2017 CONCERTS SIMON CALLAGHAN
Saturday 22nd April
IN SUPPORT OF
St Mary Redcliffe
Beethoven Egmont Overture Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1, op.11, E minor Strauss Serenade, op.7, E-flat major Mozart Symphony No. 38, K.504, D major (Prague)
ANDY SHEPPARD
Saturday 24th June Clifton Cathedral
Copland Fanfare for the Common Man
Bernstein West Side Story Symphonic Dances
Gershwin (arr. Goodchild) Porgy and Bess Suite Riley In C
NICOLA MEECHAM
Saturday 4th November St George’s Bristol
Delius Walk to the Paradise Garden
Schumann Piano Concerto op. 54 in A minor Mahler Adagietto from Symphony no. 5
Brahms Symphony no. 4, op. 98 in E minor
WINTER WARMER Saturday 16th December
Trinity-Henleaze Church, Bristol Details coming soon...
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PROGRAMME & WELCOME PROGRAMME Natalia Lomeiko Violin William Goodchild Conductor Aimée Cottam Guest Leader _____ Tchaikovsky Capriccio Italien, op.45 Borodin Symphony No.2 in B minor INTERVAL Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1, op.99
WELCOME Welcome to our first concert of 2017. Thanks so much for coming to enjoy this feast of Russian music. We hope you have a wonderful evening.
Bristol Symphony has just passed its first year: an extraordinary and enjoyable one. Forming in January 2016, we started with a handful of players and quickly grew to the symphonic size you see on stage this evening. The Orchestra has attracted some of the region’s best professional, semi-professional and amateur players. Our ethos is to communicate the joy we all have in making music together, and to perform to as wide an audience as we possibly can. The Orchestra has an exciting year ahead. We have just been nominated as a New Business finalist in the Bristol Life Awards, and we have five concerts planned for 2017. 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 activities 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! With all good wishes William Goodchild, Conductor
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PROGRAMME NOTES PYOTR ILYCH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840 – 1893)
Capriccio Italien, op.45 Escaping his home surroundings and travelling in Western Europe was one of the ways Tchaikovsky fought his frequent bouts of depression. In early 1880 he stopped in Rome during a carnival, where he found himself in a hotel next door to army barracks. The constant noise of the carnival, which he saw as a ‘wild folly’, annoyed him, and he was reluctant to participate in the festivities. But he could not escape the melodic richness that surrounded him. In spite of his misgivings he sat down to compose the folksy Capricscio Italien, in which he made use of these “...wonderful melodies I happened to pick up, in part from published collections and in part out in the street with my own ears.” He finished the sketches in a week and the orchestration by May. The work was premiered in Moscow in December of the same year. The Capriccio opens with a brass fanfare that Tchaikovsky heard every day from the adjacent barracks, answered by the strings with a melancholy theme picked up from street musicians. The fanfare blares again and a jaunty little tune lifts the mood, first played by the oboes. The trumpet and violins then play a melody over a vigorous dance rhythm. One catchy tune follows another in increasingly colourful orchestration. The melancholic string theme returns followed by a vivacious tarantella – a type of folk-dance from the southern Italian town of Taranto. The oboe theme returns, but this time as a much slower and stately arrangement played by the whole orchestra. The piece ends with a second tarantella and a brilliant flourish.
ALEXANDER BORODIN (1833 – 1887) Symphony No.2 in B minor (1) Allegro (3) Andante
(2) Scherzo: Prestissimo – Trio: Allegretto (4) Finale: Allegro
The Second Symphony is one of Borodin’s most important and patriotic compositions. It demonstrates his mastery of symphonic development, for instance in using a single theme to seed the entire first movement. The melodies are folk-inspired, but uniquely individual to Borodin. He worked on the second symphony intermittently from 1869 to 1876, a period that also saw the creation of his opera Prince Igor, with a number of its musical ideas influencing this symphony. Not only was Borodin a brilliant composer, he was also an internationally recognised scientist, medical doctor and professor of chemistry. He regarded his composition work as an amateur pursuit.
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PROGRAMME NOTES Borodin intended the Allegro to depict a gathering of Russian warriors and heroes. The rapid Scherzo has a slower central Trio section. The composer stated that the slow third movement Andante depicted a ‘bayan’, a mythical Slavic bard. The Finale follows the third movement without a break, and depicts a joyful feast for Russian heroes. The intense rhythmic quality is due in part to the alternation of bars with 3/4 and 2/4 time signatures. Cymbals, triangle and tambourine give the music of this movement a Slavic dance feel.
INTERVAL DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906 - 1975) Violin Concerto No.1, op.99 (1) Nocturne: Moderato (3) Passacaglia: Andante
(2) Scherzo: Allegro (4) Burlesque: Allegro con brio / presto
The Violin Concerto No. 1 was composed during the post-war years in Soviet Russia (1947–48), a time of severe censorship. Because of this hostile environment, Shostakovich kept the concerto unpublished until 1955, after Stalin’s death, when it was well received in Russia and abroad as an ‘extraordinary success’. The concerto was originally listed as Opus 77, but is numbered here as Opus 99 because of the delay between composition and performance. In the intervening years the work was edited by Shostakovich and the violinist David Oistrakh, to whom the work was dedicated.
In the Nocturne, the violin solo is prefaced by a brief orchestral statement that proposes the melodic sentence upon which the violin solo later meditates. The Scherzo, features uneven metric stresses set against a steady rhythmic pulse. The solo violin is wildly virtuosic here. Much of the movement seems to be derived from popular folk music. The emotional depth of the Passacaglia serves to reinstate melody to the concerto and allows for much expression on the part of the soloist. The movement ends in a long, emotional cadenza that leads seamlessly into the frenetic Burlesque finale. Programme notes by
Michael Ray
Please remember to switch off all digital devices during the concert this evening. Thank you
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NATALIA LOMEIKO VIOLIN Born into a family of musicians in Novosibirsk, Russia, Natalia has established herself internationally as a versatile performing artist. She won numerous prizes in the Tibor Varga, Tchaikovsky, Menuhin, Stradivari international violin competitions, notably the Gold Medal and First Prize in the Premio Paganini International Violin Competition (Genoa, Italy) in 2000 and First Prize in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition (Auckland, New Zealand) in 2003. Before coming to the UK, Natalia studied at the specialist music school in her home town. Then over here she continued her studies at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Yehudi Menuhin himself, and subsequently at the Royal College of Music and Royal Academy of Music. Since her debut with the Novosibirsk Symphony Orchestra at the age of seven, Natalia has performed as a soloist with many orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Lord Menuhin, The Philharmonia, Singapore Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, Christchurch Symphony, Tokyo Royal Philharmonic, New European Strings, Moscow State Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, Adelaide Symphony, St Petersburg Radio Symphony, Nice Philharmonic, Russian State Philharmonic Orchestra. Natalia has collaborated with such distinguished conductors as the late Lord Menuhin, Lionel Bringuier, Werner Andreas Albert, Matthias Bamert, Arvo Volmer, Olari Elts, Sir William Southgate, Vladimir Verbitsky, Christian Knapp, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Eckehard Stier, Mikhail Gerts, Valery Poliansky, Pavel Kogan and many others. In 2001 she recorded Grieg’s three violin sonatas with pianist Olga Sitkovetsky for the DYNAMIC label to high critical acclaim. Her recital in Cremona, on Paganini's own violin, was recorded live on FONE and released in 2003. Her CD of French sonatas, also with Sitkovetsky, was released on Trust Records in 2004, described by The Strad as ‘a stunning recital’. Her CD with husband violinist/violist, Yuri Zhislin, was released in 2011 on NAXOS and her latest CD of Prokofiev’s music on the ATOLL label was released in 2013 and met with five star reviews. Natalia performs extensively as a soloist and chamber musician and has appeared at many of the world’s top venues including the Carnegie Hall, New York and in London at Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, King’s Place, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Buckingham Palace, Barbican and Royal Festival Hall. She has performed chamber music with such distinguished musicians as Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, the late Boris Pergamenschikov, Tabea Zimmerman, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Schlomo Mintz, Daishin Kashimoto, Natalie Clein, Nicholas Daniel to name but a few. She has appeared on numerous radio and TV broadcasts and toured throughout Europe, Russia, the USA, Asia, South America, Australia and New Zealand. In 2010, Natalia was appointed Professor of Violin at the Royal College of Music in London.
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CONDUCTOR WILLIAM
GOODCHILD
William Goodchild is a professional composer, orchestrator 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. He has been nominated for three major music awards in the past twelve months including the Royal Television Society and Wildscreen Festival. The BBC’s Wild China series, composed by Barnaby Taylor, orchestrated by Will, 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.’ On stage and in the recording studio, Will has collaborated with a wide variety of international soloists, including guitarist John Williams and saxophonist Andy Sheppard. His passion for working across styles led to a live and recorded collaboration with Mercury Prize-Winner, Roni Size & Reprazent: their album, Live at Colston Hall, was released in 2015. Also at the Colston Hall, with Sir David Attenborough presenting, Will orchestrated and conducted the BBC’s Nature’s Great Events Live to a full house. Many recordings conducted by Will are available to buy on Sony Classical, Universal Classical and Jazz, and CBS Records. He has worked with a number of professional orchestras including the BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Bristol Ensemble. Will very much enjoys working with amateur musicians and enabling them to reach standards they never realised they could achieve. Studying familiar and unfamiliar orchestral works also helps him to continue developing his own musical knowledge and compositional language.
GUEST LEADER AIMEE
Raised in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, Aimée began learning the violin at the age of 8 and has played in a wide variety of contexts and ensembles ever since, ranging from recording sessions to live musical theatre. Aimée’s orchestral experience includes leading the Nottingham Youth Orchestra and Bristol Metropolitan Orchestra as well as playing with the Nottingham Philharmonic Orchestra and the University of Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra. Aimée is a co-founder of Bristol Symphony Orchestra and has been the Librarian for the orchestra and part of the Management Team since the orchestra was formed. A solicitor by profession, Aimée lives in Bristol and works for Bevan Brittan LLP. As well as playing the violin Aimée also enjoys playing the piano, running, painting and takes every available opportunity to speak French.
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COTTAM
THE ORCHESTRA THE MUSICIANS FIRST VIOLIN Guest Leader
Aimée Cottam Pamela Bell Harriet Garfield Richard Hunt Elea Mumford Jo Phillips Lizzie Porteous Josie Rampley Rosanna Schultz Jeremy Zwiegelaar SECOND VIOLIN Imogen Armstrong Nasser Ahmari Monique Ayres Lauren Bose Erica Burnell Lorella Donmart Minkee Kim Gemma Nelson Kenneth Price Robert Tulloh Eloise Wyke VIOLA Anita Urgyan Heather Ashford Alexia Granatt Oliver Kohll Becky Sankey CELLO Will Marriage Sophie Barford Hannah Morrow Jayne Taylor Kathryn Thomas Sarah Vesty Rhiannon Wilkinson DOUBLE BASS Ben Groenevelt Clare Edmunds Rob Lillis Alex Pearson
FLUTE & PICCOLO Michelle Krawiec Jane Lings Ashleigh Powell CLARINET & BASS CLARINET Sophie Wilsdon Sarah Edgeworth James Stallwood OBOE & COR ANGLAIS Victoria Cooper Anna Kuchel Andrew King BASSOON Daisy Woods Georgina Pickworth Lucy Powell Davies FRENCH HORN Dave Ransom Luke Norland Kaitlyn Hamilton Alison Wilmhurst TRUMPET Peter Medland Simon Bowles Chris Rowe Ken Mitchell TROMBONE Lyn Harradine Will Whiting Omar Khokher TUBA Simon Derrick
HARP Julia Hammersley
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******* BEHIND THE SCENES MANAGEMENT TEAM Pamela Bell Erica Burnell Aimée Cottam Rachel Goodchild William Goodchild Jane Krish Deb Marriage Michael Ray Rob Tulloh Eloise Wyke
THE PROGRAMME
Design: Rachel Goodchild Notes: Michael Ray Editor: Jane Krish
TIMPANI, CELESTRA & PERCUSSION Joshua Cottam Jean Hasse Harriet Riley James Waymont
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