Britten Sinfonia and Thomas Adès are extremely grateful to Robin Boyle for his generous support of this Beethoven Symphony Cycle recording, in honour of his friendship and admiration for Thomas Adès. Britten Sinfonia Recorded at the Barbican, and the Theatre Royal, Brighton, UK. Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 recorded in the Theatre Royal on 20th May 2017 Thomas Producer: Ian Watson | Engineers: Mike Hatch, Floating Earth Adès Beethoven Symphony No. 3 recorded in the Barbican on 19th May 2017 Producer: Ian Watson | Engineers: Jonathan Stokes, Classic Sound Barry Piano Concerto recorded in the Barbican on 22nd May 2018 Producer: James Mallinson | Engineer: Tony Faulkner (Green Room Productions) Barry Beethoven recorded in the Barbican on 2nd June 2017 Producer: Lindsay Kemp | Assistant Producer: Andrew Friedhoff Remix Engineer: Jonathan Stokes | Post Production/Editing/Mastering: Ian Watson Executive Producer: David Butcher (Britten Sinfonia) All programme notes © Jo Kirkbride Gerald Barry’s Beethoven & Piano Concerto are published by Schott Music Cover Image: Marco Borggreve | Design & Artwork: Marshall Light Studio

2020 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Britten Sinfonia, under licence to Signum Records.

© 2020 The copyright in this CD booklet and design is owned by Signum Records. Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording of Signum Compact Discs constitutes an infringement of copyright and will render the infringer liable to an action by law. Licences for public performances or broadcasting may be obtained from Phonographic Performance Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this booklet may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Signum Records Ltd. Signum Records, Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road, Perivale, Middlesex UB6 7LQ, UK. +44 (0) 20 8997 4000 | [email protected] | www.signumrecords.com BEETHOVEN Symphonies Nos. 1–3 BARRY Beethoven Piano Concerto Britten Sinfonia

Thomas CD1 CD2 Adès Conductor Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Nicolas Op. 55 ‘Eroica’ LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 1 I. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio 8.52 Hodges 1 I. Allegro con brio 15.27 2 II. Andante cantabile con moto 6.56 Piano 3 III. Menuetto. Allegro molto e vivace 3.54 2 II. Marcia funebre. Adagio assai 13.42 4 IV. Finale. Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace 5.17 3 III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace 5.40 Mark 4 IV. Finale. Allegro molto 10.18 Stone Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Baritone 5 Piano Concerto GERALD BARRY 22.41 5 I. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio 11.45 6 II. Larghetto 9.56 Total timing 67.48 7 III. Scherzo. Allegro 3.56 8 IV. Allegro molto 6.08

9 Beethoven GERALD BARRY 17.35

Total timing 74.21 www.signumrecords.com

I. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio Viennese classical tradition. The reception and Beethovenian around almost every II. Andante cantabile con moto at the symphony’s premiere was warm corner. Most notoriously, the symphony III. Menuetto. Allegro molto e vivace but not without criticism. A critic for the opens not with a stable tonic chord with IV. Finale. Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace influentialAllgemeine Musikalische Zeitung which to set the foundations but with a wrote the next day of the symphony’s dominant seventh – what’s more, it is in What an extraordinary journey Beethoven’s nine symphonies outline. ‘considerable art, novelty and wealth of the ‘wrong key’ of F major. We have to Which other composer can claim to have taken such monumental ideas’, but added that it was flawed by ‘the wait until the onset of the Allegro proper leaps over a period of just 24 years and nine symphonic works? excessive use of wind instruments, so that before our home key is firmly established. Between his First Symphony and his Ninth, Beethoven bids farewell to there was more Harmonie than orchestral And then there is the wind writing that the classical era and ushers in the age of romanticism, he alters the long- music as a whole’. By 1806, perceptions so troubled the AMZ reviewer, colouring held form and harmonic framework of the symphony, and in his Ninth had shifted and a prominent Viennese the symphony to striking effect and he does the unthinkable – he introduces the voice to an instrumental critic declared the work ‘a masterpiece’ often used in stark antiphony with the work. These features of Beethoven’s writing are now well-known and one that ‘can justly be placed next to strings. The finale has a tentative slow accepted. We have lived with Beethoven’s symphonies for so long now Mozart’s and Haydn’s.’ introduction, uncommon in the classical that it is easy to be complacent about their radicalism. But listen to the era and one that sets us off on the wrong In many respects, the symphony First and Ninth symphonies side-by-side and you would struggle to foot again – is this to be a slow and sits happily alongside the works of believe that they were written by the same composer. Their differences sombre final movement? But as this tiny Beethoven’s predecessors. Its form, are earth-shattering. introduction unfurls into the spirited first scoring, thematicism – all of these features theme, it reveals itself as just one of many Beethoven began work on his First Symphony in earnest in 1799 and are essentially classical but... not quite. Beethovenian jokes in this action-packed it received its premiere in Vienna in 1800 – there could hardly be a The scurrying opening theme in the first finale. The message from Beethoven in more fitting turn-of-the-century work. It was performed alongside movement might have been written by

Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 (1800) the first of his symphonies is loud and his Septet for wind instruments, his Piano Concerto No. 2 and – in a Mozart on a particularly playful day, the clear: here are my wares, now just wait significant nod to his predecessors – an excerpt from Haydn’s oratorio, just-too-fast Menuetto that is a scherzo in until you hear what I can do with them. The Creation, and a symphony by Mozart. Beethoven’s intentions were all but name could be the work of Haydn clear: he intended to stake his claim as the rightful successor to the but... not quite. There is something sly LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN VAN LUDWIG I. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio and embrace whatever the future might and close the movement brightly in II. Larghetto hold for him: ‘Patience, they say, is what the dominant key of A major. After the III. Scherzo. Allegro I must now choose for my guide, and I cheerful Scherzo, full of vivid dynamic IV. Allegro molto have done so. I hope my determination contrasts and elegant solo woodwind will remain firm to endure until it pleases writing, the Finale drives the symphony By 1796, Beethoven was beginning to lose his hearing. Rather than a the inexorable Parcae to break the thread. towards a dazzling conclusion. Energy gradually diminishing ability to perceive sound, Beethoven was plagued by Perhaps I shall get better, perhaps not; I is drawn from the quirky opening an intense form of tinnitus, in which a loud ringing in his ears obscured all am ready.’ offbeat figure, which underpins most external sounds. Over time, this malady worsened and began to manifest itself of the thematic work of the movement, The Second Symphony encapsulates as deafness, and although the effects were erratic and varied from day to day, eventually leading to a drawn-out coda this spirit of defiance and determination Beethoven was left with almost no hearing at all by 1816. of some 150 bars. It was this prolonged – even the traditional courtly Minuet is conclusion that prompted one critic at In 1802, while staying in the small village of Heiligenstadt and working on replaced with a fervent Scherzo, giving the opening performance to describe his Second Symphony, Beethoven determined to come to terms with his the work a perpetual sense of energetic the movement as ‘a hideously writhing, deafness. Setting down his thoughts in a letter to his brothers, now known as propulsion. This feeling of purpose is wounded dragon that refuses to die’, the ‘Heiligenstadt Testament’, he outlined his difficulties in dealing with such announced in the very opening bars, though many may prefer to interpret an affliction: ‘For six years now I have been hopelessly afflicted, made worse with bold forte chords that set the it as evidence of Beethoven’s fiery and by senseless physicians, from year to year deceived with hopes of improvement, tone, and lead the way to a sunny first determined spirit. finally compelled to face the prospect of a lasting malady (whose cure will theme. Although there are overtones take years or, perhaps, be impossible)... My misfortune is doubly painful to me of melancholy at times in the Larghetto, because I am bound to be misunderstood; for me there can be no relaxation these are largely swept away by an with my fellow men, no refined conversations, no mutual exchange of ideas. overarching sense of calm and optimism. I must live almost alone, like one who has been banished; I can mix with The defiant opening chords of the

Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 (1801-2) society only as much as true necessity demands. If I approach near to people symphony make a return at the end of a hot terror seizes upon me, and I fear being exposed to the danger that my this slow movement, bursting through condition might be noticed.’ Ultimately, however, he resolved to have patience to usher away the minor key excursions

I. Allegro con brio a complete new theme, and the wait for symphony to Napoleon, whose life and II. Marcia funebre. Adagio assai the return of the opening subject is so legacy is described over the course of its III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace drawn out that one of the horns quietly four movements: from the grand ambition IV. Finale. Allegro molto pre-empts its re-entry, four bars too early, and heroic struggles of the Allegro, as though they can wait no longer. Then through the projection of his death in the In 1802, Beethoven sent his publishers some new material for solo piano there is the matter of the elusive C sharp funereal Adagio, to the buoyant Scherzo along with an accompanying note: in it, he declared that this was music at the end of the first theme, swerving and celebratory finale, which together composed in ‘a new manner’. The parcel contained two new variation sets, the tonality off course before it has even sound a note of hope for change, the one of which was the Variations and Fugue for piano, Op. 35, now better been properly established. Where did brilliant new aftermath of the revolution. known as the ‘Eroica’ variations – while they predate his symphony of the it spring from, then, this ‘new manner’? As it was, however, Beethoven withdrew same name, they share both the key and theme of the symphony’s finale. What separates the Second Symphony the dedication before publication upon This was the year after his Second Symphony and Beethoven’s thoughts from the Third? It is all-too-tempting hearing that Napoleon had declared

Op. 55 ‘Eroica’ (1803-4) were already turning to his Third. There is no getting away from it – to look at the date of the symphony’s himself Emperor, revising his opinion of a Beethoven’s Third Symphony marks a significant turning point, not just composition, just a year after Beethoven man he had idolised to a ‘tyrant’, no more for his symphonic composition but for his style as a whole, and even for penned his Heiligenstadt Testament and than a ‘common mortal’. It was published the language and history of western classical music. In its unprecedented set out his determination to confront his in 1806 simply as the ‘Symphony Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, length, technical demands and sweeping aesthetic ideals, it far exceeded deafness, resolving to ‘remain firm and Eroica... composed to celebrate the any symphony ever composed before. With his first two symphonies endure’. The defiance of the ‘Eroica’, the memory of a great man’. And it is, truly, Beethoven had challenged the public, pushing the boundaries of form and weightiness of its themes, the grandeur a heroic symphony. From the jolt of the harmony while developing strands first glimpsed in the works of Haydn of its huge symphonic arch, fit so neatly opening chords to the clamour of the and Mozart, but the ambition of the ‘Eroica’ symphony is something with this renewed sense of purpose that finale, with its furious strings and vibrant else. The first movement alone is double the length of any composed by it is difficult to disentangle the two. But brass fanfares, it is a celebration of the Mozart, and places a new emphasis on the importance of the development Beethoven gave away little about the symphony as much as it is the story of section: this is a symphony that aims to leave no thematic stone unturned, music’s relation to his own personal any man’s personal journey. no tonal progressions untapped. The development is so long that it includes state of mind. Instead, he dedicated the

To give a work a title as bold as Beethoven suggests a form of adulation, through to the music, which is a far cry without any musical signs of the agony of an attempt to follow on Beethoven’s legacy nearly two centuries from the late classicism of Beethoven’s his predicament. Later, Beethoven changes after his death, but don’t be fooled. Gerald Barry is not your average Vienna. Barry’s music is highly tack to describe his long and arduous composer. Barry grew up in County Clare in Ireland and went on to contemporary, hard-edged and flies journey to Teplitz (from where he writes), study with Stockhausen and Kagel in Cologne, from whom he learned between extremes. It is also stubbornly describing in detail the various logistics to explore and revel in his long-held desire for flouting conventions. defiant (perhaps there are similarities overcome. Here, Barry too alters the ‘Barry is always sober, but might as well always be drunk’, Kagel later with Beethoven here after all), so that mood, though here he grants far more

Beethoven (2008) said of his pupil. This is not to be dismissive of Barry’s music – quite the where we expect softness we are met anguish and chromaticism to the details reverse: Barry’s contrariness is precisely what makes it so unique and with a barrage of noise, where we expect of the horses, the coach breakdown and so compelling. Having grown up in rural Ireland, with no immediate melancholy we hear seemingly ill-placed their muddy route than that afforded access to the concert hall, Barry attributes his wide-ranging influences comedy. For Barry, this is all about laying to Beethoven’s words of desperate love to the radio, where the great classics were played alongside the banal bare the conventions and mechanics of and longing. But if Barry’s setting seems and Barry was too young to recognise the difference. As a result, there composition, and drawing the listener’s to lack empathy, this detachment also are no borders in Barry’s music, no ‘no go’ areas; his music careers attention to gap between the two. As makes Beethoven’s words somehow between the sublime and the ridiculous with carefree abandon. the letter opens, Beethoven’s tone is more real. This is not music to idolise sombre: ‘My angel, my all, my own self. and romanticise Beethoven, but music Beethoven was composed for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group Only a few words today... what a useless to humanise him, to capture the plain

GERALD BARRY in 2008 and even its premise demonstrates Barry’s disregard for the waste of time, why this deep sorrow?’ and ugly reality of life made all the more rules. Composed for bass soloist and orchestral ensemble, Beethoven is but Barry’s music is almost comically truthful through its banality. a setting, a mini-opera perhaps, of Beethoven’s infamous letter to his jaunty. In the soloist’s voice we hear anger ‘Immortal Beloved’, a passionate outpouring of love and regret to an Libretto and resentment but the accompaniment unnamed woman, in which Beethoven laments the fact that ‘you are marches forwards regardless, seemingly not entirely mine, and I am not entirely yours’. In Barry’s setting, the July 6, in the morning indifferent to his melancholy. ‘Can our bass soloist narrates Beethoven’s letter, word for word, in an English My angel, my all, my very self – Only a few love endure except through sacrifices?’ translation by Anderson. But while the bass voice could very well words today and at that with pencil (with Beethoven asks, almost matter-of-factly, be Beethoven’s, Barry makes no attempt to carry this verisimilitude yours) – Not till tomorrow will my lodgings be definitely determined upon – what a useless as I always do when I successfully overcome want to deserve as I deserve it – Humility of else can ever possess my heart – never – never waste of time – Why this deep sorrow when difficulties – Now a quick change to things man towards man – it pains me – and when – Oh God, why must one be parted from one necessity speaks – can our love endure except internal from things external. We shall surely I consider myself in relation to the universe, whom one so loves. And yet my life in Vienna through sacrifices, through not demanding see each other soon; moreover, today I cannot what am I and what is He – whom we call is now a wretched life – Your love makes me at everything from one another; can you change share with you the thoughts I have had during the greatest – and yet – herein lies the divine once the happiest and the unhappiest of men the fact that you are not wholly mine, I not these last few days touching my own life – If in man – I weep when I reflect that you will – At my age I need a steady, quiet life – can wholly thine – Oh God, look out into the our hearts were always close together, I would probably not receive the first report from me that be so in our connection? My angel, I have beauties of nature and comfort your heart have none of these. My heart is full of so many until Saturday – Much as you love me – I love just been told that the mail-coach goes every with that which must be – Love demands things to say to you – ah – there are moments you more – But do not ever conceal yourself day – therefore I must close at once so that you everything and that very justly – thus it is to when I feel that speech amounts to nothing from me – good night – As I am taking the may receive the letter at once – Be calm, only me with you, and to you with me. But you at all – Cheer up – remain my true, my only baths I must go to bed – Oh God – so near! by a calm consideration of our existence can forget so easily that I must live for me and for treasure, my all as I am yours. The gods must so far! Is not our love truly a heavenly structure, we achieve our purpose to live together – Be you; if we were wholly united you would feel send us the rest, what for us must and shall be and also as firm as the vault of heaven? calm – love me – today – yesterday – what the pain of it as little as I – My journey was a -Your faithful Ludwig tearful longings for you – you – you – my fearful one; I did not reach here until 4 o’clock Good morning, on July 7 life – my all – farewell. – Oh continue to love yesterday morning. Lacking horses the post- Evening, Monday, July 6 Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to me – never misjudge the most faithful heart of coach chose another route, but what an awful You are suffering, my dearest creature – only you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then your beloved. one; at the stage before the last I was warned now have I learned that letters must be posted joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or Ever thine not to travel at night; I was made fearful of a very early in the morning on Mondays- not fate will hear us – I can live only wholly ever mine forest, but that only made me the more eager Thursdays – the only days on which the with you or not at all – Yes, I am resolved to ever ours Ludwig – and I was wrong. The coach must needs mail-coach goes from here to Karlsbad – You wander so long away from you until I can fly break down on the wretched road, a bottomless are suffering – Ah, wherever I am you are to your arms and say that I am really at home Translated by Emily Anderson, from mud road. Without such postilions as I had with me – I will arrange it with you and me with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in 'The Letters of Beethoven', © 1961 with me I should have remained stuck in the that I can live with you. What a life!!! thus!!! you into the land of spirits – Yes, unhappily it Palgrave Macmillan Scholarly. road. Esterhazy, traveling the usual road here, without you – pursued by the goodness of must be so – You will be the more contained Reproduced with permission of the had the same fate with eight horses that I had mankind hither and thither – which I as little since you know my fidelity to you. No one Licensor through PLSclear. with four – Yet I got some pleasure out of it, When it was co-commissioned by the Barry’s mind; for him, the work orchestra posits itself as the opposition. Bayerischer Rundfunk and City of is more akin to a ‘play or opera’. Throughout the whole concerto, the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in two barely play together at all. Instead, If it is a piece of theatre, rather 2012, Barry’s Piano Concerto was his as in so much of Barry’s music, the than a concerto, than there first work to bear the title ‘concerto’. score is carved into blocks, the soloist are only really two characters In anyone else’s hands the genre and orchestra butting up against one here: soloist and orchestra. In might have led to certain expectations: another in bold vertical lines. It is a that sense, at least, the work virtuosity, showmanship and lyrical conversation, but an abrasive one, the has its roots in tradition. But splendour, perhaps. But Barry is not piano interjecting dense chromatic this is not a concerto cast in known for following convention and, clusters in each of the orchestra’s black and white. Rather, Barry true to form, his Piano Concerto is not Piano Concerto (2012) rests, the orchestra responding with offers up a recourse to the a conventional concerto. There are the terse, unrelenting insistence. As all antiphonal exchanges of the wind machines, for a start. Two giant arguments must, this one reaches a crisis Baroque concerto, refracted wind machines – the kind you might point too, with orchestra and soloist and reinterpreted through his find on a film set – that make up two (and an orchestral piano, too, just for own unforgiving and rather thirds of the percussion section and good measure) coming together for a brutalist lens. There is plenty which, apparently, require amplification cacophonous ‘Storm’ episode towards of colour here but instead of to reach the deafening clamour that the concerto’s end. It is a blistering the sweeping brushstrokes of Barry’s music demands. Then there moment, over almost as quickly as it romanticism, the lines blurred is the work’s form which, defying began, the full force of the orchestra and muddied, Barry gives us an tradition once more, rejects the idea unleashed and then spent, the conflict unforgiving cubist landscape, of a multi-movement work in favour seemingly still unresolved. clean-cut and unwavering. And of one giant, sprawling movement: rather than establishing itself no gaps, no delineations, no cadenzas. Notes © Jo Kirkbride as a three-dimensional web of Neither is it even really a concerto in support around the soloist, the Britten Sinfonia

In 1992, Britten Sinfonia was established by their rich diversity of influences London’s Wigmore Hall and appears between minimalist composer Steve as a bold reimagining of the conventional and artistic collaborators; and always regularly at major UK festivals including Reich and visual artist Gerhard Richter image of an orchestra. A flexible underpinned by a commitment to the Aldeburgh, Brighton, Norfolk and in a new work that was premiered in ensemble comprising the UK’s leading uncompromising quality, whether the Norwich Festivals and the BBC Proms. October 2019. soloists and chamber musicians came orchestra is performing in New York’s The orchestra has performed a live Outside the concert hall, Britten together with a unique vision: to collapse Lincoln Center or in Lincolnshire’s broadcast to more than a million people Sinfonia musicians work on creative the boundaries between old and new Crowland Abbey. Britten Sinfonia worldwide from the Sistine Chapel, and therapeutic projects with pre- music; to collaborate with composers, musicians are deeply rooted in the regularly tours internationally including school children, teenagers, young conductors and guest artists across the communities with which they work, to the US, South America, Asia and carers, people suffering from dementia, arts, focussing on the musicians rather with an underlying philosophy of finding extensively in Europe. It is a BBC Radio life-time prisoners and older people at than following the vision of a principal ways to reach even the most excluded 3 Broadcast Partner and has award- risk of isolation. The orchestra’s OPUS conductor; and to create involving, individuals and groups. winning recordings on the Hyperion and competition offers unpublished composers intelligent music events that both Harmonia Mundi labels. Today Britten Sinfonia is heralded as the chance to receive a professional audiences and performers experience one of the world’s leading ensembles Recent and current collaborators commission and unearths new, original with an unusual intensity. and its philosophy of adventure include Keaton Henson, dancer/ and exciting UK compositional talent. The orchestra is named after Benjamin and reinvention has inspired a new choreographer Pam Tanowitz and theatre Members of Britten Sinfonia Academy, Britten, in part a homage to its chosen movement of emerging chamber groups. director Ivo van Hove, with commissions the orchestra’s youth chamber ensemble home of the East of England, where It is an Associate Ensemble at London’s from Thomas Adès, Gerald Barry, for talented young performers, have Britten’s roots were also strong. But Barbican, Resident Orchestra at Saffron Shiva Freshareki, Emily Howard, Brad performed in museums, improvised with Britten Sinfonia also embodies its Hall in Essex and has residencies in Mehldau and Mark-Anthony Turnage. laptop artists, led family workshops and namesake’s ethos. Its projects are Norwich and Cambridge. It performs The orchestra was a commissioning appeared at Latitude Festival. illuminating and distinctive, characterised an annual chamber music series at partner in a ground-breaking partnership Thomas Adès

Thomas Adès was born in London in a 10-year relationship with Aldeburgh Adès has given solo piano recitals at 1971. He studied the piano with Paul Festival as artistic director. In 2016 he Carnegie Hall, New York and the Berkowitz at the Guildhall School, became an Artistic Partner of the Boston Wigmore Hall and the Barbican in winning the Lutine Prize for piano, Symphony Orchestra and has conducted London, and appeared as a soloist before continuing his studies at King’s the orchestra in Boston, at Carnegie with the New York Philharmonic. He and St John’s Colleges, Cambridge. Hall in New York and at Tanglewood. has performed Schubert’s Winterreise He coaches piano and chamber music extensively throughout Europe with His early compositions include Living © Chris Christodoulou Toy s (London Sinfonietta), Arcadiana annually at the International Musicians Ian Bostridge and in 2018 recorded it at (the Endellion Quartet) and his first Seminar, Prussia Cove. the Wigmore Hall. In 2018, following a recital of Janácˇek's music at the Reduta Opera recording (2014 Grammy Awards) opera Powder Her Face (1995), which has As a conductor, Thomas appears and Music DVD Recording of the been performed many times around the regularly with the Los Angeles, San Theatre in Brno, Janácˇek’s home town, he was awarded the Leoš Janácˇek prize. Year (2014 ECHO Klassik Awards); and world. Orchestral commissions include Francisco and London Philharmonic The Exterminating Angel won the World Asyla and America: A Prophecy, the tone orchestras, the Boston, London and His many awards including the Premiere of the Year at the International poem Tevot and concertos for violin and City of Birmingham Symphony Grawemeyer Award for Asyla (1999); Opera Awards (2017). In 2015 he piano. His Opera The Tempest received orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw, Royal Philharmonic Society large-scale was awarded the prestigious Léonie its premiere at the Royal Opera House Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Czech composition awards for Asyla, The Tempest Sonning Music Prize in Copenhagen in 2004 and in 2016 The Exterminating Philharmonic. In opera, in addition to and Tevot. His CD recording of The and in Spring 2020 the Toru Takemitsu Angel premiered at the Salzburg Festival The Exterminating Angel, he has conducted Tempest (EMI) won the Contemporary composition award at Tokyo Opera City. followed by performances at the Royal The Rake’s Progress at the Royal Opera category of the 2010 Gramophone Opera House and the Metropolitan House and the Zürich Opera, and The Awards; his DVD of the production from Opera in New York, all under the baton Tempest at the Metropolitan Opera and the Metropolitan Opera was awarded the of the composer. In 1999 Adès started Vienna State Opera. Diapason d’Or de l’année (2013), Best Nicolas Hodges

An active and ever-growing repertoire Carter, , Francisco Coll, Hodges has established successful that encompasses such composers as Hugues Dufourt, Pascal Dusapin, Beat relationships with many of today’s leading Beethoven, Berg, Brahms, Debussy, Furrer, Isabel Mundry, Brice Pauset, orchestras and ensembles, and engagements Schubert and Stravinsky reinforces pianist Wolfgang Rihm and Miroslav Srnka. include regular performances with Nicolas Hodges’ superior prowess in Recent performance highlights for orchestras such as the BBC Symphony, contemporary music. As Tempo magazine Nicolas Hodges have included the Boston Symphony, City of Birmingham has written: “Hodges is a refreshing artist; premiere of Simon Steen-Andersen’s Symphony Orchestra, hr-Sinfonieorchester he plays the classics as if they were written award-winning Piano Concerto, Frankfurt, London Philharmonic, Los © Eric Richmond yesterday, and what was written yesterday performed with Francois-Xavier Roth Angeles Philharmonic, Melbourne as if it were already a classic.” and the SWR Symphony Orchestra Symphony, MET Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique includes Thomas Adès’ piano concerto In Nicolas Hodges’ virtuosity and innate Freiburg Baden-Baden as part of the Seven Days, with the London Sinfonietta musicianship give him an assured Donaueschingen Festival in 2014, as well de Luxembourg, Philharmonia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Thomas Adès (Signum Classics); two command over the most strenuous as the world premiere of Variations from discs of works by ; technical complexities, making him the Golden Mountains by Sir Harrison Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, St Louis Symphony, Sydney and a live recording of Luca Francesconi’s a firm favourite among many of Birtwistle at London’s Wigmore Hall. piano concerto with the Orquestra today’s most prestigious contemporary Hodges also recently gave the world Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and WDR Sinfónica Casa da Musica. On the composers. Collaborating closely premiere of Gerald Barry’s Piano Wergo label, Hodges has recorded Voces with such contrasting figures as John Concerto, with the Bavarian Radio Sinfonieorchester Cologne, and ensembles such as ASKO/Schoenberg, Amsterdam, Abandonadas, comprising works by Walter Adams, Helmut Lachenmann and the Symphony Orchestra and Peter Rundel, Zimmermann; a disc of works by Brice late Karlheinz Stockhausen has been and the UK premiere with the City Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Contrechamps Geneva, International Pauset entitled Canons for solo piano; central to Hodges’ career, and many of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Songs and Poems, which includes of the world’s most revered composers and Thomas Adès in Birmingham, Contemporary Ensemble New York and the Remix Ensemble, Porto. repertoire by Hans Thomalla, Walter have dedicated works to him, including followed by a repeat performance at the Zimmermann and Wolfgang Rihm with Thomas Adès, Gerald Barry, Elliott Aldeburgh Festival. Nicolas Hodges’ varied discography . Mark Stone Gerald Barry

Baritone Mark Stone was born in London and studied “The world now has something rare: orchestra, and Hard D (1995) for the Mathematics at King’s College, Cambridge, and singing a new genuinely comic opera and maybe Orkest de Volharding. His orchestral at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 1998 the most inventive Oscar Wilde opera since work, No other people, was presented at he was awarded the Decca Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Richard Strauss' Salome more than a century the 2013 Proms with the BBC Scottish Awards. Recent operatic engagements include his first ago.” The Los Angeles Times on The Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov. foray into Wagner roles in the 2018/19 season with Importance of Being Earnest (2012) Canada (2017), a short work for voice and orchestra, was commissioned by acclaimed role debuts as Gunther (Götterdämmerung) at the © Gerard Collet Gerald Barry was born in Clarehill, Grand Théâtre de Genève and Alberich (Das Rheingold) Clarecastle, County Clare, Ireland, in BBC Radio 3 and premiered by the at the Longborough Festival. He also sang Papageno 1952, and studied with Stockhausen CBSO, tenor Allan Clayton under Mirga (Die Zauberflöte) with the Welsh National Opera and at Valencia Palau de les Arts; and Kagel. His early music from 1979 Gražinyt-Tyla at the BBC Proms 2017. Balstrode (Peter Grimes) at Queensland Opera; the King (Lessons in Love and Violence) included “ ” for ensemble, Barry's Piano Concerto (2012), written at the Mariisnky Theatre and returned to Philadelphia Opera for Protector in of which Kagel wrote: 'Gerald Barry for Nicolas Hodges and co-commissioned Benjamin’s Written on Skin. is always sober, but might as well always be by Musica Viva and City of Birmingham In 2019/20 he sings the White Knight in Alice’s Adventures Underground for the Royal drunk. His piece “ ” is, on the Symphony Orchestra, was premiered Opera House; the title role in Nixon in China for the Hannover Staatsoper; Marcello contrary, not rectilineal, but ' '. in Munich in 2013 under Peter Rundel (La Bohème) for the Copenhagen Opera Festival and his first Wotan Die( Walküre) in Also from 1979 is Ø for two pianos in with subsequent performances by the Trondheim. 2019/20 concerts include Totentanz with the Finnish Radio Orchestra which both pianos play identical music CBSO under Thomas Adès. and Thomas Adès; Brahms’ Requiem with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra simultaneously. His first opera The Intelligence Park, and Daniel Harding and Elijah for the Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife. Barry has received a number of released as a recording on NMC, commissions from the BBC including was commissioned by the ICA and He is a keen recitalist and has sung in New York at Carnegie’s Weill Hall; at Wigmore Chevaux-de-frise, for the 1988 Proms, first performed at the 1990 Almeida Hall and St John’s Smith Square in London; and at the Canterbury, Buxton and The Conquest of Ireland (1996), Day Festival. A new production opened Oxford Lieder festivals. A prolific recording artist, his most recent discs –Quilter Songs (2005/14) for the BBC Symphony at Covent Garden in September 2019. (Sony BMG), English Love, The Complete Butterworth Songbook and The Complete Delius Orchestra, The Eternal Recurrence (2000), A second opera, The Triumph of Beauty Songbook (Stone Records) – have all received widespread critical acclaim. a setting of Nietzsche for voice and and Deceit (1991), written for Channel 4 Television, opened the 2002 Aldeburgh Orchestral Players Festival, followed by performances in London and the Berliner Festwochen conducted by Thomas Adés. A new CD1 Beethoven Symphonies 1 & 2 / Gerald Barry Beethoven staging took place in 2013 at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. Violin I Violas Alto Flute Caroline O’Connell Thomas Gould Clare Finnimore Sarah O’Flynn Mark Bennett The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (2001–4) © Betty Freeman Róisín Walters Lisanne Melchior was staged at English National Opera Oboes Trumpets Katherine Shave Bridget Carey in 2005 and at Theater Basel in 2008 Peter Facer Paul Archibald in London and given a US premiere Martin Gwilym- Rachel Byrt directed by Richard Jones. A recording Emma Feilding Shane Brennan at Lincoln Center with the New York Jones has been released on the discovery Clifton Harrison Philharmonic and Ilan Volkov) and Cecily Ward Cor Anglais Bass Trombone label. La Plus Forte (2007), a one-act Francis Gallagher by Northern Ireland Opera. Earnest Jenny Brittlebank Paul Lambert opera, was commissioned by Radio Michael Jones Cellos received a 2013 RPS Award for Large- Clarinets Timpani France for the 2007 Festival Présences. Elizabeth Wexler Scale Composition and the recording, Caroline Dearnley It was premiered by Barbara Hannigan in Florence Cooke Joy Farrall William Lockhart released on NMC, was nominated Ben Chappell Paris. Barry created an English version of Eleanor Stanford Stephen Williams Piano for a 2016 Grammy Award. A new Julia Vohralik the work for the Royal Concertgebouw Rachel Stroud Bass Clarinet Philip Moore production by the Nouvel Opéra Chris Allan Orchestra and Thomas Adès. Fribourg opened in Fribourg and Paris Violin II Alessandro Stephen Williams Barry’s fifth opera, The Importance of in May 2019. Most recent among Miranda Dale Sanguineti Bassoons Being Earnest (2009–10), was jointly his operas is Alice’s Adventures Under Nicola Goldscheider Double Basses Sarah Burnett Italicised names denote performers for Barry’s commissioned by the LA Philharmonic Ground (2014-15), premiered in concert Alexandra Caldon Roger Linley Connie Tanner and the Barbican in London and Beethoven in November 2016 with Thomas Judith Stowe Benjamin Scott- Contrabassoon received its world premiere staging Adès conducting the LA Phil New Suzanne Loze Russell at Opéra national de Lorraine, Nancy Claire Webster Music Group and Barbara Hannigan Jo Godden David Johnson in 2013. The opera has received a in the title role. The world premiere Joanna Watts Horns Flutes number of new productions notably staging was given at Covent Garden Sally Fenton Martin Owen including at the Royal Opera House, in February 2020 in a production by Emer McDonough Philippa Slack Covent Garden in 2013 (since revived Antony McDonald. Lindsey Ellis CD2 Beethoven Symphony No. 3 CD2 Gerald Barry Piano Concerto Violin I Violas Oboes Violin I Bridget Carey Alto Flute Marcus Bates Jacqueline Shave Clare Finnimore Peter Facer Thomas Gould Rachel Byrt Lindsey Ellis Kirsty Howe Róisín Walters Lisanne Melchior Emma Feilding Clare Thompson Lisanne Melchior Oboes Trumpets Katherine Shave Bridget Carey Clarinets Martin Gwilym- Meghan Cassidy Melanie Rothman Paul Archibald Martin Gwilym-Jones Rachel Byrt Joy Farrall Jones Cellos Ruth Berresford Shane Brennan Cecily Ward Clifton Harrison Katherine Shave Stephen Williams Caroline Dearnley Cor Anglais Bruce Nockles Michael Jones Francis Gallagher Fiona McCapra Bassoons Juliet Welchman Ilid Jones Trombones Elizabeth Wexler Cellos Ruth Ehrlich Julia Vohralik Sarah Burnett Clarinets Michael Buchanan Florence Cooke Caroline Dearnley Beatrix Lovejoy Reinoud Ford Connie Tanner Joy Farrall Matthew Lewis Eleanor Stanford Ben Chappell Michael Jones Chris Allan Horns Stephen Williams Bass Trombone Rachel Stroud Julia Vohralik Elizabeth Wexler Martin Owen Double Basses Barry Clements Violin II Chris Allan Cecily Ward Bass Clarinet Philippa Slack Benjamin Scott- Miranda Dale Alessandro Sanguineti Violin II Oliver Pashley Tuba Andrew Littlemore Russell Nicola Goldscheider Miranda Dale Bassoons Sam Elliott Double Basses Caroline O’Connell Elena Hull Alexandra Caldon Roger Linley Nicola Melissa Favell- Sarah Burnett Percussion Trumpets Goldscheider Judith Stowe Benjamin Scott-Russell Wright Lawrence Toby Kearney Paul Archibald Marcus Broome Suzanne Loze David Johnson Flutes O’Donnell Sam Walton Shane Brennan Judith Stowe Jo Godden Harry Winstanley Gordon Laing Tim Gunnell Flutes Suzanne Loze Joanna Watts Timpani Sarah O’Flynn Contrabassoon Piano Emer McDonough Bridget Davey Sally Fenton William Lockhart Lindsey Ellis Gordon Laing Catherine Edwards Lindsey Ellis Kirsty Lovie Joanna Watts Piccolos Horns Sarah O’Flynn Alex Wide Violas Lindsey Ellis David McQueen Nicholas Bootiman Luba Tunnicliffe