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- 1 - THE LONDON CELLO SOUND CONDUCTOR’S NOTE geoffrey simon conductor It started with The Swan—we were considering In a three-hour session there would be time to it for our Saint-Saëns project. This most record more than one piece. Since an arranger 1 The Swan Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) [2.52] famous of all cello solos has been recorded would be needed to prepare The Swan, we many times before, however, and Stokowski, invited the talented Richard Balcombe, and 2 Vocalise Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) [5.56] Ormandy and one or two others have even asked him to make arrangements of Vocalise recorded it with an entire orchestral cello and Tonight as well. The programme, we 3 Sardana Pablo Casals (1876-1973) [5.49] section—ten musicians—playing the melody. thought at the time, would appropriately be completed with an original composition by the 4 Greensleeves Suite Richard Balcombe (b. 1955) [5.13] But how would it sound, we wondered, with legendary Pablo Casals, the cellist’s cellist: not one but several cello sections, playing en Sardana, for eight-part cello orchestra. 5 Tonight from West Side Story Leonard Bernstein (1918-1992) [2.41] masse? Very rich, most probably, but could we find orchestras willing to cooperate? We The four orchestras’ only condition was learned that on the very next day there was challenging: all must be treated equally. to be a meeting of the Administrators of the Our solution is shown in the accompanying Total timings: [23.01] major London orchestras. Within 24 hours diagram: we ensured that all the arrangements The London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic were in eight parts and assigned each Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and piece differently amongst the sections; Philharmonia Orchestra had agreed that a the two short solos were offered to the The 40 Cellos of gesture of mutual participation would indeed youngest and oldest of the principals. LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA be a welcome, positive symbol in these times of all-too prevalent divisiveness. There was The session itself was magical. As the forty ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA even a moment found when, amazingly, all four cellists adjusted to one other, the distinctive BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA orchestras were available: the evening of January tone of each individual orchestra gradually PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA 18, 1993. The London Cello Sound was born. blended and fused into a whole which took on GEOFFREY SIMON CONDUCTOR a sheen and character all its own. We realised calasignum.com - 3 - that with such an enormous weight of sonority ARRANGER’S NOTE of the harmony, rather than on top. Later in the with the opportunity to be percussive and at hand, no-one need “push” the sound at all, piece, when the tune is doubled at the higher rhythmic as well as beautifully melodic. even in the most expressive and energetic of The commission to arrange music for this octave, the cello’s versatility and great range passages: it blossomed best when most relaxed. disc provided me with one of the most enables the creation of a soundscape virtually © Richard Balcombe fulfilling challenges of my career. How could as wide as that of a full string orchestra. It turned out that there was time to record the I achieve a flattering, full sound without three arrangements but not Sardana. At the little disturbing the calm simplicity of The Swan My brief for the Greensleeves Suite was quite party held for the musicians after the session— or losing any of the detail of Vocalise? simple–begin by melting into a lush version many of whom, because of the intensity of their of the tune, to highlight the warm, rich orchestras’ schedules, had not seen each other We decided to use two harps to accompany middle register of the instrument. We hear 30 since student days—it was unanimously felt The Swan, to provide a more “airy” quality cellos playing Greensleeves to the lute-like that Sardana, a highly virtuoso piece, should behind the 40 cellos, rather than the two pianos accompaniment of the other ten. To follow, I indeed be tackled. The next available date for which so perfectly support just the one cello used some of the special effects of which the the four orchestras was April 2, in the morning. in the original. I have attempted to keep this cello is capable—for example, harmonics in the arrangement as “spare” as possible: not too Maypole section and a pizzicato version of The The second session also enabled us to add much counterpoint (to preserve the inherent Lover and His Lass—before returning to a very one further arrangement, so as to produce a clarity of the tune) and only a delicate fleshing full-sounding recapitulation of the main theme. well-rounded programme of about 22 or 23 out of the harmony, subtly enriching the fuller, minutes. Thus Richard Balcombe composed but never heavy, massed melodic sound. We wanted a “standard” to finish with, and the Greensleeves Suite, which explores the the suggestion was made of Tonight from baritone register of the massed cellos in contrast Working from Rachmaninov’s own arrangement West Side Story. I decided to use the Ensemble to the more tenor-like range of The Swan. of Vocalise for full orchestra, I was able to retain rather than Duet version of the number—it for the cellos all the lines of the composer’s comes just at the end of Act I—since there is We hope the result will be enjoyed as much highly intricate counterpoint. On occasion there so much variety in this and it has a wonderful in the listening as it was in the making. are up to 16 separate parts, some of which I introduction which doesn’t give away the tune chose to include as solo lines in order not to until the last minute. It provides the cellos © Geoffrey Simon Artistic Director cover the melody, which is often in the middle

- 4 - - 5 - THE LONDON CELLO SOUND BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 1 The Swan (1886) Edition of Grove’s Dictionary [1954] that his Paul Watkins principal Camille Saint-Saëns music “is not likely to last and musicians LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Susan Monks arr. Richard Balcombe never regarded it with much favour” being Robert Truman principal Graham Bradshaw a case in point). But forty years later, it is Francis Bucknall Janice Brodie Saint-Saëns published an enormous amount recognised that Rachmaninov was a truly Bridget Evans Charles Martin of music during his life, yet he withheld The great Russian composer who provided Ronald Calder Clare Hinton Carnival of the Animals, which he regarded as the perfect link between the 19th-century John Lowdell Peter Freyhan frivolous: a “private joke” intended solely for romanticism of Tchaikovsky and the 20th- Roger Lunn Sarah Hedley Miller the amusement of his friends. However, he did century modernism of Shostakovich. Ernest Greaves Emma Pritchard relent in the case of just one of the numbers, Le Catherine Wilmers Helen Verney Cygne (The Swan) and it not only became a best- Rachmaninov’s symphonies, concertos and Susan Sutherley seller in its sheetmusic form, but was further choral works have become cornerstones of the Philip Taylor PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA popularised in the celebrated “Dying Swan” solo repertoire, as indeed have his solo piano pieces Matthias Feile principal created by the prima ballerina Anna Pavlova. and songs. Among the latter is the wordless ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA David Jones Vocalise of 1912—a melisma of sound for Mats Lidstrom principal Rhydian Shaxson Ironically, when the complete Carnival was soprano voice and piano accompaniment. Francois Rive Michael Hurwitz finally printed the year after Saint-Saëns’s death, Rachmaninov himself made an orchestral Andrew Fuller Jocelyn Gale it soon became his most-played composition. arrangement of this music, and recorded it in Tamsy Kaner Ruth Zagni the days of 78s with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Nigel Pinkett Anne Baker 2 Vocalise (1912) The continuous, heartfelt melody is imbued Peter Vel Avis Perthen Sergei Rachmaninov with typical Rachmaninovian melancholy Christopher Irby Katharine Thulborn arr. Richard Balcombe and nostalgia, and in Richard Balcombe’s Laurence Cromwell Caroline Dearnley Paul Watkins solo cello arrangement would seem as if tailor-made Eldon Fox for an orchestra of top-flight cellists. William Heggart Harps – The Swan: In the years following his death, Rachmaninov Rachel Masters and Helen Tunstall, was much maligned by certain critics (the London Philharmonic Orchestra. notoriously disparaging entry in the 5th

- 6 - - 7 - 3 Sardana (1927) its scoring has little in common with the cobla 4 Greensleeves Suite (1993) Next comes the poignantly nostalgic melody of Pablo Casals bands which normally provide the music. Richard Balcombe The Oak and the Ash and the Bonny Ivy-Tree, Robert Truman solo cello in which a young girl in London is pining for The Catalan cellist Pablo Casals was recognised Casals does indeed bridge the gap to some her home in the North of England. The use of a as one of the greatest ever exponents of his extent during the course of the work, calling on The four ancient folk melodies heard in this solo cello, high over softly-held chords, ideally instrument as well as a noted conductor one occasion for some of the cellists to imitate music come from a 19th-century volume of “Old captures the plaintive nature of the song. and teacher. His international recital and the nasal, warbling sound of the “Grallas English Ditties”, subtitled Popular Music of the concert tours before and after the First World Tcine”—an instrument of the Cobla, derived (as Olden Time. From the many airs and ballads The suite concludes with a full-voiced reprise War, and his formidable artistry, did much is the oboe) from the medieval “shawm”. Other contained therein, Greensleeves, one of the of Greensleeves, and a tiny coda adds an to broaden appreciation of the cello and its members of the cello orchestra are required to most celebrated of all English folk-tunes, both unexpected harmonic “twist” to the melody before repertoire around the world. His subsequent perform a “Drum Imitation” by combining strong opens and closes this short suite. Greensleeves coming to rest on an affecting, sustained chord. opposition to the Franco regime in Spain accents with tremolos on the lower strings, and dates from around 1580, and has been made impelled him, however, into a self-imposed still others mimic “Devil Drums” by playing especially famous in our own time by the 5 Tonight from West Side Story (1957) partial exile from public performance over a rhythmic, crushed chords, also in the bass popular Fantasia of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Leonard Bernstein considerable period, and in 1956 he settled in register. A “Plainchant”, played unexpressively— arr. Richard Balcombe Puerto Rico, where he lived to the age of 97. without vibrato—adds to the texture and for This familiar melody is followed by something a moment, in a passage reminiscent of the rather less well-known, To the Maypole Haste Leonard Bernstein pursued a dual career as The Sardana is the national dance of music of Charles Ives or Percy Grainger, we Away – “Come, ye young men, come along, conductor and composer, but he let it be known Catalonia—a circle dance for men and women also hear a “Processional March” underneath with your music, dance and song” – a that he would prefer to be remembered for his holding hands. Despite the intricacy of its steps, the melody, but in a key quite unrelated to it! spirited tune from Elizabethan times. It was serious compositions rather than for his work almost all Catalonians participate, whether a Lover and His Lass, from Shakespeare’s on the concert podium. Yet it was indeed as in urban or rural settings. Casals, born near Most of this exuberant piece, however, is As You Like It, was first printed in 1600, and a conductor that he was best known, thanks Barcelona, was understandably fond of it and direct and straightforward in its content, is heard here on the plucked strings of the to his prodigious output of recordings and the eight-part Sardana he composed in 1927 for with an earthy, rustic character. It requires entire cello ensemble—an effect which brings broadcasts and his espousal of a vast range of orchestra of massed cellos has all the dynamism considerable virtuosity of its executants as it to mind a gigantic guitar, or the pizzicato music—particularly that of Gustav Mahler. and pent-up energy of this dance, for all that builds to a resounding C major conclusion. Scherzo of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony.

- 8 - - 9 - His greatest compositional achievement lay not in his symphonic output but in his contribution to that quintessential American phenomenon, the Broadway musical. His score for West Side Story places it at the pinnacle of the genre, alongside Oklahoma, Carousel and a host of other great shows.

Tonight appears first as a passionate duet between Tony and Maria, in which they declare their love for each other. Later, as the Jets and the Sharks prepare for their “rumble”, the two lovers reprise their duet in counterpoint with the rhythmic, hardhitting “fight music”. The Recorded in All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London on 18th January and 2nd April 1993 present arrangement of this exciting number Producer – Tim Handley Engineer – Nicholas Parker puts the 40 players of The London Cello Sound Editor – Adrian Hunter through their paces to exhilarating effect, and Mastering – AudioEdit Ltd, London provides a fitting finale to the programme. Publishers: Sardana: Tetra Music Corp. Other items: Cala Music Publishing; arrangements by Richard Balcombe, commissioned for this release. © Edward Johnson

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- 10 - - 11 - ALSO AVAILABLE on signumclassics

Debussy: Evening in Granada Saint-Saëns: Africa Philharmonia Orchestra London Philharmonic Orchestra Geoffrey Simon conductor Geoffrey Simon conductor SIGCD2093 SIGCD2162

“An important addition to the Debussy discography.” “The performances are warmly affectionate, beautifully played MusicWeb and flattered by the rich-textured sound.” Gramophone

Available through most record stores and at calasignum.com. For more information call +44 (0) 20 8997 4000

- 12 - - 12 - CTP Template: CD_INL1 COLOURS Compact Disc Back Inlay CYAN Customer SignumClassics-Cala MAGENTA YELLOW Catalogue No.SIGCD2007 BLACK Job Title: LCS

Cala Signum SIGCD2007

THE LONDON CELLO SOUND The 40 Cellos of LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA THE LONDON CELLO SOUND BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA GEOFFREY SIMON CONDUCTOR

1 The Swan Camille Saint-Saëns [2.52] 2 Vocalise Sergei Rachmaninov [5.56] 3 Sardana Pablo Casals [5.49]

4 Greensleeves Suite Richard Balcombe [5.13] THE LONDON CELLO SOUND 5 Tonight from West Side Story Leonard Bernstein [2.41]

Total timings: [23.01]

LC15723

Cala Signum, Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road SIGCD2007 Perivale, Middlesex UB6 7LQ, UK. P 1993 Cala Records Ltd. DDD SIGCD2007 © 2019 Cala Signum Ltd. calasignum.com 24 bit digital recording 6 35212 20072 8 Cala Signum

CTP Template: CD_INL1 COLOURS Compact Disc Inside Inlay CYAN Customer SignumClassics MAGENTA YELLOW Catalogue No.SIGCD2007 BLACK Job Title: LCS