THURSDAY AFTERNOON SYMPHONY

Thursday 10 July 2014

EMIRATES METRO SERIES

Friday 11 July 2014

GREAT CLASSICS

Saturday 12 July 2014

ROMANTIC MASTERPIECESBrahms & Elgar

*Selected performances. Booking fees of $7.50 $8.95 may apply.

concert diary

FOR COMPLETE DETAILS OF THE 2014 SEASON VISIT

SYDNEYSYMPHONY.COM NO FEES WHEN YOU BOOK THESE CONCERTS ONLINE WITH THE SSO

CALL 8215 4600 MON-FRI 9AM-5PM

JandamarraHOLST A Fugal Overture VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Oboe Concerto STANHOPE & HAWKE^ Jandamarra Sing for the Country premiere

Brett Weymark conductor Diana Doherty oboe Simon Lobelson baritone Yilimbirri Ensemble singers and dancers Members of Gondwana Choirs

Meet the Music

Wed 16 Jul 6.30pm Thu 17 Jul 6.30pm^Tea & Symphony

Fri 18 Jul 11am complimentary morning tea from 10am

Major Partner Kimberley Diamond

Pre-concert talk by Vincent Plush (Wed, Thu only)

Harp LegendsLISZT Orpheus RODRIGO Concierto serenata for harp BRACEGIRDLE Legends of the Old Castle Harp Concertino AUSTrALiAN premiere ZEMLINSKY The Mermaid

Simone Young conductor Louise Johnson harp (Bracegirdle) Sivan Magen harp (Rodrigo) Harpists of the World Harp Congress

Thursday Afternoon Symphony

Thu 24 Jul 1.30pmEmirates Metro Series

Fri 25 Jul 8pmMondays @ 7

Mon 28 Jul 7pm

Pre-concert talk by Yvonne Frindle

Pepe RomeroROSSINI The Barber of Seville: Overture RODRIGO Concierto de Aranjuez VIVALDI Concerto in D, RV 93 BEETHOVEN Symphony No.8

Tito Muoz conductor Pepe Romero guitar

Special Event Premier Partner Credit Suisse

Fri 1 Aug 8pm Sat 2 Aug 8pm

Pre-concert talk 45 minutes before each performance

Four Last SongsGLANERT Frenesia AUSTrALiAN premiere R STRAUSS Four Last Songs BRAHMS Symphony No.2

David Robertson conductor Christine Brewer soprano

APT Master Series

Wed 13 Aug 8pm Fri 15 Aug 8pm Sat 16 Aug 8pm

Pre-concert talk by David Larkin

Hear it, Feel itMOZART Symphony No.25: 1st movement LIGETI Piano Concerto^ SCRIABIN The Poem of Ecstasy^

David Robertson conductor Nicolas Hodges piano

Meet the Music

Wed 20 Aug 6:30pm Thu 21 Aug 6:30pm^Tea & Symphony

Fri 22 Aug 11am complimentary morning tea from 10am

Pre-concert talk by Scott Davie (Wed, Thu only)

CLASSICAL

TICKETS FROM $39* Tickets also available atsydneyoperahouse.com 9250 7777 Mon-Sat 9am-8.30pm Sun 10am-6pm

WELCOME TO THEEMIRATES METRO SERIES

Bryan Banston Emirates Vice President Australasia

2014 marks the 12th anniversary of Emirates partnership with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Were proud to continue one of the longest running partnerships for the SSO and remain the naming sponsor of the orchestras Emirates Metro Series.

Emirates connects travellers around the globe, bringing people together to discover, enjoy, and share experiences. Our partnership with the SSO is about connecting with you our customers.

The Emirates Metro Series showcases a wonderful array of highly regarded compositions, including many key European composers. We hope that tonights performance prompts you to consider a future trip to Europe, where we fly to more than 35 destinations with the recent addition of Oslo, or internationally to more than 140 destinations in 80 countries.

Like the SSO, Emirates specialises in first-class entertainment, taking out the award for best inflight entertainment for the ninth consecutive year at the international Skytrax Awards in 2013.

With up to 1,600 channels to choose from, on 28 flights per week to New Zealand and 84 flights per week to Dubai, including a double daily A380 from Sydney, those flying on Emirates will now be able to watch SSO concerts onboard.

We are dedicated to the growth of arts and culture in Australia and were delighted to continue our support of the SSO. We encourage you to enjoy as many performances as possible in 2014.

2014 concert season

THURSDAY AFTERNOON SYMPHONYTHURSDAY 10 JULY, 1.30PM

EMIRATES METRO SERIESFRIDAY 11 JULY, 8PM

GREAT CLASSICS SATURDAY 12 JULY, 2PM

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE CONCERT HALL

ROMANTIC MASTERPIECESJakub Hra conductor Truls Mrk cello

JOHANNES BRAHMS (18331897) Five Hungarian Dances orchestrated by Antonn Dvok (18411904)

No.17 in F sharp minor No.18 in D major No.19 in B minor No.20 in E minor No.21 in E minor

EDWARD ELGAR (18571934) Cello Concerto in E minor, Op.85

Adagio Moderato Lento Allegro molto Adagio Allegro Moderato Allegro, ma non troppo

INTERVAL

JOHANNES BRAHMS Symphony No.4 in E minor, Op.98

Allegro non troppo Andante moderato Allegro giocoso Poco meno presto Allegro energico e passionato Pi allegro

Saturday afternoons performance will be broadcast live across Australia by ABC Classic FM.

Pre-concert talk by Yvonne Frindle in the Northern Foyer, 45 minutes before each performance. Visit sydneysymphony.com/talk-bios for speaker biographies.

Estimated durations: 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 20-minute interval, 40 minutes The concert will conclude at approximately 3.35pm (Thu), 10.05pm (Fri), 4.05pm (Sat).

Earlier this year Truls Mrk suffered a minor injury and while he is very much improved he has hadto re-address the number of pieces he is performing at one time. For this reason he has had to make the change from the Dvok cello concerto to the Elgar.

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A view of Mrzzuschlag, where Brahms composed his Fourth Symphony over two summers. The image is a Photochrom print (colour photo lithograph) made sometime between 1890 and 1905.

Brahms Elgar

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Romantic Masterpieces: Brahms and Elgar

INTRODUCTION

Once, when asked the meaning of his Cello Concerto, Elgar said: A mans attitude to life. Its the attitude of a man in his 60s, fatigued by illness and depressed by the carnage of World WarI and the vanishing of his world. The autumnal quality of the music is unsurprising. The cellos first theme suggests, says Diana McVeagh, tiredness and resignation. And yet the music also has a kind of fierceness and vigour its good to remember something else that Elgar said about the concerto, describing it as a real large work & I think good & alive.

As in Elgars best works, these two characteristics nostalgia and vitality keep the Cello Concerto in balance and save it from sentimentality, even during the heart-wrenching third movement. In this theres an affinity with Brahms, whom Elgar greatly admired.

Theres no indulgence or extravagance in Brahmss Fourth Symphony, and no trace of the sentimental. Instead he finds inspiration in the past while making a monumental statement in a contemporary voice. The mighty finale is based on a Baroque principle learned from Bach. The first movement sets up the musical equivalent of rational dialogue. The central movements glow with the same simple energy that we hear in the Hungarian Dances.

The result is two Romantic masterpieces which, for all their beauty and depth of feeling(the Elgar may well make you feel like crying),are muscular and alive and there lies their power.

Turn to page 27 to read Bravo! musician profiles, articles and news from the orchestra. There are nine issues through the year, also available at sydneysymphony.com/bravo

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READ IN ADVANCEYou can also read SSO program books on your computer or mobile device by visiting our online program library in the week leading up to the concert: sydneysymphony.com/program_library

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ABOUT THE MUSIC

Johannes Brahms Hungarian Dances Nos 1721 orchestrated by Antonn Dvok

Unlike his contemporary Johann Strauss II, Brahms enjoyed little of the popular success that makes composers not only famous but rich. (Brahms once wrote on a copy of Strausss Blue Danube Waltz: Unfortunately not by Brahms!) Notable exceptions were his 21 Hungarian dances. Once the first ten were published in their original piano duet versions in 1869, they carried Brahmss name around the world, The Sydney Morning Herald noting in 1884 that to many in Australia Brahms is known only in connection with these dances.

Brahms went on to orchestrate only three of them in 1873 (Nos 1, 3 and 10). He and his publisher, Fritz Simrock, shared benefits from the other 18 with hired orchestrators, of whom Dvok was the last and only collaborator famous in his own right. Dvok is, moreover, the only one whose original creative input in turning Nos 17 to 21 into genuinely idiomatic orchestral showpieces is still seriously credited today.

Brahms introduced the first ten Hungarian Dances to Simrock as genuine gypsy children, which I did not father, merely raised on bread and milk. But the publisher often glossed over this important detail, much to the chagrin of several unacknowledged contributors. One was Bla Kler, composer of the big theme in the best-known dance, No.5. Brahms had learned many of the melodies while touring in 1853 as piano accompanist to the young violin virtuoso Edouard Remnyi (182898). Remnyi later toured the world, and in Sydney in 1884 introduced his own original upon which Brahms had based another of the dances.

Hungarian musicologist Ervin Major set the recor