Sun, 10 Dec 2017

Conductor - Jonathan Hargreaves
Leader - Tina Bowles

With the Tottenham Community Choir

 

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The Concert Programme

• The Magic Flute Overture - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

• The First Nowell - Tradtiional, arranged by Tony Royse

• Ukuthula (TCC) - Traditional

• Sure on this shining night Op 13 (TCC) - Samuel Barber

• California Dreamin' Medley (TCC)

  • Pachelbel's canon - Johann Pachelbel

  • California Dreamin' - John Phillips (arranged Milt Rogers)

  • Let the sunshine in - James Rado, Gerome Ragni, Galt MacDermot

• O Little Town of Bethlehem - Traditional, arranged by Tony Royse

• German Dance No 3 K605 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

• Ding Dong Merrily on High - Traditional, arranged by Tony Royse

Interval.....

• Symphony No 5 in c minor Op 67 - Ludwig van Beethoven

• O Come All Ye Faithful - Traditional, arranged by Tony Royse

 

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Programme Notes

The Magic Flute Overture - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

Mozart composed this overture in 1791, the year he died. It opens the popular opera commissioned by the theatre-manager Schikaneder who wrote the libretto in German rather than the more fashionable Italian to give the opera a greater popular appeal. The story is a confusing mixture of pseudo-egyption mythology and Masonic symbolism with a love story thrown in. The Overture opens with a brief Adagio of heavy chords suggesting free-masonry. A bright main theme follows in fugue form, after which the heavy chords return to bring on a development of the main theme, and the overture races to an exciting conclusion.
 

Ukuthula

This is a South African traditional Zulu hymn. The title means 'peace and calm' and the first verse translates as 'peace in this world of sin, halleluja, the blood of Jesus brings peace'. This is repeated in each verse substituting the words redemption, gratefulness, faith, victory and comfort.  The choir sings unaccompanied.
 

Sure on this shining night

This is from a collection of poems by James Agee entitled 'Permit me voyage' (1934). Samuel Barber included it as one of 'Four Songs' composed a few years later.  The words are particularly beautiful, beginning: The singing is arranged for orchestral accompaniment
 

California dreamin' medley

The medley is a collection of favourites accompanied by Ollie Weekes in the guitar
 

German Dance No 3 K605 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

Mozart's Three German Dances were composed in 1791 while he was the Imperial Chamber Composer in Vienna. The third dance differs in style from the many others that Mozart composed. It is called 'The sleigh ride' and includes sleigh bells tuned to four different notes which are played ina rising and falling pattern like a sleigh riding over the snow. A beautiful trumpet solo creates the atmosphere of a clear winter's day which, after a majestic brass fanfare, ends the piece with the same theme of trumpet solo fading away.
 

Symphony in c minor Op 67 - Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

Beethoven wrote this enormously popular symphony over four years between 1804 - 1808, a period which saw Napoleon's occupation of Vienna where he was living. The fourth movement includes a quotation from a revolutionary song by Claude de Lisle.

The first movement opens with the famous fateful four notes which became the letter 'V' in the Morse Code.  The Allegro con brio develops the theme with great energy, until the horns introduce a more lyrical second theme in rhe related key of E flat major. The music returns to the opening theme for an emphatic conclusion.

The second movement, marked Andante con moto, provides a gentle contrast with a wandering theme and lilting beats. The music gradually develops with new combinations of instruments and rhythms until a series of crescendos leads to a closing coda.

The third movement is a scherzo in Minuet form, but half way through it breaks out to pick up the 'V' rhythm of the opening movement which dominates and leads directly into an exhilarating finale where, once again, the fateful rhythm can be heard. The symphony concludes with a Coda whose length has made critics wonder whether Beethoven ever wanted to bring the great work to an end.

Notes by Netia Lascelles

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The Concert Charity

The Comboni Sisters www.comboniane.org/en Registered Charity No 214864
The nuns support Bedouin families near Jerusalem whose children are disabled, helping with medical appointments and costs. They also run a clinic for refugees in Tel Aviv with the Israeli branch of Physicians for Human Rights. Many of those they help are from Eritrea, Ethiopia and other parts of Africa who have suffered abuse, rape and violence from criminal trafficking gangs as they cross the Sinai desert seeking asylum in Israel. They also provide a weekly mobile clinic in remotely situated West Bank villages.
 

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The Concert Performers

Conductor: Jonathan Hargreaves

First Violins

• Tina Bowles (Leader)
• Rachel Barbanel
• Mary Dentschuk
• Steve Dobson
• Adrian Garfoot
• Loren O'Dair
• Gwyn Rhydderch
• Ayesha Wynne
• Ray Zhang

Second Violins

• Helen Sanders-Hewitt (Principal)
• Ian Brookman
• Louisa Burden
• Mary Isaac
• Iwona Luszowicz
• Mary Moore
• Lucinda Platt
• Jan Toporowski
• Raffaella Urbani
• Pearl Williams
• Gintare Zolubaite

Violas

• Geoff Irwin (Principal)
• Tom Boswell
• Dickie Clarembaux
• Nigel Franklin
• Netia Lascelles
• Charlotte Lesforis
• Caryl Mayes
• John Nicholls
• Sarah Parfitt

Cellos

• Josh Salter (Principal)
• Sue Bird
• Hilary Evans
• Hannah Franklin
• Olivia Kilmartin
• Helen Mabelis
• Yasmin Mukhida

Double Basses

• Eugene Lewis
• Francois Moreau

Flutes

• Ian Bradford
• Joanna Bosanquet

Piccolo

• Mo Talukder

Oboes

• Sumitra Lahiri
• Adrian Hall

Clarinets

• Lindsey Kaye
• Ian Merryweather

Bassoons

• Rosalind Hedley-Miller
• Louise Johnston

French Horns

• Susie Laker
• Julie Rooke

Trumpets

• Mike Dockerty
• Barney Samson

Trombones

• Rob Heath
• Graeme Hollingdale
• Richard Miller

Timpani

• Stuart Delve