Charles Concerto No
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557553-54bk USA 17/5/04 12:17 pm Page 8 2 CDs CD2 57:37 Charles Concerto No. 7 in G major 8:01 1 Adagio – Allegro 4:18 2 Allegro con affetto 3:43 AVISON Concerto No. 8 in E minor 9:16 3 Adagio – Allegro 3:09 (1709-1770) 4 Amoroso 3:16 5 Allegro 2:52 Concerto No. 9 in D major 8:10 Twelve Concertos, Op. 6 6 Allegro – Adagio 3:23 7 Andante siciliana 2:20 8 Vivace 2:27 The Avison Ensemble Concerto No. 10 in C major 11:00 Pavlo Beznosiuk 9 Allegro 4:10 0 Adagio 1:49 ! Allegro 5:01 Concerto No. 11 in G minor 9:54 @ Con spirito 2:31 # Allegro 1:54 $ Con affetto 1:28 % Tempo moderato 4:00 Concerto No. 12 in A major 11:17 ^ Allegro spiritoso 5:17 & Andante affettuoso 3:00 * Allegro 3:00 8.557553-54 8 557553-54bk USA 17/5/04 12:17 pm Page 2 Charles Avison (1709-1770) Charles Avison (1709-1770): Twelve Concertos in Seven Parts, Op. 6 1 Twelve Concertos In Seven Parts, Op. 6 Pitch A = 415Hz (Temperament - Valotti) Source: Charles Avison: Twelve Concertos In Seven Parts Italy has always been a source of musical Geminiani was a better composer than Handel, (Publisher: John Johnson, London 1758) inspiration and innovation for composers living elicited howls of protest and inspired some heated Edition prepared by Colin Start north of the Alps. François Couperin, for example, literary exchanges. Avison remained undaunted, once wrote that he loved Corelli’s music above all and his tireless activities as composer, teacher, CD1 49:16 others, Bach greatly admired Vivaldi, and Handel conductor and businessman-entrepreneur Concerto No. 1 in G minor 7:18 thoroughly assimilated the Italian style in his established him as the leading musical figure of 1 Adagio – Allegro – Adagio 4:17 operas and oratorios. Charles Avison, Handel’s Northern England. He died in comfortable 2 Allegro 3:01 English colleague, embraced the Italian concerto circumstances in Newcastle on 9th or 10th May 1770. grosso and became the most prolific concerto Avison composed music in a variety of Concerto No. 2 in B flat major 10:14 composer of his time. genres, including orchestral concerti grossi, 3 Andante 2:10 Baptized in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 16th chamber music and keyboard concerti. His three 4 Allegro 3:44 February 1709, Avison was the son of a sets of Six Sonatas, Opp. 5, 7 and 8, for 5 Adagio 1:13 Newcastle Wait (town musician). He received his harpsichord with the accompaniment of two 6 Vivace 3:07 early training from his father in this city close to violins and cello, were patterned after Rameau’s the Scottish border, but moved to London around groundbreaking Pièces de clavecin en concert Concerto No. 3 in E minor 8:20 1724 to further his musical education and career. (1741) that had established the new genre of the 7 Adagio 2:10 It was in London that he met and studied with accompanied keyboard sonata. Avison was the 8 Allegro 1:22 Francesco Geminiani, a student of Corelli who, first to introduce Rameau’s Pièces to England, 9 Adagio 1:37 like many composers of the period, had moved to and his harpsichord parts are even more virtuosic 0 Allegro 3:11 England to seek greater fame and fortune. Avison than the latter’s. returned to Newcastle in 1735 to assume the post Not surprisingly, the majority of Avison’s Concerto No. 4 in D major 6:48 of organist at St John’s Church, and he brought compositions are in the Italian concerto grosso ! Andante 1:52 back all that he had learned about the Italian style. style, in which a string orchestra, violins, viola, @ Allegro assai 1:52 A year later he became organist at the city’s most cello and bass with harpsichord continuo, is # Adagio 1:11 important church, St Nicholas, and also instituted divided into two groups, the concertino (solo) and $ Minuet: Vivace 1:53 a series of fourteen subscription concerts ripieno (the other members of the orchestra). This performed every two weeks during the winter arrangement allows for dramatic contrast between Concerto No. 5 in B flat major 8:22 months. The series eventually became the the two sections, while providing the solo violinist % Maestoso 3:51 Newcastle Musical Society, with Avison serving with ample opportunities to display the virtuoso ^ Allegro assai 1:53 as its Director (and organist of St Nicholas) for his string-playing so favoured by Geminiani, Corelli, & Adagio 0:39 entire life. Veracini and their contemporaries. Avison’s * Allegro spiritoso 2:00 Avison was also a provocative writer and concerti grossi also made it possible for amateur critic. The proposal in his 1752 treatise An Essay musicians to play in the less demanding ripieno Concerto No. 6 in D major 8:14 on Musical Expression that “expression” was sections. One of the gentlemen members of his ( Andante 1:53 more important than following the formal rules of Newcastle orchestra was the astronomer William ) Con spirito 2:50 composition, and his extravagant claim that Herschel, the discoverer of the planet Uranus. ¡ Adagio 1:25 ™ Vivace 2:06 8.557553-54 2 7 8.557553-54 557553-54bk USA 17/5/04 12:17 pm Page 6 Pavlo Beznosiuk Of Avison’s more than forty concertos, the first movement Andante of Concerto VI, a lyrical best known are his attractive transcriptions of melody played by the solo violin accompanied by The Ukrainian/Irish violinist Pavlo Beznosiuk has been described as an artist keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti (1744). a walking bass in the cello reminds one of the with star quality, a rare performer who is equally at home on instruments as The twelve concertos of Opus 6 were published in sonatas of Geminiani, Avison’s teacher. diverse as modern, Classical, Baroque and Renaissance violins, viola and 1758, when Avison was at the height of his Opus 6 is also a breakthrough in terms of medieval fiddles, and has been praised for his versatility and virtuosity. Well- creative powers, and they represent a major formal structure. Haydn and J.C. Bach had begun known as a soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster, he has led and breakthrough in the composer’s style. In Opus 6 writing their first symphonies, and composers directed numerous period instrument orchestras including the Avison Ensemble, Avison pays great attention to harmonic sonorities were gradually abandoning the concerto grosso in Academy of Ancient Music, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Orchestra of the and “expression”. Chords are carefully voiced favour of the regular phrase structure, simplified Age of Enlightenment, the Hanover Band, L’Arte dei Suonatori and Le with a wider spacing between the notes, and there textures and Sonata-Allegro form (A-B-A) that Parlement de Musique. His recordings include works by Biber, Westhoff and are many more markings for dynamics, characterized the early Classical symphony. Walther, and the Brandenburg Concertos with the New London Consort, articulations, phrasing and tempo than one finds Avison was keenly aware of this stylistic shift, as Vivaldi’s Opus 6 violin concertos with the Academy of Ancient Music, and the in the earlier concerti. The opening Andante of can be heard in the last four concertos (IX-XII). Photo: Richard Haughton Schubert Octet and Cherubini quartets with the ensemble Hausmusik. These and Concerto II, for example, features both long, Rather than the binary forms and through- his innumerable recordings for the BBC and European radio and television stations have established slurred melodic lines and passages written with composed techniques of his earlier works, we see him in his pre-eminent position in the field of early music. He teaches Baroque violin at the Royal short staccato markings. Its second movement, the beginnings of the full-blown sonata form (e.g. Conservatory in The Hague. Allegro favours contrasts between piano and forte in the final Allegro of Concerto X and the Con dynamics. The same variety of articulations can Spirito of Concerto XI) that would find its be found in the first Adagio of Concerto III, and ultimate expression in the symphonies of Mozart, the Andante of Concerto IV. The Allegro assai of Haydn and Beethoven. Concerto IV and the Allegro assai of Concerto V are finely-wrought movements in the extended fugal style of the Italian concerto grosso. In the Mark Kroll Mark Kroll has performed throughout the world as a harpsichordist and fortepianist for more than three decades, and he has also published on a wide variety of subjects. He is currently completing a book on expressive harpsichord playing and a biography of J. N. Hummel. 8.557553-54 6 3 8.557553-54 557553-54bk USA 17/5/04 12:17 pm Page 4 The Avison Ensemble Despite having written over eighty string concertos and being hailed by the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians as “the most important English concerto composer of the 18th century”, Charles Avison’s music is still rarely performed on either modern or period instruments. There have been many recordings of Avison’s famous arrangements of Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas, however, it is astonishing that this CD of Twelve Concertos opus 6 represents the first ever recording of a complete opus by Charles Avison. Several years ago, a colleague and I discovered a collection of eighteenth century music hidden away at the back of a cupboard. This turned out to be a number of concertos of the hitherto little known Newcastle born composer Charles Avison. Excited by the originality and freshness of the music, The Avison Ensemble was formed with the aim of enhancing public awareness of Charles Avison and the many other neglected British composers of the baroque period - composers thoroughly overshadowed by the brilliant career of George Frederick Handel, who was living and working in London at the time.