Brahms' Splendour
MACA CLASSICS SERIES
Fri 22 & Sat 23 November 2024, 7.30pm
Perth Concert Hall
West Australian Symphony Orchestra respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and Elders of Country throughout Western Australia, and the Whadjuk Noongar people on whose lands we work and share music.
How to use your Digital Program
Brahms' Triumph
Johannes BRAHMS Violin Concerto (36 mins)
Allegro non troppo
Adagio
Allegro giocoso
Interval (25 mins)
Johannes BRAHMS Symphony No.2 (43 mins)
Allegro non troppo
Adagio non troppo
Allegretto grazioso (Quasi andantino) –
Presto ma non assai
Allegro con spirito
Vasily Petrenko conductor
Clara-Jumi Kang violin
Wesfarmers Arts Pre-concert Talk
Find out more about the music in the concert with this week’s speaker, Margaret Seares. The Pre-concert Talk will take place at 6.45pm at the Terrace Level Corner Stage.
Listen to WASO
This performance is recorded for broadcast Saturday 7 December, 1pm (AWST) on ABC Classic. Date subject to change. For further details visit abc.net.au/classic
WASO On Stage
About the Artists
Vasily Petrenko
Conductor
Vasily Petrenko is Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he took on in 2021, becoming Conductor Laureate of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra following his hugely acclaimed fifteen-year tenure as their Chief Conductor from 2006 to 2021. He is the Associate Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, and has also served as Chief Conductor of the European Union Youth Orchestra (2015 to 2024), Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (2013 to 2020) and Principal Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (2009 to 2013). He stood down as Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia ‘Evgeny Svetlanov’ in 2021, having been their Principal Guest Conductor from 2016 and Artistic Director from 2020.Petrenko has worked with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome), St Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Czech Philharmonic and NHK Symphony Orchestras, and in North America has lead the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and the San Francisco, Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras. He has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival, Grafenegg Festival and made frequent appearances at the BBC Proms. Equally at home in the opera house, and with over thirty operas in his repertoire, Vasily Petrenko has conducted widely on the operatic stage, including at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, Opernhaus Zürich, the Bayerische Staatsoper, and the Metropolitan Opera, New York.
Vasily Petrenko has established a strongly defined profile as a recording artist. In September 2017, Vasily Petrenko was honoured with the Artist of the Year award at the prestigious annual Gramophone Awards, one decade on from receiving their Young Artist of the Year award in October 2007. In 2010, he won the Male Artist of the Year at the Classical BRIT Awards and is only the second person to have been awarded Honorary Doctorates by both the University of Liverpool and Liverpool Hope University, and an Honorary Fellowship of the Liverpool John Moores University. In 2024, Vasily also launched a new academy for young conductors, coorganised by the Primavera Foundation Armenia and the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra.
Show more...
About the Artists
Clara-Jumi Kang
Violin
Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang is an artist of supreme musicality, impeccable refinement and poise, as borne out by the many awards and accolades she has received since she first burst onto the scene as winner of the Indianapolis International Violin Competition in 2010, hot on the heels of her successes at the Seoul Violin Competition (2009) and the Sendai Violin Competition (2010). Her cycle of Beethoven Violin Sonatas with pianist Sunwook Kim, which was released on Accentus last season, has received outstanding reviews and nominations.Recent and current highlights include her debut at the BBC Proms with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Ryan Bancroft performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, performances with the Gurzenich Orchester/Roth, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen/P Järvi, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic/Denève, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Schwarz, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra/Chung and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra/Mena, and she will tour Australasia for performances with the Melbourne Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia and West Australian Symphony Orchestras and KBS Symphony Orchestra.
She made her concerto debut with Hamburg Symphony at the age of five, and has since performed with orchestras including the Warsaw Philharmonic, Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Mariinsky Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, with conductors such as Boreyko, Fedoseyev, Gergiev, Kremer, Mena, Poppen, François Xavier Roth, Varga, Lü Jia, Chung, Holliger, Märkl and Yamada.
Further afield, her performances have taken her to the USA with the Atlanta, New Jersey, Indianapolis and Santa Fe Symphony Orchestras, as well as Asia with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, NCPA Beijing Orchestra, Macao Philharmonic, Taipei Symphony and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestras. She was selected as one of the Top 100 “Most promising and influential people of Korea” in 2012 by major Korean newspaper Dong-A Times, and was awarded the Daewon Music Award (2012) for her outstanding international achievements, as well as Kumho Musician of the Year (2015).
Clara-Jumi Kang has made two recordings for Decca; “Modern Solo” featuring works including Schubert’s Erlkönig and Ysaÿe Sonatas, and a Brahms/Schumann album with Yeol-Eum Son. A dedicated chamber musician, she is a member of the Spectrum Concerts series at the Berlin Philharmonie and a regular visitor to festivals across Asia and Europe.
Born in Germany to a musical family, Clara-Jumi Kang took up the violin at the age of three and a year later enrolled as the youngest-ever student at the Mannheim Musikhochschule. She went on to study with Zakhar Bron at the Lübeck Musikhochschule and, at the age of seven, was awarded a full scholarship to the Julliard School to study with Dorothy Delay. She took her Bachelor and Master’s degrees at the Korean National University of Arts under Nam-Yun Kim, before completing her studies at the Munich Musikhochschule with Christoph Poppen.
Clara-Jumi Kang plays the “Thunis” Stradivarius of 1702.
Show more...
About the Music
Johannes Brahms
(1833-1897)
Violin Concerto in D, Op.77
Allegro non troppo
Adagio
Allegro giocoso
Brahms spent the summers of 1877-79 in the lakeside village of Pörtschach in Carinthia, producing his first Motet Op.74, the Ballades for Piano Op.75, Symphony No.2 and his Violin Sonata in G Op.78 – all works which share an atmosphere of pastoral beauty shot through with nostalgia. But, as Brahms scholar Karl Geiringer notes, the ‘crowning masterpiece’ of this time is the Violin Concerto.
The concerto, like the G major sonata, was composed for the great virtuoso Joseph Joachim, whom an ecstatic 15-year-old Brahms had heard play the Beethoven concerto. In 1853, their friendship began in earnest, with Joachim writing to Brahms’ parents of how ‘Johannes had stimulated my work as an artist to an extent beyond my hopes… my friendship is always at his disposal’. Brahms similarly admired Joachim – significantly as a composer, rather than performer, saying that ‘there is more in Joachim than in all the other young composers put together.’
While Joachim was intimately involved with the creation of early works of Brahms’ chamber music, it was not, strangely enough, until those summers by the lake at Pörtschach in the 1870s that Brahms wrote solo music for his friend. Geiringer notes that, in the case of both the concerto and the sonata, Brahms ‘conscientiously asked his friend’s advice on all technical questions – and then hardly ever followed it’, but, in fact, at crucial points, Joachim’s advice on technical matters was invaluable. This consisted mainly of tinkering with certain figurations to make them more gratifying to play. But, Joachim was also a profoundly serious artist – like Brahms – and out of their collaboration came works in which the element of virtuosity never overshadows the musical argument, despite the work’s many technical challenges. Joachim also wrote a cadenza for the concerto which is still frequently heard today.
The concerto has some of the expansive dimensions of Brahms’ first piano concerto. This is especially true of the spacious first movement which, like that of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, takes up more than half the work’s playing time, and begins with a long, symphonic exposition of its main themes. Like its companion, the Second Symphony, the Concerto is in D (a key which composers like Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius used for violin concertos as it makes use of the instrument’s natural resonance) and has something of a visionary Romantic tone.
Brahms originally thought to write the piece in four movements, making the central pair a scherzo and contrasting slow movement. But, he wrote to Joachim that the ‘middle movements – naturally the best ones – have fallen through. So, I have substituted a feeble adagio.’ Feeble is of course hardly the word for this piece; derived from the simplest of musical figures – the falling broken chord with which the violin begins – it evolves into one of Brahms’ most soulful but restrained movements. As such it provides a wonderful contrast to the gypsy-style finale, with its pyrotechnic solo line and exciting use of displaced accents.
Joachim premiered the piece on New Year’s Day, 1879, at the Leipzig Gewandhaus with Brahms conducting, but the response was tepid, and only through Joachim’s persistence did it gradually gain its rightful place in the standard repertoire. Brahms and Joachim fell out over the violinist’s divorce in 1884, the rift lasting until Brahms wrote the Concerto for Violin and Cello in 1887. But that’s another story.
Gordon Kerry © 2006
First performance:
1 January 1879. Composer conducting. Joseph Joachim, violin.
First WASO performance:
6 January 1951. Robert Pekarek, conductor. Robert Pikler, violin.
Most recent WASO performance:
21 August 2015. Asher Fisch, conductor. Pinchas Zukerman, violin.
Instrumentation:
two each of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and trumpets, four horns, timpani and strings.
Glossary
Cadenza – a showy passage by a solo instrument, usually towards the end of a concerto movement. Originally, cadenzas were improvised by the soloist to show off their brilliant technique.
Scherzo – literally, a joke; the term generally refers to a movement in a fast, light triple time which may involve whimsical, startling or playful elements.
Show more...
About the Music
Johannes Brahms
(1833-1897)
Symphony No.2 in D, Op.73
Allegro non troppo
Adagio non troppo
Allegretto grazioso (Quasi andantino) –
Presto ma non assai
Allegro con spirito
Composed in the summer of 1877 at his favourite resort village of Pörtschach, on the edge of Lake Worth in the Austrian Alps, the Second is the sunniest of Brahms’ symphonies. There, in solitude, and in between dawn swims and long daily walks, Brahms composed this bucolically joyous work with rare swiftness. Four months is all it took, nothing like the tortuous, two decades’ struggle of the First Symphony.
A personal tone and easy lyrical warmth immediately set the Second Symphony apart from the First. Brahms seems at last able to put the weighty symphonic inheritance of Beethoven behind him and arrive at a more individual position. Clara Schumann remarked that the new symphony was more original than its predecessor, and she predicted correctly that the public would prefer it. The premiere by the Vienna Philharmonic under conductor Hans Richter on 30 December was a resounding success, with critics praising the work as ‘attractive’, ‘understandable’ and refreshingly un-Beethovenian.
Paradoxically, the Second’s originality lies partly in its mild, backward-looking stance. Gentle pastoral imagery and a compressed, Haydnesque expressive scale seem to evoke a past world. The work’s character is genial: all four movements are like companions, not dramatically set against one another – and all are in major keys.
More than anything else, it is a melodic symphony. Brahms wrote to Eduard Hanslick about Pörtschach: ‘The melodies fly so thick here that you have to be careful not to step on one.’ Indeed, each movement abounds with lyricism. In the first a leisurely, lilting waltz serves as the main subject, followed by an equally lilting ‘lullaby’ second subject in the cellos. No doubt the birdsong later in the flute, decorating the main subject’s return, helped this to become ‘Brahms’ Pastoral Symphony’ – a label which greatly annoyed the composer.
The flowing melodic vein continues in a noble, expansively romantic Adagio, one of Brahms’ finest symphonic movements. Tuneful in a different way is the diminutive third movement, which consists of a suite of dances. The finale is the only outrightly dramatic movement: it bursts out with resplendent melody as if proclaiming victory.
But a victory over what? If one listens with different ears to the Second Symphony, its radiantly lit landscape seems continually threatened. A brooding quality seems to grow out of the first movement’s initial three-note motif, heard in the cellos, and it is emphasised by this motif’s numerous reappearances not only in this movement but in the second as well. Even the third and fourth movements, with their lighter mood, have a shadowy side, in wistful major-minor inflections and moments of muted introspection.
So, maybe all is not so sunny after all. One perceptive listener of the time, Vincenz Lachner, questioned Brahms about his intent in the symphony, in particular on why he introduces the gloomy sounds of tremolo timpani and low trombones so early in the first movement – just one minute in. Brahms’ reply is extraordinary for what it reveals about himself and the work:
‘I would have to confess that I am…a severely melancholic person, that black wings are constantly flapping above us, and that in my output – perhaps not entirely by chance – this symphony is followed by a little essay about the great ‘Why’. If you don’t know this [motet, Warum] I will send it to you. It casts the necessary shadow on the serene symphony and perhaps accounts for those timpani and trombones.’
Thus, it is a Janus-faced Brahms who found his idyll in the mountainous retreat of Pörtschach: the sombre-sounding motet he mentions, Warum ist das Licht gegeben, Op.74, dates from his same summer there. All of which has led Malcolm MacDonald to suggest that the Second is ‘one of the darkest of major-key symphonies’.
The Second is too amiable to be revolutionary. But, in its tone-painting without glory, its fatalism and its ‘taint of the real’, Brahms points the way toward the symphonies of Mahler. Reinhold Brinkmann calls the Second ‘an emphatic questioning of the pastoral world, a firm denial of the possibility of pure serenity’. Its revelation is of a composer, a nature lover, for whom there was no joy without sadness, and no sadness without joy.
Abridged from Graham Strahle © 2004.
First performance:
30 December 1877, Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Hans Richter.
First WASO performance:
17 May 1947; Warwick Braithwaite, conductor.
Most recent WASO performance:
16-17 August 2019; Asher Fisch, conductor.
Instrumentation:
two each of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons; four horns, two trumpets, three trombones and tuba; timpani and strings.
Glossary
Major/minor – types of key. Very generally, music in major keys tends to sound brighter (e.g. Twinkle, twinkle little star), whereas minor keys have a more sombre, melancholy feel (Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata).
Motet – a short piece of sacred vocal music, usually to a Latin text.
Motif – a short, distinctive melodic or rhythmic figure, often part of or derived from a theme.
Pastoral Symphony – reference to Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony (Pastoral), which portrays country life, including depictions of birdsong.
Subject – a principal theme, or group of themes, on which a composition is based. Symphonic works, and especially first movements, often feature two contrasting subjects.
Tone-painting – depicting the meaning of lyrics or other extra-musical elements in music.
Show more...
Meet the Musician
Chloe Higgins - Principal Tuba
How and where did your musical journey begin?
My musical journey began in primary school, in Adelaide, when I started playing the flute. I loved being involved in all things music and I desperately wanted to attend the Special Interest Music Program at Marryatville High School but I knew the selection process was pretty competitive. When the teachers there suggested I take up the tuba in order to be considered, I jumped on the opportunity. I have some great memories from high school, being involved in an overload of bands, orchestras, and choirs.
When did you realise you wanted to become a professional musician?
Right from beginning I always secretly hoped to become a professional musician but it felt like a bit of a crazy dream. It has actually been the moments where I was unable to practice or perform for extended periods that it became clear to me that I couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life. When I was working non-music jobs finding myself getting progressively out of shape on the tuba, or being very unwell and unable to play, I found the fuel driving me to pursue this career.
Do you have any stand-out concerts or performances during your time with WASO so far?
Some immediate stand-outs have been Mahler 8 and selections from Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Some other pieces that were less well known to me and were a treat to perform were Shostakovich’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in A minor, and Franck’s Symphony in D minor.
Describe a typical week in the life of a tuba player.
A typical week has looked wildly different at different times, and I’m looking forward to continuing to figure out what this will look like in the future as I work with WASO. Rehearsing, practicing, performing, good food, and knitting are almost always present.
What’s the most challenging piece of music you’ve ever had to play and why?
In 2020, I performed Christian Lindberg’s concerto for tuba and orchestra, Panda in Love, for the final round of the Jeju International Brass and Percussion Competition. I was incredibly lucky to be selected for the final round with a close friend and we were able to prepare the piece together. This piece pushed our limits of technique, endurance, and sanity, and drove us to rename the piece with titles like “Panda has a panic attack”, “Superspeed Panda”, and “Panda should really take it easy”. Despite the stress, it brings a big smile to my face to think back to preparing that piece together now.
What’s your most listened to non-classical track or artist?
When I am not playing the tuba, I spend a possibly unhealthy amount of my time listening to music, and every year I’m a little worried about what my Spotify Wrapped is going to tell me about myself. I love prog metal/rock and folk music, and some of my most listened to albums from 2024 have been Charcoal Grace by Caligula’s Horse and Melodies of Atonement by Leprous.
About WASO
Engage | Excite | Experience | Educate
From the centre of Perth to the furthest corners of the state, we have provided the soundtrack to life in WA since 1928.
As the State Orchestra, Perth’s first and finest, WASO is the largest employer of performing artists in Western Australia and reaches two million people with musical experiences each year on stage, in our community, and online.
From concert halls to classrooms, hospitals to aged care, we bring joy, inspire learning, and nurture participation in our community, because everybody deserves the opportunity to experience live music. Every year, through community and leading industry partnerships, we engage a new generation of young and emerging artists to help secure a bright future for music in Australia.
We celebrate our rich classical music heritage with great artists from all over the world and commission and perform new repertoire to renew and expand it.
The Orchestra collaborates widely with major arts companies and independent artists, performing opera to ballet, movies to musicals, jazz to rock. We champion the diversity of music in all its forms, with a team of talented and passionate people who create unforgettable experiences for all West Australians to enjoy.
Asher Fisch is Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of our Orchestra and we are proud to call Perth Concert Hall home.
Show more...
Your Concert Experience
Get the best out of your concert.
- Explore the music
Be sure to take a quick look at the performance schedule or enjoy a deep dive into the music with your concert program online or in the foyer. - Share with your friends
Snap a selfie from your seat, capture the artist bows and share the experience with friends. Don’t forget to tag us! #wasymphonyorchestra - Clap with enthusiasm
Whether you are welcoming your favourite artist to the stage, or showing appreciation at the end of a piece, we love thunderous applause. Not sure when to clap? Here’s a tip; if the conductor’s arm is raised, hold it. If it’s relaxed, go for it! - Respect those around you
Ensure your mobile phone is on silent and does not disrupt the experience of those around you. If you need to cough or sneeze, please do this into your elbow. Cough lozenges are available from the Information
Desk located on Level 1. Masks are welcome but not required. - Accessible services available
For information about our services such as assisted listening and accessible toilets please search “Perth Concert Hall Access” online. - Latecomers admitted at a suitable time
If you arrive late or leave your seat during a performance, your auditorium entry will need to wait until a suitable break. - Drinks and nibbles
The Wardle Kitchen is open for casual dining, serving delicious hot meals before each performance, while our Grab and Go stations offer quick bites such as sushi and sandwiches. Bars are available on the first two levels, and you are welcome to bring your cold drink into the auditorium. - First Aid available
St John First Aid officers are present at every WASO concert. Please notify a Perth Concert Hall team member if you require any first aid assistance. - Box Office is open
Get tickets to your next WASO experience at the Box Office located on the ground floor (Level 1). Our Box Office is open one hour prior to each performance, and during interval, or you can email us anytime at boxoffice@waso.com.au. You can also visit us Mon-Fri 9am-5pm.
Show more...
Family Events
Classic Adventures: Wild Animals
During the September school holidays, children and the young at heart had an absolute hoot at WASO’s family concert, Wild Animals. This family-friendly event was a relaxed concert, giving children a valuable opportunity to engage with their State Orchestra, and provided some concertgoers with their first experience of orchestral music.
Led on the podium by WASO’s Associate Conductor, Jen Winley, the concert featured iconic animal-themed works and a range of familiar songs to sing along with. Bluey, Baby Shark, and Australian composer Maria Grenfell’s Roar! had children singing and wiggling in their seats with the music. The concert also featured short works by Stravinsky, Mussorgsky and excerpts from Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. The concert finished with an exciting finale from the animated film, How to Train Your Dragon.
Joining WASO on stage were guest artists, Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse, who performed a beautiful and ethereal arrangement of their song, Bindi Bindi. Gina spoke of the nature of the bindi bindi (butterfly), whose lifecycle and message is about transformation. Emerging, young Perth composer, Nicholas Kyriakacis, premiered an original piece, written for this family concert. The work, Siren Song, painted a picture of the Carnaby Cockatoo taking flight ahead of a coming rainstorm, with the cockatoo’s bird call heard echoing between featured violins and viola. Nicholas was the recipient of the Most Outstanding Composition in the 2023 WASO Composition Project.
We loved seeing the orchestra wearing costumes to get into the ‘animal’ spirit of the concert. The auditorium was decorated with garlands of green vines, and the stage with life-size animal statues, adding to the atmosphere of being on a safari tour. Families enjoyed spending time together before the concert in our beautiful foyer spaces, making flying butterflies, learning to conduct with Jen Winley, looking at insects through microscopes and learning the art of origami.
Wild Animals was presented in association with the 2024 AWESOME Festival. Jen Winley is supported by the Simon Lee Foundation and JACE Foundation. Composition Project is supported by Bendat Family Foundation.
Show more...
Philanthropy
Join Our Symphony of Giving
The transformative nature of music is yet to be matched. It can heal, it can unite, and it can inspire. It can do this and so much more all without a single word being uttered. It’s unsurprising then that it’s woven into the fabric of our celebrations and stories, providing the backdrop for countless moments in our lives.That is why WASO is committed to empowering, enriching, and elevating the lives of all West Australians through the universal language of music. The donations we receive enable your State Orchestra to continue to inspire and connect our community through its beauty.
Join us in shaping our performances by contributing to the concerts you love, so that together we may continue to change lives through music.
Thank you for your ongoing belief in your State Orchestra and for helping us to colour lives with music. For more information or to pledge your support, please call the Philanthropy team on (08) 9326 0016 or visit our website.
Show more...
Our Supporters
2024 Trusts and Foundations
Lead Partner of Crescendo
Crescendo / Hospital Orchestra Project
First Nations Creative Collaborations / Composition Project
Associate Conductor Program
About the Speaker
WASO Recommends
If you enjoyed tonight's concert, we think you'll love:
Brahms' Triumph
Our final classical concert at Perth Concert Hall opens with Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture, a jubilant and jocular celebration of student life. Principal Clarinet Allan Meyer will then enthral you with Brahms' Clarinet Sonata, rich with colour and heard here in Berio’s superb arrangement for full orchestra. Contrasting with all his previous symphonies and in the hands of Asher Fisch, Brahms’ final and finest Symphony No.4 makes for an unforgettable finale.
Asher Fisch appears courtesy of Wesfarmers Arts. Allan Meyer’s Chair is supported by Leanne & Sam Walsh AO through the Duet program.
Fri 29 & Sat 30 November 2024, 7.30pm
Perth Concert Hall
2024 Corporate Partners
Principal Partner
Lead Partners
Government Partners
Major Partners
Supporting Partners
Beverage Partners
To share in our vision and discuss the many opportunities extended through corporate partnerships please contact Corporate Development on 08 9326 0020.
