Gala
Silver Jubilee Concert
Guildford Phiharmonic Orchestra §
and
Phllharmonlc Choir
GOD SAVE T HE QUEEN
rr. Bliss
This concert is promoted by Guildford
Borough Council with financial assistance
from the South East Arts Association.
CONCERT CELEBRATING THE
SILVER JUBILEE OF HER
MAJESTY THE QUEEN
Philharmonic Choir
The Philharmonic Choir is the larger of
the two choirs under the conductorship of
the Musical Director, who acknowledges
with thanks the help he has received in
training the choir from Kenneth Lank and
Mary Whittle, and accompanists Patricia
Finch and Prudence Smith. The Choir
made its first recording in 1973 with the
Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra:
Intimations of Immortality by Gerald Finzi,
and in 1976 recorded Hadley’s “The Trees
So High’” with the New Philharmonia
Orchestra.
As this is a Jubilee Concert and a festival
Since 1962 he has been Musical Director
to the Municipality of Guildford where he
has developed the Guildford Philharmonic
into a professional body of major importance and conducts the Proteus Choir with
occasion, the Philharmonic Choir ladies
singers all aged under 30, as well as the
are wearing coloured dresses rather than
larger Philharmonic Choir. He has made
their usual formal black.
several records with both the orchestra
and choirs.
Vernon Handley
Vernon Handley was born in Enfield,
North London, and studied at Balliol
College, Oxford, and the Guildhall School
of Music and Drama. He is now one of the
busiest British Conductors working
In 1974 the Composer’s Guild of Great
Britain named him ‘““Conductor of the
Year” for his services to British music. He
is a Fellow of the Royal College of Music
and has received Awards from the Classics
Club Patron of Music Fund, the Cabot
Foundation and the Arnold Bax Memorial
regularly with all the major London and
Medal for Conducting.
regional orchestras. Recognised as one of
In spite of his crowded schedule, Vernon
Handley still manages to escape to his
the major champions of British music,
Vernon Handley is frequently entrusted
with the world premiere of new works.
In the last couple of years he has made a
dozen recordings for four different
Gloucestershire home for a period of every
year to work on enlarging his already
immense repertoire and to follow his keen
interest in ornithology.
companies, the repertoire ranging from
Finzi, Vaughan Williams and Tippett to
Tchaikovsky, Faure and Saint-Saens, a
record of music by the latter composer
with Pierre Amoyal as soloist gaining a
Grand Prix du Disque award.
John Lill
John Lill received international prominence
in
June 1970 when he won first prize in the
Moscow International Tchaikovsky
USA and Canada followed. Since June 1970
Competition. Experts consider the Moscow
John Lill has averaged well over 100
award to be the world’s most sought after
piano prize. It is not surprising, therefore,
that John Lill’s schedule now includes
concerts each season.
engagements throughout the world, so great
is the demand for his services.
Concerts during 1975/76, apart from
London and other major British centres
included tours of South Africa, of the
USSR with the LPO and Haitink, the
Prague Festival, and the Concertgebouw
Orchestra.
He has appeared with Vernon Handley on
many occasions, several of these
appearances having been with the Guildford
Philharmonic Orchestra.
PROGRAMME
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
arr. Bliss
Coronation Anthem, Zadok the Priest
Handel 1685—1759
i
At a very early age he displayed the
qualities that culminated in his triumph
in Moscow. He showed aptitude for the
piano at the age of four, gave his first
recital at the age of nine, and at fourteen
had memorised the complete keyboard
works of Beethoven. At the age of ten, he
commenced studies at the Royal College of
Music, where he won an open scholarship
in 1961 to become a full-time student. He
is now a Professor at the Royal College,
and when appointed at 27 had the
distinction of being the youngest ever
Fellow.
John Lill’s highly successful London debut
was in 1963 when, still a student,he was
invited by Lady Beecham to perform
Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto at the Royal
Festival Hall. Engagements with leading
orchestras in Britain, the continent, the
For the Coronation of King George II in
Westminster Abbey on 11 October 1727
Handel composed no less than four
anthems. It was an occasion of exceptional
splendour and Handel’s music clothed it
with fitting pomp and ceremony. The
Chapel Royal choir was raised to 47 voices
and the orchestra of strings, oboes,
bassoons, trumpets, drums and organ was
of considerably larger dimensions than the
choir itself. Handel was personally
responsible for the choice of the texts,
with the exception of the first anthem,
Let thy hand be strengthened, which was
chosen by the king. Of the other texts,
Zadok the Priest had been used for the
Coronation of Charles II with music by
Henry Lawes, and My heart is inditing was
set by Purcell for James II. Handel is said
to have completed all four anthems in as
many weeks and the music found such
favour with the new king that he not only
continued the pension settled on Handel by
his predecessor but made him an additional
grant of £200 a year for his services as a
music-master to the young princesses.
The text is based on a passage from the
orchestral tutti introducing all the thematic
First Book of Kings, Ch.1: v.39—40.
material, a clearer definition of the first
Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet
anointed Solomon King. And all the people
rejoiced, and said: God save the King!
Long live the King! May the King live for
ever!
and second subjects by the piano,
completion of exposition, a colourful and
varied development of the principal theme
of the first subject groups, and finally the
usual recapitulation with cadenza. The
quiet and meditative second movement
Amen, Allelujah!
(Adagio un poco mosso) leads straight into
There is an extended introduction in which
the brilliant and triumphant finale, which
the strings weave a panoply of arpeggios
follows the course of a rondo.
and then the chorus in seven parts utters
the proclamation. The second section is a
five-part chorus of rejoicing (allegro 3/4).
And finally comes the triumphant shouts
of ‘Long live the King’, etc., followed by
INTERVAL
an elaborate development of the ‘Amen,
Allelujah’ motives.
%K Holand.
Piano Concerto No.5 in E flat
‘Emperor’
Beethoven 1770—1827
Allegro
Adagio un poco mosso
Rondo: Allegro
Festival Te Deum
Holst 1874—-1934
Holst’s Te Deum is a typically economical
work; indeed, Holst called it Short Festival
Te Deum. It was written in 1919 for
Morley College where Holst lectured and
Beethoven’s E flat Concerto was composed
taught. A modest orchestra, compared to
at Vienna in 1809 during the Franco-
that of The Planets, is used and although
Austrian war, which resulted in a
this work was intended more for an
bombardment of Vienna, the economic
amateur chorus and orchestra than had
collapse of the people, and various other
been the larger work which had had its
pleasantries usually brought about by
first performance the year before, never-
civilised armed conflict. The Concerto,
the less the mastery which he displays in his
however, was not given its first public
control of the chosen forces is best
performance until 1811 in Leipzig, and
illustrated by professional orchestra and
later it was heard in London at a concert
of the Philharmonic Society. Since that
time it has established itself as one of the
most popular concertos in the repertoire.
The title ‘Emperor’ was not given by
Beethoven. Nevertheless, in some ways it
fits very well, for the music (particularly
the first and third movements) possesses
certain symbolical qualities of majesty and
power so usually and so hopefully
associated with the sovereign of a great
empire.
'
secure and experienced chorus. Even in
such a modest work this great original
composer was not content to produce a
“pot boiler” and shunning all cheap bids
for popularity he actually ends the work
pianissimo. Those expecting a brilliant
shout to finish off the work will be
confounded. Those willing to listen to the
sweeping close harmonies in the sopranos
and altos and the subtle capturing of the
rhythm of the words will find the same
satisfaction that accompanies the
concentrated attention to such details in
The first movement (Allegro) is designed
the composer’s more profound and
on the following lines: Introduction, an
extended Hymn of Jesus.
A London Symphony
Vaughan Williams 1872—-1958
the musical experiences we go through in
Introduction — Allegro
four notes made up of two rising fourths in_
Lento
Scherzo — Nocturne
Andante — Epilogue
This is the second of Vaughan Williams’s
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 Londoner”.
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 in its entirety. One
cannot find trace of English musical
organisations or 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 symphony. The opening phrase is
characteristic of Vaughan Williams’s idiom —
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 impassioné,d.
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.
GUILDFORD PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Director of Music/Conductor
VERNON HANDLEY
Cornets
John Jeffery
Edgar Riches
John Donaldson
1st Violins
Basses
Tenor Trombones
Leader:
Roy Benson
Ian White
John Ludlow
Douglas Lees
Peter Thorley
Barry Haskey
Michael Fagg
Patricia Cassidy
Randall Shannon
Bass Trombone
Hywell Davies
Charles Ardmore
Robin Turner
Vito Gambazza
Flutes
Tuba
Susan Kinnersley
Henry Messent
Stephen Wick
Robert Lewcock
Celia Chambers
Jennifer Fremmingham
Susan Penfold
Piccolo
David Towse
Alan Baker
Martin Turnlund
Second Violins
Rosemary Roberts
Constance Ames
Timothy Callaghan
Cynthia Dunn
John Forster
John Gralak
David Greed
Peter Stark
Adrienne Sturdy
Ronald Tendler
Violas
John Meek
David Johnson
Charles Fullbrook
Harp
Jean Price
Concerts Manager
Kathleen Atkins.
Roger Blair
Oboes
Sara Barrington
Nicholas Maxted Jones
Jack Lees
Timpani
Keith Lewis
Nina Whitehurst
Percussion
Howard Evans
Moyra Montagu
Cor Anglais
Janice Knight
Clarinets
John Denman
Leslie Walklin
3
Bass Clarinet
Gordon Lewin
Bassoons
Robert Jordan
SILVER JUBILEE SUPPER CONCERT —
LOSELEY HOUSE, LOSELEY PARK,
GUILDFORD
Music by Musica Reservata ‘English Court
Music of the Seventeenth Century’
A rare opportunity to listen to early music
in the superb Elizabethan mansion,
Loseley House, built in 1562 by Sir William
More.
FRIDAY 24 JUNE at 7.45 p.m.
Limited number of tickets available
Apply to the Philharmonic Society desk in
the Foyer tonight, or to the concerts manager
at Guildford House next week.
Anna Meadows
Martin Kelly
Trevor Snoad
Contra Bassoon
Kathryn Burgess
David Chatterton
Robin Grice
Robert Duncan
Leonard Lock
Rosemary Sanderson
Cellos
Eldon Fox
Jack Holmes
John Stilwell
Pauline Sadgrove
Malka Cossack
Paul Kegg
Gwen Cassidy
Horns
UNIVERSITY OF SURREY
CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
directed from the harpsichord by
Peter Clack
PHILIP SIMMS
Dennis Scard
J. S. Bach — Brandenburg Concerto No.1
C. P. E. Bach — Flute Concerto
Handel — Concerto Grosso Op.6 No.11
Haydn — Symphony No.6 ‘Le Matin’
Charles Bloomfield
George Woodcock
Douglas Murlis
Trumpets
Michael Hinton
Richard Kauffman
SUNDAY, JUNE 19th, 7.30 p.m.
UNIVERSITY GREAT HALL
Admission 80p (50p students/OAP’s)