Thursday 15 July, St Mary’s Church 8.00pm - 9.00pm

Jess Gillam Ensemble The Jess Gillam Ensemble includes Roberts Balanas & Michael Jones (violins); Eoin Schmidt-Martin (viola); Gabriella Swallow (cello); Sam Becker (bass); Elsa Bradley (percussion) and Leif Kaner-Lidstrom (piano)

Early Morning Melody arr. Meredith Monk (born 1942)

This poignant folk-like melody for solo saxophone by multi-talented American composer Meredith Monk possesses a haunting beauty and is taken from her 1990 collection the Book of Days.

Melody No. 10 from Melodies for Saxophone Phillip Glass (born 1937)

Philip Glass’s thirteen Melodies for Saxophone feels a world away from the repeated note patterns associated with his minimalist classic Music in Twelve Parts or his ground-breaking operas Einstein on the Beach and Akhnaten. Melodies for Saxophone was conceived as incidental music for Jean Genet’s adapted book Prisoner of Love – a memoir of the author’s encounters with Palestinian fighters and Black Panthers in the 1970s. The tenth of these miniatures features tenderly decorative phrases.

Dappled Light Luke Howard (born 1978)

A rippling accompaniment supports languid saxophone phrases in Luke Howard’s evocative Dappled Light, a recent work from the contemporary Australian pianist and composer whose reputation for ambient music has secured growing numbers of devotees.

Flare John Harle (born 1956)

Prolific composer of over one hundred film and TV scores and world-renowned saxophonist, John Harle’s ‘Flare’ belongs to the first of his three movement Saxophone Concerto entitled Briggflatts. Premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 2019, the work was inspired by the autobiographical poem by Basil Bunting, named after the Briggflatts Quaker meeting house near Sedbergh in Cumbria, which the poet regularly attended. ‘Flare’ was written, so Harle comments, after long sessions of piano improvisation in direct response to the poetry.

Venus as a Boy (arr. John Metcalfe) Guðmundsdóttir Björk (born 1965)

Over her four-decade career, Iceland singer and songwriter Björk has developed an eclectic musical style that draws on a range of influences and genres spanning electronic, pop, experimental, , classical, and avant-garde music. Venus as a Boy is a 1993 song about a boy who saw everything from the point of view of beauty.

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence arr. John Metcalfe Ryuichi Sakamoto (born 1952)

Ryuichi Sakamoto is one of Japan’s most illustrious musicians, finding fame with electronic pop group Yellow Magic Orchestra in the late 1970s. Like Björk, his music inhabits a similar stylistic diversity and is heard to good advantage in this attractive instrumental song Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence which belongs to the eponymous film of 1983 starring David Bowie.

Oboe Concerto Alessandro Marcello (1673-1747)

1 Andante e spiccato, 2 Adagio, 3 Presto

The son of a Venetian nobleman and elder brother of the more prolific Benedetto Marcello, Alessandro was a highly cultured polymath, active as composer, poet and instrument collector, and also working within the judicial system of his native Venice. His Concerto in D minor (once ascribed to his brother) was published in a 1717 and soon came to the attention of J.S. Bach who admired it enough to make a solo harpsichord arrangement. The primary stimulus for Marcello’s work is vocal and principally derives from the various styles of 18th century operatic arias. The elegant first movement contrasts gratifying solo phrases with more strenuous episodes for unison strings. There follows a beautiful lament, while the fleet-footed third bears kinship with a typical ‘rage’ aria to bring this engaging work to a buoyant close.

Suspirium (arr. Benjamin Rimmer) Thom Yorke (born 1968)

Achieving renown with the rock band Radiohead, singer, songwriter and guitarist Thom Yorke has written several scores for film and theatre of which the soundtrack to Suspiria was released in 2018. Relinquishing horror motifs, the gentle ‘Suspirium’ forms the opening track from Suspiria in which Yorke fashions an unruffled waltz evoking a certain calm before the storm.

Orbit Will Gregory (born 1959)

Scored for marimba, string quartet, bass and saxophone, Orbit is an uplifting instrumental number written by Will Gregory of fame - the duo and Will Gregory. On his vibrant work he has commented ‘Orbit is a circular journey presenting different facets of the same underlying view … by turns subtle and crude… cajoling then pleading’.

Histoire du Tango (arr. Simon Parkin) Ástor Piazzolla (1921-1992)

1 Bordel 2 Café 1930 3 Nightclub 1960

There’s an undeniable rhythmic impetus behind the music of Argentine composer Ástor Piazzolla about whom it has been remarked he was to the tango what Johann Strauss was to the waltz. His career developed rapidly after a period of study in Paris in the 1950s with Nadia Boulanger who recognised that his true artistic path was in his Latin American roots. It was through her Piazzolla realised the possibilities of combining jazz and classical genres which would morph into an exotic blend of Gallic elegance and South American dance. This would express itself in Histoire du Tango compiled by Piazzolla in 1986 and designed to transfer music commonly associated with the streets and clubs of Buenos Aires to the concert hall.

The first movement, ‘Bordel 1900’, is written in the fast, lively style of the first tangos, played and danced in the bordellos of Buenos Aires starting around 1882. ‘Café 1930’ brings poetic melancholy, while ‘Nightclub 1960’, is enlivened by the influence Brazilian bossa nova; its passionate, rambunctious style creating enduring fame for the composer.

Generously sponsored by Beth Dugan, Judy Flint, Trevor & Lynne Matthews, Gordon & Tina Owen and Roger & Charlotte Ter Haar