GUILDFORD
CORPORATION
CONCERTS
DIRECTOR OF MUSIC
VERNON HANDLEY
MUNICIPAL ORCHESTRA
Leader - WILLIAM ARMON
PROTEUS CHOIR
IRIS
LOVERIDGE
PIANOFORTE
THE FIRST CONCERT IN
THE ENTERPRISING SERIES
SATURDAY,
CONDUCTOR
VERNON HANDLEY
9th
NOVEMBER,
Programme
1963
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IRIS LOVERIDGE
Iris Loveridge first played in public at the age of eight and won an Ada Lewis
scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music where she studied for three years,
winning a number of special prizes. She was soon invited to play with the
leading British Orchestras and as well as her frequent television and sound
broadcasts, she is well known on the continent having toured Scandinavia,
Germany, France and Holland. She is the possessor of what must be one of
the largest repertoires of any concert pianist of the present day. It includes
over forty classical and romantic concertos and Miss Loveridge is constantly
adding to the immense collection.
She specialises in such widely differing
styles as English and Spanish and the characteristic most.associated with her
playing is one of brilliant clarity. She will also be giving a Recital for the
Guildford Concertgoers’ Society on the 7th December.
hong- haunved ,i‘;’f,,m_’,“;wd . PROTEUS CHOIR
The Proteus Choir was formed this summer to provide a chorus where under
twenty-one's could gain experience in choral training. It is open to all people
under twenty-one and is not confined to schools. Rehearsal programmes are
specially devised so that members who are at University have a chance of
singing in the choir’s concerts because they receive an ample number of
rehearsals before the University terms begin and at the end of those terms.
The name ‘‘Proteus’, chosen by the chorus itself, is taken from classical
mythology. Proteus was a Sea God who was able to change himself into
many forms.
The chorus feels that as its membership will be constantly
changing and as the intention is to do a great variety of works this is an
appropriate name.
Mr. Handley wishes to record his thanks to Miss Mary Rivers and Mr.
Kenneth Lank for the help that they have given in training the choir.
PROGRAMME
Circus Polka (composed for a Young Elephant)
.
Stravinsky
The two works by Stravinsky included in this programme have been chosen
to show that this composer is not always unapproachable.
He is probably
more heavily criticised for jerky rhythms and discordant harmony than any
other composer.
In the Circus Ballet, all that is characteristically Stravinsky
is heard. Added to the two musical habits already mentioned is a fine sense
of humour and a wonderful knack of writing this harmony into instrumental
enjoyable lines. Several well known Polkas are hidden here and at the end
a March, known to the entire audience, is not at all hidden but parodied in
an irresistible manner.
Nights in the Gardens of Spain
I.
2.
3.
‘
;
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de Falla
En el Generalife
Danza lejana
En los Jardines de la Sierra de Cordoba
Almost everything that de Falla wrote has a degree of perfection that one
would expect from so fastidious a composer.
He started the composition
of Nights in the Gardens of Spain in Paris in 1909 but it was not completed
until 1915. It was first heard in 1916, but he was not satisfied and retained
the score for revision purposes until 1923, when it was published. The first
title refers to an old and very beautiful Moorish Garden in Granada. The
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o secor%i¢ and third movements, Distant Dance and Gardens of Sierra de Cordoba,
are played without a break., The composer said that he wished to evoke
places, sensations and sentiments and that although the music was meant to
be expressive, it was not meant to be descriptive.
Although the piano is the
most important strand in the texture, it is cften used as an orchestral instrument and not as if the work were a concerto. On the other hand, the virtuosity
required of the soloist puts the work in a category only to be attempted by
the most accomplished pianists.
The tunes are the composer’'s own but they
were inspired by Andalusian popular music and the orchestration catches
the
inflection
of
this
music. and
the
piano
frequently
suggests
a guitar.
With such brilliance of writing and orchestration this work has been
dubbed by critics as a kaleidoscope of Spanish effects.
Nothing could be
farther from the truth.
The themes used are few; the variations rung on
them symphonic in their construction.
It is an important three movement
symphonic work and thus poses the same problems for conductor and soloist
as a work like the Brahms Second Piano Concerto.
Two Motets for Unaccompanied Chorus
Pater Noster and Ave Maria
.
Stravinsky
These two motets were composed in 1949, seven years after the Circus Ballet.
The jerky rhythms and discordant harmonies referred to above are completely
absent from these two settings.
The time signature changes often but a won-
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derful sense of flow (something not usually attributed to Stravinsky) binds
he Latin texts together.
Although some harmonies are strange, none are
shocking and both pieces end with quiet bare ““Amen’s”.
Stravinsky writes
no expression marks in either piece and only an occasional breath comma.
He gives roughly the same crotchet speed for each and leaves the rest to the
choir and conductor to interpret, but the very lack of expression marks and
the shape of the harmony implies that these pieces should be treated rather
evenly, though not necessarily distantly.
| Sing of a Maiden
:
;
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;
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Arnold Bax
Written in 1926, this motet is as rich and impassioned as the Stravinsky motets
are mysterious and even.
Many people mistake Bax’s harmony for the outpourings of a sentimental romanticist.
He is a self confessed romantic, not
with the turgid introspection of some of the later nineteenth century German
composers, but with the fierce intensity of an observer of some powerful
romantic vision.
Usually the expression marks in Bax’s music are overlooked
in favour of the beautiful harmony, but that harmony is not there for its own
sake, and a strict obedience to dynamics and rhythm is necessary to bring to
light the style of a composer who nearly always wrote in a state of white heat.
| sing of a maiden That is makeless,
King of all kings To her son she ches,
He came all so still There his mother was,
Like dew in April that falleth on the grass.
He came all so still To his mother’s bower,
Like dew in April That falleth on the grass.
He came all so still There his mother lay,
Like dew in April That falleth on the spray.
Mother and maiden was never none but she,
Well may such a lady Godés mother be.
I sing of a maiden That is makeless,
King of all kings To her son she ches.
Anon. (15th Century).
INTERVAL
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5* A London Symphony
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Vaughan Williams
Introduction - Allegro.
Lento »
Scherzo - Nocturne..
Andante - Epilogue
.
This is the second of Vaughan Williams’ nine symphonies and is the first one
of the series which gained him recognition as a true symphonist. The Sea
Symphony for soli, chorus and orchestra, which was produced 1910, caused
a stir in British musical circles and showed that the composer was someone
to be reckoned with. It did not, however, add anything to symphonic writing
and indeed showed some structural weaknesses, also a great deal of the choral
writing was not characteristic of the composer, but showed the influence of
Elgar and Stanford as well as continental composers. The London Symphony
is an entirely different case. Practically no bar in it could have been written
by any one other than Vaughan Williams, the shape of the tunes, their cockney
accent, the model harmony and at times the clumsy sounding orchestra (clumsy
only because there is no better word to describe the resulting sound) are all
wholly his. Despite its title and a couple of picturesque touches like Big Ben
chimes, this is absolute music and needs no explanation even though pictures
may spring to mind because of the evocative tunes. In fact Vaughan Williams
said it might better have been entitled “Symphony by a LondonerTM.
A performance was given in London in 1914 but the work was completely
revised in 1920 and exists in that form as the first great symphony in the
English musical vernacular. When given in Rome in the 1920’s it was encored
One cannot find trace of English musical organisations or
in its entirety.
conductors having followed up that success. It is a cyclic work starting with
a fog bound introduction and returning at the end of the fourth movement
to this introduction to bind together the musical experiences we go through
in the symphony. The opening phrase is characteristic of Vaughan Williams’
idiom—four notes made up of two rising fourths in succession, then comes
the Westminster chimes and then noisy London—a vivid picture of the cockney
and his special brand of laughter and the whole City, its scenes and vibrations.
The tunes are all clear and recognisable in their various forms and the design
is grandiose and vulgar.
By complete contrast comes the second movement, in turn quiet and
impassioned. What must be a street crier’s tune is heard (and surely this
particular one helped Noel Coward?) and a beautiful cor anglais solo later
developed by the full orchestra.
Next, a real Scherzo—london by night? The Pubs? The Whelk stalls?
Mouth-organs? Barrel-organs? One commentator has called it a gigantic
piece of realism. This it might be, but just listen to it as music and let the
scenes surprise you. It all goes past too swiftly.
The last movement begins with a strong outspoken theme, then a solemn
march tune which builds itself up massively. This is surely the power of the
City, both benevolent and malevolent. When the March returns it builds up
to one of the most overwhelming climaxes in symphonic music, then all is
hushed. Big Ben returns and the damp but not cold epilogue brings this
dramatic symphony to an end.
WEDNESDAY, 20th NOVEMBER, at 8 p.m.
CHERKASSKY — PIANOFORTE RECITAL
Organ Toccata in C major
:
Sonata in C minor, Op. 13 (Pathetique)
Variations on a theme of Corelli, Op. 42
Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm from Mikrokosmos
Doumka
Pictures from an Exhibition
Bach—Busoni
Beethoven
Rachmaninov
Bela Bartok
Tschaikowsky
Moussorgsky
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