Concert by the Essex Symphony Orchestra

Christ Church, New London Road, Chelmsford UK at 7.30 pm on the 28th June 2008

Our summer concert comes in the form of a musical sandwich, filled with a delightful 'cello concerto, played by a talented and attractive young soloist, and wrapped in two great symphonies composed by two masters of the art, Haydn and Brahms.
Information on the pieces we will play follows........

Haydn's Symphony No .99.

Haydn's post as Kapellmeister in the Palace of Esterhazy came to an end in 1790 with the death of his employer, Miklós Esterházy, but although he was then aged fifty eight, Haydn was far from retirement. A year later he accepted the invitation of impresario Salomon to compose and direct in England. He worked in London during two periods in the late 18th Century and during that time he wrote twelve symphonies which are regarded by many as the best of the one hundred and four he wrote in his lifetime. Symphony 99 was one of six from his second London period. (Strictly, it was written in Vienna, and performed for the first time in London a year later, in 1793). Haydn was a highly innovative composer who developed his work over his thirty years at Esterházy and continued to produce surprises in his later London works. Symphony No. 99 is notable in several respects: It is the first of Haydn's symphonies to be scored for clarinets, and Haydn was inspired to make imaginative use of a 'wind choir' in the slow movement. Although the work is scored in a major key, like all those in his second London series, the opening of the first movement employs two minor keys, E minor and C minor, before establishing the base key, E flat major.

Saint-Saëns 'Cello Concerto No. 1.

Saint-Saëns wrote two 'cello concertos with a period of thirty years between their composition. We will perform the first in A Minor, which is by far the most popular. After writing the first concerto he vowed he would never compose another because he had found writing for the 'cello "too restrictive". By "restrictive" he probably meant the problem of setting a lower-toned instrument against a full symphony orchestra, but, despite his concern, he succeeded with distinction, the solo 'cello being kept to the forefront throughout the concerto, while the orchestra is given full voice only rarely and then only when the soloist is resting. Unusually this concerto is written as one continuous piece, but it has three distinct sections linked by themes and rhythms established at the beginning. The work opens with one short chord from the orchestra followed by a statement of a main theme by the cello, after which the orchestra and 'cello play a series of counter melodies, sometimes playfully engaging in "call and answer". The beautiful middle section starts with a slow and minuet-like orchestral interlude, with muted strings, from which a 'cello cadenza arises. The final section reiterates themes from the opening section and the concerto ends with a triumphant passage in A major. This work was written in 1872 and given its first performance a year later by the dedicatee, the cellist, gamba player and instrument maker Auguste Tolbeque, with the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra.
Our soloist will be Victoria Simonsen, the winner of many prizes, who has been in high demand both nationally and internationally as soloist and chamber musician Her profile can be read using the link above.

Brahms Symphony No.1.

By his own account, Brahms was so overawed with Beethoven's symphonic works that he feared any comparison and could not bring himself to publish a symphony until he was forty four years of age. He wrote: "You have no idea how hard it is to compose when always you can hear the footsteps of that giant behind you". Brahms began tentative work on this symphony in the early 1860s, but, because he was always intensely critical of his own work, and constantly making revisions, it was not performed until 1876, in Karlsruhe. This first performance was not warmly received, but good reviews followed when it reached Vienna. His early symphonies were likened to those of Beethoven by contemporary critics. The work was nicknamed 'Beethoven's Tenth' by conductor/pianist Hans von Bülow, who intended a compliment, but perhaps this comparison was not quite what Brahms would have wanted. When the violins, in unison, announce the principal theme of the finale, the similarity with 'Ode to Joy' from Beethoven's Ninth is unmistakable. Nevertheless the self critical Brahms should surely have been pleased with Hans von Bülow's opinion that it was "one of the most individual and magnificent works of the symphonic literature" a view widely held two hundred and thirty two years later.

The Essex Symphony Orchestra last played this symphony eleven years ago on 1st March 1997, and this performance was also at Christ Church Chelmsford.