ff 28 jan programme

16
Resident Orchestra of Fairfield Halls, Croydon Saturday 28 January 2012 7.30pm Fairfield Halls, Croydon Nicholas Collon conductor Jeremy Huw Williams baritone Marieke Blankesjn violin StraviNSky Danses Concertantes McdoWall Theatre of Tango iNtErval BEEtHovEN Symphony No.6 in F, Op.68 Pastoral www.lmp.org Members of the audience are reminded that it is prohibited to smoke in the auditorium or take sound recordings or photographs in any part of the performance. Any noises such as whispering, coughing, rustling of sweet papers and the beeping of digital watches are very distracng to the performers and fellow audience members. Please make sure mobile phones or pagers are switched off during the performance. In accordance with the London Borough of Croydon, members of the audience will not be permied to stand or sit in any of the gangways. If standing is permied in the gangways or the sides and the rear of the seang, it will be limited to the numbers exhibited in those posions. LMP and Fairfield Croydon are registered charies. The LMP is funded by the London Borough of Croydon Please join us aſter the concert for mingling in the central foyer. This is a great opportunity to chat with tonight's soloists, conductor and members of the orchestra.

Upload: london-mozart-players

Post on 08-Apr-2016

222 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

DESCRIPTION

FF 28 Jan programme

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: FF 28 Jan programme

Resident Orchestra of Fairfield Halls, Croydon

Saturday 28 January 20127.30pm

Fairfield Halls, Croydon

Nicholas Collon conductorJeremy Huw Williams baritone

Marieke Blankestijn violin

StraviNSkyDanses Concertantes

McdoWall Theatre of Tango

iNtErval

BEEtHovENSymphony No.6 in F,

Op.68 Pastoral

www.lmp.org

Members of the audience are reminded that it is prohibited to smoke in the auditorium or take sound recordings or photographs in any part of the performance. Any noises such as whispering, coughing, rustling of sweet papers and the beeping of digital watches are very distracting to the performers and fellow audience members. Please make sure mobile phones or pagers are switched off during the performance. In accordance with the London Borough of Croydon, members of the audience will not be permitted to stand or sit in any of the gangways. If standing is permitted in the gangways or the sides and the rear of the seating, it will be limited to the numbers exhibited in those positions.LMP and Fairfield Croydon are registered charities.

The LMP is funded by the London Borough of Croydon

Please join us after the concert for mingling in the central foyer. This is a great opportunity to chat with tonight's soloists, conductor and members of the orchestra.

Page 2: FF 28 Jan programme

Founded by Harry Blech in 1949 as the UK’s first chamber orchestra, the London Mozart Players (LMP) is regarded as one of the UK’s finest ensembles. Under the leadership of Music Director Gérard Korsten the orchestra is internationally renowned for its outstanding live performances and CD recordings and particularly known for its definitive performances of the core Classical repertoire. The LMP also plays an active part in contemporary music, giving many world premières and commissioning new works, especially of British composers. In recent years, the LMP has premièred new works by composers including Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Tarik O’Regan, Sally Beamish, Cecilia McDowall, Lynne Plowman, and Fraser Trainer. In March 2011, the LMP appointed Roxanna Panufnik as their Associate Composer.

Since 1989, the LMP’s home has been Fairfield Halls, Croydon, thanks to generous funding from the London Borough of Croydon. This residency includes a series of subscription concerts at the hall and numerous education and community activities throughout the borough.

Touring is a major part of the orchestra’s schedule, with regular appearances at festivals and concert series throughout the UK and abroad. It is Orchestra in Association of The Anvil, Basingstoke, and has strong relationships with other major UK venues, including Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton. Overseas, the LMP has visited Spain, Belgium and France and, most recently, Germany.

The 2011/12 season marks the second year of conductor Gérard Korsten’s three-year term as the LMP’s fifth Music Director, continuing the strong Classical tradition developed by Andrew Parrott, Matthias Bamert and Jane Glover. The season sees the orchestra continuing to work with established artists including Howard Shelley and Tasmin Little, whilst building new relationships with bright new stars including Maximilian Hornung, Cordelia Williams and Nicholas Collon. The LMP’s new association with Korsten also sees the introduction of some of the best European soloists to our Fairfield season.

The LMP has developed an extensive and highly regarded education, community and audience development programme, LMP Interactive, and is particularly committed to developing new audiences in outer London boroughs as well as rural areas across the nation. It has an association with the South Holland district in Lincolnshire that brings the orchestra into the heart of the Fenland communities. Working with educational institutions also brings inspiring and valued relationships, providing a professional grounding for young musicians, and the LMP is associated with Royal Holloway University of London, Wellington College, Wimbledon College, Portsmouth Grammar School and the Whitgift Foundation Schools in Croydon. Recent projects include ‘Fly Away Mozart’, involving secondary schoolchildren and composer Michael Omer that was performed in the arrivals hall of Southampton Airport; and ‘Side-by-side in Shepshed’ that saw composer and animateur Fraser Trainer and seven schools in Leicestershire build a new youth orchestra for the area and perform alongside the LMP in a family concert. In Croydon, a START project included children from primary and special needs schools working together to perform at the LMP’s annual Schools’ Concert in Fairfield Halls. Other ongoing ventures include visiting care homes and concert demonstrations in primary and secondary schools.

The LMP receives project funding from Arts Council England, Orchestras Live and South Holland District Council. In addition, the LMP receives grants from trusts, foundations and many individuals, particularly the Friends of the LMP in Croydon.

Recording has played a major part in the orchestra’s life for many years. Its acclaimed Contemporaries of Mozart series with Matthias Bamert for Chandos numbers over 20 CDs to date, with the latest release of Boccherini proving a success with the critics. A recording with Canadian pianist Alain Lefèvre of works by Mendelssohn, Shostakovich and Mathieu for Analekta was awarded a Canadian Juno Award.

Full details of forthcoming concerts and more information on the orchestra’s activities are available on the LMP website: www.lmp.org

www.lmp.org

loNdoN Mozart playErS

Page 3: FF 28 Jan programme

1st violins Marieke BlankestijnRobert Yeomans Nicoline KraamwinkelAnn Criscuolo(Chair supported by David & Beatrix Hodgson)

Catherine Van der Geest(Chair supported by Debby Guthrie)

Clara BissJeff MooreAnna De Bruin

2nd violinsDavid AngelAndrew Roberts(Chair supported by Noël & Caroline Annesley)

Jeremy MetcalfeJayne SpencerStephen RouseVernon Dean

violasOliver WilsonMark BraithwaiteMichael Posner(Chair supported by Anonymous)

Reiad Chibah(Chair supported by Caroline Molloy & Andrew Lay)

CellosSebastian CombertiJulia Desbruslais Sarah Butcher(Chair supported byElinor Wood)Ben Chappell

Basses Stacey Watton(Chair supported byLouise Honeyman)

Anthony Williams

FlutesAlex Jakeman(Chair supported by Brian & Doreen Hitching)

Robert Manasse(Chair supported by Barbara Tower)

piccoloNicholas Bricht

oboes Christopher O'Neal(Chair supported byPat Sandry)

Alison Alty

ClarinetsAngela Malsbury(Chair supported by Stuart & Joyce Aston)

Margaret Archibald(Chair supported byChristopher Fildes)

BassoonsJulia Andrews(Chair supported by Alec Botton)

Emma Harding

HornsChristopher NewportTony Catterick

trumpetsPaul ArchibaldPeter Wright

trombonesIan WhiteJeremy Gough

timpaniBen Hoffnung

percussionScott Bywater

www.lmp.org

orCHEStra

givE tHE orCHEStra a lEg up... Support aN lMp CHair

From as little as £20 a month, you can sponsor an LMP chair and enjoy a special connection with the orchestra.

• Get to know your player as you see them perform. • Take a look at what goes on behind the scenes with access to rehearsals.• See your name in the programme alongside your chosen chair.

By supporting an LMP chair your donation will be directly helping the orchestra, enabling us to perform fantastic concerts and carry out inspirational work in schools and in the community.

For more information please contact the LMP Office, 020 8686 1996 or email [email protected]

Page 4: FF 28 Jan programme

www.lmp.org

NiCHolaS ColloN Conductor

Nicholas Collon is establishing an enviable reputation as a commanding and inspirational interpreter in an exceptionally wide range of music. As founder and Principal Conductor of Aurora Orchestra he has promoted imaginative programming that integrates challenging repertoire from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries with masterworks of the Classical and Romantic eras. Nicholas and Aurora were winners of Best Ensemble at the 2011 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards. In addition to his work with Aurora, he is increasingly in demand as a guest conductor with other ensembles in the UK and abroad. He was classical music nominee in the Times Breakthrough Award at the 2011 Sky Arts South Bank Show Awards and is Assistant Conductor to Vladimir Jurowski at the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2011/12 season.

Having made a very successful debut at the BBC Proms in 2010, Nicholas was re-invited to conduct both the London Sinfonietta and Aurora Orchestra at the 2011 festival in programmes ranging from Prokofiev and Stravinsky to Dutilleux and Sir Richard Rodney Bennett. With Aurora Nicholas leads the New Moves series, a unique three-year cross-arts residency at LSO St Luke’s which has included critically acclaimed collaborations with capoeira, film, theatre, tango, and literature. With innovative programming, one recent concert Jealous Guy juxtaposed composers, Purcell, Piazzolla, Lennon, Mahler and Bernstein. In addition, Nicholas and Aurora were part of the Mozart Unwrapped season at Kings Place and in 2012 are part of Brahms Unwrapped. Also at Kings Place, a concert featuring the works of Nico Muhly launched the CD Seeing is Believing on Decca to critical acclaim.

Operatic highlights include a special project at Glyndebourne conducting a new work, The Knight Crew by Julian Phillips which featured in a major BBC

Two series. With the Opera Group he has conducted the first performances of Elena Langer’s The Lion’s Face and Luke Bedford’s Seven Angels throughout the UK, including the Brighton and Cheltenham Festivals and Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House. He has also conducted a programme of Walton’s The Bear and Stravinsky’s Renard for Mahogany Opera.

Nicholas appears regularly with the London Sinfonietta including a joint collaboration with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and other recent guest engagements include a London Symphony Orchestra UBS Soundscapes Pioneers première, concerts with the Britten Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata, Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg and Stavanger Symphony and broadcast recordings with the BBC Symphony and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestras.

During the 11/12 Season Nicholas makes his debuts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Northern Sinfonia and the Munich Chamber Orchestra at the Munich Biennale. With London Sinfonietta Nicholas will conduct works by George Benjamin and Ligeti and he will make his concert debut with the BBC SSO in a programme of Philip Glass and Richard Strauss. With Aurora Orchestra Nicholas will conduct Britten’s Phaedra with Angelika Kirchschlager at the Wigmore Hall.

Other future engagements include Nicholas’s debut with Welsh National Opera conducting Jonathan Harvey’s Wagner Dream and also his debut with Glyndebourne on Tour. He will return to conduct both the London Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra and will make further debuts with the Spanish National Orchestra, Orchestre national d’ile de france and Ensemble Intercontemporain.

© Benjam

in Ealovega

Page 5: FF 28 Jan programme

www.lmp.org

The Welsh baritone Jeremy Huw Williams studied at St John’s College, Cambridge, at the National Opera Studio, and with April Cantelo. He made his debut with Welsh National Opera as Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) and has since appeared in sixty operatic roles. He has given performances at major venues in North and South America, Australia, Hong Kong, and most European countries.

Jeremy has given recitals at the Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, and at many major music festivals. He has appeared with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Tippett’s King Priam at the Royal Festival Hall, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Lambert’s Summer’s Last Will and Testament at Symphony Hall, the Halle in Handel’s Messiah at the Bridgewater Hall, the Philharmonia in Mozart’s Requiem at St David’s Hall, the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Nielsen’s Third Symphony at the Royal Albert Hall during the BBC Proms, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in Rawsthorne’s Medieval Diptych, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Adams’ The Wound Dresser at City Halls, the BBC Philharmonic in Schubert’s Mass in Ab, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the London Philharmonic Orchestra in Watson’s O! Captain, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in Mathias’ This Worlde’s Joie at the Three Choirs Festival, and the BBC Concert Orchestra in Stainer’s Crucifixion at Southwark Cathedral for BBC Radio 2.

He has also appeared with the RTE Concert Orchestra in Dvořák’s Requiem at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, the Orchestre National de Lyon in Benjamin’s Sometime Voices at the Auditorium de Lyon, l’Orchestre Léonard de Vinci in Brahms’ Requiem at the opera house in Rouen, and the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya in Orff’s Carmina Burana at the Auditori in Barcelona.

He is renowned as a fine exponent of contemporary music, having commissioned much new music and given premières of works by Alun Hoddinott, William Mathias, John Tavener, Martin Butler, John Metcalf, Julian Phillips, Edward Dudley Hughes, Ian Wilson, Richard Causton, Edward Rushton, Arlene Sierra, Mark Bowden, Guto Pryderi Puw, and Huw Watkins. He frequently records for BBC Radio 3 and has made many commercial recordings, including eight solo discs of songs.

As a principal singer with Welsh National Opera he appeared at the opening night of the Wales Millennium Centre, and received the inaugural Sir Geraint Evans Award from the Welsh Music Guild, given annually to a person or persons who have made a significant contribution to Welsh music in any one year or recent years: “there has been an unanimous decision that the first award should be made to baritone Jeremy Huw Williams in recognition of not only his performing ability but also for the tremendous support that he has given to Welsh composers and their music in recent years”. Jeremy won the classical music category in the 2008 Creative Wales Awards, was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Glyndwr University in 2009 for services to music in Wales, and awarded a Visiting Fellowship to the University of Aberdeen in 2010.

JErEMy HuW WilliaMS Baritone

© Ian W

hite

Page 6: FF 28 Jan programme

www.lmp.org

Marieke Blankestijn was born in The Hague, studied in Salzburg with Sandor Vegh, and at the age of 21 won the International Mozart Competition. She is a founder member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe of which she was appointed Leader in 1985.

As a regular guest leader for the English Chamber, Bournemouth Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic and many other european orchestras, she also directs and appears as soloist with the COE, with whom she has recorded all the Brandenburg Concertos and her own recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, both to great critical acclaim.

Marieke is principal guest leader with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She also leads the Gaudier Ensemble, with whom she has recorded twelve discs for Hyperion Records, in addition to recording the Haydn Sinfonia Concertante with Stephen Isserlis and the Vivaldi and Bach Oboe and Violin concertos with Douglas Boyd.

Marieke was appointed Leader of the London Mozart Players in 2011.

MariEkE BlaNkEStiJNViolin

Page 7: FF 28 Jan programme

www.lmp.org

Danses Concertantes

I Marche - IntroductionII Pas d’ActionIII Theme VarieIV Pas de DeuxV Marche – Conclusion

For most of the inter-war years Stravinsky lived inFrance. The Great War had marooned him in Switzerland and after it his distaste for the Russian revolution had made it impossible for him to thrive in his native St. Petersburg. He left behind him his memories of being successively a law student, a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov and the toast of the Diaghilev Ballet to settle at Biarritz in 1921. Thirteen years later he became a French citizen and moved to Paris, until the Second World War brought him to yet another home, and nationality, in America.

His time in Switzerland had freed him from dependence on composing for Diaghilev; besides, the lush harmonies of the Firebird and vast orchestra of the Rite of Spring no longer pleased him. Instead, he conformed to the fashion of the time, for classical pastiche and the reworking of old music – except that in his hands the outcome was neo-Stravinsky rather than mere neo-classicism. Scores of this kind punctuated his stay in France, from Pulcinella in 1920 (based on themes attributed to Pergolesi) to his first arrival in Dumbarton Oaks in 1938.

It was an invitation to lecture at Harvard – coinciding with the tragic loss of his wife and daughter and the outbreak of war in Europe – that finally induced him to leave Paris. Absorbing himself in work on the Symphony in C, he settled in Hollywood and was immediately welcomed with a commission to write a work for the Werner Janssen Orchestra. Danses Concertantes was the result, a twenty minute “Concerto for small orchestra” (as it was first called), scored for eight wind and 15 strings with timpani and first performed under the composer’s direction in Los Angeles on 8th February 1942. It was not until 1944 that George Balanchine took the hint implicit in its new title, and turned it into a ballet for New York.

The movements are almost continuous, and include a march played at the beginning and end

in eighteenth-century serenade fashion, and two “dance-steps”, possibly in deliberate provocation to Balanchine. One of these is a rondo with sundry dramatic incidents as its name implies, and the other a thing of alternating moods, but neither attempts to suggest any kind of programme.

The music, like Dumbarton Oaks, demonstrates Stravinsky’s passion for order, clarity and contrast, but now balancing timbre and rhythm with a heightened regard for cost-effective techniques worthy of his new compatriots. Its centre-piece consists of four variations on a theme closely related to the Symphony on which the composer was still simultaneously working. The theme, Lento, is varied successively with Allegretti, Scherzando, Andantino, and Tempo giusto (a sort of tarantella).

© Stefan de Haan

igor StraviNSky(1882–1971)

Page 8: FF 28 Jan programme

Theatre of Tango A setting of poems by Seán Street

I The Dance II Ghost Light III A Tango of Time

This ‘cross borders’ commission for both the Welsh Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Anthony Hose, and the London Mozart Players offered possibilities of exploring a South American vein as presented in the darkly evocative poems by the poet, Seán Street and the indigenous dance form of South America, the tango. The tango is close to my heart, both from the composing point of view and from my own experience of taking part in the dance itself.

Theatre of Tango begins with The Dance; this is the place where the tango, dark and alluring, “full of lost hearts eaten by shadows merging in flickersˮ, enfold the dancers together in a rhythmic intensity, passion and nostalgia. The opening and closing sections bring an energy and drive in contrast with the slower pacing of the central section, “Beyond the night flamesʼ bright urgency no breath is spoken”, in which the tango slides into another quieter world. The vigour of the dance returns once more and the movement concludes with the words, “tender soft violences, enticing new lives to past darkness – all’s one.”

Ghost Light eerily evokes the sound of the tango played by musicians, long since dead. The strains of the tango, like a “cry, come(s) over wind and grass, the rattling bones of rain’s dark thunderclap voice drumming.” There is a spectral quality, something haunting, sometimes harsh, in this wraith-like invocation of the tango; the tubular bells and the abrasive quality of plucked strings contrast with the high string writing and the lyrical line of the voice in this ghostly song.

The third movement, A Tango of Time, is perhaps the most clearly underpinned by the Argentine tango with intimations of Piazzolla. The poem characterizes ‘Time’ as a tango, “a tango to taunt at the dance of heartbeats, with flashing knives that choose their time for killing, that choose darkness in place of lives.” With shades of menace and ruthlessness Time steers its course towards an inevitable end, “this nemesis”.

© Cecilia McDowall

Commissioned by the Welsh Chamber Orchestra and its conductor, Anthony Hose, and the London Mozart Players with funds provided by Beyond Borders (PRS for Music Foundation), Theatre of Tango was premièred at the Beaumaris Festival, Anglesey, by Jeremy Huw Williams, baritone, David Juritz, violin, with the Welsh Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Anthony Hose.

CECilia MCdoWall(b. 1951)

www.lmp.org

iNtErval oF 20 MiNS

Page 9: FF 28 Jan programme

The DanceEnticed from our being, here through the dark, the promise of a caress calls us from reality. Tango is a place of sweet enfolding, full of lost hearts eaten by shadows merging in flickers, enmeshing, and willing us to our entrapment.

Beyond the night flames’ bright urgency no breath is spoken. Within these walls passion is our own kingdom, borne from the dust, enclosing and embracing, the conquering god of the gaucho leads us back to an age of pure gold, purest gold, we become stars’ diamonds, reborn in love.

Rhythm’s pulse flexes, slow torches make us their kin, in our wanderings we live the dance,candles in our moment remaking ancient fire.

Something kindled in the heart, spirit’s yearning,the slow alluring of promises made now bequeaths to time, tender soft violences, enticing new lives to past darkness – all’s one.

Ghost LightCan you hear? There, where dead musicians played, where the dance spoke to our hearts?

Through the pale dusk of years, a cry comesover wind and grass, the rattling bones of rain’sdark thunderclap voice drumming, sounds thatlightning conjures when heartbeats falter, the ghost-light in the room taunting us, commanding us to die, to haunt the spinning floor that once held us.

Can you hear, Margarita?Come again here, the wraith of it to call us back, whispering from graves.

A Tango of TimeOver the bright tango of Time,under the clock’s frail heart,the hand implacabledeals the tricks, and the cards.

This is the Theatre of Tango,arrogant Tango song,flashing the light of a dark eyealight, for life seems long.

The Tango caught in time,a story’s long-lost neton the fringes of a lost place,where Death dances a set,

a tango to taunt at the dance of heartbeats, with flashing knivesthat choose their time for killing,that choose darkness in place of lives.

He who lives by such bleedingbleeds himself in the end.In a corner of lost darknessTime waits for him.

A knife, one knife, and darknessas morning falls to night,a knife seeking a heartbeatseeks an ending of light.

Just one slice to the heart,the blank stare of a face.Time stops, the tango,the ghost of the tango haunts a lost place.

This song is for the fallen,a dance bleeding with the kiss,the vengativo blade’s day,a strange hand, this nemesis.

© Seán Street

www.lmp.org

Page 10: FF 28 Jan programme

www.lmp.org

Born in London, 1951, Cecilia McDowall has been described by the International Record Review as having “a communicative gift that is very rare in modern music”. She has won many awards and been several times short-listed for the British Composer Awards.

Recent commissions include one from the BBC (for the winner of the BBC Radio 3 2008 Choir of the Year) and for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Northlight), Welsh Chamber Orchestra (Theatre of Tango) and City of London Sinfonia (Seventy degrees below zero). This last was jointly commissioned by the Scott Polar Research Institute and CLS to celebrate the centenary of the British Antarctic Expedition 1910 – 12 and includes a setting of the poignant letter Captain Scott addressed, To my widow, as well as words by poet Seán Street, who uses as his inspiration extracts from the Scott journals. The first performance will be on 3 February at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, and then tours to Cambridge, Cardiff and Cheltenham, coming to London on 3 March as part of the Music Nation Event, a Countdown for the London 2012 Festival.

McDowall has written much choral music, performed worldwide, as well as orchestral music. A recent commission, the Shipping Forecast, gained national media attention last year. The work reflects the mystery and force of the sea, drawing together the poetry of Seán Street, the psalm, “They that go down to the sea in ships”, and the words of the Shipping Forecast itself. Three Latin Motets have been recorded by the American choir, Phoenix Chorale (Chandos); this recording, Spotless Rose, won a Grammy award in 2009 and was nominated for Best Classical Album. She has recently been signed by Oxford University Press as an ‘Oxford’ composer and works as ‘composer-in-residence’ at Dulwich College,

London. Shipping Forecast (performed by Merton College Choir) and Theatre of Tango will be released on the same CD later this year on the Dutton Epoch label performed by Jeremy Huw Williams, baritone, Tamás Kocis, violin, and the Ulster Orchestra, conductor, George Vass.

CECilia McdoWall Composer

Page 11: FF 28 Jan programme

www.lmp.org

Symphony No.6, op.68 Pastoral

I Allegro ma non troppo (Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in the country)II Andante molto mosso (Scene at the brook)III Allegro (Happy gathering of country folk)IV Allegro (Thunderstorm; storm)V Allegretto (Shepherds’ song; cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm)

In 1803 Jérome, King of Westphalia and brother of Napoleon, offered the post of musical director to Beethoven who was tempted to accept, in spite of his increasing deafness. Alarmed by the composer’s apparent decision to leave Austria, his friends and patrons, the Archduke Rudolph and the Princes Lobkowitz and Kinsky, together granted him an annual income of 4000 guilders. Beethoven remained in Vienna and wrote to a friend: “Now you can help me to find a wife... but she must be beautiful; someone not beautiful I cannot love”. He never married, but the positive attitude that characterised this particular period in his life led to the composition of the serene Sixth Symphony known as the Pastoral.

Beethoven composed most of his symphonies in pairs. Not only the Fifth and Sixth, but also the Seventh and Eighth followed by the Ninth and Tenth; of the latter he left extensive sketches. The strain arising from composing the dramatic Fifth Symphony demanded a degree of relaxation obtained by working on the Sixth, and many of the sketches were written at virtually the same time. During the summer of 1808 Beethoven lived at Heiligenstadt near Vienna, close to the Vienna Woods. At sunrise he would walk into the countryside and up to the Kahlenberg on a route now known as the ‘Beethoven Walk’. A little valley between Heiligenstadt and Grinzing inspired him to write the second movement of the symphony. The work was first performed on 22 December 1808 in one of the mammoth concerts that was the rule in those days. It consisted of pieces

all by Beethoven: the Fifth and Sixth symphonies, the Fourth Piano Concerto, the Choral Fantasy Op. 80 and two movements from the Mass in C.

Beethoven was concerned that the programme indicated by the titles of the movements in his latest symphony might detract from its musical value and wrote in his sketchbook: “It is left to the listener to decide what the situations are. Sinfonia caracteristica – or reminiscences of country life. Every kind of pictorial representation, if taken too far in music, is detrimental. Sinfonia pastorella. Those who have some idea of what country life is like can make out for themselves, without the help of descriptive titles, what the composer’s intentions are. Even without a description the work as a whole will be recognised as more an expression of feelings than a picture in music. Pastoral Symphony, not painting, but expressing feelings in people enjoying the countryside, also containing the feelings arising from living in the country.”

There could be no better introduction to this work than these characteristic, repetitive and clipped phrases. But the expression of feelings in this symphony is – as indeed in all Beethoven’s works – subordinate to the organic development of a strictly symphonic form. The last three movements are continuous: the dance of the peasants is interrupted by a thunderstorm which, in turn, dissolves into the final ‘thanksgiving’.

Anon

ludWig vaN BEEtHovEN(1770 - 1827)

Page 12: FF 28 Jan programme

www.lmp.org www.lmp.org

Joining the LMP Friends is an ideal way to become part of a very friendly group of people who share your love of music.

In return, there are wide-ranging benefits and opportunities to meet the musicians.

your benefits:

• Substantial ticket discounts for Fairfield Halls concerts and advance booking.

• Access to private Friends’ bar before the concert and during the interval with discounted drinks at Fairfield Halls concerts.

• Access to LMP rehearsals.

• Friends events including coffee meetings with talks on music, outings to non-London LMP concerts and an exclusive annual concert and lunch at

Woldingham School.

• Newsletters keeping you involved with all the LMP’s activities.

• Discounts on LMP CDs and free programmes for Fairfield Halls concerts.

Would you likE to Support your loCal orCHEStra?

WHy Not JoiN uS aS a FriENd?

Membership costs £40 per year, or £60 for couples.

For more information or to join, please visit the LMP desk in the foyer, call the LMP office on 020 8686 1996, email [email protected] or visit www.lmp.org

www.lmp.org

Page 13: FF 28 Jan programme

www.lmp.org

patronHRH The Earl of Wessex KG GCVO

Music directorGérard Korsten

associate ConductorHilary Davan Wetton

associate ComposerRoxanna Panufnik

Council of Management

ChairmanRowan Freeland

Chair of the audit CommitteeRosamund Sykes

Daniel BentonSimon FunnellGillian PerkinsPeter Van de GeestDavid WechslerMalcolm Wicks MP

administration

Managing directorSimon Funnell

deputy Managing directorJo Towler

general ManagerDavid Wilson

development ManagerElinor Browne

Concerts & projects ManagerDeborah Guest

Marketing & Events Co-ordinatorCaroline Molloy

orchestral librarianMartin Sargeson

internPhil Chandler

London Mozart PlayersFairfield HallsPark LaneCroydonCR9 1DG

T: 020 8686 1996F: 020 8667 0938E: [email protected]: www.lmp.org

Registered in EnglandNo. 18720034

Registered CharityNo. 290833

Follow us on facebook at www.facebook.com/londonmozartplayers

Follow us on twitter @mozartplayers

lMp MaNagEMENt

New for 2011/12! The LMP now has an online shop!

Visit shop.lmp.org to see all of our recordings

lMp Cds are also available on the lMp table

Page 14: FF 28 Jan programme

There are lots of ways for you to get involved with the LMP and ensure the oldest chamber orchestra in the UK has a bright future. Play your part today.

SupportersOur Supporters are the building blocks of our success. Make a donation today and help the orchestra you love thrive into the future. You’ll receive our newsletter to keep you up to date with all the LMP’s activities and be credited for your support in our concert programmes.

Every donation, large or small, is important to us and will make a difference. Bronze Supporters make donations of up to £50, Silver Supporters make donations of £50 and above, and Gold Supporters make donations of £100 and above.

play your part

Benefactors From world-class concerts to inspiring education projects, none of the LMP’s work would be possible without the financial support we receive from our Benefactors. Our Benefactors are musical patrons, following in the footsteps of those generous, passionate and committed philanthropists who, throughout the centuries, have enabled great musicians to perform and compose.

Benefactors make an annual donation of £1000 and above and enjoy a unique programme of events, including access to rehearsals, exclusive recitals, gala concerts and special receptions throughout the year. Start your own creative partnership and become a Benefactor.

Conductors’ CircleOur most generous Benefactors belong to this exclusive group. Members of the Conductors’ Circle are closely involved with the musicians and management team and play a significant role in the life of the LMP. In addition to the opportunities enjoyed by all Benefactors, members of the Conductors’ Circle are invited to a sumptuous dinner hosted by the orchestra’s Patron, HRH The Earl of Wessex KG GCVO.

If you would like more information about supporting the LMP, please contact the LMP Office, on 020 8686 1996 or email [email protected]

www.lmp.org

Page 15: FF 28 Jan programme

patronHRH The Earl of Wessex KG GCVO

principal FundersLondon Borough of Croydon

public FundersOrchestras LiveRoyal Borough of Kingston Upon ThamesSouth Holland District Council

trusts & foundationsJohn Coates Charitable TrustThe Concertina Charitable TrustCroydon Relief in Need CharitiesThe Foyle FoundationThe Matthew Hodder Charitable TrustThe Austin & Hope Pilkington TrustThe Prince’s Foundation for Children & the ArtsThe Sackler TrustN. Smith Charitable SettlementThe Steel Charitable Trust

corporate friendsCantateElite HotelsSimmons & Simmons

conductors’ circleAnonymous x 8Daniel & Alison BentonKate Bingham The Ross Goobey Charitable TrustJeffrey & Rosamund West

benefactorsAnonymous x 6Graham HarmanAndré & Rosalie HoffmannGillian PerkinsJohn & Ros Rawling Mr & the late Mrs K SmithPeter & Sheelagh SmithMr D & Mrs M Wechsler

life friendsMichael & Barbara Hill

golden supportersAnonymous x 45Morag BeierMr & Mrs C ClementiMr & Mrs P A ElliottMr Quintin GardnerGeoff & Mary HearnBrian & Doreen HitchingAntony JacubsMargaret Jones MVOMr & Mrs A J LambellDerek & Deirdre LeaJeanne & Gordon LeesDerek & Bunty MillardMiss Gillian NobleHazel & Geoffrey OttonRobert Keith RobertsonDavid RobinsonChristine RobsonSir John WickersonMichael Woodhouse CVO

silver supportersAnonymous x 32Irene & Leslie AaronsJean & Gordon AdamsJoyce & Stuart AstonMr M P BlackPeter BrentMichael & Janet ConsidineNick CullMrs E A DudleyThe Revd Canon Martin & Mrs Mary GoodladMr I A HamlynDavid & Beatrix HodgsonNick & Jane MallettMr Harold MartinPaul Ribbins Mr & Mrs M RiversMrs Marion SunleyMr & Mrs J TillotsonJohn WilliamsMr B E & Mrs P B Woolnough

bronze supportersAnonymous x 44Alec BottenMrs Sandra & Mr David CottonChantal KeastMr Denis Protheroe

SupportiNg tHE lMpThe LMP would like to thank its supporters

www.lmp.org

Page 16: FF 28 Jan programme

www.lmp.org

FortHCoMiNg lMp CoNCErtS FairFiEld HallS, CroydoN020 8688 9291

Saturday 3 March 7.30pm

MOZART Symphony No.17 K129PANUFNIK Four World Seasons (world première)R. STRAUSS Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme

Conductor Gérard KorstenViolin Tasmin Little

Saturday 31 March 7.30pm

MOZART Symphony No.38 K504 PragueMENDELSSOHN Piano Concerto No.1HONEGGER Pastorale d'étéDVOŘÁK Czech Suite

Conductor Hilary Davan WettonPiano Cordelia Williams

thursday 26 april 7.30pm

BEETHOVEN Coriolan OvertureGRIEG Piano ConcertoBRAHMS Symphony No.1

Conductor/ Howard ShelleyPiano

Saturday 19 May 7.30pm

EBERL Symphony in CHARTMANN Concerto FunebreSCHUBERT Rondo in A for violin and stringsBEETHOVEN Symphony No.7

Conductor Gérard KorstenViolin Benjamin Schmid

If you would like to join the LMP mailing list and receive updates via email, please go to www.lmp.org and click on the “subscribe to email list” link. Alternatively, please email [email protected] or call 020 8686 1996.