Hello! We are the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE). We play on historic instruments using techniques from the time the composer was writing. This means that every time we perform, you will see a stage of intriguing instruments and hear our passion for making the old feel new. Welcome to the final series of concerts in our 2021/22 season, The Wilderness Pleases; exploring the Enlightenment fascination with nature and its awe-striking beauty. The title of the series, The Wilderness Pleases is inspired by a book from the Enlightenment era: Shaftesbury’s controversial The Moralists. In the book, the main character, Theocles, describes the terror of encountering crocodiles in an Egyptian desert. After escaping the monsters, he is overcome with a desire to admire them as wondrous creatures of the natural world.
‘let us fly to the vast deserts of these parts […] ghastly and hideous as they appear they want not their peculiar beauties. The Wilderness pleases.’ Anthony Ashley Cooper, the third Earl of Shaftesbury, 1709
Monday 6 June, 7.30pm BEETHOVEN
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major Allegro con brio Adagio Rondo: Allegro molto HAYDN
Symphony No. 93 in D major Adagio - Allegro assai Largo cantabile Menuetto Finale: Presto ma non troppo -- Interval -BEETHOVEN
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major Allegro con brio Largo Rondo: Allegro This concert is supported by Sir Martin and Lady Elise Smith, OBE.
Wednesday 8 June, 7.00pm
Thursday 9 June, 7.00pm
BEETHOVEN
BEETHOVEN
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor Allegro con brio Largo Rondo: Allegro HAYDN
Symphony No. 99 in B flat major Adagio - Vivace assai Adagio Menuetto: Allegretto Finale: Vivace -- Interval -BEETHOVEN
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major Allegro moderato Andante con moto Rondo: Vivace This concert is supported by Imogen and Haakon Overli.
Wednesday 8 June Post-Concert Talk Sir András Schiff In Conversation with Jessica Duchen Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer 15 minutes after the concert finishes.
Coriolan Overture HAYDN
Symphony No. 103 in B flat major Adagio - Allegro con spirito Andante più tosto allegretto Menuetto Finale: Allegro con spirito -- Interval -BEETHOVEN
Piano Concerto No. 5 in B flat major Allegro Adagio un poco moto Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo This concert is supported by Nigel Jones and Francoise Valat-Jones.
DIRECTOR AND FORTEPIANO Sir András Schiff VIOLINS I Kati Debretzeni (Leader) Matthew Truscott Rodolfo Richter Andrew Roberts Alice Evans Rachel Isserlis Dominika Fehér VIOLINS II Margaret Faultless Huw Daniel Iona Davies Henry Tong Daniel Edgar Debbie Diamond VIOLAS Max Mandel Martin Kelly Annette Isserlis Lisa Cochrane Marina Ascherson CELLOS Andrew Skidmore Catherine Rimer Ruth Alford Richard Tunnicliffe BASSES Christine Sticher Cecelia Bruggemeyer
FLUTES Lisa Beznosiuk Neil McLaren OBOES Daniel Bates Lars Henriksson CLARINETS Katherine Spencer Sarah Thurlow BASSOONS Jane Gower Sally Jackson HORNS Roger Montgomery Martin Lawrence TRUMPETS David Blackadder Phillip Bainbridge TIMPANI Adrian Bending
GRAND-SCALE CHAMBER MUSIC: Sir András Schiff and the Beethoven Concertos Sir András Schiff and the five Beethoven piano concertos are old friends. Over the years the great Hungarian pianist has performed these works on both historic instruments and modern grand pianos, sometimes with a conductor, other times directing from the keyboard. This week nevertheless marks the first time that Schiff has presented the complete cycle with the OAE as soloist and director.
He performs on a modern fortepiano modelled after a Conrad Graf of around 1822. The instrument offers built-in advantages in this repertoire. ‘First, on historic keyboard instruments, you experience very distinct registers for bass, middle and treble,’ Schiff says. ‘The bass especially is never as overpowering as it can be on a modern piano.
‘Next, the tempi are naturally dictated by the instrument’s limitations. On a modern piano, people sometimes play Beethoven’s fast movements too fast and slow movements too slow. The historic instrument, however, gives you speed limits: on the fast side, it's just not possible to execute the notes
beyond that limit. On the slow side, the pace is determined by reverberation, which is shorter than on a modern grand piano: for instance, with the first chord in the Third Concerto’s Largo, you hear immediately how long the sound can sustain and you cannot go slower than that.’
Schiff finds plenty of advantages, too, in directing from the keyboard. ‘Everything is in your hands when you begin a piece,’ he says. ‘The Concerto No.4 is the exception, as the piano starts alone. But in the other concertos, normally the conductor gives the tempo and establishes the character, while as a pianist you sit back and wait patiently - or not so patiently - for your entry, which sometimes seems an eternity away! The Concerto No. 3 has a long orchestral exposition; the piano is like a wild beast that bursts on to the stage. If you conduct it yourself, then you establish the tempo and the character, and the orchestral players must then listen to the keyboard, perhaps more carefully than usual. That creates a give-and-take resembling chamber music; and I approach Mozart, Beethoven and even Brahms concertos as chamber music on a large scale.’
Matching the Beethoven concertos with Haydn symphonies seems natural, since Beethoven had been Haydn’s pupil. He once stated, as a rebellious youngster, that he had learned nothing from Haydn; later, however, he admitted he owed a great deal to his long-suffering professor. ‘Beethoven’s methods of composition, the variation technique, the motivic technique that he developed, are all there in Haydn, who builds whole works from tiny motivic cells which are all connected,’ says Schiff. ‘Beethoven also learned from Haydn his profound slow movements and his wonderful sense of humour. I chose these symphonies to go with the tonality of the concertos, and they are all from the London set, partly because we are doing them in London. But also, they are roughly contemporaneous with the first two Beethoven concertos.’
The B flat Concerto, officially No. 2, was written first and is the most Mozartean. ‘But already we have a very profound middle movement, a truly Beethovenian Largo,’ Schiff says. ‘This is the first time Beethoven uses the sustaining pedal in a revolutionary way. He instructs the player to hold down the pedal during different harmonies, blurring the sound. He uses this idea ever more frequently in his later concertos and sonatas.’ The first movement’s cadenza was written around a decade later: ‘It doesn't really fit in - it almost sounds like the “Hammerklavier” Sonata, in the same key.’
The Concerto No. 1, in C major, Schiff says, is ‘absolutely huge in its concept for that time. In the first movement you have a choice of three cadenzas: I play the least conventional, which is gigantic, written much later. Depth and humour and lyricism and drama stand side by side in this concerto. I've always thought that there's something Shakespearean about
Beethoven in the way comedy, tragedy, drama and tenderness are all present at the same time.’
‘The Concerto No. 3 is in C minor, a dark and tempestuous key for Beethoven, used also in the Pathétique Sonata, the Sonata Op. 111, the Coriolan Overture and the Fifth Symphony. These C minor pieces are all connected. The second movement is in E major, an audacious choice in a C minor work. Again Beethoven provides some extraordinary pedal markings, which very few performers actually follow!'
‘If I had to choose just one concerto, it would be the Fourth. It doesn't fit any Beethovenian cliché, like Beethoven the fighter, the wrestler, or the philosopher. It’s unique. The piano starts with a soft, lyrical gesture that seems to say: “Yes”. But when the orchestra enters, in B major, it seems to be saying: “Maybe”. Like No. 5, this concerto is dedicated to the Archduke Rudolph, and therefore, despite the lyricism, there is a military element: the second subject resembles a march, heard from far away.'
‘Liszt’s interpretation of the Fourth Concerto, especially the slow movement, was as the Orpheus legend, which I find totally believable. The orchestra represents the underworld, the beasts, the Furies, dramatically saying that you cannot enter here. The piano is Orpheus, softly presenting his case. Slowly and surely, he tames the beasts; then they understand him and give him his beloved Eurydice. The orchestra and the piano are two different protagonists and here you cannot play and conduct at the same time - that would be schizophrenic! I let our wonderful leader, Kati Debretzeni, lead this.’
No.5, the ‘Emperor’, needs little introduction, but Schiff points to the innovation of the huge cadenza at the start: ‘A cadenza conventionally is at the end of the movement, never at the beginning.’ For him the work’s most magical moment is the transition from second movement to finale: ‘Time seems to stand still. Then we burst into this wonderful dance. Wagner called the Symphony No. 7 “the apotheosis of the dance” – and this movement is similar.'
Taking a longer view, Schiff reflects that the concerto is by nature an ‘extroverted’ genre. Chamber music and solo works, he suggests, are often more introverted and personal, drawing composers away from the concerto as time went by. ‘The concerto remains a very public affair,’ he observes, with a wry smile. ‘But a public affair in the very best sense of the word.’ Jessica Duchen
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BIOGRAPHY
SIR ANDRÁS SCHIFF Born in Budapest in 1953, Sir András Schiff studied piano at the Liszt Ferenc Academy with Pál Kadosa, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados; and in London with George Malcolm. Having collaborated with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, he now focuses primarily on solo recitals, play-directing and conducting. Since 2004 Sir András has performed the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas in over twenty cities, including Zurich where the cycle was recorded live for ECM. Other acclaimed recordings for the label include solo recitals of Schubert, Schumann and Janáček, alongside J.S. Bach’s Partitas, Goldberg Variations and Well-Tempered Clavier. In recent years Sir András Schiff's Bach has become an annual highlight of the BBC Proms. Elsewhere, he regularly performs at the Verbier, Salzburg and Baden-Baden festivals; the Wigmore Hall, Musikverein and Philharmonie de Paris; on tour in North America and Asia; and in Vicenza where he curates a festival at the Teatro Olimpico.
Vicenza is also home to Cappella Andrea Barca – a chamber orchestra consisting of international soloists, chamber musicians and friends he founded in 1999. Together they have appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lucerne Festival and Salzburg Mozartwoche; while forthcoming projects include a tour of Asia and a cycle of Bach’s keyboard concertos in Europe. Sir András also enjoys a close relationship with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. In 2018 he accepted the role of Associate Artist with the OAE, complementing his interest in performing on period keyboard instruments. He continues to support new talent, primarily through his 'Building Bridges' series which gives performance opportunities to promising young artists. He also teaches at the Barenboim-Said and Kronberg academies and gives frequent lectures and masterclasses. In 2017 his book Music Comes from Silence, essays and conversations with Martin Meyer, was published by Bärenreiter and Henschel. Sir András Schiff’s many honours include the International Mozarteum Foundation’s Golden Medal (2012), Germany’s Great Cross of Merit with Star (2012), the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal (2013), a Knighthood for Services to Music (2014) and a Doctorate from the Royal College of Music (2018).
THE FORTEPIANO
In a workshop behind a house on a quiet street in the Dutch town of Enschede is a remarkable collection of fortepianos. It represents over 40 years of work dedicated to the instrument by Edwin Beunk, who finds and restores them to playing condition. His instruments cover the history of the keyboard from 1750 to 1850 and are used by performers around the world in performances and on recordings. It is far from a random hoard. The concept behind the collection, Edwin says, is to give an insight into the sounds that composers would have known. There are harpsichord-fortepiano hybrids, five octave instruments of the type Mozart would have known, several Pleyels as used by Chopin, to a Schneider from Schumann’s time that was sent by Austria to the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in 1851.
At the start of the 19th century there were three great centres of piano making; London (where the most famous practitioner was John Broadwood), Paris (where Pleyel worked) and Vienna. Fortepianos from each location tended to have common characteristics though over the 100 years the basic concept changed very little. What did change was that the materials used became bulkier and consequently louder and their range extended to over six octaves. This change is very evident in Beethoven’s concertos which demonstrate this evolution as he pushes the parameters of what is possible. In modern day performances it is common to use fortepianos dating from slightly later than the music itself to enable them to project and balance in contemporary concert halls.
There are a number of Viennese pianos in the collection from different points in Beethoven’s career, including the copy of an 1822 instrument made by Conrad Graf that is used by Sir András Schiff for this project. Mahogany veneered and weighing around 180kg (compared to a modern grand at 500kg), it was made by Rodney Regier in 1989 and acquired by Edwin in the early 2000s. It has been used in several recordings including Kristian Bezuidenhout’s Beethoven concerto cycle with Freiburger Barockorchester. Graf’s arrival and career in Vienna broadly coincides with Beethoven’s. He studied cabinet making initially and was apprenticed to Jakob Schelkle, a Viennese piano maker, by 1799; he took over Schelkle’s shop in 1804 and his own firm was appointed as the Imperial Court’s Royal Piano Maker in 1824. Graf introduced a number of innovations in the materials used in piano making and his instruments were highly rated by a number of famous musicians. Graf lent Beethoven his last piano in 1826 - and it was he who added an experimental horn-like structure to a piano in a bid to help the deaf composer to hear the sounds (the piano survives but the structure is lost). His instruments were also used by Mendelssohn, Liszt and Clara Schumann. Discover more and get up close to this fortepiano in our short film, ‘Exploring Beethoven’s Fortepiano’, on our YouTube channel. YouTube.com/OrchestraEnlighten
BEETHOVEN’S FIVE PIANO CONCERTOS 17 March 1795: a leonine 24-year-old pianist and composer from the Rhineland named Ludwig van Beethoven is taking Vienna by storm. In his first public concert in the city, he is performing his own Piano Concerto No. 1. The finale has been complete for barely two days: later, his friend Franz Wegeler will recall him racing against the clock to finish it, handing over the sheets of manuscript page by fresh page to four copyists waiting outside. Tonight, what’s more, the piano is a semitone flat, so Beethoven is transposing his solo part into C sharp major. Beethoven had once made the lengthy journey from Bonn aged 16 to audition for Mozart, with whom he longed to study; but the news that his mother was dying sent him hurrying home again. He spent five years thereafter trying to hold his remaining family together. By the time he returned to Vienna Mozart was dead. The young man became, instead, a student of Joseph Haydn – receiving 'the spirit of Mozart from the hands of Haydn', as his Bonn patron Count Waldstein
encouraged him. He lived in Vienna for the rest of his life, even though he loathed the place and its society. He soon made his name there – at first primarily for his playing and especially his improvisations, which astonished all who heard them. After hearing him play in Prague in 1798, the pianist and composer Václav Tomášek felt so overwhelmed that he could not touch the instrument for several days. Beethoven’s improvisatory powers may be reflected in the remarkable fact that across all of his piano concertos, 32 piano sonatas and plethora of variations his capacity for invention seems limitless: scarcely, if ever, does he repeat himself. The five piano concertos in circulation today reflect his development over a period of around 22 years. The earliest, No. 2, was first drafted in the late 1780s; No. 5 was completed in 1809-10, by which time the world of his youth was being swept away by the Napoleonic wars. As his times changed, so did his musical approach. The first three concertos show him as the ambitious young rising star, the fourth as the mature genius seeking to be worthy of his own gifts, of which he was well aware;
and in No. 5 he let the scale of his imagination shine out, while someone else did the heavy lifting of actually playing the piano. Technically, neither No. 1 nor No. 2 was really the first: he had written another aged 14, which is occasionally restored. Sketches also survive for an unfinished sixth, dating from 1815-16, but abandoned on the backburner. If some of the dates around the concertos seem slightly vague, that is probably because Beethoven often wrote slowly, habitually working on several different pieces at the same time. However, occasionally, he scribbled so fast that the ink scarcely had time to dry; later he would go back and rewrite. The C major concerto, the official No. 1, with its seat-of-the-pants premiere, was among the latter. It was not published in its final, revised form until March 1801. Even after that he continued to return to it, and ultimately he left three very different, alternative cadenzas for the first movement: the first a simple, straightforward affair, the second more substantial, and the last, much later, probably the longest and most virtuosic that he ever wrote. Unquenchable energy, wit and good humour positively bounce out of this music. Both the march-like rhythm of the first movement and the soloist’s initial paragraph, with a quiet, entirely new theme, suggest the influence of Mozart, many of whose piano concertos feature similar rhythms and unconventional solo entries. Nevertheless, the motivic strength and unfailing drive carry a uniquely Beethovenian stamp. The Largo is the longest of any in Beethoven’s concertos: tranquil and introspective, with delicate piano figurations, it seems to point ahead to the rapt atmospheres of his greatest middle-period slow movements. The
vigorous ‘scherzando’ finale adds an elementally energetic dimension, along with echoes of his teacher, the humour-loving, folk-influenced Haydn. Of No. 2 in B flat major, Beethoven wrote self-deprecatingly to his publisher: ‘This concerto I only value at 10 ducats… I do not give it out as one of my best.’ Yet even if he had written no more, chances are we would still love him for this work. Genial, warm, sometimes ridiculously funny, it seems to cast a special spotlight upon the youthful Beethoven who was melding together the pure classicism of Mozart with his own rebellious inclinations. It is clear now that he is going to be the ultimate musical disruptor. The concerto is in the same key as the last of Mozart’s K595, the last of his 27 works in the genre. The opening allegro begins in processional mode, succeeded by a lyrical slow movement and a dancelike conclusion. Yet Beethoven pushes everything several steps further: there’s nothing Mozartian about the idiosyncratic, deliberately inelegant third movement, nor the fervent intensity of the exquisite central Adagio. The first performance of the Piano Concert No. 3 in C minor was given by the composer on 5 April 1803 . If there is a key that Beethoven associated with high drama it is C minor. Only six months earlier, Beethoven had experienced a terrible crisis as he faced up in earnest to his hearing loss. At that point he wrote his so-called Heiligenstadt Testament, a document intended as a will and addressed to his two brothers, .
revealing that he had considered taking his own life, but felt a responsibility not to leave the world ‘until I have brought forth all that is within me’. His answer to that devastating episode was a decision to jettison his earlier methods and find a ‘new path’. The Piano Concerto No. 3 pushes the envelope further and deeper than he had formerly attempted. This is the darkest of emotional spheres, plunging us into a rugged, granite-strong first movement. The central Largo – in the ‘Eroica’ key of E flat major – travels to a deep, inward world where he, and we, find untold realms of peace. The finale, while maintaining a severe C minor for most of its span, is an explosion of energy, virtually a Hungarian dance at times, and ultimately gives way to a brilliantly frivolous and scampering coda in C major. In the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Beethoven inhabits new worlds that are both brave and breathtaking. It was unprecedented for obne thing, to begin a concerto with the soloist playing alone, very quietly. The piano’s initial phrase – a soft G major chord that pulses, then expands towards an open-ended question – poses a challenge to the orchestra, which responds from faraway B major, adding to the impression that this music comes from a remote sphere with a touch of otherworldly magic to it. The mood is inward-looking, peculiarly visionary: a long way from the humour, dazzle and storms of the earlier works. The slow movement finds piano and orchestra in a strange dialogue: a jagged aggressive provocation is delivered in unison by the strings, yet the soloist responds with a calm intonation, adopting a role akin to prophet, orator
or therapist (take your pick) with a calm, poetic plea. The music develops this concept until a rapt and anguished cadenza from the pianist lulls the orchestral beasts into submission. The finale is a light-footed, somewhat elusive rondo, the piano’s lines much garlanded, the orchestra sympathetic. The two protagonists work harmoniously together. This concerto dates from 1805-6 and was first given a private performance at the palace of Beethoven’s patron, Prince Lobkowitz (whose mezzanine music room had also hosted the world premiere of the ‘Eroica’ Symphony). Its first public hearing was on 22 December 1808 in a now legendary concert that Beethoven staged at the Theater an der Wien, which also included the premieres of the symphonies nos. 5 and 6 plus the Choral Fantasia - an evening so long, demanding and freezing cold that much of the audience left before the end. Unlike Beethoven’s earlier piano concertos, No. 5 (the Emperor) was published before being performed; and it is the only one that did not serve as a vehicle for Beethoven himself. The composer, whose deafness had gradually worsened over the past decade, had long been aware that someday he would no longer be able to perform his own piano works; now that time had come. The Archduke Rudolph, to whom the concerto is dedicated, was soloist for the first private performance on 13 January 1811, at Prince Lobkowitz’s. Ten months later it was played at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, with Friedrich Schneider as soloist. The January 1812 Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung reported: ‘It is without doubt one of the most original, imaginative and effective, but also one of the most difficult of all existing concertos.’
Carl Czerny, Beethoven’s protégé and later the teacher of Liszt, gave the official Viennese premiere early in 1812 – during a variety event staged by the Society of Noble Ladies for Charity, in which it immediately preceded a “tableau vivant” (a popular trend at the time), entitled “Esther Fainting Before King Ahasuerus”. The concerto opens in an unprecedented manner, with a series of magnificent flourishes from the soloist in a type of cadenza set between imposing orchestral chords, before the main allegro ensues. When this arrives, it is punchy, optimistic and full of potential for development. There’s a nobility of spirit to it, characteristic of Beethoven’s “heroic” period - the most productive time of his life, extending from about 1803 to 1814. After a substantial orchestral exposition, the soloist joins in again; and now the relationship of piano and orchestra is truly a dialogue of equals. The slow movement, in B major (as far from E flat major as musically possible) offers a sublime opening on the strings; the soloist enters as if in a dreamworld, exploring the byways beyond the melody. The latter passes through a series of varied returns, ending with the piano weaving a web like a glimmer of starlight around the theme. All is not over. The music comes to rest, then slides down a semitone. The piano softly suggests a set of rising chords - and then the finale blazes into life, an irrepressible rondo that looks forward to the jubilant dance-rhythms of the Symphony No. 7. Its upward-surging theme with tricky repeated notes almost nods towards the duet from Fidelio in which Leonore and Florestan are reunited: O namenlose Freude (O nameless joy).
So concludes Beethoven’s last piano concerto, as if to prove its indomitable composer’s tireless capacity for reinventing himself. In the end, many of his works are odes to joy. 'I shall seize fate by the throat,' he once wrote to Franz Wegeler. 'It shall not wholly overcome me. Oh, how beautiful it is to live - to live a thousand times.' Jessica Duchen Jessica Duchen is a classical music critic, author and librettist. Currently contributing to the i, the Sunday Times, BBC Music Magazine, The Arts Desk and more.Her recent novel Immortal explores Beethoven's 'Immortal Beloved'.
Monday 6 June, 7.30pm
Wednesday 8 June, 7.00pm
SYMPHONY NO.93 IN D MAJOR
SYMPHONY NO.99 IN E FLAT MAJOR
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Adagio - Allegro assai Largo cantabile Menuetto Finale: Presto ma non troppo
Adagio - Vivace assai Adagio Menuetto. Allegretto Finale: Vivace
When the 58 year old Joseph Haydn arrived in London on 1 January 1791, after a two-week journey from Vienna, he sparked a Georgian media frenzy. 'I went the round of all the newspapers for three successive days', he wrote to a friend back in Vienna. 'Everyone wants to know me!' He’d been invited to London by the impresario Johann Salomon, who provided him with comfortable lodgings and a superb, 60-strong orchestra and by the 1792 season he had the British public in the palm of his hand.
Nothing had prepared Joseph Haydn for the reception that he received when, at the invitation of the impresario Johann Salomon, he travelled from Vienna to London at the start of 1791 – or the money that he made. The journey took two weeks, including a (sometimes stormy) sea voyage; and Haydn was nearly 60 years old: in 18th century terms, a veteran. But when Salomon invited him back to London at the start of 1793 Haydn didn’t hesitate. By now he was the Georgian equivalent of a superstar. 'The incomparable Haydn produced an overture of which it is impossible to speak in common terms' wrote a critic at his first London concert on 10 February 1793. 'It rouses and affects every emotion of the soul.'
This symphony (billed as a 'New Grand Overture') was premiered at the Hanover Square Rooms on 17 February 1792. It was an instant hit: 'His genius, active as it has been, is as vigorous and fertile as ever' declared the critic of the Morning Herald. After a slow introduction, the first movement’s energy is offset by quiet grace and ebullient wit, and after all that excitement the Largo opens in an intimate mood, with the orchestra slimmed down to a mere string quartet. (There are some irreverent surprises in store, though). The Menuetto’s central Trio section has a martial swagger – war with France was looming throughout 1792 - but the finale is all about playful good humour, with jubilant drums and trumpets to crown the final bars.
The overture in this symphony was brand new, and written for an expanded orchestra. It’s the first of Haydn’s 104 symphonies to feature clarinets. Haydn was determined to entertain and surprise: there’s a brilliant first movement with a majestic introduction, a tender, reflective Adagio and a Menuetto that enters on tiptoe and whose central Trio almost seems to waltz (if waltzes had been invented in 1793). The finale is a summer storm of energy and wit. 'It was received', according to that same critic, 'with rapturous applause'.
Thursday 9 June, 7.00pm
SYMPHONY NO.103 IN E FLAT MAJOR ('DRUMROLL')
CORIOLAN OVERTURE
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Beethoven and Shakespeare: now there’s a combination. But Beethoven’s Coriolan isn’t Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, but a tragedy of 1802 by Heinrich von Collin, a Viennese civil servant and poet who knew his Shakespeare well enough to decide that he could improve upon the Bard. Shakespeare’s Roman general Coriolanus is assassinated by his former allies. Collin went one better and had him fall on his own sword. This was exactly the sort of gesture that played well in the age of Napoleon, and the drama ran successfully in Vienna from 1802 to 1805. Collin just happened to be a personal friend of Beethoven’s, and Prince Lobkowitz – Director of Vienna’s Burgtheater – was one of Beethoven’s most loyal patrons. The overture was tried out in private at the Prince’s home in March 1807 and then played before a special, one-off performance of Coriolan at the Burgtheater the following month. Happily for us, Beethoven didn’t only read plays by his friends. And if the overture’s quiet ending is an echo of Coriolan’s suicide, the piece’s terse, powerful opening, restless energy, and outbursts of controlled anger are in another world of inspiration compared to Collin’s stilted drama. This is Beethoven at his concentrated best: a psychological drama worthy of (yes) Shakespeare.
Adagio - Allegro con spirito Andante più tosto allegretto Menuetto. Finale: Allegro con spirito 18th century composers didn’t tend to name their instrumental works. Nicknames were bestowed by publishers or the public when a work had become especially popular, or because one particular feature was so distinctive that it became the talk of the town. Haydn’s penultimate symphony was premiered at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket, on 2 March 1795, and it captured its hearers’ imagination with the very first sound – a solo for the timpani. 'The introduction excited the deepest attention' reported the Morning Chronicle the following day. And that’s just the first note. Nothing could have prepared listeners for the sombre, almost chant-like slow introduction, or the way Haydn weaves those same notes into a brilliant, dancing Allegro, before, in a stroke of high drama, bringing back the drumroll at the end of the movement to tie everything together. The second movement is tangy with the flavours of Croatian folksong, though the birds (courtesy of the flute) and a solo fiddle get a look-in too. The Minuet swings into life with an exuberant whoop, and the finale has another surprise in store, as the horns open huge vistas in one of the most expansive finales Haydn ever wrote. At 62, Haydn seemed to see further – and sound younger – with every new composition. Richard Bratby
ABOUT THE ORCHESTRA Over three decades ago, a group of inquisitive London musicians took a long hard look at that curious institution we call the Orchestra, and decided to start again from scratch. They began by throwing out the rulebook. Put a single conductor in charge? No way. Specialise in repertoire of a particular era? Too restricting. Perfect a work and then move on? Too lazy. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was born. And as this distinctive ensemble playing on period-specific instruments began to get a foothold, it made a promise to itself. It vowed to keep questioning, adapting and inventing as long as it lived. Those original instruments became just one element of its quest for authenticity. Baroque and Classical music became just one strand of its repertoire. Every time the musical establishment thought it had a handle on what the OAE was all about, the ensemble pulled out another shocker: a Symphonie Fantastique here, some conductor-less Bach there. All the while, the Orchestra’s players called the shots. In some small way, the OAE changed the classical music world too. It challenged those distinguished partner organisations and brought the very best from them, too. Other orchestras began to ask it for advice. Existing period instrument groups started to vary their conductors and repertoire. New ones popped up all over Europe and America.
And so the story continues, with ever more momentum and vision. The OAE’s series of nocturnal Night Shift performances have redefined concert parameters. Its association at London’s Kings Place has fostered further diversity of planning and music-making. The ensemble has formed the bedrock for some of Glyndebourne’s most ground-breaking recent productions. In keeping with its values of always questioning, challenging and trailblazing, in September 2020, the OAE became the resident orchestra of Acland Burghley School, Camden. The residency – a first for a British orchestra – allows the OAE to live, work and play amongst the students of the school. Of the instrumentalists, many remain from those brave first days; many have come since. All seem as eager and hungry as ever. They’re offered ever greater respect, but continue only to question themselves. Because still, they pride themselves on sitting ever so slightly outside the box. They wouldn’t want it any other way. ©Andrew Mellor
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OAE TEAM Chief Executive Crispin Woodhead
Finance and Governance Director Pascale Nicholls Development Director Emily Stubbs Projects Director Jo Perry Education Director Cherry Forbes Marketing Director Doug Buist General Manager Edward Shaw Education Officer Andrew Thomson Projects Manager Sophie Adams Finance Officer Fabio Lodato Digital Content Officer Zen Grisdale Marketing and Press Officer Anna Bennett Box Office and Data Manager Paola Rossi Development Manager Kiki Betts-Dean Development Officer Luka Lah Projects Officer Ed Ault
Operations Assistant Henry Ashmall Nathanael Jordine Orchestra Consultant Philippa Brownsword Choir Manager David Clegg Librarian Roy Mowatt Leaders Huw Daniel Kati Debretzeni Margaret Faultless Matthew Truscott Players’ Artistic Committee Adrian Bending Steven Devine Max Mandel Andrew Roberts Katharina Spreckelsen Principal Artists John Butt Sir Mark Elder Iván Fischer Vladimir Jurowski Sir Simon Rattle Sir András Schiff Emeritus Conductors William Christie Sir Roger Norrington
Life President Sir Martin Smith Board of Directors Imogen Overli [Chair] Daniel Alexander Steven Devine Denys Firth Adrian Frost Max Mandel Alison McFadyen David Marks Rebecca Miller Andrew Roberts Katharina Spreckelsen Matthew Shorter Dr. Susan Tranter Crispin Woodhead OAE Trust Adrian Frost [Chair] Mark Allen Paul Forman Steven Larcombe Imogen Overli Rupert Sebag-Montefiore Maarten Slendebroek Sir Martin Smith Caroline Steane Honorary Council Sir Victor Blank Edward Bonham Carter Cecelia Bruggemeyer Nigel Jones Marshall Marcus Julian Mash Greg Melgaard Susan Palmer OBE Jan Schlapp Diane Segalen Susannah Simons Lady Smith OBE Rosalyn Wilkinson Mark Williams
THANK YOU OAE Experience scheme Henocq Law Trust
The Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation Corporate Partners Champagne Deutz Mark Allen Group Marquee TV Swan Turton Corporate Associates Gelato Season Patrons John Armitage Charitable Trust Julian and Annette Armstrong Denys and Vicki Firth Adrian Frost Nigel Jones and Françoise Valat-Jones Selina and David Marks Haakon and Imogen Overli Sir Martin and Lady Smith, OBE Philip and Rosalyn Wilkinson Mark and Rosamund Williams Project Patrons Bruce Harris Ian S Ferguson, CBE and Dr Susan Tranter Aria Patrons Madeleine Hodgkin Steven Larcombe Peter and Veronica Lofthouse Stanley Lowy Gary and Nina Moss Rupert Sebag-Montefiore Maarten and Taina Slendebroek Caroline Steane Eric Tomsett Chair Patrons Mrs Nicola Armitage - Education Director Victoria and Edward Bonham Carter - Principal Trumpet Katharine Campbell - Violin Anthony and Celia Edwards - Principal Oboe
- James Flynn QC - Co-Principal Lute/Theorbo Jonathan and Tessa Gaisman – Viola Michael and Harriet Maunsell - Principal Keyboard Jenny and Tim Morrison - Second Violin Caroline Noblet – Oboe Professor Richard Portes, CBE, FBA - Principal Bassoon Christina – Flute John and Rosemary Shannon - Principal Horn Sue Sheridan, OBE – Education Roger and Pam Stubbs - Clarinet Crispin Woodhead and Christine Rice - Principal Timpani Associate Patrons Charles and Julia Abel Smith Noël and Caroline Annesley Sir Richard Arnold and Mary Elford Hugh and Michelle Arthur Barney and Catherine Burgess David and Marilyn Clark Damaris Albarrán David Emmerson Jonathan Parker Charitable Trust Elisabeth Green in memory of June Mockett Miss Claire Espiner Roger Heath MBE and Alison Heath, MBE Peter and Sally Hilliar Moira and Robert Latham Sir Timothy and Lady Lloyd Roger Mears and Joanie Speers Rebecca Miller David Mildon in memory of Lesley Mildon John Nickson and Simon Rew Andrew and Cindy Peck Stephen and Penny Pickles Peter Rosenthal Emily Stubbs and Stephen McCrum
Shelley von Strunckel Mr J Westwood Education Patrons Mrs Nicola Armitage Sir Victor Blank Stephen and Patricia Crew John and Sue Edwards Sir Timothy and Lady Lloyd Andrew and Cindy Peck Professor Richard Portes Sue Sheridan, OBE Rising Stars Supporters Annette and Julian Armstrong Fenton Arts Trust Denys and Vicki Firth Garrick Charitable Trust Bruce Harris Ms Madeleine Hodgkin Mrs Sarah Holford Nigel Jones and Francoise Valat-Jones Peter and Veronica Lofthouse Mr Andrew Nurnberg Old Possum's Practical Trust Imogen and Haakon Overli Gold Friends Michael Brecknell Gerard Cleary Mr and Mrs C Cochin de Billy Chris Gould Michael Spagat Silver Friends Dennis and Sheila Baldry Haylee and Michael Bowsher Tony Burt Christopher Campbell Mr and Mrs Michael Cooper David Cox Anthony and Jo Diamond Suzanne Doyle Stephen and Cristina Goldring Rachel and Charles Henderson Malcolm Herring Patricia Herrmann Stephen Hodge Rupert and Alice King Alison and Ian Lowdon Anthony and Carol Rentoul Bridget Rosewell David and Ruth Samuels
Susannah Simons Victor Smart Her Honour Suzanne Stewart Simon and Karen Taube Bronze Friends Tony Baines Penny & Robin Broadhurst Graham and Claire Buckland Dan Burt Michael A Conlon Roger Easy Mrs SM Edge Mrs Mary Fysh Simon Gates Martin and Helen Haddon Ray and Liz Harsant The Lady Heseltine Mrs Auriel Hill Stuart Martin Patricia Orwell Paul Rivlin Alan Sainer Matthew and Sarah Shorter Mr and Mrs Tony Timms John Truscott Mrs Joy Whitby David Wilson Young Patron Marianne and William Cartwright-Hignett Ed Abel Smith David Gillbe Elizabeth George Henry Mason Peter Yardley-Jones Young Ambassador Patron Jessica and Alex Kemp Breandán Knowlton Trusts & Foundations Apax Foundation Arts Council England Ashley Family Foundation Boshier-Hinton Foundation Brian Mitchell Charitable Settlement CAF Resilience Fund The Charles Peel Charitable Trust Chivers Trust Derek Hill Foundation Dyers Company Ernest Cook Trust Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
Fidelio Charitable Trust Foyle Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation Geoffrey Watling Charity John Lyon’s Charity Linbury Trust Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust Michael Marks Charitable Trust National Foundation for Youth Music Orchestras Live Paul Bassham Charitable Trust The Patrick Rowland Foundation Peter Cundill Foundation Peter Stebbings Memorial Charity Pitt-Rivers Charitable Trust Radcliffe Trust Rainbow Dickinson Trust Stanley Picker Trust The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust The Loveday Charitable Trust The R&I Pilkington Charitable Trust The Shears Foundation The Vernon Ellis Foundation
APPEAL DONORS We have been overwhelmed by the support of our audiences since the beginning of the pandemic. Many of you have generously helped us tackle this challenging time by donating to our Regeneration Appeal. We gratefully acknowledge those donors below. Charles and Julia Abel Smith Mark and Sue Allen Deborah Anthony Julian and Annette Armstrong Hugh and Michelle Arthur John Birks Sir Victor Blank Bob and Elisabeth Boas A and FDW Boettcher William Bordass Mr Roger Bowerman Ms Susan Bracken Neil Brock Sir Anthony Cleaver Professor Susan Cooper Ms Harriet Copperman Dr David Cox Gill Cox Stephen and Patricia Crew
Mrs Melanie Edge Esmee Fairbairn Foundation Ms Margaret Faultless Denys and Vicki Firth Adrian Frost Jennifer Frost Jonathan N Gaisman, QC Dr David Glynn Roy Greenhalgh David Guthrie Martin Haddon Ray Harsant Roger Heath MBE and Alison Heath MBE Peter and Sally Hilliar Nigel Jones and Françoise Valat-Jones Jerome Karter Sue Lamble Steven Larcombe Sir Timothy Lloyd and Lady Lloyd Dr Alan Lord Stanley Lowy, MBE Ellie Makri Michael and Harriet Maunsell Tim and Jenny Morrison Mr Clive Murgatroyd, MBE Robert Nash John Nickson and Simon Rew Andrew Nurnberg Johanna Nusselein Imogen and Haakon Overli Andrew and Cindy Peck Mike Raggett Ruth and David Samuels Laura Sheldon Sue Sheridan, OBE Maarten and Taina Slendebroek Sir Martin Smith and Lady Smith, OBE Michael Spagat Caroline Steane Para Sun Iain Taylor Christopher Tew Lady Marina Vaizey, CBE Eva Maria Valero Mark and Rosamund Williams Peter Williams
OUR WORK AT ACLAND BURGHLEY SCHOOL
In September 2020, we took up permanent residence at Acland Burghley School in Camden, North London. The residency – a first for a British orchestra – allows us to live, work and play amongst the students of the school. Three offices have been adapted for our administration team. We use the Grade II-listed school assembly hall as a rehearsal space, with plans to refurbish it under the school’s ‘A Theatre for All’ project. The school isn't just our landlord or physical home. Instead, it allows us to build on twenty years of work in the borough through OAE’s long-standing partnership with Camden Music. Having already worked in eighteen of the local primary schools that feed into ABS, the plans moving forward are to support music and arts across the school into the wider community. Our move underpins our core ‘enlightenment’ mission of reaching as wide an audience as possible. What do backflips, smoke machines and baroque drums all have in common? Answer: our first video collaboration with Acland Burghley students. We teamed up with year 10 students who performed a dance that they choreographed for their GCSE exam, accompanied by us performing Rameau’s ‘Danse des Sauvages’ from Les Indes Galantes. After taking inspiration from baroque dances on YouTube and being drawn to the distinctive rhythmic pulse in the Rameau, the pupils sparked enthusiastic discussion with our players to allow the choreography and music to evolve hand in hand. They also had their say in the direction and recording of the music video, which you can watch on our YouTube channel. We brought The Moon Hares, an opera for young families which we commissioned in 2019, into the school hall and performed it alongside pupils from ABS as well as Gospel Oak and Kentish Town primary schools. The electrifying performance included music both old and new, with sections from Purcell’s 17th century opera Dioclesian mixed with original, modern music by James Redwood. There’s also been a bustle of activity away from the camera in our ongoing private classroom education. We’ve delivered numerous interactive workshops for all students in years 7, 8 and 9, including an exploration of the orchestra’s instruments, illustrated sessions on blues and jazz compositional techniques as part of curriculum studies and a study a day for all GCSE music students on Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.4. The move has been made possible with a leadership grant from The Linbury Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts.
OAE EDUCATION A PROGRAMME TO INVOLVE, EMPOWER AND INSPIRE Over the past twenty years OAE Education has grown in stature and reach to involve thousands of people nationwide in creative music projects. Our participants come from a wide range of backgrounds and we pride ourselves in working flexibly, adapting to the needs of local people and the places they live. The extensive partnerships we have built up over many years help us engage fully with all the communities in which we work to ensure maximum and lasting impact. We take inspiration from the OAE's repertoire, instruments and players. This makes for a vibrant, challenging and engaging programme where everyone is involved; players, animateurs, composers, participants, teachers, partners and stakeholders all have a valued voice.
SUPPORT OUR EDUCATION PROGRAMME
The work we do could not happen without the support of our generous donors. If you would like to support our education programme please contact Emily Stubbs, Development Director emily.stubbs@oae.co.uk 020 8159 9318
OAE YOUNG PRODUCERS The value of our residency in Acland Burghley School can be realised in many ways beyond the immediate practice of orchestral musicianship.
One of the key objectives in our mission is to lift aspirations and broaden horizons for life beyond school. We want to help students leave school with richer CVs and stronger professional prospects.
One great way to do that is to mentor the next generation in all those things we have learned as an organisation. At the start of the 2021-2022 school year, we launched our Young Producers’ programme in which we offer mentoring, training and work-placement apprenticeship so that the young people in our new community acquire essential skills in management and production, from budgets, compliance and risk assessment to camera operation and stage design. We are proud of our first cohort, who have already learned so much and become a key part of our working routine. They will one day graduate as accredited Producers and become the mentors, at our side, for future recruits. More than just an extra-curricular enterprise, this is a programme that we expect to connect with sixth-form education in the new government T Level examination programme.
Young Producers Jessica Sexton-Smith Sophie Vainstock Raphael Thornton Tom Cohen Matas Juskevicius Riley Silver Sidney Crossing
SOUTHBANK INFORMATION
Welcome to the Southbank Centre
We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you need any information or help, please ask a member of staff. Eating, drinking and shopping? Take in the views over food and drinks at the Riverside Terrace Cafe, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall. Visit our shops for products inspired by our great cultural experiences, iconic buildings and central London location. Explore across the site with Beany Green, Côte Brasserie, Foyles, Giraffe, Honest Burger, Las Iguanas, Le Pain Quotidien, Ping Pong, Pret, Strada, Skylon, Spiritland, wagamama and Wahaca. If you’d like to get in touch with us following your visit, please write to the Visitor Contact Team at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, or email hello@southbankcentre.co.uk We look forward to seeing you again soon.
BEETHOVEN OCTET IN E FLAT
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OVER 50 FILMS AVAILABLE TO WATCH TODAY AND SO MUCH MORE TO COME IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS INCLUDING
MOZART SYMPHONY NO. 41 ‘JUPITER’ HANDEL ACI, GALATEA E POLIFEMO TELEMANN ESSERCIZII MUSICI
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The authoritative voice on classical music since 1923 THE WORLD’S BEST CLASSICAL MUSIC REVIEWS
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Anne-Sophie Mutter records John Williams
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Schumann’s Second Symphony
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Handel’s Acis and Galatea
• Ockeghem’s Requiem
Ingrid Fliter: exploring P LU S the darker Theside craft of the soundtrack of Chopin
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Paul McCreesh
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Ingrid Fliter
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Anne-Sophie Mutter
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Bach on record
Pavarotti and his greatest roles
Paul McCreesh celebrates 20th-century coronation music
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Four Last Songs: inside Strauss’s powerful score
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A newly discovered recording by Kirill Petrenko Rachmaninov
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Southbank Centre Season October 2022 – June 2023
Songs of Travel is the final installment of our ‘Six Chapters of Enlightenment’ concert series at Southbank Centre. Travel and the idea of leaving home left a deep impression on the British and European mindset in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The promise of adventure on the high seas as a symbol for spiritual discovery is found throughout literature of the Enlightenment including Candide, Gulliver’s Travels and the emergence of the travelogue. It reached a peak around the time of Cook’s expeditions to Australia and Antarctica and with the publication of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in 1798.
THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER
BACH IN EXCELSIS: THE B MINOR MASS
Music by Henry Purcell mixed with literary narration by Rory Kinnear
Czech harpsichordist Václav Luks presents a fresh interpretation of Bach’s monumental work.
5 October 2022 | 7.00pm
THE MOON HARES
2 November 2022 | 7.00pm
A magical family opera with extracts from Purcell’s Dioclesian and original music by James Redwood. SAINT-SAËNS: SOUNDS FOR THE END OF A CENTURY 26 January 2023 | 7.00pm
Rediscover the works of the original French master of colour. HANDEL AROUND THE WORLD 1 February 2023 | 7.00pm
Journey around the world as imagined by Handel with tenor Ian Bostridge.
19 March 2023 | 7.00pm
MOZART ON THE ROAD: PART 1 5 April 2023 | 7.00pm
Works from the peak of the composer’s fame with Kristian Bezuidenhout on fortepiano. MOZART ON THE ROAD: PART 2 18 May 2023 | 7.00pm
Riccardo Minasi conducts music by CPE Bach, JC Bach and Mozart. PRINCESS IDA
7 and 8 June 2023 | 7.00pm
Venture to the semi-fictional world of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera. Conducted by John Wilson.
Programme information may be subject to change. For more information, please visit oae.co.uk
We are grateful for the support of our environmental partner Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum who generously allowed us to conduct our season photoshoot in their grounds. Photo credit Emma-Jane Lewis. The OAE is a registered charity number 295329. Registered company number 2040312. Acland Burghley School, 93 Burghley Road, London NW5 1UH 0208 159 9310 info@oae.co.uk