Fri 30 March 8pmSat 31 March 8pm

Anne-Sophie Mutterplays Beethoven

2 012 S E A S O N S P E C I A L E V E N T

WELCOME

David LivingstoneChief Executive Offi cerCredit Suisse Australia

We at Credit Suisse warmly welcome you to the Australian debut concerts of German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.

In 2011, we were proud to support the Sydney Symphony in presenting the Australian debut of pianist Evgeny Kissin. His long-awaited visit to this country was due in large part to the musical and personal rapport between Kissin and the orchestra’s principal conductor, Vladimir Ashkenazy. Similarly, Anne-Sophie Mutter’s fi rst visit to Australia has resulted from Ashkenazy’s determination to invite some of the world’s best soloists to perform here in Sydney.

It is no exaggeration to say that Anne-Sophie Mutter is a superstar in the classical music world. She came to the attention of Herbert von Karajan – and thus the world – as a teenager. In the years since, Mutter has matured into an artist of the highest calibre, renowned for her immaculate precision, bold musical ideas and powerful sound.

The sold-out hall tonight is testament to the eagerness with which Sydney audiences have been anticipating this landmark appearance by a great international artist. For all of us, it will be a privilege to hear Anne-Sophie Mutter bring her artistry to one of the absolute masterpieces of the violin repertoire: the Beethoven concerto. For us at Credit Suisse, there is tremendous satisfaction in supporting this event, ensuring that Australian music lovers can experience, fi rst hand, music-making at the highest level.

We hope you have an enjoyable and inspiring evening in the concert hall.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)Violin Concerto in D, Op.61

Allegro ma non troppoLarghetto –Rondo (Allegro)

INTERVAL

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975)Symphony No.5 in D minor, Op.47

Moderato – Allegro non troppoAllegrettoLargoAllegro non troppo – Allegro

2012 season special eventpremier partner credit suisse

Friday 30 March, 8pmSaturday 31 March, 8pm

Sydney Opera House Concert Hall

Anne-Sophie Mutter plays BeethovenVladimir Ashkenazy CONDUCTOR

Anne-Sophie Mutter VIOLIN

Pre-concert talk by Scott Davie at 6.15pm in the Northern Foyer. Visit sydneysymphony.com/talk-bios for speaker biographies.

Approximate durations: 42 minutes, 20-minute interval, 45 minutesThe concert will conclude at approximately 10pm.

No photographs or sound recordings may be taken or made during the concert.

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INTRODUCTION

Anne-Sophie Mutter plays Beethoven

In this 80th anniversary season, the Sydney Symphony has been looking back to the past as well as forward to the future. One signifi cant event in our history was the introduction of subscription concerts in 1936. Perhaps even more signifi cant in light of tonight’s artists was the name of that series: Celebrity Concerts. The fi rst celebrity was conductor Malcolm Sargent, who was a great success – ‘slim, handsome, well dressed and a “showman” conductor to boot’, reports Phillip Sametz in his history of the orchestra.

As a series the Celebrity Concerts didn’t last. But their legacy remains, especially in the practice of casting a concert season with a mix of artists of international repute (some of whom we’re proud to say are Australian), young overseas artists just beginning to make a name, and established and emerging Australians.

Then, every so often, we enjoy the presence of an artist who is more than a celebrity – a true star. In 2011 – thanks to the advocacy of our principal conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy, himself a star of the musical world – Sydney audiences witnessed stellar performances by Lang Lang and Evgeny Kissin. This year, we’re delighted to bring Anne-Sophie Mutter to Sydney for her long-awaited Australian debut.

Our program presents two composers who were celebrities in their lifetimes: Beethoven and Shostakovich. Beethoven’s only violin concerto was composed for the celebrity virtuoso Franz Clement. But Beethoven makes no concessions to empty display in this mighty work. This is a concerto that calls for depth of musicianship as well as a virtuoso technique.

Shostakovich’s Fifth is the most popular of his symphonies, but this doesn’t make it any less complicated. Much has been written about Shostakovich’s life and music, and there will never be a simple answer. But Ashkenazy, who met the composer as a student and who knew his world, off ers a musician’s perspective when he says:

If you could describe Shostakovich’s attitude and what he tried to express in his music, it’s simply the tragedy of an individual in impossible circumstances. But we knew what he wanted to say because we felt the same that he did, and we somehow deciphered it emotionally and spiritually…And he said it so eloquently. We were looking into a mirror of our existence. That’s what it was like. It’s reality. But reality can be expressed only by a genius, in musical terms.

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Keynotes

BEETHOVENBorn Bonn, 1770Died Vienna, 1827

Beethoven wrote only a small number of solo concertos, but his five concertos for piano (his own instrument) and the violin concerto have become repertoire standards. He also completed the Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano, and during his youth in Bonn he began a violin concerto and composed two romances for violin and orchestra. These works, together with his violin sonatas, laid the groundwork for the great masterpiece that he composed with such assurance in 1806.

VIOLIN CONCERTO

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto was composed for its first soloist, Franz Clement (1780–1842). After the premiere, the critics praised the concerto’s originality and beauty, but they were puzzled too. They were used to the brilliantly virtuosic concertos of composer-violinists such as Viotti and Spohr, and Beethoven’s elegant concerto tends to highlight the inherent drama of its lyrical themes rather than the expected confrontation between virtuoso and orchestra.

The concerto begins with five taps from the timpani, and this motif turns out to be an important gesture, dominating the radiant first movement. The second movement is a set of variations on a theme, and Beethoven links it seamlessly to the finale with a transition for the soloist. Tradition has it that Clement suggested the leaping main theme for the finale himself.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Ludwig van BeethovenViolin Concerto in D, Op.61Allegro ma non troppoLarghetto –Rondo (Allegro)

Anne-Sophie Mutter violincadenzas by Fritz Kreisler

In December 1806, Johann Nepomuk Möser attended a benefi t concert which he reviewed for the Wiener Theaterzeitung. He wrote that ‘the excellent Klement’, leader of the orchestra at the Theater an der Wien, ‘also played, besides other beautiful pieces, a Violin Concerto by Beethhofen, which on account of its originality and many beautiful parts was received with exceptional applause’. Well, we might say, quite. But Möser went on to note that the ‘experts’ were unanimous: ‘allowing it many beauties, but recognising that its scheme often seems confused and that the unending repetitions of certain commonplace events could easily prove wearisome.’

While it was rumoured that the wife of a 20th-century virtuoso used quietly to sing ‘At last it’s over, at last it’s over’ to the tune of the fi nale, it is still hard to imagine how the critics back then got it so wrong and why there was only one other documented performance during Beethoven’s life. (It was not until Joseph Joachim took the piece up in 1844, that it gained any currency at all.) Beethoven himself may have felt that the work had no future, as he made a version for piano and orchestra for the pianist, composer and publisher Muzio Clementi soon after the premiere.

Then again, ‘the excellent Klement’ had played one or two lollipops of his own composition (one, according to legend, with the instrument upside down) between the fi rst and second movements, which, though not unusual practice, must have broken the spell. And to be fair, Beethoven, who had been working at tremendous speed in the latter half of 1806, only delivered the score at the last minute leaving little, if any, time for rehearsal. He had fi nally completed the fi rst version of his opera Fidelio and then in quick succession composed the Fourth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto, the three ‘Razumovsky’ string quartets, the Violin Concerto and one or two other things before the end of the year.

We often describe the early years of the 19th century as Beethoven’s ‘heroic decade’ – the music includes works such as the Eroica and Fifth Symphonies that dramatise seemingly titanic struggles and epic victories on a scale unimagined by previous composers. It is almost too easy to

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see this as refl ecting Beethoven’s own heroic response to the deafness which began to hamper his professional and personal life at the time; it may also refl ect radical upheavals in European society: Napoleon’s armies occupied Vienna three times in the course of the decade. But the period also produced works of great serenity – especially the Fourth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto and the Violin Concerto. They remain large-scale works, but their emotional worlds are far from the violent tensions of the odd-numbered symphonies.

Beethoven had toyed with the idea of a Violin Concerto in the early 1790s: there exists a fragmentary fi rst movement in C, and it is possible that one of the Romances for violin and orchestra was intended as a slow movement for the uncompleted work. While he may have abandoned the early concerto, by the time of the D major work he had nonetheless composed nine of his ten sonatas for piano and violin. From the 1802 Op.30 set on, he invested these with the same complexity of emotion and expanded scale heard in the symphonies and string quartets. But Beethoven’s interest in the concerto medium was, until 1806, primarily in composing works for himself as soloist – the fi rst four piano concertos; after that time his hearing loss made concerto playing too risky.

At one remove, as it were, in this work he could concentrate on the problem of reconciling the principles of symphonic composition – which stress dramatic contention and ultimate integration of contrasting thematic

Franz ClementBeethoven’s Violin Concerto was composed for a virtuoso, the Austrian violinist Franz Clement (1780–1842). Clement fi rst gained renown as a child prodigy. By 1806 he was the leader of an orchestra and had been a professional performer for more than half his life. He was famous for his astonishing memory, and his style was characterised by clarity and elegance. It was Clement who commissioned the concerto from Beethoven, intending it as the mainstay of a benefi t concert.

Clement probably gave Beethoven advice on technical matters – just as Joseph Joachim was to do for Brahms and Ferdinand David for Mendelssohn. But he may have provided other inspiration too: Clement had written his own violin concerto, also in D major, which was premiered in 1805, sharing the program with Beethoven’s new Eroica Symphony in another benefi t concert for Clement; and tradition has it that Clement supplied the leaping theme for the ‘hunting rondo’ that concludes Beethoven’s concerto. This theme is fi rst played entirely on the G string, bringing to mind Clement’s favourite party trick: performing variations of his own, on one string, while holding the instrument upside down!

CadenzasBeethoven did not compose cadenzas for his Violin Concerto. In the first performance, Clement provided his own, and many great violinists since, including Joseph Joachim and Fritz Kreisler have composed cadenzas for the concerto. When Beethoven transcribed the work as a piano concerto, however, he did compose cadenzas, distinctive in their unusual strategy of bringing the timpani along as a duo partner, echoing the drum taps of the opening. More recently, some violinists have adapted these piano cadenzas for the violin, retaining the timpani

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material – and concerto composition, which adds the complication of pitting the individual against the mass.

In the Violin Concerto Beethoven uses a number of gambits to bring about this synthesis. As in a number of works of this period, the Violin Concerto often makes music out of next to no material: the fi ve drum taps which open the fi rst movement, for instance, are a simple reiteration in crotchets of the key note (D). This gesture, seemingly blank at the start, returns several times during the movement, most strikingly when the main material is recapitulated: there the whole orchestra takes up the motif.

Similarly, the Larghetto slow movement has been famously described by Donald Tovey as an example of ‘sublime inaction’ – nothing seems to be happening, though in fact subtle changes and variations of material stop the piece from becoming monotonous. The seemingly improvised transition into the last movement was not so much to preclude Clement from playing something with his teeth or behind his back, but to dramatise the gradual change from that immobility to the release of energy in the fi nale. Throughout the work Beethoven plays expertly with our expectations: the soloist only enters after a fully symphonic introduction, and only then with an ornamental fl ourish, rather than any thematic material. The beautiful second theme is, as Maynard Solomon notes, perfectly composed to exploit the richness of the lowest string of the instrument, but the soloist only gets that theme at the movement’s end. This large scale plotting of the work allowed Beethoven to expand the scale of the violin concerto beyond all expectations, and lay the foundation for the great concertos of Brahms and Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius.

GORDON KERRY © 2008

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto calls for an orchestra of flute with pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns and trumpets; timpani and strings.

The Sydney Symphony first performed the concerto in 1938 with conductor George Szell and violinist Nathan ‘Tossy’ Spivakovsky, and most recently in 2010 with Renaud Capuçon and conductor Kristjan Järvi.

…Beethoven plays expertly with our expectations…

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Dmitri ShostakovichSymphony No.5 in D minor, Op.47Moderato – Allegro non troppoAllegrettoLargoAllegro non troppo

Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony is one of the iconic works of the 20th century. In purely musical terms it is a masterpiece, coherently expressed and brilliantly orchestrated in a large-scale architecture whose pacing is always expertly judged. But the work’s status derives at least in part from extra-musical considerations: the circumstances in which the work was conceived were extraordinary, and the piece has become a powerful symbol in the battle for the composer’s ideological soul.

The well-known facts of the symphony’s genesis bear repeating. By 1936 Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk had enjoyed a very successful two year run, but then Stalin, whose tastes tended to extend no further than Lehár’s Merry Widow, saw the show. An anonymous review appeared in the offi cial newspaper Pravda accusing the composer of producing ‘muddle [or chaos] instead of music’ and warning that this ‘could end very badly’ for him. Shostakovich took to sleeping in the hallway of his apartment so as not to disturb his family when the NVKD (the predecessor of the KGB) arrived to arrest him – though it never came to that. Lady Macbeth was pulled from the stage and revised as the toned-down Katerina Ismailova, and he withdrew, or allowed to be withdrawn, his Symphony No.4. He had good reason for alarm. The Great Terror, Stalin’s infamous ‘purges’, was at its height, resulting in the incarceration, and often murder, of a colossal number of leading intellects in all walks of life as well as potential political rivals. Whether out of caprice, paranoia or sheer sadism, Stalin came close to fatally weakening his country.

Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony – which had to wait decades for a performance – is an epic, blisteringly ironic work where triumphal fanfares turn sour in the space of a single bar and glacial spaces unfold menacingly. Composed in 1937, the Fifth, by contrast, is essentially a neoclassical piece, the angular contour and dotted rhythms of its opening gesture immediately recalling the baroque overture. The work has four movements in conventional forms (sonata-allegro, scherzo and so on); its musical language affi rms traditional diatonic harmony in a Beethovenian journey from a striving D minor opening to the blazing major-key optimism of the fi nale. Following the common

Keynotes

SHOSTAKOVICHBorn St Petersburg, 1906 Died Moscow, 1975

One of the great symphonic composers of the 20th century, Shostakovich was also a controversial and enigmatic personality who lived through the Bolshevik Revolution, the Stalinist purges and World War II. His music is often searched for cryptic messages: criticism of the Stalinist regime disguised in music that, it was hoped, would be found acceptable by authorities. But Shostakovich’s compromises only went so far and his music was nonetheless subject to censure, usually on stylistic or ‘moral’ grounds. Most famously, in 1936, his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was dismissed in Pravda as ‘Muddle instead of Music’.

FIFTH SYMPHONY

This symphony was composed in 1937, following the Pravda criticism and the withdrawal of his audacious Fourth Symphony, and it has long been associated with the tagline (not from Shostakovich): ‘A Soviet artist’s reply to just criticism.’ In that light, the conservative aspects of the symphony make sense. The first movement seems positively orderly in character, despite its boldly jagged opening. The second movement is a traditional scherzo with playful central section, and the slow third movement is powerful and expressive in a way that made the first audience weep. The finale is contentious – it might be optimistic on the surface but for some listeners the rejoicing seems forced.

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practice of Russian composers like Borodin, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, Shostakovich places the dance-like scherzo second, before an emotionally powerful Largo which alludes briefl y to his own setting of Pushkin’s poem Rebirth. At the time, Shostakovich claimed that: ‘man with all his experiences [is] in the centre of the composition, which is lyrical in form from beginning to end. In the fi nale, the tragically tense impulses of the earlier movements are resolved in optimism and joy of living.’ Composers’ program notes are often unreliable, but years later Shostakovich’s conductor son Maxim claimed that his father had described it as an ‘heroic symphony’ – not unlike Beethoven’s Third in intent.

The Fifth Symphony was a huge success at its premiere, with audience members weeping during the slow movement and on their feet, cheering, as the fi nale drew to a close. (And they stayed on their feet for 40 minutes after the piece fi nished!) As a work which refl ected the ideals of Socialist Realism, and which was clearly such a hit with the masses, the Fifth was Shostakovich’s passport to a return – for now at least – to offi cial favour. When a journalist described it as ‘an artist’s response to just criticism’ Shostakovich didn’t demur, and that phrase has come to be seen as the work’s subtitle, though there is no evidence that it was indeed Shostakovich’s expressed view.

During the early stages of the Cold War, Shostakovich was derided in the West as a composer of what Virgil Thomson called ‘national advertising’ and a work like the Fifth seen as a piece of mandatory optimism and Soviet propaganda. In the late 20th century, however, that attitude changed radically as the view emerged that Shostakovich was a secret dissident, encoding anti-Soviet ‘messages’ in his music, including the Fifth Symphony.

Dmitri Shostakovich, 1943

Soon after his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was denounced in 1936, Shostakovich composed Rebirth (Vozrozhdenie), a setting of verse of Pushkin, portraying the immortality of beauty, the victory of the artist over his persecutors and the triumph of genius over mediocrity. In the Fifth Symphony he first alludes to the main theme of Rebirth in the Largo movement. Then, in the finale, he hides the theme amongst the triumphant brass and rejoicing strings, as if to say that the ‘secret’ of the symphony is the triumph of culture over barbarism.

BOOK NOW! Tickets available from $35*

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*Booking fees of $7.50 – $8.95 may apply

The Sydney Symphony performs orchestral highlights from two of Tchaikovsky’s great ballets: Nutcracker and Swan Lake.

Also on the program... GOLIJOV Last RoundFALLA Nights in the Gardens of Spain

Andrew Grams conductor | Louis Lortie piano

THURSDAY AFTERNOON SYMPHONY

Thu 19 Apr 1.30pmEMIRATES METRO SERIES MONDAYS @ 7

Fri 20 Apr 8pm Mon 23 Apr 7pm

TCHAIKOVSKY at the ballet

After sold-out concerts in 2008, William Barton returns to Sydney with his didjeridu to play his collaboration with Matthew Hindson, Kalkadungu.

MOZART Symphony No.31 (Paris)MACKEY Stumble to Grace – Piano Concerto (Australian premiere)BARTON & HINDSON KalkadunguPROKOFIEV Classical Symphony

David Robertson conductorWilliam Barton didjeriduOrli Shaham piano

MEET THE MUSICPRESENTED BY AUSGRID

Wed 27 Jun 6.30pmThu 28 Jun 6.30pm

Kal ka dun gu

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This view gathered strength with the publication in 1979 (four years after Shostakovich’s death) of a volume entitled Testimony: Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich as related to and edited by Solomon Volkov. In it Volkov quotes Shostakovich contradicting what he told his son, by saying:

I think it is clear to everyone what happens in the Fifth. The rejoicing is forced, created under threat, as in Boris Godunov. It’s as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying, ‘Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing,’ and you rise, shaky, and go marching off , muttering, ‘our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing.’ What kind of apotheosis is that? You have to be a complete oaf not to hear that.

Testimony created an ongoing furore, with musicologists and journalists confi dently proclaiming the work either a complete fraud or a valuable document of the composer’s thought. In 2004 one of the sceptics, Laurel E Fay, subjected the text to detailed examination. Fay cast doubt on the authenticity of the book, having discovered that the eight pages which the composer signed as having read all contained material which was not only innocuous but all of which had been published before. There was no guarantee that he saw, let alone dictated, the rest.

The stylistic change that came about with the Fifth was almost certainly fuelled by Shostakovich’s brush with the regime, and it is no accident that he began his epic cycle of intensely personal string quartets at this time. But certain facts are inconvenient to a simplistic reading of the man and his work, such as his decision to join the Communist Party in 1960, long after the immediate danger of Stalinism had passed. Moreover the Fifth Symphony was at one stage seen as pro-Soviet tub-thumping and then almost overnight regarded as a denunciation of the very same regime. Maybe it’s neither, but as critic Alex Ross puts it: ‘The notes, in any case, remain the same. The symphony still ends fortissimo, in D major, and it still brings audiences to their feet.’

GORDON KERRY © 2007

Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony calls for two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, E flat clarinet, two bassoons and contrabassoon; four horns, three trumpets, three trombones and tuba; timpani and a large percussion section; two harps, piano, celesta and strings.

Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony was premiered in Leningrad on 21 November 1937 in a Leningrad Philhamonic concert conducted by the young Evgeny Mravinsky. The Sydney Symphony gave the first Australian performance of the symphony on 16 June 1944, conducted by Eugene Ormandy. Our most recent performance was in 2005, conducted by Charles Dutoit.

‘The applause went on for an entire hour. People were in uproar, and ran up and down through the streets of Leningrad till the small hours, embracing and congratulating each other on having been there. They had understood the message that forms the “lower bottom”, the outer hull, of the Fifth Symphony: the message of sorrow, suffering and isolation; stretched on the rack of the Inquisition, the victim still tries to smile in his pain. The shrill repetition of the A at the end of the symphony is to me like a spear-point jabbing in the wounds of a person on the rack. The hearers of the first performance could identify with that person. Anybody who thinks the finale is glorification is an idiot – yes, it is a triumph of idiots.’

MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH (PREMIERE)

‘The Great Hall erupted. Everybody left their seats and ran towards the platform, and their ecstatic clamouring joined into a single roar.’

DAVID OISTRAKH (MOSCOW PREMIERE)

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MORE MUSIC

ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER

The true fan of Anne-Sophie Mutter should look no further than the limited edition 40-CD collection ASM35 Anne-Sophie Mutter: The Complete Musician, released last year to celebrate her 35th year of concert performance. It’s a handsome tribute to some mighty musical achievements and includes extensive documentation, photographs and exclusive content not previously released. The music ranges from Mozart, the composer Mutter fi rst recorded, to new works that have been written especially for her. The collection is quite an investment, but there is also a highlights release and a digital edition for the thrifty music-lover.DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 477 9464

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 477 9730 (Highlights, 2 CDs)

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 477 9859 (Digital Edition, 8 hours)

Anne-Sophie Mutter’s most recent new release is a disc of music by Sebastian Currier (Time Machine for violin and orchestra), Wolfgang Rihm (Lichtes Spiel for violin and orchestra, and Dyade, for violin and double bass), and Krzysztof Penderecki (his Duo concertante, also for violin and double bass). The orchestra is the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Alan Gilbert and Michael Francis, and her duo partner is double bass virtuoso Roman Patkoló.DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 477 9359

And for music from the established repertoire, look for her recording from 2009 of the Brahms violin sonatas with pianist Lambert Orkis. DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 477 8767

BEETHOVEN VIOLIN CONCERTO

Anne-Sophie Mutter has released two recordings of the Beethoven Violin Concerto, both with the Kreisler cadenza. The fi rst was made in 1979 with the Berlin Philharmonic and Herbert von Karajan and has been re-issued several times since, both alone and in collections.DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 477 7165

Then in 2002 she recorded the concerto again, live in Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center – the concert was Kurt Masur’s fi nal program as music director of the New York Philharmonic. This disc also includes the two Beethoven Romances.DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 471 3492

SHOSTAKOVICH 5

Shostakovich’s Fifth is easily his most popular symphony in the concert hall and the recording catalogue. Vladimir Ashkenazy’s take on the Fifth Symphony is currently available in a 15-CD boxed set of all the Shostakovich symphonies and selected

orchestral works, recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, St Petersburg Philharmonic and NKH Symphony Orchestra. (The RPO is the orchestra for Symphony No.5, the fi rst in the cycle to be recorded, in 1987.)DECCA 475 8748

More recently, in a 2001 concert in Suntory Hall, Tokyo, he recorded the Fifth Symphony with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. Where the earlier recording has been described as contemplative, the new one off ers an interpretation of greater urgency and concentration. On the same disc is Shostakovich’s Festive Overture.SIGNUM UK 135

The premiere of the Fifth Symphony was given by the Leningrad Philharmonic, conducted by Evgeny Mravinsky – then a young conductor of no ‘name’, as he described himself. He recorded the symphony with the Leningrad Philharmonic in 1954, a performance that’s been re-issued on the Melodiya label, and again in a live concert in 1984, which can be found in the Erato 12-CD collection, The Art of Evgeny Mravinsky.MELODIYA 1000771 (1954)

ERATO 698905 (1984)

Broadcast Diary

April–May

Friday 20 April, 8pmtchaikovsky at the balletAndrew Grams conductorLouis Lortie pianoGolijov, Falla, Tchaikovsky

Saturday 12 May, 1pmmozart's requiem: choral contrastsDavid Zinman conductorWelch-Babidge, Campbell, McMahon, Whelan vocal soloistsSydney Philharmonia ChoirsPoulenc, Mozart

2MBS-FM 102.5sydney symphony 2012 Tuesday 10 April, 6pm

Musicians, staff and guest artists discuss what’s in store in our forthcoming concerts.

sydney symphony 17

Glazunov & ShostakovichAlexander Lazarev conducts a thrilling performance of Shostakovich 9 and Glazunov’s Seasons. SSO 2

Strauss & SchubertGianluigi Gelmetti conducts Schubert’s Unfi nished and R Strauss’s Four Last Songs with Ricarda Merbeth. SSO 200803

Sir Charles MackerrasA 2CD set featuring Sir Charles’s fi nal performances with the orchestra, in October 2007. SSO 200705

Brett DeanBrett Dean performs his own viola concerto, conducted by Simone Young, in this all-Dean release. SSO 200702

RavelGelmetti conducts music by one of his favourite composers: Maurice Ravel. Includes Bolero. SSO 200801

Rare Rachmaninoff Rachmaninoff chamber music with Dene Olding, the Goldner Quartet, soprano Joan Rodgers and Vladimir Ashkenazy at the piano. SSO 200901

Webcasts

Selected Sydney Symphony concerts are webcast live on BigPond and Telstra T-box and made available for later viewing On Demand.Coming up next:a gershwin tributeMonday 21 May at 7pm

Visit: bigpondmusic.com/sydneysymphonyLive webcasts can also be viewed via our mobile app.

Sydney Symphony Live

The Sydney Symphony Live label was founded in 2006 and we’ve since released more than a dozen recordings featuring the orchestra in live concert performances with our titled conductors and leading guest artists, including the Mahler Odyssey cycle, begun in 2010. To purchase, visit sydneysymphony.com/shop

MAHLER ODYSSEY ON CDDuring the 2010 and 2011 concert seasons, the Sydney Symphony and Vladimir Ashkenazy set out to perform all the Mahler symphonies, together with some of the song cycles. These concerts were recorded for CD, with nine releases so far and more to come.

Mahler 9 OUT NOW

In March, Mahler’s Ninth, his last completed symphony, was released. SSO 201201

ALSO CURRENTLY AVAILABLE

Mahler 1 & Songs of a WayfarerSSO 201001

Mahler 8 (Symphony of a Thousand)SSO 201002

Mahler 5 SSO 201003

Song of the Earth SSO 201004

Mahler 3 SSO 201101

Mahler 4 SSO 201102

Mahler 6 SSO 201103

Mahler 7 SSO 201104

Sydney Symphony Online

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

In the years since Vladimir Ashkenazy fi rst came to prominence on the world stage in the 1955 Chopin Competition in Warsaw he has built an extraordinary career, not only as one of the most renowned and revered pianists of our times, but as an inspiring artist whose creative life encompasses a vast range of activities.

Conducting has formed the largest part of his music-making for the past 20 years. He has been Chief Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic (1998–2003), and Music Director of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo (2004–2007). This is his fourth season as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Sydney Symphony.

Alongside these roles, Vladimir Ashkenazy is also Conductor Laureate of the Philharmonia Orchestra, with whom he has developed landmark projects such as Prokofi ev and Shostakovich Under Stalin (a project which he toured and later developed into a TV documentary) and Rachmaninoff Revisited at the Lincoln Center, New York.

He also holds the positions of Music Director of the European Union Youth Orchestra and Conductor Laureate of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. He maintains strong links with a number of other major orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra (where he was formerly Principal Guest Conductor), San Francisco Symphony, and Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin (Chief Conductor and Music Director, 1988 –96), as well as making guest appearances with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic.

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Vladimir Ashkenazy continues to devote himself to the piano, building his comprehensive recording catalogue with releases such as the 1999 Grammy award-winning Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues, Rautavaara’s Piano Concerto No.3 (which he commissioned), Rachmaninoff transcriptions, Bach’s Wohltemperierte Klavier and Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. In 2009 he released a disc of French piano duo works with Vovka Ashkenazy.

A regular visitor to Sydney over many years, he has conducted subscription concerts and composer festivals for the Sydney Symphony, with his fi ve-program Rachmaninoff festival forming a highlight of the 75th Anniversary Season in 2007. In 2010–11 he conducted the Mahler Odyssey concerts and live recordings, and his artistic role with the orchestra also includes annual international touring.

Vladimir Ashkenazy PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR AND ARTISTIC ADVISOR

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Anne-Sophie Mutter has been one of the most famous violin virtuosos of our time for more than 35 years. Born in Rheinfelden in Baden, she began her international career at the Lucerne Festival in 1976. A year later, she appeared as a soloist at the Salzburg Whitsun Concerts under the baton of Herbert von Karajan. Since then, Anne-Sophie Mutter has given concerts in all the major musical centres worldwide. As well as performing traditional, famous works, she repeatedly introduces new repertoire to her listeners: Sebastian Currier, Henri Dutilleux, Sofi a Gubaidulina, Witold Lutosławski, Norbert Moret, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir André Previn and Wolfgang Rihm have dedicated works to her. In addition, she is involved in many charity projects and the promotion of top young musical talents.

The year 2012, with concerts in Asia, Europe and North America – and for the fi rst time in Australia too – demonstrates her musical versatility and unparalleled distinction in the world of classical music. Thus, she will perform Time Machines by Sebastian Currier and Lichtes Spiel by Wolfgang Rihm in a series of European countries and in Asia for the fi rst time. Additionally, she will give the world premiere of two new works by André Previn: his second sonata for the violin and piano in July, followed by the Violin Concerto No.2 for Violin and String Orchestra with two Harpsichord Interludes in September.

Anne-Sophie Mutter has been awarded the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, the Record Academy prize, the Grand Prix du Disque and the Internationaler Schallplattenpreis, as well as several Grammys. On the occasion of her 35th stage anniversary, Deutsche Grammophon launched a comprehensive boxed set with all her DG recordings, extensive documentation and recordings of rare items hitherto unpublished. Simultaneously, an album dedicated to Anne-Sophie Mutter was released with the world premiere recordings of works by Wolfgang Rihm (Lichtes Spiel and Dyade), Sebastian Currier (Time Machines) and Krzysztof Penderecki (Duo concertante): a further tribute to her high devotion to contemporary music.

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Anne-Sophie Mutter VIOLIN

In 2008, she established the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, whose objective is the further strengthening of the worldwide promotion of top young musical talents: a task she set herself in 1997 with the foundation of the Freundeskreis der Anne-Sophie Mutter Stiftung e.V. (Friends of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation). Work on current-day medical and social problems is also important to Anne-Sophie Mutter; she supports these concerns with regular charity concerts.

In 2011, Anne-Sophie Mutter was awarded the Brahms prize, and the Erich-Fromm prize and Gustav-Adolf prize for her social involvement. In 2010 the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim awarded her an honorary doctorate; in 2009 she was distinguished with the European St. Ullrichs prize as well as the Cristobal Gabarron award. In 2008, Anne-Sophie Mutter received the International Ernst von Siemens Music prize and the Leipzig Mendelssohn prize. She has also received the Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz (Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany), the French Order of the Legion of Honour, the Bavarian Order of Honour, the Großes Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen (Grand Austrian State Decoration of Honour) as well as numerous other awards.

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MUSICIANS

Vladimir AshkenazyPrincipal Conductor and Artistic Advisor supported by Emirates

Dene OldingConcertmaster

Nicholas CarterAssociate Conductor supported by Premier Partner Credit Suisse

FIRST VIOLINSDene Olding Concertmaster

Kirsten Williams Associate Concertmaster

Sun Yi Associate Concertmaster

Fiona Ziegler Assistant Concertmaster

Julie Batty Jennifer Booth Marianne BroadfootBrielle ClapsonSophie Cole Amber Davis Jennifer Hoy Georges LentzNicola Lewis Alexandra MitchellAlexander NortonLéone Ziegler Katherine Lukey Assistant Concertmaster

SECOND VIOLINS Kirsty Hilton Marina Marsden Susan Dobbie Principal Emeritus

Maria Durek Shuti Huang Stan W Kornel Benjamin Li Emily Long Nicole Masters Philippa Paige Biyana Rozenblit Maja Verunica Alexandra D’Elia°Emily Qin°Emma West Assistant Principal

Emma Hayes

VIOLASTobias Breider Anne-Louise Comerford Robyn Brookfield Sandro Costantino Jane Hazelwood Graham Hennings Stuart Johnson Justine Marsden Leonid Volovelsky Tara Houghton°Neil Thompson†

David Wicks°Roger Benedict Felicity Tsai

CELLOSCatherine Hewgill Leah Lynn Assistant Principal

Fenella Gill Timothy NankervisChristopher Pidcock Adrian Wallis David Wickham Eleanor Betts†

Mee Na Lojewski*Rowena Macneish°Kristy ConrauElizabeth Neville

DOUBLE BASSESKees Boersma Alex Henery Neil Brawley Principal Emeritus

David Campbell Steven Larson Richard Lynn David Murray Benjamin Ward

FLUTES Emma Sholl Carolyn HarrisRosamund Plummer Principal Piccolo

Janet Webb

OBOESDiana Doherty Shefali Pryor David Papp Alexandre Oguey Principal Cor Anglais

CLARINETSFrancesco Celata Christopher Tingay Lawrence Dobell Craig Wernicke Principal Bass Clarinet

BASSOONSMatthew Wilkie Fiona McNamara Noriko Shimada Principal Contrabassoon

HORNSBen Jacks Geoffrey O’ReillyPrincipal 3rd

Marnie Sebire Euan HarveyJenny McLeod°Robert Johnson Lee Bracegirdle

TRUMPETSDavid Elton John FosterAndrew Evans*Paul Goodchild Anthony Heinrichs

TROMBONESScott Kinmont Nick Byrne Christopher Harris Principal Bass Trombone

Ronald Prussing

TUBASteve Rossé

TIMPANIRichard Miller PERCUSSIONRebecca Lagos Colin Piper Mark Robinson Philip South*

HARP Louise Johnson Owen Torr* PIANO & CELESTACatherine Davis*

Bold = PrincipalItalics = Associate Principal* = Guest Musician° = Contract Musician† = Sydney Symphony FellowGrey = Permanent member of the Sydney Symphony not appearing in this concert

To see photographs of the full roster of permanent musicians and find out more about the orchestra, visit our website: www.sydneysymphony.com/SSO_musiciansIf you don’t have access to the internet, ask one of our customer service representatives for a copy of our Musicians flyer.

The men of the Sydney Symphony are proudly outfitted by Van Heusen.

sydney symphony 21

THE SYDNEY SYMPHONY

Founded in 1932 by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, the Sydney Symphony has evolved into one of the world’s fi nest orchestras as Sydney has become one of the world’s great cities.

Resident at the iconic Sydney Opera House, where it gives more than 100 performances each year, the Sydney Symphony also performs in venues throughout Sydney and regional New South Wales. International tours to Europe, Asia and the USA have earned the orchestra worldwide recognition for artistic excellence, most recently in the 2011 tour of Japan and Korea.

The Sydney Symphony’s fi rst Chief Conductor was Sir Eugene Goossens, appointed in 1947; he was followed by Nicolai Malko, Dean Dixon, Moshe Atzmon, Willem van Otterloo, Louis Frémaux, Sir Charles Mackerras, Zdenek Mácal, Stuart Challender, Edo de Waart and, most recently, Gianluigi Gelmetti. The orchestra’s history also boasts collaborations with legendary fi gures such as George Szell, Sir Thomas Beecham, Otto Klemperer and Igor Stravinsky.

The Sydney Symphony’s award-winning education program is central to its commitment to the future of live symphonic music, developing audiences and engaging the participation of young people. The Sydney Symphony promotes the work of Australian composers through performances, recordings and its commissioning program. Recent premieres have included major works by Ross Edwards, Liza Lim, Lee Bracegirdle, Gordon Kerry and Georges Lentz, and a recording of works by Brett Dean was released on both the BIS and Sydney Symphony Live labels.

Other releases on the Sydney Symphony Live label, established in 2006, include performances with Alexander Lazarev, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Sir Charles Mackerras and Vladimir Ashkenazy. The orchestra has recently completed recording the Mahler symphonies, and has also released recordings with Ashkenazy of Rachmaninoff and Elgar orchestral works on the Exton/Triton labels, as well as numerous recordings on the ABC Classics label.

This is the fourth year of Ashkenazy’s tenure as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor.

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BEHIND THE SCENES

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Rory JeffesEXECUTIVE TEAM ASSISTANT

Lisa Davies-Galli

ARTISTIC OPERATIONS

DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC PLANNING

Peter Czornyj

Artistic AdministrationARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION MANAGER

Elaine ArmstrongARTIST LIAISON MANAGER

Ilmar LeetbergRECORDING ENTERPRISE MANAGER

Philip Powers

Education ProgramsHEAD OF EDUCATION

Kim WaldockEMERGING ARTISTS PROGRAM MANAGER

Mark LawrensonEDUCATION COORDINATOR

Rachel McLarin

LibraryLIBRARIAN

Anna CernikLIBRARY ASSISTANT

Victoria GrantLIBRARY ASSISTANT

Mary-Ann Mead

ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT

DIRECTOR OF ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT

Aernout KerbertORCHESTRA MANAGER

Christopher Lewis-ToddORCHESTRA COORDINATOR

Georgia StamatopoulosOPERATIONS MANAGER

Kerry-Anne CookTECHNICAL MANAGER

Derek CouttsPRODUCTION COORDINATOR

Tim DaymanPRODUCTION COORDINATOR

Ian SpenceSTAGE MANAGER

Peter Gahan

SALES AND MARKETING

DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING

Mark J ElliottMARKETING MANAGER, SUBSCRIPTION SALES

Simon Crossley-MeatesA/SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER, SALES

Matthew RiveMARKETING MANAGER, BUSINESS RESOURCES

Katrina RiddleONLINE MARKETING MANAGER

Eve Le Gall

John C Conde ao ChairmanTerrey Arcus amEwen CrouchRoss GrantJennifer HoyRory JeffesAndrew KaldorIrene LeeDavid LivingstoneGoetz RichterDavid Smithers am

Sydney Symphony Board

Sydney Symphony Council

Sydney Symphony StaffMARKETING & ONLINE COORDINATOR

Kaisa HeinoGRAPHIC DESIGNER

Lucy McCulloughDATA ANALYST

Varsha KarnikMARKETING ASSISTANT

Jonathon Symonds

Box OfficeMANAGER OF BOX OFFICE SALES & OPERATIONS

Lynn McLaughlinMANAGER OF BOX OFFICE OPERATIONS

Tom DowneyCUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES

Steve Clarke – Senior CSRMichael DowlingDerek ReedJohn RobertsonBec Sheedy

COMMUNICATIONS

HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS

Yvonne ZammitPUBLICIST

Katherine StevensonDIGITAL CONTENT PRODUCER

Ben Draisma

PublicationsPUBLICATIONS EDITOR & MUSIC PRESENTATION MANAGER

Yvonne Frindle

DEVELOPMENT

HEAD OF CORPORATE RELATIONS

Leann MeiersCORPORATE RELATIONS

Julia OwensCORPORATE RELATIONS

Stephen AttfieldHEAD OF PHILANTHROPY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Caroline SharpenPHILANTHROPY, PATRONS PROGRAM

Ivana JirasekPHILANTHROPY, EVENTS & ENGAGEMENT

Amelia Morgan-Hunn

BUSINESS SERVICES

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE

John HornFINANCE MANAGER

Ruth TolentinoACCOUNTANT

Minerva PrescottACCOUNTS ASSISTANT

Emma FerrerPAYROLL OFFICER

Geoff Ravenhill

HUMAN RESOURCES

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER

Anna Kearsley

Geoff Ainsworth amAndrew Andersons aoMichael Baume aoChristine BishopIta Buttrose ao obePeter CudlippJohn Curtis amGreg Daniel amJohn Della BoscaAlan FangErin FlahertyDr Stephen FreibergDonald Hazelwood ao obeDr Michael Joel amSimon JohnsonYvonne Kenny amGary LinnaneAmanda LoveHelen Lynch amJoan MacKenzieDavid MaloneyDavid Malouf aoJulie Manfredi-HughesDeborah MarrThe Hon. Justice Jane Mathews aoDanny MayWendy McCarthy aoJane MorschelGreg ParamorDr Timothy Pascoe amProf. Ron Penny aoJerome RowleyPaul SalteriSandra SalteriJuliana SchaefferLeo Schofield amFred Stein oamGabrielle TrainorIvan UngarJohn van OgtropPeter Weiss amMary WhelanRosemary White

sydney symphony 23

SYDNEY SYMPHONY PATRONS

Maestro’s CirclePeter Weiss am – Founding President & Doris WeissJohn C Conde ao – ChairmanGeoff Ainsworth am & Vicki Olsson Tom Breen & Rachael KohnIn memory of Hetty & Egon GordonAndrew Kaldor & Renata Kaldor aoRoslyn Packer aoPenelope Seidler amMr Fred Street am & Mrs Dorothy StreetWestfield GroupBrian & Rosemary WhiteRay Wilson oam in memory of the late James Agapitos oam

Sydney Symphony Leadership EnsembleDavid Livingstone, CEO, Credit Suisse, AustraliaAlan Fang, Chairman, Tianda GroupMacquarie Group FoundationJohn Morschel, Chairman, ANZAndrew Kaldor, Chairman, Pelikan Artline

Lynn Kraus, Sydney Office Managing Partner, Ernst & YoungShell Australia Pty LtdJames Stevens, CEO, Roses OnlyStephen Johns, Chairman, Leighton Holdings,and Michele Johns

01 Roger Benedict Principal Viola Kim Williams am & Catherine Dovey Chair

02 Lawrence Dobell Principal Clarinet Anne Arcus & Terrey Arcus am Chair

03 Diana Doherty Principal Oboe Andrew Kaldor & Renata Kaldor ao Chair

04 Richard Gill oam Artistic Director Education Sandra & Paul Salteri Chair

05 Jane Hazelwood Viola Veolia Environmental Services Chair

06 Catherine Hewgill Principal Cello Tony & Fran Meagher Chair

07 Elizabeth Neville Cello Ruth & Bob Magid Chair

08 Colin Piper Percussion Justice Jane Mathews ao Chair

09 Shefali Pryor Associate Principal Oboe Rose Herceg Chair

10 Emma Sholl Associate Principal Flute Robert & Janet Constable Chair

For information about the Directors’ Chairs program, please call (02) 8215 4619.

Directors’ Chairs

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Watch us online

www.youtube.com/sydneysymphonybigpondmusic.com/sydneysymphony

24 sydney symphony

PLAYING YOUR PART

Platinum Patrons$20,000+Brian AbelGeoff Ainsworth am & Vicki Olsson Robert Albert ao & Elizabeth AlbertTerrey Arcus am & Anne ArcusTom Breen & Rachael KohnSandra & Neil BurnsMr John C Conde aoRobert & Janet ConstableDr Bruno & Mrs Rhonda GiuffreIn memory of Hetty & Egon GordonMs Rose HercegMrs E HerrmanMr Andrew Kaldor & Mrs Renata Kaldor ao

D & I KallinikosJames N Kirby FoundationJustice Jane Mathews aoMrs Roslyn Packer aoDr John Roarty oam in memory of Mrs June Roarty

Paul & Sandra SalteriMrs Penelope Seidler amMrs W SteningMr Fred Street am & Mrs Dorothy Street

Mr Peter Weiss am & Mrs Doris Weiss

Westfield Group Mr Brian & Mrs Rosemary WhiteRay Wilson oam in memory of James Agapitos oam

Kim Williams am & Catherine DoveyJune & Alan Woods Family BequestAnonymous (1)

Gold Patrons$10,000–$19,999Alan & Christine BishopIan & Jennifer BurtonMr C R AdamsonThe Estate of Ruth M DavidsonThe Hon. Ashley Dawson-DamerPaul R EspieFerris Family FoundationJames & Leonie FurberMr Ross GrantHelen Lynch am & Helen BauerMrs Joan MacKenzieRuth & Bob MagidMrs T Merewether oamTony & Fran MeagherMr B G O’ConorMrs Joyce Sproat & Mrs Janet CookeMs Caroline WilkinsonAnonymous (2)

The Sydney Symphony gratefully acknowledges the music lovers who donate to the orchestra each year. Each gift plays an important part in ensuring our continued artistic excellence and helping to sustain important education and regional touring programs. Donations of $50 and above are acknowledged on our website at sydneysymphony.com/patrons

Silver Patrons$5,000–$9,999Mark Bethwaite am & Carolyn BethwaiteJan BowenMr Alexander & Mrs Vera BoyarskyMr Robert BrakspearMr Robert & Mrs L Alison CarrBob & Julie ClampettIan Dickson & Reg HollowayMr Colin Draper & Mary Jane Brodribb Penny EdwardsMichael & Gabrielle FieldMr James Graham am & Mrs Helen Graham

Mrs Jennifer HershonMichelle Hilton Stephen Johns & Michele BenderJudges of the Supreme Court of NSW Mr Ervin KatzGary LinnaneMr David LivingstoneWilliam McIlrath Charitable FoundationDavid Maloney & Erin FlahertyEva & Timothy PascoeRodney Rosenblum am & Sylvia Rosenblum

Manfred & Linda SalamonThe Sherry Hogan FoundationDavid & Isabel SmithersIan & Wendy ThompsonMichael & Mary Whelan TrustDr Richard WingateJill WranAnonymous (1)

Bronze Patrons$2,500 – $4,999Dr Lilon BandlerStephen J BellMarc Besen ao & Eva Besen aoMr David & Mrs Halina BrettLenore P BuckleHoward ConnorsEwen & Catherine CrouchVic & Katie FrenchMr Erich GockelMs Kylie GreenAnthony Gregg & Deanne WhittlestonAnn HobanIrwin Imhof in memory of Herta ImhofJ A McKernanR & S Maple-BrownGreg & Susan MarieMora MaxwellJames & Elsie MooreJustice George Palmer amBruce & Joy Reid FoundationMary Rossi Travel

Mrs Hedy SwitzerMarliese & Georges TeitlerMs Gabrielle TrainorJ F & A van OgtropAnonymous (3)

Bronze Patrons$1,000-$2,499Charles & Renee AbramsAndrew Andersons aoMr Henri W Aram oamDr Francis J AugustusRichard BanksDavid BarnesDoug & Alison BattersbyMichael Baume ao & Toni BaumePhil & Elese BennettNicole BergerMrs Jan BiberJulie BlighM BulmerIn memory of R W BurleyEric & Rosemary CampbellDr John H CaseyDebby Cramer & Bill CaukillDr Diana Choquette & Mr Robert Milliner

Joan Connery oam & Maxwell Connery oam

Mr John Cunningham scm & Mrs Margaret Cunningham

Lisa & Miro DavisMatthew DelaseyJohn FavaloroMr Edward FedermanMr Ian Fenwicke & Prof. N R WillsFirehold Pty LtdDr & Mrs C GoldschmidtAkiko GregoryIn memory of the late Dora & Oscar Grynberg

Janette HamiltonDorothy Hoddinott aoPaul & Susan HotzThe Hon. David Hunt ao qc & Mrs Margaret Hunt

Dr & Mrs Michael HunterMr Peter HutchisonMichael & Anna JoelThe Hon. Paul KeatingIn Memory of Bernard MH KhawAnna-Lisa KlettenbergMr Justin Lam Wendy LapointeMs Jan Lee Martin & Mr Peter LazarKevin & Deidre McCannRobert McDougallIan & Pam McGaw

sydney symphony 25

To find out more about becominga Sydney Symphony Patron, pleasecontact the Philanthropy Officeon (02) 8215 4625 or emailphilanthropy@sydneysymphony.com

Matthew McInnesMacquarie Group FoundationMr Robert & Mrs Renee MarkovicAlan & Joy MartinHarry M Miller, Lauren Miller Cilento & Josh Cilento

Miss An NhanMrs Rachel O’ConorMr R A OppenMr Robert OrrellMr & Mrs OrtisMaria PagePiatti Holdings Pty LtdAdrian & Dairneen PiltonDr Raffi QasabianErnest & Judith RapeeKenneth R Reed Patricia H Reid Endowment Pty LtdJohn SaundersIn memory of H St P ScarlettJuliana SchaefferMr & Mrs Jean-Marie SimartCatherine StephenJohn & Alix SullivanThe Hon Brian Sully qcMildred TeitlerAndrew & Isolde TornyaGerry & Carolyn TraversJohn E TuckeyMrs M TurkingtonIn memory of Dr Reg WalkerHenry & Ruth WeinbergThe Hon. Justice A G WhealyGeoff Wood & Melissa WaitesWarren GreenMr R R WoodwardDr John Yu & Dr George SoutterAnonymous (12)

Bronze Patrons$500–$999Mr Peter J ArmstrongMr & Mrs Garry S AshMrs Baiba B Berzins & Dr Peter Loveday Dr & Mrs Hannes BoshoffMinnie BriggsDr Miles BurgessPat & Jenny BurnettIta Buttrose ao obeStephen Bryne & Susie Gleeson

The Hon. Justice J C & Mrs CampbellMr Percy ChissickMrs Catherine J ClarkJen CornishGreta DavisElizabeth DonatiDr Nita & Dr James DurhamGreg Earl & Debbie CameronMr & Mrs FarrellRobert GellingVivienne GoldschmidtMr Robert GreenMr Richard Griffin amJules & Tanya HallMr Hugh HallardMr Ken HawkingsMrs A HaywardDr Heng & Mrs Cilla TeyMr Roger HenningRev Harry & Mrs Meg HerbertSue HewittMr Joerg HofmannMs Dominique Hogan-DoranMr Brian HorsfieldAlex HoughtonBill & Pam HughesSusie & Geoff IsraelMrs W G KeighleyMr & Mrs Gilles T KrygerMrs M J LawrenceDr & Mrs Leo LeaderMargaret LedermanMrs Yolanda LeeMartine LettsAnita & Chris LevyErna & Gerry Levy amDr Winston LiauwMrs Helen LittleSydney & Airdrie LloydMrs A LohanMrs Panee LowCarolyn & Peter Lowry oamDr David LuisMelvyn MadiganDr Jean MalcolmMrs Silvana MantellatoMr K J MartinGeoff & Jane McClellanMrs Flora MacDonaldMrs Helen Meddings

David & Andree MilmanKenneth N MitchellChris Morgan-HunnNola NettheimMrs Margaret NewtonMr Graham NorthDr M C O’Connor amA Willmers & R PalDr A J PalmerMr Andrew C PattersonDr Kevin PedemontDr Natalie E PelhamMr Allan PidgeonRobin PotterLois & Ken RaeMr Donald RichardsonPamela RogersAgnes RossDr Mark & Mrs Gillian SelikowitzCaroline SharpenMrs Diane Shteinman amDr Agnes E SinclairDoug & Judy SotherenMrs Elsie StaffordMr Lindsay & Mrs Suzanne StoneMr D M SwanMr Norman TaylorMs Wendy ThompsonKevin TroyJudge Robyn TupmanGillian Turner & Rob BishopProf. Gordon E WallRonald WalledgeMr Robert & Mrs Rosemary WalshMr Palmer WangDavid & Katrina WilliamsAudrey & Michael WilsonDr Richard WingMr Robert WoodsMr & Mrs Glenn WyssMrs Robin YabsleyAnonymous (18)

26 sydney symphony

SALUTE

PRINCIPAL PARTNER

The Sydney Symphony is assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body

The Sydney Symphony is assisted by the NSW Government through Arts NSW

GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

PREMIER PARTNER

COMMUNITY PARTNER MAJOR PARTNERS

2MBS 102.5 Sydney’s Fine Music Station

PLATINUM PARTNER

GOLD PARTNERS

SILVER PARTNERS

REGIONAL TOUR PARTNERS

MARKETING PARTNER

ORCHESTRA NEWS |APRIL 2012

Anne-Louise Comerford and her viola have been partners for almost as long as she’s been a member of the Sydney Symphony. ‘I joined the orchestra in ’87. I had been looking for an instru-ment for years – in Europe and all over the States. When the SSO was on tour there in ’88, a friend who was playing in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was getting her instrument cleaned, so I tagged along to the dealer’s. The fi rst instrument I tried, I fell in love with.’ It w as a Domenico Degani viola made in Montag-nana in 1860. ‘It was the beautiful

big sound on the C string that I loved. It was exactly the sound I wanted for myself. So I bor-rowed the viola for two concerts, rang my jazz trumpeter husband who was on tour in Europe and he wired me the entire fee from his tour for the deposit. That viola has made every single day of my working life a pleasure ever since.’

One of three professional viola-playing sisters, Anne-Louise credits viola legend Robert Pikler with fi ring their passion for the instrument: ‘I still carry the sound of his playing with me today. I don’t think I’ve ever

heard anything like it since.’ She’s also grateful for the perspec-tive she gained in the States and Europe during her studies. ‘I felt very comfortable in Germany, because there was a single-mind-edness in their approach to music. It was also a real melting-pot of cultures. You could learn as much from your peers as from your teachers.’

‘In Australia I think there’s a broader sense of musicianship. I don’t feel like a “card-carrying” viola player. I feel like a musician. I feel like everyone in the orches-tra would think of themselves fi rst as musicians.’

That said, the climate here is sometimes at odds with the pursuit of high art and culture: ‘There was one time I was playing Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk next door [as a guest musician with the opera orches-tra]. That music is so dark, and murderous, and grim. But it was a matinee! I walked out of the Opera House and into this bril-liant blue afternoon, like a Brett Whitely painting! It was so at odds with the opera I remember thinking “you couldn’t write that piece in Australia”.’

❝I don’t feel like a ‘card-carrying’ viola player.

❞

PARTNERS IN TIMEAssociate Principal Viola Anne-Louise Comerford on buying an instrument, international perspectives, and the climate.

Complimentary Concert in Vienna.

When you fly First or Business Class to Vienna.

emirates.com/au

500 international awards and over 115 destinations worldwide including 29 in Europe. To learn more, visit sydneysymphony.com/emirates.

Ask a MusicianI’m curious to know how the rehearsals happen when the orchestra performs with a chorus? Don’t all those singers have day jobs?

You’re quite right in thinking that daytime rehearsals are an impossibility when the orchestra works with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. While a handful of chorus members do make their living as musicians – and therefore can work fl exible hours – the majority are talented amateur singers who work in ‘9 to 5’ jobs. So when the

program incorporates choir – as in Beethoven’s Ninth, or the forthcoming Mozart Requiem and Poulenc Gloria program (in May) – the orchestra adjusts its schedule to a pattern of afternoon and evening rehearsals.

But before the two ensembles even meet, the chorus will have been rehearsing once a week for

months beforehand, working with a language coach, memorising their parts and perfecting th eir intonation.

Cantillation, a chamber choir which also regularly appears with the orchestra, comprises profes-sional singers who can thus attend daytime rehearsals. They prefer to work in the afternoons though, when their voices have warmed up!

Have a question about the music, instruments or inner workings of the orchestra? Write to yoursay@sydneysymphony.com.au or Bravo! Reply Paid 4338, Sydney NSW 2001.

Your SayI so enjoyed seeing the Opera House and the Beethoven concert. I was impressed that the entire 100-plus members of the choir had memorised their entire parts to sing. Very rare!Kay Bruns, Michigan USA

Deidre Sim wrote to express her uplifting experience of Beethoven’s Ninth, and to share a touching tale of serendipity involving Tim Minchin.Wow! What can I say? That was such beautiful music. [Beethoven 9: Ode to Joy] The choir, the double basses, the wind, the soloists… what voices! Awesome. I felt like swinging over the balcony and dancing… on a safety harness of course. Such glorious music.You really deserved that standing ovation. That was truly glorious.

I also loved hearing Tim Minchin at the Opera House a year ago. The night I heard Tim Minchin play was the same day I was told I was going blind and needed urgent surgery. I was feeling pretty sad. I simply walked down from the specialist’s rooms to the Opera House for the concert.

Knowing nothing about the type of work Tim performed, I was beside myself with delight when he sang the song about Sam’s mum having her sight saved because a group of people got together in Dandenong and prayed for this miracle. It was really funny, very naughty, and I just loved it. He is so deliciously naughty, prescient, politically incorrect and brave.

Deidre Sim

We like to hear from you. Write to yoursay@sydneysymphony.com or Bravo! Reply Paid 4338, Sydney NSW 2001.

Anniversary EventBRASS ON THE BRIDGE

Good things happen in threes, and 1932 saw the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as well as the founding of the ABC and the beginnings of the Sydney Symphony. Monday 19 March was the anniversary of the opening of the Bridge, and early that morning an intrepid band of eleven Sydney Symphony brass players climbed the ‘coathanger’ to wish this Sydney icon a happy 80th birthday. High above the harbour, they played the theme from Chariots of Fire and Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. Fittingly, ABC Radio played its part in the event, broadcasting its sounds to all those who couldn’t join us 134 metres above sea level.

Falstaff – a noble rascalElgar’s Falstaff is a mass of con tra-dictions. Elgar didn’t regard it as program music and he was careful not to call it a ‘tone poem’. Instead it was a ‘symphonic study’ and he insisted that rather than providing a series of incidents à la Strauss’s Alpine Symphony, he’d painted a musical portrait, a sketch of a character.

But if that’s true, why is Falstaff so eventful? This might be a portrait, but it’s a vivid narrative as well. Falstaff is so rich in dramatic detail that it almost calls for surtitles, with captions to highlight the myriad of images and happenings as the music progresses.

Falstaff himself was, in Elgar’s mind, made up wholly of incon-gruities. He is a ‘goodly, portly man, of a cheerful look, a pleasing eye and a most noble carriage’. But he’s also a bumptious liber-tine, with a chaotic zest for life. Elgar reconciles the two. His Falstaff can fall into a drunken sleep (snoring courtesy of the contrabassoon) only to fi nd himself in a delicate ‘dream picture’ that takes him back to boyhood innocence.

The Sydney Symphony hasn’t played Falstaff for more than 20 years, so this May seize the opportunity to hear the music that Elgar considered his best work and which he ‘enjoyed writing more than any other music’.

CarnevaleBeethoven, Berlioz & ElgarThursday Afternoon SymphonyThu 10 May | 1.30pmEmirates Metro SeriesFri 11 May | 8pmGreat ClassicsSat 12 May | 2pm

The ScoreEducation Focus

Richard Gill works with young composer Anthony Appino on his work Der Zauberlehrling (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) in the 2010 Sinfonietta Project.

MUSICAL OFFERINGSTeenage composers tackle an 18th-century challenge

When JS Bach was challenged in 1747 by the King of Prussia to improvise a three-voice fugue on a long and complex theme, Bach managed it without any trouble. Was it Frederick II’s petulance, or perhaps the spirit of competition that then led him to raise the stakes and demand a six-voice fugue on the same subject? It’s hard to say. In any case, the remarkable result was Bach’s landmark composition, The Musical Offering.

This year, the Sydney Sym-phony Sinfonietta Project chal-lenges students from across Australia to take Bach’s Offering as a starting point for their own compositions, with a focus on the art of counterpoint.

The Sinfonietta, now in its sixth year and recently broadened to reach out at a national level, is a program designed to encour-age creativity in young people. Richard Gill, artistic director of the Sydney Symphony’s Edu-cation Program, believes the creation of new music, rather than the performance of existing repertoire, represents a pinnacle in the study of music. ‘It enriches

the entire art-form.’ His vision in creating Sinfonietta was to enrich and develop the music-writing skills of Australian high school students – opening to them new career pathways in the classical and contemporary music, fi lm and media industries.

The competition doesn’t have a single winner. Instead, the national fi nalists will be fl own to Sydney in November for workshops with Richard and the 2012 Sydney Symphony Fellows. Giving life to brand new music was part of the appeal of the Fel-lowship program for oboist Rachel Cashmore: ‘Playing contemporary music is something I’ve grown increasingly interested in. I’m really looking forward to helping bring these works to life.’

This year we welcome Leighton Holdings as Presenting Partner for Sinfonietta. The project was launched with a four-year seed gift from Geoff Ainsworth AM and Vicki Olsson, and also received support from the James N. Kirby Foundation in 2011.

If you or someone you know is interested in entering the Sinfonietta Project, see Coda at the end of this newsletter for more information.

To fi nd out more about supporting the Sinfonietta project and to attend the public performance on 15 November, email philanthropy@sydneysymphony.com or phone (02) 8215 4661.

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE TRUSTMr Kim Williams AM (Chair)Ms Catherine Brenner, Rev Dr Arthur Bridge AM, Mr Wesley Enoch, Ms Renata Kaldor AO, Mr Robert Leece AM RFD, Ms Sue Nattrass AO, Dr Thomas (Tom) Parry AM, Mr Leo Schofi eld AM, Mr Evan Williams AM

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STRAVINSKY AT THE SSO

As part of our 80th anniversary celebrations, we recently doffed our collective party hat to the landmark visit in 1961 of composer Igor Stravinsky with a pair of concerts, ‘Stravinsky Remembered’. Donald Hazelwood, former Sydney Symphony concertmaster, recalls the original concert: ‘It was a momentous occasion because of the greatness of this man. He was a towering fi gure in the musical world, just like Ashkenazy, and the orchestra had tremendous respect for him.’

Retired music critic Roger Covell reviewed the 1961 concert. He remembers: ‘the orchestra had a habit of rising to the occasion. They played quite well.’ Having heard our recent performance of the 1945 Firebird suite, Roger says that to draw comparisons with the Sydney Symphony of today would be unfair. ‘At that time, the Sydney orchestra was continuing a development [of standards] that began after the war with the arrival of Eugene Goossens. For

this orchestra, any comparison with today represents a process of development that is quite splendid.’

CONCERT HALL ACOUSTIC PROJECTRegular concert-goers will be aware of the acoustic testing the Sydney Opera House has been conducting in the Concert Hall over the past few years. Now, based on these tests and the recommendation of consultant Larry Kirkegaard, the SOH has begun replacing the ‘sawtooth walls’ in the stalls with fl at panels. As of mid-March, four of the six sections had been replaced. Once the stalls are fi nished, the same work will be carried out on the stage. At that point, Kirkegaard will return to do more testing and to adjust the angles of the panels accordingly. The SOH hopes this work will be completed over the next couple of months.

EDUCATION ONLINE

In February our Education team presented their fi rst online Professional Learning seminar in partnership with the Sydney Opera House. About 400 teachers and students from Sydney came to the

Concert Hall to work through the Australian repertoire in this year’s Meet the Music series. They were joined live online by 60 staff and students from the Orange Regional Conservatorium. Composers Barry Conyngham and Jim Coyle spoke and several musicians from the orchestra addressed the question of best practise when writing for orchestral instruments. It was the fi rst of two seminars we will be trialling this year and by all accounts, a great success!

SINFONIETTA PROJECT: TAKE THE CHALLENGE

The Sinfonietta Project (see Education Focus) is open to high school composers throughout Australia. Visit sydneysymphony.com/sinfonietta to register your interest and to receive the resource kit, designed for composers and their teachers. Entries close Friday 21 September and the workshop takes place 13–15 November, with an Open Workshop at 1.30pm on 15 November at the ABC Ultimo Centre. (In March, Professional Learning seminars for teachers were held in Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney.)

CODA

BRAVO EDITOR Genevieve Lang sydneysymphony.com/bravo