Shostakovich Cello Concerto

LAN SHUI Music Director

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SHOSTAKOVICH CELLO CONCERTO 3 February 2018 Esplanade Concert Hall Performing Home of the SSO

Carlos Kalmar, conductor Jan Vogler, cello

3 Feb 2018, Sat

SHOSTAKOVICH CELLO CONCERTO Singapore Symphony Orchestra Carlos Kalmar, conductor

NARONG PRANGCHAROEN Phenomenon, the mysterious and unexplained

(Singapore Premiere) 9’00

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

Cello Concerto No. 2 in G major, Op. 126 33’00

1. Largo 2. Allegretto 3. Allegretto

Jan Vogler, cello

Intermission 20’00

Jan Vogler will autograph CDs in the stalls foyer

ANTONÍN DVORÁK

Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60 41’00

1. Allegro non tanto 2. Adagio 3. Scherzo (Furiant): Presto 4. Finale: Allegro con spirito

Concert duration: 2 hrs 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 “Seascapes” album, two Debussy discs “La Mer” and “Jeux”, 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, Diana Damrau, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Janine Jansen, Leonidas Kavakos and Gil Shaham.

C a r lo s K a l m a r conductor

Carlos Kalmar is a conductor with a passion for introducing audiences and orchestras to less well-known repertoire and is regularly praised for his innovative programmes. He brings with him a wide breadth of musical expertise drawn from his 29 years’ experience as Music Director.

He enters his 15th year as Music Director of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra and continues as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival.

In May 2011 Kalmar made his highly acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, noted by New York critic Alex Ross as “one of the most gripping events of the current season”. The concert entitled “Music for a Time of War” with works by Ives, Adams, Britten and Vaughan Williams was subsequently released by Pentatone and was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Orchestral Performance”. They received another nomination for “Spirit of the American Range” featuring works by Walter Piston, George Antheil and Copland Symphony No 3.

Spring 2017 saw the release of Haydn Symphonies Nos. 53, 64 and 96.

His recordings for Cedille records include a CD of American orchestral works, repertoire by Szymanowski, Martinu and Bartók and works by Joachim and Brahms with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Born in Uruguay to Austrian parents, Carlos Kalmar studied conducting with Karl Österreicher at the College for Music in Vienna and in 1984 won First Prize at the Hans Swarowsky Conducting Competition. He has previously served as Music Director with the RTVE (Orquesta Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española) Madrid, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Anhaltisches Theater and Philharmonic Orchestra in Dessau and the Niederösterreichisches Tonkünstlerorchester in Vienna.

J a n Vog l e r cello

Jan Vogler is one of today’s most renowned soloists, praised for his “soulful, richly hued playing” (New York Times) and his “spiralling virtuosity” (Gramophone Magazine).

A prolific and multi-award-winning recording artist, Jan Vogler records exclusively for Sony Classical. He performs with leading international orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston, Montreal and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Deutsche SymphonieOrchester Berlin, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and collaborates with conductors such as Andris Nelsons, Fabio Luisi, Sir Antonio Pappano, Valery Gergiev, Thomas Hengelbrock, Manfred Honeck and Kent Nagano.

In the 2017-2018 season he is Artist-in-Residence with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He also performs in London with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski, the Philharmonia Zurich and the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under the baton of Fabio Luisi, as well as the Toronto Symphony Orchstra and Peter Oundjian with Wolfgang Rihm’s Double Concerto for Violin and Cello.

He frequently appears in recitals with his duo partners Hélène Grimaud, Martin Stadtfeld and Lise de la Salle.

He is also the creative mind and key player of the project “Bill Murray, Jan Vogler & Friends – New Worlds”, which aims to intertwine American literature with European music. This season sees three major US tours with the project, and in September 2017 the album New Worlds was released by Decca Gold.

Jan Vogler plays the 1707 Stradivari ‘Ex Castelbarco/Fau’ cello.

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 Wang Jiamin^ Principal Michael Loh Associate Principal

Hai-Won Kwok Fixed Chair Nikolai Koval* Lee Shi Mei^ 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 Luo Biao Julia Park 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* Wu Dai Dai Zhao Yu Er DOUBLE BASS Guennadi Mouzyka Principal Yang Zheng Yi Associate Principal Karen Yeo Fixed Chair Olga Alexandrova Ma Li Ming^ Jacek Mirucki Wang Xu

FLUTE Jin Ta Principal Evgueni Brokmiller Associate Principal Roberto Alvarez Miao Shanshan

Kartik Alan Jairamin Thossaporn Sombat^ TRUMPET

Roberto Alvarez Assistant Principal

Jon Paul Dante Principal David Smith Associate Principal Lau Wen Rong Sergey Tyuteykin

OBOE

TROMBONE

Rachel Walker Principal Pan Yun Associate Principal Carolyn Hollier Elaine Yeo

Allen Meek Principal Damian Patti Associate Principal Samuel Armstrong

COR ANGLAIS

Wang Wei Assistant Principal

PICCOLO

Elaine Yeo Associate Principal CLARINET Ma Yue Principal Li Xin Associate Principal Liu Yoko Tang Xiao Ping

BASS TROMBONE

TUBA Hidehiro Fujita Principal TIMPANI Christian Schiøler Principal Jonathan Fox Associate Principal

BASS CLARINET

PERCUSSION

Tang Xiao Ping Assistant Principal

Jonathan Fox Principal Mark Suter Associate Principal Lim Meng Keh Tim White^ Zhu Zheng Yi

BASSOON Liu Chang Associate Principal Cheung King Lun^ Christoph Wichert Zhao Ying Xue CONTRA BASSOON Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal HORN

HARP Gulnara Mashurova Principal Eilidh McRae^ PIANO Shane Thio^ Principal

Han Chang Chou Principal Gao Jian Associate Principal Jamie Hersch Associate Principal Marc-Antoine Robillard Associate Principal

*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 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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NARONG PRANGCHAROEN (b.1973) Phenomenon, the mysterious and unexplained (Singapore Premiere) 9’00 Phenomenon was inspired by mysterious and unexplainable natural phenomena, such as the Aurora Borealis, the Bolides, and especially, the Naga Fireballs. The Naga Fireballs is an extraordinary phenomenon that occurs annually at the end of Buddhist Lent in the area of the Mekong River stretching over 20 kilometers between Pak-Ngeum district and Phonephisai district in Nong Khai province, Thailand.

Phenomenon expresses the atmosphere and sensations of such natural phenomena. The piece starts with the chaotic texture of people traveling to Mekong River to observe the Naga Fireballs. After that, it describes the fireballs appearing at the bottom of the river, rising above the water, floating into the sky, and then disappearing without falling back to the earth as one would expect. The legend describes that Nagas performed the fireballs to celebrate Lord Buddha returning to the earth from the second heaven where he travelled to perform a sermon for his mother.

This piece is full of energy to represent both the celebration and the strong faith of Nagas to the Lord Buddha and the people who travel to observe the Naga Fireballs. I am frequently fascinated by the forces of darkness and brightness, of light in the dark, and I try to convey all of these energies.

Phenomenon is also an experiment in sounds within other sounds, and in the use of moving notes within sustained notes. The surface of the music is critical, and the distance between the instruments and dynamics (crescendo and diminuendo) are the main factors that create atmosphere and timbre. More explanation than this would betray “the mysterious and the unexplained”.

Programme note by Narong Prangcharoen

DMITRI SHO S TA KOV ICH (19 0 6 -1975) Cello Concerto No. 2 in G major, Op. 126

33’00

Dmitri Shostakovich wrote three pairs of concertos each for piano, violin and cello. Unlike those for the piano, his first forays into both the violin and cello concerto genre were never quite matched by their successors in popularity among both performers and audience members alike.

Shostakovich wrote both of his cello concertos for possibly one of the greatest cellists of the 20th century – Mstislav Rostropovich. They met in 1943, when the 16-year-old Rostropovich enrolled in Shostakovich’s orchestration class at the Moscow Conservatory. In a 2006 interview, Rostropovich reflected that “this was a determining factor in my life. While becoming close to such a genius and attending rehearsals of his Eighth Symphony, I recognised that I did not have the talent to become the composer I had imagined. Therefore, I became a cellist.”

Later, when Rostropovich asked Shostakovich’s wife how he could ask the composer to write a concerto for him, she replied, “The only recipe I can give you is this — never ask him or talk to him about it.” Rostropovich followed her advice “with the greatest difficulty”, and his patience was rewarded in 1959 with the first concerto, which he learned and memorised in four days, and in 1966 with the second.

Rostropovich championed both concertos and, with his significant artistic clout, helped to bring them around the world. He later shared his motivations in that same 2006 interview: “In 1974, I was chased out of the USSR. It was a year before Shostakovich's death. He was then very sick. My wife and I went to say goodbye to him. This was an upsetting time, because we knew that we would never see each other again. I promised him that I would make his work known in West, to play and to record all his symphonies and his opera Lady Macbeth, which were forbidden in the USSR. It took me several years to achieve it. One of my great satisfactions is to note to which point his music touches the younger generation. At the time of the last Rostropovich Cello Competition in Paris, all six finalists interpreted his First Concerto. Today, the music of Dmitri Shostakovich is being played everywhere, while it had been forbidden in the USSR. What revenge!”

Written at a health facility in Crimea and after his Thirteenth Symphony, Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto inhabits a dark place in the symphonic landscape. Recalling the darkly brooding opening movement of his Sixth Symphony, the first movement opens with the cello singing an austere melody in the depths of its register before the orchestra creeps in with dark-hued tones. While the music gradually gets livelier, the grim fog does not lift, and the woodwinds and xylophone provide a biting and ironic commentary on proceedings. The bass drum triggers a short cello cadenza, and the grey fog descends again.

The second movement features a street song, “Bubliki, kupite bubliki”, roughly translated as “you’ve got a ruble, I’ve got a bagel, buy my bagels…” (the food in question has also been translated to refer to pretzels, bread and doughnuts). Shostakovich was more than familiar with the shortage of both money and food, having witnessed mass starvation and death all around him through the Soviet famines and later, the Second World War. Here, this song is transformed and distorted across the scherzo, and the cello eventually screams this tune maniacally with driving desperation.

The horns play a cadenza-like fanfare, interrupting the shrieks, to lead into the third movement without a break. Accompanied by the tambourine, the cello responds to this fanfare, before moving into a tranquil oasis and dueting with the flute in classical-styled arabesques. Several more percussive diversions and idyllic dreamscapes emerge, but all of these are swept by the wayside when the Bubliki song remerges and is wildly screamed by the full orchestra at full force. The cello then pensively recalls previous themes, before a mysterious percussion-led music box is evoked, and the cello abruptly ends the concerto with a resigned exhalation.

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ANTONÍN DVOR Á K (18 41-19 0 4) Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60

41’00

Nothing could be further from the desolate soundscapes of Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto than Dvorák’s Sixth Symphony – one of the sunniest symphonies ever written.

One evening in 1879, Hans Richter – one of the most important conductors in Europe at the time – made Dvorák promise to write a symphony for the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s 1880 season. Dvorák finished it by November 1880 and Richter, delighted by the new symphony, scheduled to have it performed in December that very year. This premiere was postponed several times, with an overworked orchestra or Richter’s significant family problems cited as reasons. Dvorák was understanding, but began to suspect there were other issues beneath the surface. He was correct, as there were significant anti-Czech elements within the Philharmonic. To perform much new Czech music in the capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire – in which the now-Czech Republic was a mere subject – was not palatable for all. It was not until 1942 that this Symphony was eventually performed by the Vienna Philharmonic.

The first performance of Dvorák’s Sixth Symphony was in Prague instead, conducted by the conductor’s former viola stand partner, Adolf Cech, in March 1881. Despite this incident, Dvorák and Richter remained firm friends, and Richter’s strong London performance of this Symphony in 1882 led to the Royal Philharmonic Society commissioning Dvorák to write his Seventh.

Pulsating horns followed by a call and response set the scene for the flowing main theme of the first movement to shine forth, clothed in warmly glowing colours. Dvorák masterfully varies its character throughout, from magisterial and grand to firm and uncompromising. The oboe introduces a perky yet lyrical second theme, and the full orchestra choruses in reply. Dvorák introduces a mysterious pianissimo section, temporarily stopping time – a technique which Mahler also later deployed in his First. After this transition, Dvorák brings both themes through a robust Germanic development before a radiant recapitulation brings the movement to a glorious close.

Tender woodwinds introduce the long-breathed song of the second movement in all its yearning and expansive length. Varied episodes interrupt this song, some tranquil and some stormy. But all storms pass quickly in

this Symphony, and the song returns again and again, always garlanded in different colours, before what Michael Steinberg describes as “one of Dvorák’s most poetic dreams” closes the movement.

Having mastered the symphonic dance form with his Slavonic Dances and Rhapsodies, Dvorák features a Furiant – a Czech folk dance that features polyrhythms and changing accents, and has nothing to do with fury of any kind – here in the third movement. A gentle Trio with a dreamy piccolo and gently undulating violins provides a stark contrast to the driving rhythms of the Furiant. This kinetically driven movement was an immediate hit at the Symphony’s premiere, and the audience successfully demanded that it be encored.

Striding in with a string hymn, the finale sets off with Brahms’ Second as its harmonic foundation, but confidently blazes its own trail with spiralling violin figurations and an unabashedly cheerful outlook. Dancing rhythms continue to propel the movement forward, before a chorale homage to Mendelssohn’s Reformation Symphony abruptly interjects. Previous themes soon re-emerge and lead to a blisteringly virtuosic fugue in the finale – which almost certainly inspired the finale of Mahler’s Fifth – rushing to stratospheric heights. A jubilant blaze brings the symphony to an exuberant close.

Programme notes by Christopher Cheong

RECOMMENDED LISTENING 1) Shostakovich: Cello Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Mischa Maisky, Michael Tilson Thomas & London Symphony Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon, 1995) 2) Dvorak: Symphony No. 6 - Nocturne - Scherzo capriccioso Marin Alsop & Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (Naxos, 2010)

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ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT 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 Md Fariz bin Samsuri Mr Radin Sulaiman bin Ali LIBRARY 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

DEVELOPMENT & PARTNERSHIPS 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 Jana Loh 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 Melissa Lee Ms Evelyn Siew 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

SUPPORTED BY

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

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

SSO.ORG.SG