Melbourne Recital CentreElisabeth Murdoch Hall7.30pm Monday 15 May 2017

MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE PRESENTS

Simón Bolívar String Quartet

PHOTO: JOHN GOLLINGS

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Melbourne Recital Centre Presents

Melbourne Recital CentreElisabeth Murdoch Hall7.30pm Monday 15 May 2017

Alejandro Carreño violin

Boris Suárez violin

Ismel Campos viola

Aimon Mata cello

Duration: Two hours including interval. The concert will conclude at approximately 9.30pm.

Free post-concert conversation with Simón Bolívar String Quartet and Rebecca Hill, Learning & Access Coordinator, Ground Floor Foyer.

The artists reserve the right to vary the program.

PROGRAMJOSEPH HAYDN(b. Rohrau, Austria 1732 — d. Vienna, Austria 1809)

String Quartet in B-flat, Op.33, No.4, Hob.III:40 Allegro moderato Scherzo : Allegretto Largo Presto

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH(b. Saint Petersburg, Russia 1906 — d. Moscow, Russia 1975)

String Quartet No.8 in C minor, Op.110 Largo — Allegro molto — Allegretto — Largo — Largo

INTERVAL (20-minutes)

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN(b. Bonn, Germany 1770 — d. Vienna, Austria 1827)

String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op.59, No.2 Razumovsky Allegro Molto adagio Allegretto Finale: Presto

Simón Bolívar String Quartet

Melbourne Recital Centre acknowledges the people of the Kulin nation on whose land this concert is being presented.

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ABOUT THE MUSIC

JOSEPH HAYDN (1732–1809)String Quartet in B-flat, Op.33, No.4, Hob.III:40

In December 1781 Viennese society fêted the visiting Count and Countess von Norden with musical entertainments, among them a cycle of Gluck operas, a piano contest between Mozart and Clementi, and a public performance of at least some of Haydn’s String Quartets Op.33. After the performances, the quartet players each received a snuff-box, and Haydn, as composer, a ‘magnificent enamelled box set with brilliants.’ The ‘von Nordens’ were, in fact, the Grand Duke Paul (later Czar) of Russia, and his wife, the Princess of Württemberg, travelling under assumed names, but it is for this reason only that the set is sometimes nicknamed the ‘Russian Quartets’. Haydn had composed the set some months earlier and offered manuscript copies to several patrons.

From the 1760s, each Haydn quartet consists of four movements, where the outer ones frame two central movements that form a contrasting pair (a song-like slow movement and a dance-like fast one). But, 20 years on, in his covering letter to his patrons, Haydn claims that the works of Op.33 were composed ‘in a new and special way’. This, as musicologist Charles Rosen has noted, was not just a ‘commercial slogan’ (though it was that, too): here ‘not only is each instrumental part filled with life … but with the same life’ making them sound, in the poet Goethe’s phrase, ‘like four intelligent people having a conversation’.

Of the six, the B-flat major work is perhaps the least innovative; in Haydn’s own catalogue it was placed last. The first movement has great charm and a subtle wit, though Haydn’s textures tend to be in four parts throughout, with the thematic burden given mainly to the first violin.

A genuinely new feature is the inclusion of a scherzo rather than the more common (and generally slower) minuet, though here Haydn’s still maintains a fairly stately decorum. The movement’s trio is a minor key section based on a sighing figure. Like the first movement, the Largo gives prominence to the first violin, though with brief fragments of duet writing with other instruments.

The other new element is the rondo finale, which is based on a chirpy main theme that is very slightly developed on subsequent iterations so that the overall texture becomes more active. There are several feints — swerves into unexpected keys, sudden pauses a brief solo moment for the cello, but the piece ends with one of Haydn’s most magical punchlines.

© Gordon Kerry 2017

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ABOUT THE MUSIC

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906—1975)String Quartet No.8 in C minor, Op.110

In 1960 Shostakovich travelled to Dresden. The official story is that he was so shocked by the results of the Allied bombing in World War II that he wrote this elegy ‘to the victims of fascism and war’ in a fever of grief over a mere three days.

In 1960 Shostakovich had also finally bowed to pressure from the regime to join the Communist Party. After Khrushchev denounced Stalin in 1956, there was a certain liberalisation in Soviet society, but to bolster its own legitimacy the Party needed the voluntary support of the intelligentsia. Shostakovich, chronically ill and affected by the failure of his second marriage, was ripe for the picking. He had produced such patriotic works as the Eleventh Symphony celebrating the revolution of ‘The Year 1905’ in 1957. The later interpretation that it was really about the 1956 invasion of Hungary is undermined by the extent to which the work was sketched before that event. Against the ‘official’ description of the Eighth Quartet, Shostakovich wrote bitterly to his friend Isaak Glikman:

‘It is a pseudo-tragic quartet, so much so that while I was composing it I shed the same amount of tears as I would have to pee after half a dozen beers. When I got home, I tried a couple of times to play it though, but always ended up in tears. This was of course a response not so much to the pseudo-tragedy as to my own wonder at the superlative unity of form.’

The Quartet is dominated by Shostakovich’s own musical monogram, the notes D, E-flat, C and B (in German nomenclature, DSCH), suggesting that the composer is writing about himself. There are, moreover, quotations from at least four of Shostakovich’s symphonies, the Second Piano Trio, the Cello Concerto, a revolutionary song ‘Exhausted by the hardships of prison’ and, in the cello’s highest register, an aria of erotic yearning from Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. In the finale, moreover, there are reminiscences of Tchaikovsky and Wagner. Why, in the words of David Fanning does ‘every one of its quoted themes [have] either a sadder or a more violent character than it had in its source-work’? Shostakovich was plainly enduring some self-disgust at his co-option by the State, as a result becoming, as it were, both victim and perpetrator. In 1960 he planned suicide; this quartet was to have been his final, ambiguous testament.

© Gordon Kerry 2008

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LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770—1827) String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op.59, No.2 Razumovsky

The French Revolution gave rise to ‘rescue opera’, a high-minded and noisy genre where Good inevitably broke the bonds of Evil and tyranny was overthrown. A flood of such works was performed in Vienna in the early 1800s. Beethoven’s Fidelio is a German version of the form, but much of Beethoven’s instrumental music also reflects the influence of new sounds from the Parisian theatre. In the Eroica Symphony, for instance, Beethoven’s dynamic amalgam of classical design, Baroque counterpoint, and musical gestures from rescue opera enabled him to produce a symphonic work on an unprecedented scale.

Beethoven’s Op.59 set appeared in 1806, commissioned by the Russian ambassador, Count Razumovsky. A fine amateur musician, he also patronised the quartet, led by Ignaz Schuppanzigh, that was ‘placed at [Beethoven’s] complete disposal.’ At Razumovsky’s request, Beethoven included Russian folk melodies in the first two (and made a fair facsimile in the third).

The Eroica Symphony left its mark on the scale and form of the first ‘Razumovsky’, but its mannerisms can be found in the second, as in the opening gesture. Two isolated chords followed by a bar of silence leave us none the wiser about the speed or rhythmic character of what follows. We are richly rewarded by the bewildering array of implications drawn from the ideas in the first few bars. The

serene second movement unfolds expansively over some 14 minutes, and according to Beethoven’s student Carl Czerny, represents the composer’s contemplation of a starry sky and the music of the spheres. A greater contrast with the restless energy of the first movement couldn’t be imagined, nor with the dance movement which follows. This is an insistent allegretto, but it is in the central trio that Beethoven used a Russian theme — the same one sung in the Coronation Scene from Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. The galloping finale, with its high violin tune and rhythmic accompaniment seems conventional at first, though we soon realise that it has begun in the ‘wrong’ key — C major. This allows the composer to make some dramatic harmonic side-steps, but ultimately serves to underline the fact that every movement of this quartet is in E minor or major. It is unusual in any late classical quartet for all movements to share a key; it is however a preferred strategy of Beethoven when writing in E. Any tonal monotony, however, is completely erased by the piece’s immense variety of musical manners.

© Gordon Kerry 2008

ABOUT THE MUSIC

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Simón Bolívar String Quartet

Created from within the Fundación Musical Simón Bolívar, the Simón Bolívar String Quartet is made up of principal musicians of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. Each player brings a strong personality and individual musical character to the group, together combining to create a thrilling and multi-faceted ensemble with a unique flair. The Quartet arose from the need of its members to explore chamber music and the wealth of benefits it can offer, not only its musicians but also to the children and young people who make up the Fundacíon, led by José Antonio Abreu.

The Simón Bolívar String Quartet has given concerts across Venezuela, throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, performing in concerts as well as taking part in education and community events. Venues at which they have performed include Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, The Lincoln Center’s Walter Reader Theater in New York, the Southbank Centre and Wigmore Hall in London, Philharmonie Berlin, Musikverein Vienna, Gulbenkian Auditorium in Lisbon and Palau de la Musica in Barcelona. They have also visited festivals such as the Edinburgh International Festival and Salzburg Festival.

This season the Simón Bolívar String Quartet returns to Europe for a residency at the Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical in Madrid focusing on the works of Beethoven and Shostakovich, and will also embark on their first ever tour to Australia.

The Simón Bolívar String Quartet has worked with such musical personalities as Gustavo Dudamel, Claudio Abbado and Sir Simon Rattle. They have participated in master classes with the Cuarteto Latinoamericano, Berlin Philharmonic String Quartet, Chilingirian String Quartet, Donald Weilerstein (Cleveland String Quartet), Andras Keller (Keller String Quartet) and Ulyses Ascanio, founding violinist of the Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela. One of the aims of the Simón Bolívar String Quartet is the development of a network of string quartets in Venezuela and South America, with the purpose of propagating chamber music among children and young people in Latin America.

ABOUT THE artists

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LEADERSHIP CIRCLESThe Leadership Circles comprise individual donors whose lead gifts support the Centre’s core concert program and its mission to be a singular place of inspiration, creativity, self-expression, learning and enrichment through music.

Artist Development Inaugural Artist Development & Music Education BenefactorThe Late Betty Amsden AOPeter Jopling AM QCMrs Margaret S Ross AM & Dr Ian C Ross

Children’s & Family The Late Betty Amsden AO

Life-long Learning Kathryn Fagg

Master Class Price/Lowy Family in memory of John Price Ensemble Giovane

Great Performers Brian & Esther BenjaminPaulette & Warwick BisleyGeorge & Laila Embelton Dr Caroline LiowGeoff & Jan PhillipsMaria Sola

Signature EventsInaugural Signature Events BenefactorsYvonne von Hartel AM & Robert Peck AM of peckvonhartel architects

Local HeroesInaugural Local Heroes Benefactor The Klein Family FoundationAndrew & Theresa DyerMajlis Pty LtdMaria Sola

MUSIC CIRCLE PATRONS PROGRAM Providing support essential to the breadth, diversity and quality of the Centre’s artistic program.

Magnum Opus Circle ($20,000+)Melbourne Recital Centre Board of Directors Kathryn Fagg Peter & Cally Bartlett Stephen Carpenter &

Leigh Ellwood Joseph Corponi The Hon Mary Delahunty

Paul Donnelly & Brigitte Treutenaere

Margaret Farren-Price & Prof Ronald Farren-Price AM

Eda Ritchie AMSkipp Williamson & Carol Haynes

Composers Circle ($4000+)Anonymous (1)John & Lorraine BatesHenkell Family FundJenny & Peter HordernMessage Consultants Australia Pty LtdSusan ThacoreDrs Victor & Karen Wayne

Musicians Circle ($2500+)Liz & Charles BaréRobert & Jan GreenDiana LempriereShelley & Euan MurdochJames Ostroburski & Leo OstroburskiMary Vallentine AO

Prelude Circle ($1000+)Anonymous (6)Adrienne BasserHelen BrackBill & Sandra BurdettMaggie CashJohn & Thelma CastlesMaxine Cooper & Michael WrightKathy & George DeutschMary DraperLord Francis Ebury & Lady Suzanne EburyMaggie EdmondSusan FallawThe Leo & Mina Fink FundAngela GloverAnn GordonJan GrantNance Grant AM MBE & Ian HarrisSue Hamilton & Stuart Hamilton AO In memory of Beryl HooleyStuart JenningsDr Garry Joslin & Prof Dimity Reed AMSnowe LiAnn LahoreMaria MercurioBaillieu Myer AC & Sarah MyerStephen Newton AODr Paul Nisselle AMGreg NoonanElizabeth O’KeeffeHelen PerlenDr Robert PiaggioKerryn PratchettSandra Robertson & Philip Cachia

Dr Peter Rogers & Cathy RogersPeter Rose & Christopher Menz Samara, Countess of BeekmanIn Memory of Pauline SpeedyRob & Philippa SpringallBarbara & Duncan SutherlandPamela SwanssonSally WebsterPeter Weiss AO

Supporters ($500+)Anonymous (1)Jenny AndersonPeter J ArmstrongMin Li ChongProf John Daley & Rebecca CoatesSylvia GeddesRosemary & David HousemanPenelope HughesBarbara Kolliner & Peter Kolliner OAMDr Anne LierseRae RothfieldDr Diane Tibbits

ELISABETH MURDOCH CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUNDNamed after the Centre’s Founding Patron, this Fund supports projects that make a difference to young artists and accessibility to music.

($20,000+)Annamila Pty LtdThe John & Jennifer Brukner FoundationAnne Kantor AO & Dr Milan Kantor OAMThe Pratt Foundation

($10,000+)Angelina & Graeme WiseMary Vallentine AO

($4000+)Anonymous (1)John Calvert-Jones AM & Janet Calvert-Jones AOKathryn Fagg*Jo Fisher*Yvonne von Hartel AM & Robert Peck AM of peckvonhartel architectsLyndsey & Peter HawkinsDr Alastair JacksonLouise & Martyn Myer FoundationDr Cherilyn Tillman & Tam Vu Andrew & Jan WheelerLyn Williams AMYMF Australia

($2500+)John & Mary Barlow Arnold & Mary Bram*Ann BryceJacinta Carboon*Dr Shirley Chu & Wanghua William ChuChristine & Michael CloughSally MacIndoeChristine Sather*

($1000+)Anonymous (1)ARM ArchitecturePeter J Armstrong*Bailey-Lord Family*Fiona Bennett*Mary Beth Bauer*Jane BloomfieldHelen BrackBarbara BurgeKrystyna Campbell-PrettyW K Clark & B Heilemann*Dr Jane Gilmour OAM & Terry Brain*Robert & Jan GreenProf Andrea Hull AO*Dr Garry Joslin & Prof Dimity Reed AMLiane Kemp*Annette MaluishNorene Leslie McCormac*Andrew Millis & Barnadown Run Heathcote Wines*Dr Richard Mills AMRosemary O’Connor*Tim Orton & Barbara DennisJames Ostroburski & Leo Ostroburski° Prof David Penington AC & Dr Sonay PeningtonHoward PennyGeoff & Jan PhillipsLaura Thomas*Gang Yun*

($500+)Australian Standfirst° John & Thelma CastlesJim Cousins AO & Libby CousinsGeorge & Laila EmbeltonJoshua Evans° Margaret Farren-Price & Prof Ronald Farren-Price AMNaomi Golvan & George Golvan QCNance Grant AM MBE & Ian HarrisThe Hon Justice Michelle Gordon & The Hon Kenneth M Hayne AC QCJohn Howie AM & Dr Linsey Howie

INSPIRED GIVING

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Peter Jopling AM QC & Dr Sam MandengAnthony J & Philippa M KellySnowe Li° Message Consultants AustraliaSimon & Genevieve MooreTravis PembertonRalph & Ruth RenardRae RothfieldProf Richard Smallwood AO & Mrs Carol SmallwoodLady Marigold Southey ACSusan ThacoreSally Webster

LEGAL FRIENDS OF MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTREEach year the group brings together music lovers from the legal profession to help fund one or more concerts by an artist appearing as part of the Centre’s Great Performers Series.

Legal Friends Inaugural PatronsThe Hon Justice Michelle Gordon & The Hon Kenneth M Hayne AC QC

($4000+)Naomi Golvan & George Golvan QCThe Hon Justice Michelle Gordon & The Hon Kenneth M Hayne AC QCPeter B Murdoch QC & Helen MurdochMaya Rozner & Alex King

($2500+)Anonymous (1)Colin Golvan QC & Dr Deborah GolvanPeter & Ruth McMullinMeredith SchillingPeter J Stirling & Kimberley Kane

($1000+)Anonymous (2)Robert Abrahams & Julie DoyleMarcia and John K ArthurPeter Bartlett David ByrneLeslie G ClementsChristine CloughBruce CurlThe Hon Julie Dodds-StreetonTimothy GoodwinThe Hon Hartley Hansen QC & Rosalind HansenRobert Heathcote & Meredith King

The Hon Peter Heerey AM QC & Sally HeereyJudge Sara Hinchey & Tom PikusaJohn Howie AM & Dr Linsey HowiePandora Kay & John LarkinsAnthony J & Philippa M KellyMaryanne B Loughnan QCElizabeth O’KeeffeRalph & Ruth RenardMichael Shand QCThe Hon Judge Josh Wilson & Dr Silvana Wilson

($500+)Ingrid BraunElizabeth BorosKatherine BrazenorThe Hon Stephen Charles & Jennifer CharlesGeorgie ColemanThe Hon David L Harper AMThe Hon Chris Maxwell ACThe Hon Justice O’CallaghanMichael & Penny Rush

THE MARY VALLENTINE LIMITLESS STAGE FUNDThe Fund supports projects of the Centre like digital broadcasts, recordings, webcasts or other forms of outreach, enabling the Centre’s music-making to be available everywhere.

($20,000+)Naomi Milgrom AOKim Williams AMMelbourne Recital Centre Board of Directors Kathryn Fagg Peter & Cally Bartlett Stephen Carpenter & Leigh Ellwood Joseph Corponi The Hon Mary Delahunty Paul Donnelly &

Brigitte Treutenaere Margaret Farren-Price & Prof

Ronald Farren-Price AM Eda Ritchie AMThe John & Jennifer Brukner Foundation

($10,000+)The Late Betty Amsden AOAnnamila Pty LtdJohn Calvert-Jones AM & Janet Calvert-Jones AOPeter Jopling AM QC & Dr Sam MandengAllan Myers AC QC & Maria Myers ACLady Marigold Southey AC

($4000+)Deborah Dadon AMThe Hon Justice Michelle Gordon & The Hon Kenneth Hayne AC QCLouise & Martyn Myer FoundationLady Primrose Potter ACCraig ReevesIn honour of Kath Vallentine

($2500+)Peter & Ruth McMullinRohan Mead

($1000+)Helen BrackThe Leo & Mina Fink FundJenny & Peter HordernBarbara Kolliner & Peter Kolliner OAMProf John Langford AM & The Late Christina McCallumCathy LowyDr Robert PiaggioProf David Penington AC & Dr Sonay PeningtonSandra Robertson and Philip CachiaThe Ullmer Family FoundationLeonard Vary & Dr Matt Collins QCAngela Wood

($500+)Richard & Susan BuntingBarbara BurgeThe Hon Alex Chernov AC QC & Mrs Elizabeth ChernovJim Cousins AO & Libby CousinsDr Garry Joslin & Prof Dimity Reed AMGerry & Susan MoriartyGreg NoonanHelen PerlenSusan RenoufLyn Williams AM

SHARE THE MUSIC PROGRAM This program enables disadvantaged children and adults to attend concerts by providing tickets and transport free of charge. Over 500 of these visits take place each year through the generosity of our donors.

($4000+)Krystyna Campbell-PrettyHelen & Michael Gannon

($2500+)Anne Burgi & Kerin CarrDorothy Karpin

($1000+)Keith & Debby BadgerJohn & Mary BarlowMaria HansenIn memory of Beryl HooleyGeorge & Grace KassDennis & Fairlie NassauGreg Shalit & Miriam FaineProf Richard Smallwood AO & Carol Smallwood

($500+)Anonymous (2)Caroline & Robert ClementeVivien & Jacob FajgenbaumShulan Guo & Morris WatersSue Hamilton & Stuart Hamilton AODr Robert HetzelDr Kingsley GeeMaria McCarthyAnn Miller Andrew & Georgina PorterRosemary Walls

* Ensemble Giovane: Donors in support of Masterclasses

° Amplify: Young Donors in support of Artist Development

List of patrons at 8 May 2017

ENCORE BEQUEST PROGRAM Providing sustained support for all aspects of the Centre’s artistic program through its Public Fund.

Anonymous (3)The Late Betty Amsden AOJenny AndersonBarbara BlackmanJennifer BruknerKen BullenJim Cousins AO & Libby CousinsDr Garry JoslinElizabeth O’KeeffeJanette McLellanThe Estate of Beverley Shelton & Martin SchönthalMary Vallentine AO

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Melbourne Recital Centre acknowledges the generous support of its business partners, philanthropic supporters and patrons.thank you

Founding PatronThe Late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch ac dbe

ENCORE BEQUEST PROGRAMProviding sustained support for all aspects of the Centre’s artistic program through its Public Fund.

Anonymous (3)The Late Betty Amsden aoJenny Anderson Barbara BlackmanJennifer Brukner

Ken BullenJim Cousins ao & Libby CousinsDr Garry JoslinJanette McLellanElizabeth O'Keeffe

The Estate of Beverley Shelton & Martin SchönthalMary Vallentine ao

Board MembersKathryn Fagg, Chair Peter Bartlett Stephen Carpenter

Joseph Corponi The Hon Mary Delahunty Paul Donnelly

Margaret Farren-Price Eda Ritchie am

Founding BenefactorsThe Kantor Family Helen Macpherson Smith Trust The Calvert-Jones Family Robert Salzer Foundation Lyn Williams am The Hugh Williamson Foundation

Principal Government Partner

International Airline Partner Presenting Partner Learning PartnerBusiness Partners

Foundations

THE MARIAN & E.H. FLACK TRUST

THE SENTINEL FOUNDATION

THE VIZARD FOUNDATION

THE MERLYN MYER FUND

THE MARGARET LAWRENCE BEQUEST

THE URSULA HOFF INSTITUTE

Supporting Partners

Program Partners

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The Debussy String Quartet has forged a sound and a style that sets them apart. Organic and adventurous, their concerts and

recordings are renowned for their passion, elegance and detail.

Shostakovich ‘Elegy’ from Two Pieces, Op.36aShostakovich String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op.122

Shostakovich String Quartet No.7 in F-sharp minor, Op.108Beethoven String Quartet in F minor, Op.95 ‘Serioso’

Ravel String Quartet in F

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DEBUSSY STRING QUARTET(FRANCE)

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