Programme Notes | Yuja Wang and Lahav Shani: Fantastique - 3 December 2021

Programme Notes

YUJA WANG AND LAHAV SHANI:

FANTASTIQUE

FRI 3 DECEMBER 2021 • 20.15

PROGRAMME conductor Lahav Shani piano Yuja Wang Sergei Rachmaninoff 1873-1943 Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, op.

18 [1900-01] • Moderato • Adagio sostenuto • Allegro scherzando Interval Hector Berlioz 1803-1869 Symphonie fantastique, op. 14 [1830] • Rêveries - Passions • Un bal • Scène aux champs • Marche au supplice • Songe d’une nuit du sabbat Concert ends at about 22.15 Most recent performances by our orchestra: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2: April 2017, piano Nelson Goerner, conductor Sir Mark Elder Berlioz Symphonie fantastique: March 2020, conductor Vasily Petrenko One hour before the start of the concert, composer Sam Wamper will give an introduction to the programme, admission €5. Tickets are available at the hall, payment by debit card. The introduction is free for Vrienden. The introduction is in Dutch.

Cover: The Spell (El conjuro), painting by Francisco Goya (1797-98), collection Museo Lázaro Galiano, Madrid

Sergei Rachmaninoff, circa 1901

The storm of the new and an elegiac sunset The works performed in this concert take us from the beginning to the end of the Romantic period. From the hyper-romantic individualism of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, modern sounding and full of excess, to Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto, relying on noble romantic harmonies that were virtually outdated at the time of composition. Both pieces were conceived in exceptional circumstances.

‘The seven plagues of Egypt…’ ‘This will bring joy to those living in Hell!’

The still young Rachmaninoff was heartbroken: the première of his First Symphony should have been a momentous occasion, but the critics judged it otherwise. He himself, in shock, had made his escape halfway through the performance. Why had it been a fiasco? Was there something wrong with the score, or was the performance off key? It appeared that the latter was to blame. The conductor had been drunk in charge, but the composer - just turned 24 – lacked the confidence to lay the blame at his feet.

Hypnotherapy The ordeal hit Rachmaninoff hard. He became despondent. For a full three years he did not write a note of music, even though, rather foolishly, he had promised London a second piano concerto. His family were desperate.

They appealed to the writer Tolstoy for help. But Tolstoy’s words of advice were taken badly by an unconfident young man: ‘You have to work. Do you think that I am always satisfied with myself? Work. Every day.’ Then they tried another tactic. A certain Dr Nikolai Dahl seemed to have knowledge of a particular psychiatric treatment. Hypnotherapy. And this appeared to have a positive effect on Rachmaninoff. Over a period of four months, during long sessions, the doctor worked with him. What he said precisely remains unknown. Perhaps the doctor, an enthusiastic amateur musician himself, simply imparted this enthusiasm to the composer.

Rumours persisted that he had repeated endlessly to his patient: ‘You will compose a piano concerto. You will enjoy work’ etc. – but there is no factual basis to this.

Rachmaninoff returned cautiously to

work, yet by the summer of 1900 the floodgates holding back three years of untapped energy had suddenly burst open. By autumn the second and third movements of a new piano concerto were completed. On 2 December a revitalised Rachmaninoff, notwithstanding a streaming cold and extremely nervous disposition, took to the stage in Moscow to play with evident passion those two movements of the Second Piano Concerto. ‘The classical clarity of the form, the overarching melody, the lustre and power of the harmony […] in every aspect miraculous.’ So ordained the critics this time. The success encouraged Rachmaninoff to complete the first movement. On 27 October 1901 he performed the entire concerto. This time, its success was even greater: Rachmaninoff ’s breakthrough.

artist too’. A daring plan to which the director, the Italian Cherubini, was initially opposed. Berlioz: ‘My only goal is to make a name for myself…’ Cherubini: ‘It is not at all necessary that you become famous …’

Nevertheless, the concert went ahead.

But without Harriet in the audience.

In no time Second attempt. During a benefit at which Harriet performed, Berlioz ensured that an overture he had composed would be played. But a restless public largely ignored it, and it also failed to make its mark on Harriet. Third attempt. In no time, between February and April 1830, Berlioz had composed a symphony.

Subject: The trials and tribulations of a romantic genius. Title: Symphonie fantastique. A revolutionary work.

Its subtitle, ‘Episode in the life of an artist’, makes plain that this is a

A big concert in the conservatoire, with only his own works on the programme, so that she would see that ‘I am a dramatic artist too’ A daring plan 11 September 1827. The day on which the 23-year-old Hector Berlioz fell everlastingly in love.

It was at the Paris Odéon where he watched the 20-year-old Irish actress Harriet Smithson perform the role of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and became bewitched. ‘I recognised real greatness, real beauty, and the real truth…’ What was to be done? She, a famous actress; he, an unknown musician… He wrote her passionate letters, but she responded by instructing her maid to refuse them. But there were other ways to catch her attention. A big concert in the conservatoire, with only his own works on the programme, so that she would see that ‘I am a dramatic

romanticised musical autobiography.

Every emotion is described by Berlioz, using the most original orchestral effects. For example: at the end of the ‘Scene in the country’ the wistful sound of the cor anglais is accompanied by the distant thunder of four (!) timpani, in dissonant keys. Berlioz’s greatest creation, however, is the ‘idée fixe’, a melody that is developed throughout the work, continually taking on new forms, and thereby connecting the five movements. Berlioz: ‘For the artist, the woman he loves has become a melody and an obsession; he encounters her and watches her everywhere.’

Notes from the composer Berlioz himself wrote programme notes to his symphony. In a nutshell: I. The adoration of the artist’s beloved.

– II. The young artist and his beloved attend a ball. Portrayal of her lovely appearance. – III. Amidst the quiet of nature jealousy raises its head. What if she had betrayed him! Morbid thoughts. Thunder in the distance.

Then again solitude and silence. – IV. The artist is convinced that his love is rejected, poisons himself with opium, dreams of having killed his beloved, and witnesses his own execution on the scaffold. A fatal blow from the executioner’s blade interrupts the idée fixe. – V. During a grotesque witches’ Sabbath his beloved appears.

No longer sweet and graceful she joins in the diabolic orgy with cries of delight. A death knell, the Dies irae.

Ghosts dance in grotesque movements around the freshly-dug grave.

The dress rehearsal proved chaotic.

No one dared present the concert.

However, Berlioz persisted, and on 5 December 1830 the Symphonie Fantastique received its première at the conservatoire. Amongst the public sat the famed Franz Liszt who, after the concert, enthusiastically showered the young composer with compliments. And as for Harriet?

Gradually, she began to take more and more interest in the obsessed young man. Her maid was instructed to accept his letters. And on 3 October 1833 it finally happened: Berlioz and Harriet married. He had his Ophelia. They started a family.

Shared life’s ups and downs. And then Berlioz fell in love with someone else; Harriet continued to love him.

The life together became unhappy.

They divorced. But the Symphonie Fantastique survived.

Stephen Westra

Lahav Shani, Dirigent Born: Tel Aviv, Israel Position: chief conductor Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra; music director Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Before: principal guest conductor Vienna Symphony Orchestra 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: Staatskapelle Berlin, Berlin State Opera, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2016

Photo: Julia Wesely

Yuja Wang, Piano Born: Beijing, China Education: Conservatory of Music Beijing; Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Gary Graffman Awards: Musical America’s Artist of the Year 2017 Debut: 2003, with Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra conducted by David Zinman Breakthrough: 2007, replacing Martha Argerich in Tsjaikovski’s Piano Concerto, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra led by Charles Dutoit Soloist: with the leading orchestras of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington, New York; Staatskapelle Dresden, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Artist in residence: at Carnegie Hall New York, Konzerthaus Vienna, Philharmonic Orchestra Luxembourg; Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in 2021/22 Chamber Music: with Gautier Capuçon (cello) and Andreas Ottensamer (clarinet) Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2018

Photo: Marco Borggreve

AGENDA Fri 17 December 2021 • 19.30 Sat 18 December 2021 • 19.30 Sun 19 December 2021 • 13.30 conductor Jonathan Cohen soprano Emöke Baráth counter tenor Andreas Scholl tenor Andrew Staples baritone Matthew Rose choir Groot Omroepkoor Handel Messiah Wed 29 December 2021 • 13.15 and 15.00 Thu 30 December 2021 • 13.15 and 15.00 The Nutcracker (4+) conductor Adam Hickox actors Eric Jan Lens, Christiaan Koetsier and Sanne Franssen scenography Kathelijne Monnens and Cynthia Borst staging Fons Merkies Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker (selection) Fri 7 January 2022 • 20.15 Sun January 2022 • 14.15 New Year Concert: Musical Meets Opera conductor Dirk Brossé vocal soloists Katrien Baerts, Alice Fearn, Jonathan Andrew Hume, Bror Magnus Tødenes Highlights from the musical and opera repertoire Thu 13 January 2022 • 20.15 Fri 14 January 2022 • 20.15 Sun 16 January 2022 • 14.15 conductor Han-Na Chang cello Truls Mørk Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante Prokofiev Symphony No. 5

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

Clarinet Julien Hervé Bruno Bonansea Jan Jansen

Cello Emanuele Silvestri Joanna Pachucka Daniel Petrovitsch Mario Rio Gé van Leeuwen Eelco Beinema Carla Schrijner Pepijn Meeuws Yi-Ting Fang

Bassoon/ contra bassoon Hans Wisse

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/ bass clarinet Romke-Jan Wijmenga Bassoon Pieter Nuytten Marianne Prommel

Horn David Fernández Alonso Wendy Leliveld Richard Speetjens Laurens Otto Pierre Buizer Trumpet Giuliano Sommerhalder Alex Elia Simon Wierenga Jos Verspagen Trombone Pierre Volders Alexander Verbeek Remko de Jager Tuba Hendrik-Jan Renes Timpani/ percussion Randy Max Danny van de Wal Ronald Ent Martijn Boom Adriaan Feyaerts Harp Charlotte Sprenkels