MYTHS & RITUALS: STRAVINSKY FOR ENSEMBLE Thursday 23 June 2016, 7.30pm Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall
MYTHS & RITUALS: STRAVINSKY FOR ENSEMBLE Thursday 23 June 2016, 7.30pm Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall Part of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s Stravinsky: Myths & Rituals series supported by Vincent Meyer. Programme: Fanfare for a New Theatre
(1’)
Dominic Hammett trumpet (MPerf 2) Adam Stockbridge trumpet (MPerf 1) *** 3 Pieces for Solo Clarinet
(5’)
No 1 Sempre piano e molto tranquillo: ♩ = 52 No 2 ♪ = 168 No 3 ♪ = 160 Melissa Youngs clarinet (BMus 2) *** Sonata for Two Pianos
(10’)
i. Moderato ii. Theme with Variations 1-4 iii. Allegretto Tamila Salimdjanova piano (BMus 4) Aleksei Demchenko piano (MPerf 1) *** Concertino for Piano Duet Isabel Lee piano (MMus 1) Jingjing Wan piano (MMus 1)
(6’)
*** Octet
(14’)
i. Sinfonia: Lento - Allegro moderato ii. Tema con Variazioni: Andantino iii. Finale: Tempo giusto Asier Puga conductor (MPerf 2) Nick Walker trumpet (BMus 2) Jaymee Coonjobeeharry flute (MPerf 1) Tamsin Cowell trumpet (MMus 2) Tim Ieraci clarinet (MPerf 1) Ross Johnson trombone (BMus 2) Kristina Hedley bassoon (BMus 4) Andrew Crampton bass trombone (MPerf 1) Pedro Merchán bassoon (BMus 4) INTERVAL OF 15 MINUTES Histoire du soldat Suite (The Soldier’s Tale Suite)
(15’)
i. Marche du Soldat ii. Le Violon du Soldat (Scène du Soldat au russeau) iii. Petit Concert iv. Tango-Valse-Rag v. Danse du Diable Djumash Durusaliev violin (BMus 4) Melissa Youngs clarinet (BMus 2) Wilford Goh piano (BMus 2) *** 3 movements from Petrushka
i. Danse russe ii. Chez Petrushka iii. La semaine grasse Zherard Aymonche piano (MPerf 2)
(16’)
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) Igor Stravinsky’s compositional career was notable for its variety, exploring different instrument combinations, genres and musical styles. This diversity is often attributed to his travels after leaving Russia permanently in 1914, and it is certainly true that the art and music Stravinsky was exposed to, both in Europe and in America, had an immense cultural impact upon his own work. But of equal importance was the vigour and enthusiasm with which the composer himself approached experimentation. Instead of finding his ‘mature compositional voice’ and constraining himself to a fixed style, Stravinsky embraced and experimented with new compositional techniques and tastes until the end of his life. It was no doubt this taste for innovation which appealed to the impresario of the Ballets Russes Sergei Diaghilev, who hired the young composer to write music for The Firebird after the more established Anatoly Lyadov proved unreliable. This was the start of an artistic connection which would last until Diaghilev’s death, and an enduring affinity with the ballet which remained with Stravinsky for the rest of his own life. One often overlooked aspect of Stravinsky’s association with the Ballets Russes is his relationship with the choreographer George Balanchine. Diaghilev introduced the two in 1925, when Stravinsky was 42 and Balanchine just 20, a young Georgian dancer from St Petersburg, who had joined up with the Ballets Russes after fleeing Russia with a group of colleagues. This introduction was to result in a lifelong friendship and an extraordinarily fruitful artistic relationship, with Balanchine choreographing a total of 40 ballets to Stravinsky’s music. Intellectually, the two shared many interests – both were well-read in the classics and favoured order, structure and clarity in their own creations. Furthermore, each was intensely interested in the other’s discipline: an entirely new experience for Stravinsky, whose collaborations with choreographers had been frustratingly one-sided up until this point. Both composer and choreographer emigrated to the United States before the Second World War, enabling the two to continue to work together as Stravinsky established himself as a leading composer in America and Balanchine founded the New York City Ballet. In 1964, Balanchine’s company gained its own theatre and Stravinsky wrote a fanfare which was performed at the opening ceremony, Fanfare for a New Theatre. This work is one of Stravinsky’s major miniatures, taking under a minute to perform and being written for two trumpets, which in the original performance were positioned on either side of the balcony at the hall’s entrance. Despite the piece’s
small scale, its musical structure is complex, incorporating canonic textures and use of a 12-note tone row, which is presented symmetrically. This was not the first time that Stravinsky had written music on such a small scale. In his early years, he had gained notoriety for his large-scale orchestral works; in particular The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring. Perhaps with this last he felt that he had taken orchestral composition to its limit, since for the next five years he turned his attention almost exclusively to miniatures and works scored for just a handful of musicians. The culmination of this experiment was L’Histoire du Soldat, or The Soldier’s Tale; but Stravinsky’s minimalistic scoring reached its extreme in the three miniatures which serve as its footnote. The Three Pieces for Clarinet were written for the amateur clarinettist Walter Reinhart, whose family fortune had financed the first production of L’Histoire du Soldat in September 1918. These three short monologues are among the most notable early 20th century works for solo clarinet. The first explores the instrument’s low register, whilst the second serves as Stravinsky’s imitation of improvisation – he had recently heard live jazz for the first time. The third piece returns to the tango and ragtime of L’Histoire du Soldat, reflecting one of the composer’s major stylistic preoccupations of this period. The Sonata for Two Pianos is unusual among Stravinsky’s works, in that it was not commissioned and appears to have gone through several different incarnations before reaching its eventual form. It appears that in August 1942, he had begun orchestrating the first movement of the piece, possibly contemplating a film score. What would eventually become the sonata’s third movement came a few months later, but at that point the composer was obliged to take a break due to other commissions. When he finally resumed work on the piece in October 1943, Stravinsky seems to have decided that the long lines of the piece were more suited to piano duo than an orchestral ensemble, and the Sonata for Two Pianos was the final result. The work provides a continuation of Stravinsky’s development of a breezy, jazz-influenced American style – although ironically, the Theme with Variations movement is based on a song from a book of Russian ballads and folksongs that Stravinsky found in a second-hand bookshop in Hollywood. However, this was not the first instance of Stravinsky adapting a work for piano duo. In 1920 he had revised a string quartet for piano four-hands – the Concertino for string quartet, described in his memoirs as ‘a piece in one single movement, treated in the form of a free sonata allegro with a definitely concertante part for the first violin’. The reduction for piano duet follows the original piece closely, the concertante
violin being represented by a florid treble part and the bass taking on an accompanimental role. The Octet for woodwind and brass instruments was composed just three years later, but marked an important stylistic transition in Stravinsky’s career. Because of its dry woodwind sonorities and Stravinsky’s rather self-conscious use of ‘classical’ forms for each of the three movements, the piece is generally seen as the beginning of Stravinsky’s neo-classical period. Perhaps its most overt allusion to the musical past is the second movement, a theme with variations which closely resembles the slow movement of Mozart’s K482 Piano Concerto in E flat major – Stravinsky admitted in a letter to the conductor Ernest Ansermet that he was inspired by Mozart while composing this movement. The third movement is based upon the rhythm of a khorovod, a Russian circle-dance which Stravinsky had used in both The Firebird and The Rite of Spring. Here, however, the round-dance is transformed into a far more classically-styled instrumental rondo. Unsurprisingly, the Parisian audiences were horrified by Stravinsky’s abrupt, seemingly inexplicable desertion of his established neo-primitivism, with one critic lamenting what he described as the composer’s “descent into a mess of 18th-century mannerisms”. Yet only a year later, the Octet was well-received at the 1924 Salzburg Festival, and from then on became a staple concert piece. By the time the Octet was composed, Stravinsky was already experienced in writing for smaller ensembles. In 1918, financial difficulties had led Stravinsky and the novelist C F Ramuz to conjure up a portable staged musical work, one which could be performed in virtually any space, requiring only seven instrumentalists and a handful of actors. The result was L’Histoire du Soldat, a work which Stravinsky later claimed to represent his ‘final break with the Russian orchestral school’. It follows a traditional French tale of a fiddling soldier who makes a bargain with the Devil for his violin, featuring the additional character of a Princess for variety (a role created for the Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova, with whom Stravinsky had an enduring and complex romantic attachment). This trio for violin, clarinet and piano comprises five movements from the full suite, and remains wonderfully effective in conveying the ragtime and tango flavours of the original. Two years after making this adaptation, Stravinsky was approached by the concertpianist Arthur Rubsinstein, who requested an arrangement of another stage work – the ballet Petrushka. The eventual result of this collaboration was the 3 movements from Petrushka, three numbers which amount to slightly less than half of the full ballet score.
The opening Danse russe is the music to which Petrushka and the other puppets dance after being brought to life by the magician. The second movement Chez Petrushka, was the first music Stravinsky wrote in his original conception of the score for piano and orchestra. In both these first two movements, the piano part has largely been lifted directly from this version of the ballet; however the third movement, La semaine grasse represents a true piano reduction of orchestral textures and sonorities. Stravinsky’s re-conception of this sequence of carnival dances is so successfully achieved that the excitement and variety of colour found in the original are equally present in this version for piano. Although Stravinsky can in many ways be seen as a composer in perpetual transition, his compositional oeuvre is nevertheless bound together by two constants: his engagement with the ballet as a musical form, and his experimental writing for small chamber ensembles. Although these two musical interests are in a sense far removed from each other, they are in several instances drawn together by Stravinsky’s third enduring compositional trait: the capacity to revisit and reconceive his musical past, demonstrated by the many chamber ensemble transcriptions he made of his own orchestral works. Š Isobel Clarke, Doctoral Programme Year D3
Dominic Hammett Dominic started to play the trumpet at the age of eight at his home in Cambridge. At the age of 13, he was offered a place at the Guildhall School of Music Junior Department, before studying for a Bachelor of Music at the Royal College of Music, where he is now studying for a Master of Performance. He performs regularly with orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra and BBC Symphony Orchestra and has appeared at the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican and Symphony Hall in Birmingham. Dominic currently studies with Alistair Mackie, Alan Thomas, Jason Evans and Mark Calder and is very grateful to be an RCM Scholar supported by a Soirée d’Or Award, a Douglas and Hilda Simmonds Award and the Bishop Laney's Charity. Adam Stockbridge Adam Stockbridge comes from Skipton, North Yorkshire and first started learning trumpet at the age of eight. Adam joined the RCM in 2011 and has found success with his chamber group Kensington Brass. Now a postgraduate, he is an Ian Evans Lombe Scholar and is also supported by a Henry Wood Award and Help Musicians UK Postgraduate Award. He has taken part in masterclasses by Matthias Höfs, Rod Franks, John Miller, Pierre Dutot and Rex Richardson. As well as playing principal trumpet in a number of RCM orchestral concerts, Adam has played in rehearsals with the orchestras for English National Opera and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 2013 Adam played solo trumpet in Copland’s Quiet City, conducted by John Wilson, and in 2015 was the recipient of the RCM Trumpet Prize. Adam is now the principal trumpet of Orpheus Sinfonia and has recently played with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Melissa Youngs Melissa is a second year undergraduate at the RCM, studying with Tim Lines and Barnaby Robson. She has performed with RCM Symphony and Philharmonic orchestras, and numerous London student orchestras at venues including Cadogan Hall. She is also a keen chamber musician, playing regularly with the Ottakar Piano Trio, and recently as part of a clarinet quartet in the memorial concert for renowned clarinettist, Jack McCaw. Melissa is an RCM Award Holder, generously supported by a Douglas & Hilda Simmonds Award.
Tamila Salimdjanova Uzbek pianist Tamila Salimdjanova was born in Tashkent and began her studies at the Uspensky Music School with Tamara Popovich. She made her orchestral debut at the age of nine with the National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan. In 2007 Salimdjanova entered the Moscow Central School of Music and continued her education at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. She is currently studying in Moscow and at the RCM with Dmitri Alexeev thanks to the generous support of the Future of Russia Scholarship and a Lee Abbey Award. Salimdjanova has also been supported by Spivakov’s International Charitable Fund, the Russian Performing Arts Fund and the Transmashholding Organisation. Tamila won first prize and audience award at the highly prestigious Brazilian Development Bank International Piano Competition in 2012 and the Massarosa International Piano Competition a year later. Since then, she has performed with Orquestra Sinfônica da Bahia, and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Morocco, in venues including Sala São Paulo, the Theatre Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, and Teatro Castro Alves in Salvador. She has also appeared at the Radio France Festival in Montpellier, Festival Pianos Folies du Touquet-Paris-Plage and Festival de Inverno Campos do Jordão. Aleksei Demchenko Aleksei Demchenko was born in 1989 in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. In 1998 he moved to Kaliningrad, where he studied at the Shostakovich Music School under the tutelage of Sadovskaya Olga. In 2004 he continued his education at the Rachmaninoff College of Music in Kaliningrad where he studies with Vladimir Slobodyan. He then began studies at the Moscow P I Tchaikovsky Conservatory under the tutelage of Irina Osipova. He is currently studying for a Master of performance under the tutelage of Dmitri Alexeev at the RCM. Competition success include first prizes at the Città di Moncalieri Competition 2014 in Moncalieri, Italy, Piano Voce 2013 in Moscow, Russia and the Gradus ad Parnassum 2007 in Kaunus, Lithuania. Jingjing Wan Jingjing Wan was born in Xinjiang, China. In 2009 she was awarded the Lee Foundation Talent Scholarship from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore under the tutelage of Yu Chun Yee. In 2012 she won second prize in the open category of the Ars Nova International Piano Competition held in Singapore. In 2013 she was awarded second prize in the Artist Category in
the National Violin and Piano Competition in Singapore. She has performed Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no 1 with Metropolitan Festival Orchestra, and was praised by Singapore Straits Times as a "rock solid pianist". Jingjing has performed the Yellow River Piano Concerto and Chopin’s Piano Concerto no 1 as a soloist with the NAFA Orchestra. She has been studying towards a Master of Music in Performance degree at the RCM since 2015 under the tutelage of Gordon Thompson. Isabel Lee Isabel Lee was born in Taiwan in 1993 and began to learn the piano at the age of five. At the age of 15, Isabel entered the Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University and studied with Jiawei Zhong. Yun has taken part in many competitions including the Seidof Musical Competition winning second prize in 2009 and the National Competition of Baroque winning first prize in 2010. In 2011 she moved to the UK to continue her undergraduate studies at Birmingham Conservatoire with a scholarship. There she took part in masterclasses with Reinier van Houdt, Tim Horton, Martin Jones and Roy Howat and performed regularly, including at the Debussy Festival. In 2015 Isabel moved to London and is currently studying at the RCM with Julian Jacobson in the first year of a Master’s degree. Asier Puga Asier Puga trained as an orchestra conductor with Peter Stark, Howard Williams and Robin O’Neill at the Royal College of Music, and with Arturo Tamayo, Manel Valdivieso and Enrique García Asensio at the Higher School of Music of the Basque Country (Musikene). Asier has conducted the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, RCM Philharmonic, RCM Symphonic Orchestra, Classical Orchestra of Lanzarote, explorensemble, Croydon Youth Orchestra and RCM New Ensemble. Asier has performed in several renowned festivals including the San Sebastián Musical Fortnight, Carmelo Bernaola Music Festival and SMASH International Music Festival. In 2014 Asier made his debut as opera conductor with Haydn’s Armida and in 2015 he conducted the premiere of Michael Oliva’s Singularity. Due to his great interest in contemporary music, Asier has conducted the premiere of 30 new works. He is Music and Artistic Director of Ciklus Ensemble. Future engagements include concerts with Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra, Ciklus Ensemble, Suffolk Sinfonia, Symphonic Wind Band of Vitoria-Gasteiz, and London Sinfonietta Academy.
Jaymee Coonjobeeharry Jaymee is in his first year studying for a Master of Performance degree with Paul Edmund-Davies and Daniel Pailthorpe, as an RCM Scholar and generously supported by a Help Musicians UK Leggett Award, a Leverhulme Postgraduate Studentship and the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. At the RCM, he has played in masterclasses with Sir James Galway and Adam Walker, and performed under the baton of John Wilson as principal flute. As a concerto soloist, Jaymee's recent performances include Ibert's Flute Concerto and Vivaldi's La Notte with the Zeitgeist Chamber Orchestra and the premiere of a flute concerto, Candy Nebula, with the Asyla Ensemble, written for him by Hamish Brown. After eight years at the Royal College of Music Junior Department studying with Margaret Ogonovsky, Jaymee graduated from Hertford College, Oxford in 2015 with a first class Master’s degree in chemistry. Alongside his studies, he learnt the flute with Michael Cox and Robert Manasse. Tim Ieraci Tim Ieraci is a RCM Scholar supported by a Wilkins-Mackerras Award and a Sir Arthur Bliss Memorial Award. He holds a Bachelor of Music Performance from the Victorian College of the Arts. He is a member of the Central Band of the Royal Air Force where he performs regularly for royalty and heads of state and has appeared as a soloist on numerous occasions. Upcoming highlights include touring to his hometown of Melbourne, Australia. Kristina Hedley Kristina Hedley is due to graduate from RCM this summer after studying with Martin Gatt, Julie Price and Wouter Verschuren (period classical bassoon). She looks forward to returning to the RCM in September to study the Master of Performance course. She considers herself lucky enough to have had the opportunity to take part in the English National Opera 'Evolve' scheme over the last year. She looks forward to taking part in the British Isles Music Festival and the Mozart Wind Project with the Syrinx group (period instruments) over the summer. Prior to studying at the RCM Kristina served in the Royal Marines Band Service for 6 years where she enjoyed a happy and varied career.
Pedro Merchán Pedro Merchán Correas is a fourth year student at the RCM, supported by an ABRSM Scholarship, the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund and winner of the President Award 2016. He is studying both bassoon, taught by Andrea di Flammineis and Julie Price, and composition with Michael Oliva. Pedro started to play the bassoon at the age of eight when he entered the Centro Integrado de Enseñanzas Musicales Padre Antonio Soler in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain, where he studied until the age of 18. On graduating he moved to London to attend the RCM. At the RCM he has been involved with the Symphony, Philharmonic and Chamber orchestras and the Variable Geometry ensemble, in addition to a recent solo recital at the Foundling Museum. He has also taken part in the Contemporary Music in Creation workshops as a composer, where he premiered his drum and bass inspired piece last year. Pedro premiered his latest piece †.7 KAOS Estudio de electrónica no 5 for ensemble, soloist electronics and performance, in the From the Soundhouse concert series at the RCM. He is currently composing the next in the series of his KAOS pieces. Nick Walker Nick Walker is an undergraduate student at the RCM studying trumpet with Alistair Mackie and Jason Evans, and natural trumpet with Paul Sharp. He is an RCM Foundation Scholar supported by an Ian Evans Lombe Scholarship. From Leeds, Nick began learning trumpet aged nine, and soon joined the Clifton and Lightcliffe brass band, becoming principal cornet shortly after. Nick then joined the Rothwell Temperance Band, and has since had the chance to play with bands such as Black Dyke, as well as being a member of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain since the age of 12. Nick has performed at venues including Symphony Hall, the Bridgewater Hall and the Royal Albert Hall at the BBC Proms. Nick has also performed in many solo competitions, most notably qualifying for the Harry Mortimer Concerto Final in 2014. Since studying at the RCM, Nick has been involved in a wide range of performance opportunities, such as with the Symphony Orchestra, New Perspectives ensemble and Big Band. Tamsin Cowell Tamsin will complete her Masters of Music degree at the RCM this summer, having graduated with a Bachelor of Arts at the University of York. She will then pursue her career as a freelance musician, encompassing performing,
teaching and various community projects. Tamsin has a keen interest in historical performance as well as modern trumpet playing, focussing on the natural trumpet and cornetto. She is also keen to train as an Alexander technique teacher. Ross Johnson Ross Johnson, from Shropshire, is a second year undergraduate trombone student at the RCM and is an Ian Evans Lombe Scholar. He studies with Lindsay Shilling and has performed many times with the RCM Philharmonic. He is also looking forward to playing in the RCM Big Band on the 10 July as part of the Festival of Percussion. Andrew Crampton Andrew is currently studying for a Masters in Performance at the RCM with David Stewart and Amos Miller. His musical career first began at the age of nine when introduced to the cornet but progressed over the years onto the bass trombone. Andrew graduated from the University of Salford gaining a first class degree in Music and winning the Roy Newsome Conducting Award, the Goff Richards Ensemble Prize twice, and the Kirklees composition competition award. Andrew has played with some of the world’s finest musicians and conductors whilst at the RCM. Andrew hopes that his freelance career continues to flourish in and amongst London’s musical scene. Djumash Durusaliev Djumash James Durusaliev is a Kyrgyz born British violinist. He attended the Yehudi Menuhin School at the age of 13 to study with Lutsia Ibragimova and Natalia Boyarsky. He now studies with Natalia Lomeiko at the RCM. Djumash has won several competitions such as the Kyrgyz Republic National Competition in 2001 and 2002, and was awarded a violin from the Spivakov Foundation in 2000. He was also awarded the opportunity to play as part of Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble aged eight. Djumash attended the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove in 2014 and the Santander Music Festival 2015. He has been awarded the English-Speaking Union Music Scholarship 2015. Djumash is the recipient of the prestigious Knights of the Round Table Award, which he was kindly selected for by the RCM.
Wilford Goh Wilford Goh began his musical studies at the age of three in Singapore, and later went on to study both the piano and violin at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in the School of Young Talents department. Whilst there, he won many prizes including first prize at the Yamaha Piano Competition, third prize in the Senior Violin category of the National Piano and Violin Competition, second prize at the F J Benjamin-NAFA SYT Music Competition (piano), and performed regularly at the Academy’s concerts and events. He has served as second violin, concertmaster, and pianist in the Orchestra of the Music Makers (Singapore), and Wilford is the first violinist of the Cairdeas Quartet. Wilford is currently a second year undergraduate at the RCM as a joint principal study student of piano and violin. A Wall Trust Scholar supported by an Alida Johnson Award, he is studying with Niel Immelman and Jan Repko. Wilford plays on a 1928 Carlo Carletti violin on generous loan to him by the Rin Collection. Zherard Aymonche Zherard Aymonche is studying at both the RCM with Norma Fisher as a Neville Wathen Scholar supported by a John & Marjorie Coultate Award and the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Sergey Dorensky. Zherard is a prizewinner of international competitions including the Grieg International Piano Competition; the Maria Yudina International Competition of Young Pianists, Piano Duets, and Chamber Ensembles; the Nikolai Rubinstein International Competition for Young Musicians; the Chappell Medal Competition and Schumann Prize Award (London); the American Protégé Romantic Music Competition (New York); and the Guzik Foundation Award (San Francisco). He has performed in venues including Carnegie Hall, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, the Kremlin Armoury, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and has performed several times with the State Symphony Orchestra of Moscow and the Kaliningrad Chamber Orchestra.
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