SURROUND SOUND PLAYLIST IN CANTERBURY: MORE PROGRAMME INFORMATION
More on tonight's concert
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Programme details
Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man
Drums and brass herald the start of proceedings. This is it. Attention please. Written for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 1943, in response to the entry of the United States in World War II. Prog giants Emerson Lake and Palmer gave it a different, stadium rock treatment in the early 70s.
Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium
An exquisite modern classic for unaccompanied choir, written in 1994 by the West Coast American Lauridsen. Technically, a Christmas carol, but too beautiful just for December.
Marcello: Adagio from Oboe Concerto
Another gorgeous piece of calm, this time from the Italian baroque, and the Venetian nobleman Marcello. JS Bach rated this piece so highly that he turned it into a harpsichord concerto. Purists may hate the idea of a saxophone playing this piece, but we reckon Amy Dickson will do it proud.
Coleman: Umoja
African-American composer, Valerie Coleman, is from Louisville, Kentucky. She’s a flautist and founder of Imani Winds, the US’s first global majority wind quintet. Umoja is the Swahili word for “unity” and is the first day in seven in the African-American celebration of Kwanzaa.
Tavener: Mother of God, here I stand
'Mother of God, here I stand' is a short, perfectly formed moment from Tavener’s enormous, eight-hour long work from 2004, The Veil of the Temple. With exquisite control and devotional calm, it’s become the much-loved ‘single’ from an extremely long, ritually repetitive ‘album’.
Tawadros improv
The oud is a stunning looking pear-shaped, fretless stringed instrument from North Africa and the Middle East - the western lute evolved from its medieval Islamic cousin. Joseph Tawadros was born in Egypt, brought up in Australia, and now lives in London. His work, as we’ll hear in all three pieces tonight, is an intoxicating mix of east and west.
Ravel: Pavane pour une infante defunte
This youthful piano work, subsequently arranged for orchestra in 1910, evoked a courtly, processional pavane as danced by the kind of princess who would have been painted by the great Spanish artist of the baroque era, Diego Velazquez. As with his Bolero, Ravel had an ambivalent view of the piece later in life, but its poise and tender sentimentality is justifiably beloved.
Allegri: Miserere
Priest and singer Gregorio Allegri was associated with Rome’s Sistine Chapel throughout his life. His setting of Psalm 51 is famous for its stratospheric soprano lines, and it’s a piece that Tenebrae are rather well known for: their Youtube recording has been viewed over 31 million times. Be transported by it live in this space tonight.
Telemann: 'Largo' from Sonata for 4 violins
A lovely little movement for four violins from Bach and Handel’s compatriot and near contemporary, Telemann. Leading into…
Handel: Zadok the Priest
The biblical account of the anointing of Solomon by the priest Zadok has been heard at every English coronation since 973. Handel set it to music for the coronation of his German compatriot, George II, in 1727, and it’s been a glorious fixture in every coronation since. (Also closely imitated as the Champions League TV jingle.)
INTERVAL
Susato: La Mourisque
More drums and brass, and a brilliant, festive dance from renaissance Benelux to get things going again.
Ligeti: Bagatelles and Bartók: Romanian Dances
You’re the first to hear this mash-up of central European folk tunes for wind quintet and strings. Alternating them like this hasn’t been tried before, but with their shared musical DNA and dirt-under-the-fingernails energy, we thought we’d give it a go anyway.
Prokofiev: 'Dance of the Knights' from Romeo and Juliet
The whole of Prokofiev’s ballet score to Romeo and Juliet is masterly. This particular movement has become just a little bit better known than the rest of it because of a certain reality TV show involving apprentices, awkward team tasks and humiliating exits.
Handel: 'Battaglia' from Rinaldo
Premiered in 1711, Rinaldo was one of Handel’s earliest and biggest operatic hits for the London stage. Set at the time of the First Crusade, the ‘hit single’ from this tale of love, war and redemption was the aria ‘Lascia ch’io pianga’, but this short orchestral depiction of battle is a thrilling burst of energy too.
Shaw: and the swallow
This lovely setting of Psalm 84 by the evermore admired composer Caroline Shaw finishes with the singers evoking the sounds of autumn rain. In this psalm’s words, Shaw says, ‘there’s yearning for a home that feels very relevant today.’
Morricone: Cinema Paradiso
Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1988 love-letter to the emotive power of cinema is lifted to an even higher level by its soundtrack from the father-and-son team of Ennio and Andrew Morricone. Some of the most charming and poignant melodies every written for the screen.
Ēriks Ešenvalds: Stars
Stars, a setting of words by Sara Teasdale from 2011, features tuned wine glasses as a glistening accompaniment to the glowing simplicity of ‘beating hearts of fire’ seen overhead on a still, dark night. Radiant and magical.
She moved…
Amy Dickson intones alone this tender Irish folk song. Last night, she came to me; she came softly in. So softly she came, that her feet made no din. And she stepped closer to me, and this, she did say: "It will not be long, love, 'til our wedding day."
Parry: I was glad
We finished the first half with one Coronation ‘banger’, and we finish the concert with the other one – written by Parry for the 1902 coronation of Edward VII, and a blazing choral favourite ever since.
Programme notes © Meurig Bowen
Britten Sinfonia players on stage
Violin I
Zoë Beyers
Marcus Barcham Stevens
Katherine Shave
Fiona McCapra
Violin II
Miranda Dale
Nicola Goldscheider
Alexandra Caldon
Violas
Sarah-Jane Bradley
Rachel Byrt
Cellos
Ben Chappell
Julia Vohralik
Double Bass
Samuel Rice
Flute and Piccolo
Sarah O’Flynn
Oboe
Peter Facer
Clarinet
Peter Sparks
Bassoon
Sarah Burnett
Horn
Timothy Ellis
Trumpets
Holly Clark
Heidi Bennett
Trombone
Andrew Connington
Tuba
Edward Leech
Timpani
Charlie Hodge
Percussion
Jeremy Cornes
Charlie Hodge
