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The magic of the human voice is highlighted in one of the greatest French choral works. Duruflé’s tender and poignant Requiem, is brought to life in the rarely-heard version for full orchestra, organ, choir, and soloist. Mezzo-soprano Anita Krause is featured in Respighi's Il tramonto. Tenor Bonaventura Bottone performs Britten’s haunting setting of French texts.
Learn more about the performance at Symphony Prelude: 7:15 pm in the Upper Circle (Third Level) Lobby.
Duruflé: Requiem
Britten: Les Illuminations
Respighi: Il tramonto
Ticket Information
$71 Dress Circle (A)$61 Terrace (B)
$52 Orchestra (C)
$38 Upper Circle (D)
$28 Gallery (E)
$20 Orchestra Front (F)
Tickets subject to applicable service charges.
This program will also be performed on Friday, March 25, 2011.
The next Landmark Classic Masters performance is Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto on April 30, 2011.
Thank you to our series sponsor:
Thank you to our performance sponsor:
The H. Jean MacDiarmid Fund through the Edmonton Community Foundation
Thank you to our series media sponsor:
At 8:30 PM on Saturday 26 March 2011, lights will switch off around the globe for Earth Hour. Earth Hour is raising awareness on climate change and sustainability, and is organized by WWF. Tonight’s concert is bullfrogpowered with 100% green electricity in honour of Earth Hour. This means that Bullfrog Power will inject Alberta-made wind power onto the Alberta grid to match the amount of electricity used by tonight’s concert. All of the electricity injected on our behalf will be sourced from wind facilities that have been certified as low impact by Environment Canada.Choosing green, carbon-free power is an easy way for homes, businesses and organizations to help fight climate change and create a healthier environment for future generations. We invite all of you to visit Bullfrog Power on the web at www.bullfrogpower.com.
Program Information
Program
Respighi: Il tramonto (18')*Anita Krause, mezzo-soprano
Britten: Les Illuminations, Opus 18 (24')*
Bonaventura Bottone, tenor
Intermission
Duruflé: Requiem, Opus 9 (39')*
Anita Krause, mezzo-soprano
*Indicates approximate performance duration
Program Subject to Change
Program Notes
Il Tramonto (“The Sunset”)
Ottorino Respighi (b. Bologna, 1879 / d. Rome, 1936)
Composed in 1914
Last ESO performance: April 1992
Ottorino Respighi stands out from his Italian musical contemporaries in that he is remembered now almost entirely as a composer of orchestral music, while all the others seem to have written nothing but operas. Both are generalizations (Respighi in fact wrote nine operas, but none hold the stage these days), and tonight’s work will provide an opportunity to hear how well Respighi wrote, for one voice at least.
It was an Italian translation of Shelley’s poem The Sunset that inspired Respighi’s work – one of several settings of Shelley’s work that Respighi created. Il Tramonto, translated by Ascoli, was written originally for voice and string quartet, and later orchestrated by Respighi. He wrote it while visiting his hometown of Bologna in 1914, and it premiered later that year in Rome. Respighi’s friend, mezzo-soprano Chiarina Fino Savio, was the work’s first soloist and its dedicatee. In its chamber orchestra setting, the music matches the actions spoken of in the text – a work of love and lifelong loss – with an almost pictorial evocativeness.
Les Illuminations, Op.18
Benjamin Britten (b. Lowestoft, 1913 / d. Aldeburgh, 1976)
First performed: October 1939 in London
Last ESO performance: January 1994
The operas for which Benjamin Britten would become famous were still years off in 1939 – his first, Peter Grimes, appeared in 1945. But he began to find his compositional style for vocal writing in 1939, when on a visit to America, he wrote Les Illuminations for soprano Sophie Wyss. With the voice accompanied only by strings, Britten’s work sets texts by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891).
Rimbaud was a late romantic poet, whose verse can be somewhat fragmentary, often erotic. Britten matched this poetic style with his music. There is a French sensibility to his writing, and the music is as stark, or as contemplative, as serene or as grotesque, as the subject matter of Rimbaud’s often obtuse imagery. The cycle is split up into nine sections, though the Phrase section “J’ai tendu des cordes de clocher à clocher” is linked to the Antique which follows it, “Gracieux fils de Pan!”. The work begins with a fanfare of discordant notes (B-flat against E), and changes mood dramatically to an energetic finish. The string accompaniment to the vocal display is shimmering and direct.
Requiem, Op.9
Maurice Duruflé (b. Louviers, Eure, 1902 / d. Paris 1986)
First performed: November 1947 in Paris
This is the ESO premiere of the piece
Because of their function as services for the dead, Requiems are often deeply personal works for the composers who write them. Maurice Duruflé is no exception; in fact, his 1947 Requiem is in many ways the summary of his influences, skill, background, and emotional commitment. Duruflé composed this work in three guises: for voices and organ alone; voices, organ and small instrumental forces; and the version for voices, organ, and large orchestra we will hear tonight. He did this right from the outset, in response to a commission from his publisher Durand.
Maurice Duruflé was a chorister as a child, often chanting texts, which gave him a grounding in both chant and Renaissance polyphony – as well as church organ music. At the Paris Conservatoire, he studied with Eugène Gigout and Paul Dukas. All of these elements are apparent in his Requiem, which he dedicated to the memory of his father.
Tailoring the Requiem to suit his purpose, Duruflé – like Fauré had done with his 1889 Requiem – omits the Dies irae (“Day of Wrath,” the dire and stern words of the coming reckoning which is part of the traditional Requiem setting), choosing to emphasize the words of comfort, mercy, and reconciliation. Also like Fauré’s example, the inclusion of texts from the burial service (Pie Jesu, Libera me, In Paradisum) are added. Duruflé’s musical language with this work – one in which the influence of chant and Renaissance sacred music is quite apparent – is better suited to the more contemplative setting, and the Dies irae would be out of place here. The sense of calm is apparent from the very opening measures, with gently rocking sixteenth notes accompanying the male voices (answered wordlessly by the women’s). In the Kyrie, an actual Gregorian chant is intoned slowly by the trumpets, as the choir sings a variation of it.
Duruflé’s score indicates two places in the work in which a solo baritone can be used, but also indicated that the choir can be used for those parts. The mezzo soloist is called upon only once – in the beautiful Pie Jesu, where she is accompanied by organ and a solo cello. In the concluding movement, In Paradisum, the words speak of a chorus of angels waiting to receive the departed. Duruflé’s version is one of the most beautiful settings of these words of comfort and hoped-for joy. The women’s voices are especially poignant here, the theme again based on a Gregorian chant, radiantly underscored by rich harmonies in the strings.
Program notes © 2011 by D.T. Baker
Artist Information
William Eddins, conductor
William Eddins is in his sixth season as Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure, he has made it a priority that he conduct performances in nearly every subscription series the orchestra has presented, as well as a wide variety of special concerts and galas.
Bill Eddins began playing the piano at age five, but was bitten by the conducting bug while in his sophomore year at the Eastman School of Music. In 1989, he decided to begin conducting studies with Daniel Lewis at the University of Southern California. Assistant Conductorships with both the Minnesota Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony (the latter under the leadership of Daniel Barenboim) honed his skills even further.
Mr. Eddins has many interests outside music. He is fond of biking, tennis, reading, pinball, and cooking. He recently completed building his own recording studio at his home in Minneapolis, where he lives with his wife Jen (a clarinetist), and their sons Raef and Riley. While conducting has been his principal pursuit, he continues to perform on piano in Edmonton and elsewhere. He accepts a limited number of guest appearances each year. In 2008, he conducted a rare full staging of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess for Opéra de Lyon, which won him great acclaim, leading to a repeat engagement in Lyon in July and September 2010, as well as Edinburgh in August 2010, and in London in September 2010. During August 2009, Bill toured South Africa, conducting three gala concerts with soprano Renée Fleming and the kwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Anita Krause, mezzo-soprano
“Krause was particularly impressive, focusing her steady, gleaming voice on the musical and spiritual meaning of what she had to sing.” -K. Winters, Globe and Mail (Verdi Requiem)Celebrated for her gorgeous voice and impeccable musicianship, Canadian mezzo-soprano Anita Krause is equally esteemed in the concert hall and on the opera stage. She has performed with many of North America’s leading orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Baltimore Symphony and the Toronto Symphony. Ms. Krause has also appeared with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Grant Park Symphony, and Les Violons du Roy, as well as with the orchestras of Vancouver, Calgary, Quebec, Edmonton, Kitchener-Waterloo and the Canadian Opera Company. She has collaborated with such leading conductors as Christoph Eschenbach, Charles Dutoit, Carlos Kalmar, Yannick Nezet-Seguin,Hans Graf, Eliahu Inbal, Kent Nagano, Paavo Jarvi, Gerard Schwarz, Pinchas Zukerman, Stefan Lano, Bernard Labadie, Bramwell Tovey and Yoav Talmi.
Ms. Krause began her 2010-2011 season during the summer with performances of Tippett’s A Child Of Our Time for the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. A favorite with Orchestre symphonique de Québec patrons, she will return for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 conducted by Yoav Talmi and looks forward to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 conducted by Bruno Weil for Tafelmusik, Mozart’s Requiem with the Colorado Symphony, and his Mass in C Minor with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.
Ms. Krause has been hailed as a “recitalist of rare intelligence and integrity” (National Post, Toronto) and has appeared at the St. Lawrence Centre’s Music Toronto Series, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, the Virtuosi Series in Winnipeg, the Aeolian Chamber Music series in London, Ontario, the Guelph Spring Festival, and Rendez-Vous Musical de Laterriere in Quebec. Her performances are frequently broadcast across Canada on CBC radio.
A prizewinner at the Salzburg International Mozart Competition, Anita Krause has also garnered awards from the George London Foundation, the Jean Chalmers Fund, and the Canada Council. She was awarded 1st Prize at the Canadian Young Mozart Singers Competition and the Silver Medal at the CBC Young Artists Competition. Ms. Krause has been a fellow at the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival. Her discography includes Vivaldi Sacred Music with the Aradia Ensemble on the Naxos label, and “Verdi and Rossini Rarities” with the COC Orchestra for CBC discs.
Bonaventura Bottone, tenor
Bonaventura Bottone has been described by the New Grove Dictionary of Opera as, “a superb actor, with a strong lyrical voice, making a maginificent Loge.” He trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London. The Academy honoured him with a fellowship in 1998. He has performed at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Opera de Paris, the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Lyric Opera Chicago, Santiago di Chile, Opera Queensland, Houston Grand Opera, La Fenice Venice, La Scala Milan, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera and Scottish Opera in roles including Gustavus (Un ballo in maschera), Rodolfo (La Bohème), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Italian Singer (Der Rosenkavalier and Capriccio), Count Libenskof (Il Viaggio a Reims), Lensky (Eugene Onegin), Loge (Das Rheingold), Governor/Vanderdendur/Ragotski/Captain (Candide), Alfred (Die Fledermaus), Torquemade (L’Heure espagnole), Licht (Zerbrochene Krug), L'abate di Chazeuil (Adriana Lecouvreur), Pirelli (Sweeney Todd) and Nanki-Poo (The Mikado).Bonaventura Bottone has sung with numerous prominent international conductors, including Maurizio Arena, Richard Bonynge, Andrew Davis, Jacques Delacote, Sir Edward Downes, Sir Mark Elder, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Asher Fisch, Bernard Haitink, Richard Hickox, Emmanuel Joel, Vladimir Jurowski, James Levine, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Neville Marriner, Mark Minkowski, Antonio Pappano, Nicola Rescigno, Carlo Rizzi, Jeffrey Tate, Jan Pascal Tortellier, and Emmanuel Villaume; and with directors including Tim Alberry, John Copley, John Cox, Peiro Fagioni David McVicar, Jonathan Miller, Elijah Mojinsky, Jean-Pierre Ponelle, David Pountney, John Schlesinger, and Graham Vick. His numerous commercial CDs and DVDs include Die Fledermaus with Luciano Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland, Lucia di Lammermoor with Edita Gruberova and Alfredo Kraus, the first complete recording of Romberg’s The Student Prince, Der Zerbrochene Krug with Mary Dunleavy and Susan B Anthony, A Little Night Music, Hugh the Drover, and The Mikado.
Mr. Bottone last appeared with the ESO in April 2009.
Da Camera Singers
Since its inception in 1961, Da Camera Singers, now under the direction of John Brough, has established a strong presence in the Alberta choral community and holds the distinction of being Edmonton’s longest-standing chamber choir. The choir performs a diverse repertoire that encompasses classical music from the Renaissance to the 20th century, oratorios, and folk song arrangements and other lighter works. As well as being active with their own annual three-concert season, Da Camera Singers has performed on many occasions with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Alberta Baroque Ensemble under the direction of such conductors as Bernard Labadie, Ivars Taurins and William Eddins. In February 2009, Da Camera Singers’ concert Eulogies was recorded by CBC for broadcast on Choral Concert and Concerts on Demand.My Winspear COMMUNITY
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