Yannick conducts Bruckner Fri 21 March 2025 • 20.15
PROGRAMME
conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin
soprano Angel Blue
Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
Vier letzte Lieder (1948)
• Frühling (Hesse)
• September (Hesse)
• Beim Schlafengehen (Hesse)
• Im Abendrot (Eichendorff)
intermission
Anton Bruckner (1824–1896)
Symphony No. 3 in D minor (1873)
• Gemäßigt, misterioso
• Adagio: Feierlich
• Scherzo: Ziemlich schnell
• Finale: Allegro
Concert ends at around 22.15
Most recent performances by our orchestra:
Strauss Vier letzte Lieder: Oct 2014, soprano
Dorthea Röschmann, conductor Yannick NézetSéguin
Bruckner: Symphony No. 3: Sep 2008, conductor Valery Gergiev
One hour before the start of the concert, Bart de Graaf will give an introduction (in Dutch) to the programme, admission €7,50. Tickets are available at the hall, payment by debit card. The introduction is free for Vrienden.
Cover: Photo Petr Vysohlid (Unsplash)
Farewell Robert Franenberg
This is the last concert week of our double bassist Robert Franenberg. After over 40 years with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, he is now retiring.
Photo: Eduardus Lee
Richard Strauss at his writing desk, c.1948. Photo coll. Fremdenverkehrsamt München
An end and a beginning
Richard Strauss and Anton Bruckner shared a yearning for romance. In that respect, Bruckner was driven mainly by his adoration of God and of Richard Wagner, Strauss by his love of romantic poetry and the human voice.
Farewell to the world
Strictly speaking, the Vier letzte Lieder were not the very last songs Richard Strauss wrote –his song Malven postdates them – but they are still regarded as his swansong as a composer. Strauss wrote them in 1948, a year before his death. He did not live to witness their success: the première by Kirsten Flagstad and the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler took place on 22 May 1950.
Strauss would undoubtedly have enjoyed the warm reception given to the songs, especially in light of the social perception of him after World War II. His past relationship with the Nazis and his presidency of the Reichsmusikkammer counted heavily against him. That flirtation with the Nazi regime was undoubtedly motivated by opportunism. Strauss’s only son Franz was married to a Jewish woman. Stephan Zweig, the librettist of his opera Die schweigsame Frau was Jewish, as was his publisher. The composer did what he could to protect them and himself.
After the war, Strauss battled in vain for rehabilitation. It was his son Franz who
suggested that he would be better off writing a few beautiful songs. In the autumn of 1948, Strauss handed the score to his daughter-inlaw, saying ‘Here are the songs your husband ordered.’
In fact, Strauss had probably already written the sketches of the final song Im Abendrot, set to a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff. Having finished the song – and spurred on by his son – another three followed in rapid succession, set to texts by Hermann Hesse. Thanks to Ernst Roth, Strauss’s close friend and chief editor of music publisher Boosey & Hawkes, they became known to the music world as Vier letzte Lieder.
The title may not be wholly accurate, but it fits like a glove. The theory that Strauss composed the four songs with approaching death in mind is pure speculation. But it is hard to listen to them without hearing a farewell to the world, a resignation to fate, and the expectation of moving on to something higher. It cannot be without significance that in Im Abendrot Strauss quoted from his symphonic poem Tod und Verklärung, written 60 years earlier, and the way in which Strauss orchestrated the songs seems to be a reflection of his own life. The songs can be seen as an ode to the soprano voice so beloved of Strauss – his wife Pauline de Ahna was a singer – and his favourite instrument, the horn, – which his father played professionally – features prominently in all four songs.
A step towards recognition
Whereas Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder were his swansong as a composer, Bruckner’s Third Symphony marks a beginning: a significant step on the road to recognition. Initially that did not seem likely, because the première on 16 December 1877 was a total fiasco. The intended conductor, Johann von Ritter Herbeck, died suddenly, and nobody else was willing to conduct the work, so Bruckner decided to take on the role himself. Unfortunately, the Vienna Philharmonic was not entirely convinced of the value of the work, and Bruckner was not a seasoned conductor. In addition, his Third Symphony was the last work on a very lengthy programme. Many of the audience left the hall during the performance or laughed openly at the composer. Only a handful of pupils and supporters, one of whom was Gustav Mahler, really appreciated the symphony. And the comments by the notorious critic Eduard Hanslick were, by his standards, remarkably mild. He described the symphony as a work in which ‘Beethoven’s Ninth makes friends with Wagner’s Valkyries and ends up being trampled under their hooves.’
It is no surprise that Hanslick mentions Beethoven and Wagner. Both composers had a noticeable influence on Bruckner’s early symphonies. His Third begins roughly where Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony ends, and initially there were liberal quotes from Wagner. During a visit to the great German master, Bruckner brought along his Second Symphony and the sketches of his Third, asking Wagner – with his customary humility – whether he could dedicate the symphonies to him. In the end, the opera composer chose the Third – ‘the one with the trumpets’.
In fact, the majority of the quotes had disappeared by the time of the première. The version performed was Bruckner’s third
of this, the most frequently revised of his symphonies. He would work on it yet again in 1889. That fourth version is the one that is most often performed nowadays, but all the versions exist side by side. There were even two different editions published during Bruckner’s lifetime. It was thanks to Gustav Mahler that this four-movement symphony, containing all the features of Bruckner’s later works, was first published as early as 1878. After the première Mahler made a transcription for two pianos. Based on that transcription the publisher Thomas Rättig decided to publish the symphony. Later, in 1890, Rättig also published the fourth and final version of this symphony –a first, at that time.
Many of the audience left the hall during the performance or laughed openly at the composer
Although Bruckner’s insecurities led him to revise a number of his symphonies regularly, the first publication of his Third Symphony marked the beginning of international attention for the composer, who would become one of the standard-bearers for the Romantic symphony in late 19th-century Austria.
Paul Janssen
Yannick Nézet-Séguin • Honorary Conductor
Born: Montreal, Canada
Current position: music director
Metropolitan Opera New York, Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain of Montreal; honorary conductor Rotterdam Philharmonic (music director 2008–2018), honorary member Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Education: Conservatoire de musique du Québec in Montréal; conducting with Carlo Maria Giulini
Awards: Royal Philharmonic Society Award (2008); Canada’s National Arts Centre Award (2010); Prix Denise-Pelletier (2011); Companion of the Order of Canada (2012); Officer of the Order of Québec (2015); Cultuurpenning Rotterdam (2018)
Breakthrough: 2004, debut Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse
Guest conductor: Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Salzburg Festival
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2005
Angel Blue • soprano
Born: Los Angeles, USA
Education: voice and piano at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, voice at the University of Redlands, opera at UCLA
Awards: Beverly Sills Award 2020, Richard Tucker Award 2022, two Grammy Awards
Breakthrough: 2009, San Francisco Opera, as Clara in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess
Subsequently: opera at Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, English National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Opéra de Paris, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Seattle Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Teatro alla Scala, Theater an der Wien, Wiener Staatsoper, solo appearances with Accademia Santa Cecilia, Berliner Philharmoniker, Cincinnati Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Münchner Philharmoniker, Philadelphia Orchestra
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2025
Photo: Eduardus Lee
Photo: Dario Acosta
Musicians Agenda
Fri 28 March 2025 • 20.15
Sat 29 March 2025 • 20.15
conductor Joe Hisaishi
harp Emmanuel Ceysson
Hisaishi Adagio for Strings and two Harps
Hisaishi Harp Concerto
Ravel La valse
Hisaishi Spirited Away Suite
Thu 3 April 2025 • 20.15
Fri 4 April 2025 • 20.15
Sun 6 April 2025 • 14.15
conductor Lahav Shani
violin Hilary Hahn
Beethoven Symphony No. 2
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1
Mozart Symphony No. 39
Thu 17 April 2025 • 19.30
Fri 18 April 2025 • 19.30
Sat 19 April 2025 • 19.30
conductor Jonathan Cohen
soprano Lore Binon
countertenor Hugh Cutting tenor (evangelist) Stuart Jackson
tenor (arias) Peter Gijsbertsen bass (Christ) Neal Davies bass (arias) Roderick Williams chorus Laurens Collegium
Bach St-Matthew-Passion
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Chief Conductor
Lahav Shani
Honorary Conductor
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Principal Guest Conductor
Tarmo Peltokoski
First Violin
Marieke Blankestijn, concertmaster
Tjeerd Top, concertmaster
Quirine Scheffers
Hed Yaron Meyerson
Saskia Otto
Arno Bons
Rachel Browne
Maria Dingjan
Marie-José Schrijner
Noëmi Bodden
Petra Visser
Sophia Torrenga
Hadewijch Hofland
Annerien Stuker
Alexandra van Beveren
Marie Duquesnoy
Giulio Greci
Second Violin
Charlotte Potgieter
Frank de Groot
Laurens van Vliet
Elina Staphorsius
Jun Yi Dou
Bob Bruyn
Eefje Habraken
Maija Reinikainen
Babette van den Berg
Melanie Broers
Tobias Staub
Sarah Decamps
Viola
Anne Huser
Roman Spitzer
Galahad Samson
José Moura Nunes
Kerstin Bonk
Janine Baller
Francis Saunders
Veronika Lénártová
Rosalinde Kluck
León van den Berg
Olfje van der Klein
Jan Navarro
Cello
Emanuele Silvestri
Joanna Pachucka
Daniel Petrovitsch
Mario Rio
Eelco Beinema
Carla Schrijner
Pepijn Meeuws
Yi-Ting Fang
Killian White
Double Bass
Matthew Midgley
Ying Lai Green
Jonathan Focquaert
Robert Franenberg
Arjen Leendertz
Ricardo Neto
Javier Clemen Martínez
Flute
Juliette Hurel
Joséphine Olech
Manon Gayet
Flute/Piccolo
Beatriz Baião
Oboe
Karel Schoofs
Anja van der Maten
Oboe/Cor Anglais
Ron Tijhuis
Clarinet
Julien Hervé
Bruno Bonansea
Alberto Sánchez García
Clarinet/ Bass Clarinet
Romke-Jan Wijmenga
Bassoon
Pieter Nuytten
Lola Descours
Marianne Prommel
Bassoon/ Contrabassoon
Hans Wisse
Horn
David Fernández Alonso
Felipe Freitas
Wendy Leliveld
Richard Speetjens
Laurens Otto
Pierre Buizer
Trumpet
Alex Elia
Adrián Martínez
Simon Wierenga
Jos Verspagen
Trombone
Pierre Volders
Alexander Verbeek
Remko de Jager
Bass Trombone
Rommert Groenhof
Tuba
Hendrik-Jan Renes
Percussion
Danny van de Wal
Ronald Ent
Martijn Boom
Harp
Albane Baron