≈ 2 hours · With intermission
Last updated: April 23, 2019
Reflection
I fondly remember a post-concert conversation over a glass of wine with my friend, tonight’s soloist Miloš Karadaglić, as we mused on the idea of commissioning the extraordinary Howard Shore to write a guitar concerto for us and the NAC Orchestra. Having not the slightest idea whether the suggestion would inspire this great composer, we simply reached out and asked. Nothing ventured, nothing gained…
And here we are! What a thrill to be giving the world premiere performances of this new concerto in Ottawa this week. A winner of three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes and four GRAMMY® Awards, Howard is a true Canadian legend and I am honoured and proud that we can be the first to share in his latest creation.
Reflection
Howard Shore is a gentleman and a true master. I have for many years been fascinated by his insanely imaginative soundtracks and classical compositions. I still find it hard to believe that he wrote a piece for me... I am indeed the luckiest “plucker” in the world!
The work is magical, just like the enchanted forest Howard wanted to paint with his unique musical brushstrokes. The first time I heard the piece, I was moved by the honest simplicity of its harmonies, idiomatic writing and incredibly programmatic nature that makes you instantly dream up so many colours and sceneries in your head. I have been struck by how masterfully, through the texture of the sound he creates, amongst so many shades of musical colour, he discretely interweaves a net of various echoes from my own homeland. Montenegro and its dark forests have been an inspiration to Howard and myself from the beginning. I have been counting the days until this wonderful dream we share becomes reality.
This is the first time the NAC Orchestra has performed Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel’s Overture in C major.
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This is the world premiere of Canadian composer Howard Shore’s The Forest, a concerto commissioned by Alexander Shelley and the NAC Orchestra, written for classical guitarist Miloš Karadaglić.
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In 1982, Günther Herbig was on the podium for the NAC Orchestra’s first performance of Brahms’s Symphony No. 1. Their most recent performance took place in 2015 under the direction of Pinchas Zukerman.
Repertoire
Overture in C major
Born in Hamburg, November 14, 1805
Died in Berlin, May 17, 1847
Like her younger brother Felix, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel was a highly accomplished pianist and a fine composer as well. If her skill as a composer was not quite on the level of Felix’s, Fanny was still one of the foremost female composers of the nineteenth century; but being a woman, her talents and abilities were not acknowledged on the same scale as her male counterparts. Even her own brother discouraged her from publishing her compositions on the grounds that this was not a suitable occupation for a nice young lady.
At the age of seventeen she fell in love with a painter named Wilhelm Hensel, but much like Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck, parental disapproval kept them apart and made marriage difficult. Only six years after they fell in love did they marry, and that was when Hensel became curator of a huge art collection. The marriage was a happy one, but Fanny died young, succumbing to a massive stroke at the age of 41. Felix was so distraught that his own death followed six months later, due certainly in part to grief over the death of his beloved sister.
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel’s output was considerable, consisting mostly of songs, piano pieces and chamber music. The overture on tonight’s program is her sole purely orchestral composition (there also exist some choral and vocal works with orchestra). It was written probably sometime between 1830 and 1832, and published only in 1994 by Furore-Edition in Kassel, Germany.
The ten-minute Overture conforms closely to most other works of its kind by Schubert, Weber, Schumann, or Felix Mendelssohn. It opens with a slow introduction (“not so much starting as awakening,” as one commentator put it). This leads into the Allegro di molto main section, laid out in standard sonata form with two principal themes (the first energetic, the second flowing and songlike, both presented by violins), a development section, recapitulation, and majestic coda.
— Program notes by Robert Markow
The Forest: Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra*
Born in Toronto, October 18, 1946
Now living in New York City
Howard Shore writes his music from his place in the forest where he lives surrounded by nature. His music is influenced by this environment. Here, The Forest refers to the importance of developing and maintaining a relationship with the natural world. “I live in a place where I am encompassed by things that grow and bloom and fade. It is everchanging. It is always striving for equilibrium and harmony. I find this interconnectedness and interdependency inspiring,” Shore said. “These are ideas I carry with me and are often the source from which I express my musical ideas. Enjoy the beauty of the solo guitar, the orchestra and the virtuosity of Miloš and Maestro Shelley’s artistry.”
Shore’s latest concert work, commissioned by the NAC Orchestra’s Music Director Alexander Shelley and receiving its world premiere this week, is a concerto for guitarist Miloš Karadaglić. “At turns elegiac, wistful, tuneful and virtuosic, it is a fabulous work in the tradition of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez,” comments Shelley.
The 21-minute work is in three movements, which may be separated by pauses at the maestro’s discretion. Asked if his concerto bears stylistic similarity to his famous film scores, Shore replied, “No, but I’ve incorporated a few surprises, including at one point an allusion to Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, so beloved by many.”
Like Wolfgang Korngold, Bernard Herrmann and Miklós Rózsa in an earlier age, Shore has composed concert music as well as music for film. The gorgeous and subtle effects Shore draws from his percussion section may bring to mind the late Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu, whose career successfully combined the worlds of concert and film music.
The film The Song of Names, directed by François Girard and featuring Shore’s score and the violin virtuoso Ray Chen, will premiere in the fall.
* NAC commission, world premiere May 1, 2019
— Program notes by Howard Shore
Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
I. Un poco sostenuto – Allegro
II. Andante sostenuto
III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso
IV. Adagio – Allegro non troppo ma con brio
In 1862 Clara Schumann received from Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) a sketch for the first movement of a symphony. The music “is rather tough,” she reported to a friend, “but I soon got used to it.” As Clara knew, the musical world was waiting for a symphony from Brahms. As it turned out, the world had to wait until 1876 to hear it.
In its final form the First Symphony begins with a towering tragic introduction, grounded on the throbbing timpani that was the Brahmsian fate-motif. Then begins a driving “Allegro” whose churning intensity never flags.
In form, the second movement is a conventional ABA “Andante,” but the voice is inimitably Brahms in its lyricism and intimacy. Instead of the usual scherzo, next comes a kind of symphonic movement that he invented, a blithe and breezy “intermezzo.”
The finale completes the symphony’s course from darkness and tragedy to joy and triumph. It begins in a cloudy and searching C minor. The end of the search arrives in a burst of C major sunshine, with a soaring alpenhorn theme in the horn. That leads to the movement proper, founded on an unforgettable chorale melody. The coda is a sustained exaltation.
Program note by Jan Swafford
Artists
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Alexander Shelley succeeded Pinchas Zukerman as Music Director of Canada’s NAC Orchestra in September 2015. The ensemble has since been praised as being “transformed... hungry, bold, and unleashed” (Ottawa Citizen) and Shelley’s programming credited for turning the orchestra into “one of the more audacious in North America” (Maclean’s).
Shelley is a champion of Canadian creation; recent hallmarks include the multimedia projects Life Reflected and UNDISRUPTED,and three major new ballets in partnership with NAC Dance for Encount3rs. He is passionate about arts education and nurturing the next generation of musicians. He is an Ambassador for Ottawa’s OrKidstra, a charitable social development program that teaches children life skills through making music together.
Alexander Shelley is also the Principal Associate Conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and, starting with the 2024–2025 season, Artistic and Music Director of Artis-Naples and the Naples Philharmonic in Florida, USA. In the spring of 2019, he led the NAC Orchestra on its critically acclaimed 50th Anniversary European tour, and in 2017, he led the Orchestra in a tour across Canada, celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary. Most recently, he led the Orchestra in its first performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 30 years.
He has made eight recordings with the NAC Orchestra, including the JUNO-nominated New Worlds, Life Reflected, ENCOUNT3RS, The Bounds of Our Dreams, and the acclaimed Clara, Robert, Johannes four-album series, all with Canadian label Analekta.
The Music Director role is supported by Elinor Gill Ratcliffe, C.M., O.N.L., LL.D. (hc)
Composer Howard Shore has won three Academy Awards, four GRAMMYs® and three Golden Globes, as well as numerous critic and festival awards for his music. He has also been honoured with six Canadian Screen/Genie Awards for his work with David Cronenberg. He has scored over 80 films and La Cinematheque Francaise recently presented a retrospective of his work in Paris. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de France and the recipient of Canada’s Governor General’s Performing Arts Award.
Shore studied in Boston with the esteemed choral composer John Bavicchi. His opera, The Fly (2008) premiered at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris and at Los Angeles Opera. Other recent works include the piano concerto Ruin and Memory for Lang Lang (2010), the song cycle A Palace Upon the Ruins featuring mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano (2014), the cello concerto Mythic Gardens featuring Sophie Shao (2012), Fanfare for the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia (2008), Sea to Sea (2017) in celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary of confederation, and the song cycle L’Aube which was premiered in October 2017, performed by Susan Platts and commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. 2018 saw the premiere performance of Shore’s Latin Mass for the Hof Church in Lucerne, Switzerland.