Jazz meets Bristol Symphony by Bristol Symphony Orchestra

2017

24tH JUne C L I F T O N C AT H E D R A L

ANDY SHEpparD

SAXOPHONE with

BRISTOL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WILLIAM GOODCHILD | CONDUCTOR PAMELA BELL | LEADER

and RHYTHM SECTION DAN MOORE | PIANO TONY ORRELL | DRUMS BEN GROENEVELT | DOUBLE BASS

Â£2

Programme

Our Next Concerts

Saturday 4th November 2017 Romantic Masterworks St George’s Bristol

Saturday 24th MARCH 2018 Brief encounter St George’s Bristol

NICHOLAS OLIVER | PIANO Charlie Lovell-jones | VIOLIN Keith Tempest | Cello NICHOLAS OLIVER

CONCERT FOR SARA LOVELL

From Bristol Symphony Welcome to this evening’s concert, Jazz Meets Bristol Symphony. It is a special delight to be joined by saxophonist Andy Sheppard for this unique programme. We hope you have a wonderful evening.

We would like to thank Helen Wilde (High Sheriff of Bristol 2016-17) and her husband Peter for their warmth, enthusiasm and continuing support of Bristol Symphony. To keep in touch and up to date with our concerts and events, please sign up to our e-newsletters via our website at www.bristolsymphonyorchestra.com. You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter by using our social media name @BristolSymphony. Don’t forget to tell all your friends about us!

WELCOME

This has been an exciting second year for Bristol Symphony (and its not over yet!) including being nominated as a New Business finalist in the Bristol Life Awards. The Orchestra attracts some of the region’s best professional, semi-professional and amateur players. Our aim is to play with passion and to communicate the joy we all have in making music together, performing to as wide an audience as we possibly can.

With all good wishes William Goodchild, Conductor

BRISTOL SYMPHONY QUARTETS Coming soon For Weddings and Events Bristol Symphony’s newest musical venture! Members of the orchestra are forming a string quartet to provide music for weddings, drinks, receptions, parties and other events. The quartet will have a varied repertoire from Mozart and Bach through to Adele and Coldplay, and will be able to advise on suitable pieces for all occasions. Full details will be available on our website later in the summer. Please contact Emma Butterworth via the website with any enquiries.

COPLAND |

AARON COPLAND (1900- 1990)

Fanfare for the Common Man (1942)

Programme Notes

What is a fanfare? What emotion should it give listeners? Is it simply to open a concert, or perhaps to lift our spirits? The American composer/conductor/ writer Aaron Copland’s short fanfare for brass and percussion seems to affect people worldwide. It has been played at numerous political events, as a wake-up call for astronauts in space, and on many television programmes. It has been transformed by rock stars and Copland incorporated it into his third symphony (1944-46). Fanfare for the Common Man was first performed in March 1943 by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Eugene Goossens and one of a number of fanfares Goossens commissioned during WWII to open their concerts. Copland had a number of working titles for this piece, but the final one may have come from a patriotic pro-war speech in May 1942 by US Vice-President Henry A Wallace, in which he proclaimed, “The century which will come out of this war, can be, and must be, the century of the common man.” Goossens told Copland he would premiere the fanfare days before US taxes were due, and Copland replied that he was “all for honouring the common man at income tax time.” (Copland: 1900 to 1942 by Perlis). What makes this piece so effective? Copland wanted the work to be “traditional, direct and powerful, yet with a contemporary sound”. Percussion and brass are separated. Does one represent time, one space? Or are they the same? How do they interact? Percussion begins. Silence. Space. Trumpets play in unison, a melody of open-sounding 4ths and 5ths (F, B flat, F) and arpeggiated chords, moving from low to high to low. Percussion responds at the end of their statement. The horns then join the trumpets in a similarly open harmony, expanding the music, soaring higher, then falling. Percussion again gives space. Breath. The full brass, with trombones and tuba, deepen the sonorities. There is grandeur or mystery. Or solemnity. The interplay between brass and percussion continues until the climaxing ending (on a chord of D major, built on the missing 3rd of the initial chord). We have come tonight to hear music played by a large orchestra. Why? What does live music do for us? Perhaps the expansiveness of this piece gives an insight into the unanswered question of the power of music to affect our spirits. by Jean Hasse

Please remember to switch off all digital devices during the concert. Thank you

BERNSTEIN |

Leonard Bernstein (1910-90)

Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (1961) The music-theatre piece, West Side Story, is based on a modern version of Romeo and Juliet, situated in New York City’s Upper West Side, where a number of gangs lived in the 1950s/60s. Composed in 1957, the music has had numerous transformations, beginning with the musical, premiered in Washington DC in August 1957, then transferring to Broadway for two years, followed by a US tour, and then back to NYC. Its immediate popularity in the US led to numerous arrangements of the songs, for a wide variety of instruments and ensembles.

For musical reasons the excerpts heard in the Symphonic Dances are in a slightly altered order from the stage and screen versions: Prologue – Somewhere – Scherzo (gangs dancing) – Mambo (competitive dancing) – Chacha (Tony and Maria see each other and dance) – Meeting Scene (they speak) – Cool Fugue (two gangs dance) – Rumble (gang battle) – Finale. The rhythms are often complicated, jazzy, syncopated and challenging to play, “very inventive and difficult music” (Ramin). The score has a focal point on three pitches, C, F sharp, G (“Ma-ri-a”), they “pervade the whole piece, inverted, done backwards” (Bernstein).

Programme Notes

This piece was turned into a successful film in 1961, and an orchestral suite soon followed. Supervised by Bernstein, the Symphonic Dances were orchestrated by Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal, subsequent to their help orchestrating the original musical and film scores. (“We were in ecstasy! Every orchestral colour was ours for the asking,” writes Sid Ramin in the score.)

The premiere of the Dances was conducted by Bernstein’s close friend, the composer Lukas Foss, on 13th February 1961 at Carnegie Hall, NYC, a gala “Valentine for Leonard Bernstein” concert. Bernstein first conducted the work at Lincoln Center, NYC, on 7th February 1963 and then at the Royal Festival Hall in London a week later with the New York Philharmonic. by Jean Hasse

GERSHWIN |

GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898 - 1937)

Porgy and Bess: Suite for Saxophone and Orchestra arranged by William Goodchild 1 Gone 2 Summertime 3 It Ain’t Necessarily So 4 My Man’s Gone Now 5 There’s a Boat Dat’s Leaving Soon for New York Soloist: Andy Sheppard, Soprano and Tenor Saxophones Dan Moore - piano Tony Orrell - drums Ben Groenevelt - double bass At the time George Gershwin was working on his opera Porgy and Bess he wrote: “The great music of the past has always been built on folk music. This is the strongest source of musical fecundity…Jazz I regard as an American folk music, not the only one but a very beautiful one which is in the blood and feeling of the American people”.

Programme Notes

Porgy and Bess represents the culmination of Gershwin’s compositional artistry and contains some of America’s best loved popular songs. Pieces such as Summertime, It Ain’t Necessarily So and My Man’s Gone Now represent the pinnacle of a genre: timeless classics that have enjoyed performances by great artists from Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong to Miles Davis and the current new wave of jazz musicians. These wonderful standards are heard here alongside others from the opera in this dynamic concert suite. The writing ensures that orchestra and jazz musicians play to their particular strengths: it is tightly scored for the former, whilst allowing space and scope for improvisation for the latter. by William Goodchild

RILEY |

Terry Riley (born 1935)

In C (1964)

Each player contributes uniquely, but in a different way from most pieces of music. They follow the same score, which consists of 53 simple patterns related to C major (with the odd F-sharp and B-flat), in varying rhythms and duration. But everyone plays independently, while keeping aligned with a steady rhythm (often provided by percussion or piano). So there is a pulse, there is a key ‘area’, and there are repetitions of the short phrases, played from 1 to 53, but the number of repetitions is not determined in advance.

Programme Notes

In C is not scored for orchestra – or string quartet or brass ensemble. In fact, unlike the other works tonight, In C has never been arranged; it has, however, had far more transformations. Every performance of the piece has been different, but the score remains the same. In C is one of the first minimalist pieces of music (partially a reaction to serialist music), and it had a strong impact in the American music world. (Steve Reich’s tape piece, It’s Gonna Rain, dates from 1965, Piano Phase 1967, and Philip Glass’s work began in 1967.) In an interview (from 1992, now online), Riley said his “contribution was to introduce repetition into Western music as the main ingredient without any melody over it.”

All music is interpreted – no performance can be the same – but In C is interpreted more like a planned improvisation. The score is followed rather like putting a jigsaw puzzle together as a group, with the 53 pieces of the puzzle moving through time. Players must listen and react to each other throughout the constant transformations. There is a somewhat static, slow-changing harmony, but there is also energy and pulse. Pitches, phrases, rhythms and articulations will overlap and blur. The piece may last for some 40 minutes. Another kind of listening may be needed, ‘deep listening’... and perhaps some ‘deep breathing’! by Jean Hasse

ANDY SHEppard | SAXOPHONE An ECM recording artist, bandleader and composer, Andy Sheppard is one of Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading saxophonists and one of a very few British musicians to have made a significant impact on the international jazz scene, playing and writing for settings from solo to big band and chamber orchestra. Sheppard has composed over 350 works that incorporate a strong and characteristic sense of lyricism together with his very personal use of rhythms from Asia, Africa and South America.

SOLOIST BIO

Sheppard took up the saxophone at 19, highly motivated after encountering the music of John Coltrane and, three weeks after getting his first instrument, was playing in public with the Bristol-based quartet Sphere. After a period in Paris, he returned to the UK in the mid-80s and recorded the album Andy Sheppard for Antilles/Island, with Steve Swallow as producer. This was the beginning of a long musical association that continues to this day. Since then Sheppard has recorded for labels including Blue Note, Verve, Label Bleu and Provocateur. He has collaborated with the classical saxophonist John Harle, and composed View from the Pyramids, a concerto for saxophone and piano for the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, which premiered at the 1998 Salisbury Festival with Joanna MacGregor as piano soloist. Other significant commissions include a solo performance piece for saxophone and electronics for the Maison de la Culture in Amiens, France, which subsequently turned into his Nocturnal Tourist CD, Nothing Moved but the Wind for the Kintamarni Saxophone Quar-

tet, Strange Episode for tape, oboe and percussion for New Noise, the multi-disciplinary Cityscapes, a collaboration with Joanna McGregor et al for the City of London Festival, Glossolalia, a choral work with saxophone, guitar and percussion soloists commissioned by Bigger Sky and the Norfolk & Norwich Festival which had its first performance in Norwich Cathedral, and a big band and vocal work for Jambone, the north east regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top youth jazz ensemble, which premiered at the Gateshead International festival in 2012. Intriguingly, Sheppard has been commissioned to write music for two feats of UK engineering. The first was a collaboration with Northumbrian piper Kathryn Tickell to celebrate the opening of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge in 2001. This landmark commission resulted in Music for a New Crossing, written for the Northern Sinfonia, pipes and saxophones, its first live performance on the spectacular setting of the bridge itself. Then in 2006 Andy was commissioned by Brunel 200 to write a piece to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the engineer of the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol. This was The Living Bridge for which Andy composed a fanfare using prepared electronics incorporating the sounds of the bridge and utilizing the talents of 200 local saxophonists. It subsequently formed the basis of Saxophone Massive, a series of large-scale celebratory performances by saxophone choirs in the UK and all over Europe, made up of players of all ages and abilities. It was also part of the BT River of Music, the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad programme.

SOLOIST BIO Other works include: The Man Who Had All the Luck at the Young Vic, music by Andy’s trio, Inclassificable, for the award winning dance piece Modern Living, original music commissioned by BBC TV’s Omnibus for Torvill and Dean’s ice dances, the Oscar nominated Channel 4 film Syrup, directed by Paul Unwin and a documentary series about Peter Sellers. Sheppard’s first album for ECM, with his own project Movements in Colour, was recorded in 2008 and draws upon established and more recent relationships. In addition, he regularly plays in duos with jazz guitarist John Parricelli and tabla player Kuljit Bhamra, and both are also members of his quartet in Dancing Man & Woman. While touring as a guest soloist with Ketil Bjørnstad’s band, Sheppard played with Eivind Aarset. UK tours with Bjørnstad also brought Sheppard and Arild Andersen together. Extending the range of his widely-praised Trio Libero (ECM) project in 2012 with Michel Benita and Seb Rochford, Andy Sheppard added Eivind Aarset to the band. With Aarset’s ambient drones and electronic textures as a backdrop, Sheppard and co seem to have even more space to explore. The music embraced included new compositions, open improvisations, an Elvis Costello tune, and the Gaelic traditional ballad Aoidh, Na Dèan Cadal Idir. His third ECM album Surrounded by Sea with his quartet was released in 2015 and then in 2016, Andando al Tempo was released, an album with Carla Bley and Steve Swallow.

www.andysheppard.co.uk

COMPOSER | ARRANGER | CONDUCTOR

WILLIAM GOODCHILD | CONDUCTOR William Goodchild is a professional dience. The BBC’s Wild China secomposer and conductor. He composes music for film, television, concert performance and commercial installation. Specialising in wildlife and history documentary, he has scored well over 70 films including many that have won international awards. In 2016, for his score for BBC Natural World, Return of the Giant Killers – Africa’s Lion Kings, he was nominated for Best Composer at the Royal Television Society West of England Awards; at Wildscreen Festival, he was nominated for the Music Award, for Jago – a Life Underwater. William’s score for this film was also nominated this year for the RTS West of England Awards 2017 Best Composer category.

On stage and in the recording studio, William has collaborated with a wide variety of international soloists including guitarist John Williams, singer Tom Jones, and saxophonist Andy Sheppard – he is delighted to be working with Andy, once again, for this performance. William’s passion for working across styles led to a live and recorded collaboration with Mercury Prize-Winner, Roni Size & Reprazent, and their album, Live at Colston Hall, was released in November 2015. Also at the Colston Hall, with Sir David Attenborough presenting, William orchestrated and conducted the BBC’s Nature’s Great Events Live to a sell-out au-

www.williamgoodchild.com

ries, orchestrated and conducted by William, won an Emmy. Series Producer Phil Chapman said: ‘I am full of admiration for William’s talent, his professionalism – he’s a total joy to work with.’ Many recordings conducted by William are available to buy on Sony Classical, Universal Classical and Jazz, and CBS Records. He has worked regularly with a number of professional orchestras including the BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Bristol Ensemble. William is Artistic Director and Conductor of Bristol Symphony Orchestra. William lives in north Bristol with his wife Rachel and their two daughters.

TONY ORRELL | DRUMS Tony first played with Andy back in the early ‘80s in Sphere re-

cording the album Present Tense. During the same period he played with Spirit Level, which culminated in the album Killer Bunnies featuring ex-Mingus trumpeter, Jack Walrath, and Paul Dunmall. Tony has also backed many US jazz musicians including Tal Farlow, Slim Gaillard, Spike Robinson, Harry Allen and Gene ‘Mighty Flea’ Connors, as well as the cream of UK soloists – Harry Beckett, Elton Dean, Keith Tippett, Larry Stabbins, Alan Skidmore, Evan Parker, etc. During the ‘90s he formed the Gas Giants with Will Gregory (Goldfrapp) and the Adrian Utley Quartet. These musical relationships have continued to the present day and last November sold out the Bristol Old Vic as part of The Charles Hazlewood All Stars, playing the music of Terry Riley.

Pianist Dan Moore thrives on diversity. He has been an active musician since the age of 15, and studied 20th century music at Dartington College. Primarily a keyboard player, he’s toured internationally performing with many artists including Percy Sledge, Pee Wee Ellis, Fred Wesley, Tony Allen and Nostalgia 77. As a producer and songwriter, Dan has worked with Joss Stone, Tom Jones, Roni Size, Rumer and has co-written a chart single for Will Young. He’s also performed in contemporary and classical music settings with Andy Sheppard and the conductor, Charles Hazlewood. Dan is also rooted in the local scene as a member of the country/soul band Phantom Limb with whom he has most recently toured and recorded throughout Europe and the USA.

BEN GROENEVELT | DOUBLE BASS Ben initially trained as a printmaker at Bristol Polytechnic, only

taking up the double bass after graduating in 1987. By 1990, he was appearing at the Dominion Theatre, London, with the show 42nd Street and, until 2005, continued to work with a large number of West End and touring productions including Some Like It Hot, Tommy Steele, What a Show, Chess, West Side Story, Miss Saigon and The Rat Pack, travelling extensively in the UK, Europe and the USA. In 2005 Ben began teaching the double bass in Bristol and is currently a tutor for Bristol Plays Music (Bristol Youth Orchestra and Bass Club Bristol), Clifton College and Bath Spa University. Recent projects include Duettino Basso (with David Heyes), formed to promote new works for double bass by composers such as Bernard Salles, Simon Garcia, John Alexander and Teppo Hauta-aho. In 2016, he recorded Ben’s Ballade, written for him by Teppo Hauta-aho, for A Tribute to Teppo, a 4 x CD compilation of Teppo’s music for double bass on NBB records. This year Ben is working with pianist Mark Springer (ex Rip Rig and Panic) and the Lochrian Quartet on new compositions for the Potentino and Morellino Festivals, Italy.

RHYTHM SECTION

PIANO | DAN MOORE

PRINCIPAL LEADER

PAMELA BELL | LEADER

Pamela Bell is the Principal Leader and co-founder (2016) of Bristol Symphony Orchestra. Prior to playing with the orchestra, she was the leader of Bristol Metropolitan Orchestra (2010-2015). As well as leading the youth orchestras she played with, she has performed with Bristol Classical Players, Bristol Opera and The London Lawyers’ Symphony Orchestra. Before re-locating to Bristol from London in 2005, she was the musical director for Newham Schools Orchestra and is the founder of Kuumba Youth Music (now Kuumba Youth Orchestra). Pamela is a commercial lawyer working in-house. She is passionate about music... “Music is my sanctuary and, having the opportunity to create and share my passion for it, is truly a privilege and a treasure.”

CHILDREN’S WORKSHOP Crescendo Concerts presents I Got Rhythm – Jazzy Strings

Saturday 22nd July 2017 10.30 am – 11.30 am Trinity Henleaze URC Church, Waterford Rd, Bristol BS9 4BT An interactive introduction to jazzin’ rhythms for families and children aged 10 and under. A short jazzy programme featuring I Got Rhythm, Hand Jive, Trifle Blue - performed by some of the string players from Bristol Symphony Orchestra. Children can join in…clap along to the rhythms, have a go on small instruments, sit amongst the performers and even get a chance to conduct! Musical Director: Heather Walters, Leader: Pamela Bell Co-Ordinator: Clare Daley. Advance Tickets (from £3/£12) www.bristolticketshop.co.uk

BEHIND THE SCENES

MANAGEMENT TEAM Pamela Bell Rob Tulloh Aimée Cottam William Goodchild Rachel Goodchild Jane Krish Erica Burnell

Deb Marriage Eloise Wyke Emma Butterworth Alexia Granatt Follow us on social media @BristolSymphony

PROGRAMME Design Rachel Goodchild Editor Jane Krish Programme Notes Jean Hasse

BRISTOL SYMPHONY | ORCHESTRA FIRST VIOLIN

SECOND VIOLIN Lizzie Porteous Nasser Ahmari AimÃ©e Cottam Lorella Donmart Harriet Garfield Naomi Hill Jo Phillips Kenneth Price Josie Rampley

VIOLA

Anita Urgyan Hermione Drew Timothy Grice Oliver Kohll Lauren Salter Becky Sankey

CELLO

Will Marriage Vivean Arthur Pip Ash Sophie Barford Jayne Taylor Sarah Vesty Catherine Warner Rhiannon Wilkinson

DOUBLE BASS Ben Groenevelt Clare Daley Alex Pearson

HARP

Julia Hammersley

FLUTE & PICCOLO

Pippa Craggs Jane Lings Ashleigh Powell

OBOE & COR ANGLAIS Jennifer Mears Victoria Cooper Charlie Bird

CLARINET

Isabelle Clement Sarah Edgeworth

Eb CLARINET Chris Gibbons

BASS CLARINET James Stallwood

ALTO SAX

FRENCH HORN Dave Ransom Claire Fraser-Tytler Kaitlyn Hamilton Luke Norland

TRUMPET

Peter Medland Matthew Gilmore Simon Bowles Will Swales

TROMBONE Jack Kelly David Todd Will Whiting

TUBA

Simon Derrick

THE PLAYERS

Pamela Bell (Leader) Imogen Armstrong Monique Ayres Lauren Bose Erica Burnell Richard Hunt Kate Jillings Minkee Kim Victoria Medland Eloise Wyke

TIMPANI & PERCUSSION Christopher Fletcher-Campbell Joshua Cottam Dave Hadland Jean Hasse Harriet Riley James Waymont

Sophie Stockham

BASSOON & CONTRA BASSOON

Daisy Woods Jeanie Prince Mike Johnstone

LOVE LOCAL - LOVE BRISTOL

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Ta i l o r s , S h i r t m a ke r s a n d A t e l i e r

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Photo by Remco Merbis