prinprincicipapal l partrtnenerr orchestra · pdf fileas part of his residency he will perform...

Richard Tognetti AO Artistic Director

Richard Evans Managing Director

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AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA2

MESSAGE FROM THE MANAGING DIRECTOR

We are delighted to welcome back to Australia the brilliant, and vivacious Russian pianist Polina Leschenko for two very special performances with our Artistic Director, Richard Tognetti.

Later this year in November, Richard becomes the first Artist in Residence at the Barbican Centre’s Milton Court Concert Hall in London. As part of his residency he will perform this recital with Polina, as well as work with students from the Guildhall School of Music to present an experimental electronic music collaboration. The residency will conclude with performances from the full ACO in March 2017.

Polina comes from an impeccable music background – both of her parents were professional musicians – and made her debut with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra when she was just eight years old. A protégée of the famed Argentinian pianist, Martha Argerich, Polina travels the world performing in celebrated halls including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Konzerthaus in Vienna.

Following their last collaboration in 2012 (where Polina performed Chopin, Górecki and Mendelssohn with the ACO) the works these two exceptional performers have chosen to perform reflect their interest in both the classical canon and contemporary repertoire, including the late Peter Sculthorpe’s evocative Irkanda I.

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I hope you enjoy tonight’s very special recital.

Richard Evans

AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 3

PROGRAM

Richard Tognetti Violin

Polina Leschenko Piano

ARVO PÄRT FRATRES FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO

BEETHOVEN VIOLIN SONATA NO.5 IN F MAJOR, OP.24 ‘SPRING’

I. Allegro

II. Adagio molto espressivo

III. Scherzo (Allegro molto)

IV. Rondo (Allegro ma non troppo)

INTERVAL

SCULTHORPE IRKANDA I

BRAHMS VIOLIN SONATA NO.3 IN D MINOR, OP.108

I. Allegro

II. Adagio

III. Un poco presto e con sentimento

IV. Presto agitato

Approximate durations (minutes)

11 – 24 – INTERVAL – 10 – 21

This concert will last approximately one and a half hours, including a 20-minute interval.

SYDNEY CANBERRA

City Recital Hall Llewellyn Hall

Monday 12 September, 7pm Tuesday 13 September, 8pm


ARVO PÄRT

Born Paide 1935.

FRATRES FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO

Composed 1977/80.

There can be few composers whose musical origins and influences are as

diverse as those of the Estonian Arvo Pärt. As a student, Pärt’s teacher Heino

Eller was himself a former pupil of Glazunov and the great Russian 19th-

century masters. Pärt began his career as a drummer in the Soviet military,

before discovering the great Russian masters Shostakovich and Prokofiev, and

then later embarking on experiments in serialism. But none of that left a long-

lasting influence on his music.

Instead, as he entered his maturity as a composer, Pärt began to find

inspiration in more obscure, more distant musical traditions – in Gregorian

chant, medieval and Renaissance composers, the ancient Dutch school and

Josquin, and perhaps most dangerously for a composer brought up in a

Soviet state, in music deriving from religious exaltation. A whole new genre,

sometimes labelled ‘holy minimalism’, began to emerge around him and other

composers like John Tavener and Henryk Górecki, while Pärt himself, with

works like Spiegel im Spiegel and Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten

began to put Estonia on the map as an important modern musical nation –

a status it still maintains today despite Pärt himself leaving his home country

for Vienna in 1980.

Pärt’s Fratres is not so much a composition as a musical franchise, a catch-all

title that has been applied to a work originally composed in 1977 for string

quintet, wind quintet and percussion but which has subsequently been

re-composed for various ensembles ranging from string quartet to solo violin,

strings and percussion, cello and piano, 12 cellos, an early-music ensemble,

and this celebrated version for violin and piano (1980).

Essentially, the main thematic material of Fratres is a hymn played over a drone,

growing ever richer in texture and developing into a state of profound peace

and beauty. At once both simple and intricate, it has both the character of an

internal meditation yet at the same time, almost miraculously, it possesses

an innate popular appeal. An explanation for the apparent contradiction may

lie in Pärt’s early career, where for a decade or more he worked as a sound


ABOUT THE MUSIC

Arvo Pärt

engineer for Estonian Radio, a role which saw him not only exposed to the

widest possible variety of musical genres, but which keenly attuned his ears

to the nuances of music as ‘sound’. His development of a musical style now

known as tintinnabuli, in which melodies move step by step over an arpeggio,

as if in imitation of ringing bells, typifies the way in which his music combines

expressiveness with a glistening surface, hypnotic and compelling, and used

not just in Fratres but also in his other ‘hit’ work Spiegel im Spiegel.

Not that you hear it so prominently in the violin and piano version of Fratres,

although it’s undoubtedly there. Rather, the work emerges as a series of

variations separated by contemplative interludes. But always there is a sense

of the silence that attends upon the dying of a note. As Pärt himself has said,

‘My music was always written after I had long been silent in the most literal

sense of the word. When I speak of silence, I mean the “nothingness” out of

which God created the world. That is why, ideally, musical silence is sacred.’

And perhaps it’s that connection with, and striving toward pure silence that has

made Pärt such a cult figure, and Fratres such a deeply communicative work,

in our ever so-noisy, frantic and obsessively-material modern world.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Born Bonn 1770. Died Vienna 1827.

VIOLIN SONATA NO.5 IN F MAJOR, OP.24 ‘SPRING’

Composed 1800–01

I. Allegro

II. Adagio molto espressivo

III. Scherzo (Allegro molto)

IV. Rondo (Allegro ma non troppo)

The fifth of Beethoven’s sonatas for piano and violin was published in 1801,

the same year as its predecessor, Op.23 in A minor. Whereas that work was

troubled, agitated and difficult, the F major sonata is sunny, equable, and

fresh, so that the nickname someone has given it seems less objectionable

than some other such arbitrary titles. Among near-contemporary works of

the composer, one somewhat similar in mood is the Op.28 piano sonata, the

Pastoral, while the key of F major was later to seem suitable to Beethoven

for the development of similar sentiments on a far greater scale than in the

Sixth Symphony.

Ludwig van Beethoven

AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA6 AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 7

This is not to say that the Spring Sonata is a small-scale work. Not only is it the

first of its genre in Beethoven to have four movements, but each except the

scherzo is developed with considerable breadth. Breadth and flowing lyricism

immediately strike the attention in the memorable first subject. In fact, as with

other memorable themes of his, it took Beethoven some effort to fashion its

final form, which combines spontaneity and inevitability. The character of the

movement is thus set from the outset – though there is some agitation and

drama later, particularly when the recapitulation turns towards the second

subject group. The basic contrast is between the essentially melodic first idea

and a more broken up, dramatically exchanged second subject. The main

theme returns in the coda where its first measure is developed, setting its seal

even more firmly on the movement.

The slow movement, in B-flat, is again distinguished by breadth of phrase

and warm feeling, while the mood is more serious. Exposition is exceptionally

closely shared by the instruments, each doing what it can best; the violin

detaching itself to present the first theme cantabile, the piano heightening the

intensity by varying it with repeated notes. In concluding the dialogue with trills

on both instruments Beethoven provides an early example of his ability to raise

a decorative device to an expressive function.

Breathtaking concision marks the scherzo which abruptly contrasts a

syncopated exchange (the violin follows the piano a beat behind) with a trio

in rapidly running notes. This prepares the listener by way of contrast for

a return in the last movement to the lyricism and flow of the first. Formally

this is a rondo, and because of the subtlety with which the refrain is altered

and variously shaped, the effect is of almost uninterrupted development and

variation. The contrast comes when, in the second couplet of the rondo, the

music shifts into D minor. When the refrain returns some remote keys are

explored before the coda uses a little virtuosity to provide an effective

concert conclusion.

Peter Sculthorpe

PETER SCULTHORPE

Born Launceston 1929. Died Sydney 2014.

IRKANDA I

Composed 1955

Peter Sculthorpe was Australia’s foremost classical composer, and one of the

country’s most original and distinctive creative voices in any medium.

Born and schooled in Launceston, he undertook university studies at Melbourne

University, under Bernard Heinze, and at Oxford, where in 1958 his tutor,

composer Edmund Rubbra, prophetically dubbed him ‘Australia’s Bartók’. Another

English mentor, musicologist Wilfred Mellers, saw that it was paradoxically

at Oxford that the homesick young Antipodean ‘discovered his true identity,

becoming the first composer to make a music distinctively Australian’.

Indeed, Sculthorpe established the connection between music and his native

country as one of his artistic goals. Many of his works were given Aboriginal

titles or were nourished by Aboriginal legends.

This is particularly true of many of his early works, including Irkanda I, dating

from 1955. The title means a distant and secluded place. It was the first part of

a larger cycle written over a period of six years that was dedicated to Wilfred

Lehmann, who first performed it at the Lisbon Mozart Festival in 1956.

Irkanda I reflects many of Sculthorpe’s characteristics: the formal conception

of the work is that of a free fantasy; an elegiac tone prevails; the melodic lines

are very expansive; and the numerous sliding notes recall birdsong, creating a

close connection with nature.

Peter Sculthorpe wrote of the work:

Irkanda I is in one movement, and in it, long, melodic lines and bird-sounds are

contrasted with brittle, rhythmic sections. The opening melody follows a three

hundred and sixty degree contour of the hills around Canberra, where most of

the work was written. It might be added that my use of bird-song stems from

suggestions in the writings of Henry Tate.


Johannes Brahms


JOHANNES BRAHMS

Born Hamburg 1833. Died Vienna 1897.

VIOLIN SONATA NO.3 IN D MINOR, OP.108

Composed 1886-88.

I. Allegro

II. Adagio

III. Un poco presto e con sentimento

IV. Presto agitato

In the summer of 1886 Brahms rented the top floor of a farmhouse near

Hofstetten, on picturesque Lake Thun in Switzerland. (Richard himself was

fortunate enough to experience the crystalline beauty of Lake Thun earlier this

year, as the Orchestra passed through Thun on their way to performances at

the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad.) It seems to have been a peaceful, productive

experience for Brahms, and he returned in the following two summers. Works

begun in his first visit include the second cello sonata, the Trio in C minor

Op.101 and two violin sonatas: Op.100 and the one on this program, Op.108.

His stay in 1887 brought forth the Ziegeunerlieder and the Double Concerto.

The next year unfortunately saw very little new music: Brahms was unsettled

and felt the area had become too touristy. The Violin Sonata No.3 begun in

1886 and completed in 1888 is a striking work, on a larger and more passionate

scale than its two more intimate companions in the genre. Unlike the other

violin sonatas (but rather like the symphonies) it is in four movements not

three. There is an interesting rumour that it is meant to be a character study

of its dedicatee, the conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow. If so, perhaps in

the music we really can glimpse those contemporary descriptions of him and

the ‘passionate intellectuality’ of his playing: ‘his restless, brilliant mind and

his reckless energy blow like a north wind, brisk and refreshing, through the

stagnant complacency of our everyday musical life’.

A more obvious link to Bülow is the virtuosity and outspoken nature of the

piano part. Of all Brahms’ sonatas, perhaps this is the one where the two

players form the most gracious partnership. There is however an overriding

sense of melancholy to the sonata – D minor is traditionally regarded as one of

the saddest keys. This work seems to seek to persuade rather than command.

The opening Allegro movement is a case in point. Rather than a dashing

display piece, ‘it starts with a great sigh and ends with an even greater one’, as

Peter Latham put it. The terrific principal theme is counterbalanced by a more

somber little motif of repeated notes. The use of syncopation adds tension.

The expansive nobility of the Adagio makes an immediate contrast. It offers

good opportunities for the kind of sweet expression for which Brahms’ friend

the violinist Joseph Joachim was notes. The Scherzo is remarkable for being

in duple rather than triple meter, and also for its rather anxious character.

The sentimentality called for in the movement heading allows the players to

indulge themselves in the harmonies. It was apparently Brahms’ friend and

correspondent Elisabeth von Herzogenberg who suggested the judicious use

of pizzicato.

The final Presto agitato is a bit gypsyish in flavour, with syncoptations

emphasizing its rhythmic strength. Some question-and-answer moments

between the piano and violin contrast with chorale-like passages that bring

to mind Brahms’ final Preludes, and allow the violin space in which to bloom

before the tragic climax.

The Sonata’s official premiere was given in Budapest on 22 December 1888.

The pianist was Brahms, and his partner was Jenö Hubay, a former student of

Joachim who himself would teach Szigeti and d’Aranyi.

All notes © Australian Chamber Orchestra, except Beethoven Sonata

© David Garrett.

Australian violinist, conductor and composer Richard Tognetti was born

in Canberra and raised in Wollongong. He has established an international

reputation for his compelling performances and artistic individualism.

He began his studies in his home town with William Primrose, then with Alice

Waten at the Sydney Conservatorium, and Igor Ozim at the Bern Conservatory,

where he was awarded the Tschumi Prize as the top graduate soloist in

1989. Later that year he led several performances of the Australian Chamber

Orchestra, and that November was appointed as the Orchestra’s lead violin

and, subsequently, Artistic Director. He is also Artistic Director of the Festival

Maribor in Slovenia.

Richard performs on period, modern and electric instruments and his

numerous arrangements, compositions and transcriptions have expanded

the chamber orchestra repertoire and been performed throughout the world.

As director or soloist, Richard has appeared with the Orchestra of the Age

of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music, Slovene Philharmonic

Orchestra, Handel & Haydn Society (Boston), Hong Kong Philharmonic,

Camerata Salzburg, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre

Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Nordic Chamber Orchestra and all of the

Australian symphony orchestras.

Richard was co-composer of the score for Peter Weir’s Master and Commander:

The Far Side of the World, starring Russell Crowe; he co-composed the

soundtrack to Tom Carroll’s surf film Horrorscopes; and created The Red

Tree, inspired by Shaun Tan’s book. He co-created and starred in the 2008

documentary film Musica Surfica.

Richard was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2010. He holds

honorary doctorates from three Australian universities and was made a

National Living Treasure in 1999. He performs on a 1743 Guarneri del Gesù

violin, lent to him by an anonymous Australian private benefactor.

He has given more than 2,500 performances with the Australian

Chamber Orchestra.

Chair sponsored by Michael Ball AM & Daria Ball, Wendy Edwards,

Prudence MacLeod, Andrew & Andrea Roberts.

Polina Leschenko was born in St Petersburg into a family of musicians and

began playing the piano under her father’s guidance at the age of six.

Two years later she performed with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra in

St. Petersburg.

In 1991 Polina moved with her family to Europe to continue her studies. At the

age of 12 Polina made her UK debut at the Barbican Hall in London playing

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5. She has gone on to perform in such venues

as Vienna’s Konzerthaus, the Salzburg Mozarteum, Concertgebouw, Carnegie

Hall, Lincoln Center, Philharmonie de Paris (formerly Cité de la Musique) and

the Sydney Opera House.

Polina Leschenko has worked with such orchestras as the Camerata Salzburg,

Hallé Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Scottish Chamber Orchestra,

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Bern Symphony

Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, I Pomeriggi Musicali, Orquesta de

Euskadi and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

An accomplished chamber musician, Polina Leschenko performs frequently at

many festivals, collaborating with such artists as Martha Argerich, Ivry Gitlis,

Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Ilya Gringolts, Julian Rachlin, Heinrich Schiff, Mischa

Maisky, Torleif Thedéen and the Auryn Quartet.

In 2003 Polina Leschenko recorded her debut CD for EMI Classics in the series

‘Martha Argerich presents. . . ’ with works by Liszt, Chopin, Kreisler/Rachmaninoff,

Brahms and Bach/Feinberg. She also recorded a disc of Prokofiev’s chamber

music with Martha Argerich, Christian Poltéra and Roby Lakatos and her all-

Liszt CD, including the B minor Sonata, was released to great critical acclaim.

Polina’s most recent recordings include Forgotten Melodies, Mendelssohn’s

Double Concerto with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Richard Tognetti,

and Dvorak’s Piano Quartet Op.87 as part of the Martha Argerich and Friends:

Live from the Lugano Festival 2012 series.

From 2009 to 2012, she held the position of International Chair in Piano at the

Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. Polina is currently Professor

of Piano at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp.


R ICH A R D T OGNE T T I V IOL IN

P OL IN A L E S CHENKOPI A NO


Photo by Mick Bruzzese Photo by Marco Borgreve


BOARD

Guido Belgiorno-Nettis AM

Chairman

Liz Lewin

Deputy

Bill Best

John Borghetti

Judith Crompton

Anthony Lee

Heather Ridout AO

Carol Schwartz AM

Julie Steiner

Andrew Stevens

John Taberner

Nina Walton

Peter Yates AM

Simon Yeo

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Richard Tognetti AO

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

Richard Evans

Managing Director

Jessica Block

Deputy General Manager

Alexandra Cameron-Fraser

Chief Operating Officer

Katie Henebery

Executive Assistant to Mr Evans &

Mr Tognetti AO

ARTISTIC & OPERATIONS

Luke Shaw

Head of Operations & Artistic Planning

Anna Melville

Artistic Administrator

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Tour Manager

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Touring & Production Coordinator

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Travel Coordinator

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Assistant Librarian

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Multimedia, Music Technology &

Artistic Assistant

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ACO Collective & ACO Virtual Manager

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Education Assistant

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Assistant Accountant

DEVELOPMENT

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ACO BEHIND T HE S CENE S


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We are extremely grateful for the support that we receive.

If you would like to make a donation or remember the ACO with a gift in your will, or would like to direct your support in

other ways, please contact Sally Crawford on 02 8274 3830 or [email protected]

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