Stephen Hough • Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 1

LAN SHUI Music Director

subscription concert

Stephen Hough • Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 1 14 October 2017 Esplanade Concert Hall Performing Home of the SSO

Hannu Lintu, conductor Stephen Hough, piano

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14 Oct 2017, Sat

Stephen Hough • Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 1 Singapore Symphony Orchestra Hannu Lintu, conductor

WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI

Symphony No. 4 (Singapore Premiere) 22’00

SERGEI RACHMANINOV

Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 1 27’00

1. Vivace 2. Andante 3. Allegro vivace

Stephen Hough, piano

Intermission 20’00

Stephen Hough will autograph CDs in the stalls foyer.

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10 28’00

1. Allegretto – Allegro non troppo 2. Allegro 3. Lento 4. Allegro molto – Lento – Allegro molto – Presto

Concert duration: 1 hr 55 mins Go green. Digital programme booklets are available on www.sso.org.sg.

Scan the QR code in the foyer to view a copy.

S ing a p or e S y mp hon y Or c he s t r a ‘A fine display of orchestral bravado for the SSO and Shui’ The Guardian

Since its founding in 1979, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) has been Singapore’s flagship orchestra, touching lives through classical music and providing the heartbeat of the cultural scene in the cosmopolitan city-state. In addition to its subscription series concerts, the orchestra is well-loved for its outdoor and community appearances, and its significant role educating the young people of Singapore. The SSO has also earned an international reputation for its orchestral virtuosity, having garnered sterling reviews for its overseas tours and many successful recordings.

The SSO makes its performing home at the 1,800-seat state-of-the-art Esplanade Concert Hall. More intimate works and all outreach and community performances take place at the

673-seat Victoria Concert Hall, the home of the SSO. The orchestra performs 100 concerts a year, and its versatile repertoire spans alltime favourites and orchestral masterpieces to exciting cutting-edge premieres. Bridging the musical traditions of East and West, Singaporean and Asian musicians and composers are regularly showcased in the concert season. This has been a core of the SSO’s programming philosophy from the very beginning under Choo Hoey, who was Music Director from 1979 to 1996.

Since Lan Shui assumed the position of Music Director in 1997, the SSO has performed in Europe, Asia and the United States. In May 2016 the SSO was invited to perform at the Dresden Music Festival and the Prague Spring International Music Festival. This successful five‑city tour of

Germany and Prague also included the SSO’s return to the Berlin Philharmonie after six years.

In 2014 the SSO’s debut at the 120th BBC Proms in London received critical acclaim in the major UK newspapers The Guardian and Telegraph. The SSO has also performed in China on multiple occasions.

Notable SSO releases under BIS include a Rachmaninov series, a Debussy disc, “Seascapes” featuring sea-themed music by Debussy, Frank Bridge, Glazunov and Zhou Long, and the first-ever cycle of Tcherepnin’s piano concertos and symphonies. The SSO has also collaborated with such great artists as Lorin Maazel, Charles Dutoit, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Neeme Järvi, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Leonidas Kavakos and Gil Shaham.

HANNU L INT U conductor

With a “scrupulous ear for instrumental color and blend” (Washington Post) and bringing “a distinctive dynamism to the podium” (Baltimore Sun), the 2017/18 season marks Hannu Lintu’s fifth year as Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Last season’s highlights include a concert tour to Russia’s Moscow Conservatory, Vyborg’s House of Culture and St Petersburg’s Philharmonic Grand Hall, and a performance of Väinö Raitio’s opera Princess Cecilia (the first in 80 years) at the Helsinki Festival – both part of celebrations marking 100 years of Finnish independence.

Highlights of Lintu’s 2017/18 season include returns to the Tokyo Metropolitan, Washington’s National, and Dallas and Detroit symphony orchestras, and debuts with the Naples Philharmonic, Singapore and Hiroshima symphony orchestras. Recent engagements include the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and the St Louis, Baltimore and Toronto symphony orchestras, as well as three acclaimed European debuts: Staatsorchester Stuttgart Opera, RadioSymphonieorchester Wien and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester.

Lintu returns to the Savonlinna Opera Festival in July 2018 to conduct Verdi’s Otello – in 2017 he conducted Aulis Sallinen’s Kullervo as part of Finland’s centenary celebrations. The Finnish National Opera and Ballet also honoured the centenary in a special collaborative project with director/choreographer Tero Saarinen of Sibelius’ Kullervo, with Lintu receiving rave reviews. Previous productions with Finnish National Opera include Parsifal, Carmen, Sallinen’s King Lear, and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in spring 2016. Lintu has also worked with Tampere Opera and Estonian National Opera.

Hannu Lintu has recorded for Ondine, Naxos, Avie and Hyperion, and has received several accolades including Gramophone Award nominations such as Best Opera CD in 2011. Lintu studied cello and piano and later conducting (with Jorma Panula) at the Sibelius Academy. He took First Prize at the Nordic Conducting Competition in 1994.

S TEPHEN HO U GH piano

Named by The Economist as one of Twenty Living Polymaths, Stephen Hough was the first classical performer to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship and made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year’s Honours 2014.

Since taking First Prize at the 1983 Naumburg Competition, Hough has performed with many of the world’s major orchestras and given recitals at the most prestigious concert halls. He is a regular guest at festivals such as Salzburg, La Roque-d'Anthéron, Mostly Mozart, Edinburgh, and BBC Proms, where he has made more than twenty concerto appearances. In 2018 he will be Artist-in-Residence at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and will give recitals at New York’s Carnegie Hall and London’s Royal Festival Hall amongst others.

Hough’s extensive discography of over 60 CDs has garnered international awards including the Diapason d’Or de l’Année, several Grammy nominations, and eight Gramophone Awards including Record of the Year and the Gold Disc. His award-winning iPad app The Liszt Sonata was released by Touch Press in 2013.

As a composer Hough has been commissioned by Wigmore Hall, Musée du Louvre, London’s National Gallery, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, the Genesis Foundation, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, and the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. His music is published by Josef Weinberger Ltd. Stephen Hough has written for several academic anthologies, as well as The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, Evening Standard and The Independent. He is a Governor of the Royal Ballet companies, an Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple, a Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, the International Chair of Piano Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, and is on the faculty of The Juilliard School in New York.

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SSO MU SICIAN S Lan Shui Music Director joshua tan Associate Conductor jason lai Associate Conductor andrew litton Principal Guest Conductor Choo Hoey Conductor Emeritus Eudenice Palaruan Choral Director

FIRST VIOLIN Igor Yuzefovich° Concertmaster, The GK Goh Chair Lynnette Seah Co-Concertmaster Kong Zhao Hui* Associate Concertmaster Chan Yoong-Han Fixed Chair Cao Can* Chen Da Wei Duan Yu Ling Foo Say Ming Gu Wen Li Jin Li Cindy Lee Sui Jing Jing Karen Tan William Tan Wei Zhe SECOND VIOLIN Liuyi Retallick^ Principal Michael Loh Associate Principal Hai-Won Kwok Fixed Chair Chen Jingya#

Nikolai Koval* Chikako Sasaki* Margit Saur Shao Tao Tao Lillian Wang Wu Man Yun* Xu Jue Yi* Ye Lin* Yeo Teow Meng Yin Shu Zhan* Zhang Si Jing* VIOLA Zhang Manchin Principal Guan Qi Associate Principal Gu Bing Jie* Fixed Chair Marietta Ku Born Lau^ Lim Chun^ Luo Biao Shui Bing Tan Wee-Hsin Janice Tsai^ Yang Shi Li Yeo Jan Wea^ CELLO Ng Pei-Sian Principal Yu Jing Associate Principal Guo Hao Fixed Chair Chan Wei Shing Song Woon Teng Wang Yan Wang Zihao* Peter Wilson Wu Dai Dai Zhao Yu Er DOUBLE BASS Guennadi Mouzyka Principal Yang Zheng Yi Associate Principal Karen Yeo Fixed Chair Olga Alexandrova Julian Li^ Ma Li Ming^ Jacek Mirucki Wang Xu

FLUTE Jin Ta Principal Evgueni Brokmiller Associate Principal Roberto Alvarez Miao Shanshan PICCOLO Roberto Alvarez Assistant Principal OBOE Rachel Walker Principal Pan Yun Associate Principal Carolyn Hollier Elaine Yeo

Marc-Antoine Robillard Associate Principal Hoang Van Hoc^ Kartik Alan Jairamin TRUMPET Jon Paul Dante Principal David Smith Associate Principal Lau Wen Rong Sergey Tyuteykin TROMBONE Allen Meek Principal Damian Patti Associate Principal Samuel Armstrong

COR ANGLAIS

BASS TROMBONE

Elaine Yeo Associate Principal

Wang Wei Assistant Principal

CLARINET

TUBA

Ma Yue Principal Li Xin Associate Principal Liu Yoko Tang Xiao Ping

Hidehiro Fujita Principal TIMPANI Christian Schiøler Principal Jonathan Fox Associate Principal

BASS CLARINET Tang Xiao Ping Assistant Principal BASSOON Liu Chang Associate Principal Cheung King Lun^ Christoph Wichert Zhao Ying Xue

PERCUSSION Jonathan Fox Principal Mark Suter Associate Principal Lim Meng Keh Zhu Zheng Yi HARP

CONTRA BASSOON

Gulnara Mashurova Principal Huang Yu Hsin^

Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal Cheung King Lun^

PIANO Shane Thio^ Principal

HORN Han Chang Chou Principal Gao Jian Associate Principal Jamie Hersch Associate Principal

CELESTE Aya Sakou^

*With deep appreciation to the Rin Collection for their generous loan of string instruments. °Igor Yuzefovich plays an instrument generously loaned by Mr & Mrs G K Goh ^Musician on temporary contract Member of the Shanghai Orchestra Academy Musicians listed alphabetically by family name rotate their seats on a per programme basis.

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music i a n c h a ir s

Igor Yuzefovich Concertmaster The GK Goh Chair The GK Goh Chair is endowed by the Family and Friends of Mr Goh Geok Khim

GUO HAO Fixed Chair Cello The Fixed Chair Cello is supported by

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he a r t f e lt t h a nk s to t he fa mily a nd FRIENDS of mr g oh g eok k him In appreciation of a major gift from the Family and Friends of Mr Goh Geok Khim on the occasion of his 85th birthday on 17 July 2017, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra is pleased to announce the naming of the SSO Concertmaster position, the GK Goh Chair.

Igor Yuzefovich Concertmaster The GK Goh Chair Endowed by the Family and Friends of Mr Goh Geok Khim

u p comi n g con c ert s

19 October 2017

Thu | 7.30pm Esplanade Concert Hall

SSO GALA JANINE JANSEN SIBELIUS The Swan of Tuonela SIBELIUS Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 DVORĂ K Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 Daniel Blendulf, conductor Janine Jansen, violin Pre-concert Talk 6.30pm | library@esplanade

27 October 2017

Fri | 7.30pm Esplanade Concert Hall Subscription Concert

THE RING – AN ORCHESTRAL ADVENTURE KRISTJAN JÄRVI ShANgHAi Wonder (Singapore Premiere) SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 5 in F major, Op. 103 “The Egyptian” WAGNER The Ring – An Orchestral Adventure (arr. Henk De Vlieger) Kristjan Järvi, conductor Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano Pre-concert Talk 6.30pm | library@esplanade

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W ITOL D L U TO SL AW SKI (1913 -19 94) Symphony No. 4 (Singapore Premiere)

22’00

Witold Lutoslawski (pronounced VEE-told Lu-to-SWUV-ski) is universally regarded not only as one of Poland’s most distinguished composers, but as one of the most widely-known and admired twentieth-century composers from any country. Many of his orchestral works approach repertory status, particularly the Concerto for Orchestra (1954), Funeral Music (1958), the Cello Concerto (1970), and the Third Symphony (1983). In later years, each new work by this composer received numerous performances all over the world, among them the Chain series (1983, 1984, 1985), the Piano Concerto (1987), Chantefleurs et Chantefables (1991) and the Fourth Symphony (1992).

The widespread acceptance of Lutoslawski’s music is not difficult to understand. While maintaining a distinctly contemporary idiom uniquely his own, Lutoslawski did not abandon values of the past, and many of his works stand as glorious examples of “beautiful” non-tonal music. The “human” quality in music was vitally important to Lutoslawski, and most concertgoers find his music eminently accessible, despite its obvious modernity. A powerful thrust is found in most of his works, often through rhythmic impetus and by the contrasts and superimpositions of sonorous masses.

The Fourth Symphony, Lutoslawski’s last major work, resulted from a commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which gave the world premiere on 5 February, 1993 with the composer conducting.

Lutoslawski imagined his Fourth Symphony as a two-part structure: a “preparation” and a main movement. The preparation serves to engage our attention, whetting the ears for what is to come. This portion of the symphony lasts approximately a third of its length, Out of the haze and mists a solo clarinet weaves a lonely, lyrical line. A trumpet scampers onto the scene, then other wind instruments in busily chattering episodes that alternate with quiet, lyrical material. The preparation comes to an end with three sharp, loud chords for the full orchestra.

From here on, vigorous rhythmic activity, busy figuration, passages of sliding chromatic scales, and swirling effects in the strings and woodwinds with punctuations from brass and percussion are all common features of the score, which the listener may experience as a kind of drama in sound, or a journey through the mind in a fantasia-like process.

The main movement may be divided into three parts, all played without pause. The first concludes with an intensely lyrical line for the violins and a long descent via a chromatic scale for the woodwinds, beginning at the top of the range (flutes) and cascading to the bottom (bassoons). The second section contains the score’s most fascinating pages: a glittering, scintillating array of pizzicato violins, harps, celesta, piano, vibraphone, glockenspiel, and woodwinds all sounding like a well-stocked clock shop or aviary, which serves as the introduction to the score’s centre of gravity: a long, sombre, intensely lyrical line for massed violins and violas, later joined by horns. The entire brass section joins the strings in presentation of the long lyrical line, which rises to an overwhelming climax. The cataclysm suddenly collapses, and from the debris comes the third section consisting of mere wisps and tendrils of sound, dream-like recollections of the past. A brief, energetic coda concludes the symphony.

SERGEI RACHMANINOV (1873 -194 3) Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 1

27’00

Rachmaninov wrote his first piano concerto while he was still a student at the Moscow Conservatory. He was just seventeen when he drew up the sketches, and he completed it in July of 1891. Rachmaninov was as brilliantly precocious a composer as he was a pianist. By the time of his graduation from the Conservatory, he had already written, in addition to the concerto, an opera, a scherzo for orchestra, two tone poems, a string quartet, several songs and much piano music. On 17 March, 1892, the year of his graduation, Rachmaninov as soloist gave the world premiere of the concerto with the orchestra of the Moscow Conservatory, Vasily Safanov conducting.

But it met with only a lukewarm reception, and Rachmaninov realized that it did need revision. Depression, much travel, and concertising kept him from this task until 1917, just as the Revolution was breaking out.

By this time he had already written the immensely popular Second and Third Concertos, and he was eager that his First attain the same stature.

Rachmaninov’s experience and mastery of orchestration now led him to excise all superfluous elaboration, thick chords and heavy instrumentation.

He was pleased with the results: “It is really good now. All the youthful freshness is there, and yet it plays itself so much more easily.” Rachmaninov was now at the height of fame and fortune as a traveling virtuoso. He noted with a touch of frustration that “when I tell them in America that I will play the First Concerto, they do not protest, but I can see by their faces that they would prefer the Second or Third.”

The influence of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, barely a dozen years old when Rachmaninov wrote his First Concerto, can be detected in the opening horn fanfare, which is immediately followed by a flourish of thundering double octaves in the piano. The first three notes of the piano flourish serve as a motto, found throughout the concerto in various guises and forms. Two lyrical themes are then presented, both full of expressive yearning and with “Rachmaninov” stamped indelibly all over them. All three ideas are explored in the mighty cadenza.

The slow movement, introduced like the first by a horn solo, is a dreamy nocturne. The piano takes up the horn’s opening motif and reflects upon it at length.

The finale is a barnstorming display of virtuosity. As its central episode Rachmaninov inserts a big Romantic theme that might easily have become one of his most famous had it been used in the Second or Third Concerto.

The work ends predictably in a flurry of exciting flourishes for both piano and orchestra.

DMITRI SHO S TAKOVICH (19 0 6 -1975) Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10

28’00

Few composers excel in their first attempt to write a symphony. Exceptions include Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Mahler and Sibelius, but these men were already nearing thirty or were even older when they first essayed the genre. Dmitri Shostakovich was just nineteen and still a student at the Leningrad Conservatory when he wrote his First Symphony, yet this was no immature, bungling student work. Its premiere on 12 May, 1926, under the direction of the distinguished conductor Nicolai Malko, heralded the arrival of a major figure not yet twenty, a composer already bursting with a unique musical personality and marked for greatness. Within four years of the premiere, such luminaries as Bruno Walter, Leopold Stokowski, Otto Klemperer and Arturo Toscanini had seen fit to conduct it.

What accounts for the success of this remarkable First Symphony?

Boldness of ideas unencumbered by academic and recondite procedures, a touch of “shock of the modern” tempered by memorable (if not exactly hummable) tunes, a sense of mischievousness, a flair for instrumental colour, harmonic irregularities that seem like “wrong turns” in a silent film comedy, dramatic events, virtuoso writing for the orchestra, and an overall infectious enthusiasm are some of the reasons often put forth in support of the symphony’s wide appeal. The Russian scholar Boris Schwarz sums up Shostakovich’s achievement in these words: “It speaks the language of youth with the skill of age; it reveals ... a fully formed personality, able to balance inspiration and technique.”

A short introduction presents a quirky dialogue between trumpet and bassoon. The first movement’s main theme is set to a grim marching rhythm, and is described by Edward Downes as “a cross between a quick march tune and a bit of old-fashioned ragtime.” In contrast the solo flute offers a gently lyrical, lilting theme, which is echoed by the clarinet. All three ideas are treated in the development section, then appear in reverse order in the recapitulation. The movement ends with a capricious reference to the introduction.

The second movement alternates a zippy scherzo subject with a slower chant-like idea. The scherzo portions are reworkings of an orchestral piece Shostakovich had written at the age of twelve(!) and incorporates a new sonority not yet heard in the symphony, the piano. The return of the scherzo idea is noteworthy for the way in which it begins – with great effort, in the solo bassoon, gradually picking up steam as if it were a mighty locomotive pulling out of the station. At one point Shostakovich superimposes both the scherzo and the chant ideas, which initially were set to different meters, different rhythms, different tempos and different moods.

Romantic expressiveness is found in the third movement. The melancholic opening theme is actually a clever variation of the principal theme of the first movement (the marching tune). The movement leads without pause into the finale, the longest and structurally most developed movement. A roll from the snare drum ushers in an anguished, agitated episode which ends when the solo clarinet, as in the first movement, presents the movement’s first main theme, a breathless, virtuosic affair that covers the range of the instrument. Ideas from previous movements are worked in, including a highly dramatic timpani solo derived from the rhythmic motto of the third movement. A long coda follows, growing steadily in intensity to the final frenzied outburst.

Programme notes by Robert Markow

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Mr Ernest Khoo (Head) Mr Chia Jit Min Ms Tan Wei Tian Stage Management Ms Kimberly Kwa (Stage Manager) Ms Chin Rosherna Mr Ramayah Elango Mr Abdul Wahab bin Sakir Mr Md Zailani bin Md Said Mr Md Fariz bin Samsuri Mr Radin Sulaiman bin Ali LIBRARY Mr Lim Yeow Siang (Head) Mr Lim Lip Hua Ms Priscilla Neo PROGRAMMES (SSO) Ms Kua Li Leng (Head) Ms Teo Chew Yen Ms Jolene Yeo Community Outreach Ms Kathleen Tan Ms Vanessa Lee Choral Programmes Ms Regina Lee Ms Whitney Tan

Ms Peggy Kek (Head) Corporate Communications Ms Leong Wenshan Development & Sponsorship Mr Anthony Chng Ms Nikki Chuang Mr Chris Yong MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS & CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Ms Cindy Lim (Head) Mr Chia Han-Leon Ms Myrtle Lee Ms Hong Shu Hui Ms Melissa Tan Ms Cheryl Pek Ms Khairani Basman Ms Dacia Cheang Ms Nur Shafiqah bte Othman CORPORATE SERVICES Mr Rick Ong (Head) Mr Alan Ong (Finance) Ms Goh Hoey Fen (Finance) Mr Md Zailani bin Md Said

HUMAN RESOURCES & ADMINISTRATION Mr Desmen Low Ms Shanti Govindasamy Ms Melissa Lee SINGAPORE NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA Ms Pang Siu Yuin (Head) Ms Shirin Foo Mr Tan Yong Qing Ms Tang Ya Yun ABRSM Ms Hay Su-San (Head) Ms Patricia Yee Ms Lai Li-Yng Mr Joong Siow Chong

PATRON SPONSOR

Tote Board Group

OFFICIAL AIRLINE

OFFICIAL HOTEL

OFFICIAL TRAINING PARTNER

OFFICIAL RADIO STATION

OFFICIAL OUTDOOR MEDIA PARTNER

OFFICIAL POSTAGE SPONSOR

SPONSORS

LEE FOUNDATION

SUPPORTED BY

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and registered under the Charities Order.

SSO.ORG.SG