Baroque at Iford Manor

Credit Marco Borggreve

BAROQUE AT IFORD MANOR

ALBINONI OBOE CONCERTO IN D MINOR [SLOW MVT) Oboe soloist Katharina Spreckelsen Violin Rodolfo Richter Daniel Edgar Viola Martin Kelly Cello Jonathan Manson Double bass Cecelia Bruggemeyer Harpsichord Robert Howarth

PACHELBEL CANON AND GIGUE IN D Violin Rodolfo Richter Daniel Edgar Alice Evans Cello Jonathan Manson

HANDEL ARRIVAL OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA Oboe Katharina Spreckelsen Hannah McLaughlin Bassoon Andrew Watts Violin Rodolfo Richter Daniel Edgar Viola Martin Kelly Cello Jonathan Manson Double bass Cecelia Bruggemeyer Harpsichord Robert Howarth

BACH AIR ON THE G STRING Violin Rodolfo Richter Daniel Edgar Viola Martin Kelly Cello Jonathan Manson Double bass Cecelia Bruggemeyer Harpsichord Robert Howarth

We are grateful for the support of Jenny and Tim Morrison and our friends at Iford Manor

PROGRAMME NOTES

CANON AND GIGUE IN D

by Richard Bratby

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)

OBOE CONCERTO IN D MINOR [SLOW MVT) Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751) Pity Tomaso Albinoni: a composer who has had his entire reputation hijacked by a piece he didn’t even write. “Albinoni’s Adagio” is one of classical music’s most brilliant fakes, cobbled together in 1958 by an Italian musicologist with an ear for an arresting harmony. Yet this was a composer who wrote over 50 perfectly genuine operas, and was seen as a major rival to his fellow-Venetian Vivaldi: a wealthy paper-merchant’s son and a darling of Venetian society, with a glorious gift for melody.

Oboists, however, have kept the faith, and who can blame them when, in the form of this D minor concerto Op.9 (1722), he wrote one of the loveliest oboe concertos of the entire baroque era? The rapturous slow movement is a gift to any performer who knows how to make their instrument take flight in song. Now that’s an Albinoni Adagio.

Of all the “one-work” composers – those whose fame rests on a single “greatest hit” – Johann Pachelbel must be the most mysterious. Yet in his time, this Nuremberg–born organist and composer was admired throughout the German-speaking world - not least by the Bach family, with whom he was on friendly terms.

In recent years, the “serious” Pachelbel has undergone something of a revival, but none of his works is ever likely to eclipse his Canon (and its more sprightly accompanying Gigue) for three violins over a repeating eight-note bass. Unpublished until 1919, it shot to fame in the late 1960s – topping the charts in several European countries in an adaptation by the Greek pop band Aphrodite’s Child. Since then, it’s been unstoppable, though we still know very little about its origins. One theory – that Pachelbel wrote it in 1694 for the wedding of Johann Christoph Bach (Johann Sebastian’s older brother) – would suggest that its reputation as the tune that launched a thousand wedding dresses is entirely appropriate.

ARRIVAL OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

AIR ON THE G STRING

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

“Thy harmony's divine, great king / All, all obey the artist's string. / And now, illustrious prince, receive / Such tribute as my realm can give.” The story comes from the Bible; the words were probably by the playwright Moses Mendes. But the music’s by Handel, and the audience at Covent Garden in March 1749 would certainly have taken the basic point. The king who could command such divine harmony (in every sense – his court composer was Handel, after all) was surely George II, as well as the Biblical Solomon; and while the Queen of Sheba brought gifts to Israel “from Arabia’s spicy shores”, so Hanoverian Britain enjoyed the fruits of global trade.

Is this simple piece the most beautiful thing that Bach ever wrote? It is certainly his most famous piece and is frequently used in films and adverts. However, when Bach wrote it, it was merely intended as the second movement of his Suite No. 3 in D Major. It was only much later when August Wilhelmj arranged the movement for violin and piano that it came to be known as Air on the G-String.

Still, the music is the real treasure here, and no-one did ceremonial splendour better than Handel. In Act Three of his oratorio Solomon, the Sinfonia (or prelude) to Act Three sees the glamorous Queen arrive “amid the glare of gems and gold”, in a cascade of sonic glitter.

Although Air is the second movement of Bach’s Suite No. 3 in D Major, it stands apart as something special. Without repeats, it is only nineteen measures long, yet, over a quietly walking bass line, Bach spins an achingly beautiful melody that begins simply but grows in strength and complexity, then gently subsides.

It is impossible to date the Suite No. 3 accurately, but some reports suggest it was written around 1730, when Bach was serving as cantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. Though the Suite is scored for three trumpets, timpani, two oboes, and strings, the Air uses only strings and continuo.

it Marco Borggreve

BEHIND THE SCENES Rebecca Livermore, violin "This recording was such a special and wonderful experience..."

KATHARINA SPRECKELSEN BIOGRAPHY Katharina Spreckelsen is one of the leading baroque oboists of her generation. She was born in Germany and after studying with the late Michel Piguet in Basle, Katharina moved to London for further studies with Paul Goodwin at the Royal College of Music.

She soon became a much sought-after player with many European Ensembles. Katharina was principal oboist with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, the Gabrieli Consort & Players and Florilegium and she now divides her time between The English Concert, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Christian Curnyn’s Early Opera Company.

Katharina has recorded extensively. She can be heard on many of Ton Koopman’s Bach Cantata recordings. With the Gabrieli Consort & Players she has recorded Oratorios by Handel, sacred works by J S Bach and Haydn’s Creation. With The English Concert she appears notably on discs with David Daniels, Elizabeth Watts, Danielle De Niese and Lucy Crowe.

Katharina is professor of baroque and classical oboe at the Royal Academy of Music. Over the past twenty years she has fostered a new generation of baroque oboists, many of whom are now her colleagues.

“Not all orchestras are the same” Three decades ago, a group of inquisitive London musicians took a long hard look at that curious institution we call the Orchestra, and decided to start again from scratch. They began by throwing out the rulebook. Put a single conductor in charge?

No way. Specialise in repertoire of a particular era? Too restricting. Perfect a work and then move on? Too lazy. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was born.

And as this distinctive ensemble playing on period-specific instruments began to get a foothold, it made a promise to itself. It vowed to keep questioning, adapting and inventing as long as it lived. Those original instruments became just one element of its quest for authenticity.

Baroque and Classical music became just one strand of its repertoire. Every time the musical establishment thought it had a handle on what the OAE was all about, the ensemble pulled out another shocker: a Symphonie Fantastique here, some conductor-less Bach there. All the while, the Orchestra’s players called the shots.

At first it felt like a minor miracle. Ideas and talent were plentiful; money wasn’t. Somehow, the OAE survived to a year. Then to two. Then to five. It began to make benchmark recordings and attract the finest conductors. It became the toast of the European touring circuit. It bagged distinguished residencies at Southbank Centre and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. It began, before long, to thrive. And then came the real challenge.

The ensemble’s musicians were branded eccentric idealists. And that they were determined to remain.

In the face of the music industry’s big guns, the OAE kept its head. It got organised but remained experimentalist. It sustained its founding drive but welcomed new talent. It kept on exploring performance formats, rehearsal approaches and musical techniques. It searched for the right repertoire, instruments and approaches with even greater resolve. It kept true to its founding vow.

In some small way, the OAE changed the classical music world too. It challenged those distinguished partner organisations and brought the very best from them, too. Symphony and opera orchestras began to ask it for advice. Existing period instrument groups started to vary their conductors and repertoire. New ones popped up all over Europe and America.

And so the story continues, with ever more momentum and vision. The OAE’s series of nocturnal Night Shift performances have redefined concert parameters. Its home at London’s Kings Place has fostered further diversity of planning and music-making. The ensemble has formed the bedrock for some of Glyndebourne’s most ground-breaking recent productions.

In keeping with its values of always questioning, challenging and trailblazing, in September 2020, the OAE became the resident orchestra of Acland Burghley School, Camden. The residency – a first for a British orchestra – allows the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightment to live, work and play amongst the students of the school.

Remarkable people are behind it. Simon Rattle, the young conductor in whom the OAE placed so much of its initial trust, still cleaves to the ensemble.

Iván Fischer, the visionary who punted some of his most individual musical ideas on the young orchestra, continues to challenge it. Mark Elder still mines it for luminosity, shade and line. Vladimir Jurowski, the podium technician with an insatiable appetite for creative renewal, has drawn from it some of the most revelatory noises of recent years. And, most recently, it’s been a laboratory for John Butt’s most exciting Bach experiments. All five of them share the title Principal Artist.

Of the instrumentalists, many remain from those brave first days; many have come since. All seem as eager and hungry as ever. They’re offered ever greater respect, but continue only to question themselves. Because still, they pride themselves on sitting ever so slightly outside the box. They wouldn’t want it any other way. ©Andrew Mellor

ABOUT IFORD MANOR This film was recorded in the Grade II* listed cloister, set in the peaceful, Grade I registered gardens of Iford Manor Estate on the last hill of the Cotswolds.

Iford Manor itself sits in the middle of a 900 acre mixed estate. The Gardens afford magnificent rural views across the valley, which the current owners, the Cartwright-Hignett family conserve under an environmental Higher Level Stewardship scheme in agreement with Natural England.

Over the past 55 years, the Cartwright-Hignett family, have lovingly restored the garden, once thought 'lost' after the second world war, and continued to develop it.

Through their tireless efforts, care and attention, they have restored buildings like the cloister and redesigned areas of the garden, inspired by the original vision of Harold Peto, who lived at Iford from 1899-1933.

Harold Peto travelled the world, including Japan, Canada, America, Egypt and across Europe, learning about garden design and bringing back plants for his own garden at Iford and his clients. His skill for garden design, planting and architecture meant that he was in demand, especially on the Cap Ferrat in France where many of the world’s most expensive houses are today. Peto was the architect for several of those villas and gardens, to the extent that the Cap Ferrat was nicknamed ‘Peto Point’ in Edwardian times. Working for royalty, aristocracy and tycoons, his main patrons were the then Countess of Warwick and Isabella Stewart-Gardner. nfluenced mainly by his love of Roman, Italian and Japanese design, Harold Peto was a promoter of the renaissance period and had a strong influence on the Arts and Crafts movement.

Striking the balance between formal and informal gardening, between soft planting and hard structure, Harold Peto’s work was appreciated in writings by Gertrude Jeykll and William Robinson.

You can learn more about Iford Manor Estate and plan your visit at ifordmanor.co.uk

OAE TEAM

Orchestra Consultant Philippa Brownsword

Life President Sir Martin Smith

Chief Executive Crispin Woodhead

Choir Manager David Clegg

Finance and Governance Director Pascale Nicholls

Librarian Colin Kitching

Board of Directors Imogen Overli [Chairman] Steven Devine Denys Firth Adrian Frost Nigel Jones Max Mandel David Marks Rebecca Miller Roger Montgomery Andrew Roberts Katharina Spreckelsen Matthew Shorter Dr. Susan Tranter Crispin Woodhead

Development Director Emily Stubbs Projects Director Jo Perry Education Director Cherry Forbes Communications Director Elle Docx General Manager Edward Shaw Education Officer Andrew Thomson Projects Officer Sophie Adams Finance Officer Fabio Lodato Digital Content Officer Zen Grisdale

Leaders Huw Daniel Kati Debretzeni Margaret Faultless Matthew Truscott Players’ Artistic Committee Steven Devine Max Mandel Roger Montgomery Andrew Roberts Katharina Spreckelsen Principal Artists John Butt Sir Mark Elder Iván Fischer Vladimir Jurowski Sir Simon Rattle Sir András Schiff Emeritus Conductors William Christie Sir Roger Norrington

Marketing and Press Officer Anna Bennett Box Office and Data Manager Carly Mills Head of Individual Giving and Digital Development Marina Abel Smith Development Operations Officer Kiki Betts-Dean

Life President

OAE Trust Adrian Frost [Chairman] Paul Forman Steven Larcombe Alison McFadyen Caroline Noblet Imogen Overli Rupert Sebag-Montefiore Diane Segalen Maarten Slendebroek Sir Martin Smith Caroline Steane Honorary Council Sir Victor Blank Edward Bonham Carter Cecelia Bruggemeyer Stephen Levinson Marshall Marcus Julian Mash Greg Melgaard Susan Palmer OBE Jan Schlapp Susannah Simons Lady Smith OBE Rosalyn Wilkinson Mark Williams

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We are particularly grateful to the following members of the Thirty Circle who have so

generously contributed to the re-financing

of the Orchestra through the OAE Trust.

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The OAE continues to grow and thrive through the generosity of our supporters.

We are very grateful to our sponsors and Patrons and hope you will consider joining them. We offer a close involvement in the life of the Orchestra with many opportunities to meet players, attend rehearsals and even accompany us on tour.

For more information on supporting the OAE please contact Emily Stubbs Development Director

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WE MOVED INTO A SCHOOL We are thrilled to announce that we are now the resident orchestra of Acland Burghley School in Camden, North London. The residency – a first for a British orchestra – allows us to live, work and play amongst the students of the school.

Three offices have been adapted for our administration team, alongside a recording studio and library. We use the Grade II listed school assembly hall as a rehearsal space, with plans to refurbish it under the school’s ‘A Theatre for All’ project, so for the first time, we will all be in the same place: players, staff and library!

Crispin Woodhead, our chief executive who came up with the idea of a new partnership, says: “Our accommodation at Kings Place was coming to an agreed end and we needed to find a new home. I felt that we should not settle for a conventional office space solution. We already had a strong relationship with many schools in Camden through our education programme and our appeal hit the desk of Kat Miller, director of operations at Acland Burghley School. She was working on ways to expand the school’s revenue from its resources and recognised that their excellent school hall might be somewhere we could rehearse.

It felt like a thunderbolt and meant we wanted to find a way for this place to be our home, and embark on this new adventure to challenge and transform the way we engage with young adults.”

The school isn't just our landlord or physical home. Instead, it will offer the opportunity to build on twenty years of work in the borough through OAE’s long-standing partnership with Camden Music. Having already worked in eighteen of the local primary schools that feed into ABS, the plans moving forward are to support music and arts across the school into the wider community. This new move underpins our core ‘enlightenment’ mission of reaching as wide an audience as possible.

A similar project was undertaken in 2015 in Bremen, Germany. The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie moved into a local comprehensive school in a deprived area and the results were described as “transformational”, with improved academic performance, language skills, mental health and IQ scores; reputational benefits; greater interest in and engagement with music among pupils; strengthened links between school, orchestra and community; and even, according to some of the musicians who took part, an improvement in the Kammerphilharmonie’s playing.

Margaret Faultless, OAE leader and violinist, said: “As classical musicians, it can often feel as though we exist in a bubble. I think I can speak for the whole Orchestra when I say that we’re all looking forward to this new adventure. We are all used to meeting with people from outside the classical music world of course, but the value of our new project lies in the long-term work we’ll be doing at the school and the relationship that will hopefully develop between the students, their parents and teachers and the orchestra.”

“The members of the Bremen Kammerphilharmonie said their experience actually improved them as an orchestra and I think the same will happen to us over the next five or so years, and it will remind all of us of the reasons we make music, which are sometimes easy to forget, especially in our strange and troubled times.” continues Margaret. “I am certainly looking forward to learning from the young people at Acland Burghley and in turn introducing them to the joys of our music and music-making.”

The move has been made possible with a leadership grant of £120,000 from The Linbury Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts. Their support is facilitating the move to the school and underwriting the first three years of education work.

OAE EDUCATION A PROGRAMME TO INVOLVE, EMPOWER AND INSPIRE Over the past twenty years OAE Education has grown in stature and reach to involve thousands of people nationwide in creative music projects. Our participants come from a wide range of backgrounds and we pride ourselves in working flexibly, adapting to the needs of local people and the places they live.

The extensive partnerships we have built up over many years help us engage fully with all the communities where we work to ensure maximum and lasting impact. We take inspiration from the OAE's repertoire, instruments and players.

This makes for a vibrant, challenging and engaging programme where everyone is involved; players, animateurs, composers, participants, teachers, partners and stakeholders all have a valued voice.

SUPPORT OUR EDUCATION PROGRAMME The work we do could not happen without the support of our generous donors.

If you would like to support our education programme please contact Marina Abel Smith, Head of Individual Giving and Digital Development marina.abelsmith@oae.co.uk 0208 159 9319

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Acland Burghley School, 93 Burghley Road, London NW5 1UH 0208 159 9310 | info@oae.co.uk Photography | Zen Grisdale