Rehearsing prior to the concert

First Concert with new conductor a ‘symphonic’ success!

December 5th 2009  The Marches School  Oswestry

Programme

Egmont Overture (1809 – 1810)

Ludvig Van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)

After removing the dedication to Napoleon of his 3^rd Symphony, the “Eroica” (1804), being disgusted at the French leader’s bombing of his native city, Beethoven became increasingly in the idea of true liberty. He was therefore to grasp the opportunity to provide incidental music to Goethe’s play “Egmont” when a commission was offered in 1809. In the mid sixteenth century the Netherlands were under the control of Phillip II of Spain who ruled the country despotically. His theme is heard in the grave opening bars of the overture marked Andante Sostenuto. The Duke of Alba was sent to quell the uprisings which started in the country in protest at the harsh treatment and Count Lamoral van Egmont was one of the most popular military Dutch leaders. As such he became one of the Duke’s first victims. Instead of renouncing his ideal of freedom, Count Egmont chose to be executed and thus stood as a symbol for the liberation of the Netherlands. The struggles between the tyrant and the optimistic Egmont are heard in the main section, an Allegro which culminates after a dramatic climax in the beheading of the Count. After a brief transition an exciting build up leads into the F major coda, where the piccolo is introduced for the first time and fortissimo trumpet fanfares signal the final triumph of freedom.

Karelia Suite (1893)

Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957)

Finland in the late 19^th Century was a country in upheaval. Having been under Russian control for nearly a hundred years the nationalist movement was growing fast and Sibelius was quickly becoming a key figure in the expression of Finnish culture. After the Kalevala was published in 1849, a collection of Finnish folk stories, Sibelius wrote his Kullervo Symphony setting one of these stories to music and was a huge success.The following year he was asked to compose music to accompany a patriotic historical pageant to be presented by students of Helsinki University in Viborg, Karelia. The production was to be a series of dramatic tableaux, each portraying a scene from Finnish history and it is from three of these that the music for the Suite is taken. The first, an Intermezzo, was an accompaniment to a scene portraying native Finns paying tribute to a Prince. The rustling strings in the opening accompany a noble melody first heard in the horns and which then grows through the orchestra in a manner foreshadowing his later style. The melody has been traced by some analysts to several Finnish folk melodies, and the rhythm as likewise been said to mirror Finnish speech patterns. The second movement is a Ballade sung to a deposed Swedish King in his castle. The sombre mood is reflected by the reduced orchestration without bright trumpets, horns or the high transparency of the flutes. The solo cor anglais clearly resembles a solitary voice. The Third movement, Alla Marcia, is a spirited call-to-arms for a scene depicting a besieged castle.

Symphony No. 8 in B minor “Unfinished”(1822)

Franz Schubert  (1797 – 1828)

Having completed two movements of his Eighth Symphony in October 1822, Schubert sketched about 130 bars more, then the work just fizzled out. Among the suggestions regarding why he didn’t finish it, by far the most common is that either after a severe illness he didn’t feel well enough, or he simply forgot about it, being too busy with other music, or (rather more fancifully) he felt the two movements were “perfect” as they stood. None really rings true. The further sketch contradicts the last idea, and if he wasn’t fit, how did he managed so much else? Then, in 1823 he promised a symphonic score in return for an award from the Styrian Music Association. Fulfilling this obligation after a strong paternal prod, what did he send? Exactly, the score of the Unfinished, clearly far from forgotten!  .

A word from our Conductor

 

My interest in conducting began in 2003 as a member of the Music Society of Downing College, Cambridge, when I was asked to conduct Haydn’s 45^th Symphony and resolved to take lessons. Russell Keable was to be my teacher for the next three years and recommended that I attend Rudolfo Saglimbeni’s conducting course at the Canford Summer School of Music. These maestri were very influential to my personal style of rehearsal and approach to music-making. I am particularly pleased to be conducting the Egmont Overture and Schubert Symphony tonight as they were both in the repertoire in my first course at Canford in 2004.

During my next two years at Cambridge I organised and conducted several concerts encompassing a wide range of music including Shostakovich’s 2^nd Piano Concerto, Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto and Sibelius’s 3^rd Symphony. After graduating with a BA from Cambridge I did a Masters in Composition at the Royal Northern College of Music. Since returning to North Wales I joined Wrexham Symphony Orchestra, with whom I conducted an all-American concert in February and where I regularly lead the viola section.

Besides conducting, I teach viola and violin for Wrexham County Council and count myself lucky that music is such a big part of my life. I have thoroughly enjoyed my first term with Oswestry Sinfonia and hope that you enjoy tonight’s concert and will return in June for our next concert with works by Dvorak and Beethoven.