EMBERS OF ROMANTICISM
WEBERN Passacaglia op.1 WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde PFITZNER Vorspiel to Act 2 from Palestrina R STRAUSS Salome (excerpt) WAGNER Vorspiel to Act 3 from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Reductions by Roger Montgomery, OAE Principal Horn
Conductor Geoffrey Paterson Violin I Kati Debretzeni Violin II Dominika Feher Viola Max Mandel Cello Catherine Rimer Double Bass Cecelia Bruggemeyer Flute Lisa Beznosiuk
Bassoon Philip Turbett Catriona McDermid Contrabassoon David Chatterton Horn Roger Montgomery Martin Lawrence Trumpet Matthew Wells Trombone Philip Dale Timpani Scott Bywater
Oboe Daniel Bates
Percussion Nicholas Ormrod Matthew Dickinson
Cor Anglais Leo Duarte
Harp Alison Martin
Clarinet Katherine Spencer Fiona Mitchell (+Eb clarinet)
Piano Iain Farrington
Bass Clarinet Sarah Thurlow
We are grateful for the support of Sir Richard Aikens, Malcolm Herring, Ivor Samuels and Gary Wakelin and Jenny and Tim Morrison
PROGRAMME NOTES Roger Montgomery
DOKTOR FAUSTUS: THE LIFE OF THE GERMAN COMPOSER ADRIAN LEVERKÜHN, TOLD BY A FRIEND Thomas Mann (1875-1955) Thomas Mann's late novel Doktor Faustus: the Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn, Told by a Friend is about a composer who makes a diabolical pact with the Devil for genius in return for a shortened lifespan through contracting syphilis and renouncing love forever. Although the model for this tragic life was that of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Mann sought advice and inspiration from many composers and musicians who, like him, were in exile in America during World War Two. All of the pieces in this concert have been inspired by Mann’s novel in one way or another. Some of the music is far more explicitly linked and other compositions have been inferred more subtly.
PASSACAGLIA Anton Webern (1883-1945) Anton Webern's Passacaglia was the first piece to which he wished to give an opus number. The form is an eight bar repeating motif which becomes more and more obscure and hidden, but there is something inexorable about the way in which the music returns so often to the same notes while departing for short periods on huge flights of expression. Inspired by similar forms such the finale of Brahms' Symphony no.4 and in the same key as Bach's famous Chaconne, it is the only work by Webern that has a firm foot in Romanticism although one can hear his delight in playing with tiny motivic cells, a trait in which he emulated Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.
PRELUDE AND LIEBESTOD FROM TRISTAN UND ISOLDE
VORSPIEL TO ACT 3 FROM PALESTRINA
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Hans Pfitzner (1869-1949)
Thomas Mann deeply loved Wagner’s philosophical and musical world, but he was aware that such powerful art could serve the dark as well as the light. Mann’s ambivalence is demonstrated in his lecture/ essay The Suffering and Greatness of Richard Wagner given just weeks after Hitler’s election as Chancellor. He was horrified by the speed with which the Nazis both appropriated the soul of Germany and harnessed this power.
"I have heard Hans Pfitzner's musical legend Palestrina three times so far, and it seems strange how effortlessly this austere and bold work has managed to find a niche for itself amongst my personal possessions.’’ – Thomas Mann
Wagner is a key figure in this concert as he is a composer who supposedly precipitated the crisis in the direction of music with his Tristan und Isolde. In reality, as many musicologists have pointed out, the enigmatic 'Tristan chord' is not so unique in its mere appearance but in the way in which the composer expertly used its neutrality to pivot the harmony in many unexpected directions.
Thomas Mann had a special fascination for Pfitzner’s Palestrina, which he called a ‘musical legend’ rather than an opera. The sound world and the subject were the last gasp of the late romantic style, the future of which was being tested by modernist movements. In Pfitzner’s work, the composer Gian Pierlguigi di Palestrina is under pressure to produce a new Mass to convince the Pope of the holy value of polyphonic music (in the context of it possibly being banned in favour of simple plainchant). During his compositional period, Palestrina is visited by the spirits of the dead masters of music who inspire him in his composition (unlike Adrian who is visited by the Devil in a much less inspiring manner). Incidentally, Palestrina (also known as Praeneste) is the hillside town in Mann’s novel where Adrian makes his pact with the Devil…
SALOME (EXCERPT) Richard Strauss (1864-1949) Richard Strauss' Salome is an extraordinary work, the premiere of which was attended not only by many famous composers of the time including Mahler and Webern but also Mann's fictional Adrian Leverkühn who stops off on his fateful journey to Hungary in his obsessive pursuit of the woman who will seal his fate. This short interlude is a 3-4 minute outburst of pure rage, Salome having been rejected and cursed by John the Baptist who will not even look at her, and returns down into the cistern where he is imprisoned.
VORSPIEL TO ACT 3 OF DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG Richard Wagner (1813-1883) Wagner’s Die Meistersinger is about a crisis in music and examines the need for the art to be invigorated. The story concerns a young knight, Walter, who tries to win a bardic contest to win the hand of a young girl, Eva. To do this, Walter fuses his radical, personal musical style with the strict formal rules of the Meistersingers’ Guild, which results in Walter renewing and reinvigorating the art. This theme is also evident in Mann’s novel, although Mann actually regarded the 12-tone music as the crisis, rather than the salvation, by innovation.
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BEHIND THE SCENES Roger Montgomery OAE Principal Horn During the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1919-1921 large gatherings, while not prohibited, were risky. In response to this challenge, the Society for Private Musical Performances encouraged the practice of taking large scale compositions and arranging them for smaller ensembles. These were known as 'reductions'; some of its best-known reductions are works by Mahler like Das Lied von der Erde and his Symphony no. 4. The arrangements that the OAE will be premiering on 10 February loosely fit into this ethos but are more specifically chosen for their association to Thomas Mann's late novel Doktor Faustus. The reductions that you will hear in the film were expertly arranged by OAE Principal Horn Roger Montgomery and they can be best described as luxury versions. The wind instruments more than cover the requisite colour of any original solo line and there is something so spirited in the way that each string player represents a whole string section. Roger says: "Some of the more tricky arrangement decisions arose where whole sections of divisi instruments in the original have to be catered for. For example, in Meistersinger, the horn quartets of the original are here given with the two horns taking the outer part and clarinets and bassoons the inner ones. Similar choices had to be made when possible when reducing the huge forces of Salome (incuding 8 clarinets and 6 horns) and Palestrina (4 trumpets, 6 horns, 4 trombones). Keeping the original timbre on the top line and substituting others who are at ease in the right register prevents similarity in the sound of chordal accompaniments but in arranging these two really large pieces I added an optional piano part to give more orchestral weight to the overall effect."
GEOFFREY PATERSON British conductor Geoffrey Paterson is admired for his impressive grasp of detail, responsiveness to musicians, and his ability to shape and make music from the most complex scores with natural authority. Plans in 20/21 include a streamed BBC Prom from the Royal Albert Hall with the London Sinfonietta (whom he conducts regularly) and appearances with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Nash and Asko Schoenberg ensembles. Recent highlights have included appearances with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, National Orchestra of Belgium, Basel Sinfonietta, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. This Autumn he returns to the Dutch National Opera to revive Willem Jeth’s Ritratto, which he premiered last season in his debut appearance there. In October of last year he debuted at English National Opera conducting a new production of Philip Glass’ Orphée. He has previously conducted at the Bayerische Staatsoper (Menotti’s The Consul, Max Richter and Saariaho ballets), Royal Danish Opera (Die Fledermaus, Porgy and Bess, and Prokofiev’s Cinderella), Opera North (La bohème), Glyndebourne on Tour (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) and Music Theatre Wales (Dusapin’s Passion at the Southbank Centre, Eotvos’ The Golden Dragon on tour).
He was a Jette Parker Young Artist at Covent Garden, subsequently conducting productions at the Royal Opera of HK Gruber’s Gloria von Jaxtberg (also at the Bregenz Festival), Massenet’s Le Portrait de Manon (recorded for Opera Rara), Julian Philips’ How the Whale Became, Søren Nils Eichberg’s Glare, and the world premieres of Birtwistle’s chamber opera double-bill The Corridor and The Cure at the Aldeburgh Festival and Holland Festival, and of Tansy Davies’ Cave with the London Sinfonietta. Geoffrey studied at Cambridge University where he also took composition lessons with Alexander Goehr followed by studies at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Having won both First Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2009 Leeds Conductors Competition, he went on to participate in the Luzern Festival conducting masterclasses with Pierre Boulez. During his time on the Royal Opera House Young Artist Programme he assisted conductors including Antonio Pappano, Mark Elder, Andris Nelsons and Daniele Gatti on an extensive repertoire. In Bayreuth he was musical assistant to Kirill Petrenko for Der Ring des Nibelungen.
“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 former 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
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
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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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The OAE is a registered charity number 295329 Registered company number 2040312. Acland Burghley School, 93 Burghley Road, London NW5 1UH 0208 159 9310 | info@oae.co.uk Photography | Zen Grisdale