Music for Tenor Horn - Recital

MUSIC FOR TENOR HORN

R E C I TA L

C H R I S D AV I E S T R E D EGA R TOW N B A N D • I A N P O RT H O U S E

M U S I C F O R T E N O R H O R N • R E C I TA L

Dear listener..

There aren’t many recordings of us tenor horn players. Come to think of it, there isn’t that much music for us to play either. Much of my favourite music to play wasn’t originally written for tenor horn – perhaps voice or French horn instead. We do have some great music, but not enough.

I suppose what unites the disparate pieces in this collection is my love for them, regardless of the intended instrumentation.

So why did I record this album? I’ve probably given the game away already. First, I wanted to show that the tenor horn can play so much more offbeat quavers, as some of the great proponents of our time have demonstrated. I’ve tried to demonstrate this versatility through the breadth of repertoire on offer. Second, I wanted to provide budding tenor horn players with more recordings to listen to. Pieces like Gareth Wood’s Concerto for Tenor Horn and John Golland’s Meiso are rarely performed, and I’ve only heard one recording of each. This needs to change.

We made these recordings over the course of two intensive days. It was a truly memorable experience for me to make them with a band that I love and a musical director who I regard as the finest I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.

I hope you enjoy what we’ve made. It is for you.

JENNY JONES William Rimmer was born in Southport in the 1860s. He started his musical career as a side drummer with the Southport Rifle Band, eventually moving onto cornet. His playing career took him to Kingston Mills, Heywood Rifles and Bess O’th Barn, but it is as a composer that he is best known today. Jenny Jones - perhaps one of his bestloved solos – is a sort of fantasia based on the folk ballad Sweet Jenny Jones – replete with fast technical variations and a final rambunctious polonaise. The band tutti sections recall the Welsh links of the tune with renditions of Ar Hyd y Nos. CONCERTO FOR TENOR HORN I . Moderato; Allegro II. Adagio III. Allegro Gareth Wood’s Concerto for Tenor Horn was written for Owen Farr and the National Youth Brass Band of Wales and

premiered at its summer course in 2006 under the baton of Dr. Robert Childs. This piece has a special place in my memory since I was in the youth band during this first performance. The three-movement Concerto is one of only a handful written for the tenor horn but contains some truly memorable musical moments. The opening movement commences with a lone horn and a lilting melody in 5/4 time soon joined by other solo lines that culminate in a rhythmic allegro. The excitement draws to a climax with a final flourish for horn ending on a high ‘E’. The second movement opens with a poignant adagio, the expansive solo line supported by a rich accompaniment. The music then develops a slightly playful, spiky character, before a heightened tutti leads the movement to its emotional climax with thick scoring and huge sounds. The poignant loneliness of the opening adagio is recalled right at the end.

The rousing finale has a similarly malleable character, with dramatic tension giving way to playfulness in an almost Latin-based scherzo, contrasting with the seriousness of the preceding movements.

URLICHT This is borrowed from the fourth movement of Mahler’s Second Symphony, commonly nicknamed ‘The Resurrection’. The

symphony itself was composed between 1888 and 1894, though Mahler tweaked the orchestration repeatedly until about 1909, two years before his death. The text for this beautiful song was taken from the poetic collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn (‘The Boy’s Magic Horn’), and its content is rooted in a frustrated yearning for God and heaven in a world where humanity has lost its way. I have always loved this movement, but the most special performance I have ever heard was given by mezzo-soprano Janet Baker accompanied by the London Symphony orchestra under the baton of Leonard Bernstein at the Edinburgh Festival in 1974.

NON PIÙ MESTA This joyous aria is from Rossini’s comic opera La Cenerentola (or Cinderella in English). He wrote the opera when he was 25 years old, and it premiered in January 1817. The plot is perhaps a little different from the typical Cinderella story in that there’s no fairy godmother (instead there’s a sort of tutor called Alidoro), there’s no wicked stepmother (instead there’s a stepfather called Don Magnifico, who’s also the opera’s buffo or fool character), and the glass slipper is replaced with a bracelet.

Cinderella herself is known by the name Angelina and is played normally by an alto

or mezzo-soprano rather than the typical soprano prima donna. Non Più Mesta – which means ‘no longer sad’ - is the final aria of the opera in which Angelina rejoices for having found her prince charming and forgives all those who have wronged her.

NOCTURNO Franz Strauss was one of the foremost horn players of his generation. Father of Richard Strauss – whose music is renowned for its expansive horn writing – Strauss elder was a slightly more conservative composer.

That said, there is plenty of drama in his Nocturno, composed in 1864. Flanked on either side by a singable, warm melody, the central section of the piece rises to a musical climax with growing tension and dynamics, exploring the horn’s capacity for intensity.

Kenneth Downie created this arrangement for Sheona White, who recorded it on her album Voice of the Tenor Horn.

RONDO FROM HORN CONCERTO NO. 3 Mozart completed this third concerto for horn at some point in the mid-1780s during his Vienna period. All four of Mozart’s horn concertos were written for his lifelong friend Joseph Leutgeb, a horn virtuoso who got to know the Mozart family when he moved to Salzburg in 1763. Mozart’s father, Leopold,

worked at the musical establishment of the ruling Prince-Archbishop, which Leutgeb joined. Mozart later joined the court’s musical establishment too, becoming one of Leutgeb’s colleagues.

Eventually they both ended up in Vienna, and in 1783 Mozart began working on his horn concertos, which would have been written originally for the natural horn (the valved horn wasn’t really used until 1820). The Rondo finale of his third concerto – probably written in the late 1780s – is an energetic dash through the forest in true hunting vein.

MEISO Written for Sandy Smith and Pete Christian for the Black Dyke Band’s tour of Japan in 1990, Meiso is a beautiful duet for horn and baritone that showcases the warmth these instruments are capable of radiating together.

We’re fortunate at Tredegar

Band to have the rich tones of Ben Stratford on solo baritone, and since this piece is rarely performed, we thought this would be a great opportunity to pay homage to two of our favourite performers in Sandy and Pete. The piece itself creates an atmosphere of mystery throughout, but the tension is relieved by flowing, soaring melodies and luscious, thick scoring that finds real emotional depth.

FINALE FROM HORN CONCERTO NO. 1 It seemed fitting with Franz Strauss featured in this album to also feature his son, Richard, whose writing for horn in both solo and orchestral contexts stretched the instrument far beyond its traditional scope. Strauss finished the first concerto some time in 1883 at the age of 18, nearly sixty years before he wrote the second. The finale itself is a rondo with an almost fanfare-like principal motif, interspersed with moments of calm that are always underpinned with a sense of perpetual motion. I was given special permission for this arrangement by Universal Edition A.G., Vienna, and it remains unpublished.

PAVANE Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte (often translated as Pavane for a dead princess) was originally conceived as a piano piece. In 1910 - eleven years after its initial

composition – Ravel decided to score the piece for orchestra. Interestingly he thought of it more as an evocation of a dance that a little princess might have danced at a Spanish court in times gone by than a funeral lament for a dead child; Pavane for a princess in former times might be a better translation. I found this arrangement entirely by chance in the Tredegar Band’s library, and as soon as I saw Howard Snell’s name as the arranger, I knew it was likely to be magnificent. I was right.

FINALE FROM THE VIOLIN CONCERTO Mendelssohn finished his Violin Concerto in September 1844, though it went through a series of tweaks before its premiere in Leipzig in March 1845. The finale of the Concerto is a playful scherzo in sonata form, though Michael Hopkinson’s arrangement for tenor horn is somewhat shortened. It is perhaps unusual to hear such virtuosic violin music performed on a brass instrument, but the arrangement works surprisingly well as a showcase of the tenor horn virtuoso’s technical abilities.

I first heard this arrangement performed by my teacher Owen Farr, whose dazzling technique inspires me as much today as it did when I first heard it.

DAVIES

Chris Davies is one of the leading tenor horn players of his generation. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, he began his playing career at the age of eleven after hearing the tenor horn played by an older student at school. He fell in love with its sound and began to learn almost immediately under the guidance of Howard Jones, former cornetist of the Cory Band.

It wasn’t long before he joined the Llwydcoed Band, but in 2005 he made his way to the Tredegar Band, beginning a relationship that has endured ever since. Chris’ musical studies led him to the University of Oxford, where he studied with world-renowned musicologists such as Laurence Dreyfus and Margaret Bent. Throughout his time at Oxford, he travelled to Wales to rehearse with Tredegar, but in 2009 he still managed to graduate with a first-class degree in music. His time there also saw him become a Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM) and an Associate of Trinity College, London (ATCL).

From Oxford Chris moved to Cardiff to study with tenor horn virtuoso Owen Farr at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Under Owen’s tutelage Chris

developed impressive technical ability and a substantial sound, both of which have become trademarks of his playing.

A brief stint at the Cory Band preceded a return to Tredegar in early 2010, right at the beginning of the most successful period in the band’s history during which it claimed a historic ‘double’, winning both the Grand Shield and the British Open in the same year. Chris also appeared widely as a soloist, notably winning the televised Rhuban Glas competition at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, taking home £3000 in prize money.

Chris moved to Edinburgh in 2012, but was enticed back to the Tredegar Band by conductor Ian Porthouse in early 2017, reclaiming his seat as the band’s principal horn. In addition to being a key member of the band’s impressive lineup of principal players, he is an active arranger and is heavily involved in running the band. His most recent arrangement - of Thomas Tallis’ 40-part motet Spem in Alium was premiered by Tredegar at Llandaff Cathedral in mid-2018.

PORTHOUSE Ian Porthouse is regarded as one of the brass band movement’s leading conductors, educators, and performers. The Head of Brass Band Studies at the Birmingham Conservatoire hails from a musical family in the heart of Cumbria, where he became principal cornet and one of the founding members of the Cumbria Youth Brass Band at a young age.

At 16, he became leader of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain and his outstanding talents soon saw him appointed principal cornet with Desford Colliery Band and later the Black Dyke Band. During his tenure Ian helped both bands to claim historic, major championship successes. During this time he also played with a number of the world’s finest instrumentalists at iconic concert venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York, and as a featured soloist with Phillip Smith, Principal Trumpet with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

His first connection with Tredegar Band came in 1995, when he became principal cornet and conductor of their youth band, before moving north two years later to become principal cornet of Yorkshire Building Society Band.

In 2008 he made his long-awaited return to Wales when he accepted the position as Musical Director of the Tredegar Band.

This move marked the beginning of a remarkable journey that has seen Tredegar become one of the world’s leading contest and concert ensembles, winning a unique Grand Shield/

British Open ‘double’ in 2010, consecutive All England Masters International titles in 2011 and 2012, and the British Open for a second time in 2013.

Those achievements saw Tredegar voted ‘Band of the Year’ and Ian ‘Conductor of the Year’ by the influential online magazine 4Barsrest. com in 2010. Under his direction the band has gained a reputation for being at the forefront of innovation in brass band music, earned in part by appearances in the soundtrack to the film Pride and alongside the Rambert Ballet Company at Sadler’s Wells.

BAND The origins of South Wales’ Tredegar Town Band can be traced back to 1849, although it wasn’t until 1876 - following victory at the Welsh National Eisteddfod - that it was formally constituted. History shows that early contesting victories were sporadic, although the band did compete extensively - from local competitions to the famous Crystal Palace in London. It is really in the past forty years that Tredegar has become one of the world’s elite bands, with multiple major competition victories,

though it is the most recent decade that has witnessed the band’s greatest achievements.

Under the direction of Ian Porthouse, the band has broadened its horizons far beyond the field of brass band contesting.

Its accompaniment of the Rambert Ballet Company’s groundbreaking production, ‘Dark Arteries’, was shortlisted for a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award. The band has twice performed

alongside Tim Minchin at the Old Vic in London, most recently as part of its 200th birthday celebrations. Appearances on the soundtrack of BAFTA-winning film Pride and on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent have cemented the band’s commitment to reaching the broadest audiences with its music.

The band continues to enhance its reputation for innovative artistic collaborations - performing at the

‘Changing Britain’ retrospective at London’s Southbank, whilst its ‘Dark Arteries’ recording was awarded 2015 ‘CD of the Year’ by every leading brass band publication - a feat repeated in 2016 with the critically-acclaimed ‘War Memorials’ release. 2016 saw further success - winning both the televised Band Cymru title and becoming Champion Band of Wales for the eleventh time. www.tredegar.band

PERSONNEL

Soprano cornet Ian Roberts Principal cornet Dewi Griffiths

Second cornets Dai Thomas Meirion Davies Third cornets Rhys Barrett Ethan Hall

Solo cornet Will Norman Gareth Johnson Matthew Shaw Wilson Taylor Repiano cornet Emily Humphries

Flugelhorn Danny Winder

Second horn Hannah Rogers First baritone Ben Stratford Second baritone Jonathan Bound

Euphoniums Chris Smith Lucas Wong Ben Smith Eb bass Steffan Jones Jacob Pritchard

First trombone Ryan Richards

Bb bass Ceri John Simon Lloyd

Solo horn Dai Cornelius

Second trombone Mari Mørkved

First horn Jack Lythaby

Bass trombone Andy Austin

Percussion Steve Barnett Samantha Herman Thomas Blore Steffan Dawe

THANKS

CREDITS

I have too many people to thank and not enough space for everyone. First, I must thank Ian Porthouse. Since I first got to know Ian in 2007 he has supported, nurtured and encouraged me. Without his input I would have achieved very little as a musician.

Producer: Paul Hindmarsh

Second, the Tredegar Band. It isn’t just a band to me; it is like a second family. That 30 people could take an entire weekend out of their busy lives to help me record this album is testament to their commitment to this wonderful institution and the warm friendships that bind us together. I cannot imagine playing for anyone else.

Engineer: Phil Hardman Post-Production: Richard Scott Programme Notes: Chris Davies

My thanks also go to producer Paul Hindmarsh for his honest, thoughtful input, and Richard Scott and Phil Hardman for their efforts both in the recording and the editing. They gave selflessly of their time and ensured that the quality was as high as possible throughout.

Artwork and Design: Mango Design www.mangodesign.co

It would be remiss of me not to thank my teacher and friend Owen Farr, who has inspired and guided me throughout my career. I don’t think he realises how inspiring he is.

Recorded at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydywaun, 9th & 10th June 2018

While I owe all these people a huge debt of gratitude, there are two people in particular who have supported me unwaveringly for thirty-one years. They put up with a lot of noise, did a lot of driving, and sacrificed much, all for me: my parents. I will never be able to repay them.

Track copyrights 1. © Kirklees Music 2-4. © Prima Vista Musikk 5. M/S 6. M/S 7. © Kantaramusik 8. © Midland Music Ltd. 9. Kirklees Music 10. Richard Strauss “Konzert Nr. 1 für Waldhorn und Klavier” © Copyright 1973 by Universal Edition A.G., Wien Arrangement

by Christopher Davies © Copyright 2018 by Universal Edition A.G., Wien 11. © Rakeaway Music 12. © Kirklees Music

MUSIC FOR TENOR HORN

R E C I TA L 1. JENNY JONES Rimmer, arranged Michael Hopkinson 2-4. CONCERTO FOR TENOR HORN Wood i. Moderato; Allegro ii. Adagio iii. Allegro Molto 5. URLICHT Mahler, arranged Chris Davies 6. NON PIÙ MESTA Rossini, arranged Chris Davies 7. NOCTURNO F Strauss, arranged Kenneth Downie 8. RONDO FROM HORN CONCERTO NO. 3 Mozart, arranged Edrich Siebert 9. MEISO Golland featuring Ben Stratford 10. FINALE FROM HORN CONCERTO NO. 1 R Strauss, arranged Chris Davies 11. PAVANE Ravel, arranged Howard Snell 12. FINALE FROM THE VIOLIN CONCERTO Mendelssohn, arranged Michael Hopkinson