So Many Sensuous Pleasures
Diana, Hester, Kirsty, Emily, Helen, Lucy, Cathy, Clara, Tim, Angus in front
Program
Concerto in G minor for two cellos
Benedetto Marcello Sonata II in C minor for 2 violoncellos & basso continuo
Antonio Vivaldi Sonata for Violoncello and Basso Continuo RV 44
Enrique Granados Intermezzo from the opera Goyescas Arr. for four cellos
Heitor Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasieiras No. 5 for soprano and orchestra of violoncelli
Max Richter What had they Done? from the movie Walking with Bashir Arr. Thoroughbass
So many senuous pleasures in such a short time
The sound of eight cellos is a wrap-around warm and sensous sensation. Eight form an orchestra with voice in Villa Lobos’ romantic Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5. With combinations of two, three and four we also present music by Granados, Vivaldi and Marcello. Led by guest director Tim Blomfield and featuring the sultry voice of soprano Hester Hannah this is a concert of full of excitement and energy. Cellists include Tim Blomfield, Angus Ryan, Emily Duffill, Cathy Upex, Lucy Cormack, Clara Blazer, Kirsty Vickers and Helen Byrne.
SUNDAY, 30TH OCTOBER, 2012 2.30 PM
ST LUKE’S CHURCH, OURIMBAH RD, MOSMANTwo distinct eras mark our concert today – that of the early 18th and the early 20th centuries. Different though they are in time and place, they are connected through that most sonorous of instruments – the cello. All these works call upon the cello in its various capacities – as virtuosic, as intimate swoon, as introspective and extroverted, as solo and accompanying. All the composers represented in our concert obviously loved the cello!
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), vainglorious charlatan that he was, could churn out a concerto quicker than it could be copied (or so he said!). Whatever his reputation, there is no doubt that Vivaldi’s imagination was enormous. He wrote around 500 concertos in all shapes and forms, many featuring more than one solo instrument (there are 40 or so double concertos like this one). His influence on other composers, including Bach, was great. Variety of form, musical invention and scoring knew no bounds. In his concertos, ritornello form in which varied repetitions of the thematic material for the full ensemble alternated with freer episodes predominated by the soloist, was probably invented by him. He certainly used the plan extensively, causing Bach and Telemann to follow suit.
Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) was a member of Venetian nobility. He was encouraged by his father to undertake a profession – the law. Dutifully he complied, but at the same time he studied composition under the Italian masters Gasparini and Lotti. Throughout his life he thus followed two careers – that of a civil servant and a musician. Interested in the arts in general (he was a member of the poetic, literary and philharmonic Academy), he referred to himself as a noble Venetian for whom music was not merely a profession. Widely regarded in his own time as an able musician, his reputation continued after his death well into the nineteenth century, when it floundered. He is now recognised to be a master of melody and harmony. This will be apparent today with our trio sonata, taken from his set of Six Sonatas for 2 cellos and continuo, and also next year when we present one of his two oratorios written for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Il pianto e il riso del quattro stagioni.
Enrique Granados (1867-1916), Spanish by birth, achieved relatively little acclaim during his life-time. This was despite recognition by his peers and the founding of a music academy, the Academia Granados which became an important avenue for chamber music. His best known composition, Goyescas, originally a piano suite, was inspired by the painter Goya’s idealistic sketches of Spanish life. It later formed the basis of an opera (called Goyesca) a work premiered in New York and attracting some criticism. On his way home to Spain, his boat was torpedoed and he drowned trying to save his wife. Stylistically, Granados’ music is grounded in European tradition but with an underlying infusion of Spanish (especially Catalan) folk music. This is felt best in its rhythmic impetus, and in its iimprovisatory character.
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), a Brazilian, also incorporated European musical techniques with national qualities. As a child he learnt to play and appreciate the cello from his father. He taught himself guitar in his teens, and was thus able to immerse himself in the musical life of Rio de Janeiro, the sights and sounds of which he was irresistibly drawn to. These were to give a lasting impression and had a defining effect on his composition. But it was the cello, played in theatres, hotels and cinemas which earned him a living and allowed him to meet the most celebrated proponents of popular music of the time. Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas brasileiras, a series of nine works, is described by him as a ‘homage to the great genius of Johann Sebastian Bach…(who I) consider a kind of universal folkloric source, rich and profound….’ Loosely connected to baroque forms and harmonic and contrapuntal practises, the work is nevertheless entirely Brazilian in character. (Each has two names, one referring to Bach/his era, the other to Brazilian national qualities.) Expanding on his empathy for the cello, he used eight in several of the pieces (No. 1 and 5). No. 5’s Aria/Cantilena is improvisatory in character, the soprano’s over-arching melody (chorāo) reinforced and made more sonorous by the first cellos while the remaining six accompany with guitar-like ponteio (picked) chords.