Great Hall Lancaster University
Saturday 9th February 2008 at 7.30pm
Larry Goves
Four Letter Words*
György Kurtág
Signs, Games and Messages
György Kurtág
Scenes from a Novel, Op.19**
György Ligeti
Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures***
Psappha
Conrad Marshall flute
Dov Goldberg clarinet
Rebecca Goldberg French horn
Richard Casey piano/celesta
Ian Buckle harpsichord
Tim Williams percussion/cimbalom
David Routledge violin
David Aspin viola
Jennifer Langridge cello
Jeffrey Box double bass
Maria Husmann soprano*
Jane Manning soprano**
Jessica Walker mezzo-soprano**
Dean Robinson bass*/***
Elaine Tyler-Hall director*
Nicholas Kok conductor
Larry Goves (b.1980)
Four Letter Words
The four letter words are not what you might think: they belong to a sequence of poems by Matthew Welton – poems made, indeed, of four letter words and nothing else. ‘Push your door shut’, the text begins, ‘Turn down your light.’ But this tone of gently calming advice, encouraged in the text by the fact that ‘your’ is a four letter word, changes. And so does the music. A set of songs becomes a game, a mad scene, a combat: interpret it how you will. The clarinettist, who plays only one low note in the first song, comes to challange the singer for central position. Repercussions are acted out on the concert platform.
Beyond the drama, or beneath it, one may note how the composer uses varied repetition – and a gift for the slyly potent phrase, vocal or instrumental—to maintain a state of attention at once alert and laid back. The horn figure heard at the start, and directly repeated, seems to set the tone for the whole piece. From this lazy horn solo will grow what high heat we’ll hear – also what cold, what cool.
Four Letter Words was composed for Psappha in 2007.
Larry Goves teaches composition at the Royal Northern College of Music and is a research student at Southampton University supervised by Michael Finnissy. He has won many prizes and his music has received performances by many well-known ensembles, has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and on New Zealand’s Concert FM and has been released on CD by NMC and Dutton Epoch. Matthew Welton’s The Book of Matthew won the Jerwood-Aldeburgh prize. He is a director of the Manchester Literature Festival and teaches at the University of Bolton.
György Kurtág (b.1926)
Signs, Games and Messages
1. Virág az ember – Mijakónak
2. Hommage ŕ J. S. B – Dem Trio Orlando
3. Perpetuum mobile
4. Ligatura Y
5. Virág – Zsigmondy Dénesnek ... in memoriam Anneliese Nissen-Zsigmondy
6. Signs VI
7. A Very Slow Waltz for Walter Levin
8. Hommage ŕ Ránki György (pizzicato – kering)
9. Signs II
10. Kroó György in memoriam
11. ... féerie d’automne – für Hiromi, Ken und Stephan
Unlike his Budapest classmate György Ligeti, who composed major works steadily through his later 20s and 30s, Kurtág was slow to get going as a composer, and only began to become more productive when he was in his mid-40s. The stimulus came from writing children’s piano pieces: brevity and immediacy became his watchwords, playfulness his route to the previously unheard, and in this seemingly undemanding form he was able to create an enormous variety of studies, many of them homages to other composers or memorials to friends.
A first book of these pieces, Játékok (Games), has been followed by seven more, and the composer does not seem to have given up yet. Meanwhile, the lessons of Játékok have gone into his numerous other works, and have given rise to similar collections of short pieces for string and wind players—pieces which, like those for piano, provide as much for professionals to reveal as for students to learn. Signs, Games and Messages, a corpus of solo pieces and trios for strings incorporating the early Signs for viola, came about between 1989 and 1997.
Tonight we hear the volume of Signs, Games and Messages for string trio. The first piece, played with practice mutes, is among many versions Kurtág has made of a strand of melody from his first big work, The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza for soprano and piano (1963-8), where it sets the phrase: ‘We are but flowers’. Several pieces are dedicated to performers with whom the composer has worked; there are also tributes to a senior Hungarian composer (György Ránki) and a music critic (György Kroó). The dimensions Kurtág had made his own by the time of the original Signs (1961): enough is said and no more.
György Kurtág
Scenes from a Novel, Op.19
When Kurtág was around 50 he took an intense interest in the poetry of Rimma Dalos, a Russian living in Budapest who shared his own sense of the fullness of the fragment. The two big works he based on her poems – Messages of the Late Miss R.V. Troussova (1976-80) and Scenes from a Novel (1979-82) – are both song cycles whose individual numbers appear as splinters from some disaster of love and loss. Gestures are all the more intense for the lack of context and consequence. Dalos’s words, taken from the page into the voice of a soprano, become those of a dramatic protagonist. Scenes from a novel are made into scenes from an opera.
The singer is accompanied by a tangy ensemble of violin, cimbalom (the Hungarian hammered dulcimer, which has featured often in Kurtág’s instrumentation) and double bass. Not all used in every number, these instruments have multiple functions, setting the atmosphere, extending the singer’s passionate expressions into wordless domains, seeming to interrogate the singer, or to ignore her. Musical forms and styles, too – rondo, waltz, ostinato – are never innocent but participate in the drama. However complex and various the means, though, Kurtág strikes through them with a naked directness.
György Ligeti (1923-2006)
Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures
Like characters in a Beckett play, the dramatis personae of Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures are terrified by silence and emptiness, and so they find little activities to fill up their time. They tell each other stories; they exchange confidences; they play games. And because they are musicians, their narratives are operatic and their pastimes musical. Because, too, they are human, their ploys are only temporarily convincing – to themselves or to us. Either they rush from one episode straight into another, or else the enemy silence descends and they ‘remain as if turned to stone,’ as the common stage direction has it. They are alive only when they are making a noise: silence alarms and embarrasses them, and they stop – or else silence simply turns them off, as if they were machines, toys. To be immured in silence, to be stilled, is to be dead. At one point, though, they are allowed to expect something from beyond silence, and to have their expectation gratified. Towards the end of the first movement of Nouvelles aventures the contralto and baritone sing a unison E flat, and then all three singers ‘wait, rigid and listening, for an echo from the far distance’. When it comes, as a soft horn tone, they are pleased; when it is repeated, by other instruments, they are astonished.
This is, in a very characteristically Ligetian manner, both touching and comic. The three singers on stage are three people alone in their little universe, unaware of their accompanying instrumentalists (so that a horn sound can be a voice from the unknown) and unaware of their audience: they lack the confident reciprocity of performers within a shared tradition, and in that lack – which is actualised in a different way by their lack of words – they place themselves at a moment of crisis in western musical culture. But their ignorance is also the ignorance of children – the ignorance and the innocence, as they carry on their pre-verbal babble. And of course they give us an image of ourselves: as children, as alone, as engaging in meaningless activities (such as music) in order to protect ourselves from nothingness, as trusting with frail hope in something beyond.
Notes by Paul Griffiths © 2008
Nicholas Kok principal conductor, Psappha
An extraordinarily versatile musician, Nicholas Kok’s work as a conductor and pianist has led to his engagement in major opera houses and concert halls, and at leading festivals, throughout the world. He has recently been appointed Principal Conductor of Psappha, the leading new music and music-theatre ensemble in the North of England. Concurrently with this role, he continues his association with sinfonia Viva (formerly East of England Orchestra), of which he was Principal Conductor (1996-2006), becoming Principal Guest Conductor last year.
With a remarkably wide operatic repertoire ranging from Monteverdi, Handel and Mozart to Humperdinck, Britten and beyond, Nicholas Kok has established a reputation as a longtime champion of contemporary music, conducting numerous world and UK premieres. He has also collaborated (as conductor, composer and arranger) with several leading choreographers.
Nicholas Kok has worked with many of the UK’s major orchestras and ensembles, as well accepting many overseas engagements. He has composed, arranged and recorded regularly for radio and television, as well as being involved with recordings for Opera Rara and Chandos.
Future plans include new productions of Gluck's "Orphée" for Stuttgart Staatsoper, Piccinni's "La Cecchina" for Münchner Kammeroper, two Stravinsky programmes with Birmingham Royal Ballet and concerts and recordings with Psappha, ViVA and the BBC Singers.
Maria Husmann soprano
Soprano Maria Husmann was a member of the ensemble of the Hamburg State Opera at the age of 22. She later moved to the State Theatre in Stuttgart and then to the National Theatre in Munich.
She is highly regarded as an interpreter of modern and contemporary music, both on the opera stage (Lulu at the Semperoper in Dresden, Marie in Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten in Hanover, Jenny in Weill’s Mahogany at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Lucille in Dantons Tod by Gottfried von Einem at the National Theatre in Munich) and on the international concert platform.
She works very closely with composers Hans Werner Henze, Aribert Reimann, Philipp Glass, George Crumb, Peter Michael Hamel, Detlev Glanert, Fausto Romitelli and György Kurtág. She has worked with renowned directors including Peter Zadek, Kurt Horres, Dieter Dorn, Günter Krämer, Achim Freyer and Giancarlo del Monaco.
Between 1992 and 1998, Maria Husmann appeared regularly as actress and chanson singer at the Berliner Ensemble and gave guest solo performances at all large German theatres. She worked together with director Peter Palitzsch on Beethoven’s Fidelio (musical dramaturgy) for the Hamburg State Opera. They organised workshops together and staged Cosi fan tutte in Kassel.
Since 2004, Maria Husmann has been holding international workshops for interpretation and scenic design with emphasis on Brecht songs and contemporary songs/operas.
For the past twelve years Maria has worked closely with György Kurtág in concerts, workshops and premičre performances. Kurtág practically composed the piece Einige Sätze aus den Sudelbüchern Georg Christoph Lichtenbergs to suit her voice. She performed his Vier Cappriccios op.9 many times including a performance at La Scala, Milan. Since 1994, she has been interpreting the Kafka Fragments together with András Keller.
Jane Manning soprano
Jane Manning was born in Norwich and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and in Switzerland. In her long career she has covered an exceptionally wide repertoire and has sung at many of the world’s leading Festivals and concert halls, appearing regularly in USA, Australasia and all over Europe as well as London, her home since 1965. Her engagements have included Bach under Karl Richter, Salieri under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, major operatic roles by Mozart, Purcell, Lully, Britten and Kurt Weill and countless BBC broadcasts of the standard recital repertoire, as well as many Promenade Concerts.
She is of course especially renowned as an interpreter of contemporary music and has given more than 350 world premieres, working closely with composers such as Bennett, Birtwistle, Boulez, Cage, Carter, Maxwell Davies, Knussen and Weir. Her extensive discography includes the major song cycles of Messiaen, all Satie’s vocal music, and works by Berg, Dallapiccola, Schoenberg and Ligeti (tonight’s works, recorded in Paris under Pierre Boulez under the composer’s supervision)
2007 saw the release of a new CD (with her ensemble JANE’S MINSTRELS) of music by Anthony Payne, and also the re-issue of several of her earlier recordings of major British works by Finzi, Bennett and Maw.
In October 2007 she completed 3 years of intensive performance-based research as AHRC Creative Arts Fellow at Kingston University. Her subject was Schoenberg’s PIERROT LUNAIRE, of which her interpretation is regarded as definitive. A DVD of her performance with Psappha, with video images by Kathy Hinde, was made last year, and she has also recorded the work 3 times, including an acclaimed version with the Nash Ensemble under Simon Rattle.
She continues to enjoy an active caree.Recent performances have included Maxwell Davies’s MISS DONNITHORNE’S MAGGOT in Turin with the London Sinfonietta, and in Barcelona with Psappha, as well as PIERROT LUNAIRE on the South Bank and in Hampton Court. In February this year she will give the premiere of Joanna Lee’s ‘Chansons Innocentes’ with the Orchestra of the Swan, in Birmingham and Stratford.
She is the author of two books on contemporary vocal repertoire, published by Oxford University Press, and her 2-volume study of the vocal part of Pierrot Lunaire will be published by Southern Voices. She has also been invited to contribute the chapter on vocal performance of the 20th century and beyond, to Cambridge University Press’s forthcoming ‘History of Musical Performance’
She was awarded the OBE in 1990, holds Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Durham, York and Keele, and is a Fellow of both the Royal Academy and. Royal College of Music. She is also much sought-after for her lectures, master classes and composer workshops, and has appeared in this capacity at many of the world’s leading campuses including, in the USA, Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Stanford, Yale and Columbia. She is married to the composer, writer and broadcaster Anthony Payne.
Jessica Walker mezzo-soprano
Jessica Walker studied at the Guildhall and made her debut as Tamiri in Il Re Pastore with Music Theatre Transparant. Other recent engagements include Gloria in Weill's One Touch of Venus for Opera North, The Little Arab in Martinu's Julietta for Opera North at the Ravenna Festival, Ninfa in Monteverdi's Orfeo for Opera North, Gigi in School for Lovers at Glyndebourne and Finnish National Opera and Peep Bo in the Mikado for Reis Opera.
Her most recent concert work includes the world premiere of Joanna Lee's Elephant Woman for Psappha, and Mercy and Grand, the Tom Waits project for Opera North at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. She has given recitals for the Lancaster and Sheffield International concert series with Jim Holmes and Wyn Davies, and the songs of Kurt Weill and his contemporaries at the Aldeburgh Festival, the New End Theatre Hampstead and the Cochrane theatre, accompanied by Stephen Gutman, later released on the Avid label. She appears regularly on Friday Night is Music Night and as a guest artist with the Viva Orchestra.
Current projects include the understudy of an Innocent in the world premiere of Birtwistle's Minotaur at ROH and an autumn tour of Mercy and Grand, the Tom Waits project, with Opera North and Gavin Bryars.
Dean Robinson bass
The Australian bass Dean Robinson studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester with Patrick McGuigan and Robert Alderson. He was awarded the Robin Kaye prize for Opera and was a recipient of several major scholarships from the Peter Moores Foundation.
Since graduating in 1995 he has a appeared as principal guest artist with The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera North and The Netherlands Opera. Festival appearances include Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro and Garsington Festival Opera.
He is a highly regarded concert artist in repertoire covering Bach, Handel, Mozart, Verdi, Berlioz, Elgar and Mendelssohn. He has sung under the direction of many distinguished conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Bernard Haitink, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Colin Davis, Leonard Slatkin, Kent Nagano, Antonio Pappano, Sir Colin Davis and Sir Richard Armstrong. His recordings include Masetto (Don Giovanni) for Chandos and Duca d’Argile (Il prigione d’Edimborgo) for Opera Rara. On film he sings the role of First Officer in John Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer, and Goffredo in Judith Wiers’ Armida.
Elaine Tyler-Hall director
Elaine Tyler-Hall director and choreographer now works full-time as a staff director for ENO and for that company has directed the revivals of The Cunning Little Vixen, Orpheus and Eurydice, The Fairy Queen, Rigoletto and Tosca in London, and also travelled with Orpheus and Eurydice to New York City Opera and The Cunning Little Vixen to La Fenice Venice, La Scala Milan and Teatro de la Maestranza Seville. Her more recent freelance work has included directing and choreographing The Soldier’s Tale and Vesalii Icones for Psappha, and choreographing The Greek Passion (ROH Covent Garden) and Benvenuto Cellini (Zurich). She choreographed and assisted on the world premičre of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’s Mr Emmet Takes a Walk for Psappha, which she restaged for the Kammeroper Vienna, and where she directed La finta giardiniera. In the past year, as well as her work for ENO, Elaine has directed and choreographed Eugene Onegin for Riverside Opera, and restaged Robert Carsen's Semele in Zurich.
Psappha
The leading new music and music-theatre ensemble in the North of England, Psappha was formed in 1991 by its Artistic Director Tim Williams. With Nicholas Kok as its first Principal Conductor, Psappha has an extensive and exceptionally varied repertoire of over 300 works and a reputation for technical assurance and interpretative flair. Its eight-strong regular membership encourages a refreshing diversity in the instrumentation of its repertoire, but its performances all bear the hallmark of sophisticated ensemble playing, marked by a high degree of communication and empathy among the players.
Its distinctive concert series and mini-festivals have featured commissions and other premieres of works by a wide range of composers including Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (Psappha’s Patron), Anthony Gilbert, Gordon McPherson, Karen Tanaka, Ronald Caltabiano, Rebecca Saunders, John Casken, Piers Hellawell and Steven Mackey.
In 2000 Psappha gave the premiere of Mr Emmet Takes a Walk, a music-theatre work by Maxwell Davies (with direction and libretto by David Pountney) which it co-commissioned. The production won the Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Opera 2000, was enthusiastically received on European and UK tours, and has just been released on Psappha’s own CD label.
Based in Manchester, Psappha has appeared throughout the UK, at such major music festivals as Aldeburgh, Bath, Buxton, Cheltenham, Huddersfield, Oxford and St. Magnus (Orkney); at the BBC Proms (where it made its sensational debut in 2004 with a late-night concert marking Maxwell Davies’s 70th birthday); and in Henze and Maxwell Davies portrait series in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London.
On the international platform, Psappha has made highly successful tours to North and South America, Australia, Belgium, France, Holland, Ireland, Jersey, Portugal and Spain. In 2004 it established its own CD label with unconducted performances of Maxwell Davies’s Eight Songs for a Mad King and Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot. It also has six recordings on a range of other labels.
Education projects represent an important part of Psappha’s busy schedule both in the UK and abroad. Currently the University of Manchester’s Contemporary Ensemble in Residence, it collaborates with people of all ages, devising and participating in composition workshops and courses, and was awarded the Swatch City Life Award for Best Concert Series and Education Work.
www.psappha.com
|
