"A Mass of Life" - Delius

Life A mass of

DELIUS

Friday 30th October 2009 - 7.30

Huddersfield Town Hall

Supporting our community

Syngenta, Huddersfield Manufacturing Centre

PO Box A38, Leeds Road, Huddersfield, HD2 1FF Tel: 01484 537456 Fax: 01484 517067 www.syngenta.com

2009 / 2010 SEASON

A Mass of Life FREDERICK DELIUS 1862 - 1934

JANICE WATSON • ANNA STEPHANY JEFFREY LLOYD-ROBERTS • RODERICK WILLIAMS

MARTYN BRABBINS BBC PHILHARMONIC Chorus Master: JOSEPH CULLEN FRIDAY

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OCTOBER

2009

SPONSORED BY THE DELIUS TRUST 7.30 p.m. HUDDERSFIELD TOWN HALL

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Welcome to the first concert of the 2009/10 subscription season.

We are delighted to welcome the BBC Philharmonic, our distinguished conductor laureate Martyn Brabbins, and international soloists Janice Watson, Anna Stephany, Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts and Roderick Williams.

followed by a live broadcast on BBC Radio 4 of Sunday Worship from St Paul's Hall on 6 December starting at 8.10am, although the choir will be rehearsing from 7.00am! Two Christmas concerts with Brian Kay and the Hepworth band, and Messiah with Grant Llewellyn take us up to Christmas.

We are very pleased to welcome members of both the Delius Society and the Delius Trust who are with us tonight to enjoy one of the rare performances of A Mass of Life - last performed by the Huddersfield Choral Society in 1961. We are also extremely grateful for a generous grant from the Delius Trust towards the costs of tonight's concert.

In 2010/11 the Society celebrates its 175th season. A major sponsorship deal with the University of Huddersfield has strengthened links between the two institutions and is resulting in a great range of collaborative activities, including a choral conducting scholarship.

The Huddersfield Choral Society was founded in 1836, and has performed in many of the world's great musical centres. Its special quality is the unique 'Huddersfield Sound' - a thrilling full-bodied and firm blended tone, flexible enough for both the most shattering climaxes and for the softest but focused pianissimos.

The choir has been busy during the past summer with several engagements. April saw an invitation from the Orquestra Nacional do Porto to perform Britten's War Requiem under their principal conductor Christoph Konig in the stunning new Casa da Musica concert hall in Porto designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.

Our association with Signum Records continued with a recording in June at Huddersfield Town Hall of Stainer's Crucifixion, conducted

by Joseph Cullen with Darius Battiwalla, organ, and soloists Andrew Kennedy and Neal Davies. Advance copies of this CD should be available for sale in the Area entrance tonight, prior to its launch on 9 November.

The recording sessions were closely followed by a visit to Orkney for two concerts - including Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony with Martyn Brabbins - as part of the St Magnus Festival. More recently, a section of the choir made a return visit to Bowness on Windermere on 10 October for a concert in St Martin's church conducted by Joseph Cullen with Darius Battiwalla at the organ.

Forthcoming projects this season include participation in a world première performance of a new work by Alvin Curran on 29 November at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. This is P A G E

There is an active recruitment programme to replace singers who retire or move away. Several new members have already joined us, bringing our total membership to well above 200. Our recruitment officer Gaynor Haliday (07951 482 047 or gaynor.haliday@huddersfieldchoral.com ) would be delighted to hear from anyone who is interested in joining the choir.

For enquiries about becoming a subscriber, please contact our new subscribers' secretary Julie Hale on 07989 395 066 or julie.hale@huddersfieldchoral.com Peter Sunderland has stood down from this position - and from the committee - after several years service to the Society in a variety of capacities, including as a past President.

We thank him for his valuable contribution and support.

Details of all concerts and events can be found on the website at http://www.huddersfieldchoral.com

Legacies Including a legacy to The Huddersfield Choral Society in your Will is a practical way to make a lasting contribution to our future. Please help us remain one of the most inspiring and vibrant Choral Societies in Britain for the next generations.

The Society is a registered charity, Number 1100851.

Enquiries may be directed to the Society’s Treasurer Mr. Adrian J. Lee: -∞72 Benomley Road, Almondbury, Huddersfield, HD5 8LS Telephone: 01484 450321 Email: adrian.lee@huddersfieldchoral.com

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COMPOSER NOTES Fritz Theodor Albert Delius was born in Bradford, on 29 January 1862 to parents who had come to England from Bielefeld, Germany. Julius, his father, was a prosperous businessman in one of Yorkshire's great Victorian industries, wool. The home was a musically cultured one, and, as a boy, Fritz learned to play both violin and piano proficiently before he reached his teens.

After attending Bradford Grammar School, he spent two years studying at the International College near London, and then some apprentice years in his father's business.

These were characterised by a growing frustration with business life, and in March 1884, Fritz persuaded his father to let him try his hand at cultivating oranges in Florida, USA. Once there, he quickly secured a piano and found a local source for theory lessons, a Jacksonville organist named Thomas Ward, an important early influence. He also absorbed the sounds of the singing of negro workers, which were to be documented in his Florida Suite. Delius stayed there for a year and a half, before moving on to Danville, Virginia, with sufficient confidence to teach music in his own right.

Julius Delius now gave in to his son's request for a full musical education and Fritz enrolled at the Leipzig Conservatorium where he studied from 1886-8. On leaving Leipzig, set on the course of his life's work, he went to Paris, where he was to remain based for almost a decade. He soon moved on from composing songs and small-scale instrumental and orchestral pieces to produce operas. while 1889 saw the completion of the symphonic poem Life's Dance and the nocturne Paris.

During his Paris period, Delius had little opportunity to have his larger scores played, and it was not until 1897 that the chance came to hear how his music really sounded, when he attended performances in Oslo of the play Folkeraadet, for which he had composed incidental music. Immediately afterwards, he travelled to Germany for the first orchestral performance in that country of a work of his, Over the hills and far away. It was conducted by Hans Haym who, with Julius Buths, was to be instrumental in popularising Delius's music in Germany in the first decade of the new century. An all-Delius concert in London in 1899, however, met with mixed success. In the meantime, he had become friends with a German painter, Helene Jelka Rosen, whom he met in Paris in 1896. The next year he moved in to share her house at Grez-sur-Loing, near Fontainebleau, and this was his home for the rest of his life. He and Jelka married in September 1903, by which time he had anglicised his name to Frederick.

Now came Delius's high musical summer, which was to last from 1901, when he completed his operatic masterpiece, A Village Romeo and Juliet, to almost the end of the first World War. Appalachia dates from 1902, Sea Drift from 1903/4, and the large-scale A Mass of Life was composed during 1904/5. Then

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came Songs of Sunset, Brigg Fair, In a Summer Garden and the first of the two Dance Rhapsodies. Much of 1909/10 was devoted to his last opera, Fennimore and Gerda. An Arabesque and The Song of the High Hills date from 1911, and from 1911/12 came the popular On hearing the first cuckoo in spring and Summer night on the river. These two pieces, together with The Walk to the Paradise Garden (an intermezzo extracted from A Village Romeo and Juliet) have earned their composer a quite unmerited reputation as a maker principally of pastoral miniatures. In 1907, Appalachia was heard at a London concert by, among others, the English conductor Thomas Beecham: he quickly assumed the mantle of Delius's greatest protagonist, and retained it until his death in 1961.

The war years brought turmoil into the Deliuses' life, and for a time they had to leave Grez-sur-Loing. Despite all difficulties, however, Delius continued to compose a surprising amount of music. Delius's last essay in concerto form, for the cello, dates from 1921, while his final purely orchestral work, A Poem of Life and Love apparently did not satisfy him sufficiently for it to be published. With the help of his friend, the composer Percy Grainger, the last touches were put in 1923 to the incidental music for Flecker's play Hassan: its phenomenally successful run in London helped to buttress the Deliuses' ailing finances, which had been adversely affected by the war.

Little could help the composer's failing health, however. Delius was going blind and losing the use of his limbs, although his mental faculties were to remain unimpaired until his death. But he could no longer compose. In 1928, a young musician from Yorkshire, Eric Fenby, came to live in Grez with the Deliuses, and the composer completed by dictation during his last years a number of works which represent a later flowering. Songs of Farewell for double chorus and orchestra and the Idyll were the largest in scale; others composed or completed with Fenby's help were A Song of Summer, Fantastic Dance, songs including Cynara and A Late Lark, the Irmelin Prelude, Caprice and Elegy for cello and small orchestra, Deux Aquarelles for strings, the 'Intermezzo' from Fennimore and Gerda and the Violin Sonata No.3.

With all his outstanding works completed, Frederick Delius died at Grez-sur-Loing on June 10 1934, his wife outliving him by just one year. They are buried at Limpsfield, Surrey, England.

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PROGRAMME NOTES A Mass of Life (Eine Messe des Lebens) Cultural background European thinkers in the second half of the 19th century were challenged by new scientific theories, such as those of Darwin, which dissolved old certainties, and seemed to undermine traditional Christianity as the ultimate truth. One of Germany's most radical philosophers, Frederick Nietzsche, sought to develop new ways of thinking, and his 'Also sprach Zarathustra' ( 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra'), published in 1885, presented in fictional form the experiences and teaching of Zarathustra, a Persian prophet. His announcement that God is dead was a key strand in Nietzsche's philosophy, which attempted to find alternative ways of living in the absence of a supernatural power. G.Mahler, R. Strauss and F. Delius were all inspired by Nietzsche's book, which contains passages of great poetic beauty. It is significant that Mahler and Delius used identical words from Nietzsche, the 'Midnight Song', for some of their finest vocal music; Mahler in the 4th movement of his 3rd symphony (1902), and Delius in his ' A Mass of Life' (composed in 1904-5): “O Mensch ! Gib Acht! Was spricht die tiefe Mitternacht?” ( “O man, take care ! What does the deep midnight declare?”)

Strauss' 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' (1895), which Delius disliked, has become popular partly because of its use in Kubrick's film, '2001: A Space Odyssey'.

Themes Delius was conscious of the great tradition of liturgical Masses by Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Berlioz and Beethoven, and as the conductor who first performed ' A Mass of Life', Hans Haym, wrote: “The composer would seem to say to us, 'Many Requiems have been written to commemorate the dead, but let us now dedicate a 'Mass' to the living….let us sing a new song, in praise of our life here on earth.' ” (1913) The extracts selected from Nietzsche for 'A Mass of Life' were poetical rather than philosophical, each evocative of a poetic vision of some aspect of life and nature. Nietzsche used patterns of suggestive metaphors and symbols, so that man's spiritual growth is shown in the passing of the day, with 'noontide' representing the peak of maturity, and the midnight bell as the symbol of death. Evening and dusk are times for quiet meditation. The huge climax in the final movement reveals that the message of the bell is not pessimistic, but is to be celebrated : “Lust will aller Dinge Ewigkeit !” (“Joy longs for time without end”) Structure 'A Mass of Life' was composed for a large orchestra, double chorus and four soloists. Although the baritone soloist has the central role as Zarathustra, sometimes his words are given to the other three soloists, or to the chorus. There are eleven sections, five in Part 1, and six in Part 2.

3. The soprano, alto and tenor soloists celebrate the role of man as lover, chasing his beloved, Life. Women's voices sing a wordless seductive dance melody, until both choirs join in the chase. The alto soloist doubts Zarathustra's loyalty and warns of the midnight bell. The bass voices sing the ' Midnight Song' for the first time, and in response Zarathustra and Life weep together.

4. A movement of sad reflection, for baritone and chorus, as Zarathustra urges men to listen to what 'saith the solemn midnight hour' .

5. A song of the night, for baritone and chorus, which expresses Zarathustra's restlessness as he longs for love.

Part 2 1.After a quiet orchestral prelude evoking mountain scenery, the chorus bursts in with a vigorous celebration of 'glorious noontide', where the 'snow clad mountain summit' symbolises man's highest aspirations.

Soprano, alto and tenor soloists recall the sorrows of the 'spring time' of youth, and there follows a repeat of the exultant midday chorus.

2. Zarathustra calls upon his lyre to entertain him, and he hears the voice of midnight singing, 'The world is deep and deeper far than day can tell'.

3. In a forest Zarathustra interrupts a group of young girls dancing (a second wordless chorus for women's voices), but after he pleads with them to continue, their dancing becomes more lively (but not as exuberant as the dance in Part 1). As the voices fade, Zarathustra meditates on the meaning of life, asking a series of questions.

4. In the 'noonday' of his life, Zarathustra is asleep in the meadows, and shepherd pipes are heard in the distance. The chorus celebrates his good fortune , and are joined by the tenor, alto and soprano soloists.

Zarathustra recognises how little he needs to be happy in this hour of bliss ('gluck').

5. As midnight approaches Zarathustra looks back over the past, and wonders what midnight will bring, but as the word 'midnight' is sung the chorus briefly anticipates the emergence of joy from the darkness.

6. The vision which Zarathustra saw in the night was that of 'eternal day', and as he divulges this to his friends, the music gathers momentum. The chorus enters quietly, echoing Zarathustra's words, and all four soloists join together for the first time. Finally all the musical forces join in the huge climax, celebrating 'endless day' (ewigkeit'), with the sopranos soaring to the top B. There is a diminuendo on the final 'ewigkeit' as the Mass ends quietly.

Huddersfield Choral Society has performed 'A Mass of Life' five times, the last time as long ago as 1961.

John Brown

Part 1 1. The double chorus bursts in at the 2nd bar with a powerful affirmation of the human will, which will give Zarathustra the courage and endurance for 'one great final conquest'. The sopranos soar to the top B flats and even to top C natural.

2. Zarathustra invites his fellow men to dance for joy and to laugh, for these are holy ('heilig').

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F. Delius

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Open Day - Thursday 19th November 2009

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MARTYN BRABBINS Martyn Brabbins took up his post as Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic in September 2009. Brabbins brings his flawless musicianship, artistic integrity and programming skills to his new position in Antwerp, where for several weeks a season he will focus on breaking out of traditional concert formulae, both within the regular season and in his musical direction of a new festival. Together they will also record a series of Belgian Romantic works for Hyperion Records.

Artistic Director of the Cheltenham International Festival of Music 2005-2007, he was Associate Principal Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 1994-2005. After studying composition in London and then conducting with Ilya Musin in Leningrad, his career was launched when he won first prize at the 1988 Leeds Conductors' Competition.

Since then Brabbins has regularly conducted all the major UK orchestras and is much sought-after in Europe, notably in Germany, Holland, Belgium and Scandinavia. In 2009/10 Brabbins focuses on opera, opening the season with Wozzeck at the Flemish Opera, conducting the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in a new music-theatre work by David Sawer and directed by Richard Jones at Glasgow’s Tramway and the Huddersfield Festival; celebrating Peter Maxwell Davies’ 75th birthday with the BBC Scottish Symphony in performing his opera Tavener; and giving the world prémiere of a new work by Raskatov A Dog’s Heart (directed by Simon McBurney) at the Netherlands Opera/Holland Festival, where he is a regular visitor. He also returns to Hamburg Opera to conduct Death in Venice, following a spectacular success with the same work at the Opera de Lyon last May (his début in the house). Since his early days conducting Mozart at the Kirov, Brabbins has also conducted for the Deutsche Oper Berlin, English National Opera and Opera North, and is a regular visitor at the Frankfurt Opera where he returns in 2010. Last P A G E

season Brabbins’ symphonic engagements included appearances at the South Bank in subcription with the London Philharmonic and Philharmonia orchestras; his Tokyo début, with the Tokyo Metropolitan (where he returns in 2011); and visits to the Netherlands Radio Chamber in the prestigious Matinee series, the Residentie Orkest, Salzburg Mozarteumorchester and Lahti Symphony.

He is a regular guest with the City of Birmingham Symphony, Halle and BBC Philharmonic orchestras, and appears several times each season with the BBC Symphony and BBC Scottish Symphony orchestras in subscription and at the BBC Proms.

Known for his Elgar, Britten, and Walton, Brabbins also has a strong affinity for the great 19th century Romantics, and for the Russian and French repertoire. Brabbins is also one of Europe’s leading interpreters of contemporary music. Conductor of choice for the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, from 1999-2004 he was the Philharmonia Orchestra's Music of Today Series Conductor. He has also conducted the Bavarian Radio Symphony in their Musica Viva series 9 times and returns this season to the Deutsche Sinfonieorchester in the Ultraschall festival.

Brabbins is much in demand as a recording artist. He has recorded over 30 discs with the BBC Scottish Symphony on Hyperion, with core repertoire planned for future recordings; and has an ongoing relationship also with Chandos Records. He has recorded Birtwistle, David Bedford and Finnissy for NMC; Rachmaninov and Scriabin for Collins Classics and made a notable live recording of Britten's War Requiem for Naxos. His recording of Korngold's Die Kathrin with the BBC Concert Orchestra for CPO won the Opera Award at Cannes.

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JOSEPH CULLEN Chorus Master

Described by Opera News as ‘clearly a name to watch’, Grammy Award-winning Joseph Cullen is one of the most exciting talents to emerge in the UK in recent years. His experience spans a range of prestigious appointments, including Director of the London Symphony Chorus, Chorus Master of the Huddersfield Choral Society, Chorus Director of the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and guest conducting appearances with orchestras including London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra and The Academy of St Martin-in-theFields.

audiences of up to 14000 in the Jay Pritzker Auditorium in Millenium Park, and conducted Lobesgesang (Mendelssohn) with the Berkshire (USA) Choral Festival in Canterbury Cathedral. He has conducted the LSC in Bach’s St Matthew Passion in the Barbican with the City of London Sinfonia in successive years and again directs the CLS in three concerts in the City of London Festival this time featuring Cantatas by J S Bach early in 2010. Last June he completed the final CD of a trilogy with the Huddersfield Choral Society conducting The Crucifixion (John Stainer) on the Signum Classics label.

Joseph has worked closely with some of the world’s leading conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Mark Elder, Michael Tilson Thomas, Valery Gergiev, Michael Tilson Thomas, Gianandrea Noseda, Vasily Petrenko, Yan-Pascal Tortelier, Bernard Haitink, Richard Hickox and Sir Colin Davis, with whom he won a 2006 Grammy award for the LSO Live recording of Falstaff (Verdi). Other recordings include the Grammy-nominated Peter Grimes (Britten) and A Child of our Time (Tippett). for LSO Live and ‘Symphony of a Thousand’ (Mahler) for EMI. He will again prepare the LSC for the second performance of James MacMillan’s St John Passion, written for the 80th birthday of Sir Colin Davis with the LSO. In 2001, Joseph Cullen was appointed Director of the London Symphony Chorus, whose engagements this season have included visits to Rome (Creation) and Luxembourg (Verdi Requiem). Last April he conducted the London Symphony Chorus in Mozart's C minor Mass in Co. Clare, Eire and in the past year he has visited Orkney (Sea Symphony) and Oporto (War Requiem) with the Huddersfield Choral Society and appeared at the Grant Park Festival in Chicago where he conducted Russian programmes including The Bells (Rachmanninov) to P A G E

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Anna Stephany Mezzo-soprano

Janice Watson Soprano Janice Watson studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and first came to prominence as winner of the Kathleen Ferrier memorial award.

In opera Miss Watson has sung Pamina with the Paris Opera; Photo credit: Mark Douet Vitellia for the Flanders Opera; Strauss' Daphne, Arabella, Salome and Mozart's Elettra ('Idomeneo') at the Santa Fe Festival; Daphne, Arabella and Eva ('Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg') with the San Francisco Opera; Pamina, Countess Almaviva and Arabella at the Bavarian State Opera; Britten's ''Gloriana' ; Countess Almaviva for the Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin and in Tokyo, Micaela at both the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera, and both Countess Almaviva and Liu at the Metropolitan Opera. She has been a regular guest with both English National Opera and Welsh National Opera. She returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago for Jennifer The Midsummer Marriage returned to the Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin as Salome, made her début with Opera Australia as Elisabeth Tannhauser and sang Katja Kabanova both for the Royal Opera and in her début at La Scala, Milan. She sang A Streetcar Named Desire in Oslo and Vienna and in the new production at the Theater an der Wien.

Her concerts include the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and both the Chicago Symphony and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestras.

Her many recordings include Orff's Carmina Burana for Virgin Classics, Poulenc's Gloria for Chandos and Howells' Missa Sabrinensis. She recorded Ellen Orford for Chandos (for which she received a Grammy Award) and with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis on the LSO Live label; Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream under Sir Colin Davis for Philips Classics and the title role in Jenufa under Sir Charles Mackerras for Chandos. Janice recently sang her first Elisabetta Don Carlos for Opera North, also recorded for Chandos, and her first Leonore Fidelio in Beijing. She sings Elsa Lohengrin for the Hamburg Opera.

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Anna Stephany was born in the North East of England and studied in London at the Guildhall School of Music and at the National Opera Studio. In 2005 she won the Gold Medal Competition at the Guildhall and went on to win the Kathleen Ferrier Award in the same year.

Operatic roles include Concepción in L'heure espagnole, the title role in Mignon, Juno in Semele, Euridice and Speranza in Orfeo, Proserpina in Orfeo and most recently Irene in Theodora and Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte as well as the role of Ghost in Harrison Birtwistle's The Last Supper and Pélérin in L'Amour de Loin by Kaija Saariaho at the Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand. Anna Stephany's performances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra have included her Proms début in 2007 as Wellgunde in Die Götterdämmerung, a performance of Janacek's Glagolitic Mass at the Proms in 2008 and a recording of Rodrigo songs. With the London Symphony Orchestra she has recorded Mozart's Requiem, which she also performed in London and New York. Anna Stephany has also worked with conductors such as Jacobs, Mackerras, Davies, Marriner, Bakels and Levi. She has performed with most of the UK's leading orchestras.

Anna is a keen recitalist and most recently gave a recital of Clara and Robert Schumann Lieder with Iain Burnside in Chatsworth House and a recital of Schubert Lieder with Simon Lepper. She has also worked with Malcolm Martineau and Roger Vignoles and has appeared in recital throughout Europe with the Académie du Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. In March 2007 Anna Stephany was asked to appear in Tony Palmer's acclaimed film about the life and music of Vaughan Williams, in which she sang some of the composer's most well know songs.

Recent highlights include Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mercedes in Carmen, a concert performance of Martin's Julietta, Dusapin's To be sung, St. Matthew Passion, and Elgar's The Light of Life. More recently she has performed Janacek's Glagolithic Mass and Persephone/Eurydice in Harrison Birtwistle's The Mask of Orpheus.

Upcoming engagements include Irene in Händel's Theodora, Haydn's Nelson Mass, Laurette in Offenbach's La Chanson de Fortunio, Blumenmädchen in Parsifal, and Annio in La Clemenza di Tito.

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Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts Tenor

Roderick Williams Baritone

Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts was born in Wales and read music at Lancaster University before studying at the Royal Northern College of Music with Barbara Robotham, Photo credit Julie Kim where he received awards from the Wolfson Foundation, the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Peter Moores Foundation.

Concerts have included Martinu's Epic of Gilgamesh with the CBSO and Sir Simon Rattle, Weill's Seven Deadly Sins and the Mahagonny Songspiel at the BBC Proms, Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings in Denmark, Molqui The Death of Klinghoffer and Bartok Cantata Profana with BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dream of Gerontius with the BBC Philharmonic and Vassily Sinaisky, Mahler Das Lied von der Erde for the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra with Matthias Bamert, and Beethoven Symphony No 9 with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Barcelona. He has performed at the Edinburgh and Cheltenham Festivals. He has worked with Opera North, most recently taking the title role in Peter Grimes (which won the Royal Philharmonic Society Opera Award for 2006 and Best Opera at the 2007 South Bank Awards), English National Opera (Alwa in Lulu), Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, English Touring Opera, Garsington Opera, Grange Park Opera and Opera Holland Park.

Future engagements include a recital in Leeds with Iain Burnside, Mendelssohn Symphony No 2 (Lobegesang) in Mexico City and Beethoven Symphony No 9 in Barcelona. Future opera engagements include The Gambler at Covent Garden, The Love for Three Oranges and Rusalka for Grange Park Opera, and The Adventures of Mr Broucek for Opera North and Scottish Opera.

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Roderick Williams encompasses a wide repertoire, from baroque to contemporary music, in the opera house, on the concert platform and in recital.

Photo credit Keith Saunders

He has enjoyed close relationships with Opera North and Scottish Opera, and is particularly associated with the baritone roles of Mozart. In autumn 2007 he gave highly acclaimed performances of Papageno The Magic Flute for English National Opera and in 2008 sang in La bohème at Covent Garden. He has also sung world premières of operas by, among others, David Sawer, Sally Beamish, Michael van der Aa and Alexander Knaifel.

He has worked with orchestras throughout Europe, including all the BBC orchestras in the UK, and his many festival appearances include the BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Cheltenham and Aldeburgh.

His recital appearances have taken him to London's Wigmore Hall and many European festivals. He has an extensive discography and his recordings of English song with Iain Burnside have received particular acclaim.

Future and recent engagements include a return to ENO for Saariaho L'amour de loin, Van der Aa's After Life for Netherlands Opera, as well as concerts with the OAE, RIAS Kammerchor, Britten Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco.

He is also a composer and has had works premièred at the Wigmore and Barbican Halls, the Purcell Room and live on national radio.

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BBC PHILHARMONIC Widely recognised as one of Britain's finest orchestras, the BBC Philharmonic has its own recording studio at BBC Manchester, where it records programmes and concerts for BBC Radio 3. It also performs around 20 concerts each year at Manchester's magnificent Bridgewater Hall. The Orchestra has built a worldwide reputation for outstanding quality and committed performances over a wide ranging repertoire.

In September 2007 the BBC Philharmonic announced a major new partnership with Salford City Council, enabling the Orchestra to build active links with Salford and its communities.

From 2011 the BBC Philharmonic will be based in a dedicated stateof-the-art studio at the BBC's new home in the North - MediaCityUK, Salford Quays. This will be its base for community and learning activities in Salford and in the meantime the Orchestra will work closely with Salford City Council, the Salford Music Service (MAPAS) and schools in the area.

Gianandrea Noseda is Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic and has been at the helm of the Orchestra since 2002.

In 2006 he became Music Director of the Teatro Regio in Turin.

His role there runs alongside his work with the BBC Philharmonic.

The BBC Philharmonic is regularly invited to major European cities and has recently performed in Prague, Vienna and Budapest. After a highly successful tour to Japan in 2005, Gianandrea and the Orchestra returned there in March 2008 for a three-week tour that included three concerts in Tokyo. At the end of last year the Orchestra visited Beijing with Chief Guest Conductor Vassily Sinaisky.

The Orchestra's policy of introducing new and adventurous repertoire has meant that many of the world's greatest composers have taken the BBC Philharmonic podium, among them Berio, Copland, Penderecki, Tippett and Walton. In 1991 Sir Peter Maxwell Davies became the BBC Philharmonic's first Composer/Conductor and was succeeded in 2000 by James MacMillan. The Orchestra has recorded five CDs of MacMillan's P A G E

music, including The Birds of Rhiannon with the BBC Singers and The Confession of Isobel Gowdie. The Orchestra has just announced that HK Gruber, the renowned Austrian composer, is to succeed MacMillan as the BBC Philharmonic's next Composer/Conductor, starting this September.

The BBC Philharmonic is currently hosting a series entitled Neglected Genius in which it performs neglected works by composers such as Messiaen, Schoenberg, Berg, Dallapiccola, Dukas, Stenhammar and Berio.

In recent years the BBC Philharmonic, in partnership with the Royal Northern College of Music, has collaborated with many composers, including Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Hans Werner Henze, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Malcolm Arnold and Unsuk Chin. Conductors with whom the Orchestra regularly works include its own Chief Guest Conductor Vassily Sinaisky, Gunther Herbig, Yan Pascal Tortelier (Conductor Laureate), Yutaka Sado and Ludovic Morlot.

The BBC Philharmonic has an exclusive recording contract with Chandos Records and over the last decade it has become known as one of the world's most recorded orchestras with over 200 CDs to its name. As well as this, the Orchestra's contract now includes Mp3 downloads from the Chandos website, including its famous cycle of Beethoven symphonies.

Gianandrea Noseda has made many critically acclaimed recordings for Chandos of repertoire by Respighi, Prokofiev, Karlowicz, Dallapiccola, Dvorak, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Mahler and Shostakovich.

The Orchestra's Learning/Community team worked with over 15,000 people last year in various educational and community settings and some more unusual places - council offices, supermarkets and shopping malls, taking music and the arts to people wherever they are.The Orchestra's new relationship with Salford City Council also saw the creation of the Salford Family Orchestra in 2009 and their dĂŠbut concert at the Royal Albert Hall during the Proms.

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P A G E

S I X T E E N

PART ONE

A MASS OF LIFE - Delius

I Chorus O Du mein Wille, Du Wende aller Not! Du meine Notwendigkeit! Bewahre mich vor allen kleinen Siegen! Du Schickung meiner Seele, die ich Schicksal heisse! Du In-mir! Über-mir! Bewahre and spare mich auf zu Einem grossen Schicksale! Dass ich einst bereit und reif sei im grossen Mittage: Bereit und reif gleich glühendem Erze, bereit zu mir selber und zu meinem verborgensten Willen: Ein Bogen brünstig nach seinem Pfeil, ein Pfeil, brünstig nach seinem Sterne: ein Stern bereit und reif in seinem Mittage, glühend, durchbohrt; selig vor vernichtenden Sonnenpfeilen: eine Sonne selber und ein unerbittlicher Sonnenwille zum Vernichten bereit im Siegen!

O Wille, Wende aller Not, Du meine Notwendigkeit! Spare mich auf zu Einem grossen Siege!

I Chorus O thou my Will! Dispeller thou of care! Thou mine essential in life! Preserve me from all petty conquests! My soul’s predestination which I call my fate, thou in me, over me, preserve me for one great final destiny; that I may stand prepared and ripe in the full noon-tide, prepared and ripe, like glowing ore in the furnace, prepared for myself and for my deepest and most secret Will: a bow craving its arrow. An arrow seeking its mark among the stars, a star prepared to ripe in its noon-tide splendour, glowing, transpiereced, enraptured ‘mid the blaze of the sun’s bright arrows: yea, a sun itself, and a stern, inflexible sun-will swaying, for destruction, for triumph!

O Will, dispeller of care, thou mine essential in life! Preserve me for one great triumph!

II Baritone Erhebt eure Herzen, meine Brüder, hoch! Höher! Und vergesst mir auch die Beine nicht! Erhebt auch eure Beine, ihr guten Tänzer; und besser noch, ihr steht auch auf dem Kopf. Diese Krone des Lachenden, diese Rosenkranzkrone: ich selber setzte mir diese Krone auf, ich selber sprach heilig mein Gelächter. Keinen Anderen fand ich heute stark genug dazu.

Dem Winde tut mir gleich, wenn er aus seinen Berghöhen stürzt: nach seiner eignen Pfeife will er tanzen, die Meere zittern und hüpfen unter seinen Fusstapfen. Diese Krone des Lachenden, diese Rosenkranzkrone, euch, meinen Brüdern, werfe ich diese Krone zu! Das Lachen sprach ich heilig, ihr höheren Menschen, lernt mir lachen!

II Baritone Now lift up your hearts, all, lift them, brothers, high, higher! And forget not also to dance for joy. Lift your feet, ye merry dancers, or better still, stand right up on your heads. Lo, this crown of the Laughing One, this fair garland of roses I have set on my own head! I myself pronounce holy my laughter; none other found I strong enough to do the same. Be like unto the wind when he darts from the mountain tops: he’ll dance but to the tune himself he whistles. The billows tremble and tumble when they feel his foot stamping. Lo, this crown of the Laughing One, this fair garland of roses, to you, my brothers, into your midst this crown I cast! All laughter called I holy. Ye higher mortals, learn ye laughter!

III Tenor In dein Auge schaute ich jüngst, O Leben. Gold sah ich in deinem Nachtauge blinken, mein Herz stand still vor dieser Wollust.

III Tenor In thine eyes I gazed of late, O wondrous Life. Gold saw I in thy night-dark eyes gleaming. My heart stood still, seized with voluptuous longing.

Soprano Einen goldenen Kahn sah ich blinken auf nächtigen Gewässern, einen sinkenden, trinkenden, wieder winkenden goldenen Schaukelkahn.

Soprano Then a golden boat saw I glitter on night’s deep silent waters, a sinking, drinking, winking golden boat.

Contralto Nach meinem Fusse, dem tanzwütigen, warfst du einen Blick, einen lachenden, fragenden, schmelzenden Schaukelblick.

Contralto At my feet that longed for the dance one look didst thou cast, a smiling, questioning, melting, quivering look.

Tenor Twice only shookest thou softly thy castanets with tiny hands, when my foot began tripping in dance impassioned. continued on page 18

Tenor Zweimal nur regtest du deine Klapper mit kleinen Händen da schaukelte schon mein Fuss vor Tanzwut.

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S E V E N T E E N

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continued

Contralto Meine Fersen Bäumten sich, meine Zehen horchten, dich zu verstehen.

Contralto High my heels then rose from the ground, and my toes attentive would fain understand thee.

Tenor Zu dir hin sprang ich: da flohst du zurück vor meinem Sprunge und gegen mich züngelte deines fliehenden fliegenden Haars Zunge!

Tenor Towards thee I bounded; from my bound thou didst swiftly recoil, and in my face was wafted thy fluttering, wild-flowing hair!

Soprano Von dir weg sprang ich und von deinen Schlangen.

Soprano From thee I sprang back as if lashed by serpents.

Tenor Da standst du schon halbgewandt, das Auge voll Verlangen.

Tenor Then stood’st thou, half-turned towards me; thine eye was filled with longing.

Soprano and Contralto Mit krummen Blicken lehrst du mich krumme Bahnen; auf krummen Bahnen lernt mein Fuss Tücken.

Soprano and Contralto With crooked glances show’st thou me crooked pathways; on crooked pathways my foot learns cunning.

Soprano, Contralto and Tenor Ich fürchte dich Nahe, ich liebe dich Ferne; deine Flucht lockt mich, dein Suchen stockt mich: ich leide, aber was litt ich um dich nicht gerne! Deren Kälte zündet, deren Hass verführt, deren Flucht bindet, deren Spott rührt.

Soprano, Contralto and Tenor I fear thee near me, I love thee far off. Thy flight allures me, thy seeking stays with me. I suffer, yet all would I suffer for thee right gladly. Thou, whose coldness kindles, whose hate beguiles, whose flight bondeth, whose scorn stirs.

Chorus and Soli Das ist ein Tanz über Stock und Stein: Ich bin der Jäger, willst du mein Hund oder meine Gemse sein? Jetzt neben mir! Und geschwind, du boshafte Springerin! Jetzt hinauf und hinüber! Hier sind Hölen und Dickichte: wir werden uns verirren! Halt! steh’ still! Wohin ziehst du mich jetzt? Ich tanze dir nach, ich folge dir auch auf geringer Spur. Wo bist du? Gib mir die Hand!

Oder einen Finger nur! Du fletschest mich lieblicht an mit weissen Zähnlein, deine bösen Augen springen gegen mich aus lockichtem Mähnlein! Sichst du nicht Eulen und Fledermäuse schwirren? Du Eule! Du Fledermaus! Du willst mich äffen?

Chorus and Soli Now for a dance over hill and dale! I am the huntsman, wilt thou my hound or my chamois be? Now close to me, quickly, thou proud scornful leaper! Now up and away! Here are caverns and undergrowth: we are sure to lose our pathway.

Stay! Stand still! What way lurest thou me now? I’ll dance to thy step, I’ll follow thee e’en on the fairest track. Where are thou? Give me thy hand, or even one finger only. Thou show’st me thy snow-white teeth and snarlest sweetly, thy wicked eyes dart flashes at me from beneath thy wild tresses. Seest thou not owls and flittermice fluttering? Thou owlet, thou flittermouse, dost thou dare mock me.

Baritone O meine neunen Freunde, ihr wunderlichen, ihr Höheren Menschen, wie gut gefällt ihr mir nun, seit ihr fröhlich wurdet! Ihr seid wahrlich alle aufgeblüht: mich dünkt, solchen Blumen, wie ihr seid, tun neue Feste not.

Baritone O ye my new companions, ye wonderful, higher-born mortals, how will ye please me today, since ye grew light-hearted! Ye have truly all now burst into bloom; methinks for such flowers as you are, new revels are required.

Contralto O Zarathustra! Jenseits von Gut und Böse fanden wir unser Eiland und unsere grüne Wiese. Wir zwei allein! Darum müssen wir schon einander gut sein! O Zarathustra, du bist mir nicht treu genug! Es gibt eine alte Brummglocke! Hörst du diese Glocke Mitternachts die Stunden schlagen, so denskt du daran; O Zarathustra, ich weiss es, dass du mich bald verlassen willst!

Contralto O Zarathustra! Far beyond good and evil we discovered our island, and our meadow forever green - we two alone: so needs it must be that we love each other! O Zarathustra, thou art not true enough to me. There is an ancient bell tolling! When waking from slumber at midnight thou hearest it tolling, recall then my words. O Zarathustra, I know that soon thou wilt have forsaken me.

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E I G H T E E N

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continued

Semi Chorus (Bass) O Mensch! Gib Acht!

Was spricht die tiefe Mitternacht?

Ich schlief, ich schlief Aus tiefem Traum bin ich erwacht: Die Welt ist tief.

Und tiefer als der Tag gedacht: Tief ist ihr Weh. Lust tiefer noch als Herzeleid.

Weh spricht: Vergeh!

Doch alle Lust will Ewigkeit, Will tiefe, tiefe Ewigkeit!

Semi Chorus (Bass) O man, mark well!

What tolls the solemn midnight bell?

I lay asleep, Till haunting dreams broke slumber’s spell.

The world is deep, And deeper far than day can tell.

Deep is her woe.

Joy deeper still than grief of heart.

Woe says: ‘Begone!’

But Joy would have Eternity, Deep, deep Eternity! Ne’er ending, everlasting day.

Soprano Und sie sahen sich an und blickten auf die grüne Wiese, über welche eben der kühle Abend lief und weinten mit einander.

Soprano And they gazed at each other and gazed upon the verdant meadow over which the cool shades of eventide swept; and they sighed and wept together.

IV Baritone Wehe mir! Wo ist die Zeit hin? Sank ich nicht in tiefe Brunnen?

IV Baritone Woe is me! Whither is Time fled? Sank I not ‘neath deep, deep fountains?

Chorus Die Welt schläft, Ach! Der Hund heult, der Mond scheint.

Chorus The world sleeps. Ah! The hound howls, the moon shines.

Baritone and Chorus Lieber will ich sterben, als euch sagen, was mein Mitternachtsherz eben denkt. Nun starb ich schon. Es ist dahin. Spinne, was spinnst du um mich?

Wills du Blut? Ach! Der Tau fällt, die Stunde kommt, die Stunde, wo mich fröstelt und friert, die fragt und fragt: ‘Wer hat Herz genug dazu? Wer soll der Erde Herr sein? Wer will sagen: so sollt ihr laufen, ihr grossen und kleinen Ströme! So sollt ihr laufen. Die Stunde naht! O Mensch, du höherer Mensch gib Acht! Diese Rede ist für feine Ohren: für deine Ohren: was spricht die tiefe Mitternacht?

Baritone and Chorus Rather would I die here than tell my midnight-heart’s deep thoughts. Now dead am I, and all is o’er. Spider, what weav’st thou round me? Cravest thou blood?

Ah, the dew falls, the hour is nigh, the hour when I shall shiver and freeze, the hour that asks and asks: ‘’Who hath the heart for it? Who shall be Earth’s master? Who shall order: ‘’Thus flow, ye rivers, ye streams and mighty waters!’’’’

Thus flow, ye rivers. The hour draws nigh! O man, thou higher-born man, mark well! This my speech is meant for subtle senses. Attend and harken: What saith the solemn midnight hour?

V Chorus Nacht ist es: nun reden lauter alle springenden Brunnen. Und auch meine Seele ist ein springender Brunnen.

V Chorus Night reigneth. Now louder murmur the leaping crystalline fountains: and my soul too is like a leaping fountain.

Baritone Nacht ist es: nun erst erwachen alle Lieder der Liebenden. Und auch meine Seele ist das Lied eines Liebenden. Ein Ungestilltes, Unstillbares ist in mir: das will laut werden. Eine Begierde nach Liebe ist in mir, die redet selber die Sprache der Liebe. Licht bin ich; ach dass ich Nacht wäre! Aber dies ist meine einsamkeit, dass ich von Licht umgürtet bin.

Baritone Night reigneth. Now awaken all the songs of lovers. And my soul too is the song of a lover. The unrequited, ne’er to be requited, dwells in me, that for utterance clamours, and a deep longing for love is in me, that speaks itself naught but love’s sweetest language. Light am I; O, would that I were Night! But this is my solitude, that I am girdled round with Light. continued on page 21

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N I N E T E E N

P A G E

T W E N T Y

A MASS OF LIFE - Delius

continued

Chorus O Einsamkeit aller Schenkenden! O Schweigsamkeit aller Leuchtenden.

Nacht ist es!

Chorus O solitude of all Givers! O silence deep of all Light-shedders! Night reigneth!

Baritone and Chorus Ach! Dass ich Licht sein muss! Nun bricht wie ein Born aus mir mein Verlangen! Nacht ist es: nun reden laute alle springenden Brunnen. Und auch meine Seele ist ein springender Brunnen? Nacht ist es: nun erst erwachen alle Lieder der Liebenden und auch meine Seele ist das Lied eines Liebenden.

Baritone and Chorus Woe that I Light must be! Now burst from out me my longing like a fountain.

Night reigneth. Now louder murmur the leaping crystalline fountains; and my soul too is like a leaping fountain. Night reigneth. Now awaken all the songs of lovers; and my soul too is the song of a lover.

PART TWO

INTERVAL

In the Mountatins I Chorus Herauf! Nun herauf, du grosser Mittag! Das Meer Stürmt: Wohlan!

Wohlauf! lhr alten Seemannsherzen! Dorthin will unser Steuer, wo unser Kinderland ist! Dort hinaus, stürmischer als das Meer, stürmt unsre grosse Sehnsucht! Werdet hart!

I Chorus Arise, now arise, thou glorious Noon-tide! The sea storms. Away, away ye ancient ocean-farers! Steer our ship to the regions where our dear children’s country lies! That way fare! Wilder than storm-rack’d sea rages our heartfelt longing. Wax ye hard!

Soli and Chorus Vorbei die zögernde Trübsal meines Frühlings! Sommer wurde ich ganz und Sommermittag! Ein Sommer im Höchsten mit kalten Quellen und seliger Stille: O! kommt, meine Freunde, dass die Stille noch seliger werde! Denn dies est unsre Höhe und unsre Heimat; Nachbarn den Adlern, Nachbarn dem Schnee, Nachbarn der Sonne! Einem Sturme gleich kommt mein Glück und meine Freiheit!

Soli and Chorus ‘Tis gone, the lingering ,sorrow of my springtide. Summer am I become, yea summer’s noon-tide, on mountain’s high summits, by clear, cool waters, ‘mid rapturous stillness. O come, my companions, and the silence shall enrapture our souls. This is now our home, on the heights - neighbours of the eagles we, neighbours of the snows, neighbours of the sun. Like a sudden tempest comes my bliss, and brings me freedom.

Chorus Herauf! Nun herauf . . .

Chorus Arise, now arise . . .

II Baritone Süsse Leier! Ich liebe deinen Ton, deinen trunkenden Unkenton! Wie lang her, wie fern her kommt mir dein Ton, weit her; von den Teichen der Liebe! Du alte Glocke, du süsse Leier! Jeder Schmerz riss dir in’s Herz, Väterschmerz, Unväterschmerz; deine Rede wurde reif, gleich goldenem Herbste und Nachmittage, gleich meinem Einsiedlerherzen nun redest du: die Welt selber ward reif, die Traube bräunt, nun will sie sterben, vor Glück sterben. Ihr höheren Menschen, riecht ihr’s nicht? Es quillt heimlich ein Geruch herauf, ein Duft und Geruch der Ewigkeit, ein rosenselige brauner Goldweingeruch von altem Glücke, von trunkenem Mitternachts Sterbeglücke, welches singt: die Welt ist tief und tiefer als der Tag gedacht!

II Baritone Lyre, my solace, come, enchant me! I love thy sound, thy quivering, drunken sound! From far away, from ages past thy voice comes to me, from afar, from the founts of Love. Thou ancient toller, my sweetest lyre, every pang tore at thy heart, pangs of a father, ancestor’s pangs. Lo, thy speech waxed ripe, like mellow autumn and afternoon, like this hermit's heart of mine, I hear thee say: ‘The world herself waxed ripe, the grapevine purples and fain would die of joy’.

Ye higher-born mortals, scent ye it not? An odour secret and sweet, an odour, a breath of Eternity, of roses mingled with golden-brown wine’s sweet breath of bliss and rapture, of drunken Midnight’s joy in dying, which sings: ‘The world is deep, and deeper far than day can tell!’ continued on page 22

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T W E N T Y - O N E

A MASS OF LIFE - Delius

continued

III Chorus,Soprano and Contralto La, la, la!

III Chorus,Soprano and Contralto La, la, la!

Baritone Lasst vom Tanze nicht ab, ihr lieblichen Mädchen! Kein Spielverderber kam zu euch mit bösem Blick, kein Mädchenfeind, Gottes Fürsprecher bin ich vor dem Teufel: der aber ist der Geist der Schwere. Wie sollte ich, ihr Leichten, Göttlichen Tänzen Feind sein? Oder Mädchenfüssen mit schönen Knöcheln? Wohl bin ein Wald und eine Nacht dunkler Bäume: doch wer sich vor meinem Dunkel nicht scheut, der findet auch Rosenhänge unter meinen Cypressen. Und auch den kleinen Gott findet er wohl, der den Mädchen der liebste ist: neben dem Brunnen liegt er, still, mit geschlossenen Augen. Wahrlich am hellen Tag schlief er mir ein, der Tagedieb. Haschte er wohl zu viel nach Schmetterlingen? Zürnt mir nicht ihr schönen Tanzenden wen ich den kleinen Gott ein wenig züchtige! Schreien wird er wohl und weinen, aber zum Lachen ist er noch im Weinen! Und mit Tränen im Auge soll er euch um einen Tanz bitten, und ich selber will ein Lied zu seinem Tanze singen: Ein Tanze-und Spottlied auf den Geist der schwere, meinen allerhöchsten, grossmächtigsten Teufel, von dem die sagen, dass er ‘der Herr der Welt’ sei.

Baritone Stop not dancing. I pray, ye beautiful maidens! I came not hither to spoil your sport with angry looks. No woman-hater I, but God’s counsel before the Devil, who is the spirit of heaviness. Then how should I be e’er averse to the divine art of dancing, or to maidens’ feet with graceful ankles? True, I am a forest and a dark night with foliage, but he that is not afraid of my darkness will find rose bowers beneath my cypress-shade. And e’en the tiny god he there may find whom all the maidens love the most, lying still, with his eyes closed in slumber. Truly, in broad daylight fell he asleep, the lazy rogue! Sought he to catch too many butterflies? Chide me not, ye beauteous light-footed maidens, if I chastise our little god of love! He is sure to cry and clamour, but his weeping will excite your laughter; and with tears in his eyes, he shall come and beg a dance of you, and I myself will sing a song to which he’ll caper - a dancing, mocking song on the spirit of heaviness, on his Highness the Devil, who, so they tell me, is the ‘Lord of Creation’.

(the dance is now resumed) Chorus, Soprano and Alto La, la, la!

Chorus, Soprano and Alto La, la, la!

Baritone Die Sonne ist lange schon hinunter, die Wiese ist feucht, von den Wäldern her kommt Kühle, Ein Unbekanntes ist um mich und blickt nachdenklich.

Was! Du lebst noch, Zarathustra? Warum? Wofür? Wodurch? Wohin? Wo? Wie? Ist es nicht Torheit, noch zu lieben? Ach, meine Freunde, der Abend ist es, der so aus mir fragt. Vergebt mir meine Traurigkeit! Abend ward es: verbegt mir, dass es Abend ward!

Baritone The sun has long gone down in all his glory: the meadow is damp, and from the woodlands cometh coolness. An unknown power surroundeth me and gazes thoughtfully. What! Thou liv’st still Zarathustra? And why? For what?

By what? Thine aim? Where? How? Is it not folly still to be living? O my companions, the evening filleth my soul with doubts, forgive me my sadness.

Evening it was, forgive me that evening has fallen upon me!

IV Chorus Heisser Mittag schläft auf den Fluren. Du liegst im Grase. Still!

IV Chorus Glowing Noon-tide sleeps on the meadows. Thou liest in the heather. Hush!

Tenor Wie ein zierlicher Wind ungesehen, auf getäfeltem Meere tanzt, leicht, federleicht, so tanzt der Schlaf auf mir. Das ist die heimliche feierliche Stunde, wo kein Hirt die Flöte bläst.

Tenor Like a delicate breeze that none can see as o’er ocean becalmed it dances lightly, feather-light; so danceth sleep on me. This is the secret hour of solemn silence when no shepherd sounds his flute. continued on page 24

P A G E

T W E N T Y - T W O

Recordings OTHER RECORDINGS AVAILABLE:

THE CAROLS ALBUM: £12.00

• A Christmas Fantasy • • A Christmas Celebration • • Belshazzar’s Feast • • Messiah • THE HYMNS ALBUM: £12.00

THE CRUCIFIXION: £12.00

Recordings will be on sale in the Area Entrance tonight or can be obtained from:

David Lockwood (Telephone 01484 666827)

E-mail: david.lockwood@huddersfieldchoral.com

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P A G E

T W E N T Y - T H R E E

A MASS OF LIFE - Delius

continued

Chorus O Heimlichkeit des bunten Grases! O Glück!

Chorus O solitude of purpling heather. O bliss!

Baritone Was geschah mir? Horch! Flog die Zeit wohl davon? Falle ich nicht? Fiel ich nicht? - horch! In den Brunner der Ewigkeit? O zerbrich, zerbrich, Herz nach solchem Glücke! Still! Willst du wohl singen, O meine Seele.

Baritone What befell me? Hark! Was it Time that fled from hence? Am I not falling? Fell I not, hark! in the fountain of Eternity? O, now break, heart, that hast known such rapture! Hush! Wouldst thou now carol, O my fond spirit?

Contralto Singe nicht, Still! Flüstere nicht einmal, die Welt ist vollkommen.

Still!

Contralto Stay thy song - hush! Whisper not e’en a word. The world is grown perfect.

Hush!

Chorus Der alte Mittag schläft.

Chorus Now aged Noon-tide sleeps.

Soprano, Tenor and Chorus Trinkt er nicht eben einen alten braunen Tropfen goldenen Glücks, goldenen Weins? Es huscht über ihn hin, sein Glück lacht. So lacht ein Gott! Sein Glück lacht! Der alte Mittag schläft.

Soprano, Tenor and Chorus Sits he not drinking e’en now a well-seasoned brown drop of golden bliss, golden wine? And o’er him, rustling her wings, fair Fortune smiles, fair Fortune smiles! Thus smiles a god. Now aged Noon-tide sleeps.

Contralto Auf, du Schläfer! Zarathustra! Du Mittagschläfer!

Contralto Rise, thou sleeper, Zarathustra! Thou noon-tide sleeper!

Baritone Lasst mich doch! Still! Ward die Welt nicht eben vollkommen? O des goldenen runden Balls! Wer bist du doch, O meine Seele? Wie wenig genügt Schon zum Glücke! Wie lange erst darfst du nach solchem Schlaf dich auswachen?

Baritone Rouse me not! Hush! Waxed not the world this moment perfect? Lo, the golden rounded ball! Who art thou, tell me, my soul? How little sufficeth thee to be happy! How long, after so deep a sleep, should’st thou stay waking!

Chorus O Glücke! Der alte Mittag schläft.

Chorus O bliss! Now aged Noon-tide sleeps!

V Baritone Gottes Weh ist tiefer, du wunderliche Welt, greife nach Gottes Weh, nicht nach mir, was bin ich? Eine trunkene süsse Leier, eine Mitternachtsleier, eine Glockenunke, die Niemand versteht, aber welche reden muss vor Tauben, ihr höheren Menschen: Denn ihr versteht mich nicht.

V Baritone God’s woe is deeper, thou strangely wondrous world! Snatch thou at God’s deep woe, not at me! What am I? I’m a drunken, dulcet lyre, I am Midnight’s lyre, I’m a belfry spirit whom no one understands, but who yet must speak to deaf ears, ye higher-born mortals, for ye understand me not.

Chorus Dahin! O Jugend! O Mittag! O Nachmittag! Nun kam Abend und Mitternacht, Ach! Wie sie seufzt! Wie sie lacht, wie sie röchelt und keucht, die Mitternacht! Wie sie eben nüchtern spricht, diese trunkene Dichterin!

Sie übertrank wohl ihre Trunkenheit? Sie wurde überwach? Ihr Weh käut Sie zurück, im Traume, die alte Mitternacht, und mehr noch ihre Lust, wenn schon Weh tief ist.

Chorus Thou art gone, O time of youth! O Noon-tide! O afternoon! Then came Evening and Midnight. O, how she sighs, how she laughs, how she gasps and groans, doth Midnight. Hark what sober sense she speaks, this drunken poetess; she must have out-drunk her drunkennesses. She waxed over-wakeful?

Her grief she swallows down in dreams - and if her grief be deep, then even more her joy.

P A G E

T W E N T Y - F O U R

A MASS OF LIFE - Delius

continued

Baritone and Chorus Lust ist tiefer noch als Herzeleid!

Baritone and Chorus Joy is deeper still than grief of heart!

VI Baritone Kommt! Lasst uns jetzt wandeln! Es ist die Stunde! Lasst uns in die Nacht wandeln. Ihr höheren Menschen, es geht gen Mitternacht: da will ich euch etwas in die Ohren sagen, wie jene alte Glocke es mir in’s Ohr sagt, so heimlicht, so schrecklich, so herzlich, wie jene Mitternachtsglocke zu mir es redet, die mehr erlebt hat als Ein Mensch. Welche schon eurer Väter Herzens - Schmerzens - Schläge abzählte. Ach! Wie sie seufzt! Wie sie im Traume lacht! Die alte tiefe, tiefe Mitternacht! Still! Da hört sich Manches, das am Tage nicht laut werden darf; nun aber bei kühler Luft, da auch aller Lärm eurer Herzen stille ward, nun redet es, nun hört es sich, nun schleicht es sich in nächtliche überwache Seelen! Ach, wie sie seufzt! Wie sie im Traume lacht! Hörst du’s nicht, wie sie heimlich, schrecklich, herzlich zu dir redet, die alte tiefe, tiefe Mitternacht!

VI Baritone Come, now let us wander! The hour is come now! Let us walk in Night’s darkness! Ye higher-born mortals, the midnight hour is nigh. Now in your ears there’s something I would whisper, what yonder ancient bell to me is told - as secret, as dreadful, as heartfelt as what yon midnight bell to me revealeth, yon bell which more hath known than any man, which hath counted the pulsings of the sorrowful hearts of our forefathers. Oh, how she sighs, how she laughs in dreams, that ancient, solemn, tolling midnight bell! Hush! Hush!

Much then is told us which in daytime must not be heard. Lo, now, in cooler air, when all our hearts’ loud clamour is lulled to rest, it softly speaks, grows audible and steals upon night-haunted over-wakeful souls! Oh, how she sighs, as in her dreams she laughs! Dost thou not hear how in secret, in awe her heart to thee now speaketh - the aged, ` deep and solemn Midnight?

Baritone and Chorus O Mensch! Gib Acht! Was spricht die tiefe Mitternacht?

Ich schlief, ich schlief. Aus tiefem Traum bin ich erwacht: Die Welt is tief.

Und tiefer als der Tag gedacht:: Tief ist ihr Weh, Lust tiefer noch als Herzeleid. Weh spricht: Vergeh!

Doch alle Lust will Ewigkeit, Will tiefe, tiefe Ewigkeit!

Baritone and Chorus O man, mark well! What tolls the solemn midnight bell?

I lay asleep, Till haunting dreams broke slumber’s spell. The world is deep, And deeper far than day can tell. Deep is her woe: Joy deeper still than grief of heart. Woe says ‘Begone’!

But joy would have Eternity, Deep, deep Eternity!

Soli and Chorus Alle Lust will aller Dinge Ewigkeit! Was will nicht Lust? Sie ist durstiger, herzlicher, hungriger, schrecklicher heimlicher als alles Weh: Sie will Liebe, sie will Hass, sie ist überreich, so reich ist Lust, dass sie nach Wehe durstet, nach Welt, ihr höheren Menschen nach euch sehnt sie sich, die Lust, die unbändige, selige O Glück! O Schmerz! O brich, Herz! Lust will Ewigkeit!

Lust will aller Dinge Ewigkeit! Will tiefe, tiefe Ewigkeit!

Soli and Chorus Every joy for all things craves Eternity. What craves not Joy? She is more thirsty, more hungry, more heartfelt, more awful, more secret than all our woe; she craves love, she craves hate, she is over-rich, so rich is Joy that she for Grief is thirsty. For earth, ye higher-born mortals, for you longeth even Joy the intractable, Joy the rapturous! O Bliss, O pain! O break, heart! Joy craves Eternity, Joy craves for all things endless day, eternal, everlasting, endless day!

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Choir Members SOPRANO: Margaret Atkinson* Susan Baines Sheila Baker** Jill Bamford Lydia Bayliss Charmaine Beaumont** Jill Benn Patricia Berry* Janet Booth Chrissie Bosworth Elly Bosworth Elizabeth Boyle Dorothy Bradbury Christine Broadbent Louise Brown Sarah Brown Colleen Brown Mary Cadwaladr Barbara Carroll Joanna Cole Tricia Commons Gwyneth Cooper Rosemary Cooper Andrea Crawshaw* Eleanor Davies Jenny Ellis Sue Ellis Linda Fellows Sheila Garside* Katherine Hall Julia Harvey Margaret Henry* Hilary Hibbin Kate Hyland-Collier Amy Jackson Caroline Jones Georgia Katsiroumpa Helen Kettlewell Emma Kilroy Libby Kraus Fiona Law Elaine Lee* Anne Lockwood Helen Martin Wendy Moores

Cath Murgatroyd Megan Nelson Pamela Pal Jean Parker* Leah Pattison Stephanie Pioli* Carol Randerson* Christine Roberts Katrina Robinson-Brown Jane Sargent* Hannah Saxon Chanelle Schofield Sue Shepherd Thelma Simpson Debbie Skipper Susan Smith Doreen Smurthwaite Nan Steinitz Ruth Stones* Marilyn Sutcliffe Sarah Wickham Denise Wilkes Glynis Wilkinson Susan Wilkinson* Mary Wilson ALTO: Ruth Aldred Helen Ashley-Taylor Thelma Bateman Sue Beatty** Ann Boswell Barbara Brook* Rowena Burton Sandy Cole** Margaret Collison Jean Collison* Cynthia Daniel** Janet Dransfield* Christine Durham** Winifred Ellis* Janet Gabanski Alison Hale Julie Hale Gaynor Haliday Richard Hallas P A G E

Andrea Hindson Pam Hird* Jane Hobson* Sue Hornby Susan Kirby Hilary Laurie Sylvia McGee* Hilary McLean Elizabeth Mortimer Kath Northern* Marjorie Norton* Audrey O'Hara Alison Owen - Morley Jayne Preston** Frances Priestnall Caroline Robinson Jennifer Sanderson Susan Sandford Vicki Scurrah Eileen Sheller Suzanne Smelt Zelma Stevens Marjorie Swift** Pam Sykes Vera Thompson Anna Thompson Lettice Thomson* Susan Turnbull Sandra Twitchett Michelle Walker Jean Walters* Sue Wilman** Jenni Wohlman Glenda Wray TENOR: Michael Benn* Jonathan Brigg Stephen Brook* Tom Chilton David Croft** Malcolm Fairless* Chris Fawcett Graham Fearnley* Jeremy Garside Ronald Gee

David Gee Steven Grant Malcolm Hinchliffe Roy Hirst Norman Hirst Martin Jenkins Martin Kettlewell Gregory Knaggs Timothy Lewis** John Ling David Lunn Richard Myhill Arthur Quarmby* Philip Ratcliffe Stuart Rudd Gerald Savage Ian Smith Alan Stephens Charles R. Sykes David Vickers Harvey Walsh David Ward Michael Widdall Tim Wilkes BASS: Richard Ainley Christopher Arnold** David Atkinson Gareth Beaumont** James Blagbrough Graham Boyle John Brown* David Burgess Mike Corney Jim Cowell Martyn Crossley* James Curran** Ian Daniel Peter Dawson P.J. Dodd Granville Dransfield* Raymond Ellis John Harman David Hartley*** David Hoddle

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Dennis Holmes Keith Horner William Kirby Andrew Marsland John McGahey Barrie Mortimer Robin Owen - Morley Angus Pogson** Geoffrey Priestley David Robinson Howard Sandford John Sandland Graham Smelt Terry Smurthwaite Paul Spencer Jim Stafford* Alan Stirk Neil Stones Mark Taylor Richard Thompson Lyndon Wilkinson* Barrie Williams Conrad Winterburn**

* Holder of 25 year badge ** Holder of 40 year badge *** Holder of 50 year badge

RECOMMENDED RECORDINGS Delius: A Mass of Life Had this work opened last season’s concerts we would have had three recordings to consider. The first of these was made in 1952 by Delius’s greatest advocate and champion, Sir Thomas Beecham. He had conducted the first complete performance in 1909 and chose it to close the Delius Festival in 1929. This recording was reissued on LP in 1970 and then finally on CD by Sony in 2003, but after a couple of years was deleted. Then after a fallow period for Delius in the 1960’s, we had the first stereo recording from Sir Charles Groves in 1971, reissued on CD in 1993 but also recently deleted. Which brings us to the one currently available and only the third commercially recorded version in the 100 year history of what many consider Delius masterpiece, that by the late Richard Hickox with Bournemouth forces. (For the sake of completeness I should mention that an unofficial ‘off the air’ (pirated) recording issued

by Intaglio was briefly available for a few months in 1993 but had to be withdrawn. This was of a performance conducted by Norman Del Mar with BBC forces which was to have been conducted, at his own request,

by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky. It was only with the unexpected cancellation of his visit to London that Del Mar took over at short notice).

The Hickox recording received some very good reviews, albeit with a lot of harking back to the earlier versions, so hopefully people will be satisfied with the only recording available. Hickox has a good quartet of soloists, his chorus packs plenty of punch aided by the balance given them by Chandos and he drives the piece forward where it needs impetus and almost convinces you of the merits of all that rustic la-la-laing in the lengthy dance sections in the middle of parts 1 and 2.

But, dear reader, I feel there are disappointments and will list a few of them. Any performance of A Mass of Life which will bear repeated listening will depend greatly on the ability of the chorus to meet all the considerable demands put on them and the baritone soloist, for he (taking the part of Zarathustra) has by far the lions-share of the solo singing (indeed more than all the others put together). Although I admire Peter Coleman-Wright’s ability in the Hickox recording to get round most of the notes, his rendering of the part, although strong on virility often sounds tired and strained lacking the nobility, true legato line and sensitivity that Benjamin Luxon brings to the Groves recording. In fact, as good as the Hickox soloists are, with the possible exception of Joan Rodgers, Groves has the finer quartet, with both Helen Watts and Robert Tear impressing more than their rivals on Chandos. Indeed Luxon is so Joan Rodgers Jean Rigby Nigel Robson Peter Coleman-Wright Waynflete Singers Bournemouth Symphony Chorus & Orchestra Richard Hickox Chandos CHAN 9515 (c/w Delius: Requiem – NB this is the only recording currently available to order)

eloquent at the close of the Dance-Song in Part 2 that it casts the most potent spell - even on those allergic to Nietzsche!

The Chandos recording (although praised in reviews) I find lacks a sense of an identifiable acoustic space, by which I mean being able to imagine the performers at work in a hall. The chorus is given a prominent balance often dominating the very large orchestra, without that sense of aural perspective one should get in the best recordings, leaving sections of the orchestra ill defined, especially lower strings and timpani. Delius’s orchestration often fares better in the Groves recording. The soloists also often seem to be dislocated from the rest. Chandos would probably have been better in one of their regular large-scale recording venues in London; much less convenient, but with better results. The chorus is sometimes too loud (the men at the start of the last movement for example) and Hickox does overdo the impetus aspect at times, notably in an unseemly rush from the piu animato to the concluding maestoso, whereas Groves, for all that his la-la-la-ing in the dance sections may be a shade leisurely, has the ability to time and place climaxes to greater effect. The Groves EMI recording, made in the helpful acoustic of London’s much loved and sorely missed Kingsway Hall, may lack some of the visceral impact of the Chandos but has a more natural and musically satisfying balance between the various forces.

In closing, just a little about the Beecham version. The recording was made the year after he conducted it at a Festival of Britain concert at the Royal Albert Hall. It was the last of ten performances he had given from ` in 1909 and the only one in German. Fascinatingly, it the premiere marked the debut in Britain of the very young Fischer-Dieskau who received wonderful reviews in The Times and I have heard that he was down to do both the Beecham and the Groves recordings but was ill on both occasions! Beecham’s replacement, Bruce Boyce proved to be no mere stand-in and gives a fine performance marked by sensitivity, emotional involvement and ease of delivery and his chorus is incandescent and sing as if their lives depend on it. The recording was praised at the time but the early mono LP sound obviously sounds dated now and does not do full justice to Beecham‘s incomparable handling of the score. I have provided details of all the recordings (including the pirated Del Mar) for those Delians who like searching the internet and have deep pockets. I have seen £70 quoted for the Beecham CDs! Chandos CHAN 9515 (c/w Delius: Requiem – NB this is the only recording currently available to order)

Rosina Raisbeck Monica Sinclair Charles Craig Bruce Boyce London Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra Sir Thomas Beecham Sony SM2K 89432 (Mono – Currently unavailable)

Heather Harper Helen Watts Robert Tear Benjamin Luxon London Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra Sir Charles Groves EMI CMS 764218-2 (Currently unavailable)

Kiri Te Kanawa Pamela Bowden Ronald Dowd John Shirley-Quirk BBC Symphony Chorus & Orchestra Norman Del Mar Intaglio INCD 702-2 (Italian ‘bootleg’)

Graham D Bennett P A G E

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✴✴ ✴ STARS ✴✴

OF HUDDERSFIELD

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Ding Dong Merrily on High Shining Star Away in a Manger O Christmas Tree (Tannenbaum) II Est Ne (He is Born) Who is He ?

Christmas Swing Kymbayah Christmas Joy

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Let There Be Peace On Earth Santa Claus-Trophobia In the Bleak Midwinter A Merry Little Christmas Lullaby Schneewaltzer (Snow Waltz) A Christmas Fantasy We Wish you a Merry Christmas

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£10 each or £11.50 (including postage and packaging) available from DAVID ARMITAGE Sellers International Limited, Engine Bridge Works, Chapel Hill, Huddersfield HD1 3EH Telephone: 01484 540006

GUIDE DOGS FOR THE BLIND WILL RECEIVE A DONATION FROM EVERY DISC SOLD P A G E

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Future Concerts • SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2009 • HUDDERSFIELD CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL HUDDERSFIELD TOWN HALL - 4.00pm OH MAN OH MANKIND OH YEH - Alvin Curran ` World Premiere

• SATURDAY 12 JUNE 2010 • ST PAUL’S HALL HUDDERSFIELD PRESIDENT’S GALA CONCERT Conductor - Joseph Cullen Organ - Darius Battiwalla

• SUNDAY 6 DECEMBER 2009 • ST PAUL’S HALL - 8.10 - 8.50am SUNDAY WORSHIP Conductor - Joseph Cullen Organ - Darius Battiwalla PARTS OF MESSIAH Live broadcast on BBC Radio 4 • THURSDAY 10 & FRIDAY 11 DECEMBER 2009 • HUDDERSFIELD TOWN HALL - 7.30pm CHRISTMAS CONCERT Hepworth Band Conductor - Brian Kay Soprano - Martene Grimson • TUESDAY 15 (Public) WEDNESDAY 16 (Subscribers) DECEMBER 2009 • HUDDERSFIELD TOWN HALL - 7.30pm (Public Concert) MESSIAH - Handel Orchestra of Opera North Conductor - Grant Llewellyn • SATURDAY 3 APRIL 2010 • THE SAGE GATESHEAD - 7.30pm LA VALLEE DES CLOCHES - Ravel (arr Grainger) ` ` SHEHERAZADE - Ravel CARMINA BURANA - Orff Orchestra of Opera North Conductor - Bramwell Tovey

Our Christmas gifts are now in stock & available for shipping up to 22nd December 2009

• FRIDAY 16 APRIL 2009 • HUDDERSFIELD TOWN HALL 7.30pm (Subscribers’ Concert) JUDAS MACCABAEUS - Handel Manchester Camerata Conductor - Takuo Yuasa With members of the Osaka Symphonic Choir

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SPONSORSHIP The Society is extremely grateful for the support from the following organisations over this season: • UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD • Principal Partner • THE DELIUS TRUST • SYNGENTA • • SS COMPONENTS LTD • • SOUTHWESTERN CORPORATION • • HUDDERSFIELD GRAMMAR SCHOOL • • THE GREENBANK GROUP UK • • INCLUSIVE TECHNOLOGY LIMITED • • G CONSULTING • JULIE HALE CONSULTANCY • -o2

We also express our sincere gratitude for the continuing personal sponsorship of Mrs. Catherine Harrison and Mrs. S. A. Brennan.

The Huddersfield Choral Society’s success over recent years has been greatly assisted by the support of our Sponsors and their valued contribution to The Society’s wellbeing. We are fortunate indeed in having a number of faithful Sponsors of many years standing and we are very pleased when new Sponsors are able to join us.

Opportunities do exist for further support and a share in the life of The Choral.

Tony Booth: Sponsorship Secretary Lavender Cottage, 6 Poplar Bank Fenay Bridge, Huddersfield HD8 0AE Tel: 01484 602445 E-mail: tony.booth@huddersfieldchoral.com P A G E

T H I R T Y - T W O

As we rapidly approach our 175th anniversary season in 2010/2011, we wish to inform you, our subscribers, of our plans to date.

Choir members have entered into the spirit of fundraising for this very special season and we have set up a fundraising committee to plan our celebrations.

These will include six workshops aimed to widen access to both the senior and junior choirs and to share the skills of our professional musicians. It is particularly important that we encourage young singers to join us and thus ensure the future success of our Society.

Listed below are the events planned up to May 2010. This is constantly being updated and details will be posted on our website, so do keep looking.

Commencing this evening we shall have a table in the Area entrance with recordings, other items for sale and further details of all the events. Tonight you can see our new choral notelets and our special Christmas pudding!

If you feel you can support us in any way then we would be delighted to hear from you.

Our first special event is a concert in St Paul's Hall, University of Huddersfield, on Saturday 14th November 2009 of music for organ and piano with chorus master Joseph Cullen and deputy chorus master Darius Battiwalla. These two fine musicians will be joined by instrumentalists from the University's Department of Music for an exciting evening of solos, duets and concertante items.

We are preparing a series of display boards on the history and development of the Society. If you have any items of interest which could be photographed then we would be very pleased to have sight of them.

We now have a new recording of Stainer's Crucifixion and is on sale tonight, or can be ordered via our website. We are also producing our own notelets to raise funds. These are also on sale at our display in the Area entrance.

❑ Saturday 14th November 2009 An Evening of Music for Organ and Piano with Joseph Cullen and Darius Battiwalla at St Paul's Hall Tickets £10 from David Burgess on 01484 310966 or in the Area Entrance tonight.

A new edition of And the Glory' - the history of the Society - is currently in production and will be available in 2010.

We plan to hold a Sponsored Walk (with some singing en route) on June 5th 2010 and we are holding a Sponsored Sing in Huddersfield Town Hall in April 2011.

❑ Thursday 19th November 2009 “A Notable Evening” at Lupton Square Gallery, Honley Launch of our notelets. The original 10 paintings with a musical theme from which our cards were selected will be on view and for sale.

Live music, wine and canapés Tickets £5 from Jenny Lockwood on 01484 666827

Additional concerts are being planned for the 2010/11 season including a gala performance of Elgar's Dream of Gerontius on Saturday 18th June 2011 - a date very close to our founding date in June 1836.

❑ Sunday 25th April 2010 Sunday Lunch with Brian Kay Bertie's Banqueting Rooms, Elland Tickets £30 from Gaynor Haliday on 01484 667849

We are proud of the great tradition of the Society and are working hard to ensure the success of this special celebration. Individual members are holding a wide variety of events from Ceilidhs to cake baking, plant sales and plum pudding sales.

Also in support of the 175th anniversary celebrations we are launching our “£175 for 175” appeal. Any friend or supporter of the Society may, if they wish, contribute by Gift Aid, either by single donation or by monthly standing order. All donors will be acknowledged in our souvenir brochure commemorating the 175th season and will receive a complimentary copy.

Further details from Adrian Lee on 01484 450321 or e-mail adrian.lee@huddersfieldchoral.com P A G E

EVENTS

❑ Saturday 15th May 2010 Ceilidh at Holmfirth Civic Hall ❑ Saturday 29th May 2010 Plant sale at the home of Sir John Harman We look forward to welcoming you at all of the above events. Do keep looking at the special 175th anniversary page on our website at www.huddersfieldchoral.com or contact Jenny Lockwood on 01484 666827 or email david.lockwood@huddersfieldchoral.com

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JUNIOR CHOIRS One of the best Young Choirs in the North of England . . . Well established – Well known

TELEPHONE

CLASS WINNERS at both the Haydn Wood and MRS SUNDERLAND MUSIC FESTIVALS Children's, Senior’s, Young People's & Small Choirs' Classes ‘A memorable performance by a very fine choir’ Adjudicator Gordon Stewart - Nov. 2008 Established in 1986, the Choirs' performances have included singing in BBC TV Songs of Praise, making CD recordings with the Senior Choir; appearing with - the World Famous African Children's Choir; at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield and also by invitation at the National Festival of Music for Youth.

07900 277889 • Why not have a singing lesson from a professional musical HAYES Design & Media: 5 Butts Lane, director at rehearsal each week? • Middlestown, Wakefield WF4 4PL Places available in the Choirs NOW! Rearsals are each Wednesday evening in Almondbury, Huddersfield Young Voices for ages 7 to 13 from 5.45 to 7.30 pm Chamber Choir for ages 13 to 21 from 7.45 to 9.30 pm Youth Choir for ages 13 to 21 from 7.45 to 9.30 pm Members are taken into the Choirs at all times of year. For details about the choir, auditions or coming to a rehearsal contact

• Susan Wilkinson 01924 404737

Concerts coming up

susan.wilkinson@huddersfieldchoral.com •

• Why not become part of these exciting concerts yourself? •

For ALL ticket or other information TELEPHONE contact Carole Kain on 01484 301610 07900 277889 Look on the website for up-to-date information / photos 5 Buttswww.huddersfieldchoral.com Lane, Middlestown, Wakefield WF4 4PL

• Sat 28 Nov 2009 - 7.15 pm - Batley Methodist Church • • Sun 13 December 2009 - 3.30 pm - St Joseph’s Church, Aspley, Hudds. •

More and more young people are singing now.

You've seen 'Last Choir Standing' - why not come and sing yourself?

Singing is uplifting, motivating and helps with your school work!

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With the compliments of

The Wilkinson Building Co., (Leeds) Ltd. Apsley House Leeds Concourse House Telephone: 0113 284 26 31 P A G E

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Huddersfield Choral Society Conductor Laureate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MARTYN BRABBINS Chorus Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JOSEPH CULLEN Deputy Chorus Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DARIUS BATTIWALLA Accompanist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .DANIEL GORDON Deputy Accompanist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MALCOLM HINCHLIFFE Agent: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PATRICK GARVEY (Tel 01904 621222)

OFFICIALS AND COMMITTEE President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .BRENDA MOSLEY Vice President . . . . . . . . . . . . .CONRAD WINTERBURN General Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JIM COWELL Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ADRIAN LEE Choir Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . ANDREA CRAWSHAW Subscribers’ Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JULIE HALE Sponsorship Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . .TONY BOOTH Programme Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . DAVID LOCKWOOD Recruitment Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . GAYNOR HALIDAY Publicity Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JIM COWELL Music Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DAVID BURGESS Associates Members’ Secretary . . . . . JEAN PARKER Archivist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MALCOLM HINCHLIFFE

Members’ Representatives Janet Booth David Croft David Gee Hilary McLean Jane Sargent Mark A Taylor Sue Turnbull Subscribers’ Representatives Helen Marshall Cynthia Pratt Honorary Life Members Mr. R. Barraclough DL Mr. H. Clough Mr. J. D. Haywood DL Mr. K. Rothery Mr. G. Slater

HUDDERSFIELD CHORAL SOCIETY 13 Railway Street, Huddersfield Tel: 01484 519999 www.huddersfieldchoral.com

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2009 - 2010 Season

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