“Simply world-class” Opera Magazine MUSICIANS OF THE POWERHOUSE
NORTHERN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
2018-2019
Concert Season MANCHESTER CONCERT SERIES 26 OCTOBER 2018 7.30PM THE STOLLER HALL MACCLESFIELD CONCERT SERIES 27 OCTOBER 2018 7.30PM THE HERITAGE CENTRE
Friends Northern Chamber Orchestra With kind thanks to the Friends of the NCO for generously supporting these concerts
Bang your own drum
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THE NORTHERN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA PRESENTS
MALCOLM ARNOLD (1921-2006) SINFONIETTA NO. 1 OP. 48 I Allegro comodo II Allegretto III Allegro con brio
CARL MARIA VON WEBER (1786-1826) CLARINET CONCERTO NO. 2 IN E FLAT MAJOR OP. 74 I Allegro II Romanza: Andante con moto III Alla Polacca
INTERVAL JOSEF SUK (1874-1935) MEDITATION ON THE OLD CZECH CHORALE ‘ST. WENCESLAS’ OP. 35A JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809) SYMPHONY NO. 102 IN B FLAT MAJOR I Largo: Vivace II Adagio III Menuetto & Trio: Allegro IV Finale: Presto
THE NORTHERN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Patron Stephen Barlow President Raphael Wallfisch
Vice-Presidents Brian Leighton, Martin Roscoe
Board Members Malcolm Allcard • Morris Saleh Malcolm Brown • John Bush Conrad Marshall • Peter Thomasson Stephen Threlfall • Mike Wilbey Ronald Graham
Season Sponsor CDL
Artistic Director Nicholas Ward
Corporate Patrons Capstone Financial – ForViva – Porthaven Care Homes Honorary Patrons The Lord Stunell OBE The Baroness Bakewell DBE
Patrons Professor Alison Adam & Dr Craig Adam • Malcolm & Alison Allcard Anonymous Donor 1 • Anonymous Donor 2 • Anonymous Donor 3 Anonymous Donor 4 • Anonymous Donor 5 • Richard Baker Bevan & Dr Barbara Broadbent • Caroline Brown • Michael & Judith Biggin Roger & Hilary Brice • Nicola Bright • Liz Chalmers • Ian Edgar • David Ellis Heather Griffiths • Betty Hill • Geoff & Jennie Holman • David Kingsley • Brian Leighton Eleanor & Allan Lewington • Martin & Angela Losse • Drs Chris & Mary Loughran Vernon Matthews • Joan Matthews • Mary Miller • Bob Scott • Helen Scott Dieter Senn • Adrienne Spilsbury • Jean Soni • David Sutton • Stephen Threlfall Peter Thomasson • Mike & Ruth Wilbey • Sue Williams General Manager Tom Elliott Orchestral Manager Caroline Hewitt Office Administrator Karen Taylor
Associate Organisations Buxton International Festival Chetham’s School of Music Manchester Metropolitan University Northern Powerhouse The Stoller Hall
Marketing Manager Siobhan Parker MMU, Brooks Building, 53 Bonsall Street, Manchester M15 6GX info@ncorch.co.uk • www.ncorch.co.uk • 0161 247 2220 Twitter: @nco01 / Facebook: www.facebook.com/NorthernChamberOrchestra Company No: 1430784 Charity No: 278912
THE NORTHERN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA ABOUT US Formed in the late 1960s and based in Manchester, the NCO is now one of the country’s top, professional chamber orchestras, with its concerts and recordings warmly received by critics. In a ground-breaking move in 1986, under their young leader, Nicholas Ward, NCO became one of the first orchestras in the country to work regularly without a conductor. During this, our 51st season, NCO will be performing with leading soloists such as Freddy Kempf, Julian Bliss, Martin Roscoe, Nicholas Mulroy and Matthew Wadsworth. Our newest Artist in Association – cellist, baritone, actor and ‘Renaissance Man’
Matthew Sharp – joins us to display his virtuosic skills by both playing and singing in a concert of Schubert works. He will also work with the Education team on a variety of schools projects. The season comes to a close with our other Artist in Association, violinist Chloe Hanslip, who directs the orchestra in Manchester (where we are Orchestra in Association at The Stoller Hall), Macclesfield and Buxton in a concert of stunning strings. As well as being Orchestra in Residence at Buxton International Festival, NCO also has over thirty critically acclaimed recordings to its name including a series of Mozart and Haydn symphonies on the Naxos label. For more information visit www.ncorch.co.uk
We are proud of the ongoing relationship between NCO and Chetham’s School of Music, and look forward to continuing our collaboration at The Stoller Hall – Manchester’s newest space for performance.
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MALCOLM ARNOLD (1921 - 2006)
SINFONIETTA NO. 1 I Allegro comodo II Allegretto III Allegro con brio
Arnold’s first Sinfonietta was composed in 1954 on commission from the Boyd Neel Orchestra, so named after the conductor who founded the ensemble in London in 1933. This orchestra was the focal point of the English revival of Baroque string music in the 1930s. From the beginning, the Boyd Neel Orchestra commissioned new works and, by the early 1950s, had increased its repertory and commissions. With this Sinfonietta, Arnold has provided a three-movement work much in the spirit of an 18th century divertimento. Its modest scoring of strings with pairs of oboes and horns, and the entirely approachable melodies of the piece, certainly suggest that era. The finale is fantastically extroverted with an abundance of thematic material, with which the horns have tremendous fun, as the work moves to an exultant conclusion, perhaps showing us a glimpse of the “effortless bravura” of Arnold’s technique - he was one of England’s finest trumpeters.
CARL MARIA VON WEBER (1786 - 1826)
CLARINET CONCERTO NO. 2 I Allegro II Romanze: Andante con moto III Alla Polacca
Weber was a prolific composer of many works, including operas, concert arias, masses, and orchestral works. Between 1811 and 1816 he wrote no fewer than seven major works, including both of his clarinet concertos, both written for one of the most virtuosic clarinettists of the era, Heinrich Joseph Bärmann. In the early 19th century, rapid developments in the design and construction of the clarinet led to significant changes to key structure and embouchure, allowing clarinettists to play chromatic passages with ease. Due to the success of the first work composed by Weber for Bärmann, the Clarinet Concertino Op. 26, the King of Bavaria, Maximilian I, commissioned Weber to write two clarinet concertos. The second concerto was, and remains, one of the most impressive and important in the clarinet repertoire, and the debut performance was received, as noted by Weber in his diary, ‘with frantic applause...due to Bärmann’s divine playing’. The piece was written to demonstrate the new technical abilities of the redesigned clarinet, shown off in the opening two notes of the solo clarinet part where an interval of three octaves is spanned. The first movement is presented in standard sonata form, although there are peculiarities distinct to Weber in the formula. We hear suggestions of a Rossinian tune, reminding us that Weber was primarily known for his Romantic operas. This operatic character is continued into the second movement, which is an aria for the soloist and includes a recitativo passage where the orchestra play short chords, a common technique in the accompanied recits of Mozart and later composers. The final movement, the Polonaise, is in rondo form and demands an incredible level of skill from the soloist, with the exhilarating coda enough to “burn the fingers of most clarinettists”.
JOSEF SUK (1874-1935)
MEDITATION ON THE OLD CZECH CHORALE ‘ST WENCESLAS’ Suk, son-in-law of Dvorák, was seen in the early 20th century as that composer’s successor and the leading Czech composer of his day. Today his massive symphonic works are largely forgotten and he is remembered for his smaller-scale works. The Meditation was originally for string quartet, and was premièred by the Czech String Quartet (in which renowned ensemble Suk played the second violin for forty years). Suk later transcribed it for string orchestra. Written at the outbreak of war in August 1914, the piece was avowedly ‘to strengthen the hope in the return of power to the hands of the Czech people when the storms of wrath are over’. Suk shared the national hope that the war would bring Czech independence, as indeed it did. The Meditation is based on an old Czech hymn, the Saint Wenceslas Chorale, and particularly, its third section: ‘do not let us and future generations perish’. It opens slowly and quietly with overlapping entries, builds steadily to a mighty climax and ends peacefully.
JOSEPH HAYDN (1732 – 1809)
SYMPHONY NO. 102 IN B-FLAT MAJOR I Largo – Vivace II Adagio III Menuetto & Trio: Allegro IV Finale: Presto Number ten in the set of twelve London symphonies is perhaps the least known of the group but Haydn’s 102nd symphony is in fact often regarded as one of his very finest. This period in his life was a watershed in the history of symphonic music, marking a time when the composer and his audience were in mutually appreciative harmony. Haydn is regarded as the chief architect of the four-movement symphonic form and his Symphony No. 102 is no exception. The opening movement is slow and ethereal, but Haydn then ups the stakes, taking the listener through a series of conventionflouting fragments. An example of this is a moment in the first movement that to the casual listener would sound like the recapitulation with a restatement of the main theme, however we are in fact in the wrong key, remaining there for a further 40 bars before we reach the real moment of return, when the lower strings burst back in to lead the movement to a close. The slow movement that follows was more than likely originally written the previous year for his Piano Trio in F-sharp minor, but with the addition of solo cello, muted trumpets and timpani, the movement sounds as though it was only ever imagined for a full orchestra. These additions add a sense of solemnity to this dream-like melody that is at once idyllic and unsettling, the sort of mastery of the form that led RimskyKorsakov to declare Haydn the greatest of all orchestrators. The third movement Menuetto stomps along, contrasting with the Trio with its delicate song, featuring solo oboe and bassoon. The Menuetto fluctuates between fortissimo outbursts and piano responses and exhibits rough, homespun humour that is quite Beethovian in style, while the Trio is sweet and graceful; a nod perhaps to Mozartian elegance. The finale begins softly, before the movement comes back in line with the opening Vivace with its eccentric, unpredictable shifts. The madcap character is retained throughout, with several fake endings and compositional jokes, before a joyful and spirited final send-off.
JULIAN BLISS CLARINET
Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Verbier, Wigmore Hall (London) and Lincoln Center (New York). As soloist, he has appeared with a wide range of international orchestras, from the Sao Paolo Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Paris, and Auckland Philharmonia, to the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Julian Bliss is one of the world’s finest clarinettists excelling as a concerto soloist, chamber musician, jazz artist, masterclass leader and tireless musical explorer. He has inspired a generation of young players as guest lecturer and creator of his Conn-Selmer range of affordable clarinets, and introduced a substantial new audience to his instrument. Born in the UK, Julian started playing the clarinet age 4, going on to study in the U.S. at the University of Indiana and in Germany under Sabine Meyer. The breadth and depth of his artistry are reflected in the diversity and distinction of his work. In recital and chamber music he has played at most of the world’s leading festivals and venues including Gstaad,
In 2012 he established the Julian Bliss Septet, creating programmes inspired by King of Swing, Benny Goodman, and Latin music from Brazil and Cuba that have gone on to be performed to packed houses in festivals, Ronnie Scott’s (London), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and across the U.S. Album releases receiving rave reviews from critics, album of the week spots and media attention, include his recording of Mozart and Nielsen’s Concertos with the Royal Northern Sinfonia. The latest chamber discs include a new piece for clarinet & string quartet by David Bruce – Gumboots – inspired by the gumboot dancing of miners in South Africa and a recital album of Russian and French composers with American pianist, Bradley Moore. Recent highlights include an exciting new concerto by Wayne Shorter, with the Argovia Philharmonic, extensive USA tour with his septet, and chamber concerts with the Carducci Quartet.
Thursday 20th December 2018
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NCO MACCLESFIELD CONCERT SERIES 2018-2019
01
S AT U R DAY
December Nicholas Mulroy tenor Vivaldi Concerto for 4 violins in B minor Finzi Dies Natalis Grainger Molly on the Shore Elgar Serenade for strings Bach Concerto for 2 violins
7.30pm At The Heritage Centre Macclesfield
Our December concert comprises baroque masterpieces and 20th century string music and opens with a chance to show off four of our wonderful violinists in Vivaldi’s B minor quadruple violin concerto. Finzi’s richly textured, Dies Natalis, closes the first half with the strings accompanying the internationally renowned tenor, Nicholas Mulroy. The text of the piece reflects the joy and wonder of a newborn child’s innocent perspective on the world, a metaphor perhaps for the season!
“Mulroy was also consistently fresh-toned in the high tessitura and able to fine his tone down to the most gorgeously projected ghostly pianissimo.” Bachtrack
After the interval and a glass of something warming, we have the delightful, Molly on the Shore, by Percy Grainger followed by Elgar’s elegiac masterpiece, the Serenade for strings. The concert is brought to a close by one of the best loved works of all time- Bach’s Concerto for two violins played by our leader Nicholas Ward and our principal 2nd violin, Simon Gilks.
TICKETS: WWW.NCORCH.CO.UK • 0161 247 2220
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Call the office on 0161 247 2220 or email friends@ncorch.co.uk www.ncorch.co.uk | 0161 247 2220
TONIGHT’S ORCHESTRA DIRECTED BY NICHOLAS WARD, VIOLIN Violin I Nicholas Ward Dave Routledge Paula Smart Luke Coomber Shirley Richards William Chadwick (NOT 27th) Violin II Sarah Whittingham Sarah White Alex Stemp Hannah Padmore Judith van Ingen (NOT 27th) Viola Susie Meszaros Ben Newton Jacq Leighton Jones (NOT 27th) Aimee Johnson (NOT 27th) Cello Peggy Nolan Barbara Grunthal Amanda Turner (NOT 27th)
Flute Conrad Marshall Nichola Hunter Oboe Kenny Sturgeon Jane Evans Clarinet Elizabeth Jordan Daniel Bayley Bassoon Llinos Owen Richard Ion Horn Naomi Atherton Jenny Cox Trumpet Andrew Dallimore Jonny Thomson Timpani Mark Concar
Bass James Manson Andrew Monk (NOT 27th)
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