New Bristol Sinfonia - Archive

©Rob Townley

Saturday 26th November 2011

Tonight’s concert starts with Elgar’s "In the South". This is a concert overture, written by Elgar during a holiday to Alassio, Italy in 1904. As he wandered around the hills and absorbed himself in the history of the town, the overture formed in his mind. "In that time I had composed the overture - the rest was merely writing it down". It was first performed on 16th March 1904, on the third day of an "Elgar Festival" at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, and conducted by Elgar himself. The work is 20 minutes long, and contains a long viola solo, unusual in that the viola is a relatively under used solo instrument. The solo passage contrasts against the bold writing of the rest of the piece which uses long legato passages between the strings and French horns, with the rest of the brass adding loud chords to add to the excitement of the middle of the piece.

Our second piece is the world premiere of Geoffrey Poole’s newest work, commissioned by the orchestra for tonight’s concert. Until recently, Geoffrey Poole was Professor of Composition at Bristol University and his bold and independent work has been commissioned by string quartets, the Halle Orchestra, RLPO and BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. His choral music has been broadcast by The King’s Singers, the Tavener Consort and includes a major concerto for voice, The Colour of My Song which was commissioned in 2006 by the BBC Singers. He writes of his work: "When my listeners tell me of something special they heard and seemed to recognise, even though it never existed before, that, and nothing else, is what validates the idea of art. If you have read this far, you are probably already possessed of an open heart, a lively mind and musical ears, so it only remains for me to welcome you to my music. It does not truly exist until it lives in the minds and emotions of the audience."

Our final work is Vaughan William’s Symphony No. 2 "A London Symphony". This piece was composed from 1912 to 1913 and dedicated to his friend and fellow composer George Butterworth, who was subsequently killed at the Somme during World War 1. Butterworth first encouraged Vaughan Williams to write an orchestral symphony: "We were talking together one day when he said in his gruff, abrupt manner: ‘You know, you ought to write a symphony’. I answered that I’d never written a symphony and never intended to....but from that moment the idea of a symphony dominated my mind." The original version went through many re-writes, and it is his 1936 version that he regarded as the definitive one. The piece starts and finishes with versions of the Westminster Chimes and includes impressions of a fog-laden Bloomsbury Square on a November afternoon, a street party, and scenes reminiscent of the all too familiar manic, traffic-heavy streets of the London we know today.

Concert Details

Date: Saturday 26 November, 2011
Time: 7.30pm

Venue: Victoria Rooms, Clifton, Bristol. Click here for a map

Programme:

• Elgar - In the South
• Geoffrey Poole - Shumei, Shumei (*) - world premiere
• Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 2 "A London Symphony"

(*) Commissioned with support from
The Britten-Pears Foundation and from
The PRS for Music Foundation

Conductor: James Lowe
Leader: Mark Bunker

Tickets:
We recommend booking in advance with our Box Office: 07796 573869.
Cheques are accepted and there is no booking fee.
Pre-booked tickets will be posted to you or can be picked up at the door.

Most seats for this concert are numbered and can be reserved in advance. Click here to see a seating plan of the Victoria Rooms. The Box Office can advise on which seats are available and which have the best view.

The ticket prices are:

• £15 (£13 concessions) balcony
• £11 adults (£9 concessions) stalls
• £5 students
• £2 children/school parties

Pre-concert talk:
James will be presenting a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm. This is open to all and entry is free.