RSNO Digital Season: Beethoven Piano Concerto No3

Scotland’s National Orchestra 1

BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTO No3

10 STUNNING CONCERTS FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS

Broadcast throughout Oct 2020 - Feb 2021, the RSNO Digital Season is available on subscription or a pay per concert basis.

For more information on our Digital Season and to book your tickets please visit rsno.org.uk/digital-season

BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTO No3 RSNO favourite Boris Giltburg makes a welcome return in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, a dark, deeply personal masterpiece, perfect for a pianist who has been described as ‘a true Romantic’. Sibelius’ profound and atmospheric Seventh Symphony is an ideal companion piece. Norwegian rising-star conductor Tabita Berglund makes her debut with the Orchestra.

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No3 in C Minor Op37 [36’] BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No30 in E Major Op109 – final movement [12’] SIBELIUS Symphony No7 in C Major Op105 [22’] Tabita Berglund Conductor Boris Giltburg Piano Royal Scottish National Orchestra RECORDED AT THE RSNO CENTRE, GLASGOW Broadcast Fri 6 Nov 2020, 7.30pm This performance has been recorded for the RSNO Archive. Supported by the Iain and Pamela Sinclair Legacy.

Jack Hunter Director Simon Lowdon Script Supervisor Diana Dumi and Diego Almazán Camera Operators Diana Dumi Video Editor Phil Hobbs Producer Hedd Morfett-Jones Sound Supervisor

Next Digital Season Concert

MOZART CLARINET CONCERTO Recorded at the RSNO Centre, Glasgow Broadcast date: Fri 20 Nov 2020, 7.30pm

Mozart Clarinet Concerto K622 Jรถrg Widmann Fantasie Mendelssohn Symphony No5 Reformation Jรถrg Widmann Conductor/Clarinet Royal Scottish National Orchestra Please note, due to new COVID-19 travel and quarantine restrictions, repertoire/artists have changed from those previously advertised.

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Welcome Dear friends As we continue to navigate our way through the current COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 is beginning to give a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘the show must go on’. Recent updates in travel and quarantine affected our original programme for this week, with conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto unable to travel to Scotland. However, I am delighted that we have been able to overcome those challenges to present a stunning concert for you.

On the podium, making her RSNO debut, is Tabita Berglund. A rising star in Europe, we are delighted to welcome Tabita to Scotland to conduct Sibelius’ Symphony No7. Boris Giltburg, on the other hand, needs no introduction to RSNO audiences, and I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy his interpretation of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto.

One character which faced no recent travel restrictions was Tara the Tugboat, the lead character in our free digital concert for young people. With stunning graphics by illustrator Darren Gate and presented by RSNO violist Lisa Rourke, Tara’s adventures are accompanied by the RSNO as she sails down the River Clyde. Visit rsno.org.uk/tara to watch the film and enjoy the many extra activities.

Also available to view is the RSNO’s recent collaboration with Children’s Classic Concerts – our spooky Haunted Concert Hall video is available to view for free until 30 November on Facebook.

Both of these concerts were originally to be performed live and I am delighted that we have successfully delivered them online, introducing young people around the world to the magic of Scotland’s National Orchestra.

Alistair Mackie CHIEF EXECUTIVE

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73-80

64–72

55–63

46–54

37–45

28–36

19–27

10–18

1–9

Royal Scottish National Orchestra

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ARTISTIC TEAM Thomas Søndergård

1

MUSIC DIRECTOR Elim Chan

2

PRINCIPAL GUEST CONDUCTOR Neeme Järvi CONDUCTOR LAUREATE Alexander Lazarev CONDUCTOR EMERITUS

Gregory Batsleer

3 4 5

CHORUS DIRECTOR, RSNO CHORUS

Patrick Barrett

6 CHORUS DIRECTOR, RSNO JUNIOR CHORUS

FIRST VIOLIN Maya Iwabuchi LEADER Sharon Roffman LEADER Lena Zeliszewska

7 8 9

ASSOCIATE LEADER

Emily Davis ASSOCIATE LEADER 10 Tamás Fejes ASSISTANT LEADER 11 Patrick Curlett ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL 12 Barbara Paterson SUB PRINCIPAL 13 Jane Reid 14 Caroline Parry 15 Ursula Heidecker Allen 16 Lorna Rough 17 Susannah Lowdon 18 Alan Manson 19 Elizabeth Bamping 20 SECOND VIOLIN Xander van Vliet PRINCIPAL Jacqueline Speirs ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

21 22

Marion Wilson ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL 23 Harriet Wilson SUB PRINCIPAL 24 Nigel Mason 25 Wanda Wojtasinska 26 Paul Medd 27 Anne Bünemann 28 Sophie Lang 29 Robin Wilson 30 Emily Nenniger 31

VIOLA Tom Dunn PRINCIPAL Asher Zaccardelli

32

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

33

Susan Buchan SUB PRINCIPAL Lisa Rourke SUB PRINCIPAL David Martin Nicola McWhirter Claire Dunn Katherine Wren Maria Trittinger Francesca Hunt

34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

CELLO Aleksei Kiseliov PRINCIPAL 42 Betsy Taylor ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL 43 Kennedy Leitch ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL 44 Arthur Boutillier SUB PRINCIPAL 45 William Paterson 46 Rachael Lee 47 Sarah Digger 48 DOUBLE BASS Ana Cordova PRINCIPAL Margarida Castro

49 50

ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL Michael Rae ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL Paul Sutherland SUB PRINCIPAL John Clark Sally Davis

51 52 53 54

FLUTE Katherine Bryan PRINCIPAL Helen Brew ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL Janet Richardson

55 56 57

PRINCIPAL PICCOLO

OBOE Adrian Wilson PRINCIPAL Peter Dykes ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL Henry Clay PRINCIPAL COR ANGLAIS

58 59 60

CLARINET Timothy Orpen PRINCIPAL CLARINET Duncan Swindells

61 62

PRINCIPAL BASS CLARINET

BASSOON David Hubbard PRINCIPAL Luis Eisen ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL Paolo Dutto

63 64 65

PRINCIPAL CONTRABASSOON

HORN Christopher Gough PRINCIPAL 66 Alison Murray ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL 67 Andrew McLean 68 ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL David McClenaghan 69 Martin Murphy ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL 70 TRUMPET Christopher Hart PRINCIPAL Marcus Pope SUB PRINCIPAL Jason Lewis ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

71 72 73

TROMBONE Dávur Juul Magnussen PRINCIPAL Lance Green ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL Alastair Sinclair

74 75 76

PRINCIPAL BASS TROMBONE

TUBA John Whitener PRINCIPAL

77

TIMPANI Paul Philbert PRINCIPAL

78

PERCUSSION Simon Lowdon PRINCIPAL John Poulter ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

79 80

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Piano Concerto No3 in C Minor Op37 the other arts, but spurred on by Beethoven’s ironclad will, it found itself at the cutting edge of social change.

To see the young lion in full flow was an awesome spectacle. Pianos literally buckled under the relentless pressure demanded by his groundbreaking scores. In mid-performance hapless piano technicians would find themselves feverishly trying to prise away broken strings and hammers while Beethoven simply kept on going, pulverising the instrument into submission. Here, at last, was someone completely in tune with the mood of the times.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

FIRST PERFORMED Vienna, 5 April 1803 DURATION 36 minutes Allegro con brio Largo Rondo: Allegro Starting out with Mozart and Haydn as his spiritual mentors, Beethoven wrestled off the shackles of 18th-century classicism, forging uncompromising musical landscapes with a visionary intensity that left most of his contemporaries quivering in his wake. His lack of social etiquette, too, set him on a collision course with even his most devoted patrons as well as a string of society women, whom he was in the habit of falling hopelessly in love with. For centuries music had trailed behind

Yet behind the public facade of impregnability, a personal tragedy of incalculable magnitude was unravelling – Beethoven was losing his hearing at an alarming rate. Shortly before putting the finishing touches to his Third Piano Concerto, he visited Heiligenstadt, a small town just outside Vienna, in order to rest his ears. He poured out his heart in the unbearably poignant Heiligenstadt Testament – ‘I was misunderstood and rudely repulsed because I was unable to say to people “Speak louder, shout, for I am deaf”’ – then wrote out his will with the intention of committing suicide.

Pulling back from the brink, he found the inner strength not merely to go on, but to take his art to unprecedented depths of profundity.

Although composed mostly during 1800, it was not until early 1803 that the Third Concerto was finally complete. Even then, according to his page-turner at the premiere on 5 April, Beethoven still extemporised several passages on the spur of the moment: ‘I saw almost nothing but empty leaves; at the most, on one page or another, a few Egyptian hieroglyphs, wholly unintelligible to me, but scribbled down as clues for him; he played nearly the whole

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solo part from memory, since, as was so often the case, he hadn’t had time to put it all down on paper.’

The Third Concerto is a far more ambitious work than its predecessors, its minor tonality constantly unleashing the rugged, turbulent side of Beethoven’s indomitable creative personality. The outer movements are brimful of high drama and tension, tellingly offset by the tender reflectiveness of the central Largo.

To our ears, well accustomed to Beethoven’s tempestuous outbursts, there may not appear to be anything so terribly radical about this music. Yet at the time, it was experienced as a series of shattering musical body blows, signalling a radical departure from the postMozartian classicism of the first two concertos towards new realms of expressive intensity.

There is a symphonic grandeur to this music that is utterly opposed to the virtuoso note-spinning of Beethoven’s immediate contemporaries. To cap it all, he unprecedentedly inserts a fugal passage for the string section during the concerto’s finale.

Neither the critics nor the general public really understood what he was up to, but with the Eroica Symphony just around the corner, this was only the beginning © Julian Haylock

What was happening in 1803?

5 Jan William Symington demonstrated the Charlotte Dundas, the first practical steamboat, on the Forth & Clyde Canal in Glasgow 23 Jan Arthur Guinness, founder of the Dublin brewery, died 21 Feb Edward Despard and six coconspirators were executed for plotting to assassinate George III and destroy the Bank of England 26 Apr A meteorite shower of more than 3,000 fragments fell on the town of L’Aigle in Normandy 30 Apr The US agreed the Louisiana Purchase from France, for $15 million for 828,000 square miles, completed on 20 Dec 18 May The Napoleonic Wars began, as France refused to withdraw from Dutch territory and the UK declared war 25 May Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and writer of the essay Nature, was born 3 Aug Joseph Paxton, gardener, MP and designer of the Crystal Palace, was born 30 Nov The Balmis Expedition, with the aim of vaccinating millions against smallpox in Spanish America, set sail from A Coruña 11 Dec Hector Berlioz, French composer of the Symphonie fantastique, was born

10 Beethoven Piano Concerto No3

Piano Sonata No30 in E Major Op109 – final movement The sonatas Opuses 109, 110 and 111, written between 1820 and 1822, were Beethoven’s last foray into the piano sonata genre. As with all his late works, they bow to no conventional order of events, and share an extraordinary concentration of musical thought. Following directly after the Hammerklavier, the most titanic of all the piano sonatas, Op 109 is, in comparison, an essay in compressed utterances of the most profound significance.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

FIRST PERFORMED Unknown DURATION 12 minutes

The final movement consists of a theme and six variations, which Beethoven instructs the performer to play Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung – ‘Songfully, with utmost feeling’.

Beethoven knew J S Bach’s keyboard works intimately, and Bach’s shadow hovers over this sonata, nowhere more so than in the finale. The theme itself is slow and elegiac, with an almost religious solemnity. Like the Aria of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, it is a sarabande, a Spanish dance in triple time, harmonised in the manner of a Lutheran chorale. The following variations contrast sharply with each other, but share a baroque sensibility in their imitative textures, two-part double counterpoint (variation 3) and swirling figuration and passagework. After the pyrotechnics of the sixth and final variation, the theme is presented once again in all its original simplicity.

The great Beethoven scholar, D F Tovey, summed up this movement in his characteristically perceptive and poetic way: ‘Only twice in all his works (here and in the very last piano sonata) did Beethoven allow the conclusion of a whole work to rest in a slow movement such as this – a paradise like that of Dante, in which the only action is the ascent from Heaven to higher Heaven. It is beauty of an order too sublime for our world; its motion is that of the stars in their courses.’ © Mark Fielding

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Boris Giltburg PIANO In previous seasons he has appeared with many leading orchestras, including the Philharmonia Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the London, Israel, Rotterdam, Helsinki and St Petersburg Philharmonic orchestras, and the Baltimore, Nashville and Seattle symphonies. He made his BBC Proms debut in 2010.

Boris Giltburg is lauded around the world as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling musician. At home in repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Shostakovich, in recent years he has been increasingly recognised as a leading interpreter of Rachmaninov.

To celebrate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary in 2020, Boris has embarked on a unique project to learn all 32 sonatas across the year, filming and blogging as he goes, and appearing on BBC TV. He is recording the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos for Naxos with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko, and released the first two in Autumn 2019.

Highlights of 2019/20 included performances of the Rachmaninov Preludes at Brussels’ BOZAR, London’s Wigmore Hall and for his debut in the Master Pianists series at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. He was resident artist with the Valencia Orchestra across the season.

Boris has a close relationship with the Pavel Haas Quartet, winning a Gramophone Award in 2018 with them for the Dvořák Piano Quintet on Supraphon, and joining them in 2019/20 at Wigmore Hall and in Bristol and Cambridge. In 2018 he also won Best Soloist Recording (20/21st century) at the inaugural Opus Klassik awards for his Naxos recording of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with the RSNO and Carlos Miguel Prieto, coupled with the Études-Tableaux. He won a Diapason d’Or for his 2017 recording of the Shostakovich Concertos with Petrenko and the RLPO, coupled with his own arrangement of Shostakovich’s Eighth String Quartet.

Born in 1984 in Moscow, Boris Giltburg moved to Tel Aviv at an early age, studying with his mother and then with Arie Vardi. He went on to win numerous awards, including second (and the audience) prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in 2011. In 2013 he won first prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, catapulting his career to a new level. .

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Symphony No7 in C Major Op105 makes might well picture the disastrous public appearances that followed.

So in 1918, as he was revising the Fifth Symphony, he first writes about a ‘Seventh Symphony. Joy of life and vitalité with appassionata passages. In three movements – the last a Hellenic Rondo.’ Such a symphony never came, and after a short period of intense composition, the first audiences in Stockholm instead attended the world premiere of Sibelius’ Fantasia Sinfonica I, conducted by the composer himself. Only in a subsequent note to his publisher did Sibelius honour the sheer magnitude of what he had written by bestowing it the title of ‘symphony’.

Jean Sibelius (1865–1957)

FIRST PERFORMED Stockholm, 24 March 1924 DURATION 22 minutes One enigma is the name. A symphony?

It wasn’t always so. The first glimpse of this work came as early as 1918, a time of crisis. Sibelius’ bleak, pessimistic yet brilliant Fourth Symphony had been poorly received, putting him at odds with his continental contemporaries and only bolstering his tendency towards gloom. He had finally seen his beloved country gain its political independence at the cost of a bloody civil war, but begin a new, cultural dispute over Finnish identity that would drag on for years.

And the demon drink that he had once sworn off for good had returned to ‘steady his hand’.

Those who know how steady a hand whisky

From its opening chord, which with Wagnerian dissonance immediately shatters our expectations of familiar harmonic terrain, to the terse fortissimo howl announcing its end, the Symphony unfolds organically, unbroken, ambiguously, in a single-movement expanse.

Themes and ideas announce themselves and then disappear into thin air. Colours and moods roll over and flow into their opposites without so much as a clean edge to determine the transition. There are passages of unrestrained joy, moments of inescapable doom, secular dances and solemn hymns. Technically, the harmonic manoeuvring stretches the seams of tonality – at what point does the work ever seem to rest comfortably? – and the imperceptible gear shifts in tempo are an under-recognised innovation in modern composition. The form itself is an ongoing process of becoming, of reorientation and renewal punctuated only by a recurring, stately trombone theme that yawns out like first light to signpost the passage of place and of time.

The Symphony encompasses an enormous range in 22 minutes, and justifies its title

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through the scope of its inner landscape, the depth of its expression. Yet just as a sudden shift in weather – an onset of mist, perhaps – will obscure and reshape even the most familiar landscapes, so too does the Seventh convey to us the lingering sense of being unmoored in a familiar territory caught up in constant change. This is the kernel of the Symphony’s primary enigma, its offer for us to find our own centre, a still point from where we might catch a glimpse of the composer’s hidden purpose: ‘a confession of faith’. No wonder performers have described the Seventh as sacred.

The aura surrounding this work is partly down to its character, partly due to its circumstance.

Sibelius wrote no other major works after this. What was composed of the much talked about, much delayed, much struggled-over eighth symphony was eventually condemned to his fireplace. So where does that leave the Seventh’s painfully uncertain ending, that agonising final ascent of the melody the instant before the music all but evaporates into a more than 30-year silence? Perhaps the clue lies hidden in the essence of mystery itself, so elegantly captured much later by the poet T S Eliot: ‘the end of all our exploring / will be to arrive where we started / and know the place for the first time ... heard, half-heard in the stillness’. © Mark Parker

Listen again to the RSNO

Sibelius Symphony No7 Plus Symphony No1 Conductor Sir Alexander Gibson More information rsno.org.uk/recordings

What was happening in 1924?

21 Jan Vladimir Lenin, revolutionary and head of government of the Soviet Union, died 22 Jan Ramsay MacDonald became the UK’s first Labour Prime Minister 24 Jan The first Winter Olympics opened in Chamonix, France 1 Apr Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in jail (he served eight months) for the failed Munich Beer Hall Putsch 23 Apr The British Empire Exhibition opened in London, with 58 countries represented 3 Jun Franz Kafka, Austrian author of Metamorphosis and The Trial, died 8 Jun George Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappeared on Mount Everest – it is not known if they reached the summit 29 Aug African-American jazz singer and pianist Dinah Washington was born 28 Sep US Army pilots John Harding and Erik Nelson made the first aerial circumnavigation, taking 175 days and 74 stops 29 Nov Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer of Madama Butterfly and La bohème, died 30 Dec Astronomer Edwin Hubble announced the Andromeda galaxy, and that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies in the universe

Tara

Tugboat

the

Join Lisa Rourke, RSNO Sub-principal Viola and her fellow musicians as they follow the adventures of Tara the Tugboat on the River Clyde.

With pirates, mermaids, and songs to sing along to, this free family-friendly digital concert is perfect for young children.

BSL and Makaton films available

Watch now at rsno.org.uk/tara

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Tabita Berglund CONDUCTOR Oslo, Bergen and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic orchestras, and the Trondheim and Kristiansand Symphony orchestras. Tabita also appears for the first time with the Dresdner Philharmonie, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada and Orchestre Symphonique de l’Opéra de Toulon. In 2021 she returns to the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and the Norwegian National Youth Orchestra.

The 2018 –2 0 star of the Talent Norway programme and a former recipient of the 2018 Gstaad Conducting Academy’s Neeme Järvi Prize, Tabita Berglund is rapidly establishing herself as one of the most exciting young conductors on the European circuit.

Engagements in 2019/20 included five concerts with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, four concerts with the Hallé Orchestra, a full-length production of The Nutcracker with the Arctic Philharmonic, and a return to the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra.

The latter two appearances were as part of Opptakt, a launch programme which nurtures young conducting talent in Norway and under which Berglund first performed with the Orchestra of the Norwegian National Opera (together with pianist Leif Ove Andsnes) in 2019.

The 2020/21 season features many important engagements, including Nordic debuts with the

The ever-changing nature which surrounds her home town in the Norwegian mountains is an inspiring influence on Tabita, and this together with other artistic and musical issues plays an important role in her programming. The inherent connection between the art of leadership and the role of a conductor is also something to which she attaches particular importance: ‘The goal is to become a conductor whom I would have wanted to play under myself.’

Tabita Berglund graduated in 2019 from the Orchestral Conducting Masters course at the Norwegian Academy of Music, where she studied under Professor Ole Kristian Ruud. She originally trained as a cellist and studied to Masters degree level under Truls Mørk, performing regularly with the Oslo and Bergen Philharmonic orchestras as well as the Trondheim Soloists before conducting became her main focus in 2015. She has previously participated in masterclasses with Bernard Haitink, Jorma Panula and Jaap van Zweden, as well as a BBC Philharmonic workshop in September 2018.

This concert marks Tabita’s debut with the RSNO.

16 Beethoven Piano Concerto No3

Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950, and was awarded Royal Patronage in 1977. The Orchestra’s artistic team is led by Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård, who was appointed RSNO Music Director in October 2018, having previously held the position of Principal Guest Conductor. Hong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan succeeds Søndergård as Principal Guest Conductor.

The RSNO performs across Scotland, including concerts in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Perth and Inverness. The Orchestra appears regularly at the Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC Proms, and has made recent tours to the USA, China and Europe.

The Orchestra is joined for choral performances by the RSNO Chorus, directed by Gregory Batsleer. The RSNO Chorus evolved from a choir formed in 1843 to sing the first full performance of Handel’s Messiah in Scotland. Today, the RSNO Chorus is one of the most distinguished large symphonic choruses in Britain. The Chorus has performed nearly every work in the standard choral repertoire, along with contemporary works by composers including John Adams, Howard Shore and James MacMillan.

Formed in 1978 by Jean Kidd, the acclaimed RSNO Junior Chorus, under its director Patrick

Barrett, also performs regularly alongside the Orchestra. Boasting a membership of over 400 members aged from 7 to 18, it has built up a considerable reputation singing under some of the world’s most distinguished conductors and appearing on radio and television.

The RSNO has a worldwide reputation for the quality of its recordings, receiving a 2020 Gramophone Classical Music Award for Chopin’s Piano Concertos (soloist: Benjamin Grosvenor), conducted by Elim Chan; two Diapason d’Or awards for Symphonic Music (Denève/Roussel 2007; Denève/Debussy 2012) and eight GRAMMY Awards nominations. Over 200 releases are available, including the complete symphonies of Sibelius (Gibson), Prokofiev (Järvi), Glazunov (Serebrier), Nielsen and Martinů (Thomson) and Roussel (Denève) and the major orchestra works of Debussy (Denève). Thomas Søndergård’s debut recording with the RSNO, of Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, was released in 2019.

The RSNO’s pioneering learning and engagement programme, Music for Life, aims to engage the people of Scotland with music across key stages of life: Early Years, Nurseries and Schools, Teenagers and Students, Families, Accessing Lives, Working Lives and Retired and Later Life.

The team is committed to placing the Orchestra at the centre of Scottish communities via workshops and annual residencies.

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On Stage

FIRST VIOLIN Maya Iwabuchi

CELLO Aleksei Kiseliov

BASSOON Luis Eisen

Lena Zeliszewska

Betsy Taylor Kennedy Leitch Rachael Lee Sarah Digger

Paolo Dutto

DOUBLE BASS Ana Cordova

Alison Murray Andrew McLean David McClenaghan Martin Murphy

LEADER

ASSOCIATE LEADER

Patrick Curlett Ursula Heidecker Allen Elizabeth Bamping Lorna Rough Alan Manson Susannah Lowdon Jane Reid Caroline Parry SECOND VIOLIN Xander van Vliet PRINCIPAL

Marion Wilson Harriet Wilson Nigel Mason Wanda Wojtasinska Robin Wilson Anne Bünemann Emily Nenniger VIOLA Tom Dunn PRINCIPAL

Asher Zaccardelli Lisa Rourke Francesca Hunt Maria Trittinger Nicola McWhirter

PRINCIPAL

PRINCIPAL

Margarida Castro Paul Sutherland John Clark FLUTE Katherine Bryan PRINCIPAL

Janet Richardson PRINCIPAL PICCOLO

OBOE Peter Dykes

ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

Henry Clay

ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

HORN Christopher Gough PRINCIPAL

TRUMPET Christopher Hart PRINCIPAL

Marcus Pope Jason Lewis TROMBONE Dávur Juul Magnussen PRINCIPAL

Lance Green Alastair Sinclair

PRINCIPAL BASS TROMBONE

PRINCIPAL COR ANGLAIS

CLARINET Timothy Orpen PRINCIPAL

Duncan Swindells

TIMPANI John Poulter

ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

Scotland’s National Orchestra 19

Supporting the RSNO I am honoured and extremely proud to be Music Director of the RSNO. It is through the continued generosity of you, our friends, donors and supporters, that we can continue to achieve and realise the most ambitious goals of the Orchestra.

The absence of musicians from the stage in 2020 has been the most difficult of times.

It has reinforced for us all how vital music is in helping us overcome hardship, fear and loneliness. The creativity and dedication shown

by RSNO musicians in recent months has been incredible. This is despite the pattern of our working lives being dramatically interrupted

and being separated, not just from one another, but also from our audiences and communities.

I hope you will choose to support us now as we adapt and embark upon this next chapter in RSNO history.

Thank you for your support

Thomas Søndergård MUSIC DIRECTOR, RSNO

RSNO Conductors’ Circle The RSNO Conductors’ Circle is an inspirational group of individual supporters at the heart of the RSNO’s Individual Giving programme.

Our members’ annual philanthropic gifts enable us to realise the Orchestra’s most ambitious goals. Conductors’ Circle members support inspirational concert performances for our audiences alongside transformational education programmes in communities across Scotland, via our ground-breaking initiative Music for Life.

The relationship between the RSNO and Conductors’ Circle members involves exceptional levels of access to all aspects of Orchestra life. We design bespoke private events tailored to individual interests and passions, providing insight into the artistic process and bringing our supporters further into the RSNO family. Members of the Conductors’ Circle benefit from an intimate and long-lasting connection with the RSNO Artistic Team and particularly with RSNO Music Director Thomas Søndergård, Principal Guest Conductor Elim Chan and the many

renowned guest Conductors we are privileged to welcome to the RSNO each year.

This concert is dedicated to the RSNO Conductors’ Circle, in recognition of this exceptional group of supporters: Ardgowan Charitable Trust Geoff and Mary Ball Sir Ewan and Lady Brown Ian and Evelyn Crombie Carol Grigor and the Trustees of Dunard Fund Gavin and Kate Gemmell Kenneth and Julia Greig Ms Chris Grace Hartness Kat Heathcote and Iain Macneil Bruce and Caroline Minto David and Alix Stevenson Eric and Karen Young We would also like to thank those generous donors who wish to remain anonymous.

For more information on Individual Giving and becoming part of the Conductors’ Circle please contact Jenny McNeely at jenny.mcneely@rsno.org.uk

20 Beethoven Piano Concerto No3

Patron Programme CHAIR PATRON From musical activities in schools with the musicians of the future to working in community venues across Scotland, as a Chair Patron you are enabling RSNO musicians to explore the many facets of their art and the positive impact it has on people’s lives. Supporting an individual musician puts you at the heart of the RSNO family. You’re connected directly to the musicians on stage and get to enjoy privileged behind-the-scenes access. RSNO musicians truly appreciate our Chair Patrons and enjoy developing personal relationships with our supporters.

Assistant Conductor The Solti Foundation Chair

Cello Aleksei Kiseliov PRINCIPAL

Horn Christopher Gough PRINCIPAL

First Violin Maya Iwabuchi LEADER Sharon Roffman LEADER

The James Browning Chair

Kennedy Leitch

Alison Murray

Dunard Fund Chair

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL The David and Anne Smith Chair

Tamás Fejes Assistant LEADER

Arthur Boutiller

David McClenaghan

Rachael Lee

Trumpet Christopher Hart PRINCIPAL

The Bill and Rosalind Gregson Chair

Patrick Curlett ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL The RSNO Circle Chair

Jane Reid

The James Wood Bequest Fund Chair

Ursula Heidecker Allen

The Antony Ownsworth Chair

Alan Manson

The Hugh and Linda Bruce-Watt Chair

Elizabeth Bamping

The WL and Vera Heywood Chair

Second Violin Xander van Vliet PRINCIPAL The Hilda Munro Chair

Sophie Lang

The Ian and Evelyn Crombie Chair

Viola Lisa Rourke SUB PRINCIPAL The Meta Ramsay Chair

David Martin

The Miss Grace MM Mitchell Bequest Chair

Francesca Hunt

The Rolf and Celia Thornqvist Chair

The Ardgowan Charitable Trust Chair The Christine and Arthur Hamilton Chair

Double Bass Ana Cordova PRINCIPAL

The Kate and Gavin Gemmell Chair

John Clark

The Gregor Forbes Chair

Flute Katherine Bryan PRINCIPAL

The David and Anne Smith Chair

Helen Brew ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL The Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust Chair

Oboe Adrian Wilson PRINCIPAL The Hedley Wright Chair

Peter Dykes

ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL Witherby Publishing Group Charitable Trust Chair

Cor Anglais Henry Clay PRINCIPAL

The Springbank Distillers Chair

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL Mr & Mrs Pierre and Alison Girard The J & A Mitchell Chair

Ms Chris Grace Hartness

Marcus Pope SUB PRINCIPAL

The Nigel and Margot Russell Chair

Trombone Dávur Juul Magnussen PRINCIPAL The Mitchell’s Glengyle Chair

Lance Green

ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL The William Cadenhead Chair

Timpani Paul Philbert

Ms Chris Grace Hartness

Percussion John Poulter

ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL The Dot and Syd Taft Chair

Director of Concerts and Engagement Bill Chandler The James and Iris Miller Chair

In memory of a dear friend, Fiona H

Bassoon David Hubbard PRINCIPAL

The James and Morag Anderson Chair

We would like to acknowledge the generous contribution of Mr Hedley Wright in supporting the RSNO Chair Patron Programme.

RSNO: Scotland’s National Orchestra 21

LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT PATRON Our Learning and Engagement activity is structured around our Music for Life programme. From apps for babies to concerts and workshops for school children, and lunchtime concerts for older adults, the range of projects is vast. As a Patron, you will have access to our projects to bring you closer to the communities we serve across Scotland.

Learning and Engagement Patrons Neil and Nicola Gordon Mr Maurice Taylor CBE Witherby Publishing Group Charitable Trust NEW WORKS PATRON The RSNO is dedicated to bringing new works and outstanding new talent to audiences across Scotland. Our New Works Patrons contribute a significant legacy to orchestral music that extends beyond the RSNO, providing new music for orchestras and audiences around the world – for generations to come.

New Works Patron Susie Thomson We are also grateful to those who give but wish to remain anonymous.

If you would like more information or would like to discuss how you can become part of the RSNO Family of Supporters, please contact Jenny McNeely, Head of Individual Giving and Partnerships, at jenny.mcneely@rsno.org.uk

We would like to thank all those who have made donations to the RSNO Covid Appeal over the recent months. The generosity of our supporters at this time is deeply appreciated.

Musical Memories Leave a gift to the RSNO and ensure future generations can create their own Musical Memories of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

We all have special Musical Memories. It could be learning to play an instrument when you were a child, or a special piece of music that just left you breathless the first time you heard the Orchestra play it. Maybe it was seeing a soloist you had always wanted to hear, or just a great concert shared with friends. Memories such as these make music such an important part of our lives.

Leaving a gift to the RSNO in your will is the single most important way you can help us to make music and to create memories. Your legacy will support the work of the Orchestra for years to come, ensuring that we can continue to bring great music to a new generation of children, young people and adults right across Scotland.

It is easy to leave a gift. After you have made provisions for family and friends, please think of the Orchestra.

Your gift is important to us and to everyone in Scotland who enjoys music. Contact your solicitor to draft a will or add a codicil to your current will.

If your estate is subject to inheritance tax, a gift to a charity, such as the RSNO, is tax-free and will reduce the amount of tax payable to the Government. Please ask your solicitor for details.

For more information please visit rsno.org.uk/memories If you would like to discuss this further, please contact Kirsten Reid, Individual Giving and Partnerships Officer, in the strictest confidence at kirsten.reid@rsno.org.uk To the many among you who have pledged to leave a gift already – thank you.

Scotland’s National Orchestra 23

Charitable Trusts and Foundations Charitable trusts and foundations have a long and illustrious history of supporting the RSNO, both on the concert platform and through our Learning and Engagement programmes in the community. Grants and awards of all sizes are greatly appreciated, and range from one-off donations for specific projects through to large-scale support over a number of years, including support of the acclaimed RSNO Junior Chorus and our flagship educational project, the National Schools Concert Programme. We are fortunate in having developed long-term relationships with a number of trusts who have sustained their invaluable support over many years, enabling a significant amount of our work and mission to go ahead each year that otherwise would simply not happen. Our 2020:21 Season of concerts and Learning and Engagement programmes is generously supported by the following trusts and foundations: Alexander Moncur Charitable Trust Alma and Leslie Wolfson Charitable Trust Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust Balgay Children’s Society Bank of Scotland Foundation Castansa Trust Cruden Foundation Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunclay Charitable Trust Educational Institute of Scotland Fidelio Charitable Trust Gannochy Trust Garrick Charitable Trust Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust Glasgow Educational and Marshall Trust Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Hugh Fraser Foundation Idlewild Trust James Wood Bequest Fund Jean & Roger Miller Charitable Trust Jennie S Gordon Memorial Foundation John Ellerman Foundation John Scott Trust Fund J T H Charitable Trust KPE4 Charitable Trust Leche Trust Leng Charitable Trust Murdoch Forrest Charitable Trust New Park Educational Trust Noël Coward Foundation Northwood Charitable Trust PF Charitable Trust PRS Foundation R J Larg Family Trust Robertson Trust Ronald Miller Foundation RVW Trust Solti Foundation

Stevenston Trust Tay Charitable Trust Tillyloss Trust W A Cargill Fund Walter Scott Giving Group William Syson Foundation Witherby Publishing Group Charitable Trust

We are also grateful to a number of trusts that wish to stay anonymous.

If you would like more information about our work and how you can make a difference, please contact Ajda Šubelj, Head of Trusts and Projects, at ajda.subelj@rsno.org.uk

24 Beethoven Piano Concerto No3

RSNO Circle The Circle is a vital part of the RSNO family. Our community of music-lovers inspire and support us.

Supporting us by joining the Circle will help us to bring music to so many people, from our Learning and Engagement programmes to our brand-new digital performances. As part of our community and family, we will keep in touch with our exclusive magazine Inner Circle, our Circle member webpage and invitations to special events throughout the year.

To find out more about joining the Circle please visit rsno.org.uk/circle or get in touch with our Individual Giving and Partnerships Officer, Kirsten Reid, RSNO, 19 Killermont Street, Glasgow G2 3NX Email: kirsten.reid@rsno.org.uk To all our existing Circle members, thank you. Thank you for your unwavering support that allows us to continue sharing the joy of music.

Virtuoso

Ms Catherine Y Alexander Mrs A M Bennett Dame Susan and Mr John Bruce Mrs Stina Bruce-Jones Stephen and Morny Carter Philip and Mary Contini Sir Sandy and Lady Crombie Gavin and Kate Gemmell Dr M I and Mrs C R Gordon Scott and Frieda Grier Iain MacNeil and Kat Heathcote Miss A McGrory Mr James Miller CBE Meta Ramsay Mr George Ritchie Mr and Mrs W Semple Myra and David Soutar Mr Ian Taft Claire and Mark Urquhart Raymond and Brenda Williamson Mr Hedley G Wright

Symphony

Ronnie and Evelyne Anderson Mr Alan and Mrs Carolyn Bonnyman Miss L Buist Mr and Mrs J K Burleigh Mr J L Donaldson Mr I Gow Mr J D Home Mrs J Kennedy Mrs A Lamont Norma and Christine Lessels Mr A D Mackay Mr I C MacNicol Professor J and Mrs S Mavor Mrs A McQueen Miss M Michie Morag Millar Mr Miller Miss K Ridland Mr and Mrs David Robinson Mr D Rogerson Mrs Ann M Stephen Mr Alistair M and Mrs Mandy Struthers Mr and Mrs M Whelan Mrs A Wolfson

Concerto

Dr K Chapman and Ms S Adam Mr A Alstead Miss D Blackie Neil and Karin Bowman Dr M Bronte-Stewart Dr F L Brown Mr John Brownlie Mr and Mrs Burnside Mr A Campbell Sir Graeme and Lady Catto Mr R Cavanagh Myk Cichla Dr J Coleiro Mr and Mrs B H Cross Christine and Jo Danbolt Mr P Davidson Mr J Diamond Miss C Dixon-Carter OBE Mr C Ffoulkes Mr and Mrs M Gilbert Professor J R and Mrs C M Gray Richard and Linda Holden Mrs F D Inverarity Mr N Jack Mr and Mrs S G Kay Mr and Mrs W Kean Mrs M King Mr Alistair Mackie Mr D MacPherson Mr R G Madden Mr S Marwick Mr and Mrs G McAllister Mr E and Mrs S McGeachan Mr Rod McLoughlin Mrs B Morinaud Mr A Morrison Mrs A C Morrison Dr and Mrs D Mowle Dr P Osborne Mr and Mrs D Pirie Ms A and Miss I Reeve Elspeth M Robertson Miss L E Robertson Ross family Dr and Mrs G K Simpson Mr and Mrs A Stewart Mrs M Stirling

Mr G Stronach Dr G R Sutherland Mr I Szymanski Professor D E M Taylor Mr and Dr Tom Thomson Mr J B and Mrs M B Watson Mr and Mrs Wigglesworth

Sonata

Ms S Ace Mr K Allen Ms D Baines Mr O Balfour Mr N C Banks Mr N Barton Dr A D Beattie Mrs H Benzie Lord and Lady Borthwick Rev P Boylan John Bradshaw and Shiona Mackie Mrs L Brocklebank Ms H Calvert Mr E M Cameron Miss S M Carlyon Mrs H S Chalmers Mr T Cole and Mrs J Leslie-Cole Lady Coulsfield Ms K Cunningham Mr F Dalziel and Mrs S Walsh Dr J K and Mrs E E Davidson Mr and Mrs K B Dietz Mrs C Donald Jane Donald and Lee Knifton Ms P Dow Mrs P du Feu Mr John Duffy Mr and Mrs M Dunbar Mr R M Duncan Brigadier and Mrs C C Dunphie Mrs E Egan Miss L Emslie Mr R B Erskine Dr E Evans Mr D Fraser Mr D and Mrs A Fraser Mr D Frew Ms J Gardner Dr P and Dr K Gaskell

Mr W G Geddes Mrs E Gibb Mrs M Gibson Mr D Gibson Lady A V Gibson Mrs J Gilchrist Mrs M Gillan Mr R M Godfrey Dr J A Graham and Mrs H M Graham Professor and Mrs A R Grieve Mr and Mrs G Y Haig Lord and Lady Hamilton Dr P J Harper Dr N Harrison Mr and Mrs R J Hart Mr D Hartman Ms V Harvey Mrs S Hawthorn Mrs M Hayes Dr and Mrs P Heywood Bobby and Rhona Hogg Ms J Hope Mr R Horne Mr and Mrs F Howell Mrs A S Hunter Professor R N Ibbett Professor and Mrs E W Laing Mr J P Lawson Mr and Mrs J Lawson Mr R M Love Dr D A Lunt Mr and Mrs R MacCormick Mr and Mrs MacGillivray Lady Lucinda L Mackay Mr R Maizels and Ms C Tilley Dr A K and Mrs J C Martin Mr and Mrs J Martin Mr and Mrs D H Marwick Ms S McArthur Mr G McCormack Mrs L McCormick Mrs M McDonald Mrs C McGowan-Smyth Dr A H McKee Mr Patrick McKeever Mr G McKeown Ms H L McLaren Mrs E McLean

Ms Fiona McLeod Mr and Mrs B Mellon Mr and Mrs I Mills Mrs P Molyneaux Mr R Morley Mr B Morrison Mr K M Murray Mr B and Mrs C Nelson Mr and Mrs K O’Hare Professor Stephen Osborne and Frank Osborne Mr and Mrs K Osborne Dr G Osbourne Ms S Park Mr R Parry Mr J Paterson Misses J and M Penman Mr I Percival Dr M Porteous Mr J W Pottinger Miss J A Raiker Mr M Rattray Ms F Reith Mrs D A Riley Dr and Mrs D Robb Mr I Robertson Mr H and Mrs J Robson Ms A Robson Mrs E K Ross Mrs S Scott Mrs J Shanks Mr J A Shipley Dr M J and Mrs J A Shirreffs Mr E B Simmons and Mrs R Nicolson Dr Colin and Mrs Kathleen Sinclair Mr M J Smith Mrs E Smith Mr M A Snider Dr and Mrs B Stack Mrs Lorna Statham Mrs T Stevenson Rev N and Mr R Stewart Mrs R F Stewart Mr and Mrs B Tait Dr and Mrs T Thomson Mrs E B Tupman Dr S Tweedie Dr Morag Ward

Mr W Watters Dr and Mrs T Weakley Mrs V Wells Mr G West Miss M Whitelaw Dr and Mrs D T Williams Mr D Woolgar Mr R Young

Thank you to all our members of the Circle, including those who wish to remain anonymous. Every one of you makes a real difference.

26 Beethoven Piano Concerto No3

A big Thank You to our supporters FUNDERS

CORPORATE SUPPORTERS

PRINCIPAL MEDIA PARTNER

PRINCIPAL TRANSPORT PARTNER

BROADCAST PARTNER

PARTNERS Glasgow Chamber of Commerce • Institute of Directors • Scots Magazine The Scottish Council for Development & Industry • Smart Graphics

PROJECT PARTNERS Abertay University • Children’s Classic Concerts • Children’s Hospices Across Scotland • Dundee University • Gig Buddies Glasgow Association for Mental Health (GAMH) • Glasgow Life • Horsecross Arts • National Youth Orchestras of Scotland Prescribe Culture (University of Edinburgh) • Royal Conservatoire of Scotland • Scottish Book Trust Tayside Healthcare Arts Trust • Usher Hall • Young Scot

CHAIR SPONSORS

If you would like more information about sponsorships, corporate partnerships or fundraising events with the RSNO, please contact Kirsten Reid, Individual Giving and Partnerships Officer, at kirsten.reid@rsno.org.uk

RSNO: Scotland’s National Orchestra 27

Royal Scottish National Orchestra PATRON

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Jenny McNeely

Her Majesty The Queen

Alistair Mackie Nicola Shephard

Graham Ramage

RSNO BOARD OF DIRECTORS

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

HEAD OF INDIVIDUAL GIVING AND PARTNERSHIPS GRAPHICS AND NEW MEDIA DESIGNER

Kirsten Reid

Elected Directors Dame Susan Bruce DBE CHAIR

CONCERTS AND ENGAGEMENT

John Heasley

Sam Stone

HONORARY TREASURER

Bill Chandler

DIRECTOR OF CONCERTS AND ENGAGEMENT

Hugh Bruce-Watt Kat Heathcote Linda Holden Neil McLennan Costa Pilavachi David Robinson Gurjit Singh Lalli Jane Wood

Laura Baxter

Ajda Šubelj

Michael Cameron

FINANCE AND CORPORATE SERVICES

HEAD OF LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT (MATERNITY COVER) DRIVER AND DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER

Samantha Campbell

HEAD OF LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT (MATERNITY LEAVE)

Bekah Cork

ARTISTIC PLANNING AND TOURS MANAGER

Flora Farqhuarson

Player Directors Dávur Juul Magnussen Sophie Lang Kennedy Leitch Paul Philbert Janet Richardson Lorna Rough

CREATIVE ASSISTANT

Emma Hunter

DEPUTY ORCHESTRA MANAGER

Rosie Kenneally

LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT OFFICER

Ewen McKay

HEAD OF ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT

Richard Payne LIBRARIAN

Nominated Directors Cllr Frank Docherty

Tammo Schuelke

ARTISTIC PLANNING MANAGER

GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL

Cllr Lezley Marion Cameron THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL

Company Secretary Gordon Murray

INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER HEAD OF TRUSTS AND PROJECTS

Angela Moreland

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Ted Howie

FACILITIES COORDINATOR

Jack Hunter VIDEO PRODUCER

Irene McPhail

ACCOUNTS AND PAYROLL ASSISTANT

Hedd Morfett-Jones DIGITAL MANAGER

Susan Rennie FINANCE MANAGER

Abby Trainor ADMINISTRATOR

Jade Wilson

FINANCE ASSISTANT

Matthias van der Swaagh CONCERTS ADMINISTRATOR

Craig Swindells CHORUS MANAGER

DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Royal Scottish National Orchestra 19 Killermont Street Glasgow G2 3NX T: +44 (0)141 226 3868 W: rsno.org.uk

PROGRAMMES EDITOR

Scottish Company No. 27809 Scottish Charity No. SC010702

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Dr Jane Donald Ian Brooke

DEVELOPMENT BOARD

TRUSTS AND PROJECTS COORDINATOR

Christine Walker

Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale Lady Gibson Ms Ruth Wishart

Naomi Stewart

STAGE AND PRODUCTION MANAGER

RSNO COUNCIL CHAIR

INDIVIDUAL GIVING AND PARTNERSHIPS OFFICER

Constance Carter-Fraser

EXTERNAL RELATIONS ADMINISTRATOR

Raymond M Williamson

Jessica Cowley

/royalscottishnationalorchestra

Dr Robert Asher Stephen Carter OBE Alison Gregson Linda Holden

Carol Fleming

@RSNO

CHAIR

SENIOR MARKETING OFFICER HEAD OF MARKETING

@rsnoofficial

COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

Youtube.com/thersno

Catriona Mackenzie

The RSNO is one of Scotland’s National Performing Companies, supported by the Scottish Government.

Orchestra list and programme details correct at time of going to print. Contents © Copyright RSNO and named authors.