Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra: From Across The Causeway

1 September 2018 Victoria Concert Hall

1 Sep 2018, Sat

FROM ACROSS THE CAUSEWAY Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Eiji Oue, conductor Gonzalo Esteban, clarinet VIVIAN CHUA

Mercu Kegemilangan 10’00

AARON COPLAND Clarinet Concerto 16’00

1. Slowly and expressively – Cadenza – 2. Rather fast

Intermission 20’00

Gonzalo Esteban will sign autographs in the stalls foyer.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 36’00 1.

2.

3.

4.

Allegro con brio Andante con moto Allegro Allegro

Concert duration: 1 hr 22 mins Go green. Digital programme booklets are available on www.sso.org.sg.

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

M a l ay s i a n P hil h a r monic Or c he s t r a

The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) gave its inaugural performance at Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS (DFP) on 17 August 1998. With the initial search for outstanding musicians involving a worldwide audition tour, the result was a symphony orchestra made up of musicians from 25 nations, including 6 from Malaysia, a remarkable example of harmony among different cultures and nationalities.

A host of internationally-acclaimed musicians has performed with the MPO including Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Yehudi Menuhin, Joshua Bell, Harry Connick Jr., JosĂŠ Carreras, Andrea

Bocelli, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Chris Botti and Branford Marsalis, many of whom have praised the MPO for its fine musical qualities and vitality.

With each new season, the MPO continues to present an exciting programme of orchestral music drawn from over three centuries, as well as the crowd-pleasing concert series. Its versatility transcends genres, from classical masterpieces to film music, pop, jazz, traditional, contemporary and commissioned works.

The MPO regularly performs at major cities of Malaysia. Internationally, it has

showcased its virtuosity to audiences in Singapore (1999, 2001, 2003 and 2005), Japan (2001, 2009 and 2017), Korea (2001), Australia (2004), China (2006), Taiwan (2007) and Vietnam (2013).

Its Education and Outreach Programme, ENCOUNTER, reaches beyond the concert platform to develop musical awareness and appreciation through dedicated activities at such diverse venues as schools, colleges, hospitals, orphanages and other community centres.

The MPO’s commitment to furthering musical interest in the nation has been the creation of the Malaysian Philharmonic

Youth Orchestra (MPYO); its inaugural concert at DFP on 25 August 2007 was followed by a tour in Peninsular Malaysia.

It has performed in Sabah and Sarawak (2008), Singapore (2009 and 2017), Brisbane, Australia (2012), Kedah (2013) and Johor Bahru (2014). The MPO has also released 21 commercial CDs. As it celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2018, the MPO remains steadfast in its mission to share the depth, power and beauty of great music.

The MPO’s main benefactor is PETRONAS and its patron is YABhg. Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah Haji Mohd Ali.

Eiji Oue conductor Renowned for his ‘extraordinary interpretations’ (La Nación) and his ‘trademark good humour […] and great energy’ (Bachtrack), Eiji Oue has conducted many of the world’s top orchestras throughout his career, including the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, and the Munich Philharmonic.

Recent and forthcoming highlights include an extensive world tour celebrating the centenary of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, tours to Japan and South America with the NDR Radio Philharmonic, an upcoming visit to La Folle Journée in Warsaw, a cycle of American repertoire and notable celebration of Leonard Bernstein across the Wroclaw Philharmonic’s 2017/18 season.

Oue has recorded extensively with the Minnesota Orchestra and NDR Hannover in repertoire including Bernstein, Stravinsky, Mahler, Strauss, Copland, and Rachmaninov, and for DG he recorded the violin concertos of Paganini and Spohr.

Other collaborations include Sarah Chang, Nemanja Radulovic, Fazil Say, Midori,

Conrad Tao, Nelson Goerner, Emmanuel Ceysson, Nicolas Altstaedt, Stephen Kovacevich, David Fray, Roger Muraro as well as Trio Jean Paul.

Passionate about musical education and stewarding the next generation of musicians, Oue is Professor of Conducting at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, a post he has held since 2000. Amongst his many honours and awards are the 1980 Koussevitzky Prize at Tanglewood and both first prize and the Hans Harin Gold Medal at the 1981 Salzburg Mozarteum conducting competitions. In November 2005 he received the Praetorius Music Prize from the state of Lower Saxony and the Lower Saxony Order of Merit in 2009.

Born in Hiroshima, Japan, Oue began his conducting studies with Seiji Ozawa’s teacher Hideo Saito. In 1978, he was invited by Maestro Ozawa to spend the summer studying at the Tanglewood Music Center. It was there that he met Leonard Bernstein, who became his long-time mentor and colleague.

Gonzalo Esteban clarinet Born in Madrid in 1988, Gonzalo Esteban joined the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra as Principal Clarinet in 2015.

He began his musical studies at 8 at Madrid’s Teresa Berganza Music School with Monica Campillo, and later continued at the Salamanca Conservatory and Superior Music School of the Basque Country in San Sebastian, earning the highest qualifications. He then attended the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome under Alessandro Carbonare.

He acquired his first orchestra experience as a member of the Youth Orchestra of the Region of Madrid, Spanish National Youth Orchestra, Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and Verbier Festival Orchestra.

Professionally, he has performed with the Staatskapelle Dresden, Bergen Philharmonic, Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Gulbenkian, Macao Orchestra, Madrid and Bilbao Symphonies, Radio Orchestra of Spain RTVE, Orchestra of the Teatro del Liceu (Barcelona) and City of Granada Orchestra.

Esteban has won several awards including top prizes with the Azahar Ensemble woodwind quintet at the 2014 ARD International Music Competition in Munich. He has given masterclasses in Malaysia, Singapore, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Switzerland, Canada and Spain.

As a soloist, he has performed works

by Mozart, Weber, Rossini, Bernstein, Krommer and Strauss, and played the Spanish premiere of Putz’s Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble.

He has collaborated with luminaries including Janine Jansen, Leonidas Kavakos, Matthias Goerne, Martha Argerich, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, Jaap Van Zweden, Valery Gergiev, Daniel Harding and Fabio Luisi. He has performed in venues such as Berlin Philarmonie, Musikverein Vienna and Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional.

Esteban is currently a D´Addario Woodwinds reeds artist and is sponsored

by Selmer instruments.

M a l ay s i a n P hil h a r monic Or c he s t r a MUSICIANS NAOHISA FURUSAWA Resident Conductor

FIRST VIOLIN Peter Danis Co-Concertmaster Ming Goh Principal Zhenzhen Liang Co-Principal Maho Danis Martijn Noomen Sherwin Thia Runa Baagöe Miroslav Danis Evgeny Kaplan Marcel Andriesii Tan Ka Ming Petia Atanasova Marco Roosink* SECOND VIOLIN Timothy Peters Section Principal Luisa Hyams Assistant Principal Stefan Kocsis Anastasia Kiseleva Catalina Alvarez Ionut Mazareanu Chia-Nan Hung Yanbo Zhao Ling Yunzhi Robert Kopelman Tan Poh Kim* VIOLA Gábor Mokány Co-Principal Ong Lin Kern Sun Yuan

Thian Ai Wen Emil Csonka Ida Margit Kovács* Carol Pendlebury* Ling Li Yen* CELLO Csaba Körös Co-Principal Steven Retallick Assistant Principal Mátyás Major Sub-Principal Gerald Davis Laurentiu Gherman Julie Dessureault Elizabeth Tan Suyin Sejla Simon DOUBLE BASS Wolfgang Steike Section Principal John Kennedy Jun-Hee Chae Naohisa Furusawa Raffael Bietenhader Andreas Dehner FLUTE Yukako Yamamoto Co-Principal Rachel Jenkyns Sub-Principal PICCOLO Sonia Croucher Principal OBOE Simon Emes Section Principal Tania Ramos Morado* Section Principal Niels Dittmann Sub-Principal Bernice Lee Wen Ting* Sub-Principal

CLARINET

TIMPANI

Gonzalo Esteban Section Principal David Dias da Silva Co-Principal Matthew Larsen Sub-Principal

Matthew Thomas Section Principal

BASS CLARINET

PERCUSSION Matthew Prendergast Section Principal Joshua Vonderheide Sub-Principal

Chris Bosco Principal HARP BASSOON Alexandar Lenkov Section Principal Denis Plangger Sub-Principal

Tan Keng Hong Principal PIANO Akiko Danis

CONTRA BASSOON Vladimir Stoyanov Principal HORN Grzegorz Curyla Section Principal James Schumacher Co-Principal Laurence Davies Sub-Principal Barkin Sรถnmezer Sub-Principal Sim Chee Ghee Assistant Principal TRUMPET William Theis Co-Principal Jeffrey Missal Sub-Principal Matthew Dempsey Assistant Principal TROMBONE Fernando Borja Co-Principal Gerard Costes* BASS TROMBONE Aldwyn Tan Chor Guan* Principal

*Extra Musician

Thank you for attending From Across the Causeway: Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra

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FAMILIAR FAVOURITES: TALES OF LOVE A PERFECT FIT 15 NOV 2018

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DE WAN F ILHAR MONIK P ETRONAS m a n ag e me n t CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Firoz Khan Mohd Yunus

BUSINESS & MARKETING MANAGEMENT Yazmin Lim Abdullah BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Wan Yuzaini Wan Yahya At Ziafrizani Chek Pa Nurartikah Ilyas Kartini Ratna Sari Ahmat Adam Aishah Sarah Ismail Affendee MARKETING Munshi Ariff Abu Hassan Hisham Abdul Jalil Farah Diyana Ismail Noor Sarul Intan Salim Muhammad Shahrir Aizat Muhammad Shuhaili Ahmad Kusolehin Adha Kamaruddin

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Firoz Khan Mohd Yunus Mohd Zamir Mohd Isa Shahrul Rizal Mohd Ali Dayan Erwan Maharal Zolkarnain Sarman

M a l ay s i a n P hil h a r monic Or c he s t r a M a n ag e me n t CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Firoz Khan Mohd Yunus

GENERAL MANAGER Khor Chin Yang Soraya Mansor GENERAL MANAGER'S OFFICE Timmy Ong ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION/ ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT/ MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC YOUTH ORCHESTRA Ahmad Muriz Che Rose Sharon Francis Lihan Fadilah Kamal Francis Shireen Jasin Mokhtar Katherine Tan Jia Yiing MUSIC LIBRARY Ong Li-Huey Wong Seong Seong Muhamad Zaid Azzim Mohd Diah EDUCATION & OUTREACH Shireen Jasin Mokhtar Shafrin Sabri

F ROM ACROSS THE CAUSE WAY

V I V IAN CHUA (b. 1974)

The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) makes a long-anticipated return to Singapore after an absence of more than a decade. The MPO has performed twice in Victoria Concert Hall (1999 and 2001) and twice at the Esplanade – Theatres by the Bay (2003 and 2005). Now, the orchestra makes its fifth appearance in Singapore on the occasion of its 20th anniversary season, once again demonstrating its world-class calibre, strengthening ties and serving as a cultural ambassador from Singapore’s nearest neighbour.

Mercu Kegemilangan (2017) 10’00

The music on tonight’s programme comes from three continents: Asia (the opening work by Malaysia’s own Vivian Chua, commissioned by the MPO for its 20th anniversary), North America (Copland) and Europe (Beethoven). Adding further international scope and prestige to this concert are a renowned conductor from Japan and a soloist from Spain.

The Background Vivian Chua is principal at Ann Perreau’s School of Music in Kuala Lumpur where she also teaches piano and music appreciation. She is well-known as an arranger for children’s ensembles, choral societies and orchestras, including the MPO and Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.

From her perspective as a Malaysian musician with a Western classical music education, Chua endeavours to capture in Mercu Kegemilangan the spirit of the MPO, an international ensemble comprising many cultures and outlooks. Malaysian themes fuse with Western Classical form and harmony. The title refers to something glorious, scintillating and brilliant.

The Music There are three themes: (1) a glorious opening fanfare; (2) an expressive, pastoral theme; and (3) a lively theme in the style of a popular local dance called the joget. These are contrapuntally interwoven so as to symbolise the tapestry of Malaysia. The work ends with all three themes woven together almost like a songket (a traditional hand-woven brocade cloth in silk or cotton with intricate patterns of silver or gold threads for a shimmering effect).

AARON COP LAND (19 0 0 -19 9 0) Clarinet Concerto (1947) 16’00

The second movement, in addition to its ever-increasing use of jazz elements, also contains a popular Brazilian tune Copland heard while touring in Rio de Janeiro early in 1947. The composer described the overall form of the movement as “that of a free rondo, with several side issues developed at some length. It ends with a fairly elaborate coda in C major”.

PROGRAMME NOTES

The Background Clarinet concertos have invariably been written with a particular soloist in mind, beginning with Mozart and extending through Weber, Spohr, Finzi and Corigliano, among many others. Copland’s concerto is no exception. It was composed in 1947 for Benny Goodman. The Clarinet Concerto is scored for a small orchestra of strings, piano and harp. Its premiere took the form of a radio broadcast by the NBC Symphony of the Air conducted by Fritz Reiner on 6 November 1950. Benny Goodman was of course the soloist. The first public performance was given three weeks later by another soloist, Ralph McLane, with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra. Although initial reviews were not favourable, the concerto has long since passed into the standard repertory of every celebrated clarinetist, and it is one of the most frequently heard concertos of its kind after Mozart’s. The balletic possibilities inherent in this score were quickly realised by Jerome Robbins, who choreographed it as The Pied Piper (1951), in which the title character is – you guessed it! – a clarinetist.

The Music The opening movement is written in the same gently flowing lyrical vein as the opening of other Copland works like Appalachian Spring, The Tender Land or Letter from Home. The continuous, longbreathed lines allow the soloist virtually no rest. Connecting the two movements is a long cadenza which initiates the use of jazz elements and incorporates fragments of the melodic ideas to be heard in the following movement.

LUDW IG VAN BEETHOV EN (1770 -18 27 ) Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (1808) 36’00 The Background Critic-bashing is a favourite sport among concertgoers, and there is no lack of published material upon which they may hone their skills. Take for example this excerpt by the Russian critic Alexandre Oulibicheff, writing about the transition to the finale of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony: “Here you have a fragment of 44 measures, where Beethoven deemed it necessary to suspend the habeas corpus of music by stripping it of all that might resemble melody, harmony and any sort of rhythm … Is it music, yes or no? If I am answered in the affirmative, I would say that this does not belong to the art which I am in the habit of considering as music”.

But most early writers got it right. “No matter how frequently heard,” wrote Schumann, “whether at home or in the concert hall, this symphony invariably wields its power over men of every age like those great phenomena of nature that fill us with fear and admiration at all times, no matter how frequently we may experience them.” Berlioz, upon first hearing the Fifth, wrote: “I saw the giant form of Beethoven rear up. The shock was almost as great as that of Shakespeare had been. Beethoven opened before me a new world of music, as Shakespeare had revealed a new universe of poetry.” Today, more than two hundred years after its first performance

in Vienna on 22 December 1808, and with countless performances behind us, Beethoven’s Fifth has not lost its power to shock and awe.

The Music Concertgoers who believe that music must have a nice tune to be viable need only remind themselves that, although the first movement contains not a single melody, it may well be the most universally recognised piece of classical music ever written. “One savage onslaught of rhythm” is Edward Downes’ pithy description. What holds the movement together is a four-note motif, or, in the words of the Cleveland Orchestra’s longtime annotator, Klaus G. Roy, “a potent one-celled organism which [can] grow and multiply with enormous force and logic”.

The second movement provides all the melody the first movement lacked. It is in double variation form, meaning that Beethoven alternates two different themes.

The first is the consoling subject presented in the opening measures by violas and cellos, the second is heard initially in the clarinets and bassoons in Beethoven’s familiar militaristic vein.

Beethoven did not call the third movement a scherzo, as he had in some of his previous symphonies, but it is one in all but name with its insistent pulsation in rapid triple meter. The contrast provided by the central trio section could not be greater – music infused with Rabelesian jollity.

Up until Beethoven’s time, the finale of a symphony usually represented merely a lightweight, festive ending. But in the

Fifth, the finale assumes the status of a triumphal solution, the grand peroration that resolves conflicts and tensions of the preceding movements.

About the PROGRAMME NOTES writer

PROGRAMME NOTES

Formerly a horn player in the Montreal Symphony, Robert Markow now writes programme notes for that orchestra and many other musical organizations in North America and Asia. He taught at Montreal’s McGill University for many years, has led music tours abroad, and writes for many leading classical music journals, including American Record Guide, Fanfare Opera, Opera News, The Strad and Symphony.

He travels regularly to Europe, Asia and Australia in search of musical stimulation.

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