Britten Sinfonia Academy Aldeburgh Residency

Britten Sinfonia Academy have just returned from Snape Maltings where they joined Aldeburgh Young Musicians for an intensive week-long chamber orchestra course themed 'Britten Inspired'.

The young musicians explored existing repertoire and also developed new material created by young AYM composers for full ensembles and smaller chamber groups. The course was led by Britten Sinfonia's violinist Clara Bliss and composer Dobrinka Tabakova, and the musicians were joined by Bridget Carey (viola), Sarah O'Flynn (flute), Lucy Railton (cello) and Matt Yardley (trumpet).

Here are some photos showing what the Academy got up to during their week in Aldeburgh:

Early morning yoga on the Hepworth Lawn (c) Otis Luxton/AYM

Every morning began with a warm-up with everyone

warming up

An informal sharing of work by AYM composers

Small ensemble rehearsals

(c) Otis Luxton/AYM

(c) Otis Luxton / AYM

A rehearsal with an AYM composer

Of course there were breaks from the music including lunchtime football matches

and walks in the beautiful surroundings of Snape

Dobrinka Tabakova rehearsing her new piece with the ensemble

Full ensemble rehearsal

Of course the management and professional musicians managed to find time for fish and chips on the beach

Dobrinka Tabakova (composer) and Mateja Kaluza (Britten Sinfonia Creative Learning Assistant) admire Maggi Hambling's famous sculpture inspired by Benjamin Britten

To find out more about Britten Sinfonia Academy click here

An English Pastoral Tradition

Ahead of our Fields of Sorrow and Albion Fields performances, which explore English composers response to landscape and national identity, Britten Sinfonia Chief Executive David Butcher discusses the emergence of an English pastoral tradition;

Throughout much of the 19th century there was no imperative for English composers to champion national identity through music, beyond the celebratory anthems to highlight Queen Victoria’s reign.  But towards the end of the century, with military rivalry from Germany and industrial competition from the USA, composers began to search for new ways of expressing an overtly English identity.  The golden age of Elizabeth and of England’s rural past became an inspiration to composers and artists more generally, and one that had been forgotten in the headlong pursuit of progress which had driven the industrial revolution.

Composers such as Vaughan Williams and Holst and later figures such as Tippett and Britten all had deep affinities with the English landscape. Once a pastoral idiom had been established, it was not long before composers began to see beyond the visual and develop the landscapes of the mind such as with Vaughan William’s Flos Campi and Holst’s Egdon Heath.  Vaughan Williams observed his work has “nothing to do with buttercups and daisies” instead exploring a landscape of physical and spiritual longing, without regret or nostalgia. The warmth, however, of Flos Campi is poles apart from the cold and bleak emotional road that Holst’s mature works displayed, with the changing perspective of time and space as the journey unfolds, as demonstrated in the miniature Fields of Sorrow.

The influence of landscape as part of a wider tradition continues today not least in the music of Sir Harrison Birtwistle. As the critic and writer Andrew Clements wrote recently, “Birtwistle is as profoundly English a composer as Vaughan Williams: it’s just that his vision is not one of green meditative pastoral, but something bloodied and cruel, rooted in pagan Albion.” For Birtwistle, the interaction of the landscape and time has been a compositional preoccupation.  His ideas have been much influenced by the artist Paul Klee’s technique of building imaginary landscapes allowing for a rich blend of rigour and fantasy.  Birtwistle described his Melencholia 1, his lament for clarinet and strings, as his Tallis Fantasia and The Fields of Sorrow illustrates, as does the wider gamut of his musical and dramatic works, a continuation of a pastoral tradition that has its roots in the rediscovery of landscape as a creative force by English composers more than 80 years earlier.

David Butcher
Chief Executive

Britten Sinfonia performs Fields of Sorrow featuring music by Vaughan Williams, Holst and Birtwistle on Friday 24 May at West Road Concert Hall and Friday 30 may at London's Milton Court - more info.

Britten Sinfonia performs Albion Fields featuring music by Vaughan Williams, Britten, Holst and Elgar on Saturday 25 May at Saffron Walden's Saffron Hall - more info.

Reflections on the Serenade project

Earlier this year we worked with worked with seven Norfolk primary schools to compose and perform a brand new song cycle inspired by Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn and strings. The songs were performed by the children and Britten Sinfonia at Wymondham Abbey in June interspersed with Britten's own work, featuring tenor Robin Tritschler. The children then revived the songs for a performance during a pre-concert event at Norwich Theatre Royal in November. Here are some reflections on the project from two teachers;

"John who came to work with the class to compose the words and the music was brilliant. I saw children who would never give anything of themselves desperate to shout out a word they had thought of. The children were all engaged, focussed and keen to work.

Back in the classroom the children enjoyed learning to sing the songs, especially the piece that they had composed. Singing in Wymondham Abbey was inspiring. Most of the children had never been in the building before and were amazed at the structure. Working with the professional musicians was also very insightful. The children who play violins could see where all the practising would get them. Also the musicians were so approachable and seemed genuinely to enjoy working with the children. Singing together was inspiring and amazing for me and the children.

It is hard to quantify how the experience has impacted on the class. It is almost impossible to measure but I believe it will have a lasting impact on the children. The whole experience was inspiring, wonderful, creative, for some of the children it gave them an insight into what was possible, and what they could do in the future."
Class Teacher

"Most of the children that I work with have never had the chance to work with professional musicians in any long term project or large-scale performance.  The children were exposed to musicians in their classrooms and this was in itself an inspiration to them.  It made high quality musical professionalism accessible and very real and it showed to them that it is something that they can aspire to as well.  It is interesting to note that since the project some of the children have taken up tuition on string instruments including the double bass. 

The experience of taking part in a large-scale performance was invaluable in terms of building the children's confidence and inspiring them to do something they had never done before.  There were children in my particular group who were terrified when it came to the first performance.  One or two were so nervous they actually cried with fear.  They were inspired and encouraged in such a great way by the personnel from Britten Sinfonia and reached heights they never felt they could.  It is also interesting to note that when they performed in the Theatre Royal they were much more confident and did not exhibit the same fear."
Class Teacher

Photos from the Wymondham Abbey concert can be seen here.  A video of part of the concert can be seen on our media page.

This project was funded by South Norfolk Council, with additional support from Orchestras Live.

Curlew River - A Review

(c) Netia Jones / Lightmap

Over the course of the Barbican Britten celebrations, Britten Sinfonia is delighted to be taking such a major role with performances across four of the Barbican’s performance spaces. Last week we performed with tenor Ian Bostridge and conductor Paul Daniel in Britten’s Our Hunting Fathers in the Barbican Hall and collaborated with Richard Alston Dance Company in the premier of new choreographic works to Britten’s Phaedra and Sechs Hölderin Fragmente alongside Lacrymae and Les Illuminations.



This week I was lucky enough to go along to the dress rehearsal of one of Britten’s operas, Curlew River which is being presented in three sell-out performances at St Giles’ Cripplegate on 14, 15 and 16 November 2013. The opera was originally premiered nearly 50 years ago at St Bartholomew’s Church in Orford, Suffolk and is set in the East Anglian Fenland, an area very close to Britten’s heart.

The original inspiration for the opera comes from an ancient Japanese noh play, translated into a Christian parable and libretto by William Plomer. Directed by Netia Jones, the production this week stays true to the medieval setting in terms of costume, but is treated to some simple but effective lighting, projections and set.

Most iconic is the way that the projections interact with the character of the Madwoman, played by tenor, Ian Bostridge (a role which was originally performed by Britten’s lifelong companion, Peter Pears in the opera’s 1964 premiere). A tall figure dressed from head to toe in black, the character’s madness is portrayed through the splashes she makes on the projections of grass, and the way in which the ‘Curlews of the Fenland’ circle about her. The vocal lines of the Madwoman slide between notes in a manic way, frequently mimicked by the other characters and chorus.

Musically, the opera is a work for a seven part chamber ensemble, and in this production the vocalists are directed from the chamber organ by William Lacey. The other instruments are also assigned specific points in the score in which to lead, something which is particularly suited to Britten Sinfonia’s usual performance style, of playing unconducted.

Benjamin Britten used Japanese influences within the score, and this can be heard a lot in the percussion section; the signature ‘bouncing ball’ rhythm featuring at different instrumental sections and the use of gongs and un-tuned drums. Also common in Japanese music is the use of heterophony (the same musical line being repeated with different tempi and rhythms at the same time) and this is used by Britten in sections where he wants to make the chorus sound like they are chattering.

Overall the narrative of the opera is a simple one: A year after losing her 12 year old son and torn by grief and madness, a mother goes looking for him, taking a ferryboat across Curlew River. Whilst on the ferryboat, the ferryman tells a story of a young boy who was kidnapped and took the boat a year ago. The boy fell ill and died in the village on the other side of the river and was buried in the local chapel. On realising that the boy was her son, the mother visits the chapel in despair, prays to her son, and his ghost returns to reassure her that they will meet once again in heaven one day.

The three Curlew River performances are now sold out, but you can still visit Curlew River Echo, a free audio-visual installation in St Giles’ Cripplegate, taking place on 15 & 16 November 2013.

Listen to Netia Jones, William Lacey and Ian Bostridge talk about Curlew River in a Barbican Britten Podcast

The final performance in our Barbican Britten Series, Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, will take place on 24 November 2013 at Milton Court. Prior to this, this programme also tours to Norwich on Sunday 17 November and Cambridge on Friday 22 November. Click here  for more information and to book tickets.

Lisa Buckby 
Marketing Assistant

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.

Britten Centenary - A Springboard

Benjamin Britten
1913-1976
by Colin Matthews

Britten’s centenary feels less like a retrospective than a springboard into the future. While many familiar works will be played, there’s the opportunity to look at some of the music which, while hardly neglected, is heard less often than it should. Britten’s remarkable versatility means that his music works well in unfamiliar contexts and in unexpected company. Britten Sinfonia is an ideal partner, bringing together opera, dance, song, choral music and music for children, performed by an inspiring new generation of musicians.

Nothing in the Sinfonia’s programming can be taken for granted. The Serenade is one of Britten’s best-loved and frequently played pieces, but doesn’t very often find itself in the company of 12 pieces chosen to contrast with it and show it off. The wondrous invention of Our Hunting Fathers, written when the composer was only 22, will be heard in the context of the rarely heard but brilliant concertino Young Apollo and the beautiful Suite ‘A time there was...’ from his last years; with Tippett’s magisterial Corelli Fantasia at the centre (Britten and Tippett were close friends in the 1940s and 50s). Dance did not play a major role in Britten’s output (The Prince of the Pagodas apart) but choreographers have increasingly been drawn to his music, Richard Alston prominent among them.

Curlew River’s restrained exoticism is offset by the earthiness of Saint Nicolas: both works have religious themes, but Britten’s attitude to religion was never a conventional one. And he would, I think, have been a little surprised, but wholly approving, of the unconventional approach that this series demonstrates. As he would have thoroughly approved the commissioning of 6 major works to mark his centenary, a collaboration between the Britten-Pears Foundation and the Royal Philharmonic Society (whose bicentenary it is), represented here by Judith Weir’s new work.

25-29 Sept
Britten: Contempories and Influences
Wiltshire Music Centre / Roman River Festival

6, 7 and 9 Nov
Richard Alston Dance Company
Barbican (part of Barbican Britten)

8 Nov
Our Hunting Fathers
Barbican (part of Barbican Britten)

14-16 Nov
Curlew River
Barbican (part of Barbican Britten)

17, 22 & 24 Nov
Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings
Norwich / Cambridge (part of Cambridge Music Festival) / Barbican (part of Barbican Britten)

26 Nov & 7 Dec
St Nicolas
Birmingham / Barbican

For more information on Benjamin Britten's centenary celebrations visit the Britten 100 website

Colin Matthews is a renowned composer who worked with Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst. Find out more about Colin via his website

Wymondham Serenade

On the 26th June, 150 primary schools children from the area around Wymondham, Norfolk came together to perform a concert. It wasn’t a normal school concert however; the children were performing their own compositions, accompanied by a professional orchestra - string players from Britten Sinfonia alongside amazing professional soloists Robin Tritschler (tenor) and Stephen Bell (horn).

The concert was called Serenade, and was a celebration of the music of Benjamin Britten who came from the east of England, and who’s centenary year we’re currently celebrating. The professional musicians performed Benjamin Britten’s famous Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, but in between the movements of Britten’s songs, the children performed their compositions. Both Britten and the children were inspired by the theme of night time.

Students from  Barnham Broom, Barford, Spooner Row, Tacolneston, Wreningham and Mattishall schools certainly did themselves proud. Benjamin Britten used poems by famous poets such as Blake, Keats and Tennyson, but the children wrote their own lyrics as well as the music! One carried you away to a far away Dreamland, where "a dim light hypnotyses me". The Sky at Night talked about the stars and galaxies explode like "an eyeball staring into the darkness!" There was also a scary bone rattling song about nightmares, where "boneless hands reach into my mind!"  and featuring the catchy chorus lines "I was zombified!" The concert also featured an interlude, composed by A-level music students from Wymondham College and High School based on the poem Tiger, Tiger by William Blake, performed by the orchestra and Robin Tritschler.

The concert was performed at Wymondham Abbey, which is a beautiful old building, and was part of Wymondham Arts Festival. To fit all the children in, and so everyone could see properly we had to build a massive stage that was over 3 meters tall! The concerts were so popular that we had to perform it twice, at 6pm and 8pm. Both shows sold out, and although it was a long evening for the younger children, it was great fun, and very well received.  Back in the office, we’re now doing the most satisfying bit – reading the children’s feedback sheets, and writing the project evaluation. A big thank you to our fabulous music leaders and composers, John Barber and James Redwood. To our wonderful soloists, orchestra and workshop team – but the biggest thank you is to the teachers, for all their hard work, and to South Norfolk Council and Orchestras Live for funding the project.

You can hear the children’s songs here and see some photos of the event here.

There is another opportunity to hear the children's songs in a pre-concert event at Norwich Theatre Royal on Sunday 17 November 2013 - more details here

Tour of South America

I’m snatching some time prior to boarding my (14 hour) flight home to London from Buenos Aires. The orchestra meanwhile, after two concerts at the Theatro Colon and with concerts in Rio and San Paulo behind them, are now off to Montevideo and then a return to Sao Paulo for the final concert of this epic South American Tour.

Well so far it’s been a hugely successful tour. How does one qualify successful though? With this group it’s about more than the performances; more about the camaraderie and joie de vivre that also reflects positively on the concerts – a good example of how important touring is for achieving the highest artistic results. Certainly the strings have been on cracking form, led by the unique genius (a description I don’t use lightly) that is Pekka Kuusisto. His innate and edgy musicality inspires performances that are never the same and always electrifying. The rapport is there for all to see and was also evident with our tenor Allan Clayton, whose roles ranged from singing Purcell to Britten so movingly, as well as being our encore triangle player! Fresh in my memory this morning is an extra encore last night from Pekka for audience and orchestra: a Finnish tango (yes, really) with the violin plucked and strummed like a mandolin and the tune expertly whistled by our multi-talented soloist. The 2300 porteños who filled the Colon cheered their approval.

A few other random memories (from too many to mention)…

· A three hour tango lesson for the orchestra, and dancing into the early hours in on of BA’s finest tango halls where they took to the dance floor with many of the locals.


· An impromptu party in our San Paulo hotel after the first concert, where we were joined by our great friend Angela Hewitt who coincidentally was playing in a concert in the same hall as us earlier on that day. (Angela wisely avoided Caipirnaha – Brazil’s national (and lethal) cocktail – being sampled by everyone, as she was due to play the Goldberg’s the next afternoon!)


· The BS running team following a route along Copacabana & Ipanema beach followed by freshly coconut milk for all.

Ipanema Beach

Coconuts

· Too many delicious meals to mention, many a number courtesy of our generous sponsors Ashmore Brasil and Cambridge University Press.

· Entertainment (usually at airports and backstage) from two young recruits - Rachel Byrt’s and Suzanne Lose’s daughter and son respectively – Yoga, tango, monopoly all demonstrated admirably. On returning to school their answers to “what did you do the in holidays” should provide for colourful responses.

· An inspirational (and moving) workshop performance at the Institute Felix F. Bernasconi – courtesy of support from the British Council - with Pekka and 3 of our players and 20 or so young musicians from across Buenos Aires.

Young people in concert


· Some of the said young musicians reaction on seeing the Colon & mixing with the orchestra backstage – awestruck!

Teatro Colon

I’m sure there will be more to report following the next three or so days in Montevideo and Sao Paulo before the journey home*… my flight’s been called so “ya me despido” for now.

David
Chief Executive, Britten Sinfonia

* I hear the orchestra’s Montevideo flight has been cancelled; the new plan is to go by ferry to Mondevideo (3 hours!) to arrive just in time for the show at 8pm! Let’s hope they make it!

Stephen Bell's Desert Island selection

Britten Sinfonia's prinicipal horn, Stephen Bell is currently touring with the orchestra as soloist in Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with Mark Padmore. Leeds Town Hall asked him to come up with his own Desert Island Disc selection and these are his choices;

HANDEL – CORONATION ANTHEM, ZADOK THE PRIEST
Not that I’m particularly a Royalist, but there has to be good reason for including this anthem at every Coronation since 1727! From that opening orchestral crescendo until the wonderful first entry of the choir, this music is simply joyous and uplifting – one of the main reasons my wife chose it to walk down the isle at our wedding in 2007. Our village church was packed, and with a local choir and visiting musicians, it made for a very special and emotional start to our big day.

STRAUSS – EINE ALPINESINFONIE
As a horn player, there is nothing better than being in a section of horns in full flight, and Richard Strauss excels in writing full-bodied unison horn melodies. At the climax of this wonderful tone poem (at the summit of the mountain) is such a melody written for all 8 horns, and even though I have been lucky enough to perform this piece on many occasions including a couple of times at the BBC Proms, it still never fails to thrill. Also, this was the first piece I bought on CD when I visited Hong Kong in the early 80’s and came back (as did most of the orchestra) with the latest must have gadget - a CD Walkman.

MICHEL CAMILLO – WHY NOT?
I’ve played the piano since I was four years old, and despite the best efforts of my elderly and rather strict piano teacher, my greatest pleasure was playing music by ear rather than off the printed page. I was first introduced to Michel Camillo in 1985 when he was performing at The Blue Note Jazz Club alongside such notable jazz musicians as Dave Weckl (drums) and fantastic trumpeter Lew Soloff. His music has a distinct Caribbean flavour (he was born in the Dominican Republic) and he plays with effortless style, huge rhythmic intensity and sounds like he must have at least three hands! Why Not? is the title track of his first album released at around the time I met him in New York.

MAHLER – SYMPHONY NO 2
Mahler 2 has without doubt one of the most thrilling endings to any piece – and again, one that always has a buzz to be part of in performance. Mahler is one of those composers who always has the bigger picture at the centre of all his vast musical structures, and at the end of almost 90 minutes, this magnificent final section never fails to thrill audiences and performers alike.

MOZART – HORN QUINTET IN Eb
It goes without saying that Mozart’s contribution to the repertoire of the French Horn is so significant (especially the four well-known concertos), but in many ways, the pinnacle for me is the wonderful Quintet in Eb for horn and strings - (slightly unusual line-up of string quartet which has violin, 2 violas and cello) - and which combines the stylistic horn writing of the concertos with the brilliant sense of chamber music that Mozart seemed to produce so naturally. It was also the piece that I made my first commercial recording with, alongside the fabulous members of the Lindsay String Quartet for ASV records.

LUXURY ITEM – Fawlty Towers DVD collection (and something to play them on.)
Still pricelessly funny after almost 40 years!

BOOK – Margery Williams: The Velveteen Rabbit

Charming, innocent and still enjoyed.

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You can catch Stephen Bell performing Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings in Southampton on Thursday 10 February, Birmingham on Friday 11 February and in Leeds on Saturday 19 February 2011.

Dream weaver

Read Mark Padmore's Guardian article on the poetry of Britten's Nocturne, which you can hear him sing at the QEH on Monday evening.