1

Summer Cyber Symphonies 2 Mendelssohn Overture: The Hebrides

Haydn Symphony No 104 in D, “London” Strauss Horn Concerto No 1 in E flat, Op. 11

Conductor Jeremy Silver Soloist Shannon Thebus (French horn) Concertmaster Suzanne Martens

Recorded at the Cape Town City Hall on February 21, 2021 Streaming April 1 – 5, 2021

This concert is generously supported by

2

JEREMY SILVER Conductor

Jeremy Silver is Director of the Opera School at the University of Cape Town, and has worked extensively in South Africa with all the country’s major symphony orchestras, as well as conducting La bohème and Le nozze di Figaro for Cape Town Opera and Lucia di Lammermoor with Gauteng Opera. As principal conductor of Opera Africa (2004-2007), he conducted productions of I Capuleti e i Montecchi, La traviata and Rigoletto at the State Theatre, Pretoria, as well as the South African opera Princess Magogo at Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam. A selection of other productions includes Rinaldo, Serse, Alcina, Orfeo ed Euridice, L’incoronazione di Poppea and the Mozart Da Ponte operas (Longborough Festival Opera); Pelléas et Mélisande (Glyndebourne Touring Opera); Madama Butterfly (English National Opera); Ariadne auf Naxos (English Touring Opera); Aida, Carmen (Royal Albert Hall); La Rondine, Lucia di Lammermoor, Le nozze di Figaro (Opera Holland Park); Les Huguenots, Tosca (Opéra-Théâtre de Metz), Turandot (National Theatre, Malaysia) and Die Fledermaus (Yale Opera). For English Touring Opera he also conducted two exciting Donizetti rediscoveries, L’assedio di Calais and Il furioso all’isola di San Domingo in performing editions resulting from his considerable editorial work on both scores. Jeremy served on the resident music staffs of English National Opera and Scottish Opera, as well as working with Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Opera North. He has also given concerts with many UK orchestras and Sinfonia Varsovia.

3

SHANNON THEBUS Soloist

From the age of eight when he had lessons on his first instrument, a recorder, Shannon Thebus, now 24 and principal horn of the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and regular ad hoc principal of the CPO, has excelled as a musician. He soon moved to the trumpet and then settled on both French horn and organ, winning a full music scholarship to the Bishops Diocesan College along the way. His brass teachers were Sean Kierman, Peter Amon and Caroline Prozesky; studying organ with Mark Mitchell at the Diocesan College and Grant Brasler at UCT.

Shannon, who grew up in the music community of the New Apostolic Church, graduated from the SA College of Music at UCT with a performance diploma, played with the SA National Youth Orchestra from 2010 to 2016, was principal horn of the CP Youth Wind Ensemble from 2012 to 2019 and became principal horn of the CPYO in 2013. He has toured Europe with the MIAGI Orchestra, performed in the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival from 2015 to 2019, won the SAKOV Organ Bursary (2017) and the 1Oth National Horn Symposium Competition (2018), performed as a soloist with the CPYO and in the Hermanus Fynarts Festival and has taught his instrument at several schools. Shannon currently teaches French horn at Pinelands High School and plays the organ for regular services at two churches and also for weddings and other occasions.

4

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809 – 1847)

Overture: The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave), Op. 26

A fairly romantic tale has developed over the years about how this glorious piece of music came to be written. The story is that Mendelssohn visited the Hebrides and was so inspired by the strange rock formations of Fingal’s Cave that the music just flowed out of him there and then. He sent ten bars of a piece of music to his family with a note that said, “In order to make you understand how extraordinarily the Hebrides affected me, the following came into my mind while there.” In reality, the whole story of how the overture came into being is slightly more complicated. Mendelssohn did in fact visit the Hebrides with a German friend. Although the trip to the isles made him seasick, he was awe-struck by the whole visual experience and the atmosphere of the place, especially that of Fingal’s Cave. That was in 1829. In 1830 he set about working on a concert overture which he was going to call The Solitary Isle. However, he soon changed the title to Hebrides. After a few more revisions, the overture was ready for performance in 1832. None of this struggle is evident in the music. The work is beautifully scored, with memorable themes. The very opening conjures up the atmosphere of the surging sea and the waves majestically rolling in and out of Fingal’s cave. The cellos play another theme before, in the central development section, we seem to be in the midst of a storm at sea. Afterwards the cello theme is becalmed and is played gently and languidly on two clarinets before the wind gets up again and drives the music to an exciting close. PROGRAMME NOTE: CTSO PROGRAMME BANK/ RODNEY TRUDGEON

5

Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809)

Symphony No. 104 in D, “London”

1) Adagio – Allegro 2) Andante 3) Minuet: Allegro 4) Finale: Spiritoso One of the great success stories in music is Haydn’s visit to London late in his life. Two visits, in fact. For years Haydn had been the loyal, hardworking music master for Prince Nikolaus at Esterhazy. Here he enjoyed the services of a fine orchestra, and his boss, the Prince, was an enthusiastic amateur musician. During this time he was not really allowed to travel very far – perhaps the odd jaunt to nearby Vienna. Yet the amount of original and excellent music he wrote was astonishing. In the course of his employment he managed to fine tune both the string quartet and the symphony into the balanced and structured form that was to influence both Mozart and Beethoven. As Haydn himself once said “I was cut off from the world. There was no one to confuse or torment me, and I was forced to become original.” When Prince Nikolaus died in 1791, the London impresario Salomon made his move and invited Haydn to London. He arrived to a hero’s welcome and was the toast of London’s musical and aristocratic society. Royalty clamoured to have him to dinner. More importantly, Haydn now had at his disposal an orchestra that consisted of over 60 players, many more than the number at Esterhazy. The result was a set of new symphonies which explored not only Haydn’s vast experience and maturity, but which demonstrated the exciting challenge that the new orchestra presented. His last symphony, the number 104, was written during his second, equally successful visit to London. It has acquired the nickname the London Symphony but, unlike, say, the London Symphony by Vaughan Williams, Haydn’s work is in no way pictorial or programmatic. If anything, it’s a German’s view of the energy, excitement and cosmopolitan nature of London. The music itself illustrates this energy and colour with music of tremendous vitality and complexity. A grand fanfare announces the opening of the symphony and the music of the slow introduction has a solemnity about it. The faster, main section begins quietly with a string figure that builds into a busy climax from which a second idea, also on the strings but with the oboe adding its colour, appears. The movement is worked out in a way that underlines the textural complexity that Haydn could now achieve with his bigger orchestra.

6

The gentle theme which dominates the second movement was described by Michael Steinberg as coming from a composer in whose mouth butter wouldn’t melt! But the mood of this movement darkens somewhat with hints of the “Chaos” music that was to open the Creation. Haydn gives us an elegant and noble minuet with all sorts of surprises, such as rolling tympani and syncopations, while the oboe and bassoon chat to each other in the middle trio section. A Croatian folk song suddenly appears to open the finale over a droning sound, but soon the music is well on its way to an event-filled, energetic finale. Typical of Haydn, there is no valedictory feel to this music, even though the theory is that Haydn knew it would be his last symphony. He had said everything there was to say in the genre of the classical symphony. Now the mantle was about to be taken over by a young whiz-kid in Vienna whose name was Ludwig van Beethoven. PROGRAMME NOTE: CTSO PROGRAMME BANK / RODNEY TRUDGEON

7

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat, Op. 11

1) Allegro 2) Andante con moto 3) Rondo – Allegro molto Apart from Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss was probably the late 19th century composer who admired Mozart the most. He also had a huge admiration for the horn, probably because his father was a superb orchestral and solo horn player. His First Horn Concerto was written for his father very early in his life when Strauss was only 19. The second concerto was composed some sixty years later in 1943 after he had lived a distinguished life as a fine composer of operas, tone poems and various other orchestral works. Strauss had a phenomenal knowledge of the orchestra and of the possibilities of each instrument and here he demonstrates the prowess of his beloved French horn to remarkable effect. The concerto is refined and elegant and Strauss shows us the versatility of the horn in writing which is both lyrical and declamatory. A rising triplet figure opens the work and is heard again at various times in the work. The three movements are played without a gap with a lyrical melody for the horn dominating the slow movement, and the finale is a brilliant, fast movement with truly virtuosic horn passages. PROGRAMME NOTE: CTSO PROGRAMME BANK / RODNEY TRUDGEON

The CPO is grateful to Grinaker-LTA for facilities supplied to the CPO when the rehearsals and filming took place while the City Hall was under renovation.

8

CAPE TOWN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Principal Guest Conductor: Bernhard Gueller Resident Conductor: Brandon Phillips supported by RMB Starlight Classics Guest Concertmasters: Farida Bacharova; Suzanne Martens Deputy Concertmaster: Philip Martens

In alphabetical order

First Violins Bonolo Kgaile # Emina Lukin * Philip Martens (deputy concertmaster) Suzanne Martens (guest concertmaster) Refiloe Olifant Jane Price ^ Annien Shaw ^ Maretha Uys Second Violins Miroslawa Domagala Samantha Durrant * Tomasz Kita # Elina Koytcheva ^ Matthew Stead Milena Toma Renée van der Westhuizen ^ Violas Petrus Coetzee * Emile de Roubaix ^ Azra Isaacs # Renette Swart Maja van Dyk Cellos Dane Coetzee Graham du Plessis ^ Peter Martens * Edward McLean # Double Basses Zanelle Britz Donat Pellei # Roxane Steffen * Flutes Garreth Cederes ^ Gabriele von Dürckheim *

9

Oboes Carin Bam # Lisa White * Clarinets Beatrix Kirsten ^ Visser Liebenberg ^ Bassoons Simon Ball ** Brandon Phillips * Horns Eugene Kierman ^ Conrad van der Westhuizen Trumpets Paul Chandler Pierre Schuster # David Thompson * Trombones Slavomir Mrazik * Ryan van der Rheede Bass Trombone David Langford # Tuba Shaun Williams Timpani Christoph Müller * Percussion Eugene Trofimczyk *

Principal * / Associate Principal ** / Sub Principal # / Ad hoc ^

Orchestra Attendants Lucien Faro ^ Rudi Makwana ^ Drivers Craig Wildeman ^ Derrick Wildeman ^

10

CPO MANAGEMENT

Chief executive officer Louis Heyneman

General manager Ivan Christian

Business development and fundraising executive Suzanne Aucamp

Marketing and communications executive Shirley de Kock Gueller

Fundraising / office administrator Mary MacGregor-Frew

Youth development and education co-ordinator Marvin Weavers

Education manager: Masidlale and CP Music Academy Odile Burden

Librarian Daniel Neal

Assistant orchestra manager and Covid officer Milena Toma

CPO PATRONS

Wendy Ackerman; Ton Vosloo

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Wendy Ackerman; Derek Auret (chair); Dennis Davis; Elita de Klerk; Louis Heyneman; Edmund Jeneker; Felicia Lesch; Nisaar Pangarker; Christoff Pauw; Christo van der Rheede

ADVISORY BOARD

Ruth Allen; Ben Rabinowitz; Ton Vosloo

11