Adams & Mozart

ADAMS & MOZART Thursday 3 December 2020, The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh –––––

PROGRAMME NOTE

SCO.ORG.UK

PERFORMERS VIOLIN Stephanie Gonley Marcus Barcham Stevens VIOLA Felix Tanner Brian Schiele CELLO Philip Higham Donald Gillan DOUBLE BASS Nikita Naumov

4 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh EH7 5AB +44 (0)131 557 6800 | info@sco.org.uk | sco.org.uk

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is a charity registered in Scotland No. SC015039.

Company registration No. SC075079.

WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO HEAR Adams (b. 1947) Movements from John’s Book of Alleged Dances (1994) Pavane : She’s so fine Toot Nipple Stubble Crotchet

Mozart (1756-1791) Grand Sestetto Concertante K 364 (1779) Allegro maestoso Andante Finale. Presto

––––– What’s in a name? For US composer John Adams, it seems, quite a lot. From the piece that effectively made his name – Shaker Loops – through to Short Ride in a Fast Machine, clarinet concerto Gnarly Buttons, My Father Knew Charles Ives (he didn’t, at least not personally), and his conventionally sober-sounding Chamber Symphony followed up not by a Chamber Symphony No 2 but instead Son of Chamber Symphony (what else?), Adams has taken evident pleasure in giving many of his works quirky, unusual, often humorous titles.

Just as his music plays games with genres – mixing the pulsing repetitions of minimalism with the lavish excess of high Romanticism or the visceral power of rock, for example – so his titles indicate a certain informality, and that we perhaps shouldn’t approach this music expecting a conventional ‘classical’ experience (whatever that is). His naming choices also serve to lodge the pieces in the memory – no bad thing, of course, for a composer wanting his music to get all the exposure it can.

John’s Book of Alleged Dances of course follows this pattern. The John of the title is indeed Adams himself, and he called his dances ‘alleged’ because, as he wrote, ‘the steps for them had yet to be invented’. The work feels more like a pop or jazz album than a classical suite, comprising ten distinctive pieces for string quartet that can be played in any order, or from which individual groups of movements can be extracted (as in today’s concert), and which uses a pre-recorded rhythm track for six of its movements (not the ones played today)

The John of the title is indeed Adams himself, and he called his dances ‘alleged’ because, as he wrote, ‘the steps for them had yet to be invented’.

John Adams

that samples sounds from a prepared piano. Indeed, Adams pushes rhythm centre-stage in these quirky creations,

accompaniment that becomes more animated by the movement’s end. ‘Toot Nipple’ is named after a character in E

and admits that it’s a piece whose main concern is having fun. He wrote it after spending a year grappling with his more complex Violin Concerto, and wanted to explore some of the techniques he’d devised, ‘only in a less earnest guise’.

He continues: ‘The general tone is dry, droll, sardonic.’ He wrote his dances for the Kronos Quartet, who premiered it in November 1994 in Escondido, California.

Annie Proulx’s novel Postcards. It rushes in with stabbing chords and a frenetic accompaniment, and rushes off again barely more than a minute later. ‘Stubble Crotchet’ swaggers rather than rushes, seems to discover Bartók in a Raymond Chandler thriller, and sends the quartet players off in different rhythmic directions before they come back together at the end.

The three movements you hear today encapsulate both the lyrical and quirky sides of John’s Book of Alleged Dances.

The elegant, slowly tripping ‘Pavane: She’s so fine’ pits a melody that soars high in the cello (Adams said he was inspired by Kronos cellist Joan Jeanrenaud’s sweetly

Names are important, too, in the case of Mozart’s Grande sestetto concertante – for what they conceal, and for what they reveal. What that grandiloquent title hides is that this is a reimagining for string sextet of Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante in E flat, K364, originally

lyrical high register) against a gentle

written for violin and viola soloists and

This sextet arrangement loses none of the original’s grand ambitions, but expands the conversation to one that happens between all six of its players, transforming the work into something both more intimate and more egalitarian in the process.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

orchestra. We don’t know who did the arrangement – it was published in 1808

by German publisher Sigmund Anton

movement layers melody upon melody until we’ve almost lost track of how many there are, while his heartfelt slow

Steiner, with no credit as to the arranger (it certainly wasn’t Mozart himself).

What the new title reveals, however, is the grand, collectivist vision the unknown arranger had for the arrangement, in terms of distributing Mozart’s two solo lines across all six of the chamber players, so that everyone contributes to both flashy virtuosity and elegant accompaniment.

movement may have been a response to the death of his mother, with the soloists taking turns to mourn and console.

Mozart returns to high-spirited joy in his vivacious rondo finale.

In its original form, Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante is already one of his most joyful, buoyant and moving works, written by the 23-year-old composer following travels to Munich, Mannheim and Paris, and incorporating a sense of wonder and freedom at the music he’d encountered there. His opening

There’s already a great sense of intimacy and conversation between violin and viola soloists in Mozart’s original work.

This sextet arrangement loses none of the original’s grand ambitions, but expands the conversation to one that happens between all six of its players, transforming the work into something both more intimate and more egalitarian in the process.

© David Kettle

THANK YOU

FUNDING PARTNERS ––––– Thank you to everyone who financially supports the work of the SCO, from the Scottish Government to local authorities, our Benefactor, Business Partners and Patrons to many charitable trusts and foundations. The generosity of our funders allows us to create truly world-class music, events and projects both here and abroad.

CORE FUNDER -----

BENEFACTOR -----

LOCAL AUTHORITIES ----

CREATIVE LEARNING PARTNER -----

BUSINESS PARTNERS -----

THANK YOU

PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE ––––– Our Principal Conductor’s Circle is made up of individuals who love great music and who share the SCO’s vision to bring the joy of music to as many people as possible. We would like to extend our grateful thanks for playing such a key part in the future of the SCO.

INTERNATIONAL TOURING FUND -----

AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT FUND -----

CREATIVE LEARNING FUND -----

PRODUCTIONS FUND -----

VISITING ARTISTS FUND -----

ANNUAL FUND -----

Gavin and Kate Gemmell David and Maria Cumming

Erik Lars Hansen and Vanessa Chang Kenneth and Martha Barker

Claire and Mark Urquhart

The Usher Family

Colin and Sue Buchan Claire and Anthony Tait Anne and Matthew Richards

James and Patricia Cook

CHAIR SPONSORS ----CONDUCTOR EMERITUS

SUB-PRINCIPAL CELLO

CHORUS DIRECTOR

CELLO

Joseph Swensen Donald and Louise MacDonald

Gregory Batsleer Anne McFarlane

VIOLA

Steve King Sir Ewan and Lady Brown

PRINCIPAL CELLO Philip Higham The Thomas Family

Su-a Lee Bryan Wade

Eric de Wit Jasmine Macquaker Charitable Fund

SUB-PRINCIPAL DOUBLE BASS Adrian Bornet Jo and Alison Elliot

PRINCIPAL FLUTE

André Cebrián Claire and Mark Urquhart

PRINCIPAL OBOE Robin Williams Hedley G Wright

PRINCIPAL CLARINET Maximiliano Martín Stuart and Alison Paul

PRINCIPAL TIMPANI Louise Goodwin Geoff and Mary Ball

BE PART OF OUR FUTURE A warm welcome to those who have recently joined the SCO’s family of Patrons, and a big thank you to everyone who is helping to secure our future.

The monthly or annual contributions from our Patrons make a real difference to the SCO’s ability to budget and plan ahead with more confidence. In these extraordinarily challenging times, their support is more valuable than ever.

For more information on how you can become a Patron, please get in touch with Laura Hickey on 0131 478 8344 or email laura.hickey@sco.org.uk.

SCO.ORG.UK/SUPPORT-US The SCO is a charity registered in Scotland No SC015039.