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RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Polonaise from Christmas Eve

TCHAIKOVSKY

Introduction, Melodrama and

Dance of the Tumblers from The Snow Maiden Suite

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 1, ‘Winter Daydreams’

David Brophy conductor

FRIDAY 4 DECEMBER 2020, 7pm RDS CONCERT HALL

1 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov 1844-1908

Polonaise (Christmas Eve)

Rimsky-Korsakov’s Christmas Eve was first performed in St Petersburg in 1895. It is based on a story by Gogol, recounting Russian folk tales featuring the Devil and the mischief he can get up to on Christmas Eve by playing on the imaginations of simple peasants. The opera consists of a number of tableaux in one of which the Polonaise is performed as an act of homage to the Empress.

Note by Richard Pine © RTÉ

2 1840-1893

The Snow Maiden Suite

i. Introduction ii. Melodrama iii. Dance of the Tumblers

The auguries for Tchaikovsky’s Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden) were favourable, the project re-uniting him with the playwright with whom he had enjoyed a long creative partnership.

The pair had first collaborated nearly a decade before when Tchaikovsky composed an Overture (his first large-scale orchestral piece) for Ostrovsky’s play, in 1864. They reunited several times more, Tchaikovsky providing incidental music for another play and Ostrovsky contributing to the libretto of the composer’s now all but lost first opera, The Voyevoda.

In the early years of the 1870s, Ostrovsky again provided the libretto for Tchaikovsky’s , their relationship surviving the composer’s mislaying of the libretto and, in embarrassed panic, substituting his own hastily written text.

The faux pas was perhaps ameliorated by the artistic and popular (if not critical) success in 1873 of The Snow Maiden, Ostrovsky’s ‘spring ’, for which Tchaikovsky had provided the incidental music. Ostrovsky’s play also prompted an opera of the same name from Rimsky-Korsakov in 1881.

The play was itself based on a traditional fairytale about the daughter of Grandfather Frost and the Spring Fairy who yearns to feel love but can’t because her heart is made of ice. Its blend of fantasy, romance, imprisoned feelings and aching, unfulfilled emotion were the very ingredients that throughout Tchaikovsky’s life provided the grit that he transformed into musical pearls. 3 In all, Tchaikovsky composed 19 individual cues for Ostrovsky’s play. And did so, as he later recollected in a letter to his patron , ‘in three weeks, without exerting myself’. It was not an altogether accurate memory, composition having been hindered by an injury to his hand that rendered putting notes onto page painful and protracted.

More reliable was another missive to von Meck in which Tchaikovsky described The Snow Maiden as “one of my favourite offspring. Spring is a wonderful time; I was in good spirits, as I always am at the approach of summer and three months of freedom. I think this music is imbued with the joys of spring that I was experiencing at the time”.

Liberally borrowing from his abandoned opera Undine and from traditional Russian folk songs, The Snow Maiden boasts a colourful and animated score that adroitly spotlights sections of the orchestra to brilliant effect.

Lifted in its entirety from Undine, the atmospheric, scene-setting ‘Introduction’ immediately establishes the sense of sylvan fantasy and the quiet wistfulness and swirling, yet-to-be-unleashed emotional impetus so characteristic of Tchaikovsky’s music.

A wash of moody introspection with melancholic strings and drifting woodwinds, the subtle dark silkiness of the ‘Melodrama’ discreetly understates its title with all the sour-sweet poignancy of a love poem read aloud to an absent listener.

One of The Snow Maiden’s most popular set pieces, the drunkenly effervescent ‘Dance of the Tumblers’ is a thrilling exercise in propulsive and playful orchestral bravura that shows off Tchaikovsky’s distinctive gift for brilliantly animated orchestration with an irresistibly, if exhausting, spirited gusto.

Note by Michael Quinn © RTÉ

4 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13 ‘Winter Daydreams’

i Allegro tranquillo ii Adagio cantabile ma non tanto iii Scherzo iv Finale (Andante lugubre–Allegro maestoso)

When Tchaikovsky embarked on his first symphony in 1866 he was a composer more recognised for his potential than for his achievement. One of Russia’s leading musicians, Nikolay Rubinstein – who was devoted to ’s musical life – had taken the young composer under his wing and given him more than was sufficient to keep body and soul together. This included music-theory teaching, accommodation in his own home, taking him to the theatre and opera, and introducing him to high society. Tchaikovsky’s inexperience in group teaching was a problem, but he found his classes, comprised almost entirely of young women, sympathetic; his shyness receded.

With a staunch supporter of Moscow’s musical academic life behind him, Tchaikovsky decided to flex his compositional muscles in the most prestigious musical form of the nineteenth century, the symphony. He did so at a time when there were almost no Russian symphonies of note and the German tradition had entered a hiatus that would only be relieved when Bruckner and Brahms established themselves as the successors of Mendelssohn and Schumann. Tchaikovsky himself had a great deal to play for as his musical achievement so far was modest. With a busy schedule, the fastidious composer had to drive himself hard to create his first symphonic composition; much had to be written in the small hours. Its composition cost him dear, it seems. He thought he was going to die before completing it (we don’t know precisely why he thought this) and he started to suffer from insomnia and severely frayed nerves. At the end of July, according to Tchaikovsky’s brother, ‘all this erupted into a terrible

5 nervous attack, the like of which he never experienced again during his lifetime. The most distressing symptoms of this illness were dreadful hallucinations, which were so frightening that they resulted in a feeling of complete numbness in all his extremities’. Unremarkably he didn’t do much more composition at night after this, but the extreme effort he expended on the symphony resulted in a work that was, by any standards of the time and in comparison with other first symphonies, extremely successful. The effort was worth it then, for the symphony sounds spontaneous and inspired, though he revised it in 1874. Even Tchaikovsky liked it and continued to do so many years later, which was rare for him.

Perhaps under the influence of Mendelssohn’s ‘Italian Symphony’, Tchaikovsky gave his one a title, ‘Winter Daydreams’. He also gave the first and second movements individual titles, ‘Daydreams on a winter journey’ and ‘Land of gloom, land of mists’, but they don’t seem to tell us much about the music. The last two are just Scherzo and Finale with no descriptive information.

The first movement is exquisitely written with a ravishing orchestral sonority and a deft response to the demands of sonata form. Its themes are short, reflecting the German tradition, and are subject to extensive development. One unusual feature is the extended coda, which follows a misleading winding down of the material, which has been sending out closure signals that are contradicted by a reanimation of the music and a late climax. It’s all very satisfying and points to the fact that Tchaikovsky had little reason to be diffident about his command of musical form.

After a dreamy introduction for muted strings, which recurs at the end, the second movement unfolds a lovely melody which might easily be mistaken for a Russian folksong. It is simple music that evolves through repetition and changing orchestration, but nobody else could have written such eloquent, appealing music.

The Scherzo portion of the third movement was an orchestration of part of a piano sonata from 1865. Most agree that it sounds better in its orchestral form where its delicate tracery ravishes the ear. For the central section, the

6 Trio, Tchaikovsky writes a waltz, his first major venture, as David Brown writes, into a form that he would use with unparalleled virtuosity in his ballets and other symphonic works.

For the Finale, Tchaikovsky breaks out into a sweat, as did many other composers tackling this most intractable part of the symphony. How do you wrap up a four-movement work in a satisfying way? He starts mysteriously at a slow tempo with a Russian folksong, which is later used as the upbeat second subject of the sonata-form Allegro maestoso that follows. Tchaikovsky uses fugato to drive the music along; to bring the work to a triumphant, optimistic close he generates a massive build up to a restatement of the folksong, now dressed as a chorale and very loud. It’s a thrilling culmination for a fine first venture into symphonic form. Tchaikovsky was well on his way to mastery.

Note by Simon Trezise © RTÉ

7 David Brophy conductor

David Brophy was born in Dublin and is a graduate of the Technological University Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. Following further studies in Ireland, England and Holland, he was appointed Apprentice Conductor with Chamber Choir Ireland and subsequently became the first appointee to take the position of Assistant Conductor with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. A former Principal Conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, David now enjoys a close relationship with both RTÉ orchestras in addition to regular appearances as guest conductor with the Ulster Orchestra. His career has seen him conduct throughout Europe, Africa, the United States, Canada and China.

David has collaborated with many internationally acclaimed soloists, among them Tasmin Little, Julian Bliss, Barry Douglas, Sir Willard White, Martin Fröst, Lesley Garret, Sir James Galway, Lang Lang, Danielle de Niese, Nicola Benedetti, Kim Criswell, Daniel Hope, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Chloë Hanslip and Carolin Widmann. He has conducted across Europe with recent engagements taking him to Spain (Orquesta Nacional Clásica de Andorra and Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia) and Finland (Oulu Symphony Orchestra), while other appearances overseas have included performances at New York’s Lincoln Center with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and at London’s Barbican Centre as part of their Silent Film & Live Music series, alongside his début with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia in the Fabulous Beast Stravinsky double-bill (The Rite of Spring and Petrushka) at Sadler’s Wells. Most recent overseas engagements have seen him début with some of America’s finest orchestras including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington D.C.

8 His work with specialist new music ensembles, among them Vox 21 and Crash Ensemble, has led to numerous first performances including the Irish premiere of Steve Reich’s Music for Eighteen Musicians, alongside recent world premieres of arrangements by Nico Muhly for traditional Irish singer, Iarla Ó Lionáird. David’s operatic work has led to wide acclaim, partnering Lyric Opera Productions, Opera Theatre Company, Opera Ireland, Glasthule Opera and Northern Ireland Opera, notably in their acclaimed partnership with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, directing Handel’s Radamisto. His recent debut at Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires) – conducting the South American premiere of Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire – has also garnered widespread critical acclaim. Beyond the realm of strictly musical performances, David has regularly collaborated in concert with numerous actors, including Brendan Gleeson, Fiona Shaw, Stephen Rae, Patrick Bergin and Adrian Dunbar and has worked on films directed by Neil Jordan and Stephen Frears.

David has worked closely with numerous singer/songwriters, among them Eleanor McEvoy, Paul Brady, Brian Kennedy and Declan O’Rourke, composers including Shaun Davey, Neil Martin, Bill Whelan, Arvo Pärt, David Fennessy, Nico Muhly, Donnacha Dennehy and Gavin Bryars and traditional musicians, including Altan, Liam O’Flynn, Sharon Corr, Máirtín O’Connor, Lúnasa, The Chieftains, Clannad, Rita Connolly, Carlos Núñez, Sharon Shannon and Martin Hayes. His all-embracing musical tastes have also witnessed collaborations with U2, Sinéad O’Connor, Jon Lord (Deep Purple), Duke Special, Celtic Thunder, Nathan Carter, Daniel O’Donnell, Imelda May, Jack L, Phil Coulter, The Coronas, Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy), Father John Misty, Eddi Reader (Fairground Attraction), Marti Pellow (Wet Wet Wet) and Midge Ure (Ultravox, Band Aid). He has appeared at all major festivals in Ireland, most notably with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra at the Electric Picnic, and has conducted at the Proms in the Park with the Ulster Orchestra as part of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms.

9 RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra Patron: Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland Chief Conductor: Jaime Martín

The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra has been at the centre of Ireland’s cultural life since 1948 when the Raidió Éireann Symphony Orchestra, as it was originally called, was founded.

Today it is a formidable creative force, its presence felt throughout the country in live, year-round performances that celebrate the traditional orchestral, vocal and operatic repertoire and champions the commissioning of new music alongside crossover projects that embrace the best of stage and screen, popular music and traditional music.

In October 2019 it entered an exciting new era when Jaime Martín made his debut in concert as the orchestra’s new Chief Conductor.

In recent years, the RTÉ NSO has reached new audiences through its live screenings in concert of cinema blockbusters such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters and Casino Royale and with its lavish concert tributes to Hollywood icons Gene Kelly, John Williams and Elliot Goldenthal, songwriter extraordinaire Cole Porter and the genius of Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin.

10 With a long-established international reputation, the RTÉ NSO has worked with successive generations of world-famous composers from Igor Stravinsky and Karlheinz Stockhausen to Steve Reich and Arvo Pärt.

Among the legendary conductors, soloists and singers with whom it has performed are Wilhelm Kempff, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Josef Szigeti, Martha Argerich, Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Mstislav Rostropovich and our own Bernadette Greevy.

More recent luminaries include Kiri Te Kanawa, Bryn Terfel, Angela Gheorghiu, Angela Hewitt, Nikolai Demidenko, Maxim Vengerov, Daniel Hope, Tasmin Little and Leonard Slatkin.

Reading like a Who’s Who of Irish music, its collaborations with Irish artists include, among so many others, Sir James Galway, Mary Black, Lisa Hannigan, Liam O’Flynn, The Riptide Movement, Barry Douglas, John O’Conor, Patricia Bardon, Tara Erraught, Celine Byrne and Ailish Tynan.

Countless world premieres by Irish composers have included Elaine Agnew, Gerald Barry, Ed Bennett, Linda Buckley, Ann Cleare, Rhona Clarke, Siobhán Cleary, Shaun Davey, David Fennessy, Marian Ingoldsby, Brian Irvine, Karen Power, Jennifer Walshe, James Wilson and Bill Whelan.

The RTÉ NSO’s acclaimed catalogue of recordings – on the RTÉ lyric fm, Naxos, BIS, Toccata Classics labels and others – include the complete symphonies of Malcolm Arnold, Rachmaninov, Mendelssohn and Nielsen, and Composers of Ireland, a landmark series co-funded by RTÉ and The Arts Council. To date, it has recorded works by established names – Gerald Barry, Seóirse Bodley, Raymond Deane, Aloys Fleischmann, John Kinsella, Seán Ó Riada – and a new generation of remarkable voices, including Donnacha Dennehy, Deirdre Gribbin, Kevin Volans and Ian Wilson.

Other major recordings include Robert O’Dwyer’s Irish language opera Eithne (in partnership with Irish National Opera), José Serebrier’s Symphonic BACH Variations and Mary Black Orchestrated. Film and television scores include composer-conductor Michael Giacchino’s Lost in Concert and directors John Boorman’s Queen and Country and Lenny Abrahamson’s The Little Stranger.

11 The RTÉ NSO’s work in the world of opera includes the world premiere of Gerald Barry’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (co-commissioned by RTÉ and English National Opera) and collaborations with Wide Open Opera: the Irish premieres of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and John Adams’ Nixon in China, and a concert presentation of Raymond Deane’s The Alma Fetish in association with the National Concert Hall.

The orchestra’s extensive educational work includes its Music in the Classroom programme for primary and second level students, and a young musicians’ mentoring scheme.

Broadcasting regularly on RTÉ, it reaches vast international audiences through the European Broadcasting Union.

In 2017, the RTÉ NSO performed, by invitation, in China’s prestigious National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing with conductor José Serebrier. In 2018, with then Principal Guest Conductor Nathalie Stutzmann and violinist Ray Chen, it gave the closing concert of the International Festival of Radio Orchestras in Bucharest.

Find out more at www.rte.ie/nso RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra

1st Violin Cello Clarinet Tuba Fionnuala Hunt Polly Ballard ‡ Matthew Billing † Francis Magee • (Leader) Violetta-Valérie Seamus Wylie Sebastian Liebig † Muth ° Timpani Orla Ní Bhraoin ° Niall O’Loughlin Clarinet Noel Eccles Ting Zhong Deng Úna Ní Chanainn Fintan Sutton † Claudie Driesen Paula Hughes Percussion Anne Harte Anne Murnaghan Bassoon Bernard Reilly Molly O’Shea Hilary Sheil † Lloyd Byrne David McElroy Double Bass Michael Dooley Brian Dungan Catherine McCarthy Mark O’Leary John Rousseau Karl Sweeney Aisling Reilly Horn Parlane Waldemar Kozak Liam Duffy 2nd Violin Helen Morgan Peter Ryan ◊ Harp Elizabeth Leonard Edward Tapceanu Bethan Watkeys † Andreja Malirv • Larissa O’Grady ° Ian Dakin Mary Wheatley Flute Dewi Jones Magda Kowalska Catriona Ryan • Dara O’Connell Ríona Ó Duinnín ‡ Trumpet Melanie Cull Graham Hastings • Elena Quinn Piccolo Killyan Bannister ◊ Evelyn McGrory Sinéad Farrell † David Collins

Viola Oboe Trombone • Section Leader Andreea Banciu Matthew Manning • Jason Sinclair • * Section Principal Francis Harte ° Sylvain Gnemmi ‡ Gavin Roche ‡ † Principal Neil Martin ‡ Associate Principal Áine O’Neill Cor Anglais Bass Trombone ° String Sub-Principal Cliona O’Riordan Deborah Clifford † Michael Marshall ◊ Sub-Principal Margarete Clark

RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra

General Manager, RTÉ NSO & RTÉ Philharmonic Choir: Anthony Long [email protected]

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13 Celebrating Beethoven 250

in partnership with the National Concert Hall

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BEETHOVEN The Creatures of Prometheus Overture Ah! perfido Symphony No. 1 in C

David Brophy conductor Sinéad Campbell-Wallace soprano

FRIDAY 11 DECEMBER 2020, 7pm

w LIVE FROM THE NATIONAL CONCERT HALL FIND OUT MORE! www.rte.ie/nso 20