dear music lover music lover as presenting ... claude debussy (1862–1918) images, book 2 ... three...

Dear Music Lover

As presenting partner of the International Pianists inRecital series, Theme & Variations is in a privilegedposition to work with many talented musicians. Roger Muraro, a Steinway Artist, is one suchmusician, and in this concert he presents a programthat is challenging for both the pianist and listener.

In a short interview for our newsletter this month,Roger Muraro said that the composers represented ontonight’s program have created ‘their own universe ofcolour’ by exploring the acoustic and magical sound of the piano.

Tonight Roger Muraro leads us into an impressionisticworld; a world of sun-drenched balconies in Spain and poignant evocations of France. As we embark on this musical journey together, I would like to thank you for your continuing support of this series,which strives to bring you the world’s best pianists in recital.

ARA VARTOUKIAN

Director

SEASON 2007

INTERNATIONAL PIANISTS IN RECITAL

PRESENTED BY THEME & VARIATIONS

ROGER MURAROMonday 24 September | 8pm

City Recital Hall Angel Place

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)

Images, Book 2

Cloches à travers les feuillesEt la lune descend sur le temple qui futPoissons d’or

MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)

Jeux d’eau

Three pieces from MiroirsNoctuellesOiseaux tristes Alborada del gracioso

INTERVAL

ISAAC ALBÉNIZ (1860–1909)

Iberia, Book 1

EvocaciónEl PuertoEl Corpus Christi en Sevilla

OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908–1992)

Two pieces from Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-JésusXV. Le Baiser de l’Enfant-JésusX. Regard de l’esprit de joie

This concert will be recorded forbroadcast across Australia on ABC Classic FM 92.9.

Pre-concert talk by StephanieMcCallum at 7.15pm in the FirstFloor Reception Room.

Estimated timings:14 minutes, 6 minutes, 15 minutes,20-minute interval, 20 minutes, 21 minutesThe performance will conclude atapproximately 9.45pm.

Cover images: see page 30 forcaptions

Program notes begin on page 5

Artist biography is on page 23

PRESENTING PARTNER

INTRODUCTION

Roger Muraro in Recital

The last time Roger Muraro visited Australia it was toplay the music of Messiaen in the 1988 concert tour thatthe ABC had organised for the composer. On this visitMuraro again plays Messiaen, against a backdrop of otherFrench and French-influenced piano music.

Debussy said of Ravel that he possessed ‘the finest earthat ever existed’, but that praise could easily have beenapplied to any of the composers on this program –Debussy, Ravel, Albéniz, Messiaen – all of whom share,with their common musical heritage, an ear for colour,harmonic sensation and imagery.

And tonight’s mutual admiration society didn’t stopwith Debussy and Ravel. Debussy wrote of Albéniz’s Iberia ‘never has music achieved such diversified, suchcolourful impressions: one’s eyes close, as though dazzledby beholding such a wealth of imagery’. In falling underthe spell of Debussy and his French colleagues, Albénizfound a refinement that he brought to his brilliantSpanish imagery. And in at least one piece tonight, theAlborada del gracioso, Ravel joins Albéniz in evoking theideal Spain – an intensely musical place of guitars,castanets and nostalgia.

Messiaen’s first, and perhaps strongest influence,was Debussy. But he too was filled with admiration for Albéniz’s masterpiece: ‘Iberia is the wonder for the piano; it is perhaps on the highest place among themore brilliant pieces for the king of the instruments.’In fact, considered for virtuosity and sheer duration,Iberia in its entirety is a rival for Messiaen’s VingtRegards sur l’Enfant-Jésus, composed for his wife, YvonneLoriod. But in this concert we hear just the first book ofIberia, and of Messiaen’s pianistic monument, two piecesthat encapsulate the soul and spirit of the modernmaster.

MA

RIO

N K

ALT

ER

5 | Sydney Symphony

7 | Sydney Symphony

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Claude Debussy

Images, Book 2

Cloches à travers les feuillesEt la lune descend sur le temple qui futPoissons d’or

Debussy composed a total of three cycles for piano underthe title of Images: besides the two numbered sets ofthree pieces published in his lifetime (from 1905 and1907) there was an earlier book from 1894 which wasfinally published in 1978 under the title Images (oubliées).They make an intriguing contrast with the other multi-volume collection in Debussy’s output, the better-knownPréludes. From the names of the cycles one might expectthe Préludes to be more abstract in content, the Imagesmore overtly ‘pictorial’. This impression would bereinforced by the method in which Debussy presentedthe works in print: the Images bear their titles at thebeginning, apparently as a point of departure, the Préludeshave them at the end of each piece (after an ellipsis andin parentheses!) as a point of arrival. But if anything,the Images are the more abstract works, less reliant onconcrete imagery. The first book begins with the aptlyrippling Reflets dans l’eau. It continues, however, with‘pure music’: a sarabande entitled Hommage à Rameauand a concluding toccata entitled Mouvement. The titlesin the second book are certainly wonderfully evocative –but the music unfolds according to purely musicaldemands, being in no sense coupled to a narrative as isthe case with such Préludes as Fireworks, The interruptedserenade or The submerged cathedral. In a sense the titles of the Images seem to be there to encourage a certainopenness in the listener (especially when they are ascryptic as those in this second book of Images) ratherthan simply providing a convenient aid to musicaldigestion.

As with the French harpsichord masters Debussy soadmired, there is an aspect to these works which runsdeeper than the picturesque titles. Running almostthroughout Debussy’s piano output is a fascination withpure sonority: the act of simply setting the instrumentin vibration. The gamelan music he heard at the ParisExposition of 1889 had deeply impressed him: his ownmusic similarly makes use of free-floating, profoundlyconsonant harmonies to explore the instrumental sound

Keynotes

DEBUSSY

Born Saint-Germain-en-Laye,1862Died Paris, 1918

In attempting to establish

a palpably ‘French’ musical

style in the face of the

Austro-Germanic tradition,

Debussy brought about

the birth of modern music.

It’s often said that the

flute solo that begins his

groundbreaking Prelude tothe Afternoon of a Faun‘ushered in the 20th century’.

He first heard the sound of

gamelan music at the Paris

Exposition of 1889, and this

prompted him to adopt non-

traditional scales and free-

floating effects. In both his

orchestral and his piano

music he explored new

instrumental and harmonic

colours, and his style has

often been compared with

that of the Impressionists

in visual art, even though

Debussy himself hated the

term ‘Impressionism’.

IMAGES

Not to be confused with

Debussy’s Images fororchestra, the Images for

piano appeared in three

books or cycles. The second

of these, published in 1907,

comprises three pieces,

each with an evocative but

often ambiguous title: ‘Bells

through the leaves’, ‘And

the moon descends on the

temple that was’, and

‘Goldfish’ – or is that ‘Fish

of gold’?

in itself, moving free of the goal-directed structures of19th-century tonality.

Cloches à travers les feuilles (Bells through the leaves)

explores the sonorities of the whole-tone scale alongsidepentatonic harmonies. The title was suggested by a letter from the music critic Louis Laloy – writing to thecomposer he had referred to ‘the touching use of thefuneral bell that sounds on All Saints’ Day from Vespersuntil the mass for the dead, crossing the yellowing forests from village to village in the evening silence’. The whole-tone and pentatonic scales are practicallydevoid of dissonance, at least as Debussy uses them here– setting in stark relief the shudder of the dissonantappoggiatura to the very last chord.

Despite the inspiration Laloy helped provide, themovement is dedicated not to him but to the sculptorAlexandre Charpentier; the second Image is, however,dedicated to Laloy. Debussy deliberately cast the title Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut (And the moon

descends on the temple that was) in the twelve-syllablealexandrine of classical French verse – but otherwiseseems to have left unspecified what lay behind thetantalising image. Again the pentatonic scale is much in evidence, right from the opening chord of fourths and fifths. Almost the entire piece is devoted to themovement of parallel chords, punctuated by occasionaldescents into the bass as well as a grace-note-inflectedmelody in repeated notes with a pentatonicaccompaniment.

For Poissons d’or (Goldfish) (dedicated to the pianistRicardo Viñes) Debussy was inspired not directly by thefish themselves but by their stylised depiction on aJapanese lacquered panel in his study. The panel wasinlaid with mother-of-pearl and gold – so these are atleast as much ‘golden fish’ as ‘goldfish’, and audibly verymuch more active than the usual aquarium dwellers,from the shimmering opening combining major andminor modes to the flashing downward arpeggios andthe staccato melody in the bass perhaps suggesting anominous presence in the deep.

A sketch of Debussy, made in 1913

by Ivan Thiele

…there is an aspect to

these works which runs

deeper than the

picturesque titles.

8 | Sydney Symphony

Keynotes

RAVEL

Born Ciboure, 1875Died Paris, 1937

Although short in stature,

Ravel was the best-dressed

of all the French composers

of his day, and he delighted

in collecting mechanical toys

and exotic ornaments for his

home. (‘This room,’ he would

say to his guests, ‘is all fake

Japanese!’) His music shows

a corresponding enthusiasm

for jewel-like surface detail,

delicacy of expression and

exotic effect – but it is not

without heart.

As a boy he showed talent

as a pianist, although his

father (a Swiss engineer)

had to bribe him to practise.

He soon discovered the

attractions of composition

and it was as a composer

that he made his greatest

contribution. Ravel’s most

popular works are to be

found in his orchestral

output and his piano music –

sometimes both, since he

orchestrated many of his

piano works, and transcribed

some of his orchestral pieces

for piano. (The Alborada del gracioso from Miroirs is

an example of the former,

Boléro of the latter.)

JEUX D’EAU

The title of this 1901 work

translates as ‘Fountains’,

but it can also be read as

‘Play of water’ – perhaps

that is what Ravel had in

mind when he wrote on

the music: ‘The river god

laughing at the water that

tickles him.’

Maurice Ravel

Jeux d’eau

Jeux d’eau is a relatively early work in Ravel’s output forpiano, but a pivotal one. It was composed in 1901 andfirst performed, like so much important Frenchrepertoire from the period, by Ricardo Viñes; Raveldescribed it as ‘at the origin of the pianistic noveltieswhich one would notice in my work’. It arguablyanticipates certain innovations in Debussy’s work as well: as an example of musical ‘Impressionism’ for thepiano it precedes by a few years comparable examples bythe older composer, even though Ravel’s most strikingcolouristic innovations were in general reserved for theorchestra. From the beginning melody and harmony takea back seat to the play of sound and the flow of texture,in Alfred Cortot’s words: ‘lightly caressed by crystallinearpeggios… a rhythmic undulation whose impetusanimates every detail of the composition.’

The title refers directly to a distinguished pianisticforebear: Liszt’s Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este (TheFountain at the Villa d’Este), from the third ‘year’ of hisAnnées de Pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage). Ravel’s piece,however, takes the phrase ‘jeux d’eau’ (literally ‘play ofwater’) in a broader sense than Liszt’s ‘fountains’. In hismanuscript Ravel prefaced the piece with a quotationfrom Henri Regnier which also appears in some printededitions: Dieu fluvial riant de l’eau qui le chatouille… (‘Theriver god laughing at the water that tickles him’) – theskittering arpeggios certainly make it clear that whateveris being portrayed here is far from static. There are a few gestures here which would in further-developed form accompany a later Ravel portrayal, of the water-nymph Ondine in Ravel’s later Gaspard de la nuit: thepiano, with its powers of sustain, can perhaps renderaquatic ‘washes’ of harmony better than any other singleinstrument.

9 | Sydney Symphony

Maurice Ravel

Three pieces from Miroirs

NoctuellesOiseaux tristes Alborada del gracioso

The five-movement suite Miroirs (Mirrors) of 1904–5, ofwhich these are the first, second and fourth movements,was dedicated to five different friends and colleagues –the intention seems to have been in part to ‘mirror’aspects of the dedicatees themselves. All the dedicateeswere, like Ravel, members of the avant-garde group ofartists known as the Apaches; after the first world warMiroirs would find a sadder pendant in the six-movementLe Tombeau de Couperin, the movements dedicated tofriends who had died in the war.

‘Noctuelles’ are moths; their flitting back and forth isclearly audible from the beginning although the slowermusic which soon intervenes does not seem to serve any programmatic purpose. Noctuelles is dedicated toLéon-Paul Fargue (1876–1947) and the title derives from a rather cryptic line of his poetry (Les noctuelles d’unhangar partent d’un vol cravater d’autres poutres – ‘Themoths in a hangar fly off to collar other beams’). Ravelwould return much later to Fargue’s poetry, setting tomusic in 1927 his poem Rêves.

In Oiseaux tristes (Sad Birds) a solitary birdsong,ringing out from start to finish, is joined by others alongthe way; the melancholy to which the title refers springsnot so much from the birdsongs themselves as from themusical context in which Ravel places them, in particularthe hypnotically flowing accompaniment. The piece isdedicated to the Catalan pianist Ricardo Viñes, who wasto give the premiere performances of many importantpiano works from this period, including the virtuosicshowpieces Jeux d’eau and Gaspard de la Nuit and works by Debussy, Falla, Poulenc, Satie and Albéniz – Ravelreportedly found it amusing to dedicate to such a pianist‘a piece that was not in the least “pianistic” ’.

Alborada del gracioso is dedicated to the writer Michel Dimitri Calvocoressi, who had provided Ravelwith the folk texts for his Cinq mélodies populaires grecques.It shows the Spanish influence which was fundamental to Ravel’s music throughout his career. Indeed it wasimportant to French composers in general (including

Keynotes

MIRRORS

The five-movement suite

Miroirs was completed in

1905 and dedicated to five

of Ravel’s friends in the

‘Club’ des Apaches – the

artistic equivalent of street

ruffians, determined to turn

Paris on its head. Noctuelles(Moths) is dedicated to

the poet Léon-Paul Fargue;

the second movement,

Oiseaux tristes (Sad Birds),

to the pianist Ricardo Viñes;

and the fourth movement,

Alborada del gracioso (often

translated Morning Song

of the Jester) to the writer

and critic M.D. Calvocoressi.

The moths flit poetically,

the birds sing to a hypnotic

accompaniment in music

that is ‘not in the least

“pianistic”’, and the clown

is clearly a Spanish one with

the sounds of guitars and

castanets underpinning his

witticisms.

10 | Sydney Symphony


the Debussy of Ibéria, among other works) althoughRavel’s identification with the Basque region of his birthmade it in his case a little closer to home; this is his first major work to make use of a Spanish theme, withthe Rapsodie espagnole and the opera L’Heure espagnolefollowing in the next few years. The title translates as‘The Clown’s Aubade’. The clown of the title begins thework with a virtuosic guitar prelude; his aubade (ormorning serenade) takes the form of several recitative-like passages in the tenor register of the keyboard. He clearly does plenty of acrobatics as well, not tomention some castanet solos, rendered for the piano invirtuosic repeated notes. Ravel’s own Érard piano, with a very light action, would certainly have facilitated theaspects of technique (not only repeated notes butfrequent glissandi as well) which are given pride of placehere. Ravel would later carry them over almost directlywhen he turned his piano showpiece into an equallydazzling orchestral one in 1918 – although there he alsoincluded the castanets themselves.

Ravel’s own Érard

piano, with a very light

action, would certainly

have facilitated the

aspects of technique…

which are given pride

of place here.

Isaac Albéniz

Iberia, Book 1

EvocaciónEl PuertoEl Corpus Christi en Sevilla

Albéniz first came to attention as a child prodigy, makingfrequent concert tours throughout Europe. He passed the entrance examination for the Paris Conservatoire atseven but was too young to be admitted – one story has asa contributing factor his having broken a window at theConservatoire while playing with a ball. After an abortivebeginning to his formal studies in Leipzig in 1876 hemoved to Brussels where he studied until 1879. In August1880 he travelled to Budapest in an attempt to study withLiszt. Although his diary apparently states that he metLiszt on August 18 this is far from certain, as Liszt wouldappear to have been in Weimar at the time – Albénizscholar Walter Aaron Clark suggests his diary entry mayhave been fictitious, intended to placate his father.

His concert career reached its greatest heights in theyears 1889–92; after that point he largely turned awayfrom concert touring, settling in Paris in 1894. Hereceived a series of lucrative opera commissions from the English writer Francis Burdett Money-Coutts, heir to a large banking fortune that enabled him to fulfil hisdream of writing opera librettos, and which also allowedAlbéniz and his family to live in financial comfort. InParis Albéniz became a close friend of Ernest Chausson(the first book of Ibéria is dedicated to his wife); he alsomet such figures as Fauré, Dukas and d’Indy, and brieflytaught piano at the Schola Cantorum. From 1900 hesuffered from the kidney disorder, Bright’s disease; his health seems to have been a factor in turning himtowards composing for solo piano. In 1903 he moved toNice, and in 1909 to Cambo-les-Bains, where in that yearhe died. (His influence in French life took a surprisingextra-musical form long after his death: Cécilia Sarkozy,wife of the current Président, is his great-granddaughter.)

The composer and musicologist Felipe Pedrell seemsto have been influential in inspiring Albéniz to pursue a more nationalistic vein of composition: Iberia, in partthe result, is widely regarded as Albéniz’s masterpiece.Debussy wrote that ‘never has music achieved suchdiversified, such colourful impressions: one’s eyes close,


Keynotes

ALBÉNIZ

Born Camprodón, 1860Died Cambó-les-Bains, 1909

Catalan composer Isaac

Albéniz retired at the age

of 43, settling in Nice and

composing his piano and

national masterpiece: Iberia.

He’d begun his career as a

prodigy pianist – touring

Europe and venturing abroad

to North and South America

until he was in his early 30s –

then focused on composition.

Based in Paris, he came to

know Debussy and Ravel,

as well as Dukas and Fauré –

influences that gave French

refinement to a Hispanic vein

of composition.

IBERIA

The complete Iberia(subtitled ‘twelve

impressions’) comprises four

books of three pieces, each

with an evocative title.

A concept like this could

easily have become a series

of musical ‘picture postcards’

of Spain, but in Albéniz’s

hands the result is highly

sophisticated – not to

mention supremely virtuosic.

At the same time, the music

of the first book (1905) is

tinged with simple nostalgia

(Evocation) and brilliant

characterisation, from the

spirit of guitars and dancing

(El Puerto) to festive pomp

(Corpus Christi day in

Seville).

Not only is Iberia considered

Albéniz’s masterpiece, it is

also regarded as the greatest

piano work to emerge from

Spain.


as though dazzled by beholding such a wealth ofimagery’; Messiaen said, ‘Iberia is the wonder for thepiano; it is perhaps on the highest place among the more brilliant pieces for the king of the instruments.’The full collection has 12 pieces in four books of three;Evocación, El Puerto and El Corpus en Sevilla make up thefirst book.

Albéniz is clearly viewing his homeland from adistance: what Evocación evokes seems to be as much hisfeeling of nostalgia for his homeland as his homelanditself. The melodic styles of dance forms such as thefandango and the jota are here seen from a distinctlynorthern perspective: even besides the fact that they areset for piano, the melodies sometimes undergo the stylesof development associated with concert-hall music suchas modulating sequences in sonata form or are set inaccompaniments derived from the ‘Impressionistic’whole-tone scale. Towards the end startling harmonicshifts intrude, taking the music further into the nostalgicdistance.

At first El Puerto (a tribute to the port town of SantaMaría, near Cadíz) presents its material in moreimmediate form: its musical content is derived from the percussive footwork of the dance known as zapateado,as well as from characteristic guitar ornamentation,accompaniment patterns and strumming. (Imitatingtypical guitar textures is something Albéniz could doparticularly well – to the point where one of the most-played of all guitar works is a ‘retranslation’ of the pianopiece Asturias from his Suite espagnole.) But the musicagain recedes into the distance before Albéniz dismissesit with an unsentimental cadence in the bass.

El Corpus en Sevilla depicts the Corpus Christi Dayprocession in Seville, in which a statue of the Virgin Mary is carried through the streets with full festivalpomp. Stylized drum-rolls are here heard as theprocession sets off with a march inspired by a popularsong; the festive spirit grows as the procession continues.In the central section Albéniz evokes the tradition ofthe saeta: literally an ‘arrow’ of song, a religious lamentsung from balconies overlooking the streets during theprocession. The march returns with percussive chordsand wild tremolos – but again the piece ends in nostalgia,as the haunting lament has the last word.

LEB

REC

HT

MU

SIC

& A

RTS

‘never has music

achieved such

diversified, such

colourful impressions:

one’s eyes close, as

though dazzled by

beholding such a

wealth of imagery’

DEBUSSY praises Iberia


Olivier Messiaen

Two pieces from

Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus

XV. Le Baiser de l’Enfant-JésusX. Regard de l’esprit de joie

One must be in love to love the subject matter and the music…both of which seek to be as tender as the heart of Heaven itself.

Messiaen’s description of Le baiser de l’Enfant-Jésus appliesnot only to that movement from his first great cycle for solo piano but to his entire output: it is the passion(both sacred and profane) running through his wholelife’s work which brings together the many ingredients of his style and which alone can make sense of asometimes bewildering mixture of influences. At thetime of Messiaen’s death in 1992, his music was notalways well received: his last works, including the operaSt François d’Assise which had occupied him for eightyears, were not yet well understood and the accusationsof inconsistency and excess which had dogged his musicsince the 1940s seemed to have the upper hand. But asthe centenary of his birth approaches and the stylisticsquabbles of his lifetime recede into the distance, we canbegin to appreciate his life’s work in perspective – andeven those still unsympathetic to his work might perhapshave to admit that the sheer ecstatic joy he brought to so much of his music has few parallels in his or in anytime.

Messiaen’s artistic vision was, appropriately enough,close to all-embracing: a bewildering range of ‘musics’rubs shoulders in his work, from plainsong and Greek and Indian rhythms to the most advanced modernistdevelopments of his day. (Indeed just after World War IIhe had been involved in shaping those verydevelopments: his attitude to scales and rhythms was of vital importance to late-20th-century styles – ironically, especially among those composers who wouldcome to reject his mixture of all possible materials andhis unselfconscious joy in expression.) He famously didnot stop at the music of humans: birdsong formed animportant part of his music from his first mature worksuntil the end of his life and in many works becomes thecentral or even exclusive subject.

Keynotes

MESSIAEN

Born Avignon, 1908Died Paris, 1992

Composer, organist and

teacher, Olivier Messiaen was

without doubt one of the most

influential musicians of the

20th century. Debussy was an

early model, but he quickly

developed a distinctive

harmonic style based on a

system of artificial modes.

Other influences included

the French organ tradition and

his profound Catholic faith,

which emerges in works such

as Vingt Regards…

20 CONTEMPLATIONS

Messiaen’s Vingt Regards…is a monumental and

demanding work for piano

solo – two hours in

performance, it ranks with

Bach’s Goldberg Variations

in the stamina it requires.

It was written in 1944 for

Messiaen’s student, and

later wife, Yvonne Loriod,

a pianist whom he described

as ‘unique, sublime and

brilliant’. (Tonight’s soloist

was a student of Loriod.)

The Vingt Regards… is a

study in technical and

musical virtuosity, but it is

also an expression of faith

and, for Messiaen, the

tremendous joy he found in

his faith. ‘The kiss of the

child Jesus’ begins with the

work’s ‘Theme of God’ and

becomes a rhapsodic lullaby.

‘Contemplation of the spirit

of joy’ is the virtuoso centre

of the work, ‘a vehement

dance’ said Messiaen, that

suggests the soul literally

drunk with the Holy Spirit

and rejoicing in God’s love.


Although his own piano training was extensive, hismain activity as a performer was as an organist – he wasorganist at the Eglise de la Sainte Trinité in Paris from1931 until his death. This undoubtedly influenced hiscomposition for piano: his extraordinarily full harmoniesdo seem to have at least some of their basis in the organ’s‘mixture’ stops, which add higher notes above the notebeing played to enrich the sound rather than for directlyharmonic purposes.

His piano output – indeed his entire musical output –is dominated by his work with one particular performer.Yvonne Loriod was a student of Messiaen at theConservatoire from 1941 and turned pages for him atthe first Paris performance of the Quartet for the End ofTime. In late 1942 Messiaen composed the two-pianowork Visions de l’Amen, which Messiaen and Loriodperformed together; from that point on she was anindispensable part of Messiaen’s music. His next majorwork for piano would be the vast cycle Vingt Regards

sur l’Enfant-Jésus (Twenty contemplations of the child

Jesus), dedicated to Loriod, who was still only 20 yearsold at the time of the cycle’s completion: a two-hour, 20-movement cycle for solo piano, demanding a performerof extraordinary technical and musical virtuosity. Hewould describe her as a ‘unique, sublime and brilliantpianist, whose existence transformed not only thecomposer’s way of writing for the piano, but his style,vision of the world, and modes of thought’; she wouldbecome his wife in 1961, two years after the death of hisfirst wife Claire.

Although the Vingt Regards are far more oftenperformed in selection than complete, there are manyimportant musical elements which bind the cycletogether. The most obvious to the listener is the ‘Themeof God’, heard here at the beginning of Le Baiser de

l’Enfant-Jésus (The kiss of the child Jesus) where thecomposer labels it ‘Theme of God as a lullaby’, itsharmonies shaped into a series of caressing cadences. By the standards of the Vingt Regards this is rather simplemusic – soon afterwards it will be played by the left handalone while the right adds a layer of ornamentation.Messiaen wrote: ‘I am reminded of a picture I am veryfond of, which shows the Child Jesus leaving his Mother’sarms to embrace the young Saint Theresa. At eachcommunion, too, the Child Jesus throws open the doorsupon a marvellous garden, then rushes out into the

…even those still

unsympathetic to his

work might perhaps

have to admit that the

sheer ecstatic joy he

brought to so much of

his music has few

parallels in his or in any

time.


bright light to embrace us’. Unlike Debussy, Messiaeninscribes his narrative on the score: ‘sleep’ at the verybeginning, with the harmonies of the Theme of Godlaunching a series of arching phrases. (The music soundsrhapsodic but is typically carefully constructed; theharmonies are based on the second of the series ofinvented scales which Messiaen called his ‘modes oflimited transposition’, while the rhythms of the archingphrases are based on prime number sequences and‘additive’ rhythms.) A crescendo in yearning dissonancesis labelled ‘arms extended in love’; the piece’s climax islabelled ‘the kiss’, the pianissimo coda poetically ‘theshadow of the kiss’.

Concerning Regard de l’esprit de joie (Contemplation

of the spirit of joy) Messiaen wrote: ‘I have always beenstruck by the fact that God is happy – and that thiscontinuous, indescribable joy inhabited the soul ofChrist. A joy which for me is a transport, an intoxication,in the wildest sense of the word.’ This halfway point ofthe cycle calls for one of the most daunting displays ofvirtuosity in the entire piano repertoire: Messiaen seeksto evoke a ‘vehement dance, drunken sound of the horns,transport of the Holy Spirit… the joy of the love ofGod rejoicing in the soul of Jesus Christ…’. The dance(derived from plainsong) and the fanfares of the hornsare unmistakable. To these are added descendingcascades of chords, the ‘Theme of God’ again (in a fasterversion), the opening dance flung outwards to theextremes of the keyboard, and repeated slower hymnicoutbursts on a theme marked simply ‘Theme of joy’. The mixture is a heady one, rounded off by a descentranging over the entire keyboard.

CARL ROSMAN ©2007

…Messiaen’s

extraordinarily full

harmonies do seem to

have at least some of

their basis in the organ’s

‘mixture’ stops, which

add higher notes above

the note being played

to enrich the sound

rather than for directly

harmonic purposes.

‘I have always been

struck by the fact that

God is happy – and

that this continuous,

indescribable joy

inhabited the soul of

Christ. A joy which for

me is a transport, an

intoxication, in the

wildest sense of the

word.’

MESSIAEN


GLOSSARY

ALEXANDRINE – an iambic line of twelvesyllables or six feet, in each foot there is oneshort/unstressed syllable followed by along/stressed syllable; the Shorter Oxford EnglishDictionary quotes Pope: A needless Alexandrine ends the songThat like a wounded snake, drags its slow

length along.

APACHES – in early 20th-century Paris anApache was a street ruffian (akin to theAustralian larrikin); the young artistic circlethat from around 1900 called itself the ‘Sociétédes Apaches’ included poet Tristan Klingsor,painters and sculptors, and musicians AndréCaplet, D.E. Ingelbrecht, Ricardo Viñes, FlorentSchmitt, and later Manuel de Falla. Ravel wasalso prominent in the group, which made itselfan advocate for Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.

APPOGGIATURA – a ‘leaning’ note; a form ofmelodic and harmonic ornamentation inwhich a note adjacent to the main note isplayed on a strong beat, setting up adissonance with the underlying harmony,which is then resolved when the appoggiaturamoves to the main note.

ARPEGGIO – a musical gesture in which thenotes of a chord are ‘spread’, or played oneafter the other instead of simultaneously. Itnearly always starts at the bottom of the chord.

ÉRARD – French firm of piano makers, foundedin Paris around 1780, and the first to make useof the double escapement mechanism (1821),which permitted rapid key repetition.

FANDANGO – a Spanish courtship dance in amoderately fast triple time.

GAMELAN – an Indonesian ensemble ofgongs and gong-chimes, glockenspiel-likeinstruments, xylophone, small cymbals anddrums; sometimes flutes and plucked andbowed string instruments are included.Gamelan performances reached Europe in thesecond half of the 19th century, and the mostfamous instance was in the recreation of aJavanese village at the 1889 Paris Exposition.This was heard by Debussy, who was deeplyinfluenced by the colours and textures ofgamelan music. Messiaen first heard agamelan when he was in his early 20s.

JOTA – a Spanish song and dance in rapidtriple time.

MODES OF LIMITED TRANSPOSITION – a theoryof artificial scales or modes developed byOlivier Messiaen. The whole-tone scale is thefirst example of such a mode, since it is madeof up six symmetrical groups of two noteseach and can only be transposed once (by asemitone) before the scale contains the exactsame notes as the first. There are seven suchmodes in all, the symmetry of each meaningthat, as with the whole-tone scale, there isnever a strong sense of tonic.

PENTATONIC – a musical scale in which thereare only five different pitches to the octave (e.g. playing a scale using only the black notes of the keyboard); it can be heard in thetraditional music of many Asian cultures aswell as the Scots. The tune of ‘Ol’ Man River’uses the pentatonic scale.

RECITATIVE – in vocal music a recitative is akind of ‘sung speech’; transferred to instrumentalmusic, it refers to passages in which the melodyand rhythms mimic the inflections of speech.

SARABANDE – a baroque dance of Spanishorigins, in triple time; it is characterised by adistinctive rhythm in which the second of thethree beats is accented.

TOCCATA – a fast and brilliant soloinstrumental piece displaying ‘touch’ (in thecase of keyboardists) and technique.

WHOLE-TONE – a whole tone is the intervalequivalent to the ‘sum’ of two semitones (thesmallest interval possible on a piano). The firstinterval in both the major and the minor scaleis a whole tone, for example. A whole-tonescale is a scale made up only of whole tones(whereas major and minor scales combinewhole tones and semitones in differentpatterns), e.g. C-D-E-Fsharp-Gsharp-Asharp-C.Because each interval in the scale is the same,it lacks a strong sense of a tonic or ‘home’note, a feature that Debussy exploited toachieve a floating effect of suspended tonality.

This glossary is intended only as a quick and easy guide,not as a set of comprehensive and absolute definitions.Most of these terms have many subtle shades ofmeaning which cannot be included for reasons of space.


75 YEARS: HISTORICAL SNAPSHOT

In 1947 the SSO visited Newcastle for the city’s 150th

anniversary celebrations. Eugene Goossens (left) travelled

from Sydney for the concert with the driver of the inter-city

express, J. Guilfoyle.

Country touring of this kind became amore regular fixture for the Sydney Symphonyin the 1950s, and since. (Earlier this monththe orchestra played in Tamworth – a specialanniversary concert and live broadcast.) Local enthusiasm shines through the pressnotices. The Newcastle Herald, 4 March 1938:‘appreciative audience’ for the ‘happyinspiration of sending the Sydney Symphonyon a country tour’. If even one light wenton in a youthful head, hearing and seeing an orchestra for the first time – perhaps as the Overture to Tannhäuser reached ‘a climax of massive brilliance’ – then the experimentwas surely worthwhile.

David Garrett, a historian and former programmerfor Australia’s symphony orchestras, is studying the history of the ABC as a musical organisation.

On Tour

You can’t take Sydney out of the title, but youcan take the orchestra out of Sydney. Toursare said to be good for orchestras, puttingthem on their mettle, but there’s more totouring than the orchestra’s good. From 1965on, when the SSO’s touring itinerary includedManila, Tokyo, Hong Kong as well as Londonand other British cities, there have beenoverseas tours at intervals: Europe in 1974,USA in 1988, and more since.

But the bread and butter of touringassumes the orchestra is not just for Sydney,but for the bush. In 1938 the ABC approvedthe proposal that its ‘New South WalesOrchestra’ should visit Wollongong, Katoomba,Orange and Bathurst. The pretext was theState’s 150th Anniversary Celebrations, agesture to some of the country towns, in this‘opportunity of attending a big OrchestralConcert’. It was an experiment, and thereasoning, according to Dr Keith Barry, theFederal Controller of Programmes, was ‘to letcountry people have in some small measurethe same facility granted to the city people of seeing a symphony orchestra in action’.

The small stages allowed only an orchestraof 45 players. And Barry, who lived in Leura,complained that the Katoomba programamounted to ‘café music’, so a Mozart symphonywas added to give substance. All the same,attendance was poor, perhaps partly becausemuch of the potential audience was alreadyattending the orchestra’s concerts in the Sydney Town Hall. In Bathurst, the press wasexcited : ‘This will be something unique…the first occasion on which a symphonyorchestra has given a recital so far west ofSydney.’ In Orange there had been somereluctance to have the orchestra at all,something to do with the date offered beinglate-shopping night.

The orchestra played under its residentconductor Percy Code, and the soloistsincluded country locals – such as pianistJohn Hannell and baritone Colin Chapmanin Newcastle – as well as concertmasterLionel Lawson.

ROGER MURAROCONCERTS THIS WEEK

Muraro performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.23 with the Sydney Symphony

directed by Dene Olding

Thursday 27 September, 7pmCity Recital Hall Angel Place

Friday 28 September, 11amSydney Opera House

Tickets available at sydneysymphony.com or 8215 4600


MORE MUSIC

MURARO PLAYS MESSIAEN

Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus

ACCORD 2CD 465 334-2

Also released as a double DVD (Region 1)

ACCORD 4767190

Des canyons aux étoiles

with the ORT Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Myung-Whun Chung

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 471617

MURARO PLAYS CHOPIN

Chopin Recital

Nocturnes, Mazurkas, and the Sonata No.2 in B flat minor

ACCORD 4428886

SYDNEY SYMPHONY: LIVE RECORDINGS

Strauss and Schubert

R. Strauss Four Last Songs; Schubert Symphony No.8 (Unfinished); J. Strauss II Blue Danube Waltz Gianluigi Gelmetti (conductor), Ricarda Merbeth (soprano)

SSO1

Glazunov and Shostakovich

Glazunov The Seasons; Shostakovich Symphony No.9Alexander Lazarev (conductor)

SSO2

SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER

27 September, 7pmMUSICAL DAWN

Dene Olding violin-directorRoger Muraro pianoHaydn, Poulenc, Mozart

12 October, 8pmSIR CHARLES MACKERRAS RETURNS

Charles Mackerras conductorDvorák, Smetana, Janácek

24 October, 8pmMOZART’S GREAT C MINOR MASS

Charles Mackerras conductorEmma Matthews, Yvonne Kenny

sopranosSteve Davislim tenorPaul Whelan bassSydney Philharmonia Choirs

R Strauss, Mozart

Broadcast Diary

Selected Sydney Symphony concerts are recorded forwebcast by BigPond. Visit sydneysymphony.bigpondmusic.com

October webcast:MOZART’S GREAT C MINOR MASS

Live on 24 October at 8pm On Demand from November.

sydneysymphony.com

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

Selected Discography

2MBS-FM 102.5

SYDNEY SYMPHONY 2007

Tue 9 October, 6pm

What’s on in concerts, with interviews and music.

Webcast Diary


ABOUT THE ARTIST

A former student at the Paris Conservatory, in YvonneLoriod-Messiaen’s class, Roger Muraro is today consideredone of the finest performers of Olivier Messiaen’s works. In 1988, when the pianist performed the Vingt Regards surl’Enfant-Jésus in Paris, the composer congratulated him withthese words: ‘Thanks to Roger Muraro for his absolutelysublime complete performance of this very difficult work!With my fullest admiration for his dazzling technique,mastery, his sound qualities, emotion and, I might dare say, his Faith!’

It is those qualities described by Olivier Messiaen thatenable Roger Muraro to play, with moving sincerity,composers whose music leaves a large part to the imagination,to the world of childhood and dreams: Schumann, Mozart,and Ravel.

Of Italian origin, Roger Muraro has been a winner of theFirst Prize of the International Franz Liszt Competition inParma and prize winner of the International TchaikovskyCompetition in Moscow. Since then he has collaboratedwith leading conductors such as Zubin Mehta, PinchasSteinberg, Marek Janowski, Valery Gergiev, Yuri Ahronovitch,Okko Kamu, Marc Soustrot, Myung-Whun Chung, KentNagano, David Robertson, Pascal Rophé and SylvainCambreling; and with orchestras including the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras, the LeipzigGewandhaus Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France,the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague, the SingaporeSymphony Orchestra, the Philharmonique de Radio-France,the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC SymphonyOrchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and theOrchestre de Paris.

He has given performances of Messiaen’s major pianoworks throughout Europe. In the 2002–03 season heperformed the complete Catalogue d’Oiseaux in New York,and he performed the Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus for the Lille 2004 Festival and in the subsequent season inLeipzig, Valencia, Paris and during the Festival de La Roqued’Anthéron. In 2005 the Salzburg Festival invited him toperform in the Turangalîla-symphonie.

Since 2006 Roger Muraro has taught piano at theConservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris.

Roger Muraro previously visited Australia to perform inthe concerts arranged in honour of Messiaen’s visit in 1988.This is his first engagement with the Sydney Symphony.

MA

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Roger Muraro

Roger Muraro’s performances are supported by the Embassy

of France in Australia


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

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PATRON Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, 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 Post

Beyond Technology Consulting

Bimbadgen Estate Wines

J. Boag & Son

Vittoria Coffee

Avant Card

Blue Arc Group

Lindsay Yates and Partners

2MBS 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 contact Alan Watt on (02) 8215 4619.


01 02 03 04 05 06

07 08 09 10 11 12

DIRECTORS’ CHAIRS

01Mulpha 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

12Andrew Turner and VivianChang Chair of Principal Violaand Artistic Director, FellowshipProgram, Roger Benedict

GR

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Mr Stan Costigan AO & Mrs Mary Costigan *

Mrs M A Coventry °Mr Michael Crouch AO *M Danos °Lisa & Miro Davis *Mrs Patricia Davis §Mr Paul Espie °Anthony Gregg & Deanne

Whittleston ‡Beth Harpley *Rev H & Mrs M Herbert °*Ms Michelle Hilton-Vernon Dr & Mrs Michael Hunter §Mr Stephen Jenkins *Mr Noel Keen *Mrs Margaret Keogh °*Miss Anna-Lisa Klettenberg °§Iven & Sylvia Klineberg *Dr Barry Landa Mrs Joan Langley °Ms A Le Marchant *Mr & Mrs Ezzelino Leonardi §Barbara & Bernard Leser °Mrs Anita Levy °Erna & Gerry Levy AM §Mr & Mrs S C Lloyd °Mrs Carolyn A Lowry OAM °Mr Ian & Mrs Pam McGaw *Mr Matthew McInnes §Ms Julie Manfredi-HughesMr & Mrs Tony Meagher Ms J Millard *‡Mr Andrew Nobbs Mr Stuart O’Brien Miss C O’Connor *Mrs R H O’Conor *Mrs Jill Pain °‡Mr & Mrs Michael Potts Mr L T & Mrs L M Priddle *Mrs Caroline Ralphsmith Mr John Reid AO Mr John & Mrs Lynn Carol

Reid §In memory of H St P Scarlett °*Dr John Sivewright & Ms

Kerrie Kemp ‡Mr Ezekiel Solomon Dr Heng & Mrs Cilla Tey §Mrs Elizabeth F Tocque °*Miss Amelia Trott Mrs Merle Turkington °Ronald Walledge °Dr Thomas Wenkart Dr Richard Wing §Mr Robert Woods *Mrs R Yabsley °Anonymous (12)

PLAYING YOUR PART

Maestri

Brian Abel & the late Ben Gannon AO °

Geoff & Vicki Ainsworth *Mr Robert O Albert AO *‡Alan & Christine Bishop °§Sandra & Neil Burns *Mr Ian & Mrs Jennifer Burton Libby Christie & Peter James §The Clitheroe Foundation *Mr John C Conde AO §Mr Greg Daniel AMPenny 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 B G O’Conor §The Paramor Family *Ian Potter FoundationDr John Roarty in memory of

Mrs June RoartyMr Paul & Mrs Sandra Salteri°Mrs Joyce Sproat & Mrs Janet

Cooke §Andrew Turner & Vivian ChangMr Brian & Mrs Rosemary White§Anonymous (1) *

Virtuosi

Mrs Antoinette Albert §Mr Roger Allen & Mrs Maggie

GrayMr John Curtis §Mr & Mrs Paul Hoult Irwin Imhof in memory of

Herta Imhof °‡Mrs Margaret Jack Mr Stephen Johns §Mr & Mrs Gilles T Kryger °§Ms Ann Lewis AM Mr E J Merewether & Mrs T

Merewether OAM *Miss Rosemary Pryor *

Bruce & Joy Reid Foundation*Rodney Rosenblum AM &

Sylvia Rosenblum *Mrs Helen Selle §David Smithers AM & Family §Dr William & Mrs Helen Webb ‡Michael & Mary Whelan Trust §Anonymous (1) §

SoliMr Anthony Berg AMMs Jan Bowen §Mr Robert & Mrs L Alison Carr §Mr Chum Darvall §Hilmer Family Trust Ms Ann Hoban °Mr Paul Hotz §Mr Rory Jeffes Mrs Joan MacKenzie §Miss Margaret N MacLaren °*‡§Mr David Maloney §Mr James & Mrs Elsie Moore °Ms Elizabeth ProustMs Gabrielle Trainor Ms Deborah WilsonDr Richard Wingate §Mr Geoff Wood & Ms Melissa

Waites Anonymous (5) §

Tutti

Mr Henri W Aram OAM §Mr David Barnes °Mrs Joan Barnes °Mr Stephen J BellMr Alexander & Mrs Vera

Boyarsky §Mr Maximo Buch *Mrs F M Buckle °Debby Cramer & Bill Caukill §Mr John Cunningham SCM &

Mrs Margaret Cunningham§Mr & Mrs J B Fairfax AM §Mr Russell Farr Mr & Mrs David Feetham Mr Ian Fenwicke & Prof Neville

Wills §Mrs Dorit & Mr William

Franken°§Mr & Mrs J R W Furber §Mr Arshak & Ms Sophie

Galstaun §In memory of Hetty Gordon §Mrs Akiko Gregory §Miss Janette Hamilton °‡Mr A & Mrs L Heyko-Porebski°Mr Philip Isaacs OAM §Ms Judy Joye Mr & Mrs E Katz §Mr Andrew Korda & Ms Susan

Pearson Mr Justin Lam §Dr Paul A L Lancaster &

Dr Raema Prowse

Dr Garth Leslie °*Mr Gary Linnane §Ms Karen Loblay §Mr Bob Longwell Mr Andrew & Mrs Amanda Love Mr & Mrs R Maple-Brown §Mr Robert & Mrs Renee

Markovic §Mrs Alexandra Martin & the

Late Mr Lloyd Martin AM §Justice Jane Mathews §Mrs Mora Maxwell °§Wendy McCarthy AO °Judith McKernan °Mrs Barbara McNulty OBE °§Ms Margaret Moore & Dr Paul

Hutchins *Mr R A Oppen §Mr Robert Orrell §Mr Arti Ortis & Mrs Belinda

Lim §Ms Kathleen ParerTimothy & Eva Pascoe §Ms Patricia Payn §Mr Adrian & Mrs Dairneen

Pilton Ms Robin Potter §Mr & Mrs Ernest Rapee §Dr K D Reeve AM °Mrs Patricia H Reid °Mr Brian Russell & Ms Irina

Singleman Ms Juliana Schaeffer §Derek & Patricia Smith §Catherine Stephen §Mr Fred & Mrs Dorothy Street ‡§Mr Georges & Mrs Marliese

Teitler §Mr Stephen Thatcher Mr Ken Tribe AC & Mrs Joan

Tribe §Mr John E Tuckey °Mrs Kathleen Tutton °Ms Mary Vallentine AO §Henry & Ruth Weinberg §Audrey & Michael Wilson °Jill Wran §Anonymous (9)

Supporters over $500

Ms Madeleine Adams Mr C R Adamson °§Mr Lachlan Astle Doug & Alison Battersby °Mr Marco Belgiorno-Zegna AM Mr Phil Bennett Mr G D Bolton °Mr David S Brett *A I Butchart °*Mrs B E Cary §Mr Bob & Mrs Julie Clampett Mr B & Mrs M Coles §Mrs Catherine Gaskin

Cornberg§

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 callAlan Watt 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

John Conde AO

Libby Christie John CurtisStephen JohnsAndrew KaldorGoetz RichterDavid Smithers AM

Gabrielle Trainor

What’s on the cover?During the 2007 season Sydney Symphony program covers will feature photos that celebrate the Orchestra’s history over the past 75 years. The photographs on the covers will change approximately once a month, and if you subscribe to one of our concert series you will be able to collect a set over the course of the year.

COVER PHOTOGRAPHS (clockwise from top left): Little girl with SSO violinist at an Infants’ Concert (1965); Charles Mackerrasacknowledges applause at the opening of the Sydney Opera House (1973); SydneySymphony Brass Ensemble at the Parkes Radio Telescope; painting and performingmusic of Nigel Butterley in the Cell Block Theatre, a project with the artist John Peart(1967); Kees Boersma, Principal Double Bass; reading at an SSO Prom Concert (1965).


Sydney Symphony Staff

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Libby Christie

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Eva-Marie Alis

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

ADMINISTRATION ASSISTANT,

ARTISTIC OPERATIONS

Catherine Wyburn

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

Julia Owens

PHILANTHROPY MANAGER

Alan Watt

PATRONS & EVENTS MANAGER

Georgina Andrews

MARKETING AND

CUSTOMER RELATIONS

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND

CUSTOMER RELATIONS

Julian Boram

Publicity

PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER

Imogen Corlette

DEPUTY PUBLIC RELATIONS

MANAGER

Yvonne Zammit

Customer Relationship

Management

MARKETING MANAGER – CRM

Rebecca MacFarling

ONLINE & PUBLICATIONS MANAGER

Robert Murray

DATABASE ANALYST

Marko Lång

Marketing Communications

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

MANAGER

Georgia Rivers

MULTICULTURAL MARKETING

MANAGER

Xing Jin

CONCERT PROGRAM EDITOR

Yvonne Frindle

MARKETING COORDINATOR

Antonia Farrugia

Corporate & Tourism

NETWORK GROUP–SALES MANAGER

Simon Crossley-Meates

Box Office

BOX OFFICE MANAGER

Lynn McLaughlin

BOX OFFICE CO-ORDINATOR

Anna Fraser

CUSTOMER SERVICE

REPRESENTATIVES

Wendy AugustineMichael 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

David O’Kane

EXECUTIVE PROJECT MANAGER

Rachel Hadfield

FINANCE MANAGER

Samuel Li

OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

Shelley Salmon

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

MANAGER

Tim Graham

PAYROLL AND ACCOUNTS

PAYABLE OFFICER

Caroline Hall

HUMAN RESOURCES

Ian Arnold

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

MANAGEMENT AND STAFF

GENERAL MANAGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bronwyn EdingerDEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lisa RobertsonMARKETING MANAGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gina AnkerTECHNICAL MANAGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Matt BinnieFOH MANAGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Barbara KeffelOPERATIONS MANAGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Graham ParsonsVENUE HIRING CO-ORDINATOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .James CoxACCOUNTS CO-ORDINATOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thatsany GeyerTICKETING & BOX OFFICE CO-ORDINATOR . . . . . .Andrew RichardsonBOX OFFICE MANAGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Craig ThumerTECHNICIAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jeff Todd

CITY RECITAL HALL ANGEL PLACE

Angel Place, SydneyGPO Box 3339, Sydney, NSW 2001

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

dear music lover music lover as presenting ... claude debussy (1862–1918) images, book 2 ... three...

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