Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Pinchas Zukerman Programme

ŠChris Christodoulou

NCH International Concert Series 2018/2019

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Pinchas Zukerman violin/conductor Saturday 30 March 2019

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International Concert Series 2018/2019

Welcome/Fáilte Welcome to this evening’s performance given as part of the National Concert Hall’s International Concert Series 2018-19.

It is a particular pleasure to welcome back to our stage the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) and Pinchas Zuckerman. In the last seven decades or so the RPO has carved out a unique place in the orchestral life of the UK. Constantly looking forward, the orchestra’s approach to attracting new audiences and its work with diverse communities continues to serve as an inspiration to musicians and other institutions.

Since it was formed in 1946 by Sir Thomas Beecham, the RPO has been all-embracing in its repertoire and tonight we can look forward to hearing masterpieces by two of the great figures of British music; Elgar and Vaughan Williams.

I am delighted that the orchestra is joined tonight by the great Pinchas Zuckerman who is marking his tenth season as Principal Guest Conductor of the RPO. It is a great honour to welcome him again to the NCH, not only as conductor but as soloist in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5.

Our thanks to The Irish Times for its continued support as print media partner for the NCH International Concert Series and to all our Friends, Patrons and supporters who enable us to bring wonderful musical experiences such as this evening’s concert to Irish audiences.

The next concert in the International Concert Series brings together two masterful Irish performers; the rising opera star that is Tara Erraught and one of our most renowned musicians, pianist John O’Conor. This concert sees Tara make her International Concert Series debut, so we look forward to celebrating another very special evening with you on Friday 26th April.

Simon Taylor Chief Executive

Maura McGrath Chairperson

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International Concert Series 2018/2019

Programme Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Mozart

Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major K 219

INTERVAL

Elgar

Variations on an Original Theme (‘Enigma’) Op. 36

REMINDERS Mobile Devices Please ensure all mobile devices are switched off during the performance.

Camera, Video and Recording Equipment Camera, video and recording equipment are NOT permitted in the auditorium.

Intervals and Timings Interval will be 20 minutes. Latecomers will not be admitted until there is a suitable break in the performance.

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Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

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“The RPO do sensuousness uncommonly well.”

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©Chris Christodoulou

The Guardian

International Concert Series 2018/2019

For more than seven decades the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) has been at the forefront of music-making in the UK. Its home base since 2004 at London’s Cadogan Hall serves as a springboard for seven principal residencies as well as more than forty-five concerts per year in long-term partnership venues across the country, often in areas where access to live orchestral music is very limited. In London, the Orchestra’s regular performances at Cadogan Hall are complemented by a distinguished series at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall and a hugely popular series at the Royal Albert Hall. With a wider reach than any other UK large ensemble, the RPO has truly become Britain’s national orchestra.

Alongside its concert series, the RPO embraces twenty-first-century opportunities, including appearances with pop stars and on video game, film and television soundtracks, whilst its artistic priority remains paramount: the making of great music at the highest level for the widest possible audience. This would have been lauded by its Founder and first conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham, who set up the RPO in 1946, leading a vital revival in the UK’s orchestral life after World War II. Since then, the Orchestra’s principal conductors have included Rudolf Kempe, Antal Doráti, Walter Weller, André Previn, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yuri Temirkanov, Daniele Gatti and Charles Dutoit; and its repertoire has encompassed every strand of music from the core classical repertoire to music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and works by leading composers of recent years, such as Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Sir John Tavener.

The RPO’s commitment to working with the finest conductors continues and in July 2018, the RPO announced Vasily Petrenko as the Orchestra’s new Music Director, assuming the title of Music Director Designate in August 2020 prior to commencing the full role in August 2021. Vasily Petrenko joins the RPO’s roster of titled conductors, which includes Pinchas Zukerman (Principal Guest Conductor), Alexander Shelley (Principal Associate Conductor) and Grzegorz Nowak (Permanent Associate Conductor).

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International touring is vital to the Orchestra’s work, taking it to many prestigious destinations worldwide. Recent engagements include concerts at the festivals of Montreux, Lucerne and Granada, an extensive tour of the USA, and visits to central Europe and the Far East, including South Korea and China.

“the RPO embraces twenty-first-century opportunities… whilst its artistic priority remains paramount: the making of great music at the highest level for the widest possible audience”

In 2018, RPO Resound, the Orchestra’s community and education programme, marked its twenty-fifth anniversary.

Throughout its history it has thrived on taking music into the heart of the regions that the Orchestra serves. From Azerbaijan to Jamaica and from Shanghai to Scunthorpe, the team – comprising the majority of the Orchestra – has worked with young people, the homeless, recovering stroke patients (in the award-winning STROKESTRA project in Hull) and in settings ranging from the Sea Life London Aquarium to hospitals, orphanages and children’s hospices.

In 1986, the RPO became the first UK orchestra to launch its own record label. The Orchestra has embraced digital advances and continuing its tradition of entrepreneurial innovation, in 2017 the RPO teamed up with the concert-enhancing app, EnCue by Octava, becoming the first orchestra in Europe to offer its audiences real-time programme notes for selected performances delivered to their mobile or tablet devices. The Orchestra has become increasingly active on social media platforms, inviting audiences to engage informally on Facebook and Twitter (@ rpoonline) and to enjoy behind-the-scenes insights on the RPO website (www.rpo.co.uk), YouTube (RPOOnline) and Instagram (@RPOOnline).

As the RPO proudly looks to its future, its versatility and high standards mark it out as one of today’s most open-minded, forward-thinking symphony orchestras.

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Pinchas Zukerman violin/conductor

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“As usual, it was a joy to be in his musical company.”

©Cheryl Mazak

The Los Angeles Times

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With a celebrated career encompassing five decades, Pinchas Zukerman reigns as one of today’s most sought after and versatile musicians - violin and viola soloist, conductor, and chamber musician. He is renowned as a virtuoso, admired for the expressive lyricism of his playing, singular beauty of tone, and impeccable musicianship, which can be heard throughout his discography of over 100 albums.

A devoted teacher and champion of young musicians, he has served as chair of the Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music for twenty-five years. As a mentor he has inspired generations of young musicians who have achieved prominence in performing, teaching, and leading roles with music festivals around the globe. He singularly pioneered the use of distance-learning technology with the first technological installment at the Manhattan School and has established an advanced training program for gifted young artists as part of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

“As a mentor he has inspired generations of young musicians who have achieved prominence in performing, teaching, and leading roles with music festivals around the globe.”

During the 2018-2019 season, Pinchas Zukerman’s marks his tenth season as Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and his fourth as Artist-in-Association with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in Australia. He leads the RPO on a tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland, conducting works by Mozart and Vaughan Williams and performing as soloist in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Zukerman joins the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in performances of Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G Minor, on tour in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

He appears as soloist and conductor with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and the symphony orchestras of Toronto and Indianapolis. Mr. Zukerman makes concerto appearances in North America with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, 10

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New World Symphony, and in Europe with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orquesta Nacional de EspaĂąa, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Salzburg Camerata, and Moscow State Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Zukerman conducts the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, and conducts and is soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on a tour of South Korea.

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As a founding member of the Zukerman Trio, along with cellist Amanda Forsyth and pianist Angela Cheng, Pinchas Zukerman appears in Baltimore and New York’s 92nd Street Y, tours Italy, including Bologna, Milan, and Naples, and gives performances in Germany, at Villa Musica in the Rhineland-Palatinate and in Mönchengladbach. Zukerman and Forsyth join the Jerusalem Quartet in a program of Strauss, Schoenberg, and Tchaikovsky sextets in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Princeton, Berkeley, and Vancouver. Mr. Zukerman also appears with Ms. Forsyth in performances of the Brahms Double Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and joins violinist Viviane Hagner and the National Centre Arts Orchestra for performances of the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante.

“Pinchas Zukerman’s extensive discography includes more than 100 titles, for which he gained two Grammy® awards and 21 nominations.”

As part of the 70th-birthday celebrations honoring Mr. Zukerman during the 2018-2019 season, the Manhattan School of Music marks the 25th anniversary of the Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program with a special tribute: a “25-70” concert of chamber and orchestral music performed by distinguished colleagues, former and present students.

Zukerman, who initiated the National Arts Centre Institute for Orchestral Studies in Ottawa, an apprentice program for string players, serves as artistic director of the Young Artist Program and returns each summer to teach and lead master classes. He has taught prominent music educational programs in London, Israel, and China, among others, and was appointed as the first instrumentalist mentor in music of the prestigious Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

Pinchas Zukerman has been featured in numerous television specials and national talk shows. He has been a performer and presenter at both the Kennedy Center Honors and the Grammy Awards ceremony and appeared with the Chicago 12

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Symphony on the PBS special Mozart by the Masters. In 2004, the CBC recorded a ten-segment series entitled “The Concerto According to Pinchas” which continues to be broadcast and re-broadcast around the world. A frequent performer on Live from Lincoln Center, Mr. Zukerman has collaborated with the English filmmaker Christopher Nupen on several projects including the Here to Make Music series, a Brahms series, a Schubert series and a documentary on Nathan Milstein. He appeared on CBC Television’s nationwide broadcast celebrating the opening concerts of the National Arts Centre’s 30th-anniversary season. Crossing Bridges, a documentary by Niv Fichman, followed his tour to the Middle East with the NAC Orchestra, and was awarded the prestigious Gold World Medal at the 2001 New York Festival.

Mr. Zukerman’s violin playing can be heard on the film soundtracks for Prince of Tides and Critical Care.

Born in Tel Aviv, Pinchas Zukerman came to the United States where he studied at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian as a recipient of the American-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship. An alumnus of the Young Concert Artists program, Mr. Zukerman has also received honorary doctorates from Brown University, Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of Calgary. He received the National Medal of Arts from President Ronald Reagan and is a recipient of the Isaac Stern Award for Artistic Excellence in Classical Music. Pinchas Zukerman’s extensive discography includes more than 100 titles, for which he gained two Grammy® awards and 21 nominations. His complete recordings for Deutsche Grammophon and Philips were released in July 2016 in a 22-disc set comprising Baroque, Classical, and Romantic concertos and chamber music.

Recent albums include Baroque Treasury on the Analekta label with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, cellist Amanda Forsyth, and oboist Charles Hamann in works by Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann and Tartini; Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 and Double Concerto with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Ms. Forsyth, recorded live at Ottawa’s Southam Hall; and a critically acclaimed album of works by Elgar and Vaughan Williams with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

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Programme Notes Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Born in Gloucestershire, Ralph Vaughan Williams became one of the most respected English composers of the first half of the last century. Whatever about that, he also had tenuous Irish connections. Among his teachers were Armagh-born Charles Wood and Dubliner Charles Villiers Stanford. In time, Vaughan Williams counted among his own composition pupils Dublin-born Brian Boydell and Frederick May as well as Ina Boyle, who spent her life in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow.

In the early part of his career Vaughan Williams, who studied briefly in Berlin with Max Bruch and in Paris with Maurice Ravel, developed an abiding interest in folk song. In collaboration with musicologist Cecil Sharp – a founding father of the revival of English folk music – he travelled on, what might be called, ‘collection trips’. Spread over nine years, these journeys primarily concentrated on Norfolk, Herefordshire, Surrey and Sussex.

One of the results was his First Norfolk Rhapsody premièred at the London Proms in 1906 and well received. But, besides his folk song collections, he also delved into the almost forgotten realm of English renaissance music, thereby inspiring renewed interest in its resurgence.

All of this scholarship led to an invitation to edit a new version of the English Hymnal. At first Vaughan Williams was reluctant to take on the task, protesting that he knew nothing about hymns, but then accepted the assignment. Initially wondering if he was wasting his time, he later professed to the contrary, ‘I know now that two years of close association with some of the best (and some of the worst) tunes in the world was a better musical education than any amount of sonatas and fugues’ 14

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In his extensive research Vaughan Williams came across nine tunes that Thomas Tallis (c1505-1585) had contributed to the English Psalter of 1567. Tallis, by the way, was one of the Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal where he served four succeeding monarchs – Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I – as organist and composer while still remaining, like William Byrd, an ‘unreformed’ Roman Catholic.

Attracted to all nine of the Tallis tunes, Vaughan Williams was particularly fascinated by the third – a melody in the Phrygian mode (a pattern one hears if playing the white notes on a keyboard from E to the E an octave higher or lower).

He mused on the music for some time and, after a period of gestation, the germ sown blossomed into the Fantasia of 1910.

Its first performance took place in Gloucester Cathedral during a Three Choirs Festival event on 6th September that year. The composer conducted the London Symphony Orchestra and, destined to become one of his best-loved compositions, the Fantasia preceded another masterpiece at that concert - Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius.

Scored for strings, there are two main bodies of players – a nine-piece ensemble and a full string orchestra from which a solo quartet is occasionally extracted to form a third grouping. Vaughan Williams had the acoustics of Gloucester Cathedral in mind when writing his Fantasia as well as the style of renaissance church music with its spatially separated choirs.

The score, which Vaughan Williams revised in 1913 and 1919, opens with a pianissimo Largo sostenuto introduction.

Fragments of the Tallis theme appear pizzicato on the combined lower strings but then Vaughan Williams brings in a phrase of his own and this will also enjoy considerable development.

The original Tallis theme is then heard on cellos, violas and second violins playing in unison. A more impassioned version

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follows dominated by the violins. The two orchestras respond to each other back and forth before the quartet, led by its viola, plays variants of the Tallis theme. Then in music of increasing fervour, the Fantasia reaches an appassionato climax. With striking harmonic contrasts the two orchestral choirs answer each other again. The discourse subsides and the brief concluding section recalls the melodic fragments of the introduction as the Fantasia slides into almost inaudible whispers before drifting into silence.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major K 219 Allegro aperto Adagio Rondeau: Tempo di Menuetto Because of the quantity and quality of his piano concertos, Mozart’s violin concertos have maybe not earned the respect they deserve. The five authentic ones (there are two others with dubious credentials) are thought to have been written in 1775 although the first - K 209 - may stem from two years previously. It is uncertain for whom they were written or who gave the first performances but they were composed in Salzburg and possibly for Mozart’s own personal use. He is known to have played them after 1775. It is something often forgotten but Mozart was a very fine self-taught fiddle and viola player.

When a small boy, an admirer in Vienna gave him a present of a half-size violin. Back home in Salzburg he implored his father to be allowed to play it with a group of Leopold’s friends who had gathered in the Mozart apartment for a sight-reading session. Father Mozart dismissed the idea as ridiculous and sent the seven-year-old lad off in tears. Family friend and musician Andreas Schachtner interceded.

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Leopold relented telling Wolfgang to, “Play your fiddle along with Herr Schachtner, but you must play so softly that we can’t hear you, otherwise you will be sent away again”.

Quite soon Schachtner had put his violin down as he felt he was superfluous and glancing at Herr Mozart saw tears of admiration and happiness streaming down his face. Later in 1763, when the Mozarts were on tour, Wolfgang’s keyboard accomplishments vied with those on the violin.

Everywhere they went Wolfgang listened and learned. In Italy he expanded his technique, in France he added brilliant style and in Vienna he heard the Austrian tunes that echo through his violin concertos written when he was nineteen.

However, after that Mozart seems to have lost interest in writing for the instrument, although this may have come through him being leader of the Archbishop’s orchestra in Salzburg. His grew to dislike his position almost as much as he loathed Hieronymous Colloredo, the Prince Archbishop.

Mozart’s violin concertos have been described as ‘aristocratic, graceful, humorous and marvellously melodious’.

Besides, they are inventive. The first movement of the A major breaks new ground not only in its tempo marking where aperto can mean ‘open, bold, clear or frank’ but also in its impressively dramatic scope as it implies an operatic role in concerto guise. The soloist appears as something of a protagonist as he/she makes his/her first theatrical appearance.

The opening movement begins with rising arpeggios over a tremolando bass. It gives the feeling of searching for the theme rather than actually presenting it. The spirited tempo comes to a halt and then, over a quavering accompaniment, the soloist enters with a dreamy six-bar Adagio that has a rhapsodic air to it. After another pause, the orchestra repeats its introduction but with the soloist now pointedly announcing the movement’s main theme. Full of swaggering self-confidence its exposition may be brief but key

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modulations add extra spice to its development. There is a subsidiary theme that, with his usual aplomb, Mozart weaves seamlessly into the movement’s overall scheme of things.

The Adagio is superbly crafted. It revolves around two themes.

The principal one is in E major, a key Mozart liked to use for music of a sensuous nature. The solo violin plays eloquent lines above the orchestra’s subtly varied instrumental colours, all the more remarkable in that Mozart uses only oboe, horn and strings. Its beauty never wavers with the music flowing serenely as the orchestra offers the soloist delicate support.

Mozart later wrote an alternative slow movement (K 261) for the Neapolitan violinist Antonio Brunetti, who joined the Salzburg orchestra in 1776. He complained that the original Adagio was ‘too artificial’. The composer reluctantly obliged him but the Mozart family never particularly liked Brunetti considering him both coarse and promiscuous!

The final Rondeau is basically a graceful minuet. The extended sonata-rondo-form movement brings the several returns of its theme interspersed with contrasted episodes.

The last of these has an exotic tempo in a minor mode. In Mozart’s day its swirling quality was considered to have Turkish origins thereby giving the concerto the nickname - Turkish.

With exaggerated leaps, throbbing rhythms and col legno effects in the cellos and double basses, Mozart actually borrowed some of the music from his earlier ballet – La gelosie del serraglio (The jealousy of the harem) – written for a Milan production of his opera Lucio Silla in 1772. The main idea of the Rondeau returns with further elegant decorations and the concerto ends surprisingly peacefully.

INTERVAL

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Edward Elgar (1857-1934) Variations on an Original Theme (‘Enigma’) Op. 36 On Friday 21st October 1898, following a harrowing day’s teaching, Edward Elgar sat at his piano after dinner and began to improvise. At one point his wife Alice said, “That’s a good tune. I like it. Play it again”. Although Elgar’s initial response was “Oh, its nothing”, he later added, “but something might be made of it”. Indeed, something was made of it – the theme to his Enigma Variations.

The composer thought about it over the weekend. On the Sunday his friend Troyte came to lunch after which he and Elgar went for a walk and took tea at the home of Winifred Norbury. On the following Sunday Elgar was at Hereford Cathedral for the 50th recital by his organist friend George Sinclair while earlier in the month Elgar had conducted the first performance of his cantata Caractacus in Leeds, with a number of his close companions present. All of them would eventually find their musical portraits in a work dedicated by the composer ‘to my friends pictured within’.

So, the seeds of the Enigma Variations had been sown and over the next few weeks germinated and came to fruition.

Elgar commenced his orchestration on 5th February 1899, completing it eleven days later. He sent the manuscript to the Austro-Hungarian conductor Hans Richter, then very well known and appreciated in England, and he agreed to conduct the première in London on 19th June. Afterwards, suggesting some revisions to the finale, Elgar accepted Richter’s advice and conducted the work, as we know it, at the Worcester Festival on 13th September 1899.

Originally there were two mysteries surrounding these Variations. The first involved the identity of the dedicatees, which Elgar only indicated by their initials or pet names.

However, he resolved this issue early on by actually naming them.

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The second was less straightforward. Elgar loved puzzles and practical jokes. He wrote in the programme for the first performance, ‘The enigma I will not explain – its ‘dark saying’ must be left unguessed, and I warn you that the apparent connection between the Variations and the Theme is often of the slightest texture; further, through and over the whole set another larger Theme ‘goes’ but it is not played… so the principal Theme never appears, even as in some late dramas – e.g. Maeterlinck’s L’Intruse and Les sept princesses – the chief character is never on the stage’.

Countless ideas have been promoted regarding this quandary but, so far, the nut refuses to be cracked. Late in his life, Elgar expressed his surprise that no one had spotted this over-riding Theme. But could it just have been one of the composer’s conundrums that has foxed musicologists for over a century, claiming there was a hidden melody when, in fact, there was none? Be all that as it may, it should not distract us from enjoying the music of the Enigma’s theme and the ensuing fourteen Variations.

Elgar’s Andante theme has a relatively plaintive three-part ABA design, which one of the composer’s biographers, Diana McVeagh, considered ‘as productive as a goldmine’.

It contrasts G minor and G major and reverses its rhythmic patterns in each phrase.

Variation I (L’istesso tempo): C.A.E; This is Alice Elgar, whom the composer married in Brompton Oratory on 8th May 1889.

Elgar recalled sometime after completing the work, ‘this variation is really a prolongation of the theme with what I wished to be romantic and delicate additions; those who knew her will understand this reference to one whose life was a romantic and delicate inspiration’.

Variation II (Allegro): H.D.S-P; A pianist friend of Elgar, Huw David Steuart-Powell was part of a trio with the composer on violin and Basil Nevinson, pictured in Variation XII, cello.

It seems Steuart-Powell had a habit of ‘warming up’ at

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the piano with a series of chromatic exercises that Elgar humorously travesties in semiquaver passages that suggest a toccata.

Variation III (Allegro): R.B.T; Here Elgar describes Richard Baxter Townshend, an Oxford classicist who also dabbled in amateur dramatics. His deeply resonant voice, portrayed by the bassoon, would occasionally rise to a high soprano screech. Pizzicato violins and woodwind refer to his cycling through Oxford constantly ringing his bicycle bell.

Variation IV (Allegro di molto): W.M.B; Elgar tells us William Meath Baker was a confident country squire, gentleman and scholar. The music portrays his blustering manner and how he would inadvertently bang the door of the music room on leaving.

Variation V (Moderato): R.P.A; Richard Penrose Arnold, son of literary critic and poet Matthew Arnold and who, according to Elgar, played the piano in a self-taught manner, evading difficulties but suggesting, in a mysterious way, the real feeling of the piece he was playing. He would break up a serious conversation with whimsical and witty remarks. An expansive string melody captures Arnold’s nobility of mind and his strangely truthful way of interpreting music.

Variation VI (Andantino): Ysobel; This is Isobel Fitton, a lady of ‘grave, statuesque beauty’, who studied the viola with Elgar.

Romantic allure adds to the persuasive melodic dominance of her instrument in this Variation.

Variation VII (Presto): Troyte; One of Elgar’s intimate friends, architect Arthur Troyte Griffith played the piano and had the habit of saying the unexpected. The composer explained, ‘the uncouth rhythm of the drums and lower strings was really suggested by Troyte’s maladroit essays to play the pianoforte; later the strong rhythm suggests the attempts of the instructor (E.E.) to make something like order out of chaos, and the final despairing ‘slam’ records that the effort proved to be in vain’.

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Variation VIII (Allegretto): W.N; The elderly and stately Winifred Norbury was secretary to the Worcester Philharmonic Society.

With her sister Florence, Winifred was a lover and patroness of music. In Elgar’s portrait ‘the gracious personalities of the ladies are sedately shown’. Winifred’s distinctive laugh is also amusingly remembered. A sustained line leads directly into what is the best known Variation of the set often heard during ceremonial occasions in Britain and further afield.

Variation IX (Adagio): Nimrod; Here we have Johannes August Jaeger. Born in Düsseldorf, he moved to London when he was eighteen and was employed in Novello’s music-publishing house. He came to know Elgar through the latter’s association with the firm and, it is said that he, ‘more than anyone else, except Alice Elgar, sustained the composer through his frequent bouts of severe depression’. Nimrod was one of Elgar’s puns for Jaeger, whose German name translates as hunter, while Nimrod was ‘the stout hunter before the Lord’ (Genesis Chapter 10 Verse 9). The composer explains his Variation, ‘is the record of a long summer evening talk, when my friend discoursed eloquently on the slow movements of Beethoven, and said that no one could approach Beethoven at his best in this field, a view with which I cordially concurred.

It will be noted that the opeing bars are made to suggest the slow movement of Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata’.

Variation X (Allegretto): Dorabella – Intermezzo; Dora Penny was a cheerful person who loved music and to whom the Elgars were quite close. She often improvised dances to Elgar’s compositions and he called her Dorabella after one of the sisters in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte. Dora’s quaint stammer also finds its way into the music. She was related to Richard Baxter Townshend (Variation III) and William Meath Baker (Variation IV).

Variation XI (Allegro di molto): G.R.S; Organist at Hereford Cathedral, George Robertson Sinclair had a bulldog named Dan. The music captures both the hound and his master in an incident during an afternoon picnic. According to Elgar,

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‘the first few bars were suggested by the great bulldog Dan…. falling down the steep bank into the River Wye (bar 1); his paddling upstream to find a landing place (bars 2 and 3) and his rejoicing bark on landing (second half of bar 5)’. “Set that to music”, said G.R.S. I did: here it is’.

Variation XII (Andante – a tempo): BGN; According to Elgar, ‘this Variation is a tribute to a very dear friend, Basil Nevinson, whose scientific and artistic attainments, and the wholehearted way they were put at the disposal of his friends, particularly endeared him to the writer’. The cello plays an important role in this Variation, as Nevinson was quite adept on the instrument.

Variation XIII (Moderato): Romanza; There is another enigma here as, in the score, the subject is only indicated by three asterisks. The subtitle Romanza adds to the dramatic effect.

The music begins sweetly but is soon interrupted by a strange rocking figure in the violas and a soft drum roll. The clarinet quotes from Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage Overture. Elgar explained the asterisks took the place of the name of a female who was on a long sea voyage at the time. The person in question was most likely Lady Mary Lygon, a member of Malvern’s aristocracy, who was en route to Australia. On the other hand, it may have been Helen Weaver, a fiancée of Elgar’s who broke off their engagement in 1884 and settled in New Zealand. In any event, the music conveys a poignant sense of longing.

Variation XIV (Finale: Allegro; Presto): E.D.U; These initials do not belong to anyone but running them together brings Alice Elgar’s pet name (Edoo) for her husband. Elgar shows his confident side in the opulent expansion of his theme. Alice returns, as does A.J. Jaeger, before the Variations end in majestic grandeur.

Programme notes Pat O’Kelly © 2019

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Royal Philharmonic Orchestra FIRST VIOLINS Duncan Riddell Tamás András Sulki Yu Shana Douglas Joana Valentinaviciute Andrew Klee Kay Chappell Anthony Protheroe Erik Chapman Sophie Mather Rosemary Wainwright Eriko Nagayama Robin Wilson Imogen East SECOND VIOLINS Andrew Storey David O’Leary Jennifer Christie Charlotte Ansbergs Peter Graham Stephen Payne Manuel Porta Sali-Wyn Ryan Siân McInally Nicola Hutchings Colin Callow Sheila Law VIOLAS Abigail Fenna Liz Varlow Michelle Bruil Ugne Tiškuté Chian Lim Esther Harling Jonathan Hallett Triona Milne Andrew Sippings Clive Howard

CELLOS Richard Harwood Jonathan Ayling Chantal Webster Roberto Sorrentino Jean-Baptiste Toselli William Heggart Rachel van der Tang Naomi Watts DOUBLE BASSES Sebastian Pennar David Gordon Benjamin Cunningham Ben Wolstenholme Mark O’Leary Adam Wynter

FRENCH HORNS Austin Larson Kathryn Saunders Richard Ashton Finlay Bain Andrew Budden TRUMPETS James Fountain Adam Wright Mike Allen TROMBONES Matthew Gee Rupert Whitehead BASS TROMBONE Simon Minshall

FLUTES Emer McDonough Helen Keen

TUBA Kevin Morgan

PICCOLO Helen Keen

TIMPANI Matt Perry

OBOES John Roberts Timothy Watts

PERCUSSION Martin Owens Gerald Kirby Joseph Richards

CLARINETS Jernej Albreht Katy Ayling BASSOONS Joshua Wilson Helen Storey CONTRABASSOON Fraser Gordon

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International Concert Series 2018/2019

A Stylish and Relaxed Start to your Evening PRE THEATRE

Tuesday - Saturday 6.00 - 7:00pm Glass of Prosecco Two courses €35 Three courses €45 COMPLIMENTARY CAR PARKING

Proud winners at Food&Wine Awards 2018 Overall Chef of the Year Best Chef Dublin Pastry Chef of the Year 128 25

#GLOVERSALLEY

International Concert Series 2018/2019

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International Concert Series 2018/2019

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International Concert Series 2018/2019

Dining at The Saddle Room

Our award-winning Chef de Cuisine Daniel Taylor and his team in The Saddle Room kitchen present their spectacular new seasonal menu for you to enjoy.

Table d’Hôte Three Course Dinner and a bottle of House Wine €99 for Two Reservations are subject to availability at the time of booking.

This offer is valid Sunday to Thursday, from 5.30pm to 10.00pm.

To reserve, please call +353 1 663 4500 or visit shelbournedining.ie 28

CORPORATE ASSOCIATES We would like to acknowledge with appreciation and gratitude the generous support of our Corporate Associates, Patron Circle members and John Field Society members.

Your support plays a principal part in securing the future of the National Concert Hall, allowing us to deliver world class artists to Irish audiences and develop our Learning and Participation programme.

DIAMOND THE EXECUTIVE

INSTITUTE

Connecting Organisational Leaders for Growth

PLATINUM

GOLD

SILVER

Arup Earlsfort (East-Point) ICD Business School Philip Lee Nordic Cold Storage

Brackaville Investments Ltd Frank Glennon Ltd Frank Keane (Naas Road) Green Property

LEARNING AND PARTICIPATION PARTNERS Lauritzson Foundation, HPRA, Grant Thornton, Science Foundation Ireland, Dublin Port, Dublin City Council, Michael & Loret O’Brien, Brackaville Investments Ltd., Community Foundation for Ireland, Creative Ireland

PATRONS AND JOHN FIELD SOCIETY Frank & Ivy Bannister, Tony Brown, Tom Bryant & family, Sharon Burke, Tom Carey, Denis & Gráinne Cremins, Veronica Dunne, Sir James & Lady Jeanne Galway, Matthew King, Brian Kingham, Mary MacAodha, Brian McElroy, Don & Gina Menzies, Deirdre O’Grady, Rachel Patton, Richie Ryan, Simon Taylor, Kieran Tobin, Stephen Vernon We also gratefully acknowledge those patrons who have requested to remain anonymous.

Make a Difference Today For further information contact Matthew King on 01 417 0072 or email matthew.king@nch.ie

International Concert Series 2018/2019 Tara Erraught mezzo-soprano John O’Conor piano Programme to include works by Strauss, Mahler and Rossini Friday 26 April 2019, 8pm

Marc-André Hamelin piano Programme to include works by Schumann, Fauré and Chopin Thursday 9 May 2019, 8pm

Boston Symphony Chamber Players Programme to include works by Françaix, Mozart and Gandolfi Tuesday 21 May 2019, 8pm

London Symphony Orchestra Gianandrea Noseda conductor Daniil Trifonov piano Philip Cobb trumpet Antoine Tamestit viola Programme to include works by Beethoven, Shostakovich and Berlioz Friday 14 June 2019, 8pm

nch.ie 01 417 0000