2021-2022
CANDLER CONCERT SERIES
ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS WIND ENSEMBLE with guest SIMON CRAWFORD-PHILLIPS, piano
SATURDAY, APRIL 9 at 8 P.M.
This concert is presented by the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. 404.727.5050 | schwartz.emory.edu | boxoffice@emory.edu
Audience Information In Consideration Please turn off all electronic devices. The Schwartz Center for Performing Arts requires a photo ID and proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test results for all patrons attending Schwartz Center events. Full details are available at schwartz.emory.edu/FAQ
Photographs and Recordings Digital capture or recording of this concert is not permitted.
Ushers The Schwartz Center welcomes a volunteer usher corps of approximately 60 members each year. Visit schwartz.emory.edu/volunteer or call 404.727.6640 for ushering opportunities.
Accessibility The Schwartz Center is committed to providing performances and facilities accessible to all. Please direct accommodation requests to the Schwartz Center Box Office at 404.727.5050, or by email at boxoffice@emory.edu.
Design and Photography Credits Academy of St Martin in the Fields Wind Ensemble Photo by Benjamin Ealovega Cover Design: Nick Surbey | Program Design: Lisa Baron Back Cover Photo: Mark Teague
Acknowledgment The Schwartz Center gratefully acknowledges the generous ongoing support of Donna and Marvin Schwartz.
This program is made possible by a generous gift from the late Flora Glenn Candler, a friend and patron of music at Emory University.
2021–2022
CANDLER CONCERT SERIES
Academy of St Martin in the Fields Wind Ensemble Tom Blomfield, oboe; James Burke, clarinet; Julie Price, bassoon; Stephen Stirling, horn with guest Simon Crawford-Phillips, piano Saturday, April 9, 2022, 8:00 p.m. Emerson Concert Hall Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Program Trio in A Minor for oboe, horn, and piano, op. 188 Allegro moderato Scherzo: Molto vivace Adagio Finale: Allegro ma non troppo Quintet in E-flat for piano and winds, K. 452 Largo–Allegro moderato Larghetto Rondo: Allegretto
Carl Reinecke (1824–1910)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
—Intermission— Sonata in E-flat for clarinet and piano, op. 120, No. 2 Allegro amabile Allegro appassionato Andante con moto Quintet in E-flat for piano and winds, op. 16 Allegro ma non troppo Andante cantabile Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Following the concert, the artists will return to the stage for a discussion facilitated by Emory Wind Ensemble Conductor, Tyler Ehrlich.
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields’ April 2022 United States tour is supported by Maria Cardamone and Paul Matthews together with the American Friends of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. For more information about the American Friends please email development@asmf.org. The Academy of St Martin in the Fields Wind Ensemble appears by arrangement with David Rowe Artists. davidroweartists.com Simon Crawford-Phillips is managed worldwide by Percius. percius.co.uk Chandos, Philips, Hyperion recordings 4
Program Notes Trio in A Minor for oboe, horn, and piano, op. 188 (1886) German composer Carl Reinecke remained a prolific composer throughout a long life, with almost 300 compositions in his catalog. A contemporary of Johannes Brahms, Reinecke lived from the early years of Romanticism until its twilight years, when the innovations of the 20th century began to supersede “an ensemble of first-rate romantic ideals. He composed in all the established forms of the day, musicians, technically including opera and other music for superb, generously the stage, symphonies, concertos, and much vocal and chamber music. expressive, and obviously As a pianist, Liszt spoke highly of his “beautiful, gentle, legato and lyrical enjoying themselves.” touch”—and much the same could —Dallas Morning News be said of Reinecke’s compositions. Few of these pieces, however, remain in the repertoire, with the notable exception of a flute sonata subtitled “Undine.” For many years, it has been his most frequently performed and recorded work. In his lifetime, Reinecke was best known as the long-time director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, beginning 13 years after the death of its founder, Felix Mendelssohn, and running 1860–1895. Reinecke was also professor of composition at the Leipzig Conservatory, building the reputation of the music school he eventually headed, to rank high among the leading conservatories in Europe. In his teaching, as in his music, Reinecke saw himself as a guardian of tradition, mistrusting what was new and revering much that was familiar from the past. The trio he wrote for oboe, horn, and piano in 1886, at age 62, follows classical precedent in its four-movement musical structure, if not in its unusual, yet attractive, combination of instruments. Its opening movement is built around a graceful, lyrical theme first heard on the oboe, while the wistful mood Reinecke explores pays homage to Schumann. In the brief, animated Scherzo that follows, oboe and horn punctuate the sustained piano texture with rapid-fire interjections. Both the slow movement and good-humored finale show Reinecke’s gift for attractive melodic writing to advantage and make this infrequently performed work a welcome visitor. 5
Quintet in E-flat for piano and winds, K. 452 (1784) “I believe it is the best work I have written in my life. It is composed for one oboe, one clarinet, one horn, one bassoon, and the piano.” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s own critique of K. 452 is found in a letter to his father, written April 10, 1784. In it, he tells of the first performance of the quintet at the Court Theater in Vienna, together with a new piano concerto, three symphonies, and an improvisation on the piano. Not surprisingly, Mozart adds, “I was exhausted towards the end of the concert from playing so much.” Then, with a characteristic puff of his feathers, he cannot resist adding, “I only wish you could have heard it—and how beautifully it was performed!” For the classical composer, the string quartet was the ideal medium for blend, range, tone color, and the potential for contrast. Wind instruments blended less easily. Composers tried various combinations of winds, but no single solution prevailed. The closest was a sextet combination of pairs of treble instruments (oboes or clarinets or flutes) bound together by the texture of two horns and two bassoons. The players of these instruments formed the harmony that many members of the aristocracy kept on staff in their city palaces and summer estates. Mozart wrote harmoniemusik and in doing so, he deepened the emotional range of his writing for wind instruments. This shows not only in the wind serenades and divertimentos, but also in the wind writing in the piano concertos, which were the focus of his energy in the early 1780s. These concertos brought him fame and wealth. In them, he combined symphonic skill with an operatic gift for lyrical writing. He was also pushing the bounds of the string quartet and composing music that grew increasingly intimate. Then, in the early months of 1784, all these skills and interests came together in the E-flat Quintet, over which we know that Mozart labored long and hard. Sketches for all the movements exist. There was no precedent. As far as we know, no one had previously written a quintet for piano and four single wind instruments. The challenges facing Mozart were considerable. He generally keeps the melodies short, to accommodate the breathing needs of the wind players. He also gives each melody a character that is suitable for embellishment by all. Since oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon do not blend in the way a string quartet blends, he keeps the chordal passages short. Despite all these different considerations, Mozart creates a masterpiece, with unity of form, structure, and purpose. The piano leads, rather than dominates, the proceedings—the quintet is no piano concerto in miniature. The piano also enters into dialogue with each of the four wind instruments. As each instrument asserts itself, Mozart builds on its 6
separate identity and adds to the variety of the whole. In the Larghetto, the wind instruments take the lead in announcing the melodies, while the piano weaves elaborately decorated arpeggios around them. The rondo finale concludes with the winds playing a written-out cadenza in tempo, as the piano provides the accompaniment. Doing this allows Mozart to avoid the improbable scenario of five instruments improvising a cadenza at the same time.
Sonata in E-flat for clarinet and piano, op. 120, No. 2 (1894) Johannes Brahms took his chamber music seriously and re-energized the medium for the late 19th century, raising it to the highest level of achievement. He was just 57 when his friend, surgeon Theodor Billroth reported, “He rejects the idea that he is composing or will ever compose again.” Musicians, however, were eager to hear more from a composer whose musical bloodlines reached back through German Romanticism and the great Viennese classical composers to Bach, almost a century and a half earlier. But honorary degrees and medals were no incentive for Brahms to create more. Then, in 1891, on a visit to Meiningen to hear the orchestra, Brahms discovered something new and stimulating in the playing of the court clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld. He was taken by the beauty of the young musician’s sound and eager to discuss technique with him. Their conversation and music-making led Brahms to write the beautiful, autumnal Clarinet Quintet and then a Clarinet Trio during the summer of 1891. Three years later, when Brahms again heard Mühlfeld, the musical fallout was a pair of sonatas that provided clarinetists with two of the finest works in the repertoire. Brahms also made them double as viola sonatas, giving viola players the first substantial works for their instrument. The two sonatas are strongly contrasted—like Beethoven before him, Brahms had made a practice of working on two contrasted compositions simultaneously. The music flows seamlessly in the opening movement of the E-flat Sonata, the more relaxed of the two, with a good deal of lightly worn technical craft masking the seams in this lyrical sonataform movement. The middle movement is Brahms’s final scherzo and is, perhaps consciously, written in the same key and tempo as his first, more than four decades earlier. There’s no slow movement as such, since the finale is a set of variations on a slow, understated, but noble theme. Four ever-fluid variations lead to an exhilarating fifth, which takes on the character of the traditional finale.
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Quintet in E-flat for piano and winds, op. 16 (1796) Ludwig van Beethoven was 26 in 1796 when he wrote his Quintet for piano and winds. He was just two years younger than was Mozart when he composed his K. 452, though Beethoven was at a less musically advanced stage of his career. He chose both the same key of E-flat, the same combination of winds, and the same number of movements as did Mozart. The piano was Beethoven’s own instrument, the vehicle with which he chose to make his reputation when he first took up residence in the city of Vienna. It was a happy coincidence that Beethoven’s longtime friend Zmeskall von Domanovecz owned the autograph score of the Mozart quintet, which may well have been the reason Beethoven turned to these forces. Beethoven’s quintet is the less democratic of the two. The piano frequently confronts the winds. There’s more argument and ‘attitude’ between piano and winds, and the cadenzas throughout the quintet symbolize the increased authority of the piano. The quintet opens ambitiously, with a weighty introduction. At times, it is almost symphonic. Many of Beethoven’s later hallmarks are found here, particularly its dramatically contrasting dynamics. The piano then introduces the three main themes of the opening movement, and the momentum of the piano writing propels its music. This is the music of a pianist out to make his mark in an important musical center. It is progressive and up to date. The wind writing, by contrast, falls into the more traditional conventions of the serenade and wind chamber music (known as harmoniemusik). An extended coda ends this substantial movement. The slow movement begins with an echo of Mozart’s aria “Batti, batti” from Don Giovanni. It is a lovely theme, and it returns throughout this relaxed movement, each time increasingly embellished. There are two gently melancholy episodes in the minor key, the first introduced by oboe and the second by horn. A hunting-call theme introduces the finale. Exuberant and witty, it is a sonata-rondo structure of substance and virtuosity. — Program notes ©2022 Keith Horner | khnotes@sympatico.ca
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Tom Blomfield, oboe; James Burke, clarinet; Julie Price, bassoon; Stephen Stirling, horn with guest Simon Crawford-Phillips, piano
” . . . impressively seamless ensemble” —Chicago Classical Review
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields was founded by Sir Neville Marriner in 1958 and is currently led by music director Joshua Bell. In 1967, the Academy Chamber Ensemble was formed to perform the larger-scale chamber music repertoire with players who customarily worked together, instead of the usual string quartet with additional guests. Drawn from the principal players of the orchestra, the Chamber Ensemble’s touring commitments are extensive and include regular tours of Europe and North America, while recording contracts with Philips Classics, Hyperion, and Chandos have led to the release of more than 30 CDs. The Chamber Ensemble now performs in multiple configurations, including the Academy Wind Ensemble, which makes its United States debut with pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips in the 2021–2022 season, performing programs featuring the quintets of Beethoven, Mozart, and Brahms, among other works. You can also find the Academy on: Instagram: @asmf_orchestra Facebook: /asmforchestra Twitter: @asmforchestra YouTube: /TheASMF SoundCloud: /asmf
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TOM BLOMFIELD, oboe Tom Blomfield grew up in North Wales where he began learning the oboe at age 10. He studied at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music where he was taught by Rachael Pankhurst and was a member of both the National Youth Orchestra of Wales and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for a number of years. Blomfield graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2017 shortly before joining the Philharmonia Orchestra as its new joint principal oboe just a couple of months later at age 22. While at the Academy he studied with his predecessor at the Philharmonia, Christopher Cowie, and London Philharmonic principal Ian Hardwick. Blomfield is now a professor of oboe at the Royal Academy of Music, a role he undertook only a year following completion of his own studies there. His career, outside of the Philharmonia, has led him to play principal oboe with the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and Aurora Orchestra, and he can be heard on many film and commercial soundtracks. He regularly plays and tours with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, with whom he has traveled to the United States and throughout Europe.
“impressive sophistication and complexity of phrasing, elegant articulation and an impeccable sense of balance . . . What sets the Academy apart from other ensembles is its exceptional musical intelligence.” —Seen and Heard International
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JAMES BURKE, clarinet James Burke leads a busy career as both co-principal of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and principal clarinet of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. When not performing, he teaches as a clarinet professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he once studied with teachers such as Andrew Webster, Nick Carpenter, Barnaby Robson, and Joy Farrall. Burke continues to play as guest principal in other orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Northern Sinfonia. His work with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields affords many opportunities to perform chamber music on a regular basis, often with music director Joshua Bell. He has also worked with the London Sinfonietta, London Conchord Ensemble, Irish Chamber Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Soloists. As a soloist, Burke recently performed the Howard Blake Clarinet Concerto with Sir Neville Marriner conducting. Burke also gives master classes, as well as orchestral and chamber coaching sessions in some of the best music institutions in the country, including the Royal College of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Southbank Sinfonia, and for the educational departments in the London Symphony Orchestra and Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
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J ULIE PRICE, bassoon An orchestral musician, chamber musician, soloist, and teacher, Julie Price has held positions as principal bassoon with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She has been principal bassoon of the English Chamber Orchestra since 1994 and co-principal (now principal) bassoon, of the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 2001. With conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ralf Gothóni, Andrew Litton, Edward Gardner, and Douglas Boyd, she has appeared as a soloist at the Barbican, Cadogan Hall, and Royal Festival Hall, as well as many venues outside London and abroad. As a chamber musician she has appeared with such groups as the Nash, Gaudier, and Razumovsky ensembles; London Winds; and the Lindsay and Chilingirian string quartets. She first studied bassoon with Sonja Smith, then with Edward Warren and William Waterhouse in Manchester, and later with Roger Birnstingl in Geneva. Price has been a teacher at the Royal College of Music in London since 1998. Her discography includes recordings of Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto and Sinfonia Concertante and Elgar’s Romance, all with the English Chamber Orchestra. STEPHEN STIRLING, horn
Stephen Stirling is a renowned soloist who has appeared at almost every major British venue and with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, BBC NOW, BBC SSO, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St John’s. Recordings of Mozart horn concertos with the City of London Sinfonia feature constantly on Classic FM and he gave the world premiere of Gary Carpenter’s Horn Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic on Radio 3. He holds the unique distinction of having been the soloist for the opening of both of London’s newest purpose-built concert halls—Cabot Hall and King’s Place. His recording of the Weber Concertino op. 45 with CLS conducted by Michael Collins recently came out with Chandos. He has a worldwide reputation as a chamber musician, is in constant demand at festivals in the UK and abroad, as well as being a founding member of Endymion, the Fibonacci Sequence, the Audley Trio, Arpège, and the New London Chamber Ensemble. Among more than 75 recorded chamber works, Brahms’s Horn Trio with the Florestan Trio was nominated for a Gramophone Award. Principal of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the City of London Sinfonia; guest principal horn with the Capella Andrea Barca, Orquestra de Cadaques, and Scottish Chamber Orchestra; and member then guest principal of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Stirling is privileged to have worked with many of the world’s finest chamber orchestras. 12
Other recent highlights include performing at Wigmore Hall with Angela Hewitt and Isabelle Faust; releases of chamber music by Nielsen, Lennox Berkeley, and Sound Census with Endymion for NMC; and a disc of music for oboe, horn, and piano for Oboe Classics. Professor of horn at Trinity College of Music, London, and on the faculty of the Yellow Barn Summer Music School and Festival in Vermont, Stirling is also a veteran of the Dartington International Summer School.
SIMON CRAWFORD-PHILLIPS, piano
Simon Crawford-Phillips is a multi-festival director, renowned pianist, creative programmer with a passion for championing contemporary repertoire, and a chamber musician who regularly collaborates with artists such as Daniel Hope and Lawrence Power in repertoire from Haydn and Schumann to Adès, Byström, Dean, and Reich. His own ensembles include the Kungsbacka Piano Trio, and Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble (resident artists at Stockholm Konzerthus). Crawford-Phillips is the artistic adviser and chief conductor of Västerås Sinfonietta as well as the artistic director of the Change Music Festival in Norra Halland, Västerås Music Festival, and co-artistic director of the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival. He also serves as conductor fellow of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra working alongside chief conductor Alan Gilbert. Crawford-Phillips’s spicy and eclectic programming is reflected in an extraordinarily varied career as a conductor/director alongside his solo collaborations. Highlights have included debuts with Zurich Chamber Orchestra for an extensive European tour alongside Daniel Hope, directing Sinfonia Varsovia in Warsaw’s Lutosławski Chain Festival, and debuting Wild Waves and Woods at Kings Place with Västerås Sinfonietta, Paul Watkins, and Lawrence Power. As a pianist, the Guardian says Crawford-Phillips has “profound sensitivity and technical brilliance, achieving an expressive intensity that made for compelling listening.” He performs in premiere festivals and concert halls throughout Europe including Verbier, SchleswigHolstein, Edinburgh, and at Wigmore Hall, where he will appear as the regular pianist with chamber ensemble in residence, the acclaimed Nash Ensemble. Notable concerto debuts include the NHK Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra directing from the keyboard. 13
Schwartz Center Staff
Rachael Brightwell, Managing Director Terry Adams, Box Office Coordinator Lisa Baron, Communications Specialist Carrie Christie, Program Coordinator Kathryn Colegrove, Associate Director for Programming and Outreach Lewis Fuller, Associate Director for Production and Operations Jennifer Kimball, Assistant Stage Manager Jeff Lenhard, Operations Assistant Alan Strange, Box Office Manager Nicholas Surbey, Senior Graphic Designer Mark Teague, Stage Manager Nina Vestal, House Manager Matt Williamson, Multimedia Specialist The Schwartz Center gratefully acknowledges the generous ongoing support of Donna and Marvin Schwartz. To support this program, visit schwartz.emory.edu/give.
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CANDLER CONCERT SERIES
Welcome back! The Flora Glenn Candler Concert Series brings internationally-renowned artists to Emory University's Schwartz Center for Performing Arts—to the Emerson Concert Hall or the virtual stage. The artists come from a variety of musical genres—traditional classical ensembles including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and contemporary artists like Kronos Quartet. The series is made possible by a generous gift from the late Flora Glenn Candler, a friend and patron of music at Emory University.