Programme Notes - Britten Sinfonia

At Lunch
Priya Mitchell, Miranda Dale violins
Clare Finnimore, Catherine Musker violas
Caroline Dearnley cello
Vaughan Williams Phantasy for string quintet
Ben Comeau Unseen Colours (World premiere tour)
Beethoven String Quintet in C major, Op. 29 ‘The Storm’
15 mins
11 mins
34 mins
London Wigmore Hall
Wednesday 4 February 2015 – 1pm
Norwich St Andrew’s Hall
Friday 6 February 2015 – 1pm
Cambridge West Road Concert Hall
Tuesday 10 February 2015 – 1pm
Would patrons please ensure that mobile phones, watch alarms, and any other electrical devices
that may be audible are switched off.
No recording or photography is allowed in the auditorium.
Introduction
While the string quartet has a long and noble
history, and has become one of the most
revered forms in Western classical music, the
quintet is a relative rarity, the subject of
occasional experimentation by some
composers and altogether untouched by
others. Although introduced in Italy as far
back as the early 1600s, as a genre it failed to
catch on, with Mozart writing just one quintet
during his busy career, and Haydn writing
none at all. Even Beethoven, for whom string
writing became central to his development as
a composer, only dabbled briefly with the
form.
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1878–1958)
Phantasy for String Quintet (1912)
Like Beethoven, Vaughan Williams wrote just
one work for string quintet during his career,
in this case in response to a request from
Walter Wilson Cobbett, a businessman and
amateur musician. In June 1907, the Musical
Times announced details of a competition,
supported by Cobbett, for the composition of
a short work for chamber ensemble in the
form of the Elizabethan 'phantasy' – a freeform structure comprising several apparently
unrelated sections. While composers
including Frank Bridge, Herbert Howells and
John Ireland all submitted works (and Bridge
won first prize), Cobbett also commissioned a
number of other contributions, including the
Phantasy Quintet from Vaughan Williams.
Just two years earlier, Vaughan Williams had
written another 'fantasy' work, the Fantasia
on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, which was
inspired by his tenure as editor of the English
Hymnal and demonstrates his indebtedness
to English music of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. Like the Tallis Fantasia,
the Phantasy Quintet effortlessly bridges four
centuries of the English musical tradition,
mixing modal harmonies and rhythmic
ostinatos with a very modern tonal and
melodic palette. The Quintet's four sections
are in effect compressed into a single
movement and played without pause, but
even within these sections – the final
Burlesca, for example – the phantasy form is
reflected again once more. For a work of relative brevity, it is rich in imagination and abundant changes of texture, most notably in the
haunting Sarabanda, in which the cello is
silent and the remaining strings muted – a
movement which encapsulates the mix of
serenity and poignancy so unique to Vaughan
Williams' style.
Ben Comeau (b. 1993)
Unseen Colours (2015)
Many of us will have pondered the tantalising
notion that other humans "see" colours
differently to us. What unimaginable hues
might we be deprived of, that form a
fundamental part of how others make sense
of the world? Although deeply speculative,
we now know that some humans definitely
see colours differently to others. Native
Russian speakers, who have two words for
blue, are significantly more sensitive to very
slight variations within this colour than the
rest of us, and recently, the world's first
tetrachromatic human was identified in
California: one who has four types of colourrecepting cone cells rather than the usual
three, enabling her to sense an entirely new
dimension of colour hidden to everyone else.
As a mild synesthete with a fascination for
the parallels between colour and harmony, I
wondered if similar ideas could apply to our
pitch sense. Of course a literal translation of
the tetrachromatic phenomenon into sound
would be biologically nonsensical, but much
of my compositional work has been concerned
with attempts to find harmonies that have
not been heard before, which nonetheless
build on existing recognisable harmonic
language from twentieth-century composers,
notably early Stravinsky, Messiaen and
Dutilleux. If one takes a very orderly account
of harmonic development through Western
classical music history, one can note the times
when the available harmonic palette was
significantly expanded, from the acceptance
of the consonant third in Medieval music, to
the treatment of seventh and ninth chords by
Liszt and Wagner, to the subsequent
harmonic innovations by (most obviously)
Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky and Messiaen.
Although this historical account is very
simplistic, nevertheless for me, each
extension of the available harmonic palette is
akin to discovering a new range of colours in
the infra-red or ultra-violet parts of the light
spectrum. Of course, the twentieth and
twenty-first centuries are full of endless new
varieties of harmony, and I can hardly claim to
be the only composer to explore such
extensions to the harmonic palette since
Messiaen! Nevertheless, Unseen Colours
demonstrates some of the new acoustical
conglomerations I have found, alongside other
passages perhaps reminiscent of composers
including Bartok, Britten and Ligeti. The work
is in four sections. The first is a slow, almost
static exploration of dense harmonies, built
around a tonal centre on E. The second takes
this harmonic material and turns it into a
lively, capricious journey that begins
somewhat carefree but turns demonic,
climaxing violently. The third section emerges
from the ashes as a slow lament, before the
fourth section recapitulates the opening
material.
Unseen Colours was co-commissioned by
Britten Sinfonia and Wigmore Hall. The
commission was made possible by the
generosity Principal Commissioners, Stephen
and Stephanie Bourne and a further nine
people as part of Britten Sinfonia's Musically
Gifted campaign. Wigmore Hall acknowledges
the support of André Hoffmann, president of
the Fondation Hoffmann, a Swiss grantmaking foundation.
© Ben Comeau
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
String Quintet in C major, Op. 29 (1801)
Allegro moderato
Adagio molto espressivo
Scherzo – Allegro
Presto
In 1801, Beethoven was riding high on the
success of his recent compositions and
relishing, for the first time, the financial
rewards that this brought him. He received
requests for more commissions than he could
honour and wrote gleefully to his friend Franz
Wegeler that when it came to publishers, 'I
state my price and they pay… I live entirely in
my music, and hardly have I completed one
composition when I have already begun
another. At my present rate of composing, I
often produce three or four works at the same
time.' His projection to the world gave no hint
of the personal struggles he suffered – for five
years he had been quietly suffering the effects
of tinnitus that would eventually cause him
to lose his hearing. His String Quintet in C
major, Op. 29 was written in the midst of this
period of creativity, following just a year after
the Op. 18 string quartets, his first forays into
quartet composition. While Beethoven had
previously made arrangements for string
quintet of his wind music, the Op. 29 Quintet
was his first – and only – composition written
specifically for this ensemble. With confidence
in his work at a high, the Quintet
demonstrates a brilliance of scoring and
breadth of imagination that anticipates the
'Razumovsky' quartets of 1806–7, and gives
telling signs that he was also learning much
from Mozart's own String Quintet in the same
key written 14 years earlier. There are also
hints of his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies in the
finale, which has acquired the nickname 'The
Storm' on account of its disruptive key
changes, dramatic tremolos and sudden
changes in dynamics.
Remarkably, just a year later he wrote his
famous Heiligenstadt Testament, in which he
admitted to his brothers that his deafness
had worsened and his suffering was so great
that he had seriously contemplated suicide; 'It
was only my art that held me back', he wrote.
'Oh, it seemed to me impossible to leave the
world until I had produced all that I felt was
within me.'
Goldberg Variations
Thomas Gould violin/director
Alasdair Beatson piano
Carlos del Cueto conductor*
Britten Sinfonia
Locatelli Concerto Grosso Op. 1 No. 11 in C minor
Tom Coult My Curves Are Not Mad (World premiere tour)*
Hans Abrahamsen Double Concerto for violin, piano and
strings (London premiere)*
Bach arr. Sitkovetsky Goldberg Variations
LONDON
MILTON COURT
NORWICH
THEATRE ROYAL
SAFFRON WALDEN
SAFFRON HALL
Friday 20 March 2015, 7.30pm
www.barbican.org.uk
020 7638 8891
Saturday 21 March 2015, 7.30pm
www.brittensinfonia.com
01603 630000
Sunday 22 March 2015, 7.30pm
www.saffronhall.com
0845 5487650
Ben Comeau
Britten Sinfonia
Ben Comeau is a freelance musician based in
London, where he divides his time between
composition, piano, organ and jazz; he has
recently graduated top of his year in music
with a starred first from Girton College,
Cambridge. He has written and performed
two piano concertos, performing the second
in venues including Birmingham Symphony
Hall and St. Martin-in-the-Fields. He won the
2014 Cambridge University Composers'
Workshop in collaboration with Britten
Sinfonia, resulting in the commission you
hear today. Recent commissions also include
a percussion concerto for Cornwall Youth
Orchestra, and a two-piano work for the
Orpheus and Bacchus festival in Bordeaux.
Britten Sinfonia is one of the world's most
celebrated and pioneering ensembles. The
orchestra is acclaimed for its virtuoso
musicianship, an inspired approach to concert
programming, which makes bold, intelligent
connections across 400 years of repertoire,
and a versatility that is second to none.
Britten Sinfonia breaks the mould by not
having a principal conductor or director,
instead choosing to collaborate with a range
of the finest international guest artists from
across the musical spectrum, resulting in
performances of rare insight and energy.
At the age of 18 he won the inaugural
Northern Ireland International Organ
Competition, playing part of his own
transcription of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite; he
recently passed his FRCO organ diploma exam
with all the available prizes. He has
performed concertos by Bach, Mozart,
Gershwin and Poulenc, and his solo repertoire
focusses particularly on Bach and on
contemporary music.
Improvisation forms a large part of his work;
his solo recitals regularly incorporate
improvised components. He has improvised
soundtracks on the organ and piano to the
silent films Phantom of the Opera, Nosferatu
and Battleship Potemkin. Future plans
include solo recitals in Cambridge, York and
Bordeaux, and founding an electronic band
with Max Liefkes and Amy Jeffs.
Britten Sinfonia is an Associate Ensemble at
the Barbican in London, and has residencies
across the east of England in Norwich and
Cambridge (where it is the University's
orchestra-in-association). The orchestra also
performs a chamber music series at Wigmore
Hall and appears regularly at major UK
festivals including Aldeburgh and the BBC
Proms. The orchestra's growing international
profile includes regular touring to North and
South America and Europe. In August 2014,
Britten Sinfonia made its Indian debut with a
tour of six major cities. In November 2014 the
orchestra returned to the US with a tour of
Netia Jones' acclaimed production of Britten's
Curlew River.
Founded in 1992, the orchestra is inspired by
the ethos of Benjamin Britten through
world-class performances, illuminating and
distinctive programmes where old meets new,
and a deep commitment to bringing
outstanding music to both the world's finest
concert halls and the local community. Britten
Sinfonia is a BBC Radio 3 broadcast partner
and regularly records for Harmonia Mundi
and Hyperion.
www.brittensinfonia.com
Cambridge
London
Britten Sinfonia also perform a series of
full-length evening concerts at West Road
Concert Hall – pick up a brochure in the foyer
for more details.
Wigmore Hall is a no-smoking
venue. No recording or photographic
equipment may be taken into the
auditorium, nor used in any other part of the
Hall without the prior written permission of
the Hall Management. Wigmore Hall is
equipped with a ‘Loop’ system to help hearing
aid users receive clear sound without
background noise. Patrons can use the facility
by switching their hearing aids over to ‘T’. In
accordance with the requirements of City of
Westminster, persons shall not be permitted
to stand or sit in any of the gangways intersecting the seating, or to sit in any other
gangways. If standing is permitted in the
gangways at the sides and rear of the seating,
it shall be limited to the numbers indicated in
the notices exhibited in those positions.
Norwich
Alongside the At Lunch concerts at St
Andrew’s Hall Britten Sinfonia also
performs a series of full-length evening
concerts in Norwich – pick up a brochure in
the foyer for more details.
Facilities for Disabled People
Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2BP
Director: John Gilhooly
The Wigmore Hall Trust Registered Charity No. 1024838
www.wigmore-hall.org.uk
Please contact House Management for full details.
All programme notes © Jo Kirkbride unless
otherwise stated
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