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TRANSCRIPT
T O G N E T T I ’ S M O Z A R T
—2 0 1 0
N A T I O N A L C O N C E R T S E A S O N
NATIONAL TOUR PARTNER
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 3
SPEED READSchubert’s 15 string quartets include some of the best-loved examples of the form. The 12th, however, never got beyond one movement (now known as the Quartettsatz) — but it is a passionate and dramatic work well able to stand on its own. Written fi ve years after his previous Quartet, the Quartettsatz shows him abandoning Hausmusik in order to write music for professional musicians.
Franz Liszt wrote of Grieg’s G-minor Quartet, “It is a long time since I have encountered a new composition, especially a string quartet, which has intrigued me as greatly as this distinctive and admirable work by Grieg.” Grieg said that it “strives towards breadth, soaring fl ight and, above all, resonance for the instruments”.
Mozart wrote four violin concertos between June and December, 1775, in Salzburg, presumably for his own pleasure. They show a remarkable development through the set, as the 19-year-old composer tests out his voice in the new genre, and it’s with the third and fourth that he begins to hit his stride. This technically demanding work is understandably a popular showpiece for violinists.
Haydn’s so-called “storm and stress” period yielded some of his more famous symphonies, including those dubbed “Mercury”, the “Trauer-Symphonie” and the “Farewell”. No.46 is the next in the set — less well-known perhaps but in its drama and humour it is as Haydnesque as any of the others. He says he was “forced to become original”: that originality is evident in each of these striking symphonies.
TOUR ONE TOGNETTI’S MOZARTRICHARD TOGNETTIArtistic Director and Lead Violin
Th e Australian Chamber Orchestra reserves the right to alter scheduled
programs or artists as necessary.
NEWCASTLE
City Hall
Wed 3 Feb 7.30pm
WOLLONGONG
IPAC
Th u 4 Feb 7.30pm
CANBERRA
Llewellyn Hall
Sat 6 Feb 8pm
MELBOURNE
Hamer Hall
Sun 7 Feb 2.30pm
Mon 8 Feb 8pm
ADELAIDE
Town Hall
Tue 9 Feb 8pm
SYDNEY
Angel Place
Sat 13 Feb 8pm
Tue 16 Feb 8pm
Wed 17 Feb 7pm
BRISBANE
QPAC
Mon 15 Feb 8pm
SYDNEY
Opera House
Sun 21 Feb 2.30pm
Approximate durations (minutes):
9 • 26 • INTERVAL • 19 • 35
Th e concert will last approximately two hours including
interval.
SCHUBERT
Quartettsatz
MOZART
Violin Concerto No.4 in D major
INTERVAL
HAYDN
Symphony No.46 in B major
GRIEG arr. Tognetti)
String Quartet in G minor
Th e performance at Sydney Opera House will be fi lmed for promotional
purposes. If you would prefer not to be recognisable in the footage,
please email [email protected]
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 7
Franz Schubert(born Vienna, 1797 — died Vienna, 1828)
SCHUBERT
Quartet Movement (Quartettsatz)
in C minor, D703
(Composed 1820)
Allegro assai
Schubert was born, bred, lived and died in Vienna. As an
infant he took piano lessons from his brother Ignaz, but
young Franz quickly outstripped his elder brother and
proceeded to instruct himself. When Schubert was seven,
he was engaged to sing at the Imperial Chapel, and at the
age of eight he took up the violin and organ, and began
elementary lessons in the techniques of composition.
Schubert’s earliest surviving music dates from when he
was a young teenager, but it is clear that he had been
composing for as long as he had known what music was
(from the outset he was transfi xed by the music of Haydn
and Mozart).
As a schoolboy, Schubert was a high achiever across
the board, and it would be easy to assume that the
talented youngster was rather full of himself. On the
contrary, Schubert found it uncomfortable to receive
compliments, and he described fl attery as “downright
nauseating”. His friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner reported:
“Schubert’s outward appearance was anything but striking
or prepossessing. He was short of stature, with a full,
round face, and was rather stout. His forehead was very
beautifully domed. Because of his short-sightedness he
always wore spectacles, which he did not take off even
during sleep. Dress was a thing in which he took no
interest whatsoever.”
By 1820 Schubert had written music of the highest
quality for church and stage, as well as symphonies,
chamber music, and hundreds of songs. Yet the Quartet
Movement (or Quartettsatz) achieved new heights of
expression in Schubert’s output. Th is is partly because this
unfi nished Twelfth String Quartet had been conceived
for performance by professionals – Vienna boasted a rich
seam of amateur music-making, but this was scorned
ABOUT THE MUSIC
Further Reading and Listening
Of the many recordings of Schubert’s 15 string quartets, a very fi ne complete set is that made for Naxos by the Kodaly Quartet, in 7 CDs also including some smaller chamber works. The Quartettsatz appears on Volume One (8.550590) alongside the famous Death and the Maiden quartet.
Stephen Hefl ing’s Nineteenth-Century Chamber Music (Routledge, 2004) provides a good contextual overview of the period in which both Schubert and Grieg fl ourished. The major Schubert biography is by Brian Newbould, entitled Schubert: The Music and the Man (California UP, 1997), while an excellent shorter (and illustrated) ‘life’ is Peggy Woodford’s Schubert (Midas, 1978). An excellent set of essays on all aspects of his work can be found in The Cambridge Companion to Schubert, edited by Christopher Howard Gibbs (Cambridge UP, 1997).
8 AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
in professional circles as trivial at best, and artistically
harmful at worst.
Th e surviving Quartet Movement is remarkably self-
contained – its introduction and coda are the same, and
the working out of the sonata-form material is as coherent
and dramatically satisfying as anything that Schubert
wrote.
Th ere is a masculine urgency to the fi rst subject, which
is perfectly complemented by the serene feminine
second subject. But this achingly lovely second subject is
banished by an impassioned interruption that verges on
the savage.
Th ere is a clear autobiographical program here – the love
of Schubert’s life had just married someone else: “I loved
someone very dearly, and she loved me too. She was not
exactly pretty and her face had pock-marks; but she had a
heart of gold. For three years she hoped I would marry her;
but I could not fi nd a position that would have provided
for us both. She then bowed to her parents’ wishes and
married another, which hurt me very much.”
Th e Neapolitan harmonies and wistful sequences that
characterize the Quartet Movement come straight from
Schubert’s heart. Th e string quartet remained unfi nished,
and Schubert’s love remained unrequited. Th e movement
stands alone, emerging from within the string quartet
genre but struggling to create something larger, more
universal. Tonight’s arrangement of the music for string
orchestra recognises that musical and personal struggle,
and transports this heartfelt emotional utterance from the
salon to the concert hall.
ACO Performance History
Schubert’s Quartettsatz makes its entry into the ACO’s repertoire to join the ‘Death and the Maiden’ quartet (fi rst performed by the ACO in 1987 in its Gustav Mahler adaptation) and Quartet in G minor, D887.
Coda (literally, ‘tail’) is the passage at the end of a movement of music which brings it to its conclusion. It can be very short or extremely drawn-out.
Sonata form This favourite form of 18th and 19th century composers is typically heard as the first movement of symphonies, concertos and, of course, sonatas. In essence it’s a way of structuring the melodic and harmonic material into a coherent musical argument. Most sonata form movements fall into three parts: an Exposition, where two contrasting tunes (in different keys) are introduced one after the other (sometimes this whole section is repeated), a Development section where the material is freely manipulated, a Recapitulation where the tunes are again heard in order and now in the same key. Sometimes a coda rounds things out.
Schubert transformed our understanding of the art song, but in life he was considered largely a domestic composer; indeed, he was a master of all forms of chamber music. His fame increased after his premature death, however, and he is now one of the most highly regarded of composers.
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 9
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(born Salzburg, 1756 — died Vienna, 1791)
MOZART
Violin Concerto No.4 in D major, K218
(Composed 1775)
Allegro
Andante cantabile
Rondeau; Andante grazioso –
Allegro ma non troppo
1756 had been a noteworthy year in the Mozart household.
Not only did it witness Wolfgang’s birth, but it was also
the year in which Mozart’s father, Leopold, published his
celebrated violin tutor (A Treatise on the Fundamental
Principles of Violin Playing). Although the young Mozart
is indelibly associated with the piano – because of our
image of the child prodigy touring Europe at the keyboard,
and the existence of over twenty piano concertos – the
violin was Mozart’s father’s instrument and the instrument
to which Mozart fi rst turned in earnest when writing
concertos. (Of the fi ve piano concertos that pre-date the
violin concertos, four are arrangements of solo keyboard
works by other composers, and the fi fth was conceived as
an organ concerto.)
Mozart had played the violin well since he was very young
indeed, as an observation from Mozart’s eighth year
illustrates. “One or two days later, I came to see him again,
and found him amusing himself with his own violin. He
thought a moment, and said to me: ‘Herr Schachtner, your
violin is tuned an eighth of a tone lower than mine, if you
left it tuned as it was last time I played it’. ”
Needless to say, the seven-year-old proved to be correct,
and went on to be appointed leader of the Salzburg Court
Orchestra by the time he was fourteen. Mozart did not
shrink from boasting about his excellence as a violinist
(“I played as if I was the fi nest fi ddler in all Europe”), egged
on by the approval of his doting father (“You yourself
do not know how well you play the violin”). His fi rst try
at a violin concerto (K207) most likely dates from 1773,
but in a typically manic burst of creativity, Mozart wrote
four more violin concertos between June and December
1775. Th ese four concertos (K211, 216, 218, and 219) were
the main musical output of the closing months of the
composer’s teenage years and were designed primarily to
show off Mozart’s technique as a player. Th e orchestration
of the concertos was the standard Austrian confi guration
of the time: string orchestra augmented by a pair of oboes
and a pair of horns (by now the use of a keyboard within
ACO Performance History
It seems appropriate that the fi rst concert of a new season should be a program made up largely with ‘fi rsts’. With the exception of the Mozart Concerto the Orchestra has not performed any of the works before.
The exception is a fi rst also, however, Richard Tognetti not having performed it in a Subscription Concert before.
Mozart’s 4th Violin Concerto has been performed only once by the Orchestra, in 1993 when Richard Tognetti directed the Orchestra for soloist Thomas Zehetmair.
Mozart was the single greatest composer of the Classical period and remains one of music’s foremost geniuses. A master both of the highbrow and the common touch, he has delighted audiences and inspired performers from his time until now.
10 AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
“You yourself do not know how well you play the violin.”
LEOPOLD MOZART
Further Reading and Listening
For a defi nitive collection of the Mozart Violin Concertos we suggest you hold fi re and keep an eye on BIS Records (www.bis.se) who will be releasing the complete set featuring Richard Tognetti and the ACO during the next 12 months. As soon as they’re released they will also be available from aco.com.au/shop
An excellent survey of the fi rst part of Mozart’s life (including the composition of the Violin Concertos) is Stanley Sadie’s Mozart: The Early Years 1756—1781 (Oxford UP, 2006); for a more gargantuan overview try Maynard Solomon’s 640-page opus Mozart: a life (Harper, 1996).
the orchestra was redundant). But unusual and unexpected
features had begun to creep into Mozart’s music, and
these idiosyncrasies were not wholly appreciated by the
conservative Salzburg public.
Th e form of the fi rst movement strikes us now as
attractively capricious, in that sometimes material from
the exposition is developed as expected, but sometimes
not. Th is apparent disrespect for classical form was
perceived in Salzburg as wilful rather than eccentric.
After the orchestral introduction, the lilting second
movement is a vehicle for the hypnotic soloist who,
once entered, has virtually no rests until the end of the
movement, which itself sets the stage for the end of the
concerto. Th is fi nal, third movement is straight out
of Haydn – quirky and gypsy-like, with drones, mock-
serious passages, and dramatic silences; it is collage-like,
ultimately optimistic, and culminates in a cheekily quiet
ending.
Leopold Mozart
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 11
Franz Joseph Haydn(born Rohrau, 1732 — died Vienna, 1809)
HAYDN
Symphony No.46 in B major
(Composed 1772)
Vivace
Poco Adagio
Menuetto – Allegretto
Finale – Presto e Scherzando
Haydn was famously unhappy following his dismissal from
the choir of St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. Haydn’s
voice broke when he was seventeen, and the young
musician was condemned to work as a music teacher,
a living that he despised. “For eight whole years I was
forced to eke out a wretched existence by teaching young
people. Many geniuses are ruined by this miserable daily
bread, because they lack time to study. Th is could well
have happened to me; I would never have achieved what
little I have done, had I not carried on with my zeal for
composition during the night.”
Eventually Haydn’s hard work paid off , and he was
appointed director of music to Count Morzin (for whom
Haydn wrote most of his earliest symphonies), and
thereafter to the court of the rich and infl uential Prince
Nicolaus Esterházy. In the late 1760s and early 1770s,
Haydn’s orchestral works assumed an air of dark caprice
that characterised the composer’s so-called Sturm und
Drang (‘Storm and Stress’) period. Th is ‘romantic crisis’
in Haydn’s output was identifi ed a century ago, at a time
when the chronology of Haydn’s works was imperfectly
understood. In fact, the play that bore the title Sturm und
Drang was not written until 1776, by which time Haydn
had turned his own stylistic corner in order to follow
a path that led away from this Counter-Enlightenment
movement. Whether the term Sturm und Drang is useful
or not, the music of Haydn’s late thirties was idiosyncratic
and powerfully persuasive. “My Prince was always satisfi ed
with my works; I not only had the encouragement of
constant approval, but as conductor of an orchestra I could
make experiments, observe what produced an eff ect and
what weakened it, and was thus in a position to improve,
alter, make additions or omissions, and be as bold as I
pleased. I was cut off from the world, there was no one
to confuse or torment me, and I was forced to become
original.”
Th e B-major Symphony (written in 1772 for performance
at Eszterháza) is the only substantial surviving work by
ACO Performance History
Haydn Symphonies have held a major place in the ACO’s concerts, from the fi rst in 1975 when the Orchestra’s inaugural concert included Symphony No.90 in C major. Since that time the ACO has performed no less than 34 of Haydn’s Symphonies in various concerts all over the world. Although most of the Symphonies between No.42 and No.49 have been played, strangely tonight’s work was missed in that sequence.
Haydn was hugely prolifi c and highly infl uential, his output encompassing almost every form of music, sometimes to an extreme degree (over 100 symphonies, over 60 string quartets). The link in the chain between Bach and Mozart, the Classical era would be unimaginable without him.
12 AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Further Reading and Listening
The Sturm und Drang symphonies have been repeatedly recorded – a good set is that by Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert (Archiv 463731).
Endless words have been written about Haydn’s life, many of them in H.C. Robbins Landon’s staggering 5-volume Haydn: Chronicle and Works (Thames and Hudson, 1976–80). A more portable handbook is The Cambridge Companion to Haydn, edited by Caryl Clark (Cambridge UP, 2005). Charles Rosen’s The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (Norton, 1998) is one of the major works on the overall period.
Haydn in that key – B major was unusual for the time,
and is one of many hallmarks stamped onto the symphony
that underlines its Sturm und Drang nature. Other
features of this style – all of which are evident in this work
– are the use of a loud unison opening theme followed
by a sudden quiet continuation; an increased use of
dynamics, particularly the crescendo; the use of silence
as a dramatic device; bold reliance on counterpoint; and
a fi ercely intense and original use of the instruments of
the orchestra (the occasionally screamingly high horn
parts are a particularly audible Haydnesque fi ngerprint).
Haydn’s aim is to present dramatic music that is by turns
tempestuous, quirky, and humorous. What marks Haydn
out as a symphonic composer of genius is that, for all the
volatility and unpredictability of his musical ideas, there is
an inevitability about the working out of each of the four
movements. Haydn’s sobriquet ‘Father of the Symphony’ is
well deserved.
Prince Nicolaus Esterházy
“My Prince was always satisfi ed with my works; I had the encouragement of constant approval…”
HAYDN
Counterpoint is the art of combining two different but simultaneous melodic lines — anybody who has ever sung a descant to Happy Birthday has improvised their own counterpoint.
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 13
GRIEG
String Quartet in G minor, Op.27
(Composed 1877–8)
Arr. Tognetti
Un poco Andante – Allegro molto ed agitato
Romanze
Intermezzo
Finale
Grieg lived at an important time in his country’s history.
Norway’s four-hundred-year union with Denmark had
ceased in 1814, just thirty years before Grieg was born. An
urban, middle-class Norwegian family, such as the one in
which Edvard Grieg grew up, still looked to Denmark for
its cultural and linguistic anchors. When he was fi fteen,
the budding composer met the charismatic virtuoso
violinist Ole Bull, who insisted that Grieg be sent to the
Leipzig Conservatory for his musical education, although
Grieg complained bitterly about his early instruction
for the rest of his life. Grieg’s attitude to his formative
professional training was, frankly, churlish. Certainly
the teenager did not see eye to eye with his fi rst piano
teacher at the Leipzig Conservatory, but after a year the
opinionated prodigy was allowed to transfer to the class
of Ernst Wenzel (who had known Schumann as a close
personal friend), thence to the class of the legendary
Moscheles, and latterly to study composition with Carl
Reinecke, who steered Grieg’s tortuous path through
the writing of his earliest string quartet (now, perhaps
fortunately, lost). Scathing though Grieg may have been
about the allegedly pedantic and reactionary teaching that
he received in Germany, this early sojourn in continental
Europe forced the immature composer to acquire a solid,
Austro-German technique on which to graft his individual
voice.
Grieg returned to his home town of Bergen shortly before
his nineteenth birthday; there he started seriously to
seek out specifi cally Norwegian culture, rather than that
of Denmark with which he had been brought up. In the
summer of 1864, Grieg renewed his acquaintance with Ole
Bull: “He played for me the trollish Norwegian melodies
that so strongly fascinated me, and awakened the desire to
have them as the basis for my own melodies. He opened
my eyes to the beauty and originality in Norwegian music.
Th rough him I became acquainted with many forgotten
folk songs, and above all, with my own nature.”
Edvard Grieg(born Bergen, 1843 — died Bergen, 1907)
ACO Performance History
The ACO’s repertoire has been enlarged with its performances of adaptations of string quartets, the earliest being in 1976 with Felix Weingartner’s arrangement of Verdi’s E minor String Quartet played at the Adelaide Festival conducted by Neville Marriner. Grieg’s String Quartet now joins no less than 14 other works the ACO has made its own, in their string orchestra versions. From 1991 when the Janácek Kreutzer Sonata Quartet was fi rst played by the Orchestra, Quartet adaptations have been regular inclusions in ACO concert programs.
Grieg is Norway’s greatest composer, and the fi rst to imbue western classical music with a native Nordic sensibility. Great friends with the Australian Percy Grainger, works such as his Piano Concerto and the Holberg Suite are known and loved the world over.
14 AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Having discovered his roots, the 1870s were a musical
melting-pot for Grieg. In 1873 he attempted to write a fully
Norwegian opera, and a year later he was invited by Ibsen
to provide the music for the epic Peer Gynt. In 1876, Grieg
visited Bayreuth and witnessed the première of Wagner’s
Ring cycle. In the following winter, Grieg added a second
piano part to four of Mozart’s piano sonatas, an act which
might now be considered both tasteless and arrogant, but
which became an important landmark for Grieg’s self-
discipline as a composer. In the summer of 1877, when
Grieg was in his mid-thirties, he rented a house in Lofthus
on the Hardanger Fjord. Th ere he erected a ‘composing
hut’, and the breathtaking scenery of Western Norway was
the backdrop against which the G-minor String Quartet
was sketched: “Th ere is something that I must do for the
sake of my art. Day by day I am becoming more dissatisfi ed
with myself. It is enough to make one lose one’s mind –
but I know well enough what the problem is. It’s lack of
practice, because I have never got beyond composing by
fi ts and starts. But that is going to end. I am going to fi ght
my way through the large musical forms, cost what it may.
If I go mad in the process, now you know why.”
Far from driving Grieg mad, the composition of the
G-minor String Quartet announced the arrival of the
composer’s artistic maturity. Th ere is an autobiographical
element that runs throughout Grieg’s only surviving
complete string quartet. Grieg had in mind a poem by
Ibsen, “Minstrels”, which describes the lovelorn musings
of a musician as he walks beside a stream on a summer
evening. Th e theme that represents the musician of the
poem is heard at the very start of the quartet, fi rst slowly
and with great portent, and thereafter as the quartet’s
dreamier second subject.
Right from the start of the fi rst movement, the G-minor
String Quartet startles the listener with its Nordic
boldness. Grieg was determined to prove that he could
write a convincing large-scale sonata-form movement
– although the second subject, for instance, is preceded
by one of the most self-conscious general pauses in the
history of the form. Th ere is little in the rest of the quartet
that is any less self-absorbed. Th e mood of the serene,
waltz-like second movement is rocked by the appearance
of the musician’s theme, and the third movement opens
with the theme stated in capital letters. Th e middle section
of the third movement features a repeated fugato passage,
every bit as pedantic as one imagines Grieg’s fugue lessons
to have been when he was a student in Leipzig. Th e musician’s
theme, again, opens the fourth movement, this time in
Sonata form (See page 8)
Fugato means, simply, ‘in the style of a fugue’ — so, not a fully-formed fugue, but a passage of music in that fashion.
A Fugue is the most sophisticated form of counterpoint (see page 15) where several melodic lines (or ‘voices’) imitate each other and then expand on the theme according to a set of rules. Although its earliest development was in improvised music (eg the fugues of Bach, many of which are thought to have been improvised on the spot at the organ) it is a technique that now forms part of all compositional teaching.
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 15
refl ective mode; this mood quickly gives way to music that is
heavily infused with ‘trollish’ cavorting. Th is last movement
is assured and idiosyncratic; one of Grieg’s most impressive
musical constructions: “I have recently written a string quartet,
which I still haven’t heard. It is in G minor and is not intended
to bring trivialities to market. It strives towards breadth,
soaring fl ight and, above all, resonance for the instruments.”
Certainly the quartet is in no way trivial. And certainly it has
breadth: its gestures soar, and it is instrumentally resonant.
Th ese full textures proved problematic, in that Grieg’s
normally supportive publisher regarded the piece as too
orchestral and initially refused to publish the work. Th is
concert’s solution is to make a virtue out of that supposed
defect by scoring the work for string orchestra, in which
version the rich textures become more credibly part of a
larger ensemble.
Further Reading and Listening
Grieg started (but never fi nished) a second string quartet: you can hear a speculative completion of it, alongside a terrifi c recording of the G-minor Quartet, played by the Chilingirian Quartet on Hyperion Records (CDH55299).
Grieg also left behind him a fascinating array of personal documents which shed much light on his life and music. Of particular interest are his Letters to Colleagues and Friends, collected and edited by Finn Benestad (Peer Gynt Press, 2000) and his Diaries, Articles and Speeches, also edited by Benestad (Peer Gynt Press, 2001).
Minstrels (Spillemænd)
My thoughts were with her every summer-light night, but the path led to the river in the bedewed alder thicket.
Hey, if you knew terror and songs, you could bewitch the beautiful one’s mind, so that in great churches and halls she would think to follow you!
I conjured the water-sprite from the deep; he played to me straight from God; but by the time I had become his master, she was my brother’s bride.
In great churches and halls I play by myself, and the sprite’s terror and songs are never out of my mind.
HENRIK IBSEN
English translation © BERYL FOSTER 2008
Beryl Foster is the author of Th e Songs of Edvard Grieg (Scolar Press,
1990; revised edition Boydell & Brewer, 2007). Ms Foster is Vice
President of the International Grieg Society (www.griegsociety.org)
and Chairman of Th e Grieg Society of Great Britain (griegsociety.
co.uk). www.berylfoster.com
“I have recently written a string quartet, which I still haven’t heard.
GRIEG
PROGRAM NOTES BY JEREMY SUMMERLY © 2010
Jeremy Summerly is the Sterndale Bennett Lecturer in Music at the
Royal Academy of Music, London.
20 AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
RICHARD TOGNETTIARTISTIC DIRECTOR, ACO
Australian violinist and conductor Richard Tognetti has
established an international reputation for his compelling
performances and artistic individualism. He studied at
the Sydney Conservatorium with Alice Waten, in his
home town of Wollongong with William Primrose, and
at the Berne Conservatory (Switzerland) with Igor Ozim,
where he was awarded the Tschumi Prize as the top
graduate soloist in 1989. Later that year he returned to
lead several performances of the ACO, and in November
was appointed as Leader. He was subsequently appointed
Artistic Director of the Orchestra.
Tognetti performs on period, modern and electric
instruments. His numerous arrangements, compositions
and transcriptions have expanded the chamber orchestra
repertoire and been performed throughout the world.
As a soloist Richard Tognetti has appeared on many
occasions with the ACO and with the major Australian
symphonies, including the Australian premiere of Ligeti’s
Violin Concerto with the Sydney Symphony in 1998.
He has collaborated with colleagues from across various
art forms and artistic styles, including Joseph Tawadros,
Dawn Upshaw, James Crabb, Emmanuel Pahud, actor
Jack Th ompson, singers Peter Garrett, Neil Finn, Tim
Freedman and Paul Capsis, photographer Bill Henson and
poet/cartoonist Michael Leunig. He is currently Artistic
Director of the Maribor Festival: the fi rst festival under
his leadership was held in September 2008 and featured
collaborations with European and Australian musicians
and the European premiere of Luminous.
A passionate advocate for music education, Tognetti
established the ACO’s Education and Emerging Artists
programs in 2005 and toured regional Australia with a
concert based on the inspiring documentary fi lm, Musica
Surfi ca (recently awarded at surf fi lm festivals in the USA,
France, South Africa and Brazil).
Richard Tognetti 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, made available exclusively to him by an
anonymous Australian private benefactor.
‘Richard Tognetti is one of the most characterful, incisive and impassioned violinists to be heard today.’THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (UK)
Select Discography
As soloist:
BACH Sonatas for Violin and KeyboardABC Classics 476 5942
2008 ARIA Award WinnerBACH Violin ConcertosABC Classics 476 5691
2007 ARIA Award WinnerBACH Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas
ABC Classics 476 80512006 ARIA Award Winner
(All three releases available as a 5CD Box set: ABC Classics 476 6168)
Musica Surfi ca (DVD)Best Feature, New York Surf Film Festival
As director:
VIVALDI Flute Concertos, Op.10Emmanuel Pahud, FluteEMI Classics 0946 3 47212 2 6Grammy Nominee
PIAZZOLLA Song of the AngelChandos CHAN 10163
ScenesFeaturing music by Corelli, Bach, Elgar, Mahler, Rodrigo and SibeliusSony SK63160
All available from aco.com.au/shop
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 21
‘Listening to the Australian Chamber Orchestra is like taking a swig of a vitamin drink. Suddenly: pow! The music certainly feels stronger, muscled, hot from the gym… If that’s what Australia does for you, I’m also emigrating.’
THE TIMES
Select Discography
Bach Violin ConcertosABC 476 5691
Vivaldi Flute Concertoswith Emmanuel PahudEMI 3 47212 2
Bach Keyboard Concertoswith Angela HewittHyperion SACDA 67307/08
Tango Jamwith James CrabbMulberry Hill MHR C001
Song of the AngelMusic of Astor Piazzollawith James CrabbChandos Chan 10163
Sculthorpe: works for string orchestra including Irkanda I, Djilile and Cello DreamingChandos Chan 10063
Giuliani Guitar Concertowith John WilliamsSony SK 63385
Scenes: music by Corelli, Rodrigo, Beethoven, SibeliusSony SK 63160
These and more ACO recordings are available from our online shop: aco.com.au/shop or by calling 1800 444 444.
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRARICHARD TOGNETTI, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Th e Australian Chamber Orchestra was founded by John
Painter in 1975. Every year, this ensemble presents
performances of the highest standard to audiences around
the world, including 10,000 subscribers across Australia.
Th e ACO’s unique artistic style encompasses not only the
masterworks of the classical repertoire, but innovative
cross-artform projects and a vigorous commissioning
program.
Richard Tognetti was appointed Lead Violin in 1989
and subsequently appointed Artistic Director. Under his
inspiring leadership, the ACO has performed as a fl exible
and versatile ‘ensemble of soloists’, on modern and period
instruments, as a small chamber group, a small symphony
orchestra, and as an electro-acoustic collective. In a nod to
past traditions, only the cellists are seated – the resulting
sense of energy and individuality is one of the most
commented-upon elements of an ACO concert experience.
Several of the ACO’s principal musicians perform with
spectacularly fi ne instruments. Tognetti performs on a
priceless 1743 Guarneri del Gesù, on loan to him from an
anonymous Australian benefactor. Principal Cello Timo-Veikko
Valve plays on a 1729 Giuseppe Guarneri fi lius Andreæ cello,
also on loan from an anonymous benefactor, and Principal
Second Violin Helena Rathbone plays a 1759 J.B. Guadagnini
violin on loan from the Commonwealth Bank Group.
Regular international tours to Asia, Europe and the USA have
drawn outstanding reviews for the ACO’s performances
at many of the world’s prestigious concert halls, including
Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, London’s Wigmore Hall,
New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Vienna’s
Musikverein, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall and Washington
DC’s Kennedy Center.
In recent years, the ACO has made critically-acclaimed
recordings for labels including Sony, BIS, Hyperion, EMI,
ABC Classics, Chandos and Orfeo. Th ese recordings include
Bach’s Keyboard Concertos with Angela Hewitt, Vivaldi’s
Flute Concertos with Emmanuel Pahud and Bach’s Violin
Concertos with Richard Tognetti, which won the ACO its
second ARIA award. Th e ACO also features in the television
series Classical Destinations II.
In 2005, the ACO inaugurated an ambitious national Education
Program, with outreach activities and mentoring programs for
outstanding young musicians, and the formation of ACO2,
an elite training orchestra, which tours regional centres. For
more information visit aco.com.au/education-programs.
22 AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
MUSICIANS Photos: Tanja Ahola
ALICE EVANSViolinChair sponsored by Jan Bowen, Jo McKenzie
& Scott Davies, and Th e Sandgropers
ILYA ISAKOVICHViolinChair sponsored by Melbourne Community
Foundation – Connie & Craig Kimberley Fund
MARK INGWERSENViolinChair sponsored by Runge
CAROLINE HENBESTGuest Principal Viola
MAXIME BIBEAUPrincipal BassChair sponsored by John Taberner &
Grant Lang
NICOLE DIVALLViolaChair sponsored by Ian & Nina Lansdown
TIMOVEIKKO VALVEPrincipal CelloChair Sponsored by Mr Peter Weiss AM
MELISSA BARNARDCelloChair sponsored by Th e Bruce & Joy Reid
Foundation
RICHARD TOGNETTIArtistic Director and Lead ViolinChair sponsored by Michael Ball AM &
Daria Ball, Joan Clemenger, Wendy Edwards,
Prudence MacLeod
SATU VÄNSKÄAssistant LeaderViolinChair sponsored by Robert & Kay Bryan
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 23
MUSICIANS
BOARD
Guido Belgiorno-Nettis AM(Chairman)
Angus James
(Deputy Chairman)
Ken Allen AM
Bill Best
Glen Boreham
Liz Cacciottolo
Chris Froggatt
Brendan Hopkins
Philip Latham
Christine Rothauser
Tony Shepherd
Peter Yates
MANAGEMENT
EXECUTIVE OFFICE
William A Gillespie OAMGeneral Manager
Jessica BlockDeputy General Manager and Development
Manager
Michelle Kerr
Executive Assistant to
Messrs Gillespie and Tognetti
ARTISTIC
Richard TognettiArtistic Director
Michael StevensArtistic Administrator
FINANCE
Steve Davidson Chief Financial Offi cer
Shyleja PaulAssistant Accountant
DEVELOPMENT
Kate BilsonEvents Manager
Alana ClarkeDevelopment Executive
Lillian ArmitagePatrons Manager
Laura Milner
Patrons Administrator
Liz D’Olier
Development Coordinator
OPERATIONS
Damien LowArtistic Operations
Manager
Gabriel van AalstOrchestra Manager
Erin McNamara
Deputy Orchestra Manager
Vicki Stanley
Education and Emerging Artists Manager
Amandine PetitLibrarian
Sarah ConolanEducation and Operations Assistant
MARKETING
Georgia RiversMarketing Manager
Rosie RotheryMarketing Coordinator
Chris Griffi thBox Offi ce Manager
Mary Stielow
National Publicist
Dean Watson
Customer Relations Manager
Olivia ArtigasOffi ce Administrator and Marketing Assistant
INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
Martin KeenSystems and Technology Manager
Emmanuel EspinasNetwork Infrastructure
Engineer
ARCHIVES
John HarperArchivist
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
ABN 45 001 335 182
Australian Chamber
Orchestra Pty Ltd is a not for profi t company registered in NSW.
In Person:Opera Quays,
2 East Circular Quay,
Sydney NSW 2000
By Mail:
PO Box R21, Royal
Exchange NSW 1225
Telephone: (02) 8274 3800
Facsimile: (02) 8274 3801
Box Offi ce:
1800 444 444
Email: [email protected]
aco.com.au
BEHIND THE SCENES
Players dressed by
AKIRA ISOGAWA
ZOË BLACKViolin
MADELEINE BOUDViolinChair sponsored by Terry Campbell AO &
Christine Campbell
MYEE CLOHESSY Violin
VERONIQUE SERRETViolin
PAUL WRIGHT *Violin
JACQUELINE CRONIN Viola
DANIEL YEADONCello
ANNA STARRPrincipal Oboe
JOEL RAYMONDOboe
JANE GOWERPrincipal Bassoon
ANNEKE SCOTTPrincipal Horn
KATHRIN WILLINERHorn
* Courtesy of ANAM teaching faculty
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 33
Th e ACO receives around 50% of its income from the box offi ce, 35% from the business
community and private donors and less than 15% from government sources. Th e private
sector plays a key role in the continued growth and artistic development of the Orchestra.
We are proud of the relationships we have developed with each of our partners and would like
to acknowledge their generous support.
ACO PARTNERS
FOUNDING PARTNERFOUNDING PARTNER
NATIONAL TOUR PARTNERS
PRINCIPAL INNOVATION PARTNER
NATIONAL TOUR PARTNERS
OFFICIAL PARTNERS
PERTH SERIES AND WA REGIONAL TOUR PARTNER
QLD/NSW REGIONAL TOUR PARTNER
CONCERT AND SERIES PARTNERS
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT ACCOMMODATION AND EVENT SUPPORT
BILSON’S RESTAURANT BAR CUPOLASWEENEY RESEARCH
Department of the Arts, Sport and Recreation
34 AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
STACCATO: ACO NEWS
PROFILE: JOHN AND PATTI DAVIDJohn and Patti David’s discovery of the ACO was
a step by step journey.
During the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s
John and Patti David were Qantas Frequent Flyers.
When they disembarked in Asia, Europe or USA
they were given CDs. Richard Tognetti’s recordings
were amongst those CDs they most enjoyed.
Th e Davids’ longstanding friends, Daria and
Michael Ball, invited them to attend a Bowral
performance by the ACO. Imagine their
excitement that night when they discovered
Richard Tognetti was the Artistic Director and
Lead Violin of the ACO!
Over many years, John and Patti have supported
talented young Australians involved in music,
sport and literature. Th ey have received great
satisfaction in watching them mature into
wonderful ambassadors for our country. In recent
years they have supported the ACO’s Emerging
Artists. Patti says:
“Once we understood the earnestness of the ACO
Emerging Artists Program and saw for ourselves
the enrichment the ACO gave to rural children,
how could we not be moved? To repeat the words
of Richard Tognetti, ‘wouldn’t it be wonderful if
every child had access to music education?’ ”
John and Patti David hosted a private
performance in their home in November 2009
inviting their guests to support the ACO. We
are truly grateful for their constant support.
John and Patti David
For more information about donating to the ACO, please phone Lillian Armitage on
(02) 8274 3835 or email [email protected]
Peter Yates, Shannon Bennett and Richard Tognetti
Santo Cilauro, Morena Buffon and Andrew Myer
2009 MELBOURNE EVENT
On Wednesday 28 October 2009, Richard
Tognetti and Kerry Gardner hosted a private
event at “Cranlana”, the Myer family’s historic
Melbourne home. Guests were treated to an
exclusive private performance by an ACO
quartet, led by Richard Tognetti, with repertoire
crafted specially for the occasion. Celebrity chef
Shannon Bennett of Vue de Monde created
a spectacular three-course meal, which was
accompanied by Ruinart champagne and Cape
Mentelle wines, provided by Moet Hennessy
Australia.
Th e ACO’s Spring Soirée was a sell out event.
Over $90,000 was raised from the night’s
activities, which will directly support the ACO’s
2010 Trans-Atlantic Tour.
Th e ACO would like to thank presenting partner
Tiff any & Co. and all of our 2010 Trans-Atlantic
tour patrons for their generous support.
Australian Chamber Orchestra’s Spring Soirée – presented by Tiff any & Co.
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 35
STACCATO: ACO NEWS
Wesfarmers’ association with the Australian Chamber Orchestra
goes back a long way. Twelve years after we fi rst worked together
to bring this wonderful orchestra to Perth on a regular basis,
we are now delighted to be able to help the ACO reach out into
our regional communities in Western Australia. In its fi rst ever
regional tour through Western Australia, ACO2 will perform in
seven important regional centres across our state – bringing
Australia’s fi nest musicians into our community halls and creating
once-in-a lifetime opportunities for young people in our regional
areas to hear and enjoy classes with some of this country’s most
talented and inspirational artists.
It is a privilege and a joy to support the tremendous work of the
ACO. We hope you and your family enjoy all that this world-class
orchestra has to off er both city and country audiences alike in 2010.
Richard Goyder
Managing Director
Wesfarmers
36 AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
STACCATO: ACO NEWS
GIFT CERTIFICATESStuck for the perfect present? Why not give the music-lover in your life their choice of ACO concerts
or recordings? Gift certifi cates can be purchased and redeemed at aco.com.au/gift-certifi cates or
by calling 1800 444 444.
MERCHANDISE
AWARDS: MUSICA SURFICAIn recent months, the
fi lm Musica Surfi ca
has won the following
awards:
• Best Feature at the
New York Surf
Film Festival
• Best Adventure Film
at the San Francisco
Ocean Film Festival
• Best Film and Best
Soundtrack at the
Festival de Surf St
Jean de Luz, France
• Best Film at the Wavescape/Durban Film Festival,
South Africa
• Best Film at the Brasil FestivAlma Surf
Available now in the foyer and at
aco.com.au/shop or by phoning 02 8274 3800.
NEW DVD: LUMINOUSRecorded live at the State Th eatre in
Sydney, Luminous features the ACO,
Richard Tognetti, Katie Noonan and
the photographs of Bill Henson.
NEW CD: BAROQUE TROMBONEChristian Lindberg bought his
fi rst sackbut 30 years ago with
the hope of one day recording
a baroque program. Now the
opportunity to do so has arrived–
largely due to Lindberg’s
encounter with Richard Tognetti and the Australian
Chamber Orchestra. On this recording Lindberg and
ACO players Richard Tognetti, Helena Rathbone,
Timo-Veikko Valve, Maxime Bibeau and Neal Peres
Da Costa perform sonatas and canzonas by Biber,
Frescobaldi and Dario Castello.