2017-18 concert programme
2017-18
Richard Egarr’s 10th anniversary season as Music Director of the Academy of Ancient Music
concert programme
Saint and Sinner
ACADEMY ACADEMY OF OF ANCIENT ANCIENT MUSIC MUSIC
JS BACHOrchestral Suites “Exuberant and full of vitality.” BBC Radio 3 “a feast of meaningfully understated musicianship. I loved it.” AAM003
Editor’s Choice, GRAMOPHONE
We have released five critically acclaimed studio recordings on our own in-house record label, AAM Records. You can learn more about these as well as our rich back-catalogue of over 300 recordings on other labels at aam.co.uk/recordings.
JS BACH St John Passion (1724 version)
All the titles here are available to buy tonight or online aam.co.uk/recordings
Sonate Concertate In Stil Moderno, Libro Primo
With an all-star cast including James Gilchrist as Evangelist and Matthew Rose as Jesus. AAM002
DARIO CASTELLO
Handel to Haydn
AAM001
AAM005
“AAM’s performances gave virtually unalloyed pleasure” GRAMOPHONE “A striking success” BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
£10
£25 (3 CD)
£20 (2 CD)
ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC at
“Egarr’s compellingly original vision of this greatest of all musical tombeaus, with its fresh anticipation founded on collective adrenaline and uniformly outstanding lyrical Bach-singing . . . is a triumph.” AAM040
AAM004
(1727 version)
GRAMOPHONE
£20 (2 CD) THE BIRTH OF THE SYMPHONY:
“A joy for ear and spirit” GRAMOPHONE “This is a gem of a CD” THE STRAD
JS BACH St Matthew Passion
£20 (2 CD)
40
This two-disc compilation of core baroque and classical repertoire gives a taste of our unrivalled award-winning catalogue of over 300 recordings.
£20 (2 CD)
ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC 2017-18 SEASON
Academy of Ancient Music Richard Egarr
director & fortepiano
Daniela Lehner mezzo-soprano
Saint and Sinner
music by Haydn and Dussek
West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
Friday 13 April 2018, 7.30pm
Milton Court Concert Hall, London
HAYDN
Symphony No.93 in D major (1791)
DUSSEK
From Six Canzonets, Op.52 (1804) "A che congiuri" No.2 "Leggiadre ninfe" No.4 "Che vorresti, o pastorello" No.6 20-minute interval
DUSSEK
Concerto for Fortepiano Op.49 in G minor (1801)
HAYDN
Symphony No.94 in G major ("The Surprise") (1791)
Saint and Sinner
Thursday 12 April 2018, 7.30pm
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Welcome Welcome to tonight’s concert, which contrasts two composers with very different reputations – "Papa" Joseph Haydn and "playboy" Jan Ludislav Dussek – who both wrote beautifully crafted, gloriously flamboyant music. I’m delighted that our Music Director, Richard Egarr, takes the helm for this programme, directing Dussek’s substantial Fortepiano Concerto Op.49 from the keyboard, and we’re very pleased to welcome soprano Daniela Lehner for three Dussek songs. Dussek is an unjustly neglected composer and deserves to be heard more. I’m proud to announce that Richard Egarr has uncovered a major and unpublished work for orchestra, choir and soloists by Dussek, and the Academy of Ancient Music is working with a musicologist to make the first performing edition. It looks to be a work of very high quality and we aim for a performance and premier recording in late 2019. Do consider supporting this (and similar) exciting projects of musical discovery: making unheard music available to listeners and performers across the world is important and your contribution can make it happen (email: support@aam.co.uk).
Thank you to our musicians and soloists for an inspiring performance of Bach’s St John Passion on Good Friday. Players and audience alike were enthralled by Maestro Riccardo Minasi’s approach to this work and, with AAM appearing across the BBC on InTune (Radio 3), Today (Radio 4) and Newsnight (BBC Two), the Barbican was packed. I hope that you will be able to join us over the next two months, with Nicola Benedetti in May (28 at Saffron Hall, 30 in Dorchester-on-Thames, 31 at the Barbican), Proms at St Judes in London with Grace Davidson on 29 June, and across June and early July at The Grange Festival with Handel’s Agrippina (opening night 8 June).
Alexander Van Ingen Chief Executive Academy of Ancient Music
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May 25 – June 10, 2018 in Halle (Saale), Germany Berenice (HWV 38), Messiah (HWV 56), Parnasso in festa (HWV 73), Gala concerts with Joyce DiDonato, Max Emanuel Cencic, Magdalena Kožená, Julia Lezhneva and much more Sales start November 24, 2017 www.handel-festival.com/en More information: festspiele@haendelhaus.de
2018 T E AT RU M A N O E L M A LTA
13th to 27th January 2018 www.vallettabaroquefestival.com.mt www.teatrumanoel.com.mt
2017–18 concerts:
Visions, Illusions and Delusions
Handel’s Semele
Bach’s St Matthew Passion
A sensuous evocation of the illusions and delusions of love.
Featuring an all-star line-up of singers, led by Mark Padmore.
18 October 2017
26 March 2018
Be careful what you wish for.
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre
A powerful depiction of the Easter story.
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre
oae.co.uk
SAINT AND SINNER
Surveying the Past Robert Levin, inaugural Hogwood Fellow, places tonight's music in context Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and Jan Ladislav Dussek (Dusík) (1760-1812) were central figures in 1790s London, whose status as cosmopolitan music centre was rivaled on the Continent only by Paris. Clementi had long since moved to England and was to tutor a dynasty of pianist-composers, among them Johann Baptist Cramer (Beethoven’s friend in Vienna, whose etudes have tormented generations of young pianists), Ignaz Moscheles (friend and supporter of Beethoven and mentor and advocate of Mendelssohn), Therese Jansen Bartolozzi (to whom Haydn dedicated his sonatas in C, Hob.XVI:50 and in E flat, Hob.XVI:52, and to whom Clementi and Dussek also dedicated works), John Field (whose nocturnes decisively inspired Chopin), and Ludwig Berger (Mendelssohn’s teacher). There can be little doubt that Haydn’s visits to England were the highlight of his life, both professionally and personally. It offered him respite from a most unhappy marriage and unstinting adulation from the English public. Haydn may not have been literally a saint, but he was virtually deified during his London sojourns.
Nearly 230 years since Haydn’s first visit to London, he occupies a perhaps paradoxical position: on the one hand, he retains his status within the highest echelon of Western composers as a member of the triumvirate of the Viennese Classical style with his younger henchmen Mozart and Beethoven. On the other, he suffers from the tendency of many performers to overlook precisely what so appealed to his English listeners – his deft interweaving of profound musical intelligence and earthy wit. A visit to his birthplace – a thatch-roofed cottage with a dirt floor – says much about the artist he would become. But the Victorian age made music-making a very serious business indeed: our concert manners still reflect those values (eg do NOT applaud between movements; equate concert-going to attendance at church with attentive silence). To be sure, when we experience the miracle of the opening of Haydn’s The Creation, only rapt wonderment will do. But alas, there is nothing more fatal than to play music seriously that abounds with practical jokes, when we should be laughing out loud at Haydn’s shameless pranks. Having been expelled from choir school for snipping off the pigtail of the student seated in
ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC 2017-18 SEASON
front of him with a scissors, Haydn spent the rest of his life, phrase – an example of his characteristic ploy of thwarting snipping metaphorical pigtails in his music. There he was in our assumptions no matter how we strive to catch up to his London, about to turn 60 and behaving with the delectable ceaseless rapscallion invention. effrontery of an unruly little boy. The extraordinary moment near then end of the second movement The trio of the same minuet presents a of Symphony No.93, when the music bumptious unison fanfare in the wind, brass becomes uncertain and disoriented until and timpani, to which the strings answer There Haydn was in the scoring is reduced to the stammering quietly with a question in a "wrong" key. London, about to turn pianissimo violins and flutes, interrupted The fanfare will not be cowed and is by a fortissimo low note in the bassoons, repeated, at which point the strings come in 60 and behaving with may be meant to be a raspberry, as the delectable effrontery with the same quiet music; back and forth Lindsay Kemp suggests in his notes, but go the fanfare and responding question of an unruly little boy. knowing the Viennese penchant toward until the music becomes a veritable mêlée. scatology, it may rather evoke an Is this a civilized way to write a minuet? appalling sound from the smallest room The Londoners surely ate it up. Haydn of the house. But subtler uses of humour understood more than anyone that one of abound; in the minuet of the same symphony what should the keys to musical humour is not necessarily a particular be the second of a series of four-bar phrases is interrupted gesture, but rather incongruity – it occurs at a wilfully after only two bars with a new idea; at the beginning of the unsuitable moment, rendering it delightfully inappropriate; second half, knowing that the audience has absorbed the and Haydn peerlessly grasped the difference between a irregularity of the six-bars, Haydn presents us with a five-bar joke and wit. We laugh the first time we hear a joke, but
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SAINT AND SINNER
not so much when it is retold. Wit, on the other hand, never pales: we cherish Haydn’s subversive humour and look forward to his irresistible outrages with each repeated hearing. Yes, we know Sigmund Spaeth’s words to the second movement of the “Surprise” Symphony: Papa Haydn wrote this tune, And a chord is coming soon, It will be a big surprise, Open sleepy eyes. BOOM. But we eagerly anticipate the explosion and especially the reaction of the (admittedly few) listeners who have yet to be victimised by it. If Haydn’s music often lacks sufficient appreciation of what is perhaps his central attribute, the music of Jan Ladislav Dussek has suffered from grievous neglect. He composed over 40 piano sonatas, few of which are heard with any frequency (his sonata, “Le retour à Paris”, is performed occasionally). Like other Bohemian composers of the period his music is of high quality, fluent, natural, and engaging,
and is well worth rediscovery, notwithstanding the commercial and personal calamities Dussek left in his wake in his peripatetic travels (hence “the sinner”). The style and musical language of Dussek’s Piano Concerto in G minor, Op.49, are situated genealogically between those of Mozart and Chopin – and are thereby quite close to Hummel in that regard. The keyboard writing in the outer movements is brilliant, but graceful, and the orchestral writing during the ample solo sections is for the most part self-effacing. Nor does Dussek eschew florid writing in the lyrical middle movement. The six Canzonets, Op.52, of which we shall hear three, are arias in which idiomatic piano writing replaces an orchestral accompaniment. The vocal lines are suited to an ingénue role, modest but affecting, in which the occasional florid detail is entrusted to the right hand of the keyboard.
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AAM Quick Pick
Explore
Each concert Lars Henriksson picks out one key thing to listen out for.
If you enjoy tonight’s concert, you may be interested in the following recordings:
Most classical concert-goers know of the shock outburst at the beginning of the second movement of Haydn’s ”Surprise” Symphony, but how many are aware of the surprise of the second movement of Symphony No.93? Towards the end of the movement the music gradually gets slower and softer, when suddenly a fortissimo bassoon ”explodes”, and brings the music back on track for the movement's closing. The shock effect is of a similar magnitude as that of the “Surprise” Symphony, but alas not enough to award the No.93 nickname status.
Haydn The Symphonies
Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood [Decca / L'Oiseau Lyre, 4806900]
Haydn London Symphonies Vol.1 (includes no. 93) Orchestra Of The 18th Century / Frans Brüggen [Philips, 4685462]
Haydn Symphonies Nos.96 & 94
Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood [Decca / L'Oiseau Lyre, 4143302]
Mozart Fantasias & Rondos
Richard Egarr (pianoforte Zahler, Brünn c.1800) [Harmonia Mundi, HMU907387]
Dussek Piano Concertos
Andreas Staier / Concerto Köln [Capriccio, C6072]
Haydn 107 Symphonies
AAM / Christopher Hogwood / Orchestra of the 19th Century / Frans Brüggen / Accademia Bizantina / Ottavio Dantone [Decca] This 35-CD set seems to no longer be available, despite only being published in 2016, but is excellent and worth trying to locate a copy
SAINT AND SINNER
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphony No.93 in D major (1791)
Adagio – Allegro assai / Largo cantabile / Menuetto & Trio: Allegro / Finale: Presto ma non troppo cantabile "I am Salomon of London, and have come to fetch you. Tomorrow we will arrange an accord." With this blunt proposal the violinist and impresario Johann Peter Salmon realised a long-cherished ambition. In 1790 Haydn had been Europe’s most widely respected composer for nearly two decades: his music had sold so well in print that publishers found it possible to market almost anything with his name on it, and in London and Paris, the two major centres of public concert-giving, hardly an evening of orchestral music had gone by without one of his symphonies appearing on the programme. Yet his employment with the princely Esterházy family had bound him for nearly 30 years, and although in 1779 the terms of his contract were relaxed so that he could respond to commissions from abroad, he still felt unable to answer the many invitations he received for what today would be called "personal appearances". As he approached the age of 60, he had scarcely ventured outside the 50-mile triangle between the Prince’s Viennese residence and his country palaces at Eisenstadt and Eszterháza.
At the time of Salomon’s visit, however, Haydn’s circumstances had recently changed. Prince Nicolaus Esterházy, his appreciative patron, had died, and the expensive court musical establishment had been swiftly disbanded by his successor. Suddenly, at the age of 58, Haydn was virtually a free agent, and it was this development that enabled Salomon to fulfil his dream of bringing the composer to London to take part in his highly successful concert series. The two men left Vienna in December 1790, and arrived at Dover on New Year’s Day 1791; the visit lasted a year and a half, and was followed by a second in 1794-5. The English fêted Haydn in a way he could surely never had imagined back in near-feudal Eszterháza. The feelings of this wheelwright’s son on being the focus of so much attention can only be guessed, but what is certain is that the whole adventure of being cheered to the rafters, meeting royalty, hearing Handel’s choral music in Westminster Abbey and receiving an honorary doctorate from Oxford University had a rejuvenating effect on his
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Programme Notes continued
creative powers that was to fuel his work not just while he was in England, but for the next ten years as well. Central to his composing activities in England were the 12 symphonies (Nos.93 to 104) that he wrote for Salomon’s concerts, held initially at the Hanover Square Rooms and later at the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket. As was the case with the symphonies he had composed to a commission from Paris a few years earlier, these were state-of-the-art examples of the genre, confidently displaying an unmatched technical assurance, a breadth of conception that nevertheless admits plenty of appealing Haydnesque detail, and joy in the grand sonorities of London’s large orchestras. The numbering of these symphonies, which doesn’t originate with the composer, is misleading; Haydn’s first London visit encompassed two seasons, in the first of which Nos.96 and 95 were heard, while Nos.93 and 94 were set down in the summer of 1791 after he had had the opportunity to sample the English taste at first hand.
The premiere of No.93 came at the start of the second season on 17 February 1792, and received fulsome praise in The Times for its "novelty of idea, agreeable caprice, and whim combined with all Haydn’s sublime and wonten grandeur". Like all his late symphonies it starts with a slow introduction, in this case a harmonically rich one leading to a faster main body of the movement which builds impressive strength from a pair of initially lilting and quiet themes. The slow movement is a set of five subtly unfolding variations on a halting theme presented at the outset by a string quartet; whether the curiously rude "bassoon moment" which occurs near the end was specifically calculated to appeal to English listeners is uncertain. A vigorous and vividly scored Menuetto follows, with a central Trio in which winds and strings are in good-humoured and witty opposition, and the symphony ends with a finale whose sustained energy, resourcefulness and colour seem to delight in never doing quite you expect next.
SAINT AND SINNER
Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760-1812)
From Six Canzonets, Op.52 (1804)
"A che congiuri" No.2 / "Leggiadre ninfe" No.4 / "Che vorresti, o pastorello" No.6 If Haydn, seemingly well-liked by all who met him, was While in London he married the singer, pianist and the saint of this concert’s title, the sinner is presumably harpist Sophia Corri, and entered in to a music publishing Jan Ladislav Dussek. Born to musical parents in Časlav business with her father Domenico. When the firm found in Bohemia in 1760 he was winning acclaim as a concert itself deep in debt in 1799, Dussek absented himself again, pianist in Germany and Holland by the time he was in his leaving in the lurch Sophia, their daughter and Domenico early 20s. In 1783 he was performing (who was jailed for bankruptcy). There is at the court of Catherine the Great in not much sign that he ever looked back; his Dussek's first hint of St. Petersburg, where the first hint of concert career continued apace in Germany, scandal attached itself scandal attached itself to him after he he served as Kapellmeister to Prince Louis was somehow implicated in (or perhaps Ferdinand of Prussia from 1804 to 1806, and to him after he was just carelessly associated with) a plot eventually fetched up back in Paris in the somehow implicated against the empress. He fled first to a service of the politician Talleyrand. Ever fond in a plot against the Kapellmeister’s post in Lithuania, then to of eating and drinking, he grew obese as he Empress Catherine a peripatetic concert career in Germany, entered his 50s and died of gout in 1812. the Great and then to Paris, where he came to notice of Marie Antoinette. In 1789 Dussek was widely acknowledged as one of the French Revolution forced him out the finest pianists of his day, so it is hardly (too many aristocratic friends), and the next ten years surprising that he mostly wrote music involving the piano. were spent in London, where among other things As a boy he had been a chorister, however, and his output he performed concertos and solos at Salomon’s includes a number of vocal compositions, including a concerts, including some of the same ones as Haydn’s Mass, an Easter cantata and a handful of pieces for the "London" symphonies. Drury Lane Theatre. His Six Canzonets for voice and piano,
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Programme Notes continued
were published in London in 1804 as his Op.52, but also appeared elsewhere, with the result that they exist in versions in English, Italian and German. Canzonets were simple and tuneful songs for voice and piano popular in England in the second half of the eighteenth century, and by the time Dussek’s came along they had received a boost from the publication of Haydn’s two sets of Canzonettas in London in 1794 and 1795 (the latter by Corri, Dussek and Co.). Gently warmed by decorative piano accompaniments, Dussek’s canzonets are delicate explorations of the frustrations of love. Of the three in tonight’s concert
the first, "A che congiuri tu a danni tuoi fille" shows us a shepherd using a gently lilting melody and flowing piano triplets to coax his beloved to yield to him while they are still young. In "Leggiarde ninfe se belle siete" he pursues a similar line, though perhaps with a little more impatience in the harmonies and accompaniment. "Che vorresti, o pastorello" reveals the nymph’s reply in a dismissive and carefree Polish-style (or alla Polacca) dance, in which she informs her hapless suitor that love’s shackles are not for her. 20-minute interval
SAINT AND SINNER
From Six Canzonets Texts A che congiuri A che congiuri tu a’ danni tuoi? Fille, a che vuoi ch’io attenda ancor? Poco han di pregio mature spose, di fresche rose s’adorna amor. Con me ritrosa, con te crudele le mie querele sdegni d’udir! Deh! ti ricorda che è vago, e altero, ma è passaggiero il verde april. Che se tu perdi l’età fiorita, dirai pentita al tuo pastor: l’altre pur godono, io non godei, or ben vorrei, ma è tardi all’or.
Why conspire against yourself? Why keep me waiting, Phyllis? Older brides have little in their favour – love adorns itself with fresh roses. Reticent with me, cruel to yourself, you refuse to listen to my laments! Ah! Remember that proud April’s verdant beauty is but fleeting, and that when your youth is gone, you’ll say to your shepherd with regret, "Other girls are enjoying love as I never did; now I wish I could, but it’s too late."
Leggiadre ninfe Leggiadre ninfe, se belle siete, perché volete sprezzar amor? E tu mia Fille, perché t’involi? Che non consoli il tuo pastor? Perché la fresca d’amor etade e la beltade perdi così? S’oggi d’un bene goder possiamo, perché aspettiamo un altro dì? E se vincesti, se tuo son io, perché, ben mio, fuggi da me? La vita è breve, morte s’affretta, perché s’aspetta, mio ben, perché?
Maidens of grace and beauty, why choose to spurn love? And you, dear Phyllis, why run away rather than comforting your shepherd? Why waste in this way love’s fresh youth and beauty? If we can enjoy happiness today, why wait any longer? And if you have won, if I am yours, why, beloved, do you flee from me? Life is short, death comes all too soon, why should we wait, my love, o why?
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Song Texts continued Che vorresti, o pastorello Che vorresti, o pastorello? Che pretendi dal mio cor?
Se tu vuoi ch’io faccia il patto d’amar sempre e amarti sol, è lesivo un tal contratto, la giustizia nollo vuol. Quand’amor si fa tiranno, un tormento ognor si fa. Io non vuò morir d’affanno, amar voglio in libertà. Piange Irène, Alceo delira, strugge Clori un fier martir, quel si lagna, quel sospira, piange Irène, Alceo delira, parlan tutti di morir.
What would you like, o shepherd? What is it you want of my heart? Yes, I like you, yes, you’re handsome, I’ve told you so, and I’ll tell you again. Do you think it’s my fault if lots of other men like me too? Or must I hate the rest of the world in order to prove my love for you? You want me to make a pact to love no one but you, for ever, but such a contract is wrongful, and it’s not what justice wants. When Love is repressive it turns to torture. I don’t want to die of sorrow, I want be free to love as I please. Irene is weeping, Alcaeus is raving, Chloris is consumed by grief, one is lamenting, another sighing, Irene is weeping, Alcaeus is raving, all of them are talking of death.
Che vorresti, o pastorello? etc
What would you like, o shepherd? etc
Chiedi in van, pastor gentile, ch’io deliri nel amar.
In vain do you ask me, handsome shepherd, to lose my mind for love. Let us all love in our own fashion – I don’t want to lose my mind!
Sì, mi piaci, sì, sei bello, già t’il dissi, e ’l dico ancor. Sarà forse il mio errore, se a molti altri piacer sò? O per prova del mio amore tutto il mondo odiar dovrò?
Ami ognun nel proprio stile, io non voglio delirar. .
Translation © Susannah Howe
SAINT AND SINNER
Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760-1812)
Concerto for Fortepiano in G minor, Op.49 (1801) Allegro / Adagio / Rondo: Allegro non troppo
Dussek was admired not just for his technical prowess and innovation on his favoured instrument – his piano-style anticipated many features of early Romantics such as Weber, Mendelssohn, Chopin and Schumann – but for the expressiveness of both his playing and his compositions. In 1808 a French reviewer lauded him for his "enchanted fingers" and "a magic of performance, a power and charm of expression which were truly irresistible", while a German paper considered him a "creator of real piano playing" who had led the instrument back to "its original determination, dignity and particularity". One other longlasting innovation is credited to him: he is said to have been the first pianist to position his instrument sideways to the audience so that they could see his profile. Dussek’s music includes over 100 sonatas and at least 18 concertos. The Concerto in G minor, Op.49, was published in 1801 and performed in public by him on a number of occasions with great success. It is not a concerto in the tight formal mould of those by Mozart and Beethoven, in which soloist and orchestra engage in a symphonic
dialogue, and it would be inappropriate to judge them against such works; rather, what is striking about Dussek’s only minor-key concerto is its open-hearted and sustained emotional atmosphere, expressed in near non-stop piano playing and a relaxed structural framework that make it seem less a cousin to a work such as Beethoven’s C minor Third Piano Concerto, from around the same time, than to the two pianos concertos of Chopin, composed nearly 30 years later. The first movement is certainly a case in point, its Romantic restlessness never letting up, its piano textures full and equally virtuosic in both hands, and its formal scheme finding its own intuitive way. The more intimate second movement brings song-like outer panels in E flat major enclosing a more animated, sometimes genteel dance-like central section, and the concerto concludes with a Rondo with a folk-dance flavour and numerous imaginative touches.
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Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphony No.94 in G major “Surprise" (1791)
Adagio – Vivace assai / Andante / Menuetto e & Trio: Allegro molto / Finale: Allegro di molto The bassoon raspberry in Haydn’s Symphony No.93 may have passed without specific critical comment at the time of its premiere, but a much more audacious stroke quickly made the fame of No.94, first performed about six weeks later on 23 March 1792: next day’s Oracle declared its second movement "equal to the happiest of this great Master’s conceptions. The surprise might not be unaptly likened to the situation of a beautiful Shepherdess who, lulled to slumber by the murmur of a distant Waterfall, starts alarmed by the unexpected firing of a fowling-piece." This programme note offers listeners new to the work no further spoilers concerning the "surprise", but asks only that the moment that gave this symphony its nickname should not be allowed to be seen as its prime feature. After all, Haydn appears to have added it at a late stage in the composing, and there is much more to marvel
at in this superb symphony. The first movement sends out searching harmonies in the slow introduction, and in the boisterous main body of the movement there is typically confident handling of momentum, manipulation of themes, and tonal orientation. The Menuetto is one of Haydn’s swiftest and most swingingly bucolic, though contrasted with a rather svelte Trio for strings and bassoon, and the symphony finishes with a brilliant and racy Finale that combines the characteristics of sonata and rondo forms with dazzling sophistication. Programme notes © Lindsay Kemp
SAINT AND SINNER
Richard Egarr director and fortepiano
© Patrick Allen
2017. He guests with major symphonic orchestras such as London Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw and Philadelphia orchestras, and regularly gives solo harpsichord recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall and elsewhere.
Richard Egarr brings a joyful sense of adventure and a keen, enquiring mind to all his music-making, whether conducting, directing from the keyboard, giving recitals, playing chamber music or, indeed, talking about music at every opportunity. Music Director of the Academy of Ancient Music since 2006, Egarr was recently appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Residentie Orkest in The Hague from 2019, and was Associate Artist of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra 2011-
Richard’s diverse musicianship is reflected in his projects for 2017-18 that include Purcell’s King Arthur (semi-staged) at the Barbican with AAM, St Matthew Passion with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s “Eroica” with both the Luxembourg Philharmonic and Antwerp Symphony. He makes several trips to the US, returning to the Dallas Symphony, and tours the East Coast with cellist Steven Isserlis. Early in his tenure with AAM, Richard established the Choir of AAM. Operas and oratorios lie at the heart of his repertoire: he made his Glyndebourne debut in 2007 conducting a staged version of St Matthew Passion and staged productions at the Netherlands Opera
Academy including Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and Le nozze di Figaro. Richard has recorded many discs for Harmonia Mundi, notably Handel, Mozart and Louis Couperin, with JS Bach’s Partitas released in February 2017. His long list of recordings with AAM includes seven Handel discs (2007 Gramophone Award, 2009 MIDEM and Edison awards), and JS Bach’s St John and St Matthew Passions on AAM’s own label, AAM Records. He has a long-standing teaching position at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and is Visiting Professor at the Juilliard School. Richard trained as a choirboy at York Minster, at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, and as organ scholar at Clare College Cambridge. His studies with Gustav and Marie Leonhardt further inspired his work in the field of historical performance.
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Daniela Lehner mezzo-soprano
© Marco Borggreve
Maeterlinck Lieder with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ramiro La Finta Giardinera with AAM and Richard Egarr and Mozart Requiem under Sir Colin Davis and Christoph Eschenbach.
Austrian mezzo-soprano Daniela Lehner studied in Vienna, Salzburg and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Symphonic engagements include Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the London Symphony Orchestra and Haitink, Mozart and Handel arias with the Wiener Kammerorchester and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Zemlinsky
In recital, Daniela has appeared at the Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, Wigmore Hall, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, De Singel Antwerp, the Klavier Festival Ruhr, Kölner Philharmonie, as well as the Aldeburgh and Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festivals and BBC Proms. She has worked with leading pianists such as Stephen Kovacevich, Graham Johnson, Roger Vignoles and Mitsuko Uchida. In 2008, Daniela made her Royal Opera House debut singing Hermia in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Other highlights include her role debut of Idamante (Idomeneo), Dvořák Stabat Mater with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Dixit Dominus with AAM and King's College Choir, as well as
Beethoven Missa Solemnis on European tour under John Eliot Gardiner. Recent and future plans include Mozart Coronation Mass with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Beethoven Symphony No.9 with AAM and Richard Egarr at the Barbican, a Bach and Handel programme with the Dunedin Consort and John Butt, Ottavia, Amore and Damigella in L’incoronazione di Poppea with AAM in Bucharest and the Barbican, recitals in Spain, and Schumann’s Requiem with the SCO.
SAINT AND SINNER
Meet the player: Benedict Hoffnung Timpani How is the instrument you're playing tonight different from the modern timpani we see in most orchestras today? Baroque and classical timpani are smaller than their modern counterparts. Tuning is via a set of taps that either tension or relax the skin, depending on the key of the piece, rather than by way of a modern pedal system or single crank How did you first become interested in system. Being entrusted with the drums and drumming? two most important notes in the When I was four my father rescued history of Western music, ie the tonic an old bass drum from a skip outside and dominant, the correct timbre is Boosey and Hawkes whose main office paramount. Thicker skins better match was then in Regent Street. It rapidly the texture of an orchestra of period became the most important feature instruments by producing a shorter in the nursery. Since then I’ve been more compact sound. With AAM hooked. I almost always use wooden or leather sticks rather than felt or flannel.
What other percussion instruments are you called on to use in AAM concerts? Occasionally military drums, side drums, Turkish percussion and the glockenspiel.
What has been your favourite AAM memory to date? Beethoven Symphony No.9 at the Barbican with Richard (Egarr)!
What are you particularly looking forward to playing this evening? Haydn always presents a musical challenge. The art is to make it sound effortless. Phrasing, accuracy and elegance are all key factors. For these reasons I am greatly looking forward to this evening's concert.
ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC 2017-18 SEASON
18
Academy of Ancient Music Violin I Bojan Čičić Sijie Chen Iwona Muszynska Henry Tong Stephen Pedder Violin II Rebecca Livermore Liz MacCarthy Pierre Joubert Joanna Lawrence Viola Ricardo Cuende Isuskiza Marina Ascherson
Cello Jonathan Rees Imogen Seth-Smith
Bassoon Ursula Leveaux Sally Holman
Double Bass Timothy Amherst
Horn Daniele Bolzonella David Bentley
Flute Rachel Brown Guy Williams Oboe Frank de Bruine Gail Hennessy Clarinet Antony Pay Emily Worthington
Trumpet Robert Vanryne Tim Hayward Timpani Benedict Hoffnung Keyboard Technician Malcolm Greenhalgh
Sponsored Chairs Principal Viola Richard and Elizabeth de Friend Sub-Principal Viola Nicholas and Judith Goodison Principal Cello Dr Christopher and Lady Juliet Tadgell Sub-Principal Cello The Newby Trust Principal Theorbo John and Joyce Reeve
SAINT AND SINNER
Our Team Music Director Richard Egarr Hogwood Fellow Robert Levin
Head of Concerts and Planning ChloĂŤ Wennersten
Chief Executive Alexander Van Ingen
Projects and Fundraising Co-ordinator Alice Pusey
General Manager Anthony Brice
Librarian Hannah Godfrey
Development Manager Ellen Parkes
Development Consultant John Bickley
Fundraising Assistant Leonore Hibou
Marketing Consultants Bethan Sheppard ChloĂŤ Priest Griffiths
Finance Manager Elaine Hendrie
Board of Trustees
Development Board
Hugh Burkitt Matthew Ferrey Philip Jones (chair) Graham Nicholson John Reeve Terence Sinclair Madeleine Tattersall Janet Unwin
Elise Badoy Dauby Delia Broke Hugh Burkitt Elizabeth de Friend (chair) Andrew Gairdner MBE Peter Hullah Philip Jones Agneta Lansing Roger Mayhew Craig Nakan John Reeve
Honorary President: Christopher Purvis CBE
Programme Editor Sarah Breeden
Council Chris Rocker Terence Sinclair Madeleine Tattersall Janet Unwin
Richard Bridges Kate Donaghy Jonathan Freeman-Attwood Carol Grigor Tim Harvey-Samuel Nick Heath Lars Henriksson Christopher Lawrence Sir Konrad Schiemann Rachel Stroud Dr Christopher Tadgell The Lady Juliet Tadgell l
ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC 2017-18 SEASON
20
Who we are and what we do Music
The Academy of Ancient Music is an orchestra and choir that perform music from the baroque and classical era in the way it was first intended.This means taking inspiration from the composers themselves; through careful research and using first edition scores as often as possible. Our historically informed approach was ground-breaking when the orchestra was founded in 1973 by scholar-conductor Christopher Hogwood and AAM remains at the forefront of the early music scene today, under the leadership of Music Director Richard Egarr.
Recordings
Originally established as a recording orchestra AAM has an incredible catalogue of more than 300 CDs which have won numerous accolades, including Brit, Gramophone, Edison and MIDEM awards. On its own in-house
label, AAM Records, the orchestra has released five critically acclaimed recordings. The most recent release, a stunning selection of instrumental works by Dario Castello, a Venetian composer from the early baroque period, was launched in October 2016.
Education
Since 2010 AAM has run its AAMplify education scheme, with the aim of nurturing the next generation of young artists and audiences. Working with partners around the country, AAM delivers workshops, masterclasses and other special projects for children and people of all ages.
2017-18 Season
The 2017-18 season began with a semistaged performance of King Arthur, the second instalment of AAM’s three-year Purcell opera cycle. Also this season the Choir of AAM takes centre stage at the
Barbican for performances of Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s St John Passion, joined by first class soloists; and Nicola Benedetti performs virtuosic Vivaldi and Telemann concerti on gut strings. In West Road and Milton Court concert halls, soloists from AAM feature in programmes exploring the musical impact of cross-European migration, and the "reversed fortunes" of Telemann and Bach. Soprano Carolyn Sampson celebrates English song from Dowland to Arne; and a programme of secular and sacred vocal music showcases the pairing of soprano Keri Fuge and counter-tenor Tim Mead. AAM is Associate Ensemble at London’s Barbican Centre and Orchestra in Residence at the University of Cambridge, at the Grange Festival and at Chiltern Arts. Visit aam.co.uk to find out more.
SAINT AND SINNER
Thank you The AAM is indebted to the following trusts, companies and individuals for their support of the orchestra’s work.
TRUSTS & FOUNDATIONS The Backstage Trust Constance Travis Charitable Trust Dunard Fund Garfield Weston Foundation Geoffrey C Hughes Charitable Trust The Goldsmiths' Company Charity John Armitage Charitable Trust Newby Trust Ltd The Nicholas John Trust The Polonsky Foundation and other anonymous trusts and foundations
AAM SOCIETY The Hogwood Circle Matthew Ferrey Mark and Liza Loveday Christopher and Phillida Purvis * Mrs Julia Rosier Terence and Sian Sinclair Dr Christopher and Lady Juliet Tadgell
Principal Patrons Christopher Hogwood CBE, in memoriam * John and Madeleine Tattersall and other anonymous Principal Patrons Patrons Richard and Elena Bridges Lady Alexander of Weedon Clive and Helena Butler Alan J Clark Richard and Elizabeth de Friend Mr John Everett Malcolm and Rosalind Gammie Nicholas and Judith Goodison * Graham and Amanda Hutton Philip Jones David and Linda Lakhdhir Roger Mayhew Graham Nicholson John and Joyce Reeve Chris and Ali Rocker Mr Anthony Travis Mark West and other anonymous Patrons Principal Benefactors Carol Atack and Alex van Someren John and Gilly Baker Mrs D Broke Jo and Keren Butler Kate Donaghy The Hon Simon Eccles Dr Julia Ellis Ed Hossack and Ben Harvey Mark and Sophie Lewisohn Mrs Anne Machin Mr and Mrs C Norton Mark and Elizabeth Ridley Sir Konrad and Lady Schiemann * Stephen Thomas Paul and Michi Warren
Julie and Richard Webb Mr Andrew Williams Mrs S Wilson Stephens Christopher Stewart Charles Woodward and other anonymous Principal B enefactors Benefactors Dr Aileen Adams CBE Cumming Anderson Elise Badoy Dauby Professor John and Professor Hilary Birks Mrs Stephanie Bourne Mr and Mrs John Brisby * Adam and Sara Broadbent Hugh Burkitt Marshall Field Michael and Michele Foot CBE Andrew and Wendy Gairdner The Hon William Gibson Ralph Hullah, in memoriam Mrs Noel Harwerth and Mr Seth Melhado The Hon Mr and Mrs Philip Havers Heather Jarman Julian and Susie Knott Mr Peter and Mrs Frances Meyer Herschel and Peggy Post Chris and Valery Rees The Hon Zita Savile Dr Robert Sansom Ms Sarah Shepley and Mr Kevin Feeney Reg and Patricia Singh Mr Michael Smith Peter Thomson and Alison Carnwath Mrs Janet Unwin Peter and Margaret Wynn and other anonymous B enefactors
Donors Angela and Roderick Ashby-Johnson Marianne Aston Elisabeth and Bob Boas * Charles Bryant David and Elizabeth Challen Lord and Lady Dilhorne Derek and Mary Draper Nikki Edge Christopher and Jill Evans Tina Fordham Mrs Marilyn Minchom Goldberg Kibort Hember Mrs Helen Higgs Mr and Mrs Charles Jackson Alison Knocker Mr and Mrs Evan Llewellyn Richard and Romilly Lyttelton Richard Meade Annie Middlemiss Graham and Sylvia Orpwood Nick and Margaret Parker Jane Rabagliati and Raymond Cross Mr and Mrs Charles Rawlinson Michael and Giustina Ryan Dr Alison Salt Mr Peter Shawdon Professor Tony Watts Tony and Jackie Yates-Watson and other anonymous D onors * denotes founder m ember
Nicola
Benedetti includes Vivaldi ‘Grosso Mogul’ Violin Concerto and Telemann Concerto for Four Violins Thursday 31 May 2018, 7.30pm Barbican Hall, London Box Office: 020 7638 8891 barbican.org.uk
SHOSTAKOVICH PLUS October & November 2017 DEBUSSY & PIZZETTI February & March 2018 MICHAEL COLLINS & FRIENDS February, March & April 2018 ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC RESIDENCY May & June 2018 Fridays at 1pm LSO St Luke’s, 161 Old Street London EC1V 9NG lso.co.uk/lunchtimeconcerts
ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC 2017-18 SEASON
Support AAM Each year AAM gives around 40 concerts in the UK and internationally, enriching the lives of tens of thousands of people with our fresh approach to baroque and classical music. AAM’s recordings and broadcasts are heard by wide and varied audiences around the world on the radio and online. Our AAMplify scheme nurtures the next generation of artists and audiences, providing opportunities for talented young musicians to develop their skills and for all young people to experience the thrill of live performance with low-cost concert tickets and introductory workshops. AAM is a registered charity. This year we need to raise over £500,000 to sustain and develop the orchestra’s work promoting the very best music, and to expand our AAMplify programme. We do not currently receive any public funding towards our core costs, so the generosity of our valued family of supporters has never been more important.
AAM Friends Membership of AAM Friends starts from just £2.50 a month or £30 a year. In return, Friends receive:
• an annual drinks party • invitations to open rehearsals • regular news and updates Last year, donations from AAM Friends allowed us to:
• provide a day of coaching from AAM players for talented young musicians through AAMplify • fund speakers for free pre-concert talks for all our audience members • support the cost of providing parts for the players in our own-promotion concerts For more information about AAM Friends, please get in touch with Leonore Hibou, Development Assistant, on 01223 341092 or support@aam.co.uk.
AAM Society The AAM Society is at the core of the AAM family. Society members’ annual gifts of between £250 and £20,000 form our financial backbone, allowing us to evolve and excel in the concert hall, in recordings, and in the AAMplify scheme. To show our appreciation, we offer Society members:
• dinners with the director, soloists and musicians after performances in London • regular invitations to open rehearsals • invitations to private recitals in fellow members’ homes and other special events • complimentary drinks receptions at own promotion concerts in London and Cambridge • regular news and updates • priority booking for all AAM own promotion concerts in London and Cambridge through the AAM office.
Last season, support from AAM Society members facilitated the orchestra’s travel to countries near and far, our work with Jordi Savall, a staging of Purcell’s Fairy Queen, and to celebrate Music Director Richard Egarr’s 10th anniversary with AAM in a glorious concert broadcast by ClassicFM, reaching several million people. The generosity of individuals helped to fund our highly acclaimed performances of Monteverdi’s Vespers in London and Gloucester, where we showcased instruments and music to primary school children; to develop exciting recording projects; and to broaden our reach online. Society donations also enabled us to evolve our partnerships with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, and the Royal Northern College of Music, giving support and advice to young professionals in rehearsals and workshops.
If you would like to join the AAM Society or receive more information about ways to support the orchestra, please get in touch with Leonore Hibou, Development Assistant, on 01223 341092 or support@aam.co.uk.
ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC Music Director Richard Egarr Founder Christopher Hogwood CBE Hogwood Fellow Robert Levin Associate Ensemble at the Barbican Centre Orchestra-in-Residence at the University of Cambridge Orchestra-in-Residence at The Grange Festival Orchestra-in-Residence at Chiltern Arts 11b King’s Parade, Cambridge CB2 1SJ | +44 (0)1223 301509 info@aam.co.uk | www.aam.co.uk Registered charity number 1085485 All details correct at time of printing Visit aam.co.uk to find out more and to watch and listen to us in action
@AAMorchestra academyofancientmusic
Barbican Hall and Milton Court Concert Hall Barbican Advance Box Office, Silk Street Tel. 020 7638 8891 www.barbican.org.uk
West Road Concert Hall Cambridge Live Tickets Box Office Tel. 01223 357 851 www.cambridgelivetickets.co.uk
CONCERT SEASON 2017/2018
Book now at thebachchoir.org.uk Music Director | David Hill
CAROLS AT CADOGAN
Haydn
Johann Sebastian Bach
Prokofiev
NELSON MASS
FRI 22ND DEC 2017 | 7.30pm
TUE 6TH MAR 2018 | 7.30pm
ST MATTHEW PASSION
ALEXANDER NEVSKY
CADOGAN HALL
ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL
SUN 18 MAR 2018 | 11am
THU 3 MAY 2018 | 7.30pm RD
ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL
ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL
David Hill, Carolyn Sampson
Florilegium, David Hill,
Philharmonia Orchestra,
and more
Philip Scriven, Ed Lyon
David Hill, Hilary Summers,
and more
Simon Ponsford
London City Brass,
Philharmonia Orchestra,
David Hill, Philip Scriven, Matthew Green, Nigel Bates
TICKETS £13.50–£32 020 7127 9114
TH
TICKETS £10–£50 020 3879 9555
TICKETS £12–£55 020 3879 9555
TICKETS £10–£50 020 3879 9555
COME & SING St Matthew Passion A training day for choral singers | Led by David Hill SAT 5TH MAY 2018 | 10.30am ST SEPULCHREWITHOUT-NEWGATE, HOLBORN, LONDON
TICKETS £20 (Students £5) 020 7127 9114
ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC
LONDON & CAMBRIDGE 2017-18 Purcell’s King Arthur (semi-staged)
Tuesday 3 October 2017, Barbican Hall, London
Italy in England – when Handel met Corelli Thursday 19 October 2017, Milton Court, London Friday 20 October 2017, West Road, Cambridge
Bless’d Isle – with Carolyn Sampson
Wednesday 1 November 2017, West Road, Cambridge Thursday 2 November 2017, Milton Court, London
Bach and Telemann – Reversed Fortunes Thursday 7 December 2017, Milton Court, London Tuesday 12 December 2017, West Road, Cambridge
Handel’s Messiah
Wednesday 20 December 2017, Barbican Hall, London
For more than 40 years the Academy of Ancient Music has enriched the lives of thousands the world over with high calibre historically-informed performances of baroque and classical music. Under the direction of Richard Egarr the AAM enjoys a global reputation, building its critically acclaimed record label and investing in an everexpanding programme of live performance and creative learning.
Mortal Voices – music by Pergolesi, Corelli and Handel Thursday 15 February 2018, Milton Court, London Friday 16 February 2018, West Road, Cambridge
Bach St John Passion
Friday 30 March 2018, Barbican Hall, London
1790s London: Saint & Sinner – music by Haydn & Dussek Nicola Benedetti – music by Vivaldi and Telemann Thursday 31 May 2018, Barbican Hall, London
GUARDIAN
“AAM’s buttery strings, cooing winds and nobly-bronzed trumpets“ TIMES
“A joy for ear and spirit“ GRAMOPHONE
Design by Apropos-
Thursday 12 April 2018, West Road, Cambridge Friday 13 April 2018, Milton Court, London
“...don’t be fooled by the old instruments: this performance was unequivocally modern”