issue one - Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Bramwell Tovey conductor
For a biography of Maestro Tovey please
refer to page 9.
Stephen Hough piano
With a singular vision that transcends musical
fashions and trends, Stephen Hough is widely
regarded as one of the most important and
distinctive pianists of his generation. In
recognition of his achievements, he was
awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship
in 2001, joining prominent scientists,
writers and others who have made unique
contributions to contemporary life. He
received the 2008 Northwestern University
School of Music’s Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in
Piano Performance and was recently named
winner of the 2010 Royal Philharmonic
Society Instrumentalist Award.
Mr. Hough has appeared with most of the
major American and European orchestras
and plays recitals regularly in the important
halls and concert series around the world.
A resident of London, Mr. Hough is a visiting
professor at the Royal Academy of Music in
London and holds the International Chair of
Piano Studies at his alma mater, the Royal
Northern College in Manchester.
Scott Good
b. Toronto, Ontario / April 8, 1972
Prelude for Orchestra
In 1996, I was fortunate to receive 1 st prize in
the Winnipeg Symphony’s annual composer’s
competition. The prize included a commission
for a new work, and the Prelude was that
commission. The premiere in 1998 was
conducted by none other than Maestro Tovey!
So this performance is like a reunion of sorts.
The version of this work for the performances
with the VSO will be of a newly revised
version of the piece...and a new title. The
original title, Fantasie Symphonique, has been
endlessly confused with the work by Berlioz
of similar sound (can you guess!). It had
to go! The new title Prelude refers not only
to the quality of the music, as an opening
work, but also to its place in my career as a
composer. Prelude was my first commission
for a professional orchestra, and is symbolic
of the beginning of my life as a professional
musician. The mood is dark, but vibrant –
youthful in energy, but serious in tone.
“the mood is dark, but vibrant
– youthful in energy...”
It is a great privilege to have this work
re-mounted! It has always had a special place
in my heart, and I’m thrilled to be sharing
it with you.
Programme Notes © 2010 Scott Good
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
b. Kamsko-Votkinsk, Russia / May 7, 1840
d. St. Petersburg, Russia / November 6, 1893
Piano Concerto No. 3
in E-flat Major, Op. 75
The immense and enduring popularity of
Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 has cast
his other two piano concertos completely into
the shade. They may not be as immediately
attractive as No. 1, but they do not deserve
the obscurity into which they have fallen. The
foremost difficulty with No. 3 is that it has
just one movement. This makes it necessary
for soloists to play a second work of roughly
equal length – something they are often
reluctant to do. Thank goodness for generous
and adventurous artists like Stephen Hough!
Tchaikovsky began a symphony (it would
have been the sixth) in 1892. The sketches
didn’t fit the symphonic mould, so in the
summer of 1893 he began transforming
them into a three-movement piano concerto.
He completed only the first section before
he died in November. It was published as
Piano Concerto No. 3. Later his pupil, Sergei
Taneyev, edited and orchestrated the second
and third movements and published them as
the Andante and Finale, Op. 79. He appeared
as soloist in the premieres of all these pieces.
Concerto No. 3 is constructed on three
themes. The first is bold and commanding;
the second mines Tchaikovsky’s deep vein
allegro 53