≈ 1hour and 45 minutes · With intermission
Last updated: January 8, 2024
Program
CAROLINE SHAW Entr’acte (10 min)
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major, K. 313 (285c) (25 min)
I. Allegro maestoso
II. Adagio ma non troppo
III. Rondo: Tempo di menuetto
Joanna G’froerer, flute
INTERMISSION
FELIX MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56, “Scottish” (43 min)
I. Andante con moto – Allegro un poco agitato –
II. Vivace non troppo –
III. Adagio –
IV. Allegro vivacissimo – Allegro maestoso assai
Repertoire
Entr’acte
Caroline Shaw (b. 1982) is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy Awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale University, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She has worked with a range of artists including Rosalía, Renée Fleming, and Yo-Yo Ma, and she has contributed music to films and TV series including Fleishman is in Trouble, Bombshell, Yellowjackets, Maid, Dark, and Beyoncé’s Homecoming. Her favourite colour is yellow, and her favourite smell is rosemary.
Shaw’s Entr’acte was inspired by a specific moment of transition in the second movement of a Haydn string quartet. As she describes:
It was written in 2011 after hearing the Brentano Quartet play Haydn’s Op. 77 No. 2—with their spare and soulful shift to the D-flat major trio in the minuet. It is structured like a minuet and trio, riffing on that classical form but taking it a little further. I love the way some music (like the minuets of Op. 77) suddenly takes you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass, in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolor transition.
In a theatrical production, such as a play or opera, the word “entr’acte” indicates an interval between two acts. Historically, this pause, signalled by the closing of curtains, was to facilitate changes in scenery and costumes in preparation for the next act. Eventually, “entr’acte” also came to mean a musical piece or dance inserted for performance during this pause; indeed, such works were distinctly intended to create a break in the action or mood. Shaw’s piece is thus aptly titled, in its exploration of transitional moments to “absurd, subtle, technicolor” ends. They are brought to particularly sharp relief in the string orchestra version she created in 2014 that you’ll hear in tonight’s concert.
Entr’acte begins with a pulsating heartbeat motif, which unfolds in a sweeping manner as the main theme of the minuet. In the minor mode, it has a somewhat mournful quality. Later, it seems to disintegrate into dissonance, then into pitchless noise, through which the full-bodied bowed version alternately emerges with increasing emphasis. The central trio section brings fresh contrast, starting with a plucked melody, to sound “like granite,” in a brighter major mode. Things then seem to get surreal, as motifs are developed. First violins and cellos in a duet of long notes over plucked triplets in the second violins and violas lead into a passage of pizzicato counterpoint. The mood intensifies into an acid bright moment featuring sustained chords in the violins over rippling viola arpeggios; it darkens, becoming more anxious, but then the tension is released through a flurry of plucked strings. Via ethereal harmonics and sighing gestures, the minuet returns. After its reprise, the music ascends into the ether, leaving a lone cello strumming an extended sequence of chords like, as Shaw indicates it to be played, “recalling fragments of an old tune or story.”
Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major, K. 313 (285c)
I. Allegro maestoso
II. Adagio ma non troppo
III. Rondo: Tempo di menuetto
In 1777, Mozart (1756–1791) petitioned for release from the Archbishop of Salzburg, Hieronymus Colloredo, for whom he had been working the last five years. Colloredo fired him instead, so Mozart went travelling with his mother to seek, at his father Leopold’s insistence, a permanent position elsewhere. They arrived in Mannheim in October that year, and during their time there, Mozart befriended the eminent flutist Johann Baptist Wendling, who played in the city’s famed court orchestra. Through Wendling, he received a significant commission from Ferdinand Dejean (1731–1797), a physician and amateur flute player, for “three short, simple concertos and a couple quartets for the flute.” This G major Flute Concerto, completed in early 1778, is one of these works.
K. 313 (285c) is the only completely original concerto for solo flute that Mozart wrote (No. 2, or K.314 (285d), is an arrangement of his oboe concerto). He had struggled to fulfill Dejean’s commission; in fact, he would never complete it. Upon learning this, Leopold sent his son a chastising letter, to which Wolfgang responded:
“It is not surprising that I have not been able to finish them, for I never have a single quiet hour here. I can only compose at night, so that I can’t get up early as well; besides, one is not always in the mood for working. I could, to be sure, scribble off things the whole day long, but a composition of this kind goes out into the world, and naturally I do not want to have cause to be ashamed of my name on the titlepage. Moreover, you know I become quite powerless whenever I am obliged to write for an instrument which I cannot bear.”
Thus is the source of Mozart’s oft-quoted admission that he disliked the flute. Some additional context here, however, may provide nuance to the composer’s blunt statement. On one level, this was the knee-jerk reaction of a son feeling defensive about the dose of reality given to him by his father, who was deeply concerned about his family’s financial situation. Musically, though, Mozart’s aversion to the flute may have had little to do with the instrument itself and was more about how he heard it played at the time. As flute scholar Jane Bowers has discussed, during the 18th century, various treatises pointed out the challenge of playing the then-common one-key flute with good intonation; to produce notes outside the instrument’s basic scale of D major, flutists had to use cross-fingerings and importantly, had to know how to adjust those pitches so they were neither too sharp nor too flat. A good flutist, therefore, was distinguished by their ability to play in tune, and, in addition to being able to execute rapid virtuosic passages, to intone melodies expressively. Mozart said as much when he communicated to Wendling’s brother:
Well, you know, it’s different with your brother [Johann Baptist]. In the first place, he is not such a doodler, and then you don’t always have to be afraid with him when you know a note is about to come that it is going to be much too low or too high—see here, it’s always right. His heart is in the right place and so are his ears and the tip of his tongue, and he does not believe that you are done with just blowing and fingering, and then he also knows what Adagio means.
As Dejean was an amateur flutist (and there were many in the 18th century), Mozart was perhaps reluctant to provide works that would be performed by those whose playing he thought was less than ideal in terms of intonation and expressivity.
For flute players today, K. 313 (285c) is an essential work in the instrument’s repertoire. Even if Mozart composed it for an amateur in mind, the Concerto contains many elements that demand the best of the soloist. The spirited first movement, for example, is a varied showcase for a flutist’s technical virtuosity and expressive talents. It features lots of rapid figures and bold leaps that exploit the instrument’s brilliance and clarity in the upper register, alternating with melodic passages that require a beautiful and sustained tone.
The Adagio movement has the quality of an operatic aria, the singing line of which is to be interpreted by the flutist with fullness of sound and a certain tenderness. In the Rondo finale, a movement of lively elegance, the flute’s flashier side returns. For each successive return of the main theme, the soloist offers a slight variation on the original, while in the alternating episodes, including a central one set in the minor mode, its part grows progressively flamboyant with runs and leaps. Near the end, the orchestra brings back the poise of the opening to draw the concerto to a graceful close.
Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56, “Scottish”
I. Andante con moto – Allegro un poco agitato –
II. Vivace non troppo –
III. Adagio –
IV. Allegro vivacissimo – Allegro maestoso assai
In July 1829, Felix Mendelssohn (1849–1847) embarked on a walking tour of Scotland with his friend, the diplomat Karl Klingemann. They arrived in Edinburgh on July 26, and over the next several days, as his letters reveal, he “scrambled up” Arthur’s Seat, made pencil drawings of the surrounding scenery, attended a competition for bagpipe musicians, and visited Holyrood Castle. The latter made an overwhelming impression on the 20-year-old composer: “The chapel below is now roofless. Grass and ivy thrive there, and at the broken altar where Mary was crowned Queen of Scotland. Everything is ruined, decayed, and the clear heavens shine in,” he wrote. “I think today I have found there the beginning of my ‘Scottish’ Symphony.” Next to those words, he notated the opening notes of the piece.
Over the following years, Mendelssohn attempted to work on the symphony but struggled to make progress; writing from Rome in March 1831, “it’s not surprising that I find it impossible to return to my misty Scottish mood, I have therefore laid aside my Scotch Symphony for the time being.” He finally resumed in earnest during the autumn and winter of 1841–42, completing the symphony then, and conducted the premiere at the Leipzig Gewandhaus on March 3. Later that June, he led its London premiere, and subsequently dedicated the piece to Queen Victoria, a request he had directly made to her and she granted.
Although published as “No. 3”, the “Scottish” was the fifth and final symphony Mendelssohn completed. The subtitle was not his own nor did he sanction its use; while in the early days he called the work his “Scotch” symphony in his personal correspondence (probably to differentiate it from the “Italian” symphony he had been working on), from the mid-1830s, he referred to it as his “symphony in A minor”. In fact, as musicologist Thomas Schmidt-Beste has revealed, the work did not have any further association to Scotland during the composer’s life nor for years after his death. Not until the publication of Mendelssohn’s travel letters and various biographies, including the family one by Sebastian Hensel in 1879, in which the journey to Scotland is described in detail, did the title become universally acknowledged.
That Mendelssohn avoided adding a descriptive title stemmed from his belief that no text or word could sufficiently explain the “meaning” of a piece of instrumental music. Moreover, he was concerned that such a title would lead listeners to expect explicit references to Scottish music, folklore, or history. His view exemplified one side of a major aesthetic debate in the 19th century regarding the future direction of the symphony after Beethoven—whether the carrier of meaning in an instrumental work was solely in its forms and the development of musical ideas or in extramusical titles, explicit narratives, and tone-painting. But while Mendelssohn may have composed this symphony with the former principle in mind, it’s perhaps difficult for us now not to hear in the work certain ideas associated with “Scotland”—its folk music, a particular atmosphere or natural setting, or even historical events. Indeed, the “Scottish” Symphony is something rather distinctive: a compelling fusion of poetic elements and a thematic process with a meaning all its own, in a formal design that, as Schmidt-Beste notes, “plays with tradition in a strikingly imaginative way.”
Mendelssohn’s A minor Symphony has four distinct movements that are played through without breaks—a rare enough feature at the time that he specified “attacca” (no pauses) in the score. Each movement is, also unusually, in sonata form (or some version of it), with primary and secondary themes introduced in the exposition section, then developed and recapitulated, usually in varied fashion. The entire piece is further unified by a “cyclic” process of thematic transformation, with all the main themes derived from the opening melody. Adding a poetic layer are the various allusions to “Scotland”, which gives the impression of the Symphony unfolding like a series of vignettes or tableaux.
The Introduction evokes the “misty Scottish mood” at the ruins of Holyrood Palace (the only known association to Scotland in this symphony), with a sombre melody scored for low woodwinds, horns, and violas. Violins continue with recitative-like phrases and reach an impassioned peak, after which the sombre melody returns. The ensuing Allegro agitato features several themes based on this melody, their folksong-like lilt and flow alternating with more agitated passages. These are developed in turn, followed by a shortened recapitulation that gives way to a stormy coda, with the strings’ rising and falling chromatic lines suggesting sweeping wind and rain. After the storm dies down, the sombre opening melody appears once more…
…but soon emerges into a sunny Scherzo of “pastoral” music. Woodwind calls over string “drone” tremolos set up the clarinet to introduce a lively pentatonic tune, comprised of swirling phrases and dotted rhythms reminiscent of a Scottish reel. Eventually, the whole orchestra joins the energetic dance. In the central development section, Mendelssohn deftly layers the various phrases and motifs of the main tune in counterpoint, which ultimately arrive at a boisterous return of the second theme (the recap has been highly condensed). Culminating at an exuberant climax, the Scherzo then evanesces into the ether.
After a questioning transitional passage, the Adagio cantabile (Mendelssohn’s title) settles into a beautiful “song without words” sung by the first violins, accompanied by plucked strings. A starkly contrasting second theme follows; presented by woodwinds and horns, it has the mood and tread of a solemn procession, which builds to majestic grandeur. After a cycle of development, the song returns in the cellos and horns, eventually leading to a third climax on the second theme’s characteristic dotted rhythms. Gradually, the intensity winds down to a final tender reminiscence of the song.
The finale of the A minor Symphony has the effect of a two-part historical scene (though whether Mendelssohn took inspiration from Scottish events remains unknown). He titled the first part “Allegro guerriero”—the music, vigorous and relentless here, certainly suggests “warlike” combat; later in the movement, listen out for the fugue, whose layered entries evoke a chaotic battle sequence. The scene then recedes and is followed by a victorious “song of thanks” that in its orchestration Mendelssohn wanted to sound “properly clear and strong as a male chorus.” With its tune as the final transformation of the sombre opening melody, the majestic song closes the symphony in a glorious moment of reflection.
Program notes by Hannah Chan-Hartley, PhD
Artists
Strong ideas, lucid communication, and intensely focused energy are among the qualities that define Stephanie Childress among today’s most compelling young musicians. Her musicianship and command of a broad scope of repertoire have already led her to establish herself on both sides of the Atlantic.
Having been inspired to start conducting due to her love of opera, the Franco-British conductor began the 2023–2024 season making her Hamburg Staatsoper debut in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and returned to Glyndebourne’s autumn season for critically acclaimed performances of Don Giovanni. In the 2023–2024 season she will also make her conducting debut with Detroit Opera in Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves. In 2023 it was also announced that Stephanie will take the position of Principal Guest Conductor of Barcelona Symphony Orchestra for the 2024–2025 and 2025–2026 seasons.
On the orchestral podium, Childress continues to be reinvited internationally and recently returned to the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra. In North America she will have debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and NAC Orchestra. In Europe Childress will also make her first appearances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Dresden Philharmonic, and her Japanese debut with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. The 2022–2023 season marked the conclusion of her time as Assistant Conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under Stéphane Denève and Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Childress has very strong ties to the French cultural scene following her second-prize win at the 2020 inaugural conducting competition, La Maestra. Since then, she has conducted some of the top French orchestras including l’Orchestre de Paris, the Paris Mozart Orchestra, and l’Orchestre de Chambre de Paris.
Stephanie is an active supporter of the Tri-borough Music Hub, an award-winning organization for music education. She has taken part in several programs with the association, including leading the junior string ensemble at an “Artists for Inclusivity” event and speaking at the Youth Music Conference 2020 held at the Royal College of Music.
Praised by critics for the beauty, clarity, and fluidity of her sound, impeccable phrasing, and consummate musicality, Joanna G’froerer enjoys an exciting career as an orchestral player, chamber musician, soloist, and educator. Principal Flute of the National Arts Centre Orchestra since 1992, she was appointed to that position at the age of 20, one of the youngest musicians ever to be hired by the NAC Orchestra.
A native of Vancouver, Joanna G’froerer comes from a family of professional musicians. She performs regularly as a soloist with the NAC Orchestra, having appeared as soloist in over 30 different programs since joining the orchestra. She has also performed concertos with many of Canada’s other fine ensembles, including the symphony orchestras of Vancouver, Victoria, and Quebec City. Joanna G’froerer is a past first-prize winner of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Competition.
Among her acclaimed recordings are a CBC disc of Mozart’s Flute Quartets with Pinchas Zukerman, Martin Beaver, and Amanda Forsyth, named Best Canadian Chamber Music Recording of 2002 by Opus Magazine. A recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, with Jens Lindemann, James Ehnes, Jon Kimura Parker, and Charles Hamann, was nominated for a Juno Award in 2021.
Joanna G’froerer has been featured in the chamber music festivals of Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Ottawa, Halifax’s Scotia Festival, the Campos do Jordao Festival in Brazil, and the Affinis Festival in Japan. As an educator, she has taught flute at the NAC Summer Music Institute, at Domaine Forget, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. She is presently on faculty at the University of Ottawa and at McGill University in Montreal.
Joanna G’froerer is a Wm. S. Haynes Artist, playing a custom 19.5 K gold Haynes flute with lightweight silver mechanism and headjoints in 19.5K and 14K gold.
Since its debut in 1969, the National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra has been praised for the passion and clarity of its performances, its visionary educational programs, and its prominent role in nurturing Canadian creativity. Under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra reflects the fabric and values of Canada, reaching and representing the diverse communities we live in with daring programming, powerful storytelling, inspiring artistry, and innovative partnerships.
Alexander Shelley began his tenure as Music Director in 2015, following Pinchas Zukerman’s 16 seasons at the helm. Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and former Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra (2009–2017), he has been in demand around the world, conducting the Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Stockholm Philharmonic, among others, and maintains a regular relationship with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and the German National Youth Orchestra.
Each season, the NAC Orchestra features world-class artists such as the newly appointed Artist-in-Residence James Ehnes, Angela Hewitt, Joshua Bell, Xian Zhang, Gabriela Montero, Stewart Goodyear, Jan Lisiecki, and Principal Guest Conductor John Storgårds. As one of the most accessible, inclusive, and collaborative orchestras in the world, the NAC Orchestra uses music as a universal language to communicate the deepest of human emotions and connect people through shared experiences.
NAC Orchestra
First Violins
Yosuke Kawasaki (concertmaster)
Jessica Linnebach (associate concertmaster)
Noémi Racine Gaudreault (assistant concertmaster)
Jeremy Mastrangelo
Marjolaine Lambert
Emily Westell
Manuela Milani
Zhengdong Liang
*Oleg Chelpanov
*Martine Dubé
Second Violins
*John Marcus (guest principal)
Emily Kruspe
Frédéric Moisan
Carissa Klopoushak
Leah Roseman
Winston Webber
Mark Friedman
Edvard Skerjanc
**Karoly Sziladi
*Erica Miller
*Heather Schnarr
Violas
Jethro Marks (principal)
David Marks (associate principal)
David Goldblatt (assistant principal)
David Thies-Thompson
Paul Casey
Tovin Allers
Cellos
Rachel Mercer (principal)
**Julia MacLaine (assistant principal)
Leah Wyber
Timothy McCoy
Marc-André Riberdy
*Thaddeus Morden
*Karen Kang
Double Basses
Max Cardilli (assistant principal)
Vincent Gendron
Marjolaine Fournier
Flutes
Joanna G’froerer (principal)
Stephanie Morin
*Kaili Maimets
Oboes
Charles Hamann (principal)
Anna Petersen
English Horn
Anna Petersen
Clarinets
Kimball Sykes (principal)
Sean Rice
Bassoons
Darren Hicks (principal)
Vincent Parizeau
Horns
*Allene Hackleman (guest principal)
Julie Fauteux (associate principal)
Lawrence Vine
Lauren Anker
Louis-Pierre Bergeron
Trumpets
**Karen Donnelly (principal)
*William Leathers (guest principal)
Steven van Gulik
Trombones
Colin Traquair
Bass Trombone
Zachary Bond
Tuba
Chris Lee (principal)
Timpani
*William Wozniak (guest principal)
Percussion
Jonathan Wade
Principal Librarian
Nancy Elbeck
Assistant Librarian
Corey Rempel
Personnel Manager
Meiko Lydall
Orchestra Personnel Coordinator
Laurie Shannon
*Additional musicians
**On leave
- Official Car of the NAC Orchestra
