Music Chamber

Programme:

 

Canonic Suite                                                                Elliott Carter

Fanfare ~ Nocturne ~ Tarantella

 

O Magnum Mysterium                                                  Tomás Luis de Victoria trans. Dana Perna

                                 

La meva anima magnifica al Senyor (Magnificat)         Ian Stewart (first performance)

 

Trio Sonata n.1 in F major                                            Jan Dismas Zelenka trans. Kyle Horch

Adagio ma non troppo ~ Allegro ~ Larghetto ~ Allegro assai

 

Petites Litanies de Jesus                                             Gabriel Grovlez  arr. G. Lewin

 

Leabhar Gahbala                                                           Sean McWilliam

Cesair  ~ Partholan ~ Nemed  

 

 

Programme Notes:

 

Elliott Carter (b.1908) is internationally recognized as one of the leading American voices in the classical music tradition. Twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize, he was the first composer to be awarded the United States National Medal of Arts. The 2008 celebration of his centenary year, during which he continued to compose new works, was one of the inspirations that led to the creation of this ensemble. The Canonic Suite, scored for four alto saxophones, was composed in 1945 and revised in 1981. A comparatively early work written in tonal style, the rhythmic spirit and intellectual rigour of his later works is already abundantly in evidence in this bold, effervescent piece. Each movement is a disciplined example of pure canon, the technique of strict imitation between lines which was used by composers of the Renaissance and Baroque times. The score defines the parameters of each canon succinctly: “The Fanfare is a canon in four parts at the unison; the Nocturne, a four-part canon in inversion (saxophone 2), retrograde (saxophone 3), and retrograde-inversion (saxophone 4); the Tarantella a four-part canon at the second above.” 

 

The Spanish composer and organist Tomás Luis de Victoria (c.1548-1611) was one of the major figures of Renaissance music associated with the Counter-Reformation. As a boy he was a chorister at the cathedral in Avila, and his entire compositional output was sacred music. Much of his career was spent in Rome, where it is believed he studied with the Italian master, Palestrina. Most of his works were published during his lifetime, which is evidence of the strength of his patrons and the high regard in which his music was held by his contemporaries. O Magnum Mysterium is a relatively early work, from a motet published in 1572; it is a beautiful example of the pure emotional intensity Renaissance counterpoint can convey.

 

Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745) was a Czech contemporary of J.S. Bach, born in Bohemia, and trained in Prague and Vienna. He was a double-bass player in the court orchestra in Dresden for much of his life, but also had a large output of compositions which remained hidden from general performance because the Dresden court forbade any publication of them. Rediscovered in the mid-20th century, his cycle of six trio sonatas for oboes, bassoon, and continuo are now recognized as being among the most important wind chamber works of the Baroque. The Trio Sonata n.1, arranged here for two soprano saxophones, baritone saxophone, and synthesizer, is one of his finest works. Each of the four movements is a glorious web of interweaving, echoing lines, lyricism, and monumental architecture. 

 

La meva anima magnifica al Senyor, by the British composer Ian Stewart, is an adaptation, made especially for Flotilla, of an earlier vocal setting of the Magnificat text in Catalan. In this version, the work presents a solo soprano saxophone over a simple synthsizer drone, rather like plainsong; the solo part is purposely set in the plangent low register of the soprano saxophone – the other two saxophones join in to enrich the melody, sometimes in unison, at other moments slightly out of phase. The overall effect is one of timelessness, of reaching back in time to ancient Mediterranean music. Ian Stewart is a professional composer and arranger who grew up in England, Scotland, and Malta. He plays electric keyboards and produces both electronica and concert music. His acoustic compositions, which often include the saxophone, embrace a variety of styles and have been performed in classical concerts, radio broadcasts, and used in television documentaries. They have been performed by artists such as John Harle with the Brodsky Quartet and Smith Quartet, the Paragon Saxophone Quartet, Kyle Horch, Carole Sutherland, the Altissimo Ensemble, and the Cre.Art Ensemble. In 2008 the Music Chamber label released a CD of Ian’s music, which included four recent compositions reflecting his main influences: psychedelic music, early music, and Celtic music. A second recording of Ian’s music, featuring Kyle Horch, is being prepared on the same label for release later this year. 

 

Petites Litanies de Jesus is another work that captures the atmosphere of the monastery, although in a gentler, impressionistic language. A miniature gem, it was originally written in 1911for piano, as part of a collection entitled L’almanach aux images; it was arranged for the Krein Saxophone Quartet by Gordon Lewin. Gabriel Grovlez (1879-1944) studied composition with Faure at the Paris Conservatoire before beginning a long career as a composer and conductor. In addition to works for piano, he wrote a considerable quantity of vocal music, recital pieces for woodwind instruments, and chamber music.

 

The final work in today’s programme, Leabhar Gahbala by Sean McWilliam, shows a strong influence from Celtic music and is inspired by the “Book of Invasions”, 12th-century manuscript telling of the pre-Christian mythologies about ancient invasions of Ireland. McWilliam writes that “each of the three movements relates to a character in the book: ‘Cesair’ was the first invader, though all her people were killed in the biblical flood – the music is marked ‘to be played aggressively’. ‘Partholan’ came from Greece and made Ireland into a pleasant, fertile land, though he and his people died of a plague – here the music takes the form of a lament. The final, lively jig represents the ‘Nemed’, the final invaders who continued to cultivate the land until they divided and fled Ireland.”

- notes compiled by Kyle Horch

 

Flotilla are a unique ensemble of saxophonists performing music with a variety of soundworlds: trios and quartets for saxophones, often in unusual combinations, and also including piano or synthesizer. A consort of saxophones, rather than a traditional saxophone quartet. Flotilla’s all-star cast brings together four highly respected instrumentalists with vast experience in saxophone chamber music, as well as strong individual profiles in solo, orchestral, and commercial music. They began working on this project in 2007, and released a CD recording on the Big Shed Music label in March 2009.  The ensemble’s poetic repertoire of multilayered compositions – by turns clever, thoughtful, vibrant, haunting, elegiac – is a meditation on melody with themes of reflection, echo, and memory at its centre. Their programmes evoke a strong sense of mirroring, not just between the musicians who are placed on an equal footing by the thread of  contrapuntal writing which runs through much of their repertoire, but also between the modern and ancient as contemporary works draw upon a variety of antecedents ranging from liturgical polyphony to folk music. 

After studying at Northwestern University (Chicago) with Frederick Hemke and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London) with Stephen Trier, 

 

Kyle Horch made his London debut in 1989 on the Park Lane Group series. Since then he has performed as a soloist at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, British and World Saxophone Congresses, and numerous other venues in this country and abroad. His two CD recordings on the Clarinet Classics label, ChamberSax and AngloSax, have received international praise from reviewers; he has also recorded John Carmichael’s Aria and Finale on ABC Classics, and the 2006-7 Grade 8 saxophone syllabus for the Associated Board. Kyle’s work as a freelance musician has involved him in performing across a wide range of orchestral, contemporary, chamber, and light music. He has worked with many well-known ensembles including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Opera House, Philharmonia Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, London Musici, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Mistral and Paragon Saxophone Quartets, Counterpoise, and Piccadilly Dance Orchestra. He is saxophone professor at the Royal College of Music in London. 

 

One of the finest of Britain’s younger generation of saxophonists, Naomi Sullivan studied at Chethams School, the Royal College of Music, and Northwestern University. She has won numerous awards and prizes in the UK, Europe, and the USA, including with the Countess of Munster Trust which supported her postgraduate studies in Chicago and with whom she is a regular performer on the Trust’s recital scheme. She is also a regular recitalist on the Live Music Now! scheme. Naomi is a member of the Paragon Saxophone Quartet, with whom she has appeared on three CD recordings, Tuning In, Les Quatuors, and Byrdland. She is also a member of Zephirus, which won the chamber music section at the Royal Over-Seas League competition in 2007. Other chamber and orchestral playing has included engagements with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Halle Orchestra, and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. She teaches saxophone at Birmingham Conservatoire and the Purcell School.

 

Born in 1963, Andrew Tweed studied clarinet and saxophone at Birmingham Conservatoire. Upon leaving his studies he joined the groundbreaking group Saxtet, which since 1988 has taken him all round the UK, Europe, three times to the USA and a six-week world tour in between TV and radio appearances. As a soloist, Andrew released his debut CD, Spiritualise, in 2005 on the Big Shed Music label. A versatile freelance musician, Andrew has also worked with the CBSO, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, English Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchstra, London Musici (Rambert Dance Company), Theatre Alibi, Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, The Pasadena Roof Orchestra and The Syd Lawrence Orchestra as well as performing regularly with Britain’s premier accordionist, Karen Street. His compositions are published by Saxtet Publications and Boosey & Hawkes and appear on the Associated Board syllabus. He was Artistic Director of the 2005 British Saxophone Congress and endorses Keilwerth Saxophones. He teaches saxophone at Birmingham Conservatoire and Wells Cathedral School.

 

Alistair Parnell was a semi-finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 1984 and subsequently entered the Royal College of Music, London, where he studied saxophone with Stephen Trier and piano with David Ward. During his time there he won many prizes including the College Woodwind Prize and the Concerto Prize. He formed and led the Mistral Saxophone Quartet, which became one of the UK’s most successful saxophone ensembles and performed at the Purcell Room and several British Saxophone Congresses. In 1997 he released his first solo compact disc Going Solo which features Alistair playing saxophone, piano, keyboards and electronic wind instrument. He followed this with another solo recording, Winter Solstice, in 2005. Freelance work has included engagements with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, the Tribune Saxophone Octet, the Equinox Sax Ensemble. Alistair is guest conductor of the Nottingham Symphonic Wind Orchestra, and he is Visiting Scholar for saxophone at Nottingham University.