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23 JANUARY 2026

Programme In Brief

Introduction from Russia

Leon Bakst - Original design for the Firebird’s Costume

Here we are again, returning to Sheffield Cathedral so soon after our exhilarating concert in November when we conjured the sound-worlds of Finland, Norway and Iceland, and traced a musical path under the Northern Lights. That evening marked the second stop on our season-long musical Grand Tour: a series that explores the great centres of classical music across Europe and beyond. Many of you will remember Tim Horton’s superb performance of Grieg’s Piano Concerto; if you missed it, we are delighted to say that he will be joining us again in our next season, beginning in October 2026.

THE BRIGANTES ORCHESTRA David Milsom (leader) Wiebe-Pier Cnossen (baritone) Quentin Clare (conductor)

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840 to 1893) Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture (1870 / 1872 / 1880) Andante non tanto quasi Moderato Allegro (Allegro giusto) - Moderato assai

MODEST MUSSORGSKY (1839 to 1881) Tonight our journey takes us east to Russia, a land whose music is marked by intense lyricism, stark drama and an unmistakable colour. The programme brings together three iconic works that span half a century of extraordinary creativity. As ever, the Brigantes Orchestra is formed of the finest professional musicians drawn from Sheffield and the surrounding region. We are proud to present our concerts in a city that continues to support ambitious orchestral music, and we remain immensely grateful to Sheffield Cathedral for providing such a resonant and inspiring setting for every programme in this series. Thank you for joining us this evening. We hope this Russian chapter of our Grand Tour proves as vivid and memorable as those that have gone before, and that you will travel on with us to our next destination, Germany and Austria, on 21 March 2026. That programme will feature music by Bach, Wagner and Webern, and will culminate in Mendelssohn’s Reformation Symphony, once again here in Sheffield Cathedral.

Songs and Dances of Death (1875 to 1877) I Lullaby II Serenade III Trepak IV The Field Marshal INTERVAL c.8.05pm for 20 minutes

IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882 to 1971) The Firebird (Suite 1945) (1910 / 1945) Introduction - Prelude and Dance of the Firebird Variations (Firebird) - Pantomime I Pas de Deux (Firebird & Ivan Tsarevitsch - Pantomime II Scherzo (Dance of the Princesses) - Pantomime III Rondo (Chorovod) Infernal Dance Berceuse Final Hymn

FINISH c.9.00pm Further details of the remainder of this season, and what lies ahead, can be found on page three of this brochure.

Brigantes Orchestra Season 2025/26 Highlights:

FRANCE | L’ARLÉSIENNE

THE NORDICS | NORTHERN LIGHTS

FROM RUSSIA

James Mitchell - Organ

Tim Horton - Piano

Wibe-Pier Cnossen - Baritone

Friday, 17 October 2025, 7.30pm

Saturday, 29 November 2025, 7.30pm

Friday, 23, January 2026, 7.30pm

Sheffield Cathedral

Georges Bizet L'Arlésienne (extracts)

Jón Leifs Hinsta kveðja (Elegy for Strings)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet

Maurice Ravel Boléro

Edvard Grieg Piano Concerto in a

Modest Mussorgsky Songs and Dances of Death

Camille Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3, Organ

Jean Sibelius Symphony No. 3 in C

Igor Stravinsky The Firebird Suite (1945)

GERMANY | REFORMATION

BRITAIN | PROMS FESTIVAL

USA | INDEPENDENCE DAY

Saturday, 21 March 2026, 7.30pm

Saturday, 16 May 2026, 7.30pm

Saturday, 20 June 2026, 7.30pm

Sheffield Cathedral

JS Bach / Joachim Raff Chaconne in d

Gustav Holst The Planets

including

Richard Wagner Prelude and Music from Parsifal JS Bach / Anton Webern Ricercare Felix Mendelssohn Symphony No. 5, Reformation

a second half including all the traditions of The Last Night of the Proms: Henry Wood Fantasia on British Sea Songs Thomas Arne Rule Britannia Edward Elgar Pomp and Circumstance No. 1

Leonard Bernstein Overture, Candide George Gershwin Concerto in F George Gershwin Overture, Girl Crazy Aaron Copland Rodeo

Programme Note: Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture

23 JANUARY 2026

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 to 1893) Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture (1870 / 1872 / 1880) Tchaikovsky’s music is often characterised by an

The choice of Shakespeare’s tragedy proved particularly

unusually direct emotional candour. Few composers of

significant for Tchaikovsky. Throughout his career he was

the nineteenth century were willing to expose such

drawn to narratives of doomed love, psychological

extremes of vulnerability, passion, and despair so openly,

conflict, and inexorable fate: subjects that also occupied

and fewer still could do so while maintaining a strong

him in his personal life. Unlike many programmatic

sense of formal control. Tchaikovsky stood at a

composers, however, Tchaikovsky was less interested in

crossroads between Western European symphonic

pictorial detail than in emotional truth. In Romeo and Juliet

tradition and a distinctly Russian expressive instinct.

he does not illustrate individual characters or events so

Trained at the St Petersburg Conservatory, he possessed

much as explore the elemental forces at work: love,

a rigorous command of harmony, counterpoint, and

hatred, fate, and loss. This approach allowed him to avoid

large-scale form, yet his musical language was driven by

mere musical storytelling and instead create a work with

melody above all else. This combination of technical

genuine symphonic momentum.

discipline and emotional immediacy lies at the heart of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

his most successful works, and Romeo and Juliet

The work exists in three distinct stages, usually described

represents one of the earliest and clearest manifesta-

as two principal versions with an intermediate revision.

tions of that synthesis.

The original 1870 version, premiered in Moscow, was not well received. Critics found it episodic and uneven, and

The Fantasy Overture occupies a crucial place in

Tchaikovsky himself soon recognised its shortcomings. In

Tchaikovsky’s artistic development, marking one of the

1872 he undertook a major revision, reshaping the central

first works in which his instinctive lyrical gift and

sections and strengthening the dramatic contrasts. Even

dramatic imagination were successfully harnessed within

so, he remained dissatisfied. Only in 1880 did he produce

a convincing large-scale orchestral form. Composed

the final version, refining the orchestration, clarifying the

initially in 1869 to 1870, the piece emerged at a time

architecture and, most significantly, transforming the love

when Tchaikovsky was still searching for confidence as a

theme into the expansive, unforgettable melody familiar

symphonist, and it owes much of its genesis to the

today. This last version, dedicated to Balakirev, is the one

influence of the composer Mily Balakirev. Balakirev not

that secured the work’s lasting success and, as tonight, is

only encouraged Tchaikovsky to take Shakespeare’s

almost universally performed.

tragedy as his subject (citing his own King Lear Overture as a starting point), but also offered detailed, often

Although labelled an overture, Romeo and Juliet is not a

forceful, suggestions about structure, key relationships,

traditional concert overture, nor does it attempt a literal,

and thematic contrast.

scene-by-scene depiction of Shakespeare’s play. Instead, Tchaikovsky uses a loosely symphonic form to distil the

1702 Anne

1709 Fortepiano

1719 Robinson Crusoe

1723 Vivaldi Four Seasons

1727 George II

1741 Handel 1736 Messiah Sea Clock

1750 Tom Jones

baroque period classical period

1772 MOZART Symphony 1760 1764 George III Spinning Jenny 18 in F

Programme Note: Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture 5

thebrigantes.uk drama into a small number of highly contrasted musical

The conflict music is restless and unstable, repeatedly

ideas, each representing a fundamental element of the

forcing its way to the foreground throughout the piece.

OVERTURE: Originally a French

Against this backdrop emerges the work’s emotional

overture developed in the C17th as

The opening chorale, associated with Friar Laurence, is a

centre: the love theme. Introduced quietly by muted

an instrumental introduction to an

telling example of Tchaikovsky’s broader musical thinking.

violas and cor anglais (alto oboe), it unfolds in long,

Its restrained pacing, modal colouring, and dark orchestral

arching phrases of extraordinary tenderness. Unlike the

followed a formal pattern of a slow,

timbre evokes a sense of spiritual gravity and inevitability,

heroic or triumphant love themes of many nineteenth-

stately opening followed by a faster

anticipating the composer’s later fascination with fate-like

century works, this melody is initially deeply innocent

ideas. This solemn material does not dominate the piece,

and vulnerable, suffused with longing and fragility, and

but it frames it, reminding the listener that the tragedy

then, following further skirmishes between the warring

unfolds within a moral and philosophical context larger

families, with great passion and urgency.

tragedy.

term meaning an “opening”, the

opera or ballet. Early examples,

section. In the C18th the form became more flexible and increasingly symphonic. By the C19th, composers expanded the concept into the concert overture: a

than the lovers themselves. Such framing devices would recur throughout Tchaikovsky’s output, most notably in

The final section represents the tragic resolution. After

the symphonies, where introductory or recurring motifs

a devastating climax, the love theme returns

often suggest an external force acting upon the narrative.

transformed, now slower, hushed, and elegiac. Its once

self-contained piece, often descriptive or dramatic, and intended for the concert hall rather than the stage.

soaring contours are weighed with grief, suggesting the Equally characteristic is the handling of contrast.

lovers’ deaths and the cost of the feud. In the closing

Tchaikovsky was a master of juxtaposition: violent energy

pages, echoes of the Friar Laurence theme and sombre

against lyrical tenderness, public conflict against private

brass chords convey a sense of hard-won reconciliation

intimacy. In the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, the

and quiet resignation rather than overt triumph.

brutality of the feud music gains its full power precisely because it is set against the vulnerability of the love

The influence of Romeo and Juliet on Tchaikovsky’s

theme. The sudden shifts between these worlds,

later music is profound and far-reaching. The expansive

sometimes abrupt, sometimes ominously gradual, reflect

love theme establishes a model for the great lyrical

Tchaikovsky’s instinctive understanding of drama. These

melodies of his maturity, from the slow movements of

contrasts would later become a defining feature of his

the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies to the tragic intensity

ballets, where sharply differentiated musical worlds

of Francesca da Rimini and the opera Eugene Onegin.

coexist within a single narrative arc. Its success encouraged him to pursue an increasingly The feud appears shortly after Friar Laurence’s introduc-

honest and direct musical language, unafraid of

tion. The music becomes fiercely rhythmic and harmoni-

intensity or vulnerability. In this sense, the fantasy

cally abrasive, with driving string figures, aggressive brass

overture is not merely an early masterpiece, but a

interjections, and sharply accented percussion: surely the

foundational work, one that shaped the expressive

sound of steel on steel? Rather than portraying a specific

trajectory of his entire career and laid the groundwork

fight, Tchaikovsky conveys the atmosphere of un-

for the music by which he is most deeply remembered.

restrained hostility and generational hatred.

1776 Declaration of Independence classical period

1789 URANIUM DISCOVERED

1794 haydn clock symphony

1801 Beethoven moonlight sonata

1800

1816 Rossini Barber of Seville 1813 Pride and Prejudice

romantic period classical period

1833 mendelssohn italian 1829 symphony 1837 Braille Victoria

Programme Note: Mussorgsky - Songs and Dances of Death

23 JANUARY 2026

Modest Mussorgsky (1839 to 1881) Songs and Dances of Death (1875 to 1877) 1 2 3 4

roughness. His harmonic language can feel blunt, even

LULLABY SERENADE TREPAK THE FIELD MARSHAL

primitive, but it is never careless: it is shaped to the inflections of Russian speech and to psychological immediacy. This uncompromising stance, coupled with personal instability and chronic alcoholism, contributed

Among the composers of nineteenth-century Russia,

to a career marked by unfinished works, financial

Modest Mussorgsky is possibly the most uncompromis-

hardship and early death at the age of forty-two. Yet the

ingly individual. He distrusted academic polish, distrusted

intensity of his finest music, Boris Godunov, Pictures at

inherited Western forms, and pursued instead a stark,

an Exhibition, Night on Bald Mountain and Songs and

often unsettling expression: music that speaks in the

Dances of Death, has ensured his central place in the

rhythms of real speech, that exposes rather than

canon.

beautifies human weakness, and that confronts life’s

Modest Mussorgsky (c.1865)

darkest certainties without consolation. Songs and

The four songs that make up the cycle were composed

Dances of Death stands as perhaps the most concentrat-

between 1875 and 1877 to poems by Mussorgsky’s

ed expression of that outlook. A work in which Death itself

friend Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov. At the time,

becomes the dramatic protagonist.

Mussorgsky was increasingly isolated, his reputation uncertain and his personal circumstances deteriorating.

Born in 1839 into a landowning family, Mussorgsky was

The choice of subject, death not as an abstract idea but

initially destined for a military career, serving as an officer

as a speaking, acting presence, reflects both the Russian

in the Preobrazhensky Guards. Music was at first a hobby

fascination with mortality and Mussorgsky’s own bleak

rather than a profession, but his association with the

self-awareness.

circle later known as The Five - Balakirev, Cui, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Mussorgsky himself - encouraged a

Unlike the salon song or the lyrical romance, these

decisive turn towards composition. United by a desire to

settings are miniature music dramas. The orchestral part

create a distinctly Russian art music, these composers

is not accompaniment in the traditional sense but an

rejected conservatoire orthodoxy and Western formalism

equal partner, often assuming a theatrical role. The vocal

in favour of national history, folklore and language.

line follows speech rhythms with uncanny precision,

Mussorgsky carried this aesthetic further than any of his

while the harmony frequently undermines any sense of

colleagues. Where Rimsky-Korsakov refined and

tonal security. Death, in these songs, is neither moral

systematised, Mussorgsky deliberately embraced

allegory nor religious symbol: it is intimate, persuasive, mocking, seductive and, at times, terrifyingly gentle.

1846 Saxophone

1855 Colour Photography

1860 GREAT EXPECTATIONS

1869 DNA

1873 BRAHMS HAYDN VARIATIONS

1880 TCHAIKOVSKY ROMEO and JULIET

1886 motor car

1895 THE Time Machine

1905 DEBUSSY LA MER

1900 romantic period

romantic period

1877 MUSSORGSKY SONGS AND DANCES

20th/21st century

Programme Note: Mussorgsky - Songs and Dances of Death

thebrigantes.uk What distinguishes Songs and Dances of Death is the

The third song, Trepak, shifts the setting to a frozen

way Death becomes a shapeshifter, assuming different

Russian landscape. A drunken peasant collapses in a

identities, even genders, in each song. Mussorgsky

snowstorm, and Death appears as a fellow reveller,

does not portray a single grim reaper figure, but a

inviting him to dance the trepak, a wild folk dance, until

series of encounters in which Death adapts its manner

he is warm again. This is Death as trickster and

to its victim (for victims they certainly are). This

companion, exploiting exhaustion and alcohol rather

dramatic strategy aligns the cycle with operatic

than fear. The music whirls with grotesque energy,

scene-writing rather than with the introspective Lied

driven by folk-dance rhythms that gradually falter. As

tradition.

the peasant succumbs, Death gently covers him with

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Listen to: Antonio Pappano conducting the Saint Cecilia Orchestra playing the original version of Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain

snow “like goose-down.” Once again, the final gesture The cycle opens with Lullaby, one of Mussorgsky’s most

is one of false kindness. Mussorgsky allows the dance

chilling creations. A mother rocks her feverish child

to exhaust itself, so that death feels not imposed but

through the night, exhausted and desperate. Gradually,

inevitable.

another voice enters: Death, crooning softly, promising rest and peace. In a striking and deeply unsettling

The cycle culminates in The Field Marshal, the most

decision, Death adopts the soothing language and

overtly political and monumental of the four songs.

gestures associated with maternal care. Musically, the

Here Death strides across a battlefield after a

orchestra rocks in a hypnotic cradle-motion, while the

massacre, she surveys the corpses and proclaims

vocal line slips almost imperceptibly from the mother’s

victory. No disguise is needed: Death appears in

anxious murmuring to Death’s seductive whisper. There

military regalia and takes dominion over the fallen.

is no violent rupture; the child simply slips away. The

Musically, this song is the most declamatory and

horror lies precisely in the tenderness of the act. Death

symphonic with martial fanfares and grim processions.

does not conquer: it consoles.

Death is no longer intimate or seductive but imperial, an embodiment of war’s indifference to individual

In Serenade, Death becomes a lover. Outside a sick

suffering. The final bars do not mourn the dead: they

young woman’s window, it sings a mock-romantic song,

glorify conquest, leaving the listener deeply unsettled.

parodying the conventions of the nocturnal serenade. The atmosphere is languorous, sensuous, even alluring.

Songs and Dances of Death is not a meditation on

Mussorgsky exposes the cruelty beneath romantic

mortality in the abstract but a sequence of encounters,

cliché: Death courts patiently, knowing that resistance

personal, social and political, in which Death adapts

will fail. Here the orchestra imitates a plucked guitar,

itself to human vulnerability. Mussorgsky refuses to

evoking a traditional love song, while the vocal line,

sentimentalise or moralise these encounters. Death is

lilting in six beats a bar, oozes false charm. When Death

not punished, redeemed or transcended: it simply

finally claims her, the music hardens briefly before

speaks, sings and acts. In giving Death a voice

sinking into stillness. The implication is brutal: desire

Mussorgsky confronts the listener with an uncomforta-

itself becomes a pathway to annihilation.

ble truth, that death often arrives not as terror, but in familiarity.

1910 George V

1916 holst the planets romantic period

1924 Television

1939 Murder is easy

1946 britten rape of lucretia

1959 Goldfinger 20th/21st century

20th/21st century

1910 STRAVINSKY 1914/18 WWI FIREBIRD

1956 Video 1952 Tape Elizabeth II

1939/45 WWII

1971 1973 Floppy First Disk Mobile Call

Programme Note: Mussorgsky - Songs and Dances of Death (Translations)

23 JANUARY 2026

LULLABY

SERENADE

Lie down, rest and sleep, my friend, and I will

A child moans, a candle burns low and casts a dim

The magical languor, the blue of night, the trembling

warm you with a covering of snow. I’ll start a fine

flicker. All through the night, her cradle rocking, the

twilight of spring... The invalid listens, hanging her

game around you. Shake up his bed, swan‐like

mother has not slept.

head, to the whisper of night’s silent words. Her

snow and start up a song, wild weather, a song

eyes, wide and burning, are not closed in sleep.

to last the whole night through so that this

Life’s joys still call to her.

drunkard can sink to sleep to its strains. Forests,

Early in the morning, gently at the door, Death,

heavens and clouds, darkness, breeze and

the compassionate knocks. The mother gives a start and looks around in fear...

Under her window in the silence of midnight, Death

sweeping snow, wrap him in a shroud of softest

sings a soft serenade: “In the gloom of your prison,

snow, and like a babe I’ll shelter him.

"Don't be frightened, my dear! Pale morning

your youth is fading. But I, your unknown knight,

already looks in your window. With crying and

can set you free. Rise, look at yourself. Your face

Sleep, my friend, my happy peasant, summer has

anguish you have tired yourself. Sleep and let me

shines in radiance, your cheeks are rosy, your

come, and all is in bloom! Over the corn fields

sit with him. You've failed to pacify him, but I will

rippling tresses veil your form like a cloud.

the sun is smiling and the scythes are swinging. The song rises up, and the doves are flying..."

sing sweeter than you...”

Your blue eyes are brighter than the sky, your hot breath blows over me. You have seduced me, my

THE FIELD MARSHAL

love. Your ear is captivated by my soft serenade.

The battle thunders, armour flashes, and bronze

Your whispered words summoned me. Your knight

cannons roar. The regiments charge, horses rush

"Come now, he will soon listen to me... lullaby,

has come for his reward: the hour of rapture is

by and red rivers of blood flow. Noon burns

lullaby, lullaby..."

near. Your body is tender, your trembling beguiling.

fiercely and the people fight on. When the sun

I will hold you tight, clasp you in a strong embrace.

has sunk low, the battle still rages. Sunset pales

"Quiet! My child struggles. It torments my soul."

and still they fight on, furious and savage.

"His cheeks are pale, his breath is failing... Be silent, I beg you!"

Listen! Be still. You are mine...”

"This is good, his suffering will end... lullaby..."

TREPAK

legions disperse... All is quiet, and in the

In the forest not a soul is in sight... The blizzard

darkness of night, groans rise towards the sky.

Night falls on the field of battle. In the gloom the

"Be gone, you damned thing! With your tenderness

wails and howls: it feels as if, in the gloom of the

you'll kill my joy!"

night, the cruel snow is burying some poor man.

"No. A peaceful sleep will come for your baby...

Look - so it is! In the darkness, a peasant is

the pale light, comes the figure of Death. And in

lullaby, lullaby...”

embraced and caressed by Death; he dances a

the quiet, she hears the groans and prayers, and

Trepak with a drunkard and sings him a sweet song:

filled with pride and satisfaction, like a warrior

Then, illuminated by the light of the moon, astride her battle horse, white bones gleaming in

chief, she circles around the place of battle. She

"Have pity, please. Pause a moment and do not “Poor peasant, you wretched old man, you have

climbs a hill and views the scene. She smiles...

drunk yourself into a stupor and wandered astray;

And over the plain of battle a voice of doom is

"See now, my quiet singing has sent him to sleep...

It drove you from the glades to the dense forest,

heard: "The fight is ended! I have conquered all!”

lullaby, lullaby, lullaby...”

and has made you weary with sorrow and grief.

finish your song.”

1976 1997 GOrecki Harry 1989 Symphony of Potter 1982 Sorrowful The Color World Wide 1994 Philosopher’s Web Songs Friends Stone Purple

2000

2007 iPhone

2011 Fifty Shades of Grey

2016 2020 Ades Licensed Exterminating Covid Angel Vaccine

2023 Charles III 20th/21st century

Programme Note: Stravinsky - The Firebird (Suite 1945)

thebrigantes.uk

Igor Stravinsky (1882 to 1971) The Firebird (Suite 1945) (1910 / 1945) 1

INTRODUCTION PRELUDE AND DANCE OF THE FIREBIRD VARIATIONS (FIREBIRD) PANTOMIME I PAS DE DEUX (FIREBIRD AND IVAN TSAREVITSCH) PANTOMIME II SCHERZO (DANCE OF THE PRINCESSES) PANTOMIME III RONDO (CHOROVOD) INFERNAL DANCE BERCEUSE FINAL HYMN

When Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird was first performed in transformative. A 27-year-old composer known only within a small Russian circle suddenly found himself propelled onto the international stage, his name associated with one of the most dazzling artistic successes of the early twentieth century. The Firebird did not only introduce Stravinsky to the world: it announced the arrival of a new musical voice at the heart of a cultural moment in which ballet, music, and visual art were being radically reimagined. At the same time, it stands as a work poised delicately between inheritance and innovation, drawing deeply on the traditions of Russian music while already pointing towards the stylistic revolutions that would soon follow. Stravinsky was born in 1882 near St Petersburg into a household steeped in music. His father was a celebrated operatic bass at the Mariinsky Theatre, and from an early age Stravinsky absorbed the sound world of Russian opera and orchestral music. Despite this background, his path to composition was not straightforward. He initially pursued legal studies, only gradually committing himself fully to music. His decisive, formative influence was Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, under whom he studied privately.

overstated: from him Stravinsky learned the art of orchestration at its most vivid and imaginative, along with a harmonic language rich in colour, exotic inflection, and narrative suggestion. The glowing instrumental palette, the sharply characterised timbres, and the ability to suggest fantasy and menace through sound all reflect this inheritance. The opportunity that brought these skills into full public view came through Sergei Diaghilev and his revolutionary Ballets Russes. Diaghilev’s ambition was to present Russian culture to Western Europe as something both authentically national and thrillingly modern. His Paris seasons combined choreography, music, and visual design into a single theatrical vision, drawing on folk material, vivid colour, and striking imagery. After hearing some of

Igor Stravinsky

Paris in June 1910, its impact was immediate and

Rimsky-Korsakov’s importance to The Firebird cannot be

Stravinsky’s early orchestral works, Diaghilev entrusted him with a full ballet score based on Russian fairy tales. The result was The Firebird, choreographed by Michel

ORCHESTRATION: the act of

Fokine and staged with spectacular sets and costumes

deciding which instruments of the

that matched the music’s brilliance. The story weaves together several strands of Russian folklore. At its centre stands the Firebird herself, a magical creature whose glowing feathers promise both wonder

orchestra should play a given section of music. This implies that, usually, the composer has already written the music in short-score - a few lines of melody and harmony which is often playable on a

and danger. Prince Ivan wanders into the domain of the

keyboard instrument. After this, the

evil sorcerer Kashchei, encounters the Firebird, spares her

short-score is distributed amongst

life, and receives in return a magic feather. He meets

combinations of whichever

thirteen princesses held captive by Kashchei, falls in love

instruments are available. In

with one of them, confronts Kashchei and his monstrous

Stravinsky’s case, eight woodwind

followers, and ultimately, with the Firebird’s help, destroys

players, piano and harp, percussion,

Kashchei’s source of immortality and frees the enchanted realm. This narrative provided Stravinsky with an ideal framework for sharply contrasted musical worlds: glittering brilliance and nocturnal lyricism, grotesque violence and radiant triumph.

ten brass instruments (including horns), and a string section.

Programme Note: Stravinsky - The Firebird (Suite 1945)

FURTHER LISTENING Paavo Järvi conducts the NHK Symphony in Stravinsky The Rite of Spring

23 JANUARY 2026

From its opening bars, The Firebird reveals Stravinsky’s

Dramatically, it captures a moment of temporary freedom:

extraordinary sense of atmosphere. The introduction

the princesses are allowed to dance and roam, but only

establishes Kashchei’s realm through dark, low-lying

within strict limits and under constant threat.

sonorities, chromatic harmonies, and a sense of uneasy suspension. Rather than narrating specific actions, the

In the context of the concert suite, the Princesses’ Scherzo

music conjures a place: dangerous, magical, and

does not advance the narrative in any literal sense. Ivan’s

unstable. Against this shadowy backdrop, the Firebird’s

encounters with the princesses, his growing emotional

appearance bursts forth in scintillating colour. Rapid

connection, and the broader implications of this meeting

figures, brilliant orchestration, and nervous rhythmic

are all implied rather than depicted. Instead, the scherzo

energy depict a creature of perpetual motion, elusive and

functions as a character study and a moment of contrast,

dazzling. Even without seeing the stage, listeners can

illuminating the human presence within an otherwise

sense her flickering presence.

enchanted landscape.

One of the most striking features of the score is

A radically different sound world emerges with the Round

Stravinsky’s ability to delineate character through

Dance of the Princesses. Here Stravinsky draws on

orchestral colour alone. The Firebird’s music is sharp,

folk-like melodies, modal harmony, and transparent

virtuosic, and incandescent - frequently featuring the

textures to create music of great simplicity and tender-

flutes, while Prince Ivan (a French horn) is associated with

ness. This nocturnal dance is among the most self-

more grounded, human lyricism. The Firebird’s supplica-

contained and lyrical sections of the ballet, and it plays a

tion, following her capture, introduces a moment of

central role in all the concert suites. The music suggests

expressive stillness: sinuous melodic lines and warm

innocence and longing rather than action: Ivan’s

harmonies suggest vulnerability and persuasion. The

encounter with the princesses and the beginnings of love

crucial narrative act, Ivan’s decision to spare her and the

are implied rather than narrated, leaving the listener to

subsequent gift of a magic feather, is not explicitly

infer the drama.

depicted in musical terms, but the emotional logic is clear.

The violence of Kashchei’s realm erupts most memorably in the Infernal Dance. This is music of ferocious rhythmic

There follows the Princesses’ Scherzo. In the original

drive, jagged accents, and biting dissonance. Even at its

ballet, this music accompanies the princesses’ playful

1910 premiere, audiences sensed that something new was

movement in Kashchei’s garden, and Stravinsky

happening here: rhythm itself becomes the primary

characterises them not through lyrical expansion or overt

expressive force, pushing beyond the conventions of late

folk song, but through lightness, agility, and quicksilver

Romantic ballet music. The Infernal Dance foreshadows

motion. The scherzo’s rhythmic profile is alert and

the rhythmic radicalism that would soon reach its extreme

springy, its phrases short and deftly articulated, creating a

in The Rite of Spring only three years later.

sense of nervous energy rather than carefree abandon. In the complete ballet, the Infernal Dance is preceded by a Orchestrally, the texture is notably transparent and airy -

substantial dramatic build-up: Kashchei’s appearance, his

the bass instruments barely feature - and Stravinsky

confrontation with Ivan, and the summoning of his

favours woodwind exchanges, lightly accented strings,

monstrous followers. In the concert suites, including the

and crisp rhythmic gestures, avoiding both the shimmer-

1945 version performed tonight, this entire narrative

ing brilliance associated with the Firebird and the

preparation is omitted. The music plunges directly into the

weightier sonorities that define Kashchei’s world.

dance itself, assuming that the listener understands the

Programme Note: Stravinsky - The Firebird (Suite 1945)

thebrigantes.uk dramatic context. This compression is typical of Stravin-

engagement with the afterlife of his compositions and his

sky’s later treatment of his ballet scores for the concert

willingness to reshape them for new circumstances.

hall. The Firebird occupies a unique position in Stravinsky’s

BITONAL: two contrasting keys played at the same time - a precursor to music with no key (atonal).

The Firebird’s Berceuse (Lullaby) provides the emotional

output. It is the first of the three great ballets he wrote for

counterweight to this violence. Gently rocking, hypnotic,

Diaghilev, followed by Petrushka and The Rite of Spring.

stamping chords which sound at

and subdued, it depicts the magical lullaby that sends

Together, these works chart one of the most astonishing

around three minutes into the work

Kashchei and his followers into an enchanted sleep. What

artistic evolutions in Western music. The Firebird still

it does not depict is equally important: the key narrative

inhabits the world of late Romanticism, albeit intensified

mechanism of Kashchei’s defeat. In the ballet, Ivan learns

and refracted through Stravinsky’s distinctive voice.

that Kashchei’s immortality is bound to a hidden egg,

Petrushka introduces sharper satire, bitonality, and a

which he destroys. None of this action appears in the

more fragmented approach to musical form. The Rite of

suite. The Berceuse prepares the listener emotionally for

Spring shatters traditional harmony and metre altogether,

resolution, but the decisive act itself happens offstage.

redefining the expressive possibilities of rhythm and orchestral sound.

The Finale unfolds as a symbolic rather than narrative conclusion. Beginning quietly with a noble horn melody

Without The Firebird, the later revolutions would have

depicting sunrise, it builds inexorably towards a blazing

been unthinkable. Its success established Stravinsky as a

orchestral apotheosis. This is not a literal depiction of

central figure in European modernism and gave him the

Kashchei’s destruction or the physical transformation of

platform from which to take increasingly radical risks. At

his realm; rather, it represents restoration, liberation, and

the same time, it preserves a vivid connection to the

renewal. The effect is ceremonial and affirmative, a

Russian tradition from which it emerged. Stravinsky never

triumphant, radiant close.

disavowed his debts to Rimsky-Korsakov and other Russian composers, such as Mussorgsky, and Tchaikovsky.

Stravinsky returned to The Firebird repeatedly during his

In The Firebird, those influences are worn openly, yet

career, extracting concert suites in 1911, 1919, and finally

already transformed by a personal sense of drama,

1945. The 1945 suite belongs firmly to the tradition of

pacing, and colour that is unmistakably Stravinskian.

post-war streamlining rather than to the luxuriant orchestral opulence of the original 1910 ballet. Its

More than a century after its premiere, the piece

orchestration is greatly reduced relative to the full score,

continues to captivate audiences. Part of its appeal lies in

designed for practical concert performance, yet it is more

its sheer orchestral brilliance and narrative clarity, but its

expansive in content than the 1919 suite, incorporating

deeper fascination comes from its position at a historical

additional pantomime music and a substantial pas de

crossroads. It is both a culmination of the Russian

deux.

orchestral fairy-tale tradition and the opening chapter of a new musical modernism. Heard in the concert hall

The circumstances of the 1945 revision were not purely

through the lens of the 1945 suite, it invites listeners not

artistic. By this time Stravinsky was living in the United

only into a world of magic and myth, but into the moment

States and had recently become an American citizen. The

when one of the twentieth century’s defining musical

creation of a revised suite also served to refresh the

voices first took flight.

work’s copyright status in the United States, a reminder that Stravinsky was acutely aware of the legal and commercial realities surrounding his music. Far from diminishing the work, this context highlights his pragmatic

Famously, in The Rite of Spring, the

(Dances of the Young Girls) are a combination of the keys of E-flat dominant seventh (E-flat, G, B-flat and D-flat) and E major (E, G-sharp and B).

Article: A Tale of Two Russias

23 JANUARY 2026

Brigantes Beginners A Tale of Two Russias

“Poverty inspires invention...” Traditional Russian proverb

From Aristocratic Salons to Animal Farm… a Tale

and pride flourished. A rich oral culture evolved to

of Two Russias

include folk songs, laments, ritual dances, epic tales, and religious chants which were passed down through

Defense of Petrograd - Aleksandr Deyneka (1928)

BRIGANTES BEGINNERS by Anthony Hart

If you don’t know much about classical music, coming to a concert can be intimidating. If that’s you, you’re not alone. This section, along with the timeline in the programme, gives essential information about the pieces, composers, and their historical and social context, and will help you understand what’s going on!

When we consider Russia, we may naturally turn to our

generations. The grand sweep of their dramatic lives and

history lessons and to the political events of the last

struggles permeated their culture.

hundred years. In doing so, we constrain our thoughts to the period after the Bolshevik revolution in 1917: images

Rather like in other European countries, the aristocracy

of statues of Lenin, Stalin’s purges, grey apartment

were patrons and voracious devourers of art but, apart

blocks, ration queues, propaganda posters, the Berlin

from a few like Tolstoy, did not have the talent, wit, or

Wall, and many nefarious James Bond villains may spring

motivation to create it for themselves. As an educated

to mind. Russia becomes equated with the Soviet Union:

middle class began to take shape, it was from these

austere, uniform, authoritarian, suspicious, colourless,

doctors, civil servants, teachers, military and others that

joyless, and grim.

a Russian art and voice developed. The Russian intelligentsia were in a perfect confluence to blend these

However, what about the decadence, vibrant colours,

factors: they had access to education and European art

music, and art of the Russian Empire? At the time, it was

and culture, but they also saw the grinding inequality of

one of the most vibrant and extravagant cultures in

Russian society. It is no coincidence that Tchaikovsky,

Europe. Opera houses rivalled those of Paris and Vienna.

Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Rachmaninoff,

Ballet reached levels of refinement unmatched anywhere

Prokofiev, and Stravinsky all came from this middle

else. Salons in aristocratic houses buzzed with music,

ground. They took the long melodies of Russian folk

literature, debate, and performance. Conservatoires

music, the depth and gravity of Orthodox chant, the

trained musicians of extraordinary calibre, and a musical

vastness of the Russian landscape, and fused these with

voice developed that was so distinctively Russian it can

European technique and training.

be recognised within a few bars. This voice did not arise by accident.

One of the most famous composers was Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who wrote music of great tenderness and

Of course, not all Russian life was like this: like Dickens’

violence, despair and ecstasy, intimacy and grandeur.

London, it was a tale of two populations who never met.

His Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture is clearly

On one side were the aristocracy who spoke French at

influenced by Shakespeare’s tragedy, but its opening

home, travelled widely, read European literature,

evokes religious solemnity, before blossoming into a vast

attended the opera, and commissioned art and music as

love theme of unbroken, consuming longing. The theme

symbols of taste and power. On the other side were the

has become so ubiquitous that it can appear ‘cheesy’

vast majority: peasants, who worked hard, scraped a

now, having been used in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,

living, whilst surviving and dying in desolate conditions.

Wayne’s World, South Park, and even Sesame Street to

Many were serfs, tied to estates, unable to move freely,

indicate overwrought and ridiculous love. However, at its

and largely excluded from formal education. Literacy was

heart, it reflects the melodramatic, but genuine, passion

rare. Life expectancy was short. Hardship was constant.

of Russian teenage love.

But it was in these conditions that resilience, character,

Article: A Tale of Two Russias

thebrigantes.uk In contrast, Modest Mussorgsky rejected refinement in

ideology. Many composers left the country including

favour of truth. He believed that music should speak

Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky and Prokofiev. Roslavets,

directly, even brutally, to all aspects of human experi-

Mosolov, and Popov were silenced, exiled, or imprisoned.

ence. Nowhere is this clearer than in Songs and Dances

Some were executed. Entire bodies of work were

of Death. Death appears as an intimate presence:

destroyed or hidden. In the twentieth century, the master

comforting a dying child, seducing an invalided young

of survival was Dmitri Shostakovich. You might expect

woman, mocking a freezing drunkard, or claiming

him to capitulate with the government but, in fact, he

soldiers killed on a battlefield. For the peasants, Death

was silently, discreetly revolutionary. Within his music, he

was an unwelcome visitor in their lives, turning up

wrote in code and with sarcasm. Triumph masked

uninvited all too frequently. The music is stark and

despair, marches became grotesque, and irony replaced

unflinching. It is not written for glittering salons but

direct protest. His symphonies contained layers of

belongs to villages, hospitals, and war.

meaning: one for the authorities, another for those who knew how to listen. He was denounced several times and

By the turn of the twentieth century, Russian music was

forced to apologise, but he never acquiesced.

ready to explode beyond Romanticism. Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird draws on Russian folklore: enchanted birds, evil

With time, there was a thawing in control, and relation-

sorcerers, and heroic princes. The Firebird dazzles with

ships with Europe strengthened. Underground art began

shimmering textures, savage rhythms, and moments of

to flourish, and Western artists, like Paul McCartney and

eerie stillness. A few years later, Stravinsky would

Elton John, were invited in. A McDonald’s opened in

compose The Rite of Spring, a ballet so shocking that it

Moscow in 1990, although we can argue about whether

nearly caused a riot at its premiere in Paris. The music

or not that was truly a sign of cultural growth! In more

was violent, with irregular rhythms and clashing

recent years, it appears that things have moved

harmonies, which must have felt like a cultural

backwards, and Russia is again ostracised following the

earthquake. The story did not dwell on love or fairy tales,

invasion of Ukraine. There are, of course, many reasons

but presented a Slavic pagan ritual in which a young

why groups choose not to play Russian music, but the

woman was chosen to dance herself to death to ensure

current situation is not the fault of the composers or the

the earth’s fertility. It suggested humans could be driven

ordinary Russian people. It is possible to celebrate what

more by instinct and violence than reason and beauty,

the old Russia achieved, whilst simultaneously standing

that civilisation was dependent on ritual, coercion, and

alongside the people of Ukraine.

sacrifice, and that the individual could be crushed by the collective.

Tolstoy once said, “It is sad, yet joyful, on a silent summer’s night, in a voiceless wood, to hear a Russian

As the French Revolution was associated with growing

song. Here we find unlimited sadness without hope. Here,

inequality, unrest amongst the lower classes, and the rise

also is unconquerable strength and the unalterable

of Romanticism, similar forces lay behind the Bolshevik

stamp of Fate; here, also is iron predestination, one of the

revolution. It overthrew more than the political and class

primitive foundations of the Russian national identity,

systems, destroying the entire cultural ecosystem.

through which much can be explained which seemed

Palaces were seized. Aristocracy, including the Tsar and

inexplicable in Russian life.” If the French brought music

his family, were murdered. Conservatoires were purged,

its colour, the Nordic countries brought silence and

and artists associated with the old order were branded

stillness, and Germany and Austria gave music its

enemies of the people. The patrons of art were destroyed

structure and intellect, Russia gave classical music the

and replaced by the political class. By the time of Stalin,

full range of emotional extremes. From ecstasy to the

artistic freedom was suppressed and artists lived in fear.

great depths of despair, Russian music confronts life from

Music was expected to reflect the government’s

the cradle to the grave.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Listen to Andris Nelsons with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conduct Shostakovich Symphonies 5 & 9

Artist Biographies: Wiebe-Pier Cnossen, Baritone & Quentin Clare, Conductor

23 JANUARY 2026

Wiebe-Pier Cnossen Baritone Wiebe-Pier Cnossen is a Dutch baritone whose career spans opera, contemporary music and major concert repertoire. He first trained as a jazz singer at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, before graduating summa cum laude from the New Opera Academy in Amsterdam. His musical development has been shaped by masterclasses and private study with artists including Ian Bostridge, Christina Deutekom, Henk Smit and Robert Dean, and most significantly through his work with the late tenor James McCray

(2013–2018). He is currently coached by Prizrenka Petković McCray and the Italian baritone Simone Alaimo. Cnossen has worked with leading ensembles and companies including the Dutch National Opera, Nationale Reisopera, Holland Opera, BarokOpera Amsterdam, the Hague Philharmonic, ASKO|Schönberg Ensemble and Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. His operatic repertoire includes Figaro and Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), the title roles in Don Giovanni and Macbeth, Giorgio Germont (La traviata), Escamillo (Carmen), Zurga (Les pêcheurs de perles), Alfio (Cavalleria rusticana) and Pizarro (Fidelio). Wiebe-Pier Cnossen

He has appeared in several world premieres of contemporary operas by Chiel Meijering and Klaas de Vries, and performs widely in concert repertoire including Bach’s St Matthew Passion and Haydn’s The Creation. Alongside his performing career, he teaches voice at the Conservatory of Amsterdam.

Quentin Clare Conductor The British conductor Quentin Clare made his professional debut at the age of just 25 when he conducted the Hallé Orchestra in the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. Since then, he has worked with many orchestras in the UK, including the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestra of Opera North and Ensemble 11, as well as having performances broadcast on British and European television and radio. Quentin’s international career has seen him conduct orchestras in Europe, such as the Danish National Symphony, Dutch Radio Philharmonic, Symphony Orchestra of Nancy, and the Nürnberg, Würzburg and Bochum Symphony Orchestras. He is equally experienced in the opera house, working in France, The Netherlands and Germany on productions including Stravinsky's The Rake’s Progress and the French Quentin Clare

premiere of Robert Carsen’s acclaimed production of Richard III by Giorgio Battistelli. Much in demand as an inspirational conductor of young musicians, he has conducted the orchestras at the conservatories in Ghent, Birmingham, Den Haag and Weimar. He has been guest conductor with Young Sinfonia in Newcastle and is music director of The New Mannheim Orchestra and The Brigantes.

The Orchestra

thebrigantes.uk

Brigantes Orchestra On Stage FLUTE / PICCOLO Laura Jellicoe Jennifer Dyson Leila Marshall

TRUMPET Seb Williman Gordon Truman

OBOE Nicola Hands Anna Powell

TROMBONE Christopher Gomersall Nicholas Hudson Garrath Beckwith

COR ANGLAIS Manon Lewis

TUBA William Burton

CLARINET Marianne Rawles Steph Yim

TIMPANI John Watterson

BASSOON Alex Kane Alice Gwynne HORN Richard Lewis Simon Twigge Janus Wadsworth Kelly Haines Jeremy AinsworthMoore

PERCUSSION Aidan Marsden Peter Matthews Simone HerbertMoores HARP Elinor Nicholson PIANO David Dekker

Sheffield’s Pro Orchestra About Us FIRST VIOLIN David Milsom Emily Chaplais Jacob George Elizabeth Dawson Anne Whittaker Sarah Razlin Helen Tonge Clare Pitchford Charley Beresford Michael Walton SECOND VIOLIN Tamaki Hagashi Amanda Gillham Holly-Rayne Bennett Rosie Nicholson Joanne Atherton James Warburton Josh Simms Lucy Thomson

VIOLA Barnaby Adams Jonathan Kightley Ben Kearsley Erin Vinter* Tim Bailey Elizabeth Lundie John Hird Helen Parkes CELLO Gemma Wareham Catherine Strachan Tim Smedley Liling Wang* Greg Morton Douglas Badger John Parsons Adrianne Wininsky DOUBLE BASS Pietro Lusvardi Andrew Monk Matthew Clarkson Imogen Fernando

The Brigantes (Bri-gan-tez) were a collection of Celtic tribes ruled by Queen Cartimandua in 1st-Century Northern England who populated what is now Yorkshire. Literally meaning “high ones”, Brigantes could refer to nobility or to highlanders living on the Pennines or in Hillforts. The Brigantes were cultured, enjoying theatre and music. The name Brigantes was chosen for a new orchestra because it encapsulates location, culture and unity: the idea that an ensemble is, roughly speaking, a tribe of musicians. The Brigantes Orchestra was formed in Sheffield in 2019 in response to the observation that Sheffield did not have a professional symphony orchestra of its own, despite a wealth of local talent. The Brigantes aim to bring highquality orchestral music to the city and surrounding areas, as well as to engage new audiences, those who would not otherwise visit the classical concert hall. This includes a growing population of young musicians in Sheffield’s schools. All photography with thanks to Eduardus Lee

*Erin Vinter (viola) and Liling Wang (cello) are two of five 2025 / 2026 Brigantes Orchestral Fellows from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire playing in this concert as part of the RBC / Brigantes Student Access Programme.

SOCIAL MEDIA

WITH THANKS

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Brigantes Music is a registered charity and as such benefits from the generous time our supporters give for jobs like flyering, marketing and front-of-house. Thank you to: Anthony Hart, Jonny Ingall, David Watkin-Holmes, and to all who have helped today scanning your tickets or making sure you have this programme. .

MADE POSSIBLE BY... The Brigantes Orchestra would like to thank NEURONATAL LTD

BECOME A MEMBER We are pleased to announce new ways you can support the work of The Brigantes Orchestra with a membership programme offering lots of benefits, special offers and exclusive opportunities. These are tiered and, depending on your donation, can include free season tickets, branded Brigantes merchandise (like the polo shirts some of our front-of-house team are wearing, or a framed poster), reductions on tickets for your friends and family, a printed acknowledgement of your support in each programme booklet of the season, free interval drinks at our concerts, opportunities to sit in the orchestra during rehearsals and see the pieces put together, chances to meet the players, invitations to VIP receptions... Further details are available at contact@thebrigantes.uk.

BECOME A VOLUNTEER We are looking for volunteers who would like to be involved in the promotion and development of the orchestra so that it can continue to realise its charitable aims. Those willing to distribute flyers in suitable places in their neighbourhood, add us to local newsletters and social media groups, help with fundraising, or take on some roles in front-of-house should email us at contact@thebrigantes.uk.

CREDITS Programme notes: Anthony Hart & Quentin Clare Photography: Eduardus Lee