Nikola White on Kaija Saariaho

In this blog post Britten Sinfonia's Artistic Planning Director, Nikola White, discusses how we came to commission Kaija Saariaho for our 2014-15 At Lunch series and her thoughts on the composer's style;

Kaija Saariaho

Kaija Saariaho has been on our wish-list of composers to commission for a long time and is the first Scandinavian composer we have commissioned. Scandinavia is such a power-house of cultural excellence, with the likes of Magnus Lindberg, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Pekka Kuusisto all making a huge impact in the music world. I find Kaija particularly interesting as she’s a Finnish francophone; she went to study in Paris at IRCAM and has lived in the city since 1982.

When creating the programme for our At Lunch concerts, we are aiming to present a series that provides a good balance of both established and new talent, plus a breadth of compositional styles and instrumentation. Kaija’s music is all about the sound she is creating – I understand that when she was a little girl, at bedtime she used to hear very distinctive music "coming out of her pillow" – I love the idea of this – and apparently she used to ask her mother to "turn the pillow off"!
 

We’re delighted to have the opportunity of presenting her new piano trio in January 2015 and also, whilst not at all imperative, it is very welcome to have a female voice in the programming mix – I know that Kaija has been largely disappointed by the difficulties that female composers and conductors sometimes still face, and is saddened by the lack of progress in this area.

In many of her earlier compositions she has made use of electronics (such as Verblendungen, 1984) and created a sound-world full of colour and texture. It's interesting to see that in some of her more recent pieces (such as Laterna Magica, 2008), that don't use any electronics, she still manages to create blurry lines between textures that convey almost similar effects. And her opera, L'amour de Loin (2000) has lushly beautiful moments juxtaposed with acidic dissonances, whilst still retaining a musical consonance.

Although she has written for large forces where the colours she creates are overwhelmingly beautiful (such as Du Cristal, 1989), I find her chamber and solo works equally exhibit a fascinating array of colours. I also like the fact that she often writes specifically for artists who she knows and I think her admiration for them comes across in her musical expression, such as the flute pieces she has written for Camilla Hoitenga, and the cello works for Annsi Karttunen. Given that our At Lunch programmes are very much focussed on the individual principal players, and tend to exhibit a very collaborative process, I am sure that Kaija will enjoy this aspect of the commission.

Nikola White
Artistic Planning Director

Kaija’s Piano Trio features alongside her Nocturne for solo violin in our At Lunch 2 concerts in London, Cambridge and Norwich in January 2015. Click here for full information.

Help commission Kaija’s new piece via the Musically Gifted scheme. From as little as £10 you will receive many benefits including your name in the score and updates on the evolution of the piece.

"Composers, Performers and their Audiences" - an account

Over the 2013-14 season Britten Sinfonia has been collaborating with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Research Centre for Musical Performance as Creative Practice on a research project entitled "Composers, Performers and their Audiences" as part of the Guildhall's Understanding Audiences programme. The main project research aimed to investigate how audience members experiences of new work is affected by their level of participation and also what kinds of exchange composers and audiences most value in relation to new work. In the following article student research participant, Jane Salmon gives an  account of the project and how it has influenced her:

In Mid October, 2013, I received an invitation to participate in an audience engagement project, ‘Composers, Performers and their Audiences’. While the opportunity for free tickets to see  Britten Sinfonia was inviting, what really enticed me was the opportunity to observe a professional ensemble in situations that would be new to me.  My participation has been highly influential on my own activities.

Thursday, 7th November 2013

This introduction to the project was fascinating; I met many interesting people from Guildhall, somewhere I always considered to be quite small, that I had not known before. The questions presented in the session led to some interesting ideas about the project ahead and set up the open and group-led dynamic that continued over the next few months.

Sunday, 24th November 2013 - Britten Sinfonia & Pekka Kuusisto concert

After a short meeting, the group joined the audience participants to observe the second half of Britten Sinfonia’s rehearsal for their evening concert. It was interesting to experience the atmosphere and work ethic, particularly in relation to their repertoire.

The post-rehearsal discussion, chaired by Barry Ife, involved the fascinating Judith Weir, Pekka Kuuisto, David Butcher and Caroline Dearnley. At this time, I had not really attended discussions like these but this really changed my concert experience. I entered the concert hall with an excitement that flowed from a greater understanding of the motivation of the people who had put the concert together, and from having discussed their approach to maximizing audience engagement.  Their collective honesty about the concert made such an impact.

The concert was a great success. Asking the audience to refrain from clapping between pieces was effective, and something I had never experienced.  The atmosphere created by the ensemble left me intrigued. The use of lighting and continuous change of ensemble size really suited both the programme and the venue.

The day closed with a questionnaire, which was interesting to fill out immediately after the concert.  There was a noticeably concentrated atmosphere in the room – everyone seemed very mesmerized by the whole day.

Friday, 14th February - Britten Sinfonia & Imogen Cooper concert

Unfortunately  I was unable to attend this event. Since the close of the research project I have received and listened through a recording of the post concert discussion.

Saturday, 1st March - Conference

Composers, performers and their audiences: exploring dialogue and interaction

This busy conference day was one of the most inspiring days of the project. Discussing findings from the research over the last few months was very interesting and noticeably important to address.  The decision to seat everyone on mixed tables was important to the effect of the day, the opportunity to meet such a variety of guests from the music industry was invaluable.  My group (Julia Ient (ACE), myself, Bill Lloyd (Aldeburgh music), John Sloboda, Marion Caldwell (GSMD postgrad performer) was well balanced and the resulting variety of opinions during the discussions were very interesting.

The afternoon’s presentations on related research initiatives tied in nicely with the findings and presented contrasting ideas of ‘the audience’.

Friday, 4th April , 11:00am - Research Close

Despite a small turn out, this session was very valuable to the project. The opportunity to feedback and discuss the project as a whole was very important for me as a participant and it was really interesting to be able to compare and discuss thoughts with another participant.

Further Influences

Being a part of this research project has influenced me greatly, and the variety of impacts this has sparked has proved quite hard to put to paper. Therefore, I would like to discuss two things: a chamber concert I organised in late March, and secondly, some future plans.

Chamber Performance – Saturday, 22nd March, 2014

As part of my course as a BMus 4 student, I have to put together an ‘Independent Performance Project’. Since my first thoughts of what I’d like to do for this, I always wanted to use my chamber ensemble, The Barbican Trombone Quartet. Scheduled for the evening of March 22nd, my planning for the event ran alongside this research project, and naturally this project was a huge influence on the planning and success of this concert.

While I am entirely dedicated to the trombone and think it is a beautiful (and admittedly an indulgent) instrument, I understand that it may not be the first thought that comes to mind when a chamber concert is mentioned. I believe that effective promotion, alongside reputation have a huge part to play in bringing in audience to events like this.  I used social media, a lot of honest emails and carefully thought out ticketing prices to invite in an audience – one that turned out a lot larger than expected.

The idea of being open and ‘revealing the mysterious’ is something that really interested me with Britten Sinfonia’s work.  I can really see the importance of doing this sometimes; we live in an almost ‘access all areas’ culture and I feel the excitement and honesty of doing something like opening up a rehearsal could be very effective. I also really like that Britten Sinfonia constantly adapts this ‘open’ idea whether it be through education work, schemes, pre and post concert discussions or similar ideas.  I also think the ensembles decision to keep other performances and rehearsals  ‘traditional’ is as important. With this in mind, I wanted to find a way to present my own performance and the music it included in an honest and open way; I chose to write a script.  It was important to make the evening relatable, as I was aware a lot of the audience had not previously experienced brass chamber music, let alone a trombone ensemble.  Due to the size of venue, and the provision of an induction loop, we needed to use a microphone to speak to the audience.  To make these ‘speech’ breaks worth the journey I decided to write a script that expanded on the programme notes, delivered by the quartet members in rotation, allowing them to show their personalities.  I was wary of this seeming unnatural, so we all had the opportunity to adapt the script so it read how each of us would naturally speak.

Programming for the evening was vital: not only did I have the task of filling a two-part concert with trombone music, but my key hope was to keep the audience engaged.  This was where the fantastic Pekka Kuusisto’s discussion and approach really came to mind. I wanted to create a programme that had a flow and understanding to it, with each piece having a true purpose for being programmed.  In addition, I wanted to include works that are less performed and include some of my own arrangements and editions.  To mention one, I edited a core piece of trombone quartet repertoire – Beethoven’s Drei Equale for special performance with organ.  In my printed edition I wrote a short note about my choices, which was read before the performance;

Now arguably one of the most important works in the history of the trombone, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Drei Equale seems to be written for the trombone true to its theological meaning – a symbol of divine presence, the voice of the angels and instrument of judgment. The origin of this composition was a commission for a piece for four trombones, specifically for performance in Linz Cathedral on All Soul’s Day, 1812.

Later, in 1827, when the fate of Beethoven's illness seemed inevitable, Ignaz von Seyfried requested that the words of the Psalm 'Miserere' were put to two of the Equale, perhaps with the idea that the 'Prince of Musicians' could be accompanied to his last resting place by his own sublime composition. Based on an authentic account of Beethoven’s funeral, this arrangement includes a translation of the organ part, which, along with the chorus parts, was written specifically for this occasion. While not performed at the funeral, the second Poco adagio equale has been kept in this arrangement, keeping the three original equales together.

Performing this allowed us to introduce the audience to a piece that is written for the trombone at its best while also using the organ – an unusual but successful combination.

The second half of the programme saw the ensemble joined by four more trombone players to perform contrasting pieces for trombone octet. This change in ensemble size introduced a welcome variety to the evening.  We started the second half with an arrangement of Gabrieli’s Sonata Pian’e Forte, which allowed us to use the space as if on antiphonal balconies.  This half also included the familiar ‘Largo’ from Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 and concluded with Gershwin’s Someone to Watch Over Me.

I believe my programme struck a good balance; I think for the ‘trombone ear’ it would have been pleasing and for the ‘new ear’ it was a good and varied introduction to the instrument, ensemble and its music. The challenge of introducing new arrangements and obscure pieces was met by balancing them with familiar and ‘friendly’ music.

Having participated in the research project as an audience member, I planned every aspect of the evening with the audience in mind. With more time to plan and if I was to do this project again, there are many more influences I have taken from the project that I would like to include; I hope to put on similar events in the future and explore the possibilities.

Future Plans

During the rehearsals for our concert in March, the trombone octet were coached briefly by Eric Crees. He was very complimentary of our playing and plans for the concert and after the rehearsal, he took myself and trombonist Audun Breen aside and suggested the idea of putting together a live performance of ‘The London Trombone Sound’ – a recording made in the 90s as part of Cala Record’s ‘The London Sound Series’ of which Eric did all the arrangements for - a fantastic inspiration. Planning and proposals for this performance have begun and I am hoping for it to be an opportunity to further explore my ideas presented in my ‘smaller scale’ performance and to continue to address ‘the brass ensemble’ audience.

Thanks to Guildhall, this research project and many other influences, I believe I have found an area of work in the music industry that truly captures me. The Sunday in November spent with Britten Sinfonia is a day that I still cannot forget, many of my interests seemed to click into place, and listening and being exposed to an ensemble that have such wonderful talent and ideas is just invaluable. In the four out of five parts of this project I was able to attend, I found myself unusually quiet. The overwhelming inspiration made it very difficult to instantly discuss the ideas that were going through my head. I found this a particular issue at the discussion points at the conference on March 1st. In an attempt to ‘sort’ the inspiration that poured from this project, I have half-filled a notebook, a resource I still revisit and add to frequently. With this as a starting point, I am eager to shape my own professional work, hopefully in the context of a business/company. With a four-page list of components I’d like to include, I am hoping to build something that revolves around all level of audiences and musicians. I’d like to find a way to utilize the vast amount of talent, particularly those starting out in their career; offering a platform for a variety of projects, concerts, collaborations all with audience in mind – hopefully inviting in some new audiences as well as developing the established. Another of my priorities in my work is with education, I believe working and engaging with young audiences is as important as anything else – this is our future audience and can be the most rewarding and responsive.

In the last few weeks, I have decided to pursue these ideas further and have invited a close friend and very talented sound engineer to act as a business partner. With his talents in mind, we have been discussing the possibility of attempting to establish our own online ‘label’ with the hope of providing an accessible source to listen to and learn about music as well as offering exposure to chamber ensembles etc. I have also begun to build contacts and pay particular interest to marketing/copyrighting/social media as I believe this could be an effective way to develop and even attract a new audience. These ideas are clearly still in the very early stages but it is something I really believe in and I hope I can find the advice and guidance we need when I return to my final year at Guildhall this September.

Conclusion

I hope my writing has highlighted how inspirational I have found this experience, it has been a pleasure to participate and I hope my responses will be effective in the overall research project.  While I am aware each person will take, and be inspired by, different things from such a wide project, I believe it deserves a prominent place in anyone’s time at Guildhall and hope to see this wonderful work continue further into the life of Guildhall. Many thanks to all those who helped make such a successful project.

Jane Salmon,
BMus Trombone, GSMD

Pekka Kuusisto explains...

Have you see the programme for our Serenade concerts in November?  With no less than 12 works by nine different composers, there's a high chance that you'll be hearing some pieces of music for the first time.

The programme was jointly devised by Pekka Kuusisto and Britten Sinfonia and we thought it would be a good idea to ask Pekka about why and how the programme has taken shape.


In Pekka’s words the programme is a ‘voyage’ with Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings at the journey’s end. For Pekka, the programme should unfold as one interconnected string:

‘Since I am completely addicted to the Serenade and Les Illuminations, not to mention the Nocturne, I wanted to build a programme that would feel like an extended version of the voyage those pieces take the listener on, and have the whole concert be like a preparation, an approach, to the Serenade. Like Britten himself wanting to have the Fantasia Upon One Note by Purcell performed at the premiere of his String Quartet No. 2… I wanted to have pieces that would, in a concert situation, feel like they are connected, or that our way of performing them has to feel like we are stretching ropes from one musical bell-tower to another, or chains between stars... and then we will dance. Yes! That's what this concert must be.’

The programme journeys through works by Nico Muhly, Bartok, Erkki Sven-Tuur, Nordheim, Berg, Arvo Part, George Crumb and a new piece by Judith Weir. Pekka has requested that the audience refrain from clapping until the interval and end of the concert, as the works are designed to segue from one to the next.

He hopes the performance will take audiences to new and unfamiliar places: ‘I think we could afford to have some more concerts that don't follow the most common patterns. At the moment it doesn't take more than a violinist performing without shoes to create a stir, and that says a lot. I don't want to outlaw average programming, that's not it, but there's just so much we should try as well.’

The concerts take place at Norwich Theatre Royal on Sunday 17 November, Cambridge's West Road Concert Hall  on Friday 22 November (part of Cambridge Music Festival) and London's Milton Court Concert Hall on Sunday 24 November (part of Barbican Britten).
You can find full details here.

Alina Ibragimova and Britten Sinfonia: an ongoing collaboration

Alina Ibragimova once again joins Britten Sinfonia in late February/early March for the tour of our Baltic Nights programme. Alina has been a regularly collaborator with Britten Sinfonia, first performing with us in 2006 for our At Lunch series of concerts. Aged only 21 Alina, performed lunchtime concerts in Krakow, , Aldeburgh, Cambridge, Norwich and London.

Alina rehearsing in Krakow with Huw Watkins and Joy Farrall

The programme for these At Lunch concerts featured the premiere of Huw Watkins Dream (later released on Britten Sinfonia’s Songs of the Sky CD), Michael Zev Gordon’s Fragments from a Diary and works by Stravinsky and Bartok.

Alina arriving at the Assembly House in Norwich in the Britten Sinfonia taxi

In 2007 Britten Sinfonia joined Alina in the studio to record Concerto Funebre for violin and orchestra by the little known composer, Karl Amadeus Hartmann. Hartmann is a figure unique in German music - the only composer to stay put and defy Hitler for the duration of the Third Reich and his Concerto Funèbre, written in 1939 was a protest against Hitler’s occupation of Prague. Released by Hyperion the disc also features Hartmann’s Suite No’s 1 and 2 and Sonata No’s 1 & 2 for solo violin.

Alina and Britten Sinfonia went on to perform Hartmann’s Concerto funebre in Cambridge and Norwich. Returning to Norwich and Cambridge in 2009 for concerts entitled Bach Plus Alina performed music by Bach and Kurtag. The towering genius of Johann Sebastian Bach was the focus of these concerts, which contrasted four of his works with two seminal 20th-century pieces by Berg and Kurtág. Bach two surviving violin concertos were played by Alina.. Kurtág’s acknowledgement of his debt to Bach in his Signs, Games and Messages, which includes ‘Hommage à J.S.B.’, an exploration of a Bach-like melodic line also saw Alina take centre stage, amazing audiences with her technical ability and artistic flair. Bach Plus was also performed in Inverness and Monmouth.

Later in 2009 Alina performed Vaughan Williams’ beautiful Lark Ascending in concerts with Britten Sinfonia in aid of the Great Fen Project.

Alina has described how she loves working with Britten Sinfonia “Playing with Britten Sinfonia is never boring… they have their own take on things and aren’t afraid to do so”

In celebration of Britten Sinfonia’s 20^th Birthday in 2011 Alina joined forces with another of the orchestra’s long-term collaborators, Pekka Kuusisto for a performance of Bach’s Double Violin Concerto at our Barbican birthday celebrations.

Alina rehearsing at the Barbican (c) Ben Ealovega

Alina & Pekka enjoying the applause after their performance at Britten Sinfonia's Birtdhay concert (c) Rhydian Peters

We’re really looking forward to working with Alina again. She will perform one of the two surviving Bach Violin Concerto’s alongside a beautiful and ethereal violin concerto by Latvian composer, Peteris Vasks entitled Distant Light. You can see Alina talking about the programme in our short film about the Baltic Nights programme

The concerts take place at Cambridge West Road Concert Hall on Monday 25 February, Wednesday 27 February at London’s Barbican and Sunday 3^rd March at Norwich Theatre Royal. To find out more about the concerts and to book tickets click here

20th Birthday Concert in Pictures

In late October Britten Sinfonia celebrated its 20th birthday with celebratory concerts in Cambridge, Norwich and London. The London concert launched the orchestra's association with the Barbican and photographers Benjamin Ealovega and Rhydian Peters captured the day.

 

Stephen Williams and Andy Sheppard in rehearsal  (c) Ben Ealovega

Andy's sax (c) Ben Ealovega

Joanna MacGregor rehearsing Moondog (c) Ben Ealovega

Tom Herbert rehearsing Moondog (c) Ben Ealovega

Sound Engineer, Matt Fairclough (c) Ben Ealovega

Kuljit Bhamra rehearsing Moondog (c) Ben Ealovega

Seb Rochford rehearsing Moondog (c) Ben Ealovega

A smile during rehearsal (c) Ben Ealovega

Pekka Kuusisto & Mark Padmore in rehearsal (c) Ben Ealovega

Pekka & Alina Ibragimova rehearsing the Bach Double (c) Ben Ealovega

Nico Muhly multi-tasking during the rehearsal of his piece  (c) Ben Ealovega

Eamonn Dougan conducting the rehearsal of Nico's piece (c) Ben Ealovega

Britten Sinfonia Voices rehearsing (c) Ben Ealovega

The 'running board' backstage - a busy day! (c) Ben Ealovega

Backstage (c) Ben Ealovega

Birthday Cake! for the musicians to share! (c) Ben Ealovega

Claire, Marketing Director & Nico Muhly sharing a drink (c) Rhydian  Peters

Will (Development Director) talking to a guest at the reception (c) Rhydian Peters

Alexandra Reid introducing the Britten Sinfonia Academy performance (c) Rhydian Peters

Britten Sinfonia Academy (c) Rhydian Peters

Britten Sinfonia Academy performing on the free stage (c) Ben Ealovega

Backstage before the concert (c) Ben Ealovega

Backstage before the concert (c) Ben Ealovega

Orchestra and choir on stage (c) Rhydian Peters

Pekka & Alina performing the Bach Double (c) Rhydian Peters

Mark Padmore performing Les Illuminations (c) Rhydian Peters

Pekka performing his birthday tribute, OMG HBD (c) Rhydian Peters

Joanna MacGregor performing Bach (c) Rhydian Peters

 

Post concert performance on the Club stage (c) Ben Ealovega

Jackie Shave (c) Ben Ealovega

Post concert party time (c) Ben Ealovega

James MacMillan and David Butcher after the concert (c) Ben Ealovega

James (Creative Learning Assitant) and Gabrielle Deschamps (Development Assistant) enjoying the party (c) Ben Ealovega

Pekka gives the night a thumbs up! (c) Ben Ealovega

Nico enjoying a glass of vino (c) Ben Ealovega

Smiles all round (c) Ben Ealovega