BMS 3 1 51


The British Music Society of York, BMS 3 1 51

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................................................... m Xx.rite MSCCPPPE0613 MSCCPPCC0613 British Music Society of York mm H Xx.rite colorchecker INSTITUTE BORTHWICK SMS 3/1/51 (1-4) OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH * Concert Programmes Season Programme 1993-94 Includes photocopy of BMS 3/1/51 (2) the original is subject to the Data Protection Act and is stored separately

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BUS SERVICES York City Bus No.9 provides a convenient service from Clifton and the city centre, while No.21 provides a service from the railway station. CAR PARKS Use Conference Car Parks Pc, Pd, Pe, as shown on the map below. HULL ROAD University Road BUS STOP ↓ ENTRANCE Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, Biology Pd AK Yorkshire & Humberside ARTS 50 Registered Charity No. 700302 50 100 yards N 100 metres Vanbrugh FURTHER INFORMATION For further information on the BMS's concerts, including the facilities for the disabled, please contact our Honorary Secretary, Mr. N. J. Dick, Clement House, 6 Bishopgate Street, York YO2 1JH. (Tel. 0904 637984). Central Hall THE SOCIETY RESERVES THE RIGHT TO VARY THE ARTISTS OR PROGRAMMES AS IT MAY FIND NECESSARY. NATIONAL FEDERATION OF MUSIC SOCIETIES NEMS SMS 3/1/51 (1) CHAMBER MUSIC SEASON 1993/4 BAS YORK BMS AT THE LYONS THE SIR JACK LYONS CONCERT HALL UNIVERSITY OF YORK Presented by the British Music Society of York in association with the Department of Music, University of York.

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Thursday, 14 October 1993 at 8 p.m. ANTHONY GOLDSTONE & CAROLINE CLEMMOW (piano duo) Piano duet music by Schubert: Overture in G minor, D.668; 2 Polonaises in D minor; D.824/1 and 599/1; Grand Sonata in Bb, D.617; Heroic March in B minor, D.602/1, Fugue in E minor, D.952; Grand March in B minor, D.819/3; Variations on a theme of Hérold, D.908. This concert is organised with the support Yorkshire & Humberside of Yorkshire and Humberside Arts ARTS The outstanding husband-and-wife team of Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow are playing the whole of Schubert's vast output of piano duets in a series of seven recitals, probably the first time this has ever been done. The BMS concert is the third instalment and contains one of the real Schubert duet gems, the Bb Sonata dating from the summer of 1818. For details of all seven recitals (23 Sept. to 26 Nov., all within 75 miles of York) contact Mr. D. Mather, 91 The Village, Haxby, York YO3 3JE. ● Friday, 19 November 1993 at 8 p.m. CHILINGIRIAN STRING QUARTET Haydn Hugh Wood Beethoven Quartet, Op.74/3 (Rider) Quartet No. 4 Quartet in Eb, Op.74 (Harp) The Chilingirian String Quartet is one of this country's most celebrated, travelled, adventurous and above all exciting quartets. Their programme includes Beethoven's Harp Quartet, a stablemate of the Emperor Concerto, and Hugh Wood's Fourth Quartet, which they premiered in a live Radio 3 broadcast last May. Thursday, 16 December 1993 at 8 AEOLIAN WIND ENSEMBLE Nichola Hunter (flute) Gabriel Hay (oboe) Howard Rogerson (clarinet) David Baker (bassoon) Margaret Ayres (horn) Prabhu Singh (piano) Quintet for piano and wind Kleine Kammermusik Wind Quartet 5 Pieces for wind trio Sextet for piano and wind Yorkshire & Humberside ARTS p.m. Mozart Hindemith Françaix Ibert Poulenc This concert is organised with the support of Yorkshire and Humberside Arts The Aeolian Ensemble is a group of Northern musicians specialising in works for wind ensemble with or without piano. They will be playing two indisputable masterpieces from this repertory: Mozart's Quintet, K.452, which even the composer admitted was the best work he had ever written; and Poulenc's Sextet, full of his irresistible Parisian charm. Quartet in C, Op.20/2 Quartet No.5 Quartet in C, Op.59/3 Yorkshire & Humberside ARTS Friday, 21 January 1994 at 8 p.m. LINDSAY STRING QUARTET Haydn Tippett Beethoven This concert is organised with the support of Yorkshire and Humberside Arts The Lindsay are old friends of the BMS. They have long been associated with the Quartets of Sir Michael Tippett, who wrote the Fourth and Fifth especially for the players he has described as "indeed the best friends a composer could have". They gave the first performance of No.5 in May 1992, as part of their famous chamber music festival in Sheffield, and its appearance in this concert is a major event in the BMS season. The Lee foll reci son incl 3 Mic exci the His Occa and wel The seat can tick tim

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Friday, 18 February 1994 at 8 p.m. ARTUR PIZARRO (piano) Sonata in F, K.533/494 Sonata Op.57 (Appassionata) Polonaise-Fantaisie 8 Pieces, Op.76 Mozart Beethoven Chopin Brahms The Portuguese pianist Artur Pizarro won the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition and the following year came to the BMS with a stunning recital. We have managed to coax him back to play some of the greatest works of piano literature, including Beethoven's magisterial Appassionata Sonata and Chopin's elusive late Fantasy-Polonaise. Thursday, 17 March 1994 at 8 p.m. MIKE D'ARCY (violin) NIGEL HUTCHISON (piano) Sonata in G, Op.30/3 Sonata No.3 Sonata in D, Op.94a Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, Op.28 Beethoven Delius Prokofiev Saint-Saëns Michael D'Arcy, from Belfast, is one of the most exciting young violinists in the country, described by the Manchester Evening News as "immensely talented." His programme includes Beethoven's comic and occasionally hair-raising G major Sonata from Op.30 and Prokofiev's ever-popular D major Sonata, as well as a Saint-Saëns showpiece. The BMS favours the informality of unreserved seating. But, with the more popular concerts, places cannot be guaranteed after 7.50 p.m., even for season ticket holders. Always make sure you leave plenty of time to secure your place. BOOKING DETAILS Adults Students & under 18s Stage Pass • The higher price of £7.50 applies to the concerts by the Chilingirian and Lindsay Quartets (19 Nov. & 21 Jan) and Artur Pizarro (18 Feb). Despite this, we have managed to keep the season ticket prices unchanged from last year. At nearly half the cost of six single tickets, a season ticket makes better sense than ever before. Special rates are available for larger groups. For more details, please write to Mr. A. Ainsworth (address overleaf). BOOKING FORM Season tickets may be purchased NOW by using this booking form, or at the hall before the October and November concerts. Single tickets may be bought in advance with the form overleaf or from Ticket World, 6 Patrick Pool, York YO1 2BB. (Tel: York 0904 644194); they are also available before each concert at the hall. Name Single Tickets £6.50/£7.50* £3.50 £2.50 For more information about Youth & Music's Stage Pass scheme, available to those aged between 14 and 30, write to Claire Wilson, Youth & Music, Dean Clough Industrial Park Ltd., Halifax, HX3 5AX or phone 0422 345631. Address Postcode PLEASE SEND ME: Season Tickets (six concerts) Season Tickets £25.00 £12.50 £10.00 Tel. No. Adult @ £25 Students @ £12.50 Stage Pass @ £10 Quantity Total If applying for more than one season ticket, please give name of each person, and address (where different from above.)

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Mr. A. Ainsworth, 8 Petersway, Clifton, York, YO3 6AR. Please make all cheques payable to BMS and post, together with booking form and SAE to : 17 Mar D'Arcy/Hutchison 18 Feb 21 Jan 16 Dec 19 Nov 14 Oct Pizarro Lindsay Aeolian Chilingirian £ £ £ £ 1₂ its £ £ 1+₂ Goldstone/Clemmow £ @£7.50 Adult @£6.50 Adult @ £3.50 Student @£2.50 Stage Pass Total SINGLE TICKET BOOKING FORM 73rd SEASON The BMS presents the world's finest chamber music, played by artists of national and international reputation, for little over £4.00 per concert. Our concerts are held in a modern, comfortable concert hall well-suited to the intimate atmosphere needed for this music. The hall has 330 fixed seats, but more are provided as needed. The bar area has space for socialising and is open from 7.30 p.m. Coffee and drinks are available during the interval. The BMS is not just an organisation promoting concerts, but a society with a large and friendly membership. For a £25.00 season ticket, subscribers are offered not only six concerts for less than the price of four, but a place in the society and an opportunity to participate in its decisions and social gatherings. Subscribe NOW and join us for the first concert on Thursday, 14th October. MUSIC DEPARTMENT CONCERTS AT THE SIR JACK LYONS CONCERT HALL The Department of Music of the University promotes a series of public concerts during term time which offer a range of music and artists unparalleled in the region. Top international names feature alongside accomplished University ensembles which include the Choir and Chamber Choir, two Orchestras, the Big Band -30 Strong, the Gamelan orchestra and a New Music Group. This award-winning series is renowned for its varied and imaginative programming. The visiting performers this season include: the Vienna Sextet; Sarah Walker & Malcolm Martineau; Nigel North & Richard Wistreich; the BBC Philharmonic; the English Northern Philharmonia; the Nash Ensemble; the European Community Chamber Orchestra; and the Philharmonia with Barry Wordsworth. The series starts on Wednesday, 20 October 1993. For a free brochure giving full details of these concerts and the Central Hall Orchestral Series, contact the Box Office, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, York YO1 5DD. Telephone : 0904 432439

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Mr R. P. Lorrimans Mrs A. M. Morcoms Mr & Mrs K. M. Nonhebel§ Mr B. Richards Mrs D. G. Roebuck Mr J. B. Schofields Dr & Mrs G.A.C. Summers§ Dr M. J. Thomsons Mr J. I. Watson Mr & Mrs A. Wright Mr P. W. Millers Mr G. C. Morcom§ Miss H. C. Randall Mr L. W. Robinsons Mrs I. G. Sargent Mrs E. Sessions Mr D. A. Sutton Mr O. S. Tomlinsons Miss L. J. Whitworth Mrs H. B. Wright If you would like to become a Benefactor or Patron, or have any queries, recommendations, criticisms or even praise, please come and see us at the Members Desk and make your feelings known. • AK Yorkshire & Humberside ARTS In addition to the generosity of our Benefactors and Patrons, the activities of the BMS are supported by grants from Yorkshire and Humberside Arts. NATIONAL FEDERATION OF MUSIC SOCIETIES NEMS BORTHWICK INSTITUTE SMS 3/1/51(2) OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH Compiled by David Mather and published by the British Music Society of York. Reproduced by WrightDesign of Fasingwold. BS YORK THE EOLIAN ENSEMBLE Thursday, 16 December 1993 Programme: 50p Presented by the British Music Society of York in association with the Department of Music

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BS YORK It was in 1918 that the colourful Dr Arthur Eaglefield Hull, organist of Huddersfield Parish Church, writer and modern music enthusiast, founded the British Music Society. The new society was a national body whose aims were: to bring together professional and amateur musicians, to promote British music and music- ians, to develop the appreciation of music by means of lectures and concerts, and to campaign for the recognition of the place of music in education. The Society expanded quickly, with about forty regional centres being established. So unwieldy an organisation, though, was in constant financial difficulty and, despite the generosity of patrons, went into liquidation in 1933. Yet many of the regional centres remained viable and continued to function as concert-giving societies. The York centre of the original Society was opened in 1921, with an inaugural concert given by the soprano Isobel Baillie, then in her debut year. In 1933, when the parent society went into liquidation, the centre reconstituted itself as an autonomous organisation under the name British Music Society of York. Since then the Society has continued to give an annual season of chamber music concerts. The present season is the 73rd in succession to be given in York under the title British Music Society. The BMS concert season takes the form of a subscription series. A full subscription ticket entitles its holder to membership of the Society and to attend six concerts for less than the price of four. Registered Charity No.700302 BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY of YORK 73rd Season Thursday, 16 December 1993 Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall THE EOLIAN Nichola Hunter (flute) Howard Rogerson (clarinet) Jeffrey Snowdon (horn) ENSEMBLE Gabriel Hay (oboe) Tracey Partridge (bassoon) Benjamin Frith (piano) Quintet for piano and wind instruments, K.452 Kleine Kammermusik, Op.24 No.2 Quartet for wind instruments 5 Pièces en trio Sextet for piano and wind quintet INTERVAL Mozart Hindemith Françaix Ibert Poulenc For the sake of others in the audience, please turn off all alarms on watches, calculators etc. before the concert starts, and use a handkerchief when coughing.

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THE EOLIAN Ⓒ Yorkshire & Humberside ARTS The Eolian Ensemble was formed during 1989 and specialises in the repertory for piano and wind quintet, plus various permutations of this combination. It is made up of musicians based in the North of England and managed by its clarinettist, Howard Rogerson. The pianist Benjamin Frith played for us in March 1989, in a piano duet recital with Peter Hill. ENSEMBLE The Eolian Ensemble's appearance tonight is organised through Yorkshire & Humberside Arts' Musicians in Residence scheme. PROGRAMME NOTES Quintet for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn Wolfgang Amadé Mozart and bassoon in E flat, K.452 (1756- 1791) Largo Allegro moderato Larghetto Allegretto In 1781 Mozart engineered his own dismissal from the employment of the Archbishop of Salzburg.and left for Vienna. There he hoped to land some prestigious court appointment, but, as vividly described in the play and film Amadeus, nothing came of this. Still, was a busy time for him: in August 1782 he married and was constantly writing and performing. In February 1784 Mozart began keeping a catalogue of his compositions- even he was having some difficulty keeping up with his creativity. The first six entries give some idea of the hectic pace of his life: 9th February 15th March 22nd 30th 12th April 21st April [the E flat, K.449] [the B flat, K.450] [the D major, K.451] [K.452] [the G major, K.453] violin [the B flat Violin Sonata, K.454] a Piano Concerto a Piano Concerto a Piano Concerto a Piano Quintet a Piano Concerto a Piano Sonata with It was a rich seam of creativity he had found, and he was mining it for all his worth. But he needed to keep the pace up, since his March series of subscription concerts demanded a steady flow of new material. At the same time he organised a benefit concert for himself at the Imperial Court Theatre. He was clearly determined to give good value for money, since the concert was to include two symphonies (presumably the Linz and the Haffner) and the first performances of two new piano concertos (K.450 and K.451) and of the Piano and Wind Quintet, K.452, not to mention three famous singers bringing along an aria each and Mozart himself contributing an improvisation. This concert was planned for 21 March, but at the last minute Mozart had to postpone because he found it clashed with an opera performance at the palace of Prince Liechtenstein: not only would Mozart have lost the best members of his orchestra, but also the nobility from his audience, which would have represented rather more of a disaster. The re-scheduled concert took place on 1 April, by which time the Piano Quintet was the only work on the programme still receiving its first performance. The Quintet is the first known work of its kind, combining piano and a quartet of wind instruments - oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon. It may well be that the combination was suggested by passages in the pianos concertos where wind instruments, singly and in groups, were given prominence. The technical problems of this quintet combination are complex indeed. There is no real blend of sound between the wind instruments one of the reasons why, in wind music, they are more customarily used in pairs. Mozart gets round the problem by using them in various permutations with the piano and by weaving the parts in and out of each other, where the difference in tone colour is a positive advantage. On 10 April, just over a week after the first performance, Mozart wrote to his father: I have done myself great credit with my three subscription concerts, and the concert I gave in the [Imperial] theatre was most successful. I composed two grand concertos and then a quintet, which called forth the very greatest applause: I myself consider it to be the best work I have ever composed. It is written for one oboe, one clarinet, one horn, one bassoon [note Mozart's emphasis on one] and the pianoforte. How I wish you could have heard it! And how beautifully it was performed! Well, to tell the truth I was really worn out in the end after playing so much and it is greatly to my credit that my listeners never got tired.

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Perhaps the greatest compliment paid the Quintet came a dozen years later when Beethoven used it as the model for his own Piano and Wind Quintet. The slow The imposing slow introduction gives on to a moderately-paced first movement in which flashes of brilliant piano writing serves to remind us that the Quintet's closest siblings were piano concertos. movement is a Larghetto in B flat, with the piano emerging only briefly from the role of accompanist. The final Rondo, with its high-spirited main theme, includes a Cadenza in tempo- yet another reminder of Mozart's principal preoccupation at this time. Kleine Kammermusik, Op.24 No.2 Lustig, mäßig schnelle Viertel Walzer Ruhig und einfach Schnelle Viertel Sehr lebhaft Paul Hindemith (1895 1963) Paul Hindemith was born near Frankfurt of mixed Protestant and Catholic ancestry. He studied violin and composition at the conservatory in Frankfurt where, as a result of parental opposition, he had to support himself by playing in cafés and dance bands. In 1915 he became the leader of the orchestra of Frankfurt Opera, a post he held until 1923. This was a tough time for Germany: humiliated in the First World War, it then had to begin the long process of coming to terms with the social, political and economic consequences of defeat. On the other hand, German artists, liberated from the cosy smugness of the Wilhelmine period, were enjoying a new age of freedom, experiment and daring. Our abiding image of Hindemith is of the staid, rather dry neo-classical composer of the 1930s, '40s and beyond, and we forget the young hothead at the forefront of the avant-garde, under the spell of the likes of Stravinsky and Schoenberg and that new music from America which only really arrived in Germany after the fall of the Kaiser - jazz. Hindemith wrote the Kleine Kammermusik [=little chamber music] in 1922 for the Frankfurt Wind Ensemble, who gave its first performance on 12 July 1922 in Cologne. It is scored for the conventional wind quintet of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn (though the flautist uses a piccolo in the second movement). The five movements, full of ironic humour verging on parody, are: Merry, moderately quick crotchets; Waltz; Calm and simple; Quick crotchets; Very lively. INTERVAL Coffee and drinks are available in the foyer. Coffee is 50p a cup: to find it, go past the bar on to the landing and turn to the left. If you are interested in becoming a Patron or Benefactor of the BMS, or have any queries about the Society, come and see us at the Members Desk. We can be found in the foyer at the opposite end to the bar, to your left as you leave the auditorium. Quartet for flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon. Allegro Andante Allegro molto Allegro vivo Jean Françaix (b.1912) Like our first Plantagenet king, Henry II, Jean Françaix was born in Le Mans, midway between Normandy and the Loire. He studied first at the Le Mans Conservatoire, where his father was director and his mother taught singing, and then at the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied composition with Nadia Boulanger and graduated from Isadore Philipp's piano class in 1932 with the Premier Prix. The forthright, opinionated, but wickedly accurate Norman Lebrecht calls Jean Françaix: By name and nature the quintessential French composer, con- temptuous of foreignness, elegant as a cravat and conservative to the core. His music is at best witty and light as a soufflé. And Françaix is never better than when writing for wind instruments, for which he had an affinity. The Quartet is an early work, written in 1933

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for members of the staff at Le Mans. Recently, the composer explained why the piece is for wind quartet, not quintet: Since the horn tutor who was there at the time was never quite sure what sound would emerge from the bell of the horn - he was known as a specialist in playing two notes at once I preferred not to awaken the volcano of sound, but to take cover against un- pleasant surprises by writing a quartet. The Quartet was first performed three years later in Paris by members of the Paris Wind Quintet, to whom the work is actually dedicated. The music is typical of Françaix' light accessible style, and none of the movements lasts much beyond three minutes. Cinq pièces en trio Allegro vivo Andantino Allegro assai Andante Allegro quasi marziale Jacques Ibert (1890 - 1962) Jacques Ibert was born in Paris. Encouraged by his pianist mother, he studied the piano and while still young decided to become a musician. In this he was opposed by his businessman father, so it was only in 1911 that he was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire. In the composition class there he met both Honegger, who became a lifelong friend, and Milhaud. Ibert volunteered in the First World War, but was rejected on health grounds: instead he worked first with the Red Cross and then with the Marine Intelligence Corps. (ciphers etc.) After the War, encouraged by Nadia Boulanger, he entered for the Grand Prix de Rome, which he won at his first attempt, spending the first years of the 920s at the Villa Medici, of the Académie de France in Rome. He was to return in 1937 as Director the first musician to be appointed to the post. Alas, his time at the Villa was short: in 1940 Mussolini declared war in France, and Ibert was deported back there. The five Pieces "en trio" belong just before this time: they were composed in 1935, alongside a ballet on the story of Don Quixote and a Concerto da camera for alto saxophone and 11 instruments. The "trio" in question is made up of oboe, clarinet and bassoon. The five Pieces are typical of Ibert's light, but sophisticated style, sparkling with virtuosity and wit. They are arranged in the pattern fast-slow-fast-slow-fast. Sextet for piano and wind Allegro vivace: Très vite et emporté* Divertissement: Andantino* Finale: Prestissimo* initial tempo markings only Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963) Poulenc was one of those rare creatures, an artist born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His father was the founder of the Rhone-Poulenc chemicals conglomerate, and young Francis never wanted for anything. He was a jolly, gregarious man with a wide circle of close friends who clearly meant a good deal to him his posthumously-published memoirs are entitled Moi et mes amis [-me and my friends]. His music is a battleground of conflicting sides to his nature: he was a brilliant melodist - among French composers perhaps second only to Fauré; he idolised Mozart and loved music of the classical and baroque periods; at the same time his enthusiasms ranged from the aggressively modern scores of Stravinsky and Prokofiev to the sentimental kitsch of café music. If this wasn't enough, the secular, worldly Poulenc was locked in conflict with religious impulses. The abiding glory and fascination of Poulenc's music is the way it switches from one style to the other, now sliding effortlessly, now startlingly juxtaposed. Outside music for the stage, Poulenc is principally known for his piano music and incomparable songs. But there are several chamber works, mostly featuring wind instruments, their sharp, pungent sound admirably suiting his brittle, pointed style; indeed, the late sonatas for flute, clarinet and oboe are all cornerstones of those instruments' repertories. The Sextuor pour piano, flûte, hautbois, clarinette, basson et cor is a rather earlier work. Poulenc composed it in 1932, but wasn't satisfied with it and revised it in 1939. The first movement is fast and spiky, though in the middle it suddenly halves its speed for a long lyrical passage. The middle movement reverses this plan: it begins and ends with slow, long-breathed, lyrical music in fact a thinly-disguised distortion of the opening of a Mozart piano sonata - wrapped round a perkier middle section. The finale is the fastest of all: it starts out high-

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spirited and brittle, but keeps getting side-tracked into mouth-watering tunes. The piece ends with a sombre and eloquent coda drawing on music from the first movement. Programme notes by David Mather Floral decorations by Sue Bedford. FORTHCOMING CONCERTS The remaining concerts in the 73rd Season of the British Music Society, presented in association with the Department of Music at the University, are as follows. They take place in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, beginning at 8.00 pm. § Friday, 21 January 1994 § LINDSAY STRING QUARTET Peter Cropper & Ronald Birks (violins) Robin Ireland (viola) Bernard Gregor-Smith (cello) § Quartet in C, Op.20/2 Quartet No.5 Quartet in C, Op.59/3 Friday, 18 February 1994 ARTUR PIZARRO (piano) works by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Brahms Thursday, 17 March 1994 MIKE D'ARCY (violin) NIGEL HUTCHISON (piano) works by Beethoven, Delius, Prokofiev and Saint-Saëns Haydn Tippett Beethoven BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY of YORK OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY President Dr Francis Jackson Vice-Presidents Joan Whitworth Jim Briggs Rosalind Richards Chairman: Barbara Fox Vice-chairman: Derek Sutton Ho Treasurer: Albert Ainsworth Hon. Asst. Treasurer: John Petrie Hon. Secretary: Nigel Dick Hon. Programme Secretary: Brian & Rosalind Richards NFMS Representative: Dr Richard Crossley Hon. Auditor: Derek Winterbottom Members of the Committee: Sue Bedford, Margherita Biller, Andrew Carter, Stephanie Kershaw, Peter Marsden and Dick Stanley BENEFACTORS AND PATRONS The BMS manages to maintain the high standard of its concerts largely Without their through the generosity of its Benefactors and patrons. covenanted gifts to the Society, we could not hope to balance our books. Our Benefactors(§) and Patrons are as follows: Mr A. Ainsworth Mrs P. J. Armours Mr R. A. Bellingham Mr & Mrs J. Briggs Mrs M. Danby-Smiths Mr C. G. M. Gardner Mr A. D. Hitchcocks Dr F. A. Jackson Mr J. C. Josling Mrs F. Andrews§ Dr D. M. Bearpark Mr & Mrs D. A. C. Blunt Dr R. J. S. Crossley Mr J. Dick§ Mr D. P. Griffiths Mr G. Hutchinsons Mrs E. S. Johnsons Professor R. Lawtons

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BS YORK THE LINDSAY STRING QUARTET Friday, 21 January 1994 ge Programme: 50p Presented by the British Music Society of York in association with the Department of Music

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BS YORK It was in 1918 that the colourful Dr Arthur Eaglefield Hull, organist of Huddersfield Parish Church, writer and modern music enthusiast, founded the British Music Society. The new society was a national body whose aims were: to bring together professional and amateur musicians, to promote British music and music- ians, to develop the appreciation of music by means of lectures and concerts, and to campaign for the recognition of the place of music in education. The Society expanded quickly, with about forty regional centres being established. So unwieldy an organisation, though, was in constant financial difficulty and, despite the generosity of patrons, went into liquidation in 1933. Yet many of the regional centres remained viable and continued to function as concert-giving societies. The York centre of the original Society was opened in 1921, with an inaugural concert given by the soprano Isobel Baillie, then in her debut year. In 1933, when the parent society went into liquidation, the centre reconstituted itself as an autonomous organisation under the name British Music Society of York. Since then the Society has continued to give an annual season of chamber music concerts. The present season is the 73rd in succession to be given in York under the title British Music Society. The BMS concert season takes the form of a subscription series. A full subscription ticket entitles its holder to membership of the Society and to attend six concerts for less than the price of four. Registered Charity No.700302

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BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY of YORK 73rd Season Friday, 21 January 1994 Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall THE LINDSAY STRING QUARTET Peter Cropper violin Ronald Birks violin Robin Ireland viola Bernard Gregor-Smith cello (003 String Quartet in C major, Op.20 No.2 String Quartet No.5 INTERVAL String Quartet in C major, Op.59 No.3 Haydn Tippett Beethoven For the sake of others in the audience, please turn off all alarms on watches, calculators etc. before the concert starts, and use a handkerchief when coughing.

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LINDSAY STRING QUARTET The Lindsay String Quartet is one of this country's longest established and most respected quartets. It was formed in the mid-1960s when the players were still at the Royal Academy of Music in London and had coaching from Sidney Griller and Rudolf Kolisch. The Quartet had periods of residency in several universities, first in Keele (they took their name from the Vice-Chancellor, Lord Lindsay) from 1968, and then in Sheffield and Manchester. The Quartet is renowned for its imaginative concert series, such as the Quartets and Real Ale concerts or the Ten Quartets, ingeniously linking Bartók's six with the Four Quartets of T.S. Eliot. The Lindsay have recorded complete cycles of the Bartók and Beethoven quartets, and are closely associated with the quartets of Sir Michael Tippett: they premiered the Fourth in 1979 and subsequently commissioned the Fifth, which they play for us this evening. PROGRAMME NOTES String Quartet in C, Op.20 No.2 Moderato Capriccio: Adagio Minuet: Allegretto Fugue: Allegro (1732 Haydn 1809) Haydn effectively invented the string quartet. Others may have used the combination of instruments before, but it was Haydn who gave it form and substance and who showed what it was capable of. The 6 Quartets published as Haydn's Op.20 were the fifth half dozen he had composed and marked a milestone in his output. Tovey, in his absorbing article on the Haydn quartets for Cobbett's cyclopaedic survey of chamber music, wrote: Every page of the six quartets of Op.20 is of historic and aesthetic importance; and though the total result still leaves Haydn with a

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mad wer 10 e long road to travel, there is perhaps no single or sextuple opus in the history of instrumental music which has achieved so much or achieved it so quickly. The Op.20 Quartets are the first Haydn specifically wrote for what is now the standard string quartet combination. Before, the instruments involved were two violins, viola and "basso", this latter term covering any permutation of cello, double bass and even harpsichord continuo. In Op.20, for the first time, Haydn specifies "violoncello" and means it. As if to emphasise the increasing emancipation of the viola and cello, Haydn went to the unusual length of ending four of these quartets with fugues, the quintessentially democratic form where each voice has an equal say. The Op.20 Quartets date from 1772, the year in which Haydn reached his 40th birthday. It was the time of Symphony No.45 (Farewell) and the beginning of a period when Haydn became more involved with opera: work had recently been completed at Eszterháza, the new palace of his employers, the Esterhazy family, who were anxious to make use of its theatre. It is worth noting, though, that despite his achievements in these quartets, Haydn was to neglect the form for another nine years. Those who prefer names to numbers call the Op.20 set the Sun Quartets. The nickname goes back to an edition of the parts issued by the firm of Hummel (Berlin/Amsterdam) in 1779: the title pages were decorated with a vignette of the sun. The C major is perhaps the most interesting of the set. It is what the late Hans Keller called homophonic - that is all its movements have the same keynote, they are all in C major or C minor. This is rare in a work of four movements: Haydn used the scheme several times, but usually when the piece as a whole was in the minor, not the major, as here. The cello does indeed arrive with a vengeance in this Quartet. It opens proceedings, its melody lying above not only the bass line (given to the viola), but also the second violin accompaniment. The slow movement is placed second and the minuet third the normal arrangement by the late 1780s and 1790s, but very much the exception in Haydn's earlier quartets. The C minor slow movement bears the title Capriccio, as if to excuse its unconventional format. It most resembles an operatic recitative and aria, the stern and unbending opening giving way halfway through to a long-breathed melody for the violins.

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Instead of closing properly, the slow movement leads straight into the Minuet. Haydn repeats this trick in the C minor Trio section: the second half, instead of being repeated, fizzles out before leading back into the reprise of the C major Minuet. The Finale is a fugue - in fact what is known in the trade as a quadruple fugue: instead of being based on just a single subject (tune), it is based on four of them. But don't worry, Haydn habitually wore his learning more lightly than almost any composer who ever lived. String Quartet No.5 Medium fast Slow Medium fast Slow [principal tempo divisions] Michael Tippett (b.1905) Sir Michael Tippett was born in London, but brought up in Suffolk. Musically, he was a late developer, making little contact until his teens, when he studied at the Royal College of Music in London. Subsequently he had private lessons with R.O. Morris, which accounts for the exception- al technical sophistication of his contrapuntal writing. Tippett's response to world events such as the First World War, the Depression and mass unemployment was involvement in political radicalism amongst other things he organised a South London Orchestra of Unemployed Musicians. During the Second World War he was even sentenced to three months in prison for failing to comply with the conditions of conscientious exemption from military service. From 1941 to 1951 Tippett was Director of Music at Morley College (an adult education centre in London whose previous music directors had included Gustav Holst), after which he was able to devote himself to full- time composition. Despite his political and pacifist commitments, Tippett's achievements have been acknowledged and rewarded by the establishment: CBE 1959, knighted 1966, Companion of Honour 1979, Order of Merit 1983. When I worked for Tippett's publishers, Schott, briefly during the mid-70s, there was much talk of "periods" in Tippett's music and the perhaps fortuitous, perhaps deliberate way in which each of these periods seemed to contain an opera, a cantata/oratorio, a symphony, a concerto, a string quartet and a piano sonata. The first, lyrical period culminated in the ( 1 1

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1 } ( 0 opera The Midsummer Marriage (1946-52), while the second, tougher and more disjunct period seemed to flow from the gritty opera King Priam (1958-61). During my time there, Schotts was gearing itself up for the first performance of the fourth opera, The Ice Break, while Sir Michael was already at work on the Symphony No.4. Incredibly, even his 80s do not seem to have slowed Sir Michael down much. The fifth opera, New Year, was premiered in Houston in October 1989, and, after a year off to participate in world-wide 85th birthday celebrations and write his autobiographical Those Twentieth Century Blues, he returned to composition in 1991 with the String Quartet No.5. The Lindsay String Quartet has long been associated with the music of Sir Michael, as the composer himself wrote in 1992 for their 25th anniversary season: I've known and loved the Lindsays since they were youngsters, when they first came to the Bath Festival. Working with them around then on my first three quartets was an inspiration; for their performances don't stand still they change, vary, mature and deepen; much the same has happened with the two quartets I've written for them since. The Lindsays are indeed the best friends a composer could have. It's not merely that they treat every dot with the reverence it deserves; without being dogmatic, they are concerned to establish good precedents in matters of style, so that succeeding generations of interpreters start at an advantage (as they did, learning Bartók, with the old Hungarian Quartet). Hence the generosity of their teaching and also of their truly remarkable chamber music festival in Sheffield. Both the Fourth and Fifth Quartets were composed for the Lindsay Quartet, who gave the first performance of No.5 during their Chamber Music Festival in Sheffield on 9 May last year. The Quartet lasts just under half an hour and consists of just two movements. The score is prefaced by the words: Chantes, rossignol, chantes toi qui as le coeur gai. Sing nightingale, you with the heart so gay. and bears a dedication to Sally Groves, daughter of the late Sir Charles

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Groves. Sally worked in the promotion department of Schott where, I may say, she turned a number of male heads and where she is now Head of Contemporary Music; more than perhaps anyone else she has looked after Sir Michael's music and has long been a close friend. The Lindsay's performance of the Fifth Quartet is available on an ASV compact disc with the number CDDCA 879. INTERVAL Coffee and drinks are available in the foyer. Coffee is 50p a cup: to find it, go past the bar on to the landing and turn to the left. If you are interested in becoming a Patron or Benefactor of the BMS, or have any queries about the Society, come and see us at the Members Desk. We can be found in the foyer at the opposite end to the bar, to your left as you leave the auditorium. Quartet in E minor, Op.59 No.2 (Razumovsky No.2) Andante con moto Allegro Andante con moto quasi Allegretto Minuet: Grazioso Finale: Allegro molto Beethoven (1770 - 1827) Count Aleksei Kirillovich Razumovsky (1752-1832) was a colourful character. The Razumovskys had risen to greatness through his grandfather, a favourite of the Empress Elizabeth, and they were powerful magnates throughout the reign of Catherine the Great. Aleksei Kirillovich was an intimate of Catherine's son, crown-prince Paul. Unfortunately, he was still more intimate with Paul's wife and had to be removed abroad with fiery haste, before the scandal broke. Eventually, in 1792, Aleksei Kirillovich was made the Russian ambassador to Vienna, where he was known by the Christian name Andreas. It was an

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ASV ind or esk left en 27) Or important posting: Russia and Austria were allies of long standing and were shortly to be brought even closer by the struggle against Napoleon. In practice, however, Razumovsky was far better at spending money lavishly and having affairs than at diplomacy. The family had always been great patrons of art and music, at the St Petersburg court as well as in their own palaces, and Aleksei Kirillovich, true to his blood, was lavish in the support and purchase of art. He became one of Beethoven's aristocratic patrons. Being an enthusiastic amateur violinist, Razumovsky persuaded Beethoven to write him some string quartets Beethoven, according to Czerny, "pledged himself to weave a Russian melody into every quartet". Whether this was part of the agreement or a gesture on the composer's part will probably never be clear. At any rate, it only applied to the first two quartets. None of the themes in Op.59 No.3 is labelled "Thème russe". The three Quartets were composed in 1805 and 1806, in the midst of a period of astonishing creativity. Between 1803 and 1806 Beethoven produced, in addition to the first two versions of the opera Leonoral Fidelio, the Waldstein Piano Sonata (Op.53), Piano Sonata in F (Op.54), Eroica Symphony (Op.55), Triple Concerto (Op.56), Appassionata Piano Sonata (Op.57), Fourth Piano Concerto (Op.58), Razumovsky Quartets (Op.59), Fourth Symphony (Op.60) and Violin Concerto (Op.61). The three Quartets were composed in the order in which we know them today and sent off one by one to Razumovsky. The letter that accom- panied the Second has survived, and from it we know that the Count was pleased with the First. As with many of Beethoven's C major first movements, that of Op.59 No.3 is predominantly open, straight-forward, robust. Yet Beethoven prefaces it with a magical, disorientating introduction, as if he were leading us down dark and winding alleyways before suddenly confronting us with some splendid building. The middle movements of a four-movement Beethoven work are usually a slow and profound slow movement followed by a fast scherzo. Occasional- ly, though, the "slow" movement would flow quite quickly, in which case the old- the scherzo was replaced with the form it had once supplanted fashioned minuet with its stately tempo. Such is the case in Op.59 No.3, the haunting A minor slow movement followed by the graceful Minuet with

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its slightly cheeky F major Trio. After the reprise of the Minuet, there is a short, dark-hued coda which leads directly into the finale. Op.59 No.3's last movement is an irrepressibly lively fugue, any thoughts of academicism being kept firmly at bay by its ebullient high spirits and hectic pace. Programme notes by David Mather Floral decorations by Sue Bedford. FORTHCOMING CONCERTS The final concerts in the 73rd Season of the British Music Society, presented in association with the Department of Music at the University, om are as follows. They take place in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, beginning at 8.00 pm. Friday, 18 February Sonata in F, K.533/494 Sonata, Op.57 (Appassionata) Polonaise-Fantaisie 8 Pieces, Op.76 ARTUR PIZARRO (piano) Thursday, 17 March MIKE D'ARCY (violin) NIGEL HUTCHISON (piano) a vi Sonata in G, Op.30/3 -lano Sonata No.3 Sonata in D, Op.94a -bloko Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, Op.28 Mozart Beethoven Chopin Brahms Beethoven Delius Prokofiev Saint-Saëns

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BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY of YORK OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY President Dr Francis Jackson Vice-Presidents Joan Whitworth Jim Briggs Rosalind Richards Chairman: Barbara Fox Vice-chairman: Derek Sutton Hon. Treasurer: Albert Ainsworth Hon. Asst. Treasurer: John Petrie Hon. Secretary: Nigel Dick Hon. Programme Secretary: Brian & Rosalind Richards NFMS Representative: Dr Richard Crossley Hon. Auditor: Derek Winterbottom Members of the Committee: Sue Bedford, Margherita Biller, Andrew Carter, Stephanie Kershaw, Peter Marsden and Dick Stanley BENEFACTORS AND PATRONS The BMS manages to maintain the high standard of its concerts largely through the generosity of its Benefactors and patrons. Without their covenanted gifts to the Society, we could not hope to balance our books. Our Benefactors(§) and Patrons are as follows: Mr A. Ainsworth Mrs P. J. Armour§ Mr R. A. Bellingham Mr & Mrs J. Briggs Mrs M. Danby-Smiths Mr C. G. M. Gardner Mr A. D. Hitchcock§ Dr F. A. Jackson Mr J. C. Josling Mrs F. Andrews Dr D. M. Bearpark Mr & Mrs D. A. C. Blunt Dr R. J. S. Crossley Mr N. J. Dick§ Mr D. P. Griffiths Mr G. Hutchinsons Mrs E. S. Johnsons Professor R. Lawtong

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Mr R. P. Lorrimans Mrs A. M. Morcom§ Mr & Mrs K. M. Nonhebel§ Miss H. C. Randall Mr B. Richards§ Mr L. W. Robinsons Mrs I. G. Sargent Mrs D. G. Roebuck Mr J. B. Schofields Dr & Mrs G.A.C. Summers§ Dr M. J. Thomsons 12 Mrs E. Sessions Mr D. A. Sutton Mr O. S. Tomlinsons Miss L. J. Whitworth§ Mrs H. B. Wright Mr J. I. Watson Mr & Mrs A. Wright If you would like to become a Benefactor or Patron, or have any queries, recommendations, criticisms or even praise, please come and see us at the Members Desk and make your feelings known. Mr P. W. Millers Mr G. C. Morcom§ In addition to the generosity of our Benefactors and Patrons, the activities of the BMS are supported by grants from Yorkshire and Humberside Arts. Yorkshire & Humberside ARTS * OF NATIONAL FEDERATION OF MUSIC SOCIETIES NEMS INSTITUTE BURTHWICK BMS 3/1/51 (3) HISTORICAL RESEARCH Compiled by David Mather and published by the British Music Society of York. Reproduced by WrightDesign of Easingwold.

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B.S YORK ARTUR PIZARRO (piano) 28 Friday, 18 February 1994 selit blow soy quong to th Programme: 50p Presented by the British Music Society of York in association with the Department of Music bottelgo

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BS YORK SOCIETY NEWS Tonight's Music If you are interested in seeing what the music being played this evening looks like on paper, copies will be available (if I remember to bring them) at the Members' Desk during the interval. Advance Booking The Committee is making advance booking for our concerts slightly easier. During tonight's interval tickets for the final recital of our 73rd Season will be on sale at the Members' Desk in the foyer. The concert takes place on Thursday 17 March and features the violinist Michael D'Arcy: for full details, see under Forthcoming Concerts at the end of this book. Future Programmes Is there an artist or group you would like to have perform for the BMS? Is there a favourite work or works you would like to hear at a BMS concert? The Programme Secretaries are always open to suggestions. Tell a committee member (they should all be wearing badges), or come to the Members' Desk. Registered Charity No.700302

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BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY of YORK 73rd Season Friday, 18 February 1994 Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall ARTUR PIZARRO (piano) Sonata in F, K.533/494 Sonata in F minor, Op.57 (Appassionata) INTERVAL Polonaise-Fantaisie in A flat, Op.61 8 Pieces for piano, Op.76 For the sake of others in the audience, please turn off all alarms on watches, calculators etc. before the concert starts, and use a handkerchief when coughing. Mozart Beethoven Chopin Brahms

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ARTUR PIZARRO Artur Pizarro was born in Portugal and began his piano studies at the age of five with the distinguished Portuguese pianist and teacher Sequeira Costa, first in Lisbon and later at the University of Kansas. He also studied at the National Conservatory of Music in Lisbon. Mr Pizarro made his London debut in 1989 at the Wigmore Hall and went on to play twice with the London Mozart Players in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. It was after those performances that Jane Glover described him as "surely one of the most promising pianists of his generation. He has a remarkable technique, and brings to it great interpretative sensitivity". In September 1990 Mr Pizarro won first prize in the Harveys Leeds International Piano Competition and in the November of the following year gave a memorable recital for the BMS. We have managed to persuade him back this year to play some of the greatest works of piano literature. PROGRAMME NOTES Sonata in F major, K.533/494 Allegro Andante Rondo: Allegretto Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (1756 - 1791) The Köchel number reflects this Sonata's history. Ludwig van Köchel studied law, but practised minerology, bringing the forensic and taxonomic skills he acquired in these disciplines to the compilation of his famous 1862 catalogue of Mozart's music - the first ever to include all the known works of a single composer. Köchel arranged the music chronologically, dates in Mozart's own hand forming the framework against which he set undated works according to stylistic or other evidence. It was a remarkable achievement, and Köchel's numbers are still used today, though some adjustments have had to be made to his chronology in the light of more recent discoveries.

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The F major Sonata began as a Rondo for piano, which Mozart wrote as an independent piece in 1786. It had distinguished neighbours: K.491 C minor Piano Concerto (No.24), dated 24 March K.492 The marriage of Figaro, dated 29 April K.493 Piano Quartet in E flat, dated 3 June K.494 "A little Rondo for solo piano", dated 10 June K.495 Horn Concerto in E flat (No.4), dated 26 June K.496 Piano Trio in G, dated 8 July K.497 Piano Duet Sonata in F, dated 1 August K.498 be K.499 Kegelstatt Trio (piano, clarinet and viola), dated 5 August String Quartet in D, dated 19 August Not bad for six months' work - well, not quite, Figaro had been begun a bit earlier, between K.478 and K.479. A year and a half later, Mozart returned to the "little" Rondo. He revised it and turned it into a piano sonata by writing an Allegro and Andante to go in front of it. The new movements, dated 3 January 1788, occupy No.533 in Köchel's catalogue. This was a relatively fallow period for Mozart. After the strain of the world premiere of Don Giovanni (Prague, 29 October 1787) the only work of any stature he composed before the three last symphonies of the summer of 1788 was the D major Piano Concerto, K.535 (No.26, known as the Coronation), dated 24 February 1788. The new composite F major Piano Sonata was published by Hoffmeister of Vienna in 1788. The first movement is full of the sort of contrapuntal byplay that had hitherto been more a feature of Mozart's quartet writing. The slow movement contains some of his most daring harmonic experi- ments, but the finale is a return to the more carefree days of 1786, when Mozart was basking in the huge success of Figaro's first performance (Vienna, 1 May). Sonata in F minor, Op.57 (Appassionata) Allegro assai Andante con moto - Allegro ma non troppo Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) The Appassionata Sonata was composed in 1804 and 1805, in the midst of a period of astonishing creativity. Between 1803 and 1806 Beethoven produced, in addition to the first two versions of the opera Leonora/

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Fidelio, the Waldstein Piano Sonata (Op.53), Piano Sonata in F (Op.54), Eroica Symphony (Op.55), Triple Concerto (Op.56), Appassionata Piano Sonata (Op.57), Fourth Piano Concerto (Op.58), Razumovsky Quartets (Op.59), Fourth Symphony (Op.60) and Violin Concerto (Op.61). Op.57 was published in Vienna in February 1807 by a firm rejoicing in the title Bureau des Arts et d'Industrie. The nickname "Appassionata" is not authentic: it first appeared on a piano duet arrangement of the work published in Hamburg in 1838. But the name is not inappropriate to the passionate nature of much of the music, written in what may have been Beethoven's "stormiest" key, F minor, the key of the Egmont Overture and the Op.95 String Quartet - not to mention, fittingly, the storm movement of the Pastoral Symphony. We know from "sources close to" the composer (amongst them Czerny) that Beethoven thought Op.57 his greatest piano sonata, an opinion he held at least up to the time of the Hammerklavier Sonata (Op.106, 1817-8), and that he liked to play it more than any other. The first movement derives much of its tension and power from its wild contrasts and sheer unpredictability of temperament. After the argument apparently dies down at the end, a fiery coda presses the speed and excitement onwards, until the music eventually burns itself out.on The slow movement is a set of variations on a rather more sober theme in the more restful key of D flat major. The variations themselves are elegant and decorative rather than, as often with Beethoven, probing. But this is precisely what is needed between two such highly charged movements. The finale follows without a break. The law of diminishing returns prevents Beethoven's repeating the first movement's approach. Instead, he allows the tension to grow cumulatively, finally releasing it in a shattering Presto coda. INTERVAL Coffee and drinks are available in the foyer. Coffee is 50p a cup: to find it, go past the bar on to the landing and turn to the left. Polish respons matom The P concert burg C the he for all bome Ro sta in ch Be

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2 } Do visit the Members' Desk if you are interested in the music for tonight's concert, in tickets for the next concert or in becoming a Patron or Benefactor of the BMS. We can be found in the foyer at the opposite end to the bar, to your left as you leave the auditorium. Polonaise-Fantaisie in A flat, Op.61 Frédéric Chopin (1810 1849) Chopin's output was dominated by the piano, and his music for the instrument seldom strays outside a handful of forms - ballades, nocturnes, sonatas, studies, waltzes and so on. Two of them are quintessentially Polish, the mazurka and the polonaise. The mazurka was a traditional Polish country dance (often sung as well as danced) which Chopin was responsible for bringing into the concert hall, his 60 or so examples often containing some of his most intimate music. The Polonaise, on the other hand, already had a long history in the concert hall. Bach had used the form (the Polacca in the First Branden- burg Concerto is one) as well as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, amongst others. There is evidence that it originated as courtly aristocratic dance, and this would account for the magisterial style Chopin often adopted in his polonaises. There is a wealth of patriotic feeling in the famous Military Polonaise (A major, Op.40/1), the epic F sharp minor (Op.44) and the heroic A flat (Op.53). For all the aristocratic bearing of such music, Chopin was himself quite an ordinary homely person - as comes across in his letters to his family back home in Warsaw. Here's a taste from a letter dated "Paris, 12 December 1845": ... I've told you about Chenonceaux, now about Paris. Gavary sends best greetings to Ludw. and Jedrz. (he sends her Massillon, his own work); likewise the Franchommes. I dined at both houses before Mme S. arrived, and we talked a lot about you both. I'm already starting on my treadmill. Today I've given only one lesson, to Mme Rothschild, and have excused myself from two, as I had other T work. My new mazurkas have come out in Berlin at Stern's, so I don't know whether they will get as far as you - you in Warsaw be generally getting your music from Leipzig. They are not dedicated cow to anyone. Now I'd like to finish my cello sonata, barcarolle androil

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something else I don't know what to call; but I doubt whether I'll have the time, as the rush is beginning. I have received many enquiries whether I will give a concert, but I doubt I will. Liszt has arrived from the provinces, where he's been giving concerts; I found his card in the house. Meyerbeer is here, too. I was to have gone today to a soirée at Leo's to see him, but we're going to the Opéra, to the new ballet (new for Mme S.), Le diable à quatre, in which the costumes are ours. Now I'm writing to you after the ballet, on Saturday morning. Nothing is changed at the Opéra; it's just as it was when you were there. As yet we have seen nothing else; neither the Italian theatre where they do Verdi, nor Mme Dorval in the new drama Marie Jeanne, which is said to be one of her best parts. The "something else I don't know what to call" is most probably the Polonaise-Fantaisie, completed in the summer of 1846 and published in Paris and Leipzig that November as Op.61. It's no wonder Chopin had difficulty finding a title for it. Like many of his late works it is structurally experimental, a work with no precedent to help shape it, only Chopin's improviser's instincts. From the questing introduction (whose harmonic web would remain unequalled for a generation) and the clear polonaise idea this gives on to, through many contrasting episodes to the final apotheosis, Chopin creates a discursive, developmental, seamless whole. 8 Pieces for piano, Op.76 Capriccio in F sharp minor: Un poco agitato and Capriccio in B minor: Allegretto non troppo der Intermezzo in A flat: Grazioso Intermezzo in B flat: Allegretto grazioso Capriccio in C sharp minor: Agitato, ma non troppo presto Intermezzo in A: Andante con moto Johannes Brahms (1833 1897) Intermezzo in A minor: Moderato semplice Capriccio in C: Grazioso ed un poco vivace The piano was Brahms's own instrument, and music for it straddles his composing career: his output reached Op.122, the first and last works for solo piano being Op.1 and Op.119. The music for solo piano, however, went through two distinct phases. In the first we find Brahms the young lion - or perhaps that should be "eagle", which is how the Schumanns saw

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I e S S or CT, RW the 20-year-old Brahms when he turned up on their doorstep in Düsseldorf. The works are predominantly large-scale - the three sonatas and the variation sets, including the Handel Variations and the Paganini set, whose appearance in 1866 marked the close of this first phase. It was Then came something of a gap, until the second phase opened with the publication of Acht Klavierstücke as Op.76 in March 1879. characterised by a smaller, much more intimate scale. After Op.76 came the two Rhapsodies, Op.79 (1880) and another 12-year gap until the four sets of pieces, Opp.116-119 of 1892/3. Nearly all the pieces in these sets Brahms calls by one of two titles: capriccio for the faster pieces, intermezzo for the slower. The eight pieces of Op.76 were published in two books. The first book consists of a restless Capriccio in F sharp minor, a quirky, gipsy-style Capriccio in B minor, a teasingly graceful Intermezzo in A flat and a more straight-forwardly lyrical Intermezzo in B flat. Book II opens with the tense and intense Capriccio in C sharp minor, followed by the sweet and simple Intermezzo in A, the gentle, wistful Intermezzo in A minor and finally the Capriccio in C major. This last is a complex and subtle piece, requiring musicianship of the first order. Brahms was so worried about including it in the set that he asked Clara Schumann whether she didn't agree he should leave it out. Fortunately she replied in a letter of 7 November 1878 that the C major was a great favourite of hers, and so Brahms left it in. Programme notes by David Mather Floral decorations by Sue Bedford.

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FORTHCOMING CONCERTS The final concert in the 73rd Season of the British Music Society, presented in association with the Department of Music at the University, takes place as usual in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall. Thursday, 17 March 1994 at 8 p.m. MICHAEL D'ARCY (violin) NIGEL HUTCHISON (piano) Sonata in G, Op.30/3 Sonata No.3 Sonata in D, Op.94a Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, Op.28 Also in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall at 8.00: § Wednesday, 23 February 1994 NASH ENSEMBLE Piano Quintets by Dvořák and Franck Beethoven Delius Prokofiev Saint-Saëns § Wednesday, 2 March 30 STRONG The University big band playing repertory from the 1930s to the present

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BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY of YORK OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY President Dr Francis Jackson Vice-Presidents Joan Whitworth Jim Briggs Rosalind Richards Chairman: Barbara Fox Vice-chairman: Derek Sutton Hon. Treasurer: Albert Ainsworth Hon. Asst. Treasurer: John Petrie Hon. Secretary: Nigel Dick Hon. Programme Secretary: Brian & Rosalind Richards NFMS Representative: Dr Richard Crossley Hon. Auditor: Derek Winterbottom Members of the Committee: Sue Bedford, Margherita Biller, Andrew Carter, Stephanie Kershaw, Peter Marsden and Dick Stanley BENEFACTORS AND PATRONS The BMS manages to maintain the high standard of its concerts largely through the generosity of its Benefactors and patrons. Without their covenanted gifts to the Society, we could not hope to balance our books. Our Benefactors (§) and Patrons are as follows: Mr A. Ainsworth Mrs P. J. Armours Mr R. A. Bellingham Mr & Mrs J. Briggs Mrs M. Danby-Smiths Mr C. G. M. Gardner Mr A. D. Hitchcock Dr F. A. Jackson Mr J. C. Josling Mrs F. Andrews§ Dr D. M. Bearpark Mr & Mrs D. A. C. Blunt Dr R. J. S. Crossley Mr N. J. Dicks Mr D. P. Griffiths Mr G. Hutchinson§ Mrs E. S. Johnsons Professor R. Lawtong

41 The British Music Society of York, BMS 3 1 51, Page 41

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Mr R. P. Lorriman§ Mr P. W. Millers Mr G. C. Morcoms Mrs A. M. Morcoms Mr & Mrs K. M. Nonhebel§ Miss H. C. Randall Mr B. Richards§ Mr L. W. Robinsons Mrs D. G. Roebuck Mrs I. G. Sargent Mrs E. Sessions Mr D. A. Sutton Mr O. S. Tomlinsons Miss L. J. Whitworth Mrs H. B. Wright Mr J. B. Schofield§ Dr & Mrs G.A.C. Summers§ Dr M. J. Thomson§ Mr J. I. Watson Mr & Mrs A. Wright If you would like to become a Benefactor or Patron, or have any queries, recommendations, criticisms or even praise, please come and see us at the Members Desk and make your feelings known. In addition to the generosity of our Benefactors and Patrons, the activities of the BMS are supported by grants from Yorkshire and Humberside Arts. * Yorkshire & Humberside ARTS INSTITUTE BORTHWICK *SMS 3/1/51(4) OF HI NATIONAL FEDERATION OF MUSIC SOCIETIES NEMS TORICAL * RESEARCH Compiled by David Mather and published by the British Music Society of York. Reproduced by WrightDesign of Easingwold.