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Dundee Symphony Orchestra is the performing name of Dundee Orchestral Society. The Society was founded in 1893 by a group of enthusiastic amateur performers, and has gone from strength to strength ever since. The only period in the Orchestra's history when it did not perform or rehearse was during the Second World War. The Orchestra is funded through private and charitable donations, subscriptions from members, and supported by Making Music, The National Federation of Music Societies, with funds provided by the Scottish Arts Council. We would like to thank all those who provide financial assistance for the orchestra for their continuing support over the years. If you enjoy our concerts, we hope you will consider becoming a Friend of the Orchestra. This may be done by completing the form in the programme and returning it to the Friends Co-ordinator. To keep up to date with events visit the Orchestra website on

www.dundeesymphonyorchestra.org.uk

The Society is affiliated to The National Federation of Music Societies 7-15 Roseberry Avenue, London EC1R 4SP Tel: 0870 872 3300; Fax: 0870 872 3400

www.makingmusic.org.uk

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Robert Dick Conductor

Born in Edinburgh in 1975, Robert studied violin and piano at the Royal College of Music in London where he graduated with Honours in 1997, and also gained the Associateship Diploma of the Royal College of Music in Violin Performance. Robert’s interest in conducting began at an early age and in 1993 he was invited to conduct the Royal Scottish National Orchestra by its then Musical Director, Walter Weller.

Having conducted all of the youth orchestras of which he was a member, including the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra, Robert is now a regular guest conductor of many groups including the East Lothian Players, the Scottish Borders Community Orchestra and The Edinburgh Symphony Orchestra. Currently the conductor of the Dundee Symphony Orchestra, the Edinburgh Philharmonic Orchestra and Fife Opera, Robert has conducted much of the great symphonic repertoire including symphonies by Schumann, Dvorak, Sibelius, Mahler and Bruckner as well as productions of Julius Caesar, Carmen, Tosca, Die Fledermaus, Bittersweet and numerous Gilbert & Sullivan operas. In 2001, Robert came second in the British Reserve Insurance Conducting Competition in Cardiff and has also enjoyed success abroad having been invited to conduct the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra in the final concert of the Vienna International Mastercourse Series, where he gained their Diploma. Additionally he gained the Diploma of the International Summer Academy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, on this occasion

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conducting the Varna Symphony Orchestra and he recently participated in the International Masterclass with Gennadi Rozhdestvensky and the Thuringen Philharmonie in Gotha, Germany. He has also worked with orchestras in Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain and the U.S.A. and last year he participated in the Fourth Lovro von Matacic International Conducting Competition in Zagreb, Croatia. In celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Mozart, this composer’s music was the central focus of Robert’s work in 2006. This included productions of Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute with Fife Opera as well as performances of the Great Mass in C minor and the last three symphonies. Highlights in 2008 include Mahler’s Fifth Symphony with the Edinburgh Symphony Orchestra, The Merry Wives of Windsor with Fife Opera, the two Brahms Piano Concerti with Murray McLachlan in the Edinburgh Festival, his first ever appearance as a harpsichord soloist in Bach’s D minor Keyboard Concerto with the Gecko Ensemble, what is believed to be the Scottish premiere of Elgar’s ballet The Sanguine Fan and a BBC Radio 3 Broadcast with the Dundee Symphony Orchestra. As a violin and viola soloist, Robert has performed concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Bruch and Brahms and has extensively toured Europe as an orchestral player in venues including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, The Hofburg Palace in Vienna and the Royal Albert Hall in London. In addition, he has freelanced with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Concert Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Scotland.

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Barbara Geller Leader Barbara Geller was born in Ayrshire in 1987. She was awarded a scholarship to study at St. Mary's Music School in Edinburgh aged 11, where her instrumental tutors included Rosemary Ellison and Richard Beauchamp. She was a member of the National Children’s and Youth Orchestras of Scotland from age 8, and following this was invited to join Camerata Scotland leading to performances in many renowned concert halls throughout Britain and Europe. Barbara is enjoying her current involvement in music-making north of Edinburgh. She leads the Dundee University chamber groups and Symphony Orchestra, with whom she performed as soloist in Saint-Saen’s Havanaise last winter. This summer she was invited to tutor and lead the Grampian Youth Orchestra for the Aberdeen International Youth Festival, performed in the Edinburgh festival with the Manchester-based Murray Ensemble, and will be performing with the Angus Chamber Orchestra and Tayside Opera Orchestra in the coming months. Barbara is passionate about chamber music, and frequently performs in University lunchtime concerts, most recently performing Mendelssohn's Piano trio in D minor to critical acclaim. In her spare time she studies Medicine at Dundee University!

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Madeleine Mitchell Violin

Violinist Madeleine Mitchell was recently described by The Times as ‘one of the UK's foremost violinists’ and by the Herald as 'a violinist in a million.. staggering virtuosity and unparalleled musicianship' after a recital in Glasgow. She has performed in over 40 countries as a soloist in a wide repertoire in major venues and frequently broadcasts for television and radio including the BBC Proms. She has been nominated

for Woman of the Year, the European Women of Achievement and the Creative Briton Awards. Mitchell's recent recording 'Violin Songs' (www.divine-art.com) - popular short pieces for violin and piano with Andrew Ball piano and Elizabeth Watts soprano, was Classic FM's CD of the Week. Her recording of Alwyn chamber music for Naxos was CD of the month in July. Her other recent acclaimed recordings include 'In Sunlight: Pieces for Madeleine Mitchell' (NMC) - attractive works written for her by many of Britain's best known composers including MacMillan, Nyman and Osborne; 'British Treasures' (early 20th century romantic violin sonatas for Somm) and Hummel violin sonatas (Meridian). This month sees her second release for Naxos - the violin music of Howard Blake OBE, with the composer (piano). Madeleine Mitchell has performed concertos with major orchestras including the Czech and Polish Radio Symphony, Wurttemberg and Munich Chamber, the Royal Philharmonic and other London orchestras; Welsh Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra de Bahia, Brazil, Malaga Symphony of Spain and for the BBC.

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She also directs concertos from the violin such as Bach and Vivaldi Seasons. She performed Lou Harrison Violin Concerto with Percussion Orchestra in Symphony Hall Birmingham International Series as part of her collaboration with Ensemble Bash, supported by Arts Council England and recorded this and other new works for her CD 'FiddleSticks' on the Signum label, nominated for a BBC Music Award 2008. Madeleine Mitchell is well known for her recitals in a wide repertoire (including many throughout Scotland), frequently broadcast for television and on BBC Radio 3 and for her imaginative programming. She represented Britain in both the festival UKinNY with a recital at Lincoln Center and for the centenary of Entente Cordiale with France. She has given recitals at Sydney Opera House, Seoul Center for the Arts and Hong Kong - part of a 3 month world tour supported by the British Council, played at many international and most of the major British festivals and frequently performs in London. She was chosen by the legendary leader of the Amadeus Quartet, Norbert Brainin, to play with him for his 80th birthday concert at Wigmore Hall. Other artists with whom she has collaborated include Joanna MacGregor, Paul Watkins, Kathryn Stott and Craig Ogden. A highly creative personality, Madeleine devised the Red Violin Festival under Lord Menuhin's patronage, the first international eclectic festival of the fiddle across the arts, which took place again in October 2007 throughout Cardiff with extensive media coverage. Madeleine Mitchell was awarded the Tagore Gold Medal as Foundation Scholar at the Royal College of Music where she has been a Professor since 1994 (and taught Robert Dick violin). As Fulbright/ITT Fellow she gained a master's degree in New York

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studying with Dorothy DeLay, Donald Weilerstein and Sylvia Rosenberg at the Eastman and Juilliard schools. She gives master classes worldwide, is Director of the London Chamber Ensemble and is on the faculty of the Schlern International Festival, Italy, in July.

www.classical-artists.com/madeleinemitchell

Photograph: Rama Knight

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Violin Songs with Andrew Ball, piano - popular melodies by Schubert, Elgar, Massenet, Ravel,

Prokofiev, Bridge, Copland, Berg, Poulenc, Boulanger (also featuring Elizabeth Watts, soprano, in Strauss’ 'Morgen')

'A particularly successful album...Madeleine Mitchell's playing is

most appealing. Her tone is sweet and bright...unfailingly sensitive to the nuances and character of each piece'

Gramophone Dec 07

In Sunlight: Pieces for Madeleine Mitchell 'The magnificent Mitchell...dedicated penetrating musicianship'

BBC Music

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After the concert, Madeleine Mitchell will be signing copies of

Violin Songs and other recordings.

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Programme Notes

Ralph Vaughan Williams Overture “The Wasps”

The incidental music by Vaughan Williams for Aristophanes’ comedy The Wasps was written in 1909 for an undergraduate production at Cambridge, where a curiously English tradition of classical Greek drama in the original language is still jealously guarded. The play itself, although it has a chorus of old men buzzing like wasps, is a

satirical attack on the political leaders of Athens in the late fifth century B.C. Here the insects of the title are old men with a mania for jury-service and the kitchen utensils that march past in further incidental music for the play are participants in a mock-trial, designed to dissuade the protagonist’s father, Procleon, from his mania. The composer drew from the originally more extensive vocal and instrumental music for the play a suite of five movements, of which the Overture is most often heard. This opens with the buzzing of the litigious maniacs, but proceeds to a more solidly English form of music in a work couched in traditional tripartite sonata-form. Naxos

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Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897) Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 Allegro non troppo Adagio Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace – Poco più presto

Brahms composed this, his only violin concerto, in the summer of 1878, and it was first performed at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, on January 1, 1879, with the composer conducting. Joseph Joachim, to whom it is dedicated, played the solo part at the premiere.

"One enjoys getting hot fingers playing it, because it's worth it!" - Joseph Joachim

In the summer of 1878, Brahms retired to the town of Pörtschach in southern Austria to work on his violin concerto. (Pörtschach apparently provided a fine creative environment for the composer - he had completed his second symphony there during the previous summer). The concerto was dedicated to his friend and colleague, violinist Joseph Joachim (1831-1907), and the concerto was, in a limited sense, a collaboration between composer and soloist. Brahms and Joachim first met in 1853, beginning a lifelong friendship and musical association. When he had completed the first three movements in August of 1878, he sent a copy of the solo violin part to Joachim with a letter: "After copying it, I am not sure what you can do with a mere solo part. Of course, I would like you to make corrections. I had intended to leave you no excuse whatsoever - neither that the music is too good, nor that it isn't worth the trouble. Now, I would be satisfied if you write a letter to me or perhaps mark the music: difficult, awkward, impossible, etc. I have just started the fourth movement, so you can overrule the awkward passages at once." Joachim promptly replied with a marked copy of the part and a letter of his own: "It is a great, sincere joy for me that you are writing a violin concerto (even one in four movements!).

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I immediately studied what you sent to me, and you will note a few remarks and notes for changes, but without the score, one cannot appreciate it. Most of it can be executed and some parts have a quite original violinistic flair. I cannot say whether everything can be played with ease in a hot concert hall until I have tried out the whole."

Brahms incorporated several of Joachim's suggestions into the final version of the score, and rather than providing a cadenza for the first movement, he used one written by Joachim.

The Violin Concerto stands as one of the largest and most challenging works in the solo violin repertoire. While his projected fourth movement was not included in the final form of the concerto (Brahms successfully used a four-movement design three years later in his second piano concerto), the concerto's traditional three-movement design nevertheless has symphonic proportions. Indeed, there are several close ties between the Violin Concerto and the Symphony No.2, written a year earlier (and in the same key). Brahms also makes several subtle references to Beethoven's violin concerto, which is also in D Major. The concerto, written with the talents of Joachim in mind, presents formidable challenges for the soloist. One violinist, Bronislaw Huberman, referred to the work - only half-jokingly - as "...a concerto for violin against orchestra - and the violin wins!"

The orchestral introduction to the first movement (Allegro non troppo) presents nearly all of the movement's thematic material in a single dramatic phrase. Musical material is disengaged from this phrase, like single strands from a larger thread, as the movement continues. The violin's opening music presents a fiery variant of a melody fully introduced later in the movement above the orchestra's presentation of the lyrical main theme.

Throughout the movement, Brahms restlessly develops his themes, even in the short coda that follows the cadenza.

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The second movement (Adagio) presents a theme and several variations, a form that interested Brahms throughout his life. The theme is presented by the oboe, and then picked up by the soloist in variations that exhaustively develop the theme and its component parts. There is an abrupt contrast between the reserved F Major close of this movement and the spirited opening of the rondo-form finale in D Major.

The main theme of the third movement (Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace) is presented immediately by the violin: a Hungarian-flavored melody spiced with double stops. A second section, presenting a stormy dotted figure, drifts gradually back to a restatement of the main melody. A more lyrical central episode, which refers subtly to the opening melody, gives way to a restatement of the second section. The movement closes with a long and dramatic coda, in which both soloist and orchestra develop the main theme.

J. Michael Allsen, 2002

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Interval

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Antonín Dvorák (1841 - 1904) Symphony No. 5 in F major, Op. 76, B.54 Allegro, ma non troppo Andante con moto Andante con moto, quasi l’istesso tempo – Allegro scherzando Finale: Allegro molto Dvorák’s Fifth Symphony was written in 1875, revised in 1877, and dedicated to Liszt’s son-in-law, the conductor Hans von Bülow. Dvorák revised the work again in 1887 and it was first published with its present opus number, although the composer insisted that it was in fact his Opus 24, composed a decade before his Sixth and Seventh, published by Simrock as Opus 60 and Opus 70 in 1882 and 1885 respectively. While Dvorák might attempt to outwit Simrock by giving newer works earlier opus numbers, avoiding his obligation to the publisher, the latter could outwit the public by offering higher opus numbers, arguing greater experience and novelty from the composer.

The F major Symphony is scored for the usual pairs of woodwind instruments, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, triangle and strings, with the one less usual addition of a bass clarinet. The first theme, introduced by the clarinets, quickly leads to something more energetic and grandiose, in a movement that combines characteristically Bohemian turns of melody and harmonic colours with traditional symphonic form. The slow movement, with its opening cello theme, accompanied by the lower strings, moves from A minor into what seems at first to be A major, in music that has a characteristic ambivalence of mode. It is followed by a lively B flat major scherzo, introduced rhetorically by the cello, before the principal theme is heard. The trio section, in D flat, is followed by a repetition of the scherzo, without alteration.

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The closing movement of the symphony starts with a strongly marked theme that skillfully and unusually avoids the key of F major for a considerable time, while the second theme, that conventionally might have appeared in the key of C major, is in G flat. The bass clarinet makes its appearance as the stormy central development section relaxes, and the movement goes on to a brief recollection of the first movement, eventually entrusted to the trombone. Naxos

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Acknowledgements The Dundee Symphony Orchestra gratefully thanks the following for generous and valuable support For the financial support given to the Society: The St. Katharine’s Fund The Lang Foundation The R.J. Larg Family Trust The Leng Charitable Trust The Low & Bonar Charitable Trust Alexander Moncur’s Trust William S. Phillip’s Fund D.C. Thomson Charitable Trust A. Sinclair Henderson Trust Harold Adams Charitable Trust Aberbrothock Charitable Trust Tay Charitable Trust Thorntons Solicitors, Arbroath Friends of the DSO For the concessionary terms given to members of the Orchestra: Music in Print Limited, 29 Castle Street, Dundee Vintage Strings, 77 Perth Road, Dundee Prelude Music, 120 King Street, Broughty Ferry, Dundee The Royal Scottish National Orchestra This concert is supported by Making Music, The National Federation of Music Societies, with funds provided by the Scottish Arts Council.

Charity Number SCO11490 – registered in Scotland as a charity.

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Friends of

We invite you to become a Friend of the Orchestra in support of our work. With the assurance of this patronage, the Committee is able to plan future seasons' activities with confidence. The following concessions are available to Friends: • on production of a membership card, entitlement to two tickets for the price of one

for any concert given by the Orchestra • on production of a membership card, priority where advance booking is necessary • annual newsletter giving details of the Orchestra's activities, and advance

information about concerts • open invitation to meet the Orchestra at social functions when held. If you would like to become a Friend, please complete the slip and return it to the Friends Co-ordinator / Treasurer. Angela Faye Smith, 20 Colvill Place, top flat, Arbroath, DD11 1RB Please enroll me as a Friend of Dundee Symphony Orchestra. *I enclose £10.00 for one year's membership *I enclose £30.00 for four years' membership *[please delete as appropriate] Name: .............................................................................................. Address: .............................................................................................. .............................................................................................. ..............................................................................................

Friends of 2008/2009 Miss S Aitken Mr J I Allan Mr A Belford Mrs M Brough Mrs D Brown Dr J Brush R Cavanagh Dr J Coleiro Prof. J K Core Mr B Finnie Mrs M Forbes Mrs A M Gordon Dr. W M Haining Mrs D Howat

Dr R Inglis Mrs M Ingram Mrs M P Jackson Mr A G Jarrett Mrs F Joss Mr J Knox Mrs S Leighton Dr. N Loveless Prof. B Makin Mr J B S Mann (Jnr) Prof. J McEwen Mrs V R McEwen Mr G Mottashaw Mrs M Peebles

Mr J Proctor Miss MC Robertson Mr E C Robinson Mrs M Scott Mr L R P Stock Mrs L Thomas Mr K C Urquhart Ms M Van Horenbeeck Prof. A E Vardy Sheriff K A Veal Mr M J Webster

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Violin I Cello Bassoon Barbara Geller Donald Gordon David Wallace Jane Illes-Brooksbank Anna Woodward Ronald Crighton Persephone Beer Nicola Kingslake Andy Joss Mary Wells Horn Angela Smith Audrey Brown Ruth Harris John Cheyne Rachel Monks Kenneth Boyd Muriel Robinson Lynsey Dick Julie Amphlett Barbro Haining Ellie Fraser John Sharp Joanna Woolley Violin II Trumpet Anna Maxwell Double Bass William Boyle Sally Carus Richard Illes-Brooksbank Jane Money Morag Ward Simon Fokt Anne Chalmers Philip Smith Trombone Marjory Watson David Chesney Abigail Munns Flute Gavin Proctor Morag Anne Elder Claire Forgan Alanah Proctor Beth Hyman Timpani Carly Adamson Nathalie Terzi Andrew Lindsey Jamie Yule Piccolo Percussion Viola Nicola Maynes Lynsey McNeil Sean Thomas Angela Green Oboe Jill Duguid Geoffrey Bridge Elspeth O’Riordan Dawn Sands Jim Tribble Iain Flett Clarinet Elisabeth Flett Duncan Maynes Anna McDonald Gillian Smith Jennifer Murphy

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Welcomes New Members

If you play an instrument and are interested in joining the DSO, please contact our Secretary:

Alanah Proctor, Tel. 01382 227037 E-mail: alanahproctor@hotmail.com

Committee Members 2008/2009 President Morag Ward Secretary Alanah Proctor Treasurer Ronald Gibson Librarian Jill Duguid Ordinary members Peter Daldrop Ruth Harris Beth Hyman Angela Smith

Webmaster Simon Fokt Concert manager Peter Daldrop Programme Beth Hyman

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Dates for your diaries:

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NEXT CONCERT with “The Edinburgh Singers”

Saturday 28 March 2009

Caird Hall, Dundee, 7.30pm

(also Sunday 29 March 2009, St Cuthbert’s Church, Lothian Road, Edinburgh, 7.30pm)

Programme to include:

Haydn Symphony No. 100, “Military”

Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music

Beethoven Symphony No. 9

Conductor ROBERT DICK

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Illuminati Winds

(Dundee Chamber Music season)

Thursday 4 December 2008 Marryat Hall, Dundee, 7.30pm

A woodwind quartet, comprising flute,

oboe, clarinet and bassoon. (Winner of one of the Tunnell Trust prizes awarded

annually to the pick of Britain’s young chamber-music groups)

Music by Bozza, Arrieu, Ibert, Françaix, Bridge, Curtis, Stravinsky (Pastorale) and Mozart (Fantasia in F minor)

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Scottish Ensemble

Green

Saturday 20 December 2008

Marryat Hall, Dundee, 7.30pm

Adams Shaker Loops Musgrave Green: World Première Reich Clapping Music Copland Appalachian Spring

Artistic Director Jonathan Morton

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