61st SEASON

Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune Dutilleux Métaboles Interval – 20 minutes Berlioz Roméo et Juliette (excerpts) Russell Keable conductor Alan Tuckwood leader

Monday 21 November 2016, 7.30pm St John’s Smith Square

Cover image: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune by Frédéric Montenard (1849–1926)

In accordance with the requirements of Westminster City Council persons shall not be permitted to sit or stand in any gangway. The taking of photographs and use of recording equipment is strictly forbidden without formal consent from St John’s. Smoking is not permitted anywhere in St John’s. Refreshments are permitted only in the restaurant in the Crypt. Please ensure that all digital watch alarms, pagers and mobile phones are switched off. During the interval and after the concert the restaurant is open for licensed refreshments.

Box office tel: 020 7222 1061. Website: www.sjss.org.uk. St John’s Smith Square Charitable Trust, registered charity no: 1045390. Registered in England. Company no: 3028678.

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TONIGHT’S PROGRAMME

Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune

Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune was Debussy’s first masterpiece. Having worked through the influences of other composers he had now found his own inimitable style, one which would define French music for the next century. And he took great care over it. Although it lasts only about ten minutes it took him nearly two years to complete, from 1892 to 1894.In Roman mythology a faun is a lustful rural god, pictured as a man with goat’s horns, ears, legs and tail. The darkly symbolic poem that inspired the work was by Debussy’s close friend Stéphane Mallarmé. It is shot through with erotic associations, depicting the faun’s attraction to two nymphs and his fantasies of lesbianism after his failure to seduce them. But we are never sure whether he is awake or dreaming.

Surprisingly, given the work’s originality, the first performance in Paris in December 1894 was a great success and it had to be encored. As its young conductor, Gustave Doret, recounted: ‘I felt behind me, as some conductors can, an audience that was totally spellbound. It was a complete triumph.’ Debussy, who had been appreciated previously only by connoisseurs, now became known to a much wider public.

Although the work is haunted by the opening flute solo, it creates the illusion of continuous improvisation, the instruments being brought together in ever new and fleeting combinations, with the flute and harp very much to the fore. Dispensing with rhythmic propulsion, it shimmers with a sultry languor, the composer Raymond Bonheur describing it as ‘rippling with light, aflame with all the heat of summer, giving off a blinding radiance’.

CLAUDE DEBUSSY 1862–1918

Claude Debussy

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TONIGHT’S PROGRAMME

Métaboles Incantatoire: Largamente —

Linéaire: Lento moderato —

Obsessionnel: Scherzando —

Torpide: Andantino —

Flamboyant: Presto

Henri Dutilleux had a varied and interesting career, ranging from chorus master at the Paris Opera to arranging music for nightclubs. He was Head of Music at French Radio from 1944 to 1963 and was Professor of Composition at both the École Normale Supérieure and the Paris Conservatoire. His powerfully poetic individual idiom gradually emerged from the major influence of Albert Roussel, but other influences included Beethoven and the Second Viennese School. He was a fastidious composer, writing only nine major works in forty years. For him, changing timbre was almost more important than melodic line, and he liked to explore the musical expression of the deep colours and landscapes of the unconscious. His mission, said one sympathetic critic, was ‘to be a civilised artist, defending a certain elevated and refined notion of beauty’.

Métaboles was commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra to celebrate its fortieth anniversary and it gave the first performance in 1965 under George Szell, to whom the piece is dedicated. It had taken Dutilleux three years to write and is perhaps his most characteristic work. The five short movements are played continuously, something which he adopted in all his subsequent compositions, feeling that he could enchant listeners more easily without breaks between the sections. Métaboles could almost be heard as a single enormous orchestral variation, the movements being organically linked in a continuous development, where the material at the end of one movement acts as the starting point for the next. The title alludes to this process of gradually changing ideas until they turn into something quite different. As Dutilleux explained: ‘In the conception of this work, the composer never ceased to dream of the mysterious and compelling realm of eternal metamorphosis. The spirit and the form of this music find their origins in an intense contemplation of nature.’ Dutilleux uses the traditional orchestra but subdivides it into increasingly small units, juxtaposing these in a variety of relationships. Métaboles is almost a concerto for orchestra as it highlights different instrumental groups, the leading role being passed from one family to another. The first movement is dominated by the woodwind; the second by the strings; and the third by the brass, in a passacaglia where emotions move from dark mystery to nobility. The fourth movement features the percussion whilst the final movement brings all the instruments together to create a dazzling and colourful conclusion.

HENRI DUTILLEUX 1916–2013

Henri Dutilleux

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TONIGHT’S PROGRAMME

Roméo et Juliette (excerpts)

Roméo seul — Fête chez Capulet

Nuit sereine — Scène d’amour

La Reine Mab, ou la fée des songes

Roméo au tombeau des Capulets

Hector Berlioz was in many ways the archetypal Romantic composer: ecstatic and melancholy by turns, turbulent, passionate, eccentric and excessive. A revolutionary writing in revolutionary times.

In a memorable phrase by the German poet Heinrich Heine he was ‘like an immense nightingale, a lark as great as an eagle... the music causes me to dream of fabulous empires filled with fabulous sins’. He had a unique ability to transfer literary and dramatic works into musical form, his two great passions being Shakespeare and Beethoven. After the tragic death of his only son he wrote despairingly: ‘It is Shakespeare that is our father, our father in heaven, if there is a heaven.’

In January 1839, whilst Berlioz was in bed with a chill, Achille, the twelve-year-old son of the great violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, popped his head round the door and handed him a note from his father. Berlioz, thinking it was congratulating him on a recent concert, was astonished to read: ‘Beethoven being dead, only Berlioz could make him live again; and I, who have enjoyed your divine compositions, worthy of that genius that you are, beg you to accept as token of my homage 20,000 francs.’ This was an enormous sum and it is hard to overestimate how much such an amazingly generous gift transformed Berlioz’s life, freeing him from journalistic toil, boosting his morale and enabling him to pay off his considerable debts.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet had first deeply touched Berlioz when he saw the Garrick version in 1827, especially the scene where Juliet awakes from her drugged sleep before the poison has killed Romeo. He had always wanted to translate it into music; now he was able to do so. Following the lead of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony he wrote what he described as a ‘dramatic symphony’, with chorus and soloists, lasting over an hour and a half, rather than an opera. Tonight we hear the four main orchestral movements which contain the heart of the symphonic drama. Berlioz declared that the passion of the two lovers had to be expressed in ‘the language of instruments, a language richer, more varied, less restricted and by its very vagueness incomparably more potent. Speak then, my orchestra!’. Composition began in January 1839 with the Roméo seul movement, and the whole symphony was completed by September that year and dedicated to Paganini. ‘What a life of passion I lived during all that time!’ Berlioz recalled. ‘With what energy I swam forth on that great sea of poetry, caressed by the intoxicating wings of fantasy’.

HECTOR BERLIOZ 1803–1869

Hector Berlioz

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TONIGHT’S PROGRAMME

The first three performances took place in November and December 1839 in the excellent acoustic of the hall of the old Paris Conservatoire, with 200 performers conducted by Berlioz himself. The preparations had been meticulous, Berlioz insisting on sectional rehearsals, which were almost unheard of at the time. All of intellectual Paris was there. But although the work was generally well received by both audience and critics, there were only six further complete performances in Berlioz’s lifetime, none of which was in France. The score was revised and published in 1847 and a further revision was published in 1857.

Roméo seul — Fête chez Capulet

This opens with a pianissimo phrase in the violins depicting Romeo’s thoughts as a melancholy lover. It is gradually superseded by the sound of revelry from the Capulets’ feast, and the colour and movement of the ball are portrayed by a swirling dance full of grandeur and excitement.

Nuit sereine — Scène d’amour

Structurally and spiritually this is the heart of the work and demanded patient, laborious working out from Berlioz, who was justifiably proud of it. ‘Three-quarters of the musicians of Europe who know it rate it above everything I have written’, he declared. It depicts the famous balcony scene, the ardent yearning theme in the violas capturing the essence and impossibility of Romeo and Juliet’s love. This leads to a rondo made up of phrases from their themes combined, symbolising their union.

La Reine Mab, ou la fée des songes

Mercutio’s speech mocking Romeo’s dreams of romance is depicted with subtle and delicate brilliance. The music is very fast and very soft almost throughout.

Roméo au tombeau des Capulets

Whilst Romeo lives this is dominated much more by his theme than by Juliet’s, and when they are reunited it is his emotions and his physical exultation and agonies that are depicted in the hectic, garish texture and frantic love themes. The movement ends bleakly with a solo oboe depicting the death of the lovers.

© Fabian Watkinson 2016

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BIOGRAPHIES

Russell Keable conductor

Russell Keable has established a reputation as one of the UK’s most exciting musicians. As a conductor he has been praised in the national and international press: ‘Keable and his orchestra did magnificently’, wrote The Guardian; ‘one of the most memorable evenings at the South Bank for many a month’, said The Musical Times.

He performs with orchestras and choirs throughout the British Isles, has conducted in Prague and Paris (concerts filmed by French and British television) and made his debut with the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra in Dubai. As a champion of the music of Erich Korngold he has received particular praise: the British première of Korngold’s Die tote Stadt was hailed as a triumph, and research in Los Angeles led to a world première of music from Korngold’s film score for The Sea Hawk.

Keable trained at Nottingham and London universities; he studied conducting at London’s Royal College of Music with Norman Del Mar, and later with George Hurst. For over thirty years he has been associated with Kensington Symphony Orchestra, one of the UK’s finest non-professional orchestras, with whom he has led first performances of works by many British composers (including Peter Maxwell Davies, John Woolrich, Robin Holloway, David Matthews, Joby Talbot and John McCabe).

Keable has also made recordings of two symphonies by Robert Simpson, and a Beethoven CD was released in New York. He is recognised as a dynamic lecturer and workshop leader. He has the rare skill of being able to communicate vividly with audiences of any age (from schoolchildren to music students, adult groups and international business conferences). Over five years he developed a special relationship with the Schidlof Quartet, with whom he established an exciting and innovative education programme. He also holds the post of Director of Conducting at the University of Surrey.

Keable is also in demand as a composer and arranger. He has written works for many British ensembles, and his opera Burning Waters, commissioned by the Buxton Festival as part of their millennium celebration, was premièred in July 2000. He has also composed music for the mime artist Didier Danthois to use whilst working in prisons and special needs schools.

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ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES

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ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES

Kensington Symphony Orchestra

Founded in 1956, Kensington Symphony Orchestra enjoys an enviable reputation as one of the finest non-professional orchestras in the UK. Its founding aim — ‘to provide students and amateurs with an opportunity to perform concerts at the highest possible level’ — continues to be at the heart of its mission.

KSO has had only two Principal Conductors: the founder, Leslie Head, and the current incumbent, Russell Keable, who recently celebrated three decades with the orchestra. The dedication, enthusiasm and passion of these two musicians has shaped KSO’s image, giving it a distinctive repertoire which sets it apart from other groups.

Revivals and premières of new works frequently feature in the orchestra’s repertoire alongside the major works of the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. World and British premières have included works by Arnold Bax, Havergal Brian, Nielsen, Schoenberg, Sibelius, Verdi and Bruckner. Russell Keable has aired a number of unusual works, as well as delivering some significant musical landmarks — the London première of Dvořák’s opera Dimitrij and the British première of Korngold’s operatic masterpiece, Die tote Stadt (which the Evening Standard praised as ‘a feast of brilliant playing’). In January 2004 KSO, along with the London Oriana Choir, performed a revival of Walford Davies’s oratorio Everyman, a recording of which is available on the Dutton label.

Contemporary music has continued to be the life-blood of KSO. An impressive roster of composers working today has been represented in KSO’s programmes, most recently including Magnus Lindberg, Charlotte Bray, Benedict Mason, Oliver Knussen, Thomas Adès, Brett Dean,

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ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES

Anne Dudley, Julian Anderson, Rodion Shchedrin, John Woolrich, Joby Talbot, Peter Maxwell Davies and Jonny Greenwood. In December 2005 Errollyn Wallen’s Spirit Symphony, performed with the BBC Concert Orchestra and broadcast on BBC Radio 3, was awarded the Radio 3 Listeners’ Award at the British Composer Awards. In 2014 KSO performed the world première of Stephen Montague’s From the Ether, commissioned by St John’s Smith Square to mark the building’s 300th anniversary. During the 2014/15 season KSO was part of Making Music’s Adopt a Composer scheme, collaborating with Seán Doherty on his work Hive Mind.

From the very beginning KSO has held charitable aims. Its first concert was given in aid of the Hungarian Relief Fund, and since then the orchestra has supported many different charities, musical and non-musical. In recent years it has developed links with the Kampala Symphony Orchestra and Music School under its KSO2 programme, providing training, fundraising and instruments in partnership with the charity Musequality. In 2013 and 2015 the orchestra held Sponsored Play events in Westfield London shopping centre, raising over £30,000 for the charity War Child. The orchestra also supports the music programme at Pimlico Academy, its primary rehearsal home.

The reputation of the orchestra is reflected in the quality of international artists who regularly appear with KSO. In recent seasons soloists have included Sir John Tomlinson, Nikolai Demidenko, Richard Watkins, Jean Rigby and Matthew Trusler; and the orchestra enjoys working with the new generation of up-and-coming musicians, including BBC Young Musician of the Year 2014 Martin James Bartlett and Young Classical Artists Trust artists Ji Liu and Richard Uttley. The orchestra works annually with guest conductors including most recently Michael Seal, Nicholas Collon, Alice Farnham, Andrew Gourlay and Jacques Cohen.

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YOUR SUPPORT

To support KSO you might consider joining our very popular Friends Scheme. There are three levels of membership and attendant benefits:

Friend

Unlimited concessionary rate tickets per concert, priority bookings, free interval drinks and concert programmes.

Premium Friend

A free ticket for each concert, unlimited guest tickets at concessionary rates, priority bookings, free interval drinks and concert programmes.

Patron

Two free tickets for each concert, unlimited guest tickets at concessionary rates, priority bookings, free interval drinks and concert programmes.

All Friends and Patrons can be listed in concert programmes under either single or joint names.

We can also offer tailored Corporate Sponsorships for companies and groups. Please ask for details.

Cost of membership for the sixty-first season is:

Friend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £60 Premium Friend . . . . . . . . . £125 Patron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £220

To contribute to KSO by joining the Friends please telephone David Baxendale on 020 8650 0393 or email friends@kso.org.uk.

Patrons Sue and Ron Astles Kate Bonner Sim Canetty-ClarkeJohn and Claire Dovey Bob and Anne Drennan Malcolm and Christine Dunmow Mr and Mrs G Hjert Daan Matheussen Jolyon and Claire Maugham David and Mary Ellen McEuen Michael and Jan Murray Linda and Jack Pievsky Neil Ritson and family Kim Strauss-Polman Keith Waye

Premium Friends David Baxendale Dr Michele Clement and Dr Stephanie Munn John Dale Alastair Fraser Michael and Caroline Illingworth Maureen Keable Nick Marchant Richard and Jane Robinson

Friends Anne Baxendale Robert and Hilary Bruce Yvonne and Graeme Burhop George Friend Robert and Gill Harding-Payne David JonesRufus Rottenberg Paul Sheehan Alan Williams

FRIENDS OF KSO

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OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT US

Sponsorship and Donations

One way in which you, our audience, can help us very effectively is through sponsorship. Anyone can be a sponsor, and any level of support — from corporate sponsorship of a whole concert to individual backing of a particular section or musician — is enormously valuable to us. We offer a variety of benefits to sponsors tailored especially to their needs, such as programme and website advertising, guest tickets and assistance with entertaining. For further details about sponsoring KSO, please speak to any member of the orchestra, email sponsorship@kso.org.uk or call David Baxendale on 020 8650 0393.

As a charity KSO is able to claim Gift Aid on any donations made to the orchestra. Donating through Gift Aid means KSO can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you give, at no extra cost to you. Your donations will qualify as long as they’re not more than four times what you have paid in tax in that financial year. If you would like to make a donation, or to inquire about Gift Aid, please contact the Treasurer at subs@kso.org.uk for further information.

Leaving a Legacy: Supporting KSO for the next generation

Legacies left to qualifying charities — such as Kensington Symphony Orchestra — are exempt from inheritance tax. In addition, since April 2012, if you leave more than 10% of your estate to charity the tax due on the rest of your estate may be reduced from 40% to 36%.

Legacies can be left for fixed amounts (‘specific’ or ‘pecuniary’ bequests) as either cash or shares, but a common way to ensure your loved ones are provided for is to make a ‘residuary’ bequest, in which the remainder of your estate is distributed to one or more charities of your choice after the specific bequests to your family and friends have first been met.

Legacies, along with conventional donations, to KSO’s Endowment Trust allow us to better plan for the next fifty years of the orchestra’s development.

If you include a bequest to KSO in your will, telling us you have done so will enable us to keep you informed of developments and, if you choose, we can also recognise your support. Any information you give us will be treated in the strictest confidence, and does not form any kind of binding commitment.

For more information about leaving a legacy please speak to your solicitor or Neil Ritson, Chairman of the KSO Endowment Trust, on 020 7723 5490 or email neil.ritson@kso.org.uk.

YOUR SUPPORT

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YOUR SUPPORT

The KSO Website

To keep up-to-date with KSO information and events visit our website, where you can see forthcoming concerts, listen to previous performances and learn more about the history of the orchestra.

An easy way to contribute to KSO at no extra cost to you is via our website. A number of online retailers will pay us a small percentage of the value of your purchase when you visit their page through links on the KSO website. www.kso.org.uk/shop

Mailing List

If you would like to receive news of our forthcoming concerts by email, please join our mailing list. Just send a message to jo.johnson@kso.org.uk and we’ll do our best to keep you informed. www.kso.org.uk/mailinglist

Social Media

See the most recent news and behind-the-scenes photos of the orchestra on our channels on Facebook and Twitter. Share KSO events and related articles with your friends and family in order to help us promote the orchestra on a wider scale.

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www.facebook.com/kensingtonsymphonyorchestra

www.twitter.com/KensingtonSO

TONIGHT’S PERFORMERS

First ViolinAlan TuckwoodClaire MaughamRia HopkinsonHeather BinghamMatthew HickmanSabina WagstylJason WeirJo JohnsonSarah HackettBronwen FisherRob ChatleyClaire DoveyErica JealLouise RingroseSusan Knight

Second ViolinDavid PievskyJuliette BarkerLea GoetzKathleen RuleJudith Ní BhreasláinJill IvesAdrian GordonJeremy BradshawRufus RottenbergCamilla NelsonHelen TurnellDanielle DawsonRoanna ChandlerLiz ErringtonRichard Sheahan Viola Beccy Spencer Nick Macrae Guy Raybould Meredith Estren Tom Philpott Alison Nethsingha Jane Spencer-Davis Sam Blade Daniela Das Dores Liz Lavercombe Sally Randall Phil Cooper

Cello Joseph SpoonerRosi CalleryJudith RobinsonNatasha FosterAna RamosNatasha BriantCat MugeVanessa HadleyDavid BaxendaleBecca WalkerLinda MorrisKim Polman

Double Bass Steph FlemingAndrew NealSam Wise

Flute Mike CopperwhiteClaire PillmoorDan Dixon

PiccoloMiranda JacksonDan Dixon

OboeCharles BrenanJuliette Murray-TophamElly HardwickChris Astles

Cor Anglais Chris Astles

ClarinetChris HorrilClaire Baughan

Eb ClarinetIvan Rockey

Bass ClarinetGraham Elliott

BassoonNick RampleySheila WallaceJohn Wingfield-HillKriskin Allum

ContrabassoonKriskin Allum French Horn Jon BoswellHeather PawsonEd CornAlex Regan

Trumpet Stephen WillcoxJohn HackettLeanne ThompsonMichael Collins

CornetJohn HackettLeanne Thompson

TrombonePhil CambridgeKen McGregor

Bass TromboneStefan Terry

TubaNeil Wharmby

TimpaniBrian FurnerCatherine Hockings PercussionTim AldenAndrew CumineCatherine HockingsPeter ManiuraSimon Willcox

Harp Fontane LiangAlexander Rider

CelesteLucía Sánchez de Haro

Music DirectorRussell Keable

TrusteesChris AstlesDavid BaxendaleElizabeth BellJohn DoveyJudith Ní BhreasláinHeather PawsonNick RampleyRichard SheahanSabina Wagstyl

Endowment TrustRobert DrennanGraham ElliottJudith Ní BhreasláinNick RampleyNeil Ritson

Event TeamChris AstlesBeccy SpencerSabina Wagstyl

Marketing TeamJeremy BradshawJo Johnson Andrew NealGuy RaybouldLouise Ringrose

Membership TeamJuliette BarkerDavid Baxendale Phil Cambridge

ProgrammesKathleen Rule

ORCHESTRA

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Monday 23 January 2017, 7.30pm (Cadogan Hall)STRAVINSKY Scènes de ballet BRUCKNER Symphony no.4

Saturday 4 March 2017, 7.30pm (St John’s Smith Square) With guest conductor Holly MathiesonBEETHOVEN Coriolan OvertureBRETT DEAN TestamentKORNGOLD Symphony in F sharp

Monday 15 May 2017, 7.30pm (Barbican Centre, London)

60th ANNIVERSARY CONCERTMATTHEW TAYLOR Symphony no.4 (world première)*

MAHLER Symphony no.2* with funding provided by Arts Council England

Monday 3 July 2017, 7.30pm (St John’s Smith Square)NIELSEN Rhapsody Overture: An Imaginary Journey to the Faroe IslandsARNOLD Rinaldo and ArmidaNIELSEN Symphony no.6

61st SEASON

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cupTickets: £12.50–£30

60th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT Monday 15 May 2017, 7.30pmBarbican Centre, London

MATTHEW TAYLOR Symphony no.4 (world première)*

MAHLER Symphony no.2

Russell Keable ConductorKiandra Howarth SopranoCaitlin Hulcup Mezzo-SopranoEpiphoni ConsortVox Cordis Pegasus Choir

* with funding provided by Arts Council England