MASTER SERiES10

RuSSiAn RoMAnTicS

SebaStian Lang-LeSSing Chief Conductor & Artistic Director

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RuSSiAn RoMAnTicS

Saturday 18 September 7pm

Federation Concert Hall, Hobart

Oleg Caetani conductor

alexey yemtsov piano

members of the australian youth Orchestra

raChmaninOvpiano Concerto no 2

Moderato Adagio sostenutoAllegro scherzandoDuration 33 mins

intervaLDuration 20 mins

tChaikOvSkymanfred SymphonyLento lugubre – Moderto con moto – AndanteVivace con spiritoAndante con motoAllegro con fuocoDuration 57 mins

This concert will end at approximately 9pm.

Sponsored by

AbouT ThE MuSic2 ARTiST pRofilES

aLexey yemtSOv

Since arriving in Australia in 1998, Ukrainian-born pianist Alexey Yemtsov has established himself as one of the

nation’s leading concert pianists. He has been a major prize-winner at many international piano competitions and has performed extensively throughout the world including England, the USA, Israel, China, Italy, Japan, Russia, Malaysia, South Africa and Ukraine. “Horowitz can sleep now!” was the response of conductor and pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy in 2004 upon hearing Alexey Yemtsov perform at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. In November 2006 he appeared as soloist in Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 1 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under maestro Ashkenazy at the Sydney Opera House. In addition to the Sydney Symphony, he has appeared as soloist and chamber musician with all of the major Australian orchestras including the Melbourne Symphony, West Australian Symphony, Queensland Symphony, Australian Youth Orchestra and Willoughby Symphony. He has also appeared as soloist with the Kiev Camerata, National Ukrainian Orchestra, Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano and the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa. He has worked with conductors Lawrence Foster, Simone Young, Nicholas Milton, Matthew Coorey and Andrew Grams. He recently toured China with the Australian Youth Orchestra under conductor Sir Mark Elder. This concert marks his debut with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

OLeg Caetani

Oleg Caetani is a concert and opera conductor. He finds these two aspects of his work equally important. Winner

of the RAI Turin Competition and Karajan Competition in Berlin, he started his career at the Berlin State Opera. His deep experience in the works of Verdi, Mussorgsky, Wagner and others is matched by equally deep experience in music by Shostakovich, Bartók, Enescu, the Second Viennese School and French Impressionists. Recent engagements have included Vaughan Williams' Sir John in Love at English National Opera, The Flying Dutchman at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, L’enfant et les sortilèges at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and La voix humaine coupled with Bluebeard’s Castle and Don Carlos in Cologne. He regularly conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden, Munich Philharmonic, Gewandhaus Orchestra, Vienna Symphony and many other orchestras. He has a particularly close relationship with the Verdi Orchestra. He recently recorded all of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies including Manfred. The Financial Times wrote: “Do we need another set of Tchaikovsky symphonies? The answer is an emphatic yes. Caetani is not an indulgent Tchaikovskyan... he lets Tchaikovsky speak for himself: the contrapuntal rigour, the emotional tenderness, the occasional hint of hysteria within a classical structure… a treasure at any price.” This concert marks his debut with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

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Sergei raChmaninOv (1873–1943)

piano Concerto no 2 in C minor, Op18

Moderato Adagio sostenutoAllegro scherzando

The story of the creation of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto is often told: the young composer, a star student of the Moscow Conservatory and a favourite of Tchaikovsky, had achieved considerable success getting his earliest works published, but in 1897 his ambitious First Symphony was disastrously premièred in St Petersburg, resulting in vicious press attacks, notoriously from César Cui who compared it to a program symphony based on the Seven Plagues of Egypt. Supposedly, the ordeal led Rachmaninov into a three-year period of deep depression in which he was unable to write, and ended only after a course in hypnotherapy with the viola-playing Dr Nikolai Dahl. The doctor’s treatment apparently persuaded the young composer that he would be able to write a new concerto, and the resulting work - dedicated to Dahl - has become one of the most famous in the piano repertory.

It’s an attractive tale, yet despite Rachmaninov’s obvious disappointment with the reception of his symphony, the so-called “creative hiatus” was a relatively busy period for him. From 1898, he took up the baton professionally for the first time, conducting numerous performances for the newly established Mamontov Private Opera Company in Moscow, and directing the young Chaliapin in roles for which he would later become so famous. Such was his conducting skill that within a few years he would hold a position at the Bolshoi Theatre. The period also

heralded a subtle but significant change in his outlook on composition once he started writing larger works again. From 1900, Rachmaninov favoured a more conservative style than that of his symphony, and one that, ironically, became the source of some personal consternation as he sought to evolve his creative voice in following years.

Whether due to the course in hypnotherapy - after all, it was some months before he began to write again - or simply the passage of time, there is no doubting the sense that something was unleashed within the composer in the works that followed. In the concerto and other compositions of the period (the second Two-Piano Suite and the Sonata for Piano and Cello are the closest), a new assuredness of style is evident, and there is an almost overwhelming abundance of melody. These new works were also created quickly: the second and third movements of the concerto were completed within a few months, and a performance of these took place

Sergei Rachmaninov

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in December 1900 in Moscow. The first complete performance of the new concerto occurred on the 27 October 1901 (Old Style), also in Moscow, with the composer at the piano and his cousin, the noted pianist Alexander Siloti, conducting.

The famous opening notes of the Second Piano Concerto are essentially an extended cadence: slightly varied chords over bell-like bass notes gradually increase in volume, before the notes A-flat, F, G - the basis of a motif that appears throughout the concerto - resolve to the home key of C minor, whereon the orchestra introduces the expansive principal subject. The second theme, in the key of the relative major, is by contrast given almost exclusively to the piano. The development section begins with material based on the motif, while a fragment of the second subject in the violins propels the movement to its climax. The recapitulation follows, with the orchestra again stating the main theme while the piano provides a martial-like accompaniment based on material extrapolated from the motif. The opening phrase of the second subject is recalled by the French horn, and, rather than providing a complete restatement, Rachmaninov shares fragments of the melody gently between the soloist and the orchestra. The reverie is soon broken, however, and a build up of momentum brings the movement to a fiery close.

A short orchestral passage serves to move the second movement to the warmer key of E major where over an arpeggiated figure in the piano - material composed some years earlier for a six-hand piano Romance - the first subject is given to the flute, then taken over by the clarinet. After a second statement of the theme by the soloist, the melody is developed as the music builds. A faster scherzando section - perhaps recalling the analogous

section in Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto - leads the movement to a climax, at which point Rachmaninov provides a cadenza (lacking from its traditional place in the first movement). The violins restate the opening melodic material, before sustained piano chords accompany a passage of gradual melodic descent as the movement dies away.

The final movement begins quietly on low strings, the rhythmic material being related to the motif. A dramatic keyboard cadenza also emphasises the motif before introducing the principal theme. A short period of development, including a brief shift to waltz-time, leads to an abrupt key change and the announcement of the lyrical second subject by the oboe and violas. Perhaps one of Rachmaninov’s most famous melodies, the literature suggests it may have been ‘borrowed’ from a friend. However, if there is any truth to this story it is more likely that the reference is only to the opening notes, its expansive treatment bearing too many of the composer’s inimical hallmarks. A trance-like section over a held bass note leads to a development section where Rachmaninov, with youthful exuberance, replaces a recapitulation of the first subject with a fugue based on its opening notes. The second subject is then heard again in the distant key of D-flat major, before a short coda leads to a final restatement of the melody, this time fortissimo and given to the full orchestra, underpinned by massive chords on the piano. In characteristic fashion, the concerto concludes with a spirited dash to the end.

Scott Davie ©2007

The TSO last performed this work in Hobart and Launceston on 2 and 3 March 2007 with soloist Freddy Kempf and conductor Sebastian Lang-Lessing.

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peter iLyiCh tChaikOvSky (1840-1893)

manfred – Symphony in Four Scenes, Op 58

Lento lugubre – Moderto con moto – Andante (Manfred Wandering in the Alps)Vivace con spirito (The Fairy of the Alps)Andante con moto (Pastorale)Allegro con fuoco (The Subterranean Palace of Arimanes)On his 1867 visit to Russia Berlioz conducted his Harold in Italy, based on Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. For Russian composers here was symphonic thinking freed from German formal traditions, depicting the attitudes and adventures of a supreme outsider in Romantic literature. Their enthusiasm was fanned by a love of Byron that had come to Russia late. The critic Vladimir Stasov suggested Manfred as a symphonic subject to the composer Balakirev, and wrote him a scenario. Balakirev sent Stasov’s scenario to Berlioz. But Berlioz was dying and did not respond to Balakirev’s hint.

Fourteen years later Balakirev urged Stasov’s scenario on Tchaikovsky. He suggested keys, offered advice about instrumentation, and enthused: “The subject is not only profound but contemporary, for the sickness of modern man lies in the fact that he cannot preserve his ideals... nothing is left… except bitterness.”

For the most part, Stasov’s scenario is a fair distillation of Byron’s slightly autobiographical verse drama, in which an outcast Faustian figure living in a ruined Alpine castle, seeks forgetfulness for “some half-maddening sin”, which turns out to be incestuous love for his sister Astarte. Mastery of occult powers cannot offer him peace; he tries to kill himself, but is rescued by a hunter. After invoking the Witch of the Alps he descends to

the underworld and sees a vision of Astarte, who promises that he will die the next day. The poem ends with his refusal to capitulate to demon blandishments or pleas to repent: “I have been... my own destroyer, and will be my own hereafter.”

Tchaikovsky was not at first excited about the subject’s musical or philosophical possibilities and had become distrustful of programmatic music, but once he began the symphony he completed it at great speed. In the end Byron’s great archetype of the proud, faithless outsider resonated for him. Even Manfred’s redemption (Stasov’s invention; Byron’s Manfred dies unrepentant) appealed to Tchaikovsky’s wish for an end to his sufferings.

Manfred is longer and more lavish than any other Tchaikovsky symphony. Although Tchaikovsky disliked working to a detailed program, Manfred falls into his favourite symphonic pattern – a

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

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substantial expository movement, two lighter interlude-like movements, and a finale of sufficient weight to balance the whole. Yet the debt to Berlioz is great, and lies principally in the depiction of Manfred as an outsider, and adherence to Berlioz’ principle of the idée fixe. Tchaikovsky leaves the Manfred theme in distinct profile throughout the work, making explicit the hero’s moments of action, repose and reflection.

Each movement is prefaced with Tchaikovsky’s final version of the Balakirev-Stasov descriptions, that to the first being: “Manfred wanders in the Alps. Weary of the fatal question of existence, tormented by hopeless longings and the memory of past crimes, he suffers cruel spiritual pangs. He has plunged into the occult sciences and commands the mighty powers of darkness, but neither they nor anything in this world can give him the forgetfulness to which alone he vainly aspires. The memory of the lost Astarte, once passionately loved by him, gnaws his heart and there is neither limit nor end to Manfred’s despair.”

Manfred’s descending theme is announced by bassoons and bass clarinet, after which the strings announce an intense, rising theme, sometimes called “Manfred’s longing for forgetfulness”. These are developed considerably before the movement’s second section begins with the lyrical theme depicting Astarte on the first violins. Tchaikovsky then represents Manfred’s feelings at his memory of her. This movement ends with a statement of the Manfred theme, replete with gong-strokes and shuddering brass exclamations.

In contrast, the scherzo is primarily light and lyrical, as “the Alpine fairy” (no longer a “witch”) appears before Manfred in the rainbow from the spray of a waterfall. The outer sections inspire sonorities of gossamer delicacy. These are set in relief, in the trio, by the appearance of

the Fairy, who is given a warmly romantic melody first heard on violins. We become aware of Manfred’s agonised presence. At the movement’s conclusion, the sound drifts upwards to a faint shimmer, another of the work’s great tests of orchestral virtuosity.

The Andante concerns “the simple, free and peaceful life of the mountain people”, with a quintet of cor anglais, clarinets and bassoon evoking Byron’s “natural music of the mountain reed”. Towards the end, the idyllic rusticisms are shattered by a reminder of Manfred’s burning anguish.

The Finale finds Manfred in the middle of a bacchanale, overwhelmed. His theme is transformed into a fugue, which leads to a dramatic, exclamatory passage suggesting revulsion at his surroundings. The shade of Astarte foretells his end. Her theme is recalled tenderly, then desperately, until combined with Manfred’s main theme, given out in the grand, theatrical manner that closed the first movement. This leads suddenly to the apotheosis of Manfred, scored for orchestra and organ, after which the work ends peacefully and quietly.

© Phillip Sametz 1996

The TSO last performed this work in Hobart on 5 July 1986 with conductor Nicholas Braithwaite.

“Manfred is longer and more lavish than any other Tchaikovsky symphony. Although Tchaikovsky disliked working to a detailed program, Manfred falls into his favourite symphonic pattern – a substantial expository movement, two lighter interlude-like movements, and a finale of sufficient weight to balance the whole.”

7chAiR SponSoRS AnD pATRonS

Chair SpOnSOrS

Chair Sponsors provide valuable financial assistance to the TSO through an annual donation of $5,000 or more. Their donation, which is nominally placed beside an orchestra chair of their choosing, supports the entire orchestra. All donations to the TSO are fully tax deductible.

Chief Conductor GHDConcertmaster Mike and Carole Ralstonassociate Concertmaster R H O’Connorprincipal viola John and Jo Struttprincipal Cello Richard and Gill Irelandprincipal double bass Patricia Learyprincipal Oboe Melanie Godfrey-Smithprincipal bassoon Julia Farrellrank and File bassoon Alan and Hilary Wallaceprincipal horn Mr Kenneth von Bibra AM and Mrs Berta von Bibra OAM

principal trumpet Joy Selby Smithprincipal timpani John and Marilyn Canterfordprincipal harp Dr and Mrs Michael Treplinpiano Mrs Neale Edwards

tSO patrOnSHis Excellency The Honourable Peter Underwood AC, Governor of Tasmania TSO CHAIRMAN EMERITUS

TSO Patrons are individuals and couples who support the TSO with an annual donation of $500 or more. All donations to the TSO are fully tax deductible.

Yvonne and Keith AdkinsPeter and Ruth AlthausBrendan and Emily BlomeleyHans Bosman and Sue MaddenAileen BuchanDr Howard Bye and Mrs Dianne ByeJohn and Marilyn CanterfordHeather CartledgeGeorge and Jan CasimatyDr Alastair ChristieStephanie CooperThe Cretan FamilyDr Louise CrossleyJoanna de BurghJohn Dickens and Dr Ian PayneLyn EdwardsMrs Neale EdwardsMr Hansjuergen EnzJulia FarrellMrs S FyfeEmeritus Professor A R Glenn and Dr O F GlennMelanie Godfrey-SmithDr Duncan GrantKaaren HaasPatricia HaleyAndrew and Amanda HalleyBarbara HarlingBrian and Jacky HartnettRobyn and John HawkinsAndrew Heap and Judith HillhouseDr Don Hempton and Mrs Jasmine HemptonNicholas Heyward and Allanah DopsonMr Ian Hicks and Dr Jane TolmanMrs Lola Hutchinson OAM

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Turnbulls PharmacyHis Excellency The Honourable Peter Underwood AC, Governor of Tasmania, and Mrs Frances UnderwoodJohn UpcherMr Kenneth von Bibra AM and Mrs Berta von Bibra OAM

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If you wish to become a Chair Sponsor or TSO Patron, please contact Lisa Harris on (03) 6232 4414 or harrisl@tso.com.au.

8 TASMAniAn SYMphonY oRchESTRA

viOLinElinor Levy ConcertmasterDaniel Kossov Associate ConcertmasterLucy Carrig Jones Principal SecondAlison Lazaroff-Somssich Principal FirstRebecca Adler^Jessica BellRohana BrownCatherine Bucknell^Miranda CarsonYue-Hong ChaNatasha Conrau^Frances Davies Inga Franks^Cherelle GadgeSophie Hudgell^Michael JohnstonChristine LawsonSusanna LazaroffChristopher NicholasLucas O’Brien^Liisa Pallandi^Tristan Selke^Hayato Simpson^Sarah Knox James SteendamLaura Thomson

viOLa Anne-Louise Comerford#

Thomas Chawner^William Clark^Alexander Colding Smith^Alexina Hawkins^Hana Hobiger^Rodney McDonaldWilliam NewberyAnna RoachJo St Leon

CeLLO Sue-Ellen Paulsen*Dale BrownIvan JamesJarrad Mathie^Rachel Meredith^Martin PenickaAdam Szabo^Zoe Wallace

dOubLe baSS Stuart Thomson*Michael FortescueShandelle Horsford^Richard LynnMichael McCullough^Chloe-Ann Williamson^

FLute Douglas Mackie*Lloyd Hudson PiccoloFiona Perrin

ObOeDavid Nuttall*Emmanuel Cassimatis^Dinah Woods Cor Anglais

CLarinetDuncan Abercromby*Nicole Bates Bass ClarinetNicholas Evans^

baSSOOn Oscar Garrido#

John Panckridge ContrabassoonJack Schiller^

hOrn Wendy Page*Heath Parkinson*Jules EvansRoger JacksonGreg Stephens

trumpet Matt Dempsey#

Glenn Schultz

COrnetYoram Levy*Josh Rogan^

trOmbOne Donald Bate*Michael Ingle^Liam O’Malley

baSS trOmbOneRobert Clark*

tubaTimothy Jones*

timpaniMatthew Goddard*

perCuSSiOn Gary Wain*Catherine Betts^Stephen MarskellJennifer Morrish^Tracey Patten

harpLucy Reeves#

Natalie Wong^

*principal player#guest principal^ AYO player

Chief Conductor & artistic directorSebastian Lang-Lessing

managing directorNicholas Heyward

australian music program directorLyndon Terracini

tSO ChorusmasterJune Tyzack

tSO boardGeoff Willis ChairmanPatricia Leary Deputy ChairKen BaxterMaria GrenfellNicholas HeywardPaul OxleyDavid RichJohn UpcherColin Norris Company Secretary

tSO Foundation Chairman Colin Jackson OAM

FOtSO president Susan Williams

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TSo cAlEnDAR of concERTS

wednesday 20 october 6pm TSO Goes to the Opera FederatiOn COnCert haLL, hObart

Enjoy rousing marches, magnificent choruses and gorgeous melodies – the very best that opera has to offer – in a special Family Classics

concert that celebrates all things operatic. Bravo!

graham abbott conductorChristopher Lawrence comperetSO Chorus

Program includes:VERDI Nabucco, Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves VERDI Aïda, Triumphal March and ChorusWAGNER Lohengrin, Wedding March

and Chorus WEBER Der Freischütz, Hunting Chorus MASSENET Thaïs, Meditation

monday 11 october 8pm Classics Old and New FederatiOn COnCert haLL, hObart Violin virtuoso

Vadim Gluzman astonishes and amazes in fiery masterpieces by

Prokofiev and Ravel, and Sebastian Lang-Lessing energises Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin and Beethoven's glorious Eighth Symphony.

thursday 14 october 7pm

City reCitaL haLL angeL pLaCe, Sydney

Sebastian Lang-Lessing conductorvadim gluzman violin

RAVEL Le Tombeau de Couperin PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No 2RAVEL TziganeBEETHOVEN Symphony No 8

friday 29 october 7pm Best of BaroquepOrtLand haLL, St heLenS

Acclaimed violinist Paul Wright directs a program of Baroque classics including Bach’s heavenly “Air on the G String”, Telemann’s whimsical Don Quichotte and

Corelli’s exquisite F Major Concerto.

monday 1 november 7pm

FederatiOn COnCert haLL, hObart

paul Wright directordavid nuttall oboeStrings of the tSO

Program includes: BACH Concerto for Violin and Oboe BWV 1060CORELLI Concerto Grosso in F Major Op 6/12BACH Orchestral Suite No 3, AirTELEMANN Don Quichotte TWV 55:G10