Banbury Symphony Orchestra is a Registered Charity. No. 239112

Spring Concert 2013 Saturday 23 March 2013 St Marys Church, Banbury

Programme 1

Hello and welcome to our autumn concert

This evenings concert is filled with inspiring tunes live music at its best.

The works in the programme are all based on strongly patriotic themes.

Rimsky Korsakovs Russian Easter Festival Overture is a concert overture

based on Russian liturgical themes and dedicated to the Russian composers

Borodin and Mussorgsky. Kodlys Peacock variations are a set of orchestral

variations based on a Hungarian theme.

The concert concludes with Rachmaninovs 2nd Symphony. This is a work

based in the Russian tradition of beautiful flowing melody and demonstrates

incredible use of orchestral colour.

We are very pleased to welcome back Anna Fleming as our leader again after,

suffering a bad break to her left wrist last year. We would like to say a big

thank you to Jenny Maynard for stepping into the breach and leading us so

positively last year.

Looking ahead to the summer, our fundraising concert in association with the

Rotary Club of Banbury and Help for Heroes will be here in St Marys on 13

July at 7.30pm.

Later in the Autumn, we are very much looking forward to playing Wagners

Faust Overture, the Grieg Piano concerto and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathtique). You can find out more details about this concert elsewhere in

this programme.

If you would like to be kept abreast of our concerts, then do please go to our

website on www.banburysymphony.org. There you will also find links to our

Facebook page (please Like us) and follow our new Twitter feed too (we

already have some 760 followers after only a few months). So many ways to

keep in touch with us, but most of all we hope that you will continue to

support our concerts and be entertained by the Banbury Symphony

Orchestra.

Happy listening!

Emma Callery (Chair)

Paul Willett Conductor

Paul Willett studied violin, singing and piano as a student

but his main instrument was the French horn. When Paul

was 16, he gained his Performance Diploma from The

Royal College of Music. Paul went on to read music on

scholarship at The Queens College, Oxford, and studied

for his teaching certificate in Music and Physical Education

at Reading University.

For several years Paul combined teaching and freelance

playing. He has given solo recitals and performed

concertos throughout the country. He was a member of The Five Winds, a group

that performed both at home and abroad, and also on BBC radio. Paul also worked

as a brass teacher for Oxfordshire Music Service and was director of a Saturday

Music School of 200 students.

Paul now combines class teaching with conducting various ensembles, both adult

and youth. He is also in demand as an adjudicator for both adult and student

competitions. Paul is Deputy Headteacher at Didcot Girls School.

Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture

Kodly: Variations on a Hungarian Folk Song

Interval

Rachmaninov: Symphony No.2

Anna Fleming - Leader

Anna was born in South Africa where she started playing the violin at the age of ten. While studying music at secondary school, Anna became a member of the South African National Youth Orchestra. After successfully completing her music degree, majoring in orchestral studies, Anna joined the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra in 1992.

Anna moved to England in late 1996. Keen to continue her orchestral playing, Anna joined the Banbury Symphony Orchestra in 1997 and became the leader of the orchestra in 2000, a post that she has held ever since. As a committed Christian, Anna plays an active role in church music. Focusing primarily on private violin tuition, Anna particularly enjoys helping adults to learn to play and she can be contacted on 01295 780017.

Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture

Illustration: Pre 1917 Russian Easter Card by paukrus (Flickr.com)

The Russian Easter Festival Overture written by the Russian composer Nikolai

Rimsky-Korsakov between August 1887 and April 1888, and dedicated to the

memories of Modest Mussorgsky and Alexander Borodin. It is subtitled "Overture on

Liturgical Themes and is the last of the composer's series of three exceptionally

brilliant orchestral works, preceded by Capriccio Espagnol and Scheherazade. The

work received its premiere in St. Petersburg in late December 1888.

The tunes in the overture are largely based on a collection of old Russian Orthodox

liturgical chants called the Obikhod. Rimsky-Korsakov includes several biblical

quotations in the score to guide the listener as to his intent, including Psalm 68

and Mark 16.

The composer states in his autobiography, that in this overture he is eager to

reproduce "the legendary and heathen aspect of the holiday, and the transition

from the solemnity and mystery of the evening of Passion Saturday to the unbridled

pagan-religious celebrations of Easter Sunday morning". Rimsky-Korsakov always

had a great interest in, and enjoyment of, liturgical themes and music, though he

was himself a non-believer

In 1848 the Obikhod became mandatory for all of the Churches in Russia and so the

tunes chosen for the overture would carry a certain nationalistic and religious

weight and Russians would know them well.

Professor Robert Greenberg describes The Russian Easter Overture as, "A narrative

story of a Russian Easter day from dawn until dusk." In Russian, Easter is known as

the "Bright Holiday". In the 1880s Russia went by the Julian calendar which means

that Easter would be celebrated ten to eleven days before it would have been in

Western Europe. Because of this difference in the calendars, Easter would coincide

precisely with the first day of spring and thus the rebirth of life is a metaphor for the

rebirth of Jesus. Because of this, for the Russians, spring carries with it a religious

and spiritual weight.

Image Peacock Illustration from Piero de Crescenzi (1495) Opus ruralium commodorum Book 9 On animal husbandry attributed to Marcel Douwe Dekker (Flickr.com)

Kodly: Variations on a Hungarian Folk Song

The Hungarian composer Zoltn Kodly was

well known for his work in ethnomusicology.

The Peacock Variations falls into this vast

realm of the composer's output, using a

melody that has Hungarian (and possibly Mari)

roots and apparently dating back over 1,500

years, as the composer asserted in a brief note

about the work in 1966. The melody was used

in a popular Hungarian folk song entitled Fly,

Peacock.

The Peacock Variations opens with a brief,

slow introduction based on the tune, after

which the oboe takes up the melody. There

follow 16 variations and a finale, the whole

piece lasting about 25 minutes. The first three

variations are lively and very short, the last having a rollicking, especially colourful

manner. The next, also a mere half-minute or so, is subdued, but the music quickly

fills with tension in the following variant, only to turn tranquil again in the sixth.

The movement number seven is jolly and bright, and could almost be mistaken for

the more folkish music of Vaughan Williams. The next variation (Piu vivo) is also

much in that same chipper vein, but contrast is again strongly felt in number nine,

among the most lyrical and lovely of the variations, the music here soaring to the

swirling caresses of the clarinet. The next variant (Molto vivo) is very lively, featuring

pizzicato strings and jaunty winds.

The English horn and strings impart rich exoticism in the following variation

(Andante espressivo), and that same character is retained but greatly intensified in

the ensuing Adagio, which, at over three minutes, is the longest and probably

darkest of the 16 variations. Number 13 (Tempo di marcia funebre) also has a

grimness to its funereal tread, but the generally lighter character of the work

returns with the following variation (Andante), which summons images of the

peacock in flight, with deftly dreamy writing for the piccolo.

Lively music finally returns with the jolly and bright number 15 (Allegro giocoso) and

the ensuing stately 16th variation (Maestoso). The piece closes with its longest

section, the finale. Here much of the work's thematic ideas reappear in different

guises in generally lively and colorful orchestration, crowning this charming

composition with a mixture of triumph and folk-like festivity.

Movements

1. Moderato

2. Var. 1, Con brio

3. Var. 2

4. Var. 3, Pi mosso

5. Var. 4, Poco calmato

6. Var. 5, Appassionato

7. Var. 6, Tempo (calmato)

8. Var. 7, Vivo

9. Var. 8, Pi vivo

10. Var. 9

11. Var. 10, Molto vivo

12. Var. 11, Andante espressivo

13. Var. 12, Adagio

14. Var. 13, Tempo de Marcia funebre

15. Var. 14, Andante, poco rubato

16. Var. 15, Allegro giocoso

17. Var. 16, Maestoso

18. Finale: Vivace

Woodcut of Peacocks Attributed to Penn Provenance Project (Flickr.com)

Rachmaninov: Symphony No.2

Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 by the Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff,

was written in 190607. The premiere was conducted by the composer himself in St.

Petersburg on 8 February 1908 to great applause.

At the time his Symphony No. 2 was composed, Rachmaninoff had had two successful

seasons as the conductor of the Imperial Opera at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. The

symphony is in four movements:

1. Largo Allegro moderato (E minor)

2. Allegro molto (A minor)

3. Adagio (A major)

4. Allegro vivace (E major)

The symphony consists of a dramatic sequence that is identified with Russian

symphonic tradition. The tradition, established by Rachmaninoff's predecessors, places

emphasis on a motif and an unending and beautiful flow of melody,

e.g. Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 (also in E minor) and, later, Balakirev's Symphony

No. 2 and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5.

The first movement is brooding and mysterious; dramatically intense and alternates

between stormy conflict and serene vision. The second movement is a quick scherzo. In

the third movement the theme, again related to the works motif, sings through

primarily in the first violin. The symphony reaches its emotional climax in this

movement. In the Russian symphonic tradition, the motifs and themes of the preceding

movements are collectively summed-up in the finale. The final movement is grand

and sweeping, set in sonata form, carrying with it the essence of the work. The

development incorporates ideas from the previous movements, such as the opening

triplet theme, the marching melody, and the return to the Romantic string melody of

the third movement.

All programme notes taken from Wikipedia

Banbury Symphony Orchestra Management Committee:

Emma Callery (Chair), Claire Thomas (Treasurer), Jennifer Hubble (Secretary), Rachel McCubbin,

Lyn Gosney, Andrew Waite, Peter Button

Conductor - Paul Willett

Violin I Double Bass

Horn

Anna Fleming (Leader) Robert Gilchrist

Simon Mead

Jenny Maynard Jo Willett

Richard Hartree

Penny Tolmie

Jane Martin Bob Powell

Geoffrey Kent

Dave Settle

Marianne Robinson

Claire Stephenson

Vanesssa Devesa

Flute Graham Buckner

Rachel McCubbin

Trumpet

Laura Henderson Sue Wain Tony Chittock

Graham Buckner Nick Planas

Ron Barnett

Heidi Robertson

Tom Bolton-King Peter Wasley

Oboe

Emma Wahlen Trombone

Lyn Gosney Paul Macey

Violin II

Gary Clifton

Ian Smith

Clarinet Malcolm Saunders Emma Callery

Claire Thomas

Stephen Taylor

Alice Palmer Tuba

Rachel Sansome

Shaun Humphries Andrew Waite

Bassoon

Trish Evans

Ian McCubbin

Timpani Sue Christie

Rachel James Keith Crompton Kate Barton

Gill Walker

Cello Bryony Yelloly

Miranda Ricardo

Jennifer Hubble

Viola

Paul Morley

Gill Barbour Janet Parsons

Ros Templeman

Rebecca Oliver

Jonathan Rowe

Rosi Callery

Support us We are grateful for the support that the orchestra receives from our patrons and sponsors as well, of course, as the support of those who regularly attend our concerts, which help make the concerts all the more enjoyable for audience, performers and soloists. If you would like to support the orchestra through donation, sponsorship or joint enterprises, please contact our chair, Emma Callery, on 01608 737249 or email her: emma@caller.demon.co.uk.

Our Patrons

Our Sponsors

Banbury Symphony Orchestra has welcomed Spratt Endicott as sponsors since 2006. Spratt Endicott is pleased to be associated with Banbury Symphony Orchestra.

www.kannegiesser.co.uk

Keep in touch

Join our email list and we can keep you up to date with our forthcoming concerts. To find out more, please visit our website at www.banburysymphony.org or contact Rachel McCubbin, our publicity officer, on 01608 645589 or email her: rachelmccubbin@btinternet.com. You can also keep in touch via:

Mrs H. M. W. Rivett Lady Saye and Sele Mr & Mrs Nijhuis

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Banbury Symphony Orchestra

Dates for your diary ...

Chamber Concert - Sunday 12 May 2013 St. Peters Church, Hook Norton at 7.30pm

Beethoven Coriolan Overture

Mozart Bassoon Concerto (Ian McCubbin - soloist)

Haydn Symphony no. 103 (Drum Roll)

Saturday 13 July 2013 St Marys Church, 7.30pm

Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture

Wagner Ride of the Valkyries

Coates Dam Busters March

Goodwin 633 Squadron March

Shostakovich Symphony No. 7

Saturday 23 November 2013 Deddington Church at 7.30pm

Wagner Faust Overture

Grieg Piano concerto with Ffinian Jones

(musician in residence at Tudor Hall)

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathtique)

Interested in joining the orchestra? If you play an instrument to a standard of Grade 7 or above and would like to play

with the orchestra, find out more by contacting Anna Fleming on 01295 780017. All rehearsals take place at Banbury School during term time on Tuesday evenings,

7:309:30pm.