AAM - The English School

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The English School Four centuries of English music James Gilchrist tenor Michael Thompson horn Richard Egarr director & harpsichord 17 June West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge 18 June Wigmore Hall, London Welcome! Tonight’s concert takes us on a journey spanning four hundred years of English music, from the baroque golden age of Purcell, Handel and Christopher Gibbons to the wartime sound-world of Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. I’m thrilled to welcome James Gilchrist, with whom the AAM has enjoyed a fruitful relationship over many years, and Michael Thompson, whose

illustrious career as a horn player began when he was appointed principal horn of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the tender age of eighteen.

These concerts are the last in our 2009–2010 London and Cambridge seasons. I hope you have enjoyed this year’s performances as much as I have; and that we’ll see you on many occasions in 2010–2011.

Richard Egarr Music Director

AAM 2010–2011 London & Cambridge season The AAM has just announced its 2010–2011 season. At its heart will be The Bach Dynasty, a series of concerts exploring masterworks by JS Bach alongside less well-known works by three of his forebears and his four composer-sons.

Other highlights will include Mozart’s early opera La Finta Giardiniera, and South American Connections, a programme full of the vibrant sounds of South American baroque and classical music. On page 17 there’s an at-a-glance view of the season to whet your appetite; but be sure also to pick up a copy of our new season brochure, and to complete a mailing list form if you’d like to be among the first to hear about AAM concerts in the future.

Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall and Barbican Centre Booking for AAM concerts at Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall and the Barbican Centre is now open.

West Road Concert Hall Subscription tickets can be purchased at the subscription booking desk after the Cambridge performance, and subscription booking remains open until Monday 21 June.

By subscribing to all five concerts at West Road, you are guaranteed the same seats for each performance, and you benefit from a 15% reduction on the cost of your tickets.

General booking for individual concerts opens at noon on 24 June through the Cambridge Arts Theatre box office on 01223 503333 or online at www.aam.co.uk/cambridge.

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Programme GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685–1759) Sonata à 5 HENRY PURCELL (1659–1695) ‘Lord, what is Man?’ ‘In the black, dismal dungeon’ An Evening Hymn CHRISTOPHER GIBBONS (1615–1676) Fantasy à 4 GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL Four arias for John Beard: ‘Where’er you walk’ from Semele ‘Total Eclipse’ from Samson ‘Waft her angels’ from Jephtha ‘Call forth thy Pow’rs’ from Judas Maccabaeus

Interval of 20 minutes Please check that your mobile phone is turned off if you used it during the interval.

GERALD FINZI (1901–1956) Romance in E flat for strings Op.11 BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913–1976) Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings Op.31

Would patrons please ensure that mobile phones are switched off. Please stifle coughing as much as possible and ensure that watch alarms and any other electronic devices which may become audible are switched off.

A note on tonight’s instruments The violinists and violists in the orchestra will be performing on two different instruments in this concert. For the works by C Gibbons, Purcell and Handel they will use baroque instruments and bows with gut strings. After the interval, the works by Britten and Finzi will be performed on modern instruments and with modern bows, but we will use at least two gut strings on each

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instrument — as was common practice during the first half of the twentieth century.

The cellists and double bassists will use the same instrument throughout the concert, with at least two gut strings. They will use a baroque bow in the first half and a modern bow in the second half.

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Dr Stephen Rose charts the development of the English School In past centuries, English composers have sporadically suffered from a sense of inferiority to continental developments. These perceptions of inferiority were strongest in the decades around 1900. At the start of the First World War, Oskar Schmitz described England as ‘Das Land ohne Musik’ (‘The Land without Music’), a jibe at the country’s failure to produce a composer in the previous two generations of the stature of Chopin or Liszt, Wagner or Verdi. Indeed, for much of the nineteenth century, ambitious English musicians went overseas for their training. Around 1860, for instance, the composer Arthur Sullivan studied in Leipzig, and the composer and violinist Alexander MacKenzie studied in Sondershausen.

Even in the seventeenth century, English composers fretted about their country’s overreliance on foreign styles. In 1683, writing in the preface to a publication of his chamber sonatas, Henry Purcell (1659–1695) complained about the fashion for the “levity and balladry of our neighbours” — a reference to the royal court’s liking for the dance rhythms and suave melodies of French composers. In instrumental music, Purcell’s solution was to advocate “a just imitation of the most fam’d Italian masters”, by which he meant sonatas by the generation of Italian composers before Corelli. In vocal compositions, however, Purcell established an unmistakably English style via his distinctive techniques of text-setting.

The English language is not an easy one to set to music. Lacking the mellifluous vowels of Italian, it has often been thought to be unmusical. The prevalence of consonances and the hissing ‘shh’ sound are challenges to the composer and singer alike. Purcell, however, overcame these apparent disadvantages with aplomb. As his publisher, Henry Playford, wrote in the posthumous anthology of Purcell’s songs, Orpheus Britannicus (1698): “The Author’s extraordinary Talent in all sorts of Musick is sufficiently known, but he was especially admir’d

for the Vocal, having a peculiar Genius to express the Energy of English Words, whereby he mov’d the Passions of his Auditors.”

One technique used by Purcell was to intensify the most important words of a text with dotted rhythms or piquant discords. Take the example of his devotional monologue ‘In the black dismal dungeon’ (1688). With the voice declaiming over a static bass, this monologue resembles some of the earliest Italian experiments in recitative; but Purcell energises the most important words, using Scotch snaps (short–long rhythms) on “dismal” and “horrid”, and melismas either short (on “pin’d”) or long (on “great neglect”). ‘Lord, what is Man?’ (1693) is another account of human despair, emphasising the “tormented” state of mortal life with Scotch snaps and appoggiaturas on such words as “abode” and “lost”. But the mood then lightens, with a triple-time section calling for a quill “to write the praises” and “a voice like yours to sing that anthem here which once you sung above”.

In the concluding Hallelujah, Purcell combines short one-bar or two-bar phrases in sequences, a technique of musical organisation he had learned from those “most fam’d Italian masters”.

Purcell could even energise an English text when the words were secondary to an overarching musical logic. In An Evening Hymn (1688) he creates an intrinsically musical momentum via the lilting triple-time rhythms and the five-bar repeated theme in the bass.

Despite the insistent repetition of the ground bass, Purcell colours the harmonies according to the words, with a sharpening of the harmonies and an eventual modulation to D major on “sweet security”. Then in the closing Hallelujah, Purcell delights in the melismas possible on this most un-English of words, with as much as six bars of the vocal line sung to one syllable.

Within fifteen years of Purcell’s death, musical taste in London had changed utterly. Now the public preference was for Italian opera, sung by

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imported divas and castratos. Foremost in promoting this Italianate genre was George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), who arrived in London in 1710. Born and trained in Germany and with several years’ experience of working as a composer in Italy, Handel might seem an unlikely figure to contribute to an ‘English School’ of composition. Yet in 1726 he became an English citizen, and by the early 1740s he had abandoned Italianate opera for English-texted oratorios, in which religious words were set to arias and recitatives in operatic style.

Tonight’s concert includes four arias written by Handel for the leading tenor of the age, John Beard (c.1717–1791). Beard appeared in Handel’s operas of the 1730s and then sang leading roles in almost all of Handel’s oratorios, creating the roles of Samson, Judas and Jephtha. As such, Beard challenged the dominance that castrato singers had previously held within Handel’s vocal output. These four arias show how Handel in his oratorios tempered the vocal fireworks of the Italian operatic tradition with a melodic simplicity that appealed powerfully to English audiences.

‘Where’er you walk’ from Semele (1744) is sung

by Jupiter as he grants Semele a companion in the form of Ino. Over a gentle walking bass, the vocal line is mainly stepwise and syllabic.

Completely renouncing the roulades of Italian singers, the aria has a bewitching simplicity.

‘Total Eclipse’ from Samson (1743) is a meditation on the blindness of the protagonist and, by extension, the piteous state of all mankind. The aria opens with a harmonic ambiguity as to whether the key is E minor or G major, an uncertainty that continues in the unaccompanied entry of the tenor. Such ambiguity allows Handel to colour the most important words (“glorious”, “sun”) with seventh chords that imply harmonic movement, yet could resolve in different directions. The aria allegedly brought tears to the elderly composer as his own sight failed. As Mary Delaney wrote in

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1752: “Poor Handel! How feelingly must he recollect the ‘total eclipse’.”

‘Waft her angels’ is from Handel’s last oratorio, Jephtha (premiered in 1752). It is sung by the eponymous protagonist as he contemplates the sacrifice of his own daughter. The angular upward phrases anticipate the sight of her rising up to heaven, while the stately tempo emphasises the solemnity of the occasion.

Finally, ‘Call forth thy Pow’rs’ from Judas Maccabaeus (1748) is a rare example of Handel transferring the full pyrotechnics of the Italian aria da bravura to the English oratorio. Both voice and orchestra have flurries of semiquavers, reinforcing the text’s proclamation that “Great is the glory of the conq’ring sword”. The martial mood of the aria is a reminder that the oratorio was written to celebrate the Duke of Cumberland’s victory over the Jacobites at Culloden the previous year.

Two centuries after Handel wrote these arias, Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) urgently felt the need to revitalise an English school of vocal composition that had been interrupted by the developments of the nineteenth century. In 1945, on completion of his opera Peter Grimes, Britten stated his aim “to try and restore to the musical setting of the English language a brilliance, freedom and vitality that have been curiously rare since Purcell”. Much the same could be said of his Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (1943), a setting of six poems chosen from the copy of Quiller Couch’s Oxford Book of English Verse that Britten had been awarded as a school prize in 1930. Here Britten showed his ability to set a range of verse forms and styles ranging from an anonymous fifteenth-century lyric to the Romantic imagery of Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Throughout most of the Serenade, the tenor soloist sings in dialogue with the horn. This was an innovative pairing that raised some eyebrows in the 1940s, for few people had realised that a

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horn could perform with the expressivity of a singer. However, Britten wrote the horn part for the young soloist Dennis Brain, who (as Britten observed) “plays as flexibly and accurately as most clarinettists”. The work is framed by the unaccompanied horn-calls in the Prologue and Epilogue, where the natural harmonics give a sense of space and echoing distance. In the Pastoral (‘The day’s grown old’) the voice and horn imitate each other closely, in a four-strophe setting where each verse is a variation of the others. The horn regains its old associations of fanfares in the Nocturne (‘The splendour falls’), providing the bugle calls that reverberate and then die away at the movement’s climaxes.

A darker tone is encountered in the Elegy (‘O Rose, thou art sick’), where the melodies for both horn and voice reiterate a sinister downward step of a semitone, possibly symbolic of the destructive power of the poem’s “dark, secret love”. Also ominous is the Dirge, where the singer has a continuous incantation over a tense fugue in the orchestra. Much lighter is the Hymn (‘Queen and huntress, chaste and fair’), where the pure diatonic harmonies and the gigue rhythms recall the horn’s origins as a hunting instrument. A quieter tone prevails in the Sonnet (‘O soft embalmer of the still midnight’), where lush string harmonies underpin the tranquil vocal line. This is the only vocal movement where the horn does not play, partly because the player needs to move offstage for the concluding Epilogue.

Throughout the Serenade, Britten successfully translated the intonation and rhythm of spoken poetry into memorable musical phrases, creating an unforgettable union between words and notes.

Across the centuries the ‘English School’ of composition has largely focussed on settings of English texts; but there have also been strong traditions of instrumental composition in this country. From the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries, one of these traditions was the performance of intricately contrapuntal fantasias on string consorts. Viol consorts were found in the country houses of the nobility as well as in towns. Indeed, in March 1652 a Dutch visitor, the son of Sir Constantijn Huygens, heard Christopher Gibbons (1615–1676) play consort music at the house of a London violinist.

Gibbons Fantasy à 4 is a typical example of the English consort tradition, offering a studious working-out of a succession of different themes.

Handel’s Sonata à 5 is something of an interloper in an otherwise all-English programme. It was probably written in 1707, when he was 22 years old and living in Italy. But some of the themes were among Handel’s favourites and are much more familiar from when he re-used them in his English works: the solo violin melody from the start of the Andante recurs in the vocal works ‘I will magnify thee’ (HWV 250) and Belshazzar (HWV 61). Finally, the Romance in E flat for strings Op.11 (c.1928) by Gerald Finzi (1901–1956) recalls the lush string writing of Edward Elgar’s Serenade for Strings Op.20, even to the extent of using a solo violin.

Finzi’s orchestral style is warm and euphonious, recalling the tradition of pastoral compositions

by English composers at the start of the twentieth century. © Stephen Rose 2010 Dr Stephen Rose is Lecturer in Music at Royal Holloway, University of London

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Texts HENRY PURCELL ‘Lord what is Man?’ Lord, what is Man, lost Man, That thou shouldst be so mindful of him?

That the Son of God forsook his glory, his abode, To become a poor, tormented man!

The Deity was shrunk into a span, And that for me, O wound’rous love, for me.

Reveal, ye glorious spirits, when ye knew The way the Son of God took to renew lost Man, Your vacant places to supply; Blest spirits tell, Which did excel, Which was more prevalent, Your joy or your astonishment, That man should be assum’d into the Deity, That for a worm a God should die.

O! for a quill, drawn from your wing To write the praises of th’Eternal Love; O! for a voice like yours to sing That anthem here, which once you sung above.

Hallelujah!

DR. WILLIAM FULLER, LORD- BISHOP OF LINCOLN (1608–1675)

‘In the black, dismal dungeon’ In the black, dismal dungeon of despair, Pin’d with tormenting care, Wrack’d with my fears, Drown’d in my tears, With dreadful expectation of my doom And certain horrid judgement soon to come: Lord, here I lie, Lost to all hope of Liberty, Hence never to remove, But by a miracle of love, Which I scarce hope for or expect, Being guilty of so long, so great neglect.

Fool that I was, worthy a sharper rod, To slight thy courting, O my God. For thou did’st woo, entreat and grieve, Did’st beg me to be happy and to live; But I would not; I chose to dwell With death, far from thee, too near to hell: But is there no redemption, no relief?

Thou savedst a Magdalen, a thief — O Jesu! Thy mercy, Lord, once more advance; O give me such a glance As Peter had! Thy sweet, kind, chiding look Will change my heart, as it did melt that Rock.

Look on me, sweet Jesu, as thou didst on him! ’Tis more than to create, thus to redeem.

DR. WILLIAM FULLER, LORD- BISHOP OF LINCOLN

An Evening Hymn Now, now that the sun hath veil’d his light And bid the world goodnight; To the soft bed my body I dispose, But where shall my soul repose?

Dear, dear God, even in thy arms, And can there be any so sweet security!

Then to thy rest, O my soul!

And singing, praise the mercy That prolongs thy days.

Hallelujah!

DR. WILLIAM FULLER, LORD- BISHOP OF LINCOLN

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GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL ‘Where’er you walk’ from Semele Where’er you walk, cool gales shall fan the glade; Trees, where you sit, shall crowd into a shade; Where’er you tread, the blushing flow’rs shall rise; And all things flourish, where’er you turn your eyes.

WILLIAM CONGREVE (1670–1729) AFTER OVID’S METAMORPHOSES

‘Total Eclipse’ from Samson Total Eclipse! No sun, no moon, All dark, amidst the blaze of noon!

O glorious light! No cheering ray, To glad my eyes with welcome day!

Why thus depriv’d thy prime decree?

Sun, moon, and stars are dark to me!

NEWBURGH HAMILTON (1691–1761) AFTER JOHN MILTON’S SAMSON AGONISTES

‘Waft her angels’ from Jephtha Waft her angels, through the skies, Far above yon azure plain; Glorious there, like you, to rise, There like you forever reign.

THOMAS MORELL (1703–1784) AFTER JUDGES 11 AND GEORGE BUCHANAN

‘Call forth thy Pow’rs’ from Judas Maccabaeus Call forth thy Pow’rs, my soul, And dare the conflict of unequal war.

Great is the glory of the conq’ring sword, That triumphs in sweet liberty restor’d.

THOMAS MORELL (1703–1784) AFTER 1 MACCABEES 2- 8

BENJAMIN BRITTEN Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings Pastoral The day’s grown old; the fainting sun Has but a little way to run, And yet his steeds, with all his skill, Scarce lug the chariot down the hill.

The shadows now so long do grow, That brambles like tall cedars show; Molehills seem mountains, and the ant Appears a monstrous elephant.

A very little, little flock Shades thrice the ground that it would stock; Whilst the small stripling following them Appears a mighty Polypheme.

And now on benches all are sat, In the cool air to sit and chat, Till Phoebus, dipping in the West, Shall lead the world the way to rest.

CHARLES COTTON (1630–1687)

Nocturne The splendour falls on castle walls And snowy summits old in story: The long light shakes across the lakes, And the wild cataract leaps in glory: Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, Bugle, blow; answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.

O hark, O hear! how thin and clear, And thinner, clearer, farther going!

O sweet and far from cliff and scar The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!

Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying: Bugle, blow; answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.

O love, they die in yon rich sky, They faint on hill or field or river: Our echoes roll from soul to soul And grow for ever and for ever.

Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying; And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON (1809–1892)

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Elegy O Rose, thou art sick; The invisible worm That flies in the night, In the howling storm, Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy; And his dark, secret love Does thy life destroy.

WILLIAM BLAKE (1757–1827)

Dirge This ae nighte, this ae nighte, Every nighte and alle, Fire and fleet and candle-lighte, And Christe receive thy saule.

When thou from hence away art past, Every nighte and alle, To Whinnymuir thou com’st at last; And Christe receive thy saule.

If ever thou gav’st hos’n and shoon, Every nighte and alle, Sit thee down and put them on; And Christe receive thy saule.

If hos’n and shoon thou ne’er gav’st nane, Every nighte and alle, The whinnies shall prick thee to the bare bane; And Christe receive thy saule.

From Whinnymuir when thou may’st pass, Every nighte and alle, To Brig o’ Dread thou com’st at last; And Christe receive thy saule.

From Brig o’ Dread when thou may’st pass, Every nighte and alle, To Purgatory fire thou com’st at last; And Christe receive thy saule.

Hymn Queen and huntress, chaste and fair, Now the sun is laid to sleep, Seated in thy silver chair, State in wonted manner keep: Hesperus entreats thy light, Goddess excellently bright.

Earth, let not thy envious shade Dare itself to interpose; Cynthia’s shining orb was made, Heav’n to clear when day did close: Bless us then with wished sight, Goddess excellently bright.

Lay thy bow of pearl apart, And thy crystal shining quiver; Give unto the flying hart Space to breathe, how short so-ever: Thou that mak’st a day of night, Goddess excellently bright.

BEN JONSON (1572–1637)

Sonnet O soft embalmer of the still midnight, Shutting with careful fingers and benign Our gloom-pleas’d eyes, embower’d from the light, Enshaded in forgetfulness divine: O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close In midst of this thine hymn my willing eyes, Or wait the ‘Amen’ ere thy poppy throws Around my bed its lulling charities.

Then save me, or the passèd day will shine Upon my pillow, breeding many woes, Save me from curious Conscience, that still lords Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole; Turn the key deftly in the oilèd wards, And seal the hushèd Casket of my Soul.

JOHN KEATS (1795–1821)

If ever thou gav’st meat or drink, Every nighte and alle, The fire shall never make thee shrink; And Christe receive thy saule.

If meat or drink thou ne’er gav’st nane, Every nighte and alle, The fire will burn thee to the bare bane; And Christe receive thy saule.

This ae nighte, this ae nighte, Every nighte and alle, Fire and fleet and candle-lighte, And Christe receive thy saule.

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Richard Egarr director & harpsichord Glyndebourne to the Beijing Concert Hall to Carnegie Hall. On top of a busy schedule of concerts worldwide with the Academy of Ancient Music, he has recently collaborated with the Residentie Orchestra of the Hague, the Brabant Orchestra, the Flemish Radio Orchestra and Choir, the Netherlands Bach Society and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Richard has given innumerable solo performances around Europe, Japan and the USA. Recent USA tours have included JS Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and Goldberg Variations.

As an orchestral soloist he has appeared with the AAM, The English Concert, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Orchestra of the 18th Century, the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra and the Netherlands Wind Ensemble.

“It wouldn’t be a stretch to call Egarr the ‘Bernstein of Early Music’” U S A N AT I O N A L P U B L I C R A D I O

Richard Egarr, acclaimed Music Director of the Academy of Ancient Music, is one of the most versatile musicians performing today. He has worked with all types of keyboards, performing repertoire ranging from fifteenth-century organ music to Berg and Maxwell Davies on modern piano. He is in great demand as a soloist and a chamber musician as well as a conductor.

Richard enjoyed his musical training as a choirboy at York Minster, at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, and as organ scholar at Clare College, Cambridge. His studies with Gustav and Marie Leonhardt further inspired his work in the field of historically-informed performance.

As a conductor, Richard has directed repertoire ranging from JS Bach’s St Matthew Passion to John Tavener’s Ikon of Light. Numerous opera, oratorio and orchestral performances have taken him to venues ranging from

In chamber music, Richard forms an “unequalled duo for violin and keyboard” (Gramophone) with violinist Andrew Manze, performing music from the Stylus Phantasticus to Mozart and Schubert.

They have toured extensively throughout Europe, North America and the Far East.

Richard records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi USA. His solo output includes works by Frescobaldi, Couperin, Purcell, Froberger, Mozart and JS Bach. His award-winning recordings with Manze include sonatas by JS Bach, Biber, Rebel, Pandolfi, Corelli, Handel, Mozart and Schubert.

With the Academy of Ancient Music he has recorded JS Bach’s harpsichord concertos, JS Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos, and a set of Handel’s complete instrumental music Opp.1–7.

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© Jim Four

James Gilchrist tenor James’ musical appearances have, however, been eclectically broad, ranging in scale from Vaughan Williams’ On Wenlock Edge with the Endellion String Quartet to Britten’s War Requiem and Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius at the Three Choirs Festival. As a recitalist he has performed music by Schumann, Finzi and Poulenc on BBC Radio 3 with pianist Anna Tilbrook, as well as maintaining a partnership with harpist Alison Nicholls. He has recently released a disc of Finzi song cycles “Oh Fair to See”, and a disc of Elizabethan lute songs “When Laura Smiles” with Matthew Wadsworth.

“I believe the arts are in some profound way essential to all of us. Artistic expression and endeavour are what makes us human, and the most visceral and basic of our modes of communication.” J A M E S G I LC H R I S T

James’ musical education began in church choirs, and as a cellist. He went on to become a treble in the Choir of New College, Oxford and a tenor in the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge.

He began working life as a doctor, before in 1996 turning to a career as a musician.

Since then, James has had a vibrant and frequent association with the Academy of Ancient Music. He sang Damon in Handel’s Acis and Galatea at the BBC Proms under Paul Goodwin, Ugone in Flavio in Birmingham and London, and recently took the part of the tenor soloist in Mozart’s Requiem at Symphony Hall, Birmingham with Richard Egarr. As a keen exponent of contemporary music, James sang in the world premiere performance and recording of John Taverner’s Total Eclipse with the AAM.

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James’ appearances on the concert stage are numerous. Highlights from the twentiethcentury repertoire include Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings at The Sage, Gateshead and Owen Wingrave with the City of London Sinfonia at Cadogan Hall. He has also performed works by Gilbert and Sullivan and Tippett. He is also well known for his performances of baroque and classical repertoire. He appeared with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra under Sir John Eliot Gardiner in their celebrated Bach Pilgrimage, and has performed the Christmas Oratorio with Ton Koopman and Mendelssohn’s arrangement of JS Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the OAE. James has performed many Handel operas, including Alexander’s Feast in Salzburg, Saul in Hamburg and Athalia in Cologne, and he has appeared in Messiah with both the San Francisco and Detroit symphony orchestras.

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Michael Thompson horn solo and chamber music career. His work as a director, soloist and conductor has seen him perform in Japan, Australia, the USA and Europe. In the UK he has directed the London Sinfonietta, Bournemouth Sinfonietta, BrittenPears Orchestra, Ulster Youth Orchestra and the Royal Academy’s Sinfonia and Concert orchestras.

“Thompson is not only technically brilliant, but plays with delectable lightness” G R A M O P H O N E MAG A Z I N E

His concert schedule takes him worldwide and his discography includes the major solo horn repertoire, period-instrument recordings and a number of critically acclaimed CDs with his wind quintet and horn quartet. As a member of the London Sinfonietta he is at the forefront of new music and has given many premieres, including the UK’s first performance of Ligeti’s Hamburg Concerto and Richard Ayres’ Noncerto.

In addition to his classical work, he is very active as a studio musician, playing on sound tracks including The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the Bond films.

Internationally acknowledged as one of the world’s leading horn players, Michael Thompson is also a charismatic and inspirational teacher.

As a conductor he is known as a fine orchestral trainer and has received acclaim for his work with young musicians.

His work for Sir Paul McCartney resulted in the composition of Stately Horn — which the Michael Thompson horn quartet premiered in the Royal Albert Hall and Carnegie Hall.

Michael is Aubrey Brain Professor of Horn at the Royal Academy of Music, and gives regular masterclasses and lectures throughout the world.

After studies at the Royal Academy of Music he was appointed principal horn with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the age of eighteen. Within three years he was offered the principal horn positions of both the Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. He remained at the Philharmonia for ten years before leaving to concentrate on his

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Academy of Ancient Music Recently hailed as “a superb period instrument band” by the New York Times, the Academy of Ancient Music is a household name renowned worldwide for its energized, passionate performances of baroque and classical music.

Since it was founded by Christopher Hogwood in 1973 the AAM has reached music lovers on a global stage with over 250 recordings and live performances on every continent except Antarctica.

programme contrasting the Pergolesi and Vivaldi settings of the Stabat Mater; violinist Giuliano Carmignola, who directed early masterpieces by Schubert and Mendelssohn; and Stephen Layton, who conducted the AAM’s traditional Good Friday performance of JS Bach’s St John Passion with Polyphony. Over the summer Stephen Cleobury conducts a major European tour of Monteverdi’s Vespers with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge.

The AAM specialises in performing on instruments and in styles dating from the time when the music was composed. Under Hogwood’s stewardship it established itself as a leading authority on how music was originally performed. This pioneering work had a transformative impact on the world of classical music, and lies at the heart of the AAM’s reputation for musical excellence.

The AAM’s pioneering recordings under Hogwood for Decca’s L’Oiseau-Lyre label cover much of the baroque and classical orchestral canon. They include the first recordings on period instruments of Mozart’s complete symphonies and Beethoven’s piano concertos, and prize-winning opera recordings starring Cecilia Bartoli, Emma Kirkby and Joan Sutherland. Further projects have resulted in recordings for EMI, Chandos, Erato and Harmonia Mundi, and the orchestra has released award-winning recordings with the choirs of King’s College, Cambridge, Trinity College, Cambridge and New College, Oxford.

In 2006, Hogwood passed leadership of the AAM on to Richard Egarr. In his first three years as Music Director, Egarr led tours to four continents, released CDs which have already won Gramophone, MIDEM and Edison awards, and founded the award-winning Choir of the AAM.

“The peerless Academy of Ancient Music” B B C M U S I C MAG A Z I N E , J A N UA RY 2 0 1 0

Concerts with Egarr in 2009–2010 have seen the orchestra performing music ranging from Monteverdi to Britten around the world.

Highlights have included a tour of music by anniversary composers Purcell and Haydn to Africa and the Far East, a Christmas tour of Handel’s Messiah around Europe, and a fascinating programme showcasing the music of Monteverdi’s little-known contemporary Dario Castello.

The vitality of the AAM’s music making continues to be fostered by a range of guest directors. This season the orchestra has worked with Pavlo Beznosiuk, who directed a

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With Richard Egarr, the orchestra has recently completed a landmark new cycle of Handel’s complete instrumental music published as Opp.1-7. Other recent releases include JS Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos with Egarr, Purcell and Handel discs with Stephen Layton and the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge on Hyperion, and, for EMI, Handel’s Messiah with Stephen Cleobury and the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge.

The AAM is Orchestra-in-Residence at the University of Cambridge.

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Violin 1 Pavlo Beznosiuk* Liz MacCarthy Iwona Muszynska Persephone Gibbs Stephen Pedder

Cello Joseph Crouch* Andrew Skidmore* Gabriel Amherst Emily Robinson

Double Bass Judith Evans Dawn Baker Theorbo William Carter Harpsichord Richard Egarr

Violin 2 Rebecca Livermore William Thorp Marianna Sz端cs Pauline Smith

Leader Mr and Mrs George Magan Principal cello Dr Christopher and Lady Juliet Tadgell Principal flute Christopher and Phillida Purvis

Viola Rachel Byrt Marina Ascherson* Emma Alter Thomas Kirby

Board of Directors Adam Broadbent Kay Brock LVO DL John Everett Matthew Ferrey John Grieves Christopher Hogwood CBE Heather Jarman Christopher Purvis CBE (Chairman) Dr Christopher Tadgell Sarah Miles Williams

*Sponsored chairs

Sub-principal viola Sir Nicholas and Lady Goodison Sub-principal cello Newby Trust Ltd

Development Board Adam Broadbent Kay Brock LVO DL Delia Broke John Everett Matthew Ferrey John Grieves Madelaine Gunders Elizabeth Hartley-Brewer Annie Norton Christopher Purvis CBE Chris Rocker Dr Christopher Tadgell Madeleine Tattersall Sarah Miles Williams Alison Wisbeach

Music Director Richard Egarr Emeritus Director Christopher Hogwood CBE Chief Executive Michael Garvey Orchestra Manager Andrew Moore Marketing & Development Manager Simon Fairclough

Concerts & Tours Manager Kate Caro Assistant Marketing & Development Manager Toby Chadd Finance Manager Elaine Hendrie Administrator Samantha Fryer

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The AAM Society The Academy of Ancient Music has been a byword for musical excellence for over 35 years.

The orchestra has enriched the lives of millions of music lovers with its ground-breaking performances and recordings of baroque and classical music on period instruments; and it has attained an important position as one of Britain’s most active cultural institutions on the global stage. Today over 50,000 people attend AAM performances annually; and the orchestra reaches hundreds of thousands more through its recordings and broadcasts.

As its 40th anniversary approaches, the AAM is seeking to build upon and develop its distinctive traditions of excellence and innovation for the music lovers of the future — but year by year the cost of sustaining these traditions is increasing. Only a modest proportion of the cost of staging concerts like tonight’s is covered by ticket income, and the AAM receives no regular public funding. Over the next year, the AAM needs to raise £400,000 to make its plans possible.

One way in which you can help the Academy of Ancient Music to transform its ambitious vision into reality is to join the AAM Society. The Society is the orchestra’s closest group of regular supporters. It was established ten years ago by a committed group of founder members who appreciated the orchestra’s

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superb artistry and wanted to secure its future.

Membership ranges from £250 to £20,000+ per annum, and members’ annual contributions provide the vital core funding required if the orchestra is to continue to perform.

Society members enjoy a very close involvement with the life of the AAM. After performances in London, members dine with the director, soloists and AAM musicians.

Members have the chance to become a part of orchestral life behind the scenes by sitting in on rehearsals for concerts and recordings, and from time to time by accompanying the orchestra on international tours.

Those at the Principal Benefactor level and above receive invitations to special events in London; those at the Principal Patron level and above have the opportunity to sponsor a specific position in the orchestra; and those at the Hogwood Circle level have the opportunity to support a specific concert each season.

If you want to get closer to the AAM’s music making while helping to secure the orchestra’s future, do be in touch with me.

Simon Fairclough Development Manager 01223 301509 s.fairclough@aam.co.uk

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AAM Funders & Supporters The AAM is indebted to the following trusts, companies, public bodies and individuals for their support of the orchestra’s work:

AAM Business Club Cambridge University Press Kleinwort Benson RBC Wealth Management SVG Capital CHK Charities Ltd Dunard Fund John Ellerman Foundation Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Fidelity UK Foundation

Goldsmiths’ Company Charity The Idlewild Trust The Michael Marks Charitable Trust Anthony Travis Charitable Trust Arts Council England through the Sustain programme Orchestras Live Cambridge City Council

The AAM Society Special gifts The Academy of Ancient Music extends its grateful thanks to Lady Sainsbury of Turville, who has supported the orchestra’s work at a particularly significant level this year.

The Chairman’s Circle (Donations £20,000–£49,999 per annum) CHK Charities Ltd Dunard Fund The Hogwood Circle (Donations £10,000 - £19,999 per annum) Matthew Ferrey Mr and Mrs George Magan Christopher and Phillida Purvis * Mrs Julia Rosier Dr Christopher and Lady Juliet Tadgell Principal Patrons (Donations £5,000 – £9,999 per annum) Lady Alexander of Weedon Sir Nicholas and Lady Goodison * Richard Bridges and Elena Vorotko Christopher Hogwood CBE * Newby Trust Ltd * and other anonymous Principal Patrons Patrons (Donations £2,500 – £4,999 per annum) Adam and Sara Broadbent Mr and Mrs Graham Brown Mr and Mrs JE Everett John and Ann Grieves Mark and Liza Loveday John and Joyce Reeve Mark West Christopher Rocker and Alison Wisbeach Sarah and Andrew Williams SVG Capital and other anonymous Patrons Principal Benefactors (Donations £1,000 – £2,499 per annum) George and Kay Brock Mrs D Broke Clive and Helena Butler Jo and Keren Butler Sir Charles Chadwyck-Healey Bt Kate Donaghy

The Hon Simon Eccles Elizabeth Hartley-Brewer Elma Hawkins and Charles Richter Lord Hindlip John McFadden and Lisa Kabnick * Mr and Mrs C Norton Lionel and Lynn Persey Nigel and Hilary Pye * Mr and Mrs Charles Rawlinson Michael and Sophia Robinson Sir Konrad and Lady Schiemann * Sir David and Lady Scholey JG Stanford John and Madeleine Tattersall Marcellus and Katharine Taylor-Jones Stephen Thomas Mrs R Wilson Stephens Charles Woodward and other anonymous Principal Benefactors Benefactors (Donations £500 – £999) Maureen Acland OBE * Dr Aileen Adams CBE Bill and Sue Blyth Elisabeth and Bob Boas * Claire Brisby and John Brisby QC * Mr and Mrs Edward Davies-Gilbert Charles Dumas Mr and Mrs Jean-Marie Eveillard Marshall Field Andrew and Wendy Gairdner William Gibson The Hon Mr and Mrs Philip Havers Professor Sean Hilton Mr and Mrs G and W Hoffman Heather Jarman * Michael and Nicola Keane Susan Latham Tessa Mayhew Mrs Sheila Mitchell Mr and Mrs Hideto Nakahara Rodney and Kusum Nelson-Jones Nick and Margaret Parker Timothy and Maren Robinson Bruno Schroder and Family Peter Thomson Peter & Margaret Wynn and other anonymous Benefactors

Donors (Donations £250 – £499) Angela and Roderick Ashby-Johnson Mrs Nicky Brown Dr and Mrs S Challah David and Elizabeth Challen The Cottisford Trust Derek and Mary Draper Simon Fairclough Beatrice and Charles Goldie Steven and Madelaine Gunders Gemma and Lewis Morris Hall Mrs Helen Higgs Lord and Lady Jenkin of Roding Richard Lockwood Yvonne de la Praudière Robin and Jane Raw Annabel and Martin Randall Arthur L Rebell and Susan B Cohen Michael and Giustina Ryan Miss E M Schlossmann Tom Siebens and Mimi Parsons Rt Hon Sir Murray Stuart-Smith * Robin Vousden Pippa Wicks Paul F. Wilkinson and Associates Inc. and other anonymous Donors * denotes founder member Members of the AAM Bach Patrons Lady Alexander of Weedon Richard Bridges and Elena Vorotko Mr and Mrs Graham Brown Jo and Keren Butler CHK Charities Ltd Matthew Ferrey Dunard Fund The Hon Simon Eccles Graham and Amanda Hutton Mark and Lisa Loveday Mr and Mrs Charles Rawlinson John and Joyce Reeve Dr Christopher and Lady Juliet Tadgell John and Madeleine Tattersall Stephen Thomas Mark West Charles Woodward and other anonymous AAM Bach Patrons

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AAM Bach Patrons At the heart of the AAM’s London and Cambridge seasons in 2010–11 will be The Bach Dynasty — a groundbreaking concert series celebrating the output of history’s most important musical family.

For more information, please contact Simon Fairclough, AAM Development Manager, on 01223 301509 or s.fairclough@aam.co.uk. © Lebrecht Arts & Music

Johann Sebastian was just one of a great lineage of distinguished composers active in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Germany.

In modern times, the outstanding music of his relatives has been neglected. The Bach Dynasty will breathe new life into works by Heinrich, Johann Christoph, Johann Michael, Johann Christian, Johann Christoph Friedrich, Carl Philipp Emanuel and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach — as well as including music by JS Bach himself.

Guest soloists will include the world-famous cellist Steven Isserlis and four AAM Young Artists.

Funding of £120,000 is needed if this landmark project is to go ahead, over £75,000 of which has been raised since this appeal was launched in February. Those supporting the series with gifts of £500 or more will become members of the AAM Bach Patrons — an inner circle of supporters whose special association with the series will include the exclusive opportunity to sit in on rehearsals for concerts, the chance to join musicians for dinner after performances and an invitation to The Bach Dynasty launch party.

Patrons may choose to make a general gift of any amount over £500, or to target their contribution towards one or more of the areas listed below which are in particular need of support.

WOODCUT OF JS BACH, AT THE CLAVICHORD, WITH HIS FAMILY. ONE SON PLAYS THE VIOLIN WHILE ANOTHER SINGS.

Support towards Steven Isserlis’ appearances in the series Support towards the Choir of the AAM’s appearances in the series Support towards Richard Egarr’s appearances in the series Support of the AAM Young Artists Provision of sheet music for the series Provision of free programme booklets, each including a newly-commissioned scholarly essay Provision of harpsichords and chamber organs appropriate to the repertoire being performed Concert sponsorship

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Now fully funded £2,500 per concert

£12,500 for 5 concerts

£2,000 per concert £1,400 per Young Artist

£16,000 for 8 concerts £5,600 for four Young Artists Now fully funded

£1,000 per concert

£8,000 for the series

£750 per concert £6,000 for the series By negotiation

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London & Cambridge 2010–2011 Season

Academy of Ancient Music

CAMBRIDGE

LONDON

The Bach Dynasty: JS Bach’s forebears

23 September

24 September

with Richard Egarr and the Choir of the AAM

West Road Concert Hall

Wigmore Hall

19 October

The Bach Dynasty: JS Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos

Cadogan Hall

South American connections

24 November

25 November

Music by South American composers and their European contemporaries

West Road Concert Hall

Wigmore Hall

The Bach Dynasty: JS Bach at Christmas

23 December

Richard Egarr directs JS Bach’s Magnificat and other works

Cadogan Hall

The Bach Dynasty: JS Bach’s sons

24 January

26 January

with Richard Egarr and Steven Isserlis

West Road Concert Hall

Wigmore Hall

Handel’s tragic muse

18 March

16 March

with Bernard Labadie and Karina Gauvin

West Road Concert Hall

Wigmore Hall

The Bach Dynasty: JS Bach’s St John Passion

19 April

20 April

with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge

King’s College Chapel

Cadogan Hall

Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera

24 June

directed by Richard Egarr

Barbican Centre

The Bach Dynasty: JS Bach’s cantatas

19 July

18 July

with Richard Egarr and the Choir of the AAM

West Road Concert Hall

Wigmore Hall

Booking information WEST ROAD CONCERT HALL Cambridge Arts Theatre Box Office 01223 503333 www.aam.co.uk/cambridge General booking opens 24 June

WIGMORE HALL Wigmore Hall box office 020 7935 2141 www.wigmore-hall.org.uk Booking open

CADOGAN HALL Cadogan Hall box office 020 7730 4500 www.cadoganhall.com Booking open

BARBICAN CENTRE Advance box office, Silk Street 020 7638 8891 www.barbican.org.uk Booking open

Booking for the concert on 19 April opens in January 2011

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Handel Opp.1–7 recording cycle

Solo Sonatas Op.1 “The AAM’s delightful playing is warmly recommended” G R A M O P H O N E AWA R D S I S S U E 2 0 0 9

“The soloists slide easily from austerity to opulence, and Brown’s dewy-toned recorder is enchanting” I N D E P E N D E N T O N S U N DAY, J U N E 2 0 0 9

Trio Sonatas Opp.2 & 5 “the subtleties and nuances of the playing, coupled with the sheer variety of Handel’s fertile imagination, never pales over two hours of continuous listening... These are outstanding accounts” B B C M U S I C MAG A Z I N E , D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9

Concerti Grossi Op.3; Sonata à 5 W I N N E R O F 2 0 0 7 G R A M O P H O N E AWA R D F O R B A R O Q U E I N S T R U M E N TA L M U S I C

“The Academy of Ancient Music is in world-beating form” GRAMOPHONE, APRIL 2007

Organ Concertos Op.4 W I N N E R O F 2 0 0 9 E D I S O N AWA R D W I N N E R O F 2 0 0 9 M I D E M AWA R D S H O R T L I S T E D F O R 2 0 0 8 G R A M O P H O N E AWA R D F O R I N S T R U M E N TA L M U S I C

Concerti Grossi Op.6 “The AAM are on sparkling form...an issue of joyous vitality” G R A M O P H O N E AWA R D S I S S U E 1 9 9 8

“It is impossible not to admire the precision of these spit-and-polish performances” E A R LY M U S I C A M E R I C A , 1 9 9 8 - 9

Organ Concertos Op.7 “a valuable addition to the Handel discography” G R A M O P H O N E , O C TO B E R 2 0 0 9

“an outstanding achievement” A N D R E W M CG R E G O R , B B C R A D I O 3 , AU G U S T 2 0 0 9

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EXPERIENCE HANDEL’S WORLD IN LONDON’S ONLY COMPOSER MUSEUM Handel House Museum is a beautifully restored eighteenthcentury house where Handel lived for thirty-six years and composed timeless masterpieces such as Messiah and Zadok the Priest Regular Thursday evening recitals, special exhibitions and events bring Handel’s world to life.

Handel House Museum 25 Brook Street W1K 4HB 020 7495 1685 www.handelhouse.org Closed Mondays.

Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street London W1U 2BP Director: John Gilhooly The Wigmore Hall Trust Registered Charity No.1024838 Wigmore Hall is a no-smoking venue.

No recording or photographic equipment may be taken into the auditorium, nor used in any other part of the Hall without the prior written permission of the Hall Management.

Wigmore Hall is equipped with a ’Loop’ to help hearing aid users receive clear sound without background noise. Patrons can use the facility by switching their hearing aids over to ’T’.

In accordance with the requirements of City of Westminster, persons shall not be permitted to stand or sit in any of the gangways intersecting the seating, or to sit in any of the other gangways. If standing is permitted in the gangways at the sides and rear of the seating, it shall be limited to the numbers indicated in the notices exhibited in those positions.

Facilities for Disabled People:

Please contact House Management for full details.

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