CONCERT PROGRAMME
2016/17 SEASON
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The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) gave its inaugural performance at Dewan
Filharmonik PETRONAS (DFP) on 17 August 1998. The MPO today comprises musicians
from 24 countries, including 7 from Malaysia, a remarkable example of harmony among
different cultures and nationalities.
A host of internationally-acclaimed musicians has worked with the MPO, including Lorin
Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Yehudi Menuhin, Joshua Bell, Harry Connick Jr., José Carreras,
Andrea Bocelli and Branford Marsalis, many of whom have praised the MPO for its fine
musical qualities and vitality.
With each new season, the MPO continues to present a varied programme of orchestral
music drawn from over three centuries, as well as the crowd-pleasing concert series.
Its versatility transcends genres, from classical masterpieces to film music, pop, jazz,
contemporary and commissioned works.
The MPO regularly performs at major cities of Malaysia. Internationally, it has showcased
its virtuosity to audiences in Singapore (1999, 2001 and 2005), Korea (2001), Australia
(2004), China (2006), Taiwan (2007), Japan (2001 and 2009) and Vietnam (2013). Its
Education and Outreach Programme, ENCOUNTER, reaches beyond the concert platform
to develop musical awareness, appreciation and skills through dedicated activities that
include instrumental lessons, workshops and school concerts. ENCOUNTER also presents
memorable events in such diverse venues as orphanages, hospitals, rehabilitation centres
and community centres.
The MPO’s commitment to furthering musical interest in the nation has been the creation
of the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (MPYO). It gave its inaugural concert at
DFP on 25 August 2007, followed by a tour in Peninsular Malaysia. It has performed in
Sabah and Sarawak (2008), Singapore (2009), Brisbane, Australia (2012), Kedah (2013) and
Johore Bahru (2014).
As it celebrates its 18th anniversary in 2016, the MPO remains steadfast in its mission
to share the depth, power and beauty of great music. The MPO’s main benefactor is
PETRONAS and its patron is Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah Haji Mohd Ali.
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Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra
Sat 4 Mar 2017
Sun 5 Mar 2017
8.30 pm
3.00 pm
p. 4
Radek Baborák, conductor/horn
BACH
GLIÈRE
BACH
DVOŘÁK
Brandenburg Concerto No. 1
Horn Concerto
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Symphony No. 7
Sat 11 Mar 2017
Sun 12 Mar 2017
8.30 pm
3.00 pm
p. 9
Benjamin Bayl, conductor/harpsichord
BACH
BACH
BACH
MOZART
Cantata No. 29: Sinfonia
Brandenburg Concerto No. 6
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5
Serenade No. 10 - ‘Gran Partita’
Fri 17 Mar 2017
Sat 18 Mar 2017
8.30 pm
8.30 pm
p. 14
Maurice Steger, conductor/recorder
HANDEL
BACH
SAMMARTINI
BACH
Almira, Queen of Castile: Suite
Brandenburg Concerto No. 2
Recorder (Flute) Concerto
Brandenburg Concerto No. 4
All details are correct at time of printing. Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS reserves the right to vary without notice the artists and/or repertoire as
necessary. Copyright © 2017 by Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS (Co. No. 462692-X). All rights reserved. No part of this programme may be
reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright owners.
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I & III
Sat 4 Mar 2017 at 8.30 pm
Sun 5 Mar 2017 at 3.00 pm
Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra
Radek Baborák, conductor/horn
PROGRAMME
BACH
Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F major 20 mins
Grzegorz Curyla, horn
Laurence Davies, horn
GLIÈRE
Horn Concerto in B flat major, Op.91 26 mins
INTERVAL 20 mins
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major 10 mins
DVOŘÁK
Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op.70 35 mins
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Radek Baborák
conductor/horn
Czech horn player and conductor Radek Baborák is one
of the most outstanding figures on the classical music
scene. Since beginning his solo career over 25 years ago,
his extraordinary musical performances have enthralled
audiences in the most important cultural venues around
the world. He has collaborated with many distinguished
conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, Seiji Ozawa,
Simon Rattle, Neeme Järvi, James Levine, Vladimir
Askhenazy and Marek Janowski.
Baborák is a regular guest at numerous prestigious festivals and his concerts have
been broadcast by many television and radio stations around the world. Between
2003 and 2010, he was Principal Horn of the Berlin Philharmonic. Previously, he was
Principal Horn of the Munich and Czech Philharmonics. The opening concert of the
Olympic Games in Nagano marked the beginning of a long-term collaboration with
Seiji Ozawa, and many concerts in Japan, the USA and Europe with the Saito Kinen
Orchestra and Mito Chamber Orchestra.
Baborák has performed as a soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio
Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, RSB Berlin, Bamberg
Symphony, Bach Akademie Stuttgart, Berlin Baroque Soloists, Radio France
Lyon, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Geneva, Philharmonique de Strassbourg,
Finnish Radio Orchestra Helsinki, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow
Philhramonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchestra
Vienna, Mozarteum Salzburg, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and many others
around the world. He has recorded more than 20 CDs for the Japanese label Octavia
Records which have reached tens of thousands of listeners.
An essential part of Baborák’s musical life is chamber music. He founded and has
been the leader of several ensembles including the Baborák Ensemble, Czech Horn
Chorus and Prague Chamber Soloists. He is a member of the Afflatus Quintet, which
received first prize at the ARD competition in Munich in 1997, the Berlin-MunichVienna Oktett, and he collaborates with the Berlin Baroque Soloists. As a chamber
musician, he is regularly invited to collaborate with outstanding musicians including
Yefim Bronfman, Andras Schiff, Itamar Golan, Rudolf Buchbinder, Janine Jansen,
Emmanuel Pahud, Francois Leleux, Ian Bostridge and Thomas Quasthoff.
Baborák was a senior lecturer at the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini in Parma and is
guest professor at TOHO University Tokyo, Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia,
Spain, and teaches at the Academy of Music in Prague. Born in Pardubice in 1976
into a musical family, he studied horn with Karel Křenek and Bedřich Tylšar. During
his studies, he won competitions in Geneva, Markneukirchen and ARD in Munich.
In 1995, he was awarded the Grammy Award Classic and the Dawidov Prize.
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PROGRAMME NOTES: 4 & 5 MARCH 2017
This concert is the first of three that together offer all six of Bach’s magnificent
Brandenburg Concertos – no two remotely alike – with two per programme. This
concert offers the longest (No. 1) and shortest (No. 3) of the six, interspersed with
still another concerto, one from the mid-twentieth century, and a symphony from
the nineteenth, in which the woodwind instruments, either alone or in groups,
feature prominently, almost as if in a concerto.
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)
Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F major,
BWV 1046 (c.1720)
Allegro ̶ Menuetto ̶ Trio I ̶
Adagio ̶ Menuetto ̶ Polacca ̶
Allegro ̶ Menuetto ̶ Trio II ̶
Menuetto
Bach considered the years he spent in Cöthen (1717-1723) among the happiest of
his life. Here he wrote the majority of his instrumental compositions, including the
works that later acquired the title “Brandenburg Concertos.” Sometime during 1718
Bach met Christian Ludwig, the Margrave of Brandenburg, who resided in the Royal
Palace in Berlin. The music-loving Margrave requested from Bach some works for
his court orchestra. In March 1721 (nearly three years later!), Bach presented him
with six “Concerts avec plusiers Instruments” along with an effusive, obsequious
dedication in French.
The basic concept embodied in the Brandenburg Concertos is that of alternation,
combination and contrast of soloists and tutti. This Bach inherited via the concerto
grosso form from Corelli, Vivaldi and others, but in Bach’s hands, the freedom,
variety and multifarious workings out are new; there is no precedent for virtually any
of the instrumental combinations found in these six works, nor for their manner of
employment. The First Concerto is the longest of the six, is the most elaborate, and requires the
largest number and variety of instruments, which are grouped into three choirs:
1) strings; 2) three oboes and a bassoon; 3) two horns. All the wind parts are
highly prominent. There is as well an important solo part originally written for a
violono piccolo (a small violin tuned a third higher than the others; the instrument is
obsolete, and this part is today given to a conventional violin). The differentiation of
choirs becomes steadily more discernible as the concerto progresses.
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REINHOLD GLIÈRE (1875-1956)
Horn Concerto in B flat major, Op.91 (c.1950)
I. Allegro
II. Andante
III. Moderato ̶ Allegro vivace ̶ Moderato
Glière was born in the same generation as such musical revolutionaries as Stravinsky
and Schoenberg, but his artistic temperament was far more aligned with the romantic,
conservative orientation of another Russian contemporary, Rachmaninoff. Glière is
remembered in the west principally for his ballet suite from The Red Poppy, whose
Russian Sailors’ Dance remains one of the most famous “lollipops” in the repertory.
The Horn Concerto was written in the late 1940s or early ‘50s, but if it had borne the
date of 1880, it is doubtful any eyebrows would have been raised. It is thoroughly
lyrical, tonal and tuneful throughout, and at about 25 minutes in duration, one of
the longest concertos for this instrument. Glière wrote this concerto for the famous
Russian horn player Valery Polekh, who gave the first performance in Moscow on
26 January 1952 with the composer conducting. While technically not as difficult as
the two Strauss concertos, Glière’s concerto is demanding in its breath control and
endurance.
The first movement is laid out in almost textbook sonata-allegro form. The heroic first
theme is presented first by the orchestra, then by the soloist. An orchestral transition
brings us to the warmly lyrical second theme in F major, announced by the horn in
its sonorous middle register. The slow movement is a dreamy romance in ternary
(A-B-A) form, with a somewhat passionate mood in its central episode. The finale
features a strongly rhythmic, rollicking tune reminiscent of a Russian peasant dance,
a second theme that might well be a Russian folk song, and a lickety-split coda.
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048 (c.1720)
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Allegro
The Third is the shortest of the six Brandenburg Concertos, lacking as it does an
actual slow movement. Only two chords separate the outer Allegro movements but in
accordance with performance practice of the day, surely a cadenza was improvised
at this point by one or more of the players. There are nine string parts (three violins,
three violas, three cellos), which can be augmented by multiple players per part,
plus continuo (harpsichord and a supporting bass instrument). The orchestra may
be broken up into nine separate soloists, each section may play in opposing units of
sound, all nine parts may play together … the possible permutations are endlessly
fascinating.
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ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841-1904)
Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op.70 (1884-1885)
I. Allegro maestoso
II. Poco adagio
III. Scherzo vivace ̶ poco meno mosso
IV. Allegro
The “New World” may be the most famous of Antonín Dvořák’s nine symphonies,
but many musicians consider the Seventh in D minor to be his greatest.
The composer himself had no small opinion of this symphony, and succeeded in
doubling the initial price offered for it by his publisher Simrock. It is hardly
surprising that the symphony turned out so well, for Dvořák was spurred on by
several important factors.
In 1884, an honourary membership was conferred on Dvořák by the Royal
Philharmonic Society in London. In conjunction with this came a commission to
write a new symphony. His fame and international stature were by now
considerable, and wanting to maintain this standing, he put all his best effort into
the work. London figured prominently in Dvořák’s travels (1884 marked his third
visit there), but he was a Bohemian nationalist at heart, and wanted his music to
bring fame and glory to his homeland (the jaunty rhythmic pattern of the third
movement is a splendid manifestation of the native blood coursing through his
veins). His ambition to do his absolute best was also stimulated by the Third
Symphony of Brahms, which he had heard at its premiere in December 1883,
and which he considered the finest symphony of recent years. Dvořák’s new
symphony was written in Prague in the short space of three months. The world
premiere was given by the London Philharmonic on 22 April 1885 with the
composer conducting.
The Seventh is the darkest, most intense and most serious of Dvořák’s symphonies.
A sense of inner tragedy and reserved strength pervades throughout. Momentary
passages of idyllic charm (such as the exquisite woodwind opening of the slow
movement or the pastoral Trio of the third) only serve to heighten the contrasting
dramatic intensity. Unlike Beethoven’s Fifth or Brahms’s First, this symphony
does not trace the journey from a gloomy and turbulent beginning to a triumphant
conclusion. Dvořák’s Seventh ends on a note of dark tragedy and restless defiance.
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V & VI
Sat 11 Mar 2017 at 8.30 pm
Sun 12 Mar 2017 at 3.00 pm
Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra
Benjamin Bayl, conductor/harpsichord
PROGRAMME
BACH
Sinfonia from Cantata No. 29 5 mins
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B flat major 18 mins
Gábor Mokány, viola
Fan Ran, viola
BACH
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major 21 mins
Hristo Dobrinov, flute
Peter Daniš, violin
INTERVAL 20 mins
MOZART
Serenade in B flat major – ‘Gran Partita’ 43 mins
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Benjamin bayl
conductor/harpsichord
Benjamin Bayl is a gifted conductor
equally at home with modern and
historical repertoire, who through his
skill, thoughtful communication and
intense musicality in working with
symphony and chamber orchestras,
opera houses and period instrument
orchestras is establishing a flourishing
reputation in Europe, Asia and Australia.
He is co-founder and Principal Guest Conductor of Australia’s period instrument
Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra (ARCO), Artistic Director of Odissea
and was founder and Artistic Director of London’s Orchestra of the City for
six seasons and Saraband Consort for many more. The first Australian Organ
Scholar of King’s College Cambridge, he was appointed Assistant Conductor
to the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer at the beginning of his
career, following studies at the Royal Academy of Music; he continues to work
in Budapest and with the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin. He was also Assistant
Artistic Director of the Gabrieli Consort.
Bayl has made highly successful debuts in recent seasons with Mahler Chamber
Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,
Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, The Hanover Band, Wroclaw
Baroque Orchestra, and the Copenhagen Philharmonic. He recently made his
conducting debut in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with Collegium Vocale Gent
and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.
In the world of opera, he has conducted for Opera Australia, Staatsoper Berlin,
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Wiener Staatsoper, Dutch National Opera,
Opera Vlaanderen, Opera de Oviedo, Royal Danish Opera, NorrlandsOperan,
Polish National Opera, Warsaw Chamber Opera, Budapest State Opera, Teatro
Comunale di Sassari and English Touring Opera. In the world of oratorio,
he frequently conducts the major works of Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart.
Highlights of the 2016/17 season include concerts with the Hong Kong
Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano, Stavanger Symphony
Orchestra, Orchestra Filharmonica di Torino, Bremer Philharmoniker, Orchestra
of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), Orchestra i pomeriggi
musicali, a tour of China with The Hanover Band, a tour of Europe with B’Rock
and Vocalconsort Berlin, La finta semplice at Warsaw Chamber Opera, and
concerts in Oviedo, Wroclaw, London, Sydney and Melbourne.
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PROGRAMME NOTES: 11 & 12 MARCH 2017
The MPO’s survey of all six Brandenburg Concertos continues apace with two
more at this week’s concerts. There’s also Mozart on the programme, an entirely
apt pairing, for not only did Mozart revere his predecessor (as did most others
who followed the Baroque master), but he learned much from Bach, and near the
end of his life undertook a deep and serious study of Bach’s fugal writing, which
he proceeded to incorporate into a number of his own works. The Serenade
on this programme does not contain any fugal writing, but it does offer some of
Mozart’s most glorious music – nearly an hour of it, making this one of his longest
purely instrumental compositions.
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)
Sinfonia from Cantata No. 29 (“Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir”) (1731)
This cantata was written for the church service marking a festive municipal affair
on 27 August 1731, the changing of the Leipzig town council. As an instrumental
prelude to the expression of joyous sentiments, Bach used a large orchestra (for his
time) including two oboes, three trumpets, timpani and strings, all of which serve as
accompaniment to the organ, which plays throughout an adaptation of the brilliant
first movement (Preludio) of Bach’s own Partita in E major for solo violin, transposed
down to D. Aside from the first two measures, and two more near the end, the organ
part consists of a continuous, unvarying stream of sixteenth notes, which in the
hands of a lesser composer might quickly have turned to monotony, but in which
Bach maintains unbroken interest and excitement through harmonic rhythm and
splendidly imaginative development of the melodic ideas.
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, BWV 1051 (c.1720)
I. Allegro
II. Adagio ma non troppo
III. Allegro
Bach considered the years he spent in Cöthen (1717-1723) among the happiest of
his life. Here he wrote the majority of his instrumental compositions, including the
works that later acquired the title “Brandenburg Concertos”. Sometime during 1718
Bach met Christian Ludwig, the Margrave of Brandenburg, who resided in the Royal
Palace in Berlin. The music-loving Margrave requested from Bach some works for
his court orchestra. In March 1721 (nearly three years later!), Bach presented him
with six “Concerts avec plusiers Instruments” along with an effusive, obsequious
dedication in French.
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The basic concept embodied in the Brandenburg Concertos is that of alternation,
combination and contrast of soloists and tutti. This Bach inherited via the concerto
grosso form from Corelli, Vivaldi and others, but in Bach’s hands, the freedom,
variety and multifarious workings out are new; there is no precedent for virtually any
of the instrumental combinations found in these six works, nor for their manner of
employment. The Sixth Concerto is perhaps the most unusual of the set. Requiring only strings
but no violins, one would expect its tone to be dark, rich, heavy and sombre.
Dark and rich, yes; heavy and sombre, no, for the music breathes uncommon
exuberance and vigour. The score calls for two violas, two viola da gambas
(a larger viola, held between the knees; the instrument is now obsolete except in
early music ensembles, and its parts are otherwise usually given to cellos today),
two cellos, double bass and harpsichord. The two violists take on the role of
principal soloists.
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major,
BWV 1050 (c.1720)
I. Allegro
II. Affettuoso
III. Allegro
The first of a series is always a matter of
historical interest, but all too often that first
case is lost in the mists of time. We cannot,
for instance, point to the “first” symphony
ever written, or the “first” motet. Usually these
genres evolve over a period of time. But in
the case of the solo harpsichord concerto,
Bach was almost certainly responsible for
the first such work of this type. This was the
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, written around 1720.
In the Fifth Concerto, the concertino (solo group) consists of harpsichord, flute
and violin. Since the ripieno traditionally incorporated a harpsichord to play along
for harmonic support in the tutti passages, the harpsichord player in the Fifth
Brandenburg Concerto must take on two roles, which means he or she plays
almost continuously throughout the work. Not only that, but this musician is the
most prominent member of the concertino. As the first movement progresses, the
harpsichord becomes ever more assertive and finally breaks forth to play totally
alone, for 65 measures, a cadenza of astonishing virtuosity.
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WOLFGANG AMADÈ MOZART (1756-1791)
Serenade in B flat major, K. 361/370a - 'Gran Partita' (1781)
I. Largo – Molto allegro
II. Menuetto – Trio I; Trio 2
III. Adagio
IV. Menuetto: Allegretto – Trio 1; Trio 2
V. Romanze: Adagio – Allegretto – Adagio
VI. Theme and Variations [Andante]
VII. Finale: Molto allegro
Serenades – and their close relatives the divertimenti and cassations – were not a
highly regarded genre in Mozart’s time. This was the eighteenth century’s Muzak –
musical diversion to fill in the silences (if any) between conversations,
as background music to receptions and parties, or just as a pleasant aid to
digestion. But Mozart’s music, no matter how humble its origin and purpose,
is always worthy of our attention.
No Mozart serenade or divertimento more justly deserves our undivided attention
than the work on this programme. Mozart probably wrote, or at least began, this
serenade in Munich while there for performances of his new opera Idomeneo in
late 1780 and early 1781. Munich at the time boasted an opera orchestra second
to none. Knowing he could count on the finest players available, Mozart conceived
his serenade on the grandest scale. The alternate title by which this work is known,
Gran Partita, is affixed to the autograph score but it is not in Mozart’s hand.
Nevertheless, the title is apt, for the word “partita” is Italian for a “lot” or a “quantity
of goods.” And what a grand quantity Mozart has provided! – seven movements
(the typical serenade contained five) lasting nearly an hour in performance for
one of the largest groups of wind instruments assembled up to that time within or
without an orchestra.
The scoring essentially amounts to three quartets plus a supporting bass line: four
double reeds (pairs of oboes and bassoons), four members of the clarinet family
(pairs of clarinets and basset horns), and four horns The score specifies a
contrabasso for the thirteenth instrument, which meant a string bass, but modern
performances often substitute a contrabassoon, which Mozart himself might well
have requested had the instrument been more generally available and a player
at his disposal. Inclusion of the contrabassoon also justifies still another name by
which this composition is known, “Serenade for 13 Winds”.
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II & IV
Fri 17 Mar 2017 at 8.30 pm
Sat 18 Mar 2017 at 8.30 pm
Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra
Maurice Steger, conductor/recorder
PROGRAMME
HANDEL
Almira, Queen of Castile Suite 25 mins
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major 12 mins
Ryan Beach, trumpet
Ruth Bull, oboe
Peter Daniš, violin
INTERVAL 20 mins
SAMMARTINI
Concerto for Soprano Recorder in F major 14 mins
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major 17 mins
Yi-Chang Liang, recorder
Peter Daniš, violin
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Maurice Steger
conductor/recorder
Celebrated by music critics as the “the
Paganini of the recorder” and “the world’s
leading recorder virtuoso”, Maurice Steger is
one of the most fascinating recorder players,
conductors and musical professors working
in the sphere of Early music. With vibrant
manner, intense and full instrumental sound
and amazing technique, he has brought to
prominence the recorder as an instrument
in all its fascinating forms. The 2015 ECHO
Classic Award he received as Instrumentalist
of the Year is testimony to his success.
As a soloist, conductor or both at once,
Steger regularly performs with the top period instrument ensembles including
the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Venice Baroque Orchestra, English Concert
and I Barocchisti. He also performs with leading modern orchestras including the
Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Musikkollegium
Winterthur, Berlin Baroque Soloists (Berlin Philharmonic), Canadian Violons du
Roy and the NDR Radiophilharmonie.
Chamber music plays a notable role in the richly varied spectrum of Steger’s
artistic endeavours. With fellow musicians including Hille Perl, Daniele Caminiti,
Naoki Kitaya, Mauro Valli, Sebastian Wienand and Fiorenza de Donatis,
he dedicates himself to a continuously updated repertoire of Early music. He also
regularly performs with Cecilia Bartoli, Andreas Scholl, Pablo Heras-Casado,
Laurence Cummings, Nuria Rial, Bernard Labadie, Sandrine Piau, Diego Fasolis
and Sol Gabetta. Along with early music, he also engages with new concert
formats and contemporary compositions. Tours to Asia and Australia led to
performances with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Taipei Symphony.
He was the first recorder player from the West to perform with the Traditional
Taipei Chinese Orchestra. He also regularly performs in North and South America.
His commitment to musical education is also extremely important to him and
has performed hundreds of children’s concerts. Each year, he also gives various
masterclasses. In 2013, he took over the directorship of the Gstaad Baroque
Academy at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad. Numerous award winning CD
recordings from Harmonia Mundi, most of them with highly imaginative thematic
concepts, are a long standing testament to the unique prominence achieved
by him.
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PROGRAMME NOTES: 17 & 18 MARCH 2017
This programme, unlike the MPO’s two previous ones featuring Bach’s Brandenburg
Concertos, is devoted exclusively to music of Bach’s own time. In fact, the dates of
the three composers just happen to line up: Bach and Handel were born the same
year (1685) while Bach and Sammartini died the same year (1750). Furthermore,
Handel and Sammartini, born respectively in Germany and Italy, landed up
spending most of their careers in London together ̶ coincidences, of course, but no
coincidence is the choice of enticing music we hear from each of these composers.
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685-1759)
Almira, Queen of Castile Suite (1704)
Almira is not exactly on the radar of most concertgoers, or even operaphiles, but it is
a remarkable work in many ways. For starters, it was Handel’s first opera, composed
by a nineteen-year-old, untried, inexperienced youth. While most of Handel’s operas
are entirely in Italian, this one is primarily in German (some arias are in Italian).
It was written for a German stage (Hamburg) on a Spanish subject and decked
out with French dances. Over and above all else, though, Almira is packed with
wonderful music of the kind that would distinguish this composer for years to come.
Paul O’Dette, artistic co-director of the Boston Early Music Festival, where the opera
was staged in 2013, says of this very early work: “From the first page of the overture,
it just overflows with genius and invention. You can’t believe that an overture of this
brilliance could have been written as Handel’s first attempt, because most composers
never achieve this level of invention after a whole career.”
As was the custom in Handel’s day, almost every opera included ballet sequences.
The suite assembled for this MPO concert contains all the dance numbers of Act I.
To open the suite, we hear the opera’s overture, which alternates stately, grandiose
Adagio sections with energetic Presto sections in dotted rhythm (steady alternation
of long and short notes). The suite concludes with a short ritornello (an instrumental
passage concluding an aria).
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)
Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047 (c.1720)
I. [No tempo marking]
II. Andante
III. Allegro assai
Splendour and effervescence burst forth from the very opening phrase of the Concerto
No. 2, which features a concertino (solo group) of four instruments: violin, flute (or
recorder), oboe and trumpet. The latter especially is called upon to indulge in some
of the most virtuosic writing Bach or anyone else ever wrote for the instrument.
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The contemplative central movement allows the trumpet to rest while the other
three soloists wind their way through a poignant melody of gentle pathos. The
final movement restores the trumpet to its position of primus inter pares. Bach’s
command of contrapuntal skill here is extraordinary, inspiring Edward Downes to
compare him to a master juggler “exulting in the virtuosity with which he keeps four
objects – or rather four solo instruments – flying through the air, each in its own
astonishing orbit, each orbit”.
GIUSEPPE SAMMARTINI (1695-1750)
Concerto for Soprano Recorder in F major (date unknown; early 18th century)
I. Allegro
II. Siciliano (Andante)
III. Allegro assai
Giuseppe Sammartini was best known in his day not as a composer but as an
oboist. He left his native Milan for London in 1728, remaining there for the rest
of his life. He played in the orchestra at the King’s Theatre (which meant under
Handel’s direction), and earned the highest praise. He probably played the recorder
as well as the oboe, and his single concerto for the descent recorder in F (a small,
high-pitched instrument) may well have been written for his own use. The outer
movements are written in the galant style, with elegantly flowing passages set to
lively rhythms for the soloist in alternation with orchestral ritornellos. The central
slow movement is set to the siciliano rhythm, a gently rocking pulse of alternating
long and short notes.
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049 (c.1720)
I. Allegro
II. Andante
III. Presto
The Fourth is the lightest and most graceful of the six Brandenburg Concertos.
It features two flutes and a violin in its concertino (solo group), with the violin
predominating to the point where the work nearly takes on the character of a violin
concerto. Rococo elegance infuses the Andante movement as well. The two flutes
rise to the fore while the violin assumes a more subordinate role. Yet the three
concertino members nearly always work closely together as a unit, sometimes as
a collective soloist, sometimes in conjunction with the ripieno (full string ensemble).
The third movement takes the form of a scintillating fugue, developed from the
opening material. Contrapuntal skill combines with virtuosic play from the solo
violin to bring the joyous Fourth Brandenburg Concerto ̶ and this concert – to an
exhilarating close.
Concert notes by Robert Markow
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MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
RESIDENT
CONDUCTOR
Harish Shankar
Naohisa Furusawa
VIOLA
Co-Principals
Gábor Mokány
*Caleb Wright
FIRST VIOLIN
Co-Concertmaster
Peter Daniš
Principal
Ming Goh
Co-Principal
Zhenzhen Liang
Fumiko Dobrinov
Ong Lin Kern
Carol Pendlebury
Sun Yuan
Thian Aiwen
Fan Ran
*Benjamin Wong
*Hsao Chia-Chien
Runa Baagöe
Maho Daniš
Miroslav Daniš
Evgeny Kaplan
Martijn Noomen
Sherwin Thia
Marcel Andriesii
Tan Ka Ming
Petia Atanasova
*Ikuko Takahashi
*Ji Won Kim
SECOND VIOLIN
Section Principal
Timothy Peters
Assistant Principal
Luisa Hyams
Catalina Alvarez
Chia-Nan Hung
Anastasia Kiseleva
Stefan Kocsis
Ling Yunzhi
Ionut Mazareanu
Yanbo Zhao
Ai Jin
Robert Kopelman
*Marco Roosink
CELLO
Co-Principal
Csaba Kőrös
Assistant Principal
Steven Retallick
Gerald Davis
Julie Dessureault
Laurentiu Gherman
Elizabeth Tan Suyin
Sejla Simon
Mátyás Major
DOUBLE BASS
Section Principal
Wolfgang Steike
Co-Principal
Joseph Pruessner
Raffael Bietenhader
Jun-Hee Chae
Naohisa Furusawa
John Kennedy
Foo Yin Hong
Andreas Dehner
FLUTE
Section Principal
Hristo Dobrinov
Co-Principal
Yukako Yamamoto
Sub-Principal
Rachel Jenkyns
PICCOLO
Principal
Sonia Croucher
OBOE
Section Principal
Simon Emes
Co-Principal
*Ruth Bull
Sub-Principal
Niels Dittmann
CLARINET
Section Principal
Gonzalo Esteban
Co-Principal
*Dario Märiňo
Varela
Sub-Principal
Matthew Larsen
BASS CLARINET
Principal
Chris Bosco
BASSOON
Section Principal
Alexandar Lenkov
Sub-Principal
Orsolya Juhasz
CONTRABASSOON
Principal
Vladimir Stoyanov
HORN
Section Principals
Grzegorz Curyla
*Brian Goodwin
Co-Principal
James Schumacher
Sub-Principals
Laurence Davies
*Anton Schroeder
Assistant Principal
Sim Chee Ghee
TRUMPET
Section Principal
*Ryan Beach
Co-Principal
William Theis
Sub-Principal
*Jeffrey Missal
Assistant Principal
John Bourque
TROMBONE
Section Principal
*Ricardo Mollá
Co-Principal
*Daniel Schwalbach
BASS TROMBONE
Principal
Zachary Bond
TUBA
Section Principal
Brett Stemple
TIMPANI
Section Principal
Matthew Thomas
Assistant Principal
Matthew Kantorski
PERCUSSION
Section Principal
Matthew Prendergast
Sub-Principals
*Rieko Koyama
*Tan Su Yin
HARP
Principal
Tan Keng Hong
HARPSICHORD
*Akiko Daniš
ORGAN
*Joanna Paul
RECORDER
*Yi-Chang Liang
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Note: Sectional string players are listed alphabetically and rotate within their sections.
*Extra musician.
Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Nor Raina Yeong Abdullah
CEO’S OFFICE
Hanis Abdul Halim
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MANAGEMENT
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Jalwati Mohd Noor
Music TALENT DEVELOPMENT &
MANAGEMENT
Soraya Mansor
PLANNING, FINANCE & IT
Mohd Hakimi Mohd Rosli
Norhisham Abd Rahman
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PROCUREMENT & CONTRACT
Logiswary Raman
Norhaszilawati Zainudin
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT &
ADMINISTRATION
Sharhida Saad
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TECHNICAL OPERATIONS
Firoz Khan
Mohd Zamir Mohd Isa
Yasheera Ishak
Shahrul Rizal M Ali
Dayan Erwan Maharal
Zolkarnain Sarman
Malaysian Philharmonic
Orchestra
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Nor Raina Yeong Abdullah
general manager
Timothy Tsukamoto
ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT
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Tham Ying Hui
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Ong Li-Huey
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MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC YOUTH
ORCHESTRA
Ahmad Muriz Che Rose
Fadilah Kamal Francis
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MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA – 463127-H