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CONCERT PROGRAM
MAY 9-11, 2014
David Robertson, conductor
Andrew Kennedy, tenor
MARC-ANDR DALBAVIE La Source dun regard (2007)
(b. 1961)
BRITTEN Les Illuminations, op. 18 (1939)
(1913-1976)
Fanfare
Villes
Phrase
Antique
Royaut
Marine
Interlude
Being Beauteous
Interlude
Parade
Dpart
Andrew Kennedy, tenor
INTERMISSION
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5 in E minor, op. 64 (1888)
(1840-1893)
Andante; Allegro con anima
Andante cantabile con alcuna licenza
Valse: Allegro moderato
Finale: Andante maestoso; Allegro vivace
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
These concerts are part of the Wells Fargo Advisors series.
These concerts are presented by Mary Pillsbury.
David Robertson is the Beofor Music Director and Conductor.
Andrew Kennedy is the Sanford N. and Priscilla R. McDonnell Guest Artist.
The concert of Friday, May 9, is underwritten in part by a generous gift from
The Margaret Blanke Grigg Foundation.
The concert of Friday, May 9, is followed by a Q&A with David Robertson,
sponsored by University College at Washington University professional and
continuing education.
The concert of Saturday, May 10, is underwritten in part by a generous gift from
Dr. and Mrs. Nicholas T. Kouchoukos.
The concert of Sunday, May 11, is underwritten in part by a generous gift from
the Steward Family Foundation.
Pre-Concert Conversations are sponsored by Washington University Physicians.
Large print program notes are available through the generosity of Delmar
Gardens and are located at the Customer Service table in the foyer.
25
FROM THE STAGE
Roger Kaza, Principal Horn, on Tchaikovksys Symphony No. 5: Theres a monu-
mental, an epic quality to this symphony, as with all of Tchaikovskys late
symphonies, although I fnd this one less tragic and fatalistic than the Fourth
or Sixth. The Fifth is more exuberant throughout, and it contains absolutely
brilliant strokes of genius. For example, near the end of the fnal movement,
Tchaikovsky shifts to the dominant chord, and its so striking that people will
sometimes applaud as if its the end of the symphony. But instead Tchaikovsky
revisits previous themes. Then in the last bar comes these four pounding
chords. Its the most brilliant effect and always brings the house down. People
are incapable of responding indifferently to it.
DILIP VISHWANAT
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TIMELINKS
1888
TCHAIKOVSKY
Symphony No. 5 in E
minor, op. 64
Handels Israel in Egypt
recorded onto wax
cylinder, earliest known
classical recording
1939
BRITTEN
Les Illuminations, op. 18
Germany invades Poland,
World War II begins
2007
MARC-ANDR DALBAVIE
La Source dun regard
Steve Jobs unveils the
iPhone

When one examines the lives and work of dif-
ferent composers, it becomes evident that the
river of music fows from diverse sources. The
three works on our program provide an illus-
tration. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a deeply
emotional and introspective artist who created
much of his music as a refection of his own
joys and sorrows. He began writing his Fifth
Symphony as an account of his own existential
struggles, and the musics journey from dark-
ness to light has helped make it one of the most
popular of symphonies.
Benjamin Britten often took his inspira-
tion from literary sources, not only in his widely
esteemed operas but in several song cycles. In Les
Illuminations, poetry of Arthur Rimbaud moved him
to create one of his most distinctive compositions.
The frst work we hear, by the French com-
poser Marc-Andr Dalbavie, is unusual for
taking sound itself as its source of inspiration.
Dalbavie worked extensively with electronic
music early in his career, and through this he
developed a keen sensitivity to aural color and
texture. La Source dun regard develops the
acoustic implications of fragments from pieces
by another French composer, Olivier Messiaen,
into something entirely new.
MARC-ANDR DALBAVIE
La Source dun regard
HOMAGE TO MESSIAEN Olivier Messiaen is
remembered as one of the foremost French com-
posers of the 20th century and as a mentor to
many musicians. Marc-Andr Dalbavie is too
young to have studied with Messiaen, but both of
his principal teachers, Marius Constant and Pierre
Boulez, did so. Moreover, Messiaens ideas about
composition, sonority, harmony, and instrumen-
tal timbre have infuenced many younger French
composers, including Dalbavie. It is not incon-
gruous, then, that Dalbavie should have readily
accepted a commission to compose an orchestral
SOURCES OF INSPIRATION
BY PAUL SCHI AVO
27
piece marking Messiaens centenary. The result,
La Source dun regard, opens our concert.
Dalbavie has emerged as one of the lead-
ing composers of his generation. He attended
the Conservatoire de Paris and subsequently
worked for fve years at IRCAM, the institute for
music and acoustical research founded by Pierre
Boulez, where he investigated electronic sound
synthesis and did detailed analysis of tone and
sonority. During this time and afterward, he
composed in a variety of media, but most sig-
nifcantly for orchestra. Dalbavie has received
commissions from the Chicago Symphony, the
Berlin Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, the
Montreal Symphony, Carnegie Hall, and the
New York City Ballet, among other institutions;
and he has served as composer-in-residence
with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Minnesota
Orchestra and LOrchestre de Paris. La Source
dun regard was jointly commissioned by the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam
and the Philadelphia Orchestra in observance of
Messiaens centenary, in 2008.
SPECTRAL HARMONIES Dalbavie based this work
on fragments from several of Messiaens pieces
but treated this material in very much his own
way. Dalbavie is one of a number of recent com-
posers, mostly French, who have developed what
has come to be called spectralism, a music that
derives its harmonies from overtones, the high-
pitched resonance that accompanies musical
pitches, usually below the threshold of hearing.
We encounter this procedure in the opening
moments of La Source dun regard. Here a four-
note fgure sounds repeatedly, each iteration
leaving a kind of sonic halo in its wake. Other
soundsnotes from a harp, gong tones, pitches
extended by woodwindscause changes in that
harmonic aura. The pace of events is slow, medi-
tative, until a nervous repeated-note fgure for
trumpet initiates a central episode.
This energetic and dramatic section culmi-
nates in a climax involving the entire orchestra.
The music then returns to quietly sustained
spectral harmonies, though not a reprise of the
opening section. Rather, it is austere chant-like
phrases that produce a sensuous sonic corona.
Born
February 10, 1961, Neuilly-sur-
Seine, France
Now Resides
St. Cyprien, France
First Performance
November 8, 2007, in
Amsterdam, George
Benjamin conducted the
Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra
STL Symphony Premiere
This week
Scoring
4 utes
2 oboes
English horn
4 clarinets
2 bassoons
contrabassoon
4 horns
4 trumpets
3 trombones
tuba
timpani
percussion
strings
Performance Time
approximately 16 minutes
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A last swelling of brass sound precedes the deep
stillness of the works fnal moments.
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Les Illuminations, op. 18
BRITTEN IN EXILE The French symbolist poet
Arthur Rimbaud might seem an unlikely source
of interest for a British composer. Cognizant and
proud of their countrys rich literary heritage,
English musicians have usually turned to English
verse for the making of songs and song cycles.
Benjamin Britten, the foremost English composer
of the last century, tended to follow this practice.
His substantial output of vocal music includes set-
tings of English poets ranging from John Donne to
W. H. Auden. But in 1939, discouraged by what he
felt to be a deepening political, social, and artistic
conservatism in his homeland, Britten left England
for the United States. During much of his three-
year self-imposed exile, the composer evidently
felt a desire to distance himself not only from his
country but also from its traditions and culture.
And so, in his frst year abroad, Britten wrote two
song cycles that avoided English in favor of French
and Italian poetry. These were Les Illuminations,
op. 18, a setting of verses by Rimbaud; and Seven
Sonnets of Michelangelo, op. 22.
Britten completed Les Illuminations in
October 1939, scoring it for soprano and string
orchestra. The work draws its text, and its title,
from a series of poems Rimbaud wrote in the
early 1870s, during the brief few years of his lit-
erary career. (The poet, who worked and lived
with a kind of savage intensity, produced his
entire literary output before turning 20.) Typical
of Rimbauds writing, the verses present weird,
seemingly hallucinatory images and evocative
but often obscure allusions. Brittens music offers
a helpful entry into their strange world.
STRANGE VISIONS The song cycle is built around
the recurring image of a paradea mad parade,
a savage parade, as the introductory Fanfare
puts it. Villes, the second song, establishes
a small-town atmosphere whose familiarity is
undermined by surreal happenings, just as in
Born
November 22, 1913,
Lowestoft, England
Died
December 4, 1976, Aldeburgh,
England
First Performance
January 30, 1940, in London,
Sophie Wyss was the
soprano, and Boyd Neel
conducted
STL Symphony Premiere
This week
Scoring
solo voice
string orchestra
Performance Time
approximately 21 minutes
29
the music Britten undermines the sound of famil-
iar harmonies with unusual chord changes and
slithering chromatic runs. Phrase heightens the
sense of an otherworldly ambience through the
use of harmonicshigh-pitched, ethereal tones
in the violins. The dance announced in its fnal
line follows in Antique.
Further visions are conveyed in Royaut,
Marine, and Being Beauteous. In setting
these poems, Britten employs a wide range of
string sonorities to capture their varied moods.
Interlude brings mostly an instrumental epi-
sode but concludes with a reprise of the dec-
laration that opened the cycle, the words now
set to what seems haunted, wistful music. With
Parade, we reach the climax of the cycle, as
swirling sonorities and crazed march fgures sug-
gest something of the disturbing procession the
verses describe. Dpart now provides a denoue-
ment, as poet and composer quietly take leave of
the strange psychic landscape they have visited.
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, op. 64
SYMPHONY AND PSYCHE Tchaikovsky con-
ceived his mature symphonies as enactments of
his own psychic conficts. Each of his last three
works in this genre were written to express a
highly subjective program, a drama born of his
struggle for happinessor at least some measure
of emotional equilibriumin the face of diffcult
personal circumstances. But the composer grew
increasingly reticent about the details of these
programs as the years went by. With regard to his
Fifth Symphony, written during the summer of
1888, he revealed only a short scenario concern-
ing its frst movement.
Tchaikovsky set forth the dramatic premise
for the symphony in a brief note on the opening
movement, written shortly before he began com-
posing the work:
Introduction: complete resignation before
Fate or, which is the same thing, the unfath-
omable workings of Providence. Allegro:
Born
May 7, 1840, Kamsko-
Votkinsk, Russia,
Died
November 6, 1893, St.
Petersburg
First Performance
November 17, 1888, in St.
Petersburg, the composer
conducted
STL Symphony Premiere
February 4, 1909, Max Zach
conducting
Most Recent STL Symphony
Performance
September 25, 2010, Louis
Langre conducting
Scoring
3 utes
piccolo
2 oboes
2 clarinets
2 bassoons
4 horns
2 trumpets
3 trombones
tuba
timpani
strings
Performance Time
approximately 50 minutes
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(I) Murmurs, doubts, pleas, reproaches. ... (II) Shall I throw myself in the
embraces of faith?
Although this is certainly vague and incomplete, there is little need for
further programmatic details. Even without fuller explanation from the com-
poser, it is clear that the Fifth Symphony addresses programmatically the same
issues of destiny and the quest for happiness that shaped Tchaikovskys Fourth
Symphony. Its tone, however, is entirely more optimistic than that of the earlier
compositionor, for that matter, that of the tragic Symphony No. 6 that would
follow. Here the music conveys a progression from crisis to triumph, a plot
that has a venerable tradition in the symphonic literature.
FROM RESIGNATION TO EXULTATION The frst movement opens with a somber
introduction whose tone is well suited to Tchaikovskys description of complete
resignation. Its melody, announced by the clarinets in their low register, is a
motto theme, one that will recur in each of the symphonys four movements.
(Nearly all commentators refer to it as the Fate or Providence theme.) The
main body of the movement begins with a sturdy march subject introduced
also by the clarinets but quickly taken up by other instruments.Tchaikovsky
counters this idea with several others of more genial character, the tension
between them and the martial frst theme accounting for much of the move-
ments excitement.
The ensuing Andante cantabile unfolds under the spell of a handsome
melody presented as a horn solo in its opening moments.Its mood of enchant-
ment twice is broken, however, by the return of the motto fgure, now more
menacing in tone. The third movement offers waltz melodies that seem to
belong to one of Tchaikovskys fairy-tale ballets. Once again, near the close of
the movement, the theme from the introduction is heard, but it seems tame
and powerless in the ideally elegant world suggested by the music we have
just heard.
In the fnale, Tchaikovsky comes to grips with the persistent motto theme.
Here he transforms the melody that opened the symphony into a triumphal
march, the furious outbursts midway through the movement only serving to
make its fnal apotheosis more impressive.There is also a brief remembrance
of the march subject from the frst movement during the closing moments.
The metamorphosis over the course of the symphony of a single themein
this case, the motto ideafrom an expression of pathos to one of exultation
has its original precedent, of course, in Beethovens Fifth Symphony.Whether
Tchaikovsky managed to make his fnale as convincing as Beethovens has
been widely debated. It is a matter that listeners have repeated opportunity to
judge for themselves, for the symphonys perennial popularity assures its place
in the orchestral literature.
Program notes 2014 by Paul Schiavo
31
DAVID ROBERTSON
BEOFOR MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR
A consummate musician, masterful program-
mer, and dynamic presence, David Robertson
has established himself as one of todays most
sought-after American conductors. A passionate
and compelling communicator with an exten-
sive orchestral and operatic repertoire, he has
forged close relationships with major orches-
tras around the world through his exhilarat-
ing music-making and stimulating ideas. In fall
2014, Robertson begins his 10th season as Music
Director of the 134-year-old St. Louis Symphony.
While continuing as Music Director with St.
Louis, in January 2014, Robertson assumed the
post of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of
the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Australia.
In 2012-13, Robertson led the St. Louis
Symphony on two major tours: his frst European
tour with the orchestraits frst European
engagements since 1998in fall 2012, which
included critically-acclaimed appearances at
Londons BBC Proms, at the Berlin and Lucerne
Festivals, and at Pariss Salle Pleyel; and a spring
2013 California tour which included a three-day
residency at the University of California-Davis
and performances at the Mondavi Center for
the Performing Arts and venues in Costa Mesa,
Palm Desert and Santa Barbara. Highlights of
his 2013-14 season with St. Louis include the
recording of a St. Louis Symphony co-com-
mission, John Adams Saxophone Concerto.
Nonesuch Records will release the disc featur-
ing the concerto, along with the orchestras per-
formance of Adams City Noir, in 2014. In addi-
tion, Robertson and the Symphony performed
a historic performance of Brittens Peter Grimes
at Carnegie Hall, on the late composers 100th
birthday in November.
Robertson is a frequent guest conductor
with major orchestras and opera houses around
the world. In the 2013-14 season, in addition to
launching his frst year at the helm of the Sydney
Symphony Orchestra, David Robertson con-
ducted the U.S. premiere of Nico Muhlys Two Boys
in a new production at the Metropolitan Opera.
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David Robertson recently
extended his contract as
St. Louis Symphony Music
Director through the 2017-18
season.
32
ANDREW KENNEDY
SANFORD N. AND PRISCILLA R. MCDONNELL
GUEST ARTIST
Andrew Kennedy studied at Kings College,
Cambridge and the Royal College of Music in
London. He was a member of the Young Artists
Program at the Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden, where he performed many solo princi-
pal roles. Kennedy has won numerous prizes and
awards including the 2005 BBC Cardiff Singer
of the World Rosenblatt Recital Prize. He is a
Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award winner and won the
prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Young
Artists Award in 2006. He was also a member of
BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists Scheme.
His major operatic roles include Tom
Rakewell in The Rakes Progress at La Scala, La
Monnaie, and Opra de Lyon; Vere in Billy Budd
and Quint in The Turn of the Screw with Houston
Grand Opera; Tito in La clemenza di Tito at
Opra de Lyon and Oper Frankfurt; Tamino in
The Magic Flute with English National Opera and
Opra Toulon; Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni; and
a staged Messiah at Opra de Lyon.
Kennedys recent performances of Benjamin
Brittens work include Nocturne with the BBC
National Orchestra of Wales, David Atherton
conducting; Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and
Strings with the Helsinki Philharmonic and con-
ductor Sir Neville Marriner; Les Illuminations at
the Edinburgh International Festival with the
Scottish Ensemble; and Spring Symphony with
BBCNOW, conducted by Atherton.
Equally passionate about song repertoire,
Kennedy gives numerous recitals in Europe and
the U.K., is a frequent performer at the Wigmore
Hall, London, and appears regularly with the
pianists Julius Drake, Iain Burnside, Malcolm
Martineau, and Eugene Asti.
Recent and forthcoming engagements
include the role of Pang in Turandot in a con-
cert performance for Scottish Opera at Usher
Hall, Brittens Serenade with the BBC National
Orchestra of Wales, and St. John Passion with Sir
Roger Norrington at the BBC Proms.
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Andrew Kennedy most
recently performed with
the St. Louis Symphony in
October 2010.
33
PLAYING TCHAIKOVSKY 5:
ROGER KAZA, PRINCIPAL HORN
The second movement contains the
most famous and extensive solo in the
horn repertoire. Horn players prob-
ably learned some version of it when
they were 12. The composer has left
empowering instructions. There are no
dynamic markings at all. The tempo
tells the orchestra to sing with artistic
license, and the horn specifcally to play
sweetly and expressively. Tchaikovsky is
telling you to make it your moment.
A BRIEF EXPLANATION
You dont need to know what andante means or what a glockenspiel is to
enjoy a St. Louis Symphony concert, but its always fun to know stuff. For
example, what is Andante cantabile con alcuna licenza?
Andante cantabile con alcuna licenza: Tchaikovsky indicates that the second
movement of his Symphony No. 5 is fowing and songlike, and to be played
somewhat freely, whether in terms of tempo or expression
Roger Kaza
DILIP VISHWANAT
34
YOU TAKE IT FROM HERE
If these concerts have inspired you to learn more, here are suggested source
materials with which to continue your explorations.
Google Search: Marc-Andr Dalbavie,
Composing in Color NPR
An excellent piece, in both print and audio
form, by National Public Radio about Marc-
Andr Dalbavie and his music
Neil Powell, Benjamin Britten: A Life for Music
Henry Holt
A centennial biography of the composer
britten100.org
A website devoted to Britten on the occasion
of his recent centenary
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky: Letters
to His Family (An Autobiography)
Cooper Square Press
Tchaikovskys letters provide the most
valuable source of information about his life
and psyche
David Brown, Tchaikovsky: The Final Years 1885-1893
W. W. Norton
The conclusion of the four-volume life-and-works study by the leading
Tchaikovsky scholar, with detailed discussion of the Fifth Symphony
Read the program notes online at stlsymphony.org/planyourvisit/programnotes
Keep up with the backstage life of the St. Louis Symphony, as chronicled by
Symphony staffer Eddie Silva, via stlsymphony.org/blog
The St. Louis Symphony is on
35
ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY
YOUTH ORCHESTRA:
PINES OF ROME
JUNE 1
For its fnal concert of the 2013-14 season, the YO performs selections
from Coplands Rodeo, the Adagietto from Mahlers Symphony No. 5,
contemporary American composer Adam Schoenbergs Up!, and Respighis
thrilling Pines of Rome.
Tickets are free with a $1 service fee.
Presented by the Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation, with support
from the G.A., Jr. and Kathryn M. Buder Charitable Foundation.
36
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For more information, contact Julie Ferrie at 314-286-4479 or julief@stlsymphony.org.
Corporate Box sponsorships ofer a variety of benets.
37
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38
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GRAND TIER LEVEL
(DRESS CIRCLE, DRESS CIRCLE BOXES,
GRAND TIER BOXES & LOGE)
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TAXI PICK UP
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ORCHESTRA LEVEL
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KEY
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FOYER
TICKET LOBBY
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HANDICAPPED-ACCESSIBLE
FAMILY RESTROOM
Please make note of the EXIT signs in the auditorium. In the case of an emergency,
proceed to the nearest EXIT near you.
Andrew Kennedy was unable to perform Brittens Les Illuminations with the St. Louis
Symphony this weekend. The Symphony is grateful to Nicholas Phan for accepting this
engagement on short notice.
NICHOLAS PHAN
American Nicholas Phan continues to distinguish himself
as one of the most compelling young tenors appearing
on the prestigious concert and opera stages of the world.
Phans many engagements this season included
appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Toronto
Symphony, Boston Baroque, Chicago Bach Project,
Oratorio Society of New York in Carnegie Hall, and the
National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, and recitals
in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York, and Istanbul.
This summer he returns to the Oregon Bach Festival
and makes his debut with the Boston Symphony as the
title role in Candide at Tanglewood, and next season he
returns to the Houston Grand Opera for Sweeney Todd
and appears in concert with the Cleveland Orchestra,
San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra,
Cincinnati Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony.
Phans most recent solo album, Still Fall the Rain
(AVIE) was named one of the best classical recordings of
2012 by the New York Times. His debut solo album, Winter
Words (AVIE) made the Best of 2011 lists of the New York
Times, The New Yorker, the Boston Globe, TimeOut NY,
and the Toronto Star. His growing discography includes
the Grammy-nominated recording of Stravinksys Pulcinella
with Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
(CSO Resound) and the opera LOlimpiade with the
Venice Baroque Orchestra (Nave).
A graduate of the University of Michigan, Nicholas
Phan is the 2012 recipient of the Paul C. Boylan
Distinguished Alumni Award. He also studied at the
Manhattan School of Music and the Aspen Music Festival
and School, and is an alumnus of the Houston Grand
Opera Studio. He was the recipient of a 2006 Sullivan
Foundation Award and 2004 Richard F. Gold Career
Grant from the Shoshana Foundation.
Nicholas Phan performed
in Bachs Christmas Oratorio
with David Robertson and
the St. Louis Symphony
last December.