Steven Osborne in Recital

PRESENTS
Steven Osborne
in Recital
Saturday 23 August, 7.30pm
Verbrugghen Hall
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
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Program
STEVEN OSBORNE piano
MESSIAEN
Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus
I.
Regard du Père
II.
Regard de l’étoile
III.
L’échange
IV.
Regard de la Vierge
V.
Regard du Fils sur le Fils
VI.
Par Lui tout a été fait
VII. Regard de la Croix
VIII. Regard des hauteurs
IX.
Regard du Temps
X.
Regard de l’Esprit de joie
XI.
Première communion de la Vierge
XII. La parole toute puissante
XIII. Noël
XIV. Regard des Anges
XV. Le baiser de l’Enfant-Jésus
XVI. Regard des prophètes, des bergers et des Mages
XVII. Regard du silence
XVIII.Regard de l’Onction terrible
XIX. Je dors, mais mon cœur veille
XX. Regard de l’Eglise d’amour
Pre-concert talk by Francis Merson
This concert will last approximately two hours.
3
About the Music
of Messiaen whom she remembered reading at
the piano Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un
faune faultlessly from the full score – ‘We were
absolutely captivated; the whole class adored
him straight away.’
The first work Messiaen composed for Loriod
was the two-piano Visions de l’Amen, first
performed by Loriod and Messiaen in May
1943. Loriod took the first piano part, which
contains all the virtuoso embellishments,
birdsongs and chiming bells. Subsequent
works again centred on her playing: first the
Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine
with its important concertante piano part,
then the Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus,
composed rapidly between March and
September 1944.
Olivier Messiaen
(b. Avignon 1908 — d. Paris 1992)
The astonishing sequence of works composed
by Messiaen in the 1940s (that would culminate
in the premiere of the Turangalîla-Symphonie
in 1949), began with the Quartet for the End of
Time, created in a prisoner-of-war camp where
it received its first performance in January
1941. Repatriated shortly afterwards, Messiaen
started teaching at the Paris Conservatoire,
later giving private classes at which the
most advanced contemporary scores were
discussed. Among his first students was a
brilliant 17-year-old pianist, Yvonne Loriod,
who was to become the leading exponent of
his music. Loriod recalled her first impression
4
The initial spur to composition was a request
for twelve short piano pieces (‘Douze regards’)
to accompany a radio presentation by Maurice
Toesca of poems on the Nativity. But by the
end of the summer this modest commission
had grown into Messiaen’s most ambitious
work to date, an epic tribute to the inspiring
influence of Loriod, whose unquenchable
pianism liberated Messiaen’s imagination (as
he many times testified) from practical
limitations.
Messiaen described some of the factors that
govern the work’s architecture. The order
of the movements, as Messiaen explains, is
partly a matter of numerological significance.
‘The Regard de la Croix bears the number 7
(a perfect number) because the sufferings of
Christ on the Cross restored the order that was
disturbed by sin, and the Angels are confirmed
in grace in no. 14 (two times seven). The Regard
du Temps bears the number 9 [representing]
the nine months of maternity common to all
children, and the Regard de l’Onction terrible
has the number 18 (two times nine) – here
divinity is poured out over the humanity of
Christ in one person who is the Son of God.
The two pieces which speak of Creation … are
no. 6 (because six is the number of [days of ]
Creation) and no. 12 (two times six).’
Musically, the feature of Messiaen’s scheme
most apparent is the recurrence of the
principal cyclic theme, the ‘theme of God’.
This is heard at the outset and thereafter
in every fifth piece, the regards concerned
with the Divinity. Together with important
appearances in nos. 6 and 11, the spacing of
the repetitions suggests a ground plan with
pieces grouped in fives. The design of the first
section (up to no. 5) is especially clear, since
the fifth piece is an exact paraphrase of the
opening Regard du Père, and thus seals the
predominantly reflective tone of the work to
this point.
Another aspect of the scheme is that the
outer movements of each group of five are the
longest: so, in the second quarter (nos. 6 to
10), three short pieces of the type Messiaen
classifies as ‘immaterial or symbolic’ are
framed by outpourings of storming virtuosity.
In the second half, although the pieces are still
grouped in fives, the symmetries are less clearcut. Instead, the music is dominated by great
slow movements (nos. 11, 15 and 19), each of
which refer back to the ‘theme of God’, their
final goal being the ecstatic transformation of
the theme at the end of no. 20.
Nos. 1–5. The opening Regard du Père (Gaze
of the Father) sets the time-scale for the
work in its spacious, majestic presentation
of the ‘theme of God’. In Regard de l’étoile
(Gaze of the Star) the ‘theme of the star and
the cross’ is heard, after an opening flourish
which represents the ‘shock of grace’. In
L’échange (The Exchange), ‘God makes himself
man that he may make us gods’; the music
is strictly organised in two-bar units, with
material representing the Divinity remaining
unchanged, while humankind is represented
by fragments that alter shape (like a snake
uncoiling), in a process Messiaen called
‘asymmetrical enlargement’. Nos. 4 and 5 are
both slow movements: the Regard de la Vierge
(Gaze of the Virgin) an image of musical
purity and tenderness, the Regard du Fils
sur le Fils (Gaze of the Son upon the Son) a
contemplation of the ‘theme of God’, repeated
exactly as in no. 1 but transposed to a more
luminous register and overlaid with rhythmic
canons and birdsong.
No. 6, Par Lui tout a été fait (By Him was
everything made), is a fugue whose subject is
constantly transformed. In its second section
octaves in the bass repeat a fragment of the
subject, asymmetrically enlarged. After a brief
caesura, in which very short or long durations
are juxtaposed (representing the micro-and
macrocosm) the fugue resumes in exact
retrograde, a passage of fiendish difficulty for
the pianist. After a brief pause the subject
undergoes a series of stretti which culminate in
the ‘theme of God’ – ‘the face of God behind
the flame and the flood’ – answered by the
‘theme of Love’. In the coda, Messiaen depicts
all Creation taking up the ‘theme of God’ and
singing it in canon.
Nos. 7–9. The Regard de la Croix (Gaze of
the Cross) returns to the theme from no. 2,
enriched by sighing figures which suggest
Christ’s agonised journey with the cross. In
Regard des hauteurs (Gaze of the Heights), the
heights are symbolised by birds, notably the
skylark. The enigmatic, mysterious Regard
du Temps (Gaze of Time) concludes this
interlude.
No. 10. Regard de l’Esprit de joie (Gaze of the
Spirit of joy): ‘An oriental dance in the extreme
bass register; a first development section
based on the theme of Joy; an asymmetrical
expansion; a kind of hunting song in three
variations; a second development based on the
5
theme of Joy and the theme of God; a return of
the oriental dance; a coda on the theme of Joy.’
Nos. 11–14. The Première communion de la
Vierge (First communion of the Virgin) returns
to the ‘theme of God’, transposed in key
and sonority, and garlanded with idealised
birdsong. The joyful central section is a
Magnificat, towards the end of which low
repeated notes represent the heartbeats of the
unborn Christ-child. The next three pieces are
the engine room of the second half: La parole
toute puissante (The Omnipotent Word), a
monody encircled by grace notes and bass
percussions; Noël, in which peals of bells
frame a central section of exquisite calm; and
the Regard des Anges (Gaze of the Angels), in
which the music’s ferocity (with the Angels
routed by torrents of birdsong) was inspired by
the ‘angel with the trumpet’ in Michelangelo’s
Last Judgement.
Further reading and
listening
The first major study of Olivier Messiaen
after the composer’s death was The Messiaen
Companion (edited by Peter Hill), with
contributions from Pierre Boulez, George
Benjamin, and Yvonne Loriod (Faber).
Peter Hill along with Nigel Simeone authored
a well-researched and approachable 2005
biography simply titled Messiaen (Yale
University Press).
Olivier Messiaen presented his approach to
composition in a treatise titled Technique of
My Musical Language (Alphonse Leduc).
In addition to Steven Osborne’s superlative
recordings for the Hyperion label, several
other recordings of the Vingt Regards are
worth a listen:
PIERRE-LAURENT AIMARD (Teldec 26868)
YVONNE LORIOD (Erato 91705)
PETER HILL (Regis 2055)
6
No. 15. In Le baiser de l’Enfant-Jésus (Kiss of
the Infant Jesus) the ‘theme of God’ resumes
as a lullaby. A brief cadenza ushers in a further
transformation, followed by a build-up over a
dominant pedal (C-sharp) inspired by a picture
of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux, arms outstretched
to embrace the Christ-child. The ecstatic
culmination combined the themes of Joy
and Love, dissolving in a coda of Chopin-like
finesse.
Nos. 16–18. The Regard des prophètes, des
bergers et des Mages (Gaze of the prophets,
shepherds and Magi) is a riotous, percussive
movement. In the Regard du silence (Gaze of
Silence) the image of the title is represented by
rainbow colours ending in a coda of alternating
chords, which mingle ‘like precious stones’.
The Regard de l’Onction terrible (Gaze of the
Terrible Unction) evokes the coronation of
Christ, as ‘the fearful Majesty selects the body
of Jesus’.
Nos. 19 and 20. The prelude to the conclusion
is music of stillness and contemplation, Je dors,
mais mon cœur veille (I sleep, but my heart
keeps vigil), in which the ‘theme of God’
dissolves in pure triadic harmonies. In the
Regard de l’Eglise d’amour (Gaze of the Church
of Love) we hear first a turbulent development,
with statements of the ‘theme of God’
interspersed with asymmetrical enlargements
of mounting complexity. Finally a plateau is
reached, a huge dominant pedal (C-sharp
again) overlaid by all the work’s harmonic ideas
compressed into peals of bells. From this flows
the final transformation: ‘Here are bells, glory,
and the kiss of love – all our passion as we
embrace the invisible.’
PROGRAM NOTE BY PETER HILL
Steven Osborne
Steven Osborne’s standing as one of the
great pianists of his generation was publicly
affirmed in 2013 with two major awards: the
Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist
of the Year and his second Gramophone
Award, this time in the Instrumental category
for his recording of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at
an Exhibition and solo works by Prokofiev.
Previous awards include a 2009 Gramophone
Award for his recording of Britten’s works for
piano and orchestra, as well as first prize at
both the Naumburg International Competition
(New York) and Clara Haskil Competition.
Concerto performances take Steven Osborne
to orchestras all over the world including
recent visits to the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony,
Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, Vienna
Symphony, Salzburg Mozarteum, Oslo
Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony,
Danish National Radio, Royal Flemish
Philharmonic, RTVE Madrid, Sydney
Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber
Orchestra, Oregon Symphony and the Dallas
Symphony Orchestra. With these orchestras
he has enjoyed collaborations with conductors
including Christoph von Dohnányi, Alan
Gilbert, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ludovic Morlot,
Juanjo Mena, Leif Segerstam, Andrew Litton,
Ingo Metzmacher, Vladimir Jurowski and
Jukka-Pekka Saraste.
In the UK he works regularly with the major
orchestras, especially with the London
Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony,
BBC Symphony and BBC Philharmonic
Orchestras. He is currently performing the
complete cycle of Beethoven Piano Concertos
with the BBC Scottish Symphony partnered
with Andrew Manze. He has made eleven
appearances at the Proms, most recently in
August 2012 when he performed the Grieg
Piano Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic
Orchestra under John Storgårds.
Steven Osborne’s recitals of carefully crafted
programs are publicly and critically acclaimed
without exception. His 2013 tour of Messiaen’s
complete Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus
was heralded and the London performance
at the South Bank resulted in a spontaneous
standing ovation. He has performed in many
of the world’s prestigious venues including
the Konzerthaus Vienna, Amsterdam
Concertgebouw, de Doelen Rotterdam,
Philharmonie Berlin, Palais des Beaux Arts
Brussels, De Singel, Suntory Hall Tokyo,
Kennedy Center Washington, Carnegie Hall
and Wigmore Hall. His regular chamber music
partners include Alban Gerhardt, Paul Lewis,
Dietrich Henschel and Alina Ibragimova.
Born in Scotland in 1971, Steven Osborne
studied with Richard Beauchamp at St Mary’s
Music School in Edinburgh and Renna Kellaway
at the Royal Northern College of Music in
Manchester.
Select Discography
MESSIAEN: Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus
Hyperion Records CDA67351/2
MESSIAEN: Visions de l’Amen
Hyperion Records CDA67366
MUSSORGSKY: Pictures from an Exhibition
Hyperion Records CDA67896
STRAVINSKY: Complete Works for Piano and
Orchestra
Hyperion Records CDA67870
RAVEL: The Complete Solo Piano Music
Hyperion Records CDA66731/2
RACHMANINOV: Preludes
Hyperion Records CDA67700
BRITTEN: Complete Works for Piano and
Orchestra
Hyperion Records CDA67625
TIPPETT: Complete Music for Piano
Hyperion Records CDA67461/2
7
20 (plus) Questions with
Steven Osborne
Compiled by Albert Imperato
Steven Osborne’s interpretations of Vingt
regards have been critically celebrated, with
journalists citing the ‘extraordinary musical
experience’ of his performances, as well as his
‘technical mastery’ and ‘consummate command
of the work’s architecture’. Having studied
Vingt regards with Yvonne Loriod (Messiaen’s
wife), Steven’s insights into and perspectives
on this seminal 20th century masterwork
are exceptional. Beyond superlatives of our
soloist, the ACO wanted to present Osborne
in another light, so we enlisted writer, classical
music promoter, and Messiaen enthusiast,
Albert Imperato to engage Steven with his
‘20 Questions’ treatment.
A few works of classical music
that you adore:
Beethoven Pastoral Symphony
Beethoven Piano Sonata, Op.111
Tippett String Quartet No.5
Sibelius Symphony No.7
Brahms Piano Trio No.1
Schubert Winterreise
Messiaen Vingt regards
Classical music recordings that
you treasure:
Handel Messiah: John Eliot Gardiner/
Monteverdi Choir (Philips)
Beethoven The Nine Symphonies: Sir Charles
Mackerras/Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra (Classics for Pleasure)
Sibelius Symphonies: Paavo Berglund/Chamber
Orchestra of Europe (Finlandia)
8
Favourite non-classical musicians
and/or recordings:
Joni Mitchell Hejira
Keith Jarrett Vienna Concert
John McLaughlin Trio Live at the Royal Festival
Hall
Oscar Peterson
Miles Davis
Bill Evans
Music that makes you cry — any
genre:
Sibelius Symphony No.7
Rachmaninov Prelude, Op.23 No.4
Beethoven Piano Sonata, Op.111
Sarah McLachlan Angel
Definitely underrated work(s) or
composer(s):
Michael Tippett, specifically his Piano
Concerto, String Quartet No.5 (the last
movement is just heaven), and his opera King
Priam
Possibly overrated work(s) or
composer(s):
Bruch Violin Concerto – I just find much of it
obvious and a bit tedious, although the slow
movement theme is very beautiful.
Live music performance(s) you
attended — any genre — that you’ll
never forget:
Evgeny Svetlanov conducting Rachmaninov’s
Second Symphony with the Philharmonia
Orchestra
Lars Vogt playing Beethoven Piano Sonata,
Op.111
Maria-João Pires playing Schumann’s Piano
Concerto
A few relatively recent films
you love:
Magnolia
American Beauty
Searching for Sugar Man
Up
The King’s Speech
A few films you consider classics:
Brief Encounter
Sorry, I don’t watch that many old films.
The Abominable Dr Phibes is not a classic.
A book (or two) that is important
to you (and why):
For Your Own Good by Alice Miller – a striking
examination of the effects on children and
society of ‘seemingly moral’ child-rearing
Thing(s) about yourself that you’re
most proud of:
'When I want to get away from it
all I…'
…have a long bath
'People are surprised to find out
that I…'
…can burp very loudly
'My favourite cities are…'
…Rome, New York, Edinburgh
'I have a secret crush on…'
Sorry, I really don’t! I had a crush on Sandra
Bullock for a while in my 20s; that’s about the
best I can do...
'My most obvious guilty pleasure
is…'
…crap TV
'I’d really love to meet — or to
have met…'
…Peter Brook, to talk about the ideas in The
Empty Space.
'I never understood why…'
Seeking to be honest with myself; trying to get
to the heart of things
…people can be so resistant to consider an
alternate viewpoint.
Thing(s) about yourself that you’re
embarrassed by:
BONUS QUESTION:
I can be terrible at remembering names and
faces. Once I rehearsed the Poulenc Sextet for
an entire morning, then introduced myself to
the clarinettist at lunchtime.
Three things you can’t live without:
Question you wish someone would
ask you (and the answer to that
question):
Q: Should I watch Breaking Bad?
A:Yes.
Music
Food
Wife
Based in New York City, Albert Imperato is co-founder of 21C Media Group. His writings about
classical music have appeared in the Huffington Post, Gramophone magazine online and Playbill
Arts online, among others.
9
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