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The British Music Society of York, BMS 3 2 8 |
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BS
YORK
Catherine Bott
Leslie Pearson
(soprano & piano)
Thursday, 13 January 2000
Programme: 50p
Presented by the British Music Society of York
in association with the Department of Music
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NOTICE BOARD
* Tonight's 50p programme
The
No, I'm afraid the BMS hasn't fallen prey to millennial generosity.
programme book is 50p, for tonight only, because it is only half the usual size. Our
usual style of programme notes are entirely unsuited to a recital like tonight's, so
they have been omitted in favour of a personal introduction by the artist - just what
such a programme needs.
Your Views
The BMS is a society run for the benefit of its members by a dedicated committee
elected from amongst those members. If there is something you think we should be
doing, or should not be doing, don't keep it to yourself: please tell a committee
member. They should all be wearing badges, and, however it may appear, they do
want to hear from you.
Internet
The BMS has a small but discernible presence on the Internet. If you haven't
found it already, the URL is http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/psev/bms.htm
YORK
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me
I
60
at
e
e
e
0
BS
YORK
BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY
of YORK
79th Season
Thursday, 13 January 2000
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall
Catherine Bott soprano
Leslie Pearson piano
My mother bids me bind my hair
Two centuries of English song
For the sake of others in the audience, please turn off all
mobile phones and alarms on watches, calculators etc.,
and use a handkerchief when coughing.
BS
YORK
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CATHERINE BOTT
& LESLIE PEARSON
Catherine Bott began her career in early music and has a worldwide reputation as
an interpreter of baroque vocal music. Her discography includes over 60 CDs,
including Bach's St John Passion, Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers and L'incoronazione
di Poppaea, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. But the combination of purity and
sensuality in her singing have put her increasingly in demand to perform later
repertoire: she appears on Sir John Eliot Gardiner's recording of the Fauré
Requiem and Bryden Thomson's recording of Vaughan Williams' Sinfonia
antartica.
"Varied" seems almost inadequate to describe the career of Leslie Pearson. He
has been the official keyboard (piano, organ, harpsichord and celeste) player with
the Philharmonia Orchestra for 40 years. He has appeared as accompanist in the
"Three Tenors" spectaculars; his playing has been heard in such diverse screen
offerings as Four weddings and a funeral, Dr Who, Poirot and Lovejoy; and he has
performed at Buckingham Palace and in private concerts for The Queen Mother
and Prince Charles.
PROGRAMME
A pastoral song Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
She never told her love
I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls
Should he upbraid
2 Songs without words
E major, Op.19 No. I
C major, Op.102 No.3
Michael Balfe (1808-1870)
Henry Bishop (1786-1855)
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
0
(
(
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}
)
}
Come, dearest, come
Crabbed age and youth
Willow willow willow
Where the bee sucks
The lost chord
In a Persian market
Till I wake
INTERVAL
Coffee and drinks are available in the foyer. Coffee is 80p a cup: to find us, just go
past the bar, out on to the landing, and turn to the left.
Linden Lea
Sleep
Spring
Fantasia: Bobby Shaftoe
A room with a view
Any little fish
O waly, waly
Oliver Cromwell
Albert, Prince Consort (1818-1861)
Hubert Parry (1848-1918)
Floral decorations by Sue Bedford
Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900)
Albert Ketèlby (1875-1959)
Amy Woodforde-Finden (1860 - 1919)
Ralph Vaughan-Williams (1872 - 1958)
Ivor Gurney (1890 - 1937)
Traditional, arr. Leslie Pearson
Noël Coward (1899-1973)
arr. Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
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FORTHCOMING CONCERTS
The next concert in the 79th Season of the British Music Society of York,
presented in association with the Department of Music at the University takes place
as usual in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, beginning at 8 pm.
Friday, 11 February 2000
The Fitzwilliam String Quartet
Glazunov
Shostakovich
Borodin
Alla Spagnola
Quartets Nos.7 & 15
Quartet No.2 in D
More dates for your diaries:
Wednesday, 19 January 2000
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, 8 pm
Benjamin Frith & Peter Hill
Two piano music by Debussy (En blanc et noir) and Stravinsky (Agon and Rite of
Spring)
Wednesday, 9 February 2000
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, 8 pm
Fitzwilliam String Quartet
Anna Tilbrook (piano)
The concert which forms a pair with the BMS concert on Friday 11 February and
featuring three works by Shostakovich, Quartets Nos. 6 and 14 and the Piano
Quintet
A
Th
ger
of
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B'S
YORK
BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY
of YORK
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY
President Dr Francis Jackson
Vice-Presidents Jim Briggs, Rosalind Richards
Chairman
Vice-Chairman
Hon. Treasurer
Hon. Asst. Treasurer
Hon. Secretary
Hon. Publicity Secretary
Hon. Programme Secretary
NFMS Representative
Hon Auditor
Members of the Committee
Sylvia Carter
Dr John Dawick
Albert Ainsworth
John Petrie
Nigel Dick
Marc Schatzberger
Amanda Crawley
Dr Richard Crossley
Derek Winterbottom
Sue Bedford, Peter Marsden, David Mather,
Brian Mattinson and Dr Mary Turner
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 gifts to the Society, many
of them covenanted, we could not hope to balance our books.
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Our Benefactors (§) and Patrons are as follows:
Mr A. Ainsworth §
Dr D.M. Bearpark §
Mr J. Briggs §
Mr N.J. Dick §
Mr A.D. Hitchcock §
Mrs E.S. Johnson §
Prof. R. Lawton §
Mr J.C. Miles
Canon & Mrs J.S. Pearson
Mr & Mrs D. Rowlands
Mr M. Schatzberger
Mr R.D.C. Stevens §
Dr & Mrs G.M.A. Turner § Mr J.I. Watson
Mrs H.B. Wright §
Mrs S. Wright
Mrs F. Andrews §
Mr R.A. Bellingham
Dr R.J.S. Crossley
Mr J.C. Downing §
Mr T.M. Holmes §
Mr J.C. Joslin §
Mr R.P. Lorriman §
Mr G.C. Morcom §
Mr & Mrs L.W. Robinson §
Mrs M.P. Rowntree §
Mr J.B. Schofield §
Mrs D.C. Summers §
NATIONAL FEDERATION
OF MUSIC SOCIETIES
NEMS
Mrs P.J. Armour
Mr & Mrs D.A.C. Blunt §
Mr J. Curry §
Mr C.G.M. Gardner
Dr F.A. Jackson
Mr N. Lange §
Mr & Mrs B. Mattinson §
Mrs G. Morcom §
If you would like to become a Benefactor or Patron, please get in touch with our
Hon. Treasurer, either at the ticket desk before each concert, or at 8, Petersway,
York, YO30 6AR. All other correspondence about the Society should be addressed
to the Hon. Secretary, 6, Bishopgate St., York, YO23 1JH.
Mrs I.G. Sargent
Mrs I. Stanley §
Mr D.A. Sutton
Mr R. Wilkinson §
Registered Charity No.700302
The BMS is affiliated to the National Federation of Music Societies
which represents and supports amateur vocal, instrumental and
promoting societies throughout the United Kingdom. The Society
also gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Royal Bank of
Scotland.
INSTITUTE
SURTHWICK
*SMS 3/2/8 (1)
OF HI TOFIC'L
RESEARCH
Compiled by David Mather and published by the British Music Society of York.
Reproduced by the Trophy & Print Shop, Commercial St, Norton, Malton.
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BS
YORK
The Fitzwilliam
String Quartet
Friday, 11 February 2000
Programme: £1.00
Presented by the British Music Society of York
in association with the Department of Music
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BANKS
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ⒸCity of York Council 1999. Published by Marketing & Communications Group on behalf of Performing Arts Service.
The cost of producing this leaflet was partly met by advertising revenue. Printed on environmentally friendly paper.
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I for Prof. Fountain
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall
BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY
Friday 11th February 2000 8pm
THE FITZWILLIAM STRING
QUARTET
Lucy Russell & Jonathan Sparey violins
Alan George viola
Daniel Yeadon 'cello
Glazunov
Alla Spagnola
Shostakovich Quartet No.15 in E flat minor Op.144
Borodin
INTERVAL
Shostakovich Quartet No.7 in F sharp minor Op.108
Quartet No.2 in D major
For the sake of others in the audience, please turn off all
mobile phones and alarms on watches, calculators etc.,
and use a handkerchief when coughing.
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Alla Spagnuola Op.15 No.
Alexander Glazunov
(1865-1936)
Glazunov is not a composer whose music is discussed with any great enthusiasm these
days - if it is discussed at all, for it is certainly performed with very little regularity (with
the exception of the wonderful violin concerto, Op.82, which is worthy of a place
alongside the more celebrated Bruch). At a very early age Glazunov possessed the gift of
an extraordinarily quick and brilliant musical mind, so that his First Symphony was
performed with great success, and the approval of Liszt - before he was seventeen. His
talents were cultivated by such teachers as Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov into a
formidable technique, and the resulting effortlessness with which he was able to compose
characterises virtually his entire vast output.
Should his fate be to be remembered chiefly for his masterly realisations of Borodin's
unfinished compositions (notably the opera Prince Igor and the Third Symphony), or as
Shostakovich's teacher at the Leningrad Conservatoire, this would be to devalue grossly
the appeal of his own richly rewarding music. The five Novelettes, of which the present
piece is the first, are all absolute gems, and a real find for the unsuspecting only.
Composed in 1886, with the experience of two of his seven numbered quartets already
behind him, they stand firmly in the tradition of Russian quartet writing, sounding at times
more like Borodin than Borodin! - a style at once so recognisable that the various national
characteristics supposedly evoked by their titles barely add a foreign accent: the colourful
imagination of a confirmed Russian, dreaming of far-off lands.
Quartet No.15 in E flat minor Op.144
Elegy: Adagio
Serenade: Adagio
Intermezzo: Adagio
Nocturne: Adagio
Funeral March: Adagio molto
Epilogue: Adagio alternating with Adagio molto
Shostakovich
Shostakovich's last quartet was completed in the autumn of 1974 at Repino - a special
composers' retreat on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, not far from Leningrad. Because
of the death of Sergei Shirinsky (immediately following a rehearsal of this work) the
première in Leningrad was taken over by the Taneyev Quartet (the Beethoven Quartet,
with their new 'cellist, were later able to introduce the work to Moscow); as with its two
predecessors, the first Western performance was given (in Manchester) by the Fitzwilliam
Quartet. The composer himself wrote of it, "I tried to make it a dramatic work; it is hard
to say whether I succeeded." Such a remark must surely provoke a few raised eyebrows;
but if one is not over-dogmatic in ones interpretation of the word, then this quartet is
indeed a drama of tense psychological conflict, a conflict involved with the notion of
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2
e
existence passing into the infinity of oblivion. A brief preliminary perusal of the score will
give a reasonable impression of the piece: for more than twenty pages nothing seems to
happen at all; thereafter the staves occasionally blacken with a brief flurry of activity,
quickly settling back into the simplest quartet texture imaginable - frequently reduced to
a single lonely line of notes, meandering along, half-hoping to re-encounter lost
companions. At the end one will have searched in vain for an Allegro, an Allegretto, or
even an Andante, since all six movements are headed Adagio, and with the same
metronome mark (except for the fifth: Molto Adagio!).
The Elegy opens with a diatonic fugato of unearthly beauty, 'contrasted' by a second-
subject melody initially supported by no more than a unison pedal C. By the end of the
exposition the time-scale of the movement - indeed, of the whole quartet - is fairly well
established. The intentional monotony is now driven home in a kind of pagan-religious
chant, mesmeric in effect, characteristically Russian with a faint smell of the Orthodox
which might remind one of the Andante funèbre in Tchaikovsky's Third Quartet, or that
oppressive scene in the chronicler monk Pímen's cell in Boris Godunov. One can almost
compare this Elegy to the vast, monolithic landscapes of Siberia which, even if one has
never experienced them at first hand, somehow come clearly to mind with the help of
pictures and descriptive accounts to stimulate the imagination. In a sense such music does
not really belong to this era at all. Nowadays, and particularly in the West, we live our
lives at so unhealthily hectic a pace that it is almost unnatural to have to accept and adjust
to a slower time-scale. Music like this Fifteenth Quartet of Shostakovich, or (more
familiarly) the late Adagios of Beethoven and Bruckner, afford us the priceless
opportunity of challenging the passing of Time. One cannot stop Time; one cannot even
slow it or quicken it; but one can be less aware of it. Shostakovich helps us to do that
here; just as, in the central section of the Thirteenth Quartet, he can, in a sinister way, do
exactly the opposite by inexorably counting out every beat of Time.
The extraordinarily hypnotic tension is eventually relieved by a succession of shrieks, as
if that terrible ending of No. 13 is being relived over and over again, like a nightmare. The
macabre Serenade thus heralded is a kind of slow waltz with a limp, which gropes along
with little discernable sense of direction, eventually losing itself in a barely audible pedal-
note on the 'cello. All of a sudden the Intermezzo explodes onto the scene with a violent
torrent of notes, although the 'cello remains unmoved as if no longer conscious of what
is happening around it. It may seem perverse for some of these movements to be labelled
Adagio: the frantic activity of this Intermezzo and the opening of the Epilogue hardly
sound like slow music, and the Nocturne flows along more like an Andante. Similarly the
Serenade is not really an Adagio in character. But clearly there must be some kind of
poetic or psychological idea behind the concept of attaching the same tempo heading to
all six movements, with for the most part - the same pulse as well.
The listener's nerves will now be soothed by the bitter-sweet Nocturne, its plaintive
melody weaving its way sadly through gently undulating shadows. But its underlying
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restlessness in the end gives rise to an ominous-sounding rhythm which the two violins
softly beat out pizzicato. This proves to be a premonition of the Funeral March, which
finally arrives on stage with emphatic unity. Curiously, the main part of this movement is
entirely solo, each melodic strain being punctuated tutti, like a refrain, by the march
rhythm. The Epilogue seems to be no longer of this world; it is hardly a movement in its
own right, more a painfully poignant recollection of previous experiences. It erupts with
almost as much force as the Intermezzo, but thereafter manages only to look back on
blurred memories of earlier areas of the work, amid a weird succession of rustlings,
tappings, wailings, and shudderings. Instrumental colour is exploited in a highly original
way, giving a truly eerie, almost supernatural, quality - likened by one Latvian writer to
"the howling of the wind in the cemetery". Popular opinion in the former USSR believes
that, with this work, Shostakovich was composing his own Requiem, as surely as Mozart
was composing his in 1791. The semitone trill is an ever-present spectre, as it is so often
in these final compositions; and it would not be too far-fetched to speculate on its
significance as a symbol of this stricken man's death obsession, which continually haunted
him during those last years. At the end it leads the way to the final chant, through it, and
beyond it into nothingness. Shostakovich takes leave of the string quartet in a state of
resignation and acceptance.
The Last Quartet by Shostakovich
Preparing for his death,
he scales ours, pares
it to perfect fourthsand fifths - familar
dimensions that ease
the anonymity of heaven
or hell -
dissolves fugality
to a discernible
tremor.
Thean Logan, Lewisburg USA, September 1978
INTERVAL
Coffee and drinks are available in the foyer. Coffee is 80p a cup: to find us, just go past
the bar, out on to the landing, and turn to the left.
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Quartet No.7 in F sharp minor Op.108
Allegretto
Lento
Allegro - Allegretto
Dmitri Shostakovich
(1906 - 75)
The Seventh Quartet is surely one of the most significant works Shostakovich ever
composed - a claim which has not generally been made on its behalf, maybe because its
uncontested status as the shortest of the fifteen makes it a prime candidate for the
metaphorical sweeping under the carpet. But it didn't just take Webern or the
septo/octogenarian Stravinsky to prove that brevity need not be directly proportional to
content (witness the length of this particular programme note!); and even if this quartet
is simply short, rather than 'a novel expressed in a single gesture' (to paraphrase
Schönberg on Webern's Op.9), its epigrammatic allusion to a whole range of emotions
leaves an after-impression of something far more substantial and complete than the
promise of twelve minutes' music might normally be expected to provide. It is 'complete'
also in another respect, in that its cyclic construction - whereby the music of the first
movement's recapitulation returns as part of a sad little waltz to finish the whole work -
gives the feeling of having come full circle. Brevity is not the only channel through which
this
s quartet demands attention - although if the popular image Shostakovich created for
himself in his noisier and more protracted works still abounds, then an element of surprise
might also contribute to that attention. Of course, the 'noise' isn't here either; which
doesn't mean there is no loud music - as will be heard in the wildly frenzied fugue, which
surges relentlessly onwards with torrential fury in the first half of the finale. Rather, it is
the very spareness of texture through the other two and a half sections of this quartet
which helps to suggest new directions. Extended solos and duets are by no means absent
in the first six quartets; but here they are immediately established as a norm, with the
principal material of the first subject being presented in just a single line of notes. The
opening of the Lento stretches this to two lines, thereafter extending to three with notable
infrequency (the eventual calling on all four instruments is occasioned only by octave
doubling).
And so we have touched on the essential nature of this quartet and its formative influence
on Shostakovich's later music. This central movement is the 'inner sanctum' of the work,
an encapsulation of loneliness and grief; dignified, objective, without tears. 1954 had seen
the death of Shostakovich's dearly loved wife, Nina Vasilyevna. It was not his first
experience of bereavement but it was certainly the cruellest, and he never really got over
it. The timing was unfortunate too, in that he had only just recovered his artistic
communication with the musical public, since the death of Stalin in 1953 had enabled him
to end his self-imposed witholding of all works composed since the infamous Zhdanov
attacks of 1948. But six years were to pass before a delayed reaction to the tragedy of
Nina's death at length enshrined her memory in music. On the surface this little quartet
might seem an oddly elliptical tribute, but was there an apocalyptic ninth symphony to
celebrate such a momentous event as the end of the war? So a great Requiem might have
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been equally out of character. However, there is no doubt that he felt particularly close
to the seventh quartet, as was clearly witnessed by the present author during the
composer's visit to the Fitzwilliam Quartet in York in 1972, when he specifically asked
to hear it. Its creation precipitated an obsession with human mortality which itself was
not fully divulged in his music until some years later.
At a reception following a performance of Quartet No.7 in Lincoln Center, Julius Bloom,
late respected New York writer and connoisseur, was moved to compare the stillness of
the Lento with the Heiliger Dankgesang in Beethoven's A minor quartet (Op.132) - his
favourite chamber composition. He went on to remark that in this quartet Shostakovich
"seemed to have touched a nerve so deep that even he may have been surprised by it".
No more sensitive an appreciation could be made of the work, and no more touching a
memorial could be created to a lost companion.
Quartet No.2 in D major
Allegro moderato
Scherzo: Allegro
Notturno: Andante
Finale: Andante - Vivace
Aleksandr Porfiryevich Borodin
(1833-1887)
It is easy for the musician to bemoan the fact that Borodin spent more of his time as a
chemistry professor than as a composer. A statue erected to him in Russia actually pays
tribute to his services to science rather than to music - it should not be forgotten that in
1872 he founded the first medical courses for women in the country. Conversely, the
number of his musical works barely reaches fifty, of which two of the most important -
the opera Prince Igor and the Third Symphony - were left unfinished at his death.
Borodin himself complained of the "difficulty of being at one and the same time both a
Glinka and a Stupishin, scientist, commissioner, artist, government official, philanthropist,
father of other people's children, doctor, and invalid.... You end up by becoming only
the last". These words were written at about the time he was at work on the second of his
two string quartets; six years later, worn out and exhausted by domestic as well as
professional troubles, he dropped dead at a fancy-dress party.
Borodin (with Mussorgsky) was perhaps the greatest of the group of Russian Nationalist
composers collectively known as moguchaya kuchka, or 'The Five'; and the writing of
chamber music, with its strong Germanic associations, was frowned upon by his
colleagues. His first quartet (in A major) was completed in the summer of 1879 and was
initially a great success; but then - from that work's point of view! - Borodin made the
mistake of composing another, which left its predecesssor far behind in the popularity
stakes, to the extent of almost total neglect in the West - indeed, No.2 is probably the
most frequently performed of all Russian chamber works and certainly appears to contain
exact
hit
The a
in the
of the
touch
never
canta
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were
how
the N
less f
waltz
by a t
tangit
whose
own
pleas
Floral
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281
pays
an
-
exactly the right combination of ingredients which go towards the making of a celebrated
hit.
The quartet was dedicated to Borodin's wife and her happy inspiration is clearly reflected
in the balmy tenderness and unaffected beauty of the famous Nocturne. The prominence
of the composer's own instrument (the 'cello) throughout the work adds another personal
touch. But however ardent his vision or colourful his imagination, Borodin could surely
never have predicted such a response to his Nocturne which, together with the Andante
cantabile from Tchaikovsky's first quartet, has travelled far beyond the bounds of the
recital room in various instrumental - and vocal! - arrangements. How perfectly correct
were the judgments of the two composers when scoring these pieces for string quartet and
how refreshing to hear them in their proper contexts! However, it is important not to let
the Nocturne overshadow the rest of the quartet, since the other three movements are no
less fine: in fact, the scherzo has become almost as popular on account of its delicious
waltz-like second main theme. Borodin had explained that his first quartet was suggested
by a theme from the Rondo finale of Beethoven's B flat quartet, Op.130; yet a more
tangible influence would seem to be the corresponding movement of the Op.135 quartet,
whose crucial 'question and answer' must have been in Borodin's mind as he planned his
own D major finale. But it is lyrical warmth and high spirits, rather than drama or
philosophy, which surely are the essence of this generous music: few works give us more
pleasure or satisfaction in performance than the quartets of Borodin.
Floral decorations by Sue Bedford
notes Alan George
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FORTHCOMING CONCERTS
The final concert in the 79th Season of the British Music Society of York, presented in
association with the Department of Music at the University, will take place as usual in the
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, beginning at 8 pm.
* Thursday, 16 March 2000
Margarita Shevchenko (piano)
*
Chopin
More dates for your diaries:
Schumann
Brahms
Bunte Blätter Op.99
4 Pieces for piano Op.119
24 Preludes Op.28
York Minster, 7.30 pm
*
Tomorrow [Saturday, 12 February 2000]
The City of York Guildhall Orchestra
Mahler's Symphony No.2, The Resurrection, conducted by Simon Wright, with soloists
Lynne Dawson and Jean Rigby and singers drawn from (amongst others) The Chapter
House Choir, Chanticleer Singers, Micklegate Singers, York Cantores, York Musical
Society, University Choir.
Wednesday, 16 February 2000
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, 8 pm
Capricorn (John Lubbock conductor)
Webern's transcription of Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No.1 and Schoenberg's
transcription of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde
*
*
Wednesday, 23 February 2000
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, 8 pm
Coriolan Trio
Piano trios by Mozart (E major), Schubert (E flat major) and Shostakovich.
Wednesday 1 March 2000
Central Hall, 7.30pm
The University Orchestra
Mahler's Symphony No 9, with the Piano Concerto in B flat K456 by Mozart (soloist
Nicky Losseff) conductor David Blake.
* Sunday, 12 March 2000
York Minster, 7 pm
York Musical Society
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford's Requiem
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CITY OF YORK
Guildhall
Orchestra
at YORK BARBICAN
CENTRE,
"The City of York
can be proud of the
orchestra that bears its name"
Yorkshire Post
20th Anniversary Celebration
Concert
Yorkshire Arts
Y
YORK
TICKETS
£15.00, £12.50, £8.00
CONCESSIONS £3 off all seats.
poo
YORK BARBICAN CENTRE BOX OFFICE
01904
656688
The City of York
Guildhall
Orchestra
"at
York Minster
by kind permission of the Dean & Chapter
Saturday 12 February 2000 7.30pm
Simon Wright conductor
Lynne Dawson soprano
Jean Rigby mezzo soprano
Mahler
Symphony No.2
(The Resurrection)
Chorus (singers from) Chapter House Choir,
Chanticleer Singers, Leeds Festival Chorus,
Micklegate Singers, Selby Choral Society,
Simeon Singers, York Cantores, York Musical
Society.
Concert Preview Graham Saunders of Hull
University is to give a preveiw of this concert
on the 7th February at St John's College,
York, at 7.15pm, cost £2.00. If you would like
to attend please contact Wallis Johnson on
York (01904) 415966
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THE UNIVERSITY of York
ORCHESTRAL AND CHAMBER CONCERTS SPRING TERM 2000
Tickets may be purchased at the box office
All concerts take place in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall unless otherwise stated.
Wednesday 16 February 8pm CAPRICORN Mahler & Schoenberg in transcription
8pm
UNIVERSITY WIND ORCHESTRA
LECTURE by David Blake on Mahler's 9th Symphony
CORIOLAN TRIO Piano trios by Mozart, Schubert and Shostakovich
UNIVERSITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA
7.30pm
CENTRAL HALL UNIVERSITY ORCHESTRA Mozart and Mahler
7.30pm
CENTRAL HALL
NORTHERN SINFONIA Haydn, Nicola LeFanu, Beethoven
8pm UNIVERSITY CHAMBER CHOIR, YORKSHIRE BAROQUE SOLOISTS Purcell Dido &
Aenaes
Friday 18 February
Tuesday 22 February 5.15pm
Wednesday 23 February 8pm
Friday 25 February
8pm
Wednesday 1 March
Saturday 4 March
Wednesday 8 March.
NEW MUSIC GROUP Music from the Americas.
8pm YORK MINSTER UNIVERSITY CHOIR, ENGLISH NORTHERN PHILHARMONIA
The Dream of Gerontius
Elgar
Friday 10 March.15pm & 8pm
Wednesday 15 March.
Further details contact the box office
between noon
4.30pm
01904 432439
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THE UNIVERSITY of Yor
CENTRAL HALL
Wednesday 1st March 2000 7.30pm
University Orchestra
Conductor - David Blake
Piano - Nicky Losseff
Piano Concerto in B flat K456
Symphony No 9
Supported by Nestlé UK Ltd
Mozart
Mahler
01904 432439
Nestlē
Further details contact the box office
between noon
4.30pm
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M
es
P
better job of! A contrasting period of reflective meditation is provided by the
Intermezzo's endless lines of sweetly nostalgic cantilena. Feelings become
impassioned, but soon subside into a kind of contemplative restlessness, out of which
the Finale drowsily emerges, groping at first, but gradually acquiring renewed
confidence. As with the quintet as a whole this movement explores a considerable
range of contrasts, embracing the crudely boisterous, a smokey chromaticism, and a
lullaby of child-like innocence which eventually vanishes in the merest wisp of sound.
nna
A
Tilbrook read music at York before being awarded a scholarship to the Royal
Academy of Music, where she studied with Clara Taylor and Julius Drake. She
won all the major accompaniment prizes there and last year was the holder of a
Fellowship. In 1997 she also won the Megan Foster accompaniment prize in the Maggie
Teyte French Song competition. Recent recitals have taken her to Dublin and Shannon,
Warwick Arts Centre, Chichester Festival, Holywell Music Room (Oxford), St. Martin-
in-the-Fields and St. James Piccadilly (London), the Barber Institute (Birmingham),
Plymouth Sherwell Centre, and to Kuwait. She has broadcast live on BBC Radio 4
accompanying Ian Bostridge, and was featured on In Tune for Radio 3, as well as
playing on Radio 2, Classic FM, and RTE. In May 1999 she made her recital debut at
the Wigmore Hall and soon after performed in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Forthcoming
engagements include recitals in France and Greece, in St. John's Smith Square as part of
Graham Johnson's Songmakers' Almanack and a return to the Wigmore in November
2000. Further performances with the Fitzwilliam are scheduled for Cambridge, Warwick,
and Keswick.
●●●●
To help ensure the
members of the audience, you may like to note that:
undisturbed enjoyment of this concert for all
a cough/sneeze has the effect of a fortissimo;
a cough/sneeze using a handkerchief has
the effect of a pianissimo.
May we also take this opportunity to remind you to switch
off all mobile phones, pagers and watch alarms for the
durationof the performance.
Please refrain from taking photos during
the performance
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concerned with chamber music forms. Most of the evidence for this lies in the
magnificent series of fifteen string quartets, which accounted for an increasingly
significant proportion of his creative energy during the final; years of his life. But to
begin with he felt more at home using his own instrument - he had studied both piano
and composition at the Petrograd Conser
fanciful dreams of the glittering life of a virtuoso concert pianist. Indeed, he won a
Diploma of Honour at the 1927 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw
in effect a consolation prize, since he had been one of the favourites to win, but had
been hindered in his preparation by sickness and family troubles.
re, and in those days
pably had
Happily, the quintet grew out of a friendship with the Beethoven Quartet, who had
given the first Moscow performance of the little string quartet (No. 1) that he had
written in 1938. Having asked the composer for something for them to play together,
they unveiled their joint creation at the Moscow Festival of Soviet Music on 23
November 1940; such was its instantaneous success that the scherzo and finale had to
be encored. Their recorded performance has been intermittently available, and (I
would suggest) has yet to be surpassed. Opinions may be divided as to the value of
any composer's renditions of his/her own music; but few would deny the intensity,
eloquence, and sheer exuberance of this playing. There are certainly many lessons to
be learned from it, and also from the numerous points of style and interpretation which
arise throughout the performance. And it is the pianist-composer himself who launches
the action in grand improvisatory manner, as if anticipating one of the Bach-inspired
Preludes and Fugues of 1950/1. In the same way, the awesome first entry of the strings
(a passage which returns in both Fugue and Finale, like a motto) presents us with a
sound which will become very familiar in the middle-period quartets. But it is the
fusion of these two elements which is so exciting; and by the end of this wide-ranging
overture we have already been treated to a richly varied display of the kinds of textures
we are to encounter during the course of the work - most of them far removed from
the massive nineteenth-century concept of the piano quintet. The complementary fugue
which follows (without a break) is a moving testament to Shostakovich's gift for
reaching the heart through the most rigorous of formal procedures. After four string
entries in the exposition have all but dispelled our awareness of being involved in a
quintet, the entry of the piano is surely one of the most inspired moments in chamber
music, elevating feelings and emotions to sublime regions where the passing of time
seems eternally suspended.
The quintet divides into five movements, a layout which proved to be a favourite of
Shostakovich's during his thirties - as was the type of scherzo which now restores our
sense of reality and the present. For once, however, we have an example seemingly
free of that biting irony which elsewhere is characteristic of such movements; the
riotous good humour and sense of fun really must be genuine this time. We can laugh
unashamedly at the misplaced accents, the hilariously dissonant counterpoint, or that
silly first-violin tune which the poor, repressed viola feels he has just got to make a
hillab
Fellows
Teyte F
Warwic
in-the-F
Plymou
accomp
playing
the Wig
cleap.com
2000. F
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50,
The Adagio has a nobility and life-giving passion which is far removed from the anguish
of No.13. The opening violin solo creates a sense of sadness by its slow tread, its minor
mode, and its tendency to descend in pitch - often by semitones. During this movement
our hearts are gripped by the most ardently vibrant passage in all these late works, and at
the end by music of breathtaking beauty - surely one of the most poignant moments in all
chamber music: the first violin drifts through chromatic lines as if mesmerized by a dream;
all around is the stillness of unearthly harmonies, stirring only occasionally in response
to the hushed tenderness above, yet never rising higher than a whisper for fear of
disturbing the private vision.
In each of the last four quartets Shostakovich has come up with one or two totally
different ideas, all of which represent extensions of his musical vocabulary - the listener
may well recall the Klangfarbenmelodie passage from No. 13, which might certainly be
cited as a prime example. In fact, that could well be seen as the forerunner to a further
exploitation of the technique here, where it is extended into a fierce 'slanging match' of
over forty bars in which the players in effect hurl notes at each other! Thereafter textures
thin out, time signatures constantly change, tonality becomes increasingly unsettled; the
impression of indecision is further underlined as earlier themes are tried, but without being
able to re-establish themselves. Eventually the home key, long striven for, is at last arrived
at and with the 'cello once more singing over all the other instruments, the final part of the
quartet is reached as the music of the Adagio returns, now clothed in the most glowing F
sharp major tonality - the key of Mahler's Tenth.
Quartet No.14 was given its British première - by the Fitzwilliam - in Harrogate on 16th
August, 1974.
INTERVAL
Piano Quintet in G minor Op.57
Prelude:- Lento
Fugue:- Adagio
Scherzo:- Allegretto
Intermezzo:- Lento
Finale: Allegretto
A retrospective look over Shostakovich's musical output might at first provoke
surprise that he should have produced a piano quintet and two piano trios before
delivering a major string quartet, so it could be instructive to dwell on the significance
of the former in the development of its composer's musical personality. It is worth
remembering that a considerable redressing of balance occurred during the latter half
of Shostakovich's career, in that where he was once regarded primarily as a composer
of large scale orchestral and vocal works, he is now seen to have been equally
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special use of the major mode which expresses at the same time radiance, sadness, joy,
pain, in the way that perhaps Schubert of all composers knew best, and put into practice
most eloquently in the Adagio of his C major Quintet. Or again, Janácek, during the finale
of Intimate Letters. The writer Joan Chissell found the Fourteenth Quartet "as joyful as
anything in Janáček's Indian Summ er". Like all the major works of Shostakovich's final
years this quartet is unique: experiences may be shared, but are viewed through totally
different eyes and feelings and on a wide variety of canvases. No other work of his has
this impassioned radiance; no other comes so close to Janáček.
Quartets 11 to 14 were dedicated in turn to each of the original members of the Beethoven
Quartet, and the last to be so honoured was the 'cellist, Sergei Petrovich Shirinsky (who,
sadly, was not to live long enough to see the launching of the Fifteenth). Here the 'cello
is given an even more prominent part to play than the viola in No.13. As in the 'Prussian'
Quartets of Mozart (also written for a 'cellist), textural equilibrium is considerably
affected by this unusual balance of power; the viola in particular achieves a special
independence, often originating in its responsibility for holding a strongly supporting bass
line. Shostakovich takes this individual prominence a stage further by presenting each
player with almost complete freedom in recitative-like solo passages, and it goes without
saying that the composer is here depending a great deal upon the interpretative authority
and instrumental command of the quartet members. But then, he always attached
great
importance to the individuality of his four players as well as to their corporate rôle within
the ensemble, and in these solos he seems privately to greet each musician in turn.
As the Fifteenth Symphony marked a return to a more conventional type after the song-
cycle format of No.14, so the layout of this quartet likewise seems more traditional in
comparison with the single-movement Bogen structure of its predecessor. Yet its design
bears a close resemblance to No. 12 in that, after a free-standing first movement, the rest
of the work unfolds in one self-contained span, where the recapitulation of movement 2
does not occur until after that of movement 3. A further overall unity originates in the
repeated notes on the viola with which the work begins. These may seem to be no more
than a formal call to attention in preparation for the entry (on the 'cello) of the first subject;
but their reappearance under various disguises, at significant points along the work's
course, confirms their structural importance and helps to dispel any superficial impression
of diffuseness. This first movement is striking in a number of ways. Its vast arch shape -
within which are other smaller arches, all beautifully paced - gives every return to a point
of commencement a feeling of rightness and security, as if nothing untoward had occurred
in between. From its modest thematic beginning - almost Haydnesque in its joviality and
carefree abandon - it expands into a piece of great strength and weight; paradoxically so,
for none of the material is particularly weighty. Additionally, it encompasses a greater
range of colour and sound than much of Shostakovich's later music and demonstrates a
positive vitality - exhilaration, almost - which is rare in the other works of this period.
The
of N
mode
our be
all aro
to the
distur
cited as
explota
over for
thin out
CA
able to r
at and wi
Quartet N
Piano Q
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composition is given a cohesive skeleton which never has reason to disturb the untroubled
freshness of the actual music; as if to ensure that the point is not missed, Shostakovich
rounds off all four movements with the same distinctive cadence. But it was surely not any
superficial cleverness which gave rise to this idea; rather it seems a natural product of the
pervading spirit of good humour which, from the child-like simplicity and pastoral gaiety
of the opening, is to the fore throughout much of the work. The deliciously genial mood-
and the diatonic nature of the melodic material - continues into the next movement,
although the chromatic lines of its central section impart a dream-like remoteness which
is reminiscent of the corresponding part of Symphony 9.
The Lento is a gravely beautiful passacaglia in which the first three variations are strictly
polyphonic in texture, as opposed to the more static but no less eloquent ones which
follow. The familiar cadence acts this time as a modulatory link to the finale, a sonata-
rondo whose second subject is clearly defined by a change of texture and metre. There is
a beautifully paced build-up to a festive climax, encouraged on its way by the now
predictable (see Quartets 3 and 10) canonic recall of the passacaglia ground theme. By
way of a blissfully drowsy version of the main subject, marked Andante, the pastoral
intimacy of the very opening (or something close to it) is restored, the mutes now adding
a strangely elusive but characteristic quality, which sets the scene for the concluding
appearance of our cadence friend, now Adagio in lazy contentment.
The Sixth Quartet is not one of Shostakovich's grandest, neither does it aspire to such
heights. Nevertheless, it is works like this which contribute so prominently to the range
and diversity, and ultimately to the greatness and appeal, of the series as a whole.
Quartet No.14 in F sharp major Op.142 (1972-3)
Allegretto
Adagio -
Allegretto - Adagio
After the Thirteenth Quartet it would be all too easy to underestimate No.14. The aura of
death and personal despair which hangs over Shostakovich's last compositions seems to
have created such a Romantic image for these works that it has become almost a yardstick
by which to judge each piece. One can find oneself trying to read too much into an
individual work, over-influenced by what has gone before. But few people now
underestimate Mahler's Tenth Symphony, despite its incompleteness, and that experience
leaves us in an emotional state strikingly similar to that left by this Fourteenth Quartet.
Could we be witnessing the recognition of a painful longing for life which is slipping
away; a passionate desire to be alive? One wonders whether - by 1910/11 - the stricken
Mahler really still believed in the 'Resurrection' of his Second Symphony. Shostakovich
believed in no such thing, and the beauty and serenity at the end of his Fourteenth Quartet
is no expectation of Heaven. Here, more than anywhere else in Shostakovich, is that very
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As the train pulled out of the station his poor feeble hand continued waving until he was
out of sight. In his letters to us he often recalled, with evident pleasure, his visit to York:
surely for him it could have been no more than just one day in an enormously rich life, but
for the four of us it was the memory of a lifetime. We did see him again a few days later,
since he had asked us to come and hear his Fifteenth Symphony in London (the main
purpose of his visit to England), after which we spent a little more time with him. I was
backstage just before the concert, when I happened to pass him in a group of officials. I
decided not to bother him at that point, but on seeing me he immediately broke away to
embrace me and shake my hand. I was astonished that he should have remembered and
recognised me and I felt completely overcome. From that time almost to his death he kept
up a regular correspondence with us, the last letter being dated June 2nd. Writing to us
after receiving a tape of the Thirteenth Quartet he had requested we send, he mentioned
that he had finished another quartet, and this we received early in March 1974. His
covering letter began as follows: "Dear friends! Yesterday I sent you the score and parts
include
of my Fourteenth Quartet. I shall be very glad if this work interests y you and you.
." No.15 followed at the end of December, together with
it in your repertoire.......
Christmas and New Year greetings (characteristically thoughtful that he should remember
our Christmastide). He seemed genuinely surprised that anyone should bother to play his
music, and phrases such as the following were commonplace in his letters: "... i
. it gives me
pleasure to know that you give so much attention to my quartets" or "thank you for the
interest which you show in my works".
Plans had been finalised for us to spend a week with him in Moscow and we were due to
leave on September 17th 1975. Too late. But even though the man is long dead his soul
lives on, both in the music he created and in the hearts of those of us who knew him.
During his last visit to England, many people must have met him and will have related
their treasured experiences of him, as I myself am doing at this moment. But he was just
that type of person - that unique being, which transcends its own greatness with simple
humility, human warmth and kindness.
Quartet No.6 in G major Op.101 (1956)
Allegretto
Moderato con moto
Lento -
Lento - Allegretto - Andante - Adagio
After the herculean labours expended on the Eleventh Symphony (1955), this quartet
might well have arrived as a refreshing tonic, particularly since the years separating it
from its predecessor had witnessed the end of one political regime and the dawn of a new
era. It inhabits a relaxed, carefree world, not so far removed from that of No.4; but where
the latter was built around climax and anti-climax, the formal plan of No.6 is centred on
thematic inter-relationship. In this way an outwardly uncomplicated and easy-going
Ap
fache
DET 20
The Lent
polyphom
fillow. 1
ondo wh
mainta
way of a
AIGZALE
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diversi
Ango
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with the
back to
SOODSOT
L
rated 1
CINESTARS
istener
DER
Chipt
quartet
the work had in fact been composed two years previously, and it seemed
shameful to me that it had not yet been heard in this country. He replied at once, not only
consenting but welcoming the idea, and expressing the hope that he might be able to come
and hear the performance himself. Not long afterwards he sent a score and a set of parts,
repeating his wish to come and hear us play. At the time I was somewhat perplexed as to
why he should be so enthusiastic about hearing a very young and unknown group play his
music; but as I got to know him better, through his letters, his music, and meeting him
personally, I came to realise that, distressingly conscious of his age, he must have felt glad
to know that this old-man's-music could live and thrive in the hands of young people.
When I received notification of the time of his arrival in York I knew that he had been
unfailing in his promise to us - the first of a number of occasions on which he was
equally faithful to his word. I also think that, despite his incredible modesty, he was aware
of how much it meant to us - or to any musician - to have the opportunity to play to him.
of
I had been delegated by my colleagues to meet the composer at the station, and, as I stood
waiting, excitement and apprehension in turn prevented me from realising the composure
with which I had hoped to greet him. Of course I recognised him instantly, but he was a
much bigger man than I had expected. In fact he appeared a squarely built, powerful
looking figure, yet physically very frail on account of his poor health. His face was white
and drawn, yet behind a pair of very thick spectacles one was acutely conscious of his
dark searching eyes. His reputation for being excessively nervous was soon amply
justified, especially when confronted with anything more than the smallest group
people; but as he got to know us better he became more relaxed and very talkative. He
must have known that actually playing to him for the first time would be a real ordeal for
us, so he suggested that we should play the piece through to him during the afternoon, so
that we would feel more at ease in the concert itself. At the end he seemed satisfied, and
confined his remarks to amending a few of his own dynamic marks (particularly for
pizzicato) in the text. We were all deeply touched by his efforts to make us comfortable,
and his insistence that plans for the day should be arranged to suit our convenience rather
than his.
I don't thi
that anyone who was fortunate enough to be here in the Lyons Concert Hall
that night can have forgotten the occasion very quickly. The man's very presence was
electrifying and one had the overwhelming sensation that one was in the company of
something indescribably great. Afterwards he was visibly overcome by the reception the
audience gave him - something he must have been well used to, but to which he reacted
as if it were the first time (we witnessed exactly the same at the Royal Festival Hall a few
days later, after the British première of his Fifteenth Symphony). The following morning
he invited us to his hotel to play some more of his music to him and I particularly cherish
the memory of those few hours: it was a priceless experience to be able to watch
Shostakovich's face while playing his own music to him and to feel such a direct and vital
communication with him.
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Founded in 1968 by four Cambridge undergraduates, the Fitzwilliam first became well
known through their close personal association with Dmitri Shostakovich, who befriended
them following a visit to York to hear them play. He entrusted them with the Western
premières of his last three quartets, and before long they had become the first ever group
form and record all fifteen. These recordings, which gain many international
awards, secured for them a world-wide concert schedule, and a long-term contract with
Decca which culminated in a Beethoven cycle. They were Quartet-in-Residence at York
to
for a total of twelve years, as well as Affiliate Artists at Bucknell University, USA -
resumed last October. A new Residency at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, began the
previous March, with a similar association following at Bangor. They are one of the very
few string quartets in Britain using Classical instruments for the appropriate repertoire,
and perhaps unique in that they perform on both historical and modern set-ups
sometimes within the same concert. Their most recent BBC broadcasts have all been on
old instruments, including a live lunchtime performance of Haydn's Seven Last Words.
The Fitzwilliam was re-established in January 1996 with two younger players, but with
two members from the early seventies still at the centre of the quartet. Their Wigmore
Hall coffee concert in July 1997-afterwards described as "a triumphant return" - resulted
in two more engagements there during the Autumn, followed by a series of three concerts
this October and further appearances over the next two years in association with the
Cavatina Chamber Music Scheme, of which they are members. They have recently
completed a successful return to the American concert scene after a long absence. Future
plans are centred round Shostakovich quartet cycles, already started this Spring and
included London, Yorkshire, and Cambridge. 2000 also takes them to Switzerland, Spain
(with the Seven Last Words in its city of origin, Cádiz), Germany, Russia, and back to
the USA. Extraordinarily generous private patronage has now enabled them to add a
'cello to their collection of magnificent Roger Hansell instruments and also to sponsor
their comeback in the commercial recording studios- a new collaboration with Linn
Records, beginning next May with the Seven Last Words. The quartet celebrated its
thirtieth anniversary at the Wigmore Hall on November 14th,1998.
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-75) - A personal recollection
Shostakovich the man, as he appeared to the members of the Fitzwilliam String Quartet
over twenty seven years ago, is enshrined for all time in the music of his string quartets.
That is not to say that these are autobiographical works, because in intention (at least)
they are not so: the feeling is altogether subtler, more spiritual even, than that. The
experience of these quartets, whether through rehearsing, performing, or as a listener,
really is like being in the company of Shostakovich himself: the personality of the man and
his music seem to be as one, and it is the very nature of this personality which makes the
experience so profound and unique and so much in harmony with the essentially personal
and intimate world of the string quartet.
Early in 1972 I wrote to Shostakovich, requesting his permission to perform the thirteenth
O
20
10
Wh
eque
of he
Thad
and dra
Us, so he
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and his m
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THE UNIVERSITY of York
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall
Wednesday 9 February 2000 8pm
THE FITZWILLIAM STRING
QUARTET
ANNA TILBROOK - piano
Lucy Russell violin
Jonathan Sparey violin
Alan George viola
Daniel Yeadon 'cello
Quartet No. 6
Quartet No. 14
Piano Quintet
Shostakovich
interval
Two concerts to mark the 25th anniversary of the death of
Dmitri Shostakovich
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ALAN EDGAR
BSc (hons) Lond, BA(mus) OU, CBiol, MIBiol, PGC Education, (Lond)
Tutor in Sciences, Study Skills and Musicianship
Builder of Harpsichords, Clavichords, Harps and Music stands.
Conductor
Northwood, 43 Beverley Road, Hessle, East Yorkshire, HU13 9AE.
01482 640330
Commissions accepted. Current stock includes a Flemish single harpsichord 1x8', 1x4';
a new ottavino spinet; a new fretfree concert clavichord; a 34-string vertical harp; a
celtic lap-harp; a renaissance flute; a baroque oboe; a mahogany and brass music stand;
a solid Yamaha flute head.
Hessle Sinfonia, my amateur orchestra, is recruiting.
XK
Yorkshire & Humberside
ARTS
●
●
血
典
CITY OF
YORK
COUNCIL
●
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Music Department, University of York gratefully acknowledges
financial support from Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate. William Birch &
Sons Ltd R M Burton Charitable Trust R R Donnelly UK. Goethe
Institut Midland Bank Nestlé UK plc
York City Council York Common Good Trust
Humberside Arts.
Shepherd Building Group
• Yorkshire &
L
L
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HOUSE
THE UNIVERSITY of Work
(0)3/7/5 Shisi)
S
HOME
*
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall
THE FITZWILLIAM STRING
QUARTET
Wednesday 9 February 2000 8pm
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Bys
YORK
Margarita Shevchenko
(piano)
Thursday, 16 March 2000
Programme: £1.00
Presented by the British Music Society of York
in association with the Department of Music
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NOTICE BOARD
Farewell to 79th Season
Tonight is the last concert of the 79th Season of the British Music Society of
York, held in association with the Department of Music of the University of York.
Our next fixture will be the Society's Annual General Meeting, which will be held
on Thursday 15 June at the new Early Music Centre in Walmgate. There will be a
short business meeting (to include the unveiling of next season's programme),
followed by a short musical entertainment and a meal, to both of which guests are
welcome. All members of the Society will receive notification of the date and
venue nearer the time. Meanwhile the 80th Season is due to start in mid October.
Members will automatically be sent the Season's brochure in midsummer, as will
all those on the mailing list jointly run by the BMS, the University Department of
Music and a basket of local concert-giving societies. If you suspect you might not
be on this list, or have recently changed address, could you please contact our
Treasurer, Mr Albert Ainsworth, 8 Petersway, York, YO30 6AR.
* Advertising our Concerts
The bigger the audience we can attract to BMS concerts, the more money there will
be for the concerts budget, which means we would be able to afford artists we can
at present only dream of inviting. You can help. You must know of places where
our posters could be seen by potential new audience. Posters for our next concert
are available in the foyer: help yourself and help the Society.
* Forthcoming Concerts
One of the ways we are increasing our publicity effort is by reciprocal advertising
with other concert promoters: when they have a concert coming up shortly we tell
our audience about it and they reciprocate. You will find details of these concerts
towards the end of this book.
HO
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be a
and
will
of
not
can
ere
cert
15
DOC
BS
YORK
BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY
of YORK
79th Season
Thursday, 16 March 2000
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall
Margarita Shevchenko
(piano)
Chopin 24 Preludes, Op.28
Brahms
Rakhmaninov
INTERVAL
4 Piano Pieces, Op.119
Prelude in D, Op.23 No.4
Prelude in G# minor, Op.32 No.12
Moments musicaux, Op.16, Nos.4 - 6
For the sake of others in the audience, please turn off all
mobile phones and alarms on watches, calculators etc.,
and use a handkerchief when coughing.
BS
YORK
BE
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MARGARITA SHEVCHENKO
Margarita Shevchenko was born in the Urals area of central Russia and studied at
the Moscow Central Music School and then the Moscow Conservatory. Her
teachers were Sergey Dizhur and Vera Gornostoyeva. Then in 1994 she travelled
to the USA to study at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Sergey Babayan. Miss
Shevchenko's playing has earned her prizes in many competitions, including the
1990 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the 1993 Leeds, the 1994 Pretoria and 1995
Cleveland.
24 Preludes, Op.28
PROGRAMME NOTES
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11 B major: Vivace
12
G# minor: Presto
C major: Agitato
A minor: Lento
G major: Vivace
E minor: Largo
D major: Molto allegro
B minor: Assai lento
A major: Andantino
F# minor: Molto agitato
E major: Largo
C# minor: Molto allegro
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin
(1810-1849)
F# major: Lento
Eb minor: Allegro
Db major: Sostenuto
Bb minor: Presto con fuoco
Ab major: Allegretto
F minor: Molto allegro
Eb major: Vivace
C minor: Largo
Bb major: Cantabile
G minor: Molto agitato
F major: Moderato
D minor: Allegro appassionato
Chopin wrote the first of what would become the 24 Preludes, Op.28, in Paris in
1836, but the bulk of them were composed during the winter of 1838/9. The set
was published in 1839 and has remained his best-selling opus. With 24 individual
numbers it is Chopin's largest collection of pieces, but this doesn't arise from
unusual generosity or even from abnormal fertility: it was dictated by the set's
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in
underlying plan. There is a prelude for every key - one each in the major and minor
keys on all 12 notes of the chromatic scale.
All collections of this kind inevitably look back to the 1700s and Bach's 48
Preludes and Fugues. Bach intended his two sets of 24 Preludes and Fugues partly
as propaganda for a new system of tuning, which for the first time allowed
keyboard instruments to play in any key; and what better way of demonstrating this
than a systematic collection of pieces in every key. Even when the bulk of Bach's
greatest music was lying undiscovered, pianists never forgot Bach's 48: generations
of pianists have been brought up on them, Chopin included. Indeed, we know from
a letter of August 1839, only a few months after completing the Op.28 Preludes,
that "having nothing better to do", Chopin was correcting mistakes in a Paris
edition of the 48, "not only the engraver's mistakes, but also the mistakes hallowed
by those who are supposed to understand Bach (I have no pretensions to understand
better, but I do think that sometimes I can guess)."
Quite when Chopin formed the idea of a set of Preludes in all the keys is uncertain,
but it is likely that the pieces known to have been written in 1836 (in particular the
A major Prelude, written in the music album of one Delphine Potocka) were press-
ganged into service retroactively. The main work on the set was done on the island
of Majorca. The idyllic nature of the place, and Chopin's mood at the time he was
settling down to work on the Preludes, can be judged from a letter of 19 November
1838 to his lifelong friend Julian Fontana:
I am in Palma, among palms, cedars, cacti, olives, pomegranates, etc. Everything
the Jardin des Plantes has in its greenhouses. A sky like turquoise, a sea like
lapis lazuli, mountains like emerald, air like heaven. Sun all day, and hot;
everyone in summer clothing; at night guitars and singing for hours. Huge
balconies with grape-vines overhead; Moorish walls... Go to Pleyel: the piano has
not yet come. How was it sent? You will soon receive some Preludes. I shall
probably lodge in a wonderful monastery, the most beautiful situation in the
world: sea, mountains, palms, a cemetery, a crusaders' church, ruined mosques,
aged trees, thousand-year-old olive groves. Ah, my dear, I am coming alive a
little I am near to what is most beautiful. I am better.
The reference to a piano is a reminder that Chopin habitually used the instrument
when composing: the forward-looking nature of his musical language and the
apparent confidence with which he navigated uncharted regions of musical
It was the
structure have their foundation in his improviser's sure instincts.
problems encountered in shipping the piano ou to him and getting it through
customs that caused the delay in the completion of the 24 Preludes. But eventually,
early in 1839, the set was finished. Tradition has it that the first Prelude, the C
major, was the last to be composed, in January 1839.
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Why Chopin should call these pieces "preludes" is something of a mystery. Most
of his other pieces took their titles either from their function (eg Study) or
style/form (eg. nocturne, waltz, impromptu etc.). A set of 24 varied and
miscellaneous pieces was always going to be difficult to find a title for. The
likeliest explanation is that, no doubt with the 48 in the back of his mind, Chopin
chose "prelude" as a neutral title, suitable for a heterogeneous set. They are not the
prelude to anything, it's true, but there had been instances before of composers
writing free-standing preludes, presumably intended for use in some introductory
capacity other. Whatever the reason for Chopin's choice, it obviously filled a
need, since many composers seized on the title, possibly the most famous sets being
by Debussy and Rakhmaninov.
Bach's system in the 48 was to pair major and minor keys moving up the chromatic
scale starting with C: C major, C minor, C sharp major, C sharp minor, D major, D
minor, E flat major and so on. Chopin also starts at C major, but pairs each major
key with its relative minor (the minor key with the same key signature) and moves
round the so-called circle of fifths: C major, A minor, G major, E minor, D major,
B minor, A major etc. Bach's order makes the individual pieces slightly easier to
find, but Chopin's is more satisfactory if the set is to be performed as a whole:
Chopin's was designed with this in mind, at least as a possibility - which explains
the unusual brevity of some of the pieces; Bach's almost certainly wasn't.
INTERVAL
Coffee and drinks are available in the foyer. Coffee is 80p a cup: to find us, just go
past the bar, out on to the landing, and turn to the left.
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dy) or
being
matic
D
Moves
ans
4 Pieces for piano, Op.119
1
2
3
4
Intermezzo (B minor): Adagio
Intermezzo (E minor): Andantino un poco agitato
Intermezzo (C major): Grazioso e giocoso
Rhapsodie (E flat major): Allegro risoluto
Johannes Brahms
(1833-1897)
7 May 1893 was Brahms' sixtieth birthday. He had the foresight to be out of the
country and thus avoided the inevitable asparagus dinner in his honour. Though he
couldn't avoid the gold medal struck by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in
Vienna to mark the occasion. Brahms had gone to Italy with friends - the
travelling, by train, was apparently torture, but otherwise the trip was most
enjoyable. Not long after his return Brahms set out for the mountains: he liked to
get out of Vienna during the summer, and it was in the comparative seclusion of
these retreats that he did virtually all his composing. The favoured resort at this
period of his life was Bad Ischl in Upper Austria (about as far from Salzburg as we
are from Leeds) and the project for 1893 was the same as in 1892 - piano pieces.
Brahms was a formidable pianist, as anyone who has looked at (and quickly
returned to the shelf) his 51 technical exercises must acknowledge. And the piano
figures large in his output in concertos, in chamber music and accompanying
singers. Curiously, though, he didn't write solo piano music all through his career:
it seems to have come in three bursts, the last two of them particularly short. The
bulk of his solo music (two thirds by volume) belongs to the years 1852-63, young
man's music, the work of a composer who harboured visions of himself as a
keyboard lion. But by the time he moved to Vienna in the early 1860s and took on
various posts there, he evidently no longer felt the need: in any case he seems to
have developed a repugnance for giving solo recitals. He then wrote nothing
(arrangements excepted) for solo piano for 15 years, until the 8 Piano Pieces,
Op.76, and 2 Rhapsodies, Op.79. Why he should have taken up solo piano music
again in this fashion in 1878/9 is not known for sure, though his interest may have
been rekindled by work on the B flat Piano Concerto. Then came another gap of
13 years, until the summer of 1892 and 1893 when, in a sudden burst, he produced
the 20 new pieces that formed his last music for solo piano. Ten pieces were
published in November 1892 as the 6 Fantasien, Op.116, and 3 Intermezzi,
Op.117, whilst the produce of the summer of 1893 was issued that November as the
6 Klavierstücke, Op.118, and 4 Klavierstücke, Op.119.
We have a description of the first pieces of Op.119 from Brahms himself- a very
rare thing. He was writing to Clara Schumann, widow of the composer and a
celebrated pianist and composer in her own right. I won't - I couldn't - attempt to
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characterise the relationship between Brahms and Frau Schumann, suffice it to say
that throughout his life Brahms was more open in his letters to her than anyone
else: their relationship had its ups and downs, and Brahms' letter of May 1893 was
apparently part of an attempt to make up after a rough patch:
I'm tempted to copy you a little piano piece to see what you'll make of it. It's
crammed with dissonances! They fit the context and they're explainable - but
perhaps you won't like the taste of them, in which case I'd rather they'd fitted less
and their taste appealed to you more. The little piece is extraordinarily
melancholy and even "to be played very slowly" doesn't go far enough. Every
bar, every note must sound ritardando, as if the desire were to suck melancholy
out of every single one, with wantonness and content coming from the very
dissonances.
The second piece is a restless Intermezzo in E minor, flirting with the half-world of
harmonic and tonal ambiguity Brahms had begun to explore in his later music. The
mood brightens momentarily for the more obvious waltz-like central section in the
major key, cunningly woven out of the same melodic strand.
The shortest of the pieces is the C major Intermezzo, which lies third. It is also the
most playful of the four, bubbling over with cross-rhythms.
Almost all the 20 pieces of Opp.116 119 are called either Intermezzo (the slower
pieces) or Capriccio (the quicker ones). Why Brahms should have plumped for
"Rhapsody" for Op.119 No.4, his very last piano piece, rather than "capriccio" is a
mystery, unless it is a reflection of the piece's passion, an echo of the full-blooded
Rhapsodies of Op.79. It begins robustly and resolutely in E flat major, very much
in the manner of the early Brahms, but ends in the minor key in a gesture of
passionate defiance that has tempted many to the conclusion he intended it as a
deliberate farewell to solo piano music.
5 Pieces
Prelude in D major, Op.23 No.4
Prelude in G sharp minor, Op.32 No.12
Moments musicaux, Op.16:
No.4 in E minor
No.5 in D flat major
No.6 in C major
Sergey Vasil'yevich Rakhmaninov
(1873 - 1943)
Rakhmaninov's life was turned upside down by the "October" Revolution of 1917:
once he realised what was likely to be in store for him as a member of the despised
7
}
CO
00
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Hd of
ded
DOY
45
)
(
land-owning classes he fled, taking with him not much more than could be
crammed into a sled. Before this crisis his career had been largely that of a
conductor and composer, who also appeared as a pianist primarily to introduce and
disseminate his own music. Once he had fled his native land, however, he had to
make a new career, one that was capable of supporting him and his family in the
ruined and exhausted world of 1918. He chose the most reliable route and re-
invented himself as a concert pianist: the combination of exceptional talent,
rigorous grounding and indefatigable application proved such a success he became
one of the greatest pianists of his age.
But there was a price. For nearly a decade he had neither the time nor the
inclination for original composition, and when he did start again it was only to add
six works to his list of opuses. Perhaps if he'd played his own music exclusively
(as, for instance, Prokof yev tried to under similar circumstances) he would have
been forced into composition to replenish and diversify his store, but Rakhmaninov
had judged the essentially conservative tastes of his (mainly American) audiences
well and restricted programmes to a light seasoning of his own pieces.
His mainstays were the Preludes and the Études-Tableaux. The famous C sharp
minor Prelude, second of the Op.3 "Fantasy Pieces" (1892), he simply couldn't
escape: his audiences would have lynched him if he'd left it out. The 10 Preludes,
Op.23, were composed (with one exception) in 1903 and formed part of that
remarkable outpouring of creativity which followed once the Second Piano
Concerto (1900/1) had broken Rakhmaninov's depression and creative block of the
later 1890s. The fourth Prelude, in D major, is marked Andante cantabile and is
perhaps the most lyrical of the set, its melodic line singing more often than not right
from the middle of Rakhmaninov's hypnotic textures.
The 13 Preludes, Op.32, date from 1910, the year after the Third Piano Concerto.
When I was still a teenager it used to puzzle me why 13? Was Rakhmaninov
perhaps superstitious? In fact the reason is entirely rational. He noticed (or just
possibly had intended) that between them the 11 preludes of Op.3 No.2 and Op.10
managed to avoid repeating any one key: Op.32 merely provided the 13 works in
the keys necessary to complete a set of 24 Preludes in all the major and minor keys.
The autographs of the 13 Preludes all bear dates from September 1910: remarkably,
No. 12 in G sharp minor (Allegro) is one of three dated 5 September [old style: 23
August]. Its delicate filigree work in the right hand and exquisite harmonies have
long made it popular: Rakhmaninov played it often in his concerts, and it was one
of the first of the preludes he committed to gramophone recordings.
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The six Moments musicaux, Op.16, are earlier works, dating from the autumn of
1896. They were about the last things Rakhmaninov wrote before his depression
and creative block, caused by the disastrous premiere of his First Symphony in
March 1897. They are generally considered as the first piano works in which
Rakhmaninov's mature style began to appear, his earlier pieces resembling salon
music not yet free of the influence of other composers, notably Tchaikovsky. The
title, which means of course "musical moments" is borrowed from Schubert -
curiously, since Schubert's six pieces are by and large gentle, unassuming piano
miniatures. Rakhmaninov's set starkly juxtaposes slow, lyrical pieces (odd
numbers) with passionate, wilful, even violent pieces (even numbers), for whose
extreme technical demands the title study would barely be adequate. The second
Moment musical, in E flat minor, was the only one to remain in Rakhmaninov's
active repertoire: he made a new version and a gramophone recording of it as late
as 1940.
The Fourth Moment musical (Presto) is in E minor and is swept along by the
torrent of notes in the left hand, which the right hand cannot avoid joining in with at
moments of heightened tension. No.5 in D flat major (Adagio sostenuto) is the
most relaxed, open and unashamedly melodic of the set, possibly lulling listeners
into a sense of false security before the overwhelming grandiosity of the C major
No.6 (Maestoso).
Programme notes by David Mather
Floral decorations by Sue Bedford
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Ose
mat
the
ers
Or
FORTHCOMING CONCERTS
This is the last concert in the 79th Season of the British Music Society of York.
For our plans in the near future, see inside front cover.
More dates for your diaries:
Saturday, 18 March 2000
Sling 1 gibal B
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, 8 pm
York Symphony Orchestra
Mendelssohn's Ruy Blas, Bizet's Jeux d'enfants, Grieg's Piano Concerto (soloist
Leigh O'Hara) and Nielsen's Symphony No.1
Saturday, 25 March 2000
St Mary's Priory Church, Old Malton, 8 pm
Chanticleer Singers
Celebrating the 900th anniversary of the founding of the Priory with sacred music
spanning the period
Saturday, 25 March 2000
Chapel of University College of Ripon and York St. John, 8 pm
York Cantores
First performance of The Prophet by York composer Dick Blandford, with Tudor
verse anthems including Gibbons' This is the record of John
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Saturday, 1 April 2000
All Saints, North Street, York, 8 pm
Micklegate Singers
Vigilia, a setting of the Vigil in memory of St John the Baptist, by Finnish
composer Einojuhani Rautavaara
Saturday, 1 April 2000
Chapter House of York Minster, 8 pm
Chapter House Choir
Palestrina and Pizzetti - juxtaposing Italian polyphonic music of the renaissance
and 20th
century, the central work being Pizzetti's Messa di Requiem
Friday, 12 May 2000
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, 8 pm
Hilliard Ensemble
Featuring the world famous ensemble's distinctive combination of music from the
medieval/renaissance repertoire and pieces written specially for them
Saturday, 13 May 2000
York Barbican Centre, 7.30 pm
Guildhall Orchestra
Schumann's Konzertstück for four horns and Richard Strauss' epic description of
24 hours in the mountains, Alpensinfonie
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nce
of
Saturday, 20 May 2000
Bach's Mass in B minor
York Minster, 7.30 pm
York Musical Society
** Saturday, 10 June 2000
St Olave's Church, Marygate, York, 8 pm
York Cantores
Commemorating the 250th anniversary of the death of JS Bach, the programme
includes Jesu meine Freude and Fürchte dich nicht plus church music by
Mendelssohn
Saturday, 1 July 2000
201
St Olave's Church, Marygate, York, 8 pm
Chapter House Choir
Magnum Mysterium - a mixture of choral masterpieces by Bruckner and Brahms
with contemporary sacred works
* Saturday, 22 July 2000
St Olave's Church, Marygate, York, 8 pm
Micklegate Singers
Baroque Contrasts - juxtaposing Scarlatti's Stabat Mater and Bach motets with
Nyman's Miserere, based on music for a Peter Greenaway film
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BAS
YORK
DE
OD
BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY
of YORK
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY
President Dr Francis Jackson
Vice-Presidents
Chairman
Vice-Chairman
Hon. Treasurer
Hon. Asst. Treasurer
Hon. Secretary
Hon. Publicity Secretary
Hon. Programme Secretary
NFMS Representative
Hon Auditor
Members of the Committee
Jim Briggs, Rosalind Richards
Sylvia Carter
Dr John Dawick
Albert Ainsworth
John Petrie
Nigel Dick
Marc Schatzberger
Amanda Crawley
Dr Richard Crossley
Derek Winterbottom
Sue Bedford, Peter Marsden, David Mather,
Brian Mattinson and Dr Mary Turner
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 gifts to the Society, many
of them covenanted, we could not hope to balance our books.
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the
any
Our Benefactors (§) and Patrons are as follows:
Mr A. Ainsworth §
Dr D.M. Bearpark §
Mr J. Briggs §
Mr N.J. Dick §
Mr A.D. Hitchcock §
Mrs E.S. Johnson §
Prof. R. Lawton §
Mr J.C. Miles
Canon & Mrs J.S. Pearson
Mr & Mrs D. Rowlands
Mr M. Schatzberger
Mr R.D.C. Stevens §
Dr & Mrs G.M.A. Turner § Mr J.I. Watson
Mrs H.B. Wright §
Mrs S. Wright
Mrs F. Andrews §
Mr R.A. Bellingham
Dr R.J.S. Crossley
Mr J.C. Downing §
Mr T.M. Holmes §
Mr J.C. Joslin §
Mr R.P. Lorriman §
Mr G.C. Morcom §
Mr & Mrs L.W. Robinson §
Mrs M.P. Rowntree §
Mr J.B. Schofield §
Mrs D.C. Summers §
NATIONAL FEDERATION
OF MUSIC SOCIETIES
NEMS
Mrs P.J. Armour
Mr & Mrs D.A.C. Blunt §
Mr J. Curry §
Mr C.G.M. Gardner
Dr. F.A. Jackson
Mr N. Lange §
Mr & Mrs B. Mattinson §
Mrs G. Morcom §
If you would like to become a Benefactor or Patron, please get in touch with our
Hon. Treasurer, either at the ticket desk before each concert, or at 8, Petersway,
York, YO30 6AR. All other correspondence about the Society should be addressed
to the Hon. Secretary, 6, Bishopgate St., York, YO23 1JH.
Registered Charity No.700302
Mrs I.G. Sargent
Mrs I. Stanley §
Mr D.A. Sutton
Mr R. Wilkinson §
The BMS is affiliated to the National Federation of Music Societies
which represents and supports amateur vocal, instrumental and
promoting societies throughout the United Kingdom. The Society
also gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Royal Bank of
Scotland.
Compiled by David Mather and published by the British Music Society of York.
Reproduced by the Trophy & Print Shop, Commercial St, Norton, Malton.
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SURTHWICK
*BMS 3/2/8 (3)
OF
INSTITUTE
HI
TORICAL
RESEARCH
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BS
YORK
Jane Nossek &
Jeremy Young
(violin & piano)
Thursday, 12 October 2000
Programme: £1.00
Presented by the British Music Society of York
in association with the Department of Music
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NOTICE BOARD
* Welcome to the 80th Season
The BMS would like to welcome you all tonight, to the first concert of our 80th
Season. I'm sure you'll agree our Programme Secretary has done us proud again.
If any of you are here on a £9.00 single ticket, but can't resist the look of the rest of
the season, simply bring tonight's ticket along to the November concert and you
can trade it in for a £38.00 season ticket for no more than the balance of £29.00.
Advertising our Concerts
The bigger the audience we can attract to BMS concerts, the more money there will
be for the concerts budget, which means we would be able to afford artists we can
at present only dream of inviting. You can help. You must know of places where
our posters could be seen by potential new audience. Posters for our next concert
are available in the foyer: help yourself and help the Society.
* Forthcoming Concerts
One of the ways we are increasing our publicity effort is by reciprocal advertising
with other concert promoters: when they have a concert coming up shortly we tell
our audience about it and they reciprocate. You will find details of these concerts
towards the end of this book.
Internet
The BMS has a small but discernible presence on the Internet. If you haven't
found it already, the URL is http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/psev/bms.htm. The site
contains a short history of the Society and an updated list of forthcoming concerts.
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ese c
B.S
YORK
BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY
of YORK
80th Season
Thursday, 12 October 2000
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall
Jane Nossek & Jeremy Young
(violin & piano)
Beethoven Violin Sonata in F, Op.24 (Spring)
Janáček Violin Sonata
INTERVAL
Thea Musgrave
Colloquy
Brahms Violin Sonata in G, Op.78
For the sake of others in the audience, please turn off all
mobile phones and alarms on watches, calculators etc.,
and use a handkerchief when coughing.
m
BAS
YORK
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JANE NOSSEK & JEREMY YOUNG
Jane Nossek was born in Harrow in 1970 and began learning the violin at the age
of eight. She studied at the junior department of the Royal College of Music
between 1986 and 1988 then with Lydia Mordkovich and Maciej Ralowski at the
Royal Northern College of Music. She is perhaps best known for her ten years as
the leader of the Nossek Quartet, with whom she returns to the Sir Jack Lyons in a
fortnight.
Jeremy Young won scholarships to study at the Purcell School of Music, the Royal
Academy of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music. He has studied with
Vladimir Ovchinnikov, members of the Amadeus Quartet and that veteran chamber
music coach, Menahem Pressler, pianist of the Beaux Arts Trio. Like Jane Nossek,
he is no stranger to BMS audiences: the season before last he appeared twice --
accompanying Natsuko Yoshimoto and with the Ovid Ensemble.
PROGRAMME NOTES
Sonata in F, Op.24 (Spring)
Allegro
Adagio molto espressivo
Scherzo: Allegro molto
Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo
Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)
Beethoven wrote, so far as we know, ten sonatas for violin and piano. They were
not spread out over his career, though. The first nine he wrote between the ages of
26 and 32, before the Third (Eroica) Symphony: the odd one out (Op.96) was a
product of his early 40s, begun just as he was finishing off the Eighth Symphony.
It was the fashion of the time to publish chamber music in sets of three or six,
usually under a single opus number. So we have Beethoven's three Piano Trios
Op.1, three String Trios Op.9 and six String Quartets Op.18. There are two sets of
three Violin Sonatas - Op.12 of 1798-9 (Natsuko Yoshimoto, again with Jeremy
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ma
al
8
1₂
jos
sof
Young, played us the second of these, two seasons ago) and Op.30 of 1802
(Michael d'Arcy played us No.3 in G major at the last concert of our 73rd season).
Between these sets came two Violin Sonatas, in A minor and F major, composed in
1800 and 1801. These were meant as a pair, and originally published as such: they
bore the single opus number 23 and a dedication to Moritz von Fries, an important
merchant banker and enthusiastic patron of the arts. The two Sonatas, though,
quickly parted company, the F major being issued separately as Op.24.
One theory lays the blame for this on a clanger at the printers: by mistake the violin
part of the A minor Sonata was engraved in portrait format (pages taller than
are wide) while the violin part of the F major and piano part of both sonatas was in
landscape (pages wider than tall). Rather than go to the expense of re-engraving
the rogue part so it matched, the publisher issued the Sonatas separately.
The F major Sonata is called the Spring, classed as an "inauthentic" nickname since
it cannot be traced back to anywhere near Beethoven. If you can't hear how it got
the name within the first half minute of music, then no words of mine will be able
to explain. Do not be entirely disarmed by its urbane welcome, however: beneath
its congenial surface lies a fundamentally experimental work.
The first movement, as one would expect, is in sonata form, a structure which was
the mainstay of the Classical and Romantic period and in essence revolves around
the integration of two contrasting ideas. With most composers, Beethoven in
particular, the usual arrangement was an assertive idea first, to grab attention,
followed by a more lyrical idea as contrast. In Op.24, however, Beethoven
experiments with reversing this plan, the long-breathed opening theme contrasting
with the more tense, forceful and fragmented "second subject group", to confront
you with the full horror of the jargon.
The slow movement is a real Adagio, and Beethoven includes in his melodic lines
notes long enough to test the sustaining powers of modern pianos, let alone the less
resonant instruments of his own day. The result is the sort of luminous intensity
that Schubert was to make his own in his later instrumental music. The Scherzo is
so extreme a contrast as to be almost a shock: fast, short-winded, fragmentary and
with the built-in joke of the violin seeming not to be able to keep up with the piano.
The Rondo echoes the first movement, opening with a relaxed, lyrical idea which it
then contrasts with perkier, more wryly humorous music
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Violin Sonata
Con moto
Ballada
Allegretto
Adagio
Leoš Janáček
(1854-1928)
[principal tempo markings only]
The country we all grew up calling Czechoslovakia lay in Eastern Europe
surrounded, clockwise, by Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Austria. It
was made up of three historic provinces: the Czech bit (which we once had no
scruple about calling Bohemia) in the west, Moravia to the east and slightly south,
and Slovakia to the east of Moravia. The principal cities are, respectively, Prague,
Brno and Bratislava,
For almost all of Janáček's life these lands were a province of the Austro-Hungary.
It was when that empire was dismembered following the First World War that the
three elements were fused into Czechoslovakia. [Following the collapse of
Communism, this bureaucratic convenience unravelled: Slovakia is now a separate
nation, while Bohemia and Moravia soldier on as the Czech Republic.]
Janáček was Moravian, born in the village of Hukvaldy (now quite near the Polish
border, but then ... I shouldn't like to hazard a guess), and apart from short periods
of study in Prague, Leipzig and Vienna spent nearly all his life in Moravia. The
periods of study were short because the family was not wealthy and Leoš was one
of nine children. Much of his life was hard work, partly to make up for this
impoverished start but mainly because his obvious gifts were much in demand in
Brno: musicians with an eye to the main chance gravitated to Prague, if not Vienna
itself.
Virtually all the music for which Janáček is now known was written after he
reached the age of 50, the majority of it in his last 12 years. There are many
reasons for this, a lightening workload, the spur of performances of his operas in
Prague (civic and personal rivalry between Prague and Brno had kept them off the
stage of the National Theatre) and national pride in the creation of an independent
Czechoslovakia. And romantics point to the inspiring and rejuvenating effect of his
largely unrequited passion for the much younger Kamilla Stösslová.
The Violin Sonata dates from the upturn into this remarkable creative surge. He
composed it in 1914, "at the beginning of the war when we were expecting the
Fussians in Moravia", but subsequently revised it several times, amongst other
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máček
1928)
y
te
It
me
me
IS
in
a
e
S
1
changes ditching the original quick finale and replacing it with the Adagio slow
movement that had hitherto lain second. The Sonata reached its final form in 1921,
the year which saw the completion of the opera Kat'a Kabanová and the start of
Příhody Lišky Bystroušky [= the adventures of the vixen Sharpears]. It was given
its first public performance in Brno in April 1922.
To our ears Janáček's comment about expecting the Russians has a chilling ring,
but to Janáček, this was not entirely the case. He was a Slav, and his leanings were
far more pro-Russian than pro-Austrian/German: he wrote the symphonic Rhapsody
Taras Bulba (after Gogol') straight after the Violin Sonata and his final opera was
based on a Dostoyevsky novel. The advent of the Russians brought the promise of
liberation from Austria: he was right about that, of course, but not quite the way he
thought.
The first movement of the Sonata, which opens with a short violin improvisation,
has a main theme almost identical to one in the penultimate scene of Kat'a
Kabanová. The nocturne-like Ballada which follows was not originally intended as
part of the Sonata, and when it was brought in it formed the third movement The
duple-time Scherzo was the last part of the Sonata to be composed, to create a new
four-movement pattern. Last of all comes the migrating Adagio, which contains a
passionate and exultant central section but ends in a mood of gloomy resignation.
INTERVAL
Coffee and drinks are available in the foyer. Coffee is 80p a cup: to find us, just go
past the bar, out on to the landing, and turn to the left.
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Colloquy
Thea Musgrave
(b.1928)
Thea Musgrave was born in Edinburgh in 1928. She read music at the university
there as well as studying privately with Hans Gál. She then spent four years
(1950/4) in Paris, studying with Nadia Boulanger, one of the 20th century's most
influential teachers of composition. Mme Boulanger taught a host of European and
American pupils, though not so many from Britain: her mastery and sheer output
were so remarkable that her classes were nicknamed the Boulangerie.
The immediate post-war years were not the easiest for a youngster to embark on a
career as a composer: the inter-war period had come up with a confusing variety of
diametrically opposed musical styles to be assimilated and chosen from.
Musgrave's early style was diatonic and predominantly vocal. During the 1950s,
however it became more abstract and chromatic, with a greater preponderance of
instrumental music. This shift was the result of visits to two summer schools:
Dartington (Devon) in 1953, when under the persuasive influence of William Glock
she came to grips with the music of Schoenberg, Webern and Charles Ives; and
Tanglewood (Massachusetts) in 1958 where she met Aaron Copland and arch-
serialist Milton Babbitt
After Tanglewood she began to adopt more and more serial characteristics, until by
the early 1960s she was writing in a fully-fledged serial style. Don't blame her too
much: it was the 60s and everybody was doing it - even Stravinsky. By the mid-
60s, though, she had moved on: like Bartók a couple of decades earlier, she felt
free to borrow ideas from serial music - its sounds and its way of manipulating
musical material - but only when it suited her immediate needs.
Colloquy is one of the pieces belonging to her short, strict-serial period. It dates
from 1960 and was composed for Manoug Parikian and Lamar Crowson to play at
that summer's Cheltenham Festival, during that comparatively short time in the
Festival's history when its radical and adventurous programming properly justified
its claim to be a "Festival of British Contemporary Music."
The word colloquy is defined in Johnson's Dictionary (the only one on my shelves
demonstrably out of copyright) as "Conference; converſation; alternate diſcourſe;
talk." A clever title for an instrumental duo. Musgrave's piece is in four concise,
highly contrasted movements: the first is fast and angry; the second is a delicate and
lyrical Rondo; the third is quiet and fragmented to begin with but builds up to the
work's biggest climax; while the finale is slow and short.
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L
home in
Violin Sonata No.1 in G major, Op.78
Vivace ma non troppo
Adagio
Allegro molto moderato
Johannes Brahms
(1833-1897)
Brahms was born in Hamburg, but spent his maturity working in Vienna. He took
the summers off, though, taking lodgings amidst the spectacular mountain scenery
the alpine region has to offer and it was here that he found the freedom, solitude
and inspiration to compose.
In the spring of 1878 Brahms made his first trip to Italy, calling on Felix Schumann
in Palermo. Brahms had been "discovered" by the Schumanns as a young man,
and
was to remain close to the composer's widow until her death (indeed, attending her
funeral did much to precipitate his own death). Felix was the youngest and most
gifted of the Schumann children and Brahms' godson, but he had contracted
tuberculosis and had been sent south for his health. He was studying the violin, an
indication of his seriousness being that he was doing so on Joachim's Guarneri
violin.
After Italy Brahms went to his favoured resort of the late 70s, Pörtschach on the
Wörther See, near Klagenfurt in Carinthia. It was here he composed the Violin
Concerto, Op.77, for Joachim and made a start on the G major Violin Sonata. The
Sonata was completed the following summer (1879) alongside the two Rhapsodies
for piano, Op.79: Brahms again stayed at Pörtschach, this time taking the
precaution of booking all seven rooms in his lodging house to ensure his privacy.
The Sonata quotes from one of Brahms' own songs. The third of his 8 Songs,
Op.59, is Regenlied, a setting of Klaus Groth dominated by images of falling rain.
The following song in the set, again to words by Groth, is Nachklang, living up to
its title by echoing the material of Regenlied. The main theme of the Sonata's
finale, and its raindrop piano accompaniment, is adapted from the song in its
Nachklang form. The opening figure, the same note three times in a dotted rhythm,
is also used as a unifying feature of the whole work: it is the springboard of the
opening theme of the first movement and then dominates the contrasting Più
andante sections of the central Adagio, a movement Brahms wrote with the sound
of Felix Schumann's playing in mind. Perhaps concern over Felix's health
contributed to the mood of the music: the 25-year-old was to die early in 1879,
midway through the Sonata's composition.
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Brahms sent a manuscript copy of the Sonata to Clara Schumann who wrote to him
from Düsseldorf on 10 July 1879:
I must send you a word to tell you how deeply affected I am by your sonata.
I received it today and of course immediately played it through, and
afterwards, from joy, had a good old cry over it. After the fine, enchanting
first movement, and the second, you can imagine how delighted I was when
I discovered in the third my melody, the one I love so ardently with its
delicious quaver rhythm. I say my because I refuse to believe there's
anyone sees this melody as joyously and wistfully as I do. All that
wonderful delight, and then the last movement as well! My pen is poor, but
my heart beats for you in emotion and gratitude, and in spirit I squeeze your
hand.
Programme notes by David Mather
Floral decorations by Sue Bedford
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FORTHCOMING CONCERTS
The next concert in the 80th Season of the British Music Society of York,
presented in association with the Department of Music at the University, takes
place as usual in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, beginning at 8 pm.
Friday, 10 November 2000
Takemitsu
Debussy
Schumman
Noriko Ogawa
(piano)
Les yeux clos II
Arabesque No.1
La fille aux cheveux de lin
Clair de lune
Estampes
L'isle joyeuse
Davidsbündlertänze, Op.6
More dates for your diaries:
Saturday, 14 October 2000
York Minster, 7.30 pm
York Chamber Orchestra
Conductor John Bryan
Come and sing or listen. Handel's Messiah performed in aid of St Leonard's
Hospice. This will be one of 525 simultaneous performances worldwide (250 in
the UK alone) raising funds for hospices everywhere. Soloists include the soprano
Lynne Dawson.
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Thursday, 19 October 2000
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, 8 pm
Emma Kirkby & Peter Seymour
(soprano & fortepiano)
Lieder and fortepiano solos from CPE Bach to Schubert. The annual birthday
concert in aid of Jessie's Fund, a York-based charity that helps seriously ill
children through therapeutic use of music and was founded in memory of Jessica
George who died of a brain tumour aged 9.
Saturday, 21 October 2000
Methodist Church, Saville St, Malton, 8.00 pm
Chanticleer Singers
Monteverdi's Beatus Vir and Puccini's engaging Messa di Gloria
Wednesday, 25 October 2000
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, 8 pm
Sorrel String Quartet
Haydn's Op. 76/2, Dvořák's American and Debussy's in G minor.
Wednesday, 1 November 2000
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, 8 pm
Peter Donohoe (piano)
Mozart's A major Sonata, K.331, Ravel's Miroirs, Schumann's Kreisleriana and
Liszt's Venezia e Napoli
28
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BS
YORK
BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY
of YORK
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY
President Dr Francis Jackson
Vice-Presidents
Chairman
Vice-Chairman
Hon. Treasurer
Hon. Asst. Treasurer
Hon. Secretary
Hon. Publicity Secretary
Hon. Programme Secretary
NFMS Representative
Hon Auditor
Members of the Committee
Jim Briggs, Rosalind Richards
Dr John Dawick
David Mather
Albert Ainsworth
John Petrie
Nigel Dick
Marc Schatzberger
Amanda Crawley
Dr Richard Crossley
Derek Winterbottom
Sue Bedford, Jo Marsden, Peter Marsden, Brian
Mattinson, John Robinson and Dr Mary Turner
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 gifts to the Society, many
of them covenanted, we could not hope to balance our books.
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Our Benefactors (§) and Patrons are as follows:
Mr A. Ainsworth §
Mr R.A. Bellingham
Dr R.J.S. Crossley
Mr N.J. Dick §
Mr T.M. Holmes §
Mr J.C. Joslin §
Mr R.P. Lorriman §
Canon & Mrs J.S. Pearson
Mr & Mrs D.G. Rowlands
Mr M. Schatzberger
Mr R.D.C. Stevens §
Dr & Mrs G.M.A. Turner § Mr J.I. Watson
Mrs H.B. Wright §
Mrs S. Wright
Mrs P.J. Armour
Mr & Mrs D.A.C. Blunt § Mr J. Briggs §
Mr J. Curry §
Mr C.G.M. Gardner
Dr F.A. Jackson
Mr N. Lange §
Mr & Mrs B. Mattinson §
Mr & Mrs L.W. Robinson §
§Mrs M.P. Rowntree §
Mr J.B. Schofield §
Mrs D.C. Summers §
NATIONAL FEDERATION
OF MUSIC SOCIETIES
NEMS
Dr D.M. Bearpark §
Mrs M. Danby-Smith §
Mr A.D. Hitchcock §
Mrs E.S. Johnson died 4/00
Prof. R. Lawton
Mr G.C. Morcom §
If you would like to become a Benefactor or Patron, please get in touch with our
Hon. Treasurer, either at the ticket desk before each concert, or at 8, Petersway,
York, YO30 6AR. All other correspondence about the Society should be addressed
to the Hon. Secretary, 6, Bishopgate St., York, YO23 1JH.
Registered Charity No.700302
Mrs I.G. Sargent
Mrs I. Stanley §
Mr D.A. Sutton
Mr R. Wilkinson §
The BMS is affiliated to the National Federation of Music Societies
which represents and supports amateur vocal, instrumental and
promoting societies throughout the United Kingdom. The Society
also gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Royal Bank of
Scotland.
Compiled by David Mather and published by the British Music Society of York.
Reproduced by the Trophy & Print Shop, Commercial St, Norton, Malton.
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1
ressed
cietes
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BORTHWICK INSTITUTE
*(BMS 3/2/8 (4)
OF
4
TORICAL RESEARCH
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BAS
YORK
Noriko Ogawa
(piano)
Friday, 10 November 2000
Programme: £1.00
Presented by the British Music Society of York
in association with the Department of Music
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NOTICE BOARD
* Stuck for Christmas present ideas?
The BMS is experimenting with a half-season ticket, valid for the last three
concerts of the current season (Emma Johnson on 11 January, Delta Saxophone
Quartet on 9 February and Piers Lane on 15 March). The half-season tickets will
cost £20.00 (£10.00 for students and under 18s) and will be available at the
December and January concerts, or by post from our Treasurer, Mr Albert
Ainsworth, 8 Petersway, York, YO30 6AR. Can you think of a better way of
introducing discerning friends to the BMS?
* Advertising our Concerts
The bigger the audience we can attract to BMS concerts, the more money there will
be for the concerts budget, which means we would be able to afford artists we can
at present only dream of inviting. You can help. You must know of places where
our posters could be seen by potential new audience. Posters for our next concert
are available in the foyer: help yourself and help the Society.
* Forthcoming Concerts
One of the ways we are increasing our publicity effort is by reciprocal advertising
with other concert promoters: when they have a concert coming up shortly we tell
our audience about it and they reciprocate. You will find details of these concerts
towards the end of this book.
* Internet
The BMS has a small but discernible presence on the Internet. If you haven't
found it already, the URL is http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/psev/bms.htm. The site
contains a short history of the Society and an updated list of forthcoming concerts.
B00
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money
rd artist
of plas
up short
Taming and
DE
BS
YORK
BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY
of YORK
80th Season
Friday, 10 November 2000
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall
Tõru Takemitsu
Debussy
Noriko Ogawa
(piano)
Les yeux clos II
Arabesque No.1
La fille aux cheveux de lin
Clair de lune
Estampes
L'isle joyeuse
INTERVAL
Schumann Davidsbündlertänze, Op.6
For the sake of others in the audience, please turn off all
mobile phones and alarms on watches, calculators etc.,
and use a handkerchief when coughing.
JO
BS
YORK
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NORIKO OGAWA
Noriko Ogawa was born in Kawasaki, Japan, in 1962. She studied at the Tokyo
College of Music and then at the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York
(with Sascha Goronitzki), as well as with Benjamin Kaplan in London. Her inter-
national career took off in 1987 when she was awarded third prize at the Leeds
Piano Competition: it was as a result of this exposure that Ms Ogawa first came to
the BMS, opening our 1988/9 season with a recital that included a hair-raising per-
formance of Prokof'yev's Seventh Sonata.
Since then the quality of her playing has kept her in constant demand, particularly,
of course, in her native country, where she is something of a national celebrity: she
was awarded the Muramatsu Prize for outstanding contribution to the musical life
of Japan in 1988, while in 1999 the Japanese Ministry of Education awarded her its
Art Prize in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the cultural profile of
Japan throughout the world. Ms Ogawa also has a devoted following in the UK, so
much so that she now spends over half the year in Europe.
Since 1997 Ms Ogawa has been an exclusive recording artist for the Swedish re-
cording label BIS: her recording for them of Musorgsky's Pictures from an exhibi-
tion was selected as the Critics' Choice 1998 by BBC Music Magazine.
There is a website devoted to Ms Ogawa, containing biography, discography, news
and plans. You can find it at http://www.norikoogawa.com/
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rk
F-
Les yeux clos II
PROGRAMME NOTES
Tõru Takemitsu
(1930 - 1996)
You sometimes hear the distinction made between music that cares more about its
sound and music that cares more about its content. It is, some will stoutly maintain,
at the heart of the difference between French and German musical tradition: French
composers, by and large, go for the sensual - the colours and textures; while the
German go for the intellectual - the structure and logical argument. While this is
quite as true as any generalisation in civilised life should be, it would be hard to
construct a convincing argument that, say, Berlioz sacrificed structure to colour in
the Symphonie fantastique or that Beethoven allowed purely musical logic to inter-
fere a jot with the sonorities of the Ninth Symphony. No composer worth listening
to completely neglects either aspect; but at the same time there are few composers
or pieces that can't with some justification be numbered among the sound-led or
content-led.
The Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu was an extreme example of the sound-led.
As he said of his own music:
My musical form is the direct and natural result which sounds themselves impose,
and nothing can decide beforehand the point of departure. I do not in any way try to
express myself through these sounds, but, by reacting with them, the work springs
forth, itself.
The Japanese have a long tradition of borrowing things from the West, taking them
apart to see what makes them tick, then putting all their energy, ingenuity and per-
sistence into producing a more efficient second generation: one only has to think of
cars, motor bikes, musical instruments, electronics. The sound of Takemitsu's mu-
sic is most clearly influenced by Debussy and Messiaen, though his musical "phi-
losophy", if we may call it that, can be seen as a main core of Japanese attitudes,
coloured by his admiration for John Cage, Boulez and Xenakis.
There have been other influences, of course: performers, such as the pianist Peter
Serkin, writers, painters and so on. It was the surrealist artist and poet Shuzo
Takiguchi (1903 - 1979) who introduced Takemitsu to new areas of the artistic
world, in particular the work of Jasper Johns and Marcel Duchamp. When Takigu-
chi died in 1979, Takemitsu commemorated him in a piece for piano, Les yeux clos
[= the closed eyes]. The title referred not only to Takiguchi's own closed eyes, but
to a work of that name by Odilon Redon (1840-1916), a French symbolist painter
Takemitsu had come to admire in the early 1970s: the painting is done in gentle
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colours and shows a peaceful young woman with her eyes closed. This painting
and/or its image clearly meant a great deal to Takemitsu as he went on to produce
two more compositions inspired by it: another piano piece, Les yeux clos II of
1988, and Visions for orchestra of 1989.
Les yeux clos II was composed for the American pianist Peter Serkin, whose
uniqueness, Takemitsu has said, lies in his unaffected stoicism: the suppressed ex-
pression in his playing carries ideas that are beyond conventional implications and
emotionalism. Of the piece itself, Takemitsu said:
In this musical composition, the composer attempts to convey his impressions of the
sense of movement created by Redon's particular use of colour.
The underlying pace of the work is very slow, as befits the image it was inspired
by. It lasts about eight minutes.
Ms Ogawa's splendid CD Rain Tree: the complete solo piano music of Tōru Take-
mitsu is available on the Bis label BIS-CD-805. A useful introduction to the music
of Takemitsu can be found on the website:
http://www.cc.emory.edu/MUSIC/ARNOLD/takemitsu_content.html
Arabesque No.1
La fille aux cheveux de lin
Clair de lune
Estampes
1. Pagodes
2. La soirée dans Grenade
3. Jardins sous la pluie
L'isle joyeuse
Claude Debussy
(1862-1918)
The piano figures prominently in Debussy's output, and his works occupy an im-
portant place in the instrument's repertory, prized for their exquisite and imagina-
tive use of colour and sonority, masterly control of fluctuations of mood, and range
and subtlety of musical argument.
The two Arabesques were Debussy's first piano pieces to appear in print: com-
posed in 1888 and published in 1891, they remain, both in concept and execution,
salon pieces. There's nothing particularly "Arabian" about them: arabesque is a
word used in art to describe the scrolling and interlacing patterns of leaves and
flowers used for decoration. The style was much used by Islamic artists (hence the
name), though the basic features had been present in Roman and Hellenistic art.
The first Arabesque, in E major, is the more gentle and sustained of the two, and its
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implictiona
va
de Defen
962-191
charm, combined with modest technical demands, has made it a favourite of pian-
ists since its first appearance.
Central to Debussy's piano music are the two books of Preludes: the 12 of Book I
(December 1909 - January 1910) and the 12 of Book II (1910-1912). In the
original printed edition the works are identified by numbers only, the descriptive
titles by which they are universally known appearing only at the end of each piece
and in brackets, as though an afterthought. La fille aux cheveux de lin is the
eighth Prelude of Book I. The title means "the girl with the flaxen hair" and is
taken from a poem by Leconte de Lisle describing a young Scots girl singing a
simple innocent song in the morning sunshine. Debussy had set the poem as a song
back in 1880, but there is no musical connection with the piano piece, which is one
of the simplest and most direct of the Preludes: a gentle melody of astonishing sup-
pleness and flexibility floats above simple, almost modal harmony.
Clair de lune [= moonlight] is another of Debussy's most popular pieces, hardly
ever heard in its original context. It dates from 1890 and is the slow third move-
ment of the Suite bergamasque, in which Debussy evokes the world of Verlaine's
Fêtes galantes, echoing in poetry the world depicted by Watteau, Lancret and
Fragonard. The title may come from the Verlaine poem Clair de lune with its vi-
sion of long-dead dancers in the moonlight dancing forever to ghostly music: De-
bussy certainly knew the poem as he set it to music about this time.
I spoke of the Japanese borrowing and reinventing things from Europe. The traffic
has not been all one way: we could all probably name examples from lacquerware
to sushi. In French artistic circles towards the end of the 19th century it was the
prints of Japanese artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige that were creating a stir:
they are known to have been much on Debussy's mind between 1903 and 1905 as
he worked on his great orchestral work La mer. Estampes (the word is closely
related to our stamp) means "prints", and in choosing the title it is clear that De-
bussy is giving his hearers to understand that his three pieces are impressions of
their subject matter in the Japanese style. He wrote the set in 1903, as he was start-
ing work on La mer, and the pieces are considered by some his first fully mature
piano music.
The first piece is called Pagodes [= pagodas] and conjures up an oriental scene
Debussy was never to see in the flesh. He had heard it though: like many musicians
of his generation he had been excited by the radically different sound-world of the
Javanese gamelan orchestra which appeared at the Paris World Exhibition in 1889.
Next comes La soirée dans Grenade [= evening in Granada], another triumph of
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imagination over experience, since Debussy had only ever been to Spain on a day
trip. Manuel de Falla found the piece:
nothing less than miraculous when one reflects on the fact that this music was writ-
ten by a foreigner guided almost entirely by his visionary genius ... Here we are
truly confronted with Andalusia: truth without authenticity, so to speak, for not a
bar is directly borrowed from Spanish folklore, yet the entire piece down to the
smallest detail makes one feel the character of Spain. The music actually evokes re-
flections of moonlit images in the pools of the Alhambra.
With the final piece, Jardins sous la pluie [= gardens in the rain] Debussy comes
back home. The piece was inspired by a formal French garden in a town where he
used to visit his mistress, and the use of two children's songs suggests their play in
such a setting.
With L'isle joyeuse of the following year we are back in the world of Watteau: the
piece was inspired by his painting L'embarquement pour Cythère [= the embarka-
tion for Cythera], Cythera being the island where the goddess Aphrodite first set
foot on land after her birth at sea and thus the "happy island" of the title. The
painting [of which Watteau did several versions] shows a party of revellers making
its way down to the shore to take ship for the island. Debussy's evocation is mas-
terly. The music manages to suggest both a march and the sort of improvised dance
Watteau's figures seem to be doing. It also suggests the animated chatter, the sup-
pressed excitement and the build-up of tension clearly visible in the painting.
L'isle joyeuse is probably the closest Debussy got to a virtuoso showpiece for the
piano before the Studies of 1915. As he himself wrote to his publisher: "God! How
difficult it is to perform [it] seems to assemble all the ways to attack a piano
since it unites force and
grace."
INTERVAL
Coffee and drinks are available in the foyer. Coffee is 80p a cup: to find us, just go
past the bar, out on to the landing, and turn to the left.
1
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thi
Davidsbündlertänze, Op.6
Book 1
1. Lebhaft
2. Innig
3. Mit Humor
4. Ungeduldig
5. Einfach
6. Sehr rasch
7. Nicht schnell
8. Frisch
9. Lebhaft
Book 2
Robert Schumann
(1810-1856)
1. Balladenmäßig. Sehr rasch
2. Einfach
3. Mit Humor
4.
Wild und lustig
5. Zart und singend
6. Frisch
7. Mit gutem Humor -
8. Wie aus der Ferne
9. Nicht schnell
Schumann originally studied law at university, but, much to the relief of his profes-
sor, abandoned it in favour of music. He had already begun piano lessons with
Friedrich Wieck of Leipzig, one of the finest teachers in Germany, and now set out
to turn himself into a virtuoso. But, as Wieck had feared, Schumann simply didn't
have the dedication and commitment: he was interested in too much else besides
music chiefly literature and dissipation. He had a liking for champagne and ci-
gars that was the despair of his widowed mother.
Schumann developed (or noticed) a weakness in certain fingers and made use of a
mechanical device to strengthen them. But in doing so he permanently damaged
his hand, ending any possibility of a virtuoso's career. And so all his energy was
then transferred into composition and musical journalism. His earliest published
compositions, dating from the 1830s, are all for piano, and a large proportion of
them deserve to be counted amongst his masterworks. The Op.12 Fantasy Pieces,
Symphonic Variations, Davidsbündlertänze, Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, C major
Fantasy and the Arabeske, to name but a few, all date from 1836 to 1838.
The strength of Schumann's music lies in its balance of fiery passion, thoughtful
lyricism and intellectual rigour. His best music is, with few exceptions, from the
earlier part of his career: later the passion declined into mere gesture, the lyricism
to sentimentality and the intellectual rigour to academicism. But the early period
embraces masterpieces that are cornerstones of, in particular, the piano and Lieder
repertoire.
In some ways the key to approaching the Davidsbündlertänze lies in an earlier
work, Carnaval. Carnaval consists of a sequence of 22 mostly short piano pieces
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(scènes mignonnes he calls them). The last and most extended piece is entitled
Marche des ,,Davidsbündler" contre les Philistins, that is "March of the League of
David against the Philistines". It was apparently German university students of a
couple of centuries earlier who began referring to the less-educated townsfolk as
"Philister", whence "Philistine" as a description of those lacking manners, grace,
culture or refinement quickly spread. And amongst creative artists it became virtu-
ally a rallying cry against complacent, petit-bourgeois - well, Philistinism in a
word.
Schumann saw, and to some extent lived, his life as almost a crusade against the
uncultured, and for him the image of a battle against the Philistines and in particu-
lar the victory of the musician David over the Philistine champion Goliath must
have held powerful resonances. So it was that he formed in his mind his "League
of David", consisting of himself plus artists and women he admired, who would do
battle with and vanquish the Philistines: they're there in the pieces of Carnaval
his two alter egos Florestan (extrovert, impulsive and over-excited) and Eusebius
(introvert, poetic and withdrawn) alongside Chopin, Paganini, and several ladies
hiding behind assumed names and musical ciphers. Schumann adored playing such
games - who else would have written his march in ½ time placing extra emphasis
on each first beat to make it virtually impossible to march to without tripping?
The Davidsbündlertänze themselves were composed and published in 1837, two
years after Carnaval was finished. The work consists of 18 character pieces ar-
ranged in two volumes/books - Heft is the German word. Unlike Carnaval, how-
ever, none of the pieces is given a title, though a few did have rather strange super-
scriptions which Schumann suppressed in the slightly revised second edition of
1850/1. It was at this time that he suppressed the F or E he had originally added to
the end of each piece to indicate whether it emanated from the Florestan or Euse-
bius side of his character.
The work's opening lefthand flourish, which forms the germ of much that follows,
is labelled Motto von C.W.. It quotes the opening of a Mazurka by Clara Wieck,
fifth of the six pieces in her Soirées musicales, composed in 1835/6 and published
in 1836. Clara was still only 16 or so and, to the horror of her father, she and
Schumann were obviously falling in love. The Davidsbündlertänze were composed
at the time when he had forbidden any meeting, ordered Clara to return all Schu-
mann's letters and even introduced a more fitting suitor. All of which ultimately
proved futile.
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sinh
Canad
werde
A
Es
Viet
There are altogether 18 pieces in Davidsbündlertänze, nine in each of the Hefte.
Here are English versions of the main tempo markings of the pieces, together with
the Fs and Es of the 1837 edition:
Heft 1 1 Lively [F & E], 2 Heartfelt [E], 3 With humour [F], 4 Impatiently
[F], 5 Simply [E], 6 Very quick [F], 7 Not fast [E], 8 Bright/cheery [F], 9
Lively
Heft 2 1 Ballad-like. Very quick [F], 2 Simply [E], 3 With humour [F], 4
Wild and merry [F & E], 5 Tender and singingly [E], 6 Bright/cheery [F & E],
7 With good humour [leads straight into] 8 As if from a distance [F & E] 9
Not fast.
Programme notes by David Mather
Floral decorations by Sue Bedford
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FORTHCOMING CONCERTS
The next concert in the 80th Season of the British Music Society of York,
presented in association with the Department of Music at the University, takes
place as usual in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, beginning at 8 pm.
* Friday, 15 December 2000
Kreutzer Quartet
(Peter Sheppard Skærved & Gordon Mackay violins
Bridget Carey viola & Neil Heyde cello)
Mozart
Ligeti
Julia Gomelskaya
Chaikovsky
Quartet in F, K.590
Quartet No.2
From the bottom of the heart
Quartet No.3 in E flat minor, Op.30
More dates for your diaries:
And tomorrow you are really spoilt for choice!
Saturday, 11 November 2000
York Minster, 7.30 pm
York Musical Society
Conductor Philip Moore
Brahms' A German Requiem, coupled with his Academic Festival Overture.
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Saturday, 11 November 2000
University Central Hall, 7.30 pm
Northern Sinfonia
A celebration of the 250th anniversary of the death of JS Bach, including the Third
Brandenburg, First Orchestral Suite and Concertos for harpsichord, for 2 violins
and for oboe & violin.
Saturday, 11 November 2000
St Olave's Church, Marygate, 8.00 pm
Cantores
Venetian Splendour - music by Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Willaert, Cipriano de Rore
and Lotti.
Sunday, 12 November 2000
St Olave's Church, Marygate, 10.30 am
The Academy of St Olave's
This year's Remembrance Sunday Mass will be the Requiem as set by Gabriel
Fauré.
Saturday, 18 November 2000
North Transept of York Minster, 8 pm
Chapter House Choir
Motets by JS Bach with Coronation Anthems by his great contemporary Handel.
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Wednesday, 22 November 2000
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, 8 pm
University Chamber Choir
Yorkshire Baroque Soloists
Odes for St Cecilia's Day by Henry & Daniel Purcell and John Blow.
Saturday, 2 December 2000
University Central Hall, 8 pm
York Symphony Orchestra
First performance of local composer Dick Blackford's overture Scorpio,
Beethoven's Emperor Concerto (soloist Sarah Beth Briggs) and Dvořák's
Symphony No.8.
Saturday, 9 December 2000
St Olave's Church, Marygate, 8.00 pm
Micklegate Singers
I sing of a Maiden - Marian music by Renaissance and 20th-century composers
including Palestrina, Bax, Britten and Henryk Górecki.
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Scorp
Dvok
pers
B'S!
YORK
BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY
of YORK
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY
President Dr Francis Jackson
Vice-Presidents
Chairman
Vice-Chairman
Hon. Treasurer
Hon. Asst. Treasurer
Hon. Secretary
Hon. Publicity Secretary
Hon. Programme Secretary
NFMS Representative
Hon Auditor
Members of the Committee
Jim Briggs, Rosalind Richards
Dr John Dawick
David Mather
Albert Ainsworth
John Petrie
Nigel Dick
Marc Schatzberger
Amanda Crawley
Dr Richard Crossley
Derek Winterbottom
Sue Bedford, Jo Marsden, Peter Marsden, Brian
Mattinson, John Robinson and Dr Mary Turner
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 gifts to the Society, many
of them covenanted, we could not hope to balance our books.
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Our Benefactors (§) and Patrons are as follows:
Mr A. Ainsworth §
Mr R.A. Bellingham
Dr R.J.S. Crossley
Mr N.J. Dick §
Mr A.D. Hitchcock §
Mr J.C. Joslin §
Mr R.P. Lorriman §
Canon & Mrs J.S. Pearson
Mr & Mrs D.G. Rowlands §
Mrs I.G. Sargent
Mrs I. Stanley §
Mr D.A. Sutton
Mr R. Wilkinson §
NATIONAL FEDERATION
OF MUSIC SOCIETIES
NEMS
Mrs P.J. Armour
Mr & Mrs D.A.C. Blunt § Mr J. Briggs §
Mr J. Curry §
Mr C.G.M. Gardner
Mr T.M. Holmes §
Mr N. Lange §
Mr & Mrs B. Mattinson §
Mr & Mrs L.W. Robinson §
Dr D.M. Bearpark §
Mrs M. Danby-Smith §
Mr J.A. Gloag
Dr F.A. Jackson
Prof. R. Lawton §
Mr G.C. Morcom §
Mrs M.P. Rowntree §
Mr J.B. Schofield §
Mrs D.C. Summers §
Mr M. Schatzberger
Mr R.D.C. Stevens §
Dr & Mrs G.M.A. Turner § Mr J.I. Watson
Mrs H.B. Wright §
Mrs S. Wright
If you would like to become a Benefactor or Patron, please get in touch with our
Hon. Treasurer, either at the ticket desk before each concert, or at 8, Petersway,
York, YO30 6AR. All other correspondence about the Society should be addressed
to the Hon. Secretary, 6, Bishopgate St., York, YO23 1JH.
Registered Charity No.700302
The BMS is affiliated to the National Federation of Music Societies
which represents and supports amateur vocal, instrumental and
promoting societies throughout the United Kingdom. The Society
also gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Royal Bank of
Scotland.
BORTHWICK INSTITUTE
SMS 3/2/8 (5)
OF HI TORIC L PESEARCH
Compiled by David Mather and published by the British Music Society of York.
Reproduced by the Trophy & Print Shop, Commercial St, Norton, Malton.
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B'S
YORK
Kreutzer String Quartet
Friday, 15 December 2000
Programme: £1.00
Presented by the British Music Society of York
in association with the Department of Music
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NOTICE BOARD
Stuck for Christmas present ideas?
The BMS is experimenting with a half-season ticket, valid for the last three concerts
of the current season (Emma Johnson on 11 January, Delta Saxophone Quartet on 9
February and Piers Lane on 15 March). The half-season tickets will cost £20.00
(£10.00 for students and under 18s) and will be available at the December and
January concerts, or by post from our Treasurer, Mr Albert Ainsworth, 8 Petersway,
York, YO30 6AR. Can you think of a better way of introducing discerning friends
to the BMS?
Advertising our Concerts
The bigger the audience we can attract to BMS concerts, the more money there will
be for the concerts budget, which means we would be able to afford artists we can
at present only dream of inviting. You can help. You must know of places where
our posters could be seen by potential new audience. Posters for our next concert
are available in the foyer: help yourself and help the Society.
Forthcoming Concerts
One of the ways we are increasing our publicity effort is by reciprocal advertising
with other concert promoters: when they have a concert coming up shortly we tell
our audience about it and they reciprocate. You will find details of these concerts
towards the end of this book.
**** Jo Marsden
The Committee of the BMS would like to express its sorrow at the death of one of
its members, Jo Marsden. As it happens, both Jo and her husband Peter were
currently members of the Committee: we extend to him and his family all our
sympathy over this loss.
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erts
9
ay,
Can
ere
cert
rts
ere
Our
BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY
of YORK
80th Season
Friday, 15 December 2000
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall
Kreutzer Quartet
Peter Sheppard Skærved & Gordon Mackay violins
Bridget Carey viola Neil Heyde cello
Mozart String Quartet in F, K.590
Ligeti
String Quartet No.2
INTERVAL
Julia Gomelskaya From the bottom of the heart
Chaikovsky String Quartet No.3 in E flat minor, Op.30
For the sake of others in the audience, please turn off all
mobile phones and alarms on watches, calculators etc.,
and use a handkerchief when coughing
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THE KREUTZER QUARTET
The Kreutzer Quartet was founded in 1987 and rapidly established itself as one of
the most sought-after string quartets in the UK. They first played for the BMS in
February 1992. They appear regularly at the major London venues and have made
many live and studio recordings for the BBC and major networks all over Europe.
They have a busy recording schedule, reflecting their commitment to musical
exploration: they have released cycles by Birtwistle, Finnissy, Gerhard,
Hallgrimsson, Shostakovich and Tippett; recordings of Casken, Rochberg, Saxton
and Weir are in the pipeline.
The Kreutzer Quartet is currently ensemble in residence at Goldsmiths College,
London.
PROGRAMME NOTES
String Quartet in F, K.590
Allegro moderato
Andante
Menuetto: Allegretto
Allegro
Wolfgang Amadé Mozart
(1756-1791)
Mozart wrote 23 string quartets proper, and these were composed in two phases.
The first belonged to the early 1770s and consisted of well-crafted, but mostly light
and inconsequential works, such as might be expected of a Mozart in his mid-teens.
The second phase came after a gap in Mozart's quartet output of nearly ten years,
during which he was involved in touring and with his duties at Salzburg. These
duties came to an end in 1781: the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg was in Vienna,
and Mozart, incensed at his position somewhere between the valets and cooks, and
at not being allowed to make any extra money, sought his dismissal, remaining in
Vienna as a freelance. As the novelty everyone was talking of, he was soon too
busy to think of quartets.
That same year, 1781, Haydn published his six Quartets, Op.33, explaining in a
preface how they had been composed "in a new and special manner": here,
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ne of
1S in
Exton
zart
ases
light
cens
These
and
ng in
n too
essentially, was music for four equal partners, music to be taken seriously by
composer, performers and audience alike. The radical new departure was not lost
on Mozart, who composed his first example of the new type of quartet at the end of
1782, the G major, K.387. Over the next couple of years, five others were to follow
ending with the C major, K.465, dated 14 January 1785. These six Quartets were
published in September 1785 with a dedication to Haydn. The following year
Mozart wrote an unattached Quartet (K.499) for the publisher Hoffmeister, after
which came a further gap of three years.
In April 1789 Mozart travelled with Prince Lichnowsky to Germany. Austria had
become embroiled in the Russian war against the Turks, the social and economic
repercussions of which were making life difficult for him. The German tour was
principally for money. He visited Dresden, Leipzig, Potsdam and Berlin, where he
played on 26 May for the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm II, an amateur cellist and
noted patron of music.
Mozart straightway set about writing a set of six quartets for the king, though
whether to a formal commission or just "on spec" isn't known. Friedrich Wilhelm
was a generous patron Mozart's honorarium for the Berlin concert was 100
friedrichs d'or, more than his annual salary as the Austrian emperor's
Kammermusicus. Mozart arrived back in Vienna on 4 June 1789, but may even
have begun work on the first "Prussian" Quartet (K.575) en route: at any rate the
manuscript paper he used came from a mill between Dresden and Prague. The
Quartet was completed within the month of June. It is now thought he started work
on two further quartets (K.589 and K.590), but laid them aside when he received the
commission to compose Così fan tutte.
That opera premiered in the January of 1790, and its success was only prevented by
the death of the Emperor, which put paid to most public music-making. It wasn't
until May and June that Mozart returned to the two quartets and finished them, but
here the proposed set of six came to a halt: Mozart's slowly worsening financial
situation soon obliged him to sell the three existing quartets to the leading Viennese
publisher Artaria "for a mere song." The cash was needed for Constanze Mozart's
medical treatment. Mozart wrote no more string quartets: he had always found the
string quartet a difficult medium, even when he was at his most fluent. In 1789 and
1790, though, something seems to have sapped his self-confidence: his manuscripts
are littered with movements abandoned after a few bars. The present finale of
K.590 was actually Mozart's second attempt.
With the cello-playing king in mind, Mozart started giving unusual prominence to
that instrument in these three late "Prussian" Quartets. But it is noticeable that the
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cello has more of the limelight in the first, D major Quartet of 1789 than in the two
that followed a year later. In the case of K.590, the cello certainly shares centre
stage with the first violin in the broad first movement, but thereafter its role is the
normal one for a quartet of this period. The C major slow movement is a not-so-
slow Andante: when Artaria finally got round to issuing the Quartet this autograph
tempo marking had been speeded up to Allegretto, though it's thought unlikely
Mozart had anything to do with the change. The Minuet lies third and seems to be
entirely made up of melodic fragments purloined from the slow movement.
Unusually, both the Minuet and Trio are in F major. The finale brims over with the
contrapuntal invention behind the fugal end to the Jupiter Symphony, but somehow
the effort seems to show.
String Quartet No.2
Allegro nervoso
Sostenuto, molto calmo
Come un meccanismo di precisione
Presto furioso, brutale, tumultuoso
Allegro con delicatezza
György Ligeti
(b.1923)
The generation of composers who were to dominate the avant-garde in the decades
following the Second World War were born in the mid 1920s - Stockhausen in
1928, Boulez and Berio in 1925 and Ligeti in 1923. Of the four, Ligeti has perhaps
the most developed ear for colour and without doubt the most overt sense of
humour. Each brought his own mix of influences, but the movement as a whole
expanded and developed the ideas of the Second Viennese School - Schoenberg,
Berg and (especially) Webern. It was re-discovery as well as discovery: all music
of this kind had been suppressed or banned during their teenage years throughout
most of mainland Europe - no performances took place and what music had already
been published disappeared.
In the case of Ligeti, this suppression continued beyond the end of the war. The
Stalinist regime that took over his native Hungary had no more time for such music
than had the Nazis. (You know your country has serious censorship problems when
it starts banning books such as Don Quixote and Winnie the Pooh.) Ostensibly
Bartók (who had died in exile in 1945) was revered as the country's greatest
composer, but in practice the "soft" late works like the Concerto for Orchestra and
Third Piano Concerto were the only concert pieces ever heard. Foreign radio
broadcasts were also jammed. Nonetheless, an artistic underground did exist:
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0
e
e
e
e
N
ES
n
S
of
e
2
C
at
e
C
1
y
st
d
0
1
1
11
composers and others circulated banned material and wrote/created for their bottom
drawers.
Ligeti wrote his First String Quartet in 1953/4, and the work was inspired by the
middle quartets of Bartók - Nos.3 & 4. Two years later Ligeti fled from Hungary.
As he has written:
My Second String Quartet dates from 1968 and was given its first performance by
the LaSalle Quartet in Baden-Baden in December 1969. The only stylistic
characteristic to survive from my First Quartet was the use of total chromaticism. In
the 15 years that separate the two works, my whole life and way of thinking as a
composer had turned 180°. I had gone to Cologne in February 1957, where I got to
know about electronic techniques of sound production and made contact with
Western European composers of my own generation. I learned a great deal from
Stockhausen, Boulez and Koenig, as well as from other composers associated with
the Cologne, Darmstadt and Paris avant-garde. Webern and Debussy also left a
decisive impression on me, but I did not abandon my links with Bartók. Towards the
end of the 1950s I developed my own compositional technique in the form of
"micropolyphony," which was a synthesis of my compositional experience with
multilayered sounds produced in the Cologne Studio for Electronic Music and of my
knowledge of the polyphonic style of [the Renaissance composers] Ockeghem,
Josquin Desprez and Palestrina that I had acquired while still in Budapest. I began
by experimenting with complex micropolyphonic textures in orchestral works and
only later, in the course of the 1960s, did I seek ways of reducing the number of
voices. The String Quartet No.2 was one outcome of the process. Each of the
movements is a different realization of the same basic idea, namely, the generation of
different types of movement resulting from bundles of polyrhythmic voices. There
is no longer any motivic writing in this music, no contours, only sound textures,
which are sometimes frayed and almost fluid (as in the first and last movements) and
at other times grainy and machine-like (as in the middle pizzicato movement).
Among the influences on this work was Cézanne's method of painting: how, I asked
myself, can colour replace contours, how can contrasting volumes and weights create
form?
INTERVAL
Coffee and drinks are available in the foyer. Coffee is 80p a cup: to find us, just go
past the bar, out on to the landing, and turn to the left.
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From the bottom of the heart
Julia Gomelskaya
(b.1964)
Even the internet can furnish only tangential references to Julia Gomelskaya. This
note has been kindly provided by the Kreutzer Quartet:
Julia Gomelskaya is one of the three leading younger composers in the Ukraine,
alongside Karmella Tsepkelenko and Volodmyr Rundchak. She was born in 1964
and studied in Odessa with Professor Krastov, at the Gaudeamus Foundation in
Amsterdam and at the Guildhall School in London with Robert Saxton. She was
awarded the 1993 Prokofiev award. Her music has been played with great success in
the Ukraine, in Russia and at the major European festivals. She now teaches
composition at the Odessa Conservatoire. This Quartet was written for the Yggdrasil
Quartet who premiered it at the 1997 Spitalfields Festival. Peter Sheppard Skærved,
the leader of the Kreutzers, met her at the 1999 Two Days - Two Nights Festival in
Odessa. This year he premiered her new work for solo violin, Dabuba-baba at the
same festival and later in the Composers' Union Hall in Kyiv.
For those who are a bit hazy on the Ukraine, it's the most south-westerly portion of
the former USSR: it stands on the north shore of the Black Sea, contains the Crimea
and has borders with Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. Its population is
about 4:1 Ukrainians to Russians - Ukrainians speak a slightly different version of
Slavonic to Russians, hence the capital is now Kyiv rather than Kiev, while
Lwów/Lvov (stolen when Hitler and Stalin carved up Poland in 1939) is now Lviv.
String Quartet No.3 in E flat minor, Op.30
Andante sostenuto - Allegro moderato
Allegretto vivo scherzando
Andante funebre e doloroso, ma con moto
Allegro non troppo e risoluto
Pyotr Il'yich Chaikovsky
(1840-1893)
For Chaikovsky, 1875 was quite busy. He completed the famous B flat minor
Piano Concerto as well as the Third Symphony, and in August made a start on the
ballet лебеòuиое озеро [=swan lake], which had been commissioned by Moscow
Opera. Just before Christmas Chaikovsky left Moscow with his brother Modyest,
travelling via Berlin to Geneva to stay with their sister Aleksandra. During this stay
abroad Chaikovsky spent a few days in Paris, telling no-one, so he wouldn't have to
spend all his time calling on acquaintances. While there he went to see Carmen
(still in its first production) and began work on a new string quartet.
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1964)
tion of
Crimea
ation is
rsion of
Lviv.
kovsky
-1893)
Moscon
Modest
't have to
Carmen
He returned to Moscow at the end of January, travelling via Cologne, Berlin and St
Petersburg, where he was delayed by the performance that introduced his Third
Symphony to what was then Russia's capital city. Back in Moscow, he threw
himself into the Quartet, completing it on 1 March [old style: 18 February] 1876.
Two private and one public performance followed within the month.
The Quartet is dedicated to the memory of the Prague-born violinist and teacher
Ferdinand Laub. Both he and Chaikovsky had joined the staff of the Moscow
Conservatory on its opening in 1866. It was Laub whose quartet had premiered
Chaikovsky's two previous quartets. He had retired from the Conservatory in 1874
and gone to live in the Tyrol, but died the next year.
The posthumous tribute to Laub accounts for the use of a very sombre key and for
the funeral-march style of the slow movement, which contains music of searing
intensity. The first movement, too, is flanked by an elegiac prologue and epilogue.
Contrasting with these, though, are a lighter, scherzo-style second movement and a
vigorous, tuneful finale.
Programme notes by David Mather
Floral decorations by Sue Bedford
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FORTHCOMING CONCERTS
The next concert in the 80th Season of the British Music Society of York,
presented in association with the Department of Music at the University, takes place
as usual in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, beginning at 8 pm.
Thursday, 11 January 2001
Emma Johnson (clarinet)
Paul Watkins (cello) & John Lenehan (piano)
Beethoven
Schumann
Bartók
Brahms
Trio in Bb, Op.11
Fantasiestücke, Op.73
Rhapsody No.1
Trio in A minor, Op.114
More dates for your diaries:
Saturday, 16 December 2000
York Minster, 7.30 pm
York Musical Society
Conductor Philip Moore
A Christmas Concert of carols and readings, including Vivaldi's Gloria and Finzi's
In terra pax.
Saturday, 16 December 2000
St Mary's Priory Church, Old Malton, 7.30 pm
Chanticleer Singers
Director Jane Sturmheit
A concert of traditional carols and Christmas music, with Geoffrey Coffin (organ).
The
gener
of the
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Ocr'd Text:
B'S
YORK
D
BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY
of YORK
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY
President Dr Francis Jackson
Vice-Presidents
Chairman
Vice-Chairman
Hon. Treasurer
Hon. Asst. Treasurer
Hon. Secretary
Hon. Publicity Secretary
Hon. Programme Secretary
NFMS Representative
Hon Auditor
Members of the Committee
Jim Briggs, Rosalind Richards
Dr John Dawick
David Mather
Albert Ainsworth
John Petrie
Nigel Dick
Marc Schatzberger
Amanda Crawley
Dr Richard Crossley
Derek Winterbottom
Sue Bedford, Peter Marsden, Brian Mattinson,
John Robinson and Dr Mary Turner
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 gifts to the Society, many
of them covenanted, we could not hope to balance our books.
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Our Benefactors (§) and Patrons are as follows:
Mr A Ainsworth §
Mr RA Bellingham
Dr RJS Crossley
Mr NJ Dick §
Dr FA Jackson
Mrs PJ Armour
Mr & Mrs DAC Blunt §
Mr J Curry S
Mr CGM Gardner
Mr JC Joslin §
Mr RP Lorriman §
Mrs GO Morcom
Prof. R Lawton §
Mr GC Morcom §
Mr & Mrs LW Robinson § Mrs IG Sargent
Mr JB Schofield §
Mrs I Stanley
Mr DA Sutton
Mrs DC Summers §
Mr JI Watson
Mr R Wilkinson §
NATIONAL FEDERATION
OF MUSIC SOCIETIES
NEMS
If you would like to become a Benefactor or Patron, please get in touch with our
Hon. Treasurer, either at the ticket desk before each concert, or at 8, Petersway,
York, YO30 6AR. All other correspondence about the Society should be addressed
to the Hon. Secretary, 6, Bishopgate St., York, YO23 1JH.
Dr DM Bearpark §
Mr J Briggs §
Mrs M Danby-Smith §
Mr JA Gloag
Mr N Lange §
Mr & Mrs B Mattinson §
Canon & Mrs JS Pearson
Registered Charity No.700302
Mr M Schatzberger
Mr RDC Stevens §
Dr & Mrs GMA Turner §
Mrs HB Wright §
The BMS is affiliated to the National Federation of Music Societies
which represents and supports amateur vocal, instrumental and
promoting societies throughout the United Kingdom. The Society
also gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Royal Bank of
Scotland.
OF
BORTHWICK
INSTITUTE
MS 3/2/8(6)
HISTORICAL
RESEARCH
Compiled by David Mather and published by the British Music Society of York.
Reproduced by the Trophy & Print Shop, Commercial St, Norton, Malton.