Waldegraveensemble

Waldegraveensemble

Waldegraveensemble

Wind Quintet

Recital Programme

Sunday 25th March 2012St. Andrew’s Church, Surbiton, 4:00pm

After debuting in 2009, the Waldegrave Ensemble has continued to give recitals in and around London, playing works from Baroque and Classical through to 21st Century and Jazz.

The ensemble features woodwind, brass, strings, piano, harp and percussion, which allows them to perform a wide variety of works for different instrumental combinations.

Aside from performing, the players are passionate about outreach work and promote musical development within schools, through workshops and educational recitals.

The Waldegrave Ensemble are also enthusiastic about exploring new works and welcome interest from composers wishing to write for any combination of instruments.

Anastasia Arnold, Flute Anastasia studied with James Dower and Ingrid Culliford at Trinity College of Music and subsequently with Edward Beckett, Philippa Davies and Jane Pickles. She began her freelance career in London with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the London Mozart Players. Her love of travel then saw her spending six years in Kenya where she

pursued her teaching career alongside a busy schedule of solo recitals and orchestral playing. She was also invited to conduct the Nairobi Symphony Orchestra. Anastasia has performed as a freelance orchestral musician under such prestigious conductors as Sir Neville Mariner at the Barbican, the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and many other prestigious London venues and was also invited to play for the Queen as during her visit to the Guildhall, Kingston upon Thames. As well as chamber and orchestral playing she has had an active solo career giving recitals across London.

Marissa Pueschel, OboeA former member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and graduate of St Peter’s College, Oxford University, Marissa Pueschel took her studies under renowned oboist David Theodore for a Masters in Performance at the Royal College of Music.

Marissa has played under some of the world’s leading conductors including Sir Colin Davis, in prestigious venues such as the Royal Albert Hall.

In November 2011 she had her second concerto appearance, performing Vaughan Williams’ Concerto for Oboe and Strings at St James’ Church, Piccadilly.

Elliott DeVivo, ClarinetElliott is a versatile freelance clarinettist / bass clarinettist and woodwind teacher based in London. He has studied with notable clarinetists such as Janet Hilton (RCM professor), Richard Hosford (Principal of BBC Symphony Orchestra & RCM professor), and Victoria Soames-Samek (TCM professor).

thE WAlDEgRAVE EnsEMblE

As an orchestral player he has made tv appearences with the Sinfonia Tamesa and is often called upon to play with the Amadeus Orchestra and Bromley Symphony.

His previous solo performances include Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with the Waldegrave Ensemble Chamber Orchestra, Mendelssohn ‘Konzertstucke No. 2’ with the CLIC Sargent Charity Orchestra, Weber ‘Clarinet Quintet’ Dorking Philharmonia string section and Krommer ‘Clarinet Concerto’ with Richmond Orchestra. His performing career has taken him all over the UK, performing in prestigious venues such as LSO St. Lukes, St. Johns Smith Square, St. Johns Waterloo and the Warehouse Waterloo. Along with tours across Europe to Poland, Germany, Netherlands and Spain.

Jonathon West, HornJonathan West started learning the horn at the age of 9. In his teens he studied privately with Hugh Seenan and Douglas Moore. After taking a degree in engineering at King’s College London, Jonathan studied music for two years as a postgraduate student at the Royal College of Music under Douglas Moore. Jonathan decided against attempting a career in music and returned to engineering while continuing to play the horn as an amateur.

In 2006 he performed Mozart’s 4th Horn concerto with the Boots Orchestra in Nottingham, and the following year led the horn section of the Djanogly Community Orchestra in Nottingham in a performance of Schumann’s Konzertstück for four horns and orchestra. In November 2011 he performed Richard Strauss’ 1st Horn Concerto with the Brent Symphony Orchestra.

He is a regular player with the Hounslow Symphony Orchestra and Hillingdon Philharmonic Orchestra. He also plays with St. Clements Wind Ensemble, who have performed his arrangements for wind ensemble of Brahms’ Serenade No. 1 and Liszt’s 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody in concerts at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Emily Kate blake, BassoonEmily Kate Blake is currently on a Master of Orchestral Performance course at the Royal College of Music in London, where she received a scholarship to study with Martin Gatt and Andrea di Flammineis. She has played in many orchestras including the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta and New Perspectives.

In 2009 Emily studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse in Lyon, France with Carlo Colombo as part of a 3 month Erasmus exchange. She has performed in masterclasses with Daniel Jemison, Robin O’Neill, Marc Vallon and David Petersen. Emily took part in Masterclasses with Sarah Burnett at the Dartington International Summer School in 2011, supported by the Music Sales Charitable Trust.

She has played with various freelance orchestras throughout London, including the New London Sinfonia. She is a member of the Waldegrave ensemble and played in the BBC Welsh proms Tiddly Prom tour in 2007 and 2010.

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)

Petite Suite

En Bateau - Cortège - Menuet - Ballet

Written in 1886–1889, Debussy’s Petite Suite was originally conceived as a piano duet before it was orchestrated in 1909 by the conductor Henri Büsser. The work is notable for its stylistic departure from the complex, modernist language that characterises much of Debussy’s late 19th-century music, and is one of immediate lyric charm; designed to entertain, it begins with ‘En bateau’ – a delightful representation of a boat at sea, with broken chords in the clarinet suggesting ripples in water and the use of a whole tone scale that was to become a signature element of the composer’s later harmonic style. ‘Cortège’, which follows, abounds in musical pageantry and evokes the procession of a marching band, while ‘Menuet’ – the 3rd movement of the suite – is generally considered to be the most striking part of the work. An energetic and festive dance movement, ‘Ballet’, is the perfect conclusion to this engaging and highly accessible composition.

Jacques Ibert (1890–1962)

Trois Pièces Brèves

Allegro - Andante - Assez Lent / Scherzandoa Allegro

Born in 1890 and educated at the Paris Conservatoire, Jacques Ibert was one of the most prolific composers of his day, writing in a number of genres such as opera, ballet, choral and chamber music.

His style, which combines the Impressionist techniques of Debussy and Ravel with the Neoclassicism of Stravinsky and Les Six, is no better exemplified than in this brightly orchestrated piece for wind quintet – one of his most often-heard compositions. Written in 1930, the work consists of two lively romps flanking a 26-bar middle movement. The punctuated, high dissonances of the first movement’s introduction descend into a tongue-and-cheek imitation of marching band music (first heard in the oboe). The character is generally cheerful, except for one or two darker moments – something which does not occur in the gentle pastoral that follows and which is dominated by extended counterpoint for flute and clarinet. Cadencing in tender, major harmony, it leads to the third and final pièce brève: a spirited movement whose sped-up coda creates a whirlwind of virtuosic and comical display, perfectly encapsulating the charm and wit that pervades much of the composer’s output.

RECItAl PRogRAMME

georges bizet (1838–1875)

Jeux d’enfants

Trompette et tambour - Petit mari, petite femme - La toupie - La poupee - Le bal

Like Debussy’s Petite Suite, Bizet’s Jeux d’enfants Op.22 began life as a piano duet. Written in 1871 and consisting of 12 miniatures, the work was later orchestrated, given the title Petite Suite and reduced to its five most popular numbers – all of which make up this attractive wind quintet version.

Jeux d’enfants comprises a light narrative of children’s games, and first to be presented is ‘Trompette et tambour’ (Trumpet and Drum) – a perky march which might be used to accompany the activities of toy soldiers. Next comes ‘Petit mari, petite femme’, a slow, romantic movement that sees the oboe and horn take up the pretend game of husband and wife and which leads to the work’s centrepoint, ‘La Toupie’ (The Top). Putting an end to the dreamy climes of the preceding movement with its abrupt opening chord, this Impromptu takes the form of a scherzo and imitates the dizzy revolution of a spinning top. It is followed by the gentle Berceuse ‘La poupée’ (The doll) in which a tender rocking theme, sounded over undulating accompaniment, gives way to the final game ‘Le bal’ (The ball): a raucous Galop that presses forward to an exciting and vigorous ending.

Jean-Michel Damase (b.1928)

Dix-Sept Variations

Born in 1928 and still alive today, Damase is probably best known for his 17 Variations – a masterpiece in wind quintet literature. The composer’s style is somewhat conservative compared to many of his contemporaries. Having turned his back on the modernist, 20th-century developments of Messiaen and Boulez, he has instead chosen to extend the possibilities of elegance in French music – thus recalling the style of many of his predecessors, such as Ravel and Debussy. In Damase’s own words, ‘I prefer sincerity to forced innovation’.

The music commences with the work’s theme, stated by the clarinet and which is subsequently developed in each of the variations. Touching on an array of different instrumental combinations, rhythms, textures and dynamics (a particular highlight is the bassoon’s rollicking solo comprising variation 5), it’s a highly absorbing piece, full of contrast.

2012 sees the start of the ensemble’s first recital series featuring a number of instrumental combinations. Aside from chamber ensembles the Waldegrave Ensemble performs four seasonal chamber orchestra concerts throughout the year along with other recitals outside of the Surbiton recital series. Here are the highlights for 2012:

2012 RECItAl hIghlIghts

25th March, st. Andrew’s, surbiton - Wind Quintet Recital

Damase, Dix-Sept Variations

21st April, st. John’s, Wimbledon - Spring Orchestral Concert

Mozart, Serenade for winds in Eb Mozart, Piano Concerto No.23 in A Gershwin, Lullaby Copland, Appalachian Spring

22nd April, st. Andrew’s, surbiton - Five Live Brass Quintet Recital

12th May, bourne hall, Ewell - Flute, Clarinet, Strings and Harp Recital

Ravel Introduction et Allegro

19th May, st. Mary’s, stoke d’Abernon - Five Live Brass Quintet Recital

27th May, st. Andrew’s, surbiton - Flute, Clarinet, Strings and Harp Recital

Ravel Introduction et Allegro

24th June, st. Andrew’s, surbiton - Piano & Winds Recital

Poulenc, Piano Sextet

tbC June, sutton grammar school - Children’s Orchestral Concert

Prokofiev, Peter and the wolf Saint-Saens, Carnival of the animals

21st July, bourne hall, Ewell - Wind Dectet Recital

Françaix, Neuf Pièces Charactéristiques Gounod, Petite Symphonie

22nd July, st. Andrew’s, surbiton - String Sextet Recital

Tchaikovsky, Souvenir de Florence

30th september, st. Andrew’s, surbiton - Mixed Winds & Strings Recital

Beethoven Septet

tbC, september, london - Summer Orchestral Concert

Weber Bassoon Concerto

28th october, st. Andrew’s, surbiton - An Afternoon at the Opera

A selection of great operatic solos

25th november, st. Andrew’s, surbiton - Mixed Winds, Brass and Strings

Martinů, Revue de Cuisine

tbC December, Wimbledon - Christmas Orchestral Concert

If you would like to be kept informed about the Waldegrave Ensemble’s future concerts and projects then why not send an email to waldegraveensemble@gmail.com to join the mailing list or even invest in the ensemble by visiting the ‘Friend’s Scheme’ webpage online.

sEAson PAss FRIEnD Donation £70 per annum

1 free ticket to all concerts during the year - Regular news about the ensemble - Advanced schedules of Waldegrave performances - Invitations to post concert receptions to meet other Friends and the musicians - Listing in all Waldegrave programmes

DonoR FRIEnD Donation £120 per annum

2 free tickets to all concerts during the year - Regular news about the ensemble - Advanced schedules of Waldegrave performances - Invitations to post concert receptions to meet other Friends and the musicians - A complimentary programme for all concerts - Listing in all Waldegrave programmes

CoMMIssIonIng FRIEnD Donation from £250 per annum

Assign your contribution to a particular work or concert of your choice - 4 free tickets to the chosen concert - Advanced schedules of Waldegrave performances - Regular news about the ensemble - Invitations to post concert receptions to meet other Friends and the musicians - A complimentary programme for all concerts - Listing in all Waldegrave programmes

CoRPoRAtE FRIEnD Donation From £2,500 per annum

4 free tickets for all Waldegrave concerts - Acknowledgement including company logo in all Waldegrave programmes and other printed material as appropriate - Advanced schedules of Waldegrave performances - Opportunities for advertising in conjunction with Waldegrave concerts in the UK and abroad - Opportunities for bespoke entertaining for corporate events

FRIEnDs oF WAlDEgRAVE

Waldegraveensemble

Waldegraveensemble

Waldegraveensemble

w w w . w a l d e g r a v e - e n s e m b l e . c o m

For more information on the Waldegrave Ensemble’s forthcoming recitals, please visit the website below.

You can also follow the ensemble on Twitter, Facebook or get in touch by email.

waldegraveensemble@gmail.com

@WaldegraveEns

www.facebook.com/143254371783

www.waldegrave-ensemble.com