CHAN 8762 Front.qxd 15/10/07 12:00 pm Page 1 CHANDOS Chan 8762 HODDINOTTHODDINOTT Symphony No. 6 Lanterne des morts A Contemplation HODDINOTT upon Flowers Scena for Strings LILLIAN WATSON BBC National Orchestra of Wales BRYDEN THOMSON conductor CHAN 8762 BOOK.qxd 15/10/07 12:01 pm Page 2 Alun Hoddinott (b. 1929 ) 1 Symphony No. 6, Op. 116 20:23 To John Piper on his 80th birthday, with affection and admiration 1 Maestoso – 2 Allegro – 3 Presto – 4 Allegro – 5 Adagio – 6 Allegro molto – 7 Maestoso 2 Lanterne des morts, Op. 105 No. 2 11:27 A Contemplation upon Flowers, Op. 90* 14:37 3 1 Life 5:24 4 2 The Flower 4:43 5 3 A Contemplation upon Flowers 4:31 Alun Hoddinott 6 Scena for string orchestra, Op. 119 15:17 TT 62:02 Lillian Watson soprano* BBC National Orchestra of Wales James Clark leader Bryden Thomson 3 CHAN 8762 BOOK.qxd 15/10/07 12:01 pm Page 4 the heart of the second Allegro it is The music is evocative and atmospheric and Alun Hoddinott: Symphony No. 6 etc. immediately recognizable as a memory of speaks powerfully for itself. home-ground. The core of the structure is a calm and A Contemplation upon Flowers Alun Hoddinott was born in August 1929 at Symphony Orchestra conducted by the richly lyrical Adagio from which a dazzling This group of three songs for soprano and Bargoed in Glamorganshire. He studied the composer. Hoddinott’s first five symphonies toccata-like final Allegro sails inexorably orchestra was commissioned by the Fishguard violin at an early age and went on a were composed between 1955 and 1973. towards a powerful climax, and the goal of the Festival and first performed there in 1976 by scholarship from Gowerton Grammar School to Then between 1974 and 1981 he entire work: a triumphant metamorphosis of Felicity Palmer with the Bournemouth University College, Cardiff followed by a concentrated on writing five operas. He the opening to set a glowing seal on the Sinfonietta. The poems for the cycle were period of study in London with Arthur returned to the symphony after this gap by whole symphony. selected by Myfanwy Piper who was working Benjamin. His first international success came setting himself the challenge of composing with Hoddinott at the time on a children’s when Gervase de Peyer played the Concerto his first single-movement symphony – a Lanterne des morts opera derived from Hans Christian Andersen’s for Clarinet and Strings conducted by Sir John decision possibly stimulated by a virtual This work was commissioned by the North What the Old Man does is Always Right. (She Barbirolli at the 1954 Cheltenham Festival. A decade of living with musical drama. His Wales Music Festival and first performed in had written the libretti for Britten’s Turn of the steady stream of major commissions has solution is to build a continuously unfolding St Asaph Cathedral by the BBC Welsh Screw, Owen Wingrave and Death in Venice followed and his works are performed argument in seven related spans. Symphony Orchestra in 1981. Alun Hoddinott and with Hoddinott has gone on to write The throughout the world. Hoddinott’s prolific Accordingly the work sets out as if has written that the Rajah’s Diamond based on Robert Louis catalogue includes operas (two for television), embarking on a momentous voyage. The ideas for this work originated during a stay in the Stevenson, The Trumpet-Major adapted from symphonies, concertos, piano sonatas, violin material of this imposing Maestoso forms medieval French town of Sarlat. The Lanterne des Hardy’s novel and The Legend of St Julian. sonatas, string quartets and a range of vocal the basis of the ensuing journey through morts – a large, bee-hive shaped construction – is Knowing of Hoddinott’s prediliction for the and choral works. He has played a leading role five interlocking tempi and a richly varied one of a fairly large number scattered throughout seventeenth-century metaphysical poets her in the musical life of Wales as Professor of range of transformations. The gently clanging France and dates from 1180. There is no means choice of texts here has produced a moving Music at Cardiff University (1967–87) and bells at the beginning intone the home of access to the upper part except by ladder and marriage of words and music. The vocal line Founder and Artistic Director of the Cardiff tonality of E flat which acts as a powerful the apertures are too narrow for a man to pass captures the ebb and flow of the poetry to Festival from 1967 to 1989. anchor to the structure. When the first Allegro through – there is, however, sufficient room for perfection and is enhanced by a glowing frees itself from this mooring, as if onto lamps to be placed in the four windows. Two orchestral backdrop. Symphony No. 6 open sea, the clear tonality is ruffled. Much legends are associated with this Lanterne – it Hoddinott’s Sixth Symphony is dedicated of the music is generated by an intricate commemorates the miracle of healing with bread Scena for string orchestra ‘to John Piper on his 80th birthday, with quasi-serial network subtly integrated with performed on the site in 1147 by Saint Bernard, Scena for strings was commissioned by the affection and admiration’ and was first a complementary tonal pull. When E flat and it is believed that the souls of those placed City of London Sinfonia, and was first performed at the 1984 Llandaff Festival in returns as a momentary echo halfway through inside are transformed to white doves which fly performed by them at the Kristiansund St David’s Hall, Cardiff, by the then BBC Welsh the Presto section and for slightly longer at away through the windows. Festival, Norway in 1984 when it was 4 5 CHAN 8762 BOOK.qxd 15/10/07 12:01 pm Page 6 conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier. Hoddinott’s and Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier). In recent years Northern Symphony Orchestra from 1968–73, London Philharmonic, Scottish National, and instrumental works are frequently motivated she has appeared at Covent Garden, Welsh Principal Conductor and Musical Director of the Scottish Chamber Orchestras. His work in the by an abstract dramatic impulse and many National Opera, Monte Carlo Opera, English Ulster Orchestra from 1977–85 and undertook operatic field included posts with Norwegian have the title or subtitle scena. This particular National Opera and Lausanne Opera. guest conducting engagements with orchestras Opera and Scottish Opera. Bryden Thomson piece is related to an earlier Scena for string such as the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, died in 1991. quartet and the effect might be compared to The speedy rise of the BBC National the elaboration of an intimate ink-sketch into Orchestra of Wales to international a larger, vibrantly coloured canvas. recognition is a notable success story. It has Cast as an unbroken arch-like structure the attracted consistent critical acclaim for score is a virtuosic exploration of string performances at most of the world’s musical textures and sonorities. The contour of the capitals. Celebrated platforms visited in recent opening theme is continually transformed – as years include Vienna’s Musikverein, Berlin’s if a character were being viewed from Schauspielhaus, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the differing perspectives, and the final outcome Lincoln Center in New York and the Soviet of the drama is an exhilarating affirmation. International Music Festival in St Petersburg. A national and broadcasting orchestra the BBC © Geraint Lewis NOW is heard regularly on Radio 3, Radio Cymru/Wales and on S4C. The Orchestra has Lillian Watson is considered an exceptional St David’s Hall, Cardiff as its principal coloratura soprano. Her astonishing vocal performing home and also undertakes an agility has led to worldwide concert and opera extensive series of concerts on tour engagements in repertory ranging from Mozart throughout Wales and the UK. The Orchestra’s to Strauss and Britten. She is internationally Music Director is Mark Wigglesworth. well known as Blonse in Die Entführung aus dem Serail for which she has been acclaimed at Born in Scotland Bryden Thomson studied a Glyndebourne, Covent Garden, Hamburg and at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and the Salzburg Festival. She has also recorded Drama and in Europe with Hans Schmidt- the role and appeared in three different Isserstedt and Igor Markevich. He worked with television broadcasts of the opera. Other fine the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra as interpretations include the title role in assistant to Ian Whyte and after his death Janácˇek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Despina undertook some 250 engagements in two (Così fan tutte), Ismène and Aspasia (Mitridate) years. He was Principal Conductor of the BBC 6 7 CHAN 8762 BOOK.qxd 15/10/07 12:01 pm Page 8 das mit einer entsprechenden musikalischen und die Vorstellung, daß die Seelen der darin Alun Hoddinott: Sinfonie Nr. 6 usw. Stringenz kombiniert wird. Als das Es-Dur wie Bestatteten sich in weiße Tauben verwandeln und ein kurzes Echo mitten im Presto und etwas durch die Fenster davonfliegen. länger später im zweiten Allegro zurückkehrt, Die Musik ist ungemein anschaulich und Alun Hoddinott wurde im August 1929 in 80. Geburtstag gewidmet und wurde 1984 ist es sofort zu erkennen. atmosphärisch und bedarf keines Kommentars. Bargoed in Glamorganshire geborn. Er lernte beim Llandaff Festival in der St David’s Hall in Den Kern der Sinfonie bildet ein ruhiges, schon frühzeitig Violine und erhielt ein Cardiff unter der Leitung des Komponisten üppig-lyrisches Adagio, aus dem ein A Contemplation upon Flowers Stipendium für das University College in vom BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra blendendes, toccata-ähnliches letztes Allegro Diese drei Lieder für Sopran und Orchester Cardiff.