Tuesdays at 7.30pm
The Venue Quarry Hill, Leeds
Welcome to the Leeds International Chamber Season 2012/13! It has been a huge privilege, not to mention a voyage of discovery for me personally, to be able to programme this season. When I was first asked to be involved with an American themed programme, I immediately leapt to all of the usual suspects – Glass, Adams and Dvořák – but then I started to think, what if we focussed on the lesser known composers and connections? I’ve always loved to combine the familiar with the less familiar as there is so much unheard but amazing music out there. The result is this – six concerts with compositions by familiar, well loved names such as Haydn, Messiaen, Delius and Piazzolla, interspersed with those of Ruggles, Knell and Varèse. I should like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the organising and planning of the whole programme, all of the artists involved and most importantly, all of you who come to the concerts and give us the opportunity to play for you! I hope that these programmes will take you on a journey of discovery, and that you love them as much as I do. Chloë Hanslip Artistic Director
Photo © B Ealovega
2 October 2012
6 November 2012
11 December 2012
Chloë Hanslip violin and Friends
Galliard Ensemble
Chloë Hanslip violin Danny Driver piano Oliver Coates cello Matthew Hunt clarinet
Vivaldi The Four Seasons Piazzolla The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires
We open this season’s exploration of American chamber music with two alternative views of the four seasons, one from the Baroque era in the northern hemisphere and one from the twentieth century and the southern hemisphere. Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni were composed in 1723 inspired by four sonnets, one for each season, possibly written by Vivaldi himself. They are some of the earliest examples of programme music, featuring dazzling representations of raindrops, buzzing flies, storms and barking dogs. Piazzolla’s Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas were written separately over five years as a celebration of tango and Buenos Aires. They evoke the differing moods and atmospheres of the seasons through emotional range and depth of feeling rather than through the scene-painting of Vivaldi.
Barber Summer Music for Wind Quintet Ravel Tombeau de Couperin for Wind Quintet Stravinsky Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet Irving Fine Partita for Wind Quintet Varèse Density 21.5 for Solo Flute David Lang Breathless for Wind Quintet Milhaud Suite: La Cheminée du Roi René for Wind Quintet Jim Parker Mississippi Five for Wind Quintet The Galliard Ensemble’s programme of wind music illustrates the intermingling of styles and influences that took place between America and Europe. Stravinsky spent a great deal of time in France and later America and the third movement of his Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet has a jazzy ragtime feel to it. Irving Fine is just one of many American composers who travelled to Europe to study composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and his Partita for Wind Quintet shows influences of Stravinsky’s Neo-classicism. Varèse and Milhaud, both Frenchmen, travelled in the opposite direction and spent much of their lives in America – Varèse developing the use of electronic instruments and Milhaud teaching many of the younger generation of American composers including Reich and Glass.
Ruggles Mood for violin and piano Ives Piano Trio Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time
Carl Ruggles was an experimental American composer of short works leaving thousands of compositional sketches, some of which were realised and completed by his friend and editor John Kirkpatrick. As a violinist himself it is surprising that the atmospheric Mood is Ruggles’ only work for violin and piano. Ives was also an experimentalist and a modernist, working with polytonality, polyrhythms and aleatoric music years in advance of the European modernists. His Piano Trio of 1904 –11, a reflection of his student days at Yale, features experiments with form in the first movement and polytonality in the second. Ultimately though, it is a lyrical piece infused, as many of his works were, with American folk, fraternity and popular songs. Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time features simply some of the most ethereally beautiful music of the 20th Century.
22 January 2013
12 February 2013
Christian Immler baritone Chloë Hanslip violin Danny Driver piano Danny Driver piano Barber Hermit Songs Eisler Selection from: The Hollywood Songbook Korngold Songs of the Clown Bernstein Three songs: – So Pretty – Oif Mayn Khas’neh – Piccola Serenata Carter Three Poems of Robert Frost Porter Songs
Delius Sonata in B Op Posth Korngold Suite: Much Ado About Nothing Gershwin/Heifetz Selections from: Porgy and Bess Bloch Violin Sonata No 1
Christian Immler and Danny Driver’s recital showcases the great range of styles associated with American song. Representing the classic song cycle are Barber’s Hermit Songs and Korngold’s Songs of the Clown, based on texts from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and written at the height of his Hollywood film score success. Eisler’s Hollywood Songbook features songs with influences from Classical Schubert song cycles to serialism and cabaret, whilst Bernstein’s Oif Mayn Khas’neh (At My Wedding) is a dismemberment of the Jewish klezmer style. Cole Porter was one of the most prolific songwriters for the musical theatre stage on Broadway, noted for his style, wit and sophistication.
Korngold’s suite of incidental music for Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing was originally composed for chamber orchestra in 1918 – 19. Quickly arranged for violin and piano the music contains hints of the imaginative tone colour, melody and harmonic depth that would later be seen in his film scores. Heifetz was a good friend of Gershwin and his affection for the material is evident in his arrangements of songs from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. They retain all the character of the original songs, but with the addition of virtuosic elements such as double-stopping and jazzy flourishes to showcase Heifetz’s performing style. Bloch was born in Switzerland in 1880 but settled in America in 1916. He wrote his First Violin Sonata in 1920 soon after the First World War. Bloch described his sonata as representing ‘the world as it is: the frantic struggle of blind and primordial forces’.
12 March 2013
Doric String Quartet Haydn String Quartet Op 20, No 3 Peter Knell String Quartet No 2 (Three American Landscapes) Korngold String Quartet No 3
The final concert of the season features a quartet from Haydn’s Op 20 – the set of six quartets that earned Haydn the title ‘father of the string quartet’ and which cemented the form and style of the string quartet as we know it – alongside a new quartet from young American composer Peter Knell. Korngold’s Third Quartet was written in 1945 and features a number of themes from his film scores including, The Sea Wolf and Between Two Worlds. Since 1938 the Austro-Hungarian composer had been living and working in America, composing exclusively for film, having abandoned Europe due to increasing anti-Semitism. By 1945 he was becoming disillusioned with Hollywood and was eager to begin writing for the concert hall once more. His Third Quartet heralds the beginning of his return to non-film composing and after sections of agitation, then nostalgia, ultimately ends with a sense of jubilation and hope.
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There is a lift at the front of the building to The Venue and disabled toilets in the foyer area. Patrons with disabilities and their essential carers may obtain two tickets for the price of one – via the LICS Essential Carer Scheme – details from the Box Office 0113 224 3801. Support dogs are welcome. Please let us know when booking of any special access requirements you may have.
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The Venue is equipped with an infra-red system for the hard of hearing.
The Venue
Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2 7PD
There is a designated disabled car park beside Leeds College of Music which has spaces for at least ten cars.
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Leeds International Concert Season Leeds Town Hall, The Headrow, Leeds, LS1 3AD General Enquiries: 0113 247 8336 Email: music@leeds.gov.uk Whilst every effort is made to avoid changes, Leeds International Concert Season reserves the right to change artists and programmes without notice if unavoidable.
Booking dates 9 July: For existing chamber subscribers
Please note: this is a separate subscription from the Endellion String Quartet series.
Requests for seat changes by existing subscribers will be processed on a first-come-first-served basis from 23 – 27 July and can be returned to the Box Office any time from 9 July. 30 July: For new subscribers 18 August: General booking
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