London Consorts of Winds

Programme

• Ludwig van Beethoven - Wind Octet, Opus 103
• Antonin Dvorak - Slavonic Dance, Opus 46, No. 8
• Giles Brindley - Variations on a theme by Schoenberg, (op. 26) - world premiere
• Paul Burnell - 5 pieces for wind instruments - world premiere
• Giovanni Palestrina - Pope Marcello Mass
• Claudio Monteverdi - Ave Maris Stella
• Giovanni Gabrieli - Sacrae Symphoniae No. 10
• George Gershwin - Scenes from Porgy and Bess

Tickets £8 at the door, or from
Sevenoaks Tourist Information Centre phone 01732 450 305

Programme Notes

The Octet was written in 1792, shortly before Beethoven moved to Vienna, for Archduke Maximilian Franz, who was also Elector of Cologne and who, in keeping with the custom of the age, employed eight excellent wind players to entertain him at dinner. It was not published until 1830, which is why the opus number of 103 is so high and implies a later work.

The first movement is in sonata allegro form and uses traditional harmonic progressions. The movement employs a very brief development section and recaps in a traditional manner. In the first movement, the oboe spins out a charming theme, the rhythm of which permeates the entire movement.

The second movements opens with a beautiful oboe melody that could be an arioso out of an Italian opera. The bassoon enters and joins the oboe, to create an operatic soprano and baritone duet. This movement is in three part song form.

The minuet is a preview of the later Beethoven scherzo both rhythmically and melodically. The trio hosts a dialogue between the clarinet and horns in which the characteristic colour of these instruments is beautifully contrasted.

The final movement is very playful and energetic. The instrument sounds weave a colour texture with runs, arpeggios and syncopated chords. The second theme contains the outline of the Hymn of Joy.

In 1878 Dvorak's publisher Simrock commissioned a set of eight "Slavonic Dances" for piano duet. Subsequently orchestrated by the composer, they were his first major success. Although based on Czech folk music, they are original compostions. No. 8 in G minor, marked presto, is a furiant, a fast dance in triple-time with phrasing that suggests duple-time. We will perform an arrangement for octet, a sonority reminiscent of Dvorak's Wind Serenade Op. 44.

This short piece consists of a 16-bar quotation from the 2nd movement of Schoenberg's first strictly serial work, the wind quintet op.26, followed by three variations on it. The theme is played three times with different instrumentation, the first being Schoenberg's. The first and third variations are serial, and slower than the theme. The second variation in in the same tempo as the theme, and is successively in the Phrygian, Lydian and Aeolian modes.

Each of the five movements subject familiar musical stereotypes to simple but rather strict processes. The first movement is a march where the phrase lengths are gradually shortened. The second movement presents a simple melody imitated by other instruments. The middle movement, which is like a hinge in the overall structure, is a canon - where the imitation is between two groups. The fourth movement is a reverie with slight but systematic changes to the sustained harmony. The fifth movement is a jig or waltz where the phrase lengths are, unlike the first movement, gradually lengthened.

The piece were written for Southwark Consorts of Winds, and this is the world premiere

Kyrie, Christe, Kyrie II, Sanctus, Agnus Dei II

In the late sixteenth century the leaders of the Catholic Church were gathered for a Council at Trent in Italy, to purge the abuses which had grown up in the church and fight back against the Protestant Reformation. It was said that they might ban polyphonic music such as this. Palestrina certainly wrote this mass for the event, and it is said that, on hearing its beauty and clarity of word setting, they relented. The Mass was written for six voices. We will be playing an arrangement of three of the best known sections of the Mass.

Verso I, Verso II or V, Ritonello I, Ritonello III, Verso III, Verso VII

These are extracts from the hymn of praise which forms a part of "Monteverdi's Vespers". The Vespers alternate antiphonal choral sections, solos, and instrumental replies. We will be performing examples of each. Antiphonal performance, with musicians on the opposite sides of a church, was common practice at the time.

Canzon duodecimi toni a 10

This canzona for ten unspecified instruments, placed in two antiphonal groups, is one of the 16 instrumental and 45 vocal compositions published in 1597 under the title Symphoniae Sacrae by Giovanni Gabrieli, organist at St.Mark's cathedral in Venice. For the present peformance it has been transposed up a minor third, and near the end the two highest parts have been exchanged to allow the flute to be above the oboe.

Arranged for wind octet by Andrew Skirrow

In the black community of Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina, the crippled Porgy and Crown compete for the love of Bess. Eventually Porgy kills Crown, and sets out to find Bess in New York where she has been lured by Sportin' Life, a drug dealer. This octet arrangement of Gershwin's 1935 opera includes such favourites as 'Summertime' and 'It ain't necessarily so'.