Academy of St Martin in the Firlds 080923

PROGRAMME

Tuesday, 23 September 2008, 7.30pm
St Mary's Church, Shrewsbury

ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS

Kenneth Silito - director

Suite for String Orchestra
Divertimento for String Orchestra
Aurora
Serenade for Strings in E major, Op. 22

Leos Janacek
Bela Bartok
Thea Musgrave
Antonin Dvorak

VIOLIN I
Kenneth Sillito
Harvey de Souza
Catherine Morgan
Rakhi Singh
Richard Milone
Katie Stillman
Sophie Appleton

VIOLIN II
Jennifer Godson
Helena Smart
Rebecca Scott
Clare Hayes
Raja Halder

VIOLA
Robert Smissen
Duncan Ferguson
Martin Humbey
Alexandras Koustas

CELLO
Stephen Orton
John Heley William Schofield

DOUBLE BASS
Lynda Houghton

With the kind permission of the Churches Conservation Trust

Suite for String Orchestra
Leos Janacek (1854-1928)
Moderate; Adagio; Andante con moto; Presto-Andante-Presto; Adagio; Andante

Leos Janacek is chiefly known today by the torrent of pieces he produced towards the end of his long life, when his works were heard at festivals of contemporary music alongside those of such composers as Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Hindemith. But half a century earlier he was already a prolific composer: and then his contemporaries were Wagner, Bruckner, Brahms and Dvorak. In fact, when Janacek composed his first surviving work for any size of orchestra, the Suite for Strings, the Serenade for the same forces by Dvorak was only two years old. This was in 1877, by which time Janacek was already a driving force in the musical life of the Moravian capital of Brno, although his studies in Leipzig and Vienna were still ahead of him. The Suite was designed, like Grieg's Holberg Suite of the following decade, as a reinterpretation of the eighteenth-century dance suite, and its movements originally bore titles reflecting this; but Janacek later withdrew these - which was just as well, as the second movement is hardly the allemande which he designated it, and the third is definitely not a sarabande but a cross between a gavotte and a bourree!

The music of the Suite shows few signs of the uniquely craggy style of Janacek's later works, but it certainly contains evidence of a highly independent cast of mind, especially in its formal layout. This combines pieces in strict dance forms with movements with a much more rhapsodic construction. After the opening Moderate in G minor, with its stern initial call to attention and its subsequent unfettered flow of melodic ideas, there is a short but intense Adagio in G major for muted violins and violas only. Next comes the short G major Andante con moto, the most obvious (and delightful) piece of pastiche in the Suite, and then a Beethovenian scherzo, in G minor with a major-key trio section, but ending unexpectedly in D minor. A short, dark coloured Adagio in B flat major precedes the finale, which is a surprise both because it is in the key of B minor, which has nothing to do with what has gone before, and because it has the tempo marking of Andante - although this is a rather misleading indication for what turns out to be a movement of rather Mendelssohnian urgency and even passion.

Divertimento for String Orchestra
Bela Bartok (1881 - 1945)

This Divertimento, Bartok's only composition for string orchestra, was composed in fifteen days in August 1939. The conductor and patron Paul Sacher had not only commissioned the work for his Basle Chamber Orchestra, but had also made his chalet in the Swiss mountains available to Bartok so that he could settle down to write it, isolated from the gathering storm in Europe. The result was a work which for much of its length has a feeling of relaxed enjoyment which is rare at any period of Bartok's career.

This is particularly evident in the first movement, in which the many inventive variations of the folk-like main themes do not obscure the clear outlines of sonata form. A feature of the writing, derived presumably from the concerti grossi of the eighteenth century, is the frequent alteration between soloists in each section and the full string band: this is rather effective in the sinuous, metrically irregular phrases of the second subject.

The central slow movement is much darker in tone: groping chromatic phrases, sudden contrasts of soft and loud, agitated 'Scotch snap' rhythms, intense trills, and in the recapitulatory final section shadowy tremolandos, all reflect the fears and uncertainties of a dark time both in European history and in Bartok's own life.

The clouds are dispelled, however, in a finale of great rhythmic verve and endless inventiveness. The bustling main theme is adapted at one point to form the subject of a fugal episode, which dissolves into a rhapsodic violin cadenza; after that there is an extended recapitulation of the theme, quite literal except that it is upside-down. Meanwhile, the scale figures of (he opening are also pressed into service in several episodes, including an affectionate parody of a Viennese polka (the final appearance of plucked strings this evening!), which comes shortly before the exhilarating ending.

Aurora
Thea Musgrave (b. 1928)
This work was commissioned for the young students of the Colbum School of Performing Arts to play, and it seemed to the composer (hat Aurora - Dawn - or the coming of light, would be an apt title. It would represent the potential and the musical burgeoning of young talent.

The music thus starts mysteriously, even tentatively, with a short melodic theme played by solo viola and accompanied by low soft chords emphasizing the note D. These two elements, in a variety of guises, keys and continuations, build in a gradual crescendo, till after a brief moment of darkness where "ghosts troop home", dawn finally arrives in the shape of a luminous D major chord. The music becomes "full and joyous" and in a brief coda, where the music seems suspended, all clouds dissolve, the D major turns out to be a dominant and on the very last note resolves to a G.

Serenade for Strings in E major, Op. 22
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)
Moderate; Tempo di Valse; Scherzo: Vivace; Larghelto; Finale: Allegro vivace
Dvorak wrote his Serenade for String Orchestra in May 1875, at a time when his reputation was still more or less confined to his native Bohemia. Interestingly enough, it contains less local colour in the way of Czech dance metres and folk-like melodies than some of his later works, like the Slavonic Dances, which were written for the "export market" of Germany and the rest of Europe. What the Serenade does have in plenty is expertise in its writing for strings - Dvorak had after all been a professional player of the violin and viola until 1873 - and a remarkable, almost profligate, supply of good tunes.

An ideal showcase for these is provided by the work's ground-plan of five short movements, the first four of them in straightforward A-B-A forms. The unusually relaxed opening movement begins with a heart-easing melody which is shared at first between second violins and cellos; it has an equally attractive idea in its middle section, with the counter-melody later added to it by high cellos making a total of three.

There is an elegant main theme in the waltz-time second movement, made rather wistful by its tonality of C sharp minor and its five-bar phrases; and there is an equally graceful melody in the extended D flat major trio section. The scherzo, in F major and in a brisk 2/4 time, finds room for lyricism once more in its middle section; and the A major slow movement is virtually all lyricism, richly and tenderly expressed.

The Finale is a more ambitious structure, a sonata-form movement beginning in F sharp minor, some way away from the home key (a favourite Dvorak ploy), and incorporating a quotation from the slow movement in its development section, and a more substantial reference back to the very opening of the work just before the Presto coda.

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields was formed in 1958 as a small, conductorless chamber ensemble. Led by Neville Marriner and attracting some of the finest players in London, the orchestra at first concentrated on repertoire from the Baroque era, developing a style of performance that launched the 1960's Baroque revival. The Academy was so named after the various concert-giving societies or 'Academies' that had flourished in 18th century London and the famous church in which it gave its first concert on 13 November 1959. Only two years later it had secured its first recording contract, with the independent L'Oiseau-Lyre label. This was to be the beginning of a literally record-breaking discography that now boasts well over 500 entries, making the Academy the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world. The Academy is particularly well-known for its Mozart recordings with Sir Neville Marriner including the multi award winning soundtrack to the film 'Amadeus'.

More recently the orchestra has won critical acclaim for its recordings of Bach with pianist Murray Perahia, concerti by Kurt Weill and Peteris Vasks with British violinist Anthony Mar-wood, Soprano Kate Royal's debut CD and, most recently a live recording of the Faure Requiem with The Sixteen. Thanks to this huge recorded catalogue and widespread radio coverage, the Academy's name has become familiar to audiences across the globe. Alongside its performances with Life President Sir Neville Marriner and Director Kenneth Sillito, the Academy now collaborates with a number of guest directors including Murray Perahia, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Anthony Marwood, Julia Fischer and Julian Rachlin. The orchestra maintains a busy schedule of international touring alongside its concerts and outreach work in the UK and in the 2008/9 season will perform in Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Spain, Canada and the USA.

Internationally recognised as one of Britain's most distinguished musicians, Kenneth Sillito has excelled as chamber musician, orchestral leader, and director. Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he studied with David Martin at the Royal Academy of Music and in Rome with Remy Principe. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy in 1971. His first appointment was as associate leader of the newly created English Chamber Orchestra. He subsequently took over the leadership and remained until 1973, during which time he toured worldwide as Director and Soloist.

Kenneth Sillito is internationally renowned as a chamber musician. In 1967 he founded the Gabrieli String Quartet and remained its leader for 20 years making numerous recordings and gaining the Quartet a formidable reputation. The Academy Chamber Ensemble was formed in 1967 and is known for its superlative performances and award-winning recordings for Philips Classics and Chandos Records. The Ensemble tours extensively in Europe, the Far East, North America and Australia. With the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Kenneth Sillito tours throughout Europe, North and South America, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia and is a regular visitor to concert halls and Festivals throughout the UK. Recordings include Handel's Operatic Overtures, a CD of English String Masterpieces by Hoist, Britten, Elgar, Walton and Tippett, Bach Cantatas with Jochen Kowalski and a CD of music for guitar and strings with Alexandre Lagoya for Philips Classics. His latest recording is of Mendelssohn and Weber concertos with Sabine Mayer for EMI. As a soloist he recently collaborated with Academy of St Martin in the Fields Principal Guest Conductor, Murray Perahia, in Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 and Concerto in A minor for Flute, Violin and Keyboard for Sony Classical.