dear music lover · dear music lover the sydney symphony reaches a milestone this year, celebrating...

Dear Music Lover

The Sydney Symphony reaches a milestone this year, celebratingits 75th anniversary with an exciting recital program for 2007. Theme & Variations Piano Services is proud to be involved withsuch a dynamic organisation that continually brings some of theworld’s best pianists to Sydney.

This year the City Recital Hall will give visiting pianists a choiceof two Steinway & Sons pianos to play on – something that hasn’tbeen previously available to visiting artists. This gives the artist an extraordinary advantage as they will be able to select from twotop-class instruments with different personalities and ‘flavours’.

In the first concert of the series, Bernd Glemser returns to Sydney22 years after his first visit to Australia, competing in the SydneyInternational Piano Competition. Many things have changed sincethen, but Bernd Glemser still holds his experience of travelling to Australia as one of the most memorable from his time as aconcert pianist.

With artists who inspire him such as Horowitz, Michelangeli,Richter, Arrau, Emil Gilels, and of course his very specialfavourite, Rachmaninov, I am sure you will enjoy tonight’sperformance from Steinway Artist Bernd Glemser, one of themost awarded pianists of his time.

ARA VARTOUKIAN Director

SEASON 2007

INTERNATIONAL PIANISTS IN RECITAL

SPONSORED BY THEME & VARIATIONS

BERND GLEMSER

Monday 26 March | 8pm

City Recital Hall Angel Place

Preludes and Fugues from

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750)

The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I & II

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906–1975)

Preludes and Fugues, Op.87

Bach – G major, BWV860Shostakovich – No.4 in E minorBach – G sharp minor, BWV887Shostakovich – No.17 in A flat majorBach – F sharp major, BWV858Bach – E flat minor, BWV853Shostakovich – No.14 in E flat minorShostakovich – No.15 in D flat major

INTERVAL

SERGEI RACHMANINOV (1873–1943)

Four pieces from Morceaux de Fantaisie, Op.3

Elégie in E flat minorPrélude in C sharp minorMélodie in ESérénade in B flat minor

Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op.42

Variations are listed on pages 13–14

Barcarolle, Op.10 No.3

Etude-Tableau, Op.39 No.9

Pre-concert talk by Dr RobertCurry at 7.15pm in the First FloorReception Room.

Estimated timings:51 minutes, 20 minute interval,20 minutes, 19 minutes, 4 minutes, 4 minutesThe performance will concludeat approximately 10.10pm

Cover images: see page 30 forcaptions

Program notes begin on page 5

Artist biography is on page 23

PRESENTING PARTNER

This concert will be recordedfor broadcast across Australiaon ABC Classic FM 92.9.

Welcome to tonight’s concert and to our first year of free programs.

Following the enthusiastic response to our free concertflyers in 2006, the Sydney Symphony is delighted to beable to offer free program books at all our subscriptionand gala concerts.

If you’ve purchased programs in the past you’ll findfamiliar features and the same high quality musicjournalism from some of Australia’s leading writers onmusic. If you’re new to programs we hope they’ll give you a deeper insight into the music we play as well asproviding a convenient guide to what’s happening on the stage.

Free programs are our gift to you. We do ask that youhelp us a little in return.

Over a single season, printed programs could devour half a million sheets of paper. So, in a bid to beenvironmentally responsible, we ask patrons who areattending in couples or groups to share programs, onebetween two. Please help the ushers and fellowconcertgoers by not taking additional programs. And ifyou normally don’t keep your program after the concert,we invite you to return it to one of the boxes in the foyeras you leave. We can reuse the programs for subsequentperformances or arrange for them to be recycled.

If you’d like to read the program in advance of theconcert, you’ll be able to find it on our website as adownloadable pdf file, available in the week of theconcert. Visit www.sydneysymphony.com/rss for moreinformation. And if you have comments or questionsabout the programs, please write [email protected]

NEW FEATURES

KEYNOTES

A brief introduction to read

while the orchestra tunes up;

look for Keynotes in the

margin at the beginning of

each program note.

HISTORICAL SNAPSHOTS

Celebrating our 75th

anniversary season, a series

of illustrated articles by

historian and concert

programmer David Garrett.

EXPANDED CONCERT

INTRODUCTION

This popular overview of the

concert hasn’t gone, we’ve

simply moved it off the title

page to the beginning of the

program notes.

�Programs grow on trees – please share them with your

companion

�If you normally don’t keep your program after the concert,

please leave it in one of the boxes in the foyer

�You can read programs online beforehand at

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INTRODUCTION

Bernd Glemser in Recital

In this recital German pianist Bernd Glemser brings usthe kind of program that is a ‘feast of emotion’. Glemserbelieves in communicating the joy of music, but he also knows that not all music leaves us with a feeling of ‘cheerful joy’ – some works may leave us thoughtful,or embarrassed, even irritated.

With that underlying philosophy the first half of theprogram weaves together preludes and fugues by Bachand Shostakovich. The composers are centuries apart,but in both cases their preludes and fugues are self-contained jewels, each one a complete composition.Neither expected performances of the complete sets (The Well-Tempered Clavier and Shostakovich’s Opus 87 that it inspired), and, as Glemser shows, there areimaginative and illuminating ways to combine them,creating an ‘arch’ of tension and an emotional journeyacross the styles.

The second half of the concert celebrates the music of Rachmaninov with a counterpoint of early and late works, short pieces and long. Rachmaninov is acomposer-performer whose own playing style survives in recordings and piano rolls and continues to inspire.Glemser writes of his love for the honesty, depth andnaturalness in Rachmaninov’s playing, ‘no empty pomp,no dishonest posing, but true depth’. It’s a very romanticstyle of playing and virtuosic, but with impeccable taste –characteristics that emerge in the music itself, from theearly ‘fantasy pieces’ (Opus 3) to the late Variations on aTheme of Corelli (Opus 42).

7 | Sydney Symphony

Keynotes

JS BACH

Born Eisenach, 1685Died Leipzig, 1750

Bach was revered by his

contemporaries as an organ

virtuoso. After the Bach

Revival of the 19th century

he was acknowledged as

the greatest composer of the

Baroque era. His preludes

and fugues for the ‘well-

tempered clavier’ cover the

24 major and minor keys

and represent a pinnacle

of contrapuntal writing for

keyboard.

SHOSTAKOVICH

Born St Petersburg, 1906Died Moscow, 1975

Although regarded most

highly for his symphonies

and string quartets,

Shostakovich was also an

active pianist who continued

to perform until he was 60.

He was known to turn to

contrapuntal composition

when experiencing a

creative block, and his 24

preludes and fugues are a

monumental homage to

Bach.

PRELUDES & FUGUES

Bernd Glemser writes:

My choice of order in

playing these preludes

and fugues is by no means

academic. I should like to

create an ‘arch’ of tension

across the styles. In simple

words, it is a bow leading

from extroversion and

glittering brilliance to the

inside – you may call it

religious – and then all the

way back again, ending in

grotesque sarcasm.

Preludes and Fugues

Bach and Shostakovich

We first encounter the term ‘fuga’ in music as early as the 14th century. Composers such as Palestrina, Dufayand Josquin used it in their vocal compositions for works that we would call canons; to this day we refer to the‘voices’ of a fugue (the Russians call them golosa) as a wayof describing the independently moving parts. Eventuallykeyboard fugues made their appearance in the output ofmany composers, including the illustrious Frescobaldi,whose music was known to Bach. It is generally agreedthat Bach’s fugues represent the summation of this kindof composition.

The performance of Bach preludes and fugues, such as those found in the two volumes of The Well-TemperedClavier, presents very special problems for the pianist.Firstly, the wrong instrument. More seriously, noindications by the composer of tempo or dynamics,only lots of educated guess-work by musicologists.Consequently, working from the original text does notoffer interpretative solutions at all. It is not like reading a more modern score, which contains an abundance(sometimes overabundance) of performance instructions.With Bach, one has none of these. Over the years, variouseditions of the ‘48’ (as the Bach Preludes and Fugues are affectionately known among pianists) have emerged,some by great pianists – such as the famous Busoniedition, which attempts to solve the problem of Bachbeing transplanted to the modern grand piano. All theseeditions have now become historic documents inthemselves, for they mirror the performance practices of their own day, and range from Czerny to Bülow,Reinecke and Tausig.

Fortunately, the essence of the Bach polyphonic styleseems to survive all these transplants; the abstract purityof the music transcends the instrumental forces onwhich it may be performed. The music that followedBach is much less likely to succeed in ‘modernised’performances, but with Bach, the pianist can play likeeggshells without pedal or with full-blown utterance –and everything in between – and still the essence of theoriginal shines through!

After the Baroque era, the writing of polyphonickeyboard music receded into the background. Classicalmasters occasionally turned to fugues: Haydn in some

ABOUT THE MUSIC

8 | Sydney Symphony

string quartets, Mozart and Beethoven on the piano.Mozart’s fugues lie relatively early in his output, whereasBeethoven came to serious polyphony late in his careerand wrestled with the old forms in some of his greatestkeyboard works, most notably the wonderful fugue in the Sonata Op.110 and the lengthy fugue in theHammerklavier Sonata. I use the word ‘wrestled’ advisedly:polyphony was no longer the common currency ofcomposition and Beethoven had great troubleconquering it.

It needs to be said here that fitting complexpolyphonic lines to the capacities and limitations often fingers is a second obstacle to be overcome by thecomposer after the pure working out of the fugue isaccomplished. Each key has its own tactile sensationunder the pianist’s fingers and it is a minor miracle that the fugues of Bach and Shostakovich (among manyothers) are possible on a keyboard at all, as distinct froman ensemble of voices or instruments.

Nineteenth-century piano music was concerned withdiscoveries in the realms of harmony and form and soexcursions into fugue were fairly infrequent. We haverepertoire such as Mendelssohn’s Bach-like Six Preludesand Fugues Op.35, Schumann’s lyrical Four Fugues Op.72,and the big fugue that concludes Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Handel. In addition to these there is a fineexample of fugue in Franck’s Prelude, Chorale andFugue and the remarkable model in Liszt’s Sonata. But these are exceptions to the rule.

The 20th century proved to be a more contrapuntallyoriented time. On the piano, apart from the Shostakovichcollection, there is the Shchedrin cycle of Preludes andFugues in every key, as well as Hindemith’s extraordinaryLudus Tonalis which draws on contrapuntal techniquesnot even used by Bach. This is all by way of saying thatthe Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues do have a contextwithin the history of piano music. Yet in their day, at thevery end of the Stalin era, they were received with somecaution, as the bogey of ‘formalism’ in music was stillvery much alive in the Soviet Union. One had to watchout for one’s health in those dreadful times!

In July of 1950, Shostakovich headed the Sovietdelegation to the Bach bicentenary celebrations held in Leipzig and took part in a concert on the last nightof the Festival which included the Bach Concerto forthree pianos and orchestra. The pianists were Tatiana

J S Bach

Equal temperament usesmathematically equal butmusically impure intervals tosmooth out the unevennessof the natural harmonicseries. In other, older, tuningsystems pure intervals weremaintained in commonlyused keys, at the expense of discords in harmonicallydistant keys, which wereallowed to sound ‘out oftune’. Bach’s Well-TemperedClavier, although clearlydesigned to be played on an instrument where all keys sounded well, does not specify a tuning system.Some form of equaltemperament, or an irregulartuning system encompassinga full chromatic cycle free of ‘wolf’ notes, are bothpossibilities.

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9 | Sydney Symphony

Nikolayeva, Pavel Serebriakov and Shostakovich himself,who stepped in at the last moment for Maria Yudina,who had injured a finger. It was after this event thatShostakovich first considered writing some preludes andfugues for the piano. Inspired, the composer worked atterrific speed, and in April and May of 1951, Shostakovichfirst presented his set of 24 Preludes and Fugues atmeetings of the Union of Composers of the USSR.

At first the composer thought that he would write a set of technical exercises with the aim of demonstratingmastery of polyphonic techniques. He was followingexamples set by previous Russian composers such asRimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. But the work took on a life of its own and finished up as a large cycle of pieces in every key, clearly with Bach’s twin volumes of The Well-Tempered Clavier in mind. Shostakovich didexplicitly state, however, that he did not have the cycle inmind as a complete performance, but rather as a series of separate works.

But, of course, pianists have been unable to resistthe challenge of performing the cycle as a whole, andindeed, the first performer of this work, the talentedTatiana Nikolayeva, did just that – two-and-a-half hours of music! Moreover, although one might suggest thatShostakovich did not vary the form of the works verymuch, he certainly encompassed a huge scope of humanemotions in the pieces, from numb tragedy to hystericalparody. Bach seems to have achieved a wider range ofstructural variation, though his emotional world is morereined in than that of Shostakovich. Hearing these piecesintermixed, therefore, allows us a unique experience ofhearing a particular technique applied to keyboard musica few centuries apart, using similar compositional deviceswith quite different expressive outcomes.

BACH G major, BWV860 (Well-Tempered

Clavier Book I)

(3-voiced fugue) Most editions give this prelude andfugue a fast and light character.

SHOSTAKOVICH E minor, Op.87 No.4

(4-voiced fugue) The prelude is marked Andante whilstthe fugue is an Adagio. The texture is close to those foundin some of Shostakovich’s String Quartets, and the musicis very deeply felt.

Russian pianist Tatiana

Nikolayeva (1924–1993) won first prize at the LeipzigBach Festival in 1950, whereShostakovich was a jurymember. They later had anaffair, which Shostakovichreputedly ended by tellingher that ‘No bed is bigenough to hold two talentsas great as ours!’ Herperformance of Bach waswidely admired in the Westfrom the 1980s; she alsospecialised in Beethovensonatas. She composed herown works which, drawingon the influence of herfavoured composers, werehighly polyphonic. TatianaNikolayeva gave thepremiere of Shostakovich’sPreludes and Fugues Op.87 in Leningrad on 23 December 1952. The workwas one of the last sheperformed in public beforeher death.

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Dmitri Shostakovich (1950s)

10 | Sydney Symphony

BACH G sharp minor, BWV887 (WTC Book II)

(2-voiced fugue) The prelude is a binary composition,with both sections usually repeated. The fugue is unusual in that it is only in two voices, yet sustains quitea long structure because it is in effect a double fuguewith two distinct subjects, the second easily identifiableby its drooping chromatic figuration. Bach eventuallycombines the two subjects in the final section of thispiece.

SHOSTAKOVICH A flat major, Op.87 No.17

(4-voiced fugue) A quietly flowing Allegretto preludefollowed by a somewhat zany fugue with five beats to the bar, which finally calms down!

BACH F sharp major, BWV858 (WTC Book I)

(3-voiced fugue) Serene and quite compact in structure.

BACH E flat minor, BWV853 (WTC Book I)

(3-voiced fugue) One of the great pieces of Book I. A wonderfully expressive prelude with a vocal-like line in the right hand, while the fugue is held by some to berepresentation of Heaven, due to the ‘perfect’ intervals of fifths and fourths which make up the subjectmaterial.

SHOSTAKOVICH E flat minor, Op.87 No.14

(3-voiced fugue) It is possible that Shostakovich had thewonderful preceding Bach Prelude and Fugue in hismind when he composed his own in the same key. The prelude (with seven beats to the bar) is very serious,almost tragic, and leads to a flowing Allegro non troppofugue, smooth and sustained throughout, almost entirelymuted and soft.

SHOSTAKOVICH D flat major, Op.87 No.15

(4-voiced fugue) This was one of Nikolayeva’s favourites.The prelude is an amiable Allegretto waltz, which leads into a very fast, intense and chromatic fugue:rhythmically unstable and asymmetric and intended tobe played very loudly from beginning to end.

LARRY SITSKY ©2007

Nikolayeva and Op.87

Tatiana Nikolayeva visitedAustralia way back duringthe Soviet era, and I had thepleasure of meeting her andof course asked her aboutthe Shostakovich Preludesand Fugues and what sheremembered about theirgenesis. She told me thatwhat jolted her most wasthe phenomenal speed and assurance with whichShostakovich tackled andcompleted this formidabletask, exhibiting incrediblepowers of creativeconcentration. She was inconstant communicationwith the composer duringthis time and went to him to play the pieces as theyrolled off his mental printingpress. She told me that she did not then considerperforming the completecycle, but in due course she became known fordoing precisely that, andeventually recorded the setfor the Melodiya label. She worked from themanuscript, which, she said,had its own particularexpressive quality.

LS


SERGEI RACHMANINOV

Rachmaninov was one of the greatest pianists of all time,and his piano music was written for himself and for his very personal approach to the keyboard. The group of pieces in tonight’s concert is interesting in that itrepresents the chronological extremes of his output.Naturally the late works are more evolved andsophisticated, but what is fascinating is that what we think of as quintessential Rachmaninov is right there atthe very beginning.

The appraisal of Rachmaninov as a composer has not always been uniform. We think of him now as amainstream piano composer, but there was a period soonafter his death when he was recognised for his pianisticrather than his compositional prowess; many writersaccused him of padding out his music with excessivepassage-work. A problem in Rachmaninov’s historic placeas a composer was that he was a man out of his time. In the first half of the 20th century a huge and volcanicmusical revolution raged; it was probably the mostexperimental period in the whole history of music. Yet there was Rachmaninov, writing in a late 19th-centuryidiom as though nothing had happened. Many saw him as a throwback, belonging to the period of Tchaikovskyand Anton Rubinstein (and these were indeed his teachersand musical ancestors). As though to confirm such views,when his friend and contemporary Scriabin died an early death, Rachmaninov gave some concerts featuringScriabin’s music. Many of Scriabin’s followers wereoutraged at Rachmaninov’s apparent lack of understandingof his colleague’s progressive language and felt that thesecommemorative concerts did little or nothing to promotethe Scriabin cause.

Keynotes

RACHMANINOV

Born Oneg (Novgorodregion), 1873Died Beverly Hills CA, 1943

Rachmaninov found success

as a composer, pianist and

conductor – but rarely in

more than one field of

endeavour at a time.

Performing provided a major

source of income in later

life after he moved to

America, but this interfered

with his composing and

skewed perceptions of his

work. He was one of the

finest piano virtuosos of

his day and his own

compositions reveal the

extent of his formidable

technique.


Today, it seems to matter little whether he was a man of his own time or a man of times before him. We ratheracknowledge his mastery of the piano and its sonority, hisvirtuosic handling of the instrument and his greatcontribution to the piano repertoire.

Four pieces from Morceaux de fantaisie, Op.3

Rachmaninov’s Opus 3 consists of five ‘fantasy pieces’. We are to hear four of them; the missing one tonight isPolichinelle. The pieces were dedicated to Arensky and firstperformed by the composer at the Kharkov Conservatory;other works on the program included music by Chopin,Liszt, Schumann, Rubinstein, and Pabst’s once oft-playedfantasia on themes from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

Elégie in E flat minor Moderato – piu vivo – Tempo I

Widely-spaced arpeggios in the left hand, in a somewhatChopinesque manner, underpin the lovely melodic lineabove it. The contrasting middle section is in G flat major;it works up to a huge Tchaikovskian climax before theopening idea returns very softly.

Prélude in C sharp minor

On 28 September 1892 Rachmaninov took part in a typical19th-century concert, playing the first movement ofRubinstein’s D minor concerto, as well as a thoroughlymixed bag of solos, including the Chopin Berceuse, a Liszttranscription from Gounod’s Faust and a little prelude ofhis own composition. It was to become one of the mostfamous of short piano pieces. Rachmaninov grew to loathethe music, as he became inextricably linked to this earlywork in the eyes and ears of the public. It wasn’t even agreat money-maker, except indirectly, due to the tangle of international copyright laws and Russia’s place in them.But it is certain that he was peeved when he walked into arestaurant only to be greeted with a foxtrot version of hisown piece. No Rachmaninov recital was complete withoutthis prelude, so at the end of a concert he would oftenroutinely launch into the piece without even bothering toget up and bow. Everyone knew it, and the most fancifulinterpretations were ascribed to it – vampires emerging out of their coffins, the burning of Moscow during theNapoleonic wars and so on and so forth – in spite of the

Fresh Ears

If some of Rachmaninov’smusic sounds corny to themodern ear, it is not hisfault: it is because it hasbeen copied by many andlesser composers andbecome a staple ofHollywood. Somehow weneed to hear his music withfresh ears. A good start is bylistening to Rachmaninov’sown recordings, both earlyacoustic 78s and the pianorolls, which he preferred for many years over thegramophone. There one can hear clearly the depthand breadth of his tone andexpression and the greatfreedom with which heimbued his playing, takingliberties not only with themusic of other composersbut also with his own. Somerecent CDs of his piano rollsare recommended listeningfrom me personally toanyone interested in thepiano and piano playing.

LS


composer’s own declaration that the piece came to him asa single idea. His teacher Taneyev thought it sounded likeSchumann’s Novelleten. At any rate, what we have is a trulymemorable piece in ternary form, a favourite pattern inthese early works, with a solemn bell-like first and lastsection (evoking the bell sounds that appear in so muchRussian music), with a short turbulent middle section,consisting of a chromatically descending pattern, repeatedover and over again.

Mélodie in E major Adagio sostenuto

As the title implies, this is a really vocal piece, a songwithout words. The melody line first appears in a baritoneversion, played by the left hand. Like the Prélude, this pieceis in ternary form, with the climax in the middle section.At the end the melodic line returns to the left hand. Thedaddy of this music is probably one of the Rubinsteinmélodies.

Sérénade in B flat minor Sostenuto – Tempo di Valse

The opening page of this piece is really a kind ofintroduction consisting of a single line, punctuated byanswering chords, somewhat like recitative in an opera; themusic then moves into a gentle waltz marked ‘non troppovivo’. There is a balletic quality to the music and the minorkey gives it an oriental flavour.

Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op.42

This late, large work is dedicated to Fritz Kreisler, theviolinist with whom Rachmaninov gave many concerts andmade many recordings. The composer himself premieredthe Variations in Montreal on 12 October 1931. The layoutof the work is as follows:

Theme (Andante)Var. I Poco più mossoVar. II L’istesso tempoVar. III Tempo di menuettoVar. IV AndanteVar. V Allegro ma non tantoVar. VI L’istesso tempoVar. VII VivaceVar. VIII Adagio misteriosoVar. IX Un poco più mosso

Cough and Skip

Rachmaninov wrote toMedtner about the CorelliVariations:

‘I’ve played them here aboutfifteen times, but of thesefifteen performances, onlyone was good. The otherswere sloppy. I can’t play my own compositions! And it’s so boring! Not once have I played these all incontinuity. I was guided by the coughing of theaudience. Whenever thecoughing increased, I would skip the nextvariation. Whenever therewas no coughing, I wouldplay them in proper order. In one concert...thecoughing was so violent that I played only 10variations. My best recordwas in New York, where I played 18 Variations...’

Perhaps this could be theorigin of omitting some ofthe Variations…

LS


Var. X Allegro scherzandoVar. XI Allegro vivace [Rachmaninov says in the score

‘This variation may be omitted’]Var. XII L’istesso tempoVar. XIII AgitatoIntermezzo (a tempo rubato)Var. XIV Andante (come prima)Var. XV L’istesso tempoVar. XVI Allegro vivaceVar. XVII Meno mossoVar. XVIII Allegro con brioVar. XIX Piu mosso. Agitato [Rachmaninov here again says

in the score ‘This variation may be omitted’]Var. XX Piu mossoCoda (Andante)

Most pianists do not omit Variations XI and XIX, but itis clear from the composer’s remarks at the time that hewas concerned with condensation and brevity. Most ofthe variations are short and to the point; many are onlya page or so in length. The composer is clearly interestedin delineating a specific character for each variation.

As in the more well-known variations (Rhapsody) on a theme of Paganini, Rachmaninov was drawn here to anold theme with very simple outlines, upon which he thenbuilds increasingly complex figurations And as in thePaganini variations, the softest and most memorablemelodic moment is in the key of D flat major, heard inVariations XIV and XV. The preceding Intermezzo weakensthe strong D minor tonality of the preceding 12 variations.The Coda returns to the original simplicity of the theme,and the work ends quietly and simply, after the virtuosicvariations and deviations encountered throughout.

Rachmaninov’s later years were marked by muchconcertising, with his compositional process slowing andhis output considerably reduced. He himself complainedthat it all came to him much less easily than when he was younger. Performing was taking its toll also. WhenRachmanionv played through the Variations to themusicologist Alfred Swan, who was quite close to thecomposer at this time, Swan noted that many blood-vesselson Rachmaninov’s fingertips had burst, a problem that theaging virtuoso also had to contend with during concerts.

The Variations were received in a fairly lukewarmfashion by the critics. Joseph Yasser, the Russian theorist,wrote more enthusiastically about the work in NovoyeRusskoye Slovo, but also pointed out that the theme was not

The Italian composerArcangelo Corelli

(1653–1713) was famouslydescribed as being‘remarkable for the mildnessof his temper and themodesty of his deportment’ – unusual qualities even in a 17th-century celebrity!His reputation and influencefar outweighed his output,comprising only six sets ofinstrumental music and afew other authentic works.Corelli’s variations on the La folia theme are found inhis Sonata for violin andcontinuo, Op.5 No.12,published in 1700. The workwas reprinted some 42 timesin the next century.

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by Corelli and had been used before Corelli by 17th-centurycomposers. Rachmaninov actually took Corelli’s name offthe cover when the work was published, but kept it inside!The La Folia theme, as it is now known, is also used byLiszt as a basis for Variations in the Spanish Rhapsody.

Barcarolle, Op.10 No.3 Moderato – Con moto – Allegro moderato – Con moto

This Barcarolle is really a return to the early language ofRachmaninov, but is a little more sophisticated than theOpus 3 pieces in that the simple Moderato theme and thecontrasting Con moto idea are eventually superimposed oneupon the other leading to the final section. The openingtheme is rhythmically somewhat ambiguous: the figureaccompanying the theme is in a two-beat pattern, whereasthe actual melody is in three, leading to some interestingcross-rhythms. The Con moto and the coda require somebrilliant right-hand passage work.

Etude-Tableau, Op.39 No.9Allegro moderato (tempo di marcia)

Two sets of Etudes-Tableaux appeared in 1911 and 1917. Thetitles signify that although these pieces are Etudes (studiesin sonority, colour, expression and technique) they are alsotableaux (pictures) in that an image, poem, nature scene orpainting inspired the composition of each particular piece.However, it is not program music and Rachmaninov chosenot to reveal the sources of his inspiration. The piecescertainly push the colouristic demands of the instrumentto its limits. In fact, Rachmaninov allowed Respighi toorchestrate six of these Etudes-Tableaux; Respighi perhapsfelt that he could draw something out of his orchestralversions that piano alone could not achieve.

Op.39 No.9 is the very last piece of the whole set. It is a moderately fast movement, marked ‘in the tempo of amarch’. It begins in commanding fashion with blockchords ranging over the keyboard and then quickly eruptsinto brilliant semiquaver figurations, which continuepretty well unceasingly for eight taxing pages; the workends in a glorious blaze of D major. The tense ritmico driveof the music is most characteristic of Rachmaninov’s own playing.

LARRY SITSKY ©2007

Marginalia by Larry Sitsky and Angharad Davis (2006 AYO MusicPresentation Fellow)


La folia, sometimes knownas ‘the Follies of Spain,’ was originally a 15th-centuryPortugese dance. The name,which implies madness oridiocy, might be related tothe mounting frenzy of thedancers – or perhaps theirhabit of cross-dressing for the occasion. The foliathat Corelli knew (andRachmaninov in turn) canbe traced to Jean-BaptisteLully, who gave the themeits stately sarabanderhythm. The theme is just 16 bars long. Although it is usually in a minor key, a modal inflection to therelative major gives it aslightly plaintive quality.

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GLOSSARY

BARCAROLLE – a song or instrumental workevoking the songs of Venetian gondoliers,and characterised by a distinctive liltingrhythm. The best-known barcarollesinclude the one that opens Act III ofOffenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann and Chopin’sBarcarolle in F sharp minor, Op.60.

CHROMATIC – in tonal music, the use offoreign notes and harmonies that do notbelong to the key, together with frequentmodulation to other keys. The impressionis one of harmonic richness and whilechromaticism has been used as anexpressive effect since the 16th century,it is most strongly associated with theRomantic style of the 19th century.

CONTRAPUNTAL – a style of music in whichtwo or more different musical lines ormelodies are played at the same time(counterpoint). See polyphonic and fugue.

FORMALISM – a term in Soviet musiccriticism, implying (as a fault) an excessiveconcern with ‘form’ rather than emotionalcommunication and generally applied to music that was considered overlydiscordant and ‘modern’.

FUGUE – a musical form in which a shortmelody, the subject, is first sounded byone part or instrument alone, and is thentaken up in imitation by other parts orinstruments one after the other. The Latinfuga is related to the idea of both ‘fleeing’and ‘chasing’. Its golden age was the 18th century, when the fugue became aformalised genre, and J.S. Bach counts asthe greatest writer of fugues in musicalhistory.

INTERMEZZO – ‘in the middle’; originallyan operatic term, in the 19th-century anintermezzo was an independentinstrumental work of lyrical character.

POLYPHONIC – a style of composition inwhich the parts move independently, withtheir own melodic shapes and rhythms,and ‘vertical’ harmonies are created almostincidentally through the coming togetherof the different ‘horizontal’ lines. Therounds we sing as children are a form ofsimple polyphony.

RUBATO – literally ‘robbed’; performing a tempo rubato involves altering rhythm and tempo for expressive ends.

In much of the classical repertoire, movementtitles are taken from the Italian words thatindicate the tempo and mood. Many haveEnglish cognates (e.g. agitato – agitated); aselection of other terms from tonight’s program is included here.

Adagio – slowAllegretto – not so fast as AllegroAllegro con brio – fast, with lifeAllegro ma non tanto – …but not so much Allegro non troppo – …not too muchAllegro scherzando – …playfullyAndante – at a walking paceCome prima – as at the beginningCon moto – with motion(Un) poco più mosso – (a) little more

movementL’istesso tempo – at the same tempoMeno mosso – less movementModerato – moderatelyPiù vivo – more livelySostenuto – sustainedVivace – lively

This glossary is intended only as a quick and easyguide, not as a set of comprehensive and absolutedefinitions. Most of these terms have many subtleshades of meaning which cannot be included forreasons of space.


75 YEARS: HISTORICAL SNAPSHOT

The Australian Broadcasting Commission’s first studio

orchestra, dressed formally for an evening broadcast –

the ‘done thing’ in the early days of radio

Some saw in broadcasting a possibilityof raising public taste and awareness ofthe ‘best’, including music. And they longed for Sydney to have a permanent orchestrathat could represent that ‘best’. It was an accident, in many ways, that theseaspirations combined to make publicconcerts, as well as broadcast music, adominant activity of the ABC. So the storyof the Sydney Symphony begins…

David Garrett, a historian and former programmerfor Australia’s symphony orchestras, is studyingthe history of the ABC as a musical organisation.This is the first of a series of glimpses of theSydney Symphony’s history to appear in concertprograms through 2007.

Accident or inevitability?

Look at the picture of a forerunner oftoday’s Sydney Symphony, and contrast itwith what you see on the stage in front ofyou. Then use your aural imagination: could that small group of players havesounded anything like what we think ofas an ‘orchestra’? Probably not. But ananniversary stimulates the historicalimagination.

Celebrating 75 years of ‘the SydneySymphony Orchestra’ stresses continuity. It’s arbitrary, in a way. The name goes back further, to the group that rehearsedover a fish shop in George St, between 1908 and 1914. One of its organisers wasGeorge Plummer, and it was not until 1937 that the name ‘Sydney SymphonyOrchestra’ was bought from him, byCharles Moses, General Manager of theAustralian Broadcasting Commission. The ‘real’ history of the Sydney Symphonymight be said to begin when the ABCcommitted itself to providing Sydney witha permanent orchestra of a size adequatefor the symphonic repertoire.

That was later in the 1930s. So ourhistorical photo really belongs to the pre-history of Sydney’s symphony orchestra.Nevertheless, the establishment of theAustralian Broadcasting Commission, in1932, is a milestone. As Phillip Sametz writesin his 1992 history of the orchestra, Play On!,‘There is no story of the Sydney SymphonyOrchestra that is not a story of the ABC.’

When that photo was taken, the newmedium of radio had a voracious appetitefor ‘live’ music. Symphonic music? Some,but not much. In 1932 the new ABCenlarged the studio ensembles it had takenover in Sydney and Melbourne from 15 to24 players. Was this the beginning of acommitment to an ABC Sydney SymphonyOrchestra? Only hindsight gives a sense ofinevitability to the story.


A Feast of Emotion

Yvonne Frindle corresponded with Bernd Glemser, discussingpiano music and program making.

Bernd Glemser grew up in a family where music was‘omnipresent’. His father, a mathematics professor,played organ and directed the choir for the local church;his older brother took up the piano at the age of ten.Glemser, who was seven at the time, wanted to play aswell – he was so persistent that his parents had to give in.A few years later he realised that music was a central partof his life, and by the time he was 18 or 19 years old andwinning international competitions he was determinedto be a professional pianist.

While still a student he was approached by twoprofessors of the Saarbrücken Musikhochschule after a recital and offered a teaching post. He needed time to reflect, he says, but he found the idea too tempting. He accepted and became Germany’s youngest professor – he hadn’t even completed his own exams! ‘What asituation,’ he reflects, ‘teaching students of the same age or even older.’

In 1985, four years before his professorial appointment,Bernd Glemser visited Australia to perform in the Sydney International Piano Competition. He remembersthe experience, and the city, with fondness. Sydneyconcertgoers no doubt remember him too: as well aswinning second prize, he received the people’s choiceaward.

Part of Glemser’s appeal to audiences is his attitude to performing: ‘bringing joy to people wanting tocelebrate a musical feast.’ But it’s not an ‘easy or naïve’approach to performing. ‘First,’ he says, ‘one has to getto a deep understanding of the works on a program:character, structure, contents.’ And he points out thatit’s ‘in the nature of music that some works may createirritation or thoughtfulness, or even embarrassment.After a performance of Scriabin’s Ninth Sonata orTchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony it’s not really cheerful joy you feel.’ Rather, he continues, a concert should be a ‘feast of communicating music – be that joy or tears.’

That range of emotion emerges in Glemser’s Sydney recital. The preludes and fugues by Bach andShostakovich, for instance, bring together many differentcharacters and moods. Glemser recognises the influence

IN THE GREEN ROOM

Bernd Glemser’s

greatest inspirations

as a student were his

teacher, Professor

Vitaly Margulis, and

music itself: ‘I wasn’t

doing anything else

but listening to music.

Symphonies, chamber

music, sacred music,

operas…even piano.

I was hooked on music.

It was my calling.’


Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier had on Shostakovich’spreludes and fugues, but he doesn’t weave them togetherin an academic way. ‘I should like to create an “arch”of tension across the styles,’ he says. ‘In simple words,it is a bow leading from extroversion and glitteringbrilliance to the inside – you might call it religious – and then all the way back again, ending in grotesquesarcasm.’

A single Bach prelude and fugue ‘makes a completecomposition’ in Glemser’s eyes. He is less concerned than some with the modern encyclopaedic approach that would recommend, for example, a complete Well-Tempered Clavier. ‘Our time,’ he says, ‘wishes to approachand tackle everything by quantity.’ Shostakovich wouldhave agreed. He didn’t regard his own Preludes andFugues as a set that needed to be performed complete in recital, although it wasn’t long before pianists rose tothe challenge and presented them that way.

Glemser takes great pleasure in creating programs that transcend the conventional ‘Little “warm-up” –Classical sonata – interval – Romantic masterpiece’ ofmany modern recitals. He dislikes that pattern and finds it disturbing. Instead his programs are longer andmore varied, and he doesn’t neglect works that provideeasier listening, pointing out that this ‘is the kind ofcounterpoint that great composers consider when writingsymphonies or operas’.

The idea of a recital as a feast of emotion becomesapparent in the contrasts of musical personalities intonight’s program, especially in hearing Rachmaninovalongside an almost-contemporary, Shostakovich. Theyhave common roots in the musical tradition of Russia,says Glemser, but they belong to different epochs andtheir style and expressive intentions were therefore quite different. Rachmaninov was able to ‘express humanfeelings in the most wonderful way, with great honestyand intensity’. Heart on his sleeve, you could say.Shostakovich, on the other hand, was a ‘social criticalcomposer’ – there is the sarcasm, often disguised, and a sense of ‘omnipresent fear’, and ‘his message and legacyis to be found between the lines’.

SYDNEY SYMPHONY ©2007

Listening to

Rachmaninov

‘Quite frankly,’ says Glemser,‘I don’t find Rachmaninov’spiano rolls to be soimportant as there is a greatnumber of acousticalrecordings around, givingmuch better evidence of hisart. There might be somebackground noise, but theserecordings demonstrate hisunbelievable art in creating“colours”, his genuinecapacity of making the piano“sing”, and a perfect controlof the pedals. Independentlyof the recording media, hisinterpretations show us away of interpretation faraway from cheapsentimentality, slimy rubatosand never-ending pretendedemotion. His playing is ofsuperb elegance, totalcommand, absoluteclearness and stringency ofthe formal shape, somethingthat allowed him to chooserather fluent (even fast)tempi. He also showed awonderful and tasteful use ofchange in tempo and rubato.Still, his way of playing isvery romantic. I love and feeldevoted to this approach asfinding deep honesty, depthand naturalness. No emptypomp, no dishonest posing,but true depth.’


MORE MUSIC

BERND GLEMSER

RACHMANINOV Corelli Variations, Piano Sonata No.2,Morceaux de fantaisie OEHMS OC 558

SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Concerto No.1, preludes, and other works; Festival Strings Lucerne, AchimFiedler (conductor)OEHMS OC561

RACHMANINOV Piano Concertos and PaganiniRhapsody; Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra,Antoni Wit (conductor)NAXOS 8.551057-58

TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concertos and Concert FantasyPolish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit (conductor)NAXOS 8.551055-56

TATIANA NIKOLAYEVA

SHOSTAKOVICH 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op.87HYPERION 66441

BACH The Art of Fugue and other works (2 CDs)HYPERION 66631

SERGEI RACHMANINOV

A Window in Time

Rachmaninov’s 1920s piano rolls of his own works,including Op.3, and music by othersTELARC 80489

Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff

Rachmaninov recordings of solo piano music, togetherwith Eugene Goossens and the London SymphonyOrchestra in the Symphonic DancesLASERLIGHT 14128

Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff

Solo piano works by Rachmaninov and othercomposers (possibly out of print)RCA VICTOR RED SEAL 7766

ABC CLASSIC FM 92.9

Sat 7 April 12.05pmRUSSIAN FIRE AND FURY (2006)

Jaap van Zweden conductorJulian Rachlin violinMussorgsky, Shostakovich, Rimsky-Korsakov

Mon 9 April 1pmBEETHOVEN’S PASTORAL (2001)

Osmo Vänskä conductor

Mon 16 April 1pmAN ALPINE SYMPHONY (2000)

Donald Runnicles conducts R. Strauss

Wed 18 April 8pmASHKENAZY CONDUCTS RACHMANINOV (2006)

Merlyn Quaife soprano, Steve Davislim baritoneAlexey Yemtsov piano, Cantillation

Fri 20 April 1pmGRIEG’S PIANO CONCERTO (2006)

David Porcelijn conductorDavid Tong piano

Mon 23 April 1pmMOZART PIANO CONCERTO, K491 (2005)

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductorStephen Kovacevich piano

Mon 30 April 1pmSCHEHERAZADE (2005)

Tugan Sokhiev conductorRimsky-Korsakov

Broadcast Diary

In 2006 selected Sydney Symphony concerts were recorded for webcast by Telstra BigPond. These can be viewed at:http://sydneysymphony.bigpondmusic.com.

sydneysymphony.com

Webcast Diary

Visit the Sydney Symphony online for concertinformation, podcasts, and to read your program book inadvance of the concert.

Selected Discography

RACHMANINOV FESTIVAL

2–17 November 2007

The Sydney Symphony conducted by VladimirAshkenazy will perform Rachmaninov’s PianoConcertos 2, 3 and 4 and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with pianists Cristina Ortiz, KazuneShimizu, Lukás Vondrácek and Garrick Ohlsson.Ashkenazy will also conduct Rachmaninov’ssymphonies and other orchestral works.

For more information and to book visitsydneysymphony.com or phone 8215 4600.


In 1989 pianist Bernd Glemser was appointed asGermany’s youngest professor. Still a student of Russianpianist and teacher Vitaly Margulis at the time, he had to officially leave college to take the post, but was allowedto complete his own examinations during the followingtwo years.

One of the few opportunities that piano students haveto perform internationally – above all with orchestras – is in competitions. For this reason, the young Glemsertravelled the world and unknowingly broke a record that had been on the books since 1890: he won 17competitions and special prizes in a row, culminating in the ARD Music Competition in 1987.

Since then, Bernd Glemser has performed throughoutthe world from Chile to China, where in 1996 he was the first Western musician to perform live on nationaltelevision (playing Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto).Feted as one of the leading pianists of his generation,he has appeared at major concert venues and festivals,and in 2000 was invited by Wolfgang Sawallisch toperform Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto in thePhiladelphia Orchestra’s centenary celebrations. In 2001he was appointed Artistic Director in Residence for theMittelrhein Musik Momente.

His exceptionally broad repertoire, ranging frombaroque to modern, makes Bernd Glemser one oftoday’s elite pianists, praised for his virtuosity and poetic sensibility. His concerts are regularly broadcastthroughout the world and he has been the subject ofseveral European documentaries. Recent recordingsinclude Rachmaninov piano works and the ShostakovichFirst Piano Concerto.

In addition to his many awards, Bernd Glemserreceived the Andor Foldes Prize in 1992 and theEuropean Pianist’s Prize in 1993 in Zürich. In 2003 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit by GermanPresident Rau.

Bernd Glemser last performed in Sydney as a teenagerin the 1985 Sydney International Piano Competition. He won second prize and the people’s choice award with recital repertoire including Liszt and Stravinskyand Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, accompanied by Sydney Symphony.

THE ARTIST

OLI

RU

ST

Bernd Glemser


THE SYDNEY SYMPHONY

Founded in 1932, the Sydney Symphonyhas evolved into one of the world’s finestorchestras as Sydney has become one ofthe world’s great cities. Resident at theiconic Sydney Opera House where theSydney Symphony gives more than 100performances each year, the Orchestra alsoperforms concerts in a variety of venuesaround Sydney and regional New SouthWales. International tours to Europe, Asiaand the USA have earned the Orchestraworld-wide recognition for artisticexcellence.

Critical to the success of the SydneySymphony has been the leadership given by its former Chief Conductors including:Sir Eugene Goossens, Nikolai Malko,Dean Dixon, Willem van Otterloo, LouisFrémaux, Sir Charles Mackerras, Stuart

Challender and Edo de Waart. Alsocontributing to the outstanding success of the Orchestra have been collaborationswith legendary figures such as GeorgeSzell, Sir Thomas Beecham, OttoKlemperer and Igor Stravinsky.

Maestro Gianluigi Gelmetti, whoseappointment followed a ten yearrelationship with the Orchestra as GuestConductor, is now in his fourth year asChief Conductor and Artistic Director ofthe Sydney Symphony, a position he holdsin tandem with that of Music Director at the prestigious Rome Opera.

The Sydney Symphony is reaping therewards of Maestro Gelmetti’s directorshipthrough the quality of sound, intensityof playing and flexibility between styles. His particularly strong rapport withFrench and German repertoire iscomplemented by his innovativeprogramming in the Shock of the New concerts and performances ofcontemporary Australian music.

The Sydney Symphony’s award-winningEducation Program is central to theOrchestra’s commitment to the future of live symphonic music, developingaudiences and engaging the participationof young people. The Sydney Symphonymaintains an active commissioningprogram promoting the work of Australiancomposers and in 2005 Liza Lim wasappointed Composer-in-Residence forthree years.

In 2007, the Orchestra celebrates its 75th anniversary and the milestoneachievements during its distinguishedhistory.

JOH

N M

AR

MA

RA

S

PATRON Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CBO, Governor of New South Wales

The Company is assisted by the NSW Government through Arts NSW

SALUTE


PRINCIPAL PARTNER

PLATINUM PARTNER MAJOR PARTNERS

GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

GOLD PARTNERS


The Sydney Symphony applauds the leadership role our Partners play and their commitment to excellence,innovation and creativity.

SILVER PARTNERS

REGIONAL TOUR PARTNERS

BRONZE PARTNERS MARKETING PARTNERS PATRONS

Australia PostBeyond Technology ConsultingBimbadgen Estate WinesGoldman Sachs JBWereJ. Boag & SonQ-Med (Sweden) Australia Pty Ltd.Vittoria Coffee

Avant CardBlue Arc GroupDigital EskimoLindsay Yates and Partners2MBS 102.5 –Sydney’s Fine Music Station

The Sydney Symphony gratefullyacknowledges the many musiclovers who contribute to theOrchestra by becoming SymphonyPatrons. Every donation plays animportant part in the success of theSydney Symphony’s wide rangingprograms.

A leadership program which linksAustralia’s top performers in theexecutive and musical worlds.For information about the Directors’Chairs program, please contactCorporate Relations on (02) 8215 4614.


01 02 03 04 05 06

07 08 09 10 11

DIRECTORS’ CHAIRS

01Alan Jones, Managing Director Mulpha Australia withMulpha Australia Chair ofPrincipal Harp, Louise Johnson

02Mr Harcourt Gough Chair ofAssociate Principal Flute, Emma Sholl

03Sandra and Paul Salteri Chair ofArtistic Director Education,Richard Gill OAM

04Jonathan Sweeney, Managing Director Trust withTrust Foundation Chair ofPrincipal Bass Trombone, Christopher Harris

05NSW Department of State and Regional Development Chair of Principal Trombone,Ronald Prussing

06Brian and Rosemary White Chair of Principal Double Bass,Kees Boersma

07Board and Council of theSydney Symphony supportsChairs of Concertmaster Michael Dauth and Dene Olding

08Gerald Tapper, Managing Director Rogen International withRogen International Chair of Trombone, Nick Byrne

09Stuart O’Brien, ManagingDirector Moon Design with Moon Design Chair of Violin,Alexandra Mitchell

10Ian and Jennifer Burton Chair of Assistant Concertmaster,Fiona Ziegler

11Andrew Kaldor and Renata Kaldor AO Chair ofPrincipal Oboe, Diana Doherty

Ms Michelle Hilton-VernonMr and Mrs Paul HoltMr Eric C Howie °Mr & Mrs P Huthnance °Ms Judy JoyeMrs Jeannette King ° *Mrs J Lam-Po-Tang °Dr Barry LandaMrs Joan Langley °Ms Jan Lee Martin & Mr PeterLazar §

Mr David & Mrs Skye LeckieMargaret Lederman °Mr & Mrs Ezzelino Leonardi §Mr Bernard & Mrs Barbara LeserErna & Gerry Levy AM *Mr and Mrs S C Lloyd °Mr Andrew & Mrs Amanda Love

Mr Matthew McInnes §Mr Tony & Mrs Fran MeagherMr Andrew NobbsMoon DesignMrs R H O’ConorMs Patricia Payn §Mr Adrian & Mrs Dairneen Pilton

Mr & Mrs Michael PottsMrs B Raghavan °Mrs Caroline RalphsmithDr K D Reeve AM *Mr & Mrs A Rogers °Dr Jane & Mr Neville Rowden §Mrs Margaret SammutIn memory of H. St.P Scarlett ° *Blue Mountain Concert Society Inc °

Mr Ezekiel SolomonMr Andrew & Mrs Isolde TornyaMiss Amelia TrottMrs Merle Turkington °The Hon M. Turnbull MP & Mrs L. Hughes Turnbull

Mr & Mrs Franc VaccherRonald Walledge °Louise Walsh & David JordonMr Geoff Wood and Ms Melissa Waites

Miss Jenny WuMr Michael Skinner & Ms Sandra Yates AO

Anonymous (12)

PLAYING YOUR PART


Maestri

Brian Abel & the late BenGannon AO °

Geoff & Vicki Ainsworth *Mr Robert O Albert AO *‡Alan & Christine Bishop ° §Sandra & Neil Burns *Mr Ian & Mrs Jennifer Burton °The Clitheroe Foundation *Patricia M. Dixson *Penny Edwards ° *Mr J O Fairfax AO *Dr Bruno & Mrs Rhonda Giuffre *

Mr Harcourt Gough §Mr David Greatorex AO & Mrs Deirdre Greatorex §

Mr Andrew Kaldor & Mrs Renata Kaldor AO §

H. Kallinikos Pty Ltd §Mr David Maloney §Mr B G O’Conor §The Paramor Family * Mr Paul & Mrs Sandra SalteriMr Brian & Mrs Rosemary WhiteAnonymous (1) *

Virtuosi

Mrs Antoinette Albert §Mr Robert & Mrs L Alison Carr §Mr John C Conde AO §Mr John Curtis §Irwin Imhof in Memory of Herta Imhof °‡

Mr Stephen Johns §Mr & Mrs Gilles T Kryger ° §Helen Lynch AM °Mr E J Merewether & Mrs T Merewether OAM *

Miss Rosemary Pryor *Bruce & Joy Reid Foundation *John Roarty in memory of June Roarty

Rodney Rosenblum AM & SylviaRosenblum §

Mrs Helen Selle §Dr James Smith §David Smithers AM & family §Michael & Mary Whelan Trust §Anonymous (2) §

Soli

Ms Jan Bowen *Mr Chum Darvall §Ian Dickson & Reg Holloway *Hilmer Family Trust §Mr Paul Hotz ° §Mr Rory JeffesPaul Lancaster & RaemaProwse ° §

Mrs Joan MacKenzie §Mr James & Mrs Elsie Moore °Ms Kathleen ParerMs Gabrielle TrainorMr R Wingate §Anonymous (2) §

Tutti

Mr C R Adamson ° §Mr Henry W Aram §Mr David Barnes °Mrs F M Buckle °Debby Cramer & Bill Caukill °Mr Bob & Mrs Julie Clampett §Mr & Mrs J B Fairfax AM §Mr Ian Fenwicke & Prof Neville Wills §

Mrs Dorit & Mr WilliamFranken ° §

Mr & Mrs J R W Furber §Mr Arshak & Ms SophieGalstaun §

In Memory of Hetty Gordon §Mrs Akiko Gregory §Miss Janette Hamilton °‡Mr A & Mrs L Heyko-Porebski °Dr Paul Hutchins & Ms Margaret Moore °

Mrs Margaret JackMr John W Kaldor AM §Mr & Mrs E Katz §Mr Andrew Korda & Ms Susan Pearson §

Mr Justin Lam §Mr Gary Linnane §Ms Karen Loblay §Mr & Mrs R. Maple-Brown §Mrs Alexandra Martin & the late Mr Lloyd Martin AM §

Justice Jane Mathews §Mrs Mora Maxwell ° §Judith McKernan °Mrs Barbara McNulty OBE °Mr & Mrs John MorschelMr R A Oppen §

Mr Robert Orrell §Dr Timothy Pascoe §Ms Robin Potter §Mr Nigel Price §Mr & Mrs Ernest Rapee §Mrs Patricia H Reid °Mr Brian Russell & Ms IrinaSingleman

Gordon & JacquelineSamuels ° §

Ms Juliana Schaeffer §Robyn Smiles §Derek & Patricia Smith §Catherine Stephen °Mr Fred & Mrs Dorothy Street §Mr Georges & Mrs MarlieseTeitler §

Mr Stephen ThatcherMr Ken Tribe AC & Mrs JoanTribe °

Mr John E Tuckey °Mrs Kathleen Tutton °Ms Mary Vallentine AO §Henry & Ruth Weinberg §Mr & Mrs Bruce WestJill Wran §Mrs R Yabsley °Anonymous (10) §

Supporters over $500

Mr Roger Allen & Ms MaggieGray

Mr Lachlan AstleJohn Augustus °Mr Warwick Bailey §Mr Marco Belgiorno-Zegna AM

Mr G D Bolton °Pat & Jenny Burnett °Hon. Justice J.C. & MrsCampbell *

Mr & Mrs Michel-Henri Carriol °Mrs B E Cary §Mr Leo Christie & Ms MarionBorgelt

Mr Peter CoatesMr B & Mrs M Coles §Mrs Catherine GaskinCornberg §

Stan & Mary Costigan *Mrs M A Coventry °Ms Rowena Danziger °Mr & Mrs Michael DarlingLisa & Miro Davis *Mrs Patricia Davis §Mrs Ashley Dawson-DamerMr Paul Espie °Mr Russell FarrMr & Mrs David FeethamMr Richard & Mrs Diana FisherRev H & Mrs M Herbert ° *

Patron Annual

Donations Levels

Maestri $10,000 and above Virtuosi $5000 to $9999 Soli $2500 to $4999 Tutti $1000 to $2499 Supporters $500 to $999

To discuss givingopportunities, please callCaroline Mark on (02) 8215 4619.

° Allegro Program supporter* Emerging Artist Fund supporter‡ Stuart Challender Fund supporter§ Orchestra Fund supporter

The Sydney Symphony gratefully acknowledges the music lovers who donate to the Orchestra each year. Every gift plays an important part in ensuring ourcontinued artistic excellence and helping to sustain important education andregional touring programs. Because we are now offering free programs andspace is limited we are unable to list donors who give between $100 and $499 –please visit sydneysymphony.com for a list of all our patrons.


Sydney Symphony Board

BEHIND THE SCENES

CHAIRMAN

David Maloney

Libby Christie John Conde AO

John CurtisStephen JohnsAndrew KaldorGoetz RichterDavid Smithers AM

Gabrielle Trainor

What’s on the cover?During the 2007 season Sydney Symphony program covers willfeature photos that celebrate the Orchestra’s history over thepast 75 years. The photographs on the covers will changeapproximately once a month, and if you subscribe to one of ourconcert series you will be able to collect a set over the course ofthe year. Foyer displays at our concerts will also featurephotographs from our recent and early history.

COVER PHOTOGRAPHS (clockwise from top left): 2006 Sydney Symphony Fellows (Martin Penicka, Alexis Kenny, Lauren Brigden,Alex Norton, Victoria Jacono and Damien Eckersley); Pinchas Zukerman withWillem van Otterloo, 1970s; SSO Children’s concert, 1965; SSO Family Concert – Sandy Scott sings from the stalls of the Sydney Opera House, 1981; paintingfrom the Education Program’s 2005 art competition; Alfred Brendel gives a piano masterclass, 1960s.


Sydney Symphony Staff

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Libby Christie

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Deborah Byers

ARTISTIC OPERATIONS

DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC OPERATIONS

Wolfgang Fink

Artistic Administration

ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION MANAGER

Raff Wilson

ARTIST LIAISON

Ilmar Leetberg

PERSONAL ASSISTANT TO THE

CHIEF CONDUCTOR

Lisa Davies-Galli

Education Programs

EDUCATION MANAGER

Margaret Moore

EDUCATION CO-ORDINATOR

Bernie Heard

Library

LIBRARIAN

Anna Cernik

LIBRARY ASSISTANT

Victoria Grant

LIBRARY ASSISTANT

Mary-Ann Mead

DEVELOPMENT

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

Rory Jeffes

CORPORATE RELATIONS MANAGER

Leann Meiers

CORPORATE RELATIONS EXECUTIVE

Alan Watt

CORPORATE RELATIONS EXECUTIVE

Julia Owens

PHILANTHROPY MANAGER

Caroline Mark

PATRONS & EVENTS MANAGER

Georgina Andrews

MARKETING AND

CUSTOMER RELATIONS

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND

CUSTOMER RELATIONS

Julian Boram

Publicity

PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER

Imogen Corlette

PUBLICIST

Yvonne Zammit

Customer Relationship

Management

MARKETING MANAGER – CRM

Aaron Curran

ONLINE & PUBLICATIONS MANAGER

Robert Murray

DATABASE ANALYST

Martin Keen

Marketing Communications

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

MANAGER

Georgia Rivers

MULTICULTURAL MARKETING

MANAGER

Xing Jin

ASSISTANT MARKETING MANAGER

Simon Crossley-Meates

CONCERT PROGRAM EDITOR

Yvonne Frindle

Corporate & Tourism

CORPORATE & TOURISM SALES

MANAGER

Georgina Gonczi

Box Office

BOX OFFICE MANAGER

Lynn McLaughlin

BOX OFFICE COORDINATOR

Anna Fraser

CUSTOMER SERVICE

REPRESENTATIVES

Wendy AugustineMatthew D’SilvaMichael Dowling

ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT

DIRECTOR OF ORCHESTRA

MANAGEMENT

Aernout Kerbert

ACTING DEPUTY ORCHESTRA

MANAGER

Greg Low

ORCHESTRAL ASSISTANT

Angela Chilcott

OPERATIONS MANAGER

John Glenn

TECHNICAL MANAGER

Derek Coutts

PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR

Tim Dayman

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

Ian Spence

STAGE MANAGER

Marrianne Carter

COMMERCIAL PROGRAMS

DIRECTOR OF COMMERCIAL

PROGRAMMING

Baz Archer

RECORDING ENTERPRISES

RECORDING ENTERPRISES MANAGER

Aimee Paret

BUSINESS SERVICES

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE

Teresa Cahill

FINANCE MANAGER

Anthony Rosenthal

OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

Shelley Salmon

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

MANAGER

Tim Graham

PAYROLL AND ACCOUNTS

PAYABLE OFFICER

Caroline Hall

HUMAN RESOURCES

Fran Cracknell

This publication is sold subject to the condition that itshall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold,hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’sconsent in writing. It is a further condition that thispublication shall not be circulated in any form of bindingor cover other than that in which it was published.

This is a / SHOWBILL publication.

Publisher

Playbill Proprietary Limited / Showbill Proprietary Limited ACN 003 311 064 ABN 27 003 311 064

1017 Pacific Highway, Pymble, NSW 2073 Telephone: (02) 9449 6433 Fax: (02) 9449 6053 E-mail: [email protected]: www.playbill.com.au

EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN AND ADVERTISEMENT DIRECTOR Brian Nebenzahl OAM, RFD

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DIRECTOR–PRODUCTION Chris Breeze

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C/- Moore Stephens HF, 14th Floor, 607 Bourke Street,Melbourne VIC 3000; (61 3) 9614 4444, Fax (61 3) 9629 5716.

Canberra Office:

C/- Minter Ellison, 25 National Circuit, Forrest, CanberraACT 2603; (61 2) 6225 3000, Fax (61 2) 6225 1000.

Brisbane Office:

C/- HBM Heiser Bayly Mortensen Lawyers, Level 4Toowong Tower, 9 Sherwood Road, Toowong QLD 4066; (61 7) 3371 1066, Fax (61 7) 3371 7803.

Adelaide Office:

Playbill Pty Limited, Adelaide Convention Centre, GPO Box 2669, North Terrace SA 5001; Mobile (61) 419 244 425, Fax (61 8) 8231 3681.

Perth Office:

C/- Ernst & Young, 11 Mounts Bay Road, Perth WA 6000; GPO Box M939 Perth WA 6843; (61 8) 9429 2222, Fax (61 8) 9429 2436.

Hobart Office:

C/- Page Seager, 162 Macquarie Street, Hobart TAS 7000;(61 3) 6235 5155, Fax (61 3) 6231 0352.

Darwin Office:

C/- Ernst & Young, 9-11 Cavanagh Street, Darwin NT 0800;(61 8) 8943 4200, Fax (61 8) 8943 4290.

OVERSEAS OPERATIONS

New Zealand Registered Office:

Playbill (N.Z.) Limited, Level 5, 94 Dixon Street, PO Box 11-755, Wellington, New Zealand; (64 4) 385 8893,Fax (64 4) 385 8899.

Auckland Office:

Mt. Smart Stadium, Beasley Avenue, Penrose, Auckland; (64 9) 571 1607, Fax (64 9) 571 1608, Mobile 6421 741 148, Email: [email protected]

London Office:

Playbill UK Limited, C/- Everett Baldwin Barclay Consultancy Services, 35 Paul Street, London EC2A 4UQ;(44) 207 628 0857, Fax (44) 207 628 7253.

Hong Kong Office:

Playbill (HK) Limited, C/- Fanny Lai, Rm 804, 8/F Eastern Commercial Centre, 397 Hennessey Road, Wanchai HK 168001 WCH 38; (852) 2891 6799; Fax (852) 2891 1618.

Malaysia Office:

Playbill (Malaysia) Sdn Bhn, C/- Peter I.M. Chieng & Co.,No.2-E (1st Floor) Jalan SS 22/25, Damansara Jaya, 47400Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan; (60 3) 7728 5889; Fax (60 3) 7729 5998.

Singapore Office:

Playbill (HK) Limited, C/- HLB Loke Lum Consultants Pte Ltd, 110 Middle Road #05-00 Chiat Hong Building,Singapore 188968; (65) 6332 0088; Fax (65) 6333 9690.

South Africa:

Playbill South Africa Pty Ltd, C/- HLB Barnett Chown Inc.,Bradford House, 12 Bradford Road, Bedfordview, SA 2007;(27) 11856 5300, Fax (27) 11856 5333.

All enquiries for advertising space in this publicationshould be directed to the above company and address. Entire concept copyright. Reproduction withoutpermission in whole or in part of any material containedherein is prohibited. Title ‘Playbill’ is the registered title of Playbill Proprietary Limited. Title ‘Showbill’ is theregistered title of Showbill Proprietary Limited. Additional copies of this publication are available by postfrom the publisher; please write for details.

14737 – 1/260307 – 07 S16

SYMPHONY SERVICES

AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Suite 3, Level 2, 561 Harris StreetUltimo NSW 2007GPO Box 9994, Sydney NSW 2001

Telephone (02) 8333 1651Facsimile (02) 8333 1678

www.symphony.net.au

Level 9, 35 Pitt StreetSydney NSW 2000GPO Box 4972, Sydney NSW 2001Telephone (02) 8215 4644Facsimile (02) 8215 4646

Customer Services:GPO Box 4338, Sydney NSW 2001Telephone (02) 8215 4600Facsimile (02) 8215 4660

www.sydneysymphony.com

All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing. The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of the editor, publisher or any distributor of the programs. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of statements in this publication, we cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, or for matters arising from clerical or printers’ errors. Every effort has been made to secure permission for copyright material prior to printing. Please address all correspondence to the Concert Program Editor, Sydney Symphony, GPO Box 4972, Sydney NSW 2001. Fax (02) 8215 4660. Email [email protected]

A City of Sydney VenueClover Moore Lord Mayor

Managed byPEGASUS VENUE MANAGEMENT (AP) PTY LTDChristopher Rix – Founder

MANAGEMENT AND STAFF

General Manager Bronwyn Edinger

Deputy General Manager Lisa Robertson

Marketing Manager Gina Anker

Technical Manager Matt Binnie

FOH Manager Barbara Keffel

Operations Manager Graham Parsons

Venue Hiring Co-ordinator James Cox

Accounts Co-ordinator Thatsany Geyer

Ticketing Co-ordinator Andrew Richardson

Technician Jeff Todd

CITY RECITAL HALL ANGEL PLACE

Angel Place, Sydney, AustraliaGPO Box 3339, Sydney, NSW 2001

Administration: 02 9231 9000Box Office: 02 8256 2222Facsimile: 02 9233 6652www.cityrecitalhall.com

CITYRECITAL HALL

ANGEL PLACE

dear music lover · dear music lover the sydney symphony reaches a milestone this year, celebrating...

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