About the Orchestra

Sinfonia Viva is a virtuoso ensemble delivering original and extraordinary creative musical experiences. Founded in 1982, Sinfonia Viva has a national reputation as a leader in creative music activity in the UK. Its work offers relevant and enriching possibilities for all.

Sinfonia Viva: in association with

 Embraces new opportunities and ways of working whilst nurturing the Orchestras Live best of existing practice, making music accessible to the widest audience presents  Connects participants, communities and professional musicians through shared creative activities and performances

 Creates exciting and imaginative performance experiences for audiences and participants

 Collaborates with partners to devise, develop and deliver original Sinfonia Viva musical opportunities

 Is an ambassador for music making with Guy Johnson The Orchestra has toured to Ireland and Berlin, has broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and has been part of a project for Granada Television. The Orchestra made its London debut as part of an Indian music festival in London’s Kings Place, building on its partnership with top Indian classical violinist Kala Derby Assembly Rooms Ramnath. One of the Orchestra’s tracks on the Gorillaz’ album Plastic Beach was nominated for a nd Grammy award. The Orchestra has hosted the Association of British Orchestras’ national conference. Wednesday 2 April 2014, 7.30pm It took part in the BBC Radio 3 co-ordinated Music Nation week-end which was a countdown event to the London 2012 Festival and the performance was also broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The Orchestra was the local content producer for the Olympic Torch Evening Celebration event in June 2012 in Derby.

Sinfonia Viva prides itself on its project development activity and partnership working, often bringing together musicians from other musical styles, genres and traditions. It also has extensive experience in event management activity and delivery.

Sinfonia Viva is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council and receives funding from Derby City Council.

Feedback on any Sinfonia Viva event is welcome via the contact details below.

Sinfonia Viva, Beaufort Street Business Centre, Beaufort Street, Derby, DE21 6AX Tel: 01332 207570 Fax: 01332 207569 Email: [email protected] www.vivaorch.co.uk www.facebook.com/sinfonia.viva https://twitter.com/sinfoniavivauk

Viva Chamber Orchestra Ltd is a company limited by guarantee registered in England No.187955. Registered address 22-26 Nottingham Road, Stapleford, Nottingham. Registered Charity No.291046 VAT No.385367024 Overture to Il Ritorno di Tobia

This concert is supported by Rolls-Royce plc, Derby City Council, Derby LIVE and Orchestras Live. Schumann Concerto in A minor, Op 129

Wagner Siegfried Idyll

Sibelius Incidental music to Kuolema, Op 44, Valse Triste and Scene with Cranes

Beethoven Symphony No.1 in C, Op 21 Overture to Il Ritorno di Tobia Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Il Ritorno di Tobia (The Return of Tobias) was Haydn’s first oratorio, composed in 1775, some twenty years or so before the much better-known The Creation. Written for a Viennese musical society, it sets a libretto by Giovanni Gastone Boccherini, brother of the cellist and composer Luigi Boccherini.

It was a success at its first performance, and it was revived in 1784, when Haydn cut some of the arias and added two new choruses, including a storm chorus which has since taken on a life of its own, fitted to a new Latin text, as Insanae et Vanae Curae.

The oratorio has rarely been heard since, however, for which weaknesses in the libretto have been held largely responsible. It is based on the story from the Apocrypha (biblical texts sometimes considered peripheral to the Old Testament) in which the elderly Tobit is cured of his blindness.

The overture (Haydn used the then current term ‘Sinfonia’) begins with a slow minor-key introduction, leading to the spirited, energetic main section.

Cello Concerto in A minor, Op 129 Robert Schumann (1810-1849) 1. Nicht zu schnell (not too fast) - 2. Langsam (slow) - 3. Sehr lebhaft (very lively).

When Brahms first heard Dvořák’s he expressed amazement that it was possible to write a cello concerto like that, and said that if he had known, he would have done so himself long ago. He must have known Schumann’s Concerto; he was, after all, a close colleague in the last few years of Schumann’s life, and it was the first major concerto for the instrument written in the nineteenth century. But where Dvořák’s is a big-boned, heroically-scaled work, of the kind we tend to think of as the typical nineteenth-century concerto, Schumann’s works for solo instrument and orchestra rarely aim for all-conquering heroism; the relationship is generally conceived in more equal terms, and nowhere more so than in his intimate, almost chamber-like Cello Concerto. He implied as much when he first entered it in his own catalogue of his compositions as a Konzertstück (Concert-piece), which suggests more modest aims.

After damaging his right hand in 1832 Schumann took up the cello for a while, and this was enough to give him some grasp of how to write effectively for it. In particular, he understood the problems of balance involved in keeping the cello part audible against a full orchestra. As a result, he limits the concerto’s instrumentation, with just two each of horns and trumpets, omitting trombones altogether. Lightly scored accompanying passages allow the cello plenty of space to make itself heard, particularly in its lower register.

Schumann sketched the concerto in two weeks in October 1850, during a particularly productive period following his move to Düsseldorf to take up the post of director of music there, and immediately before the first signs of his mental breakdown. The work is a particularly striking example of his attention to an extended composition’s overall unity. Themes recur across the entire, remarkably compact, three-movement structure, and each movement runs seamlessly into the next. After just four bars of orchestral introduction, the soloist enters with a characteristically broad, lyrical main theme which soars and swoops through several octaves. Time and again Schumann catches our attention with a typically poetic turn of phrase. In fact he is so concerned with exploring the music’s lyrical qualities that the return of the opening theme at the recapitulation, often the point at which the dramatic tension of a piece is at its height, here slips by almost unnoticed.

A brief transition passage, hinting at the first movement’s opening bars, leads into the tender, song-like slow movement. This is Schumann the introverted dreamer, the side of his personality he called ‘Eusebius’, in contrast to ‘Florestan’, the impulsive, fiery extrovert. As the movement draws to its haunting close the tempo begins to revive, the first movement’s opening theme returns, and a short unaccompanied passage for the soloist runs into the perky, rhythmically incisive finale. The music drives impetuously towards its climax, and it is here, rather than the more conventional point at the end of the first movement, that Schumann places the soloist’s cadenza. That in itself was a stroke of great originality for its time, but he also gives it a discreet orchestral accompaniment. It is typical of his whole approach that both the cadenza and the exuberant final pages should be more concerned with musical values than virtuoso display. Schumann’s uncertainty as to what to call the work looks not so much like indecision on his part as doubt as to how it would be received by the public, an impression reinforced by its subsequent comparative neglect. Schumann directed a run-through with the Düsseldorf orchestra and its principal cellist in March 1851, but the concerto was not performed in public until 1860. Even now, in spite of the advocacy of cellists of the stature of , it still tends to be all too rarely played, though the current re-assessment of Schumann’s later music may yet see it taking its rightful place in the repertoire.

Siegfried Idyll Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

Wagner and Liszt’s daughter, Cosima, became lovers in 1864, and two years later decided to set up home in Tribschen, a house overlooking Lake Lucerne, near Geneva. They were formally married in August 1870. In June 1869 their third child, Siegfried, was born and, except for a few pages of the full score, Wagner also completed Siegfried, the third opera of the four- part Niebelung’s ring cycle the same year.

Cosima celebrated her birthday on 25th December, even though the actual day was the 24th. To mark the occasion in 1870 Wagner planned a surprise present, extravagant even by his standards, a twenty-minute work for an ensemble of thirteen players, to be performed on the staircase outside her room. The work was rehearsed in secret by the conductor Hans Richter, who also played the trumpet part, having learned the instrument specially for the occasion.

The title page of the manuscript score read “Tribschen Idyll with Fidi-Birdsong and Orange Sunrise, presented as a symphonic birthday greeting to his Cosima by her Richard, 1870.” Fidi was their nickname for Siegfried and the orange sunrise was the phenomenon noted by Cosima in her diary the day he was born when the sun shone in on the orange wallpaper of the room creating “an incredibly beautiful, fiery glow”.

The piece draws on themes from Siegfried, and a traditional lullaby, ‘Sleep, baby, sleep’. The result was so intensely personal to Wagner and Cosima that it was only with extreme reluctance, for financial reasons, that they agreed to “the secret treasure” being published.

Incidental music to Kuolema, Op 44 Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) 1. Valse triste; 2. Scene with Cranes.

While Sibelius’s symphonies and tone-poems demonstrate his mastery of long-range musical thinking, his many theatre scores show his ability to convey a mood or create an atmosphere in a short space of time.

In 1903 he provided music for Kuolema (Death), a play by his brother-in-law Arvid Järnefelt. The following year he prepared a concert version of the music for the opening scene, in which the central character, Paavali, is with his dying mother. She sees the figure of Death coming to claim her; thinking he is her late husband, she dances with him. Under the title Valse Triste it quickly became one of Sibelius’s most popular works. But he sold the copyright to his publisher for a We Value Your Support paltry amount, a move that he was to regret for the rest of his life. As a registered charity, supporting Sinfonia Viva enables individuals, trusts and foundations, Scene with Cranes, adapted from the music to scenes 3 and 4 of the play, was published in 1906. businesses and statuary bodies to play a key role in a range of innovative artistic, education Sibelius was particularly haunted by the sight and sound of cranes in flight, and this is one of his and community programmes. most powerfully atmospheric nature scenes. As so often, he achieves an unforgettable effect with very simple means – a brief passage featuring falling two-note figures for two clarinets stands out You can make a real difference and support the work we do right away. It couldn’t be easier - with stark clarity against the gentle background of string tone set up at the beginning, with a just Text VIVA30 and either 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 to 700 70. You can text donate a passage of dialogue for solo violin and solo cello drawing the piece to its soft conclusion. maximum of £30 per day in multiples of up to £10.

Alternatively you can make a donation securely online through BT mydonate Symphony No.1 in C, Op 21 www.mydonate.bt.com/charities/sinfoniaviva Or send a cheque together with your contact Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) details to Make a Difference, Sinfonia Viva, Beaufort Business Centre, Beaufort Street, Derby 1. Adagio molto – allegro con brio; 2. Andante cantabile con moto; 3. Menuetto. Allegro molto e DE21 6AX and together we can make a difference. vivace; 4. Adagio – allegro molto e vivace. To discuss different ways you can help please call Simone Lennox-Gordon on 01332 207 566 or email [email protected]. As a composer, Beethoven first established himself in his adopted Vienna with chamber works, sonatas and concertos, mostly for, or involving, his own instrument, the piano. He seems to have Thank You deliberately avoided the genres of string quartet and symphony of which Haydn was the greatest www.vivaorch.co.uk living master. At any rate it is noticeable that Beethoven only began his First Symphony long after Haydn had produced his last completed examples. Special thanks go to our supporters:

Beethoven started work on a symphony in C in 1795, but he left it unfinished. In the musical Funders: Arts Council England, Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council climate of Vienna in the mid-1790s it would have taken more prestige than Beethoven currently Lincolnshire County Council, Orchestras Live enjoyed to be able to present a symphony in public, and it may simply have been this lack of performance opportunity which caused him to lose interest in the work. Principal Business Sponsor: Rolls-Royce plc

Business Supporter - New Year's Eve Gala Performance 2013: Handelsbanken Nottingham Some of the material from this aborted attempt found its way into his first fully-fledged symphony, which he began in 1799. It was premiered at his first benefit concert in Vienna in April 1800, an Leader’s Chair - Sponsored by Maestro Members: Brian King, Peter Steer, Robin Wood ambitious undertaking which also included his Piano Concerto No.1 in C (Beethoven had intended to perform No.3 in C minor but it was not completed in time) and the first performance of his Trust and Foundations Septet. Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation Children in Need From the point of view of the later symphonies, No.1 can seem a relatively conventional work on D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust the surface. No doubt conscious of what he was taking on, Beethoven, not surprisingly, drew on Freemasons of Derby Grassroots Fund the example of Haydn and Mozart as he tested the waters in his first completed attempt at the Foyle Foundation genre. In particular, the second movement has an eighteenth-century grace and elegance, and Heritage Lottery Fund the main part of the finale bubbles along with Haydnesque good humour. Jessie Spencer Trust JR Halkes Settlement All the same, the music forcefully announces a fresh talent harbouring unorthodox ideas. Royal Philharmonic Society and PRS for Music Foundation Beethoven’s scoring, which gives prominence to the wind instruments, was novel enough to Santander attract unfavourable comment after the first performance. The first movement does not even start The Bergne-Coupland Charity in the main key; instead the music works its way round to it during the slow introduction. The so- The Ernest Book Trust called minuet is no such thing, but a boisterous, hectic scherzo which moves at a faster pace than The John Ellerman Foundation even Haydn had dared in his string quartets and symphonies. This is the movement that most The National Forest clearly shows Beethoven striking out on his own path. The finale begins with a teasing slow The Prince of Wales Charitable Foundation introduction, unfolding a rising scale one note at a time in mock-pedantic fashion (this idea derives The Thomas Farr Charity from the earlier, unfinished, symphony). The Wallbrook Fund The Waynflete Charitable Trust Tom Carey Fund For all its indebtedness to Haydn and Mozart, it is the sheer force and energy of Beethoven’s personality which comes across most strongly in his First Symphony – qualities which Mozart had Our grateful thanks also go to our kind patrons who attended our concerts and those that have recognised some fifteen years earlier when, after hearing the teenage Beethoven improvise, he provided donations to support our work. commented “Keep an eye on him. One day he will give the world something to talk about.” Just as each of our musicians in today’s concert has played a vital part, we invite you to play a ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ vital role. To find out how you can make a difference please contact Simone Lennox-Gordon, Head of Development on 01332 207 566 or email [email protected] Programme notes © Mike Wheeler 2014. Unauthorised reproduction is prohibited. The Orchestra

Conductor Soloist Garry Walker Guy Johnston

Violin 1 Flute Nic Fallowfield Rachel Holt David Routledge Nicky Hunter Ken Mitchell Caroline Bromley Rebecca Allfree Oboe Chris Windass Emily Pailthorpe Emily Chaplais Maddy Aldis-Evans Mathias Svensson

Clarinet Violin 2 Helen Bishop Philip Gallaway Matt Dunn Sian McInally Janet Hall Hazel Parkes Bassoon Elizabeth Porter Adam Mackenzie Jacob Lay Claire Gainford

Viola Horn Richard Muncey David Tollington Isobel Adams Jose Lluna Janina Kopinska Kate Fawcett Trumpet Anthony Thompson Cello Gordon Truman Deirdre Bencsik Ben Stevens Freddie Collarbone Timpani Diane Tice Graham Hall

Double Bass David Ayre David Burndrett

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Images front cover and overleaf: Guy Johnston – credit Jack Liebeck. Garry Walker Guy Johnston Conductor Cello

Winner of the 1999 Leeds Conductor’s Competition, Guy Johnston is one of the most exciting and versatile Scottish born Garry Walker studied at the Royal Northern British cellists of his generation. College of Music. Born into a musical family, Guy joined his brothers in In October 1999, at very short notice, he replaced an the world-renowned choir of King's College, indisposed Daniele Gatti in the Royal Philharmonic Cambridge, where he recorded the famous carol Once Orchestra’s opening concert of their Barbican season. in Royal David's City, under Stephen Cleobury. He Thus began an ongoing relationship leading to his went on to achieve important early successes through appointment as Permanent Guest Conductor, a post the BBC Young Musician of the Year title, the he has now relinquished. Guilhermina Suggia Gift, the Shell London Symphony Orchestra Gerald MacDonald Award and receiving a Garry Walker was Principal Guest Conductor of the Classical Brit Award at the Royal Albert Hall. He has Royal Scottish National Orchestra from 2003 – 2007, performed with many leading international orchestras Principal Conductor of Paragon Ensemble and now including the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, enjoys a close association with Red Note Ensemble Scotland’s première contemporary music Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester and St. Petersburg ensemble. Symphony, among many others. Guy’s mentors have included Steven Doane, Ralph Kirshbaum, Bernard Greenhouse, and David Waterman. In the UK Garry Walker has worked with all the BBC orchestras, the Hallé, National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, London Sinfonietta, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, More recently, Guy’s concerto performances have included the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Philharmonia, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Chamber orchestras have City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Michael Seal, Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with included the Northern Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra and the Northern Sinfonia at the Sage, Gateshead, the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Royal Academy of St Martin’s in the Fields. With SCO he has appeared at the St Magnus Festival, Philharmonic Orchestra/Alexander Shelley at Cadogan Hall and in the St Magnus Festival with with the ECO in Lisbon and the City of London Festival and with ASMF at the Barbican’s Mostly the Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Sian Edwards, and works by Tavener and MacMillan with Mozart Festival. He regularly appears at the Edinburgh Festival and in 2004 conducted a the Britten Sinfonia in King’s College, Cambridge, Walton Cello Concerto with the BBC notable performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 ‘Resurrection’ with the BBC Scottish Philharmonic/John Wilson, Elgar Cello Concerto with Sir Roger Norrington and Shostakovich Symphony Orchestra. Cello Concerto No.1 with the RSNO/Rumon Gamba. Guy also worked on an education project with the Wigmore Hall, where he performs regularly. Outside the UK he has appeared with the Nieuw Ensemble, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, Collegium Musicum, Denmark, He was also Principal Guest Cello of the Australian Chamber Orchestra on tour in Australia, Musikkollegium Winterthur and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin. Further afield he has Guest Principal Cello of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and Guest Cellist of had re-invitations to both the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Auckland Philharmonia and the Nash Ensemble. Future concerto performances include Walton Cello Concerto with the made his US debut with the Utah Symphony Orchestra. RTÉ Symphony Orchestra, Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1 with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Most recently he has conducted the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra among others. in California, the Dortmund Philharmoniker, the BBC Symphony, National Orchestra of Wales and Scottish Symphony Orchestras and Musikkollegium Winterthur, to which he was immediately re- A founding member of the Aronowitz Ensemble, Guy is an enthusiastic chamber musician and invited. has enjoyed appearances abroad at the Delft, Moritzburg, Spoleto, Gaia and Bad Kissingen Festivals as well as Cheltenham, Bath, and City of London Festivals at home with numerous An experienced opera conductor, Garry Walker conducted both Britten’s Curlew River and the musicians including Alison Balsom, Janine Janssen, Lawrence Power, Anthony Marwood, and world première of Stuart Macrae’s opera The Assassin Tree at the Edinburgh Festival. He also with the Belcea, Endellion and Navarra String Quartets. Guy is also the founding Artistic conducted the Macrae at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studio, David McVicar’s much Director of the Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival. acclaimed production of ’s The Turn of the Screw and Raskatov’s A Dog’s Heart for English National Opera, Cimarosa’s The Secret Marriage for Scottish Opera, Mozart’s In addition to a busy and versatile career as an international soloist, chamber musician and La Clemenza di Tito at the Royal Northern College of Music and Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine at guest principal, Guy is an inspiring leader of young musicians which was reflected in his the Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Outside the UK he has invitation to meet Her Majesty the Queen at a reception at Buckingham Palace dedicated to conducted Curlew River for Lyon Opera and a new production by Calixto Bieito of Hosakawa’s young people in the performing arts. Guy is a patron of several charities which promote music Hanjo at the Ruhr Triennale. education with schoolchildren and young people including Music First and Friends of Kampala Music School, and he also works in collaboration with the Musician’s Benevolent Fund. He is a Future plans include appearances with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bournemouth Professor of Cello at the . Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. He will also conduct a new production for Garsington Opera. Guy Johnston plays a 1714 David Tecchler cello.