Subscription Concert C Series

Subscription Concert No.991 C Series

This concert is over. Date: Sat. 13. January 2024 14:00 (13:00)

Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Venue Info Seat

[Bruckner 200]

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Artists

Tatsuya SHIMONO, Conductor
Yuya TSUDA, Piano

Profile

Tatsuya SHIMONO (Conductor)

General Music Director of Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra since April,2017
Born in Kagoshima in 1969, Tatsuya Shimono cemented his international reputation as a conductor by winning the First Prize and the Hideo Saito Award at Tokyo International Music Competition for conducting in 2000 and the First Prize at the 47th Besançon International Competition in 2001. Since then he has guest conducted major orchestras such as Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Czech Philharmonic, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra(OBC),Sinfonia Varsovia, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and NHK Symphony Orchestra among others.
Shimono served as Resident Conductor and then Principal Guest Conductor of Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (2006-2017) as well as guest conductor and then Principal Guest Conductor of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra (2014-2020).
He is also holding the title of Music Director of Hiroshima Wind Orchestra since 2011.
In addition to his activity with orchestra he also regularly conducts Opera at New National Theatre Tokyo,Nissay Theatre and Nikikai Opera among others.

Photo by Naoya Yamaguchi

Yuya TSUDA (Piano)

Born in Sendai, Japan, Yuya Tsuda studied at the University of Arts Berlin after graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts. He won the 1st prize, the audience prize and the French Ambassador to Japan Prize at Sendai International Music Competition in 2007. He was also awarded with Special Prize for the interpretation of commissioned work at ARD Music Competition in Munich in 2011.

The Orchestras he has performed with include Berliner Symphoniker, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra. Besides solo recitals throughout Japan, he has been repeatedly invited to Sendai Classical Music Festival, Takefu International Music Festival, and Kiso Music Festival.

Yuya Tsuda founded the piano trio "Trio Accord" together with violinist Kei Shirai and cellist Hiroki Kadowaki and they perform actively throughout Japan. As a chamber musician, he has performed with many renowned musicians.

His piano teachers include Pascal Devoyon, Gabriel Tacchino, Miyoko Goldberg Yamane, Yu Kakuno, and Ruriko Shibuya.
He is currently an Associate Professor at Tokyo University of the Arts.

Program

Mozart: Piano Concerto No.24 in C minor K.491

Program Notes
Bruckner: Symphony No.1 in C minor, WAB101 (1891 Vienna revision)

Program Notes

Ⅰ Allegro
Ⅱ Larghetto
Ⅲ Allegretto

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Born in Salzburg, January 27, 1756; died in Vienna, December 5, 1791

　Of Mozartʼs 23 piano concertos (the first four of the 27 numbered concertos are merely transcriptions of compositions by other composers), only two are in a minor key. It is therefore reasonable to postulate that for these rare occasions, there was some special significance attached to the use of the minor mode. Indeed, this concerto, written in l786 along with the D-minor Concerto of the year before (K. 466), is an uncommonly forceful and tragic work, showing abundant evidence of emotional stress. Musicologist Alfred Einstein called the concerto an “explosion of dark, passionate feelings,” and Louis Biancolli described it as “dramatic and tragic revelations of self couched in sublime poetic speech.” This concerto is generally regarded as one of the leading precursors of nineteenth-century musical romanticism, replete as it is with passionate outbursts, startling contrasts, chromaticism, rich orchestration, overt emotional fervor, and portrayal of the darker aspects of existence.
　The C-minor Concerto is special in other ways as well. It requires the largest orchestra of any concerto Mozart wrote, employing pairs of clarinets and oboes, a rarity for this composer. A flute and pairs of bassoons and horns complete the wind unit used in all three movements. Trumpets and timpani, normally used only for festive effects in this period, are also found in the outer movements. Infusing the entire concerto are a richness of scoring and an unparalleled integration of soloist and orchestra. Note, for example, the intimate colloquy between piano and woodwinds that occurs just after the opening statement of the slow movement. The workʼs breadth of structure is also extraordinary − the 523 measures of the first movement make it the longest movement in these terms before Beethovenʼs Eroica Symphony of nearly twenty years later, and the final movement equals the first in loftiness of thought and expansive structure.
　The concerto begins with a rugged, unsettled theme played quietly in the lower strings. This theme, with its characteristic upward leaps, sets the tone of the whole concerto − despite occasional bright rays, this basic mood of pessimism and defiance is sustained throughout the work. During the long orchestral exposition there are three full statements of this bold theme, and many more after the soloist finally enters, but interestingly enough, the piano is never given the theme in its complete form.
　The Larghetto offers an oasis of exalted serenity and melancholic eloquence in the surrounding turmoil, beginning with a theme of sublime simplicity. Just once the troubled world of the first movement intrudes, in an episode in C minor of contrapuntal ingenuity featuring woodwinds and piano. The finale consists of a theme and variations, but here one finds no mere fanciful display of ornaments and arabesques so popular in Mozartʼs day. The feelings of a deeply troubled soul pour forth. There are brief interludes in A-flat and C major, but these episodes are swept away in the prevailing gloom and menace. Not until the finale of the mighty Eroica Symphony do we again find a theme and variations of such serious mien and complex development in symphonic writing.

Robert Markow's musical career began as a horn player in the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He now writes program notes for orchestras and concert organizations in the USA, Canada, and several countries in Asia. As a journalist he covers the music scenes across North America, Europe, and Asian countries, especially Japan. At Montreal's McGill University he lectured on music for over 25 years.

Ⅰ Allegro
Ⅱ Adagio
Ⅲ Scherzo: Lebhaft
Ⅳ Finale: Bewegt, feurig

Anton Bruckner: Bon in Ansfelden, Austria, September 4, 1824; died in Vienna, October 11, 1896

Bruckner was already in his early forties when he composed his First Symphony. He had been for years organist at the Linz cathedral, and was ready for a change. Bruckner spent fifteen months working on his longest, most ambitious work to date. When it was ready, the composer assembled an ensemble of musicians, hired at his own expense, for a performance that took place on May 9, 1868, conducted by himself. Thereafter it lay in a drawer, unperformed for another 23 years, by which time Bruckner was working on his Ninth. In 1889, with Bruckner now famous, the eminent conductor Hans Richter examined this early, forgotten symphony and was impressed enough to lead the Vienna Philharmonic in a performance two years later (December 13, 1891). Bruckner, as was his habit, felt the need to revise the symphony before Richter performed it, despite the conductorʼs assurance it was fine the way it was. Another leading conductor of the day, Hermann Levi, even pleaded with Bruckner not to change a single note. But Bruckner went ahead and changed anyway. The performance was a success, and the Vienna score was the one published in 1893 and used exclusively until 1934, when the Linz version was given again in Aachen. Most conductors today prefer the Linz version, which incorporates a few minor revisions from the original, made in 1877, but in recent years a growing number, including Tatsuya Shimono, have come to accept the 1891 Vienna version.
There are no significant structural differences between the Linz and Vienna versions. But there is a multitude of changes in articulation, dynamics, and especially matters of orchestration. Also, in each movement except the third, Bruckner heavily revised one substantial passage, including the addition of new material not in the Linz version. It is a sobering thought that had Bruckner not interrupted work on the Ninth to make revisions to the First in 1891, he might have completed his final “cathedral in sound.”
The work opens with a thumping march. After the march rhythm dissipates, the contrasting Gesangperiode (song-like section) is introduced by the violins – the firsts with the theme, the seconds with an all-important secondary line in counterpoint. This beautifully lyrical passage is interrupted by a powerful outburst from the full orchestra, leading into the third main idea, a broadly-paced theme played by trombones. A full-scale development section ensues, complete with abrupt contrasts of loud and soft, massive explosions, tremulous whispers, and a host of harmonic surprises.
The Adagio begins with tentative gropings, and is nearly as agonized and chromatic as much of Wagnerʼs Tristan und Isolde. Two further ideas emerge − a spacious, sweeping theme for violins over a gently rippling accompaniment, and a noble, richly scored subject for the entire string section. The attempt to identify a traditional sonata form, ternary form, or any other pre-conceived formal model in this movement is to be discouraged, for Brucknerʼs concept of form is highly unorthodox.
The Scherzo is the most predictable movement of the symphony, both in formal design and in spirit. A driving, almost motoric rhythmic pattern provides the backdrop for a pulsing but tuneful idea presented by the violins. The contrasting Trio section breathes the air of the idyllic Austrian countryside.
The Finale too is music of great energy and power. It is the only Bruckner finale to begin fortissimo. Like the first movement, it begins without preliminaries – the principal theme leads off with precipitous determination. This big, far-flung movement reels through a kaleidoscope of ideas and passes through a host of tonalities before arriving at the inevitable climax in the coda. One final surprise awaits the Bruckner connoisseur: the ending does not follow a long-sustained passage spun out of the tonic chord, but rather comes abruptly and unexpectedly.

Robert Markow's musical career began as a horn player in the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He now writes program notes for orchestras and concert organizations in the USA, Canada, and several countries in Asia. As a journalist he covers the music scenes across North America, Europe, and Asian countries, especially Japan. At Montreal's McGill University he lectured on music for over 25 years.

【Soloist Encore】（1/13up）
Beethoven：6 Bagatellen in G major, op.126-5
　（Yuya TSUDA, Piano）

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