CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS PROGRAM

Friday, March 22, 2013, 8pm Shostakovich Prelude and Scherzo for Strings, Op. 11 Hertz Hall (1924–1925) Prelude: Adagio — Più mosso — Adagio Australian Chamber Orchestra Scherzo: Allegro molto Richard Tognetti, Artistic Director & Lead with Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) for Strings, Op. 70 Alice Sara Ott, piano (1890; rev. 1891–1892) Christopher Martin, trumpet Allegro con spirito Adagio cantabile e con moto — Moderato — Tempo I Allegro moderato PROGRAM Allegro vivace

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) Visions Fugitives for Strings, Op. 22 (1915–1917) arr. Barshai/Tognetti 1. Lentamente This performance is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsors Linda and Will Schieber. 2. Andante 4. Animato Cal Performances’ 2012–2013 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. 6. Con eleganza 7. Pittoresca 8. Commodo 10. Ridicolosamente 11. Con vivacita 12. Assai moderato 13. Allegretto 14. Feroce 15. Inquieto 16. Dolente 18. Con una dolce lentezza (arr. Tognetti) 19. Presto agitatissimo e molto accentuato (arr. Tognetti)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) Concerto No. 1 for Piano, Trumpet, and Strings in C minor, Op. 35 (1933) Allegro moderato Lento Moderato Allegro brio Played without pause

Alice Sara Ott, piano Christopher Martin, trumpet

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Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) at a concert in his honor at the Tenishev School sound of a factory by including a shaken metal called “a comical trumpet obbligato.” When he Visions Fugitives for Strings, Op. 22 in St. Petersburg, one of ’s most exclusive sheet in the scoring. To the genre of proletar- performed the Concerto, Shostakovich accorded arr. Rudolf Barshai (1924–2010) & Richard private academies, and he frequently included ian music, Shostakovich contributed the rat- the trumpeter the importance of a virtual sec- Tognetti (b. 1965) them on his recitals throughout his career. tlingly jingoistic Second and Third symphonies ond soloist by having the player sit at the front of The Visions Fugitives encompass within their (To October, 1927, and The First of May, 1929), the stage, next to the piano, and sharing the ap- Composed in 1915–1917; arranged in 1962. short spans—only three last more than two the ballets The Age of Gold (1930) and The Bolt plause with him at the end of the work. Eugene Original piano version premiered on April 15, minutes—a wide variety of expressive states, (the former strongly anti-Fascist, the latter on an List, who was soloist in the American premiere 1918, in St. Petersburg by the . from meditative to sarcastic, from playful to som- industrial theme), and the anti-bourgeois opera in 1934 (when he was just 16 years old), ex- ber. Most are built around a single musical idea, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1930–1932, plained the success of the Piano Concerto No. 1: Prokofiev was both the whiz kid and the bad boy though a few contain contrasting central episodes. premiered 1934). A strain of sarcasm, carried “It is contemporary without being too ‘far out’ of early 20th-century Russian music. Before he The for strings of 15 of the over from the music of the early 1920s, is evi- for the average concertgoer. It has youthful fire graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory Visions Fugitives was made by the Russian con- dent in some of these pieces, and was dominant and audacity, tongue-in-cheek jollity, a number in 1914, he had compiled an amazing student ductor Rudolf Barshai in 1962 for his in the scathing opera of 1930, The Nose, based of satirical allusions to well-known classics, and portfolio comprising two piano sonatas and Chamber Orchestra. on a story by Gogol. This satirical quality ap- brilliant piano writing. It also has a beautiful two-dozen shorter piano pieces, a piano con- pears again, balanced by the required “social slow movement. The trumpet solo part is strik- certo, three orchestral works, two choruses for realism” (described by one literary critic as “fun- ingly effective; and the scoring in general is bril- women’s voices, an opera, a Ballade for and (1906–1975) damentally optimistic” and “conservative”), in liant and unusual.” piano, and songs; he also won the Conservatory’s Concerto No. 1 for Piano, Trumpet, and Strings the Concerto for Piano, Trumpet, and Strings, The Concerto is in four continuous move- first prize for his piano playing. His musical in C minor, Op. 35 Op. 35, of 1933. ments, with the third movement acting as a slow style, however, was gleefully iconoclastic, full Its blend of caustic humor and a certain introduction to the finale rather than as an in- of nose-thumbing dissonances and motoric Composed in 1933. Premiered on October 15, 1933, steely expressivity have made the First Piano dependent essay. The opening Allegro moderato is rhythms, and it drove his professors to the point in Leningrad, with the composer as soloist. Concerto one of Shostakovich’s most popu- in modified sonata form. After a prefatory flour- of distraction. (One critic’s thoughts became lar works; he frequently performed it as solo- ish from piano and trumpet, the soloist presents so scattered upon exposure to the First Piano In 1927, Joseph Stalin secured the expulsion ist. He was an excellent pianist, but the lack a serious melody growing from the tones of the Concerto that he allowed that if that was mu- of Trotsky and Zinoviev, his two chief rivals of practice time—in addition to his creative C minor triad. The soon present a comple- sic, he “much preferred agriculture.”) Prokofiev, for power in the . A year later, he work, he was also active in 1933 as the elected mentary theme of similar nature, which is then by age 23, when he was at work on the Sarcasms ended Lenin’s “New Economic Policy” in favor deputy to the Oktyabrsky District in Leningrad elaborated by the piano. A sharp change of mood for piano and a ballet for Diaghilev on a primi- of the first “Five Year Plan,” a scheme intended and as one of the organizers of the Leningrad ushers in the secondary motives: a mock-fanfare tive, pagan subject titled Ala and Lolli (from to industrialize and collectivize the nation under Union of Soviet —prevented him from the soloist above a martial string accompa- which Prokofiev later extracted the thunder- his leadership. Stalin’s dictates had serious con- from playing much music other than his own. niment, and a natty little tune tossed off by the ous Scythian Suite for orchestra), had acquired sequences for all Russians (most devastatingly The composer’s student Samari Savshinsky de- trumpet. The middle portion of the movement is “a reputation.” for those caught in the ghastly “purges” of the scribed him as “an outstanding artist and per- given over to a development of the letter and the In 1915, however, Prokofiev began sketch- 1930s), not excluding artists and musicians. The former. The crystalline clarity and precision of spirit of the secondary themes. The recapitulation ing some aphoristic piano pieces that reflected a period of almost Dadaist artistic experimenta- thought, the almost ascetic absence of embel- begins with the violins’ complementary theme moderated modernity characterized by an often tion in the 1920s came suddenly to an end when lishment, the precise rhythm, technical perfec- rather than with the piano’s serious opening mel- inspired lyricism, an acceptance of conventional artists were instructed that they had “social tion, and very personal timbre he produced at ody, which is held in reserve to serve as a coda. forms and a harmonic idiom that University of tasks” to perform with their creations, and that the piano made all Shostakovich’s piano play- The slow movement breathes a scented, nos- Missouri professor Neil Minturn wrote “relies “formalism”—the ill-defined Soviet term for ing individual in the highest degree.... Those talgic air that seems almost more French than on the dynamic interplay between harmonic ex- avant-garde or personally expressive works—was who remember his performance of Beethoven’s Russian. (Had some of Poulenc’s early works perimentation and traditional tonality, between absolutely forbidden. Musical compositions of mighty ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata, followed by a found their way to Shostakovich’s ear?) The main wrong notes and right notes.” Over the next the time, because of their abstract nature, were number of Chopin pieces, can only regret that melody is a wistful waltz in slow tempo, given first two years, Prokofiev collected 20 of these piano less directly affected by Party policy than were his talent as a pianist was never fully developed by muted violins. The piano enters with its own miniatures, which Israel Nestyev in his study of literature or painting, but nevertheless showed or applied.” melody, which gathers intensity as it proceeds. the composer compared to “entries in a diary,” a significant change in attitude from the pre- The musical style of the First Piano Concerto The theme and mood of the opening return when into a set he titled Visions Fugitives, after a poem ceding years. Alexander Mossolov (1900–1973), reflects the playing of its author. Its taut writ- the trumpet recalls the principal melody. by the Russian symbolist writer Konstantin at first a modernist composer who had written ing for the solo instrument, its pointed melodic The following movement, an introduction to Balmont: In every fugitive vision I see worlds/Full songs to the texts of newspaper advertisements, and harmonic leadings and its brittle tempera- the finale, comprises two cadenzas for the solo- of the changing play of rainbow hues. Prokofiev created a sensation in 1927 with his ballet The ment are complemented by its novel scoring for ist: the first is unaccompanied; the second, pref- premiered the Visions Fugitives on April 15, 1918, Iron Foundry, an attempt to imitate the patriotic piano, and what Robert Bagar aced by a sad melody for the strings, is supported

6 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 7 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES by the orchestra. The closing movement is a bril- the screen, sat Dmitri, his back soaked with he sought distraction in frequent travel abroad; November. As with other of his works, his initial liant, bubbling affair of several episodes whose perspiration, his near-sighted eyes in their horn- Paris and Italy were his favorite destinations. In pleasure with the Sextet evaporated after hear- sparkling vivacity recalls some of Haydn’s sym- rimmed glasses peering upwards to follow the January 1890 he settled in Florence, and spent ing it. “It will be necessary to change the String phonic finales. The cadenza near the end, added story, his fingers pounding away on the raucous the next three months in that beautiful city Sextet radically,” he reported to the composer because a pianist friend of the composer was dis- upright piano. Late at night he trudged home in a working on his latest operatic venture, Pique Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov. “It turned out to be appointed that the Concerto’s original version thin coat and summer cap, with no warm gloves Dame (“The Queen of Spades”). He took long extremely poor in all respects.” He began a re- allowed no provision for a closing solo display, is or galoshes, and arrived exhausted around one walks along the Arno, marveled that spring vision early in 1891, but had to put it aside for an ironic treatment of a theme from Beethoven’s o’clock in the morning.” The taxing job sapped flowers sprouted in February, and savored the his tour to the United States in April and May, rondo titled Rage over a Lost Penny. his strength and health, but Shostakovich still food. “I have found here all I need for satisfacto- and then for the composition and production of eked out a little time to sketch a First Symphony ry work,” he wrote to his brother Modeste. After and the opera Iolanthe; the new that would serve as his graduation exercise fol- a brief stay in Rome, he arrived back in Russia version was not finished until January 1892 in Shostakovich lowing completion of his Conservatory studies on May 1st, noting five days later to a friend that Paris. It was at that time that Tchaikovsky, with- Prelude and Scherzo for Strings, Op. 11 early in 1925. In December 1924, he set aside after finishing Pique Dame, “I want to make out further explanation, appended the phrase the Symphony to write a movement for string sketches for a sextet for strings.” The orchestra- “Souvenir de Florence” to its title. Jurgenson Composed in 1924–1925. octet in memory of his friend, the young poet tion of the opera was completed by early the next published the score and parts in June, and the Volodya Kurchavov. The following July, after month, and on June 12th he told Modeste that Souvenir de Florence was given its public pre- Shostakovich entered the Leningrad his family had scraped together sufficient re- he was “starting the tomorrow.” miere, with good success, in St. Petersburg on Conservatory in 1919 as a student of piano, sources to extricate him from his celluloid pur- For the Sextet Tchaikovsky apparently used December 7, 1892, by an ensemble including the composition, counterpoint, harmony and or- gatory so that he could complete the gestating some sketches that he had made for a similar famous violinist Leopold Auer. chestration. He was 13. His father died three Symphony, Shostakovich added a Scherzo to the composition three years earlier, but almost im- In their biography of Tchaikovsky, Lawrence years later, leaving a widow and children with earlier Prelude to create the Two Pieces for String mediately admitted to his brother running into and Elisabeth Hanson wrote, “The Souvenir de no means of support, so Dmitri’s mother, a Octet, Op. 11, which were issued by the State problems with the new piece: “I started working Florence is not great music but it is very pleasant talented amateur musician and an unswerving Publishing House in 1927. on it the day before yesterday, and am writing and extremely cleverly constructed. It is above believer in her son’s talent and the benefits of Though modest in scale and scoring, the under great strain, the difficulty being not nec- all suffused with an atmosphere not often as- his training at the Conservatory, took a job as Prelude and Scherzo for Octet encompass an essarily a lack of ideas, but the new format. Six sociated with this composer, of a calm genial- a typist to provide the necessities for the family. almost symphonic range of expressive states. independent voices are needed, and, moreover, ity.” It is probably this quality that prompted She constantly sought help from official sources The Prelude takes as the outer sections of its they have to be homogeneous. This is very dif- Tchaikovsky, who often wrote in his letters of to sustain Dmitri’s career, but by the autumn of three-part form (A–B–A) a somber Adagio, ficult. Haydn was never able to overcome such the “heavenly” Italian climate, to add the sobri- 1924, it became necessary for the young musi- whose stark harmonic progressions and imita- difficulties, and never wrote any quet to the work’s original title. The music it- cian to find work despite the press of his studies tive passages recall Bach’s eponymous compo- other than quartets.... I definitely do not want to self is decidedly Russian in mood and melody, and the frail state of his health. (He spent several sitions. At the center of the movement lies an write just any old tune and then arrange it for six with only a certain lightness of spirit in the first weeks in 1923 at a sanatorium to treat his tuber- animated paragraph with much conversational instruments, I want a sextet—that is, six inde- two movements showing any possible Italianate culosis.) Victor Seroff described Shostakovich’s interchange of motives among the participants. pendent voices, so that it can never be anything traits. Indeed, if anything the Sextet exhibits a new job: as pianist in a movie house. “The little The Scherzo, one of Shostakovich’s most deter- but a sextet.” That Tchaikovsky was wrong about strong German influence in the richness of its theater was old, drafty and smelly,” wrote Seroff. minedly modernist creations, reflects the period Haydn, who wrote at least one sextet and several string sonorities and thematic development, “It had not seen fresh paint or a scrubbing for of avant-gardism that flourished briefly in Soviet quintets, did not diminish his trouble with the which frequently recall Brahms’ chamber music. years, the walls were peeling, and the dirt lay art before Stalin came to power in 1927. The mu- piece. Still, he persevered, and by the end of the The opening movement is a full sonata structure thick in every corner. Three times a day a new sic is cheeky and brash, overflowing with insou- month he had completed the first draft. “Up to given in the style of a bustling waltz. The fol- crowd packed the small house; they carried the ciant dissonance and youthful energy. now I am very pleased with it,” he told Modeste. lowing Adagio is disposed in a three-part form snow in with them on their shoes and overcoats. A week later his enthusiasm had not dimmed: “It whose brief center section is constructed from They munched food that they brought with is some Sextet. What a great fugue there is at the a delightful, fluttering rhythmic figuration. The them, apples and sunflower seeds that they spat Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) end—a real delight. I am tremendously pleased two closing movements are based on folk-like on the floor. The heat of the packed bodies in Souvenir de Florence for Strings, Op. 70 with myself.” He began the orchestration of the themes, the first a sad song that is the subject their damp clothes, added to the warmth of two score on July 13th in anticipation of its perfor- of considerable elaboration as it progresses, the small stoves, made the bad air stifling hot by the Composed in 1890; revised in 1891–1892. mance the next month in St. Petersburg, but other a bounding Cossack dance. end of the performance. Then the doors were Premiered on December 7, 1892, in St. Petersburg. that concert never materialized, and he did not flung open to let the crowd out and to air the hear the Sextet until it was played for him by hall before the next show, and cold damp drafts Tchaikovsky’s soul was seldom at rest in the some friends in his St. Petersburg apartment in © 2013 Dr. Richard E. Rodda swept through the house. Down in front, below years following his marital disaster in 1877, and

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Saturday, March 23, 2013, 8pm Haydn Symphony No. 4 in (1760) Hertz Hall Presto Andante Australian Chamber Orchestra Finale: Tempo di Menuetto Richard Tognetti, Artistic Director & Lead Violin

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) Serenade for Strings in E major, Op. 22 (1875) PROGRAM Moderato Tempo di Valse Scherzo: Vivace Larghetto Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) Symphony No. 49 in F minor, “La passione” Finale: Allegro vivace (1768)

Adagio Allegro di molto Menuet This performance is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsors Linda and Will Schieber. Finale: Presto Cal Performances’ 2012–2013 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

Brett Dean (b. 1961) Electric Preludes for Electric Violin and String Orchestra (2011–2012)

Abandoned playground Topography — Papunya Peripeteia The beyonds of mirrors Perpetuum mobile Berceuse

Richard Tognetti, electric violin

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Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) decade of his career, and tried out in them all its somber Adagio tread throughout, as though (2011), and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Symphony No. 49 in F minor, “La passione” manner of musical ingredients: concertante writ- evoking “winding lines of penitents before the Orchestra (2011); fulfilled commissions from ing, fugues, three-movement sinfonias, spun-out Cross,” wrote Robbins Landon. It is likely that the Berlin Philharmonic, Composed in 1768. Bachian themes, square-cut folksy tunes, extra- such music was the source of the slow introduc- Orchestra, Philharmonic, BBC musical programs, thematic quotations, minor tions that became common as prefaces to many Proms, Lucerne Festival, Cologne Philharmonie, There exists a strain in the German character that keys, harmonic audacities. “As head of an or- of Haydn’s later symphonies. There follows a fast BBC Symphony, Symphony, and seems to need the expression of strong emotions chestra,” he wrote, “I could experiment, observe movement, again in sonata form, which begins Symphony; and received such no- and profound thoughts in its art works. It was what heightened the effect and what weakened almost in the manner of a chorale prelude, with table awards as the Chamber Music Society of probably inevitable, therefore, that the ephem- it, expand, cut, take risks. I was cut off from the a slow cantus firmus supported by a walking bass Lincoln Center’s Elise L. Stoeger Prize for his eral sweetness of much music of the Rococo and world, there was no one near me to torment me line. It, like all the movements of this Symphony, contributions to chamber music (2011), the early Classic periods would not be entirely sat- or make me doubt myself, and so I had to be- is in F minor, a technique also derived from the Grawemeyer Award from the University of isfactory to northern tastes. Beginning as early come original.” sonata da chiesa. The next movement, a thought- Louisville for his violin concerto The Lost Art of as the 1750s, there came into the works of sev- One of the important models for several ful Menuet, provides the only glint of sunlight in Letter Writing (2009), National eral important composers, notably Carl Philipp of Haydn’s symphonies of the 1760s (Nos. 5, the entire work, when its trio, presided over by Music Award (2000, 2005), and an honorary Emanuel Bach, a striving after a heightened mu- 11, 18, 21, 22, 34, and 49) was the old Italian the burnished glow of the high horns, turns to doctorate from Griffith University in . sical style through the use of minor keys, sudden sonata da chiesa, or church sonata. This genre, F major. The finale, tempestuous and unsettled, Dean has written extensively for orchestra with contrasts, chromatic harmonies and a pervasive most commonly played by two violins and a is one of the most dramatic instrumental state- and without soloists (he has performed his sense of agitation. The name given to this ex- cello-harpsichord continuo, was bred around ments of its era. 2005 Concerto in , Los Angeles, pressive, new tonal dialect was borrowed from the middle of the 17th century as an adorn- Sydney, Lyon, Hamburg, , Dresden, Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger’s 1776 play, ment to religious services, and so was inherently Stockholm, and Melbourne), chamber ensem- Wirrwarr, oder, Sturm und Drang (“Confusion, given to a certain weightiness of expression: its (b. 1961) bles, chorus, solo voice, film, and radio. His de- or, Storm and Stress”). Klinger’s drama grew movements were abstract rather than dance-like; Electric Preludes for Electric Violin and but opera, Bliss, based on a novel by two-time from the soil of Rousseau’s philosophy of free it was imitative and complex in texture; and it String Orchestra Booker Prize-winner Peter Carey, was critically personal expression, an idea that was to become began with a large slow movement of austere acclaimed on its premiere in Melbourne in 2010 doctrine for Romantic artists and that found an demeanor. The Symphony No. 49, called “La Composed in 2011–2012. Premiered September 10, and has since been staged in Sydney, Edinburgh, earlier manifestation in some music of the late passione” by Haydn’s admirers, was the last and 2012, at the Union Hall in Maribor, , by and Hamburg. 18th century. Mozart tried out the Sturm und greatest of his “sonata da chiesa” symphonies. the Australian Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Drang style in his Symphony No. 25 in G mi- The “passion” evoked by the music is that associ- the composer with Richard Tognetti as soloist. 2 nor of 1773, and returned to it with stunning ated with the death of Christ, a stream of emo- results in Don Giovanni, the Symphony No. 40, tions perfectly suited to the expressive essence Composer, violist, and conductor Brett Dean, The Australian Chamber Orchestra has pro- the Requiem and other of his Viennese master- of Sturm und Drang. Indeed, one theory about one of ’s most acclaimed musicians, vided the following information, written by Paul works. Haydn, as well, explored the expanded the genesis of the Symphony No. 49 is that it was born in Brisbane in 1961 and studied at Griffiths, for Dean’s Electric Preludes, which expression of the Sturm und Drang in his Op. 20 was expressly composed for the observance of the Queensland Conservatorium before moving was commissioned by Jan Minchin for Richard String Quartets and the Symphonies No. 26 in Good Friday. Karl Geiringer noted that it “dis- to Germany in 1984 to become a violist in the Tognetti, the ACO, and Festival Maribor. D minor (“Lamentatione”), No. 44 in E mi- plays a feverish fierceness of expression that few Berlin Philharmonic. After serving in that dis- nor (“Mourning”), No. 45 in F-sharp minor musical or poetical works of the 18th century tinguished ensemble for 16 years and beginning This was a concerto waiting to happen, a work (“Farewell”), No. 49 in F minor (“La passione”), surpassed.” This music apparently made a strong to compose in 1988, Dean returned to Australia by a composer writing for an old friend, and giv- and No. 52 in C minor. impression on Haydn’s contemporaries—it was in 1990 to work as a freelance musician. He estab- ing that friend an opportunity to whirl away— The Symphony No. 49, dated 1768 on the widely circulated in manuscript copies to court lished his reputation as a composer when his clar- and sing—on a new instrument: a six-string manuscript (a more accurate numbering would and monastery libraries as far away as Padua and inet concerto, Ariel’s Music, won the UNESCO electric violin. Physically, with its extra strings, place it between Symphonies Nos. 38 and 39), Spain, and appeared in printed editions in Paris International Rostrum of Composers Award in and electronically, because the sound can now stands at the crucial time in the evolution of and London. “The Symphony No. 49 is Haydn’s 1995. Dean has since been Artistic Director of be modified before it reaches us, the electric vio- late–18th-century music when old ideas from Sturm und Drang at it bleakest,” wrote H. C. the Australian National Academy of Music in lin is not just a new instrument but a radically the Baroque were being boiled in the stylistic Robbins Landon. “It is almost music with no Melbourne (2006–2010), served residencies with different one. The additional strings come at the cauldron of contemporary technique to yield the way out. It hesitates, it poses questions, it sup- the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (2002– bottom, a fifth below the G string and a fifth mature symphonic form. Haydn was the chief plies no answers.” 2003), Cheltenham Festival (2002, 2009, 2010), below that, taking the instrument deep down cook. He wrote some 30 manifestations of the The opening movement of the F minor Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (2007– into cello territory. At the same time, electronic genre during the 1760s, more than in any other Symphony, disposed in sonata form, retains 2008), Trondheim Chamber Music Festival programming allows for the tone to be changed,

12 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 13 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES reverberation added, notes shifted in register, to rest and the soloist skidding away in the sustained himself with lessons, an occasional at Morzin’s apartments to Prince Paul harmonics brought forward. The result is an high treble. commission and some harpsichord playing. Anton Esterházy, head of Hungary’s most pow- instrument as different from a regular violin as Peripeteia is a term applied in ancient Greece Around 1754, his fortunes began to change, erful and wealthy house, and the Prince took an electric guitar is different from its acoustic to the turning point in a drama. The one here is when Countess Maria Christine Thun discov- the young composer into his service on May 1, progenitor—an instrument zinging and incisive short, and seems to represent challenge, panting ered one of his keyboard sonatas in a music 1761. Haydn spent the rest of his life, in active and poetic in its own ways, which Brett Dean expectation and outburst. shop. She was intrigued by her find, had Haydn employment and in retirement, in the service of here lays before us. Next comes a slow movement, The beyonds of sought out and brought to her, and engaged him the Esterházys. In place of big concerto movements—he did mirrors, evoked by a line from a French poem by as her piano teacher. It was probably through the The compact sonata-form opening move- that in his 2006 piece for standard violin and Rilke, in the voice of a water lily: “into my body Countess that he was introduced to Carl Joseph ment of the Symphony No. 4 in D major, writ- orchestra, The Lost Art of Letter Writing—Dean at the bottom of the water / I attract the beyonds Edler von Fürnberg, a music-loving govern- ten for Morzin between 1759 and 1761, takes presents six preludes, or “character pieces,” as of mirrors....” The magical texture has the or- ment official who arranged frequent chamber a bracing idea with an embedded falling scale he has also called them, playing altogether for chestra in muted descending scales, moving at concerts at his Vienna palace and at his country fragment as its main theme and a wistful, mi- under 25 minutes and, in their immediacy and three different speeds simultaneously, with the estate, Weinzierl Castle, on the Danube near nor-mode strain in subtle counterpoint as its brevity, suiting the medium. To quote the com- electric violin whistling high above. All changes Melk, 60 miles west of Vienna. It was for those subsidiary subject. The main theme provides poser again, the work explores “the intersec- for a dramatic close. events that Haydn wrote his first string quartets. the material for the development section and tion between high instrumental virtuosity of And all changes again for the Perpetuum Fürnberg was unable to offer him a regular posi- is recalled after a brief pause to begin the reca- a ‘classical’ nature on the one hand and sound mobile, which is exactly that, though intercut tion, but in 1759, he brought the work of the pitulation of the earlier materials. The late H. C. worlds that are only possible with electronics with menacing arpeggios and, at one point, with 27-year-old composer to the attention of Count Robbins Landon, who literally spent a lifetime on the other, all commented upon by an essen- repetitions of the A to C-sharp falls from the Ferdinand Maximilian von Morzin, a member in Haydn research, wrote that the Andante, with tially ‘unplugged’ string chamber orchestra.” Papunya prelude, faster and almost unrecogniz- of the Imperial Treasury and the Privy Council, its muted violins, trudging bass and attenuated The work was commissioned by the gallery di- able. Perhaps, in this busy activity, the whole Governor of Znogmo, and a fellow musical ama- melody, exudes “a melancholy of an Italianate rector Jan Minchin, completed in March 2012, past of the piece is being reviewed. There is a teur, who appointed Haydn music master of his kind, [suggesting] the quiet winter mist of and first performed in Maribor, Slovenia, on solo cadenza, after which the intensive move- castle at Lukavec, in Bohemia near Pilsen, and the Venetian Lagoons which Haydn will have September 10, 2012. ment continues to a point of exhaustion. his town house in Vienna. learned at second hand, via Vivaldi (who had At the start, spasmodic gestures from the The final lullabyBerceuse ( ) comes up out of There is little documentation concerning died in Vienna in 1740).” The finale is a stately electric violin seem to arouse the mysterious the bass register, where some of the are the two years that Haydn worked for Morzin, Menuetto with a delicate violin melody of inter- sound of three second violins playing with prac- tuned down, and soon reaches up into spectacu- though Georg August Griesinger, the compos- rupted phrases as its second theme. Robbins tice mutes as they wander chromatically, home- lar high melody from the electric violin. Slowly er’s friend of later years and his eventual biog- Landon added, “Though these early Haydn less. Dean here was haunted by photographs of the solo instrument steps down to where it be- rapher, recounted one delightful tale about the symphonies do not plumb the emotional heights Abandoned Playgrounds he found online (check gan, as the orchestra settles with it into a har- bachelor-musician: “[Haydn] liked to tell how, and depths of Haydn’s later music, there is one out Google Images). As the soloist’s arpeggios mony on F, the pitch of its bottom string. Was when he was sitting once at the clavier and the outstanding quality that always characterizes turn this way and that, the movement develops it all a dream? beautiful Countess Morzin was bending over to them: the innate, impeccable craftsmanship and energy to the point where the orchestra is rac- see the notes, her neckerchief came undone. ‘It the astoundingly sure sense of form (in itself the ing off. When it has come to a standstill, three was the first time I had ever seen such a sight; mark of a craftsman).” take over the wandering, which returns to Haydn I became confused, my playing faltered, my second violins as the electric violin plumbs reso- Symphony No. 4 in D major fingers became glued to the keys.’ ‘What is it, nant chords with the cellos. Haydn, what are you doing?’ cried the Countess. Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) There is again a visual image behind, or be- Composed around 1760. Most respectfully I answered, ‘But Countess, Serenade for Strings in E major, Op. 22 yond, the second prelude, which relates to the your grace, who would not be undone by such art produced by indigenous painters around Joseph Haydn entered the St. Stephen’s a sight?’” Though Haydn flourished in his po- Composed May 3–14, 1875. Premiered December 10, Papunya, in Australia’s Northern Territory, as Cathedral School in Vienna as a chorister in sition at Lukavec (a surprising number of his 1876, in Prague, conducted by Adolf Čech. exhibited in the National Gallery of Victoria’s 1740, at the age of eight. After two years of early symphonies, at least a dozen, were writ- 2011–2012 show “Tjukurrtjanu.” The electric premonitory squeaks, his voice finally broke in ten for Morzin), his tenure in the job proved In the mid–1860s, Emperor Franz Joseph, in a violin’s high falling minor sixths, A to C-sharp, 1749, and the choirmaster, Johann Adam Karl to be brief, because, according to Griesinger, magnanimous burst of generosity, established seem to be part of a universal slow breathing, Georg Reutter, threw him—literally—into the “The Count in a short time squandered his a State Commission to award grants to aid which is taken up by the orchestra, and which streets. The following years were bitterly hard considerable fortune…and had consequently to struggling artists in the eastern provinces of survives as some members of the orchestra be- for Haydn. He lived in poverty, often not hav- disband his orchestra.” Fortunately for Haydn, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the summer come intensely dynamic, the movement coming ing enough money for his next meal, and barely his music was known through performances of 1874, less than a year after his marriage and

14 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 15 PROGRAM NOTES ORCHESTRA ROSTER just as the newlyweds were expecting their first study of the composer’s music, Otakar Šourek AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA child, the young Bohemian composer Antonín noted that the piece is “mainly cast in a po- Dvořák decided to apply for the prize to supple- etic mood, with an overtone of ardent longing, violin ment his meager income as organist at Prague’s yet not altogether devoid of a certain cheerful Richard Tognetti, Artistic Director & Lead Violin St. Adalbert Church. He first presented himself gaiety.” As its name implies, this Serenade is Helena Rathbone, Principal at the Prague City Hall to obtain official certifi- lighter in character, simpler in structure and less Satu Vänskä, Principal cation of his poverty, and then gathered together weighty in argument than the larger orchestral Madeleine Boud a hefty stack of his recent scores—the Third and genres. The gentle opening movement is cast Rebecca Chan Fourth symphonies, the Dvur Kralové songs, in a three-part form whose outer sections grow Aiko Goto the overtures to the operas Alfred and King and from a short, songful phrase presented immedi- Mark Ingwersen Charcoal Burner, a later-destroyed Romeo and ately by the second violins. The movement’s cen- Ilya Isakovich Juliet Overture, a piano quintet, and a string tral portion is based on a melodic motive that Liisa Pallandi quartet—and sent them with his application for tours up and down the chords of the harmony Holly Piccoli assistance to Vienna. in tripping rhythms. A sweetly nostalgic waltz The members of the grants committee were is presented as the second movement. The third a most distinguished lot—Johann Herbeck, movement is a fully developed scherzo with a viola Director of the Court Opera, the renowned bright, good-natured main theme and inter- Christopher Moore, Principal critic Eduard Hanslick and the titan of Viennese vening lyrical episodes. The deepest emotions Caroline Henbest music himself, Johannes Brahms. Their report of the Serenade are plumbed in the Larghetto, a Alexandru-Mihai Bota noted that Dvořák possessed “genuine and tenderly romantic song of almost Tchaikovskian Ceridwen Davies original gifts” and that his works displayed “an introspection. Reminiscences of this music and undoubted talent, but in a way which as yet re- of the opening movement occur during the viva- cello mains formless and unbridled.” They deemed cious finale, a lively folk dance brimming with Timo-Veikko Valve, Principal his work worthy of encouragement and, on their bubbling high spirits. Julian Thompson recommendation, the Minister of Culture, Karl Sharon Draper† Stremayer, awarded the young musician 400 gulden, the highest stipend bestowed under the © 2013 Dr. Richard E. Rodda program. It represented Dvořák’s first recogni- bass tion outside his homeland, and his initial con- Maxime Bibeau, Principal tact with Brahms and Hanslick, both of whom would prove to be powerful influences on his oboe career through their example, artistic guidance Shefali Pryor‡ and professional help. An excited burst of com- Michael Pisani† positional activity followed during the months after Dvořák learned of his award, in February 1875: the G major String Quartet, the Moravian bassoon Duets for soprano and tenor (it was these delec- Brock Imison† table pieces which, when he submitted them to support an application for another government horn grant three years later, caused Brahms to recom- Jonathan Williams mend him to the publisher Simrock), the B-flat Brendan Parravicini , the D major Piano Quartet, the E-flat String Quintet, the Fifth Symphony, and the lovely Serenade for Strings all appeared with inspired speed. † Courtesy of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Serenade for Strings, Op. 22, written in ‡ Courtesy of Sydney Symphony only eleven days in May 1875, is one of Dvořák’s most popular short compositions. In his classic

16 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 17 ABOUT THE ARTISTS ABOUT THE ARTISTS

concertos. A full list of ACO recordings may be Salzburg, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Irish Chamber found at aco.com.au. Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du As Australia’s only national orchestra, the Luxembourg, Nordic Chamber Orchestra, ACO presents outstanding performances to YouTube Symphony Orchestra, and all of the over 9,000 subscribers across Australia, reaching Australian symphony orchestras. He conduct- regional audiences in every state and territory. ed Mozart’s Mitridate for the Sydney Festival Internationally, the ACO consistently receives and gave the Australian premiere of Ligeti’s hyperbolic reviews and return invitations to Violin Concerto with the Sydney Symphony. perform on the great music stages of the world Mr. Tognetti has collaborated with col- including Vienna’s Musikverein, Amsterdam’s leagues from across various art forms and ar- Concertgebouw, London’s Southbank Centre, tistic styles, including Joseph Tawadros, Dawn and New York’s Carnegie Hall. Upshaw, James Crabb, , In 2005, the ACO inaugurated a national Jack Thompson, Katie Noonan, Neil Finn, education program, including a mentoring Tim Freedman, Paul Capsis, Bill Henson, and program for Australia’s best young string play- . ers. These specially selected stars of the future In 2003, Mr. Tognetti was co-composer of join ACO core players to form the Orchestra’s the score for ’s Master and Commander: C little sister orchestra A O2, performing bold pro- The Far Side of the World; violin tutor for its grams in concerts and education workshops for star, Russell Crowe; and can also be heard per- Paul Henderson-Kelly Paul regional audiences throughout Australia. forming on the award-winning soundtrack. In ne of the world’s most lauded cham- tours, injected unprecedented creativity and 2005, he co-composed the soundtrack to Tom Ober ensembles, the Australian Chamber unique artistic style into the programming and Australian violinist, con- Carroll’s surf film Horrorscopes and, in 2008, Orchestra (ACO) is renowned for its inspired transformed the group into the energetic stand- ductor, and composer created The Red Tree, inspired by illustrator programming and unrivaled virtuosity, energy, ing (except for the cellists) ensemble for which it Richard Tognetti AO ’s book. He co-created and starred and individuality. Its unique programming is now internationally recognized. Through the (Artistic Director & Lead in the 2008 documentary film Musica Surfica, extends across six centuries, spanning popular ACO’s extensive commissioning program, more Violin) has established an which has won best film awards at surf film fes- masterworks, adventurous cross–art-form proj- than 60 works have been added to the chamber international reputation for tivals in the United States, Brazil, France, and ects, and pieces especially commissioned for orchestra repertoire, including pieces by Brett his compelling perfor- South Africa. the ensemble. Dean, Jonny Greenwood, and . mances and artistic indi- As well as directing numerous recordings Founded in 1975, this string orchestra com- Several of the ACO’s players perform on vidualism. He studied at by the ACO, Mr. Tognetti has recorded J. S. prises leading Australian and international mu- remarkable string instruments. Mr. Tognetti the Sydney Conservatorium Bach’s solo violin repertoire for ABC Classics, sicians and a growing company of dedicated plays the legendary 1743 Carrodus Guarneri with Alice Waten, in his Henderson-Kelly Paul winning three consecutive ARIA Awards, and young players. The ACO performs symphonic, del Gesù violin, on loan from a private bene- home town of with William the Dvořák and Mozart violin concertos for BIS. chamber, and electro-acoustic repertoire col- factor; Principal Violin Helena Rathbone Primrose, and at the Berne Conservatory A passionate advocate for music education, laborating with an extraordinary range of art- plays a 1759 Guadagnini violin owned by the (Switzerland) with , where he was Mr. Tognetti established the ACO’s Education ists from numerous artistic disciplines, includ- Commonwealth Bank; Principal Violin Satu awarded the Tschumi Prize as the top graduate and Emerging Artists programs in 2005. ing renowned soloists Emmanuel Pahud, Steven Vänskä plays a 1728/1729 Stradivarius vio- soloist in 1989. Mr. Tognetti has been at the Mr. Tognetti was appointed an Officer of Isserlis, Dawn Upshaw, and Joseph Tawadros; lin owned by the ACO Instrument Fund, and helm of the Australian Chamber Orchestra the Order of Australia in 2010. He holds hon- singers Katie Noonan, Paul Capsis, and Teddy Principal Cello Timo-Veikko Valve plays a 1729 since 1989. He is also Artistic Director of the orary doctorates from three Australian universi- Tahu Rhodes; and such diverse artists as cine- Giuseppe Guarneri filius Andreæ cello on loan Maribor Festival in Slovenia. ties and was made a National Living Treasure in matographer Jon Frank, visual artist Shaun Tan, from Peter William Weiss AO. Mr. Tognetti performs on period, modern, 1999. He performs on a 1743 Guarneri del Gesù entertainer , photographer Bill The ACO has made many award-winning and electric instruments. His numerous ar- violin, lent to him by an anonymous Australian Henson, choreographer Rafael Bonachela, and recordings and has a current recording con- rangements, compositions, and transcriptions private benefactor. cartoonist Michael Leunig. tract with leading classical music label BIS. have expanded the chamber orchestra repertoire Australian violinist Richard Tognetti, who Highlights include Mr. Tognetti’s three-time and been performed throughout the world. has been at the helm of the ACO since 1989, ARIA Award-winning Bach recordings, multi- As director or soloist, Tognetti has ap- has expanded the Orchestra’s national program, award-winning documentary film Musica peared with the spearheaded vast and regular international Surfica, and the complete set of Mozart violin (Boston), Philharmonic, Camerata

18 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 19 ABOUT THE ARTISTS

In less than five years, Christopher Martin holds the 24-year-old German- the Adolph Herseth Japanese pianist Alice Principal Trumpet chair of Sara Ott has gained the Chicago Symphony critical acclaim for her Orchestra (CSO). Prior to performances at major his appointment in 2005 concert halls worldwide by Daniel Barenboim, and has established her- Mr. Martin was previously self as one of the most Principal Trumpet of the exciting musical talents Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

of today. Esther Haase & DG and Associate Principal Trumpet of the Recent concerts Philadelphia Orchestra. have seen Ms. Ott perform with the hr- He performs regularly as soloist on the Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt in Japan, Oslo CSO’s subscription series, most recently in the Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National 2012 world premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler-Orchester new concerto Heimdall’s Trumpet, which was Niederösterreich, and NDR Sinfonieorchester. commissioned for Mr. Martin by the Chicago Ms. Ott has also had great success with her debut Symphony. In 2011, Mr. Martin performed a recitals in London’s International Piano Series, program of 20th-century French concertos by as well as at the Verbier Festival, Mariinsky André Jolivet and Henri Tomasi with the CSO. Theatre, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and Also in 2012, Mr. Martin was the featured Ottawa’s National Arts Center. She appears fre- trumpet soloist in John Williams’s score to the quently at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Schleswig- Stephen Spielberg film Lincoln. Mr. Martin may Holstein Music Festival, and Festspiele be heard on CSO Resound recordings, includ- Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. ing the 2011 release CSO Brass Live, as well as During the 2012–2013 season, Ms. Ott Atlanta Symphony Orchestra recordings on the appears with Münchner Philharmoniker in Telarc label. Munich and the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Mr. Martin received his bachelor’s degree Tokyo, both under Lorin Maazel. The Munich with performer’s certificate from the Eastman concerts were also recorded as part of an Arte School of Music and is currently on the faculty of Maestro program to be broadcast in 2013. The Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Tokyo concert is followed by a recital tour Mr. Martin and his wife Margaret, an or- of Japan. Other engagements this season in- ganist and pianist, often perform as a duo in clude concerts with the Czech Philharmonic both Baroque and contemporary repertoire. Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, and Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona. In recital, she gives debut performances at New York’s (Le) Poisson Rouge and Chicago’s Symphony Center, and makes return visits to Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle, London’s International Piano Series, and to the Berlin Kammermusiksaal.

20 CAL PERFORMANCES