Avi AvitAlAUStRAliAN BRANDENBURGORCHEStRASydney and Melbourne May 2014 Avi Avital (israel) mandolin Paul Dyer AO artistic director and conductorAustralian Brandenburg Orchestra

PROGRAM

vivAlDi Concerto for 4 Violins in B minor Op.3/10, RV 580vivAlDi Concerto in D major RV 93PACHElBEl Canon JS BACH Concerto in A minor BWV 1041

INTERVAL

JS BACH Sonata in E minor BWV 1034AlBiNONi Sonata 2 a cinque Op 2 No 3 in C MajorFAllA Danse espagnole (arr. Avi Avital)BARtÓK Romanian Folk Dances

Sydney City Recital Hall Angel PlaceWednesday 7 May, Friday 9 May, Saturday 10 May, Wednesday 14 May, Friday 16 May all at 7pm, Saturday 10 May at 2pm

Melbourne Melbourne Recital CentreSaturday 17 May at 7pmSunday 18 May at 5pm

Chairman’s 11Proudly supporting our guest artists

The duration of this concert is approximately 2 hours including interval.We kindly request that you switch off all electronic devices during the performance.This concert will be broadcast live on ABC Classic FM on Saturday 10 May at 2pm.

Macquarie Group is again proud to be the principal partner of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.

The Brandenburg’s exciting 25th year concert series features some of the baroque and early classical periods’ most renowned composers, as well as some more modern names. As the Brandenburg has done year after year, well-loved and lesser-known pieces are brought to life through the precision and passion of the orchestra, the Brandenburg Choir and some of the most talented names in international concert music. This is a year of celebrating achievement. From small beginnings, the Brandenburg has become one of Australia’s great treasures. And although the orchestra has evolved over more than two decades, what has remained constant is its dedication, expertise and an unfailing pursuit of excellence.

Macquarie recognises that these qualities can deliver powerful outcomes. It is a privilege to support the Brandenburg as it shares its love of the music of centuries past with audiences today. Whether it is in the concert hall or in the classrooms visited as part of its education program, the Brandenburg continues to make an enduring contribution to the legacy of baroque music.

We congratulate Paul Dyer, Bruce Applebaum and the Orchestra on their 25th anniversary and for creating a wonderful year of concerts. We hope you enjoy the performance.

Greg Ward Deputy Managing Director, Macquarie Group Limited

25 YEARS OFACHiEvEMENt

ARtiStiC DiRECtOR'SMESSAGEWhat do we know about the mandolin? Not much apart from the virtuosic and swooning sounds of Vivaldi’s mandolin concertos. Then along comes Avi Avital, a breath of fresh air with this unusual instrument who is pushing the boundaries of the mandolin, defying tradition and genre and leaving a trail from New York to London; from Berlin to Beijing. And now he is in Sydney! Welcome to the second concert series in our 25th anniversary year.

When I first heard Avi performing on the mandolin I was struck by his wonderful musicianship and brilliant technical skills but also by the sensitivity and passion with which he plays. The plucked sound of the mandolin has always enchanted people’s imagination and this instrument has many different characters. In the hands of Avi Avital it is fiery, sensual, intense, enchanting and fun and along with it he has character to burn.

The Orchestra is also thrilled to perform an old favourite, Pachelbel’s Canon. The ageless charm and nostalgia of this well-known piece perfectly showcases the harmony and affinity of the Brandenburg.

Thank you for joining me on this journey of beauty and romance with Avi Avital, the musicians of the Brandenburg and some of my favourite composers as we celebrate for the first time with the Brandenburg – the very captivating mandolin.

Paul Dyer AO Artistic Director and Conductor

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Avi Avital (israel) mandolinPaul Dyer AO artistic director and conductorAustralian Brandenburg Orchestra

tHE MUSiCiANS ON PERiOD iNStRUMENtS

Baroque violin 1Matt Bruce, Sydney (Resident Concertmaster)+*

Catherine Shugg, MelbourneErin Chen, Perth

Baroque violin 2Ben Dollman, Adelaide+*

Skye McIntosh, SydneyTim Willis, Melbourne

Baroque violaMonique O'Dea, Sydney+1

Marianne Yeomans, Sydney

Baroque CelloJamie Hey, Melbourne+*

Anthea Cottee, Sydney

Baroque Double BassKirsty McCahon, Sydney+*

lironeLaura Vaughan, Melbourne+

theorbo/GuitarTommie Andersson, Sydney+*

HarpsichordPaul Dyer, Sydney+*

AUStRAliAN BRANDENBURG ORCHEStRA Avi AvitAl “…What stands out at concert after concert is the

impression that this bunch of musicians is having a really good time. They look at each other and smile, they laugh…there’s a warmth and sense of fun not often associated with classical performance.” Sydney Morning Herald

The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, led by charismatic Artistic Director Paul Dyer, celebrates the music of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with excellence, flair and joy. Comprising leading specialists in informed performance practice from all over Australia, the Brandenburg performs using original edition scores and instruments of the period, breathing fresh life and vitality into baroque and classical masterpieces – as though the music has just sprung from the composer’s pen.

The Orchestra’s name pays tribute to the Brandenburg Concertos of J.S. Bach, whose musical genius was central to the baroque era. Celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2014, the Brandenburg continues to deliver exhilarating perforances. The Brandenburg has collaborated with such acclaimed and dynamic virtuosi as Andreas Scholl, Fiona Campbell, Philippe Jaroussky, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Emma Kirkby, Andreas Staier, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Genevieve Lacey, Andrew Manze and more.

Through its annual subscription series in Sydney and Melbourne, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra performs before a live audience in excess of 40,000 people, and hundreds of thousands more through national broadcasts on ABC Classic FM. The Brandenburg also has a regular commitment to performing in regional Australia. Since 2003 the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra has been a member of the Major Performing Arts Group, which comprises 28 flagship national arts organisations supported by the Australia Council for the Arts.

Since its beginning, the Brandenburg has been popular with both audiences and critics. In 1998 The Age proclaimed the Brandenburg “had reached the ranks of the world’s best period instrument orchestras”. In 2010 the UK’s Gramophone Magazine declared “the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is Australia’s finest period-instrument ensemble. Under their inspiring musical director Paul Dyer, their vibrant concerts and recordings combine historical integrity with electrifying virtuosity and a passion for beauty.”

The Australian proclaimed that “a concert with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is like stepping back in time, as the sounds of period instruments resurrect baroque and classical works with reverence and authority.”

The Brandenburg's sixteen recordings with ABC Classics include five ARIA Award winners for Best Classical Album (1998, 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2010).

Discover more at brandenburg.com.au

AUStRAliAN BRANDENBURGORCHEStRA

* Denotes Brandenburg Core Musician+ Section Leader 1 Monique O’Dea appears courtesy of Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney (staff) Harpsichord preparation by Geoffrey Pollard in Sydney and Alastair McAllister in Melbourne 54

PAUl DYERIn January 2013 Paul Dyer was awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his ‘distinguished service to the performing arts, particularly orchestral music as a director, conductor and musician, through the promotion of educational programs and support for emerging artists’ in recognition of his achievements as Co-founder and Artistic Director of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Brandenburg Choir.

Paul Dyer is one of Australia’s leading specialists in period performance styles. He founded the ABO in 1990 and has been the orchestra’s Artistic Director since that time. Paul has devoted his performing life to the harpsichord, fortepiano and chamber organ as well as conducting the Brandenburg Orchestra and Choir.

Paul completed postgraduate studies in solo performance with Bob van Asperen at the Royal Conservatorium in The Hague, performed with many major European orchestras and undertook ensemble direction and orchestral studies with Sigiswald Kuijken and Frans Brüggen.

Paul appears as a soloist, continuo player and conductor with many major ensembles including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Orchestra, Australia Ensemble, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Opera Australia, Australian Youth Orchestra, Victorian State Opera, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Vancouver, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, London.

Paul has performed with many prominent international soloists including Andreas Scholl, Cyndia Sieden, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Andreas Staier, Marc Destrubé, Christoph Prégardien, Hidemi Suzuki, Manfredo Kraemer, Andrew Manze, Yvonne Kenny, Emma Kirkby, Philippe Jaroussky and many others. In 1998 he made his debut in Tokyo with countertenor Derek Lee Ragin, leading an ensemble of Brandenburg soloists, and in August 2001 Paul toured the orchestra to Europe with guest soloist Andreas Scholl. As a

recitalist, he has toured Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States.

Paul is an inspiring teacher and has been a staff member at various Conservatories throughout the world. In 1995 he received a Churchill Fellowship and he has won numerous international and national awards for his CD recordings with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Choir, including the 1998, 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2010 ARIA Awards for Best Classical album. Paul is Patron of St Gabriel’s School for Hearing Impaired Children. In 2003 Paul was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal for his services to Australian society and the advancement of music. In 2010 Paul was awarded the Sydney University Alumni Medal for Professional Achievement.

Recognized by The New York Times for his "exquisitely sensitive playing" and “stunning agility”, Grammy nominated mandolinist Avi Avital is one of the world’s most exciting and entrepreneurial musicians. He is deeply committed to building a fresh legacy for the mandolin through virtuosic performance and commissioning new works in a range of genres.Avi Avital is internationally regarded for his performances at venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Berlin Philharmonic Hall, KKL Luzern, Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing and Wigmore Hall in London. He has appeared as soloist with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and Berliner Symphoniker under the batons of Mstislav Rostropovich, Sir Simon Rattle and Philippe Entremont, amongst others. Avital has collaborated extensively with artists such as clarinettist Giora Feidman, soprano Dawn Upshaw, and trumpeter and composer Frank London. He has also been featured at the Tanglewood, Luzern, Spoleto, and Ravenna summer music festivals.

Avi Avital is the first mandolin player to receive a Grammy nomination in the category “Best Instrumental Soloist” (2010) for his recording of Avner Dorman’s Mandolin Concerto (Metropolis Ensemble/Andrew Cyr). He has won numerous competitions and awards including Germany’s Echo Prize for his 2008 recording with the David Orlowsky Trio and the Aviv Competition (2007), the preeminent national competition for Israeli soloists.

Born in Be’er Sheva, southern Israel in 1978, he began learning the mandolin at the age of eight and soon joined the flourishing mandolin youth orchestra founded and directed by his charismatic teacher, Russian-born violinist Simcha Nathanson. He later graduated from the Jerusalem Music Academy and the Conservatorio Cesare Pollini in Padova, Italy where he studied the original mandolin repertoire with Ugo Orlandi.

Avital has released various recordings in the disparate genres of klezmer, baroque and contemporary classical music. He now records exclusively with Deutsche Grammophon and his debut release (2012) featured his own transcriptions of J. S. Bach Concertos for harpsichord and violin in arrangements for mandolin and orchestra. Avi’s disc Between Worlds was released this year to rave reviews and introduces chamber music compositions from Ernest Bloch and De Falla to traditional Bulgarian Folk Tunes.

Recent highlights include Concerto performances at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Fest and Aspen Music Festival, Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road workshop on a new composition by David Bruce, performances of “Avital meets Avital”, a cross-genre programme with New York-based jazz artist Omer Avital at the Musikfest Bremen and Schoss Elmau, engagements with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Oxford Philomusica and Potsdam Kammerakademie and Avi’s solo recital at Carnegie Hall Presents (Weill Hall).

Forthcoming engagements include Concertos with the Orchestre National de Montpellier, Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra, Potsdam Kammerakademie, Philharmonischer Kammerorchester Berlin, and tours with the Brandenburg Orchestra in Australia and with the Geneva Chamber Orchestra in Europe including Theatre de Chatelet in Paris and King’s Place in London. Forthcoming solo recitals include the Vancouver Recital Society.

Avi AvitAl

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Avi AvitAl

The mandolin is a member of the lute family. It has four courses of doubled strings (now wire but originally gut), each pair tuned a perfect fifth apart, played by being plucked with a plectrum. Its tuning is the same as the violin, so any music composed for solo violin is readily transferrable to the mandolin. The mandolin’s distinctive sound is due to the use of tremolo: the player rapidly plucks each of the pair of strings to maintain the sound.

Different types of mandolin are used for playing different styles of music, but the type most commonly used in classical music and in European traditional music is the Neapolitan mandolin, developed in the middle of the eighteenth century. The mandolin was particularly popular in Italy among the middle and upper classes from the middle of the 1800s. Towards the end of the century most Italian towns had a mandolin orchestra and by World War I it had become one of the most widely played instruments in northern Europe and the United States.

The mandolin has been used in compositions by many classical composers. Mozart had Don Giovanni sing a serenade accompanied by mandolin, and Vivaldi wrote a number of concerti featuring mandolin as the solo instrument. Beethoven played the mandolin and composed pieces for it, and it was also used by Mahler, Schoenberg, Webern, and Stravinsky.

ANtONiO vivAlDi (1678–1741)Concerto for four violins in B minor, Rv 580, Op 3 No 10, from L’estro armonico

Allegro Largo – Larghetto – Largo Allegro

Vivaldi was hailed as a teacher and violin virtuoso in his home town of Venice, but his fame throughout Europe was cemented by the publication in 1711 of his Opus 3, a collection of twelve concertos that he called L’estro armonico. Described by the Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot as “perhaps the most influential collection of instrumental works to appear during the whole of the eighteenth century”, this seminal work provided a model for concerto composition that was followed and built on by other composers from France to Germany to Italy for years to come.

L’estro armonico means “harmonic inspiration”, and the title seems to sum up the exuberant self-confidence of Vivaldi’s music. It was not only these concertos’ originality in terms of musical form, but also the sheer energy and vigour of Vivaldi’s style expressed in forceful rhythms and endless variety that made them so fascinating.

For most of his career Vivaldi was violin teacher and director of music at the Pietà, a Venetian orphanage for girls famous throughout Europe for its elite musicians, and even during periods when he was away from Venice preoccupied by the joint roles of opera composer and entrepreneur, he was contracted to compose two new concertos a month for them. Most of his instrumental music was written for the virtuoso players at the Pietà.

WHAt tO liStEN FOR

This concerto is full of driving rhythms and powerful harmonic progressions, and Vivaldi uses the colour of the minor tonality to create a mood that is dramatic and intense. The fast first and third movements are built on repeated refrains (ritornellos), slightly varied each time to maintain interest and give a sense of momentum. Often the theme is tossed between the four solo violins, but the first violin has the bulk of the solo material, particularly in the third movement. The writing for violin is dazzling, with very fast passages venturing into the extremes of the instrument’s range. Vivaldi was a virtuoso violinist, and Johann Uffenbach, a traveller from Germany and a keen amateur musician, was astounded at his technical feats:

Vivaldi played a solo accompaniment – splendid – to which he appended a cadenza which really terrified me, for such playing has never been nor can ever be; he came with his fingers within a mere grass-stalk’s breadth of the bridge, so that the bow had no room – and this on all four strings with imitations and at incredible speed.

Vivaldi used many special effects in ways that are now commonplace, but at the beginning of the eighteenth century were completely unheard of. He was particularly fond of changing suddenly from loud to soft (known as “terrace” dynamics), and this effect can be heard throughout this concerto. For a composer to specify on the score how he wanted a piece played was also unusual, but Vivaldi did this frequently. For the extraordinary Larghetto section of the second movement he was clearly after a particular sound and gave precise but apparently contradictory directions on how each part is to be played. Of the eight violin parts, some are to be played legato (smoothly), some sciolto (detached); the violas are sempre piano (always soft), while the cellos are sempre forte (always loud).

ANtONiO vivAlDiConcerto in D major for lute, strings and continuo, Rv 93, arr. for mandolin

I Allegro II Largo III Allegro

Vivaldi probably wrote this concerto in 1730. He and his father had left Venice at the end of 1729 to travel to Vienna and then on to Prague, where his new opera Argippo was being performed. While they were in Prague Count Johann Joseph von Wrtby, the royal governor of Bohemia, commissioned this lute concerto and two trios also for lute. The intended performer is not known, although it could have been Count Wrtby himself or a musician employed by him.

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Avi AvitAl

WHAt tO liStEN FOR

Vivaldi took care to ensure that the soft grained sound of the lute was not swamped by the strings. In the fast outer movements the tutti instruments frame passages for the soloist and mostly the lute (here the mandolin) is supported only by the continuo (bass instruments and harpsichord). The striking rhythms of the first movement are followed by one of his most exquisitely serene slow movements, and the concerto ends with a lively dance-like Allegro.

JOHANN PACHElBEl (1653-1706)Canon in D Major

Pachelbel’s Canon vies with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons as the most recorded piece of classical music, and like The Four Seasons it has suffered some extraordinary arrangements in the process. As well as the countless lush romantic recordings by large string orchestras which have taken it far from its baroque roots, its ground bass (a sequence of eight notes constantly repeated over which the melody of the canon is constructed) has served as the basis for innumerable pop songs, rap songs, New Age ambient music, and mobile phone ring tones.

Johann Pachelbel was a leading progressive composer in the late seventeenth century, renowned as one of the best organists in Europe. Although he was born in Nuremberg, Germany, he began his career as deputy organist at the Stephansdom in Vienna, where he was exposed to the style of Catholic southern German and Italian composers. He then spent a year as organist at the court of Eisenach, where he became a close friend of Johann Ambrosius Bach, the father of JS Bach. After working in a number of other German cities he returned to Nuremberg in 1695 to become organist at the most important church in the city, a position he held for the rest of his life. He was a significant composer for keyboard, and was influential in the process of musical development leading to JS Bach.

WHAt tO liStEN FOR

Pachelbel is one of the few seventeenth century composers who was never entirely forgotten, due at least in part to the enormous popularity of this canon for three violins and continuo. A canon is a contrapuntal piece in which a melody in one part is imitated exactly in other parts; in this work Pachelbel varies the melody so that at one moment it is inverted, the next back-to-front, the next the note values are longer, then shorter and so on, all the while using the same sequence of notes. In all there are twenty eight variations while the ground bass keeps the same harmonic progression throughout. The sparse texture of the three solo violins enables this ingenious interchange of the melody between the parts to be clearly heard.

JOHANN SEBAStiAN BACH (1685–1750) Concerto in A minor BWv 1041 (orig. for violin, arr. for mandolin)

[Allegro] Andante Allegro assai

Like almost all of Bach’s few surviving orchestral works we have no definite knowledge of the origins of this violin concerto, one of only three concertos he composed for solo violin. It may have been composed during 1717 to 1723, while he was Kapellmeister (music director) to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, a principality in northern Germany. Prince Leopold was a keen amateur musician who had employed some of the finest players in Europe when the royal Berlin orchestra was dissolved by King Friedrich–Wilhelm I of Prussia in 1713. There was no question that these virtuoso musicians could play whatever Bach wrote for them and some of his finest instrumental music, including the Brandenburg Concertos, dates from this time.

This violin concerto survives only in instrumental parts copied by Bach from a now lost score in about 1730, when he was music director for the city of Leipzig, so it is also possible that he composed it there for the Collegium Musicum, a University musical society which had been founded by Telemann, Bach’s predecessor, and which Bach took over in 1729. The Collegium included the best musicians of Leipzig, who met on Friday evenings at Zimmermann’s coffee-house to play for their own enjoyment and the entertainment of others. Leipzig was a major commercial centre and during trade fairs they gave performances twice weekly, and Bach also devised series of special concerts. The repertoire of the Collegium included instrumental music for small and large groups, providing ample scope for Bach to compose instrumental sonatas, suites and concertos.

WHAt tO liStEN FOR

In this, as in most of his concertos, Bach followed Vivaldi’s model of three movements, fast–slow–fast, and although he also used Vivaldi’s ritornello form the passages which feature the soloist are interwoven with those of the full orchestra much more subtly than Vivaldi would have done. A serious, densely textured first movement is followed by a slow middle movement in which an expressive cantilena for the soloist soars over a continuously repeated bass pattern. The final movement is in the form of a vibrant gigue, with increasingly virtuosic passages for the soloist. Bach specified the use of bariolage, a technique involving rapidly playing the same note but on different strings, which gives a highly resonant sound.

INTERVAL10 11

Avi AvitAl

JOHANN SEBAStiAN BACH (1685–1750) Sonata in E minor BWv 1034 (orig. for flute, arr. for mandolin)

Adagio ma non tanto Allegro Andante Allegro

Like the violin concerti, the history of the sonatas Bach composed for flute is unclear, although they too were probably composed for Cöthen. Prince Leopold was a sophisticated young man who played the violin, viol and harpsichord, and maintained friendly relationships with the musical members of his court, with whom he participated in regular informal music-making. Bach composed many of the most important pieces in the history of Western music while he was employed at Cöthen, including the solo Cello Suites, the two and three part Inventions, and the preludes and fugues which form the first book of the Well Tempered Clavier.

WHAt tO liStEN FOR

In the baroque period “sonata” was a catch-all term which could be used to refer to any instrumental work, or more specifically to a piece of music in three or four movements, played by a soloist or small ensemble. A sonata was intended for performance in an intimate space, not for a concert hall. This sonata was composed originally for solo flute and basso continuo. The continuo part, which in this concert is played by cello, theorbo, and harpsichord, carries much of the musical material and is not merely an accompaniment to the solo instrument.

tOMASO AlBiNONi (1671-1751) Sonata 2 a cinque Op 2 No 3 in C Major

Largo Allegro Grave Allegro

Albinoni came from a well off, although not aristocratic, Venetian family. Because he was independently wealthy Albinoni never worked as a professional musician with a court or church where he would have been required to compose whatever his employers demanded, and this set him apart from most other composers in the same period. His family’s wealth allowed him to retain artistic independence, although he was successful enough to be self-supporting by 1721. He was also unusual because he owed his success entirely to his capacities as a composer, not as a performer. Albinoni wrote at least eighty operas, but is now best known for his instrumental works which were also extremely popular throughout Europe in his own time.

This sonata was first published as part of his Opus Number 2 in 1700 in Venice, and was dedicated to Fernando, Prince of Mantua. It was common practice for composers to dedicate their published works to a wealthy patron, with the expectation that the dedicatee would assist in defraying publishing costs. The opus consists of six sonatas and six concertos, which were the first Italian concertos to become popular in northern Europe and influenced both Vivaldi and JS Bach.

WHAt tO liStEN FOR

Albinoni is now recognised as a significant composer in the development of instrumental music but he tended to be overshadowed in his own time and in posterity by his fellow Venetian Antonio Vivaldi, a more colourful character and assiduous self-promoter. Albinoni was inherently conservative as a composer and his music does not exploit developments in the virtuosity of violin playing as Vivaldi’s did. Instead he focused on orchestral texture, the balance between high and low instruments, and on the overall musical structure. Albinoni paid little attention to the work of other musicians and some of his compositions, such as the first two movements of this sonata, are astonishingly inventive and foreshadow Vivaldi. Albinoni favoured the use of counterpoint and fugal writing, as well as imitation between the parts, and these distinctive features can be heard through the sonata.

Manuel de Falla arr. Avital (1876-1946) Danse espagnole (arr. for mandolin, strings, & continuo)

Falla was born in Cadiz, in Spain, and was the most famous Spanish composer of the twentieth century. He lived in Paris in the early 1900s, where he was befriended by Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky. He was forced to return to Spain following the outbreak of World War I but moved to Argentina after Franco’s victory in the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish government offered him a large pension if he returned to Spain, but he refused, and died in Argentina.

Falla is best known now for works which draw on the influences of Spanish folk music, such as The Three-cornered Hat and Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Danse espagnole (Spanish dance) comes from his short opera La vida breve composed in 1905, and first performed, in Nice, in 1913. It explored traditional Spanish gypsy music and while the opera itself is now rarely staged, the instrumental music including Danse espagnole is frequently performed in different arrangements.

Béla Bartók arr. Avital (1881–1945) Romanian Folk Dances (arr. for mandolin, strings, continuo)

Bartók is considered one of the most important composers of the twentieth century and along with Liszt, the greatest Hungarian composer. He held strongly anti-fascist views and, increasingly unhappy with the actions of Germany in the 1930s, he reluctantly emigrated to the United States in 1940. He died in New York in 1945.

Bartók’s compositions were profoundly influenced by his work as an ethnomusicologist. An avid collector of traditional music, in the 1930s he was employed by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, where for over six years he led a team collecting and analysing the folk music of Hungarian, Romanian, and Slovak peasants. Transylvania, in the centre of Romania, held a strong interest for him, as he believed that the area’s remoteness and the primitive life still lived by the peasant inhabitants offered the possibility of uncovering an authentic gypsy musical tradition unsullied by outside influences.

Bartók made a number of settings of Romanian folk tunes, initially for solo piano and later arranged for other instruments. They evoke sounds of simple peasant instruments such as bagpipes, shepherd’s flute and fiddle.

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Ben Dollman, Period Violin©Ewe Arens / DG

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Program notes & timeline © Lynne Murray 2014

Pachelbel albinoni JS bach ViValdi

1653 Born in Nuremberg

1671 Born in Venice

1677

Appointed court organist at Eisenach; befriends JS Bach’s father

1678 Appointed church organist at Erfurt Born in Venice

1681 First wife and baby son die during plague

1685 Born in Eisenach

1690 Court organist & musician at Stuttgart

1694

Performs at the wedding of JS Bach’s brother Johann Christoph

First opera Zenobia premieres in Venice

1695 Appointed organist at Nuremberg

1700 Opus 2 published

1703First job: lackey and musician at court of Duke of Saxe-Weimar

Ordained as a priest. Appointed violin teacher at the Pietà in Venice

1705 Appointed organist at Arnstadt

1706 Dies aged 53

1707 Organist at Mühlhausen

1708Appointed organist & chamber musician at court of Saxe-Weimar

Pachelbel albinoni JS bach ViValdi

1711

Acclaimed as virtuoso violinist & composer after publication of L’estro armonico concertos.

1713 First opera performed in Vicenza

1717

Accepts music director post at court of Cöthen. Jailed for 1 month by Weimar court.

Leaves the Pietà to mount productions of own operas throughout Italy

1721Dedicates concertos to the Margrave of Brandenburg

1723 Appointed music director in Leipzig

The Four Seasons violin concertos published

1724Career peaks with operas in Munich for the Elector

First performance of St John Passion in Leipzig

Premiere of opera Il Giustino in Rome

1727 First performance of St Matthew Passion

1736 Appointed composer to Polish & Saxon court

Re-hired by Pietà as Maestro di’ Concerti

1738 Living in obscurity in Venice

Son CPE Bach harpsichordist to crown prince, later Friedrich II of Prussia

1741Sonata collection published “posthumously”

Dies poor and alone in Vienna aged 63, given a pauper’s burial

1749 Suffers “eye disease”, probably diabetes

1750 Two eye operations. Dies on 28 July aged 65

1751 Dies aged 80

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I MerrickJohn Milhinch Dr Peter and Mrs June MusgroveRon, Lynn and Marcus OgdenDr Kevin Pedemont Christina PenderJohn and Catherine Percy Stephen Rix and Susan DixonMs G J RoweMrs E l SeviorJeanette Sharpe Robyn SmilesProfessor Fiona StewartSue ThomsonJohn and Anne WhaiteAnonymous x 10

SUPPORtER ii $250 - $499

Jaci ArmstrongMichael Barbour and Elizabeth Heurtier Keith and Claire BeecherLesley BeresfordProfessor Fran Boyle AMProfessor David BryantJenny and Henry Burger Marianne CochraneJohn and Mary CroweCarol des CognetsJanet DoustMs Noelene EvansMichael and Lindsay FitzgeraldMs Sally L GloverMr Horace GoldsmithRichard and Heather Gorrell

Margaret HopeAlison IverachHugh H Johnson and Loren Kings-LynnHilary KelmanAndrew and Prue Kennard Dr Peter and Mrs Pamela KennyGeorge LawrenceGill ListerMrs Iris Luke Helen McCathieLois McCutchanDr Allan and Mrs Patricia McLayRobbie NeillTony NewmanBrendan O'ConnellRobyn Raffles

Ken RamshawM L RattiganBarbara and Malcolm Richardson Alexander and Rosemary Roche Drs Steve and Sharon Schach*Dr Agnes SinclairRobbie SingletonAnthony TarletonFrank and Miriam Tisher Steven Turner and Amanda TrenamanJennifer and Julian Turecek* Ronald WalledgeEllen Waugh Chris and Julia Wokes David and Jan YoungAnonymous x 9

CORPORAtE DONORS

Link Market Services Macquarie Capital Macquarie SecuritiesPacific Equity Partners

QANTAS Loyalty APA Group Bain & Company

BRANDENBURG FOUNDAtiON PAtRONSAMAti $250,000 - $499,999

The Eileen Marie Dyer AM FundAnonymous

StRADivARi $100,000 - $249,999Cary and Rob Gillespie

Anonymous

GUARNERi $50,000 - $99,999The Martin family in memory of Lloyd Martin AM

Macquarie Group Foundation Anonymous

MAEStRi $25,000 - $49,999John and Robyn Armstrong

Chris and Kathy HarropGreg Hutchinson AM and Lynda Hutchinson

Nick and Caroline MinogueRowan Ross AM and Annie Ross

Christine Yip and Paul Brady

ARCANGEli $15,000 - $24,999Melinda Conrad and David Jones

Norman GillespieGlenn Moss and the late Dr Ken Moss AM

David and Rachel Zehner

CAMERAtA $10,000 - $14,999Graham Bradley AM and Charlene Bradley

Rohan MeadThe Clayton family

CHAiRMAN'S 11 Dedicated to the memory of James Strong AO.

Chairman’s 11 supports international and locally based artists who will feature in each Series annually. Membership is by invitation only.

FOUNDiNG MEMBERS In memory of a first class cricketer (U.K.), W G Keighley

Jillian Broadbent AO Louise Christie

Diana and Richard Fisher Chris and Gina Grubb

Grant and Jennifer KingSusan Maple-Brown

Ms Gretel Packer Anonymous

BRANDENBURG DONORSliFE PAtRONS

Mrs Mary Holt and the late Dr John Holt

Aidan AllenJohn Almgren AM and Yvonne AlmgrenPeter Barclay and Victoria Le GallaisGraham Bradley AM and Charlene Bradley Jillian Broadbent AO The Clayton FamilyJane and David DuncanDon and Deirdre Faithfull in memory of Harold and Edna JohnstonChris and Gina GrubbMrs Mary Holt and the late Dr John Holt Mrs W G Keighley in memory of GeoffreyKatie Lahey AM and Robert MarriottMacquarie Group Foundation Susan Maple-Brown AM and the late Robert Maple-Brown

Antoinette AlbertGlenn BarnesDavid and Leith Bruce-SteerLouise ChristieJ Farren-Price JewellersIn memory of Darrel FraserRoger Massy-Greene and Belinda HutchinsonDavid and Andree MilmanLady Potter ACAnna, Frank and Patricia QuiclerMrs Joyce Sproat and Mrs Janet CookeVictoria TaylorPeter William Weiss AORay Wilson OAM and James Agapitos OAMAnonymous

The Alexandra and Lloyd Martin Family FoundationRohan Mead Nick and Caroline MinogueThe Rodwell Foundation Rowan Ross AM and Annie RossDr Jeanne Claude Strong and the late Mr James Strong AO Cameron WilliamsAnonymous

* Donors to the Brandenburg International Baroque Study Program. Donor list is current for a 12-month period to 9 April 2014.

CHRiStiNA $10,000 or above RUSPOli $5,000 - $9,999

18 19

City ReCital Hall angel PlaCe

A City of Sydney VenueClover MooreLord Mayor

Managed byPegaSUS VenUe ManageMent (aP) Pty ltDChristopher RixFounder

Anne-Marie Heath general Manager

City Recital Hall angel Place2-12 Angel Place,Sydney, AustraliaGPo Box 3339,Sydney, nSW 2001

administration02 9231 9000Box Office02 8256 2222 or 1300 797 118Facsimile02 9233 6652Websitewww.cityrecitalhall.com

Founding Patron Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE

Board of Directors Kathryn Fagg, Chair Peter Bartlett Tommas Bonvino Stephen Carpenter Des Clark Joseph Corponi Margaret Farren-Price John Higgs Julie Kantor

Executive Staff Mary Vallentine AO, Chief Executive Nesreen Bottriell, Director Corporate Services Robert Murray, Director Marketing & Customer Relations Sandra Robertson, Director Development Kirsten Siddle, Director Programming & Presenter Services

tHE AUStRAliAN BRANDENBURG ORCHEStRA GRAtEFUllY

ACKNOWlEDGES tHE SUPPORt OF OUR PARtNERS

Sponsor of hotel accommodation in Melbourne

Media supporter

Sponsor ofcreative branding & graphic design

SUBSCRIPTION SPONSORMAJOR SPONSOR PRINCIPAL PARTNER

SUBSCRIPTION SPONSORMAJOR SPONSOR PRINCIPAL PARTNER

SUBSCRIPTION SPONSORMAJOR SPONSOR PRINCIPAL PARTNER

Sponsor of business strategy development

The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is assisted by the NSW Government

through Arts NSW

The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia

Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

Carla Zampatti dresses the women of the Orchestra

Official Wellbeing Partner

Education Partner Digital Partner

MElBOURNE RECitAl CENtRE

Corner Southbank Boulevard and Sturt Street Southbank VIC 3006 Administration: 03 9699 2228 Box Office: 03 9699 3333 Facsimile: 03 9207 2662

Website: melbournerecital.com.au

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Artistic Director Paul Dyer AO

The Brandenburg Council Jillian Broadbent AO Greg Hutchinson AM Max Suich

The Board Rowan Ross AM, Chairman Melinda Conrad Paul Dyer AO Katie Lahey AM Rohan Mead Simon Pillar Greg Ward David Zehner Bruce Applebaum, Company Secretary Bruce Applebaum General Manager

Bridget O'Brien Deputy General Manager

Catherine Barker Orchestra Manager

Jill Berry Head of Development

Kyle Buchanan Development Coordinator

Kateryna Collier Ticketing Services Coordinator

Susan Duffy Executive Assistant

Alison Dunn Marketing Manager

Ian Creevey Accounts Assistant

Eva Frey Music Librarian

Lilla Ito Project and Concert Management Consultant

Ivana Jirasek Philanthropy Manager

David Joyce Systems Consultant

Aishlinn McCarthy Marketing Executive

Evelyn Mowad Receptionist

John Scott Accountant

Jason Soto Box Office Manager

Joanna Tondys Assistant to Artistic Director

Steven Godbee Publicity Publicist

KPMG Auditors

Charles Gwynn Andrew O'Connor Christopher Price Repertoire Advisors (honorary)

Brandenburg Ensemble limited trading as Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is a non-profit organisation registered as a company limited by guarantee. ABN 41 003 908 183

Address 142 New South Head Road, Edgecliff NSW 2027 | Post GPO Box 4416, Sydney NSW 1008 telephone 61 2 9328 7581 | Website www.brandenburg.com.au | Email mail@brandenburg.com.au

Matt Bruce Resident Concertmasterbaroque violin22 23

OUR RECORDiNGStHE AUStRAliAN BRANDENBURG ORCHEStRA HAS RElEASED SixtEEN RECORDiNGS, WitH SOlOiStS iNClUDiNG ANDREAS SCHOll, GENEviEvE lACEY, YvONNEKENNY, EliZABEtH WAllFiSCH, SARA MAClivER, GRAHAM PUSHEE AND CYNDiA SiEDEN. SEvERAl OF tHESE RECORDiNGS HAvE RECEivED AWARDS, iNClUDiNG FivE ARiAAWARDS FOR BESt ClASSiCAl AlBUM.

A BRANDENBURG CHRiStMASBrandenburg ChoirAustralian Brandenburg Orchestra Paul Dyer, artistic director Christina Leonard, saxophoneLouise Prickett, sopranoABC 476 4687

tAPASAustralian Brandenburg Orchestra Paul Dyer, artistic director 2010 ARiA Award:Best Classical AlbumABC 476 3828

BAROQUE FAvOURitES Australian Brandenburg OrchestraPaul Dyer, artistic directorABC 476 4056

HANDElCONCERti GROSSiAustralian Brandenburg OrchestraPaul Dyer, artistic director 2009 ARiA Award: Best Classical AlbumABC 476 3436

GREAt vivAlDi CONCERtOSAustralian Brandenburg OrchestraPaul Dyer, artistic director. Featuring guest artists such as Genevieve Lacey, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Hidemi Suzuki, Lucinda Moon and many more. ABC 476 923-3

SANCtUARYAustralian Brandenburg Orchestra Paul Dyer, artistic directorKirsten Barry, baroque oboe 2005 ARiA Award: Best Classical AlbumABC 476 284-0

vivAlDi – il FlAUtO DOlCEAustralian Brandenburg OrchestraPaul Dyer, artistic director Genevieve Lacey, recorder2001 ARiA Award: Best Classical Album ABC 461 828-2

MOZARt ClARiNEt CONCERtO & ARiAS Australian Brandenburg OrchestraPaul Dyer, artistic directorCraig Hill, basset clarinetCyndia Sieden, sopranoABC 476 1250

NOël! NOël! Brandenburg ChoirAustralian Brandenburg OrchestraPaul Dyer, artistic director Sara Macliver, soprano ABC 472 606-2

ANDREAS SCHOll – vivAlDiAustralian Brandenburg Orchestra Paul Dyer, artistic directorAndreas Scholl, countertenorABC 466 964-2

tHE AUStRAliAN BRANDENBURG ORCHEStRA COllECtiON Australian Brandenburg OrchestraPaul Dyer, artistic directorABC 465 428-2

HANDEl ARiASAustralian Brandenburg OrchestraPaul Dyer, artistic directorYvonne Kenny, soprano1998 ARiA Award: Best Classical AlbumABC 456 689-2

iF lOvE’S A SWEEt PASSiONAustralian Brandenburg OrchestraPaul Dyer, artistic directorSara Macliver, sopranoABC 456 692-2

tHE FOUR SEASONSAustralian Brandenburg OrchestraPaul Dyer, artistic director Elizabeth Wallfisch, baroque violinABC 456 364-2

HANDEl ARiASAustralian Brandenburg Orchestra Paul Dyer, artistic director Graham Pushee, countertenorABC 446 272-2

BRANDENBURG FAvOURitESAustralian Brandenburg OrchestraPaul Dyer, artistic director ABC 434 720-2

Avi Avital’s playing, described as ‘everything you never dreamed a mandolin could do’ has been hailed for it ‘truly breathtaking virtuosity’ (Haaretz Daily). this, together with his ‘captivating heart’ (the Daily telegraph UK) he brings to bear on both his Deutsche Grammophon solo recordings Bach and Between Worlds.

these are now available in a Deluxe Edition box set created especially to celebrate Avi Avital’s tour with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.

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We’re helping more people hear the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.

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