Discover Beethoven | Ears Wide Open

CONCERT PROGRAM

Discover Beethoven MONDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2021 / 6.30pm Melbourne Recital Centre Proudly presented by

Program BEETHOVEN Symphony No.4 (excerpts)

Conductor and presenter Nicholas has always had a strong commitment to music education and community engagement. In 2010 he was awarded the Dame Roma Mitchell Churchill Fellowship to study the LSO’s iconic Discovery program and the use of improvisation in training classical musicians at the Guildhall School of Music.

NICHOLAS BOCHNER After training in Adelaide and London, Nicholas spent 3 years as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Queensland as part of the ensemble Perihelion, forging a strong reputation as an exponent of contemporary music. He joined the MSO as Assistant Principal Cello in 1998. Since then he has appeared as a soloist, chamber musician and recitalist. He has also taught cello and improvisation at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM).

In 2016, Nicholas’ considerable experience as an orchestral musician and his passion for communication led him to undertake a fellowship at ANAM where he developed, conducted and presented educational concerts for primary school children. During the fellowship he was mentored by Paul Rissmann, Graham Abbott and the legendary Richard Gill AO. Since then he has presented educational concerts for children and adults for MSO, ANAM and the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra.

In 2020 he was named the MSO’s Cybec Assistant Conductor for Learning and Engagement. He is also the conductor of the Melbourne University Biomedical Students’ Orchestra. In support of his work as an education presenter, Nicholas has been studying conducting with Benjamin Northey and won a coveted place at the TSO’s 2019 Australian Conducting Academy.

Proudly presented by TarraWarra Estate

Proudly supported by City of Melbourne, and Crown Resorts Foundation and Packer Family Foundation.

Nicholas Bochner’s position as MSO Assistant Conductor for Learning and Engagement is supported by the Cybec Foundation.

Glossary Movement A movement is a part of a musical composition or musical form. They are often marked by a brief pause in a performance of the full composition and can also be played separately of the larger work.

Triad A chord consisting of 3 notes stacked on top of each other – a bottom note (the root), the middle note (the third) and the top note (the fifth) – that sound in harmony when played together simultaneously.

Chamber A form of classical music played by a small ensemble, typically with one player to a part. Traditionally written to be performed in an intimate setting, rather than a full-sized concert hall.

Stepwise Melodic motion in which the interval between two consecutive pitches is no more than a step, or where skips are rare.

Quick Facts LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Symphony No 4 in B flat, Op.60 Adagio – Allegro vivace Adagio Menuetto (Allegro vivace) – Trio (Un poco meno allegro) Allegro ma non troppo Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony was composed in 1806 – a time of personal and professional turmoil for the composer.

The year had begun with the failure of his only opera, Fidelio, which had not found favour in a Vienna still under occupation by Napoleon’s forces. Frustrated by inadequate rehearsal time and dreadful performances of the opera, not to mention a theatre manager whom he distrusted, Beethoven withdrew his score. But rather than go off simply to sulk, Beethoven vented his fury in one of the most astonishing creative bursts of his career.

He spent the summer and autumn out of Vienna, enjoying the hospitality of various noble patrons, some of whom had been forced to flee Vienna because of the French occupation. In one of these houses he may have become engaged to one Therese

von Brunsvik. In another, he began work on the Fifth Symphony, the Appassionata Sonata, and the three Rasumovsky Quartets.

In another (that of the celebrated Prince Lichnowsky) he quarrelled with his host, who wanted him to play the piano for some French army officers. But in the castle of Count Franz von Oppersdorff in Ober-Glagau he received a commission of 500 florins to compose a new symphony for the Count’s private orchestra. This was to become the Fourth Symphony, even though it was actually begun after the immortal Fifth.

Unfortunately for Count Franz, it seems that his philanthropic gesture was not reciprocated in full, as there is no evidence that the Fourth Symphony was ever premiered by his private orchestra. Instead, it emerged for the first time in a marathon all-Beethoven concert in Vienna in March 1807, probably in the palace of Prince Lobkowitz. It was performed alongside Beethoven’s first three symphonies, in a concert which must have strained the concentration of even the most dedicated admirers.

Abridged from Martin Buzacott © 2001

PERFECT

PAIRING Ears Wide Open is proudly supported

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