Phantasy - 9 November 2023 - Event Programme

International Concert Series 2023-2024

PHANTASY

WITH DARRAGH MORGAN & MARY DULLEA EVENT PROGRAMME

NOVEMBER 9, 2023 ROYALHOLLOWAY.AC.UK/MUSIC

Department of Music

School of Performing & Digital Arts

International Concert Series 2023-24

OUR 2023-24 SEASON We are pleased to welcome you to our 2023-24 International Concert Series at Royal Holloway.

We, at the Department of Music, cannot wait to showcase the varied talent of our students and staff, but also bringing internationally renowned musicians to the College. For 2023-24, we are back and better than ever with more student and staff opportunities through the creation of 'The Platform', an open opportunity for the community at the Department of Music to share with you what makes us so special. Alongside our popular Midweek Music and Pocket Concert Series, we are excited to continue our special partnerships with the Young Classical Artists Trust and BBC New Generation Artists and continue our alumni recital series by bringing back the epoch ensemble. We are pleased to also bring a wealth of international artists to our series, including pianists Pina Napolitano, Mary Dullea, Sholto Kynoch, Alexander Soares, and Joseph Havlat, violinist Darragh Morgan, guitarist Laura Snowden, clarinettist Jonathan Leibovitz, 1|P a g e

sitarist James Pusey, mezzosoprano Helen Charlston, jazz group Solstice, and the London Mozart Players. 2023 also marks the final season for our quartet-in-residence, the Tippett Quartet, as we say farewell to this stellar group with their final concert at Royal Holloway.

All in all, this season is representative of the world-class talent our community at the Department of Music has fostered as we showcase our students and the range of music performance we programme and encourage; from jazz to world music, orchestral performance to solo piano, as well as presenting performers from the international stage. We look forward to welcoming you to our series this year.

Nathan James Dearden Music Performance Manager & Curator of the International Concert Series

International Concert Series 2023-24

Phantasy with Darragh Morgan & Mary Dullea International Concert Series 2023-24 Thursday, 9 November 2023 Windsor Building Auditorium with

Darragh Morgan Violin Mary Dullea Piano

Estimated finish time: 9.30pm There will be a short rest break during this evening’s event.

Please no flash photography or visual/audio recording throughout the event.

For news about our future events, please visit royalholloway.ac.uk/music/events 2|P a ge

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EVENT PROGRAMME Georg Philipp Telemann (16811767)

Fantasia for Solo Violin, No. 7 in Eflat major, TWV 40:20

Michael Blake (b. 1951) Fantasy Sonata for Violin and Piano (DSIML)

César Franck (1822-1890) III. Recitativo-Fantasia from Sonata for Violin and Piano

Florence Price (1887-1953) Fantasy No. 2 in F-sharp minor for Violin and Piano

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) Fantaisie for Violin and Piano

Morgan Hayes (b. 1973) Trans-Pose (1-3) for Violin and Piano *

Joseph Phibbs (b. 1974) Fantasia for Violin and Piano

Arnold Schonberg (1874-1954) Phantasy for Violin and Piano Op. 47

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*World Premiere

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PROGRAMME NOTES Georg Philipp Telemann (16811767)

Fantasia for Solo Violin, No. 7 in Eflat major, TWV 40:20 Dolce-Allegro-Largo-Presto Telemann learned the violin the hard way. When his parents banned him from studying music, he pieced together his own musical education: learning from folk-musicians as well as from his contemporaries Bach and Handel (both of whom would become lifelong friends). He was tireless, and in his twenties, directing the court orchestra in Eisenach, he redoubled his efforts. “When we were required to play a concerto together, I used to shut myself away for several days beforehand, the violin in my hands, my left sleeve rolled up and my nerves rubbed with a fortifying balm, engaged in my own learning”, he recalled.

It paid off: by the time he was a successful and famous composer in Hamburg, he knew from the inside what made enjoyable, playable music for the violin, and his Twelve Fantasias for violin without bass (1735) were aimed at both amateurs and professionals alike.

Hamburg, where Telemann worked for most of his life, was (and is) a port city: 4|P a ge

a crossroads of ideas and cultures where the latest musical innovations arrived early and were swiftly embraced. (It is no coincidence that the Beatles found their voice there). As a leader of the city’s musical life, Telemann was also a leader of music fashion – and never more so than when his compositions, such as his Twelve Fantasias for violin without bass (1735), were intended for sale to the city’s prosperous and lively musical public.

This Seventh of the set is what Telemann described as a Galanterie – an example of a new musical fashion that simultaneously prized unaffected simplicity in song and dance, and the thrills of virtuoso display. Like each of his Fantasias, it compresses several movements into a remarkably short period of time: but it begins dolce (slowly) and delivers enough flamboyance to satisfy the most styleconscious of 1730s Hamburg hipsters.

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Michael Blake (b. 1951)

César Franck (1822-1890)

Fantasy Sonata for Violin and Piano (DSIML)

III. Recitativo-Fantasia from Sonata for Violin and Piano

Born in Cape Town in 1951, Michael Blake is a contemporary classical music composer, performer, writer, and teacher. His compositions come as a result of his immersion in the playing techniques and materials of African music and are influenced by African weaving, experimental film, and European experimental music aesthetics, drawing inspiration from almost any found materials. Fantasy Sonata was composed in 2007, but only received its first performance in 2023.

The piece came about after studying Robert Schumann’s Fantasie in C Op 17 (1836) and Mauricio Kagel‘s Phantasiestück for flute and piano (1987/88), leaning into Kagel’s analysis of the ambiguity of the term fantasy when used in a musical context.

César Franck's Sonata for Violin and Piano, completed in 1886, stands as a crowning achievement in the chamber music repertoire. Born in 1822, Franck led a relatively unknown life as a church organist and professor at the Paris Conservatory, as was not known for his composition work until he gifted a friend, Eugène Ysaÿe, a young establishing Belgian violinists the sonata for Violin and Piano the work as a wedding gift. As Ysaÿe began to play the sonata over the years, Franck’s work became more publicly known (especially after his death) and the sonata became a timeless gem in the chamber music repertoire.

Fantasy Sonata is made up of 11 sections which play continuously, with certain figures returning in different settings.

The piece developed on Blake’s daily journeys to and from work, so the start of each section signifies a landmark – usually motorway signs for turnoffs. The subtitle DSIML is an acronym for Driving Slowly in the Middle Lane, a common yet dangerous occurrence on South African motorways. This is dangerous, as other drivers overtake from the left and the right, and this sense of danger permeates the piece through unexpected changes in tempo, material, texture, and extremes in pitch. The violin and piano melodies appear to be independent in this piece.

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The third movement, "RecitativoFantasia," is a profound and introspective exploration of musical expression. Franck's music delves deep into the emotional spectrum, offering both performers and audiences a journey through a range of moods and atmospheres.

"Recitativo-Fantasia" seamlessly combines elements of a recitative, known for its imitation of the human voice's expressive qualities, with the fantasy, allowing for freeflowing and imaginative musical expression. Much of the fantasy element, where the composition strays from the recitative theme of the movement, has been extracted from the previous two movements of the piece, making for a section that feels both free in structure and expression.

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As a pivotal part of the sonata, the "Recitativo-Fantasia" reveals Franck's harmonic innovation and rich melodic writing. Franck's Sonata for Violin and Piano, and particularly this movement, encapsulates the Romantic spirit and the composer's ability to convey deep emotions through music. It remains a beloved and frequently performed work in the chamber music canon, testifying to Franck's enduring impact on the world of classical music.

Florence Price (1887-1953) Fantasy No. 2 in F-sharp minor for Violin and Piano Florence Price, a child prodigy, the first African American woman to be recognised as a symphonic composer, and the first to have a composition played by a major orchestra, was a classical composer, pianist, and organist who was active from 1927 up until her death in 1953. Her music integrates techniques and harmonies from European classical music in which she was trained into the melodic styles of African American folk songs and spirituals. In 1940, Price premiered her Third Symphony and was inducted into the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, only a few weeks before composing Fantasy No.2 in F-sharp minor. This piece was written around seven years after her earlier Gminor Fantasie, and it represents an entirely different stage in her professional life. The G-minor Fantasie came about at the same time as other compositions that established her career, such as her First Symphony, Dminor Piano Concerto, and Fantasie Nègre. By the time she wrote Fantasie No.2, her status as a prominent African American composer had been secured.

This piece is based on a folk melody, and the opening is stylistically similar to the introduction of “Talkin’ ‘bout a Child That Do Love Jesus”, as arranged by the composer William Levi Dawson.

Dawson opens his arrangement with a chromatically descending passage, setting the tone for the spiritual intensity of the vocal line. Price

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amplifies this idea, but draws it out, spanning sixteen bars, and increasing the complexity of Dawson’s arrangement. The violin melody follows the folk melody of “Talkin’ ‘bout a Child That Do Love Jesus”, honouring the beauty of the ancestral melodies of African American spirituals. The rich harmonies used throughout, as well as the later impassioned melodies in the violin, transform the initially gentle opening, as the piece results in a dramatic ending.

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) Fantaisie for Violin and Piano Known for his deeply expressive, complex, and innovative compositions, Olivier Messiaen remains undoubtedly one of the most important composers of the 20th century. As a devout Catholic, there is a profound sense of spirituality in his works, regardless of the secular or religious nature of the individual pieces. An important part of his compositional process came as a result of his synaesthesia, where he perceived colours when hearing sounds. He used this to produce colourful imagery through his music, leading him to produce tremendously unique, expansive works such as his Quartet for the End of Time.

Fantaisie for Violin and Piano was composed in 1933, when the French composer was 24 years old, a year after he married the violinist and composer Claire Delbos. Messiaen wrote this piece for the newlywed couple to play together, after composing Thème et variations for his wife in 1932. This lively piece of chamber music was only published in 2007, after his second wife, Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen, unearthed some of his old manuscripts, fifteen years after his death, and over seventy years after the date of composition.

Fantaisie consists of three ideas, opening with a loud, four-octave melody in the piano, with the often irregular, fluctuating time signature markings creating an immediately

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intense, unpredictable, exhilarating atmosphere which continues throughout the piece. There are instances where the piano reverts to this opening idea, playing in unison with the violin’s melody across four octaves. The violin enters as the second musical idea and plays a descending figure followed by an off-beat pattern of repeated pitches. The third idea is given a performance direction of ‘un peu moins vif mais très passionné’, instructing the musicians to play a little less lively but very passionately. It is supported by impressionistic triplet notes in the piano, with the violin playing a long, dreamy lead melody.

These three ideas are expanded and contracted throughout the piece and are often interrupted by or combined with each other.

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Morgan Hayes (b. 1973) Trans-Pose (1-3) for Violin and Piano * Tonight’s concert is the World Premiere of Trans-Pose (1-3) for Violin and Piano, and will be introduced by the composer.

Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music, accomplished pianist and composer Morgan Hayes won the Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s Lutoslawski Prize in 1995, and his debut orchestral work premiered at the BBC Proms in 2005. Hayes’ musical style bears a likeness to the aesthetic qualities of expressionism, with the idea of contrast being at the centre of his work; with simple lines and static harmonies set side by side with intense, even violent, complexity. He draws inspiration from anything and everything, be it musical or not, such as literature, architecture, art, and places of personal significance, utilising techniques from baroque music through to jazz and modernist music.

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Joseph Phibbs (b. 1974)

Arnold Schonberg (1874-1954)

Fantasia for Violin and Piano

Phantasy for Violin and Piano Op. 47

Joseph Phibbs, born in 1974, is a British contemporary composer of orchestral, chamber and choral music known for his innovative contributions to contemporary classical music. Having studied at King's College London and Cornell University, Phibbs’ work is often commissioned for festivals and the BBC, with many of his orchestral works being premiered at the Proms.

Written in 1998, His "Fantasia for Violin and Piano" is a prime example of his distinctive artistic voice, merging tradition with a modern sensibility.

Known for his development of atonality and the twelve-tone technique, Arnold Schoenberg’s Phantasy for Violin and Piano Op. 47 was written towards the end of his career in 1949, after he had immigrated to America in 1941.

Phantasy was composed and commissioned for violinist Adolf Koldofsky, who lived in LA at the same time as Schoenberg and was first performed in 1949 at the International Society for Contemporary Music Concert, in commemoration of Schoenberg's 75th Birthday. The composition diverts from his more experimental styles, and instead presents more traditional forms and tonality, highlighting his mastery of the more traditional style.

This composition explores the dynamic interplay between the violin and piano, resulting in a compelling musical dialogue. Phibbs begins the piece with contrasting rhythmic ideas in the violin and the piano, creating a startling beginning with the violins' intense virtuosic melodic patterns. Throughout the piece, he balances this melodic lyricism and rhythmic intensity between both instruments, showcasing his unique style and expressing a wide range of emotion.

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Phantasy is a one movement piece and has often been described as a more personal and introspective expression of Schoenberg’s style, shown through the delicate piano accompaniment opening alongside the conversational phrases of the violin melody. The composition's process of writing the solo violin melody and the piano accompaniment separately is clearly evident through the dialogue this has created between the two instruments, making for a piece of music that clearly reflects the late period of Schoenberg's life. Despite a slight departure from his usual radical style, his distinctive voice is still present through the rich harmonic language running throughout the work.

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PERFORMERS

Darragh Morgan Violin Described by The Strad Magazine as ‘hugely impressive, he plays with seemingly effortless control’ Irish violinist Darragh Morgan was born in Belfast in 1974. A renowned exponent of contemporary music, Darragh has appeared as a soloist at Aldeburgh Festival, Philips Collection Washington DC, Wiener Konzerthaus, Spitalfields Festival, Osterfestival Tirol and BBC Proms Chamber Music. His numerous concerto appearances with The Ulster Orchestra include the World Premiere of ‘Hymn of Dawn’ by Sir John Tavener which he also performed with Istanbul Symphony Orchestra. With National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, he has toured Beethoven Triple Concerto, recorded ‘Elastic Harmonic’ by Donnacha Dennehy for NMC 10 | P a g e

Recordings and he has premiered Brian Irvine’s ‘A Mon Seul Desir’. With RTÉ Concert Orchestra and London Musici/Rambert Dance Company he has given over 40 performances of ‘Tabula Rasa’ by Arvo Pärt (including in the presence of the composer).

Darragh gave the South African premiere of Barber Violin Concerto with the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra.

Other concerto appearances have included Kölner Kammerorchester and Cyprus Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with such distinguished musicians as Thomas Adès, Emmanuel Pahud, Darius Brubeck, Joanna MacGregor, Julian Bliss, Nicholas Daniel, John Tilbury, Mícheál Ò Súilleabháin and David Holmes.

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A passionate chamber musician Darragh is founder member of ‘the virtuosic Fidelio Trio’ (Sunday Times).

They were shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards Ensemble Prize and have received two Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice for their recordings. Thetrio have appeared at prestigious venues around the globe including Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room Southbank Centre, Casa da Musica Porto, National Sawdust New York, Morrison Artist Series San Francisco, Princeton Sound Kitchen, Andy Warhol Museum Pittsburgh, National Centre for Performing Arts Mumbai, Beijing Modern Music Festival, National Concert Hall Dublin, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Brighton Festival, Cheltenham Festival, and the Vale of Glamorgan Festival. They have collaborated with actor Adrian Dunbar, writer Alexander McCall-Smith and poet Sinead Morrissey.

Darragh was for several years violinist with the award-winning Smith Quartet, praised by The Guardian as ‘Britain’s answer to the Kronos’.

Highlights of his time with The Smiths included appearances with Rokia Traore at Peter Sellars New Crowned Hope Festival at The Barbican, Bang on a Can Marathon New York, two sold out concerts at Seoul Arts Centre, Maerz Musik Berlin, ten performances of the music of Morton Feldman with pianist John Tilbury at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (shortlisted for an RPS Award), Steve Reich 75th Birthday Concerts, Kevin Volans 60th Birthday at The Wigmore 11 | P a g e

Hall and many acclaimed albums including the first ever complete recording of Philip Glass String Quartets for Signum Classics.

Darragh regularly leads London Sinfonietta including recently at The Esplanade Singapore and Venice Biennale. He has appeared as leader of Ensemble Modern at Lucerne Festival, Sciarrino’s ‘Macbeth’ at Festival d’automne Paris, Klangspuren Schwaz, Tongyeong International Music Festival and at the Alte Opera Frankfurt. He has also appeared with Ensemble MusikFabrik in the World Premiere of ‘La Passione’ by Louis Andriessen and ‘Shelter’ by Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe and David Lang.

Darragh has worked closely with conductors including Oliver Knussen, Pierre Boulez, Francois Xavier Roth, John Eliot Gardiner, Heinz Holliger, En Shao and Paul Daniel. He has appeared as Guest Leader of Aurora Orchestra, The Philharmonia, Oxford Philharmonic, English Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Macau Orchestra, Les Siecles and Athelas Sinfonietta, Remix Ensemble, BCMG and Red Note Ensemble.

Darragh is currently Director of European Union Chamber Orchestra and 2004-2005 was Artistic Director of Baroque2000, South Africa’s premiere period instrument ensemble.

Special composer associations have included being the dedicatee of Michael Finnissy’s Violin Sonata and the recording of his complete Violin and Piano repertoire for Metier,

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commissioning Kevin Volans Piano Trio No.3 ‘Le Tombeau des Regrets’ and recording his first piano trio for NMC, invitation to record Philip Glass Trios for his label Orange Mountain Music. World Premieres include Chris Newman violin concerto ‘FreeS tandards’, much music by Joe Cutler including his violin concerto ‘Macedonia’, Richard Causton‘s Seven States of Rain which he recorded for his NMC debut album ‘Opera’ alongside music by Joseph Phibbs, Gerald Barry’s chamber music recorded for ModeRecords, Andrew Poppy’s Violin Concerto with Crash Ensemble, Steve Reich ‘Double Sextet’ Recording with Ekkozone which was awarded a Diapason D’or Award, Michael Nyman complete piano trios for MNR as well as works by Robert Fokkens, Judith Weir, Tansy Davies and Howard Skempton.

He has recorded over 50 chamber music and solo albums for NMC, Resonus, Delphian, Signum, Diatribe, Metier, Da Capo, Centaur, Naxos and Col Legno.

Darragh has been a member of the string teaching faculty at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and chamber music faculty at Royal College of Music. He has been invited to give masterclasses at Curtis Institute, Peabody Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory, Yong Tew Conservatory Singapore, Central Conservatory Beijing and summer faculty at BrittenPears Young Artist Programme and Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, New Hampshire, USA.

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Darragh regularly records for soundtracks at Abbey Road Studios and Air Lyndhurst Studios. Credits include; for Film: Children of Men, Steve Jobs, Spiderman, Shazam, Edge of Tomorrow; for TV: Merlin, Poldark, Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, The Crown. Darragh has worked with numerous recording artists including the Spice Girls, Deep Purple, Sigur Ros, The Corrs, Paul McCartney, The Hours, and Divine Comedy. Darragh received his Bachelor’s Degree at Guildhall School of Music & Drama studying with Detlef Hahn, and had masterclasses with Yehudi Menuhin, Pinchas Zukerman, Pierre Amoyal, Mauricio Fuks, Paul Zukofsky, the Takacs and Amadeus String Quartets.

Darragh plays an 1848 Giuseppe Rocca violin, generously on loan from the Morgan-Rocca Instrument Trust which is administered by The Royal Society of Musicians and a bow by Joseph Alfred Lamy. Darragh is married to pianist of Fidelio Trio Mary Dullea, with whom he often performs and records duo repertoire. They live in North London with their two children.

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Mary Dullea Piano As soloist and chamber musician, Irish pianist Mary Dullea leads a diverse performance career internationally.

Her frequent broadcasts include BBC Radio 3, Radio 4, RTHK, RTÉ Lyric FM, WQXR, Radio New Zealand and Sky Arts, Irish, French, Austrian and Italian television.

Concerto appearances include RTÉ Concert Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and KZN Philharmonic Orchestra. Of her multiple CD releases, recent collaborations include premiere recordings of Philip Glass for Orange Mountain Music and, on Divine Art Métier, solo piano music from Iran by composers Amir Mahyar Tafreshipour and Hormoz Farhat.

Mary’s expansive repertoire covers the standard piano literature as well as an ever-increasing amount of 20th- and 21st- century compositions, many of 13 | P a g e

which are dedicated to her. Her piano trio, Fidelio Trio, are passionate advocates for piano trio repertoire around the world. They were shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards Ensemble Prize and have been Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice for their recordings.

The trio have appeared at prestigious venues around the globe including Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room Southbank Centre, Casa da Musica Porto, Morrison Artist Series San Francisco, Andy Warhol Museum Pittsburgh, National Centre for Performing Arts Mumbai, Beijing Modern Music Festival, National Concert Hall Dublin, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Brighton Festival, Cheltenham Festival and Gümüşlük International Classical Music Festival.

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They have collaborated with actor Adrian Dunbar, writer Alexander McCall-Smith and poet Sinead Morrissey. Constantly commissioning new works, composers that the Trio have worked closely with include Johannes Maria Staud, Donnacha Dennehy, Joe Cutler, Judith Weir, Piers Hellawell, Ann Cleare and Charles Wuorinen, to name but a few.

Mary is the curator of Soundings (an annual UK/Austrian collaborative music festival) at the Austrian Cultural Forum London from since 2008. She has served on the jury of ‘Schubert und die Musik der Moderne’ International Chamber Music Competition in Graz, Austria. In 2014 she founded 'Chamber Music on Valentia' an annual chamber music festival in Co. Kerry, Ireland, with the aim of bringing chamber music performances of international standing, innovative programming and outreach and engagement programmes to this unique place.

Mary’s own studies were at The Royal College of Music, London on the Edith Best Scholarship, Goldsmiths, University of London (MMus) and her PhD in Performance is from Ulster University. Mary was on the piano faculty of Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama for 9 years. She previously held the position of Director of Performance at University of Sheffield and since 2015 she has held this position at Royal Holloway, University of London where she is also a Professor in Music.

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OUR PROGRAMME NOTES The notes created for this event programme have been written by a team of students at the Department of Music, as part of the Concert Management & Artist Personnel Programme (where listed).

This is a professional development initiative run by the Concert Office where students are able to experience first-hand what goes on behind-thescenes, who organises the publicity for an event, to even how to coordinate and manage a rehearsal schedule. All members of the programme are mentored by the College's Performance Manager, Nathan James Dearden, and receive training from industry specialists.

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