SIBELIUS’ VIOLIN LAUNCESTON CONCERTO NO V EMBER

SATURDAY 22 November 7.30pm Federation Concert Hall, Hobart

Marko Letonja conductor BARTÓK Alina Ibragimova violin Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta Andante tranquillo MOZART Allegro Symphony No 35, Haffner Adagio Allegro con spirito Allegro molto Local knowledge. Andante National experience. Menuetto – Trio Duration 26 mins Finale (Presto) SIBELIUS Duration 19 mins Violin Concerto Allegro moderato – Allegro molto INTERVAL Adagio di molto Duration 20 mins Just like the TSO, Page Seager brings together a group of talented individuals who Allegro ma non tanto have a common objective. For Page Seager it is about delivering premium legal Duration 32 mins

services to our clients, whilst for the TSO it is about performing world class music. SPONSORED BY This concert will end at approximately 9.30pm. As Tasmania’s largest group of specialist lawyers, Page Seager builds long term relationships with its clients by working closely with them to develop solutions to their legal and business issues. Page Seager is a proud supporter and partner of the TSO.

Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra concerts are broadcast and streamed throughout Australia and around the world by ABC Classic FM. We would appreciate your cooperation www.pageseager.com.au in keeping coughing to a minimum. Please ensure that your mobile phone is switched off. 37

5506 PAG TSO Ad Aug14.indd 1 14/08/14 2:14 PM Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Symphony No 35 in D, K385 Haffner As in many of the first movements of Haydn, which we know Mozart was studying at the Allegro con spirito time, there is no contrasting second theme, Andante yet the tonal drama of the form is not any Menuetto – Trio the less for that. MARKO LETONJA Alina Ibragimova Finale (Presto) The grace of the Andante has been related This symphony began life as music composed Marko Letonja is Chief Conductor and Performing music from Baroque to new by many commentators to its serenade in 1782 for festivities associated with the commissions on modern and period origins, but this is an unnecessary Artistic Director of the Tasmanian ennoblement of Siegmund Haffner the I ST PRO FI LES ART Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director instruments, Alina Ibragimova has performed explanation: a symphony, in Vienna’s Younger, a friend of the Mozart family in PROGRAM NOTES under many distinguished conductors with concert life at this time, was not expected of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Salzburg. For that occasion Mozart composed such orchestras as the London Symphony to be the main work of the evening. Strasbourg. Born in Slovenia, he studied at a work in six movements, including two Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester , Mozart’s own performance of a piano minuets and a march. This was the standard the Academy of Music in Ljubljana and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, concerto would have taken a higher place. form of an orchestral serenade. Vienna Academy of Music. He was Music WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Relaxation was just what was needed after Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Radio France Director of the Slovenian Philharmonic Later in the same year, 1782, when planning an unusually tightly written first movement Philharmonic, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra from 1991 to 2003 and Music with so much imitative counterpoint. Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Philharmonia, one of his ‘academies’ or subscription Director and Chief Conductor of both the concerts in Vienna, Mozart asked his father Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Menuetto is grand without being to return to him from Salzburg the ‘Haffner Symphony Orchestra and the Opera in Basel Hallé, and all the BBC orchestras. She has pompous – this is certainly a minuet music’. When he received it, he wrote back, from 2003 to 2006. He was Principal Guest appeared in recital in many of the world’s which asks to be listened to, not merely ‘I was quite surprised by the new Haffner Conductor of Orchestra Victoria in 2008 and leading venues and festivals, and as soloist/ background music for dancing. The delicate director she has toured with the Kremerata symphony, for I had forgotten every single made his debut with the TSO the following subtleties of the Trio, then, will not be Baltica, Britten Sinfonia, Academy of note of it; it must certainly be very effective.’ year. His many opera engagements have overlooked by the audience. Ancient Music and the Australian Chamber For the concert on 22 March 1783 Mozart included Pique Dame at the Grand Théâtre Orchestra. Forthcoming highlights include adapted his score by adding flutes and In the Finale, which Mozart said should de Genève, Nabucco at the Semperoper debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, clarinets to the first and last movements, go ‘as fast as possible’, we are in the world Dresden, Il dissoluto assolto/Sancta Susanna Cleveland Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, and deleting the march and the first minuet. of comic opera. Mozart had been exploring Hungarian National Philharmonic, Bamberg and The Makropulos Case at La Scala Milan, (It was common for elaborate multi- how to write opera in a new way in Symphony and the Scottish Chamber movement serenades to be ‘reduced’ to The Abduction from the Seraglio, a comic La traviata for Opera Australia, Rigoletto Orchestra. She makes her debut at the three or four movement symphonies in opera in German which was written shortly for the West Australian Opera, Madama Lucerne Festival, and with regular recital this way. In Mozart’s case, at least, there before this work. The Finale takes the Butterfly at the Staatsoper Berlin, partner Cédric Tiberghien she performs a is little distinction between ‘symphonic’ quicksilver patter of Italian musical comedy Die Walküre at the Opéra du Rhin, and Die complete Mozart sonata cycle at Wigmore Hall and Tokyo’s Oji Hall. Born in Russia writing and the grand festive style of his and hands it back to the Italians, enriched. Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung at most ambitious serenades.) in 1985, Alina Ibragimova studied at the Adapted from a note by David Garrett © 1999 the Teatro São Carlos in Lisbon. He returned Moscow Gnessin School before moving to The first movement of the Haffner Symphony, to La Scala in 2012 for a season of Les the UK where she studied at the Yehudi an imposing call to attention, begins with the The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra first contes d’Hoffmann. Recent engagements Menuhin School and Royal College of Music. kind of striking gesture which would make a performed this work with conductor Bernard include Romeo ét Juliette at the Arena di Her awards include the Royal Philharmonic Heinze in Hobart and Launceston on 28 Society Young Artist Award 2010, the talkative audience sit up and pay attention. February and 2 March 1951 and, most Verona and Pique Dame at the Vienna State Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award 2008, and Mozart asked for it to be played ‘with great recently, with Sebastian Lang-Lessing in Opera. He will return to the Vienna State the Classical BRIT Young Performer of the fire’. It turns out that these two leaps of an Launceston and Sydney on 27 September and 4 October 2008. Opera in coming seasons for Pique Dame, Year Award 2009. She performs on a c1775 octave followed by a rhythmic flourish are Boris Godunov and Les contes d’Hoffmann. Anselmo Bellosio violin. the main substance of the first movement.

38 39 Béla Bartók (1881-1945) (1865-1957)

Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta the second theme we hear; it acts as a bridge Violin Concerto in D minor, Op 47 overall expressive intent. In other words, its between episodes in the third movement’s technical demands emerge from its artistic Andante tranquillo Allegro moderato – Allegro molto mysterious and characteristically Bartókian purpose. Allegro ‘night music’ (the eerie and scattered sounds Adagio di molto Adagio one might hear at night). In the final movement, Allegro ma non tanto Undoubtedly the concerto had been inspired Allegro molto the theme appears in a striking passage, by Willy Burmester, former leader of the By his very nature, Sibelius was not the sort its intervals adjusted to produce a sense of Orchestra, a disciple of the great The second half of the 1930s saw Bartók’s most of composer one would expect to compose a productive years as a composer: orchestral spacious, stable consonance. And therein lies Joachim and a long-time admirer of concerto. The conception of a concerto as a works alone from this time include the Second one key to this extraordinary piece: it traces a Sibelius’ music. As early as 1902 Burmester ‘show-off’ work for the soloist was anathema Violin Concerto, Divertimento and, arguably his simple journey, via sound worlds of amazing had been enquiring by letter as to the

to Sibelius, who increasingly throughout PROGRAM NOTES masterpiece, the Music for Strings, Percussion variety, from instability to radiant concord. concerto’s progress, and he made various his compositional career sought to employ and Celesta. The Music for Strings, Percussion Symmetry is only half the story. offers of technical assistance and advice. and Celesta was commissioned by Paul Sacher the purest, most unselfconscious forms of Indeed this music thrives also on asymmetry, In September 1903 Sibelius sent Burmester for the tenth anniversary of his Basle Chamber musical expression, eventually resulting in not just in its overall trajectory but in certain a short score, to which Burmester replied, Orchestra, which gave the work’s première in the astonishing economy of utterance and details. Bartók was a pioneer in recording and ‘I can only say one thing: wonderful! January 1937. It rapidly established itself as a organic structure of the last two symphonies notating the fast disappearing folk musics of Masterly! Only once before have I spoken modern classic. (Nos 6 and 7). And yet for all that reluctance eastern Europe. At the time of Music for Strings, to indulge in merely ‘gestural’ instrumental in such terms to a composer, and that was The title of the work doesn’t give much away: Percussion and Celesta, Bartók was at work on effects, Sibelius maintained a love of the when Tchaikovsky showed me his concerto.’ between them, strings and percussion include music collected in Turkey; a few years earlier he violin. As a young man he had harboured piano and harp as well as a varied number of had intensively researched Bulgarian music. The But when Sibelius finished the work, his ambitions of becoming a virtuoso violinist percussion instruments including the celesta. influence on his own work can’t be overstated, anxiety to arrange a first performance The disposition of the orchestra is unusual. particularly in his use of irregular or compound himself, but a comparatively late start to as soon as possible, and Burmester’s The strings are symmetrically arranged, allowing rhythms, and the constant variation of material. his training, together with a slightly dodgy unavailability in the short term, meant for antiphonal (or ‘stereo’) effects, with the The inexorable fugato theme in the first technique, meant that this career option was that Sibelius actually offered the first other instruments taking literal centre stage. movement is actually of remarkable elasticity; not viable in the longer term. performance to Viktor Novacek, an Symmetry also informs the musical content of the asymmetrical rhythmic motifs which power But his frustrated ambitions must have unexceptional Helsinki musician who was the piece. The first movement, for instance, is the faster movements of the work are likewise been compensated at least in part by his so slow to learn it that the concert had to a fugato: the sinuous opening theme is stated derived from folk music. The abstract nature of composition in 1903 of his only concerto of be delayed. When on 8 February 1904 the unaccompanied, and successive parts restate it the title and the work’s structural complexity flushed and perspiring Novacek premièred in progressively more distant keys as the music aside, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta is any kind, the Violin Concerto, which is now the work with Sibelius conducting, it was develops into a richly complex texture. Originally a deeply humanist document. acknowledged alongside the Beethoven, muted, the string tone gradually increases in Brahms, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky as not a success, despite some favourable Abridged from a note by Gordon Kerry © 2003 strength until the movement’s climax (where indisputably one of the handful of greatest reviews. ‘The public here is shallow and full other instruments are finally introduced). works ever written for violin and orchestra. of bile,’ wrote Sibelius soon afterwards, and The opening theme of the movement pivots The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra first he threatened to withdraw the work. performed this work with conductor Dobbs Written between the second and on the note A; the climax is achieved by a Franks in Hobart on 28 April 1989 and, third symphonies, the Violin Concerto With Burmester still offering to perform string unison E flat. In tonal terms this is as most recently, with Muhai Tang in Hobart the concerto, Sibelius set about revising it, far from A as one can get, and from this point on 20 August 1994. demonstrates just how successfully Sibelius Bartók creates the illusion of the music’s going managed to adapt the virtuoso vehicle to his completely rewriting the first movement backwards, to coalesce once more on A. own expressive needs. For the listener, the and also making significant alterations concerto is not so much a demonstration to the slow movement. The new version Versions of the first movement’s opening theme of fiendish virtuosity, but rather an organic was completed in June 1905, and again appear in the succeeding three movements. In musical whole in which every single Burmester was passed over as soloist, the second movement it appears disguised in hemidemisemiquaver contributes to the despite his availability and desire to perform

40 41 it. Instead, the new version was premièred in The finale is a polonaise in all but name, Berlin by Karl Halir, with the Berlin Orchestra and a bravura showpiece for the soloist. Sibelius PETER SCULTHORPE conducted by none other than Richard Strauss. noted, ‘It must be played with absolute mastery. 1929-2014 Fast, of course, but no faster than it can be Amidst the general wrangling and bitterness, played perfectly.’ It begins with a stamping Launceston-born Peter Sculthorpe was a leading Burmester vowed never to perform the concerto, figure low down in the timpani and strings figure in Australian music for more than half while Joachim, on hearing the Berlin première, and the solo part then shoots up heavenwards, a century. damned it. ‘Joachim seems no longer in tune with amazingly difficult passages of thirds, with the spirit of our time,’ wrote Sibelius in Tasmania’s most famous composer was included harmonics, arpeggios, double-stops – response. Fortunately the Berlin press was rather among the nation’s 100 Living National Treasures indeed all the pyrotechnics available to the more enthusiastic than Joachim, but even so, the in a popular poll conducted in 1988 and named one soloist, but at the same time without any sense work didn’t really establish itself in the repertoire of Australia’s 45 Icons in 1999. His name is familiar to of self-indulgence or self-conscious display. The until the 1930s, when Jascha Heifetz began to concert-goers and to the average man in the street. wild dance gathers momentum until a series perform it. Since that time it has been regarded Indeed, his arrangements of music by Tim Freedman of majestic flourishes from the violin leads to as a yardstick by which violinists are measured. of The Whitlams brought him to a still wider audience. the final, sharp decisive chords from the full The opening of the concerto is one of the most orchestra. Among Peter Sculthorpe’s most renowned orchestral unmistakable in all music. Over the murmur of works are the four-part Sun Music, Earth Cry and Martin Buzacott, Symphony Australia © 1998 muted violins, the soloist enters immediately Kakadu. Other works include Port Essington for with an unforgettable, intense and brooding chamber orchestra, 18 string quartets and a Requiem The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra first subject, soon echoed and developed in the first performed this work with conductor for mixed chorus, didgeridu and orchestra. Indigenous woodwind. This Allegro moderato theme is set Thomas Matthews in Hobart and Launceston Australian music and culture played an important role in against a series of fragmentary figures which on 16 and 17 September 1965 and, most his music as did the music traditions of South-East Asia. recently, with Nicholas Milton and Antje form a kind of second subject emerging out Weithaas in Hobart on 24 July 2009. The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra has been a strong of the depths of the cellos and bassoons. The advocate for Peter Sculthorpe’s music over the years. movement itself doesn’t sit well with standard In 1963 the TSO under Thomas Matthews gave the sonata principles, however. The development première of The Fifth Continent with poet James and recapitulation are actually combined, McAuley as the speaker. In 1976 the TSO presented and the cadenza precedes them both. And yet an all-Sculthorpe ‘Meet the Composer’ concert and in there is a clear organic structure within the 1999 commemorated the composer’s 70th birthday with movement, with the soloist dominating and the concerts in Launceston and Hobart. The TSO and TSO rhythm driving on through a series of orchestral Among Peter Sculthorpe’s Chorus gave the Tasmanian première of the Requiem climaxes. most renowned in 2005 and the TSO commemorated the composer’s orchestral works The mood of the Adagio is more restrained, 80th birthday in 2009 with performances in Hobart and but the characteristic intensity remains, as are the four-part Sun Burnie of My Country Childhood. does the poignancy and sense of regret. Music, Earth Cry and The Tasmanian The soloist’s entry is prefaced by the woodwinds Kakadu. Other works Symphony Orchestra weaving a series of instrumental lines in thirds, include Port Essington and the strongly accented second subject also is proud to have for chamber orchestra, derives from this opening idea. After a more recorded two CDs agitated middle section, the movement ends 18 string quartets and a dedicated to Peter with a return of the main thematic material, Requiem for mixed chorus, Sculthorpe’s music, The Fifth Continent and Quamby, which form part of intensified now and with an apparent reluctance didgeridu and orchestra. to conclude the proceedings. the TSO’s Australian Composer Series on ABC Classics.

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