London Symphony Orchestra

Thursday 26 November 2015 7.30pm Barbican Hall

LSO BRASS ENSEMBLE

Bach Prelude and Fugue in G major Brahms Two Intermezzi Op 119 Grieg Lyric Pieces Ayanna Witter-Johnson Where Clouds Meet the Sea (UK premiere) INTERVAL Bach Suite from the Goldberg Variations Jim Parker A Londoner in New York Gershwin Suite from Porgy and Bess

Concert finishes at 9.30pm

LSO BRASS ENSEMBLE

TRUMPETS

Philip Cobb

Gerald Ruddock

Daniel Newell

HORNS

Timothy Jones

Alexander Edmundson

TROMBONES

Dudley Bright

Peter Moore

James Maynard

Paul Milner

TUBA

Patrick Harrild

Living Music

Welcome Kathryn McDowell

2 Welcome 26 November 2015

Welcome to the Barbican for this evening’s concert with the LSO Brass Ensemble, whose iconic sound is a defining feature of the LSO. Tonight’s programme follows similar concerts by the LSO Woodwind and Percussion sections earlier this season at LSO St Luke’s.

The programme features original arrangements of works by Bach, Brahms, Grieg and Gershwin, many of which were written by members of the Ensemble, a brass classic by Jim Parker, and the UK premiere of Where Clouds Meet the Sea, composed for the Brass Ensemble by Ayanna Witter-Johnson, an alumnus of the LSO’s Soundhub and Panufnik composer schemes. This programme was recently performed on tour in Japan where the Brass Ensemble is always enthusiastically received.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s concert and can join us for the next LSO Ensemble concert on 3 February 2016, which will feature the String Ensemble under the direction of Roman Simovic performing a programme of British works for strings by Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Britten. The full Orchestra’s next concert in th Barbican on 6 December Daniel Harding will conduct a programme featuring Bruckner’s Symphony No 4, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 9 with Maria João Pires and the world premiere of the next Panufnik commission: Windows by James Moriarty.

Kathryn McDowell LSO Managing Director CBE DL

LSO STRING ENSEMBLE

Wed 3 Feb 2016 7.30pm, Barbican Elgar Introduction and Allegro Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis Britten Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge

LSO String Ensemble Roman Simovic director

Programme 3

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) Prelude and Fugue in G major BWV 541 (1725) arr James Maynard

Johannes Brahms (1833–97) Two Intermezzi Op 119 (1893) arr Eric Crees INTERMEZZO NO 2

INTERMEZZO NO 3

Edvard Grieg (1843–1907) Lyric Pieces (1867–1901) arr James Maynard ARIETTA

GRANDMOTHER’S MINUET

HOMEWARD

REMEMBRANCES

Ayanna Witter-Johnson (b 1985) Where Clouds Meet the Sea (2015) UK Premiere

INTERVAL

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) Variations 1, 2, 4, 16, 7, 21, 24, 20 & 29 from Goldberg Variations (1741) arr Dudley Bright

Jim Parker (b 1934) A Londoner in New York (1983) ECHOES OF HARLEM

THE CHRYSLER BUILDING

GRAND CENTRAL

George Gershwin (1898–1937) Suite from Porgy and Bess (1934) arr Mark Nightingale OPENING

SUMMERTIME

THE CHANTS OF THE STRAWBERRY WOMAN

I LOVES YOU PORGY

IT AIN’T NECESSARILY SO

BESS YOU IS MY WOMAN NOW

THERE’S A BOAT THAT’S LEAVIN’ SOON FOR NEW YORK

OH LAWD I’M ON MY WAY

CLOSING

1

2

1 2 3 4

1 2 3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Programme LSO Brass Ensemble

EDVARD GRIEG received piano

lessons from the age of six. In

1858 the virtuoso violinist Ole Bull

urged the 15-year-old to enrol at

the Leipzig Conservatory. After his

studies, Grieg returned to Bergen

and established his reputation as a

pianist and composer. Recognition

in Norway came in 1874 when he

received a lifetime stipend from the

Norwegian government.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

studied organ and rudimentary

composition with his elder brother.

At 18 he became organist of St

Bonifacius’ Church in Arnstadt,

moving in 1707 to the church of

St Blasius, where he wrote his

first dateable works. In 1720 Bach

accepted the post of Kantor at

Leipzig’s St Thomas School, and

director of the town’s music in 1723.

Tonight’s LSO Brass Ensemble programme opens with an arrangement of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in G major. This light-hearted and energetic work was originally composed to showcase the technical prowess of Bach’s eldest son Wilhelm Friedeman, who was a talented organist. In James Maynard’s arrangement the work becomes a compact vehichle for the virtuosity of the brass quintet with vigorous bustling rhythms and sprightly solos.

Next we hear trombonist Eric Crees’ arrangement of Two Intermezzi from Brahms’ Klavierstücke Op 119. This set of four pieces constituted Brahms’ farewell to his favourite instrument, the piano. They were written in the summer of 1893, at a time when Brahms, though only just 60, was becoming painfully aware of the brevity of life. The E minor Intermezzo, which Eric Crees says shows Brahms’ extraordinary ability to transform an apparently simple melodic idea into a coherent whole, opens with a bare, hesitant theme that transmutes into a glorious major-key Viennese waltz in the central section; while the melody in the lilting, dance-like C major Intermezzo stays almost exclusively in the alto register, here sustained by horn and flugelhorn.

Edvard Grieg’s ten collections of Lyric Pieces for piano span a period of nearly 40 years, covering much of his composing lifetime. James Maynard has chosen to book-end his selection of four of these delightful folk-influenced miniatures with the opening piece from the first book, Arietta, and the last from the final book, Remembrances. Both are based on the same theme. In between come Grandmother’s Minuet from Book 9 and Homeward from Book 7. James says that he has arranged these pieces, each of which tells a story in a clearly defined character and style, for brass ensemble in order to create an opportunity for intimate chamber music style playing.

Ayanna Witter-Johnson wrote Where Clouds Meet the Sea while spending three weeks on a creative retreat at St Leonard’s-on-Sea on the south coast of England. She says: ‘Sitting on the pebble beach among the seagulls and beckoning waves, I watched the tide come in and out daily. I enjoyed the rainbow skies, the proud sun and marvelled at how children never tire of chasing waves. Sometimes it felt impossibly still and at times jarringly loud, but always beautiful and always changing’. Ayanna likens the recurring melodies in her piece to the movement of waves that vary and interact with each other in surprising ways. She says that working on the LSO’s Panufnik

4 Programme Notes 26 November 2015

Programme Note LSO Brass Ensemble

From an early age BRAHMS

supplemented his parents’ meagre

income by playing in the bars and

brothels of Hamburg’s infamous red-

light district. In 1853 he presented

himself to Robert Schumann in

Düsseldorf, winning unqualified

approval from the older composer.

In 1862 Brahms moved to Vienna

where he found fame as a

conductor, pianist and composer.

Programme Notes 5

and Soundhub composition schemes have taught her to write for players, rather than instruments, and she has found it fascinating to observe the communication between the members of the LSO Brass Ensemble and to accommodate their individual personalities. Where Clouds Meet the Sea aims to accommodate and reflect both the intensity and playfulness of their music-making.

J S Bach’s Goldberg Variations, a colossal set of 30 virtuosic variations on a simple sarabande-like theme, written during Bach’s Leipzig years and ‘intended to delight the souls of music-lovers’, was the largest single piece of keyboard music published in the 18th century. The LSO’s Principal Trombone, Dudley Bright, has arranged nine variations (Nos 1, 2, 4, 16, 7, 21, 24, 20 and 29) to produce a satisfying suite of contrasting movements. He says that he has drawn inspiration from Canadian pianist Glenn Gould’s iconic early recording of the Variations to produce contrasts of phrasing, dynamics and tone colour.

LSO SOUNDHUB KHADAMBI’S HOUSE FIRST YEAR SHOWCASE

Sat 28 Nov 2015 6pm, St Paul’s Church SW4 0DX

A public event, presented by composer Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian

and LSO musicians, showcasing everything that has been created and

recorded during the first year of the Khadambi’s House residency. Email

575wandsworthroad@nationaltrust.org.uk to book your £6 tickets.

The Composer in Residence scheme at Khadambi’s House is an LSO

Soundhub project. Generous support has been provided by Khadambi

Asalache’s partner, Susie Thomson. The LSO is grateful to the National

Trust, a partner in this project.

AYANNA WITTER-JOHNSON

graduated from the Trinity Laban

Conservatoire of Music and Dance

in London with a first class degree

in composition. Since then she has

gained a Masters in composition at

the Manhattan School of Music and

taken part in the LSO’s Panufnik and

Soundhub composers schemes, as

well as becoming an Emerging Artist

in Residence at London’s Southbank

Centre. She has released two EPs,

Truthfully and Black Panther.

‘It has been a meditative experience, imagining the communication between the players and trying to accommodate

their personalities.’

Ayanna on composing for the LSO Brass Ensemble

The LSO is grateful for the support of the Helen Hamlyn Trust and the Esmée

Fairbairn Foundation for their support of the Panufnik and Soundhub schemes

JIM PARKER has won the British

Academy Award for Best Original

Television Music four times, and

has written scores for over 200

television programmes. Concert

works have been written for the

Nash Ensemble, Philip Jones Brass,

The Hilliard Ensemble, The Albion

Ensemble, The Wallace Collection

and Poems on the Underground.

GEORGE GERSHWIN dropped out

of school aged 15 and found his first

job as a so-called ‘song-plugger’

for a publishing house. He penned

his first hit in 1919 when his song

Swanee was featured on Broadway.

In 1924 he composed Rhapsody

in Blue, a work for solo piano and

jazz orchestra that succeeded in

combining the worlds of classical

and jazz. Gershwin’s compositional

output was prolific, encompassing a

broad range of styles and genres.

6 Programme Notes 26 November 2015

Programme Note LSO Brass Ensemble continued

Many Londoners have been fascinated by The Big Apple, and Jim Parker’s popular jazz-influenced suite A Londoner in New York, written for the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble in 1983, pays homage to the city that Gershwin would have known at the time he wrote An American in Paris. Jim says that he wanted to express in music the impressions made on him by New York. ‘My general feeling was that here was a city which prided itself on being modern and progressive, but which, nevertheless, retained a delightful old-fashioned quality. The suite is intended to reflect these impressions.’

It begins with Echoes of Harlem, evoking the sleazy, raucous atmosphere of downtown Manhattan, where jazz flourished on the streets and in smoky bars. The Chrysler Building pays homage to the iconic Art Deco skyscraper, which at the time of its completion was briefly the world’s tallest building. Solos for trumpet and tuba feature prominently in this movement. The next movement, Grand Central, evokes the sound of trains leaving the great station and gathering speed amid noisy whistles – a study of iron-clad motion to rival Honegger’s Pacific 231.

To end tonight’s concert, Mark Nightingale has arranged a suite of some of the best-known numbers from George Gershwin’s 1935 American folk opera Porgy and Bess. Based on a novel by DuBose Heyward, this poignant love story, set among the poor black community of a waterfront tenement in Charleston, South Carolina, was Gershwin’s last stage work. It overflows with memorable melodies, and Mark Nightingale says that some of the tunes have been given new treatments, such as the famous Summertime as a bustling jazz waltz; or the Afro-Cuban 12/8 feel of It Ain’t Necessarily So. Others, such as the gorgeous ballads Bess You Is My Woman Now and I Loves You Porgy have been left more as Gershwin wrote them.

PROGRAMME NOTE WRITER

WENDY THOMPSON

Having studied at the Royal College of Music, Wendy Thompson took an

MMus in musicology at King’s College, London. In addition to writing about

music she is Executive Director of Classic Arts Productions, a major supplier

of independent programmes to BBC Radio.

LSO Brass Ensemble 7

TRUMPETS Philip Cobb Gerald Ruddock Daniel Newell

HORNS Timothy Jones Alexander Edmundson

TROMBONES Dudley Bright Peter Moore James Maynard Paul Milner

TUBA Patrick Harrild

On Stage LSO Brass Ensemble

‘The real stars here, and arguably throughout the evening, were the trumpets and trombones, putting out clean, sharp attacks, with ideal balance within the section and a real feeling for each of the jazz styles. Few orchestras in the world field a brass section that can cook like this.’ The Independent on the LSO with James Gaffigan (6 Nov)

LSO BRASS ACADEMY 2016

APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN

Each year the LSO Academy provides up to 30

promising young instrumentalists aged 14–24 with

the unique opportunity to work with the great

orchestral musicians of their time in a week of

orchestra-focused workshops and masterclasses

at LSO St Luke’s.

Applications are now open for the next LSO Brass

Academy which takes place in July 2016. For more

details on how to apply visit lso.co.uk/lsoacademy.

Brass Academy is supported by Help Musicians UK,

David HS Hobbs and Rod Stafford & LSO Friends

8 Coming up 26 November 2015

Shakespeare 400 Coming up at the Barbican and LSO St Luke’s

‘Gianandrea Noseda whipped up a demonic storm.’The Telegraph

SHAKESPEARE 400 His words come to life in music.

BARBICAN CONCERTSTue 16 Feb 2016 7.30pm A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor Monteverdi Choir

Thu 25 Feb 2016 7.30pm RICHARD III & MACBETH Smetana Richard III Strauss Macbeth

Gianandrea Noseda conductor

Sun 28 Feb 2016 7pm ROMEO AND JULIET Berlioz Romeo and Juliet – Suite

Gianandrea Noseda conductor

LSO ST LUKE’S EVENTSBBC RADIO 3 LUNCHTIME CONCERTS 7 Jan Gould Piano Trio 14 Jan Iestyn Davies and Elizabeth Kenny 21 Jan James Gilchrist and Anna Tilbrook 28 Jan BBC Singers

LSO DISCOVERYSun 7 Feb 2016 12.30pm LSO FAMILY CONCERT PLAY ON, SHAKESPEARE!

Fri 26 Feb 2016 12.30pm FREE FRIDAY LUNCHTIME CONCERT

Sun 28 Feb 2016 10am–5pm LSO DISCOVERY DAY BERLIOZ & SHAKESPEARE A morning watching Gianandrea Noseda guide the LSO through Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet Suite followed by an afternoon of talks.