SCO Wind Soloists tour – Summer Tour 23 – Programme note

Summer Tour 23 | SCO Wind Soloists

BOHEMIAN DANCES

7-10 June 2023

Season 2022/23

BOHEMIAN

DANCES

WITH SCO WIND SOLOISTS

With special thanks to Summer Tour sponsors

Eriadne and George Mackintosh, Claire and Anthony Tait and The Jones Family Charitable Trust

Wednesday 7 June, 7.30pm Village Hall, Braemar

Thursday 8 June, 7.30pm Village Hall, Fort Augustus

Friday 9 June, 7.30pm St John’s Cathedral, Oban

Saturday 10 June, 7.30pm Birnam Arts Centre

Dvořák (arr. Clements) Slavonic Dance, Op 46 No 8

Haydn London Trio No 1 in C major

Janáček Mládí

Interval of 20 minutes

d’Indy Chanson et Danses, Op 50

Dvorák (arr. Sheen) Czech Suite in D major, Op 39

SCO Wind Soloists

The Birnam concert is with

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is a charity registered in Scotland No. SC015039. Company registration No. SC075079.

Su-a Lee Sub-Principal Cello

THE SIR CHARLES MACKERRAS CIRCLE

Leave the Gift of Music

Former SCO Conductor Laureate Sir Charles Mackerras had the vision to help the SCO by leaving the legacy of his royalty payments from his SCO recordings in perpetuity. We remember him with the utmost respect, fondness and gratitude.

As a small way to show our appreciation, we have created The Sir Charles Mackerras Circle for those who wish to pledge making legacy gift to benefit the SCO.

To recognise their generosity during their lifetime, circle members will be invited to an annual behind-the-scenes event to hear about how legacies are helping to make incredible live music accessible to as many people as possible.

To learn more about the Sir Charles Mackerras Circle, contact Mary at mary.clayton@sco.org.uk or call 0131 478 8369

Thank You PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR'S CIRCLE

Our Principal Conductor’s Circle is made up of individuals who are a special part of our musical family. Their commitment and generosity benefit us all – musicians, audiences and creative learning participants alike.

American Development Fund

Erik Lars Hansen and Vanessa C L Chang

Annual Fund

James and Patricia Cook

Hedley G Wright

International Touring Fund

Gavin and Kate Gemmell

Productions Fund

The Usher Family

Bill and Celia Carman

Anny and Bobby White

Scottish Touring Fund

Eriadne and George Mackintosh

Claire and Anthony Tait

Visiting Artists Fund

Colin and Sue Buchan

Harry and Carol Nimmo

Anne and Matthew Richards

CHAIR SPONSORS

Conductor Emeritus Joseph Swensen

Donald and Louise MacDonald

Chorus Director Gregory Batsleer

Anne McFarlane

Principal Second Violin

Marcus Barcham Stevens

Jo and Alison Elliot

Principal Viola Max Mandel

Kenneth and Martha Barker

Viola Steve King

Sir Ewan and Lady Brown

Principal Cello Philip Higham

The Thomas Family

Cello Donald Gillan

Professor Sue Lightman

Cello Eric de Wit

Jasmine Macquaker Charitable Fund

Principal Double Bass Nikita Naumov

Caroline Hahn and Richard Neville-Towle

Principal Flute André Cebrián

Claire and Mark Urquhart

Principal Oboe Robin Williams

Hedley G Wright

Principal Clarinet Maximiliano Martín

Stuart and Alison Paul

Principal Bassoon Cerys Ambrose-Evans

Claire and Anthony Tait

Principal Timpani Louise Lewis Goodwin

Geoff and Mary Ball

Our Musicians YOUR SCO WIND SOLOISTS

Flute

André Cebrián

Marta Gómez

Piccolo

André Cebrián

Oboe

Robin Williams

Katherine Bryer

Clarinet

Maximiliano Martín

William Stafford

Bass Clarinet

William Stafford

Bassoon

Paul Boyes

Alison Green

Horn

Chris Gough

Jamie Shield

Information correct at the time of going to print

André Cebrián Principal Flute

WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO HEAR

Dvořák (1841-1904)

Slavonic Dance, Op 46 No 8 (1878)

arr. Clements

Furiant: Presto

Haydn (1732-1809)

London Trio No 1 in C major (1794)

Allegro moderato

Andante

Finale Vivace

Janáček (1854 –1928)

Mládí (1924)

I. Allegro

II. Andante sostenuto

III. Vivace

IV. Allegro animato

d’Indy (1851-1931)

Chanson et Danses, Op 50 (1898)

Chanson

Danses

Dvořák (1841-1904)

Czech Suite in D major, Op 39 (1879)

arr. Sheen

Preludium (Pastorale)

Polka

Sousedská (Minuet)

Romance

Finale (Furiant)

Vibrant dance rhythms – sometimes rustic, sometimes refined – propel us forward through the rich selection of music in tonight’s concert, with the emphasis firmly on the pungent flavours of central Europe. What better place to start, then, than with a Slavonic Dance by Antonín Dvořák?

Despite their title, however, there’s little that’s particularly Slavic about the two collections of dances that Dvořák composed between 1878 and 1885. In his first collection, at least – of which today’s Dance forms the energetic finale – Dvořák looked closer to home for inspiration, to the Bohemian folk music that he’d known since his childhood. Not that he stole any folk tunes directly: the Dances are entirely Dvořák’s own work, even if their Bohemian musical accent is strong.

The Slavonic Dances were originally conceived as a kind of follow-up to the equally well-known Hungarian Dances by Dvořák’s great friend and supporter Johannes Brahms. Brahms had recommended Dvořák to his Berlin music publisher Fritz Simrock, and following the success of Dvořák’s early Moravian Duets, Simrock wanted more of the same: colourful, energetic music of a distinctly central European character, and which would capture amateur performers’ imaginations. Something along the lines of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, in fact. Dvořák was happy to oblige, composing an initial set of eight Slavonic Dances for piano duet, intended for informal performance at home. They proved so popular that he quickly reworked them for orchestra (they’ve had countless further arrangements ever since) and followed them up with a second set seven years later.

No 8 is a particularly fiery member of the first set, taking the form of a Czech furiant dance with unusual rhythms and syncopations that might make foottapping more difficult than it might at first seem. A rousing, swaggering opening tune shifts restlessly between minor and major, followed by lighter, more graceful music and eventually a slower, quieter melody in its contrasting central section – before the swagger of the opening makes its exuberant return.

We jump back in time almost a century for tonight’s next piece, and to an Austrian on a mission to entertain the English nobility. By the 1790s, when Joseph Haydn composed his ‘London’ Trio No 1, he’d spent more than three decades employed as music director in the lavish but rather isolated Eszterháza Palace, in what’s now north-west Hungary (in Haydn’s time, firmly at the heart of the Habsburg Empire). During those decades, he’d used the wealthy Esterházy family’s

resident musicians to the fullest, virtually inventing the modern symphony and string quartet as musical forms, and developing his clean, clear, elegant and mischievously witty musical style across operas, chamber music and plenty more.

But equally, he felt he needed to stretch his wings. In 1790, aged 58, he found his chance. The incoming Prince Anton looked to trim back his artistic outgoings, still guaranteeing an on-going salary for Haydn, but no longer requiring his permanent presence. The composer’s music was already wildly popular among London audiences, and German-born, London-based impresario Johann Peter Salomon snapped him up for two visits to England, the first in 1791-2, and the second in 1794-5. Both went down a storm, so much so that Haydn reportedly even considered settling permanently in the English capital (and was explicitly invited to do so by King George III, no less).

Dvořáklookedcloserto homeforinspiration,to theBohemianfolkmusic thathe’dknownsince hischildhood.Notthat hestoleanyfolktunes directly:theDances areentirelyDvořák’s ownworkeveniftheir Bohemianmusicalaccent isstrong.

Antonín Leopold Dvořák

He hobnobbed with royalty and the aristocracy, was fêted at high-society occasions, and even received an honorary doctorate in Oxford (which provided his ‘Oxford’ Symphony, No 92, with its nickname). One such meeting was with the Earl of Abingdon, Willoughby Bertie, who was already a huge fan and had done much to popularise Haydn’s music among London concert-goers. He was an amateur composer himself, too, and Haydn had encouraged his writing, even from afar.

Haydn wrote in his diary on 14 November 1794: ‘I went with Lord Abingdon to Preston, 26 miles from London, to visit the Baron of Aston – he and his wife both love music.’ The composer took with him an unusual gift: four short pieces for the unconventional combination of two flutes and cello (or bassoon in tonight’s performance). At that time, the flute came second only to the keyboard as the

instrument studied by artistically inclined members of polite society. Both Abingdon and Aston were accomplished flautists, and Haydn’s four pieces were designed specifically for them.

Like its three counterparts, the so-called ‘London’ Trio No 1 shows Haydn indulging himself in light, charming, immediately captivating music that’s full of refinement and wit. There’s nothing shallow about it, however, certainly in terms of the impeccable craftsmanship Haydn brought to the piece. Despite having just three melodic lines available to him, the composer ensures a winning balance of richness and transparency between the parts, and gives all three players equally demanding roles too. The two flutes chase each other through his graceful opening movement, propelled along by the bassoon’s bassline, before the gently rocking dance of the second movement, and a typically mischievous, dashing finale

Franz Joseph Haydn

Likeitsthreecounterparts, theso-called‘London’ TrioNo1showsHaydn indulginghimselfinlight, charming,immediately captivatingmusicthat’s fullofrefinementandwit.

Indeed,itmakesalot ofsensethatJanáček’s instrumentsaresingingso warmlyaboutthegolden daysofyouthinawork that’ssoopenlynostalgic, writtenbyamanjustfour yearsawayfromtheendof hislifewho’slookingback withaffectiontosomeof hisearliestmemories.

that sees the three players jostling to decide who’s playing the melody and who’s covering the accompaniment.

There are plenty of energetic rhythms in tonight’s next piece, though strictly speaking, they’re not connected with dance. In Leoš Janáček’s case, those rhythms came predominantly from the flow and cadences of his own spoken language, Czech, which he mined for both rhythm and melody across his operas and his instrumental works. The distinctive, seven-note, sing-song melody that permeates the opening movement of his Mládí, for example, is rumoured to be singing ‘Mládí, zlaté mládí!’ (‘Youth, golden youth!’). When you hear it, it makes perfect sense.

Indeed, it makes a lot of sense that Janáček’s instruments are singing so warmly about the golden days of youth in a work that’s so openly nostalgic,

written by a man just four years away from the end of his life who’s looking back with affection to some of his earliest memories. Janáček wrote his wind sextet Mládí in the very month of his 70th birthday, July 1924, and the piece was intended for concert celebrations of that anniversary. Its premiere performance in Janáček’s home town of Brno in October that year, however, was dogged by instrument malfunctions, leaving the composer furious, and he had to wait for a performance in Prague the following month before he was happy with it.

Janáček had initially been inspired by hearing French flautist Paul Taffanel’s influential Société de Musique de Chambre pour Instruments à Vent ensemble, first in Salzburg in 1923 then later in Brno, and set about writing his own work for a distinctive and unusual ensemble of flute (or piccolo), oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, horn and bassoon. The addition of a bass clarinet to

Leoš Janáček

the conventional wind quintet line-up gives Janáček’s ensemble a characteristically rich, resonant sound that he exploits throughout the piece.

His specific subject matter was his time as a young boy chorister studying at the Augustinian Abbey in Brno, where he gained a thorough immersion in both music and Czech patriotism, both of which would occupy his later life. He’d written an earlier piece inspired by the same institution, called March of the Blue Boys (referring to the blue uniforms of the Augustinian students), for the unusual combination of piccolo, flute, bells, tambourine and piano, and he adapted this earlier work as the third movement of Mládí.

After the piece’s opening tribute to ‘golden youth’, in which Janáček places his memorable theme in sometimes unusual sonic settings, his sober second

movement, it’s been suggested, refers to the composer’s unhappier memories of the school’s strict regulations. The third contrasts the piping eagerness of his March of the Blue Boys with a more relaxed trio section, while his finale recalls the earlier ‘golden youth’ theme before a more surging, energetic melody takes over, leading to a high-spirited conclusion.

As well as inspiring Janáček to compose his Mládí, Paul Taffanel’s Société de Musique de Chambre pour Instruments à Vent was instrumental in popularising wind music among French composers and audiences, not least through commissioning a whole collection of new works for wind ensembles. One of those was tonight’s next piece, the 1898 Chanson et danses by Parisian composer Vincent d’Indy.

He's perhaps a figure we’re not terribly familiar with, though he was hugely

Vincent d'Indy

He'sperhapsafigure we’renotterriblyfamiliar with,thoughhewas hugelyinfluentialasa composerandteacher. D’Indywasurbaneand well-travelled(hecounted Bizet,Massenet,Lisztand Brahmsasfriends,for example)

influential as a composer and teacher. D’Indy was urbane and well-travelled (he counted Bizet, Massenet, Liszt and Brahms as friends, for example), and among his star pupils were Albert Roussel, Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, Erik Satie and even Cole Porter (who signed up for a twoyear course with d’Indy, only to leave after just a few months).

D’Indy was indeed something of a stickler for strict musical education, even going so far as to co-found Paris’s Schola Cantorum as a direct competitor to the more established Paris Conservatoire, since he was dissatisfied with the older institution’s level of teaching (and its worryingly forward-looking ways). Which is somewhat ironic, since the musician d’Indy held in highest regard was Richard Wagner, still a controversially progressive figure for many. D’Indy rushed to attend the first complete Ring cycle at Bayreuth in 1876, and his own opera Fervaal –premiered in Brussels in 1897 – was even described as a ‘French Parsifal’.

There’s plenty of Wagnerian influence to be heard, in fact, in d’Indy’s Chanson et danses, not least an almost direct quotation from the older composer’s luscious Siegfried Idyll, upon which d’Indy bases his opening ‘Chanson’ movement. The theme is first heard in a relaxed clarinet duet, before it returns more nobly on the ensemble’s horn. If his opening movement retains its restrained, somewhat languorous mood throughout, d’Indy’s second movement breaks the atmosphere with music of great energy and spirit. It’s essentially a sequence of dances, perhaps recalling the movements of a French Baroque Suite, led by a distinctive, repeated-note melody from the

oboe against chattering accompaniment from clarinets and bassoons. After a monumental climax, the clarinet emerges rather stunned with a quiet, slow-moving melody, which, as we soon discover, returns us to the hushed, Wagnerian reverence of the piece’s opening.

We return to Dvořák for the concert’s final piece, and to a composer again celebrating his native Bohemia. In his Czech Suite, Dvořák painted vivid musical pictures of both a countryside and a collection of folk dances that he’d known all his life. He wrote the Suite in 1879, the year after his first set of Slavonic Dances, when his fame was first beginning to grow.

What Dvořák created in his Czech Suite falls somewhere between a set of dances and a serenade. The work opens with a lyrical, scene-setting Pastoral, which evokes the work’s bucolic atmosphere with the distant hum of Czech bagpipes ever-present behind a smoothly flowing melodic line. The second movement is a stylisation of a polka, one of the most popular Bohemian dances, which found its way into many other composers’ works. It begins with a wistful, somewhat understated melody in the minor, but becomes far more confident and rambunctious when it shifts to the brighter major. The third movement is a Sousedská, a Czech folk equivalent of a minuet. Fourth comes a lyrical nocturne in the form of a Romance, which opens with a flute melody against gently pulsing accompaniment, and a dazzling, dashing, boisterous Furiant brings the Suite to an exuberant conclusion – and may well take you right back to tonight’s opening piece.

© David Kettle

Biography SCO WIND SOLOISTS

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra Wind Soloists charm audiences throughout Scotland and further afield with stylish and exuberant performances of repertoire ranging from the celebrated divertimenti and wind serenades of the 18th century to music of the present day.

The SCO Wind Soloists regularly perform in Scotland's main cities and further afield, including the Highlands and Islands. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, they performed a concert at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in the presence of HRH the former Duke of Rothesay (now King Charles III). Other recent invitations include the East Neuk Festival and Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival.

Inspired by the legacy of Sir Charles Mackerras, the Wind Soloists have since 2012 made a particular exploration of Harmoniemusik repertoire. Their debut album, Mozart Divertimenti (Linn) made a fine contribution to the Orchestra’s distinguished Mozart discography. Their second successful album, Beethoven Music for Winds, was launched in 2018 with a concert tour including Glasgow, Ayr, Edinburgh and London (Wigmore Hall).

For full SCO biography please visit sco.org.uk

Biography

SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

The internationally celebrated Scottish Chamber Orchestra is one of Scotland’s National Performing Companies.

Formed in 1974 and core funded by the Scottish Government, the SCO aims to provide as many opportunities as possible for people to hear great music by touring the length and breadth of Scotland, appearing regularly at major national and international festivals and by touring internationally as proud ambassadors for Scottish cultural excellence.

Making a significant contribution to Scottish life beyond the concert platform, the Orchestra works in schools, universities, colleges, hospitals, care homes, places of work and community centres through its extensive Creative Learning programme. The SCO is also proud to engage with online audiences across the globe via its innovative Digital Season.

An exciting new chapter for the SCO began in September 2019 with the arrival of dynamic young conductor Maxim Emelyanychev as the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor.

The SCO and Emelyanychev released their first album together (Linn Records) in November 2019 to widespread critical acclaim. The repertoire – Schubert’s Symphony No 9 in C major ‘The Great’ –is the first symphony Emelyanychev performed with the Orchestra in March 2018.

The SCO also has long-standing associations with many eminent guest conductors and directors including Conductor Emeritus Joseph Swensen, François Leleux, Pekka Kuusisto, Nicola Benedetti, Richard Egarr, Andrew Manze and John Storgårds.

The Orchestra enjoys close relationships with many leading composers and has commissioned almost 200 new works, including pieces by the late Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Sir James MacMillan, Sally Beamish, Martin Suckling, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Karin Rehnqvist, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Nico Muhly, Anna Clyne and Associate Composer Jay Capperauld.

For full biography please visit sco.org.uk

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