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Residentie Orkest The Hague 

Jun Märkl, conductor 

Elizabeth Watts, soprano
Grand Broadcasting Choir 

Johannes Brahms(1833-1897) 

Schicksalslied, op. 54 (1868-1871)
 

Ottorino Respighi(1879-1936) 

Two movements from "Fontane di Roma," P.106 (1915-1916) 

• La fontana de Trevi al meriggio 

• La fontana di Villa Medici al tramonto 

 
Francis Poulenc(1899-1963) 

Gloria, FP.177 (1959-1960) 

• Gloria 

• Laudamus Te 

• Domine Deus 

• Domine Fili unigenite 

• Domine Deus Agnus Dei 

• Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris 

End of concert approximately 10 p.m. 

Jun Märkl - conductor 

Studied Violin piano and orchestral conducting at the Musikhochschule in Hanover. Studied with Sergiu Celibidache, Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa, among others. 

Current position Chief Conductor Malysian Philharmonic Orchestra, regular guest conductor Residentie Orkest, artistic advisor Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra. 

Highlights Stood as conductor for all European opera houses. Was chief conductor of the Staatstheater in Saarbrücken (1991-1994), Mannheim Nationaltheater (1994-2000), Orchestre National de Lyon (2005-2011), MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig (2007-2012) and Basque National Orchestra (2014-2016). Conducted, among others, the Orchestre de Paris, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Zurich Tonhalle Orchester, Wiener Symphoniker and many American orchestras. Conducted Wagner's complete Ring at the Deutsche Oper. Made his debut at the Residentie Orkest in 2011. 

Elizabeth Watts - soprano 

Studies Started as a chorister at Norwich Cathedral, studied Archaeology & Prehistory at Sheffield University before attending the Royal College of Music. 

Highlights Worked with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Orchestra and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra with conductors such as Robin Ticciati, Richard Egarr, Sir Simon Rattle and Andrew Manze. Gave recitals at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, among others; also sang various opera roles in the English National Opera and others. 

Prizes Kathleen Ferrier Prize (2006), Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize (2007) and Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award (2011). 

In the Press One of the most beautiful voices Britain has produced in a generation (International Record View). 

Great Broadcast Choir 

From a cappella choral music to pieces with symphony orchestra, and from romantic to contemporary: with this broad repertoire, the Groot Omroepkoor is at home in all markets. As a broadcasting choir, the ensemble can also be heard in abundance in the concert series on NPO Radio 4. In September 2017, together with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the choir received the Concertgebouw Prize for the important contribution they have made over a long period to the artistic profile of the Amsterdam Concert Hall. 

With over 60 members, the Groot Omroepkoor (GOK) is the only professional choir of this size in the Netherlands. Most GOK concerts take place as part of the broadcasting series AVROTROS Vrijdagconcert, NTR ZaterdagMatinee and Het Zondagochtend Concert.From September 1, 2020, Benjamin Goodson will be chief conductor of the Groot Omroepkoor. 

Residentie Orkest The Hague 

Founded The Hague, 1904 

Current chief conductor Anja Bihlmaier 

Permanent guest conductors Richard Egarr and Jun Märkl 

Chief conductors Henri Viotta, Peter van Anrooy, Frits Schuurman, Willem van Otterloo, Jean Martinon, Ferdinand Leitner, Hans Vonk, Evgenii Svetlanov, Jaap van Zweden, Neeme Järvi, Nicholas Collon. 

To be seen at Amare, Paard, The National Opera, Royal Concertgebouw, De Doelen, TivoliVredenburg among others . 

Education Annual outreach to over 40,000 schoolchildren, adults and amateur musicians in educational projects. Part of this is The Residents, through which the orchestra brings hundreds of children from districts in The Hague into contact with classical music. 

Brahms, Respighi and Poulenc 

Beauty and perfection are experiences that have puzzled many artists. The German poet Friedrich Hölderlin explored them in his novel Hyperion (1797-1799) through a fictional correspondence between a young Greek and his German friend. Pictorial texts contrast our meek existence in the contemporary world with the heroic world of the Greek gods, and inwardly divided humanity with the unity of nature. The fateful center of gravity in the story forms Hyperion's Schicksalslied. 

Johannes Brahms recognized himself in the text during a summer vacation on the German North Sea coast. Introspective and withdrawn with pen and music paper, the seed was planted for his version. Brahms brings the contrasts of the Romantic poet to sound in the serene music of the world of the gods, where the pizzicato of the strings strokes the strings of a harp like a heavenly breeze. On the other hand, in a stormy c minor, choir and orchestra let us experience how we as puny human beings are tossed to and fro by disaster in a state Hölderlin leaves us in. Brahms, however, then does something unexpected. He repeats the music of the beginning and, like a heavenly vision, lifts it above the text to a new key. What Hölderlin could not capture in words, Brahms completes in a wordless response. 

Whereas in German Romanticism purely instrumental music was elevated to the ideal, Italy had primarily an operatic tradition. Symphonic music had fallen into decline, and it is partly due to Ottorino Respighi that it was put back on the map. The composer from Bologna, who spent some time studying orchestration with Rimsky-Korsakov, gained world fame for his symphonic portraits of the city of Rome. Statements of fountains (Fontane di Roma, 1916), trees(Pini di Roma, 1924) and festivals(Feste di Roma, 1928) grew into a Roman trilogy. They became his most successful compositions, thanks in part to the efforts of star conductor Arturo Toscanini and Mussolini's nationalist propaganda. That the gentle, reclusive composer was politically disinterested could not prevent his continued association with them. 

There is little evidence of politics in Fontane di Roma. Respighi wrote a colorful series of impressions of the city, a four-part set around Roman fountains, two of which we will hear tonight. For example, in the scorching midday heat, sea god Neptune on his chariot, pulled by winged horses, fearfully braves the splashing water in the Trevi Fountain. We conclude on the hill at the Villa Medici where evening falls, birds sing and church bells softly fade away into the city below.

Like much of Andriessen's oeuvre, Francis Poulenc 's is deeply rooted in Roman Catholic thought. When the composer visited the pilgrimage site of Rocamadour in 1936 on the occasion of a friend's death, he was touched by faith. Musically, this resulted in several compositions including his Stabat mater (1950), his opera Dialogue des Carmélites (1956) and finally, after repeated insistence by the Koussevitsky Foundation, the grandiose Gloria (1959-60) for soprano, chorus and orchestra. The Latin hymn lent itself perfectly to Poulenc's distinctive idiom that balances between the contemplative and the exuberant, between the religious and the secular. It consists of short formulations of faith, each with its own distinct musical style, emotion or timbre. The playful "Laudamus Te," for example, is immediately taken over by a quasi Gregorian "Gratias agimus tibi," followed by a personal testimony by the soloist. The composer later articulated his inspiration as seeing painted angels in a chapel teasingly sticking out their tongues or earnest Benedictine monks playing a game of soccer. The concluding Amen is meditative, then abrupt and final, then again like a fond memory. Very efficiently and seemingly simply timed, but with unprecedented depth and beauty. 

Frans Boendermaker 

Johannes Brahms - Schicksalslied

Ihr wandelt droben im Licht

Auf weichem Boden, selige Genien!

Glänzende Götterlüft

Rühren euch leicht,

Wie die Finger der Künstlerin

Holy Saiten.

Schicksallos, wie der schlafende

Säugling, atmen die Himmlischen;

Keusch bewahrt

In Modest Knospe,

Blühet ewig

Ihnen der Geist,

Und die seligen Augen

Blicken in stiller

Ewiger Klarheit.

Doch uns ist gegeben,

Auf keiner Stätte zu ruhn;

Es schwinden, es fallen

Die leidenden Menschen

Blindlings von einer

Stunde zur andern,

Wie Wasser von Klippe

Zu Klippe geworfen,

Jahrlang in's Ungewisse hinab.

Friedrich Hölderlin

Francis Poulenc - Gloria

I. Gloria
Gloria in excelsis Deo

Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.

Glory to God on high,

And peace on earth to those he loves.

II. Laudamus to

Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te.

Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.

We praise You, we praise and worship You, we glorify You and say

Thank You for Your great glory.

III. Domine Deus

Domine Deus, Rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens.

Lord God, heavenly King, God Almighty Father.

IV. Domine Fili unigenite

Domine Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe.

Lord, only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

V. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei

Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris, Rex caelestis Deus

Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis

Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram.

Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, God heavenly King.

Thou who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us

Thou who takest away the sins of the world, accept our prayer.

VI. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris

Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis.

Quoniam tu solus Sanctus, tu solus Dominus, tu solus Altissimus,

Jesu Christe.

Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris.

Amen.

Thou who art seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us

For thou alone art the Holy One, thou alone the Lord, thou alone the Most High:

Jesus Christ.

With the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father.

Amen.