Programme Notes

Boulanger (1883–1918)

D'un soir triste (Of a Sad Evening) (1918)

Lili Boulanger, one of the most remarkable musical talents of the early 20th century, composed D'un soir triste (Of a Sad Evening) in 1918 as part of a pair with D'un matin de printemps (Of a Spring Morning).

Boulanger’s life was one of brilliance cut short; she passed away at 24 years old from intestinal tuberculosis, a condition that profoundly impacted her compositional output and focus. Despite her short career, Boulanger made an indelible mark on French music, earning recognition for her expressive, harmonically adventurous style that felt simultaneously rooted in French Romanticism and ahead of her time.

D'un soir triste offers listeners a poignant insight into Boulanger’s inner world. In this work, she explores themes of sadness, resilience, and reflection, creating a slow, ruminative piece that builds in emotional intensity. The orchestration is dense and often brooding, marked by dark, chromatic harmonies and a sense of unease, perhaps mirroring Boulanger’s own struggles with health and mortality. She uses texture and color to bring out a depth of feeling that hints at her fascination with orchestration and her sensitivity to life’s ephemeral nature.

Boulanger’s sound world was influenced by composers like Debussy, whose tonal freedom resonated with her, and Fauré, her mentor and friend. Her elder sister, Nadia Boulanger, was also a major influence, shaping Lili’s early training and acting as a staunch supporter throughout her career. Lili's win of the prestigious Prix de Rome at age 19 made her the first woman to earn this honour, and she dedicated her remaining years to pushing her art to new expressive heights.

D'un soir triste stands as a testament to her artistic courage and vision, as she confronts life’s darkest moments with grace and expressive intensity.

Barber (1910–1981)

Knoxville: Summer of 1915 Op. 24 (1948)

Knoxville: Summer of 1915, composed by Samuel Barber in 1947, is a work imbued with nostalgia and the bittersweet beauty of remembered childhood.

Barber, an American composer known for his lyrical, accessible style, was inspired by James Agee’s poetic prose, which captures the languid, golden essence of a Tennessee summer evening in the early 20th century. Agee wrote this text as a meditation on childhood, family, and loss, and it would later become the prelude to his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Death in the Family. Barber saw in Agee’s words a reflection of his own childhood in Southern America, making Knoxville not just a setting of Agee’s prose, but a personal homage to Barber’s roots.

The work’s premiere, performed by the celebrated American soprano Eleanor Steber, brought Barber's music—and Agee’s evocative text—to the attention of a wide audience. With orchestration that mimics the quiet rhythms of a warm summer night, Knoxville combines strings, winds, and gentle brass to craft a soundscape that is almost tactile in its warmth and serenity.

Barber’s gift for melody shines in the vocal line, which seems to float above the orchestra. Aotearoa New Zealand Soprano, Anna Leese will join CSO. In an interview with Richard Betts in the New Zealand Listener she states:

“When I listened, I heard my own childhood…I related to the Barber so closely growing up in hot Napier summers; the murmuring of adults where you’re not really listening but everyone sounds content, like you have a full tummy after Christmas dinner.”

“[Knoxville] must have been written for someone like me. It goes up high but in a way that’s helpful, and then it’ll sit around on the high notes without being demanding on my voice type. For me, it’s perfect.”

Barber’s influences included the lush Romanticism of his European predecessors, but he also embraced the distinct voice of American music, capturing the cadence of American speech and the subtleties of American landscapes. In Knoxville, he draws listeners into a world of simplicity and purity, yet the work resonates with a sense of looming loss, reflecting perhaps Barber’s awareness of the fleeting nature of such moments.

This piece stands as one of the great American compositions, evoking universal emotions of childhood wonder and the inevitable passage of time.

Mahler (1860–1911)

Symphony No. 4 in G Major (1889–1900)

Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, often described as his most approachable symphony, explores innocence, beauty, and an idyllic vision of heaven.

Composed between 1899 and 1901, this symphony departs from the intense introspection of his previous symphonies, offering a lighter, more transparent orchestration that reflects Mahler’s fascination with the child’s view of paradise. This work is part of his fascination with Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of German folk poetry that Mahler used as a source for his symphonies and song cycles.

The first movement begins with a simple yet whimsical melody, almost as if the listener is entering a pastoral landscape. Mahler’s orchestration here is less dense than in his other works, employing fewer brass (no trombones in the entire piece!) and percussion, which creates an atmosphere of clarity and lightness. This movement is filled with charm and spontaneity, unfolding like a playful dance, but with underlying harmonic complexities that hint at the more serious undertones of the symphony.

The second movement introduces a sense of mystery and eeriness, using the sound of a solo violin tuned to a higher pitch, evoking the folklore tradition of the “fiddler’s call.” This movement has been interpreted as a dance of death, a reminder that even in paradise, the spectre of mortality lingers. The third movement brings a sense of calm and introspection, with expansive, hymn-like melodies that seem to float in timeless space. Mahler considered this movement one of the most beautiful things he had written, a reflection of his search for peace and meaning in a world he saw as increasingly uncertain.

In the final movement, Mahler introduces the voice of a soprano, the sublime Aotearoa New Zealand Soprano Anna Leese rejoins CSO, singing “Das himmlische Leben” (The Heavenly Life), a child’s vision of heaven where angels bake bread and saints dance. The song is both innocent and profound - highlighting Mahler’s belief that paradise may be best imagined through a child’s eyes, with its combination of simplicity and joyful anticipation.

Mahler’s heaven is also layered with subtle ironies in his view that life’s greatest beauties are always shadowed by the fragility of existence. Through Symphony No. 4, Mahler offers listeners an invitation into a world where the boundaries between life and paradise blur, capturing the bittersweet beauty of a fleeting, imagined heaven.