiere. Paul Hindemith’s students at Yale were
surprised to meet him one day on his way to the New
Haven train station. ‘I’m going to Dallas for the premiere
of my Sinfonia Serena.’ ‘But you never go to premieres of
your works!’ ‘True, but I have a compositional problem,
and I find train travel helpful for sorting those out.’ A few
days later the same students ran into him again: ‘We
thought you were in Dallas!’ ‘Well,’ said Hindemith, ‘by the
time I got to Grand Central Station in New York I’d sorted
out the problem, so I got on the first train back.’
This is a timely story. It was while based in the United
States that Hindemith composed most of his works for
solo instrument and orchestra (Concertos for Clarinet
1947, Horn 1949, Trumpet and Bassoon 1949, and this one
sydney symphony 21
for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Harp 1949). This
reflects the well-off state of American orchestras in the
post-war years, their willingness to pay, and that of soloists
such as clarinettist Benny Goodman. Equally it reflects
Hindemith’s exploring of a particular medium in depth,
and his desire to contribute to the repertoire of as many
instruments as possible.
Knowing that Hindemith had a propensity not to turn
up for premieres, it’s disarming to find him building into
a concerto a reason why he had to be there. This Concerto
for woodwinds, harp and orchestra was written in 1949
for the Fifth Festival of Contemporary American Music.
Work was begun in April; the premiere was at Columbia
University in New York City, on 15 May, the Hindemiths’
silver wedding anniversary. There was a surprise for
Gertrud. Cheeky clarinet quotations in the third
movement would have made it obvious to all that a
marriage was being celebrated. ‘In honour of the occasion,’
Hindemith explained, ‘I mixed into it the Wedding March
from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “skin,
hair and all”.’
22 sydney symphony
This portrait of the Mozart
family was painted in Salzburg
by Johann Nepomuk della
Croce in 1780/81. Mozart and
his sister sit at the keyboard,
father Leopold holds his violin,
and Mozart’s mother, who
had died in Paris in 1778, is
represented by her portrait on
the wall.
The first movement is lyrical and pastoral, the second
a series of canons between flute and clarinet, oboe and
bassoon. Flute and harp are often associated, a pairing
often heard on its own (or as soloists in a Mozart
concerto). Taking Mozart comparisons further, Hindemith
knew that in the last movement of Mozart’s Quintet for
piano and winds (oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn) there is a
written-out cadenza in tempo, for all the instruments.
Hindemith does the same thing with his soloists.
There remains a mystery about Mozart’s Gran Partita.
It used to be thought that Mozart began composing it in
Munich in 1781 for the premiere of his opera Idomeneo
(hence the adjacent Köchel catalogue number). We know
some of it was performed in Vienna in 1784, and the
remaining movements may not yet have been written.
But recent dating of the paper Mozart used suggests he
began the piece later in 1781, soon after moving to Vienna,
when he was falling in love with Constanze Weber. There
is even a slim chance that Mozart intended the music for
his own wedding. The outsize instrumentation, then,
would be his idea, not Stadler’s. Wind music of this kind
was associated with celebrations in affluent families.
Mozart, we may fantasise, thought he and his bride worthy
of ‘a great wind piece of a very special kind’.
What’s in a name?
Wind ensemble pieces were
often called ‘partita’ or
‘parthia’ – meaning simply in
several parts, e.g. a sextet or
octet. Mozart’s K361 somehow
acquired the name ‘Gran
Partita’ – big partita – and it is
indeed ‘big’, unprecedentedly
so.
The other title you’ll come
across in connection with
K361 is ‘Serenade for 13 wind
instruments’, although in
Vienna in 1784 the lowest part
would have been played on
double bass rather than the
new contrabassoon – a very
unreliable piece of plumbing in
Mozart’s day.
DAVID GARRETT © 2013
sydney symphony 23
MORE MUSIC
MARY FINSTERER
Among the recent releases of Mary Finsterer’s music
is the atmospheric soundtrack to South Solitary (2010).
Finsterer plays piano on the disc, joined by Louise
Johnson and Genevieve Lang (harps) and Fiona Ziegler
and Kate Malone (violins). Christopher Gordon and
Brett Kelly conduct the Sydney Scoring Orchestra.
ABC CLASSICS 476 3955
For a comprehensive survey of her concert music,
look for the 2-CD retrospective from 2004. The
performances are by top Australian and international
artists.
ABC CLASSICS 476 1760
maryfinsterer.com
PAUL HINDEMITH
For Hindemith’s Concerto for woodwinds, harp and
orchestra, we highly recommend the recording by
Jiří Bělohlávek and the Czech Philharmonic
Orchestra. The brass have their moment in the sun
with Konzertmusik for brass and strings, Op.50, and
the major work is the symphony Mathis der Maler.
Eloquence label has paired the Gran Partita with
another Mozart work featuring winds, the Serenade
in E flat, K375.
ELOQUENCE 4646372
If you prefer a period instrument sound, look for
Philippe Herreweghe and his Champs Élysées
Orchestra in a different pairing of wind serenades:
Gran Partita and the Serenade in C minor, K388.
HARMONIA MUNDI 2961570
PIANO CONCERTOS
The two Mozart piano concertos in this year’s
Mozart in the City series (K459 and K595) are happily
paired on a release featuring Alica De Larrocha
accompanied by the English Chamber Orchestra
and Colin Davis. ‘Few other artists,’ wrote one
reviewer, ‘are more attuned to Mozart’s mix of pain
and radiance.’
RCA VICTOR RED SEAL 68289
JUPITER SYMPHONY
Schreker wasn’t the composer of his generation to
compose a chamber symphony and one
illuminating recording brings together chamber
symphonies by George Enescu (Op.33, composed in
1954), Arnold Schoenberg (Op.9, 1906) and Franz
Schreker (1916). The Gateway Chamber Orchestra is
conducted by Gregory Wolynec.
Mozart’s Jupiter is one of the most frequently
recorded of his symphonies and choosing between
the different options is difficult! But for a
connection with our own performance, look for the
recording by Colin Davis, one of Jessica Cottis’s
teachers at the Royal Academy of Music. He
conducts the Dresden Staatskapelle in 13 of
Mozart’s late symphonies, a generous collection that
includes the Paris and Prague symphonies and the
great G minor symphony (No.40) as well as the
Jupiter. Five CDs and excellent value.
SUMMIT RECORDS 592
DECCA 475 9120
CHANDOS 9457
FRANZ SCHREKER
SHOSTAKOVICH/BARSHAI
Rudolf Barshai himself conducts the Giuseppe
Verdi Symphony Orchestra of Milan in a 2-CD
recording of the chamber symphonies he arranged
from Shostakovich string quartets, including the
one heard in this series (Op.83a) and the best-known
of the five, Op.110a, based on the Eighth String
Quartet.
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 8212
AND NOW MOZART…
OPERA OVERTURES
For an invigorating recording of the complete
Mozart overtures – 16 in total, from the obscure
Apollo et Hyacinthus to the The Magic Flute – seek out
Andrea Marcon and La Cetra Barockorchester Basel.
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 477 9445
Broadcasts and Webcasts
Most Sydney Symphony concerts are recorded by
ABC Classic FM for live or delayed broadcast.
Broadcast listings can be found at www.abc.net.au/
classic
Fine Music 102.5
Fine Music 102.5 broadcasts a regular Sydney
Symphony spot at 6pm on the second Tuesday of
each month. Tune in to hear musicians, staff and
guest artists discuss what’s in store in our
forthcoming concerts.
GRAN PARTITA
For Mozart’s Gran Partita in a modern instrument
performance, you can’t go wrong with former
Sydney Symphony chief conductor Edo de Waart
and the Netherlands Wind Ensemble. And the
24 sydney symphony
Selected Sydney Symphony concerts are webcast live
on BigPond and Telstra T-box and made available
for later viewing On Demand.
2013 season
mozart in the city
Thursday 29 August | 7pm
City Recital Hall Angel Place
Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony
Jessica Cottis CONDUCTOR
Kees Boersma DOUBLE BASS
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
The Magic Flute: Overture
Mary Finsterer (born 1962)
Lake Ice – Double Bass Concerto
PREMIERE
Commissioned by the Sydney Symphony for
Kees Boersma and the orchestra.
This concert will be recorded for
later broadcast on ABC Classic FM.
Pre-concert talk by David Garrett
at 6.15pm in the First Floor
Reception Room.
Visit sydneysymphony.com/talk-bios
for speaker biographies.
Estimated durations: 7 minutes,
22 minutes, 31 minutes, 5 minutes
The concert will conclude at
approximately 8.20pm.
Mozart
Symphony No.41 in C, K551 (Jupiter)
Allegro vivace
Andante cantabile
Menuetto (Allegretto) – Trio
Molto allegro
Mozart Mystery Moment
To be announced on Friday. See page 3 for details.
sydney symphony 25
ABOUT THE MUSIC
Magic, Myth and Majesty
This looks like a normal concert program: an overture, a
concerto and a symphony. Two works are masterpieces of
late Mozart, but the concerto is new. The new music makes
this more like a concert in Mozart’s day. But Mozart never
did write a concerto for double bass. If you think that isn’t
surprising, assuming no one else did either, you’re wrong.
Mozart came closer than you imagine to composing a
concerto for the double bass. Haydn composed one (now
lost), Dittersdorf two, and another Austrian composer,
called Sperger… 18 concertos for his own instrument, the
double bass.
There was an Austrian school of double bass virtuosity in
Mozart’s day, and through tonight’s overture we come close
to Mozart’s direct involvement with one of the virtuosos,
Friedrich Pischlberger. He was the soloist in a concert aria
Mozart composed for the bass who sang Sarastro in The
Magic Flute, Franz Xaver Gerl. In this aria, ‘Per questa bella
Magic Flute Overture
26 sydney symphony
The Magic Flute, a play with
songs, is more like a musical
than an opera. It was written
for a theatre in the Vienna
suburbs, and the author of the
words played the stock funny
man. But, as its overture
suggests, there was a serious
message in The Magic Flute,
partly hidden in the code of
Freemasonry. That’s what the
three tellingly sounded chords
at the beginning are about.
DEAN GOLJA
mano’, the bass singer is matched by the deepest bass string
instrument with an obbligato part that’s daunting even to
bass players of today.
When Mozart composed The Magic Flute, overtures in the
theatre were beginning to include musical material from
the opera itself. Previously a sinfonia (or overture) aimed
to gain the public’s attention before the curtain rose, and
was so general as to be transferable (say from a flop to a hit
opera). Mozart’s overture to The Magic Flute has elements
of the old and the new: the fast sections are essentially the
kind of brilliant imitative writing typical of such sections in
Italian overtures. But the grand introduction, with its three
chords, a pattern repeated later, refers to the subject matter
of the opera.
Both Mozart and the author of the words of The Magic
Flute, Emmanuel Schikaneder, were Freemasons. To adepts
in the ritual of the Masonic lodge, these three chords
represented the knocking at the door of the candidate for
initiation. They recur in the opera, where Tamino and
Pamina are similarly initiated into the mysteries of Sarastro
and his priests. Initiated musicians might also have
detected in the key signature, E flat, with its three flattened
notes, another reference to the number three of Masonic
code. What is not to be found in the overture is any
reference to the hits from Mozart and Schikaneder’s
entertainment, such as the songs sung by the bird catcher
Papageno, especially the one with the magic bells.
Part of the reason the overture to this concert makes no
references to the songs of the opera is that simpler ideas are
better suited to musical development. In the film Amadeus
Mozart is shown taking simple, even banal, musical ideas
and transforming them. Such is the figure in repeated notes
which is the main allegro theme of the Magic Flute overture.
(Very likely, and possibly unconsciously, Mozart got it from
what his rival Clementi played in the piano contest set up
for his diversion by the Emperor Joseph II.)
For Mary Finsterer, something akin to fairy story, myth
and magic underlies the concept of Lake Ice, the first in a
series entitled Missed Tales, based on invented myths
suggested by ancient legends and landscapes. The concerto
continues the explorations in her most recent orchestral
work, In Praise of Darkness. Performed by The
Asko|Schoenberg Ensemble, that work featured concertante
parts for various instruments, and led, in discussion with
the Sydney Symphony, to the idea of a concerto for Kees
Boersma.
Mary Finsterer
Acclaimed as one of Australia’s
most original composers, Mary
Finsterer has achieved
international recognition, her
work having been performed by
leading ensembles and
orchestras in Europe, Britain and
North America. Her distinctions
include International Society of
Contemporary Music awards, a
Churchill Fellowship and the
Prestigious Paul Lowin
Orchestral Prize in 2009 for her
orchestral work In Praise of
Darkness. Her experience
incorporates also work as a
director and producer, and she
has been increasingly involved
in multimedia, composing
notated scores and electroacoustic landscapes. Her screen
music for the feature film South
Solitary (directed by Shirley
Barrett) received a Film Critics
Circle of Australia nomination in
2010. Current projects include
composition for the concert
stage and an opera. Mary
Finsterer is a Vice-Chancellor’s
Professorial Fellow at Monash
University.
sydney symphony 27
Lake Ice has been conceived in consultation with its
soloist, not only about technical aspects of writing for
double bass but more widely. ‘Kees is not just a great player,’
says Finsterer, ‘but also has a spirit for adventure that makes
the process a whole lot more fun. His involvement
personalises the work and gives it a unique signature.’
The title ‘Lake Ice’ refers to Norse mythology, Finsterer
explains: From Yggdrasill, an immense tree central to the
structure of the universe, nine worlds branch out. The
penultimate world, Niflhel, is made of ice and mist. Here
creation began, a place where lakes of ice mixed with heat
to form a creating steam. Lake Ice evokes a legendary
landscape of primordial cold, when earth was shaped by
pagan Gods.
The double bass can sound the colder, deeper places. But
it also allows high sonorities from its distinctive harmonics,
and Mary Finsterer finds evocative beauty in these high
registers. Shivering in the cold, ice crystals – these are just
two of the visual and gestural possibilities offered by this
wide-ranging solo instrument. A small orchestra allows
transparency of texture, gestural detail and nuanced
colours. In so far as any music in this program could be
said to be narrative or illustrative, it is – unusually – the
concerto, Lake Ice, where scenes and episodes follow a kind
of journey, in an atmospheric landscape.
The end of tonight’s concert recalls one feature of its
beginning: fugal writing, in which each successive entry
imitates its predecessor in a chase. The Jupiter symphony
was known in 19th-century Germany as ‘the symphony
with the fugal finale’. The finale is not in fact a fugue, but a
sonata-form movement with fugato episodes – that is to say,
with successive imitative entries as in a fugue, but not
going on to a systematic fugal working out. In the next
concert in this series, we will hear an earlier and similar
Mozart finale, that of his Piano Concerto in F, K459. [Avan
Yu will perform this in October.] What is unusual for the
time, both in the Jupiter symphony and in the piano
concerto, is the relative seriousness and weight of the
finale, shifting the centre of gravity towards the end of the
concerto or symphony. Audiences of Mozart’s day were
more likely to expect such weightiness at the beginning.
In the Jupiter Symphony we have the same four-note tag
as many a composer had used. Mozart’s brilliance lies in
what he does with this malleable material. We do not think
of Mozart as a ‘learned’ composer, but Haydn once told his
young colleague’s father Leopold that his son had the most
28 sydney symphony
Mary Finsterer describes her
Lake Ice concerto as a fairy tale,
telling a story and evoking an
atmospheric landscape. With its
unusual solo instrument, this
piece will have unexpected
sonorities, often making the
deep bass sing high.
Mozart portrait from 1789
It’s not certain whether Mozart’s
last three symphonies,
composed in that significant
year for Sydney, 1788, were
performed in his lifetime. But
their fame soon grew after his
death; Symphony No.41,
especially, was considered so
impressive that it acquired the
extra title ‘Jupiter’.
complete knowledge of the science of composition. In the
coda of the Jupiter finale no fewer than five motifs are
combined in inverted counterpoint.
The title ‘Jupiter’ may have been coined by Haydn’s London
sponsor, the violinist and entrepreneur Salomon; it first
appears in print on a piano arrangement of the symphony
published in London in 1823 by Clementi. Jupiter has a
neoclassical ring. Images of stately architecture and godly
nobility are conjured up by the symphony’s grand opening.
Ironically, it’s the symphony tonight that quotes from a
song, rather than the opera overture. The grand, rich
orchestral exposition of this first movement concludes
with a quotation from a comic aria Mozart had composed
earlier in the same year, to the words ‘You’re a little slow,
dear Signor Pompeo! Go learn a bit of the ways of the
world’. The Classical Viennese symphony establishes a
balance between serious and comic elements and makes no
barrier between them; this same theme becomes the basis
of Mozart’s powerful development section. Mozart remains
an entertainer even at his most serious.
This symphony, like tonight’s
overture, begins with a threefold call to attention. It moves
effortlessly from brilliant
magnificence to bantering
graciousness, and back. The
slow movement is most moving.
When he heard of his young
colleague’s death, Haydn
quoted from the deeply felt slow
movement in the symphony he
was writing (No.98). The
symphony is crowned by the
movement that gave it the
alternative sobriquet: ‘with the
fugal finale’.
DAVID GARRETT © 2013
sydney symphony 29
2013 season
mozart in the city
Thursday 17 October | 7pm
City Recital Hall Angel Place
Mozart and Shostakovich
Dene Olding CONDUCTOR
Avan Yu PIANO
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Piano Concerto No.19 in F, K459
Allegro
Allegretto
Allegro assai
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975)
Chamber Symphony Op.83a
orchestrated from String Quartet No.4 by
Rudolf Barshai (1924–2010)
Allegro
Andantino
Allegretto –
Allegretto
This concert will be recorded for
later broadcast on ABC Classic FM.
Pre-concert talk by David Garrett
at 6.15pm in the First Floor
Reception Room.
Visit sydneysymphony.com/talk-bios
for speaker biographies.
Estimated durations: 29 minutes,
26 minutes, 5 minutes
The concert will conclude at
approximately 8.15pm.
Mozart Mystery Moment
To be announced on Friday. See page 3 for details.
sydney symphony 31
ABOUT THE MUSIC
Great music invites arrangement:
Mozart and Shostakovich
Some readers will have memories of W.A. Dullo, or at least
of Dullo Chocolates. Walter Dullo and his wife Annemarie
came to Australia as refugees in 1937, bringing with them
chocolate-making equipment. Born in Königsberg, Dullo
studied mathematics, then law in Berlin and music at
Heidelberg. Prevented by the Nazis from practising law,
he learnt chocolate-making. In his new life in Australia,
as well as making and selling the chocolates of happy
memory, Walter Dullo was one of the founders of Musica
Viva, and for many years his program notes could be read
at Musica Viva and other concerts.
As a young man in 1921, Walter Andreas Dullo attended
a memorable set of concerts in Berlin where he heard
Ferruccio Busoni play six Mozart piano concertos. He was
still talking about those concerts, over 50 years later.
Busoni is usually linked with Bach, whose music he played
magisterially, notably his own transcriptions for piano of
organ works. Mr Dullo reminded us that Busoni loved
Mozart too.
Busoni composed cadenzas for the piano concertos, and
transcribed many Mozart pieces for piano. For two pianos
he made versions of inter alia the Magic Flute Overture,
and – coming to the point – the last movement of the
piano concerto we hear in this concert. This arrangement,
or free version was made in 1919, and published in 1921
as ‘Duettino Concertante after Mozart for two pianos’.
This kind of arrangement involves reducing the
instrumentation. Australian Busoni scholar Larry Sitsky,
who first learnt to play the music in Busoni’s version,
thinks Busoni did so well that it would be worth using
his version to revise Mozart’s original! Sitsky believes
this could be an improvement, but I doubt you’ll sense
anything lacking when the music is played – it’s just
brilliant as Mozart wrote it.
But arrangement can also involve adding, and that’s
relevant to the other piece on this concert program. Just
as there’s Bach-Busoni (and Mozart-Busoni), so there’s
Shostakovich-Barshai. We met another chamber symphony
in the piece by Schreker in the first concert of this Mozart
series. The chamber symphonies by ‘Shostakovich-Barshai’
are Rudolf Barshai’s arrangements of several of his friend
Dmitri Shostakovich’s 15 string quartets.
Barshai’s early career was as the viola player in the
Moscow Philharmonic Quartet (later renamed Borodin
32 sydney symphony
But arrangement
can also involve
adding…
Rudolf Barshai (1924–2010)
LEBRECHT MUSIC & ARTS
Quartet). In 1955 he turned to conducting and founded the
Moscow Chamber Orchestra. One of the pieces he added
to their repertoire was his transcription for string
orchestra of piano pieces by Prokofiev called Visions
fugitives. With the composer’s full approval Barshai made
an arrangement for string orchestra version of one of
Shostakovich’s string quartets – No.8. The worldwide
success of this version, which is performed at least as often
as the original, was followed by Barshai’s versions of
quartets 3, 4, 1 and 10 – all as chamber symphonies, but
each with varying instrumentation.
Barshai’s treatment of the Fourth Quartet, which we
hear tonight as Chamber Symphony Op.83a, is particularly
fascinating. The work itself is difficult to ‘read’, as are most
of Shostakovich’s quartets. Interpretation thus becomes
crucial. Shostakovich was known to be dissatisfied with its
interpretation by the Beethoven Quartet, which had
premiered his previous quartets, and he no doubt made
those reservations known to members of the Borodin
Quartet, including Barshai, whom he wanted to premiere
his fifth quartet.
Shostakovich (centre) with the Moscow Philharmonic Quartet: Rostislav Dubinsky (first violin), Valentin
Berlinsky (cello), Nina Barshai (second violin) and Rudolf Barshai (viola). This photo was taken in 1946;
the group took the name Borodin Quartet in 1955.
sydney symphony 33
There were reasons why the Fourth Quartet, composed
in 1949, had to wait until 1953 for its premiere. On the
surface, it seems to present a balanced lyricism, mostly
pleasant to listen to. It seems to hark back beyond
Beethoven to a classical style, sometimes saluting Haydn,
sometimes the divertimento manner. The first movement
could have come from some imaginary Russian folklore.
So what was the problem that made Shostakovich
withhold the work for years? No doubt the music’s many
Jewish references, especially obvious in the last movement.
Inclusion of such references was likely to be taken as
deliberate flouting of Stalin’s anti-Semitic decrees from
1948 on. In the immediate post-World War II years
Shostakovich renewed his interest in Jewish music, and
composed the song cycle ‘From Jewish Poetry’ (c.1948)
which could not be officially performed during Stalin’s
lifetime.
The Jewish references are especially obvious in
Barshai’s orchestral version of the quartet. Its predecessor,
sometimes called the ‘War Quartet’, is ostensibly more
powerful than the fourth (its unpublished movement titles
include ‘forces of war’ and ‘homage to the dead’). Yet in
Barshai’s versions the lighter Fourth Quartet makes a
more powerful effect than the Third Quartet, as he has
chosen a larger and heavier orchestration, including
percussion, single woodwinds, two horns, trumpet and
celesta. This enables Barshai to underline some things,
bring out others in a brighter light. The first part of the
string quartet only in retrospect seems to refer to Jewish
music, though its folk-like melody could suggest a Yiddish
affinity. Barshai scores the first two movements quite
lightly, so that in the third, percussion and trumpet enter
with dramatic impact. In the finale, Barshai’s scoring
makes quite blatant Shostakovich’s debt to klezmer music.
The emotional ambivalence of the whole quartet is
illuminated by Shostakovich’s comments on a quality of
Jewish poetry, close to his ideas of what music should be:
‘It’s almost always laughter through tears. This is close to
my ideas of what music should be. There also should be
two layers in music. Jews were tormented for so long that
they learned to hide their despair. They express despair in
dance music.’ (from Testimony).
An element of ambiguity – laughing and crying at the
same time – is probably to be found in most great music.
In Mozart’s Piano Concerto in F, K.459, the ambivalence
mainly concerns the march rhythm pervading the first
movement. Mozart’s alla breve time signature, however,
34 sydney symphony
Shostakovich performing in the
1950s
An element of
ambiguity – laughing
and crying at the same
time – is probably to be
found in most great
music.
All about tempo
Three movements in this
concert have the tempo
‘Allegretto’, normally defined
as lively, but not too fast. In
the Mozart piano concerto, this
tempo makes for an unusual
middle movement, which you’d
expect to be slow. The concerto
was a favourite of Mozart’s and
he chose it to play at festivities
in Frankfurt when the Austrian
ruler was crowned Holy Roman
Emperor. This, not concerto
No.26, is the one that should
be called Mozart’s ‘Coronation’
Concerto. The orchestra
crowned Avan Yu, who plays it,
with the Mozart concerto prize
of the 2012 Sydney International
Piano Competition.
shows that heaviness should be avoided (march time, but
with two beats in the bar). This concerto is both brilliant
and cheerful, but certainly not lightweight. A festive piece
Mozart composed to show off his powers as pianist and
composer, it is the real Mozart ‘Coronation Concerto’
(rather than the D major K537, usually so called). In 1790
Mozart took this concerto he had composed in 1784 on
tour, playing it at the coronation festivities in Frankfurt
for the Emperor Leopold II.
The second movement Allegretto is unique in Mozart’s
concertos. It has been described as an idyll or an
intermezzo, graceful, even capricious. A brief, passing
excursion into the minor mode has the effect of pathos
rather than tragedy. The last movement, which stimulated
Busoni to his brilliant rebirthing of Mozart, is one of
Mozart’s most exciting things, and all the more so for
beginning almost insouciantly with a frisky, bantering idea.
Several times the full power of musical knowledge is to be
let loose in this movement. This concert thrives on the
unexpected.
In Shostakovich, moderate
tempo indications suggest
easygoing music, deceptive to
the casual listener. Yet String
Quartet No.4 contained danger,
so much so that it couldn’t dare
to be heard while Stalin was
still alive. In this concert, the
music is heard as a chamber
symphony, an orchestration of
Shostakovich’s quartet by viola
player and conductor Rudolf
Barshai. He underlines both
the apparently harmlessness of
the manner, and the danger of
Shostakovich’s clear references
to Jewish music. Barshai only
gradually lets loose the power
of the orchestra, but in his
version the finale sounds
unmistakably like klezmer
music.
DAVID GARRETT © 2013
sydney symphony 35
MUSICIANS
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Principal Conductor
and Artistic Advisor
supported by Emirates
Jessica Cottis
Assistant Conductor
supported by Premier
Partner Credit Suisse
Andrew Haveron
Concertmaster
(from May)
Dene Olding
Concertmaster
Performing in these concerts…
FIRST VIOLINS
VIOLAS
FLUTES
Dene Olding 3 4
Roger Benedict 2 4
Janet Webb 2 3 4
Robert Johnson 1 2
Concertmaster
Principal
Principal
Principal
Kirsten Williams 1 2 4
Tobias Breider 3
Emma Sholl 1
Ben Jacks 3 4
Associate Concertmaster
Fiona Ziegler 2
Principal
Associate Principal
Principal
Anne-Louise
Comerford 1 3 4
Rosamund Plummer 3
Geoffrey O’Reilly 2
Principal Piccolo
Principal 3rd
OBOES
Euan Harvey 2 3
Marnie Sebire 2
Rachel Shaw° 1
Assistant Concertmaster
Julie Batty 3 4
Jennifer Booth 2 4
Marianne Broadfoot 1 3
Brielle Clapson 3 4
Sophie Cole 1 3
Amber Davis 1
Georges Lentz 1 2
Alexandra Mitchell 2
Alexander Norton 2 3
Léone Ziegler 1
SECOND VIOLINS
HORNS
Associate Principal
Justin Williams 1 2
Assistant Principal
Diana Doherty 1 2
Robyn Brookfield 3
Sandro Costantino 4
Jane Hazelwood 3
Stuart Johnson 4
Justine Marsden 1 2
Felicity Tsai 1 2
Principal Cor Anglais
Associate Principal
John Foster 3
CELLOS
CLARINETS
Anthony Heinrichs 2
Catherine Hewgill 4
Lawrence Dobell 2 4
Principal
Shefali Pryor 1
Associate Principal
David Papp 1
Alexandre Oguey 1
Principal
Principal
Principal
Michael Stirling 1
Francesco Celata 2 3
Emma Jezek 2 4
Principal*
Associate Principal
Leah Lynn 1 2 3
Christopher Tingay 2
Craig Wernicke 3 4
Marina Marsden 1 2 3 4
Assistant Principal
Maria Durek 2 4
Shuti Huang 4
Stan W Kornel 1
Benjamin Li 2 3
Emily Long 1 3
Nicole Masters 1 3 4
Philippa Paige 1 3
Biyana Rozenblit 2 3
Maja Verunica 1 2 4
Assistant Principal
Kristy Conrau 1
Fenella Gill 2 4
Timothy Nankervis 3
Elizabeth Neville 1 4
Christopher Pidcock 3
Adrian Wallis 2 3
David Wickham 2
Principal Bass Clarinet
Alexei Dupressoir* 2
TRUMPETS
David Elton 1 3
Principal
Paul Goodchild 2 4
TROMBONE
Ronald Prussing 1
Principal
Scott Kinmont 2 3
Associate Principal
Nick Byrne 3
Christopher Harris 3
Principal Bass Trombone
BASSOONS
Matthew Wilkie 3 4
Principal
Roger Brooke
2
TIMPANI
Mark Robinson 1 2 3
Assistant Principal
Associate Principal
DOUBLE BASSES
Kees Boersma 4
Principal
Alex Henery 1 2 3
Principal
David Campbell 3
Steven Larson 1
David Murray 2
Benjamin Ward 4
# = Contract Musician | * = Guest Musician | † = Sydney Symphony Fellow
Numerals in superscript indicate the concerts in which the musician
is appearing. Orchestra lists are correct at time of publication (March 2013).
Fiona McNamara 2
Noriko Shimada 1 3
PERCUSSION
Principal Contrabassoon
Jack Schiller† 1
Principal
A/Associate Principal
Rebecca Lagos 3 4
Colin Piper 1
HARP
Louise Johnson 1 2 3
Principal
KEYBOARDS
Catherine Davis* 1
David Drury* 1
Susanne Powell* 1 4
1 – 28 March
2 – 39 May
3 – 29 August
4 – 17 October
To see photographs and biographies of the full roster of permanent musicians, visit our website: sydneysymphony.
com/SSO_musicians If you don’t have access to the internet, ask one of our customer service representatives for a
copy of our Musicians flyer. .
36 sydney symphony
SYDNEY SYMPHONY
JOHN MARMARAS
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor
PATRON Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO
Founded in 1932 by the Australian Broadcasting
Commission, 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 it gives more than 100 performances
each year, the Sydney Symphony also performs
in venues throughout Sydney and regional New
South Wales. International tours to Europe,
Asia and the USA have earned the orchestra
worldwide recognition for artistic excellence,
most recently in the 2012 tour to China.
The Sydney Symphony’s first Chief
Conductor was Sir Eugene Goossens, appointed
in 1947; he was followed by Nicolai Malko, Dean
Dixon, Moshe Atzmon, Willem van Otterloo,
Louis Frémaux, Sir Charles Mackerras, Zdeněk
Mácal, Stuart Challender, Edo de Waart and
Gianluigi Gelmetti. David Robertson will take
up the post of Chief Conductor in 2014. The
orchestra’s history also boasts collaborations
with legendary figures such as George Szell, Sir
Thomas Beecham, Otto Klemperer and Igor
Stravinsky.
The Sydney Symphony’s award-winning
education program is central to its
commitment to the future of live symphonic
music, developing audiences and engaging the
participation of young people. The orchestra
promotes the work of Australian composers
through performances, recordings and its
commissioning program. Recent premieres
have included major works by Ross Edwards,
Liza Lim, Lee Bracegirdle, Gordon Kerry and
Georges Lentz, and the orchestra’s recording of
works by Brett Dean was released on both the
BIS and Sydney Symphony Live labels.
Other releases on the Sydney Symphony Live
label, established in 2006, include performances
with Alexander Lazarev, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Sir
Charles Mackerras and Vladimir Ashkenazy. In
2010–11 the orchestra made concert recordings
of the complete Mahler symphonies with
Ashkenazy, and has also released recordings of
Rachmaninoff and Elgar orchestral works on
the Exton/Triton labels, as well as numerous
recordings on the ABC Classics label.
This is the fifth year of Ashkenazy’s tenure as
Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor.
sydney symphony 37
BEHIND THE SCENES
Sydney
Symphony
Board
Sydney Symphony Staff
S
EXECUTIVE TEAM ASSISTANT
EX
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
John C Conde ao Chairman
Terrey Arcus am
Ewen Crouch am
Ross Grant
Jennifer Hoy
Rory Jeffes
Andrew Kaldor am
Irene Lee
David Livingstone
Goetz Richter
Lisa Davies-Galli
Li
Lucy McCullough
ARTISTIC OPERATIONS
A
Nathanael van der Reyden
MANAGING DIRECTOR
M
DATA ANALYST
Rory Jeffes
R
Varsha Karnik
DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC PLANNING
D
Peter Czornyj
Pe
ONLINE MARKETING COORDINATOR
ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION MANAGER
AR
Jenny Sargant
Eleasha Mah
El
ARTIST LIAISON MANAGER
AR
MANAGER OF BOX OFFICE SALES &
OPERATIONS
RECORDING ENTERPRISE MANAGER
RE
Lynn McLaughlin
BOX OFFICE SYSTEMS SUPERVISOR
Jacqueline Tooley
HEAD OF EDUCATION
H
BOX OFFICE BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR
Kim Waldock
K
John Robertson
EMERGING ARTISTS PROGRAM MANAGER
EM
CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES
Mark Lawrenson
M
Steve Clarke – Senior CSR
Michael Dowling
Sarah Morrisby
Amy Walsh
EDUCATION COORDINATOR
ED
Rachel McLarin
R
38 sydney symphony
Box Office
Ilmar Leetberg
Il
Philip Powers
Ph
Geoff Ainsworth am
Andrew Andersons ao
Michael Baume ao
Christine Bishop
Ita Buttrose ao obe
Peter Cudlipp
John Curtis am
Greg Daniel am
John Della Bosca
Alan Fang
Erin Flaherty
Dr Stephen Freiberg
Donald Hazelwood ao obe
Dr Michael Joel am
Simon Johnson
Yvonne Kenny am
Gary Linnane
Amanda Love
Helen Lynch am
David Maloney
David Malouf ao
Julie Manfredi-Hughes
Deborah Marr
The Hon. Justice Jane Mathews ao
Danny May
Wendy McCarthy ao
Jane Morschel
Greg Paramor
Dr Timothy Pascoe am
Prof. Ron Penny ao
Jerome Rowley
Paul Salteri
Sandra Salteri
Juliana Schaeffer
Leo Schofield am
Fred Stein oam
Gabrielle Trainor
Ivan Ungar
John van Ogtrop
Peter Weiss ao HonDLitt
Mary Whelan
Rosemary White
MARKETING COORDINATOR
Jonathon Symonds
Artistic Administration
Ar
Education Programs
Ed
E
Sydney
Symphony
Council
CREATIVE ARTWORKER
CUSTOMER SERVICE OFFICER
C
Derek Reed
D
Library
Li
COMMUNICATIONS
LIBRARIAN
LI
HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS &
SPONSOR RELATIONS
Anna Cernik
An
Yvonne Zammit
LIBRARY ASSISTANT
LI
PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER
Victoria Grant
Vi
Katherine Stevenson
LIBRARY ASSISTANT
LI
COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR
Mary-Ann Mead
M
Janine Harris
ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT
O
DIRECTOR OF ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT
D
Aernout Kerbert
Ae
ORCHESTRA MANAGER
O
Chris Lewis
C
FELLOWSHIP SOCIAL MEDIA OFFICER
Caitlin Benetatos
Publications
PUBLICATIONS EDITOR & MUSIC
PRESENTATION MANAGER
Yvonne Frindle
ORCHESTRA COORDINATOR
O
Georgia Stamatopoulos
G
DEVELOPMENT
OPERATIONS MANAGER
O
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
Kerry-Anne Cook
K
Caroline Sharpen
PRODUCTION MANAGER
PR
EXTERNAL RELATIONS MANAGER
Laura Daniel
La
Stephen Attfield
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
PR
PHILANTHROPY, PATRONS PROGRAM
Tim Dayman
T
Ivana Jirasek
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
PR
DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
Ian Spence
Ia
Amelia Morgan-Hunn
STAGE MANAGER
ST
Elise Beggs
El
BUSINESS SERVICES
SALES AND MARKETING
SA
John Horn
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING
D
FINANCE MANAGER
Mark J Elliott
M
Ruth Tolentino
SENIOR SALES & MARKETING MANAGER
SE
ACCOUNTANT
Penny Evans
Pe
Minerva Prescott
MARKETING MANAGER, SUBSCRIPTION SALES
M
ACCOUNTS ASSISTANT
Simon Crossley-Meates
Si
Emma Ferrer
MARKETING MANAGER, CLASSICAL SALES
M
PAYROLL OFFICER
Matthew Rive
M
Laura Soutter
MARKETING MANAGER, WEB & DIGITAL MEDIA
M
Eve Le Gall
Ev
MARKETING MANAGER, DATABASE & CRM
M
Matthew Hodge
M
HUMAN RESOURCES
HEAD OF HUMAN RESOURCES
Michel Maree Hryce
SYDNEY SYMPHONY PATRONS
Maestro’s Circle
Peter William Weiss ao – Founding President & Doris Weiss
John C Conde ao – Chairman
Geoff Ainsworth am & Vicki Ainsworth
Tom Breen & Rachael Kohn
In memory of Hetty & Egon Gordon
Andrew Kaldor am & Renata Kaldor ao
Roslyn Packer ao
Penelope Seidler am
Mr Fred Street am & Mrs Dorothy Street
Westfield Group
Brian & Rosemary White
Ray Wilson oam in memory of the late James Agapitos oam
Sydney Symphony Leadership Ensemble
Alan Fang, Chairman, Tianda Group
Tony Grierson, Braithwaite Steiner Pretty
Insurance Australia Group
Macquarie Group Foundation
John Morschel, Chairman, ANZ
Andrew Kaldor am, Chairman, Pelikan Artline
Lynn Kraus, Sydney Office Managing Partner, Ernst & Young
Shell Australia Pty Ltd
James Stevens, CEO, Roses Only
Stephen Johns, Chairman, Leighton Holdings,
and Michele Johns
Directors’ Chairs
01
02
06
07
01 Roger Benedict
Principal Viola
Kim Williams am &
Catherine Dovey Chair
02 Lawrence Dobell
Principal Clarinet
Anne Arcus &
Terrey Arcus am Chair
03 Diana Doherty
Principal Oboe
Andrew Kaldor am &
Renata Kaldor ao Chair
03
04
08
09
05
04 Richard Gill oam
Artistic Director Education
Sandra & Paul Salteri Chair
07 Elizabeth Neville
Cello
Ruth & Bob Magid Chair
05 Catherine Hewgill
Principal Cello
The Hon. Justice AJ &
Mrs Fran Meagher Chair
08 Colin Piper
Percussion
Justice Jane Mathews ao Chair
06 Robert Johnson
Principal Horn
James & Leonie Furber Chair
09 Emma Sholl
Associate Principal Flute
Robert & Janet Constable Chair
For information about the Directors’ Chairs program, please call (02) 8215 4619.
Sydney Symphony Vanguard
Vanguard Collective
Members
Justin Di Lollo – Chair
Kees Boersma
Marina Go
David McKean
Amelia Morgan-Hunn
Jonathan Pease
Seamus R Quick
Centric Wealth
Matti Alakargas
Nikki Andrews
James Armstrong
Stephen Attfield
Andrew Baxter
Mar Beltran
Kees Boersma
Peter Braithwaite
Andrea Brown
Ian Burton
Jennifer Burton
Hahn Chau
Ron Christianson
Matthew Clark
Benoît Cocheteux
George Condous
Michael Cook
Paul Cousins
Justin Di Lollo
Rose Gallo
Alistair Gibson
Sam Giddings
Marina Go
Sebastian Goldspink
Derek Hand
Rose Herceg
Paolo Hooke
Peter Howard
Jennifer Hoy
Damian Kassagbi
Chris Keher
Elizabeth Lee
Antony Lighten
Gary Linnane
Paul Macdonald
David McKean
Hayden McLean
Amelia Morgan-Hunn
Taine Moufarrige
Hugh Munro
Fiona Osler
Peter Outridge
Julia Owens
Archie Paffas
Jonathan Pease
Seamus R Quick
Michael Reede
Emma Rodigari
Jacqueline Rowlands
Bernard Ryan
Adam Wand
Jon Wilkie
Jonathan Watkinson
Darren Woolley
Misha Zelinsky
sydney symphony 39
PLAYING YOUR PART
The Sydney Symphony gratefully acknowledges the music lovers who donate to the orchestra
each year. Each gift plays an important part in ensuring our continued artistic excellence
and helping to sustain important education and regional touring programs. Donations of
$50 and above are acknowledged on our website at www.sydneysymphony.com/patrons
Platinum Patrons
$20,000+
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In memory of Hetty & Egon Gordon
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Kaldor ao
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40 sydney symphony
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Mrs Judith Southam
Mrs Karen Spiegal-Keighley
Margaret Suthers
Norman & Lydia Taylor
Dr Heng Tey & Mrs Cilla Tey
Mrs Alma Toohey & Mr Edward
Spicer
Kevin Troy
Gillian Turner & Rob Bishop
Prof Gordon E Wall
Mrs Margaret Wallis
Ronald Walledge
Ms Elizabeth Wilkinson
Audrey & Michael Wilson
A Willmers & R Pal
Dr Peter Wong &
Mrs Emmy K Wong
Geoff Wood & Melissa Waites
Glen & Everly Wyss
Mrs Robin Yabsley
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To find out more about becoming
a Sydney Symphony Patron, please
contact the Philanthropy Office
on (02) 8215 4625 or email
[email protected]
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sydney symphony 41
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Fine Music 102.5
Photo: Keith Saunders
ORCHESTRA NEWS | MARCH–APRIL 2013
`
…our section
needs to play
louder than the
first violins
a
POCKET ROCKET
Diminutive in stature but with towering
international orchestral experience, for second
violin principal Kirsty Hilton, it’s all about
location, location, location.
Kirsty Hilton loves where she
lives. Nicknamed the ‘Rose Bay
Hilton’ by friends, her apartment
allows her – and her guests! – to
live near the harbour. ‘I really
missed not being by the water all
those years I was in Europe,’ she
says. ‘All those years’ included a
period of study in London with
David Takeno, followed by admission into the prestigious Karajan
Academy in Berlin. ‘That was
my most intense study time,’ says
Kirsty. ‘We had to play almost
every week with the Berlin Philharmonic, and four times a year
we’d give a big chamber music
concert in the Berliner Philharmonie.’
Kirsty was soon appointed to
the Bavarian Radio Symphony
Orchestra. ‘[Mariss] Jansons is my
favourite conductor from my time
in Munich. He always had time
for you personally, even though he
could seem quite shy and distant.
And he would always give 100 per
cent in rehearsal and in concert.’
A touch homesick, Kirsty
returned to Sydney in 2007. These
days, however, she still divides
her time between Australia and
Europe: ‘I have a 50 per cent
position with the Mahler Chamber
Orchestra, which means that I go
back to work with them four times
a year.’ Combined with her job in
the Sydney Symphony, that means
almost no time for holidays! ‘It
doesn’t matter, because I’m so
restless – the change feels like a
holiday.’
Though initially appointed
Associate Concertmaster with
the Sydney Symphony, Kirsty
soon made the switch to leading
the second violins. ‘I like playing
the inner parts, and sitting in the
middle of the orchestra. I don’t
like being stuck physically on the
edge of the stage.’
Ironically, the challenges for the
second violins are inherent in where
that section sits, and the musical
material they have to play. ‘Really,
our section needs to play louder
than the first violins,’ explains
Kirsty. Depending on the string
section’s configuration, the
Seconds are either tucked in
behind the first violins, or seated
antiphonally (on the opposite side
of the conductor’s podium), with
their instruments facing away from
the audience. Either way, they need
to ‘beef it up’. ‘The firsts often rely
on us because we’ll be playing
the motor semiquavers,’ explains
Kirsty. Occasionally, there might
be disagreement within the
ensemble about where to play. ‘It’s
tricky because we don’t often have
the melody. We have to decide in
a split second about whether to
follow the cellos, or the firsts.’
Artistic Highlight
Philanthropy Highlight
Introducing S. Katy Tucker New Sinfonia Scholarship
Come July, Chief Conductor designate David
Robertson will embark on his annual opera-inconcert series, with a semi-staged performance
of Wagner’s Flying Dutchman. For this project,
there will be a new face in the house with a very
important role to play.
‘I don’t have any musical talent,’ says S. Katy
Tucker. ‘But I do have a deep, deep love of music
that I can connect with in an unconventional way
through video projections.’
Katy has been engaged to create a dramatic
environment for the orchestra and soloists for
our performances of Wagner’s first great opera.
She’ll do this through the projection of images
and abstractions on a large screen, cut to resemble
the sails of a square-rigger. ‘We want to make
the performance of Dutchman more “splashy”.’
Touché.
Katy describes her projections as holistic. ‘It’s
up to me to balance the attention and focus of the
audience. I don’t want my visuals to compete with,
or detract from, the music.’
Last year we mourned the passing of Joan
MacKenzie, a member of the Sydney Symphony
Council and one of our most committed supporters
and advocates. Joan had enjoyed a long career in
fashion – from modelling in New York to leading
the David Jones couture department – and she
ensured that her support for the orchestra would
live on in a characteristically vibrant way through a
substantial bequest in her will.
This gift has been generously matched by her
nephew Gavin Solomon and his wife Catherine, and
the funds have been invested to establish an annual
scholarship for a violinist in our Sinfonia mentoring
orchestra. The new scholarship will support travel
for a regional or interstate participant and private
lessons with SSO musicians.
The recipient of the inaugural scholarship will be
announced, in the presence of Joan’s relatives and
friends, at the Sinfonia’s first concert of the year:
Discover Beethoven’s Pastoral on 5 March at City
Recital Hall Angel Place.
If you’re considering making a notified bequest to the Sydney
Symphony, write to [email protected]
or call (02) 8215 4625.
skatytucker.com
Great Orchestras of Europe
with Damien Beaumont
Vienna – Dresden – Berlin – Cologne – Paris
24 May– 9 June 2013 (17 days)
Experience the great orchestras of Europe on this
wonderful musical odyssey from Vienna to Paris, including
the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics, and Amsterdam’s
Royal Concertgebouw!
Sir Simon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic
© Monika Rittershaus
For detailed information call 1300 727 095
visit www.renaissancetours.com.au
or contact your travel agent
Education Focus
The Score
TRUE GRIT
Playing Favourites
Photo: Ben Symons
Eight young musicians on the cusp of musical
careers have secured a place in the Sydney
Symphony’s hotly contested Fellowship program.
From left: Brendan Parravicini, Nicole Greentree, Som Howie, James sang-oh Yoo, Rebecca
Gill, Laura van Rijn, Kelly Tang, Jack Schiller
Hundreds of graduate musicians
across the country dream of performing in professional orchestras.
Despite this, full-time orchestral
positions are rare and competition
is fierce. But for the eight young
musicians selected for this year’s
Sydney Symphony Fellowship
program, that dream is much
closer to becoming reality.
‘I was so excited when I heard
I’d been accepted into the 2013
Fellowship!’ said viola Fellow
Nicole Greentree, at their first
get-together this year. ‘I keep
thinking about how much I’m
going to learn from working with
the Sydney Symphony.’
Chosen from nearly 300 applicants nation-wide, the Fellows represent the most talented emerging
musicians of their generation.
But in order to develop into wellrounded professionals, these young
musicians require skills and experiences that cannot be taught in an
academic environment. The purpose of the Fellowship program is
to provide these musicians with
the training and mentoring they
need to bridge the divide between
student and professional.
For horn Fellow Brendan Parravicini, originally from Perth, it’s
the diversity of the program that
makes it so valuable. ‘We’ll perform
chamber music together on a regular basis, benefit from individual
mentoring and have the opportunity of working with a professional
orchestra. This combination ensures that we’ll all come out of the
program as musically balanced, experienced and inspired individuals.’
The continued support from
premier partner Credit Suisse, as
well as from individual donors, has
ensured the quality of training our
Fellows receive, and helped the
Fellowship program reach its 12th
year. Testament to the program’s
success are the achievements of
its alumni, with well over half
employed in full-time orchestral
positions, including seven past
Fellows who are now members
of the Sydney Symphony itself.
Previous Fellows also include
violinist Jane Piper, who is now
a full-time member of the Royal
Concertgebouw Orchestra, which
is touring Australia later this year.
For violinist Kelly Tang,
earning a place in the Fellowship
program has been her confirmation that her career in music is on
the right track. ‘I’ve known that
I’ve wanted to be a musician from
the age of five. Achieving a place
in the Fellowship has made me
even more determined and now I
can’t imagine doing anything else
that I love this much!’ CB
Follow the Fellows on their journey
this year: blog.ssofellowship.com
Ask Vladimir Ashkenazy outright
about his favourite composers or
musical works and the response
is usually tactfully non-committal: ‘How could I possibly name
one? – they are all so great!’
Genuinely awed by the wonder of
musical creation, he comes across
like an unswervingly fair parent –
refusing to play favourites.
But, of course, there are composers and pieces that are close
to his heart, that make his eyes
light up, that prompt him to
enthusiastic discussion and
wonderful anecdotes. And he has
chosen three such works for the
second of his programs in May.
There’s Russian romanticism
in Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and
Juliet – the heartfelt storytelling
that Ashkenazy does so well. And
there’s elegant neoclassicism in
the form of Richard Strauss’s
late oboe concerto, with soloist
Hansjörg Schellenberger. But the
real highlight is Walton’s First
Symphony.
The choice of an English symphony might seem unexpected,
until you remember Ashkenazy’s
Elgar festival in 2008, when
Russian and English sensibilities
met to powerful effect. ‘I love
Walton’s First,’ says Ashkenazy,
‘it’s an absolute favourite.’ The
appeal is in its ‘tremendous
energy’ and Walton’s distinctive
style – nostalgic sometimes, but
spirited and colourful. And the
anecdote? Stay tuned for the
story of the trumpet solo…
Ashkenazy’s Favourites
Master Series
15, 17, 18 May | 8pm
HAPPY BIRTHDAY VANGUARD
CODA
APP-TASTIC!
Our Sydney Symphony app has hit
9,000 downloads across 51 countries. If
you haven’t tried it yet, why not download to watch videos, listen to music
and watch live webstreams – all free,
and all on your mobile! Visit the iTunes
store, or Google Play to download for
Android.
PROGRAM BOOKS ON THE RUN
You can pick up a free program book
at nearly every concert we give. But
did you know you can also download
our programs in advance? For onestop downloading, bookmark sydney
symphony.com/program_library
and read the program on your desktop
computer or mobile device.
HONOURED
In February our principal conductor,
Vladimir Ashkenazy, was awarded the
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music
by the University of Leicester. He is
in good company: other recipients
include Benjamin Britten, Michael
Tippett, Malcolm Arnold, John Barbirolli
and Colin Davis. Bravo maestro!
The Sydney Symphony Vanguard –
our membership program for Gen X/Y
philanthropists – celebrates its first
birthday in March. The program has
paired hip-hop dancer Nacho Pop
with classical musicians, created a
percussion-only performance zone in
a Kings Cross car park, and more, and
it has attracted 75 members so far.
Sound interesting? Contact Amelia
Morgan-Hunn on 02 8215 4663 for
more info.
WOLGAN WONDERS
Those in search of a special weekend
destination might be interested to
hear about the Sydney Symphony’s
new involvement with Emirates Wolgan
Valley Resort and Spa. The first
weekend in March saw several of our
musicians travel off the beaten track,
past the upper Blue Mountains, for the
inaugural Sydney Symphony chamber
music weekend at Australia’s only
six-star resort. Guests were treated to
four concerts, including one by the
Sydney Symphony Brass Ensemble
in which the audience – armed with
balloons, paper bags, pots and pans –
accompanied a quintet arrangement
of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, to
great delight! We hope this new mini
festival of music will become a
regular feature of the Wolgan Valley
calendar.
ON THE ROAD
The Sydney Symphony hits the
road in May for two residencies in
Canberra and Albury. Associate
Conductor Jessica Cottis will lead
our merry band of musicians in
a series of schools concerts and
outreach activities, as well as
evening performances. The
repertoire will delight young and
old, with music from Handel’s
Water Music suites, selections
from Stravinsky’s Pulcinella and
Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony.
CANBERRA
Llewellyn Hall, ANU School of Music
Wed 22 May – 7.30pm concert
Thu 23 May – Primary and secondary
schools concerts
ALBURY
Albury Entertainment Centre
Fri 24 May – Primary and secondary
schools concerts
Sat 25 May – 8pm concert
BRAVO EDITOR Genevieve Lang
CONTRIBUTOR Caitlin Benetatos
sydneysymphony.com/bravo
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