Saturday 17 March 2018West Road Concert Hall

Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus

Conductor Timothy Redmond

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Cambridge Philharmonic presents

Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms*

Poulenc: Concerto for two pianos

Interval

Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2

Poulenc: Stabat Mater

Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra & ChorusConductor: Timothy Redmond

Leader: Paula Muldoon

Soprano: Margo Arsane

Pianos: Nicolae Mihaila & Thibault Charrin

*Tonight’s performance of the Symphony of Psalms is dedicated to the memory of Professor Stephen Hawking who loved this piece

Symphony of Psalms Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

Though his family originated from the Ukraine and Latvia and his upbringing was in Russia, Igor Stravinsky rejected his homeland as a young adult and became a French citizen in 1934, living much of the first half of the 20th century in France and Switzerland. In his early years, Stravinsky studied with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in St Petersburg, learning to master orchestration; but also evolving and establishing the rhythmic and melodic devices that define his unique voice. He wrote his famous ballets early in his working life, with premieres of The Firebird, Rite of Spring and Petrushka all taking place in Paris in collaboration with the choreographer Diaghilev before the outbreak of the First World War. Seen as producing unpatriotic, primal and subversive music, he was denounced by the communist regime in

Russia for his work, and he did not return home until near the end of his life.

In his teens he rejected his family’s orthodox tradition but having reached a point of crisis during his life in Paris, he had a spiritual ‘awakening’, beginning a disciplined life in the Christian faith. The Symphony of Psalms was written during this period of spiritual change in 1930, and commissioned by Serge Koussevitsky for the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Unusually, the orchestration uses an enhanced wind section, including piccolo trumpet, two pianos and lower strings only. Stravinsky ‘symphonised the chorus’ – deliberately constructed the work with the chorus as the central and driving force, rather than using the chorus as an enhancement to the symphony.

The work is in three parts, using Latin text for extracts of Psalms 39 and 40 (Vulgate Psalms 38 and 39) and the near entirety of the last Psalm, 150. These are continuous, with each being the prelude to the next. The chosen text follows a path of spiritual awakening as experienced by the composer; from tumultuous, pleading prayer for forgiveness, to answered prayer as the psalmist is rescued from the pit of misery, through to a renewed hope in the Lord.

Text

1. Psalm 39 v12-13

Exaudi orationem meam, Domine, et deprecationem meam; auribus percipe lacrimas meas. Ne sileas, quoniam advena ego sum apud te, et peregrinus sicut omnes patres mei.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication: give ear to my tears. Be not silent: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as all my fathers were.

Remitte mihi, ut refrigerer prius quam abeam et amplius non ero.

O forgive me, that I may be refreshed, before I go hence, and be no more.

2. Psalm 40 v1-3

Expectans expectavi Dominum, et intendit mihi.

With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me.

Et exaudivit preces meas, et eduxit me de lacu miseriae et de luto faecis. Et statuit super petram pedes meos, et direxit gressus meos

And he heard my prayers, and brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs. And he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps.

Et immisit in os meum canticum novum, carmen Deo nostro. Videbunt multi, et timebunt, et sperabunt in Domino.

And he put a new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God. Many shall see, and shall fear: and they shall hope in the Lord.

3. Psalm 150

Alleluia. Laudate Dominum in sanctis ejus; laudate eum in firmamento virtutis ejus.

Alleluia. Praise ye the Lord in his holy places: praise ye him in the firmament of his power.

Laudate eum in virtutibus ejus; laudate eum secundum multitudinem magnitudinis ejus.

Praise ye him for his mighty acts: praise ye him according to the multitude of his greatness.

Laudate eum in sono tubae… Praise him with sound of trumpet…

Laudate eum in tympano et choro; laudate eum in chordis et organo.

Praise him with timbrel and choir: praise him with strings and organs.

Laudate eum in cymbalis benesonantibus; laudate eum in cymbalis jubilationis.

Praise him on high sounding cymbals: praise him on cymbals of joy:

Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum! Alleluia.

Let every spirit praise the Lord! Alleluia.

The first movement opens with phrases marked by punctuating chords between waves of an ostinato of incomplete minor arpeggios. These consist of two minor thirds and a major third and are first heard in the wind section, but it is a motif underlying the entire work. The intervals are derived from the octatonic scale, which alternates tones and semitones, and is found in a number of themes in Stravinsky’s music. These patterns are common in the ‘church’ modes, suggestive of early plainsong. Stravinsky, although raised in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, was not familiar with the church modes so did not use them deliberately, but for their plaintive qualities.

As the ostinato gains momentum, insistent chords mark the arrival of the melody in the horns, repeated by the more anxious solo cello line. Between them, the two pianos provide a strident, constant motion supplemented with descending minor thirds in the wind section as the backdrop to the pleading vocal line, based on the plaintive minor second interval.

As the music builds intensity around the words of supplication and need there is a growing sense of inner turmoil in the psalmist from the falling phrasing from the pianos, then thirds moving constantly, oscillating and unsettled. The only rest comes from the oboe interjection withering away into the next sung phrase. Intensity builds with crunching seventh and ninth intervals, mixed in with a staccato chromatic line in the bassoons and trombones, until the rising trumpet line crashes in. With the words Remite mihi (Forgive me)/ ut refrigerer prius quam abeam (that I may be refreshed, before I go) another wave of unsettled vocal lines create unnerving clashing second and seventh intervals.

This time the music is different as pin pricks of tears, or perhaps light, are suggested by the piccolo and flute punctuating the swaying, almost nauseous melody. As the movement comes to a close, the constant motion is suddenly halted by the arrival of trumpets and rapid resolution like a burst of sunlight into the final G major chord, as the words reach their climax – et amplius ero (and I am no more). But the first movement is only the prelude to the second; as soon as the burst of light is revealed it dies back to a bare woodwind line, built again on sevenths from the octatonic scale.

The second movement, the setting of Psalm 40, is prefaced by the fugal woodwind section leading to a second fugue later on. The first, slightly separated three quavers of the solo oboe rise expectantly to the major seventh with chromatic motifs passing between the instruments before the voices start in further counterpoint.

The increasingly complex texture of the voices and instruments swirling around each other describes the mire in the vocal line. The complementary second fugue is introduced as accented entries from the voices et statuit – planting the psalmist’s feet on the rock, a fleeting visit to a settled key. Through a gradually diminishing line the voices settle back down to a tender minor tonality as the phrase ends – direxit gressus meos (directing my steps). The fugue then develops further before the texture becomes more transparent heading towards a peaceful conclusion with unison voices at the end of the movement. The chorus sing sperabunt in Domino (they will hope in God), a sentiment of future completion without resolution in the present, ending on a tonal centre of Eb rather than a major or minor key.

The third movement alternates two speeds, a slower section, the composer’s own prayer to the words of Laudate Dominum (Praise the Lord), then faster sections with triplets in the brass section. Stravinsky wrote: ‘The allegro in Psalm 150 was inspired by a vision of Elijah’s chariot climbing the Heavens; never before had I written anything quite so literal as the triplets for horns and piano to suggest the horses and chariot.’

In the fast section, these triplets leap from horns to piano to other wind instruments as the lively accompaniment, heralding praise from heaven with an agitated edge as Laudate is developed in the choral lines. Although Stravinsky writes evocatively in the fast passages, the motifs in this last movement are mainly derived from the sound of the syllables rather than their meaning. However, the composer does not adhere to this in a predictable way, as the word Laudate yields different structures. This is readily evident in the phrase Laudate eum in virtutibus ejus (Praise him for his mighty acts), sung staccato over the legato winds using themes from the agitated passages of the first movement, with the roles reversed for Laudate eum secundum multitudinem magnitudinis ejus (Praise Him according to the multitude of His greatness), this time with strident lines in the chorus under a staccato wind texture.

Similarly, Stravinksy doesn’t obviously use the call in the text to ‘praise him’ on the cymbals and strings to orchestrate these passages, instead using a more ethereal way with texture and chordal structures building the phrase to a peak then dying away. Through the last section of the movement the composer draws from his own spiritual journey, the path from unbelief, through turmoil, pleading, forgiveness and to hope in anticipation, finally concluding how little we can know or hear the complete sound of heavenly praises, instead only seeing glimpses of it intermingled with experiences in our earthly lives.

Joanna Baxter

Francis Poulenc

When asked about his way of composing, Poulenc said “...my rules are instinctive, I am not concerned with principles and I am proud of that... and, as for inspiration, it is so mysterious that it is wiser not to try to explain it”. The result of this inscrutable stimulation and intuitive approach to composition is an idiosyncratic body of varied works whose style is immediately recognisable and sets Poulenc apart from his contemporaries.

Poulenc’s love of music came from his mother and he studied the piano with renowned pianist Ricardo Viñes of whom he said: “I owe him everything”. In 1917, Poulenc sought guidance from the musicologist and critic Pierre Vidal concerning the possibility of studying at the Paris Conservatoire only to have one of his early compositions ridiculed by him for its similarity to works by Stravinsky and Satie who were thought, by the French musical establishment of the time, to be beyond the pale. In any event, military service intervened and it was later, in 1921, that Poulenc approached the French composer and teacher Charles Koechlin saying “with your help I would like to become a real musician”. And so it was that Poulenc did not have a formal conservatoire education but studied with Koechlin over a period of three years. Poulenc is recorded as saying of Koechlin that “he understood my eminently harmonic nature” and later acknowledged that his choral music owed much to Koechlin’s teaching.

Poulenc called himself “un éternel inquiet” – he was an anxious man. His long-term performing associate, the baritone Pierre Bernac, described Poulenc as an unforgettable personality, full of contrasts: gaiety and melancholy, frivolity and piety – sensitive and emotional. Poulenc’s mother had been totally Parisian from a light-hearted, hedonistic family of craftspeople who adored the arts and who were indifferent to religion, whilst his father was a devout Roman Catholic from the Aveyron region. The musicologist and broadcaster Claude Rostand described the two contrasting sides of Poulenc as “the street urchin and the monk” and this analysis has remained. Poulenc wrestled with the tensions in his life; the guilts triggered by his Roman Catholicism; “I am religious by deepest instinct and by heredity”; heterosexual and homosexual loves; the reckless buffoonery of cabaret life in Paris and the cloister.

Poulenc said: “It was Debussy who awakened me to music and Stravinsky who later served as my guide” and there is homage to these much admired friends in the double piano concerto. Poulenc wrote an article about Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms which appeared in Le Mois magazine in February 1931 concluding it with the words: “I salute you Johann Sebastian Stravinsky!” He sent a copy to Stravinsky “offering it as a small testimony of my admiration and affection”.

Tonight’s programme includes the Concerto for two pianos (1932) which is a work rooted in Poulenc’s Parisian social whirl; a time when he was experiencing acclaim for his witty chamber music, piano works and songs and after his ballet music for Les Biches had brought him fame in London. Poulenc rediscovered his religious faith in 1936 and it was after this that he wrote the large scale orchestral religious works – the Gloria, the Répons des Ténèbres and the Stabat Mater.

Concerto for two pianos Francis Poulenc in D minor (1899-1963)

This exuberant work was commissioned in 1932 by a patron of the arts, Princess Edmond de Polignac (née Winnaretta Singer, daughter of the American sewing machine magnate). Poulenc played one of the solo parts in the first performance in September 1932, alongside his friend Jacques Février as part of the Venice festival. Poulenc was known for his sensitive but particularly percussive piano playing and, from the sforzando, fortissimo, opening crash of this concerto and the ‘très brilliant’ scale passages, his playing was stunning as the recordings show. His sensitivity in parts of the slow movement was particularly notable.

The work was very well received. Poulenc said he had worked particularly on the orchestration and saw it as a real step towards his “great period!” It is very much in Poulenc’s inimitable style with cheeky orchestral sounds and an array of his surprisingly audacious modulations (somehow getting from the D minor opening of the slow movement to C sharp minor: and from a fleeting appearance of D major in the last movement through B flat minor to A major!). Nevertheless there are quotes from the Adagio from Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major and from the slow movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C (K467). Debussy is not far away in moments reminiscent of Dr Gradus, Jimbo’s lullaby and the Snow is dancing from the Children’s Corner suite.

The first movement, marked allegro ma non troppo, is as percussive for orchestra as it is for the pianos, with plenty of pizzicato, harsh chords and castanets adding to the brash café-life feel. It then moves into a lyrical slow section, in the relative major, with the pianos initially accompanied by gentle bassoons and later by oscillating clarinets before returning to the opening tempo. A dark moment has cellos playing a strange

chordal progression in similar motion, then a short motif on castanets followed by a general pause. The pianos then play a new section marked lent and mystérieux et clair tout à la fois (mysterious and clear at the same time) with slow semiquavers briefly accompanied by an eerie, plaintif phrase with a solo cello playing harmonics. This coda may have been inspired by hearing a gamalan at an international exhibition in Paris around the time.

The Larghetto opens softly with just the first piano alone then the second piano taking over the theme before the strings enter. The opening (in B flat major) has a serene, settled, optimistic feel with sweeping legato, ethereal strings. The middle section moves a little faster and has a theme of repeated notes in a dotted rhythm. The movement closes abruptly after the shortest of recapitulations.

In the Finale, marked allegro molto, the first theme is in quaver triplets and the second theme is a march of repeated notes in a dotted rhythm. The pianos are sometimes accompanied by insistent brass and there is a raucous bassoon moment. Then, after a lyrical moment of plus calme, the movement hurtles to an end – without slowing down (Poulenc insisted that players should stick relentlessly to the tempo he set!).

Monica Darnbrough

Interval

Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2 Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

The balletRavel began writing the score for the ballet Daphnis et Chloé in 1909 following a commission from Sergei Diaghilev for a work for his newly-formed Ballets Russes. The ballet was to be based on the 2nd Century Greek story tracing the fortunes of Daphnis (boy) and Chloé (girl) who, abandoned as children, are brought up by a goatherd and shepherd. They spend their childhood together, and as they grow up begin to fall in love but without understanding what is happening. Chloé is then carried off by pirates and is only saved by the intervention of the god Pan, who remembers his own anguish when he was rejected by the nymph Syrinx. At the end of the story the couple are reunited, learn the meaning of love, and spend the rest of their lives together.

The composition of the ballet turned out to be far from straightforward, with the choreographer, Mikhail Fokine, quarrelling with Ravel about the style of the piece to the point where Diaghilev came close to cancelling the whole project. There were also delays caused by Ravel’s difficulty in completing the final dance movement,

and as a result it was not until 8 June 1912 that the first performance was staged. The leading roles for the new work were danced by the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky and Tamara Karsavina, but despite their technical brilliance and Ravel’s sumptuous music, the ballet was not particularly well received. Part of the problem was that time pressures had meant that the ballet was under-rehearsed, but the main reason was that the new work was overshadowed by the continuing controversy over the sexual overtones of the ballet L’Apres-midi d’un Faune, which had been premiered by the Ballets Russes only ten days earlier.

Suite No. 2Fortunately Ravel had already arranged for two extracts from the score to be published separately, and as a result his music for the ballet soon became more widely known. The second of these extracts, Suite No. 2 – or Fragments Symphoniques, 2nd Serie as it was originally titled – has become especially popular, with Ravel himself describing it as his most important score.

The action of the Suite starts at the point in the narrative where Daphnis, having pleaded with Pan to save Chloé, is anxiously awaiting news of her. She duly appears, and Daphnis and she then play out a mime, recalling the legend of Pan and Syrinx, according to which Syrinx escapes Pan’s advances by being transformed into a reed by a river god, leaving Pan clutching a tuft of reeds from which he fashions his famous Pan pipes. However Chloé, unlike Syrinx, willingly submits to Daphnis’s overtures, and in the final part of the Suite the couple are reunited as lovers and celebrate their union in a wild dance.

The three scenes covered in the Suite are described in more detail below.

Lever du Jour (Daybreak)Daphnis has made his supplication to Pan to rescue Chloé, and in the opening scene he is seen lying asleep at the entrance to a grotto, dreaming of her. The opening music portrays the noise of streams running down the rocks, with a flute mimicking birdsong as a rising theme heralds the dawn.

A group of herdsmen enters, looking for Daphnis, with the music becoming more impassioned as they find him and wake him from his sleep. Chloé, set free by the intervention of Pan, enters surrounded by shepherds. Daphnis catches sight of her and the music reaches a crescendo as the couple greet each other. The oboe then plays a sad melody as Daphnis is reminded that Pan has freed Chloé in remembrance of his own unrequited love for Syrinx.

Pantomime (Pantomime)Daphnis and Chloé mime the story of Pan and Syrinx. Chloé, playing the part of Syrinx, pretends to reject the advances of Daphnis and runs off while he, playing the part of Pan, mourns for her and imitates Pan fashioning his pipes from the reeds. Chloé reappears, dancing to the melody of the flute in a long extended solo passage. The dance gradually becomes more animated until there is a rapid descending scale as Chloé falls into Daphnis’s arms.

Danse Generale (General Dance)The streams of the grotto are heard again as nymphs and shepherds appear. They join Daphnis and Chloé in the famous Danse Generale. Ravel apparently spent a full year perfecting this part of the score, and its five-in-a-bar rhythm also caused the company great difficulty – a problem that was solved by having the dancers chant the five syllables of ‘Ser-gei-Dia-ghi-lev’ as they danced. The dance continues, gradually becoming more and more frenzied as the lovers celebrate their union, with the chorus joining in, until a series of shouts and a fortissimo chord brings the dance to a conclusion.

Chris Fisher

Stabat Mater Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)

Poulenc tended towards melancholy and experienced great sadness during his life. His childhood sweetheart Raymonde Linossier spurned his proposal of marriage and died suddenly shortly afterwards – he never stopped grieving for her. Many of the literary and artistic circle, whom Raymonde brought into Poulenc’s life, died young in distressing accidents or from illness. It was just days after the sudden death of his young colleague Pierre-Octave Ferroud, in a road accident in 1936, that Poulenc had a life-changing religious experience. He visited the pilgrimage site at Rocamadour where there is a miraculous figure of the Virgin Mary carved from black wood. On the evening of his visit, Poulenc began to write the Litanies à la Vierge Noire for women’s voices and organ in which he said he was trying to express peasant devotion. Most of his greatest religious works were written after what he called this “date of primal importance in my life and career”.

The Stabat Mater was composed quickly over two months of the rainy summer of 1950 at Poulenc’s house in Noizay. In a letter to his baritone associate Bernac in October 1950, he admitted that his nerves were frayed by the end. Poulenc said he had finished it, had not looked at it for 10 days and had then “assessed it coolly and found it to be good because it is profoundly authentic”. The work is dedicated to the memory of artist and theatre designer Christian Bérard whose soul Poulenc committed to the safe keeping of the Virgin of Rocamadour.

The work is scored for soprano solo, mixed chorus (mostly in five parts) and orchestra. The first performance was given in June 1951 at the Strasbourg festival with Fritz Münch conducting and Genevieve Moizan as soloist. It was well received in Europe, and the New York critics’ circle gave it their award for best choral work of the year. The bass singer Doda Conrad wrote to Poulenc after a 1952 performance in the Carnegie Hall praising the interpretation by the conductor Robert Shaw who had arranged the choir all mixed together rather than in separate voice parts. On that occasion the audience gave the artists eight curtain calls! Although Poulenc’s opera The Dialogues of the Carmelites was written after the Stabat Mater, there are many moments in which one starts to hear the melodies and harmonies of the opera – the opening of the Stabat Mater evolved into the final scene of the opera when the nuns go calmly, one by one, to the guillotine.

The 12 short movements of the Stabat Mater vary in character from tragic to boisterous and in some cases almost frivolous; sometimes seeming to contradict the sadness of the text.

1. Stabat mater dolorosa (très calme)The orchestral opening is a sombre heart beat with the feel of a slow march in A minor. The bass entry (très intense et doux) moving in minor thirds sets the mood of

sadness as Mary weeps at the foot of the cross on which her crucified son is hanging. The final sustained unaccompanied chord is desolate.

Stabat Mater dolorosaJuxta Crucem Lacrimosa,Dum pendebat Filius.

The sorrowful mother stoodbeside the cross weeping,while her Son was hanging there.

2. Cujus animam gementem (allegro molto – très violent)This is a syncopated quick movement still in the minor key. The repetitive, heavy strings and the cries of the choir emphasise the turmoil and pain of Mary whose soul is pierced by a sword (gladius), as was presaged in early mentions of her in the Bible. The slightly incongruous closing chords could only have been written by Poulenc.

Cujus animam gementem,Contristatam et dolentemPertransivit gladius.

Her weeping soullamenting and grievingwas pierced by a sword.

3. O quam tristis (très lent)The five-part choir sing unaccompanied in a contemplative prayerful mood reflecting that Mary had been very blessed. Here again is another of Poulenc’s unorthodox harmonic progressions with a transition from B minor to E flat minor during the course of the movement.

O quam tristis et afflictaFuit lla benedictaMater Unigeniti!

Oh, how sad and troubledwas that blessed Motherof the only-begotten!

4. Quae moerebat (andantino)This movement skips along slightly frivolously in A flat major despite the words of Mary’s torment and trembling grief as she witnessed the suffering of her son. The penultimate chord is ‘very Poulenc’ but the seventh, which he so often includes is, unusually, a major one here.

Quae moerebat et dolebat,Pia Mater dum videbatNati poenas inclyti.

How she mourned and lamented,the pious Motherseeing the torment of her child.

5. Quis est homo (allegro molto)This frenetic movement begins in 3/4 time and asks who would not be moved at the sight of Mary’s suffering? It has the sopranos and tenors crying out in tanto supplicio (in such suffering) – a phrase which starts with an octave leap before descending in a semiquaver motif. The brass sounds cruel. The first section ends quietly with the question Quis? Quis? (Who? Who?) and then the rhythm changes and a very

fast (prestissimo) episode captures the flagellation and torture to which Jesus had been subjected. Poulenc asks for a long silence after the movement to prepare for a complete change of atmosphere.

Quis est homo, qui non fleretMatrem Christi si videretIn tanto supplicio?

Who is the person who would not weepseeing the mother of Christ in such agony?

Quis non posset contristarimatrem Christi contemplariDolentem cum filio?

Who would not feel compassionseeing the mother of Christsuffering with her son?

Pro peccatis suae gentisVidit Jesum in tormentiset flagellis subditum

For the sins of His peopleshe saw Jesus in tormentand subjected to scourging.

6. Vidit suum (andante)The soprano soloist opens this laconic B minor movement with a huge descending phrase spanning more than one and a half octaves. She is answered by a simple folk-like phrase from the male chorus saying that Jesus died abandoned. The contraltos join in but the sopranos of the choir do not sing in this movement and the soprano solo soars above the choir in beautiful arched phrases. After the awe-filled words of Christ’s death dum emisit spiritum (he yielded up his spirit) there is a brief percussive, descending orchestral motif with fluttering woodwind followed by the cellos. Finally the soloist and chorus sing those words once more. A long silence follows.

Vidit suum dulcet natummorientem desolatum,dum emisit spiritum.

She saw her dear child dying, forsaken, as he gave up his spirit.

7. Eja Mater (allegro)This movement is in 3/8 time and takes the form of a folk song in E flat major with repeated verses. It is as though innocent children or peasants are asking to feel Mary’s pain and share in her mourning. The ending is a witty Poulenc surprise.

Eja mater fons amoris, Me sentire vim doloris Fac ut tecum lugeam.

Oh Mother, fount of love,make me feel the power of your sorrowthat I may grieve with you.

8. Fac ut ardeat (maestoso)C sharp minor is the key of this movement which is scored without baritones and basses. It is mostly unaccompanied and has a prayerful, plain chant feel but with anxiety elicited through intervals of clashing sevenths.

Fac ut ardeat cor meum In amando Christum Deum, Ut sibi complaceam.

Make my heart burnin loving Christ the God,that I might please Him.

9. Sancta mater (moderato)The opening of this movement is characterised by very sparse orchestration. It moves into an allegretto for four of the verses, slowing down into a quiet pleading, adoring, lyrical setting in a positive major key for the final verse Virgo virginum praeclara, fac me tecum plangere (Virgin pre-eminent of all virgins, let me weep with you).

Sancta mater, istud agas Crucifixi fige plagas Cordi meo valide.

Holy Mother grant that the wounds of the crucified onemay be driven into my heart.

Tui nati vulnerati Tam dignati pro me pati Poenas mecum divide!

Your wounded son suffered for meMay he give me a share of his pain!

Fac me vere tecum flere, Crucifixo condolere Donec ego vixero.

Let me truly weep with you,and grieve for the crucifiedfor as long as I live.

Juxta crucem tecum stare Te libenter sociare In planctu desidero.

To stand beside the cross with youand gladly share your griefis my desire.

Virgo virginum praeclara, Mihi jam non sis amara Fac me tecum plangere.

Chosen of virgins, do not be bitter with me nowlet me weep with you.

10. Fac ut portem (tempo de sarabande)The stately sarabande dance rhythms are emphasised in the orchestral accompaniment while the voices sing a smoother line. The soprano solo joins the choir pleading passionis fac consortem et plagas recolere (Let me share Christ’s

passion and think on his wounds) as she soars to a high C flat. Many of the choir chords have clashing seconds evoking the pain of the passion. It ends with a restatement of fac ut portem Christi mortem (let me bear the death of Christ).

Fac ut portem Christi mortem, Passionis fac consortem Et plagas recolere.

Let me carry Christ’s death,the destiny of his passion,and think on his wounds.

Fac me plagis vulnerari, Cruce hac inebriari Ob amorem filii.

Let me be wounded with his wounds,engulfed by the crossfor the love of your Son.

11. Inflammatus et accensus (très animé et très rhythmé)The flames of the day of judgement are depicted in the fast, desperate, angular phrases of the choir while the accompaniment has the relentless steady forward rhythm of the opening of the first movement. A long pause signals a change of pace and mood; an unaccompanied adagio section which becomes more and more optimistic and leads into a moment of victory and confidence with triumphant brass to the words of hope that at death the mother of Christ will help us to obtain the victor’s palm. The choir go straight on into the final movement.

Inflammatus et accensus Per te virgo sim defensus In die judicii.

Inflamed and burningmay I be saved by you Virginin the day of judgement.

Christi, cum sit hunc exire Da per matrem me venire, Ad palmam victoriae.

Christ, when it is time to die grant, through your mother, that I may come to the palm crown of victory.

12. Quando corpus (très calme)A quiet unaccompanied opening, befitting the contemplation of the moment of death, gives way to a loud acclamation and plea for a place in paradise by choir and brass, only to be replaced by a reappearance of the prayerful music of the opening. There are paired phrases of certainty and doubt as they sway between major and minor. The soprano soloist adds to the glory of paradise and then whispers her plea twice more as the movement returns to a state of ‘très calme’ and moves into A major. The altos’ lyrical confident statement of paradisi gloria is echoed by the flutes as we settle into a mood of heavenly peace but Poulenc adds a surprise in the form of a dissonant Amen before the final assertive orchestral chord (which, of course, has his signature flat seventh).

Quando corpus morietur, Fac ut animae donetur Paradisi gloria.

Amen

When my body is dying,grant that my soul will be giventhe glory of paradise.

Amen

Monica Darnbrough

Margo Arsane (mezzo-soprano)

Margo Arsane is a French mezzo-soprano. After studying the violin for 14 years, she trained as a soprano at the CNSMD Lyon, the Hochschule für Musik Munich and the Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she graduated in 2017. After leaving, she re-trained as a mezzo-soprano. She now continues to study privately with Gary Coward.

In 2018-19, Margo will be a Young Artist at the National Opera Studio.

She has won several prizes at international competitions including: First prize at the Mozarteum Sommerakademie Wettbewerb 2013, Special Prize at the International Voice Competition 2014 in Marmande and ‘Young Hope’ Prize at the Concours

International de Chant de Clermont-Ferrand 2013.

In August 2018, Margo will make her debut in the role of Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro at Dartington Festival. Past roles include Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro for Clonter Opera, Polissena in Handel’s Radamisto at GSMD, cover Mélisande Pelléas et Mélisande for Garsington Opera, Nannetta Falstaff with Cambridge Philharmonic, Bettina Don Procopio Bizet with Opera South. She also made her debut under the baton of renowned French baroque conductor Hervé Niquet (Le Concert Spirituel) in the role of Climène Les Amants Magnifiques by Molière/Lully, touring at the Opéra d’Avignon, Opéra de Rennes, Opéra de Massy.

Margo is proud to be one of the 2017 Opera Awards Foundation bursary recipients. She has also been a Young Artist for the Peace and Prosperity Trust since 2016, a charity which works towards building bridges between the Middle East and the West through music.

Nicolae Mihaila (piano)

Nicolae started to play the piano at the age of eight under guidance of Professor Fekete Elisabeta. After two years, in which he excelled rapidly, he received a unique opportunity to perform Haydn’s D major Piano Concerto with the Oradea State Orchestra to an audience of over 600 people. Consequently it did not take long for him to be recognised as a child prodigy.

After the first five years of study and hard work, winning prizes at national and international competitions, travelling across Romania and Europe doing solo recitals and concerts with

orchestra, he was awarded the Brilliant Child of Romania trophy in 2005 at the V.I.P. Gala awards where he had the honour to receive his prizes on the same stage as Romania’s then president, Traian Basescu, along with other famous people from across the arts, television, politics and sport.

In the last 14 years, Nicolae has won over 25 national and international awards and appeared many times on stage both in recitals and as a concerto soloist with many professional orchestras from Romania and abroad. Furthermore, he has had the privilege of performing the national premiere of a newly discovered composition for piano and orchestra by Carl Filtsch, the prodigious student of Frederic Chopin who tragically died at the age of 15.

Throughout his career so far, Nicolae has collaborated with many internationally acclaimed conductors such as: Timothy Redmond (UK), Walter Hilgers (GER), Iosif Conta (RO), Claudio Villaret (CHE), Rinaldo Muratori (IT), Yukko Amanuma (JPN), Sabin Pauta (USA), Vladimir Conta (RO).

In 2016, Nicolae was awarded his Bachelor degree at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he had the privilege to study with Professor Ronan O’Hora.

Thibault Charrin (piano)

Born in France, Thibault Charrin began his musical studies in 2005 at the Conservatoire of Saint Germain-en-Laye with Bernard Fauchet. Highly commended for his improvising skills and performances of Romantic repertoire, he made his debut in 2007 with a Debussy/Chopin recital in the Chateau du Lycée International.

Aged thirteen, he joined the class of Christophe Maynard at the Conservatoire of Rueil-Malmaison while studying in Paris with Tristan Pfaff. From this point in his development, he showed a true fascination for

French music, Jazz, film scores and other contemporary works, and cultivated a deep interest for Collaborative Arts (Cinema/Theatre production etc).

In 2012, he was offered a place to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with professors Caroline Palmer and Philip Jenkins. In his time at the Guildhall School and after his studies, Thibault has performed extensively across Europe. He recently took part in the Triennial Reflective Conservatoire Conference 2018 (UK) for which he collaborated with the Data Science Institute of Imperial College; he was invited in 2017 to the Royal Conservatoire of Den Haag (NL) for a leading European Project on Improvisation; he has performed as a soloist on numerous occasions in Milton Court Concert Hall, St Marylebone Festival (Festival Blüthner) in 2017, and organised his own Evening Recital in Barbican St Giles in 2016.

Over the years, Thibault has had the privilege to work closely with distinguished artists/professors. He has taken part in piano master classes with Anne Queffélec, Robert Levin, John Rink, Bernard d’Ascoli; studied orchestral conducting with Timothy Redmond since 2014; has worked on the field of improvisation with David Dolan since the start of his studies at the Guildhall School.

Thibault has produced several live/studio recordings of himself and other artists performing varied repertoire, including his own compositions; his latest recordings feature the works of Liszt, Debussy and Poulenc. In 2017, he was the 2nd prize winner of the VIIth Piano Composition Competition Fidelio and semi-finalist in the Norah Sande Award.

Timothy Redmond (Conductor)

Timothy Redmond conducts and presents concerts throughout Europe. He is Principal Conductor of the Cambridge Philharmonic, Professor of Conducting at the Guildhall School and a regular guest conductor with the London Symphony and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. He has given concerts in the UK with the Philharmonia, Royal Northern Sinfonia and London Philharmonic Orchestra, with the BBC Concert, Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras, with the City of Birmingham Symphony, Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Ulster Orchestras, and has a long-standing association with the Manchester Camerata. He has conducted widely throughout Europe and

the US with orchestras including the St Louis Symphony, Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and the Rotterdam Philharmonic.

Timothy Redmond is well-known as a conductor of contemporary music and has a particular association with the music of Thomas Adès. Since working closely with the composer for the premiere of The Tempest at Covent Garden, he has conducted critically-acclaimed productions of Powder Her Face for English National Opera, the Royal Opera House and St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre. He recently gave the Hungarian premiere of Totentanz, the Irish premiere of Living Toys and assisted the composer for the New York premiere of The Tempest at the Metropolitan Opera. In the opera house he has conducted productions for Opera Theatre of St Louis, English National Opera, Opera North, English Touring Opera and Almeida Opera, for the Aldeburgh, Bregenz, Buxton, Los Angeles, Tenerife and Wexford festivals and for New York’s American Lyric Theatre. As a member of music staff, he has also conducted for De Vlaamse Opera, Strasbourg, Garsington and Glyndebourne.

Recent highlights have included a new disc with Alison Balsom and Guy Barker for Warner Classics, premieres of works by Edward Rushton and Peter Maxwell Davies with the LSO, his debut in China with the RPO and the 2014 LSO BMW Open Air Classics concert, at which he conducted for 10,000 people in Trafalgar Square.

This season he conducts Powder Her Face on tour in Ireland, Menotti’s The Consul at the Guildhall School and My Great Orchestral Adventure for the Royal Albert Hall. He also appears with the LSO, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Manchester Camerata and with orchestras in Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey.

Timothy Redmond studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester University and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena.

Paula Muldoon (Leader)

Irish-American violinist Paula Muldoon is a member of the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (ORR) and a former member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also performed with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), the Philharmonia Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment (OAE), and Arcangelo. She has worked with many of the world’s greatest conductors, including Andris Nelsons, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Mark Elder, Marin Alsop, and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Highlights of her performing career include a stint as guest leader of the Xi’an Symphony

Orchestra, recording Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the LSO, film recordings at Abbey Road, playing the solos in Vaughan Williams’ Tallis Fantasia at Kings College Chapel with the Seraphin Chamber Orchestra, and tours with the OAE and Sir Simon Rattle and the ORR and Kris Bezuidenhout. In 2016 she performed in four BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall: the Philharmonia and Esa-Pekka Salonen, the OAE with Marin Alsop and Sir Mark Elder, and the ORR with Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

Paula is a committed violin teacher, currently on staff at Pro Corda at Leiston Abbey and St. John’s College School in Cambridge as well as maintaining a private studio online and in-person. She has also taught at Soundfest Chamber Music Festival and the New England Conservatory Festival Youth Orchestra (Boston, USA) and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, USA).

In 2017 Paula retrained at Makers Academy as a software engineer and now works as a PHP developer for Kurt Geiger in London in addition to her violin activities. She is actively involved with the Makers Academy and University of Michigan alumni networks and is especially interested in mental health and women’s education.

A keen writer, Paula blogs as The Mindful Violinist and Fiddler’s Code. While an undergraduate, her historical novel The White Birds made her the only undergraduate finalist in the prestigious Hopwood writing competition her translation of the Latin poem Stabat Mater won her the undergraduate classics translation award.

Paula grew up in Falmouth, Cape Cod and studied violin and voice in Boston at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School.

Soprano 1Eileen AdamsJane CookSusan EarnshawClaire HattyCaren LacyRos MitchellJan MooreVal NortonCaroline PotterAmanda PriceSusan RandallMary RichardsJosephine RobertsSheila RushtonAnne SalesPat SartoriPaddy SmithLinda Stollwerk-BoltonDiana SuttonRuth Tricker

Soprano 2 Cathy AshbeeEleanor BellCharlotte BentleyAnthea BramfordSusannah CameronJoanne ClarkJennifer DayChristine HalsteadMaggie HookDiana LindsaySuzie McCaveCharlotte NashAnn ReadPip SmithAnn TaylorCatherine Warren

Alto 1 Elizabeth AndersonJulie BamfordJustine Bashford Helen Black

Alexandra BoltonCaroline CourtneyElaine CulshawAlison DudbridgeElaine FultonJean GulstonRachael HaynesJan LittlewoodSarah Marshall-OwenAlice ParrEthna ProsserMary RatcliffeHelen WheatleyJoanna WomackAnne WillitsMargaret Wilson

Alto 2 Jane BowerMargaret CookAlison DearyTabitha DriverJane FentonJane FlemingStephanie GrayHilary JacksonSusan JourdainAnne MatthewmanSue PursegloveChris StrachanOda StoevesandtKate Wootton

Tenor Aidan BakerJeremy Baumberg Robert CulshawGeoff ForsterAviva GrisbyJean Harding Sylvia HearnIan MacmillanAndy PierceJim PotterChris Price

Peter ScholtenGraham WickensJohn Williams

BaritoneMartin Ballard Chris CoffinBill Curtis Roger McClureStephen RobertsNick SayerMartin ScuttHarrison SherwoodMike Warren

Bass Richard BirkettAndrew BlackNeil CaplanPaul CrosfieldJohn DarlingtonDan EllisChris FisherAndrew FoxleyLewis JonesChristopher JoubertTom ReadRichard Taylor

Chorus masterLynette Alcántara

Chorus accompanistAndrew Black

Assistant conductorJan Moore

Cambridge Philharmonic Chorus

Violin 1Steve Bingham (leader)Kate Clow (co leader)Oya TakmazCarol LoAlice RuffleJohn RichardsAnne McAleerImogen PooleSean RockMaydo KayJo Cumberbatch

Violin 2Naomi Hilton Emma Lawrence Hilary Crooks Gerry Wimpenny Eleanor Winpenny Sarah Ridley Roz Chalmers Joanna Baxter Jenny Barna Leila Coupe Ariane Stoop

ViolaSophie ChannonRuth DonnellyAnne-Cecile DingwallJo HollandMargaret ScourseViola HayEdna MurphyEmma McCaughanJeremy Harmer

CelloJoshua LynchJessica HiscockHartmut KuhlmannHelen HillsIsabel GrovesClare GilmourAngela BennettLucy O’BrienHelen Davies

Double BassSarah SharrockTony SchollSusan SparrowStephen BeaumontJohn Richens

Flute Cynthia LalliAlison TownendSarah CrabtreeAdrienne Jackson

PiccoloAlison TownendSarah CrabtreeAdrienne Jackson Claire Cormie

Alto FluteAdrienne Jackson

Oboe Rachael DunlopLaura Ware-HeineElly HardwickGraham Dolby

ClarinetGraham DolbyDavid Hayton

Bass ClarinetSue Pettitt

Eb ClarinetStephanie Reeve

BassoonNeil GreenhamJenny WarburtonPhil EvansFinian Jones

HornCarole LewisTony HawkinsGeorge ThackrayChris WykesEsther Osorio Whewell

TrumpetAndrew PowlsonNaomi WrycroftLaureen HodgeMike Ball

Piccolo trumpetMatthew Stein

TromboneDenise HaylesDavid Taine

Bass TromboneGary Davison

TubaStuart Beard

TimpaniDave Ellis

Percussion Derek ScurllLewis Blee1

Tristan Butler1

Hugh Padmore1

Matthew Frost1

Antoni Granier1

Megan Landeg1

Peter Rayner1

Alicja Sulkowska1

Yu-Xiu Tsai1

Alex Wood1

Harp Lizzy ScorahRuth Aspinall

CelesteThibault Charrin

PianoNicolae MihailaThibault Charrin

1Members of the Guildhall Percussion Ensemble

Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra

Tickets (reserved): £12, £16, £20, £25 (Students and under-18s £10 on the door)Box Office: 01223 357851 (Cambridge Live) Online: www.cam-phil.org.uk

Sunday 20 May 2018 at 7.30pmWest Road Concert Hall, Cambridge

Timothy Ridout

Bernstein On the Waterfront: Symphonic Suite

Walton Viola Concerto

Elgar Enigma Variations

Conductor Timothy Redmond

Viola Timothy Ridout

Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra

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c-phil-20-may-A5-v2 25/01/2018 14:38 Page 1

Cambridge Philharmonic Forthcoming Concerts

Sunday 20 May 2018 West Road Concert Hall Bernstein: On the Waterfront: ‘Symphonic Suite’ Walton: Viola Concerto Elgar: Enigma Variations Viola soloist Timothy Ridout

Saturday 7 July 2018 Ely Cathedral Mahler: Symphony No 8

For further information and online ticket sales visit: www.cam-phil.org.ukTo leave feedback about our concerts and events email: feedback@cam-phil.org.uk

To receive news of forthcoming concerts send a blank email to: news-subscribe@cam-phil.org.uk

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