Belfast Music Society Celebrity Concerts 3/5797 Programme

LONDON WINDS Michael Collins - Director/Clarinet Philippa Davies - Flute Gareth Hulse - Oboe Gareth Newman - Bassoon Richard Watkins - Horn Quartet No.1 in F Jeux d'Enfants, Op. 22 Dix-sept Variations Wind Quintet Adagio K.411 Three Shanties Op.4 PROGRAMME Waterfront Interval Saturday, 3rd May 1997 BT Studio, Waterfront Hall at 7.30pm Supported by the ONG ARTS COUNCIL NFMS Rossini Bizet Damase Françaix Mozart Malcolm Arnold

Quartet No. 1 in F. Rossini (1792-1868) Best known as a composer of comic operas, Rossini wrote his six Sonate a quattro when he was twelve, but even at this tender age his technique was well developed and the wit and suavity of his later works are much in evidence. All six of the set are in three move- ments; in this case a touching Andante is framed by a lively Allegro and a dazzling Rondo. 0 Jeux d'Enfants, op. 22 Georges Bizet (1838-1875) arranged by Gordon Davies. Trompette et tambour - Petit mari, petite femme - La Toupie - La poupée - La bal. Both Bizet's parents were professional musicians, and the young student was something of an enfant terrible, carrying off the Paris Conservatoire's first prize for piano at the age of fourteen, and at seventeen writing his First Symphony, an exuberant and tuneful work that is still in the mainstream orchestral repertoire (although, astonishingly, it was not discov- ered and performed until 1933). It is, of course, as the composer of Carmen that Bizet is most widely known, but he wrote about 150 pieces for piano, among them the present suite, originally for piano duet. The first movement is a march, and as well as some snappy rhythms a military touch is given by the use of the piccolo. The second movement is a duet, as the title implies, and the pro- tagonists are here portrayed by the oboe and horn. La toupie, the spinning top, sizzles along, and is complemented by the gently rocking cradle song of the next movement The whole suite is rounded off by a rumbustious galop in which the imaginary dancers, to judge by the music, must have ended up in a heap on the floor! Dix-sept Variations Damase (born 1928) Jean-Michel Damase was a pupil of Alfred Cortot, and his chamber music, much of it writ- ten at a youthful age, was often broadcast in the early days of the Third Programme. It has a fluent and attractive Gallic charm, and is beautifully fashioned, despite being short on substance. There are touches of Poulenc, but without that composer's harmonic subtlety. The seventeen variations are tongue-in-cheek for the most part. Written when he was just twenty-three, the work has proved to be one of the composer's most popular. Announced by a delightfully deadpan clarinet and bassoon, Damase's own theme is subjected to a vari- ety of alterations, and mutilations, as well as some good-natured pastiche of such illustri- ous composers as Franck and Tchaikowsky, before it re-emerges on a triumphant horn in the finale. Throughout, Damase offers fine virtuosic writing, including passages for multi- tongued clarinet, stratospheric flute and expostulating bassoon.

(1 Wind Quintet 1. Andante tranquillo - allegro assai 2. 3. 4. Tempo di marcia francese Presto Tema con variazioni Interval Françaix (b.1912) Of Françaix's music, 'Grove's Dictionary' states: "It is often witty but rarely profound; not self-consciously 'neo-classical', but marked on the whole by a classical restraint and sobriety - in a word, by those qualities of clarity, proportion and elegance which have always been the hall-mark of the Gallic spirit in the arts." The Wind Quintet fro 1949. The first movement begins with a short, fairly serious. introduction, which is merely a foil for the sprightly section which follows. The second movement is an even wittier scherzo. Only in the third is there an honest attempt to be truly serious, and even here the lyrical variations are interrupted by a few in a rather playful mood. A light-hearted finale concludes a work in which the scoring for all five instruments is brilliant and inventive throughout. Adagio K.411 Mozart (1756-1791) Scored for two clarinets and three basset horns, this and other fragmentary pieces featur- ing basset horns probably resulted from Mozart's friendship with the clarinettists Anton David, Vincent Springer and Anton Stadler. The last-named was a specialist in the basset horn and other experimental clarinets with extensions that increased the standard instru- ment's downward range. The friends were Freemasons, and it is likely that these pieces have some connection with Masonic ritual. Günther Weigelt arranged the Adagio for wind quintet. It is a short work, but of stature and substance, based on a gentle contemplative theme. A second idea, built around a rocking motif, slightly disturbs the atmosphere of calm, but the feeling of serenity soon returns.

Malcolm Arnold (born 1921) Three Shanties op 4. Allegro con brio; Allegretto semplice; Allegro vivace. Malcolm Arnold studied trumpet, conducting and composition at the Royal College of Music in London, played first trumpet with the London Philharmonic until 1948, and then devoted himself to writing, developing a style that is immediately appealing without being banal. The Shanties, now an established pillar of the wind quintet repertoire, was written for friends in the LPO in the chaotic years of the second war, which perhaps explains why the first performance was given in the unlikely setting of Filey Aerodrome in August 1943. In the outer movements, the tunes "What shall we do with the drunken sailor?" and "Johnny come down to Hilo" are paraded in many guises: fugued, treated à la Webern and transformed into tango or rumba. The central movement is grave and simple, the tune "Boney was a warrior" repeated five times over the lightest of accompaniments. TONIGHT'S ARTISTS London Winds is considered to be the very best wind ensemble in the country. Formed in 1988 by Michael Collins, himself an enormously popular soloist, the ensemble has estab- lished itself at the centre of the British musical scene, playing in the major London venues, the festivals in Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Huddersfield, Norwich, Cheltenham etc. and fre- quently broadcasting for the BBC. London Winds has recorded for Decca, Sony Classical and Hyperion. NEXT CONCERT Saturday, 24th May 1997 YOUNG-CHOON PARK - piano BT Studio, Waterfront Hall - 7.30 pm ppppp