Wednesday 6 November 2013 St. John's Smith Square 7.30 pm Hilary Davan Wetton Conductor Laura van der Heijden Cello WARLOCK Capriol Suite ELGAR Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 INTERVAL
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No.5 in D Major
The LMP is funded by the London Borough of Croydon
Members of the audience are reminded that it is prohibited to smoke in the auditorium or take sound recordings or photographs in any part of the performance. Any noises such as whispering, coughing, rustling of sweet papers and the beeping of digital watches are very distracting to the performers and fellow audience members. Please make sure mobile phones or pagers are switched off during the performance. LMP and St. John's, Smith Square are registered charities.
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ORCHESTRA
LONDON MOZART PLAYERS Founded by Harry Blech in 1949 as the UK’s first chamber orchestra, the London Mozart Players (LMP) is regarded as one of the UK’s finest ensembles. Under the leadership of Music Director Gérard Korsten, the orchestra is internationally renowned for its outstanding live performances and CD recordings, and is particularly known for its definitive performances of the core Classical repertoire. The LMP also plays an active part in contemporary music, giving many world premières and commissioning new works, especially by British composers. In recent years, the LMP has premièred new works by composers including Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Tarik O’Regan, Sally Beamish, Cecilia McDowall, Lynne Plowman, and Fraser Trainer. In March 2011 the LMP appointed Roxanna Panufnik as Associate Composer. Since 1989, the LMP’s home has been Fairfield Halls, Croydon, thanks to generous funding from the London Borough of Croydon. This residency includes a series of subscription concerts at the hall and numerous education and community activities throughout the borough. Touring is a major part of the orchestra’s schedule, with regular appearances at festivals and concert series throughout the UK and abroad. It has strong relationships with other major UK venues, including Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton, and is the Orchestra in Residence for Grayshott Concerts. Overseas, the LMP has visited Spain, Belgium, France and Germany. The 2013/14 season marks the fourth year of conductor Gérard Korsten’s term as the LMP’s fifth Music Director, continuing the strong Classical tradition developed by Andrew Parrott, Matthias Bamert and Jane Glover. The season sees the orchestra welcoming back established artists including Anthony Marwood and our Conductor Laureate, Howard Shelley, whilst building new relationships with bright new stars including Mark Simpson and Laura van der Heijden. The LMP also sees its first performances with celebrated pianist Angela Hewitt, as well as acclaimed soprano, Claire Rutter, for the 70th birthday celebrations of LMP Associate Conductor, Hilary Davan Wetton. The LMP’s association with Korsten also continues the introduction of some of the best European soloists to our Fairfield season. www.lmp.org
The LMP has developed an extensive and highly regarded education, community and audience development programme, LMP Interactive, and is particularly committed to developing new audiences in outer London boroughs as well as rural areas across the nation. Its association with the South Holland district in Lincolnshire brings the orchestra into the heart of the Fenland communities. Working with educational institutions also brings inspiring and valued relationships, providing a professional grounding for young musicians; the LMP is associated with Royal Holloway University of London, Wellington College, Wimbledon College, Portsmouth Grammar School and the Whitgift Foundation Schools in Croydon. Recent projects include ‘Sideby-side in Shepshed’ that saw composer and animateur Fraser Trainer work with seven schools in Leicestershire to build a new youth orchestra for the area, which performed alongside the LMP in a family concert. In Croydon, a START project (funded by The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts) included children from primary and special needs schools working together to perform at the LMP’s annual Schools’ Concert in Fairfield Halls. Other ongoing ventures include visiting care homes and concert demonstrations in primary and secondary schools. The LMP receives project funding from Arts Council England, Orchestras Live and South Holland District Council. In addition, the LMP receives grants from trusts, foundations and many individuals, particularly the Friends of the LMP in Croydon. Recording has played a major part in the orchestra’s life for many years. Its acclaimed Contemporaries of Mozart series with Matthias Bamert for Chandos numbers over 20 CDs to date, with the latest release of Boccherini proving a success with the critics. A recording with Canadian pianist Alain Lefèvre of works by Mendelssohn, Shostakovich and Mathieu for Analekta was awarded a Canadian Juno Award. The LMP has an online CD shop: shop.lmp.org. Full details of forthcoming concerts and more information on the orchestra’s activities are available on the LMP website: www.lmp.org.
1st Violins Marieke Blankestijn Victoria Sayles Nicoline Kraamwinkel Ann Criscuolo Martin Smith (Chair supported by Debby Guthrie)
Anna de Bruin Clare Hoffman Charlotte Maclet 2nd Violins David Angel Jayne Spencer Nicola Gleed Marije Ploemacher Stephen Rouse Vernon Dean
Violas Simone Van der Giessen Sophie Renshaw Michael Posner Reiad Chibah
Flutes Robert Manasse Joanna Marsh (Chair supported by Barbara Tower)
(Chair supported by Stuart & Joyce Aston)
Cellos Sebastian Comberti (Chair supported
by Christopher Fildes)
Oboes Gareth Hulse
(Chair supported by Pat Sandry)
Helena Binney
(Chair supported by Valerie Butcher)
Trumpets Paul Archibald Peter Wright
Katie Clemmow
Julia Desbruslais
(Chair supported by Jeanne & Gordon Lees)
Horns Michael Kidd Martin Grainger Richard Lewis Mark Wood
Clarinets Anthony Pike Emma Canavan
Trombones Ian White Jeremy Gough Richard Wall
Daisy Vatalaro (Chair supported by Anonymous)
Basses Stacey Watton
Bassoons Sarah Burnett Robert Porter
Timpani/Percussion Ben Hoffnung
(Chair supported by Louise Honeyman)
Cathy Elliott
(Chair supported by Toby & Eira Jessel)
Richard Price
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By supporting an LMP chair your donation will be directly helping the orchestra, enabling us to perform fantastic concerts and carry out inspirational work in schools and in the community. Please contact Caroline Downing, Development Manager for more information T: 020 8686 1996, E: development@lmp.org
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Hilary Davan Wetton is Associate Conductor of the London Mozart Players and Principal Conductor of the City of London, the Hastings Philharmonic and the Surrey Festival Choirs. One of Britain’s most versatile and dynamic conductors he is also Conductor Emeritus of the Guilford Choral Society and of the Milton Keynes City Orchestra. Hilary performs regularly on Radio 3 and Classic FM. He is particularly associated with British composers and has given many premieres both with the BBC Concert Orchestra and with the Ulster Orchestra. He has recorded several discs of 19th Century British symphonies for Unicorn-Kanchana with the MKCO; his recording of Holst’s Choral Symphony with the GCS was awarded the prestigious Diapason d’Or. His 2010 recording of Finzi’s In Terra Pax reached number two in the Gramophone chart last year. His most recent recording, Beethoven’s Glorreiche Augenblick has just been released to wide critical acclaim. Recent appearances abroad have included Iceland, Bulgaria and the Brahms Requiem in Seattle. Hilary has a particular commitment to young people. He was founder/conductor of the Scottish Schools’ Orchestra, and has been conductor of both
LAURA VAN DER HEIJDEN Cello
the Birmingham Schools and the Edinburgh Youth Orchestras. He has been frequent guest conductor of the National Children’s Orchestra. He was director of music at St. Pauls’ School from 1978–1993 (following Holst and Howells) and at Tonbridge School from 1994–2006. He is visiting Conductor at Wellington College and teaches conducting at the Guildhall School of Music. Having presented Classic FM Masterclasses for four years he was recently Jo Brand’s organ teacher for the BBC1 series Play it Again. Future plans include a gala concert to celebrate his 70th birthday at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls in February 2014, in which he will conduct the LMP, joined by the outstanding soprano, Claire Rutter. Hilary was a pupil of Sir Adrian Boult at the Royal College of Music, where he was awarded the Ricordi Conducting Prize. An alumnus of Brasenose College, Oxford, he has also been awarded honorary degrees by the Open University (MA), de Montfort University (DMUS) and an honorary Fellowship from the Birmingham Conservatoire. www.hilarydavanwetton.co.uk
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“The beauty of Laura van der Heijden’s playing lies in the fact that she has a wonderful expressivity, but never, ever overdoes it, and the pianissimo ending of the concerto was enchanting, ending with just the solo cello, captivating the audience…” (Jane Shuttleworth / Bachtrack / May 2012) At the age of 15, cellist Laura van der Heijden was awarded the title of BBC Young Musician 2012, performing Walton’s Cello Concerto with Kirill Karabits and the Northern Sinfonia at The Sage, Gateshead. Born in England in 1997 as the youngest daughter of a Dutch father and a Swiss mother, Laura’s musical studies started on recorder at the age of four. After learning with Marina Logie on cello, Laura had grade 8 distinctions on both cello and piano by the age of ten. In 2005 Laura joined the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music, where she learns piano with Emily Jeffrey and participates in many ensembles. Since 2008 Laura has been a student of the renowned British-Russian cellist Leonid Gorokhov. They are performing together in the UK and in Germany. In 2010 she won “Erster Preis mit Auszeichnung” (full marks) and a special prize in the final of the Swiss National Youth Music Competition, which led to her performing the Boccherini Cello Concerto in G with the Zurich Kammer Orchestra at the Zurich Tonhalle in January 2011. She was also the 2011 winner of the Marjorie Humby competition at the Royal College of Music, 2011 Beckenham Musician of the Year and 2012 Woking Young Musician of the Year and was awarded the 2012 Director's Prize at RCM Junior Department.
© Sam Trench
HILARY DAVAN WETTON Conductor
Laura's first public performance as a cellist was at the age of 9 with the Jupiter Chamber Orchestra. Since then, she has given many recitals and played with various orchestras. Engagements this season include performances of Walton’s Cello Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Cadogan Hall) and Guernsey Symphony Orchestra. Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Colchester, Worthing and Woking Symphony Orchestras, alongside recitals with Huw Watkins, Alison Rhind and Martin Bartlett. Future engagements include performances of the Elgar concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Royal Festival Hall) and the London Mozart Players, Haydn Concerto in C with the European Union Chamber Orchestra and the London Chamber Orchestra, performances of the Dvorak Concerto with the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra and the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto in A minor with the English Chamber Orchestra. Laura lives in Sussex where she visits her local secondary school (Sackville in East Grinstead) and enjoys as much of a teenage social life as her commitment to music allows for. She plays a 1935 cello by Galileo Arcellaschi. Laura has recently become an Ambassador for the Prince’s Foundation Children & the Arts.
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EDWARD ELGAR (1857 – 1934)
PETER WARLOCK (1894 – 1930)
Capriol Suite Born in the Savoy Hotel as Philip Heseltine, Peter Warlock came from a well-to-do family of stockbrokers, solicitors, and art connoisseurs. At preparatory school his interest in music was awakened through the pianola; his education continued at Eton where his musical interests were encouraged by a sympathetic piano teacher, Colin Taylor. It was Taylor who, in 1911, obtained permission for him to attend a concert of Delius’s music, an event which had a lasting effect on his life. After a few months in Cologne studying German and piano (unsuccessfully), Heseltine entered Oxford in October 1913 to read for a degree in classics. Dissatisfied and unhappy, he left after only one year and for a short while enrolled as a student at the University of London, but this second attempt at a university career was even shorter than his first. He eventually met the composer and critic, Cecil Gray, in London and the two became close friends. Together they planned a number of grandiose schemes to bring about the ‘regeneration’ of music in England. In November 1916 he published his first musical article under the pseudonym, Peter Warlock. Intending to settle in Cornwall, Warlock became alarmed at the possibility of military conscription and fled to Dublin in August 1917. He later retreated to the family home in Wales, but at the beginning of 1925 he settled in Eynsford. It was here that he composed probably his best known piece, the Capriol Suite in 1926. In 1925 Cyril Beaumont published an English translation of Thoinot Arbeau’s Orchésographie (1588), in which the musical illustrations were transcribed by Warlock, who also provided an informative preface on the dance tunes of the period. Warlock’s ‘arrangement’ is original and simple. Although the movements are based closely on Arbeau, the harmony is clearly Warlock, and he is not afraid to add counterpoint, descants and codas. www.lmp.org
Basse Danse - The dance was stately, and the feet were not raised but glided over the floor, hence the name. Warlock follows Arbeau exactly, three melodies, each repeated, followed by a repeat of the first section, though Warlock has a short coda instead of Arbeau’s fourth tune. Each repetition is harmonised and/or orchestrated differently. Pavane - Another stately dance which had taken the place of the basse danse, and was usually followed by the livelier galliard. Arbeau printed this melody in its four-part vocal form, and Warlock, after establishing the dance drum-beat gives this fourpart version almost unaltered. He then repeats it with Arbeau’s tenor as a descant; however, the final phrase is given new harmonies, as if to show there is a new composer present on the scene. Tordion - This started life as the concluding, slighter faster, figure of the basse danse. Warlock speeds up Arbeau’s tune and lightens each repetition to such an extent that the music almost disappears. Bransle - Originally a country round dance this was taken into aristocratic circles, and it was still danced at the court of Charles II. The longest movement in the suite, Warlock uses no fewer than five of Arbeau’s tunes, gradually gathering pace until the music reaches its brilliant cross-rhythm conclusion. Pieds-en-l’air - Only the first phrase appears in Arbeau, developed by Warlock into a wonderfully flowing four-phrase melody, repeated with new harmonies and given a typical slow Warlock final cadence. Mattachins - The first half of the movement sets out one of Arbeau’s variants of the Air des Bouffons. The second half has no melody, being a series of discordant clashes between concentrated bodies of the strings, sounding more like Bartók than any British composer. (Warlock knew Bartók well, and admired his music.) It clearly derives from the fact that this was a sword dance, and presumably very noisy! © Elizabeth Boulton
Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85 I II III IV
Adagio - Moderato Lento- Allegro molto Adagio Allegro ma non troppo
well as third and fourth movements further adds to the unification of the musical form. Even the cadenza is an integral part of the composition, and its structural importance is enhanced by the fact that it is accompanied by the orchestra. © Stefan de Haan
Elgar's Cello Concerto dates from the period which followed the First World War. It was completed in the summer of 1919 at 'Brinkwells' near Fittleworth in Sussex, where Elgar also composed his Piano Quintet. Felix Salmond, the cellist who was to be the soloist in the first performance of the concerto, visited 'Brinkwells' on several occasions to discuss the work with the composer, and to advise him on technical problems in the solo part. The Cello Concerto was first performed in the Queen's Hall, London on 26 October 1919. Elgar conducted the London Symphony Orchestra for the concerto, and Albert Coates directed the other items on the programme. Owing to this arrangement, the rehearsal time allotted to the Concerto was inadequate, and the performance suffered accordingly. However, in later performances the outstanding merits of the work were quickly recognised, and it is now regarded as one of the few great concertos written for the instrument. The musical form of Elgar's Cello Concerto is, like that of Schumann's, based on principal ideas which are linked and occur throughout the work. The Concerto begins with a solo passage in the manner of a recitative which serves as an introduction for the main part of the first movement (Moderato). A fragment of this passage also prepares the Allegro molto following without a break, and it appears again, though modified, just before the finale. In this movement there are other allusions to the themes heard earlier, and the joining of first and second, as www.lmp.org
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872 – 1958)
Symphony No. 5 in D major I II III IV
Preludio Scherzo Romanza Passacaglia
Musicians who have had the privilege of working with Vaughan Williams will always remember him as "the grand old man of English music". His appearance when conducting was striking: of massive build his arms hanging like the wings of a great owl, his kindness and modesty always apparent, he would give encouragement to the musicians without ever imposing himself as a conductor. Even when his directions were somewhat vague, his intentions were always clear, and as he had the goodwill of the entire orchestra, performances were of a high standard, some of them unforgettable. Vaughan Williams developed his musical language - or rather allowed it to develop itself - without underpinning it with theoretical principles. Like a great painter, Cezanne for instance, he was not concerned with being original but with refining and coming as close as possible to perfection in the characteristic musical idiom which had grown over the many decades of his active life. His fifth symphony might well be considered as the climax of this constant endeavour. Not that his later works showed a decline but he never again attempted to achieve clarity and serenity on as large scale as that of this particular work. The composition of the fifth symphony occupied Vaughan Williams during the last war up to the year 1943. The fierce character of the fourth symphony (first performed in 1935) seemed like a premonition of the horrors to come, while the fifth looked ahead towards peace in the midst of war. It was first performed at the Promenade Concert of 24 June 1943, with Vaughan Williams conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. www.lmp.org
During the preceding four decades Vaughan Williams had worked intermittently at an opera based on Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress but he abandoned the project, at least for the time being, and used some of the musical material in his fifth symphony. He scored the work for full woodwind, including piccolo and cor anglais, a Brass section with trumpets and trombones but only two horns, full strings of course, and very sparingly-used timpani. Vaughan Williams dedicated the symphony to Jean Sibelius. The beginning of the Preludio (moderato) has a haunting quality which determines the mood not only of the first movement but of the whole symphony. The chord of D major, the home key, is played melodically by the horns but it is contradicted by the note in the bass, a note that is on the pivot on which the harmonies turn frequently. The main feature of the following Scherzo (presto misterioso) is a sequence of the interval of a fourth which returns even more mysteriously after a middle section, except for a rude fortissimo interruption before the quiet and sudden end of the movement. The woodwind and horns, having been busy in the first two movements, become the protagonists in the Romanza (lento), starting with the cor anglais. The movement is lyrical throughout, even though pace quickens before the tempo of the beginning is resumed. The finale is a Passacaglia (moderato) built on a theme in the bass which rises to the higher orchestral religions and appears in various guises, until it reaches the powerful climax of the whole symphony with a return to the haunting theme from the Preludio, this time in a magnificent fortissimo. The finale ends, as all movements in this symphony, as quietly as possible, at least on the note (D) which is the often hidden heart of the work justifying with this ending its appearance in the title of the symphony. Š Stefan de Haan www.lmp.org
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LMP MANAGEMENT Patron HRH The Earl of Wessex KG GCVO
Administration Managing Director Simon Funnell
Music Director Gérard Korsten Associate Conductor Hilary Davan Wetton
General Manager David Wilson
London Mozart Players Fairfield Halls Park Lane Croydon CR9 1DG
Development Manager Caroline Downing
T: 020 8686 1996 F: 020 8667 0938 E: info@lmp.org W: www.lmp.org
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Financial Consultant Christopher Wright
Registered in England No. 18720034
Chairman Rowan Freeland
Orchestral Librarian Martin Sargeson
Registered Charity No. 290833
Chair of the Audit Committee Rosamund Sykes
Intern Jenny Brady
Associate Composer Roxanna Panufnik
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FORTHCOMING CONCERTS AT ST JOHN'S SMITH SQUARE Wednesday 29 January 2014
7.30pm
Dvořák Mozart Dvořák
Symphonic Variations, Op. 78 Piano Concerto No. 25, K503 Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 From the New World
Piano/Director
Howard Shelley
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Wednesday 28 May 2014
7.30pm
Tippett Mozart Beethoven
Divertimento for Chamber Orchestra Piano Concerto No. 17, K453 Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36
Conductor Piano
Gérard Korsten Angela Hewitt