Sinfonia Viva in Association with Classic FM and Derby LIVE Present

About the Orchestra

Sinfonia Viva is a virtuoso ensemble delivering original and extraordinary creative musical experiences. Founded in 1982, Sinfonia Viva has a national reputation as a leader in creative music activity in the UK. Its work offers relevant and enriching possibilities for all.

Sinfonia Viva:

 Embraces new opportunities and ways of working whilst nurturing the best of existing practice, making music accessible to the widest audience

 Connects participants, communities and professional musicians through shared creative activities and performances

 Creates exciting and imaginative performance experiences for audiences and participants

 Collaborates with partners to devise, develop and deliver original Sinfonia Viva in association with musical opportunities

 Is an ambassador for music making Classic FM and Derby LIVE present The Orchestra has toured to Ireland and Berlin, has broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and has been part of a project for Granada Television. The Orchestra made its London debut as part of an Indian music festival in London’s Kings Place, building on its partnership with top Indian classical violinist Kala Ramnath. One of the Orchestra’s tracks on the Gorillaz’ album Plastic Beach was nominated for a Grammy award. The Orchestra has hosted the Association of British Orchestras’ national conference. Sunday Afternoon Classics It took part in the BBC Radio 3 co-ordinated Music Nation week-end which was a countdown event to the London 2012 Festival and the performance was also broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The Orchestra was the local content producer for the Olympic Torch Evening Celebration event in June 2012 in Derby Assembly Rooms Derby. Sunday 24th November 2013, 3.00pm Sinfonia Viva prides itself on its project development activity and partnership working, often bringing together musicians from other musical styles, genres and traditions. It also has extensive experience in event management activity and delivery.

Sinfonia Viva is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and receives funding from Derby City Council.

Feedback on any Sinfonia Viva event is welcome via the contact details below.

Sinfonia Viva, Beaufort Street Business Centre, Beaufort Street, Derby, DE21 6AX Tel: 01332 207570 Fax: 01332 207569 Email: [email protected] www.vivaorch.co.uk

Viva Chamber Orchestra Ltd is a company limited by guarantee registered in England No.187955. Registered address 22-26 Nottingham Road, Stapleford, Nottingham. Registered Charity No.291046 VAT No.385367024

This concert is supported by Rolls-Royce plc, Derby City Council, Derby LIVE, Classic FM and Orchestras Live.

Schubert Symphony No.2 in B flat, D125

Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A major, K622

Weber Concertino in E flat major for clarinet and orchestra, Op26

Mendelssohn Symphony No.4 in A major, Op90 'Italian’ SymphonyProgramme No.2 in B flat, D125 Franz Schubert (1797-1828) 1. Largo – allegro vivace; 2. Andante; 3. Menuetto. Allegro vivace; 4. Presto vivace.

Schubert began work on his Second Symphony in December 1814, just over a year after completing his First, and finished it the following March. No record of an immediate performanceUnauthorised has survived. It may have been played by the orchestra of the Imperial and Royal Seminary, Vienna, the school at which Schubert had gained a place as a chorister in the Imperial Court Chapel Choir. He had left the school in the autumn of 1813, but appears to have stayed on friendly terms with the staff and his former fellow-students, and the symphony is dedicated to the headmaster, Dr Innocenz Lang. The first public performance did not take place until October 1877 when it was played at the Crystal Palace, London.

During the period that separates the First and Second Symphonies Schubert had written several works, including his notesMass in F, the opera Des Teufels Lustschloss (The Devil's Pleasure-Palace) and a number of songs, including his first outstanding masterpiece in the genre, 'Gretchen am Spinnrade' (Gretchen at the Spinning-wheel). The experience of writing these works seems to have given him greater confidence in handling the symphonic tradition of Mozart and Haydn, added to which are signs of his growing admiration for Beethoven.

This becomes apparent as soon as the main section of the first movement gets underway. Following the imposing slow introduction,copyright it sets off at a bustling allegro vivace with a theme that bears a strong resemblancereproduction to the equivalent in the overture to Beethoven's ballet The Creatures of Prometheus. The second main theme is more relaxed and spacious, but it is the driving energy of the opening that dominates the movement.

The andante is the only example of a theme and variations in Schubert’s orchestral works. The theme already has the hallmarks of those amiably lyrical, song-like melodies which he often used as the basis for variations in his later chamber music, and it is easily traced in the five variations which follow. A more strenuous tone takes over in the minor-key fourth variation, while the fifth returns to the mood of the first three, surrounding the tune with delicate skipping figuration for the violins. It is followed by a concluding sectionMike in which a sunset glow seems to pervade the music as it comes to rest.

The strenuous nature of that fourth variation surfaces again in the third movement, a minuet in name and tempo but a scherzo by nature. The oboe tune in the central trio section, which recalls the theme of the variations, has a beguilingis innocence about it. Later in his career Schubert would exploit such a contrast between turbulence andWheeler tranquility to more poignant effect. Here it is a simple matter of lightening the tone amid the emphatic drive of the outer sections. prohibited.

The Minuet's dynamism prepares us for the racing exuberance of the finale. Soft and light at first, the music soon reaches an outburst of Beethovenian power. The second main theme is all airy grace, which turns darker when Schubert springs a surprise by bringing it back in a minor key in the final section. It is a passing cloud, adding a touch of pathos to the most impressive symphonic movement Schubert had composed so far.

2013. Clarinet Concerto in A major, K622 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) 1. Allegro; 2. Adagio; 3. Rondo. Allegro.

The clarinet was first developed in the early eighteenth century and was used by a number of composers, including Rameau, Telemann and Vivaldi. But it was Mozart who probably did more than anyone else to establish it as both a solo instrument and a regular member of the orchestra. His love-affairProgramme with the instrument began during his visit to London as a child in 1764-5 (the English composer Thomas Arne had used clarinets in his 1762 opera Artaxexes), and his comment on the famous Mannheim orchestra in a letter to his father in December 1778, “if only we had clarinets too!”, (i.e. in Salzburg) shows how much the instrument’s agility and warm tone had captured his imagination.

In the early 1780s, soon after settling in Vienna, Mozart met Anton Stadler, clarinettist with the VienneseUnauthorised court orchestra, who was admired for his beautifully expressive playing. Over the next few years Mozart wrote parts for him in the Trio for clarinet, viola and piano, K498, and the Quintet for piano and wind instruments, K452, culminating in the Clarinet Quintet and Concerto, as well as obbligato parts for clarinet and basset-horn in two of the arias from his opera La clemenza di Tito.

Stadler played a modification of the standard instrument, which he helped to develop in 1788, and which today is called a basset-clarinet. It was fitted with extra keys extending the lower end of the compass by a major third. Mozartnotes made use of the extra notes, especially in the Concerto, but the new instrument failed to catch on, and when the Quintet and the Concerto were published the solo parts were adjusted to fit the conventional clarinet. The discovery in 1967 of an article from a German music periodical of 1802, reviewing one of the first publications of the concerto, confirmed suspicions that the solo part as printed was not what Mozart originally wrote, since the anonymous reviewer was able to make detailed comparisons between the two scores.

Since Mozart’s manuscript is lost, attemptscopyright to restore the clarinet part as original conceived involve a certain amount of conjecture.reproduction Nevertheless, reconstructions reveal, even more clearly than the first published versions, how Mozart systematically exploited the contrast between the two most characteristic parts of the instrument’s range: the clear, bright upper octaves and the deliciously husky-toned lower, so-called chalumeau, register (for which Stadler’s playing was particularly noted), as well as its ability to switch nimbly between the two.

The Clarinet Concerto was Mozart’s last instrumental work, written in October 1791, just over a month before he died, though part of the first movement derived from an unfinished concerto in G for basset-horn (another, deeper-pitched relative of the clarinet), also intended for Stadler, dating from no later than the early months of 1791, and possibly a year or two earlier. By bringing together the clarinet’s gentle and expressive qualities (itsMike salient characteristic as perceived in Mozart’s day) with A major, regarded as a bright, cheerful key, the concerto highlights the fruitful tension between high spirits and gentle, often wistful, lyricism that runs through so much of his music. The effect is reinforced by the mellow, clear scoring, for an orchestra without either clarinets or the more penetrating sound of oboes. is The allegro is one of Mozart’s melodically richest first movements,Wheeler conceived on a spacious scale and combining sprightliness and mellow warmth. The slowprohibited. movement is a gradually unfolding span of serene tenderness such as even Mozart scarcely ever surpassed, while the rondo finale is both ebullient and relaxed, with an occasional pensive moment.

Concertino in E flat major for clarinet and orchestra, Op 26 Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) Adagio ma non troppo – andante - allegro.

Weber’s influence on the development of German music, especially opera,2013. in the early nineteenth century is out of all proportion to both his short life and his relatively small output. As pianist, conductor and writer on music he worked tirelessly to build appreciative audiences in the various musical centres throughout Germany where he worked. The runaway success of his opera Der Freischütz (‘The free-shooter’) encouraged the development of German romantic opera, though its significance in terms of wider German culture tended to be exaggerated by later musicians, particularly Wagner. The many composers who responded to his example, besides Wagner, included Mendelssohn, Berlioz and Liszt. Like MozartProgramme and Brahms, Weber was prompted to write his works for clarinet after meeting an WE VALUE YOUR SUPPORT exceptionally gifted player. Heinrich Baermann, composer of the Adagio for clarinet and strings that used to be attributed to Wagner, was court clarinettist to the King of Bavaria, based in Munich, where Weber arrived in March 1811 during a concert tour. He and Baermann quickly As a registered charity, supporting Sinfonia Viva enables individuals, trusts and foundations, became firm friends, and he wrote this short one-movement Concertino for clarinet and businesses and statuary bodies to play a key role in a range of innovative artistic, education and community programmes. orchestra for Baermann to play at a concert he gave there in April. The work’s success led to the King Unauthorisedcommissioning two full-length concertos from Weber, who also began work on a You can make a real difference and support the work we do right away. It couldn’t be easier - quintet for clarinet and strings which he completed four years later. just Text VIVA30 and either 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 to 700 70. You can text donate a maximum of £30 per day in multiples of up to £10. The Concertino begins with a powerful orchestral gesture, out of which the clarinet solo quietly emerges for its soulful opening solo. The section that follows, without a break, is gently song- Alternatively you can make a donation securely online through BT mydonate like but leads to a quiet, haunting passage, beginning with the clarinet at the bottom of its www.mydonate.bt.com/charities/sinfoniaviva range. This turns out to be a brief link to the allegro that gives the work its lively ending. Or send a cheque together with your contact details to Make a Difference, Sinfonia Viva, notes Beaufort Business Centre, Beaufort Street, Derby DE21 6AX and together we can make a Symphony No.4 in A major, Op 90 (Italian) difference. Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) 1. Allegro vivace; 2. Andante con moto; 3. Con moto moderato; 4. Saltarello. Presto. To discuss different ways you can help please call Simone Lennox-Gordon on 01332 207 566 or email [email protected]. As both working musician and tourist, Mendelssohn was an inveterate traveller. He visited Italy as part of what he called “the great trip” which he began in May 1830 and which took in some of THANK YOU the major cities in Western Europe. He arrivedcopyright in Venice in early October, visited Bologna and spent the winter in Rome wherereproduction he met Berlioz, who had recently arrived in the city for his www.vivaorch.co.uk obligatory two years of study at the Villa Medici as winner of the Paris Conservatoire's annual Prix de Rome competition. He visited the area around Naples in April 1831, stayed in Florence and Milan on his way north, and finally left Italy for Switzerland in August. Special thanks go to our supporters Arts Council England, Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council It was while he was in Italy that he began work on what was to become his Symphony No.4 (the Lincolnshire County Council, numbering of Mendelssohn’s symphonies, incidentally, bears little relation to the order in which Orchestras Live they were composed; No.4 is actually the third of the five to be completed). A commission in Rolls-Royce plc

November 1832 from the London Philharmonic Society for a symphony, an overture and a Trusts and Foundations vocal work gave him the incentive to complete it. AlthoughMike he was dissatisfied with it for a time Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation during the autumn, he finished it by April 1833. He conducted the first performance at a The Bergne-Coupland Charity Philharmonic Society concert on 13 May, when he also played the solo part in Mozart’s Piano Children in Need Concerto No.20 in D minor. He revised the last three movements the following year, and D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust intended to do the same to the first movement, but never arrived at a final version which Freemasons of Derby Grassroots Fund completely satisfied him. The symphony was played isonly three more times in his lifetime, and Heritage Lottery Fund the score was not published until 1851. Wheeler Jessie Spencer Trust JR Halkes Settlement Mendelssohn stated that the symphony contained impressionsprohibited. of Italian art and landscape, and Royal Philharmonic Society and PRS for Music Foundation of the people he met there. Certainly the irresistibly buoyant opening gives a vivid sensation of The Ernest Book Trust southern light, warmth and exuberance. The music has such sweeping energy and drive, and The John Ellerman Foundation the more lyrical second theme, starting on clarinets and bassoons, emerges so seamlessly from The Thomas Farr Charity its surroundings that it is not till the central section, a feather-light fugal passage for strings, that The Wallbrook Fund we get any degree of contrast. The Waynflete Charitable Trust Tom Carey Fund The second movement sets off over a steady tread in the lower strings, with a main theme which Mendelssohn’s friend the pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles stated 2013.was actually a Business Supporter & New Year’s Eve Gala Performance Czech pilgrims’ song. Other writers have suggested that the chant-like character of the Handelsbanken movement's themes was influenced by Mendelssohn's experience of hearing plainsong in Rome. Maestro Members Brian King, John Rivers, Peter Steer, Robin Wood Instead of a conventional scherzo Mendelssohn writes a flowing, moderately-paced third movement, which he even re-named 'Menuetto' in the 1834 revision. He deliberately kept this Just as each of our musicians in today’s concert has played a vital part, we invite you to play a movement low-key, allowing it to turn fairly sombre in the central trio section in order to create vital role. To find out how you can make a difference please contact Simone Lennox-Gordon, Head of Development on 01332 207 566 or email [email protected] The Orchestra the maximum contrast with the brilliantly exhilarating finale. This opens with a saltarello, a lively, leaping dance originally from Naples, and based on actual dance tunes which Mendelssohn Conductor Soloist heard, again, in Rome. Although the music is in A minor, its vitality sweeps aside any suggestion of the elegiac or tragic moods which we have come to associate with minor keys. A Nicholas Kok Mark Simpson second theme, a continuous whirling which begins quietly in the strings, is, according to Mendelssohn's English pupil William Rockstro, a tarantella, a dance with a similar character.

Violin 1 The rhythm scarcely lets up for a moment, and the resulting tumult of colour and energy has Flute contributed much to the enduring popularity of this, the best-loved of Mendelssohn’s Nic Fallowfield Rachel Holt David Routledge symphonies. Nicky Hunter Caroline Bromley Rebecca Allfree All programme notes © Mike Wheeler 2013. Unauthorised use of these programme notes is Belinda Hammond Oboe strictly prohibited. Freddie August Emily Pailthorpe Mathias Svensson Lauren Weavers ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Peter Leighton-Jones

Clarinet Violin 2 Chris Swann Philip Gallaway Helen Bishop

Clare Bhabra Janet Hall Bassoon Hazel Parkes Elizabeth Porter Adam Mackenzie Phil Gibon Jacob Lay

Viola Horn Richard Muncey David Tollington Isobel Adams Jose Lluna Janina Kopinska

Jackie Anthony Trumpet Anthony Thompson Cello Gordon Truman Deirdre Bencsik

Jenny Curtis Timpani Freddie Collarbone Graham Hall Lucy Wilding

Double Bass

David Ayre Mhari Simpson

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Images: Front cover by h.koppdelaney used under CC BY 2.0 licence. Nicholas Kok – credit Jens Tusche. Mark Simpson – credit Elisabeth Blanchet

Nicholas Kok his own music for Scottish Dance Theatre’s “Out of the House” performances, and the world premiere of his 7th Degree which was performed by Julian Bliss and Viva, conducted by the Principal Guest Conductor composer.

Nicholas Kok is an extremely versatile conductor and Current engagements include various projects with the BBC Singers, Gluck’s Orpheus & musician. In the concert hall, the opera house and on Eurydice for Staatstheater Stuttgart and collaborations with Sinfonia Viva and Bielefeld radio he has conducted numerous world and British Philharmonic. premieres, including works by Birtwistle, Holt, Maxwell Davies, Reich, Turnage and Xenakis. Mark Simpson He is currently Chief Guest Conductor at the West Deutsche Rundfunk Choir. He has also recorded and Clarinet / Composer toured extensively with the leading contemporary music ensemble Psappha. From 1996 to 2006 he was Principal Born in Liverpool, in 2006 at the age of 17 Mark Conductor and Artistic Director of Sinfonia Viva, with Simpson became the first ever winner of both the BBC which he performed a large and varied repertoire and is now the orchestra’s Principal Guest. Young Musician and BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composer of the Year Competitions. He was selected For English National Opera he has conducted Orfeo, Il Ritorno d’Ulisse, The Fairy Queen, The for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust Marriage of Figaro, Così fan tutte, King Priam, the world premieres Turnage The Country of the (YCAT) in 2012 and is now emerging as a major new Blind and Twice through the Heart in a joint production with South Bank Centre and Aldeburgh voice, both as a composer and clarinettist. Festival, and the world premiere of Arion and the Dolphin. He made his Opera North debut conducting the world premiere of Simon Holt’s The Nightingale’s to Blame at the Huddersfield Over the last year Mark joined BBC Radio 3’s New Festival, where he also conducted the British premiere of Hindenburg, part one of a major work Generation Artist Scheme, won a Sky Arts Futures Fund by Steve Reich. He returned to Opera North for new productions of Gluck Orfeo, Stravinsky Les bursary and embarked on a full publishing relationship Noces and Purcell Dido and Aeneas. Festivals at which he has appeared include Edinburgh, with Boosey & Hawkes. His BBC orchestral commission sparks was premiered at the Last Night BBC Proms, Orkney, Cheltenham, Montepulciano and “Sound Around” in Copehhagen/Malmo. of the Proms and a mirror-fragment…. received its London premiere with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican. In 2013 commissions included Exile for the National Youth Choirs of Nicholas Kok made his debut at the Stuttgart Staatsoper conducting Purcell King Arthur, and Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall and Salvator Mundi for the Choir of Christchurch returned for a new productions of L’incoronazione di Poppea and Gluck Orphee along with Cathedral Oxford at the Newbury Spring Festival. Future projects include an orchestral work, revivals of Hänsel und Gretel, and L’italania in Algieri. For Cologne Opera he directed Le Nozze an operatic collaboration with writer Melanie Challenger (supported by a Jerwood Opera Writing di Figaro and a new production of Semele, which he also directed in Graz. For Oper Leipzig he Fellowship) and a new work for Britten Sinfonia. has conducted Alceste and Iphigenie en Aulide. In Lisbon he conducted Handel Agrippina at the Teatro Sao Carlos and in Klagenfurt highly acclaimed productions of Handel Teseo and A passionate exponent of new music, during 2013 Mark performs and records the Lindberg Cavalli Il Giasone, and, in Porto, a new production of L’Elisir d’Amore. Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Adam’s Gnarly Buttons with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and takes part in the Julian Anderson Day at Wigmore Hall. Over the last He played a large part in setting up Almeida Opera for which he conducted Mario year he has given recitals at major venues and festivals including the Royal Festival Hall, the the Magician by Stephen Oliver. For Opera Factory London he conducted numerous Cheltenham, Spitalfields and Ryedale Festivals with premieres of works by Simon Holt, productions including works by Xenakis and Osborne alongside Poppea,Dido and Aeneas, Cosi Jonathan Harvey and Edmund Finnis. In 2011 his debut CD was released on the NMC label fan tutte, The Magic Flute and Curlew River. For Opera Factory Zürich he conducted La including especially commissioned works by Mark Anthony Turnage, Gary Carpenter, David Calistoand Marschner Der Vampyr. For McKinsey/WDR/Arte he conducted the world premieres Horne, Kenneth Hesketh, Gavin Higgins, Emily Howard and Stephen Pratt. of Alexander Krampe’s reworkings of Rousseau Pygmalion and Bizet Carmen. As a soloist Mark has appeared with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (Vassily Petrenko), Orchestras and ensembles he has worked with include the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Northern Sinfonia (Yan Pascal Tortelier), BBC Philharmonic (Gianandrea Noseda), City of BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Scottish National, Radio Sinfonie London Sinfonia, BBC Concert Orchestra and Northern Chamber Orchestra, among many Orchester Berlin, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC Concert others. Concert appearances include recitals at major venues and festivals including Wigmore Orchestra, RTE National Symphony Ireland, Ulster Orchestra, Hallé, Het Gelders Orkest, Hall, Royal Festival Hall, the Cheltenham, Lammermuir, Spitalfields and Ryedale Festivals, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Birmingham Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, BeethovenFest in Bonn, and Denver Colorado as a Contemporary Music Group, Jenaer Philharmonie, Orchestra of St John’s Smith Square and Lakewood Music Scholar. Orquestra Nacional do Porto. Mark has had his compositions performed by leading orchestras and ensembles including the Nicholas Kok works frequently with the BBC Singers with whom he has recorded an extensive National Youth Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Aronowitz Ensemble repertoire, including, most recently, a recording of Birtwistle’s Moth Requiem. He has recorded and the Meiningen Symphony Orchestra. In 2010 won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s for radio and television, and has written and arranged music for both mediums, as well as Composition Award for which he wrote Lethe for trombone and ensemble performed at the working as assistant/banda conductor on numerous recordings for Opera Rara and Chandos. Royal Festival Hall.

He has also worked closely with many choreographers (as conductor and arranger) and has Mark read Music at St. Catherine’s College Oxford graduating with first class honours. In 2012 conducted for Birmingham Royal Ballet including Le Baiser de la Fee, Petrushka and The he completed an MMus in composition with Julian Anderson at the Guildhall School of Music & Firebird; Scottish Ballet Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet and Sleeping Beauty as well as three Drama. He studied clarinet with Nicholas Cox at the Junior School of the Royal Northern programmes at the Edinburgh Festival; and Stockholm Royal Ballet. He played the premiere of College of Music and now studies privately with Mark van der Wiel. Nicholas Kok his own music for Scottish Dance Theatre’s “Out of the House” performances, and the world premiere of his 7th Degree which was performed by Julian Bliss and Viva, conducted by the Principal Guest Conductor composer.

He has also worked closely with many choreographers (as conductor and arranger) and has Mark read Music at St. Catherine’s College Oxford graduating with first class honours. In 2012 conducted for Birmingham Royal Ballet including Le Baiser de la Fee, Petrushka and The he completed an MMus in composition with Julian Anderson at the Guildhall School of Music & Firebird; Scottish Ballet Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet and Sleeping Beauty as well as three Drama. He studied clarinet with Nicholas Cox at the Junior School of the Royal Northern programmes at the Edinburgh Festival; and Stockholm Royal Ballet. He played the premiere of College of Music and now studies privately with Mark van der Wiel. The Orchestra the maximum contrast with the brilliantly exhilarating finale. This opens with a saltarello, a lively, leaping dance originally from Naples, and based on actual dance tunes which Mendelssohn Conductor Soloist heard, again, in Rome. Although the music is in A minor, its vitality sweeps aside any suggestion of the elegiac or tragic moods which we have come to associate with minor keys. A Nicholas Kok Mark Simpson second theme, a continuous whirling which begins quietly in the strings, is, according to Mendelssohn's English pupil William Rockstro, a tarantella, a dance with a similar character.

Clarinet Violin 2 Chris Swann Philip Gallaway Helen Bishop

Clare Bhabra Janet Hall Bassoon Hazel Parkes Elizabeth Porter Adam Mackenzie Phil Gibon Jacob Lay

Viola Horn Richard Muncey David Tollington Isobel Adams Jose Lluna Janina Kopinska

Jackie Anthony Trumpet Anthony Thompson Cello Gordon Truman Deirdre Bencsik

Jenny Curtis Timpani Freddie Collarbone Graham Hall Lucy Wilding

Double Bass

David Ayre Mhari Simpson

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Images: Front cover by h.koppdelaney used under CC BY 2.0 licence. Nicholas Kok – credit Jens Tusche. Mark Simpson – credit Elisabeth Blanchet

Like MozartProgramme and Brahms, Weber was prompted to write his works for clarinet after meeting an WE VALUE YOUR SUPPORT exceptionally gifted player. Heinrich Baermann, composer of the Adagio for clarinet and strings that used to be attributed to Wagner, was court clarinettist to the King of Bavaria, based in Munich, where Weber arrived in March 1811 during a concert tour. He and Baermann quickly As a registered charity, supporting Sinfonia Viva enables individuals, trusts and foundations, became firm friends, and he wrote this short one-movement Concertino for clarinet and businesses and statuary bodies to play a key role in a range of innovative artistic, education and community programmes. orchestra for Baermann to play at a concert he gave there in April. The work’s success led to the King Unauthorisedcommissioning two full-length concertos from Weber, who also began work on a You can make a real difference and support the work we do right away. It couldn’t be easier - quintet for clarinet and strings which he completed four years later. just Text VIVA30 and either 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 to 700 70. You can text donate a maximum of £30 per day in multiples of up to £10. The Concertino begins with a powerful orchestral gesture, out of which the clarinet solo quietly emerges for its soulful opening solo. The section that follows, without a break, is gently song- Alternatively you can make a donation securely online through BT mydonate like but leads to a quiet, haunting passage, beginning with the clarinet at the bottom of its www.mydonate.bt.com/charities/sinfoniaviva range. This turns out to be a brief link to the allegro that gives the work its lively ending. Or send a cheque together with your contact details to Make a Difference, Sinfonia Viva, notes Beaufort Business Centre, Beaufort Street, Derby DE21 6AX and together we can make a Symphony No.4 in A major, Op 90 (Italian) difference. Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) 1. Allegro vivace; 2. Andante con moto; 3. Con moto moderato; 4. Saltarello. Presto. To discuss different ways you can help please call Simone Lennox-Gordon on 01332 207 566 or email [email protected]. As both working musician and tourist, Mendelssohn was an inveterate traveller. He visited Italy as part of what he called “the great trip” which he began in May 1830 and which took in some of THANK YOU the major cities in Western Europe. He arrivedcopyright in Venice in early October, visited Bologna and spent the winter in Rome wherereproduction he met Berlioz, who had recently arrived in the city for his www.vivaorch.co.uk obligatory two years of study at the Villa Medici as winner of the Paris Conservatoire's annual Prix de Rome competition. He visited the area around Naples in April 1831, stayed in Florence and Milan on his way north, and finally left Italy for Switzerland in August. Special thanks go to our supporters Arts Council England, Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council It was while he was in Italy that he began work on what was to become his Symphony No.4 (the Lincolnshire County Council, numbering of Mendelssohn’s symphonies, incidentally, bears little relation to the order in which Orchestras Live they were composed; No.4 is actually the third of the five to be completed). A commission in Rolls-Royce plc

November 1832 from the London Philharmonic Society for a symphony, an overture and a Trusts and Foundations vocal work gave him the incentive to complete it. AlthoughMike he was dissatisfied with it for a time Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation during the autumn, he finished it by April 1833. He conducted the first performance at a The Bergne-Coupland Charity Philharmonic Society concert on 13 May, when he also played the solo part in Mozart’s Piano Children in Need Concerto No.20 in D minor. He revised the last three movements the following year, and D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust intended to do the same to the first movement, but never arrived at a final version which Freemasons of Derby Grassroots Fund completely satisfied him. The symphony was played isonly three more times in his lifetime, and Heritage Lottery Fund the score was not published until 1851. Wheeler Jessie Spencer Trust JR Halkes Settlement Mendelssohn stated that the symphony contained impressionsprohibited. of Italian art and landscape, and Royal Philharmonic Society and PRS for Music Foundation of the people he met there. Certainly the irresistibly buoyant opening gives a vivid sensation of The Ernest Book Trust southern light, warmth and exuberance. The music has such sweeping energy and drive, and The John Ellerman Foundation the more lyrical second theme, starting on clarinets and bassoons, emerges so seamlessly from The Thomas Farr Charity its surroundings that it is not till the central section, a feather-light fugal passage for strings, that The Wallbrook Fund we get any degree of contrast. The Waynflete Charitable Trust Tom Carey Fund The second movement sets off over a steady tread in the lower strings, with a main theme which Mendelssohn’s friend the pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles stated 2013.was actually a Business Supporter & New Year’s Eve Gala Performance Czech pilgrims’ song. Other writers have suggested that the chant-like character of the Handelsbanken movement's themes was influenced by Mendelssohn's experience of hearing plainsong in Rome. Maestro Members Brian King, John Rivers, Peter Steer, Robin Wood Instead of a conventional scherzo Mendelssohn writes a flowing, moderately-paced third movement, which he even re-named 'Menuetto' in the 1834 revision. He deliberately kept this Just as each of our musicians in today’s concert has played a vital part, we invite you to play a movement low-key, allowing it to turn fairly sombre in the central trio section in order to create vital role. To find out how you can make a difference please contact Simone Lennox-Gordon, Head of Development on 01332 207 566 or email [email protected] His love-affairProgramme with the instrument began during his visit to London as a child in 1764-5 (the English composer Thomas Arne had used clarinets in his 1762 opera Artaxexes), and his comment on the famous Mannheim orchestra in a letter to his father in December 1778, “if only we had clarinets too!”, (i.e. in Salzburg) shows how much the instrument’s agility and warm tone had captured his imagination.