CONCERT PROGRAM
25–27 MARCH S O P H I E R OW E L L P L AYS S U T H E R L A N D R AU TAVA A R A: A N G E L O F L I G H T
Be Part of Our Story Across the decades, the MSO has been part of thousands of lifelong musical journeys. After 10 months of cancelled performances, our return to the stage has imbued our 2021 Season with a heightened sense of emotion, excitement, and significance. Thank you for sharing it with us tonight. Your support today will ensure we can continue to perform musical magic for generations to come.
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CONTENTS
04
THE MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conductor Your MSO Guest Musicians
10 18 24
Acknowledging Country SOPHIE ROWELL PLAYS SUTHERLAND
RAUTAVAARA: ANGEL OF LIGHT
SUPPORTERS
In consideration of your fellow patrons, the MSO thanks you for silencing and dimming the light on your phone. Please note that masks must be worn at all times in the Hamer Hall building. These concerts may be recorded for future broadcast.
mso.com.au
(03) 9929 9600
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is a leading cultural figure in the Australian arts landscape, bringing the best in orchestral music and passionate performance to a diverse audience across Victoria, the nation and around the world. Each year the MSO engages with more than 5 million people through live concerts, TV, radio and online broadcasts, international tours, recordings and education programs. The MSO is a vital presence, both onstage and in the community, in cultivating classical music in Australia. The nation’s first professional orchestra, the MSO has been the sound of the city of Melbourne since 1906. The MSO regularly attracts great artists from around the globe including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lang Lang, Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson, while bringing Melbourne’s finest musicians to the world through tours to China, Europe and the United States. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land on which we perform and would like to pay our respects to their Elders and Community both past and present.
MSO PROGRAM 25–27 MARCH – 4
Benjamin Northey conductor Since returning to Australia from Europe, Benjamin Northey has rapidly emerged as one of the nation’s leading musical figures. He is currently the Principal Resident Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and was appointed Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in 2015. His international appearances include concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the Malaysian Philharmonic and the New Zealand Symphony and Auckland Philharmonia. He has conducted L’elisir d’amore, The Tales of Hoffmann and La sonnambula for SOSA and Turandot, Don Giovanni, Carmen and Cosi fan tutte for Opera Australia. Limelight Magazine named him Australian Artist of the Year in 2018. In 2021, he conducts the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Christchurch Symphony and all six Australian state symphony orchestras.
MSO PROGRAM 25–27 MARCH – 5
Your MSO Xian Zhang
Principal Guest Conductor
Benjamin Northey Principal Conductor in Residence
Nicholas Bochner
Cybec Assistant Conductor
Sir Andrew Davis Conductor Laureate
Hiroyuki Iwaki †
Conductor Laureate (1974–2006)
FIRST VIOLINS Dale Barltrop Concertmaster
Sophie Rowell
Concertmaster The Ullmer Family Foundation#
Tair Khisambeev
Assistant Concertmaster
Peter Edwards
Assistant Principal
Kirsty Bremner Sarah Curro Peter Fellin Deborah Goodall Lorraine Hook Anne-Marie Johnson Barbara Bell, in memory of Elsa Bell#
Kirstin Kenny Eleanor Mancini Mark Mogilevski Michelle Ruffolo Kathryn Taylor
SECOND VIOLINS
CELLOS
Matthew Tomkins
David Berlin
Principal The Gross Foundation#
Robert Macindoe Associate Principal
Monica Curro
Assistant Principal Danny Gorog and Lindy Susskind#
Mary Allison Isin Cakmakcioglu Tiffany Cheng Freya Franzen Danny Gorog and Lindy Susskind#
Cong Gu Andrew Hall Isy Wasserman Philippa West Patrick Wong Roger Young VIOLAS Christopher Moore Principal Di Jameson#
Christopher Cartlidge Associate Principal
Lauren Brigden Katharine Brockman Anthony Chataway
Dr Elizabeth E Lewis AM#
Gabrielle Halloran Trevor Jones Anne Neil#
Fiona Sargeant Cindy Watkin
Principal
Rachael Tobin
Associate Principal
Nicholas Bochner Assistant Principal
Miranda Brockman
Geelong Friends of the MSO#
Rohan de Korte
Andrew Dudgeon#
Sarah Morse Angela Sargeant Michelle Wood
Andrew and Judy Rogers#
DOUBLE BASSES Damien Eckersley Benjamin Hanlon Frank Mercurio and Di Jameson#
Suzanne Lee Stephen Newton Sophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser#
FLUTES Prudence Davis Principal Anonymous#
Wendy Clarke
Associate Principal
Sarah Beggs
Sophia Yong-Tang#
PICCOLO Andrew Macleod
Principal John McKay and Lois McKay#
Learn more about our musicians on the MSO website. MSO PROGRAM 25–27 MARCH – 6
OBOES
HORNS
Thomas Hutchinson
Nicolas Fleury
Associate Principal
Ann Blackburn
The Rosemary Norman Foundation#
Principal Margaret Jackson AC#
Saul Lewis
COR ANGLAIS
Principal Third The Hon Michael Watt QC and Cecilie Hall#
Michael Pisani
Abbey Edlin
Principal Beth Senn#
Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM#
CLARINETS
Trinette McClimont Rachel Shaw
David Thomas
Principal
TRUMPETS
Philip Arkinstall
Owen Morris
Associate Principal
Craig Hill BASS CLARINET Jon Craven Principal
Dr Martin Tymms and Patricia Nilsson#
CONTRABASSOON Brock Imison
Robert Cossom
Drs Rhyl Wade and Clem Gruen#
HARP Yinuo Mu Principal
William Evans Rosie Turner
TROMBONES
Natasha Thomas
Anonymous#
Associate Principal Glenn Sedgwick#
Jack Schiller
Associate Principal
John Arcaro
Shane Hooton
John and Diana Frew#
Elise Millman
PERCUSSION
Principal
BASSOONS Principal
TIMPANI
Richard Shirley Anonymous#
Mike Szabo
Principal Bass Trombone
TUBA Timothy Buzbee Principal
Principal
# Position supported by
MSO PROGRAM 25–27 MARCH – 7
Guest Musicians SOPHIE ROWELL PLAYS SUTHERLAND First violins Madeleine Jevons Second violins Michael Loftus-Hills Miranda Matheson Nicholas Waters Violas Molly Collier-O’Boyle Assistant Principal
Isabel Morse Cello Mee Na Lojewski
Double bass Rohan Dasika
Trombone Jessica Buzbee
Vivian Qu Siyuan Giovanni Vinci
Timpani Brent Miller
Assistant Principal
Oboe Emmanuel Cassimatis Horn Tim Allen Josiah Kop William Tanner
Principal Timpani
Bassoon Tim Murray Percussion Lara Wilson Celeste Donald Nicolson
RAUTAVAARA: ANGEL OF LIGHT First violins Madeleine Jevons
Cello Mee Na Lojewski
Second violins Michael Loftus-Hills Miranda Matheson Nicholas Waters
Double bass Rohan Dasika
Violas Molly Collier-O’Boyle Assistant Principal
Isabel Morse
Assistant Principal
Vivian Qu Siyuan Giovanni Vinci Oboe Emmanuel Cassimatis Rachel Bullen
Information correct as of 23 March 2021.
MSO PROGRAM 25–27 MARCH – 8
Horn Tim Allen Josiah Kop William Tanner Trombone Jessica Buzbee Timpani Brent Miller Principal Timpani
Bassoon Tim Murray
Acknowledging Country In the first project of its kind in Australia, the MSO has developed a musical Acknowledgment of Country with music composed by Yorta Yorta composer Deborah Cheetham AO, featuring Indigenous languages from across Victoria. Generously supported by Helen Macpherson Smith Trust and the Commonwealth Government through the Australian National Commission for UNESCO, the MSO is working in partnership with Short Black Opera and Indigenous language custodians who are generously sharing their cultural knowledge. The Acknowledgement of Country allows us to pay our respects to the traditional owners of the land on which we perform in the language of that country and in the orchestral language of music. Boon Wurrung language generously supplied by Aunty Carolyn Briggs and the Boon Wurrung Foundation. Australian National Commission for UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
About Long Time Living Here In all the world, only Australia can lay claim to the longest continuing cultures and we celebrate this more today than in any other time since our shared history began. We live each day drawing energy from a land which has been nurtured by the traditional owners for more than 2000 generations. When we acknowledge country we pay respect to the land and to the people in equal measure. As a composer I have specialised in coupling the beauty and diversity of our Indigenous languages with the power and intensity of classical music. In order to compose the music for this Acknowledgement of Country Project I have had the great privilege of working with no fewer than eleven ancient languages from the state of Victoria, including the language of my late Grandmother, Yorta Yorta woman Frances McGee. I pay my deepest respects to the elders and ancestors who are represented in these songs of acknowledgement and to the language custodians who have shared their knowledge and expertise in providing each text. I am so proud of the MSO for initiating this landmark project and grateful that they afforded me the opportunity to make this contribution to the ongoing quest of understanding our belonging in this land. — Deborah Cheetham AO
MSO PROGRAM 25–27 MARCH – 9
Sophie Rowell Plays Sutherland Thursday 25 March / 6pm Friday 26 March / 6pm Saturday 27 March / 6pm Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Benjamin Northey conductor Sophie Rowell violin SIBELIUS Finlandia MARGARET SUTHERLAND Concerto for Violin and Orchestra RAVEL Mother Goose: Suite
A musical Acknowledgement of Country, Long Time Living Here by Deborah Cheetham AO, will be performed before the start of this concert. Running time: Approximately 1 hour, no interval.
Sophie Rowell violin
position supported by The Ullmer Family Foundation
Co-Concertmaster of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, violinist Sophie Rowell has had an extensive performing career as a soloist, chamber musician and principal orchestral violinist both in Australia and abroad. After winning the ABC Young Performer’s Award in 2000, Sophie founded the Tankstream Quartet which won string quartet competitions in Cremona and Osaka. Having studied in Germany with the Alban Berg Quartet the quartet moved back to Australia in 2006 when they were appointed as the Australian String Quartet. During the six seasons of their tenure, the ASQ performed and recorded at chamber music festivals all over the world. Before being appointed to the MSO, Sophie played in principal violin positions with with leading orchestras in Australia and overseas. Sophie is the Head of Chamber Music (Strings) at the Australian National Academy of Music, having previously taught at the Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide and the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney. She has also given masterclasses in the UK, France, Singapore and throughout Australia.
SOPHIE ROWELL PLAYS SUTHERLAND – 11
About the Music JEAN SIBELIUS
(1865–1957)
Finlandia, Op. 26 If you listen to orchestral music with any frequency, Finlandia will have been inescapable. It was once a staple of concert programs, can still be heard frequently on radio and is usually the first piece on any CD called The Best of Sibelius. Given its ubiquity, it’s important to note that Finlandia is to Sibelius’ work what the Overture 1812 is to Tchaikovsky’s: it was very much a ceremonial piece, written for a specific occasion, that somehow took on a life of its own. In 1893 Sibelius had created music to accompany a pageant staged by the Viipuri Student Corporation at Helsinki University, containing scenes from Karelian history. The three numbers Sibelius extracted from this music as his Karelia Suite become one of his first big successes, and among the first of his works to take his name beyond the Scandinavian countries. The circumstances of Finlandia’s composition are remarkably similar. The Press Pension Celebrations of November 1899 were a thinly disguised attempt to create fighting fund in support of a free press, at a time when Finland’s Russian rulers were vigilantly watchful of expressions of nationalist sentiment. Yet in Finland, as in so many other “occupied territories” in Europe, nationalism was in the air — and as the dawn of a new century was near, an air of optimism too. The three-day Celebrations culminated in a gala performance which included
a series of historical tableaux, staged to Sibelius’ music. There were six scenes in total, set in different periods of Finnish history, from ancient times to the late 19th century. It was for the final one, called Finland Awakes!, for which the piece we now know as Finlandia was created. This tableau was described by a Finnish newspaper as follows: “ The powers of darkness menacing Finland had not succeeded in their terrible threats. Finland awakes. [Of] the great men of the time that adorn the pages of history, [stories] are told…[and] the beginnings of elementary education and the first steam locomotive are all recorded.” Given the narrative Sibelius was setting out to illustrate in this music, it’s not difficult to read the snarling brass fanfares which open Finlandia as “the powers of darkness” (which to the work’s first audience would have been Russia under its then-current Czar, Nicholas II); the contrasting chorale-like woodwind figure which follows as a prayer for better times, and the rumbustious, cymbal-clashing Allegro — which forms the bulk of the work — as the march of progress towards more enlightened times and, although this word could hardly be used for fear of censorship, independence. Following a concert performance of the tableaux music a month after the Press Pension event, Finlandia’s success was assured. The work was also part of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra’s repertoire on a European tour, which culminated in concerts at the 1900 Paris Exposition (Exposition Universelle). By then, Finlandia’s reputation as a flagwaver for Finnish patriotism had made
SOPHIE ROWELL PLAYS SUTHERLAND – 12
the authorities nervous, so to avoid the possibility of ruffled Russian sensitivities, the work was called Vaterland or La Patrie once the Helsinvki Orchestra’s tour took them beyond Scandinavia. Even with a title of determined inoffensiveness, the work made a tremendous impact wherever it was played, and remains the composer’s bestknown piece. Many years after its debut Sibelius, very much aware of the work’s popularity, was moved to comment: “Why does this tone-poem catch on with the public? I suppose because of its plain air style. The themes on which it is based came to me directly. Pure inspiration.” Phillip Sametz © 2007
MARGARET SUTHERLAND
(1896–1984)
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra I. Allegro II. Adagio III. Allegro Sophie Rowell violin When Margaret Sutherland arrived back in Melbourne after two years abroad in 1924-1925, she felt ‘cold and dismayed’ by ‘the barrenness, the absolute vacuum at home’. She felt that no-one truly understood what she was ‘driving at’. While overseas, she studied privately with English composer Arnold Bax (1883–1953), and soaked up as much new music as she could, but she wanted to return to Australia, which had ‘haunted’ her all the time she was away. She felt equipped to focus on composition, and longed to contribute to the development of an Australian national idiom. In spite of having to teach to earn a living, she never deviated from this desire; her shock
on returning home fuelled it even more. Over the next five decades, she strived as a composer, became a tireless advocate for Australian composers, and fought to ensure that Melbourne’s musical life would flourish. Her role in founding the Combined Arts Centre Movement in the early 1940s, culminating in the opening of Arts Centre Melbourne in the 1980s, is clear evidence of this. Although she battled against the backdrop of a difficult marriage, and in a cultural environment that did not always take composers seriously—particularly women—the woman who surprised and shocked some audiences and critics in 1926 with her Sonata for Violin and Piano (written in 1925 while she was overseas) came to be recognised as the composer ‘who really naturalised the twentieth century in Australian music’ (Roger Covell, 1967). During the early and middle years of her composing life, Margaret preferred writing chamber music. She loved the intimacy of small groups, it was easier for her to have her works performed if she wrote for her musical colleagues, and with an unsupportive husband and two children, she had little time to tackle larger musical forms. But later on, after her marriage ended, and particularly between 1950 and 1964, she threw herself into composing works for larger forces. This Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1960), the only concerto she wrote, is a particularly fine example of this period of intense compositional activity. Next to the piano, the violin was Margaret’s favourite instrument, and she had wanted to write a violin concerto for some time— an expansive one that would truly exploit the instrument’s tonal qualities and capabilities. In a demonstration of
SOPHIE ROWELL PLAYS SUTHERLAND – 13
her intent with this concerto, she commented that ‘immense contrasts, together with the peculiarly poignant loneliness of an individual voice in the midst of overwhelmingly larger forces, are significant features of most concertos’. This sentiment could be interpreted as a metaphor for Margaret’s own experience as a female composer fighting her own lonely battles in both public and private life. Her admission that the concerto was more extrovert and passionate than her work to date cements the impression of this music as a profound and individual expression of her inner self. Though romantic and lyrical in its intent and gestures, it was, and is, a contemporary work, characterised by striking tensions, and bold rhythms, harmonies and orchestration. Conventional major/minor tonality is not a strong feature. Though the harmony sometimes centres on a particular note, there is much chromatic movement. Its florid passages and extended double-stopping demand virtuosity from its soloist. English violinist and conductor Thomas Matthews, who premiered the concerto with the Victorian Symphony Orchestra conducted by George Tzipine on 11 October 1961, thought highly of the work, recommending that his compatriot players should take it on. The double-stopping ‘called for enormous concentration and control’, while ‘the running passages lay more easily’, he said. And Margaret, present at some of the rehearsals, testified that Matthews was clearly up to the challenge. ‘I can’t tell you how enthusiastically he threw himself into my Violin Concerto’, she wrote to Peter Sculthorpe in October 1961, ‘and how magnificently he played it. It just took my breath away’.
Matthews subsequently made a studio recording of the concerto for the ABC with the South Australian Symphony Orchestra (now the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra) under Henry Krips. Sadly it was never released. Although the premiere was well reviewed by Melbourne critics, the work was not programmed again until 1972, when Patrick Thomas conducted the MSO with soloist Leonard Dommett in an all-Sutherland concert at the National Gallery of Victoria for the composer’s 75 th birthday. A few weeks later, this group recorded it for the ABC, ensuring, together with the publication of a study score in 1978 by J. Albert & Son, that the work has not been completely forgotten. But aside from a performance by violinist Elizabeth Sellars with the Monash Academy Orchestra conducted by Alexander Briger on 9 October 2016, these MSO performances mark the rediscovery of this remarkable work. The harmonic and rhythmic qualities of the concerto are apparent from the beginning of the first movement, which is essentially in two parts. There is no development as such, though the various themes are expanded and transformed. The opening theme is played first by the orchestra and then by the violin in a dramatic opening. The second theme, a transformation of the first, is accompanied by a dissonant ostinato lending a martial quality. A more expansive third theme is followed by an intensely lyrical section, against which the soloist plays an increasingly fast figuration. A cadenza-like passage including double-stopping is heard over the orchestra’s accompanying first theme material above a throbbing motive by timpani and double basses.
SOPHIE ROWELL PLAYS SUTHERLAND – 14
The second part, a varied recapitulation of the exposition themes at different pitches, culminates in another cadenzalike passage for the violin. The movement ends softly in the upper range for the soloist and second violins, over a low pedal by the horn and contrabassoon and a repeating note in the timpani. The second movement is a sombre lament based on a recurring theme introduced by the horn—one that invites comparison with Bartók through its juxtaposition of semitone and whole tone. An accompaniment continually transforms melodically and harmonically. The solo violin appears to lead a sad, inevitable cortège, reminiscent of Shostakovich’s wartime processionals. The movement ends with the dissonant combination of F and F# with which it began, and links to the third movement, which is based on the slow movement’s theme transformed into a fanfare-like theme, also based on F. While seemingly lively, there are grim and melancholy martial undertones which sometimes appear mocking and almost grotesque. Again an affinity with Shostakovich is apparent. Towards the end there is a return to the elegy of the slow movement, followed by a frenetic dance with a tonal centre of E. While the work ends with this harmony, a dissonant F is added, recalling the movement’s beginning, and mirroring the F-F# combination of the slow movement transposed down a semitone. In spite of musical allusions to other composers, this concerto demonstrates Sutherland’s unique, personal idiom. It is a work that deserves a place in the repertoire of all serious violinists, and many repeat performances. © Dr Jillian Graham 2021. Dr Graham is currently writing Margaret Sutherland’s biography
MAURICE RAVEL
(1875–1937)
Mother Goose: Suite I. Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty II. Tom Thumb III. Laideronette, Empress of the Pagodas IV. Conversations of Beauty and the Beast V. The Fairy Garden In some exasperation, Ravel once asked a friend, ‘Doesn’t it ever occur to those people that I can be “artificial” by nature?’ He was responding to the criticism that his music was more interested in technique than expression. There is some truth in the charge: Stravinsky described him – affectionately – as the ‘Swiss watchmaker of music’, and Ravel’s stated aim was indeed ‘technical perfection’. In fact, his love of mechanical intricacy led Ravel to collect various automata and other small machines, and he dreamed, as he put it in a 1933 article, of ‘Finding Tunes in Factories’. Many of his pieces are exquisite simulacra of earlier or other forms and styles — Renaissance dances, Spanish music, jazz, or the music of the French Baroque. Scandalously, between 1900 and 1905 Ravel failed several times to secure the prestigious award for composers, the Prix de Rome, ostensibly because of musical ‘errors’ and despite his already having established himself as a major new voice. In 1909, partly in response to his outsider status, he helped to found the Société Musicale Indépendante – independent, that is, of the Parisian musical and academic establishment – and its inaugural concert saw the premiere of the first version, for piano duo, of the Ma Mère l’oye (Mother Goose) Suite.
SOPHIE ROWELL PLAYS SUTHERLAND – 15
Ravel was born in south-western France to a Basque mother and Swiss father but spent his entire life in Paris. Like Tchaikovsky, he saw a strong connection between childhood and enchantment. In his opera L’enfant et les sortilèges, for instance, a destructive child learns the value of compassion when furniture, trees and animals in the garden all come magically to life. The evocation of ‘the poetry of childhood’ in the original piano duo version of Mother Goose led Ravel to ‘simplify my style and refine my means of expression’ – or so he said. Certainly we can hear echoes of the deceptively simple piano music of Erik Satie, whose music Ravel championed. Mother Goose began life as the ‘Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty’ for piano, four hands. Ravel composed it for Mimie and Jean Godebski (aged six and seven respectively), to whose parents he had dedicated his Sonatine for piano. Ravel then composed four more pièces enfantines, depicting characters from the fairytales anthologised by three 17th century authors: Charles Perrault (‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘Tom Thumb’), the Baroness d’Aulnoy (‘Laideronette’) and the Prince of Beaumont (‘Beauty and the Beast’). ‘The Fairy Garden’ was an original inspiration. Mimie later recalled: “ neither my brother nor I was of an age to appreciate such a dedication and we regarded it rather as something entailing hard work. Ravel wanted us to give the first public performance but the idea filled me with a cold terror. My brother, being less timid and more gifted on the piano, coped quite well. But despite lessons from Ravel I used to freeze to such an extent that the idea had to be abandoned.”
Nevertheless, the work’s premiere at the SMI concert in 1910 was given by two children, Jeanne Leleu (later a professor at the Paris Conservatoire) and Geneviève Durony. In 1911 Ravel made this orchestral version of the suite. The ‘Pavane’ is a slow and stately Renaissance dance (which Ravel also used for his Pavane for a Dead Infanta) with gently repeated motifs and modal harmony that establishes Ravel’s characteristic use of pungent dissonances on the strong beats of the bar. ‘Tom Thumb’ is shown at the moment where he realises that he is lost; the breadcrumb trail he left has been eaten by the birds. ‘Laideronette’ (‘little ugly girl’) is represented in music where glinting pentatonic (‘black-note’) figures give the piece its ‘oriental’ flavour. Much closer to home, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is a waltz where any menace is dispelled by the Beast’s eventual transformation, graphically depicted, into Prince Charming. Finally, ‘The Fairy Garden’ is imagined in music that gathers power through simple repetition until an ecstatic climax of rippling scales. Having completed his major ballet Daphnis et Chloé in 1912, Ravel revisited Mother Goose to make it the basis for a ballet score in which the movements, in rearranged order and with new prelude and interludes, represent the Sleeping Beauty’s enchantment, dreams, and her awakening by Prince Charming. Gordon Kerry © 2010
SOPHIE ROWELL PLAYS SUTHERLAND – 16
TH E CYB EC FO U N DATI O N Celebrating an Immeasurable Investment in Australian Artist Development
For 18 years, the Cybec Foundation has been a loyal and generous supporter of the MSO. Beginning with the establishment of the Cybec 21 st Century Australian Composers program which addressed the need for handson professional development opportunities for emerging Australian composers, the Foundation’s continued support has enabled this nationally-recognised initiative to become an exemplar for artist development programs within the sector, and contributed to the MSO’s reputation as one of the largest advocates for Australian new music. This year, MSO commissioned four new concerti from Australian composers to showcase the virtuosity and talent within our woodwind and brass sections. The four composers commissioned to write the new works — May Lyon, Holly Harrison, Anne Cawrse and Matthew Laing — are current Cybec participants, or previous Cybec alumni. The Cybec Foundation allumna, May Lyon
May Lyon’s piece, Opal — a work for two French horns and orchestra — is the first of these commissions to be premiered this year. May is currently studying a Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Sydney as part of the 2020-21 Composing Women Program, under the supervision of Liza Lim and Matthew Hindson. Upcoming collaborations as part of this course are with the Sydney Dance Company, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Reflecting on her career, May credits participating in the MSO’s Cybec 21 st Century Australian Composers Program (2017) as “an important stepping stone in getting me to where I am now”. The MSO is grateful to the Cybec Foundation for its generous and consistent giving to the Orchestra over almost two decades, and for the shared desire to provide opportunities for talented Australian composers and conductors to hone their craft. We are extremely proud to support Australian composers and artists, across various stages of their careers; May’s story is just one of many highlighting the Cybec Foundation’s valuable impact and contribution to the Australian orchestral artform. To read more about May’s achievements and composing career, visit Maylyon.com.
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Rautavaara: Angel of Light Thursday 25 March / 8.30pm Friday 26 March / 8.30pm Saturday 27 March / 8.30pm Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Benjamin Northey conductor Nicolas Fleury horn Rachel Shaw horn
SIBELIUS Finlandia MAY LYON Opal
WORLD PREMIERE OF AN MSO COMISSION
RAUTAVAARA Angel of Light
A musical Acknowledgement of Country, Long Time Living Here by Deborah Cheetham AO, will be performed before the start of this concert. Running time: Approximately 1 hour, no interval.
Nicolas Fleury
Rachel Shaw
horn
horn
position supported by Margaret Jackson AC
Nico Fleury began his studies of Natural and French horn at the age of eight. Upon completing his studies in his native country France, he continued his education at the Royal College of Music London. He graduated with distinction and The Tagore Gold Medal. He received that medal from the hands of Prince Charles. Nico has been recently appointed Principal Horn of the MSO. Prior to that, Nico was Principal Horn in the Aurora Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic orchestra and in the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra where he performed Mozart’s concerti for horn and Britten’s serenade for horn, tenor and strings broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. He appears frequently as a guest Principal Horn in leading Australian and international orchestras. Nico has performed the most demanding pieces of the orchestral repertoire alongside alongside celebrated conductors.
Born on Queensland’s Gold Coast in 1990, Rachel Shaw started learning the horn when she was 14 years of age. Holding a Bachelor of Music from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music at Griffith University learning under Peter Luff, Rachel has also studied with Andrew Bain and Ben Jacks at the Australian National Academy of Music. Before joining the MSO Rachel held the position of Tutti Horn in Orchestra Victoria. She has performed with the Symphony Orchestras of Sydney, Queensland, Tasmania and New Zealand, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Rachel was a finalist in the International Horn Symposium Solo Horn Competition (2010), won the Most Outstanding Academic Brass Student at the Queensland Conservatorium (2010) and was the winner of the Australian National Academy of Music Chamber Music Competition as a part of the Arcadia Quintet, of which she is a founding member.
After having been appointed professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London in 2017, Nico regularly teaches masterclasses at institutions around the world. RAUTAVAARA: ANGEL OF LIGHT – 21
About the Music JEAN SIBELIUS
veins, different timbres and bright embellishments are exposed within a mechanistic orchestra.
(1865–1957)
Finlandia, Op. 26
Written for Nicolas Fleury and Rachel Shaw.
See program note page 12.
MAY LYON
EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA
(born 1979)
(1928–2016)
Opal: Double Concerto for Horns and Orchestra I. SiO2H2O
Symphony No.7, Angel of Light I. Tranquillo II. Molto allegro
II. Cut from rock III. Water: ancient streams, flow through sandstone IV. Precious opal: play of colour V. Cut from rock Nicolas Fleury horn Rachel Shaw horn The composer writes: With shimmering veins that run through ancient rocks in the Australian outback, opal is one of the most beautiful and sought after gemstones in the world. It is created from both silica and water, combining over a millennia in cracks of stone, wood and fossils. The combination of two elements that form one gem is represented by the two horns, weaving within the orchestra as opal does within rock, close harmonies creating glimmering frequencies. The slow movement of ancient water is a melodious line shared between each soloist, which progresses to a beautiful stillness that shows off the upper range of the horn. In opposition to this, as human industry cuts around the opal
III. Come un sogno (like a dream) IV. Pesante – Cantabile One would think that by 1998 it should be possible to write about a piece of Finnish music without mentioning Sibelius; but such was the great symphonist’s influence on Finland that no matter how seemingly obscure the connection, he creeps into the story somewhere. In 1955, for example, the Koussevitsky Foundation presented Sibelius with a scholarship in honour of his ninetieth birthday. This would allow him to choose a young Finnish composer and send him or her to study in the United States. Sibelius chose Einojuhani Rautavaara, thereby enabling the younger composer to study with the likes of Persichetti, Sessions and Copland. He had already graduated from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki as a student of Aarre Merikanto — an important figure in 20th century Finnish music, and one whose opera Juha is considered to have been the first example of Finnish ‘modernism’. Perhaps this wide range of influences left its mark, for to study the musical
RAUTAVAARA: ANGEL OF LIGHT – 22
output of Einojuhani Rautavaara is to find a brief overview of Western music in the twentieth century: his music embraces neo-classicism, serialism (including twelve-tone structures), and then on to ‘the New Romanticism’ and the eclectic devices of postmodernism. Far from being a dilettante, as such a plurality of styles might suggest, Rautavaara is instead lauded for being a composer skilled at the craft as well as the art of music: he has perfected the knack of choosing a method by which to compose a piece, and then ensuring the method (the ‘scaffolding’) is not the most striking thing about the work. His Third Symphony, for example, is composed using serial techniques (a style beloved of modernists), yet its sound-world is actually closer to Bruckner. At first acquaintance, then, Rautavaara’s music seems paradoxical. It tends to be constructed with the rigid and detailed framework of a hardened complexist; yet the other side of this composer is deeply in touch with mysticism. Works such as his Fourth Symphony (retitled from the original Arabescata) are almost brutally ‘modern’; the one-movement Fifth Symphony is only slightly less uncompromising, featuring a virtuosic display of compositional technique, with the form based on a spiral. The Sixth Symphony (Vincentiana) is drawn from his opera Vincent; so the Seventh Symphony, Angel of Light, is something of a departure from established patterns. Einojuhani Rautavaara’s series of ‘Angel’ works — including Angels and Visitations (1978), Angel of Dusk (1980) and Angel of Light (1994) — have occasionally been the subject of some eyebrow-raising from less spiritually-minded colleagues. The notion of angelic radiance coupled with lyrically
beautiful music has proved a winner with audiences however, especially Symphony No.7, which, perhaps, sounds more positive than the others in the series. The composer admits (in an interview with Finnish writer Vesa Siren) to a mild sense of embarrassment about the way in which angels have recently become ‘a new-age phenomenonin a banal way’. He goes on to point out that at the time he began the series, other composers were using blunt titles such as Structure for strings, so to write of angels and mystical subjects was a radical step! There is no ‘program’ as such to these works. Rautavaara found himself saying a word or group of words (in English, such as ‘Angels and Visitations’) that he repeated until their essential energy evolved into a musical form. Angel of Light is an evocation of the idea of an angel, not a reference to a specific angel or angelic event. The work opens with murmuring strings, flowing and tranquil, decorated with brief, high, chiming touches or an occasional increase of melodic weight from the lower strings. A barely perceptible expansion of range and dynamics occurs, until the listener becomes aware that somehow the wind, brass and percussion have joined the ensemble. The harmonies become harsher as the musical tension builds towards the first climactic moment, when the strings suddenly find themselves very busy while the wind and brass announce a chorale-like theme. This is unexpectedly cut off, and the movement settles again into a quieter mode, with a melodic idea passed around various solos and duets. The opening ‘flowing’ motif returns, only to be decorated to the point where the strings become busy again and there is a recapitulation of the brassy chorale.
RAUTAVAARA: ANGEL OF LIGHT – 23
Again, the mood quietens; an upwardlyclimbing motif in the brass allows for some gently clever, relaxed contrapuntal work, before the movement ends in a shimmer of strings. The second movement is a dramatic contrast of texture, timbre and atmosphere. Assertive strings set off at an impressive pace (Molto allegro!), and accompany clashing lines of wind and brass. Dropping back to allow some soloistic moments, the strings and other sections then engage in an overlapping skirmish of ascending flourishes. A soaring theme is underpinned by hints of the opening movement (flowing rhythms and the occasional chime) while the timpani add punctuations. Everything builds up to a triumphant major chord, which signals the beginning of an imitative section. This allows the composer to draw his listeners’ attention to timbral differences across the orchestra. The ending is extraordinary: a cheeky, rude, send-up of a fanfare that repeats itself then echoes off into the distance. Movement III suggests that Rautavaara looked back at his exquisite first movement and decided he could make the material into something even more beautiful. The gentle opening is reminiscent of Movement I, and fragments of the chorale theme are heard in high, soft strings. Marked Come un sogno (‘like a dream’), the music repeats the conjuring trick of the opening, gradually expanding the texture, then unexpectedly removing any impetus. The harmony begins to take on a darker feel, twisting to unlikely colours and destinations. The upward-scale motif that has recurred throughout the Symphony takes on a new importance as various solos develop it; they move independently of the strings (which therefore function
as a backdrop), a technique producing an exceptional sense of softness. Trills begin to insinuate themselves, by way of intensifying the texture. The orchestra becomes more assertive and climbs to a decisive moment, when yet again it all drops away and leaves the tiny high thread of a solo violin, floating over the familiar gentle string patterns, occasionally decorated by little trills. A dark fanfare from the brass opens the final movement, leading the strings into an epic section that sweeps between major and minor. The rich warmth of the strings is overlaid by interjections from harp and winds, which work themselves into a restatement of familiar material. The rising scale patterns, punctuations, and sense of flow recur and push the rhythms onward and upward into a bold, brass version of the chorale, gleaming over the busy strings. In accordance with the established pattern, the activity lessens, falling to the quietest possible string tremolo. Katherine Kemp © Symphony Australia 1998
RAUTAVAARA: ANGEL OF LIGHT – 24
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Supporters MSO PATRON
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* The MSO has introduced a new tier to its annual Patron Program in recognition of the donors who supported the Orchestra during 2020, many for the first time. Moving forward, donors who make an annual gift of $500–$999 to the MSO will now be publicly recognised as an Overture Patron. For more information, please contact Donor Liaison, Keith Clancy on (03) 8646 1109 or clancyk@mso.com.au
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William Dubksy
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CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE
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The MSO gratefully acknowledges the support of the following Estates:
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