Tonight’s programme celebrates two of the heavyweights of Western Art Music –

Leonard Bernstein (1918 – 1990) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827). Bernstein is
widely remembered as the principle conductor of New York Philharmonic as well as the host of
the beloved Young People’s Concert, but he is also remembered through his compositions. He
even said at one point that he preferred focusing on composing rather than conducting. Bernstein
had likened himself to his idol Gustav Mahler, who was also a renowned composer and
conductor. Whereas Mahler primarily wrote symphonies and song cycles, Bernstein expanded
his compositions to music for popular appetite, such as musicals and film scores like West Side
Story, On the Town, and On the Waterfront. Like his mentor Aaron Copland, Bernstein often
incorporates Jazz and Popular styles. The 1956 operetta Candide was among Bernstein’s music
written for popular consumption and incorporating popular styles.

Candide was born out of Bernstein’s ambition to write “the Great American Opera.”
Bernstein drew on the famous story by Voltaire of the many adventures and misadventures of
Candide and his sweetheart Cunégonde. The audiences in the initial performances seemed to fail
to grasp the intellectual and philosophical aspects of the story, and the operetta closed after 73
performances. Bernstein was disappointed by the artistic failure of the opera, saying that there
was “more of me in that piece than anything else I’ve ever done.” The opera received more
recognition in the following decades, and the Overture to Candide has been a favorite in the
concert halls. The exciting rhythms and acrobatic writing define this short overture, which opens
with an energetic fanfare featuring the main motif. The first theme springs lively and
whimsically, and the second theme drew from a lovely duet between Candide and Cunégonde in
Act II. The music draws to a close in a mad dash to the finish line.

“Fate knocks at the door.” – So it was allegedly said about the opening motif of
Symphony No. 5 in C minor by Beethoven. This arresting (yet rather cliché) motif has a life of
its own since the symphony was conceived. Why is that the first four notes of this symphony that
appeals to so many throughout history, so much so that it became the Allies’ symbol for victory
in the Second World War?

This symphony, completed in 1808, was written in dire circumstances. This was the
period personally turbulent for Beethoven and when Vienna was occupied by Napoleon,
Whether his experiences at the time are told in the symphony is dubious, but what is certain is
that the premiere’s reception was mixed at best. The premiere was an all-Beethoven concert that
also included the Sixth Symphony (“Pastoral”), Fourth Piano Concerto, Choral Fantasy,
selections from the Mass in C Major, and a concert scena “Ah! Perfido”. The four-hour length of
the concert and the unheated concert hall (The concert was in December, and the hall could not
afford heating at the time) was too much to endure for the audience.

The shock treatment that is the motif opens the symphony. Harmonic and rhythmic
ambiguity sets the tone of the first movement. Sudden and even violent dynamic changes and
silences permeate the whole movement along with the persistent motif. The violence eventually
rules supreme in the tragic ending. The second movement brought some tranquility with a
beautiful double theme and variations, a form that Beethoven held dear. The lullaby-like first
theme appears in the violas and cellos, and the lovely second theme is played by the clarinets,
bassoons, and violins, which is restated triumphantly in the winds and brass. What follows is an
incredible journey as Beethoven takes the orchestra through several mesmerizing variations and
interludes.

Darkness is ever relentless in the sinister third movement, as the Scherzo opens
forebodingly with a creeping melody, followed by the sudden pronouncement of the motif in the
French Horns. The Trio features a brilliant and boisterous fugue that starts in the Cellos and
Basses and passes through the orchestra. At the end of the movement, the music dissolves into
smog with the timpani keeping a steady yet ominous pulse. Just as it feels we are suspended in
outer space, Beethoven brings us back to Earth through a dramatic crescendo to the glorious
fourth and final movement. It is in this movement that trombones and piccolo are introduced to
the symphonic repertoire. Here the motif is no longer menacing but rather celebratory,
triumphing over adversity. Ecstatic glory rules the movement, with a reminder of fate reprised
from the Scherzo movement. The music ends in exalting and blazing glory.

It is rather ironic for the writer to say this, but he would like you to imagine listening to
the symphony for the first time. Don’t expect anything but the unexpected, for Beethoven
believed that everything is possible. As you expect the unexpected, what do you hear?

Programme Notes by Daniel Huang