Programme 1995 – Summer Proms

SUMMER PROMS
HAWKE’S BAY POLYTECHNIC REGIONAL ORCHESTRA
Directed by Barry Fell   Leader Kate Candy
BOTANICAL GARDENS
NAPIER
Programmes available $2 each
BYO   PICNIC   FAMILY   FRIENDS
FREE ENTRY   ALL WELCOME
2PM   SUN 26 MARCH

Elgar, Sir Edward

Sir Edward Elgar, b. near Worcester, June 2, 1857, d. Feb. 23,1934, is generally considered England’s greatest native-born composer since Henry Purcell. He received his early musical training from his father, a music seller, violinist, and organist of St. George’s Roman Catholic church in Worcester. In 1879 he had a few violin lessons in London, but as a composer Elgar was self-taught. He succeeded (1885) his father as church organist in Worcester and pursued a minor, local career – teaching, conducting, and composing. In 1889 he married his student and admirer, Caroline Alice Roberts, whose love and encouragement transformed him; their marriage of three decades coincided with the most creative period of Elgar’s life.

Elgar’s compositions, especially his oratorios and other choral music and his orchestral works, won him growing success and prestige. He was knighted in 1904, appointed master of the king’s music in 1924, and made a baronet in 1931. Identified with the Edwardian era and the British Empire, he became, despite his Roman Catholicism, a symbol of English national pride. In 1920, however, he was devastated by his wife’s death, and his later years were lonely and unproductive.

Most popularly remembered for the first of his five Pomp and Circumstance Marches, Elgar wrote magnificent orchestral scores in the late romantic tradition: concertos for violin (1910) and cello (1919), two symphonies (in A-flat, 1908; in E-flat, 1911), the buoyant Cockaigne (In London Town) overture (1901), the celebrated Enigma Variations (1899), and the symphonic study Falstaff (1913); as well as chamber music, piano pieces, songs, church music, and incidental music for the stage. His music for string orchestra includes a lovely serenade in E minor (1892) and the spirited Introduction and Allegro (1905). His oratorio The Dream of Gerontius (1900), based on a poem by Cardinal Newman, is often considered by many to be Elgar’s masterpiece.

An authoritative conductor of his own music, Elgar was the first major composer to record his works systematically for the phonograph.

Khatchaturian, [Khachaturian] Aram

Aram Khatchaturian, b. June 6 (N.S.), 1903, d. May 1, 1978, was a Soviet composer of Armenian birth best known outside the USSR for the “Sabre Dance” from his ballet Gayane (1942) and for two concertos – one for piano (1936), the other for violin (1940).

The latter was popularized in Western Europe and the United States by the Russian violinist David Oistrakh. Khatchaturian made extensive use of Oriental melodic and rhythmic forms borrowed chiefly from Armenia, but also from neighboring Caucasian (Georgian and Azerbaijani) folk music. Brilliant orchestral coloring plays an important part in all his music, which includes popular choral songs, balalaika pieces, military marches, film and incidental music for plays, as well as compositions in the classical forms.

MARCH

March music probably originated as a stimulant for battle, and military marches appeared in print by the late 16th century. The martial function of marches has remained dominant, but during the 19th and early 20th centuries the march was used also as dance music, being adapted first to the quickstep, then to the two-step – which John Philip SOUSA’s “Washington Post March” popularized – and, in syncopated styles, to the cakewalk and ragtime dances.

In contrast to lively military marches, slower marches are used for a variety of ceremonial purposes. Academic, inaugural, and other processional rituals often used such pieces as Elgar’s Stately “Pomp and Circumstance” marches.

Funerals are often accompanied by the well-known march from Chopin’s “Sonata in B-flat minor” or the one from Handel’s oratorio Saul.

Weddings almost invariably include the “Wedding March” from Mendelssohn’s music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or Wagner’s march from his opera Lohengrin. Perhaps the most familiar American march is Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

1995 SUMMER PROMS PROGRAMME

In Alphabetical Order

Adagio (Spartacus)   Khachaturian
American Spiritual Festival   Traditional
Blue Tango   Anderson
Cats Selection   Webber
Cavantina [Cavatina] (Deer Hunter)   Myers
Colonel Bogey   Alford
Dam Busters March   Coates
Greatest American Hero   Post
Greensleeves Fantasia   V. Williams
Jamacian [Jamaican] Rumba   Benjamin
Merrie England Selection   German
Music To Watch Girls By   Ramin
Peter Gunn   Mancini
Pomp and Circumstance #1   Elgar
Salut d’ Amour   Elgar
Saraband   Anderson
Syncopated Clock   Anderson
Zampa Overture   Herold

SUMMER PROMS 1995 ORCHESTRA MEMBERS

1st Violins
Kate Candy (leader)
Norma Smith
Kate Holden
Elizabeth Ralph
Dallas Knight
Sonya Hockey
Sacha Nolden
Winifred Bickerstaff

2nd. Violins
Jose McGoverne
Sue Branch
Val Beatie
Rae Shapcott
Daisy Chan
Sandy Nalden
Tod Mohi

Violas
Marian Stronach
Kathy Brenstrum
Michael Wellwood

Double Base
Christopher Watson

Cellos
Stephen Gibbs
Christine Scott
Kath Barry
Andrew Gallie
Robin Fazakerley
Robyn Ward
Jenny Cole

Flutes
Mary McHattie
Sally Davies

Clarinetes [Clarinets]
Gerald Ashby
Barbara MacLean

Oboes
Julian Pook
Lukas Beach

Bassoons
Alan Nankervis

Keyboard
Colleen Gahagan

Trombones
Keith Robinson
Jennifer Haywood

Trumpets
Maurice Reid
Anthony McKee

French Horn
Bernie Mann

Percussion
Joanna Phillips

Timpani
Bryan Rae

Drum kit
Maurice Bartlett

Conductor
John Snowling

Compere
Tessa-May Brown

Vaughan Williams, Ralph

Ralph Vaughan Williams, b. Oct. 12, 1872, d. Aug. 26, 1958, was an English composer, also active at various periods of his career as organist, conductor, lecturer, teacher, editor, and writer. His influence on the development of 20th-century music in Britain was immense. By reaching back into the music of Tudor times and delving into the treasury of folk music, he infused his own works with tradition, creating a truly contemporary idiom whose roots were solidly planted in the cultural soil of his country. He was music editor of the English Hymnal, edited two volumes of welcome odes for the Purcell Society, conducted the London Bach Choir, and collected folk songs on his travels through many parts of England.

Vaughan Williams’ nine symphonies range over the varying moods of A Sea Symphony (no. 1, 1910), the descriptive impressions of the London (no. 2, 1914), the serenity of the Pastoral (no. 3, 1930), the fury of the F minor (no. 4, 1935), the calm majesty of the D major (no. 5, 1943), and the atmospheric Sinfonia antarctica (no. 7, 1953). He also wrote concertos for violin (1925), piano (1933), oboe (1944), and bass tuba (1954); the richly orchestrated ballet Job (1930); and Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis (1910), a classic of its kind, for string quartet and double string orchestra. The quiet beauty of The Lark Ascending (1910) for violin and small orchestra was inspired by a poem of George Meredith. Works for the stage include the two-act ballad opera Hugh the Drover (1924); The Pilgrim’s Progress (1951), based on John Bunyan’s allegory; Riders to the Sea (1937), a one-act opera based on the play by J. M. Synge; and the four-act Shakespearean opera Sir John in Love (1929). Choral works form an important part of the composer’s achievement, and the most outstanding are the Mass in G Minor (1923); the oratorio Sancta Civitas (1926) for two soloists, three choruses, and orchestra; a Magnificat (1932); the Serenade to Music (1938) for 16 solo voices and orchestra; and Hodie (1954), a Christmas cantata. Vaughan Williams was also a distinguished composer of songs, carols, and part-songs.

Latin American music and dance

The term Latin American as used here encompasses the Americas south of the United States, as well as the entire Caribbean. The musics of this vast area are perhaps most efficiently discussed not geographically but rather in terms of ethnic components – European (especially Iberian), Amerindian, African, and mestizo (“mixed” or acculturated).

During the colonial period in Latin America (16th-19th century) many Amerindian populations were considerably reduced, and much traditional Amerindian musical culture was destroyed or syncretized with Iberian. Drums, rattles, scrapers, slit drums (hollowed logs), whistles, vertical flutes, and panpipes were found, with almost total absence of stringed instruments. In Mesoamerica Indians now play harps, fiddles, and guitars based upon archaic Spanish models, or MARIMBAS of African origin, all of which have largely replaced indigenous instruments. Only in certain tropical areas (for example, the Amazon basin) are virtually unacculturated Amerindian musics found.

The Iberian origins of many song and dance forms are evident in a widespread predilection for alternating 3/4 and 6/8 meters (hemiola), the use of harps, fiddles, guitars, and many song types derived from Spanish verse structures such as the romanze or villancico. Relatively few Iberian genres have been retained in their original forms; rather, acculturated song and dance genres are distinctly regional in text, structure, choreography, and spirit. They include the zamba of Argentina, cueca of Chile and Bolivia, bambuco of Colombia, joropo of Venezuela, jarabe and huapango of Mexico, and son and punto of Cuba.

The largest black populations are found in tropical coastal lowlands, as in the Caribbean, Eastern Central America, Venezuela, Brazil, and the Colombian/Ecuadorian coasts. African musical features commonly retained include call and response singing, polyrhythms, extensive use of ostinatos (persistently repeated musical figures), and improvisation based on recurring short phrases. African instruments found in both unaltered and adapted forms, with many regional names and variations, include long drums, often in “family” sets of three (congas), iron gongs, gourd scrapers (guiro), concussion sticks (claves), internal or external rattles (maracas, shekere), sanza (marimbula), and marimbas.

Hawke’s Bay Polytechnic REGIONAL ORCHESTRA

Come to our next concert:
Venue:   Century Theatre, Napier
Date:   Saturday 29 July 1995
Time:   8pm
Soloist:   (leader) Kate Candy (violin)
Resident Conductor:   Barry Fell

YIPPEE HOLIDAY ORCHESTRA

Venue:   Hawke’s Bay Polytechnic, Taradale Campus, Gloucester Street
Dates:   Tuesday 5 September, Thursday 7 September, Friday 8 September 1995
Time:   9.15 – 2.30pm

Some Scholarships available
SPONSORED BY HAWKES BAY POLYTECHNIC REGIONAL ORCHESTRA
Applications (after 31 May 1995) from School Principals (Intermediate Schools) or HOD, Music Departments (Secondary Schools)

Public Concert
Venue:   Taradale High School Hall
Date:   Friday 8 September 1995
Time:   7.30pm
Admission:   Adults $3.00 Children (up to Int School age) $1.00

DIPLOMA IN PERFORMING ARTS (Voice) Hawke’s Bay Polytechnic

This two year course provides comprehensive training [training] in Vocal studies for those intending to make music a career, either as performers teachers.

After two years, graduating students may use their Diploma to follow a number of career directions either in New Zealand or overseas (e.g. entry to conservatorium or university programmes, regional opera companies, preparation towards private practice, entry to the e entertainment industry).

Topics of Study:

Voice (individual, ensemble, workshops & language study)
Stagecraft
Dance and Movement
Alexander Technique and Relaxation
Repertoire and Style
Sightsinging and Aural Training
Keyboard Studies (piano)
History of Music
Rudiments and Harmony
Master Classes, Concerts, Visiting Artists

Tutors

CO-ORDINATOR:   Richard Hewitt (MA, LRSM)
DANCE & MOVEMENT:   Shirley Jarrett (LISTD)
STAGE CRAFT:   Dick Johnstone (OBE, MA, LTCL, LRCM, Dip Arts & Rec, (UK)
VOCAL:   Anne Reissar (BA, LRSM)
VOCAL:   Joseph Christensen (Post Grad Dip in Opera Perf)

Hawke’s Bay Polytechnic
Te Whare Takiura [Taikura] o Kahungunu