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Home , Ensemble Modern, Harrison Birtwistle, JACK Quartet, Julian Anderson

Thursday 2 June 2016 7.30 pm

Chamber Music Season/ Contemporary Music Series

Supported by the Chamber Music Circle

In honour of André and Rosalie Hoffmann and their outstanding contribution to contemporary music at over the past decade JACK Quartet

Christopher Otto violin • Ari Streisfeld violin John Pickford Richards viola • Kevin McFarland

WIGMORE HALL 115TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATORY CONCERT

Guillaume de Machaut Three pieces (arr. Ari Streisfeld)

John Zorn The Remedy of Fortune (UK première)

Carlo Gesualdo Three Madrigals (arr. Ari Streisfeld)

Caroline Shaw Ritornello 2.sq.2.j (UK première)

Interval

Rodericus Angelorum psalat (arr. Christopher Otto)

Helmut Lachenmann No. 2 ‘Reigen seliger Geister’

COUGHING CAN BE VERY DISTURBING FOR BOTH THE ARTISTS AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE AUDIENCE. PLEASE SUPPRESS ANY COUGHING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. COUGH LOZENGES ARE ON SALE IN THE FOYER OR MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USHERS.

Would patrons please ensure that mobile phones are switched off Please also ensure that watch alarms and other electronic devices which can become audible are switched off. Wigmore Hall is equipped with a ‘Loop’ to help hearing aid users receive clear sound without background noise. Patrons can use this facility by switching their hearing aids over to ‘T’.

PROGRAMME: £4.00

1 A Heartfelt Thank You to André Hoffmann

T is extremely appropriate that tonight we Composers commissioned as part of the scheme in recent thank André Hoffmann. His important and years include: Christopher Trapani, Toshio Hosokawa, enlightened contributions to the success Rolf Wallin, Yann Robin, Julian Anderson, Iain Bell, Dieter I of this Hall have been many over the years, Ammann, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Johannes Schöllhorn, but I would draw attention to one accomplishment in Janis Petraskevics, Bruno Mantovani, Mark-Anthony particular and that is his championing of new music. His Turnage, Simon Holt, , Shulamit Ran, generosity has allowed Wigmore Hall to create the most , Hèctor Parra, , Judith extensive commissioning scheme in Europe for chamber Weir, Anthony Gilbert, Hanna Kulenty, John Musto, music and song and thanks to him Wigmore Hall is now Augusta Read Thomas, Frederic Rzewski, , recognised as an international centre for the most Philippe Manoury, Michael Jarrell, Thomas Larcher, engaging and cutting-edge new chamber music and Jonathan Dove, Pascal Dusapin, Aurélio Edler-Copes, song repertoire being produced in the world today. Leo Chadburn, Egidija Medeks˘aite˙, , Hannes Seidl, Michael Quell, Sean Shepherd, Sir Peter Maxwell Through the Contemporary Music Series as a whole and Davies, , Sally Beamish, Donnacha the commissioning scheme in particular, Wigmore Hall Dennehy, Julian Philips, Péter Eötvös, Bruno Mantovani, has forged long-lasting partnerships and collaborations Paul Newland, Hugues Dufourt, Wolfgang Rihm, Aaron with myriad artists, ensembles and venues. Wigmore Jay Kernis, , Jonathan Dove, Steven Mackey, Hall is also able to support a significant Composer in , , Jörg Widmann, Thierry Residence scheme, which has featured tenures from Pécou, James Clarke, and . Luke Bedford and Julian Anderson. Our new Composer in Residence will be Helen Grime, starting in the Wigmore Hall now regularly promotes major focus days autumn of 2016. exploring the work of the great composers of our time. This season alone there are focuses on Helen Grime, Recent partners involved in the scheme include: WDR Xenakis and Thomas Adès. Previous focus days have Witten, Konzerthaus Vienna, Ensemble intercontemporain, looked at the work of Julian Anderson, Friedrich Cerha, Apartment House, Stanford Lively Arts, Library of Wolfgang Rihm, Brett Dean, Huw Watkins, Judith Weir, Congress, Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, Ensemble Jörg Widmann and Thomas Larcher, among others. Modern, cal Performances, , Musik im Riesen, , CNDM Madrid, IRCAM Paris, The concert tonight, featuring the JACK Quartet, is the Donaueschingen Festival, Cité de la musique, Musica first time Wigmore Hall has celebrated its birthday with Viva, Bozar, Tonhalle Zurich, Ultima Festival Oslo, Festival a contemporary programme. It marks the reach of our de Lanaudière, La Jolla Summerfest, Aspen Festival, Contemporary Music Series, the valuable partnerships we Chamber Music New Zealand, Auditorium du Louvre, have forged with organisations and artists, and celebrates Opéra national de Paris, Philharmonie Berlin, Philharmonie André Hoffmann whose friendship, encouragement and Luxembourg, The Radcliffe Trust, Santa Fe Chamber Music support have made it all possible. We are delighted that Festival, Tokyo City, Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, thanks to him, more and more donors, whether individuals Heidelberger Frühling, Music Accord, Muziekgebouw or organisations, are coming forward to support both aan’t IJ Amsterdam and Suntory Hall Tokyo. commissions and our Contemporary Music Series.

Wigmore Hall now regularly promotes concerts by the Dear André and Rosalie, we are very grateful to you and most highly regarded contemporary music specialists also to all those donors whose generosity and friendship operating in the world today. Artists include the JACK mean so much to us. Together you have helped to ensure Quartet, , Ensemble Modern, Ensemble that creativity, imagination and artistry remain at the intercontemporain, Birmingham Contemporary Music heart of music in performance today. Group, Apartment House, among many others. John Gilhooly

2 A Message From André Hoffmann

EARLY ten years ago now, John and I had lunch together to discuss the Hall’s programme and if I could be of some assistance to him. Rather quickly we zoomed into his interest in new music. N We both agreed that the contemporary music scene was ripe for a new commissioning scheme and spent the rest of the meal fleshing out some ideas which he then translated into a proposal I just could not refuse.

I was very keen to help him for at least two reasons: his proposal was exciting and original and I wanted to build on my family tradition of commissioning new works. Two centuries ago my mother’s family, the Razumovsky, were among Beethoven’s patrons. Closer to us, , my grandfather, was not only a music conductor but also a great musical patron. The Hall has a long-standing tradition of offering a platform to innovative projects, including the performance of rarely heard works and contemporary repertoire. John felt strongly that Wigmore Hall has an obligation to lead the way in encouraging and showcasing new voices so that classical music can continue to evolve. He was looking to work closely with other major international venues to connect with new composers and ensure that their music is given a wider reach. As a result of our meeting of minds, John and I finally decided to launch the commissioning scheme in 2008. My wife Rosalie and I are delighted to be supporting Wigmore Hall’s commissions and look forward to future projects together.

3 Chamber Music Circle

The performance on Thursday 2 June in honour of André and Rosalie Hoffmann and their outstanding contribution to contemporary music at Wigmore Hall has been made possible by the generosity of the Chamber Music Circle.

The members of the Chamber Music Circle collectively provide essential funding for the Chamber Music Season which is one of the most significant of its kind in the world, with over 220 recitals each season. We are grateful to all our donors for their generous support, which is recognised throughout the season at specially selected concerts.

Our thanks go to: Tony and Marion Allen Pauline and Ian Howat Marina Vaizey Karl Otto Bonnier Lord and Lady Lloyd Kathleen Verelst Judy Davies and Kingsley Manning The Marchus Trust ‡ Tony Wingate Margery Gray Jo and Barry Slavin and several anonymous donors The Hargreaves and Ball Trust The Tertis Foundation ‡ Contemporary Music Series Supporters

To join the Chamber Music Circle please contact: Marie-Hélène Osterweil Director of Development Tel: 020 7258 8220 email: [email protected] Photo of the Heath Quartet Benjamin Ealovega by

4 Guillaume de Machaut (c.1300–1377) lines around between repetitions of the melody, allowing every instrument the opportunity to play each line at least Three pieces (arr. Ari Streisfeld) once. This makes for some interesting colours as Rose, liz, printemps, verdure occasionally the cello plays higher than the other Dame, de qui toute ma joie vient instruments. Throughout the other two pieces, in order to highlight certain lines and harmonies, I added gradual Inviolata genitrix timbral shifts from sul tasto (playing on the fingerboard) Guillaume de Machaut composed his songs – both the to sul ponticello (playing near the bridge) to ordinario. In words and the music – according to one or other of the creating these arrangements my goal was not simply to ‘fixed forms’ of his time. Three such forms are exemplified in create modern transcriptions but to provide a contemporary perspective on Machaut’s incredible musical language.’ these arrangements by the JACK Quartet’s Ari Streisfeld, all drawn from the fourteenth-century musician’s relatively few four-part settings.

‘Rose, liz, printemps, verdure’ (‘Rose, lily, springtime, John Zorn (b.1953) greenery’) is a rondeau, a song having a refrain (in this case, of three lines) repeated midway and at the end. The subject, The Remedy of Fortune (2015, UK première) as almost always with Machaut, is love, the beloved being tableau the first – tableau the second – tableau the third – apostrophised as above all the good things listed in the tableau the fourth – tableau the fifth – tableau the sixth opening line (and more besides). The music, a mirror maze, is full of self-similarities, particularly in the upper voices. Zorn describes this work, disclosing its Machaut connection in its title and first performed by the JACK Quartet in New ‘Dame, de qui toute ma joie vient’ (‘Lady, source of all my York a year ago, as a sequence of ‘six tableaux depicting the joy’) is a ballade, contained in the poet-composer’s verse changing fortunes of romantic love: pain, desire, devotion, narrative Le remède de fortune (‘The cure of ill fortune’) as hope, beauty, longing, ecstasy, intoxication, frustration, one of seven songs illustrating the fixed forms. Again there anger and despair’. The tableaux are absorbed in one is repetition, but differently applied. Each stanza, of three, continuous fourteen-minute flow, and they do not separate has the music of the first two lines repeated for the next two, out these phases and possibilities of love, the key word with four further lines set to different but related music. being ‘changing’. It is up to the listener to feel whether an unusually intensive passage is ecstatic, angry or driven by ‘Inviolata genitrix’ (‘Virgin mother’) is a motet, and one of desire, for instance – or to consider any such matching of Machaut’s few sacred pieces other than his Mass. Crunching music to emotion as superfluous in a work that is a constant cadences from (in modern terms) a C sharp minor chord into stream of musical ideas. These are often short solo bursts or one of D minor are characteristic, a prominent one coming duo flights against backgrounds composed of bare fifths. at the end of the first section. The longer second section displays another of Machaut’s delights: isorhythm, i.e. These fifths point to the Machaut source, which is perhaps repetition of a sequence of durations, normally, as here, in nearer the music than any alchemy of love. The medieval the slowest and lowest line or lines, whose pitches come grip tightens towards the middle of the first tableau, when from a piece of plainsong. Such a succession of rhythmic the violins, muted, flautando, play a little canon over a D–A values unfolds three times in the bottom voices (out of drone in the cello with viola harmonic. Both the second synchrony), and then three times at double speed, in most tableau and the third (and the fourth and the fifth) return to respects a hidden anchor to what bounces above, most start from somewhere close to where the first began, with often in long-short-long-short patterns. The point at which repetitions of what is in each case a similar harmony. From the lower parts change gear is, however, marked by the here the third tableau moves on to a modal tune for the upper pair, which start to hocket – that is, fill in each other’s second violin and arrives, after a climax and a pause, at a full gaps, pepping up the polyphony. encounter with the fourteenth-century master. Echoes of older music then continue to filter into the music, or perhaps Ari Streisfeld adds the following comments: to filter out of how it is constructed. The fourth tableau, a Throughout these transcriptions I tried to subtly bring out shade faster, is more turbulent; the fifth, towards its end, different timbres and colours that are associated with folds into a D–A drone over which the second violin spins in contemporary string writing while still remaining faithful almost Vaughan Williamsish consonance. Zorn, however, is a to the music. In ‘Rose, liz, printemps, verdure’ I moved the more impish composer, and never stays anywhere for long.

5 Carlo Gesualdo (1566 –1613) The composer writes:

Three Madrigals (arr. Ari Streisfeld) Sometimes it is the smallest things that return. Again and again, and again. Sometimes repetition enhances Io parto, e non più dissi meaning. Reinforces meaning. Depletes it, warps it. Beltà, poi che t’assenti Envelops it. The simplest words, when repeated aloud, Già piansi nel dolore develop a strangeness that is delightful and chilling at ‘In these arrangements’, to quote Ari Streisfeld again, ‘I use the same time. the Helmholtz-Ellis notation system developed by Marc Sabat Ritornello does not exist in a single, finished form. It’s and to indicate specific tunings in designed intentionally as a general project that could just intonation. When tuning this way, with Gesualdo’s expand and contract like an accordion. It is the most harmonic progressions, you often start to drift further and important thing I am working on right now, and it is the further away from the open strings. Finding the right moment longest thing I have been working on in my life so far. It musically to jump back to where we began is where the will be something that I return to, again and again. interesting musical decisions can take place. Often Gesualdo will have a chromatically descending line with the text There are many different colours and crevices in the speaking of love lost and death. Suddenly the text will take on music itself, but the main material that returns (the a more optimistic tone and the harmonies will become ‘ritornello’) is grounded in just two chords. Recently brighter. Jumping back to where we began intonationally at someone said to me, ‘It’s all V–I, or is it I–IV?’ I’m not sure these points helps us to achieve this bright quality.’ it matters. And I love the ambiguity. It mirrors that other wild binary that I love – the sometimes elusive distinction All three of these madrigals come from the composer’s sixth, between joy and sadness. last and most daring book, published in 1611; Streisfeld puts the words, in English translation, above the parts, to help the musicians orient themselves as he describes. Almost Interval immediately the first piece shows Gesualdo’s extravagance, Refreshments are available from the Restaurant and Bechstein Room. beginning with a chord of E major in close position, then Ice creams are on sale in the foyer. Please check that your phone is turned off, especially if you used it during the interval. stepping outwards with a jolt to D minor to initiate a chromatic melting that goes via B major and then on, with several notes microtonally lowered in this redaction. The second arrange- ment extends the colour range with harmonics, doublings and Rodericus (fl. late fourteenth century) upward octave displacements. Finally, ‘Già piansi nel dolore’ Angelorum psalat (arr. Christopher Otto) clearly instances the oscillation between chromaticism and clarity. As Streisfeld says, Gesualdo responds to the words, This extraordinary piece comes from the Chantilly Codex, which he probably wrote himself, with feverish intensity; these one of the most important sources of polyphonic songs by arrangements, however, allow us to understand his harmonic composers of the generation or two after Machaut, where dives and dashes as having a logic of their own. it is ascribed to a ‘Rodericus’ of whom nothing else is known for sure. Probably he was, like other composers represented in this volume, associated with the papal court at Avignon, where there was a culture of extremely intricate Caroline Shaw (b.1982) songs condemning, as here, corruption in high places. Ritornello 2.sq.2.j (2014, UK première) The piece is a ballade, sharing the AAB form of the First presented in 2012, Ritornello is an ongoing project that Machaut example, but in just two parts. In terms of basic has so far given rise to versions for vocal consort and string pulse, the parts are related in the ratio 9:4, but that is only quartet, with or without an abstract film by the composer. The where the rhythmic sophistication begins. The upper suffix for tonight’s performance indicates that this is a version voice, in particular, is frequently divided into very small for string quartet, abbreviated and without film. So versatile in values and often syncopated; the clear metrical architecture its scoring, and so supremely consonant, the work might well of Machaut is replaced by a bewildering fluidity. seem to belong in the world of Machaut and Rodericus, or of Gesualdo – or even to come from an earlier age – rather than Christopher Otto takes this further in a version that gives be contemporaneous with Lachenmann. And yet it sounds like the original music to the first violin and viola, which play the nothing heard before. opening segment alone, to be joined at the repeat by the

6 second violin and cello respectively, splintering the rhythm JACK Quartet further and bouncing across different registers. Time past is time disintegrating, and being strangely remade. Henrik Olund

Helmut Lachenmann (b.1935)

String Quartet No. 2 ‘Reigen seliger Geister’ (1989)

Lachenmann’s first string quartet, Gran Torso, testified to the excitement – and the wariness – he felt in redefining the ensemble and the genre, at a time (the beginning of the 1970s) when modernist composers were avoiding a form so The award-winning JACK Quartet is one of the most exciting redolent of tradition. Nearly twenty years later, that situation ensembles performing in classical music today. Founded at had very much changed, and Lachenmann was a different the Eastman School of Music and drawing on the letters of composer. He was ready to admit more normal sounds, as their first names (John, Ari, Chris, and Kevin), JACK focuses well as more evident connections with the rhythms, shapes almost solely on new and recent works. It is widely acclaimed and harmonies of other music – even with the titles, in the for its astounding technique, fearless performances, fresh case of this Second Quartet (1989), whose subtitle is the and dynamic programming, and the ability to bring clarity and musicality to the most complex of works. With normal German form for the ‘Dance of the Blessed Spirits’ in performances at concert halls and educational institutions Gluck’s opera (though there is no specific around the world, it brings equal care to works by reference to Gluck’s music). In his attitude of exploring and established, emerging and student composers alike. testing, however, he was still very much the same. JACK Quartet’s programming covers the entire spectrum of A good deal of this Second Quartet, which plays contemporary music, and balances premières, recent new continuously for twenty-five minutes or so, is whisper-thin; works and seminal pieces of the modern canon such as the basic technique, the composer has noted, is a Cage, Ligeti, Nancarrow and Xenakis. Helmut Lachenmann ‘pressureless flautando’, in which ‘notes function more was an early champion of JACK, and he invited it to the like shadows of sound’, bringing us close to the ice-and- Lucerne Festival Academy in 2005. There the Quartet worked ozone sound world of his opera Das Mädchen mit den with and the Ensemble intercontemporain, leading to studies with the and Arditti Schwefelhölzern (The Little Match Girl), which he was soon Quartet, whom the ensemble count as mentors. to begin. As in the opera, too, one may often get the impression that the music is not so much speaking as listening, that it is reporting on and responding to events The Wigmore Hall Trust HRH The Duke of Kent, KG Royal Patron somewhere beyond: crucial events, with which this is our Registered Charity No. 1024838 • www.wigmore-hall.org.uk • John Gilhooly Director only – and therefore invaluable – contact. There is, in other Aubrey Adams Chairman; Tony Allen; Lady Julia Boyd; Mark Hawtin; Sir Ralph Kohn FRS; Dame Felicity Lott; Julia MacRae; Dr Christoph Vogtherr words, a curiously tangible transcendence. At Wigmore Hall our core value is that all staff and visitors must be treated with courtesy and respect. We ask that you treat everybody with respect too. We adopt a zero tolerance approach to anyone who interacts with our staff or with fellow audience members in an intimidating, ‘Following the adventure in my first string quartet Gran Torso aggressive or threatening manner. We are committed to accessibility and we ask that you with extraterritorial ways of playing the instrument’, demonstrate understanding and compassion towards those around you. If you notice anyone who needs assistance, or if you require assistance yourself, an usher will be happy to help you. Lachenmann wrote, ‘here the reappropriation of interval Facilities for Disabled People constellations … so that their realisation will enable the For details contact House Management natural acoustic edges of the produced tones – their timbral articulation, their muting, how they fade, how the vibrating Wigmore Hall is a no smoking venue. No recording or photographic equipment may be taken strings are stopped (for example, also the alteration of the into the auditorium nor used in any other part of the Hall without the prior written permission of the management. Wigmore Hall is equipped with a ‘Loop’ to help hearing aid users receive clear noise component by sliding the bow between the bridge sound without background noise. Patrons can use this facility by switching hearing aids to ‘T’. In accordance with the requirements of City of Westminster persons shall not be permitted to and the fingerboard) – to create, through the dead tone- stand or sit in any of the gangways intersecting the seating, or to sit in any other gangways. If standing is permitted in the gangways at the sides and rear of the seating, it shall be limited structure, a reborn object of experience.’ The blessed spirits, to the number indicated in the notices exhibited in those positions. then, are the normal (i.e. inherited) musical sounds, which here dance again, otherwise.

Paul Griffiths © 2016

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