PROUDLY PRESENTS
Academy of St Martin in the Fields Wind Ensemble CHRISTENSEN PERFORMANCE HALL on The Madeline Janis Courter Stage
FEBRUARY 8, 2024 7:30PM
2024 Classical Circle Producing Sponsors Ed and Virginia Stringer 2024 Classical Circle Leadership Supporters David Huggin & Ken Nees
“
An ensemble of first-rate musicians, technically superb, generously expressive, and obviously enjoying themselves.
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-DALLAS MORNING NEWS
Impressively seamless ensemble -CHICAGO CLASSICAL REVIEW
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ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS WIND ENSEMBLE Timothy Rundle, oboe • Fiona Cross, clarinet Julie Price, bassoon • Stephen Stirling, horn with guest Caroline Palmer, piano The Academy of St Martin in the Fields was founded by Sir Neville Marriner in 1958 and is currently led by Music Director Joshua Bell. In 1967, the Academy Chamber Ensemble was formed to perform the larger scale chamber music repertoire with players who customarily worked together, instead of the usual string quartet with additional guests. Drawn from the principal players of the orchestra, the Chamber Ensemble’s touring commitments are extensive and include regular tours of Europe and North America, whilst recording contracts with Philips Classics, Hyperion, and Chandos have led to the release of over thirty CDs. The Chamber Ensemble now performs in multiple configurations, including the Academy Wind Ensemble, which performs programs featuring the quintets of Beethoven, and Mozart, among other works. The Academy of St Martin in the Fields’ February 2024 US tour is supported by Maria Cardamone and Paul Matthews together with the American Friends of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. For more information about the American Friends please email development@asmf.org The Academy of St Martin in the Fields Wind Ensemble appears by arrangement with David Rowe Artists, www.davidroweartists.com Chandos, Philips, Hyperion recordings
INDIVIDUAL MUSICIAN BIOGRAPHIES TIMOTHY RUNDLE, oboe Timothy first heard the oboe aged 7, being played at a local concert, and was instantly captivated by its unique and special sound. His parents took him to meet the oboe player after the concert, who was very happy to chat, and let him hold his oboe. He advised that in a year’s time, Tim might be old enough to start learning. A year later, aged 8, Tim had his first lesson with that same oboist, Robert Wells, who became his oboe teacher for the next few years. After learning with Jenni Phillips at the junior department of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Tim later attended the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, studying with Jonathan Small, before setting off on the path towards becoming a professional musician. After graduating, Tim freelanced successfully and was appointed to his first job in 2005 with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, where he spent 6 happy years. In 2011 he moved South after being appointed the 2nd oboe in the Philharmonia Orchestra. It was then a dream come true to be appointed joint principal oboe of the Philharmonia in December 2018. It has been a special treat for Tim to play as a guest with some of the world’s leading orchestras and ensembles. The Academy of St Martin in the Fields has a special place in his heart having grown up listening to its recordings. It was a privilege beyond measure to play with the orchestra with the late Sir Neville Marriner before he passed away. Outside of musical life, Tim enjoys living in the English countryside with his wife and two children, and is kept busy looking after a small menagerie of animals. His favourite being two pigs. FIONA CROSS, clarinet Fiona Cross is one of the leading clarinetists of her generation and enjoys combining chamber music with a solo career as well as playing guest principal clarinet with all the leading British orchestras. She performs regularly with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and has travelled extensively with them on many tours to the Far East, Europe and The Americas. She is also principal clarinet of Glyndebourne Sinfonia and Manchester Camerata, with whom she appears often as a soloist. She has performed concertos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Sinfonietta and English Sinfonia and has recorded Lefanu Concertino for Naxos and Horovitz Concerto for Dutton. As a chamber musician Fiona has appeared with many leading ensembles including the Vanbrugh and Alberni String Quartets, at venues such as the Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room. She has also performed alongside Andras Schiff at his Weimar festival. Fiona takes a keen interest in promoting new music, and has commissioned many new works for clarinet and piano, and clarinet and harp from composers such as Gary Carpenter, Rolf Hind, Paul Archbold and Diana Burrell. She is a professor of clarinet at Trinity College of Music, London.
JULIE PRICE, bassoon An orchestral musician, chamber musician, soloist, and teacher, Julie Price has held positions as Principal Bassoon with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She has been Principal Bassoon of the English Chamber Orchestra since 1994 and Co-Principal, now Principal Bassoon, of the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 2001. With conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ralf Gothóni, Andrew Litton, Edward Gardner, and Douglas Boyd she has appeared as a soloist at the Barbican, Cadogan Hall, and Royal Festival Hall as well at many venues outside London and abroad. As a chamber musician she has appeared with such groups as the Nash, Gaudier, and Razumovsky ensembles, London Winds, and the Lindsay and Chilingirian string quartets. She first studied the bassoon with Sonja Smith, then with Edward Warren and William Waterhouse in Manchester, and later with Roger Birnstingl in Geneva. Julie Price has been a teacher at the Royal College of Music in London since 1998. Her discography includes recordings of Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto and Sinfonia Concertante and Elgar’s Romance, all with the English Chamber Orchestra. STEPHEN STIRLING, horn Stephen Stirling, Principal Horn of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, is a horn soloist and chamber musician of worldwide renown. His discography includes over 90 chamber works and concertos, many of them world premiere recordings of both contemporary and neglected works by British composers alongside the great masterpieces for horn. As well as the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Stephen plays principal horn with the City of London Sinfonia and the Orchestra of St John’s. He appears regularly as guest principal with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He has played as soloist with the ASMF and CLS, OSJ, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and many others. Works written for him include concertos by Gary Carpenter and Matthew Taylor, premiered with the BBC Philharmonic and ASMF respectively. Stephen is Professor of Horn at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and a faculty member of the Yellow Barn International Summer Music School and Festival in Vermont, USA. CAROLINE PALMER, piano The Singapore-born English pianist, Caroline Palmer, studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London with Edith Vogel and later continued her studies with Peter Wallfisch and Hans Keller. She won several prizes and also was a finalist in the Busoni Competition in Italy. Since then Caroline Palmer has established a reputation as a chamber musician and soloist and has performed in the USA and throughout Europe. She has been a participant in various chamber music festivals in Europe and America. Alongside her career as a pianist she has been a piano professor at the Guildhall since 1990, where she coaches chamber repertoire as well as teaching individual students. Caroline Palmer has made several recordings with many artists including the cello works of Robert Fuchs, Camille Saint-Saëns, Ferruccio Busoni and Gabriel Fauré. She has made numerous recordings as soloist and chamber musician for the BBC, and has also played for radio broadcasts and recordings in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Bulgaria and the USA. Recent engagements have included a televised performance in the Varna Festival, a recording of the Johannes Brahms violin sonatas with Krzysztof Smietana and recordings for BBC Radio 3.
PROGRAM NOTES DR. RICHARD E. RODDA
Trio Oboe, Horn and Piano in A minor, Op. 188 Carl Reinecke Born June 23, 1824 in Hamburg, Germany. Died March 10, 1910 in Leipzig. Composed in 1887. Carl Reinecke was one of the most versatile and accomplished German musicians of the late 19th century. Born in a suburb of Hamburg in 1824, Reinecke was given a thorough musical education by his father, Johann Peter, a respected music theorist and the author of several books. Carl developed into a good violinist and a virtuoso pianist, and he undertook a successful concert tour of Scandinavia when he was just eighteen during which he met composer and conductor Niels Gade, who convinced him to move to Leipzig for study with his colleagues Mendelssohn and Schumann. In 1846, Reinecke was appointed court pianist to Christian VIII in Copenhagen, but following the political upheavals two years later and the death of King Christian, he returned to Leipzig, which served as his base during the following years as he toured across the Continent. Between 1851 and 1854, Reinecke worked as a teacher of piano and counterpoint at the Cologne Conservatory, and then became director of a concert society in Barmen, near Düsseldorf, where he established himself as one of the country’s leading conductors. After a brief stint as director of music at the University of Breslau in 1860, he was appointed to the faculty of the Leipzig Conservatory and also named director of that city’s famed Gewandhaus concerts, a post he held for the next 37 years. At the Conservatory, he gained a reputation as an outstanding teacher and numbered among his students Grieg, Albéniz, Sinding, Sullivan, Muck and Weingartner. He resigned from the Gewandhaus in 1897 to assume the directorship of the Conservatory and remained there until his retirement in 1902. He died in Leipzig eight years later. In addition to his activities as performer, teacher, administrator and conductor, Reinecke was active throughout his long life as a composer. His compositions, which reached nearly 300 opus numbers, are in a conservative idiom reminiscent of Mendelssohn and Schumann, and exhibits solid workmanship gained through knowledge of the Classical models. The opening movement of his handsome Trio for the unusual combination of piano, oboe and horn follows conventional sonata form: the oboe is entrusted with the graceful, melancholic main theme; the horn presents the lyrical complementary subject in a brighter key; both motives are given a leisurely working-out in the development section; and the recapitulation restates the themes to achieve formal balance and harmonic closure. The Scherzo is a delightful stuttering
dialogue between the winds for which the broad central trio acts as foil. The Adagio is a lovely nocturne whose spacious phrases are traded between oboe and horn. The finale is a playful sonata-rondo that devotes one of the episodes separating the returns of its principal subject to the horn’s recall of the theme of the Adagio.
Quintet for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn and Piano in E-flat major, K. 452 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg. Died December 5, 1791 in Vienna. Composed in 1784. Premiered on April 1, 1784 in Vienna. Mozart’s personal happiness and public popularity were at their zeniths in 1784. He shared a comfortable apartment with Constanze and they were looking forward to the birth of a baby in September. He had been settled in Vienna for nearly three years, and had acquired a reputation as the finest pianist in town as well as a talented composer. So great was the demand for his performances in the city’s concert halls and the houses of the aristocracy that he played 22 concerts between February 26 and April 3. For his program on April 1 at the Burgtheater, which also included the Concertos Nos. 15 and 16 (K. 450 and K. 451) and Symphonies No. 35 (“Haffner”) and No. 36 (“Linz”), Mozart composed a Quintet for Piano and Winds (K. 452), completing it just the night before the concert. The composer played the piano part himself, but the names of the other performers are unrecorded. The premiere went well. “It had the greatest applause,” Mozart reported to his father on April 10. “I myself consider it the best thing I have written in my life. I wish you could have heard it, and how beautifully it was performed, though to tell the truth I grew rather tired from all the playing by the end. It reflects no small credit on me that my audience did not in any degree share the fatigue.” John N. Burk noted of this extraordinary epistle, “Mozart until this moment had never in his letters spoken of the quality of a new work, but only of its acceptability and its success, duly reported for his father’s satisfaction. Now for the first time he shows pride in what he has done.” Though it is a quality too infrequently remarked, Mozart was a superb orchestrator, thoroughly familiar with the technical possibilities and unique character of each instrument. His mastery of orchestration is seen nowhere better than in his writing for winds, where he was careful to make the individual parts both suitable and challenging while constructing the phrases to allow for the necessary frequent recoveries of lip and lung — the E-flat Quintet is a virtual textbook of the best 18th-century wind instrument scoring. The Quintet’s opening movement, bursting with melody, begins with a slow introduction followed by a sonata-form essay with a tiny development section. (One- or two-keyed 18th-century wind instruments were limited in their chromatic possibilities, and did not lend themselves to the harmonic peregrinations of Mozart’s more elaborate thematic developments.) The Larghetto, also in sonata form, is sweet and limpid. The finale is a perky rondo with a written-out cadenza near the end marked by entrances in close imitation.
Divertissement for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon Jean Françaix Born May 23, 1912 in Le Mans, France. Died September 25, 1997 in Paris. Composed in 1947. Jean Françaix, the French composer, pianist and advocate of Debussy’s artistic philosophy of “faire plaisir” (“giving pleasure”), was born into a musical family in Le Mans in May 1912. His father was a pianist and composer and director of the Le Mans Conservatory; his mother taught voice and founded a local chorus. Jean received his earliest training from his parents, but showed such precocious talent that he was regularly commuting to Paris for private lessons at the Conservatoire by the time he was nine. He was much upset by news of the death of Camille Saint-Saëns in that year (1921), and vowed to his father that he would “take his place” as a musicien français; Françaix’s earliest published work, a suite for piano, appeared the next year. He settled in Paris a few years later for regular study at the Conservatoire and won first prize in piano when he was just eighteen; two years later he gained recognition as a composer with a symphony that was premiered in Paris by Pierre Monteux in November 1932. He played the first performance of his own Concertino for Piano and Orchestra with much success in 1934, and came to international prominence when he presented the work at a festival of contemporary music in Baden-Baden two years later. He subsequently made numerous tours throughout Europe and the United States as composer and pianist. The 1933 ballet Scuola di ballo, choreographed by Léonide Massine for the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, marked Françaix’s entry into the genres of musical theater, for which he produced five operas and a total of sixteen ballets, as well as many film scores before his death in Paris on September 25, 1997. A divertissement is a musical confection meant to divert, to delight, to amuse, and Françaix’s Divertissement for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon, bubbling with the composer’s distinctive insouciance and wit, more than lives up to its title. The Divertissement was composed in 1947 for oboist Paul Paillefer, clarinetist André Dupont and bassoonist André Gabry, all members of the French National Orchestra. The Prélude begins as a sweet pastoral but certain disagreements among the participants as to rhythmic coordination and wayward pitches give the music an invigorating piquancy. These disparities are discussed in a more animated manner in the center section before the pastoral music, little changed from before, returns to close the movement. The collegial contention carries into the Allegretto assai, which the oboe and clarinet start as a dapper quick march while the bassoon tries out the accompaniment for a waltz. The trio eventually settles on a cheerful metric common ground and celebrates its unanimity with a few phrases reminiscent of a tango. The opening music is more amicable when it returns, and fades away on rising, intertwined arpeggios. The Elégie, thoughtful rather than tragic, is a plaintive, wordless song led by the oboe. The Scherzo juxtaposes tart phrases of spiky rhythms and leaping intervals with sweet episodes of limpid motion and smooth contours.
Quintet for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn and Piano in E-flat major, Op. 16 Ludwig van Beethoven Born December 16, 1770 in Bonn. Died March 26, 1827 in Vienna. Composed in 1797. Among the works with which Beethoven sought to establish his reputation as a composer after arriving in Vienna in 1792 from his hometown of Bonn was a series of pieces for wind instruments —Trio for Two Oboes and English Horn (Op. 87), Trio for Piano, Clarinet and Cello (Op. 11), Sonata for Horn and Piano (Op. 17), Septet (Op. 20, one of his most popular compositions during his lifetime) and Quintet for Piano and Winds (Op. 16) — which enabled him to demonstrate his skill in the traditional modes of chamber music without broaching the genre of the string quartet, then still dominated by Joseph Haydn. The Op. 16 Quintet drew its inspiration and model from Mozart’s exquisite Quintet for Piano and Winds of 1784 (K. 452), which Beethoven heard performed in Prague in spring 1796 during a concert tour that also took him to Dresden and Berlin. He apparently began the Quintet in Berlin and completed the score later that year in Vienna. The piece was first given at a concert organized by the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh on April 6, 1797 at the palace of Prince Joseph Johann von Schwarzenberg, which was also to be the site of the premiere of Haydn’s The Creation the following year and The Seasons in 1801. In appreciation, Beethoven dedicated the score to Schwarzenberg when it was published by the Viennese firm of Mollo in March 1801. (Beethoven also arranged the Quintet for piano and three strings at that time, and published it with the identical opus number.) Ferdinand Ries, the composer’s amanuensis during those years, related an incident from the Quintet’s premiere that illustrates both Beethoven’s skill as a pianist and his strong self-will. Beethoven, it seems, took advantage of a fermata (i.e. held note) in the last movement to launch into a vast but unannounced cadenza. “It was comical to see the other players waiting expectantly,” Ries reported, “ready every moment to go on, continually lifting their instruments to their lips, and then quietly putting them down again. At last, Beethoven was satisfied and dropped back into the Rondo. The entire audience was delighted.” The Quintet opens with a slow introduction whose stately tread and pompous rhythms recall the old Baroque form of the French overture. With its sweeping figurations and full scoring, the piano announces its intention to be primus inter pares in the music to follow, and appropriates for itself the principal theme of the main body of the movement, a sleek, triple-meter melody made from a quick upward leap and a gently descending phrase. The winds are allowed to dabble in this melodic material before more bold piano scales and arpeggios lead to the subsidiary subject, a flowing strain in even note values. The development section busies itself with some piano figurations before settling down to a discussion of the main theme. A long scale in the piano reaches its apex at the recapitulation, which returns the earlier thematic materials to lend the movement balance and formal closure. The Andante is a richly decorated slow rondo (A–B–A–C–A) that touches upon some poignant proto-Romantic sentiments as it unfolds. The finale is a dashing rondo based on a galloping theme of opera buffa jocularity.
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FRIEND Dennis Sutherland Al & Monica Taylor Kathleen Taylor & Bruno Notari Lynn Thelen Kersti Thompson Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Timson Kay Trainor Karr & Joan Van Nordstrand Janice VanBuskirk Kelli Vestal Gary & Linda Vroegindewey David Waks & Sandra Teger Anne Walter Bob & Roberta Washlow James Weddell
Ina Weissblatt Lyman & Deana Welch Lynne Wesolowski Berta & Carroll Wetzel Helene Weyant Brian & Susan White Patricia Pombo Wilson Elaine & Sanford Winer Linda & Jim Winn J Pamela Weiner & James Wittenberg E. Blake Wood The Dunham Children Nancy Zeedyk Mr. & Mrs. Jeffry Zimmer
LEGACY SOCIETY Jack T. Bailey Jerry Churchill K. Ann Dempsey Elizabeth Eagleton Ruth F. Frank Roni Freer
Deborah & John La Gorce Kenneth L. Nees Don & Joyce Rice John Schork Penny Wilkinson & Dick Boehning
Please remember BIG ARTS in your estate planning.
GIFTS IN HONOR OF Chuck Bonser Donna Leahy The Dunham Family Kris Gurall Patrick Harder David and Ann Hedges George & Susan Heisler Ken Nees
Dan & Gerri Perkins Jim & Gaye Pigott Carol Rosenberg Elmer Stilbert Janet M. Strickland, P.A. Monica Taylor Ellen Whitten
GIFTS IN MEMORY OF Suzanne Crawford Blake Devitt Henry Foltz Dave Havrilla Beth Murphy Dr. Laurence Oberhill Bea Pappas
Tom Pick Paul Powers Karen Shaw Davis Thurber Ronald Glenn Wallace Pat Whitaker
IN-KIND DONORS Landgraphics Sanibel-Captiva David M. Platt, PA DONOR LIST AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2023
Gifts can be made in many forms. For information on how to support BIG ARTS and all its programs, contact Michelle Schweber, Director of Development mschweber@bigarts.org | 239.472.9700 ext. 308
Meet Our Staff
Lena Baranova - Staff Accountant Denise Dillon - Events Assistant Marina Dowling - Office Manager Barbara Freeman - Executive Assistant Meghan Govoni - Marketing Manager Melody Hampton - Database and Information Manager Lee Ellen Harder - Executive Director Charlotte Hardt - Customer Service Associate Wendy Harriman - House Manager Aimee Harrison - Workshops Manager Richard Jones - Technical Director David Kolson - Chief Financial Officer Greg LeBlanc - Facilities and Maintenance Supervisor Kelly Lowden - Customer Service Associate Wilson McCray - Gallery Director Michelle Schweber - Development Director Olga Semreen - Staff Accountant
Meet Our Board Chair - Rene Savarise Vice Chair - Bob Wiesemann Treasurer/Secretary - David Lowden Past Chair - Don Rice Gustav Christensen Scot Congress Mike Wood
Great communities create great organizations – not the other way around. In 1979, BIG ARTS was created, by, and for the community, and owes its rich history to a small band of dedicated artists who drew inspiration from each other and from the breathtaking island beauty that infused their work with grace and authenticity. They set out to create a special gathering place where artistic and educational experiences were accessible to all. Today that vision is alive and well. With the help of our loyal donors and supporters, BIG ARTS will carry that vision forward – providing joy, inspiration and a sense of community for generations to come.
Vision
To create great arts, entertainment and learning experiences that always inspire, enrich and delight.
Mission
Provide an array of quality entertainment, arts and education programs that enrich and nurture the lives of Sanibel and Captiva residents and visitors through: • professionally led arts and enrichment classes and workshops for students of all ages • stimulating and informative lectures and group discussions with renowned national thought leaders and educators • dynamic visual and performing arts presentations of the highest caliber
INFORMATION & TICKETS:
IN PERSON: 900 Dunlop Road, Sanibel, Florida 33957 BY PHONE: 239.395.0900 ONLINE: BIGARTS.org