ANGELA HEWITT ON HER BACH ODYSSEY - MENDELSSOHN EXPLORED IN THE NEW SEASON A WIGMORE HALL LEARNING CASE STUDY: PARTNER SCHOOL PROJECT AN INTERVIEW ...
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ANGELA
HEWITT
ON HER BACH ODYSSEY
FRIENDS OF
MENDELSSOHN EXPLORED IN THE NEW SEASON
A WIGMORE HALL LEARNING CASE STUDY: PARTNER SCHOOL PROJECT
AN INTERVIEW WITH FLORIAN BOESCH SPRING
2020/21 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS 2020
I’m very pleased to welcome you to the Spring issue of The Score.
We take a look at many of the highlights of the 2020/21 Season,
which we launched at the end of January.
First, though, a return to the continuing bass player Christian McBride, who holds
2019/20 Season; it was a great joy for me a jazz residency in 2020/21, on page 13.
when Angela Hewitt agreed to take on her I’m also delighted that Julia Fischer and
marathon project A Bach Odyssey which Francesco Piemontesi participate in very
© Kaupo Kikkas
concludes in June, and it will be a pleasure interesting Q&As in this issue. A major
to present her with the Wigmore Medal that pillar of the 2020/21 Season is the focus on
evening. It’s amazing to think that the project Martinů’s seven string quartets surrounded
was conceived way back in 2014, but such by other Czech repertoire, and I’m delighted ABOVE John Gilhooly
is the nature of advanced planning for the that the Pavel Haas Quartet accepted my
artistic programme. invitation to take this project on. dozen people 17 years ago. So much has
We welcome several new writers to this It was wonderful and heartening to have changed in the Hall during that time thanks
issue of The Score including Hugo Shirley, a full Hall of supporters for the 2020/21 to your ongoing support.
Berlin-based writer and musicologist, Season launch, which is still available to There will be a final edition of The Score
and jazz editor Sebastian Scotney. Hugo view online: wigmore-hall.org.uk/ this season in July; until then, I hope you
interviews one of our 2020/21 Season whats-on/2020-21-wigmore-series enjoy hearing about highlights of this season
artists in residence, clarinettist Martin Fröst, The evening included a conversation with and the next in this issue.
on page 3, and pulls together our three Andrew Marr and outstanding performances
major strands of focus on Mendelssohn from Ema Nikolovska with Simon Lepper
during the new season in an article on pages and the Chiaroscuro Quartet. It’s hard to
6-7. Sebastian speaks to American double believe that these annual events started as
a preview for a small group of about two
John Gilhooly, Director
COVER Angela Hewitt © Keith Saunders
CONGRATULATIONS
The New Year Honours list recognises © Benjamin Ealovega
the achievements of a wide range
of extraordinary people across the
United Kingdom. In 2020, Wigmore
Hall was delighted to see the following
musicians included:
Knights Bachelor Sir Humphrey Burton, classical
music presenter, broadcaster and lecturer, who was
the BBC’s first Head of Music and Arts in 1965 and
created the Young Musician of the Year competition; LEFT Helen Grime
CBE Errollyn Wallen, who is the subject of the
© Azzurra Primavera
Royal Northern College of Music’s Composer in
Focus day at Wigmore Hall in May 2020;
MBE Helen Grime, who was Wigmore Hall’s first
female Composer in Residence in the 2016/17 and
2017/18 Seasons;
MBE 21-year-old award-winning cellist Sheku
Kanneh-Mason, who won BBC Young Musician of
the Year in 2016 and had his Wigmore Hall debut
in May 2019.
Congratulations to everyone recognised for their
service to the arts.
RIGHT Errollyn Wallen
2 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230
Martin Fröst remembers his Wigmore Hall
debut well. But it’s perhaps not for the reasons
one would expect. ‘The electricity went off on
Oxford Street and Wigmore Street. Everything
went off, the radio broadcast was cut, and we
had to change the programme, because one of
the pieces used electronics.’ It all went well in
the end, though, he recalls. ‘And it was the start
of a long journey with Wigmore Hall.’
TWO
DECADES
AT THE HALL PICTURED Martin Fröst
© Nikolaj Lund
Now, some 20 years on, the Swedish Wosner. But it’s also set to include the sort I won’t move forward. I want to open a
clarinettist and conductor returns to the of performances that have helped Fröst window to the future when I have been
Hall for a residency in the 2020/21 Season establish a reputation as one of the most doing the same thing for a while.’
which will see him playing chamber innovative musicians on the global scene. A residency, he says, is one way to do
music as well as directing the Swedish For Fröst himself, it will additionally that. ‘You have a bigger frame, a little bit
Chamber Orchestra, in a concert featuring provide an opportunity to take stock, to more freedom. You know you can play
the baritone Peter Mattei. ‘When you play reflect on his past and present as an artist, around and you have a sense of excitement
chamber music,’ Fröst explains, ‘it’s always but also look to his future. ‘It’s about the that you can do a little bit more of things you
the feeling going from a friend to a friend, balance. To stay creative, not to grow out want to do. And that’s a great feeling!’
and that is so much the feeling in this of it when you get older – I’m 50 now. You
building. That’s what I’ve always felt when have to ask: why did I start with this, where Hugo Shirley is a Berlin-based writer and
I come back. It’s always been like a second am I going from here, what do I want to musicologist, music critic and former editor of
home, and it feels like relaxation to come look back on? It’s important to ask these both Opera and Gramophone
here – cosy relaxation!’ questions: why am I doing this, what am I
It seems that, with Fröst’s 20/21 residency, thinking, what am I achieving?’
he’ll feel doubly at home. ‘I love these Few would ever accuse Fröst of standing
situations when I come back to a hall several still – either metaphorically or, in the case of Martin Fröst’s Residency begins in
times in a year. First of all, you really get to performances that have included elements September 2020:
know the audience; second, you’re able to of dance, literally. But the clarinettist and Tuesday 22 September 2020 7.30pm
present different programmes.’ Indeed, the conductor makes a surprising admission. Tuesday 16 February 2021 7.30pm
residency promises classics of the clarinet ‘I’m a very conventional guy at bottom, Saturday 15 May 2021 7.30pm
repertoire – there’ll be Brahms and Mozart, and raised by parents who were super Sunday 16 May 2021 11.30am
with regular Fröst collaborators including conventional. But at the same time, I always Monday 17 May 2021 1.00pm
violist Antoine Tamestit and pianist Shai get a little bit frustrated and worried that
FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 3
© Keith Saunders
THERE
AND BACH ‘It was John Gilhooly’s idea,’ says
Angela Hewitt of the origins of
her Bach Odyssey, a four-year
AGAIN
project to perform the complete
keyboard works of Bach at
Wigmore Hall.
‘He called me into his office in early 2014
and told me he’d spent a whole weekend
You can still attend the last events in Angela Hewitt’s Bach Odyssey series: listening to my Bach recordings and really
Saturday 28 March 2020 7.30pm* wanted to do something big with me. I take
my hat off to him, because I wouldn’t have
Tuesday 2 June 2020 7.30pm, including presentation of the Wigmore Medal
done it otherwise, that’s for sure. And it’s
Wednesday 3 June 2020 1.00pm – Angela Hewitt Masterclass
been a great thing, and come at the right
*Sold out at time of printing
time of my life, I think.’
4 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230
Coming as it does from an artist more and I will use anything like that to get away
closely associated with Bach than any from the fact that it’s just notes on a keyboard.
other living pianist, Angela’s last remark You know, I love going to a harpsichord if it’s
is surely significant, suggesting that she in the room. I’ll play it, and it’s important to do
is arriving at a point where stock can be that. But then after a while I’ll get tired that
taken, and achievements recognised. She I can’t follow the rise and fall of the musical
made the first of her many Wigmore Hall line.’ For the record, Angela admires Bach
appearances in 1985, the same year that harpsichordists as well as pianists. Among the
she moved to London from her native former are Trevor Pinnock, Gustav Leonhardt,
Canada and won the Toronto International Ton Koopman (‘with all his ornaments!’) and
Bach Piano Competition. Between 1994 Ralph Kirkpatrick, while the latter include Sir
and 2004, she recorded the complete Bach András Schiff, Rosalyn Tureck, Jörg Demus,
for Hyperion in a series that has sold over Glenn Gould and Edwin Fischer. But a bigger
400,000 units and prompted the BBC Music influence on her playing, she says, was her
Magazine’s critic to declare that ‘I know of father Godfrey, organist of Christ Church
no musician whose Bach playing on any Cathedral in Ottawa from 1931 to 1980, and ‘a
instrument is of greater subtlety, beauty great one for getting the right articulation and
of tone, persuasiveness of judgement or timing, and the whole drama and architecture
instrumental command than Hewitt’s is of it all’.
here’. The 12 Bach recitals end this year Angela’s Bach Odyssey is also being
with concerts on 28 March and 2 June presented in New York, Montreal, Florence
2020, and following the June performance – and Tokyo, but it is the Wigmore concert in
which will feature Bach’s final composition, June that will bring it to a fitting conclusion.
The Art of Fugue – she will be presented with ‘I have so many memories of the place. I really
the Wigmore Medal. 18 days after that she didn’t know anyone in London when I first
also receives the City of Leipzig Bach Medal. arrived, and for the first 15 years I did most of
Although Angela’s repertoire extends well the promotion of my Wigmore recitals myself
beyond Bach of course – she has performed – doing the leaflets, sending out all the notes
and recorded the complete works of Chabrier and putting the stamps on the envelopes.
and Ravel, for instance, and has a nearly- But John Gilhooly and William Lyne before
completed Beethoven sonata cycle on the him were so wonderful in believing in me
go – she has always been perfectly happy and giving me the chance to do so much.
to be thought of primarily as a Bach pianist. The recitals I did at Wigmore were always
And she doesn’t consider Bach to have been my most important ones, and the repertoire
an easy option. ‘It’s actually a very special I learned for them, from Brahms’ F minor
study,’ she says, ‘and the greatest one for Sonata to the Barber Sonata to the Liszt
developing your musical intelligence and Sonata and the complete Ravel, was always
your technique at the piano. It’s a shame crucial to my development.’
that more pianists, amateur or professional, After receiving her medals, and once her
don’t get better training in it, because people annual festival at the Italian town of
tend to get bad habits like putting the pedal Trasimeno is over, Angela will take a
down all the time so they don’t learn a proper three-month break ‘to clear the brain, clean
finger legato. Or they don’t really learn to out some cupboards, stretch the body a little
articulate a fugue subject so that it makes – no concertising. This project has been so
sense, or about fingering when you’ve got encompassing and so fulfilling that I need a
four parts and have to articulate all of them. bit of space before I can take on anything
It doesn’t get any easier either. I’ve certainly else.’ It will be her first such break for many
PICTURED Angela Hewitt
built up my technique by playing Bach, years, she says, but she will be back after
especially in my fingering, but then again that, refreshed and eager to make the
with age you have to keep up the practising ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata the last piece in her
‘I think Bach on the and keep the brain going.’
Neither does she have any doubts that the
Beethoven sonata cycle jigsaw, explore
music by Scarlatti and his Spanish baroque
piano is terrific if it’s piano’s expressive qualities make it the perfect
vehicle for Bach: ‘I think Bach on the piano
contemporaries, reacquaint herself perhaps
with that Brahms Sonata and, of course,
treated just as a pure is terrific if it’s treated just as a pure musical
instrument that can imitate the human voice.
return to the music of Bach, this time
carefully selected. She laughs. ‘Now I’ve
musical instrument After all, it was invented because they needed
a keyboard that could imitate the cadence of
done the complete works again, I can choose
which pieces I want to keep!’
the voice, that can sound like an orchestra,
that can imitate the an organ or an oboe if you have imagination Lindsay Kemp is a Senior Producer at BBC
enough. And all those sounds are in there in Radio 3’s Music Department and Artistic Director
human voice.’ Bach’s keyboard music; I hear and see them, of the London Festival of Baroque Music
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FELIX
MENDELSSOHN
Underrated would seem a strange word
to describe a composer who’s never
been out of the concert hall, who’s a
mainstay of music-making for both
professionals and amateurs, was the
toast of Victorian England and who, for
many, counts as a greater prodigy even
than Mozart.
But Felix Mendelssohn, who is celebrated at Wigmore
Hall through interlocking concert series throughout
the 2020/21 Season, is a composer who is eminently
easy to underestimate.
His notes seem to flow with such ease, sparkling
and babbling like the surface of a brilliant stream;
memorable melodies trickle from his pen; his
counterpoint twists and turns in graceful, apparently
effortless choreography. Few have denied
Mendelssohn’s stunning facility – in the face of his
Octet, composed when he was just 16, it would
be impossible to. But the surface brilliance has
sometimes been accompanied by a question: where’s
the depth?
Wigmore Hall’s 2020/21 concerts look set to
answer that question. Two series focus on different
parts of Mendelssohn’s output: the Lieder and the
chamber music. Pianist Julius Drake is joined by
singers including Roderick Williams, Dame Sarah
Connolly, Ian Bostridge and Julian Prégardien for
concerts juxtaposing Mendelssohn’s songs with those
of Franz Liszt – born just two years later. The Elias
String Quartet covers the string quartets, quintets
and octet. Andrew Carwood and The Cardinall’s
Musick, meanwhile, will feature in a trio of concerts
of Mendelssohn’s unaccompanied choral music,
placing the composer in the context of works by his
predecessors and contemporaries, as well as the
generation that followed him.
It all adds up to a rare opportunity to delve deep
Elias String Quartet
beneath the composer’s brilliant surface. And © Kaupo Kikkas
that’s something, Julius Drake admits, that’s not
6 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230
too comfortable to fit the standard template.
Julius Drake is joined by A whiff (or sometimes a downright stench)
several acclaimed singers in the of anti-Semitism coloured many attitudes
Mendelssohn/Liszt Song Series: to this precocious grandson of the great
Wednesday 30 September 2020 7.30pm Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.
Monday 7 December 2020 7.30pm Drake also detects something in his
Thursday 4 February 2021 7.30pm style. ‘It’s almost as though he doesn’t
Monday 29 March 2021 7.30pm want to draw attention to himself. He was
Tuesday 29 June 2021 7.30pm a “good boy”, he wanted to please, and
I feel somehow that he didn’t want you
Join The Cardinall’s Musick for necessarily to find real fire and passion in
Mendelssohn in Context: his music.’ The contrast with the “bad boy”
Monday 26 October 2020 7.30pm Liszt, he notes, is telling.
Monday 11 January 2021 7.30pm Matters are different for string players,
Wednesday 30 June 2021 7.30pm and especially the Elias String Quartet,
which takes its name from Mendelssohn’s
The Elias String Quartet kicks off most popular oratorio (‘Elias’ is the German
its cycle in April 2021: title for ‘Elijah’). As its cellist, Marie Bitlloch,
Saturday 24 April 2021 7.30pm explains, the composer’s Op. 13 Quartet
Thursday 27 May 2021 7.30pm is closely tied with the ensemble’s own
Tuesday 22 June 2021 7.30pm history: ‘It’s one of the first pieces we played
Wednesday 14 July 2021 7.30pm together and one of the first pieces where
we found each other and our voice.
‘Mendelssohn just wrote really well for
always easy to do. ‘Speaking personally, the instruments, and I also think there’s a
Mendelssohn is a much more wonderful real honesty in his works,’ she goes on.
composer than I realised he was,’ the ‘There’s depth and real insight. For me
pianist says. ‘The songs can be played very he’s got such a personal voice in all his
superficially and reasonably successfully. music, and such intimacy.’ But there’s
But once you delve into them you realise also a lot of fun to be had, for players as
how intricate and fully thought out and much as listeners. ‘The Octet is so fresh
emotionally connected they are.’ and beautiful and full of vigour. Having two
Several factors have played into the fact quartets together playing that music is like a
that Mendelssohn is easy to underestimate: party! And the fact he was only 16 when he
his fluency runs counter to romantic notions wrote it is mind-boggling.’
of genius and hard-won creative battles; his The quartets, meanwhile, run from that
life, though tragically short, was similarly far early Beethoven-inspired Op. 13 work to the
tragedy of Op. 80, written shortly after the
death of his sister Fanny and just months
MENDELSSOHN IN CONTEXT before Mendelssohn’s own death. ‘It’s almost
Some of Mendelssohn’s choral music is among his most popular. Three Mendelssohn in by a different composer,’ Bitlloch says.
Context concerts in the 2020/21 Season, however, offer a rare opportunity to sample ‘Where there was poise and joie de vivre
the richness of his sacred output for unaccompanied choir. ‘There are some wonderful before, there is darkness and anger.’
pieces which don’t get out enough,’ says Andrew Carwood, who presents the series Has the time come for a fuller appreciation
with The Cardinall’s Musick. of Mendelssohn? ‘For a while people just
The reason for the neglect is largely one of programming: ‘It’s fallen between thought his music was light and frivolous,’
two stools, because until recently you wouldn’t have done them in church, and in says Bitlloch, ‘which I completely disagree
concert you’d have gone more for the secular part songs, some of which are not so with.’ And Drake wonders if there’s a parallel
strong.’ And what can listeners expect? ‘He likes a lot of eight-part writing,’ Carwood with the reception of Schubert, thought in
explains, ‘which can be quite dramatic, on quite a big scale, and gives him a lot more previous generations to be superficial,
opportunities for different colours. But I suppose the crucial thing is his use of harmony: lacking in gravitas. ‘It’s only in recent
the music is just gorgeous.’ generations that we’ve realised how
As the title of the series suggests, its aim is also to show these works within their passionate Schubert’s music is, and deep
musical context. When it comes to forerunners, one name unsurprisingly dominates: and emotional – and it’s similar now with
Bach, whose 19th-century revival Mendelssohn spearheaded. But Carwood is also Mendelssohn. I hope we’ll be able to draw
interested in Mendelssohn’s contemporaries and successors, in exploring ‘the line people’s attention to the real emotion that’s
that Mendelssohn is part of’. This covers key names of German Romantic music and a behind the music.’
development from religious spirituality to something more universal. ‘It’s a yearning for
the beyond,’ Carwood explains, ‘but what is it?’ A big question, no doubt, but one that Hugo Shirley is a Berlin-based writer and
Mendelssohn in Context promises to go some way to answering. musicologist, music critic and former editor
of both Opera and Gramophone
FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 7
A Q&A WITH
JULIA FISCHER
Bach seems to be a constant in your
repertoire. Do you play some Bach every day?
I do. Bach is like meditation for me. And the solo
repertory for violin is limited, so there are not
so many other options for playing just to myself.
You won the 1995 Yehudi Menuhin Violin
Competition junior category as well as all
the special prizes at the age of 12. Did this
put a great deal of pressure on you at such
a young age?
Actually not at all. It gave me motivation and
wonderful memories. I met some very inspiring
musicians and kept in contact with members of
the jury as well as other competitors.
You have been very clear in interviews that
‘a musical career is always about the music
and not the career’. What do you mean by
this and should aspiring young professional
musicians take a similar mantra on board?
If you become a musician in order to make a
fast career, I think it is the wrong profession
for you. I also think that a true musician will
always find his path.
You have made chamber music a central
part of your performing career. Does it
inform other parts of your playing and how
you approach bigger repertoire?
Every repertory influences everything.
Chamber music is as important to me as
violin concertos or solo pieces. Music is a
form of communication and chamber music
for me is the purest form of communication.
Please tell us a little about your 1742
Guadagnini violin.
I bought it in London in 2004 and have been © Uwe Arens
playing it since then. It has a beautiful sound German violinist Julia Fischer will present solo Bach
and by now I know the instrument so well across two evenings this autumn:
that I don’t feel any limits. Sunday 18 October 7.30pm
Monday 19 October 7.30pm
What were your first impressions of
Wigmore Hall, and especially its acoustic?
I do very much appreciate the acoustics
today. My very first performance makes for ‘If you become a musician in order to make a
fast career, I think it is the wrong profession
a lovely musical memory: it was in 2000
and I played a recital with Jean-Yves
Thibaudet. I was just 17 and I learnt a great
deal from him. I will be forever grateful for for you. I also think that a true musician will
that opportunity to work with such a great
musician at such a young age. always find his path.’
8 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230
Yuja Wang
© Norbert Kniat / DG
/
S E A S O N
In the 2020/21 Season, Wigmore Hall welcomes
emerging stars of tomorrow, and leading artists of today
Artists in Focus
The Hagen Quartet celebrates its 40th anniversary with a Mozart String Quartet
series. Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin) and Martin Helmchen (piano) perform
Beethoven’s violin sonatas, and violinist Julia Fischer focuses on Bach’s solo
sonatas and partitas in October. Wigmore Hall welcomes back pianist Sir András
Schiff for four recitals over the year while Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov comes
to Wigmore Hall twice over the season in both a solo recital and an evening with
acclaimed cellist Gautier Capuçon. Violinist Leonidas Kavakos will perform two
recitals accompanied on the piano by Enrico Pace and Yuja Wang.
Song Highlights
We look forward to a dazzling array of song recitals from names such as
Christian Gerhaher, René Pape, Diana Damrau, Gerald Finley, Marianne
Crebassa, Sabine Devieilhe, Sir Simon Keenlyside and Alice Coote.
Season-long Residencies
Multi-concert residencies at Wigmore Hall allow artists to present
special projects and collaborations which are unique in the
musical life of the UK. In the new season, we look forward to
chamber music residencies from cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras
and clarinettist Martin Fröst. Pianists include Pavel Kolesnikov,
Beatrice Rana, Jeremy Denk and Bertrand Chamayou. Further
residencies include Austrian baritone Florian Boesch and jazz
with American bassist and composer Christian McBride. La
Serenissima, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Arcangelo, The
Sixteen, and Dunedin Consort will appear several times across
2020/21, and Stile Antico is also in residence and will perform a
special concert to mark 400 years since the Mayflower’s journey to
the New World.
ECM Records at Wigmore Hall
John Gilhooly has invited German record producer and founder of
ECM Records Manfred Eicher to present four concerts across the
season, exploring the exceptional artists heard on ECM’s iconic Jazz
and New Series releases in the company’s 50th anniversary year.
Manfred Eicher
© Kaupo Kikkas
20/21 SEASON | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 9
Igor Levit
© Robbie Lawrence
Morton Feldman:
a 20th Century Pioneer
Wigmore Hall collaborates with Apartment House in January
for a three-concert focus day on American composer Morton
Feldman, preceded by a performance from Igor Levit which
includes the composer’s Triadic Memories.
Proust Festival
French novelist, critic and essayist Marcel Proust forms
the focal point for a festival of chamber music in November
2020. The series is devised by cellist Steven Isserlis at
John Gilhooly’s invitation and overlaps with pianist Jeremy
Denk’s own residency. Showcasing works by Proust’s
great musical contemporaries, the Festival also includes
performances from violinist Joshua Bell, the Castalian
String Quartet and Trio Gaspard.
Wigmore Hall International
String Quartet Competition
The triennial Wigmore Hall International String
Quartet Competition returns in April 2021.
Embracing the entire string quartet tradition, it Thomas Larcher © Eduardus Lee
requires competitors to perform Classical, Romantic
and contemporary repertoire.
Thomas Larcher, Composer
in Residence
We look forward to welcoming Austrian
Thomas Larcher as our 2020/21 Composer in
Residence. The new season encompasses a
Larcher focus day in November, a cycle of the
composer’s string quartets throughout the year,
a newly commissioned song cycle performed by
baritone Andrè Schuen, and an evening of his
chamber music performed by Britten Sinfonia.
Britten Sinfonia © Benjamin Ealovega
10 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | 20/21 SEASONWigmore Hall hosts performances of music spanning eras and
cultures, including the following 2020/21 Season highlights
In-depth Repertoire Explorations
In the 2020/21 Season, Wigmore Hall explores Beethoven’s piano A Song Cycle
sonatas with Igor Levit, Schubert’s piano sonatas with Llŷr
Williams, and the complete Martinů string quartets, performed by
for Mental Health
This season, Wigmore Hall supports a song project
the Pavel Haas Quartet. The Doric String Quartet focuses on late
focused on mental health and male suicide prevention.
Schubert in July.
Starting on Blue Monday, tenor David Webb will cycle
from Truro to Wigmore Hall, to be joined here by friends
In 2019/20, Francesco Piemontesi began a Schubert piano
and colleagues for a special performance of Winterreise,
sonata cycle which will continue through the 2020/21 Season.
raising funds for mental health charities.
Pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet will kick-start a three-season-long
Debussy project in November.
Doric String Quartet
© George Garnier
20/21 SEASON | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 11Stile Antico © Marco Borggreve
Seasonal Celebrations
There are several programmes of seasonal
celebrations throughout the year, including Bach’s
Christmas Oratorio with Dunedin Consort, a
Spanish Nativity with Stile Antico, a St Patrick’s
Day programme featuring A Nocte Temporis and
Reinoud Van Mechelen, and a programme for Holy
Week from the Irish Baroque Orchestra.
Celebrating Felix Mendelssohn
Our 2020/21 programme focuses intensively on
Felix Mendelssohn. Over the course of the season,
the Elias String Quartet performs Mendelssohn’s
quartets, The Cardinall’s Musick explores his
unaccompanied sacred choral works, and
pianist Julius Drake is joined by
star singers such as Dame
Sarah Connolly and
Roderick Williams.
Roderick Williams
© Benjamin Ealovega
12 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | 20/21 SEASON‘I fell in love with the place.’ As jazz
bassist Christian McBride takes
on a Residency for the 2020/21
Season, he reflects on a happy
association with Wigmore Hall.
RETURNING TO
A SPECIAL
PLACE
The 20-25-minute drive from Christian
McBride’s home in Montclair, New Jersey to
the studios of WBGO 88.3FM in Newark is a
route he knows well. He has been taking it
regularly since 2014, when he became host of
the hour-long radio show Jazz Night in America.
JNIA is National Public Radio’s weekly flagship
jazz programme, broadcast throughout the USA
via a network of around 200 radio stations.
A popular, charismatic musician and a
powerful communicator, McBride has taken
naturally to becoming a radio anchor. But it Christian McBride’s Residency spans
is far from being his only noteworthy role: three concerts in the 2020/21 Season:
in 2016 he took over as Artistic Director Friday 18 September 2020 7.30pm
Christian McBride
of the Newport Jazz Festival from George © Chi Modu with Jason Moran
Wein. Wein had run the US’s oldest and most Friday 15 January 2021 7.30pm
established festival ever since it started in Thursday 13 May 2021 7.30pm
1954. As the veteran passed on the mantle to plays purely acoustically, and yet the scale
McBride, he took evident pleasure in referring of his sound always takes the listener by
to the bassist as ‘the special someone to surprise. His first experience of the Hall McBride’s memory. ‘I remember that concert
continue my legacy.’ McBride’s contract to was in 2013 with Joshua Redman, at the REALLY well. I was looking forward to it and
run the Newport Festival is indefinite. saxophonist’s invitation (that duo concert it came off even better than expected.’
In the three decades since he arrived in was a rarity to say the least: it has only ever The recollection of a great concert
New York from his native Philadelphia to appeared on stage twice). There have been prompted the bassist to reflect on why he
take up a Juilliard School place studying other duos, one with the great pianist Chick likes Wigmore Hall so much: ‘It’s just such a
classical double bass – and was promptly Corea, and another with fellow bassist Edgar great place to play. If you have the right
snapped up by alto saxophonist Bobby Meyer. McBride enjoys duos: ‘The feeling of musicians who pay attention to acoustics
Watson to play in his quartet – McBride has intimacy that you get with just two people on and the way the room sounds, you can really
come a very long way indeed. His recordings stage, that almost always works if you know have an amazing time there.’ And did
now run into the hundreds. He has won six the person. If you have made music together, something special happen? ‘I fell in love with
Grammys from a total of 12 nominations, and if you have history together with the person the place and I’m always happy to come
has released 15 recordings as either leader you can really get to some interesting places.’ back and play there.’
or co-leader. McBride also masterminded a highly
The five concerts which McBride has successful evening of jazz with another Sebastian Scotney is editor of LondonJazz
played at Wigmore Hall show the wide regular collaborator, Renée Fleming. News, a regular contributor to BBC Radio
range of different musical collaborations to Another night, ‘a magical gig’ (FT), the 2015 3 Jazz Line-Up and the German magazine
which his bass presence can deliver such performance by his trio with the then rising Jazzthetik, and baritone saxophonist in the
a powerful and enlivening contribution. He star pianist Christian Sands has stayed in Stan Reynolds Big Band
FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 13WRITING MUSIC WITH
CHESTNUTS PRIMARY SCHOOL
AND SHIRLEY THOMPSON
Our Learning department has been busy devising creative music
projects with our Partner Schools, and we wanted to share a recent
highlight with you...
We have been working with Chestnuts Primary New Nation Rising, and to learn the protest
School in Haringey to embed music across song Factory Girl.
their curriculum, using creative music making The children shared their songs with
to enhance and enrich children’s learning, and families, the rest of the school and Shirley
ensuring quality music experiences are taking Thompson herself!
place throughout the school. As well as giving them the chance to take
In our most recent project, Year 5 children part in enjoyable, enriching activity, this
worked with music leaders from Wigmore project enabled children to have their voices
Hall to write songs inspired by their classes’ heard and valued, to work together
namesakes: suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst collaboratively, and to explore musical
and composer Shirley Thompson. creativity, and it gave teachers the
Across four days, children worked opportunity to devise and co-lead musical
together to compose two new songs, write activity, developing their confidence and
their own verses to Shirley Thompson’s skills in teaching music.
For information about supporting the Partner Schools Programme please get in
touch with Wigmore Hall’s Development Team at development@wigmore-hall.org.uk
or call 020 7258 8220. © James Berry
Never Ever Give Up We Will Be Remembered
Pankhurst Class Thompson Class
Wigmore Hall
Chestnuts Primary School
November 2019
with Jessie Maryon Davies
E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ E¨‹/B¨ D¨ E¨‹
bb
& b b b 44
Intro
Ó™
∑ Œ Œ Ó ∑ ∑
Œ œj œ œ œ
F/C
j
C B¨ C
& b 12
F/C
∑ ∑ ∑ Œ
Voice
8 j œ ˙™
œ œ
Voice
A To - day's the day we fight for our
5 E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ E¨‹/B¨ D¨ E¨‹
bb
&b b b œ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ Œ œ™ œ
Œ
œ™ œ
Ó œ œ‰ œœ‰ Œ œ™ œ
∑
&b ˙™
Voice 6 C B¨ F/C
‰ œ œ œ œ œ j j
Ne - ver ev- er give up, give up! Ne - ver ev- er give up! Voice œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ œ
rights. I be - lieve in my - self, I be - lieve in my cause. I'm
B New Nation Rising
9 B¨‹7 F‹ G¨ B¨‹
bb
& b b b œ œ œ œ œ œJ œ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œr ≈ ‰ ‰ œj œ œ œ œ œ œ œj ‰ 8 D‹ F/E¨ accel. Shirley J Thompson
j 44
Voice
& b ALL
and Pankhurst and Thompson Classes
Voice œ SINGœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ™ ¿™ ¿™ ¿™ ¿™
Chestnuts Primary
4
I am Em - me - line Pank - hurst, lead - er of the Suff-ra - gettes. I don't be- long be- hind bars.
Voice & b 4maÓ- king the
œ œ œ
law, œby œ -œing Óthe law. Ó
break œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ
New na - tion ri - sing. New na - tion ri - sing.
°& bb 4Ó
12 D¨ E¨‹ B¨‹7 F‹ G¨ B¨‹
b
& b bbb Ó Ó œ œ œ œ œ œJ œ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œr ≈‰ ‰ œj œ œ œ œ œ œ œj ‰
5
10 Verse 1- Faster q.=q
œ œ ∑œ œ œ œ Ó ∑Ó œ œÓ œ œ Œœ ‰œ œœj œ œ Œ œ ∑Œ
Voice
Voice
& 4 œ
I am Em - me - line Pank - hurst, lead - er of the Suff - ra gettes. I don't be long be- hind bars.
New day is dawn - ing, Just feel it call - ing. my pack is strong.
Voice
j
D‹ C B¨ C
b 44 ΠRiff
¢10& Piano œ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ Œ Œ Œ ∑
C œ œ œ œ œ
&b ∑ is Em - me - line ∑ and my pack is∑ strong, ∑
& b bbb e e e e œ Œ ‰ œJ œ œ œ Œ Ó e e e e
16 F‹ G¨ D¨Œ„Š7 F‹ E¨ A¨/F E¨‹/G¨ A¨ B¨
b œ œ œ œ œ ™ œj œ Œ
Voice My name
Voice ∑
° bŒ
We de- serve the vote. We are e - qual to all. 14 D‹ C B¨ A‹
¢& Pankhurst œ Œ Potter's œ Œ Œ œ œ œ œ œ
Voice 14 œ (Miss œ œgroup) Ó Ó Ó
D
& b œ We'reœfierceœ œand readœ- y w œ
œ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ Œ œ™ œ Ó™ œ œ ˙ ‰ œ œ œ œ
œ ˙ w
23 E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ E¨‹/B¨ D¨ E¨‹ E¨‹ G¨ Voice for what - ev -er comes
bb j j
& b b b œ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ Œ œ™ œ Œ œ™ œ Ó & b We have the ∑ right to choose ∑ ¿™ ¿™ ¿ ¿ ¿™ >¿ >¿
Voice who we love.
Ne - ver ev- er give up, give up! Ne - ver ev- er give up! Our camp - aign is not in vain. 18 Keep looping
bœ
&Chorus
Voice
18 G‹7
œ œ œ F/A œ œ ˙ B¨ œ œ ˙ F/C w
28
b
B¨ D¨ E¨‹ B¨‹ A¨ F‹ G¨
& b Œ œ œ œ Œ œ œ ‰ œ ‰ Œ Œ œ œ œ Œ œ œ ‰ œ ‰ œ œ
Love should ho - ver like a dove. Love is free.
& b bbb ˙
3 3
Voice Ó œ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ Œ œ™ œ Ó Ó œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ ˙
Voice
22 Pankhurst (Karyma's group)
‰ œj œ œ™
j
We will do what it takes, we will fight for our rights to the
Ne - ver ev- er give up! Al - ways be strong Al - ways be strong
&b œ ‰ œj Œ ∑
Voice
œ œ œ œ œ ˙™
22 B¨Œ„Š7 give us
Trees life, C trees D‹
breathe C
and we re - ceive. B¨ C
˙™
&b œ œ œ Ó ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
33 A¨ B¨ E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ E¨‹/B¨ D¨ E¨‹/G¨
b
& b bbb œ œ œ œ œ Œ œ œ‰ œ œ‰ Œ Œ Ó œ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ Œ œ™ œ
Voice 26 Keep looping
‰ œj œ œ™
j ‰ œj
œ™ œ œ™ œ & b œe - nd.œ œ œ Œ ∑
Voice
We will rise a gain. Ne - ver ev- er give up! give up! Ne - ver ev- er give up!
Voice
œ œ ˙™
Trees give us life, trees breathe and we re - ceive.
30 Pankhurst (Ellie's group)
Voice &b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œj ‰ œ œ œ œ œj ‰ Œ
We need to take more care of our air Cy - cle, el - ec - tric - i - ty, so - lar po - wer yeah!
14 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230
34
Voice &b Œ j‰ j‰ Œ ∑‘I have practically made my ‘It feels like [the children]
dream of meeting our class are seeing themselves as
namesake!’ songwriters/composers which
Student is fantastic … As a parent … we
have observed a definite cognitive
‘The opportunity to meet and leap [with our child] … and he
‘Thank you for the amazing
perform for Shirley Thompson has re-engaged with reading in a
opportunity for me to visit and
took this experience to another way that he hadn’t been for a few
speak to students of Chestnuts.
level for [my child] and made months. His personal confidence
It was an awesome experience
quite an impression on him has also really risen.’
and so inspirational. The level of
...The idea of learning one of Parent Governor
musicianship that the students
her compositions to perform
exhibited was very impressive
to her, and the quality of
and their questions to me and ‘I liked it a lot because we
the musicians leading them,
my work, equally so!’ learned new songs [and]
raised his performance and his
Shirley Thompson, Composer shared our ideas.’
appreciation of the music.’
Student
Parent
‘It made me feel more
confident and brave.’
Student
LEFT ABOVE: Pupils showcase artwork inspired by listening to Shirley’s music
LEFT: Trainee Music Leader Karyma Ellis leads a chorus of pupils during performance
ABOVE: Year 5 pupils spontaneously share violin performance with Shirley Thompson,
project leader Jessie Maryon Davies and their peers as part of Shirley’s visit to the school
© James Berry
FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 15A Q&A WITH
FRANCESCO
PIEMONTESI
You have a great role model and mentor in Alfred Brendel.
Has he informed your approach to Schubert?
He certainly has! He is the only person I know who is able
to convey every detail in the music verbally. At the same
time, he is able to characterize every passage with words
and to give you very coherent images about the structure of
the piece. Also, we spent a great deal listening to historical
recordings of Schubert by artists like Edwin Fischer,
Wilhelm Kempff and the Bush Quartet. He was always
pointing out details and telling me, ‘Listen to this phrase,
listen to that diminuendo, to that colour’. I learned a lot about
this frame of mind thanks to those listening sessions.
You have a very varied career managing to work with
conductors, in solo recital and plenty of chamber music.
How do you manage to balance all of that?
It is a challenge indeed: especially because the sound
projection is very different in every instance. In a recital you
can choose your sound without any compromise, but with a
big ensemble you have to play in a way which cuts through
the sound of a powerful orchestra. In chamber music, you are
often too loud. I sometimes played chamber music, concerto
and recitals within one week and almost went crazy!
You are Artistic Director of the Settimane Musicali di
Ascona. What does this involve?
I choose the programme and invite the artists. A challenging
task but a very rewarding one; I get to invite the people I
really want to hear because I believe in them musically. Big
names and marketing don’t play a role: the public knows me
well as an artist there and trusts my musical taste.
You impressed Wigmore Hall audiences greatly with your
Mozart interpretations. What does Wigmore Hall mean to you?
I always feel at home at Wigmore: I love the acoustics, the
atmosphere in the Hall, the intimacy of the whole venue, and
you are treated very well. I am looking forward to many more
concerts there.
You have recently recorded a great deal of Liszt.
Will there be any more…?
Swiss pianist Francesco Piemontesi began a three-year
Yes, the 3rd year of the Années de pèlerinage together with
Schubert Cycle in the 2019/20 Season which will
his B minor Piano Sonata.
continue in 2020/21. Forthcoming dates in the series:
Wednesday 27 May 2020 7.30pm
Francesco Piemontesi
Saturday 19 September 2020 7.30pm
© Marco Borggreve Thursday 6 May 2021 7.30pm
16 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230Pavel Haas Quartet
EXPLORING
MARTINŮ’S
© Marco Borggreve
One of the most interesting
artistic strands in the 2020/21
Season will be a complete cycle
of Martinů’s string quartets
QUARTETS
performed by the Pavel Haas
Quartet, whose previous
explorations of its national
repertoire at Wigmore Hall have
been greatly admired.
Bohuslav Martinů is a fascinating figure, Šafránek, ‘In pure chamber music I am memorialising Martinů’s relationships with
whose vast and diverse output deserves far always more myself. I cannot express what women he loved. ‘He actually dedicated each
greater exposure than it receives. Born in pleasure it gives me when I start to handle of his final three quartets to a different woman,
1890 in the bell tower of the church in the these four parts in a chamber composition’. two of them pupils as well as lovers: the
small Bohemian village of Polička, where his Straddling the years 1918 to 1947, Fifth String Quartet to the Czech composer
father was bell ringer and church warden, Martinů’s seven canonical quartets reveal the Vítêzslava Kaprálová; the Sixth Quartet to the
he showed his musical talent early: his very immense stylistic range of a composer open American Rosalie Barstow; and finally the
first composition was the programmatic to diverse contemporary influences: Czech Seventh Quartet, known as the Concerto da
piece Three Horsemen, written for string folk music, neo-classicism – even jazz, as camera, to his wife, Charlotte Martinů.’
quartet when he was 12. Peter Jarůšek, the quartet’s cellist, explains. Though Peter wouldn’t want to over-
Studies followed in Prague, where he ‘One can certainly feel the folk-music emphasize these connections, he does believe
subsequently played violin in the Czech influence, although it is worth highlighting that ‘one discovers everything behind a piece
Philharmonic; but in 1919 he left his native that there are clear jazz idioms too, and the of music in order to complete the puzzle.’
country to continue his career in Paris, big-band influence is particularly strong in As he and his colleagues have come to know
where he took composition lessons from his use of syncopated rhythms.’ these highly individual and attractive pieces,
Albert Roussel. It has taken a while for the ensemble their overview has developed enormously.
Martinů remained in Paris until 1940, to focus on this comparatively neglected ‘Each of the seven quartets exists in its own
when the arrival of the Nazis drove him on figure. ‘Although Martinů’s quartets form an separate and independent world, with its own
to the USA: after the war, he was unwilling important part of the Czech repertoire, it was specific character. To play all seven is
to return to Czechoslovakia due to the 1948 only five years ago that we decided to work simultaneously challenging, exciting and fulfilling
Communist coup d’état – though he did move on his Third String Quartet – the shortest of – and we are very much looking forward to
back to Europe, remaining there until his the seven; after rehearsing and performing bringing them to Wigmore Hall.’
death in Switzerland in 1959. it we realized how much we enjoyed it.
The string quartet genre held great Martinů’s is a unique style, very different George Hall is a music writer specialising in
significance for Martinů: in November 1946, from that of any other Czech composer’. opera. He is a regular contributor to The Stage,
while working on his Sixth Quartet, he wrote There’s also a strongly personal element and has written for The New Penguin Opera
to his friend and future biographer Miloš to several of the works, three of them Guide and the Oxford Companion to Music.
FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 17FLORIAN BOESCH
IN CONVERSATION WITH Florian Boesch’s 2020/21 Wigmore Hall
Residency comprises three concerts:
RICHARD STOKES
Thursday 17 September 2020 7.30pm
Thursday 11 March 2021 7.30pm
Saturday 12 June 2021 7.30pm
Florian Boesch
© Lukas Beck
18 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230Ahead of his Residency at You made your Wigmore Hall debut in What is your view of surtitles in Lieder?
March 2007. Has your voice changed Does it annoy you when you see the
Wigmore Hall in the 2020/21 much in the intervening years? audience bury its head in the programme?
Season, Austrian baritone My voice has remained much the same – I believe very strongly that every word I
Florian Boesch talks to it’s my ability to use it as I wish that has sing should be understood by the audience.
changed. I don’t have to guide it so much; it I want to be understood musically and
Richard Stokes about his now does things much more naturally. linguistically, and if that means taking
relationship with Wigmore Hall, advantage of technical assistance, so be it.
You have been partnered by five different Understanding text is paramount.
how he prepares for a recital, pianists in the past 12 years at Wigmore
and Werktreue. Hall. Are there advantages in having a How do you prepare, physically, for a
variety of duo partners? recital? Do you, for example, avoid alcohol
I’ve had the privilege of working with some during the day before a concert, or have a
of the finest accompanists of our times. special diet?
My longest association is with Malcolm Sleep is the most important preparation.
Martineau, but I have also been partnered At least 7 hours, perhaps as many as
by Justus Zeyen and Roger Vignoles for 10. Rest for voice and body. No red wine
long periods. This continuity is crucial for – the tannins play havoc with the vocal
my way of singing – which is spontaneous cords. No cigarettes either. I often go for a
and unpredictable. Because I never wish longish walk.
to define the way in which a song should
be performed, I need a partner of great How do you keep fit? Do you work out in
flexibility. But it’s always very interesting to a gym?
work with a new pianist, and it was a huge I once had a gym membership but found
pleasure to be accompanied by the great that it was not for me. Too boring. But I
Graham Johnson in the opening recital of will occasionally take advantage of a fitness
Wigmore Hall’s recent Schubert series. centre in a hotel. In my youth I played
a lot of sport, so I’m still in reasonable
Wigmore Hall is widely praised for shape, despite a slight paunch. I love
its excellent acoustics and intimate physical labour: gardening, digging holes,
atmosphere. Are you aware of singing manual work.
differently here than in larger venues?
I do not sing differently, but this intimate What is your view on Werktreue? Should
hall’s wonderful acoustic gives you extra one always try to obey a composer’s
confidence, makes you feel freer, and more markings? Or are they, rather, more
relaxed vis-à-vis technical issues. The voice suggestions than commands? I remember
never sounds boomy. Wigmore Hall is the you, for example, performing the end
finest venue for Lieder recitals, but let’s of Schubert’s ‘Ihr Bild’ in a gradual
not forget the unique audience that attends crescendo, ending fff: ‘Daß ich dich
these recitals. verloren hab’. It was electric; but Schubert
marks a decrescendo on ‘dich verloren
One of the most memorable Wigmore hab’. Does that matter?
‘I do not sing Hall recitals in recent years was your
performance with Roger Vignoles of
Heiner Müller once remarked: ‘Grosse Kunst
ist immer grösser als das Werk’ (‘Great art
differently, but Ernst Krenek’s Reisebuch aus den
österreichischen Alpen, which you sang
is always greater than the work’). We cannot
be true to ourselves if we automatically obey
this intimate hall’s from memory. What are your views
on using the score? Does it jeopardize
all the composer’s markings. We have to find
our own personal and individual way. And
wonderful acoustic communication with the audience?
I know many colleagues who use a score
each age has a different way of doing things:
just compare film footage of a 1930s
gives you extra with great skill, and there are audiences
who are fine with that. But the reason that
performance of a Hamlet monologue with a
modern rendering of the same speech! If
confidence, makes I don’t use a score is because it disturbs
me. If I have a score in front of me, I read
your interpretation of a song is serious and
honest and convincing, the composer will
you feel freer, and ahead, and am no longer in the moment. The
inspiration of the moment is crucial for me.
surely forgive you if his markings are not
followed in every detail.
more relaxed vis-à-vis I am much more concentrated if I don’t have
a score. Even if I am not so familiar with a Richard Stokes is a leading lecturer on German
Lieder at the Royal Academy of Music and has
technical issues.’
piece, I like the element of risk, of possible
catastrophe in not having the music in front dozens of publications and lecture appearances
of me. That’s how my system, my brain throughout the UK
functions best.
FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 19BECHSTEIN SOCIETY
A lasting gift to the Wigmore Hall Trust
‘Let those of us who love this unique institution
preserve our own matchless memories by doing
everything in our power to safeguard the Hall,
and all it stands for, for future generations.’
A member of the Bechstein Society
Join a vital community of supporters
with a legacy gift to Wigmore Hall
For further information, please contact John Gilhooly, Director on 020 7258 8266
or contact Marie-Hélène Osterweil on 020 7258 8220 | mhosterweil@wigmore-hall.org.uk
wigmore-hall.org.uk/legacy
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