≈ 2 hours · With intermission
Repertoire
Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks
In 1888, convinced that his artistic direction was to create new forms for every new subject, Richard Strauss embarked on writing orchestral “tone poems”. A genre of instrumental music initially developed by Franz Liszt, the symphonic poem is a one-movement work that illustrates or evokes the content of an extra-musical source, be it a story, poem, or painting. It was a novel way to structure the experience of orchestral music compared to the traditional abstract forms of the four-movement symphony.
Strauss composed Macbeth that year, followed by Don Juan and Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration) in 1888–89. The latter two were so successful, they were quickly absorbed into the German performance repertory. In 1895, he completed Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche; it, too, was a hit and remains his most frequently performed orchestral work today.
Till is a roguish figure from medieval German folklore, who relished wreaking havoc and scandalizing authorities with his practical jokes targeting anyone too high on themselves or too rigid with their moral principles. For Strauss, rendering the prankster’s escapades in the form of a tone poem was an apt (albeit veiled) metaphor for himself as an artist disrupting the status quo of music composition at the time. The piece consists of a series of adventure episodes, vividly brought to life through the brilliant colour and scintillating textures of the composer’s orchestral writing, which demands highly virtuosic playing from all instruments.
An opening prologue has the effect of a fairy tale’s first line—"Once upon a time there was a knavish fool.” Two motifs are introduced: the first, smooth and charming, played by the violins, followed by a fanfare-like, (mock-)heroic horn solo. After an initial build-up, the clarinet intones a cheeky phrase—the charming melody sped up to evoke the prankster. Listen for this theme—a marker of Till’s presence—as it is transformed throughout the piece, during each of his antics.
After the prologue, Till goes off in search of excitement. In the first of his pranks, the music depicts him sneaking on tiptoe, then suddenly, with a cymbal crash, he bursts into a market square riding a horse. Mayhem ensues, as he scuttles away. He next appears at an elegant courtly dance, transformed into a charismatic seducer, represented by caressing phrases on solo violin and sinuous motifs in muted horns and trumpets. Later, the violin leaps high, then runs rapidly down a scale—a scream and subsequent fainting of a lady scandalized. Till moves on to a group of clergymen (bass clarinet, bassoons, and contrabassoon) in serious debate. In disguise (listen for an impish bass-line figure), he begins to mock them. The figure climbs through the instruments to the piccolo, reaching a peak, and after an orchestral raspberry, the jig is up with a gleeful polka dance. The offended clergymen attempt to collect themselves, while Till escapes again, unscathed.
The opening horn theme returns (in a different key) and builds to a climax—our prankster the swaggering hero. But an ominous drum roll and a tolling minor chord interrupts his revelry—found guilty of his offences, he’s sentenced for execution. He attempts to cajole and plead for his life, but a final shriek from the clarinet suggests it’s all over for him. In the epilogue, the smooth music of the opening returns, like an attempt to end with a moral to the tale…but in the closing moments, Till reappears to laughingly thumb his nose at us listeners.
Commissioned companion piece to Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
Violin Concerto No. 2
Suite from Der Rosenkavalier
One of the 20th century’s operatic masterpieces, Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose) was the first real collaboration between Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal, who wrote the original German libretto. Completed in 1910, it premiered on January 26, 1911, at the Königliches Opernhaus in Dresden to great acclaim. It became Strauss’s most popular opera and remains firmly established in the repertory. Most audiences nowadays encounter the music of Der Rosenkavalier through the concert suite being performed tonight. It’s believed to have been created in 1944 by the conductor Artur Rodziński, who, as the then-music director of the New York Philharmonic, led the first performance in October. The following year, Boosey & Hawkes published the arrangement with the composer’s approval.
The opera’s popularity owes much to Strauss’s appealing score, which is sumptuous and sparkling, rich in sonority, colour, and texture. It’s also strikingly modern, featuring the composer’s eclectic use of anachronistic styles and genres of music, including 18th century Classical style à la Mozart, Italian opera, late-Romantic era harmony and Wagnerian leitmotivic techniques, 19th century waltz (with allusions to Johann Strauss, Jr.), and early 20th-century chromaticism. Thus, as Strauss scholar Bryan Gilliam has noted, the music creates a multilayered “text” rich in historical meaning that underscores the opera’s central themes about time, transformation, and love. Set in 1740s Vienna, the beautiful Marschallin instigates the makeover of her youthful paramour Octavian (one of opera’s great trouser roles) into the Rose Knight, and in doing so, witnesses him and Sophie, a younger woman, fall in love. Though initially conflicted, she ultimately relinquishes him to Sophie in a poignant act of letting go.
The Suite is a tour of Der Rosenkavalier’s main highlights. It begins with the music that opens the opera, depicting Octavian and the Marschallin in the throes of passion—him represented by a confident upward motif played by horns, followed by her sighs. After reaching a climax, the music relaxes to bliss. It then jumps to Octavian’s transformation into the Rose Knight in Act Two (listen for a grand version of his motif) and his presentation of the engagement rose—on behalf of Baron Ochs—to Sophie von Faninal, the daughter of a wealthy man. This is music evoking a “meet-cute”—time seems to stand still, as flutes and piccolo, celesta, two harps, and three solo violins play an enchanting progression of twinkling chords; the shy tentativeness of the two would-be lovers gradually evolve into warm tenderness.
A sudden outburst breaks the reverie, and a frenzied episode follows, leading to “Ohne mich”, the favourite waltz tune of Baron Ochs, the Marschallin’s oafish and lecherous cousin who intends to marry Sophie. It’s first sung by muted violins, as if to themselves, then is further developed, featuring yet another variant of Octavian’s motif on solo violin, and builds to a full-orchestra rendition. A sensuous transition leads into the sublime trio (“Hab’ mir’s gelobt”) of Act Three in which the Marschallin surrenders Octavian to Sophie. She leaves them to sing a duet (“Spür nur dich/Ist ein Traum”), intoned here by first violins, after which the magical music from their initial meeting returns briefly. The Suite closes with a grand waltz, with Octavian’s motif appearing once more, in resplendent fashion, before the final flourish.
Program notes by Hannah Chan-Hartley, PhD
Commissioned companion piece to Rosenkavalier
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)
Signed exclusively to Decca Classics in 2020 at the age of 24, American violinist Randall Goosby is acclaimed for the sensitivity and intensity of his musicianship alongside his determination to make music more inclusive and accessible, as well as bringing the music of under-represented composers to light.
Highlights of Randall Goosby’s 2023–24 season include debut performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons, National Symphony and Thomas Wilkins, Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck, and Seattle Symphony and St. Louis Symphony both under Christian Reif. European debuts include a European tour with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Yannick Nezet-Séguin, and appearances with the Danish National Radio Symphony and Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Oslo Philharmonic and Ryan Wigglesworth, and Lahti Symphony and Roderick Cox.
During 2023–24 Goosby will be Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre, which will include a return to the London Philharmonic Orchestra performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 under the direction of Gemma New, and both recital and chamber concerts. Other upcoming recital appearances include Chamber Music Cincinnati, Emory University in Georgia, Elbphilharmonie Recital Hall in Hamburg, Perth Concert Hall in Scotland, and La Società dei Concerti in Milan.
Randall Goosby was First Prize Winner in the 2018 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In 2019 he was named the inaugural Robey Artist by Young Classical Artists Trust in partnership with Music Masters in London; and in 2020 he became an Ambassador for Music Masters, a role that sees him mentoring and inspiring students in schools around the United Kingdom.
A former student of Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho, he received his bachelor’s, master’s and Artist Diploma degrees from The Juilliard School. He plays the Antonio Stradivarius, Cremona, “ex-Strauss,” 1708 on generous loan from Samsung Foundation of Culture.
One of Canadaʼs most sought after composers, Alexina Louie has written for many of the countryʼs leading soloists, chamber ensembles, new music groups and orchestras. Her works have become part of the standard repertoire, in particular her many compositions for piano which are frequently performed by students and professionals alike. Perhaps best known of these is Scenes From A Jade Terrace, commissioned by Jon Kimura Parker.
Louie’s orchestral works have received a multitude of important international performances. Some of the world renowned conductors who have performed her music include Sir Andrew Davis, Leonard Slatkin, Alexander Lazarev, Charles Dutoit, Bramwell Tovey, Gunther Herbig, Pinchas Zukerman, Kent Nagano, Peter Oundjian, Carlos Kalmar, James Judd, and Ingo Metzmacher.
Louie’s music has also been selected for productions by The National Ballet of Canada. Dominique Dumais’ a hundred words for snow (2003) was set to Louieʼs O Magnum Mysterium: In Memoriam Glenn Gould, which The Globe and Mail described as Louie’s “profoundly beautiful” homage to the late Glenn Gould. In 2007, The National Ballet of Canada commissioned Louie to write Wolf’s Court, a new work in collaboration with choreographer Matjash Mrozewski.
In 2009, the Canadian Opera Company presented Louie’s full-length, mainstage opera The Scarlet Princess (with libretto by Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) in concert before a sold-out audience in Toronto. The live recorded concert was broadcast across Canada and was received with enormous praise.
Her vocal and operatic works have been sung by widely celebrated singers, including Barbara Hannigan, Russell Braun, Daniel Okulitch, and John Relyea. Louie’s expertise in vocal writing are highlighted in her ground-breaking international award-winning humorous made-for-TV mini-operas Toothpaste and Burnt Toast, both of which were created in collaboration with director Larry Weinstein and librettist Dan Redican.
In 2014, acclaimed violinist James Ehnes commissioned Beyond Time, a highly virtuosic, colourful work for violin and piano which he has taken on tour. Audiences and critics alike have been thrilled by his performances of the piece.
Most recently, Louie’s highly anticipated Triple Concerto For Three Violins And Orchestra, jointly commissioned by the Toronto Symphony, the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Montreal Symphony for their three concertmasters, was performed by all three orchestras during Canada’s celebratory 150th Anniversary year.
Louie has twice won JUNO awards (Canada’s equivalent of the Grammy) for Best Classical Composition. In addition to the JUNOs, she is the recipient of many awards and honours including the Jules Léger Prize for Chamber Music, the National Arts Centre Composers Award, the Chalmer’s Award in Composition, an honourary doctorate from the University of Calgary, as well as many other distinctions.
Composer John Estacio is a recipient of the National Arts Centre Award for Composers (2009)– a major prize that includes the commissioning of three works for the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the first of which is Brio: Toccata and Fantasy for Orchestra. The NAC Orchestra premiered Mr. Estacio’s Brio in Ottawa and performed it on tour throughout Canada’s Atlantic provinces in 2011, during the China Tour in 2013, and the UK Tour in 2014. The UK Tour will also feature the world premiere of Mr. Estacio’s latest NAC commission, Wind Quintet.
Mr. Estacio has written three operas including Lillian Alling, which premiered in October 2010 by the Vancouver Opera. Filumena, his first opera, premiered in 2003 in Calgary and Banff, and went on to receive four Betty Mitchell Awards, including one for outstanding production. Filumena was filmed for television and broadcast on PBS and the CBC. As composer-in-residence for several orchestras, Mr. Estacio created several compositions and recorded some of them on the JUNO nominated CD “Frenergy, the Music of John Estacio,” released by CBC Records.
Mr. Estacio’s orchestral works have been performed at Carnegie Hall, by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. The Royal Winnipeg Ballet featured several of Mr. Estacio’s orchestral works in Wonderland – a ballet choreographed by Shawn Hounsell. He composed an orchestral score for the new ballet King Arthur’s Camelot by the Cincinnati Ballet which premiered in February 2014. The Los Angeles Philharmonic and acclaimed tenor Ben Heppner toured Europe with Mr. Estacio’s arrangement of Seven Songs by Jean Sibelius.
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Official Car of the NAC Orchestra
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees