Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Programme Notes Online. The Lark Ascending Saturday 9 March pm

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1 Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Programme Notes Online The Lark Ascending Saturday 9 March pm ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK ( ) Slavonic Dance in G minor, Op.46 No.8 As a butcher s apprentice in the Bohemian mining town of Zlonice, the 15-year-old Antonín Dvořák made his composing debut with a polka for an amateur orchestra. He always enjoyed a tavern sextet, recalled his friend Joseph Zubaty. So when in 1876, his publisher Simrock asked for a set of Slavonic Dances along the lines of Brahms s Hungarian Dances, Dvořák responded quickly and spontaneously. His inspiration was entirely original, though this exuberant last dance of the set has the unmistakable headlong energy of the Furiant: an energetic Czech stamping dance. RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS ( ) The Lark Ascending Romance for violin and orchestra On the eve of the First World War, Ralph Vaughan Williams read George Meredith s poem The Lark Ascending and heard, in his mind s ear, this Romance for violin and orchestra. Then, like thousands of others, he laid music aside to serve in France. The Lark Ascending was finally premiered in 1921 at Queen s Hall, London by the violinist Marie Hall and the conductor Adrian Boult. It s something unique a virtuoso showpiece without a trace of superficial display. Poetry, purity and expressive beauty are all. Against a serene orchestral landscape, the solo violin becomes the bird, its song, and the spirit of Meredith s poem:

2 He rises and begins to round, He drops the silver chain of sound Of many links without a break, In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake It all sounds so simple in those first calm orchestral chords you can almost see the coloured counties drowsing under a summer haze. As the 1920s wore on, he d get back to grittier business. But for now, Vaughan Williams, like his whole generation, had earned his dream of timeless beauty on a perfect summer afternoon. EDVARD GRIEG ( ) Peer Gynt: Suite No.1, Op.46 Morning Mood The Death of Åse Anitra s Dance In the Hall of the Mountain King In Educating Rita, when Rita responds to Frank s essay-question about the best way to stage Ibsen s Peer Gynt with the answer do it on the radio, she hits the nail on the head. Henrik Ibsen never meant his 1867 dramatic poem to appear on stage. It s a drama for the mind s ear. Even today, a play spread over three continents that features shipwrecks, supernatural monsters and huge landscapes would need a Spielberg to stage realistically. They didn t have those kind of effects in 19th-century Norwegian theatre. What they did have was music so when, in 1874, Ibsen finally decided to try and put Peer Gynt on stage, he went straight to Edvard Grieg. Peer Gynt is funny, action-packed and earthy the story of how one selfish, impulsive man learns wisdom, sprinkled with farcical comedy, profound poetry and brilliant satire. In Morning Mood Peer wakes, robbed and deserted, in the Arabian desert. A

3 tender lament for strings accompanies the death of Peer Gynt s mother Åse; then there s a deliciously sinuous oriental dance for the seductress Anitra a mirage-like scene, echoed in Grieg s muted orchestral colours. And In the Hall of the Mountain King, Peer flees a horde of pig-faced trolls. It s grotesque, angular and bizarre and there are a couple of nasty shocks in store (Grieg said that it reeks of cow dung ). This fairy-tale has claws HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS ( ) Bachianas Brasileiras No.5: Aria arranged for trumpet and orchestra by Efraín Oscher Villa-Lobos s nine Bachianas Brasileiras ask and then answer a simple question what if Bach had lived in Brazil? The first movement of Bachianas Brasileiras No.5, was written in 1938 for solo soprano and an orchestra of cellos, and it sets a poem by the soprano and poet Ruth Valadares Correa (who also sang in the first performance) about the beauty of twilight. A rosy cloud, slow and lustrous / floats across the lovely dreaming sky Just as in Bach s famous Air on the G string, a haunting melody soars over a plucked accompaniment but the sense of nostalgia and longing in that glorious tune could only come from Brazil. PAQUITO D RIVERA (b.1948) La Fleur de Cayenne arranged for trumpet and orchestra by Eduardo Cana Born in Havana, Cuba, the Grammy-award winning sax player, composer and bandleader Paquito d Rivera has gone on to embrace every area of Latin music. As America s National Endowment for the Arts puts it, he s the consummate multinational ambassador, creating and promoting a cross-culture of music that moves effortlessly among jazz, Latin, and Mozart. La Fleur de Cayenne (2014) sums it all up in one delightful, joyous little miniature: a Venezuelan joropo transformed into

4 chamber music of the most and sophisticated and spirited type. INTERVAL Celebrating In Harmony Liverpool: Short Film produced by Hurricane Films PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY ( ) Romeo and Juliet: Fantasy Overture A passionate story of doomed love in a violent world: the tale of Romeo and Juliet was just made for Tchaikovsky. His inspiration ignited, and he wrote this fantasy overture in barely two months in autumn It s not so much a blow-by-blow re-telling of Shakespeare's story, as a fantasy inspired by the main themes of the drama violence, reconciliation, and of course love. The solemn introduction depicts the compassionate character of Friar Laurence, whose pleas for peace are shattered by the main Allegro a savage and fast-moving portrayal of the war between Montagues and Capulets. Out of this emerges, at first tentatively, and then with growing passion, the great sweeping love-theme of Romeo and Juliet. The conflict resumes, the love theme rises to an even more passionate height, and the final tragedy unfolds. As both families stand, stricken, around the dead lovers, the music slows once more as Friar Laurence speaks his final consoling words. ÁSTOR PIAZZOLLA ( ) Invierno porteño (Winter in Buenos Aires) arranged for trumpet and orchestra by Efraín Oscher Ástor Piazzolla learned his craft in the dance halls of Buenos Aires, and his tangos as catchy as the Beatles and as sophisticated as Stravinsky came to embody the seductive glamour and dark secrets of that all-embracing, all-consuming

5 city. At the end of his life, Piazzolla was asked whether he saw himself as a pop composer. No, he replied, absolutely not. I would be offended if they said my music is light, trivial. My music is a popular chamber music that comes from the tango. But like all great popular musicians, Piazzolla wrote music to be enjoyed. His Estaciones Porteñas ( Four Seasons of Buenos Aires : porteño is the nickname for a Buenos Airean, the equivalent of Scouser ) emerged one by one in the late 1960s. Winter was written in 1970 for his Quinteto of violin, piano, electric guitar, bass and bandoneon the huge Argentinean folkaccordion. But as we ll hear today, like any standard from Bach to Bowie, it s infinitely adaptable. IGOR STRAVINSKY ( ) The Firebird: Suite (1919) Infernal Dance Berceuse Finale When Sergei Diaghilev needed a new show for his brilliant Ballets Russes seasons in Paris, he turned to an untried but promising young Russian composer the 27-year-old Igor Stravinsky. Stravinsky went for broke, and The Firebird premiered in Paris on 25 June It was a triumph. Stravinsky, though, focused exclusively on his music: The stage and the whole theatre glittered at the premiere, and that is all I recall. The plot of The Firebird is an old Russian fairy-tale: simple, fantastical and timeless. The realm of the immortal demon-king Kashchei is dark and lifeless; but guided by the magical Firebird, Prince Ivan is determined to seek adventure. We join the story as Kashchei's attendant monsters swarm around and prepare to turn him to stone in a frenetic Infernal Dance.

6 In the nick of time, the magical Firebird re-appears, putting the monsters to sleep with an eerie Lullaby. Guided by the Firebird, the Prince finds and smashes the egg containing Kashchei's immortal soul, and the demon's spells are undone. While a solo horn sings a quiet folk-song, Kashchei's petrified victims gradually return to life, and as light spreads across the kingdom, the full orchestra celebrates in a majestic and jubilant Finale. Programme notes by Richard Bratby 2019

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Programme Notes Online. Sunday Afternoon Classics Peer Gynt Sunday 20 January pm

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Programme Notes Online Sunday Afternoon Classics Peer Gynt Sunday 20 January 2019 2.30pm EDVARD GRIEG (1843-1907) Peer Gynt: Suite No.1, Op.46 Morning Mood The Death