SATURDAY 8 AUGUST 7:30PMOLD MUSEUM CONCERT HALL

2015 SEASON / METRO #3

CONCERTPROGRAM

HOLSTSt Paul's Suite Op.29 No.2

ARNOLDThree Shanties for Wind Quintet

GEARY (with thanks to Pachabel)Cannon Fodder

TARREGA arr. Stephen MathiesenRecuerdos de la Alhambra

BEETHOVENFür Elise arr. David J Long

TUCKSummon the Spirits (BPO percussionensemble)

INTERVAL

BEETHOVENSymphony No. 6 (Pastoral Symphony)

BRISBANEPHILHARMONICORCHESTRA

VIOLIN 1Cameron Hough*(Concertmaster)Yvette McKinnonNawres Al-FrehTove EastonEmma ErikssonKeith GamblingPeter Nicholls

VIOLIN 2Amy Phillips*Amanda LugtonRyan SmithAilsa NicholsonLauren JonesAnna JenkinsCamilla HarveyRosie GibsonSarah-Rose Lind

VIOLATim Butcher*Sarah ParrishBrendan CrosbyKatrina GreenwoodStefanie Brandon

CELLOHelen Dolden*Michael GoodallMathilde VliegEdward BrackinPeter WilliamsNicole KancachianKatie MacintoshCharmaine Lee

BASSSamuel Dickenson*Amelia GrimmerGerard McFaddenJoel Gregory

*denotes principal

FLUTEJo Lagerlow*Cassie Slater

OBOEGabrielle Knight*Kathleen Winter

CLARINETDaniel Sullivan*Kendal Alderman BASSOONGuy KnopkeSarah Wagner

HORNMelanie Taylor*Emma Holden

TRUMPETMichael OlsenGeorge Wilson

TROMBONEMoniqua LowthSean Mackenzie

PERCUSSIONKerry Vann*Lucie AllcockShaylee RafterJennifer RumbellJacob BrownZac LowenthalJessica Hazlewood

Leo completed his Bachelor of music at the QueenslandConservatorium, before moving to the United States to complete aMasters degree at Boston’s prestigious New England Conservatory ofMusic. He graduated from NEC in 2007 withAcademic Honors. Subsequently, Leo livedin New York City, where he worked as afreelance musician and teacher whilestudying theory, counterpoint and harmonywith Donna Doyle (a pupil of the famousFrench teacher, Nadia Boulanger).

As a guitarist, Leo has had extensiveperformance experience including concertsin Australia the United States and France,along with radio airplay on ABC classic FMand 4MBS. His guitar playing featured in theABC television show “The Hollowmen”. Leotoured Indonesia with Simone de Haan andthe Conservatorium Trombone ensembleand subsequently recorded a CD with thevocalist from that tour, Kristin Berardi.Leoalso played in a duo with QueenslandSymphony Orchestra Concertmaster,Warwick Adeney.

Leo made his stage debut in 2013,performing (in both a musical and dramaticrole) at the Queensland Lyric Theatre as partof the “Out of the Box” festival in “The FlyingOrchestra”, a stage show after the book ofthe same name by Leo’s sister, Clare.

Leo has been the recipient of major grantsand awards including the City of Brisbane,Lord Mayor’s Young Artist Fellowship and TheIan Potter Cultural Trust. While in Boston, hewon the New England Conservatory’s ‘honorsensemble’ award as part of a trio consisting offellow Australian, Jonathan Dimond andgrammy nominated Colombian percussionist,Tupac Mantilla.

Leo first conducted the Brisbane Philharmonicin their final subscription concert for 2012 andagain in the following year in a King Georgesquare concert, which included two of Leo’sown arrangements, specifically written for theBPO. The King George Square concert alsoincluded the first movement of Beethoven’sPastoral Symphony and Leo is delighted tohave the opportunity to perform the work in itsentirety, with the BPO tonight.

Leo wishes to acknowledge his manyteachers, past and present, for theirinvaluable input into his musical development.In particular, in the realm of conducting; KevinCallaghan Donna Doyle, Lyle Davidson, JohnCurro, Therese Milanovic, Larry Scripp andManuela Vogel.

ConductorLEO MCFADDEN

ABOUT THE ORCHESTRAThe Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO)is Brisbane’s leading community orchestra.The orchestra brings together up to 200musicians a year to play a variety ofclassical orchestral music. Over 100members of the incorporated associationform the core of the orchestra. Other playersperform as casual musicians, but often joinas full-time members after their first concertwith BPO. The orchestra was founded onprinciples of musical excellence anddevelopment, communal participation, andorganisational professionalism.

Since its creation in 2000, the BPO hasbecome the community orchestra of choicefor over 500 musicians. It is eagerly soughtas a performance partner for touring choirs,festivals, and internationally acclaimedinstrumentalists and vocalists. The BPOperforms its own series of symphonyconcerts and participates in multiplecommunity and festival events throughoutthe year, attracting an audience of over2,500 people.

The orchestra’s main metropolitan concertseries includes four to five symphonyconcerts at Brisbane City Hall and the OldMuseum Concert Hall. Programs varybetween concerts featuring the great

classical, romantic, and 20th centurycomposers, light concerts including filmmusic, as well as concerts with programstargeted at a younger audience. Additionally,BPO performs one chamber music concert,featuring multiple smaller groups in a moreintimate setting.

The BPO maintains many communitypartnerships including with the QueenslandMusic Festival, 4MBS Festival of Classics,Brisbane City Council, and The BrisbaneAirport Corporation. These partnershipsprovide essential connections in artistic,educational, professional, and socialprograms and cater to the association’sincreased responsibility to culturally enhancelocalities and bring a diversity of peopletogether in a fast-paced, ever-impersonalglobal village. Unusually for a communityorchestra, entry to the BPO is by auditionand the ensemble is the only communityorchestra within the city that rotates guestconductors by invitation rather thanestablishing a permanent Music Director.Uniquely, this allows a variety of the finestlocal professional conductors to deliverdiverse and innovative programming toartistically stimulate members of theorchestra.

PROGRAM NOTES

This arrangement of Pachelbel’s mostfamous piece, uses timpani and then tubularbells to provide the ground bass instead ofthe cello. The solo drum part at the beginningand end of the piece represents troopsmarching to and returning from battle. Thetuned percussion work together to createsome lovely, layered playing.

Composed in 1886, Recuerdos de laAlhambra, originally for solo guitar, is withoutdoubt Tarrega’s best-known piece. Thiswonderful arrangement evokes memories ofthe Moorish citadel located on a hill inSpanish Granada. It is an enchanting workwith a slightly melancholic tinge.

This is a funky interpretation of one ofBeethoven’s best known works, Für Elise. Itincludes a boogie-woogie bass line on themarimba with the melodic line sharedbetween the vibraphone, xylophone andglockenspiel. It is a wonderfully jazzy piecewith a quirky nature.

This is an exciting piece inspired byJapanese taiko drumming. It opens with afiery unison. This is followed by a section inwhich each part takes turns at playing theaccompanying “drone” role while the otherparts weave and combine voices to createan interplay between the parts. The soloimprovisations are next, followed by anotherunison section, this time containing vocalchants leading to the dramatic conclusion ofthe piece.

Johann Pachelbel

arr. Aidan Geary

Cannon Fodder (2011)

......................................................

Ludwig van Beethoven

arr. David Long

For Elise

......................................................

Kevin Tuck

Summon the Spirits (1998)

......................................................

Francisco Tárrega

arr. Steven Mathiesen

Recuerdos de la Alhambra (2004)

......................................................

Program notes by Kerry Vann

The finale is marked the ‘Dargason’, anarchaic country dance form, and is based ona movement from Holst’s previous SecondSuite for Military Band from 1911. Themovement weaves together two melodies -one, the Dargason itself in 6/8, is from acollection of dance tunes from the 17thcentury, while the second, in 3/4 and cleverlyfitted together against the faster Dargasontune, is none other than ‘Greensleeves’! Themovement ends with an ascending scale bysolo violin up to a high trill and then finallyvigorous chords.

"How happy I am to be able to walk amongthe shrubs, the trees, the woods, the grassand the rocks! For the woods, the trees andthe rocks give man the resonance he needs...In the woods there is enchantment whichexpresses all things!”- Beethoven

Beethoven liked to work on two contrastingsymphonies at a time – allowing him to focuson the elements which made each symphonyunique. In 1802, Beethoven began work on apair of symphonies, his Fifth and Sixth, whichwould be two of the greatest symphonies everwritten. Over the following six years, hecontinued to expand on the works (settingthem aside at times to write some other of his‘Middle Period’ works, such as the FourthSymphony, the Fourth Piano Concerto andthe Violin Concerto) and finally completedthem in 1808 where they were premiered

Gustav Holst (1874-1934)

St Paul's Suite

Op.29/2 (1912/1922)

......................................................

Ludwig van Beethoven

(1770-1827)

Symphony No. 6 in F Major,

Op. 68 ‘Pastoral’ (1808)

......................................................

Best known to audiences for his monumentalsuite The Planets, Holst was prevented from acareer as a pianist by an injury to his righthand. Instead, he became a respected musicaleducator - a great one, in the opinion ofVaughan Williams - as well as a professionaltrombonist and a pioneer of musical educationfor women, including as musical director of theSt Paul’s Girl’s School in western London from1905 until his death. During this time hecomposed many pieces for the students toplay, of which the most famous is the suite forstrings now known as the St Paul’s Suite(although there are optional wind parts to allowother pupils to play along).

The suite was composed in gratitude to theschool for building him a large soundproofstudio for his use for teaching and composition,and was completed in 1913 although it wasn’tpublished until 1922.

The first movement is a vigorous Jig,alternating between 6/8 and 9/8 timesignatures. The second movement is marked‘Ostinato’, after the repeating quaver passageplayed almost without cease by the secondviolins, over which a lilting, waltz-like melody in3/4 plays. The central section is in 2/4 but therunning quavers of the ostinato continuewithout pause.

The third movement, marked Intermezzo, hasan exotic feel to it, with an impassioned melodyinitially played by violin solo above a pizzicatoaccompaniment, later joined by full orchestraand then a viola solo. A 2/4 folk dance-likesection provides some contrast, before theimpassioned melody returns. After a briefreprise of the folk dance the movement endswith a solo string quartet.

PROGRAM NOTES (CONT.)

together (along with the Fourth PianoConcerto and the Choral Fantasy in amammoth four hour concert in a freezingtheatre!).

On the surface, the contrast between thedeeply serious Fifth Symphony and thebucolic Sixth symphony could hardly begreater, but both works are ‘radical’ andstretch the boundaries of the the symphonicform. The Fifth - beginning with its famousfour note ‘Fate’ motif - transforms theominous fate motif into triumphant glory overthe course of the symphony. The Sixth is amore subtle kind of radicalism - taking itsinspiration from nature, it is one ofBeethoven’s few ‘programmatic’ works inwhich the music is expressly inspired by anddepicts a journey into the countryside -although it is no mere musical allegory. In thecomposer’s own words it is “more theexpression of feeling than painting”, in whichthe only drama and stress is nature’s itself.Interestingly, unlike most of Beethoven’snicknamed works (with wonderful names like“Emperor”, “Archduke”, “Ghost”, “Moonlight”and the like), the name “Pastoral” comesfrom Beethoven himself.

The Pastoral, too, pushes the boundaries ofform - it is in five movements, rather than theusual four, and the inclusion of programmaticmaterial in the ‘abstract’ form of thesymphony was highly unusual for the time. Itshares with the Fifth the idea of‘transformation’ of musical themes, but moresubtly: unlike the continual ‘progress’ fromminor to major, from despair to triumph in theFifth, the changes in the motifs of the Sixth

are more organic and subtle, with lots ofrepetition, like the slowly shifting patterns ofNature itself.

An example of this is the characteristic “longshort short long long” rhythmic pattern whichfirst appears in the second bar of the maintheme of the first movement , and then forms(with ascending notes) the connectingpassage between the first and secondstatements of the main theme - later on inthe development, Beethoven takes the samerhythm (although now with falling notes) anduses it for an extended development sectionslowly transitioning through different keys ina series of sequences that change musicalmood like shifting patterns of light in theforest.

The first movement is subtitled “Awakeningof happy feelings on arrival in thecountryside” and is a joyous and expansivemovement, with prominent use of the windsand horn to create a pastoral atmosphere.

The second movement, in sonata form, issubtitled “Scene at a brook”, and has alyrical, slowly-unfolding embellished melodyover a ‘burbling’ accompaniment on thelower strings. The second subject hasextended melodies for clarinet and bassoon.In the coda, the winds imitate birdsong:nightingale (flute), quail (oboe) and cuckoo(clarinets).

PROGRAM NOTES (CONT.)violence to come. At the end of themovement, over the distant rumbling ofreceding thunder on lower strings andtimpani, there comes a glorious passagewhere the winds start playing in joy andthanksgiving that the storm has passed - firstoboe, then clarinet, then horn, leadingseamlessly into the last movement.

The fifth and last movement is titled“Shepherd’s Song of Thanksgiving after theStorm”, and is a serene and lilting movementin 6/8, filled with reverent joy. The timesignature and drone bass notes suggest thepipes of shepherds in the main theme, whichrecurs in a sonata rondo form throughout themovement, and is embellished with flowingsemiquaver countermelodies and warmrepeated notes. The coda begins with asudden hush as the cellos take over the‘flowing’ countermelody and builds inintensity and emotion until the glorious finalpassages where the full orchestra (apartfrom the “storm” instruments) plays ashimmering F major section, bringing themovement back into the home key, beforethe movement ends sotto voce with two finalchords.

The ebullient third movement is a vigorouscountry dance, a “Merry gathering of countryfolk”. The first section, in 3/4 time, has asecond subject of a lilting oboe melody withbassoon countermelody over a repeatedstring accompaniment, followed by arestatement of the melody by horn withclarinet countermelody, and then after anaccelerating passage on the lower strings,the trio (in 2/4 time) is a rustic and vigorousdance full of revelry. The scherzo and trio arerepeated again, before there is a finalrepetition of the scherzo, played softly andfaster than previously, which is suddenlytruncated by the arrival of the fourthmovement.

The fourth movement (“Thunderstorm”) is anexhilarating and very descriptive depiction ofa sudden thunderstorm - beginning withnervous repeated notes in the violins (the firstdrops of rain) in builds in intensity until the fullforce of the storm is unleashed, andBeethoven augments the orchestra withpiccolo, trumpets, trombones and timpani.Thunder and lightning are depicted bysudden sforzandi and jagged downwards-falling passages, and ominous rumbling ofthe lower strings and timpani suggest more

Program notes by Cameron Hough

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Executive CommitteePresident: Yvette McKinnonVice-President: Amy PhillipsSecretary: Amanda LugtonTreasurer: John ConnollyCommittee Member: Gabriel DumitruCommittee Member: Daniel Sullivan

OfficersAuditions Co-ordinator: Amy PhillipsCatering: Gabriel Dumitru, Amy PhillipsStage Manager: Edward BrackinMarketing: Jo Lagerlow, Keith Gambling

If you would like to volunteer, contact:info@bpo.org.au

AUDITIONS

AUDITIONS ARE ON!Do you play an orchestral instrument, orknow someone who does? We are holdingauditions for almost every instrument overthe next two months and still have lots ofamazing music ahead of us in 2015.

Visit our website to download auditionexcerpts and fill out the online form to signup! www.bpo.org.au

Current vacancies include:

Violin (1st & 2nd) (tutti)Viola (Principal and tutti)Double Bass (tutti)Oboe (tutti)Bassoon (Principal and tutti/contra)Trumpet (Principal and tutti)French Horn (tutti)Trombone (Principal and tutti)Bass trombone (Principal)Percussion (tutti)

WHAT'S NEXT?If Music Be the Food of Love...

The BPO invites you to join the celebrations as we mark the 15th anniversary ofthe orchestra, and the opening of the 2015 4MBS Shakespeare Festival.

Enjoy a concert filled with works that celebrate the masterpieces of Shakespearefeaturing acclaimed guest actor Tama Matheson, followed by a post-concertfunction in the Hamilton Lounge at City Hall.

Conductor: David LawActor: Tama Matheson

ProgramMendelssohn > Overture and Incidental Music from 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream'Stephen Warbeck > Suite from the motion picture ‘Shakespeare in Love’William Walton > Suite from Henry VTchaikovsky > Romeo and Juliet 'Fantasy' Overture

Tickets$60 (concert plus post-concert function including food and drinks)$30 Adult (concert only)$20 Concessions (concert only)Free for children under 13 (does not include function)4mbs.com.au / or phone 3847 1717

Sponsors and Partners

Website www.bpo.org.auEmail info@bpo.org.auPost PO Box 792 Paddington QLD 4006

Copyright Brisbane Philharmonic Association Inc. All details correct at time of printing. BPO reserves the right to change details as necessary.

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Concert #4 - Sunday 20 September 5pm, Brisbane City Hall