Music in the Courtyard programme book

Music in the Courtyard London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Academy of Arts Supported by

Saturday 1 September 2012 Royal Academy of Arts 7.30pm Fabien Gabel conductor Danielle de Niese soprano Simone Lamsma violin Ravel Rapsodie espagnole Chausson Poème pour violon Ravel Une barque sur l’océan Interval Duparc Mélodies Dukas La Péri Ravel La valse

Welcome to the Royal Academy of Arts

The Royal Academy of Arts would like to offer guests £1 off adult tickets and a complimentary exhibition poster for From Paris: A Taste for Impressionism, Paintings from the Clark. To redeem this offer, quote ‘Music in the Courtyard’ at the RA Ticket Office. The exhibition is not open this evening. Offer valid until 9 September 2012. The Royal Academy opens daily 10.00am–6.00pm, Fridays until 10.00pm.

This evening’s performance is being filmed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Please be aware that you may be recorded while you are in the Courtyard, and that by attending this concert you agree that the London Philharmonic Orchestra may use any footage in which you appear.

Bars

Live streaming by the Guardian

Bars are located in the Annenberg Courtyard and in the Sir Hugh Casson Room (the room on your right as you enter the front hall of the Royal Academy). Bars will be open before the concert from 7pm, when you can also pre-order drinks for the interval. Pre-ordered drinks should be collected from the front hall of the Royal Academy.

Restaurant Dinner is available in the Restaurant at the Royal Academy after the concert. Please speak to a member of bar staff if you are interested in booking a table for dinner and have not already done so (subject to availability on the night).

Toilets Toilets are located in the Royal Academy of Arts at either side of the main staircase.

Extra toilets are available before the concert from 7.00–7.30pm, during the interval, and at the end of the concert from 9.30–10.00pm in the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Society of Antiquities, which can be found on the left and right hand sides of the Annenberg Courtyard.

First Aid and health & safety The First Aid point is at the desk on the left hand side of the front hall of the Royal Academy.

The fire exits are via the main gates at the entrance to the Annenberg Courtyard, and through the white gate at the top left hand side of the Courtyard.

Please respect local residents and leave the Royal Academy quietly and promptly after the concert ends.

Please be aware the Annenberg Courtyard is a no-smoking area.

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Please turn off all mobile phones.

Tonight’s concert will be streamed live online free of charge on the Guardian website, and will also be available to watch again on demand for a further 14 days. www.guardian.co.uk/classical During the interval and after the concert, why not tweet your thoughts on the concert? Use the hashtag #lpoatra and follow the London Philharmonic Orchestra at @LPOrchestra

With grateful thanks to the following RA staff: Ian Blackburn Sarah Cranmer Michael Eldred Bethan Garland Sarah Grant Duff Sue Graves Joseph Green Philippa King Ash Lim Heidi Llyod Laurent Lucas-Dufour Mads Nielson Philip Pearce Emma Pearson Roland Philbert Georgina Ralston Maria Salvatierra Charles Saumarez Smith Ron Simpson Alison Strawbridge MaryAnne Stevens Dave Vobes

From Paris: A Taste for Impressionism

I am delighted to welcome you to the Royal Academy of Arts for an evening of Music in the Courtyard with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who will perform repertoire inspired by our current exhibition From Paris: A Taste for Impressionism, Paintings from the Clark.

Neither the exhibition nor this concert would have been possible without the generous support of JTI, so my grateful thanks to them. I hope you have a splendid evening.

Christopher Le Brun President of the Royal Academy of Arts

From Paris: A Taste for Impressionism, Paintings from the Clark brings together 73 masterpieces by the Impressionists and other French 19th-century artists such as Corot and Bouguereau from the remarkable collection made

by Sterling (1877–1956) and Francine (1876–1960) Clark during the period 1912 to 1955. Born into a New York family whose fortune was derived from the Singer sewing machine company, Sterling Clark, engineer, army officer and explorer, settled in Paris in 1910. Together with Francine Clary (whom he married in 1919) he constructed an exceptional art collection ranging from old master paintings and works on paper, silver and ceramics to French 19th-century paintings, including 38 works

by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. In 1955, they opened the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, northwest Massachusetts. Today the Clark Art Institute both continues a commitment to presenting and conserving the Clarks’ legacy to the public and supports academic and research programmes in the history of art.

Little is known of the Clarks’ taste in music, although many of the 19th-century French artists whose work they revered had relationships with musicians and composers; furthermore the Impressionists, through their radical

approach to picture-making, presaged ‘Impressionism’ in music. Pictorial Impressionism emerged in France towards the end of the 1860s as a logical conclusion to painters’ determination to capture an objective, immediate record of the external world. To this end, artists including Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Pissarro worked directly in front of the motif, capturing the ‘fleeting moment in time’, and employing a rapid brushstroke and a palette whose range of colours translated as accurately as possible the tonality of the specific light and atmospheric effects of a given scene. Just as the Impressionists created ‘colourscapes’ to record ‘nature seen through a temperament’, so, some 20 years later, composers such as Debussy and those whose work is included in this concert, in their search for a new French soundworld, translated this visual language into ‘soundscapes’ in which subject matter and mood were expressed through tonal and harmonic colours.

Just as Monet, Sisley and Pissarro captured the mood created by the shimmer of light through trees, falling across a landscape or animating a riverscape or seascape, so, with greater and lesser degrees of specificity, atmosphere and mood are evoked in Ravel’s Une barque sur l’océan (1905/06) and La valse (1920), a haunted sound-picture of the lost world of pre-war Vienna, and in Chausson’s Poème pour violon (1896).

More explicit parallels can be found between composers’ and artists’ fascination with those cultures deemed to be exotic in contrast to the rapidly modernising France: Spain, with references to Bizet’s Carmen held Ravel, in Rapsodie espagnole (1907) in thrall as it also provided inspiration for the Hispanicism of Mary Cassatt and Edouard Manet, while the Middle East, identified with Orientalism, was captured by Dukas in La Péri (1911/12) and by Jean-Léon Gérôme, an academic painter whose attention to local detail evoked a wholly convincing world bound by Islamic cultures and ancient customs. Colourscapes and soundscapes are united through the written word in Henri Duparc’s settings of poetry by authors who moved in the circles of artists and composers: Charles Baudelaire, Jean Lahor (Henry Cazalis) and Lecomte de Lisle. It is telling that it was the wife of Edouard Manet, the ‘founding father’ of Impressionism, who played Wagner to the great poet, Baudelaire, as he lay dying in 1868.

MaryAnne Stevens Director of Academic Affairs and Curator

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The Royal Academy of Arts

The Royal Academy of Arts was founded by George III in 1768. It has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to be a clear, strong voice for art and artists. Its public programme promotes the creation, enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions, education and debate.

The 80 governing artists – the Royal Academicians – are all practising painters, sculptors, engravers, printmakers, draughtsmen and architects. Current members include Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, David Hockney, Tracey Emin, Antony Gormley and Anish Kapoor.

The RA continues to fulfil its founders’ aims by mounting a continuous programme of internationally acclaimed exhibitions, supported by extensive education programmes, seminars and debates. The Main Galleries and The Sackler Wing of Galleries host a variety of major exhibitions from all periods and art forms. Recent exhibitions include ‘The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters’ and ‘David Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture’.

Another of the founding principles of the RA was to ‘mount an annual exhibition open to all artists of distinguished merit’ to finance the training of young artists in the RA Schools. Now known as the ‘Summer Exhibition’ and held

every year without interruption since 1769, the exhibition attracts around 11,000 works, the selection being carried out by Royal Academicians chaired by the President.

The RA Schools are the oldest in Britain. Past students include many famous British artists such as William Blake, JMW Turner, Edwin Landseer, JE Millais and, more recently, John Hoyland, Sir Anthony Caro and Sandra Blow. Today, 60 students study drawing, painting and printmaking on a three-year postgraduate course – the only such course currently available in Britain.

The RA owns a major collection of works by Royal Academicians past and present together with the oldest and one of the best fine art libraries in Britain. The Collection has received outstanding bequests such as the Michelangelo Tondo on display in The Sackler Wing of Galleries.

Many visitors are surprised to learn that the RA is an independent charity that receives no government subsidy.

It is instead reliant upon funds from exhibition ticket sales and other activities, and on the support of sponsors, donors and its loyal Friends, which number more than 90,000. If you would like to support the RA by becoming a Friend, visit royalacademy.org.uk/friends or call 020 7300 5664.

JTI JTI is a member of the Japan Tobacco Group of Companies, a leading international tobacco manufacturer.

Corporate philanthropy is how we describe our choice to contribute to the societies in which we do business, in a way that is meaningful, considered, voluntary, and outside our commercial operations. We work on many different levels, with small charities as well as globally renowned institutions. We apply a common set of values to decide which charities and cultural institutions we work with. And we view them as partners, rather than simply beneficiaries.

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Our goal is to help adults who are less-advantaged to improve their quality of life, and to promote the Arts.

In terms of less-advantaged people, our programmes are centred on poverty alleviation, older people, adult education and helping adults with disabilities.

‘Music in the Courtyard’ is part of our programme to bring our charitable and cultural partners together, which also includes a new project taking music and the visual arts to adults who may not otherwise have the opportunity to experience these art forms. It’s our way of giving back to the communities in which we operate.

The Power of Partnership JTI is delighted to bring two of its long-term cultural partners together for “Music in the Courtyard� celebrating the beauty of visual art and the joy of music.

JTI is driven by the creativity of 25,000 diverse, enquiring minds made up of 90 nationalities.

Imagine the potential. jti.com/UK

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London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s best-known orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with a reputation as one of the UK’s most forward-looking orchestras. As well as giving classical concerts, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, has its own record label, and reaches thousands of people every year through activities for schools and local communities.

The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932, and since then has been headed by many great conductors including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. The current Principal Conductor is Vladimir Jurowski, appointed in 2007, with Yannick Nézet-Séguin as Principal Guest Conductor.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been performing at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall since it opened in 1951, becoming Resident Orchestra in 1992. It also has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and in summer it plays for Glyndebourne Festival Opera where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra since 1964. Touring abroad forms a significant part of the Orchestra’s schedule: plans for 2012/13 include visits to Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, the USA and Austria.

© Benjamin Ealovega

Having long been embraced by the recording, broadcasting and film industries, the London Philharmonic Orchestra broadcasts regularly on

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television and radio. It also works with the Hollywood and UK film industries, recording soundtracks for blockbuster motion pictures including the Oscar-winning score for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In 2005 the Orchestra established its own record label.

In summer 2012 the London Philharmonic Orchestra performed as part of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, and was also chosen to record all the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra maintains an energetic programme of activities for young people and local communities including concerts for families and the Deutsche Bank BrightSparks schools’ concerts. Over recent years, developments in technology and social networks have enabled the Orchestra to reach even more people worldwide: all its recordings are available to download from iTunes and, as well as a YouTube channel, news blog, iPhone app and regular podcasts, the Orchestra has a lively presence on Facebook and Twitter.

Find out more and get involved! lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra

Tonight’s performers

First Violins Vesselin Gellev* Leader Chair supported by John & Angela Kessler

Katalin Varnagy Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Martin Höhmann

Chair supported by Moya Greene

Geoffrey Lynn Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Helen Smart Peter Nall Galina Tanney Caroline Sharp Second Violins Jeongmin Kim Principal Joseph Maher Fiona Higham Ashley Stevens Marie-Anne Mairesse Nancy Elan Nynke Hijlkema Dean Williamson Sioni Williams Sheila Law Violas Gregory Aronovich Principal Katharine Leek Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Susanne Martens Emmanuella ReiterBootiman Michelle Bruil Sarah Malcolm

Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Francis Bucknall Gregory Walmsley Santiago Carvalho† Susan Sutherley Susanna Riddell David Lale Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal George Peniston Richard Lewis Kenneth Knussen Helen Rowlands Flutes Margaret Campbell Guest Principal Clare Findlater Marta Santamaria Stewart McIlwham* Piccolos Stewart McIlwham* Principal Marta Santamaria Oboes Ian Hardwick Principal Fraser MacAulay Cor Anglais Sue Bohling Principal

Chair supported by Julian & Gill Simmonds

Clarinets Robert Hill* Principal Emily Meredith

Tuba Jonathan Riches Guest Principal

Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal

Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal

Bassoons Gareth Newman* Principal Graham Hobbs Laura Vincent

Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal

Contra-bassoon Rachel Simms Horns John Ryan* Principal Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Jason Koczur Duncan Fuller Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Nicholas Betts Co-Principal

Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Keith Millar Eddy Hackett Sacha Johnson Sarah Cresswell Marney O’Sullivan Harps Rachel Masters* Principal Stephanie Beck Celeste Catherine Edwards * Holds a professorial appointment in London † Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal Becky Smith Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: David & Victoria Graham Fuller The Sharp Family Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

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Vesselin Gellev leader

© Fran Collin

Vesselin Gellev was born in Bulgaria and has been a featured soloist with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, and London Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

As violinist of the Antares quartet, he won First Prize at the 2002 Concert Artists Guild competition in New York.

As Concertmaster of Kristjan Järvi’s Absolute Ensemble, a Grammy-nominated, genre-blending ‘classical band’, he has recorded several CDs, appeared in venues including the Sydney Opera House, Concertgebouw and Wiener Konzerthaus, and collaborated with many worldrenowned artists as diverse as Paquito D’Rivera, Goran Bregovic, Lakshminarayana Subramaniam, and the late

Joe Zawinul. He has also performed as Guest Leader with a number of orchestras including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Vesselin received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from The Juilliard School in New York, and, prior to joining the LPO in 2007, held the position of Concertmaster with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy. He has led the LPO in numerous concerts and several recordings for the Orchestra’s own record label, most recently on the Official Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant CD. An avid chamber musician, Vesselin also performs regularly in the LPO’s Chamber Contrasts series at Wigmore Hall.

Vesselin’s chair in the London Philharmonic Orchestra is supported by John and Angela Kessler.

More French Impressionism on the London Philharmonic Orchestra Label Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé Bernard Haitink conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra John Alldis Choir £9.99 | LPO–0059 ‘This is an ‘on the wing’ performance, finely honed, played with sensitivity and virtuosity.’

Classicalsource.com, February 2012

All LPO Label recordings available from lpo.org.uk/shop, the London Philharmonic Orchestra Box Office (020 7840 4242, Monday–Friday 10am– 5pm) and all good CD outlets.

Browse the full catalogue at lpo.org.uk/shop

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Fabien Gabel

© Gaëtan Bernard

conductor

Fabien Gabel is among the most sought-after conductors of his generation. He has conducted orchestras including the London Philharmonic, London Symphony, BBC Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic orchestras; the Orchestre de Paris; the Orchestre National de France; and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France. He was recently appointed Music Director of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra from the 2013/2014 season.

Sobotka, Sergey Khachatryan and Paul Groves, among many others.

Born in Paris into a family of accomplished musicians, Fabien Gabel began studying the trumpet at the age of six, honing his skills at the Paris Conservatoire – which awarded him a First Prize in trumpet in 1996 – and later at the University of Music in Karlsruhe. He went on to play in various Parisian orchestras under the direction of prominent conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle and Bernard Haitink. In 2002 Fabien Gabel began pursuing his interest in conducting at the Aspen Summer Music Festival. There he studied with David Zinman, who later invited him to appear as a guest conductor at the Festival in 2009. He has also studied with Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin Davis and Paavo Järvi.

Fabien Gabel first attracted international attention in 2004 when he won the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in London, which led to his appointment as the London Symphony Orchestra’s Assistant Conductor for the 2004/05 and 2005/06 seasons. Since then, the LSO has engaged him regularly as a guest conductor.

Over the next two seasons, Fabien Gabel makes his debuts with the Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Flemish Philharmonic and Euskadiko orchestras, and Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. He will also return to the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France at Salle Pleyel, and conduct Manon at the Montreal Opera.

Among the soloists with whom he will work are cellists Gautier Capuçon and Nicolas Altstaedt, and violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann.

Fabien Gabel made his professional conducting debut in 2003 with the Orchestre National de France and has since returned frequently. He now regularly conducts the Orchestra in subscription concerts at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, and recently recorded a French opera arias CD on the Naïve label with the Orchestra and mezzo soprano Marie-Nicole Lemieux.

Fabien Gabel has collaborated with many renowned singers and soloists including Natalie Dessay, Nathalie Manfrino, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Gidon Kremer, Bertrand Chamayou, Rafał Blechacz, François-René Duchâble, Nikolai Schukoff, Iwona 9

Danielle de Niese

violin

soprano

Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma is rapidly establishing herself as a much sought-after soloist and recitalist, performing with leading orchestras and conductors worldwide.

Highlights in 2012/13 include performances with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Lucerne Symphony, Turku Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Cincinatti Symphony orchestras, and at the Vienna Konzerthaus with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Highlights of recent seasons were performances with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw, Concertgebouw Chamber, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic and Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic orchestras; the Amsterdam Sinfonietta; the Orchestre National de France; and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Simone Lamsma made her USA debut with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra in 2009 and has since performed regularly throughout the USA with the St Louis Symphony, Utah Symphony, Dallas Symphony, and St Paul Chamber orchestras.

Also a keen recitalist, her invitations have included highly successful recitals throughout The Netherlands, Italy and Brazil with pianists Robert Kulek and Valentina Lisitsa.

In the 2012/13 season she makes her recital debut as part of the Dvořák Prague Festival and will perform chamber music with Andreas Brantelid and Robert Kulek.

Other highlights include a documentary about Simone Lamsma’s life as a musician produced by NPS (Dutch national television) and an invitation to perform for HMH Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands in 2011 – a concert broadcast nationally on Dutch television. Lamsma graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London in 2005 with first class honours and several prestigious awards, and in 2011 was made an Associate of the RAM. Simone Lamsma plays the ‘Ex Chanot-Chardon’ Stradivarius (labelled Cremona 1718), on generous loan to her by an anonymous benefactor.

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© Decca / Chris Dunlop

© Otto van den Toorn

Simone Lamsma

Danielle de Niese’s ‘sweet, gleaming soprano’, ‘phenomenal musicality’ and ‘sharply comic, yet utterly moving acting’, combined with an entrancing physical presence, have launched her into a spectacular career.

The Australian-born American singer regularly appears on the world’s most prestigious opera and concert stages and has an extensive selection of recordings on the Decca label. For her debut solo album, Handel Arias, de Niese was named New Artist of the Year at the 2008 ECHO Awards. She also received the 2008 Orphee D’Or in France, and was nominated for the 2009 Classical Brit Award for Female Artist of the Year. Beauty of the Baroque, de Niese’s latest Decca release of favourite arias from the English, German, and Italian traditions, accompanied by The English Concert under Harry Bicket, was released earlier this year to great critical acclaim.

Through a combination of her recordings, live performances and television exposure, de Niese has gained wide recognition as a highly respected yet popular classical artist, who combines effortless grace and class with the ability to communicate on every level. Most recently she appeared as a judge on the BBC series Maestro at the Opera, a creative collaboration between the BBC and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, chronicling four well-known British personalities as they became ‘apprentice’ conductors.

Danielle de Niese’s career got off to a prestigious start when, aged 18, she became the youngest singer ever to enter the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, making her Met debut as Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro with Jonathan Miller and James Levine at the age of 19. Her portrayal of Cleopatra in David McVicar’s production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare for her 2005 Glyndebourne Festival Opera debut brought her great international acclaim.

Programme notes

Introduction In 1850, the composer Charles Gounod offered the 9-year-old Pierre-Auguste Renoir a place in the choir of the church of Saint-Eustache in Paris. It’s impossible to imagine how the history of art might have been different if Pierre-Auguste hadn’t quit his musical training; but it’s just as difficult to imagine the history of French Impressionist painting, literature or music without the fertilising influence of the other two arts.

Matisse and Henri Duparc both drew inspiration from Baudelaire, while Ravel’s idol Emmanuel Chabrier was one of Manet’s earliest patrons. Degas, Mallarmé, Rodin and Renoir mixed with Paul Dukas and Henri Duparc at the soirées that Ernest Chausson held at his elegant home on the Boulevard de Courcelles. Degas’s many

paintings of musicians and dancers at the Paris Opera, meanwhile, are the work of a painter who knew the world of music intimately.

Renoir and Degas painted the operatic world of Gounod, Meyerbeer and Bizet. Music’s response to Impressionism came a generation later, with Debussy, Ravel, and the composers featured in this concert. But all were part of a shared cultural impulse: one that embraced the exotic, the immediate and the sensuous; that prompted painters to create Nocturnes and Etudes, and composers to write Images and Miroirs. Ravel, Chausson, Dukas and Duparc would all, surely, have agreed with Renoir’s artistic credo: a work of art must seize upon you, wrap you up in itself and carry you away.

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) Rapsodie espagnole (15’) 1 Prélude à la nuit 2 Malagueña 3 Habanera 4 Feria Maurice Ravel was born in St Jean-de-Luz, on the Franco-Spanish border; his mother was Basque, and had met Ravel’s father in Madrid. So Ravel considered himself half-Basque – and maybe that’s the reason why his ‘Spanish’ music feels closer to the real thing than any other French composer’s. Take Manuel de Falla’s word for it: ‘[The Rapsodie] surprised me by its genuinely Spanish character … this ‘Spanishness’ is not achieved merely by drawing upon popular or folk songs but by using the rhythms, melodies and ornamental figures of our ‘popular’ music – none of which has altered in any way the natural style of the composer.’

It’s true. If Rapsodie espagnole (1908) sounds unmistakably Spanish, it’s equally unmistakably Ravel.

That’s not surprising – it grew out of a short Habanera for piano that Ravel had written in 1895, inspired by his

mother’s singing. No one in Spain bothered much with habaneras in the 1890s, but Mme Ravel, exiled to Paris, didn’t know that; and for Ravel, this tiny piece symbolised his very personal relationship to Spanish music.

The Habanera, delicately orchestrated, became the third movement of the Rapsodie. But first comes a haunting ‘Prelude to the Night’ – four notes stealing eerily through the perfumes and zephyrs of a Spanish summer night – and a short but feisty ‘Malagueña’ in which a strutting trumpet serenades over a pulsing dance-rhythm. And to finish, Ravel lets fly with a ‘Feria’ (Festival). Glinting flutes and harp set up the rhythm of a jota, strings scurry, the xylophone rattles, and Ravel explodes his whole, massive orchestra as the Rapsodie sweeps to a close in exuberant, gloriously splashy celebration.

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Programme notes

Ernest Chausson (1855–99) Poème pour violon, Op. 25 (16’) Simone Lamsma violin ‘Muzzio bade the Malay bring his Indian violin. It was like those of to-day, but instead of four strings it had only three, the upper part of it was covered with a bluish snake-skin, and the slender bow of reed was in the form of a half-moon, and on its extreme end glittered a pointed diamond. … When Muzzio began the last song … it flowed out, exquisitely twisting and coiling like the snake that covered the violin-top; and such fire, such triumphant bliss glowed and burned in this melody that Fabio and Valeria felt wrung to the heart and tears came into their eyes …’

Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev’s story The Song of Triumphant Love is a tale of exotic wonders, of forbidden passion, and a strange love-song more powerful than murder. Turgenev frequented the same Parisian salons as the young composer Ernest Chausson; and while Chausson may not have known Turgenev personally, he certainly knew of the Russian’s love-affair with the

famous soprano Pauline Viardot, of the jealous emotions it aroused, and the strange, snake-headed African violin that hung in M. Viardot’s study.

But when in 1896, at the request of the great Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, Chausson wrote this ravishing Poème inspired by The Song of Triumphant Love, he was under the spell of an even sweeter and more enchanting poison. ‘The red spectre of Wagner’, he confessed, ‘will not let go of me … I leaf through his pages, trying to find hidden vices – and I find them.’ Wagner seeps through every page of the Poème; it’s like a yearning, doomed love scene from one of his operas with – instead of a soprano – the gleaming song of Ysaÿe’s violin. Yet its subtle perfumes, sultry climaxes and lush, surging climaxes are all unmistakably Gallic – and they’re all Chausson’s own. It’s hard to be objective about such exquisitely crafted decadence.

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) Une barque sur l’océan (7’) In the small harbour opposite Ravel’s birthplace in St-Jean-de-Luz, blue fishing boats bob at their orange buoys. Ravel was intensely alive to nuances of colour and light; even on the distinctly landlocked Lake Geneva, he couldn’t help but note how ‘the colours are intense and paradoxical with illusory shadings. And then the boats with their shining sails …’ His piano suite Miroirs (1905) was meant, as the name implies, to reflect distinct visual impressions.

This explains why he took such immense care over his orchestration of the third ‘Miroir’, Une barque sur l’océan (‘A boat on the ocean’) – taking until 1926 to produce a version that satisfied him. The luxe, calme et volupté of a warm sea is unmistakable – though the sudden, blustery swell that menaces the central section will surprise no one familiar with the southern Bay of Biscay. Maurice Ravel liked to get things exactly right.

INTERVAL – 20 minutes Please remember to turn off your mobile phone after the interval.

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Henri Duparc (1848–1933) Mélodies (17’) Danielle de Niese soprano 1 Phidylé 2 La vie antérieure 3 Chanson triste 4 L’invitation au voyage The song texts are overleaf.

‘Do not write much – but let it be very good.’ César Franck’s advice to his star pupil Henri Duparc could apply to any songwriter. When words already supply half the story, the composer’s role is delicate – providing just enough extra colour and emotion to let the words blossom, but never overpowering them to the point

where the poet might cry (like the writer Olivier in Richard Strauss’s opera Capriccio) ‘Horror! I’m being set to music!’

In Duparc’s case, Franck’s advice took on a tragic relevance. Paralysed by neurasthenia at the age of 37, Duparc never composed again, despite living to the age of 85. His life’s work comprised just two exquisite orchestral works, and about a dozen of the most perfect songs in the French language. Duparc chose his poets with care; here, Baudelaire, Leconte de Lisle, and Jean Lahor. But there’s nothing decadent about his settings.

As befits a disciple of Wagner, each song – from the languorous idyll of Phidylé, and the surging nostalgia of La vie antérieure to his masterpiece, the brooding, ecstatic L’invitation au voyage – is a tiny world of concentrated emotion.

Until 23 September 2012 The Sackler Wing www.royalacademy.org.uk RA Friends go free 2009–2013 Season supported by

Coming soon Bronze (opens 15 September) | Manet: Portraying Life (opens 26 January) LPO Half-Page.indd 1

Supported by

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Girl with a Fan (detail), c. 1879.

Oil on canvas, 65.4 x 54 cm. © Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA,1955.595.

Exhibition organised by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, in association with the Royal Academy of Arts.

02/08/2012 12:34

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Henri Duparc: Mélodies

Phidylé

Phidylé

L’herbe est molle au sommeil sous les frais peupliers,

Aux pentes des sources moussues Qui, dans les prés en fleur germant par mille issues,

Se perdent sous les noirs halliers.

The grass is soft for sleep beneath the cool poplars On the banks of the mossy springs, That flow in flowering meadows from a thousand sources, And vanish beneath dark thickets.

Repose, ô Phidylé! Midi sur les feuillages

Rayonne, et t’invite au sommeil.

Par le trèfle et le thym, seules, en plein soleil,

Chantent les abeilles volages.

Rest, O Phidylé! Noon on the leaves Is gleaming, inviting you to sleep.

By the clover and thyme, alone, in the bright sunlight, The fickle bees are humming.

Un chaud parfum circule au détour des sentiers;

La rouge fleur des blés s’incline; Et les oiseaux, rasant de l’aile la colline,

Cherchent l’ombre des églantiers.

A warm fragrance floats about the winding paths, The red flowers of the cornfield droop, And the birds, skimming the hillside with their wings, Seek the shade of the eglantine.

Mais quand l’Astre, incliné sur sa courbe éclatante,

Verra ses ardeurs s’apaiser, Que ton plus beau sourire et ton meilleur baiser

Me récompensent de l’attente!

But when the sun, low on its dazzling curve, Sees its brilliance wane, Let your loveliest smile and finest kiss Reward me for my waiting.

Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle (1818–94)

La vie antérieure

A previous life

J’ai longtemps habité sous de vastes portiques Que les soleils marins teignaient de mille feux, Et que leurs grands piliers, droits et majestueux, Rendaient pareils, le soir, aux grottes basaltiques.

For long I lived beneath vast colonnades Tinged with a thousand fires by ocean suns, Whose giant pillars, straight and majestic, Made them look, at evening, like basalt caves.

Les houles, en roulant les images des cieux, Mêlaient d’une façon solennelle et mystique Les tout-puissants accords de leur riche musique Aux couleurs du couchant reflété par mes yeux.

The sea-swells, mingling the mirrored skies, Solemnly and mystically interwove The mighty chords of their mellow music With the colours of sunset reflected in my eyes.

C’est là que j’ai vécu dans les voluptés calmes, Au milieu de l’azur, des vagues, des splendeurs Et des esclaves nus, tout imprégnés d’odeurs,

It is there I lived in sensuous repose, With blue sky about me and brightness and waves And naked slaves all drenched in perfume

Qui me rafraîchissaient le front avec des palmes, Et dont l’unique soin était d’approfondir Le secret douloureux qui me faisait languir.

Who fanned my brow with fronds of palm, And whose only care was to fathom The secret grief which made me languish.

Charles Baudelaire (1821–67)

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Chanson triste

Song of sadness

Dans ton cœur dort un clair de lune, Un doux clair de lune d’été, Et pour fuir la vie importune, Je me noierai dans ta clarté.

Moonlight slumbers in your heart, A gentle summer moonlight, And to escape the cares of life I shall drown myself in your light.

J’oublierai les douleurs passées, Mon amour, quand tu berceras Mon triste cœur et mes pensées Dans le calme aimant de tes bras.

I shall forget past sorrows, My sweet, when you cradle My sad heart and my thoughts In the calm and loving allure of your arms.

Tu prendras ma tête malade, Oh! quelquefois, sur tes genoux, Et lui diras une ballade Qui semblera parler de nous;

You will rest my poor head, Ah! sometimes on your lap, And recite to it a ballad That will seem to speak of us;

Et dans tes yeux pleins de tristesses, Dans tes yeux alors je boirai Tant de baisers et de tendresses Que peut-être je guérirai.

And from your eyes full of sorrow, From your eyes I shall then drink So many kisses and so much love That perhaps I shall be healed.

Jean Lahor

L’invitation au voyage

Invitation to journey

Mon enfant, ma sœur,

Songe à la douceur D’aller là-bas vivre ensemble!

Aimer à loisir,

Aimer et mourir Au pays qui te ressemble!

Les soleils mouillés

De ces ciels brouillés Pour mon esprit ont les charmes

Si mystérieux

De tes traîtres yeux, Brillant à travers leurs larmes.

Là, tout n’est qu’ordre et beauté, Luxe, calme et volupté.

My child, my sister,

Think how sweet To journey there and live together!

To love as we please,

To love and die In the land that is like you!

The watery suns

Of those hazy skies Hold for my spirit

The same mysterious charms

As your treacherous eyes Shining through their tears.

There – nothing but order and beauty dwell, Abundance, calm and sensuous delight.

Vois sur ces canaux

Dormir ces vaisseaux Dont l’humeur est vagabonde;

C’est pour assouvir

Ton moindre désir Qu’ils viennent du bout du monde.

Les soleils couchants

Revêtent les champs, Les canaux, la ville entière,

D’hyacinthe et d’or;

Le monde s’endort Dans une chaude lumière.

Là, tout n’est qu’ordre et beauté, Luxe, calme et volupté.

See on those canals

Those vessels sleeping, Vessels with a restless soul;

To satisfy

Your slightest desire They come from the ends of the earth.

The setting suns

Clothe the fields, Canals and all the town

With hyacinth and gold;

The world falls asleep In a warm light.

There – nothing but order and beauty dwell, Abundance, calm and sensuous delight.

Charles Baudelaire (1821–67)

Translations by Richard Stokes from A French Song Companion (OUP, 2000) 15

Programme notes

Paul Dukas (1865–1935) La Péri (17’) Paris has always loved scandals, and between 1908 and 1913 Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes served them up on an annual basis. Diaghilev hired the greatest artists of his day to produce his dazzling spectacles: Bakst, Benoit and Paul Poiret were part of his creative team, and later collaborators would include Picasso, Matisse and Coco Chanel. His aim was to astonish, and in the years before 1914, that meant exoticism: the heady, richly-coloured thrills of the savage, the sensuous and the oriental.

Paul Dukas understood his brief when, in 1911, he wrote his score for the ballet La Péri. According to Persian myth, a Peri is a fallen angel; a beautiful, mystical being equally capable of great good or great evil. In the ballet, Iskender (Alexander the Great) travels to an enchanted garden at the ends of the earth to steal immortality – in the form of a bejewelled lotus – from a ravishing Peri. At first, he succeeds: whereupon the Peri turns the full force of her seductive power upon him to win it back.

Dukas rings up the curtain with a suitably barbaric fanfare, and then paints the garden in muted, glinting shades, before introducing Iskender (a poised fanfare) and the Peri (a languishing melody for cor anglais) and launching them on their long, gorgeous dance of love and death.

He called his score a poème dansé, and unless you’re forming your own mental images, it’s not really complete.

Léon Bakst had already designed some sumptuous (and revealing) costumes for the ballet when, in May 1911, after a row with the prima ballerina Natalia Trouhanova, Diaghilev dropped the production.

Undaunted, she staged her own rival Concerts de Danse N. Trouhanowa the following year, and finally danced the role of the Peri – in direct competition with Diaghilev.

Paris relished the scandal; and only a few whispered the still juicier morsel that Trouhanova was rumoured to be Dukas’s lover. Let the music have the last word on that …

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) La valse (13’) ‘At the first, the scene is dimmed by a kind of swirling mist. Occasionally the clouds part, allowing glimpses of waltzing couples. The mists dissolve little by little, and the light grows brighter, revealing an immense ballroom filled with whirling dancers. The light of the chandeliers bursts forth on the fortissimo. (An Imperial court, about 1855.)’

That’s what Ravel wrote on the first page of La valse.

But it only takes us a few minutes into the work. What you saw on stage was supposed to do the rest, because La valse, (like La Péri), was a ‘choreographic poem’: a ballet score, written in 1919–20 for (but never staged by) Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Not that Ravel needed any encouragement to swing into waltz time. He made no secret of his love for the ‘useless occupation of social dancing’, and he’d sketched La valse as early as 1906 as ‘a grand waltz, a kind of homage to the memory of the great Strauss, not Richard, the other one – Johann’.

‘You know’ he added, ‘how much I love those wonderful

16

rhythms’. He even gave those first sketches a title: Wien (Vienna).

But that was 1906. This was 1919 – and that whole glittering world of grand waltzes, imperial balls and harmless luxury had just been swept from history in the most violent way imaginable. Ravel never put it into words, but he didn’t need to. La valse (as Wien became) begins gorgeously enough – sighing, gliding, swooning seductively into the arms of the rhythm. It’s hard to put a finger on the moment when we realise that the tempo is increasing, that the distant crashes and snarls are growing louder – and that things are starting to spin terrifyingly out of control. By then, it’s already too late. We can only cling on for dear life as Ravel’s dream-waltz, and the Impressionist world it symbolises, plunges headlong into an altogether harsher century.

Programme notes by Richard Bratby

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