An Alpine Symphonymelbournesymphonyorchestra-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/...ominous Night on Bald Mountain. It concludes with excerpts from Prokofiev’s ingenious and complex ballet score

An Alpine Symphony

Thursday 10 March at 8pm Arts Centre Melbourne,

Hamer Hall

Friday 11 March at 8pm Arts Centre Melbourne,

Hamer Hall

Saturday 12 March at 8pm Arts Centre Melbourne,

Hamer Hall Presented by BMW

C O N C E R T P R O G R A M

2

WHAT’S ON MARCH – JUNE 2016

SIR ANDREW DAVISCONDUCTS MAHLER 5 Friday 18 March Saturday 19 March Monday 21 March

Sir Andrew Davis enters the third year of his MSO Mahler Cycle with the formidable Symphony No.5. French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard is soloist in Ravel’s ingenious Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, originally commissioned by the one-armed Austrian virtuoso, Paul Wittgenstein.

THE GODFATHER LIVE IN CONCERT Thursday 31 March Friday 1 April

An offer you can’t refuse. Francis Ford Coppola’s legendary film with Nino Rota’s glorious score played live by the MSO. See and hear The Godfather as never before.

BACH SUITES Thursday 28 April Friday 29 April Saturday 30 April

Two of the most popular suites of the Baroque period, featuring the famous Badinerie and Air in D major , are paired with two of Haydn’s finest symphonies: ‘La Passione’, so-called because of the fierce intensity of the music, and the ‘Oxford’, considered one of the pinnacles of Haydn’s symphonic output.

SCHUBERT’S UNFINISHEDSYMPHONY Friday 22 April

Schubert’s plangent Unfinished Symphony is the ideal coupling for the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré, which features the celebrated Pie Jesu solo. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus is joined by Australian soloists: soprano Jacqueline Porter and bass James Clayton.

PROKOFIEV’S ROMEO AND JULIET Friday 3 June Saturday 4 June Monday 6 June

Diego Matheuz returns with this program of three Russian classics, including Rachmaninov’s beloved Piano Concerto No.2, with Korean pianist Joyce Yang, and Mussorgsky’s ominous Night on Bald Mountain. It concludes with excerpts from Prokofiev’s ingenious and complex ballet score Romeo and Juliet.

METROPOLIS NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL Saturday 14 May Wednesday 18 May Saturday 21 May

The 2016 Metropolis New Music Festival is especially metropolitan in content and spirit. Its theme, Music of the City, will examine all facets of city life, through time, place and history. The director of Metropolis 2016 is dynamic American conductor, pianist and composer Robert Spano.

3

ARTISTS

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Sir Andrew Davis conductor Ray Chen violin

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus

Anthony Pasquill chorus masterREPERTOIRE

Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

— Interval — R. Strauss

An Alpine Symphony

This concert has a duration of approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes, including a 20-minute interval.

This performance will be recorded for broadcast on ABC Classic FM on Saturday 26 March at 1pm.

Pre-Concert Talk 7pm Thursday 10 March, Stalls Foyer, Hamer Hall 7pm Friday 11 March, Stalls Foyer, Hamer Hall 7pm Saturday 12 March, Stalls Foyer, Hamer Hall

MSO Orchestra Librarian Alastair McKean will present a talk on the artists and works featured in the program.Series Presenter

Saturday Night Symphony

4

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) was established in 1906 and is Australia’s oldest orchestra. It currently performs live to more than 250,000 people annually, in concerts ranging from subscription performances at its home, Hamer Hall at Arts Centre Melbourne, to its annual free concerts at Melbourne’s largest outdoor venue, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. The Orchestra also delivers innovative and engaging programs to audiences of all ages through its Education and Outreach initiatives.

Sir Andrew Davis gave his inaugural concerts as the MSO’s Chief Conductor in 2013, having made his debut with the Orchestra in 2009. Highlights of his tenure have included collaborations with artists such as Bryn Terfel, Emanuel Ax, Truls Mørk and Renée Fleming, and the Orchestra’s European Tour in 2014 which included appearances at the Edinburgh Festival, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and Copenhagen’s Tivoli Concert Hall. Further current and future highlights with Sir Andrew Davis include a complete cycle of the Mahler symphonies. Sir Andrew will maintain the role of Chief Conductor until the end of 2019.

The MSO also works with Associate Conductor Benjamin Northey and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus, as well as with such eminent recent guest conductors as Thomas Adès, John Adams, Tan Dun, Charles Dutoit, Jakub Hrůša, Mark Wigglesworth, Markus Stenz and Simone Young. It has also collaborated with non-classical musicians including Burt Bacharach, Nick Cave, Sting, Tim Minchin, Ben Folds, DJ Jeff Mills and Flight Facilities.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra reaches a wider audience through regular radio broadcasts, recordings and CD releases, which include recent discs of Strauss’ Four Last Songs, Don Juan and Also sprach Zarathustra with Sir Andrew Davis and Erin Wall on ABC Classics. On the Chandos label the MSO has recently released Berlioz’ Harold en Italie with James Ehnes and Ives’ Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2, both led by Sir Andrew Davis.

MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is funded principally by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and is generously supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources. The MSO is also funded by the City of Melbourne, its Principal Partner, Emirates, corporate sponsors and individual donors, trusts and foundations.

Hello, and welcome to my first concerts with the MSO for 2016. What finer start than this tremendous program.

Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music was dedicated to Sir Henry Wood, the founder of the Proms, in celebration of his fiftieth year on the podium and is a setting of a passage from The Merchant of Venice - ‘How soft the moonlight sleeps upon this bank’. Originally composed for 16 star singers of the day, it is performed tonight in the version for full choir and I know that the MSO Chorus will reveal all its beauty. Then, the devilish intricacies of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto will be made to sound easy in the hands of Australian-raised virtuoso Ray Chen.

After the interval, the MSO scales one of music’s most challenging peaks: Richard Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony. Scored for a huge orchestra including cowbells, offstage brass, organ, and wind and thunder machines, it depicts an ascent and descent of the mountain between dawn and sunset. While its vivid depictions of incidents on the way are brilliant examples of Strauss’ virtuosity as an orchestrator, the work is much more than a picture postcard album; it is a moving hymn to Nature.

I hope you relish this musical adventure as much as I do.

Sir Andrew Davis Chief Conductor

WELCOME

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land on which we perform – The Kulin Nation – and would like to pay our respects to their Elders and Community both past and present.

5

SIR ANDREW DAVIS CONDUCTOR

RAY CHEN VIOLIN

Sir Andrew Davis is Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Chief Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In a career spanning over 40 years, he has been the musical and artistic leader at several of the world’s most distinguished opera and symphonic institutions, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1991-2004), Glyndebourne Festival Opera (1988-2000), and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (1975-1988). He recently received the honorary title of Conductor Emeritus from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

One of today’s most recognised and acclaimed conductors, Sir Andrew has conducted virtually all the world’s major orchestras, opera companies, and festivals. This year he celebrates his 40-year association with the Toronto Symphony, and aside from performances with the Melbourne Symphony, he will conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Proms, Philharmonia Orchestra at the Three Choirs Festival, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Born in 1944 in Hertfordshire, England, Sir Andrew studied at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was an organ scholar before taking up conducting. His wide-ranging repertoire encompasses the Baroque to contemporary, and his vast conducting credits span the symphonic, operatic and choral worlds.

Sir Andrew was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1992, and a Knight Bachelor in 1999.

Winner of the Queen Elisabeth and Menuhin violin competitions, Ray Chen was born in Taiwan and raised in Australia, where his teachers included Kerry Smith and Peter Zhang. At 15, he was accepted into Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Aaron Rosand and was supported by Young Concert Artists.

Ray’s recent appearances have included a five-city tour of China with the Gothenburg Symphony and Kent Nagano as well as a European tour with the London Philharmonic and Christoph Eschenbach. On Bastille Day 2015, he joined Daniele Gatti and the Orchestre National de France for a televised concert in Paris to an audience of over 800,000. Recordings include a recital compilation Virtuoso including works by Bach, Tartini, Franck, and Wieniawski which won the prestigious ECHO Klassik award; the Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky concertos with the Swedish Radio Orchestra and Daniel Harding; and an all-Mozart album with Eschenbach and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. Ray is also committed to promoting classical music to young people through social media and particularly his series of quirky, self-made online videos.

Ray most recently appeared with the MSO in 2014. He plays the 1715 ‘Joachim’ Stradivarius violin on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.

6

ANTHONY PASQUILL CHORUS MASTER

MELBOURNE SYMPHONYORCHESTRA CHORUS

Recently listed by Limelight Magazine as a Rising Star in Australia’s choral scene, Anthony Pasquill is a regular collaborator with leading choirs across a broad repertoire. Recently appointed Associate Chorus Master at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, he is also Musical Director of Sydney based Chamber Choir Bel a cappella.

Anthony commenced his musical training as a chorister in the choir of Lichfield Cathedral before reading music at Leeds University. He also holds a Masters of Music in conducting from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Between 2012 and 2014 Anthony was Assistant Chorus Master of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and has prepared choruses for noted international conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, David Robertson, David Zinman, Eric Whitacre and Paul McCreesh. He has chorus-mastered or conducted first performances of many works by composers such as Pēteris Vasks, Gabriel Jackson, David Briggs and Bernat Vivancos.

2014-15 saw Anthony conduct works by Ockeghem, MacMillan, Handel, Monteverdi and Veljo Tormis as well as the Australian Premiere of Dixit Dominus by Swedish composer Thomas Jennefelt. He has recently led Bel a cappella on their first international tour to Europe, having conducted in venues such as St. Peter’s Basilica (Rome), St Mark’s Basilica (Venice), Melk Abbey (Vienna) and the Schönbrunn Palace (Vienna).

In the current season, he will be conducting works by Grigorjeva, Vivancos, Bryars, MacMillan, Rachmaninov and Schnittke in Sydney, in addition to major choral projects in his first season with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus has built an international reputation for the highest standards and for bold artistic planning. Known as the Melbourne Chorale until 2008, it has since then been integrated with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and in 2015, celebrated its 50th anniversary.

The Chorus sings with the finest conductors, including Sir Andrew Davis, Ed Gardner, Mark Wigglesworth, Bernard Labadie, Stephen Layton, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Masaaki Suzuki and Manfred Honeck. Recent highlights include Britten’s War Requiem, Kancheli’s Styx, Brett Dean’s The Last Days of Socrates, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Rachmaninov’s The Bells, and Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman.

The Chorus is committed to developing and performing new Australian and international choral repertoire. Commissions include Brett Dean’s Katz und Spatz (commissioned with the Swedish Radio Choir), Ross Edwards’ Mountain Chant (commissioned with Cantillation), Paul Stanhope’s Exile Lamentations (commissioned with Sydney Chamber Choir and London’s Elysian Singers), and Gabriel Jackson’s To the Field of Stars (commissioned with the Netherlands Chamber Choir and Stockholm’s St Jacob’s Chamber Choir). The Chorus has also premiered works by many composers including James MacMillan, Arvo Pärt, Hans Werner Henze, Alfred Schnittke, Gavin Bryars, Valentyn Silvestrov, Arturs Maskats, Thierry Machuel and Pēteris Vasks, and others.

The Chorus has made critically acclaimed recordings for Chandos and for ABC Classics. It has performed across Brazil and at the Cultura Inglese Festival in Sao Paolo, in Kuala Lumpur with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, with The Australian Ballet, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Barbra Streisand, at the Melbourne International Arts Festival, at the 2011 AFL Grand Final, and the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival.

7

Vaughan Williams was in his mid-60s when he wrote his Serenade to Music. The occasion was the jubilee of Sir Henry J. Wood, who in the course of his half-century as a conductor had completely revolutionised orchestral playing in London. Wood brought to rehearsals and performances a new degree of professionalism and discipline that helped spark the growth of the London orchestral scene, from one to five symphony orchestras in the early 20th century. He was the first conductor to admit women to the general ranks of a major British orchestra, in 1913. Wood was also a pioneer of new music who introduced to Britain well over 700 works by over 350 composers.

Serenade to Music was originally written for orchestra plus 16 solo singers: four sopranos, four mezzo-sopranos, four tenors and four basses, all world-renowned soloists in 1938 (though by and large forgotten today), whose voices were well-known to Vaughan Williams who tailored each part to the individual singers (the version performed in this concert is for chorus and orchestra). The text came from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, from the scene in Act V where young lovers Jessica and Lorenzo sit together drinking in the sounds of the evening. ‘Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music creep in our ears,’ says Lorenzo: ‘soft stillness and the night become the touches of sweet harmony,’ so that the strains of music drifting from inside the house sound ‘much sweeter than by day.’

The harmonies are rich but not heavy, spun from a constant flow of interweaving melodies, creating a shimmering texture of what Vaughan Williams’ widow and biographer, Ursula, described as ‘silver and moonlight’ as the solo violin floats above the rest of the orchestra. There are currents of sadness and agitation running through the work – the previous year Vaughan Williams had lost not only his mother but also his old friend Ivor Gurney, a sad wreck of a man shattered by the horrors of the First World War, whose death would have recalled the waste and desolation of the war and its aftermath – but the music is ultimately uplifting and the minor modes inevitably blossom into ecstatic calm.

Adapted from a note by Natalie Shea Symphony Australia © 2003

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra first performed Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music as a St Cecilia’s Day broadcast on 22 November 1948, and most recently on 31 January 1963 under John Hopkins.

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)

Serenade to Music

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! Here will we sit and let the sounds of music Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night Become the touches of sweet harmony. Look how the floor of heaven Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold: There’s not the smallest orb that thou behold’st But in his motion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins; Such harmony is in immortal souls; But whilst this muddy vesture of decay Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it. Come, ho! and wake Diana with a hymn! With sweetest touches pierce your mistress’ ear, And draw her home with music. I am never merry when I hear sweet music. The reason is, your spirits are attentive: The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night And his affections dark as Erebus; Let no such man be trusted. Music! hark! It is your music of the house. Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day. Silence bestows that virtue on it How many things by season seasoned are To their right praise and true perfection! Peace, ho! the moon sleeps with Endymion And would not be awak’d. Soft stillness and the night Become the touches of sweet harmony.

Text by William Shakespeare, from The Merchant of Venice

8

It was the winter of 1877, and Tchaikovsky was in love. He wrote to his brother Modest about the ‘unimaginable force’ of the passion that had developed; its object was a young violinist and student at the Moscow Conservatorium, Josef Kotek. Tchaikovsky had known ‘this wonderful youth’ for about six years. In 1876 Kotek had also acted as a go-between for Tchaikovsky and his new patron, Nadezhda von Meck, who eschewed any face-to-face contact with the composer. Kotek was a devoted and affectionate, but platonic, friend to Tchaikovsky, but predictably enough, soon became besotted with a fellow (female) student.

The composer’s ardour cooled quickly, and within three weeks of discovering Kotek’s new relationship, Tchaikovsky had made his fateful proposal to Antonina Milyukova, a former Conservatorium student who had fallen in love with him. They married two months later, and as the depth of their cultural and personal differences quickly became clear, Tchaikovsky left his wife two months after that. Milyukova, incidentally, was not the deranged harpy that histories (or myth) have made of her. Her mental health degenerated only many years after Tchaikovsky’s death (and a subsequent happy relationship which produced children) and she never spoke ill of Tchaikovsky during his life or after his death. He for his part realised that he had treated her abominably, and saw to it that she was financially secure for the rest of her life.

Kotek and Tchaikovsky remained friends, however, and the Violin Concerto seems to have grown out of a promise that the composer made to write a piece for one of Kotek’s upcoming concerts. ‘We spoke,’ Tchaikovsky told his brother, ‘of the piece he ordered me to write … He repeated over and over that he would get angry if I didn’t write this piece.’ While Kotek was not, ultimately, the dedicatee or first performer of the work, he was of enormous help to Tchaikovsky in playing through sections of the piece as the composer finished them.

After leaving his wife, Tchaikovsky, accompanied by one or other of his brothers (and at one point Kotek himself), travelled extensively in western Europe. Tchaikovsky worked on the Violin Concerto in Switzerland in early 1878, not long after completing the Fourth Symphony and the opera Eugene Onegin. Commentators are generally agreed that both of those works reflect Tchaikovsky’s emotional reactions to the traumatic events of his marriage, though the composer himself was careful, in a letter to Mme von Meck, to point out that one could only depict such states in

retrospect. In any event, it seems likely that, apart from honouring a promise to Kotek, Tchaikovsky found the conventions of the violin concerto offered a way of writing a large-scale work without the personal investment of the opera and symphony.

Like the great concertos of Beethoven and Brahms, Tchaikovsky’s is in D major and in three substantial movements. The first develops two characteristic themes within a tracery of brilliant virtuoso writing for the violin, and like Mendelssohn in his concerto, Tchaikovsky places the solo cadenza before the recapitulation of the opening material. As in the slow movement of the Fourth Symphony, the central Canzonetta works its magic by the deceptively simple repetition of its material. The work concludes with a bravura, ‘Slavic’ Finale which is interrupted only by a motif for solo oboe which for one writer recalls, nostalgically, a moment in the ‘Letter Scene’ from Onegin (which itself parallels the relationship between Tchaikovsky and Antonina).

The work was initially dedicated to the virtuoso Leopold Auer, who thought it far too difficult and refused to play it. In 1881 Adolf Brodsky gave the premiere in Vienna, where that city’s most feared critic, Eduard Hanslick, tore the piece to shreds:

The violin is no longer played; it is pulled, torn, drubbed … We see plainly the savage vulgar faces, we hear curses, we smell vodka … Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto gives us for the first time the notion that there can be music that stinks to the ear.

Hanslick, like many a music critic, made a bad call; Tchaikovsky had written one of the best loved works of the concerto repertoire.

Gordon Kerry © 2003

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, with soloist Lionel Lawson and conductor George Szell, was the first of the Australian state orchestras to perform this work, in 1938. The Orchestra’s most recent performance took place in February 2015 at a Sidney Myer Free Concert, with conductor Gergely Madaras and soloist Ji Won Kim.

PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)

Violin Concerto in D, Op.35Allegro moderato – Moderato assai

Canzonetta (Andante)

Finale (Allegro vivacissimo)

Ray Chen violin

9

Night – Sunrise – The ascent Entry into the wood – Wandering by the side of the brook – At the waterfall –

Apparition – On flowering meadows – On the alpine pasture – Through thicket and undergrowth on the wrong path On the glacier – Dangerous moments –

On the summit – Vision – Mists rise – The sun gradually becomes obscured – Elegy – Calm before the storm –

Thunder and tempest, descent – Sunset – Conclusion – Night

Around the time he wrote An Alpine Symphony, Strauss boasted that he could, if necessary, describe a knife and fork in music. Indeed An Alpine Symphony marks the limit in Strauss’ nearly three-decades-long quest to extend music’s capacity for illustration and representation – an effort which began with Don Juan in 1888 and reached a highpoint with Thus Spake Zarathustra’s attempt to express the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.

Strauss turned to An Alpine Symphony after writing Ariadne auf Naxos. Critics had just remarked on the Mozartean turn in his music, referring to the chamber forces required for Ariadne, when he produced this piece of orchestral gigantism. The orchestra needs 137 players, but what would you expect? Strauss is attempting nothing less than a literal portrait of a mountain.

Strauss composed this work at his workroom in Garmisch, where he could look out over the Zugspitze and the Wettersteingebirge. The orchestration was completed in 100 days during the winter of 1914-15, but the work had been long in gestation. As an idea, it had occurred to him as a boy, after he and a party of climbers got lost during a mountain hike and were overtaken by a storm on their return.

The form of An Alpine Symphony is spectacularly simple. The listener is drawn into the idea of ascending and descending a mountain. The timeframe is a 24-hour period. This format guarantees Strauss certain musical highlights: yet another opportunity to depict an opening sunrise (as impressive in its own way as Zarathustra’s), and a sunset sequence, eminently suited to Strauss in one of his ‘autumnal moods’. Strauss ingeniously avoids the obvious at ‘the summit’, where, after the predictable big statement of one of the earlier themes he shifts focus to a halting oboe. One writer has remarked that it is as if we are suddenly made aware of the impact of the stupendous view on an awestruck human. The predictability of the descent is offset by one of the most graphic storms in musical literature.

The work is less a symphony even than the Sinfonia domestica (Strauss’ musical portrait of domestic life, with its 22 continuous sections, some only seconds long). However, the sections can be grouped to suggest a huge Lisztian single-movement sonata form with delayed recapitulation, like Ein Heldenleben.

RICHARD STRAUSS (1872-1958)

An Alpine Symphony, Op.64

‘At last I have learnt to orchestrate,’ Strauss said at the General Rehearsal with the Dresden Hofkapelle in October 1915. Some of the more obvious orchestral highlights include the exhilarating depiction of spray at the waterfall. Then there is the strange colouring of the ‘Sun theme’ mixed with organ reeds to depict rising mists (‘perhaps the most brilliantly clever section of the work’, according to Strauss biographer Norman Del Mar).

The work has often been dismissed as just a piece of ‘orchestriana’. We can imagine it was intended as a virtuoso showpiece for the Dresden Hofkapelle, which had premiered several of Strauss’ prior works. But is it more than a shallow display? Del Mar points to Strauss’ ‘curiously detached attitude to the Nature subject … giving it a de-humanised majestic quality reminiscent, in a unique way, of Bruckner’.

The work can also be seen in the context of the mystical importance which mountains held for Germans in the 19th century. The sense of the great mass of the mountain, barely discernible in the gloom, at the very end of the work, certainly has a Brucknerian scale and aspect, and it is probable that Strauss would have understood the remarks of his philosophical model Nietzsche who said:

He who knows how to breathe the air of my writings knows that it is an air of the heights, a robust air … The ice is near, the solitude is terrible – but how peacefully all things lie in the light! … Philosophy as I have hitherto understood and lived it, is a voluntary living in ice and high mountains – a seeking after everything that is strange and questionable in existence, all that has hitherto been excommunicated by morality.

Unlike his philosophical model, Strauss could lapse into banality when he attempted to express Eternal and Absolute Truths. But whether he did so here or not, he never risked another tone poem. After An Alpine Symphony, he turned decisively to the stage, where his skills in musical depiction were a decided asset.

Gordon Kalton Williams Symphony Australia © 1998 / 2006

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra first performed An Alpine Symphony on 27 November 1957 with conductor Kurt Woess, and most recently in 2006 with Lawrence Renes.

10

ORCHESTRA

First ViolinsDale Barltrop Concertmaster

Eoin Andersen Concertmaster

Sophie Rowell Associate Concertmaster

Ike See*† Guest Principal

Peter Edwards Assistant Principal

Kirsty Bremner MSO Friends Chair

Sarah CurroPeter FellinDeborah GoodallLorraine HookKirstin KennyJi Won KimEleanor ManciniMark Mogilevski Michelle RuffoloKathryn TaylorRobert John*Oksana Thompson*

Second ViolinsMatthew Tomkins The Gross Foundation Principal Second Violin Chair

Robert Macindoe Associate Principal

Monica Curro Assistant Principal

Mary AllisonIsin CakmakciogluFreya FranzenCong GuAndrew HallFrancesca HiewRachel Homburg Christine JohnsonIsy WassermanPhilippa WestPatrick WongRoger YoungJacqueline Edwards*Jennen Ngiau-Keng*

ViolasChristopher Moore Principal

Fiona Sargeant Associate Principal

Lauren BrigdenKatharine BrockmanChristopher CartlidgeGabrielle HalloranTrevor Jones Cindy WatkinCaleb WrightGregory Daniel*Ceridwen Davies*Isabel Morse*

CellosDavid Berlin MS Newman Family Principal Cello Chair

Rachael Tobin Associate Principal

Nicholas Bochner Assistant Principal

Miranda BrockmanRohan de KorteKeith JohnsonSarah MorseAngela SargeantMichelle WoodSvetlana Bogosavljevic*

Double BassesSteve Reeves Principal

Andrew Moon Associate Principal

Sylvia Hosking Assistant Principal

Damien EckersleyBenjamin HanlonSuzanne LeeStephen NewtonYoung-Hee Chan*

FlutesPrudence Davis Principal Flute Chair - Anonymous

Wendy Clarke Associate Principal

Sarah Beggs

PiccoloAndrew Macleod Principal

OboesJeffrey Crellin Principal

Thomas Hutchinson Associate Principal

Ann Blackburn

Cor AnglaisMichael Pisani Principal

HeckelphoneBrock Imison Principal Contrabassoon

ClarinetsDavid Thomas Principal

Philip Arkinstall Associate Principal

Craig HillAlex Morris*Lloyd Van’t Hoff*

Bass ClarinetJon Craven Principal

BassoonsJack Schiller Principal

Elise Millman Associate Principal

Natasha Thomas

ContrabassoonBrock Imison Principal

Colin Forbes-Abrams*

Horns Timothy Jones*‡ Guest Principal

Geoff Lierse Associate Principal

Saul Lewis Principal Third

Jenna BreenAbbey EdlinTrinette McClimontAlden Cai*Jules Evans*Deborah Hart*Benjamin Messenger*Anton Schroeder*Robert Shirley*Timothy Skelly*Rebecca Luton*

TrumpetsGeoffrey Payne Principal

Shane Hooton Associate Principal

William EvansJulie PayneJoel Brennan*Carl Harvoe*Robert Mattessi*

TrombonesBrett Kelly Principal

Ronald Prussing*≠ Guest Associate Principal

Iain Faragher*Ben Lovell-Greene*

Bass TromboneMike Szabo Principal

Thomas Coyle*£

TubaTimothy Buzbee Principal

Jason Catchpowle*

TimpaniChristine Turpin Principal

PercussionRobert Clarke Principal

John ArcaroRobert CossomTimothy Hook*

HarpYinuo Mu Principal

Alannah Guthrie-Jones*

OrganCalvin Bowman*

CelesteAmir Farid*

*Guest Musician

† Courtesy of Australian Chamber Orchestra

‡ Courtesy of London Symphony Orchestra

≠ Courtesy of Sydney Symphony Orchestra

£ Courtesy of Queensland Symphony Orchestra

Sir Andrew Davis Harold Mitchell AC Chief Conductor Chair

Benjamin Northey Patricia Riordan Associate Conductor Chair

11

CHORUS

Soprano Philippa AllenNaomi HyndmanJulie ArblasterCarolyn ArchibaldAviva BarazaniEva ButcherJessica ChanThea ChristieVeryan CroggonSamantha DaviesLaura FaheyRita FitzgeraldCatherine FolleySusan FoneCarolyn FrancisRashika GomezKarina GoughJillian GrahamKarling HamilJuliana HassettPenny HuggettJasmine HulmeTania JacobsGwen KennellyRebecca KmitJudith McFarlaneRuth McIntoshLynne MuirHelen NikolasCaitlin NobleSusie NovellaJodie PaxtonIsobel PyrkeSusannah PolyaElizabeth PotterNatalie ReidJo RobinJodi SamartgisLynda SmerdonElizabeth TindallChloe TohEloise VerbeekBeth YlvisakerTara Zamin

Alto Aleksandra AckerRuth AndersonCatherine BickellCecilia BjörkegrenKate BramleyJane BrodieElize BrozgulAlexandra ChubatyElin-Maria EvangelistaJill GieseNatasha GodfreyDebbie GriffithsAlexandra HadjiRos HarbisonSue HawleyJennifer HenryKristine HenselChristina McCowanRosemary McKelvieHelen MacLeanSiobhan OrmandySharmila PeriakarpanAlison RalphKerry RoulstonAnnie RunnellsRosemary SaundersHelen StaindlLibby TimckeJenny VallinsEmma Warburton

Tenor James AllenTony BarnettSteve BurnettJohn CleghornDenny ChandraAlexander DavieJames DipnallJoshua Erdelyi-GötzSimon GoldmanLyndon HorsburghWayne KinradeDominic McKennaSimon MiltonMichael MobachJean-Francois RavatDaniel RileyMalcolm SinclairTim Wright

BassMaurice AmorRichard BolithoDavid BrownPaul Alexander ChantlerBarry ClarkeTed DaviesGerard EvansMichael GoughTom GriffithsAndrew HamAndrew HibbardJohn HowardDaniel HouseKee Yoon (Kevin) KimJemly KalangieBenjamin LeskeGary LeveyAndreas LoeweAlastair McKeanAndrew MurrellVern O’HaraEdward OunapuuDouglas ProctorMatthew ToulminMaurice WanFoon WongAllan YapMaciek Zielinski

RepetiteurTom Griffiths

12

SUPPORTERS

Artist Chair BenefactorsHarold Mitchell AC Chief Conductor Chair

Patricia Riordan Associate Conductor Chair

Joy Selby Smith Orchestral Leadership Chair

The Gross Foundation Principal Second Violin Chair

Sophie Rowell, The Ullmer Family Foundation Associate Concertmaster Chair

MS Newman Family Principal Cello Chair

Principal Flute Chair – Anonymous

Program BenefactorsMeet The Orchestra Made possible by The Ullmer Family Foundation

East meets West Supported by the Li Family Trust

The Pizzicato Effect (Anonymous)

MSO EDUCATION Supported by Mrs Margaret Ross AM and Dr Ian Ross

MSO UPBEAT Supported by Betty Amsden AO DSJ

MSO CONNECT Supported by Jason Yeap OAM

Benefactor Patrons $50,000+Betty Amsden AO DSJPhilip Bacon AM Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO John and Jenny Brukner Rachel and the Hon. Alan Goldberg AO QC The Gross FoundationDavid and Angela LiHarold Mitchell ACMS Newman FamilyJoy Selby SmithUllmer Family FoundationAnonymous (1)

Impresario Patrons $20,000+Michael AquilinaPerri Cutten and Jo DaniellMargaret Jackson ACMimie MacLarenJohn McKay and Lois McKay

Maestro Patrons $10,000+John and Mary BarlowKaye and David BirksPaul and Wendy Carter Mitchell ChipmanJan and Peter ClarkSir Andrew and Lady Davis Future Kids Pty Ltd Gandel PhilanthropyRobert & Jan GreenIn memory of Wilma CollieDavid Krasnostein and Pat Stragalinos Mr Greig Gailey and Dr Geraldine LazarusThe Cuming BequestIan and Jeannie Paterson Onbass FoundationElizabeth Proust AORae Rothfield Glenn Sedgwick Maria Solà, in memory of Malcolm Douglas Drs G & G Stephenson. In honour of the great Romanian musicians George Enescu and Dinu LipattiLyn Williams AMKee Wong and Wai TangAnonymous (1)

Principal Patrons $5,000+Linda BrittenDavid and Emma CapponiTim and Lyn EdwardJohn and Diana Frew Susan Fry and Don Fry AODanny Gorog and Lindy Susskind Lou Hamon OAMNereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AMHans and Petra HenkellHartmut and Ruth HofmannJenny and Peter HordernJenkins Family Foundation

Suzanne KirkhamVivien and Graham KnowlesDr Elizabeth A Lewis AM Peter LovellAnnette MaluishMatsarol FoundationMr and Mrs D R MeagherWayne and Penny MorganMarie Morton FRSA Dr Paul Nisselle AM Lady Potter ACStephen Shanasy Gai and David TaylorThe Hon. Michael Watt QC and Cecilie Hall Jason Yeap OAMAnonymous (5)

Associate Patrons $2,500+Dandolo Partners, Will and Dorothy Bailey Bequest, Barbara Bell in memory of Elsa Bell, Mrs S Bignell, Bill Bowness, Stephen and Caroline Brain, Leith and Mike Brooke, Rhonda Burchmore, Bill and Sandra Burdett, Oliver Carton, John and Lyn Coppock, Miss Ann Darby in memory of Leslie J. Darby, Mary and Frederick Davidson AM, Natasha Davies, Peter and Leila Doyle, Lisa Dwyer and Dr Ian Dickson, Jane Edmanson OAM, Dr Helen M Ferguson, Mr Bill Fleming, Mr Peter Gallagher and Dr Karen Morley, Colin Golvan QC and Dr Deborah Golvan, Charles and Cornelia Goode, Susan and Gary Hearst, Colin Heggen in memory of Marjorie Heggen, Gillian and Michael Hund, Rosemary and James Jacoby, John and Joan Jones, Kloeden Foundation, Sylvia Lavelle, H E McKenzie, Allan and Evelyn McLaren, Don and Anne Meadows, Andrew and Sarah Newbold, Ann Peacock with Andrew and Woody Kroger, Sue and Barry Peake, Mrs W Peart, Ruth and Ralph Renard, S M Richards AM and M R Richards, Tom and Elizabeth Romanowski,

Max and Jill Schultz, Jeffrey Sher, Diana and Brian Snape AM, Geoff and Judy Steinicke, Mr Tam Vu and Dr Cherilyn Tillman, William and Jenny Ullmer, Bert and Ila Vanrenen, Kate and Blaise Vinot, Barbara and Donald Weir, Brian and Helena Worsfold, Anonymous (12)

Player Patrons $1,000+Anita and Graham Anderson, Christine and Mark Armour, Arnold Bloch Leibler, Marlyn and Peter Bancroft OAM, Adrienne Basser, Prof Weston Bate and Janice Bate, Dr Julianne Bayliss, Timothy and Margaret Best, David and Helen Blackwell, Michael F Boyt, Philip and Vivien Brass Charitable Foundation, M Ward Breheny, Lino and Di Bresciani OAM , Mr John Brockman OAM and Mrs Pat Brockman, Suzie Brown, Jill and Christopher Buckley, Lynne Burgess, Dr Lynda Campbell, Andrew and Pamela Crockett, Jennifer Cunich, Pat and Bruce Davis, Merrowyn Deacon, Sandra Dent, Dominic and Natalie Dirupo, Marie Dowling, John and Anne Duncan, Kay Ehrenberg, Gabrielle Eisen, Vivien and Jack Fajgenbaum, Grant Fisher and Helen Bird, Barry Fradkin OAM and Dr Pam Fradkin, Applebay Pty Ltd, David Frenkiel and Esther Frenkiel OAM, Carrillo and Ziyin Gantner, David Gibbs and Susie O’Neill, Merwyn and Greta Goldblatt, Dina and Ron Goldschlager, George Golvan QC and Naomi Golvan, Dr Marged Goode, Philip and Raie Goodwach, Louise Gourlay OAM, Ginette and André Gremillet, Max Gulbin, Dr Sandra Hacker AO and Mr Ian Kennedy AM, Jean Hadges, Paula Hansky OAM and Jack Hansky AM, Tilda and Brian Haughney, Julian and Gisela Heinze, Penelope Hughes,

13

SUPPORTERS

Dr Alastair Jackson, Basil and Rita Jenkins, Stuart Jennings, George and Grace Kass, Irene Kearsey, Brett Kelly and Cindy Watkin, Ilma Kelson Music Foundation, Dr Anne Kennedy, Bryan Lawrence, William and Magdalena Leadston, Norman Lewis in memory of Dr Phyllis Lewis, Dr Anne Lierse, Ann and George Littlewood, Violet and Jeff Loewenstein, The Hon Ian Macphee AO and Mrs Julie Mcphee, Elizabeth H Loftus, Vivienne Hadj and Rosemary Madden, In memory of Leigh Masel, John and Margaret Mason, In honour of Norma and Lloyd Rees, Ruth Maxwell, Trevor and Moyra McAllister, David Menzies, Ian Morrey, Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James, Graham and Christine Peirson, Margaret Plant, Kerryn Pratchett, Peter Priest, Eli Raskin, Bobbie Renard, Peter and Carolyn Rendit, Dr Rosemary Ayton and Dr Sam Ricketson, Joan P Robinson, Zelda Rosenbaum OAM, Antler Ltd, Doug and Elisabeth Scott, Dr Sam Smorgon AO and Mrs Minnie Smorgon, John So, Dr Norman and Dr Sue Sonenberg, Dr Michael Soon, Pauline Speedy, State Music Camp, Dr Peter Strickland, Mrs Suzy and Dr Mark Suss, Pamela Swansson, Tennis Cares- Tennis Australia, Frank Tisher OAM and Dr Miriam Tisher, Margaret Tritsch, Judy Turner and Neil Adam, P & E Turner, Mary Vallentine AO, The Hon. Rosemary Varty, Leon and Sandra Velik, Elizabeth Wagner, Sue Walker AMElaine Walters OAM and Gregory Walters, Edward and Paddy White, Janet Whiting and Phil Lukies, Nic and Ann Willcock, Marian and Terry Wills Cooke, Pamela F Wilson, Joanne Wolff, Peter and Susan Yates, Mark Young, Panch Das and Laurel Young-Das, YMF Australia, Anonymous (17)

The Mahler SyndicateDavid and Kaye Birks, John and Jenny Brukner, Mary and Frederick Davidson AM, Tim and Lyn Edward, John and Diana Frew, Francis and Robyn Hofmann, The Hon Dr Barry Jones AC, Dr Paul Nisselle AM, Maria Solà in memory of Malcolm Douglas, The Hon Michael Watt QC and Cecilie Hall, Anonymous (1)

MSO RosesFounding RoseJenny Brukner

RosesMary Barlow, Linda Britten, Wendy Carter, Annette Maluish, Lois McKay, Pat Stragalinos, Jenny Ullmer

Rosebuds

Maggie Best, Penny Barlow, Leith Brooke, Lynne Damman, Francie Doolan, Lyn Edward, Penny Hutchinson, Elizabeth A Lewis AM, Sophie Rowell, Dr Cherilyn Tillman

Foundations and TrustsThe A.L. Lane FoundationThe Annie Danks TrustCollier Charitable FundCreative Partnerships AustraliaCrown Resorts Foundation and the Packer Family FoundationThe Cybec FoundationGall FoundationThe Harold Mitchell FoundationHelen Macpherson Smith TrustIvor Ronald Evans Foundation, managed by Equity Trustees LimitedThe Marian and EH Flack TrustThe Perpetual Foundation – Alan (AGL) Shaw Endowment, managed by PerpetualThe Pratt FoundationThe Robert Salzer FoundationThe Schapper Family FoundationThe Scobie and Claire Mackinnon Trust

Conductor’s CircleCurrent Conductor’s Circle MembersJenny Anderson, David Angelovich, G C Bawden and L de Kievit, Lesley Bawden, Joyce Bown, Mrs Jenny Brukner and the late Mr John Brukner, Ken Bullen, Luci and Ron Chambers, Sandra Dent, Lyn Edward, Alan Egan JP, Gunta Eglite, Louis Hamon OAM, Carol Hay, Tony Howe, Audrey M Jenkins, John and Joan Jones, George and Grace Kass, Mrs Sylvia Lavelle, Pauline and David Lawton, Lorraine Meldrum, Cameron Mowat, Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James, Rosia Pasteur, Elizabeth Proust AO, Penny Rawlins, Joan P Robinson, Neil Roussac, Anne Roussac-Hoyne, Jennifer Shepherd, Drs Gabriela and George Stephenson, Pamela Swansson, Lillian Tarry, Dr Cherilyn Tillman, Mr and Mrs R P Trebilcock, Michael Ullmer, Ila Vanrenen, Mr Tam Vu, Marian and Terry Wills Cooke, Mark Young, Anonymous (23)

The MSO gratefully acknowledges the support received from the Estates of:Angela Beagley, Gwen Hunt, Pauline Marie Johnston, C P Kemp, Peter Forbes MacLaren, Prof Andrew McCredie, Miss Sheila Scotter AM MBE, Molly Stephens, Jean Tweedie, Herta and Fred B Vogel, Dorothy Wood

Honorary AppointmentsMrs Elizabeth Chernov Education and Community Engagement Patron

Sir Elton John CBE Life Member

The Honourable Alan Goldberg AO QC Life Member

Geoffrey Rush AC Ambassador

John Brockman AO Life Member

The MSO relies on your ongoing philanthropic support to sustain access, artists, education, community engagement and more.

We invite our supporters to get close to the MSO through a range of special events and supporter newsletter The Full Score.

The MSO welcomes your support at any level. Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible, and supporters are recognised as follows:

$1,000 (Player), $2,500 (Associate), $5,000 (Principal), $10,000 (Maestro), $20,000 (Impresario), $50,000 (Benefactor)

The MSO Conductor’s Circle is our bequest program for members who have notified of a planned gift in their Will.

Enquiries: Ph: +61 (3) 9626 1248

Email: [email protected]

14

1. Are you excited to be coming back to Australia to perform with the MSO? Absolutely! Australia is my home after all, and Melbourne the cultural capital of our beautiful country. The connection I felt during my last visit two years ago between the orchestra and myself was one that went beyond the music. It was a feeling of pride in achieving something beyond and coming back home to celebrate. It was personal.

2. How old were you when you started playing the violin? I started violin in an interesting and unusual way. It was right before I turned four years old, when I had a toy guitar that I absolutely loved. I used to carry the thing around with me everywhere, stickers and all. Then one day I decided out on a whim to put it underneath my chin and grabbing a chopstick from the kitchen, pretend to play this “new” instrument. My parents thought it was quite hilarious and decided to get me a violin for my fourth birthday. I’m glad this happened because I’ve also tried my hand at the guitar and I’m quite horrible at it.

3. What’s been a career highlight for you? I’ve been so lucky to have so many highlights; Nobel Prize concert is definitely at the top of the list, as is Carnegie Hall. Last year I performed in front of the biggest live crowd in Paris for their national holiday under the Eiffel Tower. 800,000 people were there. It was both surreal and amazing to experience.

4. What do you love about Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto? It’s the number one most popular violin concerto and there’s a reason for that; because it’s bloody amazing! The piece has soul, it has character, it’s got depth. It has these amazing lyrical lines that weave into joyous climaxes, and every line is crafted with elegance. Most composers have their ‘thing’ that they were known for; Mozart

and his operas, Beethoven with his symphonies and string quartets, and Tchaikovsky with his ballets and the violin concerto. I first discovered the piece when I was 12 years old. At the time I was learning it for the National Youth Concerto Competition in my hometown of Brisbane and it was the first concerto I played with orchestra. I’ll never forget the feeling of pure excitement I felt, and though it’s grown with me throughout the years, I’ve somehow managed to keep that freshness and feeling of discovery as if it were still the first time I experienced it.

5. What piece of music would you want to have with you if you were stranded on a desert island? I think if I was sentenced to a life where I could only play one piece, I would choose the Bach Chaconne because in those 15 minutes of music, there is an entire world to explore and one life would never be enough to exhaust all the possibilities.

6. What sort of violin do you play? The violin I’m playing on is the ‘Joachim’ Stradivarius made in 1715. It was named after the famed Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim who premiered many of the warhorses we love today. Brahms, Bruch, and Schumann all dedicated their works to him, and he even studied violin with Mendelssohn so there’s quite a bit of history in this instrument!

7. What’s your favourite place to visit when you come to Melbourne? I used to love arcades as a kid, so every time I visit Melbourne I just HAVE to go to the arcade in Crown Casino and play some video games old school style.

8. Coffee drinker? I am a double espresso guy – plain, no sugar. Though sometimes in the mornings I will indulge in a cappuccino.

9. If you could describe Melbourne in one word, what would that word be? Culture.

9 QUESTIONS WITH RAY CHEN

1515

SUPPORTERS

Praise for Volume I:“One of the finest Also sprach Zarathustras on disc” – BBC Music Magazine

“A beautifully modulated, sensitively and sensuously soaring interpretation of the Four Last Songs” – Gramophone Magazine

“This live recording from Melbourne is sumptuous … A remarkable disc” – The Arts Desk

AVAILABLE AFTER TONIGHT’S PERFORMANCE

RICHARD STRAUSSMelbourne Symphony Orchestra | Sir Andrew Davis

Available after tonight’s performance, from all good record stores, or for digital download

VOLUME IDon Juan | Also Sprach Zarathustra

Four Last Songs

VOLUME IIEin Heldenleben | Four Symphonic Interludes

from Intermezzo

GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

ASSOCIATE PARTNERS

MAESTRO PARTNERS

VICTORIA WHITELAW TRINITY COLLEGE

LINDA BRITTEN FEATURE ALPHA INVESTMENT

NAOMI MILGROM FOUNDATION RED EMPEROR

HARDY AMIES FITZROYS

OFFICIAL CAR PARTNER

MEDIA PARTNERS

SUPPORTING PARTNERS

emirates.com/au

Complimentary Chauffeur-drive service* w Fine dining on demand w World-class service

Relax to music and smooth sips of Hennessy Paradis, or a good story and a glass of Dom Perignon. Savour every indulgence in our First Class Private Suites.

Principal Partner of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Master the art of me-time

*Complimentary Chauffeur-drive service available for First Class and Business Class, excluding Trans-Tasman services and codeshare flights operated by Qantas to Southeast Asia. Mileage restrictions apply. For full terms and conditions visit emirates.com/au. For more information visit emirates.com/au, call 1300 303 777, or contact your local travel agent.