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Programme Chris George Conductor Fiona Dalzell Piano Beethoven Coriolan Overture, op. 62 Presentation by Music in Hospitals Schumann Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 54 I. Allegro affettuoso II. Intermezzo III. Allegro vivace Interval Brahms Symphony No. 2 in D major, op. 68 I. Allegro non troppo II. Adagio non troppo III. Allegretto / Presto IV. Allegro con spirito About the Orchestra Edinburgh Charity Orchestra was set up in 2011 with the goal of performing large scale concerts in order to raise money for and awareness about the work of local charities. The orchestra is invitation only and looks to mix some of the best professional, student and amateur players in Edinburgh, and in particular to give young professionals experience as composers, soloists and conductors. Previous successful concerts have raised money for The Yard and Waverley Care. Contact us: facebook.com/edinburghcharityorchestra [email protected] Special thanks to: Gareth Dennis The University of Edinburgh Music Department The Canongate Kirk The music for tonight’s performance was supplied by the Music Library of Edinburgh City Libraries and Information Services. Music in Hospitals Scotland Music in Hospitals is a UK charity which aims to improve the quality of life for people of all ages in care through the provision of professional live music. Since the charity was established in Edinburgh in 1980, nearly 40,000 concerts have taken place in Scotland. Our professional musicians tailor each performance to suit the musical tastes and preferences of their audience members in hospitals, hospices, care homes, day centres and special needs schools throughout the whole of Scotland. We arrange around 1,650 concerts every year, and it is thanks to our supporters that this is possible. We’d like to thank you, and the Edinburgh Charity Orchestra, for supporting MiH tonight and for making it possible for people in care to enjoy professional live music too. Ludwig van Beethoven Coriolan Overture, op. 62 The Coriolan Overture (1807) was written for the 1804 tragedy by the now little- known Austrian dramatist Heinrich Joseph von Collin, about the final days of the Roman emperor Caius Martius Coriolanus. Having become embroiled in political scandal for rejecting the idea of popular rule (likening the idea to allowing ‘the crows to peck the eagles’), Coriolanus is eventually banished from Rome despite years in valiant service of the city, and vows to take revenge. Turning to Rome’s enemies the Volscians to amass an army, he lays siege to the city, ignoring repeated pleas to spare his countrymen. In desperation they send out his mother, wife and child to plead for his mercy. The former emperor’s better nature eventually wins out, but not before he realises that having led an army of his former enemies to the gates of his city, he now has nowhere to turn, and opts for suicide. The mood of the piece - set in a condensed sonata form - is made apparent immediately by the granite chords of the opening, and the two principal subjects in C minor and the relative E-flat major - the one derived from the other - seemingly denote the bellicose Coriolanus and the tender entreaties of his mother respectively. The conflict of interests persists throughout the development section and the rage shows no signs of abating until the opening gesture reappears, this time less secure. With the recapitulation the pleading second subject becomes increasingly more insistent until, with a final gesture of defiance, the granite crumbles and Coriolanus, Emperor of Rome, fades away with a whimper. Programme note by Stuart Taylor Robert Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 54 Robert Schumann completed only one concerto for piano, despite having made three earlier attempts at the genre. The first movement of the Concerto in A minor began life in 1841 as a 'Phantasie' for piano and orchestra, thus named according to fashion for, in Schumann’s words, ‘a smaller concert piece in which virtuosos with one fell swoop can develop their presentation of an allegro, adagio and rondo.' Its virtuoso pedigree is apparent from the crash of descending piano chords in the opening bars of the Allegro affetuoso which lead straight into the oboe’s presentation of the exposition – an opening tutti is decidedly absent. Nevertheless, Schumann apparently went to considerable lengths to distance himself from the blatant virtuosity that characterized the contemporary concerti of his era. His earlier attempts had been more influenced by the bravura works of Hummel and the Parisian Henri Herz for example, and of which he became increasingly critical as the years went on. Recent research indicates that Schumann had only discovered the concerti of Beethoven within five years or so of beginning work on his Phantasie, and his writings indicate that he was attempting to capture once more the spirit of those works - not in the sense of using them as models, but rather in preserving a unity of expression which he believed was lacking in the virtuoso concerti. His economy of motivic material points this out – there are just two principal motives (the first heard from the oboe in the opening bars and the second in the orchestra several bars later), as does the consistently lyrical mood of the movement. Further, the solo sections consistently fail to climax in the traditional passages of rapid scales and arpeggios (so-called ‘passage work’) which Schumann found rather hackneyed. Clara Schumann indeed believed that her husband's music 'contained no "passage-work" whatsoever'. The cheery and playful opening of the ternary-formed Intermezzo in F major offers respite from the weightiness of the first movement with a nine-bar phrase which beguiled the British pianist Alfred Nieman, who noted ‘I know of few more mysterious metrical riddles lying beneath such spontaneity and grace’. After a soaring second theme is presented by the cellos, the listener is gradually teased with a ritardando transition into the final movement which climaxes with the strings rushing up the scale of the Finale’s A major tonic. The Allegro vivace proper begins with the soloist stating the primary theme, itself a variant of that of the first movement – the unity Schumann was striving for. An ambiguous 3/4 metre throughout and the inventive use of cyclic harmonic digression reveal ‘the wonderfully effervescent quality of mercurial romantic harmonic shifts,’ in the words of musicologist Stephan D. Lindeman. To close, the orchestra restates the theme before the piano presents a captivating coda passage culminating in a timpani-roll finish. Programme note by Stuart Taylor Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 2 in D major, op. 68 Many would argue that Johannes Brahms was born in the Red Hedgehog, a pub in Vienna. However, truth is he was born in Hamburg. During his lifetime (1833 – 1897) he composed a wide range of compositions, from trios to piano sonatas and from vocal works to symphonies. Brahms was perceived as a leader of the musical scene in Vienna. By creating new approaches to melody and harmony whilst keeping his compositional roots in the Baroque and Classic techniques, he was considered an innovator as well as a traditionalist. Brahms composed his 2nd symphony in the summer of 1877. Inspired by the mountains, lakes, flowers and beautiful roads during his walk in the ‘Ampezzodal’, the writing ‘only’ took him 3 months. This is considerably brief, since his first symphony tortured him for 20 years. Brahms wrote to his publisher about the work that ‘is so melancholy that you will not be able to bear it. I have never written anything so sad, and the score must come out in mourning.’ About a month later, on December the 29th, the day before the first performance of Brahms’ second symphony under Hans Richter in the ‘Musikverein’, Brahms wrote to a friend: ‘The orchestra plays my symphony with a mourning band on the sleeve because of a funeral effect. It should be printed with a black rim!’. This increased the contrast between the first and second, sunny, symphony even more. The latter was received cheerfully and is perceived as an idyllic work and the happiest symphony of the four he wrote. I. The Allegro non troppo entails three lyrical and rich themes. The first theme is introduced by the celli and basses, and continued by the horns and woodwind. The full orchestra introduces a more lively theme, followed by a third theme of a warm Viennese waltz melody introduced by the violas and celli. The end of the movement is a variation of the motif we heard at the beginning. II. The celli again introduce the theme of the Adagio non troppo, mirrored with a counter melody by the bassoons. This theme is initially dark and heartened by horns, violas and basses. The full orchestra is engaged now in the theme, whilst the violins and the flute have the melody. A haunting solo by an isolated horn, followed by the oboes and later joined by the bassoon, leads into a more lively middle section. Solo clarinet and gentle orchestral chords end the movement. III. The third movement provides a contrast to the previous movements. It can be seen as a sunny and lyrical intermezzo. The beginning of the Allegretto / Presto has a serene colour brought by the oboe, accompanied by chords from clarinets and bassoons and a baseline presented by the celli. The strings introduce a contrasting component soon followed by a nearly full orchestra. These contrasts alternate each other during this movement, whilst at the very ending a different colour is given by the violins. IV. The Allegro con spirito opens with the initial theme of the symphony. The slow and peaceful beginning is quickly interrupted by a full and exciting sound generated by the orchestra.

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