Concert Programme Autumn 2020

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It’s my great pleasure to welcome you to this What amazing musical portraits Elgar week’s BSO concert of two British created in this dazzling sequence of masterworks, and a gem by Fauré. inventive musical vignettes, for instance, to name but three - the humorous Troyte, the The Britten and Elgar works hold special serious intellect of A.J Jaeger aka ‘Nimrod’, resonances for me. I’d been taken on holiday and the bulldog Dan, the beloved pet of to the Suffolk coast as a child, and when, George Sinclair, organist of Hereford aged fourteen, I first saw Peter Grimes, I was Cathedral, paddling furiously up the river totally bowled over by the power of the Wye. music, and the way it evoked, especially in the Four Sea Interludes, those East Anglican In between, I’m relishing the prospect of the landscapes and coast seascapes that I BSO’s Principal Cello, Jesper Svedberg, remembered. Later, at university in Norwich, bringing his poetic musicianship to Fauré’s I had the privilege of singing under Britten at haunting Élégie. I’m also looking forward to the Aldeburgh Festival, as well as meeting hearing the Britten and Elgar conducted by him at his home, The Red House. For me, David Hill, whose interpretations of English these memories are unforgettable. music are second to none, witnessed, not just in his performances, but also in his Elgar was another discovery of my teens; superb recordings, many, of course, with the when growing up in Birmingham, BSO. Worcestershire and Elgar country was only a couple of hours bus ride away. I would walk Andrew Burn the Malvern Hills with the Enigma Variations Presenter, BSO Autumn Series ringing in my head, after all this is where Pre-concert talks Elgar and his “friends pictured within” flew kites, went for bicycle rides, played japes on each other, and in their homes nearby made music. Concert Season Autumn 2020 3

Elgar’s Enigma

Lighthouse, Poole Britten David Hill Wednesday 25 November Four Sea Interludes Conductor 16’ Supported by Jesper Svedberg Annette D’Abreo & Edwin Bessant Fauré Cello Elégie 8’ Amyn Merchant Leader Elgar Enigma Variations 29’

All information is correct at the time of going to print. All timings are guidelines only and may differ slightly from actual lengths. Four Sea Interludes (Peter Grimes) Benjamin Britten Born 22 November 1913 Lowestoft Died 5 December 1976 Aldeburgh

1. Dawn Grimes: “I am native, rooted here” 2. Sunday Morning Balstrode: “Rooted by what?” 3. Moonlight Grimes: “By familiar fields, marsh and sand, 4. Storm ordinary streets, prevailing winds.”

This exchange from Act 1 of Peter Grimes reveals both an underlying theme of the opera, and a clue to the work’s importance in Britten’s career. In 1939 Britten, a pacifist, left for the USA where, like W.H. Auden, he felt he would be able to continue his work more freely than in wartime Britain. However, in 1941 he read an article by E. M. Forster about the Suffolk poet George Crabbe; its opening line was: “To think of Crabbe is to think about England”, and his reaction to these emotive words confirmed in him a growing feeling that his place was in Britain. That chance reading of the article brought him home and also sowed the seeds for an opera based on one of Crabbe’s characters, the tormented fisherman, Peter Grimes, who appears in the poem The Borough. Repertoire 5

The Four Sea Interludes that link scenes Moonlight evokes the sultry calm of a still, in the opera and reflect the underlying summer night, with the jabbing figure on psychological tensions, quickly became flute and xylophone reflecting the tensions part of the orchestral repertoire. In 1939 in the mind of Grimes. In the snarling Britten had heard a concert performance portrait of the gale-force winds and waves of Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of a ferocious Storm, Britten recalled his of the Mtsensk District noting in his diary childhood memories: “My life as a child that the opera was “tremendous” and that was coloured by the fierce storms that the entr’actes contained “terrific music” sometimes drove ships onto the coast and Undoubtedly Britten had them in mind when ate away whole stretches of neighbouring he decided to link scenes in Peter Grimes cliffs.” in a similar way with a series of orchestral interludes. The premiere of Peter Grimes on 7 June 1945, staged by Sadler’s Wells Opera, In Peter Grimes Britten celebrates the was a triumph and a milestone in British coastal communities and landscape of his 20th century music, heralding Britten’s native Suffolk: “I wanted to express my emergence, at the age of just thirty-two, as awareness of the perpetual struggle of a native operatic composer of international men and women whose livelihood depends stature. Britten’s life-long partner Peter on the sea.” The sea interludes uncannily Pears sang the eponymous role of the evoke the East Anglian seascapes that troubled, misunderstood fisherman; Joan were such a potent force for Britten. Dawn Cross was the school teacher Ellen Orford portrays daybreak on a grey East Anglian who befriends him, and the conductor was morning as sung by the chorus to the words Reginald Goodall. of Britten’s librettist, Montagu Slater: “To those who pass, the Borough sounds betray/ Andrew Burn The cold beginning of another day/And houses sleeping by the waterside/Wake to the measured ripple of the tide”. In Sunday Morning chimes of church bells peal out as the Borough gathers for Matins on a brilliant day with sunlight glittering on the waves. Élégie for cello and orchestra Gabriel Fauré Born: 12 May 1845 Pamiers, South-western France Died: 4 November 1924 Paris

Fauré was one of the most important French The Élégie received its premiere in its original musicians of the later 19th and earlier 20th version with piano, performed by the cellist centuries. A fine and skilful composer, his Jules Loëb, to whom it was dedicated, at a best-known work is probably his beautifully Société Nationale concert in Paris on 15th restrained setting of the Requiem, but he December 1883. The version with orchestra was also particularly inspired in chamber followed in 1897, and was first performed in music and song writing. Other aspects of 1901, by Pablo Casals. his career included those of organist and choirmaster for many years at the Parisian Terry Barfoot church of the Madeleine, and, later, as Professor of Composition at the Paris Conservatoire, where his pupils included Maurice Ravel, Georges Enesco and Charles Koechlin.

Fauré’s creative talents are found to excellent effect in the Élégie for cello: it is a penetrating work whose wide emotional range demands the utmost commitment on the part of the performers. There is a simple three-part (ABA) structure, with a strongly characterised melodic line that is admirably suited to the cello. At the centre, the orchestra offers a new theme which is soon transferred to the cello, culminating in a cadenza and the return of the earlier material. Repertoire 7

Variations on an Original Theme (‘Enigma’) Born 2 June 1857 Broadheath, near Worcester Died 23 February 1934 Worcester

Theme: Andante One evening in 1898 Elgar was improvising Var I. C.A.E. L’istesso tempo on the piano. His wife asked him what he Var II. H.D.S-P. Allegro was playing: “Nothing”, he replied, “but Var III. R.B.T. Allegretto something might be made of it, Powell would Var IV. W.M.B. Allegro di Molto have done this”. Something was indeed Var V. R.P.A. Moderato made of it; he had hit on the idea for the Var VI. Ysobel. Andantino Enigma Variations. Composed between 1898 Var VII. Troyte. Presto and February 1899, and dedicated “to my Var VIII. W.N. Allegretto friends within”, the Variations on an Original Var IX. Nimrod. Adagio Theme (‘Enigma’) was first performed at Var X. Dorabella. Intermezzo. Allegretto St James’ Hall in on 19 June 1899, Var XI. G.R.S. Allegro di molto conducted by Hans Richter. The occasion Var XII. B.G.N. Andante was a triumph for Elgar, establishing him Var XIII. *** Romanza. Moderato overnight as the leading British composer of Var XIV. E.D.U. Finale. Allegro the day.

Though the names of the people behind the vignettes were quickly discovered, two puzzles remain: what is the meaning of the label ‘Enigma’ which Elgar gave to his ‘original’ theme, and what is the ‘larger’ theme that Elgar stated “goes but is not played” over the variations as a whole? The Enigma may represent Elgar, the creative artist, but the larger theme has a variety of possibilities such as the concept of friendship, or an actual melody; for instance, the theme of the slow movement from Mozart’s Symphony No.39, which the late Joseph Cooper most persuasively proposed. 8 Repertoire

The answer, however, matters little to the Var X. (Dorabella) Dora Penny. Her appreciation of this magnificent work. After pseudonym is derived from Mozart’s Così the theme is played the music leads into the fan tutte.and her stammer is affectionately variations. portrayed. Var XI. (G.R.S.) George Sinclair Robertson Var 1. (C.A.E.) Caroline Alice Elgar, the was organist of Hereford Cathedral; however, composer’s wife, whose encouragement the variation is about his bulldog, Dan, and spurred Elgar to his finest achievements. his antics in the river Wye. Note Dan’s Var II. (H.D.S-P.) Hew David Steuart-Powell ‘rejoicing bark on landing’! who played chamber music with Elgar. Var XII. (B.G.N.) Basil G. Nevinson was the Var III. (R.B.T.) Richard Baxter Townshend, cellist in the trio with Elgar and H.D.S-P. a Classical scholar who is depicted here Var XIII (***) Romanza Lady Mary Lygon, playing an old man in amateur theatricals. who departed on a sea voyage before Var IV (W.N.B.) William Meath Baker, an Elgar could seek her permission to use her energetic country squire. initials, hence the asterisks, the reference Var V. (R.P.A.) Richard Penrose Arnold. to Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous The woodwind characterise, according to Voyage overture, and the brilliant evocation Elgar, the “whimsical and witty remarks that of the ship’s engines by the timpani played broke up his serious conversation”. by coins. Var VI. (Ysobel) Isabel Fritton, an amateur Var XIV (E.D.U.) Finale Edward William viola player; her difficulty in crossing the Elgar. Elgar’s wife’s nickname for her strings of her instrument gave Elgar the idea husband was ‘Edoo’. C.A.E. and ‘Nimrod’ are for the variation. recalled in this superb summation to the Var VII. (Troyte) Arthur Troyte Griffith, variations as “the two great influences on architect and painter. The variation recalled the life and art of the composer”. Elgar’s rather chaotic attempt to teach him the piano. Andrew Burn Var VIII. (W.N.) Winifred Norbury helped Elgar check orchestral parts; the variation is as much inspired by her 18th century home. Var IX. (Nimrod) August Johannes Jaeger (In German ‘Jaeger’ means ‘hunter’: Nimrod was the Biblical hunter.) Jaeger was Elgar’s staunch advocate at Novello and Co; the variation refers to a discussion between them about Beethoven quartets. Biographies 9

David Hill Associate Guest Conductor of the BSO

David Hill’s talent has His previous posts have David Hill’s broad-ranging been recognised by his included Master of Music discography of over eighty appointments as Musical at Winchester Cathedral recordings can be found on the Director of The Bach Choir, (1987–2002) and Westminster Decca/Argo, Hyperion, Naxos Music Director of Leeds Cathedral (1982–7), Associate and Virgin Classics labels. His Philharmonic Society, Conductor and then Artistic recording for Naxos with The Associate Guest conductor Director of the Philharmonia Bach Choir and the BSO– of the BSO and Principal Chorus (1986–97), Music Delius’ A Mass of Life – was Conductor of Yale Schola Director of The Waynflete widely acclaimed on its release Cantorum. He was Chief Singers (1987-2002) and in 2012 and won a coveted Conductor of the BBC Singers Director of Music at St John’s Choc de Classica. With The from September 2007 to College, Cambridge (2003- Bach Choir David Hill has September 2017 and is a 2007). contributed to the film sound former Music Director of tracks of Kingdom of Heaven, Southern Sinfonia. In March He is in great demand for The Chronicles of Narnia and 2018, he was honoured with choral training workshops Shrek the Third. the prestigious Royal College of worldwide, and his handbook Organists medal, in recognition on the subject Giving Voice In the 2020/2021 season, his of distinguished achievement was published in 1995. He work continues with the BSO, in choral conducting and organ is a choral advisor to music Yale Schola Cantorum and playing. publishers Novello, for Leeds Philharmonic Society. whom he has edited several Born in Carlisle in 1957, David publications including the In recognition of his services Hill was educated at Chetham’s carols anthologies Noël!, to music, David has been School of Music as a violinist and he regularly contributes awarded an Honorary and pianist, where he led the articles to Choir and Organ. doctorate by the University school orchestra. He was As an organist, he has given of Southampton, an Honorary made a Fellow of the Royal recitals in most of the major Fellowship of the Royal School College of Organists at the venues in the UK and has of Church Music, and an age of seventeen and won an toured extensively abroad. Honorary Membership of the organ scholarship to St John’s Royal Academy of Music. College, Cambridge. He received an MBE in the New Year 2019 Honours list for services to music. Jesper Svedberg Cello

Swedish-born cellist Jesper He has appeared at festivals all They are currently recording Svedberg began his cello around the world, performing the complete piano trio studies aged eight and he with musicians such as Pekka repertoire by Robert completed his Soloist Diploma Kuusisto, Truls Mørk, Edgar Schumann which will be in 1998 at the Edsbergs Meyer, Michael Collins and released on the BIS label in Institute of Music in Stockholm Radovan Vladkovic. 2020. The trio is also Associate under the tutelage of Frans Ensemble at Guildhall School Helmersson and Torlief Jesper is a founding member of Music & Drama. Thedeen. of the Kungsbacka Piano Trio. The trio took first prize in the Jesper has worked as guest He made his solo debut 1999 Melbourne International Principal with most UK performing Schumann’s Cello Chamber Music Competition orchestras and in 2010 he was Concerto with the Swedish and was in 2000 selected appointed Principal Cello with Radio Symphony Orchestra for the BBC New Generation the BSO. and in 1999 continued his Artists Scheme. The trio cello studies at the Guildhall has toured and performed He plays a rare 1699 Grancino School of Music & Drama in extensively in Europe, Australia, cello, kindly loaned by the London with Louise Hopkins. North and South America in Järnåker Foundation. He graduated with a Masters venues including Carnegie Degree in Chamber Music Hall, Teatro Gran Rex, Berliner in 2001 and was appointed Philharmonie, Concertgebouw, Professor of Chamber Music Mozarteum, Vienna Concert at the University of Gothenburg Hall and the Wigmore Hall. Live where he remained for ten concert performances have years. been broadcast on both radio and television across Europe. As a soloist, Jesper has The trio has recorded for performed with orchestras NAXOS with music including including the BBC Scottish Schubert, Mozart, Haydn, Faure Symphony, Copenhagen and Chopin. Philharmonic, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and the Dala Symfonietta. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra 11

The Orchestra

Patron First Violins Bassoons HRH Princess Alexandra Amyn Merchant (Leader) Tammy Thorn * Mark Derudder Emma Selby Chief Conductor Edward Brenton Kirill Karabits Kate Turnbull Y Contra Bassoon Karen Leach Y Kim Murphy Conductor Laureate Magdalena Gruca-Broadbent Andrew Litton Jennifer Curiel Horns Tim Fisher Y Zoe Tweed Conductor Emeritus Kate Hawes Ruth Spicer Y Marin Alsop Julie Gillett-Smith Robert Harris Y Kevin Pritchard Y Associate Guest Conductor Second Violins Edward Lockwood Y David Hill MBE Carol Paige * Rob Yeomans Trumpets Lara Carter Y Chris Avison * Rebecca Burns Peter Turnbull Y Agnieszka Gesler Angela Whelan Vicky Berry Y Janice Thorgilson Y Trombones Joan Martinez Kevin Morgan *Y Robb Tooley Violas Tom Beer * Bass Trombone Miguel Rodriguez Kevin Smith Y Jacoba Gale Y Nathalie Green-Buckley Tuba Eva Malmbom Andy Cresci *Y Chris Beckett Timpani Cellos Geoff Prentice * Jesper Svedberg * Thomas Isaac Percussion Auriol Evans Matt King * Philip Collingham Ben Lewis Judith Burgin Alastair Marshallsay

Double Basses Harp David Daly *Y Eluned Pierce *Y Nicole Boyesen Y Jane Ferns Y Flutes/Piccolo BSO Associates Anna Pyne * Musicians in the Community Owain Bailey Patrick Bailey Matt Harrison Oboes Jonathan James Edward Kay *Y Sam Mason Holly Randall Hugh Nankivell Neil Valentine Clarinets Barry Deacon * Helen Paskins * Principal Y Long Service Award 12 Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra A Cultural Beacon for the South and South-West of England

One of the UK’s best-loved orchestras, A bold champion of talent the BSO boasts Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is a an enviable list of principal conductors, professional ensemble known for igniting including Marin Alsop — the first female change both on and off the stage. principal conductor of a major UK orchestra With residencies in Bournemouth, Bristol, — Constantin Silvestri, and Exeter, Poole and Portsmouth it is also the Andrew Litton. It has given memorable largest cultural provider West performances at Carnegie Hall, the of England serving one of the biggest and Musikverein and Rudolfinum, and gives most diverse regions. regular live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. Maintaining the highest artistic ideals the BSO remains committed to new and Empowering lives through music remains lesser-known repertoire whilst remaining at the core of all that the BSO does. relevant to its broad audience’s tastes. Awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Under Chief Conductor Kirill Karabits the Impact Award in 2019, for its work in Orchestra’s Voices from the East series of improving opportunities for disabled talent, former Soviet music continues to receive the BSO continues to explore new territory critical acclaim, and its recent recordings with BSO Resound — the world’s first of Prokofiev and Walton are outstanding professional disabled-led ensemble at the modern performances. The Orchestra is also core of a major orchestra. BSO Participate loved for its performances of film and light works with all ages off the stage and is music, and its discography charts a number internationally recognised as an act to of landmark moments in 20th century music. follow: over 650 community workshops and A commissioner of new music, the Orchestra events take place each year across the will give premiere performances of works by Orchestra’s vast region, empowering Azerbaijani composer Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, thousands of lives every year. Shirley J. Thompson and Magnus Lindberg in its 2020/21 season. In recent years it has Following the longest break in its 127-year worked with Mark-Anthony Turnage, Sally history, the BSO was one of the first Beamish and James MacMillan. ensembles in the UK to launch a series of full symphonic performances in 2020. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra 13

The Team

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Trusts and Foundations We would also like to thank The Pointer Family Trust Thriplow Charitable Trust our Patrons and Performance Talbot Village Trust The Cressy Foundation Champions, those who have The Valentine Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust remembered the BSO in The Flaghead Charitable Trust The Pitt-Rivers Charitable Trust their Will, and everyone who The Michael & Ilse Katz Foundation Gess Charitable Trust supports us through donations, Marchus Trust Homelands Charitable Trust membership or by volunteering Bedhampton Charitable Trust their time.