programme notes

Anderson The Waltzing Cat

Leroy Anderson (1908-1975)

The Waltzing Cat

Composed in 1950, Leroy Anderson’s light orchestral piece The Waltzing Cat is among a collection of his most charming works.

As with many of Anderson’s short light orchestral works, there is a fully-realised character throughout the piece. Anderson’s extensive use of percussion is also a highlight of the piece, especially in the central section that sees whistle slides, wood blocks and triangles used. Set in a waltz style, The Waltzing Cat opens with a string introduction before the main melody begins.

The percussion helps keep time here, with the strings and woodwind interlocking themes. The tempo picks up somewhat as the music heads into the central section. There are also more percussion and brass parts here to signify the shift in the theme. A sweet woodwind and percussion interlude ensues, with the comedic whistle slide and woodblock leading the way.

A short reprise of the opening material leads the orchestra back into the main theme of the piece. Again led by the strings, the woodwinds decorate the melody more for this last time. There is a sense of warmth in the way Anderson writes the concluding section as the ensemble comes together for the final comedic flourish.

© Alex Burns

Parker Mississippi Five, ‘Les Animaux’

Jim Parker

Mississippi Five
‘Les Animaux’

Jim Parker’s Mississippi Five is an inventive 1920s-style suite, featuring tributes to the likes of King Oliver and Bessie Smith.

Paul Rissmann Stan and Mabel

On 5 December 1976, Arvo Pärt heard on the radio of Benjamin Britten’s death and was deeply affected by the news. The composer has said: “I had just discovered Britten for myself. Just before his death I began to appreciate the unusual purity of his music – I had had the impression of the same kind of purity in the ballads of Guillaume de Machaut. And besides, for a long time I had wanted to meet Britten personally – and now it would not come to that.” (Wolfgang Sandner, CD note Arvo Pärt. Tabula Rasa, ECM New Series, 1984).
Pärt was finishing an elegiac orchestra piece at the time, which he decided to dedicate to the memory of his deceased colleague, out of respect and admiration for his work.
Cantus begins with three bell tolls followed by violins, in high register, playing in the descending A minor scale. Each subsequent string group enters an octave lower, beginning their descending scale at half the speed, in what is known as the prolation canon. Thus, five layers of melody in different registers and tempos are created, accompanied by tintinnabuli voices. The slowly descending scales create an effect of endless slow-motion falling, and of peace and sadness. By the end of the composition, everything converges on the same point:  one by one, the voices arrive at the low A minor chord. The entire composition resembles a single large-scale cadenza, with a tension that seems to want to avoid any final resolution.
Cantus was premiered by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eri Klas on 7 April 1977 in Tallinn, but there were already plans to perform it with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at London’s Southbank Centre in 1978, under the conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky. However, because the Soviet authorities refused to allow the composer to travel to England, Rozhdestvesnky cancelled the performance in protest, which in turn, caused a scandal in the international media. A year later Pärt was finally granted a travel permit and Cantus was performed by the same orchestra at the BBC Proms festival.
Today, Cantus has become one of Pärt’s most popular works.
Arvo Pärt: “It is the clarity of the order that we all perceive consciously or unconsciously, so that it creates in us vibrations, a kind of resonance. Isn’t that the mystery of music, of all kinds of music?”
 [Enzo Restagno, Leopold Brauneiss, Saale Kareda, Arvo Pärt. Arvo Pärt in Conversation. Dalkey Archive Press, London, 2012, p. 39.]

Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals, ‘Final: Molto Allegro’

Camille Saint Saëns (1835-1921)

Sponsors

Leader sponsored by Debbie Beckerman & Keith Jones
Leader sponsored by Anonymous

Co Leader sponsorship vacant
First Violin 3 sponsored by Liz and Alistair Milliken
First Violin 4 sponsored by John and Rosalind Crosby
First Violin 5 sponsored by Christine Robson
First Violin 6 sponsored by Della Brotherston
First Violin 7 sponsorship vacant
First Violin 8 sponsorship vacant

Principal Second Violin sponsored by Geoffrey Shaw
Second Violin 2 sponsored by The Angel Family
Second Violin 3 sponsored by Keith Ball
Second Violin 4 sponsored by Alastair Fraser
Second Violin 5 sponsorship vacant
Second Violin 6 sponsored by Catherine Shaw

Principal Viola sponsored by Mark and Vanessa Petterson
Co Principal Viola sponsored by Raymond Calcraft
Viola 3 sponsored by Gill Cox
Viola 4 sponsored by Stuart & Joyce Aston

Principal Cello sponsored by Anonymous
Co Principal Cello sponsored by Jeffrey and Sophie Prett
Cello 3 sponsored by Gillian Noble
Cello 4 sponsored by Richard Morgan
Cello 5 sponsored by Colin and Helen Snart

Principal Double Bass sponsored by John Clarke
Co Principal Double Bass sponsored by The Bristow Family

Principal Flute sponsorship vacant
Sub Principal Flute sponsored vacant

Principal Oboe sponsored by Pat Sandry
Co Principal Oboe sponsored by Sean Rourke
Sub Principal Oboe sponsored by Geoffrey & Joy Lawrence

Principal Clarinet sponsored by Derek and Deirdre Lea
Sub Principal Clarinet sponsored by Graham Harman

Principal Bassoon sponsored by Sandra and Anthony Linger
Sub Principal Bassoon sponsored by Barbara Tower

Principal Horn sponsored by Chris Harman
Sub Principal Horn sponsored by Julia James

Principal Trumpet sponsored by Ishani Bhoola
Sub Principal Trumpet sponsored by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Principal Trombone sponsorship vacant
Sub Principal Trombone sponsorship vacant

Principal Timpani sponsored by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Principal Percussion sponsorship vacant