60th SEASON Britten Gloriana (Symphonic Suite)

Interval – 20 minutes

Shostakovich Symphony no.10

Michael Seal conductor Alan Tuckwood leader

Saturday 12 March 2016, 7.30pm St John’s Smith Square

Cover image: The Rainbow Portrait, attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger

In accordance with the requirements of Westminster City Council persons shall not be permitted to sit or stand in any gangway. The taking of photographs and use of recording equipment is strictly forbidden without formal consent from St John’s. Smoking is not permitted anywhere in St John’s. Refreshments are permitted only in the restaurant in the Crypt. Please ensure that all digital watch alarms, pagers and mobile phones are switched off. During the interval and after the concert the restaurant is open for licensed refreshments.

Box office tel: 020 7222 1061. Website: www.sjss.org.uk. St John’s Smith Square Charitable Trust, registered charity no: 1045390. Registered in England. Company no: 3028678. TONIGHT’S PROGRAMME

BENJAMIN BRITTEN 1913–1976

Gloriana (Symphonic Suite)

The Tournament Lute Song The Courtly Dances Gloriana Moritura

‘One of the great disasters of operatic history’, wrote Lord Harewood after the Royal Gala first performance of Gloriana at Covent Garden on 8 June 1953, six days after the coronation. He was a close friend of Britten, and, as the Queen’s cousin, had been responsible for the royal commission of the work. He had also arranged for Britten and his librettist, William Plomer, to play over the score to the Queen and Prince Philip less than a month before the premiere. So what went wrong? Firstly, it was disliked and misunderstood by an audience made up of grandees, courtiers, diplomats and civil servants, for whom any opera would have been a tedious experience, let alone a new one by a twentieth-century composer. Secondly, there was Benjamin Britten intense jealousy of Britten in musical circles. Since Peter Grimes his reputation had been growing and he had almost become an official artist. As the music critic David Cairns put it: ‘The particular nastiness of the Gloriana episode lay in the unholy alliance that was forged between traditional British philistinism, in one of its most reactionary periods, and forces within the music profession activated by prejudices of a scarcely superior kind.’ But there was also the unwritten subtext of Britten’s homosexuality, which was still illegal. Plomer was gay too, as was Peter Pears, who sang the role of the Earl of Essex. A common attitude is summed up by the composer William Walton’s comments about Covent Garden: ‘There are enough buggers in the place already, it’s time it was stopped… Everyone is queer and I’m just normal, so my music will never succeed.’ No wonder Britten decided to retreat to his home in Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast, writing his next full-scale opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for the festival there, and the one after that, Owen Wingrave, for television. The Symphonic Suite was made between September and December 1953 when Britten had severe bursitis in his right arm, forcing him to write with his left hand for several weeks. So Imogen Holst, daughter of the composer Gustav Holst, made all the principal adjustments under Britten’s direction. It was first performed in September 1954 at Birmingham Town Hall with Peter Pears and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rudolf Schwarz.

4 TONIGHT’S PROGRAMME

Gloriana isn’t a sycophantic portrait of Elizabeth I, but focuses on the relationship between the Queen and the Earl of Essex, exploring the conflicts between personal and public life. As the librettist put it: ‘Queen Elizabeth, a solitary and ageing monarch, undiminished in power, statesmanship and understanding, sees in an outstanding young nobleman a hope both for the future of the country and of herself.’

The Tournament The opera opens outside a tilting ground and the rhythmic brass chords depict the jousting tournament taking place inside. Eventually the bustle and excitement give way to a haunting hymn-like tune, sung by the crowd in the opera, in praise of the Queen.

Lute Song One of Britten’s finest inspirations and probably the most famous number in the opera, it is the second of two lute songs which Essex sings to the Queen in her anteroom at Nonsuch Palace. Although it begins with a quotation from a madrigal by John Wilbye, it recreates the spirit of the Tudor composers rather than the letter. The vocal line may be played by a solo oboe, as it is this evening.

The Courtly Dances These come from the end of Act Two, which takes place at a grand ball in the great room of Whitehall Palace. Britten was mystified about the speeds and lengths of Elizabethan dances, so Imogen Holst went to Oxford to have lessons on the various steps. On her return she spent two hours demonstrating what she had mastered to Britten, which included whirling Peter Pears round the breakfast table in a vigorous Lavolta. The dances required the most rescoring, as in the opera they are played by a small group of instruments on the stage. Britten also altered their order for the suite.

Gloriana Moritura Essex has led a rebellion against the Queen and she has reluctantly had to sign his death warrant. In this final scene the great Queen, near to death, surveys her past against the poignant music of the Lute Song. As her life draws to a close the music of the hymn-like tune from The Tournament returns softly.

5 TONIGHT’S PROGRAMME

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH 1906–1975

Symphony no.10

Moderato Allegro Allegretto Andante — Allegro

On 5 March 1953, whilst Britten was feverishly completing the orchestration of Gloriana, in a dacha outside Moscow the cruellest tyrant the world has known (so far) spent twelve hours choking to death after a stroke. Joseph Stalin was responsible for at least fifty million deaths and Shostakovich had come very close to being one of them. In 1936 Stalin had stormed out of a performance of his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and the work was condemned in the official Soviet newspaper Pravda. The horrified Shostakovich knew that this usually meant execution or, at the least, being sent to one of the Gulags, so he is said to

have slept fully clothed with a packed bag in order to Carter Painting © Blake avoid the indignity of having to dress in front of the Dmitri Shostakovich police when they came for him in the night. Happily he survived and the attitude of the authorities towards him began to thaw during the war years. But in 1948 a resolution by the Central Committee of the Communist Party, headed by Stalin’s odious henchman Andrei Zhdanov, strongly criticised Shostakovich, Prokofiev and other leading composers for failing to write what the party thought the people ought to hear. Shostakovich responded by withholding his recently completed Violin Concerto and writing no more symphonies during Stalin’s lifetime. So by the time Shostakovich started work on his Tenth Symphony, during the summer of 1953, it was eight years since its predecessor, the longest gap between any of his symphonies. At times composition was hard and slow. ‘At the moment I am in difficulties finishing off the first movement and I don’t know how things will go after that’, he wrote to a friend on 27 June. But it was ready for its premiere in December 1953 in Leningrad, conducted by Yevgeny Mravinsky. Naturally people were keen to interpret Shostakovich’s first major work after such an important event in Soviet history. Was it a musical monument to the fifty million dead? Did it depict the confrontation between artist and tyrant? Or did it reflect the change from harsh Stalinist winter to an uncertain thaw? But Shostakovich never revealed a programme. When asked he replied that listeners should ‘guess for themselves’. Whatever it was about, it was clear that in the Tenth Symphony he had opened his soul to the world, revealing tragedy and profundity as well as resilience and strength. It gained worldwide acclaim as perhaps the greatest of his symphonies,

6 TONIGHT’S PROGRAMME

in both its balance of moods and its technical mastery. The composer Yuri Shaporin even went as far as to write that the spiritual world of Russian man in the twentieth century could not be understood without Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony. The long first movement is rooted in E minor and forms a vast arch. It is based on three themes which weave in and out of each other. The first appears on cellos and basses, the opening paragraph for strings alone achieving an almost static and expectant effect, whilst keeping the music in motion, like a slow stirring to life clouded by dark memories. The clarinet introduces the folk-like second theme and the third appears on the flute, timid and uncertain over pizzicato strings. Gradually the mood shifts from deep contemplation and lyrical agitation to tragic tension, the central span of the movement forming a massive crescendo leading to an enormous climax. The short second movement is a sinister moto perpetuo. Shostakovich hinted that this malevolent tornado depicted Stalin. It is certainly based on his music for the film The Fall of Berlin, in which Stalin was the main character. And it takes the form of a gopak, a dance from Stalin’s birthplace, Georgia. A study in concentrated fury rarely equalled in music, this raging scherzo is fortissimo almost throughout and the pace never relaxes. The nocturnal third movement, a kind of intermezzo of deceptive simplicity, opens with a gently rocking theme in the strings. The other main components are a motto theme based on Shostakovich’s initials in their German transliteration, DSCH (D, E flat, C, B), and a Mahlerian horn- call which appears twelve times. This is like a mysterious echo and encodes the name of Elmira Nazirova, a twenty-five-year-old composer from Azerbaijan who was the object of Shostakovich’s affections at the time. The finale is in two parts: anAndante in B minor and an Allegro in E major. The introduction, beautifully scored for strings, timpani and solo woodwind, has an inner core of sadness and unease and forms an interlude between the philosophical third movement and the high-spirited final section. Like the first movement it heaves into existence on the cellos and basses. Then spring sunshine bursts through the heavy fog with a new, fresh and youthful texture. This section has an infectious gaiety, an almost vulgar sense of rejoicing. But when brutal elements try to take over with a return of the scherzo they are defeated by the all-conquering DSCH motto, pounded out six times on the timpani. The movement ends in a blaze of E major, affirmative yet provisional.

© Fabian Watkinson 2016

7 ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES BIOGRAPHIES

Michael Seal conductor

In March 2011 Michael Seal was appointed Associate Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). The appointment recognised his work as Assistant Conductor, the first in the CBSO’s history, and the special relationship he has built with the Orchestra. His career has since gone from strength to strength and he conducts orchestras in the UK and internationally. Michael has conducted the CBSO in many prestigious concerts, appearing with them at the Aldeburgh and Malvern festivals, London, Manchester and also conducting them on tours to Abu Dhabi in 2014 and 2015. He has given world and UK premieres of music by Richard Causton, Jonathan Girling and Bent Sørensen with the CBSO. Michael appears annually in the CBSO main season at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, and has also stood in at very late notice for Sakari Oramo, Richard Hickox, Ilan Volkov, Vassily Sinaisky and Andris Nelsons, including conducting the CBSO in concerts in Dortmund, Heidelberg and Baden-Baden with Rudolf Buchbinder and Jonas Kaufmann, to much

critical acclaim. Photo © CBSO 2010 Michael works regularly as guest conductor with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, in both recordings and concerts on BBC Radio 3. He is a frequent guest with the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Ulster orchestras, and has also worked with the BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra. Internationally, he has conducted the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Joensuu City Orchestra, Orquesta Académica del Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón, Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires and both RTÉ Concert and National Symphony orchestras. Michael has a special bond with the CBSO Youth Orchestra, having been involved with them since their foundation. He is also Artistic Advisor and Conductor for the CBSO Youth Orchestra Academy, a chamber orchestra formed in 2007, which he has conducted in Birmingham and the Three Choirs Festival. His love of working with young players also sees him conducting regularly at the Royal College of Music and the Birmingham Conservatoire.

8 ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES

In 2013 Michael conducted critically acclaimed performances of Puccini’s Il trittico at the Birmingham Conservatoire. He has also assisted both Sakari Oramo and Andris Nelsons in opera performances of Peter Grimes, Carmen, Der Rosenkavalier, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde and The Flying Dutchman. Engagements in the 2015/16 season include two subscription concerts with the CBSO, as well as concerts in Malvern and Nottingham. There will also be return visits to the BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Académica del Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón and Joensuu City Orchestra, as well as a debut with the BBC Concert Orchestra, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Michael studied violin and composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire and has studied conducting with Jonathan Del Mar, Sakari Oramo, Andris Nelsons and Jorma Panula.

9 ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES

Kensington Symphony Orchestra

Founded in 1956, Kensington Symphony Orchestra enjoys an enviable reputation as one of the finest non-professional orchestras in the UK. Its founding aim — ‘to provide students and amateurs with an opportunity to perform concerts at the highest possible level’ — continues to be at the heart of its mission. KSO has had only two Principal Conductors — the founder, Leslie Head, and the current incumbent, Russell Keable, who recently celebrated his thirtieth year with the orchestra. The dedication, enthusiasm and passion of these two musicians has shaped KSO’s image, giving it a distinctive repertoire which sets it apart from other groups. Revivals and premières of new works frequently feature in the orchestra’s repertoire alongside the major works of the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. World and British premières have included works by Arnold Bax, Havergal Brian, Nielsen, Schoenberg, Sibelius, Verdi and Bruckner. Russell Keable has aired a number of unusual works, as well as delivering some significant musical landmarks — the London première of Dvořák’s opera Dimitrij and the British première of Korngold’s operatic masterpiece, Die tote Stadt (which the Evening Standard praised as ‘a feast of brilliant playing’). In January 2004 KSO, along with the London Oriana Choir, performed a revival of Walford Davies’s oratorio Everyman, a recording of which is available on the Dutton label. Photo © Sim Canetty-Clarke 10 ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES

Contemporary music has continued to be the life-blood of KSO. An impressive roster of composers working today has been represented in KSO’s programmes, most recently including Magnus Lindberg, Charlotte Bray, Benedict Mason, Oliver Knussen, Thomas Adès, Brett Dean, Anne Dudley, Julian Anderson, Rodion Shchedrin, John Woolrich, Joby Talbot, Peter Maxwell Davies and Jonny Greenwood. In December 2005 Errollyn Wallen’s Spirit Symphony, performed with the BBC Concert Orchestra and broadcast on BBC Radio 3, was awarded the Radio 3 Listeners’ Award at the British Composer Awards. In 2014 KSO performed the world première of Stephen Montague’s From the Ether, commissioned by St John’s Smith Square to mark the building’s 300th anniversary. During the 2014/15 season KSO was part of Making Music’s Adopt a Composer scheme, collaborating with Seán Doherty on his work Hive Mind. From the very beginning KSO has held charitable aims. Its first concert was given in aid of the Hungarian Relief Fund, and since then the orchestra has supported many different charities, musical and non-musical. In recent years it has developed links with the Kampala Symphony Orchestra and Music School under its KSO2 programme, providing training, fundraising and instruments in partnership with the charity Musequality. In 2013 and 2015 the orchestra held Sponsored Play events in Westfield London shopping centre, raising over £30,000 for the charity War Child. The orchestra also supports the music programme at Pimlico Academy, its primary rehearsal home. The reputation of the orchestra is reflected in the quality of international artists who regularly appear with KSO. In recent seasons soloists have included Sir John Tomlinson, Nikolai Demidenko, Richard Watkins, Jean Rigby and Matthew Trusler; and the orchestra enjoys working with the new generation of up-and-coming musicians, including BBC Young Musician of the Year 2014 Martin James Bartlett and Young Classical Artists Trust artists Ji Liu and Richard Uttley. The orchestra works annually with guest conductors including most recently Nicholas Collon, Alice Farnham, Andrew Gourlay and Jacques Cohen. Without the support of its sponsors, its Friends scheme and especially its audiences, KSO could not continue to go from strength to strength and maintain its traditions of challenging programmes and exceptionally high standards of performance. Thank you for your support.

11 YOUR SUPPORT FRIENDS OF KSO

To support KSO you might consider joining our very Patrons popular Friends Scheme. There are three levels of Sue and Ron Astles membership and attendant benefits: Kate Bonner John and Claire Dovey

Bob and Anne Drennan Friend Malcolm and Christine Dunmow Unlimited concessionary rate tickets per concert, priority Mr and Mrs G Hjert bookings, free interval drinks and concert programmes. Daan Matheussen Jolyon and Claire Maugham David and Mary Ellen McEuen Premium Friend Michael and Jan Murray A free ticket for each concert, unlimited guest tickets at Linda and Jack Pievsky concessionary rates, priority bookings, free interval drinks Neil Ritson and family and concert programmes. Kim Strauss-Polman Keith Waye

Patron Premium Friends Two free tickets for each concert, unlimited guest tickets at David Baxendale concessionary rates, priority bookings, free interval drinks Cyril and Charlotte Bryan and concert programmes. Claude-Sabine and Fortuné Bikoro Dr Michele Clement and All Friends and Patrons can be listed in concert Dr Stephanie Munn programmes under either single or joint names. John Dale We can also offer tailored Corporate Sponsorships for Alastair Fraser companies and groups. Please ask for details. Michael and Caroline Illingworth Maureen Keable Cost of membership for the sixtieth season is: Nick Marchant Friend...... £60 Richard and Jane Robinson Premium Friend. . . . . £125 Patron ...... £220 Friends Anne Baxendale To contribute to KSO by joining the Friends please contact Robert and Hilary Bruce David Baxendale on 020 8653 5091 or by email at Yvonne and Graham Burhop [email protected]. George Friend Robert and Gill Harding-Payne Rufus Rottenberg Paul Sheehan

12 YOUR SUPPORT OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT US

Sponsorship and Donations

One way in which you, our audience, can help us very effectively is through sponsorship. Anyone can be a sponsor, and any level of support — from corporate sponsorship of a whole concert to individual backing of a particular section or musician — is enormously valuable to us. We offer a variety of benefits to sponsors tailored especially to their needs, such as programme and website advertising, guest tickets and assistance with entertaining. For further details about sponsoring KSO, please speak to any member of the orchestra, email [email protected] or call David Baxendale on 020 8653 5091. As a charity, KSO is able to claim Gift Aid on any donations made to the orchestra. Donating through Gift Aid means KSO can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you give, at no extra cost to you. Your donations will qualify as long as they’re not more than four times what you have paid in tax in that financial year. If you would like to make a donation, or to inquire about Gift Aid, please contact the Treasurer at [email protected] for further information.

Leaving a Legacy: Supporting KSO for the next generation

Legacies left to qualifying charities —­ such as Kensington Symphony Orchestra — are exempt from inheritance tax. In addition, since April 2012, if you leave more than 10% of your estate to charity the tax due on the rest of your estate may be reduced from 40% to 36%. Legacies can be left for fixed amounts (‘specific’ or ‘pecuniary’ bequests) as either cash or shares, but a common way to ensure your loved ones are provided for is to make a ‘residuary’ bequest, in which the remainder of your estate is distributed to one or more charities of your choice after the specific bequests to your family and friends have first been met. Legacies, along with conventional donations, to KSO’s Endowment Trust allow us to better plan for the next fifty years of the orchestra’s development. If you include a bequest to KSO in your will, telling us you have done so will enable us to keep you informed of developments and, if you choose, we can also recognise your support. Any information you give us will be treated in the strictest confidence, and does not form any kind of binding commitment. For more information about leaving a legacy please speak to your solicitor or Neil Ritson, Chairman of the KSO Endowment Trust, on 020 7723 5490 or email [email protected].

13 YOUR SUPPORT

The KSO Website

To keep up-to-date with KSO information and events visit our website, where you can see upcoming concerts, listen to previous performances and learn more about the history of the orchestra. An easy way to contribute to KSO at no extra cost to yourself is via our website. A number of online retailers will pay us a small percentage of the value of your purchase when you visit their page through links on the KSO website.

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Mailing List Photo © Sim Canetty-Clarke

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14 TONIGHT’S PERFORMERS ORCHESTRA

First Violin Cello Bassoon Music Director Alan Tuckwood Natasha Foster Nick Rampley Russell Keable Matthew Hickman Zoe Marshall John Wingfield-Hill Susan Knight Chris Wendl Sheila Wallace Trustees Heather Bingham Rosie Goddard Chris Astles Jason Weir Rosi Callery Contrabassoon David Baxendale Erica Jeal Irene Hadjipateras Sheila Wallace Elizabeth Bell Jo Johnson David Baxendale John Dovey Helen Turnell Kim Polman French Horn Judith Ní Bhreasláin Sarah Hackett Judith Robinson Jon Boswell Heather Pawson Sarah Crick Linda Morris Heather Pawson Nick Rampley Bronwen Fisher Ed Corn Richard Sheahan Louise Ringrose Double Bass Jim Moffat Sabina Wagstyl Sabina Wagstyl Stephanie Fleming Claire Dovey Andrew Neal Trumpet Endowment Trust Videl Bar-Kar Sam Wise John Hackett Robert Drennan Claire Maugham Ed Babar Leanne Thompson Graham Elliott Jane Healey Mathew Tucker Judith Ní Bhreasláin Second Violin Malcolm Healey Nick Rampley David Pievsky Helen Neilson Trombone Neil Ritson Juliette Barker Phil Cambridge Kathleen Rule Flute Ken McGregor Event Team Louise Evans Judith Jerome Chris Astles Roanna Chandler Claire Pillmoor Bass Trombone Beccy Spencer Liz Errington Dan Dixon Stefan Terry Sabina Wagstyl Elizabeth Bell Judith Ní Bhreasláin Piccolo Tuba Marketing Team Helen Ecclestone Dan Dixon Mike Laird Jeremy Bradshaw Jenny Davie Claire Pillmoor Jo Johnson Danielle Dawson Harp Guy Raybould Rufus Rottenberg Oboe Lucy Haslar Louise Ringrose Francoise Robinson Charles Brenan Richard Sheahan Sarah Bruce Timpani Membership Team Jill Ives Chris Astles Tommy Pearson Juliette Barker Camilla Nelson David Baxendale Cor Anglais Percussion Phil Cambridge Viola Chris Astles Andrew Barnard Robin Major Beccy Spencer Dan Floyd Guy Raybould Clarinet Stephen Harker Programmes Sally Randall Chris Horril Simon Willcox Kathleen Rule Jane Spencer-Davis Claire Baughan Tom Philpott Graham Elliott Jessica Townsend Philip Cooper Bass Clarinet Elizabeth Lavercombe Graham Elliott Alex Tyson Kim Waldock E-flat Clarinet Alison Nethsingha Graham Elliott Roger Harvey 15 60th SEASON Tuesday 17 May 2016, 7.30pm (St John’s Smith Square) JANÁČEK Suite: From the House of the Dead JUDITH WEIR Natural History (Soloist: Donna Lennard) MARTINŮ Symphony no.5

Monday 27 June 2016, 7.30pm (St John’s Smith Square) WALTON Scapino: A Comedy Overture BRITTEN Violin Concerto (Soloist: Fenella Humphreys) ELGAR Falstaff

Next season... Monday 3 October 2016, 7.30pm (St John’s Smith Square) JOHN ADAMS Slonimsky’s Earbox COLIN MATTHEWS Horn Concerto (Soloist: Richard Watkins) BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra

Monday 21 November 2016, 7.30pm (St John’s Smith Square) DEBUSSY Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune DUTILLEUX Métaboles BERLIOZ Roméo et Juliette (excerpts)

Monday 23 January 2017, 7.30pm (St John’s Smith Square) STRAVINSKY Scènes de ballet BRUCKNER Symphony no.4

Remaining concerts of the 2016/17 season to be announced

Registered charity No. 1069620