VCH ORGAN SERIES 16/17
ISAAC LEE 13 MAR 2017 MON VICTORIA CONCERT HALL
VCH ORGAN SERIES: ISAAC LEE Isaac Lee, organ School of the Arts Singapore Student Choreographers and Performers* Han Xin Yi Maria Joan Antoaldina Dwiartanto Teo Jun Ning Tristan Kevin Glenn Calaud Choreographic Mentor David Zeitner Lighting Designer Yeo Tejay
NICOLAUS BRUHNS Praeludium in E minor (Greater)
GEORG BÖHM
Vater unser im Himmelreich*
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Organ Sonata No. 2 in C minor, Op. 65
ANONYMOUS Uppon La, Mi, Re*
JOSEF RHEINBERGER “Fugue” from Organ Sonata No. 3 in G major, Op. 88
ORGAN
ISAAC LEE Isaac Lee started organ studies at the age of 18 with Evelyn Lim in Singapore. He went on to pursue a Bachelor of Music degree at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York and graduated with distinction. He obtained a Masters in Organ Performance from the Royal Danish Academy of Music studying with Hans Davidsson.
Academy in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He was recently appointed to the position of organ scholar at Roskilde Cathedral, a UNESCO world heritage site, and performs regularly on the historic 1555 Raphaelis organ. He is furthering his studies at the Royal Danish Academy with Bine Bryndorf.
Recent awards include winning the Amager Musikfestivals Talentpris and representing the Royal Danish 1
SOTA STUDENT CHOREOGRAPHERS & PERFORMERS Han Xin Yi, Maria Joan Antoaldina Dwiartanto, Teo Jun Ning and Tristan Kevin Glenn Calaud are currently in their final year at School of the Arts Singapore (SOTA). Their education encompasses training in classical ballet, diverse contemporary dance forms, South-East Asian dance styles, dance improvisation and choreography making. They also have experiences in theatre work, music, visual arts and media studies through collaborations with other art programmes offered by SOTA. After their graduation, Xin Yi, Maria Joan, Jun Ning and Tristan Kevin look forward to pursuing further dance training in view of commencing careers as professional dance performers both in Singapore and around the world.
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VCH ORGAN SERIES: ISAAC LEE
FOREWORD By David Zeitner, Choreographic Mentor How can we make 16th and 17th century music visible through our contemporary bodies? How can we, who lead increasingly busy lives, slow down enough to absorb and portray every musical note played? How can we breathe new life into the beautiful setting of the carefully restored Victoria Concert Hall here in Singapore? These questions have guided us as we started on our journey with organist Isaac Lee, in efforts to marry dance and music in this collaboration. Isaac, the dancers and I have personally met only
a few days before this performance. What connected us throughout the planning and creative process was the music. We listened to it carefully and allowed our bodies to respond to the sounds and feelings evoked, which has resulted in the choreographies that will be presented today. In dance, we sometimes say that music is the result of movement, and this is what we aim to present to you. We hope you will enjoy the outcome of our collaborative journey as much as we did.
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PROGRAMME NOTES BY ISAAC LEE
NICOLAUS BRUHNS 1665 - 1697 Praeludium in E minor (Greater) Nicolaus Bruhns was born in Schwabstedt near Husum in Schleswig. He came from a large family of musicians; his father was the organist in Schwabstedt. He excelled at both the violin and the organ, and at the age of 16, was sent to Lübeck to study violin with his uncle Peter Bruhns and organ with the eminent Dieterich Buxtehude. Our most famous account of Bruhns comes from Johann Mattheson, who wrote that Bruhns would improvise on the violin, producing mellifluous tones in multiple voices and skillfully accompanying himself on the pedals thereby producing a most pleasant sound. He attained such a degree of excellence that Buxtehude warmly recommended him to Copenhagen where he spent several years (1686 1689) further honing his skills as an organ virtuoso. He eventually settled in the wealthy coastal town of Husum, presiding over the Fritzche instrument. The Praeludium in E minor is a multisectional piece much in the style of Buxtehude’s praeludia. The music alternates dramatic outbursts with episodes of disconcerting introspection.
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GEORG BÖHM 1661 - 1733 Vater unser im Himmelreich Georg Böhm is best remembered today for his contributions to the chorale partita genre and the influence his music had on the young Johann Sebastian Bach. The chorale prelude of Vater unser im Himmelreich is one of the most celebrated pieces in the ornamented chorale tradition. Böhm is known to have spent time in cosmopolitan Hamburg when French and Italian operas held sway over contemporary tastes and this setting of the hymn unabashedly borrows from the trends of its day. The result is a successful blend of the sacred and the secular. Böhm cycles through the chorale tune once and repeats the last phrase of music - “hilf daß es geh von Herzensgrund”- three times like a fervent devotional prayer.
FELIX MENDELSSOHN 1809 - 1847 Organ Sonata No. 2, Op. 65 Mendelssohn’s landmark Bach concert in Leipzig cemented his position as one of the foremost proponents of Bach’s organ music in his native Germany. His immersion from childhood in the musical language and culture of Bach; his exposure to much of Bach’s oeuvre; his passion and knowledge of eighteenth-century organ aesthetics and construction and his capacity as a lifelong performer and editor of Bach established him as
VCH ORGAN SERIES: ISAAC LEE
the bona-fide Bach successor in the first half of the nineteenth century. Following the commercial success of his Preludes and Fugues of 1837, the London publisher Charles Coventry requested that Mendelssohn write three more voluntaries (sonatas). The project grew to become the Six Sonatas which synthesised his romantic disposition with his love of Bach. The sonata opens with a terse Grave introduction which gives way to a sublime Lieder ohne Worte setting. An exuberant march in C major follows and the sonata concludes with a majestic fugue.
ANONYMOUS Uppon La, Mi, Re
This quirky little oddity might have been a didactic piece; a fully-realized guide on the art of improvisation. The left hand plays an ostinato based on La, Mi, Re, while the right hand weaves in and out, creating dissonances and consonances. These dissonances become even more apparent when played on organs with older systems of tuning.
JOSEF RHEINBERGER 1839 - 1901 “Fugue” from Organ Sonata No. 3 in G, Op. 88
distinguished teacher, and prolific composer) but the change in musical aesthetics at the turn of the century “robbed” Rheinberger of his legacy and his music fell out of favour. People distanced themselves from the conservative-classical ideals which Rheinberger allied himself with and he is relegated to the history books by modern commentators. However the high standards of his craft and the integrity of his work has garnered renewed interests. He had much practice, having written twenty organ sonatas and two organ concertos. The sonata is built around the eighth psalm tone; a pre-existing melodic recitation formula. The first movement is a bucolic pastorale charged with Arcadian simplicity. The psalm tone is presented right at the onset in the pedals, which is accompanied by lilting pastoral figurations. The psalm tone then lilts to the top voice before the movement comes to a resounding close. A lilting Intermezzo follows and leads directly into a spritely fugue. Rheinberger offers a moment of respite by bringing back the psalm tone halfway through the fugue. The stillness of the psalm tone, now cast in the key of E major, stands in stark contrast to the animated fugue subject; a juxtaposition of the sacred and secular. The two themes eventually combine to bring the piece to a rousing conclusion.
Josef Rheinberger was a German composer and organist from Liechtenstein. He was a giant in the musical world (an influential musician,
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UPCOMING CONCERTS IN THE VCH ORGAN SERIES
Mon, 10 April 2017, 12.30pm Victoria Concert Hall
Sunday, 18 June 2017, 2pm & 4pm Victoria Concert Hall
PAVEL KOHOUT
PETER AND THE WOLF
Pavel Kohout, organ
Michael Knudsen, organ Act 3 Theatrics Adriel Yap, organ builder
BUXTEHUDE Toccata in F major, BuxWV157
J.S. BACH
Brandenburg Concert No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048
KUMMER
“Final” from Organ Symphony No. 1, Op. 14
MEET-THE-ORGAN BUILDER
Variations on the Paganini’s theme for Solo Pedal
DUBOIS
VIERNE
INTERVIEW PROKOFIEV ARR. GRIMM Peter and the Wolf
Toccata from Douze Pièces pour Orgue (1889) In Paradisum from Douze Pièces Nouvelles pour Orgue (1893)
WIDOR “Final” from 2nd Organ Symphony for Grand Organ , Op. 13
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VCH ORGAN SERIES: ISAAC LEE
THE KLAIS ORGAN First installed in 1987, the Victoria Concert Hall’s Klais organ was purchased through fundraising efforts from the then-newly formed SSO Ladies’ League as a replacement for the St. Clair organ that had been built some 50 years earlier in 1931. The St. Clair organ was named after Major W. G. St. Clair, founder of the old Philharmonic Society and the first editor of the Singapore Free Press, and its façade was retained after the installation of the Klais organ. In 2010, with the redevelopment of the Victoria Concert Hall and Victoria Theatre, the organ – consisting of a total of 2,012 pipes – was methodically removed piece by piece, repaired and stored in climatecontrolled warehouses during the refurbishment period. 8
Being the only mechanical organ in Singapore, the Klais organ has strong emotional links with generations of audiences and many donors and supporters of classical music, notably the Lee Foundation, who have stepped forward to provide financial support for the restoration. When the Victoria Concert Hall reopened in the second half of 2014, the organ once again took centrestage, providing awe-inspiring and delicate strains of music to old and new audiences. Our heartfelt thanks to all donors who have graciously contributed towards the organ restoration project.
VCH ORGAN SERIES: ISAAC LEE
We would like to thank the following organisations and individuals for donating towards the restoration of the Klais Organ.
Lee Foundation, Singapore Goh Yew Lin Far East Organization Ho Ching Mrs Christina Ong Low Check Kian Tan Kong Piat (Pte) Ltd Tow Heng Tan Bernard Tan Tiong Gie Winston Hauw Michael Koh Ann Kheng Richard P Armstrong Joseph Grimberg One North Capital Pte Ltd Tan Corporate Advisory Pte Ltd United Overseas Bank Ltd
Leong Wai Leng Wing Tai Holdings Limited Yeoh Chee Yan ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited Paul A. J. Supramaniam Auric Pacific Group Limited Heidrick & Struggles Bryan Manaf Ghows Santa Lucia Asset Management Andreas Sohmen-Pao Tan Boon Ngee American Women’s Association Chng Hak-Peng Dr Warren Lee’s Paediatrics Growth & Diabetes Centre Pte Ltd
ABOUT THE KLAIS ORGAN Mechanical Stop and Keyboard Action Windpressure: Manuals: 100mm Pedal: 120mm 3 Manual Combination Pedals Builder: Klais, Bonn 1987
SWELL
GREAT
Hautbois 8’ Basson 16’ Scharff 4 Ranks Sesquialter 2 Ranks Octavin 2’ Blockflöte 4’ Principal 4’ Vox Coeleste 8’ Gamba 8’ Rohrflöte 8’ Tremulant
Cromorne 8’ Trompete 8’ Mixture 4 Ranks Larigot 1 1/3’ Superoctave 2’ Traversflöte 4’ Octave 4’ Offenflöte 8’ Principal 8’ Quintaton 16’ Tremulant
Couplers: I/Ped II/Ped II/I II/II 16’
PATRON SPONSOR
PEDAL Trompete 8’ Posaune 16’ Rauschpfeife 3 Ranks Choralbass 4’ Bourdon 8’ Octave 8’ Subbass 16’ Principal 16’
SPONSORED BY
www.sso.org.sg/vchorgan