Programme Notes | Rachmaninoff & Tchaikovsky

Programme Notes

Rachmaninoff & Tchaikovsky Thu 9 November 2023 • 20.15 Fri 10 November 2023 • 20.15 Sun 12 November 2023 • 14.15

‘Symphony No. 4, Dedicated to my best friend’: first page of Tchaikovsky’s manuscript.

PROGRAMME conductor Maxim Emelyanychev piano Beatrice Rana Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18 (1900-01) • Moderato • Adagio sostenuto - Più animato - Tempo I • Allegro scherzando intermission Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1840-1893 Symphony No. 4 in F major, Opus 36 (1877) • Andante sostenuto - Moderato con anima • Andantino in modo di canzone • Scherzo (Pizzicato ostinato): Allegro • Finale: Allegro con fuoco concert ends at around 22.10 Most recent performances by our orchestra: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2: Apr 2017 (Bruges), piano Nelson Goerner, conductor Sir Mark Elder Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4: Aug 2018 (on tour), conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin One hour before the start of the concert, Veronika Lénártová will give an introduction (in Dutch) to the programme, admission €5. Tickets are available at the hall, payment by debit card. The introduction is free for Vrienden.

Cover: Photo Gemma Evans (Unsplash).

Sergei Rachmaninoff with his dog Levko in 1899, on the wall a portrait of Tchaikovsky.

The climb out of despondency Music can help to heal wounds.

Not only the wounds of the listener, but sometimes also those of the composer themself. After years of being in the doldrums, Sergei Rachmaninoff rediscovered his self-confidence whilst working on his Piano Concerto No. 2.

And Tchaikovsky worked through the painful memories of a failed marriage with his work on his Fourth Symphony.

‘I’m now fifty-two years old,’ declared Tchaikovsky in an interview with the St Petersburg Gazette: ‘It’s necessary to make way for the young.’ When asked what young talent he had in mind, he mentioned the name of the then 19-year-old Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Rachmaninoff was already receiving acclaim for his Prelude in C Sharp minor, a work that everyone wanted to perform for its heroic, brilliant style, whilst technically still being very playable. His publisher paid him handsomely, his career as a pianist was going well, and now the great Tchaikovsky had crowned him as his successor. An honourable mention, and indeed, Rachmaninoff would fervently lead Tchaikovsky’s melodic and harmonic inheritance into the twentieth century.

But it didn’t happen without a fight. His First Symphony, written at the age of 22, was a stumbling block. For eight months he sweated

over it, before proudly revealing the results of his labour to the illustrious Nikolai RimskyKorsakov. ‘Forgive me, but I do not find this music at all agreeable,’ he responded. And indeed, during rehearsals, the musicians of the orchestra also shuddered. Doubt was taking hold of the heart of the young composer. On the day of the work’s premiere Rachmaninoff dragged himself to the theatre, but did not dare to enter the auditorium. Instead, he hid on a staircase and listened in anguish to how things were playing out. And at the end of the performance he did not even contemplate taking to the stage, and instead fled into the city. The following day’s newspaper review was ruthless: ‘If there were a conservatory in Hell, and if one of its talented students were to compose a programme symphony based on the story of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, and if he were to compose a symphony like Mr. Rachmaninoff’s, then he would have fulfilled his task brilliantly.’

Hypnotherapy

It would prove to be a fiasco with dire consequences. Rachmaninoff, unused to adversity, sank into depression. ‘My confidence in myself had received a sudden blow,’ he would later express in writing, ‘agonizing hours spent in doubt and hard thinking had brought me to the conclusion that I ought to give up composing.’ He spent his days lying on a sofa – doing nothing. It was an inertia that lasted three years. Family members called on the help of author Leo Tolstoy. ‘Tell me, is such music needed by anybody?’ he responded when

Rachmaninoff played him his song Fate. The composer sank even further into depression.

He had promised the London Philharmonic Society a new piano concerto but doubted he would ever be able to realise this goal. At their wit’s end, Rachmaninoff’s family turned to Dr. Nikolai Dahl, neurologist, psychiatrist and hypnotherapist. Dr. Dahl encouraged him for four whole months: You will begin to write your concerto ... You will work with great facility ...

The concerto will be of an excellent quality.

And then: a miracle. Rachmaninoff returned to composing. Things started happening: first the second movement, then the third, of his Piano Concerto No. 2. He played them himself as soloist during a public performance. In 1901 the first movement was completed. And on 27 October of that year he presented the complete work…It was a triumph! The mysterious piano chords that begin the work: rather different from the Prelude in C sharp minor. Then the main melody, 43 bars long, at which point the prouder second theme introduces itself. Rachmaninoff subtly modulates from the first to the second movement, from C minor to E major. Into an adagio that is sensitive and dream-like. The final movement, too, begins with transitional modulations, ending with a grandiose melody that forms a triumphant counterpoint to the melancholic theme that opened the first movement. For Rachmaninoff, his Piano Concerto No. 2 ushers in a new life. Four years after his First Symphony he had reached a higher level, with a more individual voice, and become even more of an audience favourite than he had been in his younger years.

Marriage drama

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted an animated correspondence with his patron Nadezhda von Meck. She was more than a friend, she was his spiritual confidante: one of the few with whom he felt safe in entrusting his feelings (albeit

by letter; they never met in person). ‘I was severely depressed last winter when writing the symphony,’ Tchaikovsky wrote to her about his Fourth Symphony, ‘and it serves as a faithful echo of what I was experiencing.’

This wintry gloom cannot be separated from the events of the preceding few months. In the summer Tchaikovsky had married, in search of security, but also – or perhaps especially? – to hide his homosexuality. It had turned into tragedy. Married life filled him with revulsion; he attempted suicide by walking into the ice cold water of the River Neva. The composer survived; his marriage did not. Barely two months married, the couple separated. That was when Tchaikovsky devoted himself to his symphony.

In his letter to Nadezhda von Meck he explained movement by movement the story behind the composition. To take some lines from that letter: I: ‘The introduction is the seed of the whole symphony. The main idea is Fate, that force which prevents the impulse to happiness from attaining its goal. Is it not better to escape from reality and to immerse oneself in dreams?’

II: ‘This is that melancholy feeling which comes in the evening when, weary from one’s toil, one sits alone with a book. There comes a whole host of memories: happy moments when the young blood boiled, but also painful, irreconcilable losses.’

III: ‘Giving free rein to the imagination. Drunken peasants, a street song, a military procession: these are completely incoherent images which sweep through the head as one falls asleep.’

IV: ‘If within yourself you find no reasons for joy, then look at others. Go out among the people.

See how they can enjoy themselves. Do not say that everything in this world is sad. Rejoice in the rejoicing of others. To live is still possible.’

Stephen Westra

Maxim Emelyanychev • conductor Born: Nizhny Novgorod Current position: principal conductor Scottish Chamber Orchestra, chief conductor baroque ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro Education: piano and conducting in Nizhny Novgorod, conducting in Moscow with Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, fortepiano and harpsichord with Maria Uspanskaya Awards: International Competition Musica Antiqua Bruges (2010), Hans von Bülow Competition Meiningen (2012) Breakthrough: 2014 with Mozart’s Don Giovanni in the Teatro de la Maestranza, Seville Subsequently: guest appearances with the Berliner Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; opera in London (Covent Garden), Geneva (Grand Théâtre), Toulouse (Théâtre du Capitole) and at the Glyndebourne Festival; tours and recordings with Il Pomo d’Oro and Joyce DiDonato Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2023

Photo: SCO

Photo: Simon Fowler

Beatrice Rana • piano Born: Copertino, Italië Education: First piano lessons at age four. Monopoli Conservatory: piano with Benedetto Lupo, composition with Marco della Sciucca. Further piano studies with Arie Vardi (Hannover) and Benedetto Lupo (Rome) Breakthrough: 2011, winning First Prize and all special prizes at the International Competition of Montreal Subsequently: solo appearances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bayerische Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, with conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Klaus Mäkelä, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Andrés OrozcoEstrada and Lahav Shani, performances in Vienna (Musikverein), Berlin (Philharmonie), New York (Carnegie Hall), festivals of Verbier, Ferrara, La Roque d’Anthéron Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2023

Musicians

Agenda Harry Potter in Concert, part 7 Wed 15 November 2023 • 19.30 Thu 16 November 2023 • 19.30 Fri 17 November 2023 • 19.30 Sat 18 November 2023 • 13.30 and 19.30 Sun 19 November 2023 • 13.30 conductor Justin Freer Desplat Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Fri 24 November 2023 • 20.15 conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada cello Daniel Müller-Schott Dvořák Cello Concerto Howard Magnetite Dvořák Symphony No. 7 Music for Breakfast 2 Sun 3 December 2023 • 10.30 Jurriaanse Zaal, de Doelen with Rachel Browne (violin), Matthew Midgley (double bass) and colleagues from the orchestra Parry Two Intermezzi for String Trio Onslow String Quintet ‘The Bullet’ Midgley Folk Trio Bridge Three Traditional English Songs Thu 7 December 2023 • 20.15 Fri 8 December 2023 • 20.15 Sun 10 December 2023 • 14.15 conductor Lahav Shani violin Janine Jansen Sibelius Violin Concerto Pärt Swan Song Debussy La mer

Viola Clarinet Anne Huser Julien Hervé Roman Spitzer Bruno Bonansea Galahad Samson Honorary Clarinet/ José Moura Nunes Conductor Bass Clarinet Yannick Nézet-Séguin Kerstin Bonk Romke-Jan Wijmenga Lex Prummel Janine Baller Principal Guest Bassoon Francis Saunders Conductor Veronika Lénártová Pieter Nuytten Tarmo Peltokoski Lola Descours Rosalinde Kluck Marianne Prommel León van den Berg First Violin Marieke Blankestijn, Olfje van der Klein Bassoon/ concertmeester Contrabassoon Cello Quirine Scheffers Hans Wisse Hed Yaron Meyerson Emanuele Silvestri Eugene Lifschitz Saskia Otto Horn Joanna Pachucka Arno Bons David Fernández Alonso Mireille van der Wart Daniel Petrovitsch Felipe Santos Freitas Silva Mario Rio Rachel Browne Wendy Leliveld Gé van Leeuwen Maria Dingjan Richard Speetjens Marie-José Schrijner Eelco Beinema Laurens Otto Carla Schrijner Noëmi Bodden Pierre Buizer Pepijn Meeuws Petra Visser Yi-Ting Fang Sophia Torrenga Trumpet Hadewijch Hofland Alex Elia Double Bass Annerien Stuker Simon Wierenga Matthew Midgley Alexandra van Jos Verspagen Ying Lai Green Beveren Jonathan Focquaert Robert Franenberg Trombone Second Violin Pierre Volders Charlotte Potgieter Harke Wiersma Alexander Verbeek Arjen Leendertz Cecilia Ziano Remko de Jager Ricardo Neto Frank de Groot Laurens van Vliet Bass trombone Flute Tomoko Hara Rommert Groenhof Juliette Hurel Elina Staphorsius Joséphine Olech Jun Yi Dou Désirée Woudenberg Tuba Bob Bruyn Hendrik-Jan Renes Eefje Habraken Flute/piccolo Maija Reinikainen Percussion Beatriz Da Baião Wim Ruitenbeek Danny van de Wal Babette van den Berg Ronald Ent Oboe Melanie Broers Martijn Boom Remco de Vries Lana Trimmer Adriaan Feyaerts Karel Schoofs Anja van der Maten Harp Oboe/Cor Anglais Charlotte Sprenkels Ron Tijhuis Chief Conductor Lahav Shani