HDCD® and High Definition Compatible Digital® are registered trademarks of Pacific Microsonics, Inc., Patent No. 5,479,168 Felix Mendelssohn Rather than being solely a composer, Felix Mendelssohn should be considered a polymath – educated and skilled in music, painting and drawing, languages, 1. Hebrides the classics, as well as being an accomplished sportsman, dancer and chess Violin in E minor player. His musical accomplishments – of which composition was always the 2. Allegro molto appassionato - Presto most important in his own eyes – also include performances as a virtuoso on 3. Andante - Allegretto non troppo the piano and organ, a gifted violinist, a conductor, and an administrator and 4. Allegro molto vivace editor who has left a legacy still respected and followed in the early twenty-first No. 3 in A minor ‘Scottish’ century. Born in , 3 February 1809, Felix was the second child of 5. Andante con moto - Allegro un poco agitato Abraham and Lea Mendelssohn. Abraham was a successful banker in a firm 6. Vivace non troppo he founded with his brother in Berlin, a city he and his family (including the 7. Adagio children Fanny (born 1805), Felix, and another daughter, Rebecka (born 8. Allegro vivacissimo - Allegro maestoso assai 1811)) returned to in July 1811. A fourth child, Paul, was born in 1812. The SCOTTISH CHAMBER family were well-off, and the children well educated. Felix and his sister Fanny JOSEPH SWENSEN - director/violin received their initial musical education from their mother Lea, although others were called in to help polish the two prodigies. During a visit to Paris Recorded at The Usher Hall, Edinburgh, UK, July 2002 Produced by Andrew Keener in 1816-7 the children received piano lessons from Marie Bigot, a player who Engineered by Philip Hobbs and Calum Malcolm was admired by both Haydn and Beethoven. Later musical lessons came from Jonathan del Mar – Critical Consultant Ludwig Berger and then, at the Berlin Singakademie, with Carl Friedrich Zelter. Post-production by Julia at Finesplice Zelter was himself schooled and taught using instruction from Kirnberger’s Cover photo of Isle of Staffa by Colin Prior Kunst des reinen Satzes in der Musik, written to disseminate the pedagogical Photo of SCO by Photo of Joseph Swensen by method of J S Bach. Zelter probably commenced teaching the young Felix Design by www.haxby.net composition in mid-1819, the first datable composition performed on 11 Dedicated to Dorothy Delay December 1819. Although not a performing prodigy in quite the same way as the young Mozart, family connections allowed much opportunity for the young Despite being capable of writing fast when it was required of him, Felix to meet and perform in front of leading European musicians including, at Mendelssohn was at heart a constant reviser of his own works. The first draft various times, Hummel, Spohr, Schelbe, Moscheles, Cherubini, Kreutzer and of the Hebrides overture was competed in Rome during a visit in the winter Rossini. When still in his mid-teens, Mendelssohn was given a copy of Bach’s of 1830-1, but the work was not competed and performed until mid-1832. In St Matthew Passion, a work which (after years of preparation) he revived in the case of the Scottish Symphony work was even slower, the piece not being a celebrated performance at the Berlin Singakademie in March 1829. By this completed and performed until 1842. Part of the delay with the latter piece can time Felix was known as a gifted composer whose works were regularly being be directly attributed to his other activities. From 1833, still in his early 20s, performed – his Midsummer Night’s Dream was premièred in early 1827 Mendelssohn held a series of musical posts, including those of Music Director at a concert which also included the composer playing one of the solo parts in Düsseldorf and, from 1835, Musical Director in , where his duties in his Double in Ab. The earliest of his Lieder ohne Worte included conducting the Gewandhaus orchestra. In 1838 he directed a series was written, as a birthday present for his sister Fanny, in 1828. 1829 also saw of four “historical concerts”, featuring performances of music composed up Felix embark on what can best be described as a Grand Tour. Shortly after the to 100 years earlier. A similar series in 1841 featured five concerts, the first of performances of the St Matthew’s Passion Mendelssohn left for Hamburg, and which featured the music of Bach and Handel, and the last having music by following a difficult crossing of the English Channel he arrived in on contemporary composers. Although not the first, Mendelssohn conducted with April 21. Initially remaining in London, often performing at private gatherings a baton, and it is here that the orchestral concert programme of today has its (although he did conduct his overture to Midsummer Night’s Dream on earliest foundations. Midsummer’s Day), Felix left London in late July to visit Scotland for a walking Mendelssohn’s later life saw an increased workload, often dividing tour. It was at an assembly of bagpipe musicians at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, his time between a newly-created (although undefined) post in Berlin, and that the inspiration for the opening of the Scottish Symphony (No.3) came to his position in Leipzig. He was also involved in the creation of the Music him, and within two weeks he had the genesis of his Hebrides overture, which Conservatory in Leipzig, heading a staff which also included , came to him while looking out at the Hebrides. A letter written to his family, Ignaz Moscheles, Ferdinand David, Moritz Hauptmann, and later Niels Gade. dated August 7, 1829, includes the opening bars of the first theme in score. As his workload increased, so did his frustration at the lack of time available Although intimately connected with the work, it was not until the following day to pursue his favourite activity – composition. The Scottish Symphony was that Mendelssohn visited Fingal’s Cave on the island of Staffa. finished in January 1842, and received its première on March 3 of that year. His one true compositional masterpiece of his last years is his Violin Concerto The depression (for that is what a modern physician may well call it) in E minor, op. 64, written for Ferdinand David, and premièred in Leipzig in his later years never escaped Mendelssohn. Whereas Mozart suffered poverty, (conducted by Niels Gade) on March 13, 1845. He never managed to free Beethoven deafness and Schumann madness, Felix suffered as a result of his himself of other commitments – a commission from the London Handel great success, something familiar to the people of the twenty-first century. He Society to edit Isreal in Egypt resulted in the first “modern” published died, months after his beloved sister Fanny, following a stroke on October 29, edition – Mendelssohn clearly differentiating between the written marks of the 1847, aged only 38. composer and Mendelssohn’s own suggestions. The following year his edition of Bach’s organ works used similar practices. D. Martin, Edinburgh, September 2002 Principal Conductor Joseph Swensen The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is internationally recognised for its innovative Managing Director Roy McEwan approach to music-making and programme planning. Formed in 1974 with a commitment to serve the Scottish community, it is also one of Scotland’s 4 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh EH7 5AB tel: 0131 557 6800 fax: 0131 557 6933 foremost cultural ambassadors. The Orchestra performs throughout Scotland, e-mail: [email protected] web: www.sco.org.uk including an annual tour of the Scottish Highlands and Islands, and appears regularly at the Edinburgh, St Magnus and Aldeburgh Festivals and the BBC

1ST VIOLIN VIOLA CLARINET Proms. Its busy international touring schedule has recently included the USA, guest leader: Sophie Renshaw Maximiliano Martin Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Sweden and Hong Kong. Stephen Bryant Simon Rawson Ruth Ellis The Orchestra’s dynamic relationship with Principal Conductor Joseph assistant leader: Brian Schiele Ruth Crouch Rebecca Wexler BASSOON Swensen continues to develop and, with both Swensen and Conductor Laureate Greg Lawson Ursula Leveaux Sir Charles Mackerras, the Orchestra pushes the boundaries of conventional ’CELLO Alison Green Lise Aferiat chamber orchestra repertoire, performing symphonic repertoire which was Lorna McLaren Ursula Smith Kevin McCrae HORN written for smaller than those usually heard performing it today. Fiona Alexander Robert Cook Cheryl Crockett Su-a Lee The SCO has an impressive catalogue of recordings, including - in partnership Alison Lawrence Harry Johnstone Fiona Stephen Paul Klein with Sir Charles Mackerras - six Mozart operas and a Grammy-nominated set BASS Jeremy Bushell 2ND VIOLIN of Brahms . Emily Davis Nick Brayley David Hutcheson The Orchestra enjoys close relationships with many leading com- Adrian Bornet TRUMPET posers, including Composer Laureate Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Affiliate Andrew Storey FLUTE Peter Franks Composer James MacMillan. The Orchestra also collaborates with the Swedish Rosemary Ellison Levke Hollmer Shaun Harrold Chamber Orchestra in a programme of joint commissions from Sally Beamish Robert McFall Kate Chisholm Niamh Lyons TIMPANI and Karin Rehnqvist. Odile Ollagnon OBOE Caroline Garden The SCO has led the way in the development of music education, Robin Williams Rosie Staniforth with a unique and individual programme of projects, providing workshops for children and adults across Scotland. generation of conductors. He was appointed Principal Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in 1996 and Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in September 2000. He has made guest appearances with many major orchestras including the Los Angeles and London Philharmonic Orchestras, Saint Louis, Gothenburg and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, the Hallé Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie. At the age of seven Swensen entered the Juilliard School, where he studied the violin with Dorothy Delay. He subsequently went on to build a successful career as a concert violinist. However he had been harbouring ambitions to conduct since childhood and began studying conducting in his early teens. The moment to make the notable change of career came in 1991, at which point Swensen ceased to perform in public on the violin. As a result of playing chamber music with musicians of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, with whom he had formed a very close artistic relationship, Swensen more recently began to consider returning to the concerto repertoire. In 2000 he performed and directed the Brahms Violin Concerto with the SCO on a concert tour in Scotland, and went on to perform Mozart’s 3rd Concerto and the Mendelssohn concerto. Joseph Swensen is not intending to recommence his career as a violinist and will not be appearing as a soloist with other conductors. He will Joseph Swensen continue to play only with those orchestras with whom he has a long- Joseph Swensen has rapidly established himself as one of the most standing relationship as a conductor. exciting talents to have emerged from amongst today’s younger Swensen plays a 1715 Stradivarius known as the “ “.