PROGRAMME
Fauré Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, Op.80
Stanford Concert Variations on an English Theme, Op. 71, "Down Among the Dead Men"
Johan Wagenaar Overture to Cyrano de Bergerac, op.23
CONDUCTOR JAC VAN STEEN
PIANO SIMON CALLAGHAN
Set in an imaginary land in medieval times, the symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande is a tragic love story. Pelléas loves Mélisande, but she’s married to his brother. What unfolds inspired a range of composers, including Debussy and Fauré, with Fauré’s first response coming in 1898. It was the incidental music for a London production of the play, written at breakneck speed and orchestrated by his pupil Charles Koechlin for orchestration. However, Fauré later extracted 3 movements from that, reorchestrating them himself to make up the concert suite in today’s programme, while still retaining the Sicilienne in it’s original form. It’s elegant, colourful and highly atmospheric music.
As centenary events marking the 100th anniversary of Stanford’s death come to a close, the British pianist Simon Callaghan makes his Ulster Hall debut with the dexterous Concert Variations on an English Theme, Op. 71 – "Down Among the Dead Men" – written in the same year as Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande. Coming just a few months before Elgar’s celebrated Enigma Variations, the work sets the bar high, developing cleverly across 4 broad movements.
The final work stays in the same era, but shines a spotlight on the talents of the Dutch composer Johan Wagenaar. He began his formal musical education at the age of 13 with the organist of Utrecht Cathedral, whom he succeeded in 1888, and following composition studies and teaching roles, he was appointed Director of the Utrecht School of Music in 1904. His Overture to Cyrano de Bergerac is a musical portrait of the title character in Edmond Rostand’s play, of the same name. Cyrano’s story is coloured by moments of cheerfulness, chivalry, heroism, and satire, with a musical style akin to Berlioz, Mahler and Richard Strauss – all of whom were enjoyed by Wagenaar himself. The Dutch conductor Jan van Steen is at the helm.