Programme Notes | Summer Night Concert - 3 September 2021

Programme Notes

SUMMER NIGHT CONCERT FRI 3 SEPTEMBER 2021 • 8.15 PM

PROGRAMME conductor Lahav Shani flute Joséphine Olech Modest Mussorgsky 1839-1881 Prelude to Khovanshchina [1872-1880, orch. Dmitri Shostakovich 1959] Thierry Escaich *1965 Concerto for flute and orchestra [2021, commission, premiere with audience] • Vivace – • Andante – • Allegro moderato Intermission Modest Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition [1874, orch. Maurice Ravel 1922] • Promenade 1 • Gnomus • Promenade 2 • The Old Castle • Promenade 3 • Tuileries (Children’s Quarrel after Games) • Cattle • Promenade 4 • Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks • Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle • Promenade 5 • Limoges, the Market Place • Catacombs, Roman Tomb • With the Dead in a Dead Language • The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Baba Yaga) • The Great Gate of Kiev Concert ending circa 10.00 pm Previous performance by our orchestra: Mussorgsky Chovansjtsjina: Oct 2014, conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin Escaich Flute concerto: May 2021 (world première without audience), flute Joséphine Olech, conductor Lahav Shani Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition: Feb 2020, conductor Krzysztof Urbański Portrait of composer M.P. Mussorgsky, painting by Ilya Repin (1881), collection Tretyakov Gallery Moskow

Time travel Music takes us back to another age, plays with our perception of time. Composers make time stand still or actually propel us through time. Mussorgsky follows the tempo of the nineteenth century, Escaich ramps up the pace in the twenty-first century.

Tempo of the dawn In the opening scene of his opera Khovanshchina (The Khovanski Case) Modest Mussorgsky shows us an early morning in Moscow at the end of the seventeenth century. The prelude, also named ‘Dawn on the Moskva River’, depicts a city slowly shaking off the shackles of night. The bells toll for matins, the cock crows, the city gates are unlocked. A Russian melody is proclaimed by the strings… but that is not what Mussorgsky wrote. On his death in 1881 he left behind a chaotic collection of manuscripts, scored mainly for piano and voice. Unfortunately, he had no time to orchestrate his work. With the best of intentions, his friend Rimsky-Korsakov tried to piece together the unfinished compositions. He left out certain parts, orchestrated the whole work and ‘corrected’ some of the more daring harmonies.

Mussorgsky was a self-taught composer, so he prided himself on never being influenced by western composition theory. That is, to an extent, the subject of the opera: the struggle against Tsar Peter the Great, who wanted to modernise the old Russia on the basis of a western model. Prince Ivan Khovanski was one of his opponents who ultimately fought a losing battle. So although Russian folk songs were of great importance to Mussorgsky, in this case the instruments used were chosen by Shostakovich. His version, dating from 1959, remains much more faithful to Mussorgsky’s manuscripts than Rimsky-Korsakov’s: the piquant harmonies were somewhat less ‘controversial’ to twentieth-century ears. In 1960 the public heard for the first time the tubular bells sounding matins, whereas Rimsky-Korsakov had opted for a more threatening gongstroke. Shostakovich also added an anachronism in the form of the tinkling sounds of the celesta, an instrument that was invented only five years after Mussorgsky died.

While Mussorgsky allowed time for the sun to rise slowly – after all, it is the opening of a three-hour opera – Escaich brings the listener back to the twenty-first century with a jolt.

Fasten your seatbelts! A crack of a whip, and a thrilling journey will begin. Rapid calls in the brass give a feeling of urgency and the flute flutters and swirls like a butterfly alongside fragments of a jazzy, repeated bass line and lyrical melodies on the violin. The concerto was written for the orchestra and its solo flautist Joséphine Olech, who recognises not only jazz but also a lot of French influences in the flute part. In a video clip on Facebook she smiles as she lets the multitude of noted-filled pages fall open. As an organist, Escaich is a great improviser, a quality that can be heard in the surprising twists and turns and in the interaction between flute and orchestra. His passion for the cinema is apparent in the evocative and patchwork-like music.

The composer describes his flute concerto as three tableaus separated by intermezzos in which time seems to stand still. He calls the first tableau ‘Theatre of the Absurd’, music full of contrasts, thin notes and braying laughter, a comic opera. Then, with a descending line, the music reaches the first resting point. As in a sanctuary, the listener has time to get his breath back. The composer describes the second tableau as the dissection of a dream. The solo flute leads the dance

and appears to improvise, connect, and react to whatever the orchestra comes up with. Once again the music descends into a huge void; then, with a series of urgent knocks on the door, the final tableau arrives.

The characters from the comic opera try to distract the flute, which proceeds resolutely, finally cocking a triumphant snook at everyone.

Escaich’s tableaus are constantly in motion, with the intermezzos acting as resting places. In contrast, in his Pictures at an Exhibition, Mussorgsky stands quietly admiring the different paintings and the motion is in the connecting music.

The composer wanders through the exhibition in memory of his friend Viktor Hartmann. Walking from one picture to another he reminisces on the artist. At the time of Hartmann’s untimely death in the summer of 1873, Mussorgsky had already been working on his opera Khovanshchina for a considerable time. Composing the music to represent the artworks was a relaxing break for him: within three weeks he had turned his ideas into a composition for piano. As an inspiration, he chose a small amount of the 400 pictures exhibited. Mussorgsky praised his friend Hartmann for his Russian character and social conscience.

Consequently, Russian folk music had a great influence in this work, for instance in the section inspired

Cover: Print Gallery, lithography by Maurits C. Escher (1956)

by Hartmann’s design for a clock in the form of the hut of Baba Yaga, a witch from Russian folklore, and in the majestic music depicting his design for the great gate of Kiev, which at that time was still part of the Russian Empire. Hartmann drew a structure in old Russian style, with the onion domes that we know so well from the cathedral on Red Square.

So it’s no wonder that the tubular bells can be heard here again… in this case an invention of Ravel, who was commissioned in 1922 by the conductor Serge Koussevitzky to orchestrate the piano music. Like Shostakovich, Ravel obviously thought the celesta (heard immediately in the first picture, The Gnome) was well suited to Mussorgsky, although the composer would of course never have heard its tinkling sound.

Carine Alders

Joséphine Olech, Flute Born: Paris, France Education: Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Paris with Nathalie Rozat; Conservatoire de Paris with Sophie Cherrier and Vincent Lucas Awards: First Prize, Audience Prize, and Junior Jury Prize at the Carl Nielsen International Competition (2019); third prize Prague Spring International Competition (2015) Position: principal flute of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (from 2017) Before: member Academy of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; principal flute Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester Chamber music: with Juliette Hurel (flute), Julien Hervé (clarinet), Anaïs Gaudemard (harp); Quator Hanson; Ensemble Ouranos Special: co-founder Alma Mahler Kammerorchester in 2016 Solo debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2021

Photo Marco Borggreve

Lahav Shani, Conductor Born: Tel Aviv, Israel Position: chief conductor Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra; music director Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Before: principal guest conductor Wiener Symphoniker from 2017 to 2020 Education: piano at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music Tel Aviv; conducting and piano at the Academy of Music ‘Hanns Eisler’ Berlin; Mentor: Daniel Barenboim Breakthrough: 2013, after winning the Gustav Mahler International Conducting Competition in Bamberg Subsequently: Berliner Staatskapelle, Berliner Staatsoper, Wiener Philharmoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Staatskapelle Dresden, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Philharmonia Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2016

Photo Bruno Bonansea

AGENDA 15 – 19 September 2021 25th Gergiev Festival www.gergievfestival.nl Thu 30 September 2021 • 8.15 pm Fri 1 October 2021 • 8.15 pm Sun 3 October 2021 • 2.15 pm conductor Lahav Shani piano Yuja Wang Wantenaar Meander (world premiere) Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2 Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances Fri 15 October 2021 • 8.15 pm conductor John Adams piano Katia and Marielle Labèque Reich Three Movements Glass Concerto for Two Pianos Adams Naive and Sentimental Music Fri 29 October 2021 • 8.15 pm Sun 31 October 2021 • 2.15 pm conductor Edo de Waart bassoon Pieter Nuytten Dvořák Serenade for Winds Weber Andante e Rondo ongarese Dvořák Symphony No. 9 ‘From the New World’ Sat 30 Oktober 2021 • 7.00 pm Horror concert Halloween (6+) conductor Adam Hickox actor Michel Sorbach staging/text Bart Oomen film animation Sebastiaan de Ruiter music by Mussorgsky, Saint-Saëns and Dukas Thu 4 November 2021 • 8.15 pm Fri 5 November 2021 • 8.15 pm Sun 7 November 2021 • 2.15 pm conductor Lahav Shani cello Nicolas Altstaedt Bloch Schelomo Mahler Symphony No. 1

MUSICIANS Chief Conductor Lahav Shani Honorary Conductor Valery Gergiev Yannick Nézet-Séguin First violin Igor Gruppman, concertmaster Marieke Blankestijn, concertmaster Quirine Scheffers Hed Yaron Meyerson Saskia Otto Arno Bons Mireille van der Wart Shelly Greenberg Cor van der Linden Rachel Browne Maria Dingjan Marie-José Schrijner Noëmi Bodden Petra Visser Sophia Torrenga Hadewijch Hofland Annerien Stuker Alexandra van Beveren Koen Stapert Second violin Charlotte Potgieter Cecilia Ziano Frank de Groot Laurens van Vliet Tomoko Hara Elina Staphorsius Jun Yi Dou Bob Bruyn Letizia Sciarone Eefje Habraken Maija Reinikainen Sumire Hara Wim Ruitenbeek Babette van den Berg Melanie Broers

Viola Anne Huser Roman Spitzer Maartje van Rheeden Galahad Samson Kerstin Bonk Lex Prummel Janine Baller Francis Saunders Veronika Lénártová Rosalinde Kluck León van den Berg Cello Emanuele Silvestri Joanna Pachucka Daniel Petrovitsch Mario Rio Gé van Leeuwen Eelco Beinema Carla Schrijner Pepijn Meeuws Yi-Ting Fang Double bass Matthew Midgley Ying Lai Green Jonathan Focquaert Robert Franenberg Harke Wiersma Arjen Leendertz Ricardo Neto Flute Juliette Hurel Joséphine Olech Désirée Woudenberg Oboe Remco de Vries Karel Schoofs Hans Cartigny Anja van der Maten Oboe/cor anglais Ron Tijhuis Clarinet Julien Hervé Bruno Bonansea Jan Jansen

Clarinet/ bass clarinet Romke-Jan Wijmenga Bassoon Pieter Nuytten Marianne Prommel Bassoon/contra bassoon Hans Wisse Horn David Fernández Alonso Wendy Leliveld Richard Speetjens Laurens Otto Pierre Buizer Trumpet Giuliano Sommerhalder Alex Elia Arto Hoornweg Simon Wierenga Jos Verspagen Trombone Pierre Volders Alexander Verbeek Remko de Jager Bass Trombone/ contrabass trombone Ben van Dijk Tuba Hendrik-Jan Renes Timpani/ percussion Randy Max Danny van de Wal Ronald Ent Martijn Boom Adriaan Feyaerts Harp Charlotte Sprenkels