≈ 90 minutes · No intermission
Last updated: April 24, 2019
Reflection
In a few short days we leave for our tour of Europe, leading us to London, Paris, Utrecht, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Gothenburg. Vibrant cultural hubs, each and all. I am proud that we will be showcasing the depth and versatility of Canadian artists through performances of our complete Life Reflected project featuring the stories of Alice Munro, Amanda Todd, Roberta Bondar and Rita Joe, as well as works by Ana Sokolović and Vivier. We will showcase great Canadian solo talent – James Ehnes, Jan Lisiecki, Erin Wall and David DQ Lee – and we will build bridges to communities, to music colleges and to high schools.
I am also delighted that we will bring our extraordinary orchestra to audiences across the continent. I am certain that their artistry and dedication, which so regularly light up our stages, will be inspiring and uplifting for all that hear them. Tonight we revel in these qualities as the Orchestra presents the two major symphonic works that we will take with us: Dvořák’s New World and Brahms’s Second. Here’s to our players and to a great send-off!
The NAC Orchestra performed Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 for the first time in 1978, with Mario Bernardi on the podium, and their most recent interpretation was given in 2018 under the direction of Alexander Shelley.
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Zdenek Macal led the NAC Orchestra for their first performance of Dvořák’s New World Symphony, given in 1980. The Orchestra most recently played this symphony under the direction of Alexander Shelley in 2017, both in Southam Hall and on their Canada 150 Tour.
Repertoire
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73
Born in Hamburg, May 7, 1833
Died in Vienna, April 3, 1897
After the massiveness and severity of Brahms’s First Symphony, the idyllic, pastoral Second, with its wealth of singable melodies, made a strong popular appeal. Whereas Brahms had toiled for twenty years over his First Symphony, the Second was written in the space of a mere three months during the summer of 1877. The warmly lyric and relaxed character, the gracefulness of the many melodies, and a positive outlook are all attributable in some measure to the charms of the south Austrian countryside. In its pastoral quality, many listeners find a parallel to Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony which, like Brahms’s Second, followed a grim, darkly serious and heroic symphony in C minor. The first performance was given by the Vienna Philharmonic, led by Hans Richter, on December 30, 1877.
Although the Viennese liked it, the symphony rode a rocky course towards critical acceptance in other cities. One smiles in amusement to read that in Leipzig, for example, where it was introduced in 1880, a critic felt it was “not distinguished by inventive power.” In Boston (1882), The Post called it “coldblooded,” and The Evening Traveller proclaimed that the symphony lacked “a sense of the beautiful” while in New York, The Post (1887) called for a return of Anton Rubinstein’s Dramatic Symphony to replace Brahms’s “antiquated” music. So much for the perspicacity of critics!
Right from the very opening notes, the listener is caught up in the symphony’s gentle, relaxed mood. The first two bars also provide the basic motivic germs of the entire movement and for much of the material in the other movements as well. The three-note motto in the cellos and basses, and the following arpeggio in the horns, are heard repeatedly in many guises – slowed down, speeded up, played upside down, buried in the texture or prominently featured. The second theme is one of Brahms’s most glorious, sung by violas and cellos as only these instruments can sing.
The second movement is of darker hue and more profound sentiment. The form is basically a ternary structure (ABA), with a more agitated central section (B) in the minor mode. These two lines are everywhere organically incorporated into the fabric of the movement. Throughout the movement, the listener’s attention is continually focused as much on the densely saturated textures as on the themes.
The genial, relaxed character returns in the third movement, not a scherzo as Beethoven would have written, but a sort of lyrical intermezzo, harking back to the gracious eighteenth-century minuet. The forces are reduced to almost chamber orchestra levels, and woodwinds are often the featured sonority. Two trios, each a metrical variation of the opening oboe melody, interrupt the main section. This movement proved so popular at its premiere that it had to be repeated.
The forthright and optimistic finale derives heavily from the melodies of the first movement, though as usual with Brahms, this material is so cleverly disguised that one scarcely notices. As Boston Symphony annotator Steven Ledbetter commented, “The miracle of this symphony remains the fact that it sounds so easy and immediate and yet turns out to be so elaborately shaped” – a true case of art concealing art. The final pages call forth some striking passages for the trombones, and the joyous symphony ends in a blaze of D major.
— Program notes by Robert Markow
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)
Tobi Hunt McCoy is enjoying another year as Season Stage Manager with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. In past seasons, she stage-managed Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Christopher Plummer in 2001 and Colm Feore in 2014. She co-produced the 1940s Pops show On the Air with Jack Everly for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, a show they co-produced in 2007 for the NAC Orchestra.
In 2018 McCoy made her Southam Hall acting debut in the role of Stage Manager in the Magic Circle Mime Co.’s production of Orchestra from Planet X. Additional professional duties have included aiding Susanna and the Countess in schooling the Count and Figaro on the finer points of marital love during The Marriage of Figaro, keeping her eyes open (for the first time ever) during the flying monkey scene in The Wizard of Oz, mistakenly asking Patrick Watson for proof of identity backstage, holding her breath while marvelling at the athletic ability of the cast during Cirque Goes Broadway, continuing to implement feedback on her British-Columbian French with the choruses of Ottawa, and cheering on Luke and Princess Leia with Charlie Ross, Émilie Fournier, and Eric Osner during the Star Wars Pops concert.
In her spare time, McCoy is the Head of Arts, Drama, English, and Library at Lisgar Collegiate Institute.