Autumn Cyber Symphonies Concert 1 - Cape Town ...
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Autumn Cyber Symphonies Concert 1
Mahler Rückert-Lieder
Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98
Conductor Bernhard Gueller
Soloist William Berger (baritone)
Concertmaster Farida Bacharova
Recorded at the Cape Town City Hall on April 15, 2021
Streaming May 20 –24, 2021
This concert is generously supported by
1
BERNHARD GUELLER Conductor
Principal guest conductor of the Cape Town
Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director
Laureate of Symphony Nova Scotia in Canada,
Bernhard Gueller continues to be acclaimed
for his interpretations and phrasing, and the
excitement he brings to the podium. “He is a
favoured conductor, both of players and
audiences, undoubtedly because of his
carefully prepared but always musically
rewarding performances”
(WeekendSpecial.co.za).
He is acclaimed by musicians, critics and
audiences for his musical purity, and
continually garners praise for the fresh
approach he applies under his “amazingly
suggestive baton”.
Having stepped down in 2018 after 16 years as
music director of Symphony Nova Scotia, Gueller took up a new role as Music Director
Laureate and in the last two years, prior to the advent of Covid-19 returned to both SNS and
British Columbia’s Victoria Symphony where he was also principal guest conductor. He also
made his debut with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra in New Jersey in 2019 and returned
to Halifax to conduct the Scotia Festival of Music again. He has conducted many other
orchestras in Canada including the Edmonton and Calgary Philharmonic orchestras and is a
frequent guest conductor with the KZN Philharmonic and the Johannesburg Philharmonic.
Gueller has had many high-level collaborations with internationally acclaimed soloists,
including Canadian violinist James Ehnes and pianists Jan Lisiecki, Janina Fialkowska, Anton
Kuerti, Jon Kimura Parker and Marc Andre-Hamelin, along with pianist Lars Vogt, violinist
Joshua Bell, and Metropolitan Opera singers Pretty Yende, Elza van den Heever and the late
Johan Botha, as well as soprano Pumeza Matshikiza.
Beginning his career as a cellist, Gueller won the United German Radios Conducting
Competition in 1979 and for nearly 20 years ran tandem careers, deputing for the legendary
conductor Sergiu Celibidache, who regarded Gueller as his best “pupil”. Gueller also attracted
the attention of the renowned arts administrator Ernest Fleischman who "was deeply
impressed by his extraordinary musicianship, his marvellous ability to communicate with the
musicians, and his charismatic impact on the audience".
He has also been music director in Nuremberg and his career has taken him to many top
concert halls, from America and Australia to Canada, Russia, Japan, China (Guangzhou,
Shanghai, Hong Kong), Korea, South Africa and Brazil, as well as countries in Europe such as
Spain, Italy, France, Norway, Bulgaria, Italy and Sweden, and his native Germany where he,
for instance, conducted the Stuttgart Radio Symphony and the Munich Philharmonic.
2
He has conducted in festivals internationally, including the Cape Town Philharmonic
Orchestra in the International Festival of the Canary Islands, the Schwetzinger Festival in
Germany, the Scotia Festival in Halifax, and the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music
Festival and National Arts Festival in South Africa.
Gueller has made many recordings for national and international broadcast and several
acclaimed CDs including two with the CPO - with South African mezzo soprano Hanneli Rupert
and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and the concerti of Vieuxtemps and Saint-Saëns
with cellist Peter Martens. Others include two with contemporary Canadian composer,
Christos Hatzis, one of contemporary Canadian works by Tim Brady which won an East Coast
Music award, and a CD of orchestrated lieder by Schumann, all with Symphony Nova Scotia.
His latest CD with Symphony Nova Scotia with songstress Sarah Slean was nominated for a
Juno Award in 2021. He has also recorded CDs with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart,
German Brass and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. Gueller was awarded a doctorate by
Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for his service to music.
3
WILLIAM BERGER Soloist
South African baritone William Berger was a member of the
Drakensberg Boys’ Choir and the inaugural recipient of the
Deon van der Walt UNISA/SAMRO bursary at age 17, before
commencing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in
London supported by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust and
the Kathleen Ferrier Bursary Award. Winner of the Lucerne
Festival Prize at the Ernst Haefliger Competition in
Switzerland, William has distinguished himself as an artist on
the international stage, having made both his Royal Opera
House London and Kennedy Center Washington D.C. debuts
in 2019.
Opera appearances include Marcello (La bohème) for Opera
Vlaanderen, Opéra Rouen Normandie and Cape Town
Opera, Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte) for the Liceu Barcelona,
Oreste (Iphigénie en Tauride) for the Teatro Nacional de São
Carlos Lisbon, Escamillo (Carmen) for Cape Town Opera and Luzerner Theater, Papageno (Die
Zauberflöte) for Opéra de Toulon and the title role of Imeneo for the Göttingen International
Handel Festival, for which he was nominated Opernwelt Opera Singer of the Year in 2017.
Concert appearances include Orff’s Carmina Burana at the Royal Albert Hall, Mozart's
Requiem with the Philharmonie Zuidnederland, Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem at deSingel
Antwerp, Handel's Joshua with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra San Francisco,
Mendelssohns' Die Erste Walpurgisnacht with the Orchestre de Chambre Fribourgeois in
Switzerland, Durufle's Requiem with the Pacific Symphony California, Faure’s Requiem with
the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Handel’s Messiah with the Bournemouth, Seattle, St.
Louis, Phoenix and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras.
His discography includes two solo albums “Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage in Song” and
“Hommage à Trois” (Linn) with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Other selected recordings
include Handel's Samson (Carus), Alexander's Feast and The Triumph of Time and Truth with
Ludus Baroque (Delphian), and Admeto (Unitel Classics DVD).
A former Principal Artist at English National Opera, William Berger was awarded the honour
"Associate of the Royal Academy of Music" in 2009.
4Gustav Mahler (1869-1911)
Rückert-Lieder
1. Ich atmet' einen linden Duft
2. Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder
3. Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
4. Liebst du um Schönheit
5. Um Mitternacht
Gustav Mahler set a total of 10 poems by the German Romantic poet, Friedrich Rückert, to
music as orchestral Lieder. A cycle of five of these poems is known as the Kindertotenlieder
and the remaining five, known as the Rückert-Lieder, form part of the Sieben Lieder aus letzte
Zeit. (The remaining two of the seven lieder are based on texts from a volume entitled Des
Knaben Wunderhorn.)
Both cycles were composed from 1901-1904 in Vienna and published in 1905. The first
performance of these orchestral Lieder, with Mahler conducting, took place at a concert of
the Verein schaffender Tonkünstler in Vienna on January 29, 1905. Bruno Walter, who later
came to own the Kindertotenlieder manuscript, was also a member of this association. In his
review of the concert, Walter mentioned the high regard in which young composers such as
Schoenberg and Zimlinsky held Mahler. Anton von Webern, who had been introduced to
Mahler that evening, wrote with admiration in his diary of his conversation with Mahler.
These two ethereal Lieder cycles, with their soulful Rückert texts, stand in stark contrast to
the grandly orchestrated and expansive symphonies of the “realistic opera director and
commander of mighty orchestral troops”, in the words of Kurt Blaukopf. They document the
yearning to withdraw from the clamorous world. Escape from this world of love and grief is
the underlying motif, as expressed in the song Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (I
became lost to the world), a motif that played an important role in Mahler’s earlier works.
There is a melodic relationship between this song and the Adagietto of Mahler’s Fifth
Symphony. Indeed, as Constantin Floros points out, apart from the Adagietto, the Andante
moderato of the Sixth Symphony and the Andante amoroso of the Seventh Symphony can in
a sense be regarded as the symphonic equivalents of Mahler’s Rückert compositions.
These orchestral Lieder freed themselves from the piano. Every nuance of the text is
expressed through sensitive and individualized instrumental parts, and the voice at times is
involved in remarkably fine contrapuntal textures.
51. Ich atmet' einen linden Duft
Ich atmet' einen linden Duft
Im Zimmer stand
Ein Zweig der Linde,
Ein Angebinde
Von lieber Hand
Wie lieblich war der Lindenduft!
Wie lieblich ist der Lindenduft!
Das Lindenreis
Brachst du gelinde;
Ich atme leis
Im Duft der Linde
Der Liebe linden Duft
1. I breathed a gentle fragrance
I breathed a gentle fragrance
in the room there was
a branch of the lime tree,
a gift of a dear hand
How lovely was the lime fragrance!
How lovely was the lime fragrance,
the sprig of the lime tree
you plucked gently;
softly I breathed
in the fragrance of the lime tree
the gentle fragrance of love.
2. Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder
Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder
Meine Augen schlag’ ich nieder,
Wie ertappt auf bõser Tat.
Selber darf ich nicht getrauen,
Ihrem Wachsen zuzuschauen:
Deine Neugier ist Verrat!
Bienen, wenn sie Zellen bauen,
Lassen auch nicht zu sich schauen,
Schauen selbst auch nicht zu.
Wenn die reichen Honigwaben
Sie zu Tag gefõrdert haben,
Dann vor allen nasche du!
62. Do not look at my songs!
Do not look at my songs!
I lower my eyes
as if I were caught in a crime.
Even I do not dare
to watch them as they grow –
your curiosity is a betrayal.
Bees, too, when they build their cells,
let no-one watch,
nor do they watch themselves.
When they have carried the rich honeycombs
to the light of day,
then you shall taste them first!
3. Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
Mit der ich sonst viele Zeit verdorben;
Sie hat zu lange nichts von mir vernomment,
Sie mag wohl glauben, ich sei gestorben!
Es ist mir auch gar nichts daran gelegen,
Ob sie mich für gestorben hālt.
Ich kann auch gar nichts sagen dagegen,
Denn wirklich bin ich gestorben der Welt.
Ich bin gestorben dem Weltgetümmel
Und ruh’in einem stillen Gebiet.
Ich leb’ allein in meinem Himmel,
In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied.
3. I have lost touch with the world
I have lost touch with the world
Where I once wasted too much of my time.
Nothing has been heard of me for so long
that they may well think me dead.
Indeed, I hardly care
If the world thinks I am dead
Neither can I deny it,
for I am truly dead to the world.
I am dead to the bustle of the world
and repose in tranquil realms.
I live alone in my heaven,
in my devotion, in my song.
74. Liebst du um Schönheit
Liebst du um Schönheit, o nicht mich liebe!
Liebe die Sonne, sie trāgt ein goldnes Haar!
Liebst du um Jugend, o nicht mich liebe!
Liebe den Frühling, der jung ist jedes Jahr!
Liebst du um Schātze, o nicht mich liebe!
Liebe die Meerfrau, sie hat viel Perlen klar!
Liebst du um Liebe, oh ja … mich liebe!
Liebe mich immer, dich lieb ich immerdar!
4. If you love for beauty
If you love for beauty, do not love me!
Love the son with its golden hair.
If you love me for youth, do not love me!
Love the spring which is young every year.
If you love for treasure, do not love me!
Love the mermaid with her many bright pearls.
If you love for love, then love me!
Love me always as I will always love you!
5. Um Mitternacht
Um Mitternacht
Hab’ich gewacht
Und aufgeblickt zum Himmel;
Kein Stern vom Sterngewimmel
Hat mir gelacht
Um Mitternacht.
Um Mitternacht
Hab’ ich gedacht
Hinaus in dunkle Schranken.
Es hat kein Lichtgedanken
Mir Trost gebracht
Um Mitternacht.
Um Mitternacht
Nahm ich in acht
Die Schlāge meines Herzens;
Ein einz’ger Puls des Schmerzens
War angefacht
Um Mitternacht.
8Um Mitternacht
Kāmpt’ ich die Schlacht,
O Menschheit, deiner Leiden;
Nicht konnt’ ich sie entscheiden
Mit meiner Macht
Um Mitternacht.
Um Mitternacht
Hab’ ich die Macht
In Deine hand gegeben,
Herr über Tod und Leben,
Du hālst die Wacht
Um Mitternacht!
5. At Midnight
At midnight
I awoke
and looked up to the heavens;
no star in the teeming firmament
smiled upon me
at night.
At midnight
my thoughts stretched out
beyond dark boundaries.
No image of light
brought me consolation
at midnight.
At midnight
I heeded
the beat of my heart;
a single throb of pain
was roused
at midnight.
At midnight
I fought the battle,
O humanity, of your suffering;
I could not resolve it
with my might
At midnight.
9At midnight
I yielded all might
into your hand;
Lord over death and life,
You stand guard
at midnight.
NOTE FROM THE CD with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra / Hanneli Rupert/Bernhard Gueller
by Reino Otterman.
Words of the songs Translation © 1970 The Decca Record Company Ltd, London.
10Johannes Brahms
(1833- 1897)
Symphony No 4 in E minor, Op. 98
1. Allegro non troppo
2. Andante moderato
3. Allegro giocoso
4. Allegro energico e passionato
We must always remember that Brahms had a comprehensive knowledge of the Renaissance
and Baroque periods in music and in fact it was a cantata by Bach that was the inspiration for
the extraordinary finale of his Fourth Symphony. In many of his works, he strove to combine
the strict architecture of the baroque with what the writer Malcolm MacDonald has described
as “the supercharged passion of the romantic era in which he lived”. The Symphony No 4,
completed in 1885, is a spectacular example of Brahms’s genius in this regard.
The two falling and two rising phrases on the strings which open the symphony seem as
though they’ve been in existence for ever and that we are “tuning in”, so to speak. This is the
first subject without any introduction. The theme develops into a powerful statement and
orchestral fanfares announce the arrival of the second theme on the cellos and horns. With
this material Brahms creates a fascinating development sequence and his return to the
recapitulation is shrouded in mystery with swirling strings and hints of themes. The
movement is driven to a powerful coda of tremendous drama, underlining the troubled
atmosphere of the movement.
The slow movement is one of Brahms’s most eloquently beautiful. A sombre march, which
someone once likened to a group of pilgrims passing across the distant horizon, opens the
movement. In fact, here, Brahms is using an ancient church mode, the Phrygian mode, in
which to couch his theme. Later on, the second theme appears on the cellos and must surely
be one of the more heart-felt themes in the symphonic repertoire.
The third movement is a wild and almost uncontrolled scherzo of which Beethoven would
have been proud. The themes are bold and exciting and Brahms adds a piccolo and triangle
to the instrumentation to underline the brightness of this music.
The finale is a masterpiece of composition. It is based on a chorus from the Cantata no 150
by Bach that we hear at the outset on the brass. There follows an extraordinary set of 30
variations on this theme creating a brilliant example of a passacaglia in music – where a
repeated “ground bass” forms the basis of a set of variations over it. The momentum and
drama increase with only one or two moments of repose before the music is driven headlong
to the close. The effect is exhilarating. Sir Donald Francis Tovey wrote that at its end, this
symphony, “the greatest since Beethoven, storms to its tragic close”.
PROGRAMME NOTE: CTSO PROGRAMME BANK/RODNEY TRUDGEON.
11CAPE 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
Farida Bacharova (guest concertmaster)
Piet de Beer ^
Bonolo Kgaile #
Joshua Louis ^
Emina Lukin *
Philip Martens (deputy concertmaster)
Refiloe Olifant
Jane Price ^
Annien Shaw ^
Maretha Uys
Second Violins
Ruby Ayliffe ^
Shannon Cook ^
Miroslawa Domagala
Samantha Durrant *
Claudia Gõttert ^
Tomasz Kita #
Matthew Stead
Milena Toma
Renée van der Westhuizen ^
Violas
Petrus Coetzee *
Emile de Roubaix ^
Azra Isaacs #
Renette Swart
Maja van Dyk
Martia van Niekerk
Cellos
Dane Coetzee
Pearl Jung ^
Nwuko Sunday Kelechi ^
Peter Martens *
Edward McLean #
Nastassja Pretorius ^
12Double Basses
Zanelle Britz
Frances Levenderis ^
Donat Pellei #
Kyle Smith ^
Roxane Steffen *
Flutes
Garreth Cederes ^
Gabriele von Dürckheim *
Oboes
Carin Bam #
Lisa White *
Oboes d’Amore
John Rojas ^
Bassoons
Simon Ball **
Liesl Jobson ^
Brandon Phillips *
Horns
Lieze Nel ^
Mark Osman
Shannon Thebus ^
Conrad van der Westhuizen
Trumpets
Paul Chandler
Pierre Schuster #
David Thompson *
Trombones
William Haubrich ^
Slavomir Mrazik *
Ryan van der Rheede #
Bass Trombone
David Langford #
Tuba
Shaun Williams *
Timpani
Christoph Müller *
13Percussion
Eugene Trofimcyzk *
Harp
Kobie du Plessis ^
Keyboard
Stefan Lombard ^
Principal * / Associate Principal ** / Sub Principal # / Ad hoc ^ / On leave ■
Orchestra Attendants
Lucien Faro ^
Rudi Makwana^
Drivers
Craig Wildeman ^
Derrick Wildeman ^
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; Nisaar Pangarker; Christoff Pauw; Felicia Lesch; Christo van der Rheede
ADVISORY BOARD
Ruth Allen; Ben Rabinowitz; Ton Vosloo
1415
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