GUILDFORD
PHILHARMONIC
ORCHESTRA
GUILDFORD BOROUGH
Cathryn Pope
COUNCIL CONCERTS
Cathryn
1981/82
National Opera Studio, was born in London
Pope,
who
is
a
member
of the
and studied singing with Ruth Packer at the
CIVIC HALL, GUILDFORD
Royal College of Music where she won many
prizes and awards.
SATURDAY 6 MARCH
Her concert engagements have taken her to
at 7.45 p.m.
the Royal Festival Hall, the London Handel
Festival
and
throughout
England.
Most
recently Cathryn took part in a joint recital for
Guildford
the Park Lane Group at the Purcell Room and
Philharmonic
Linda Hibberd
she will return in May for a recital promoted
by the Worshipful Company of Musicians.
Orchestra
Linda
Hibberd was born in London and
studied at the Royal Academy from 1967 to
1971. She joined the Glyndebourne Chorus in
1972, then, after two years with the English
Opera Group, joined the English National
Opera Chorus, which she left in 1977.
Musical Director/Conductor:
VERNON HANDLEY
In 1977, Linda Hibberd sang for the Kentish
Leader:
Theatre.
Opera Group and with the Nottingham Music
HUGH BEAN
She made her debut with English
National Opera in The Valkyrie and has since
sung in Julietta with that company.
CATHRYN POPE
In the 1979/80 season Linda Hibberd sang
Soprano
several performances for ENO North and in
August 1980 appeared as Ursula in the new
LINDA HIBBERD
production of Berlioz’ Beatrice and Benedict
at the Buxton Festival.
Alto
Kevin John
KEVIN JOHN
Kevin
Tenor
John, who comes from Swansea of
Welsh parentage, was born in Nairobi, Kenya.
ROBERT DEAN
Mr. John studied at the Royal Academy of
Music from 1973 to 1978 where he took a
Bass
number of operatic roles. He was also awarded the Ricordi prize for singing and the Pat-
PHILHARMONIC CHOIR
tinson prize for acting in opera whilst at the
Academy.
KENNETH LANK
Kevin John has an extensive repertoire of concert and oratorio works, and has taken part in
VERNON HANDLEY
the premieres of several new works. Having
sung with many choral societies throughout
Britain, he has also performed in Jersey, and in
Conductors
the Middle East where he is a regular visitor.
This concert is promoted by Guildford Borough Council
with
financial
Association.
support
from
the
South
East
Arts
Mr. John has completed his second season
with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, singing in
the chorus and understudying
Ferrando in
Cosi Fan Tutte, and Fenton in Falstaff.
Robert Dean
Robert Dean was born in Epsom, Surrey and
began his musical training at the Royal
College of Music as a Junior Exhibitioner. He
then entered Durham University where he
read music and in 1976 gained a scholarship
to study with John Cameron at the Royal
Northern College of Music.
On leaving College, Robert Dean joined the
newly formed National Opera Studio as a
repetiteur and subsequently as a singer. He
made his London operatic debut in September
1979, and in March 1980 replaced an indisposed artist at twenty-four hours notice to
sing the role of Kochubei in Chelsea Opera
Group’s concert performance of
Tchaikovsky’s “Mazeppa”, a performance
which earned him high praise from the London
critics. In 1981 he returned to the Chelsea
Opera Group to sing Lescaut in Puccini’s
“Manon Lescaut” at the Camden Festival and
also toured with members of the Welsh
National Opera and appeared in the 1981
Glyndebourne Festival.
Philharmonic Choir
The Musical Director acknowledges with
thanks the help he has received in training the
choir from Kenneth Lank and accompanists
Linden Knight and Patricia Wood. The Choir
made its first recording in 1973 with the Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra: ‘Intimations of
Immortality’ by Gerald Finzi, with Ian
Partridge as soloist, and in 1976 recorded
Hadley’s ‘The Trees So High’ with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Kenneth Lank
For a number of years before Mr. Crossley
Clitheroe’s death Kenneth Lank acted as his
assistant conductor. He has continued in this
position for Vernon Handley since 1962 and
undertakes considerable preparatory work for
the Philharmonic Choir’s performances.
Kenneth Lank has conducted the Philharmonic Choir in many Carol Concerts, performances of Parry’s “Songs of Farewell”, and
when Vernon Handley was ill in 1967 he undertook final preparation of Bach’s B Minor
Mass and his success on this occasion made it
inevitable for him to be given more oppor-
tunities to conduct the Corporation’s concerts.
On that occasion he earned high praise from
the experienced members of the orchestra for
his control of the soloists’ accompaniments. In
the 1967/68 season he conducted a concert
which included Schubert’s Overture in E
minor, Gordon Jacob’s Trombone Concerto
(soloist Christopher Davenport) and Elgar’s
Serenade for Strings. In 1972 he conducted a
performance of Parry’s “Blest Pair of Sirens”
with the Guildford Philharmonic Choir and
Orchestra.
Vernon Handley
Vernon
Handley, Principal Conductor/Musical Director of the Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra, was born in Enfield, North
London, and studied at Balliol College, Oxford
and the Guildhall School of Music and
Drama. Vernon Handley has been Musical
Director of the Guildford Philharmonic
Orchestra since 1962 and has developed it into
a fully professional body of major importance
which is now firmly established as “The
Orchestra of the South East” with concerts in
many towns throughout the South East region
from Canterbury to Salisbury. In 1974 the
Composers’ Guild of Great Britain named
Vernon Handley as “Conductor of the Year”
for his services to British music and, now
recognised as one of the major champions of
British music, he is frequently entrusted with
the world premiere of new works. He is very
busy in the recording field and has an extensive list of recordings in the current catalogue
including works by Dvorak, Tchaikovsky,
Elgar, Tippett, Debussy, Vaughan Williams
and Faure. His recordings of Elgar’s First
Symphony and recently released Second
Symphony with the London Philharmonic
Orchestra have received critical acclaim.
Vernon Handley is now one of Britain’s
busiest conductors. As well as a full season of
concerts with all the major British orchestras,
he is also taking on a number of engagements
with foreign orchestras including the
Stockholm Philharmonic, the NOS Radio
Philharmonic Orchestra, Hilversum and the
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra.
In spite of his busy schedule, Vernon Handley
still manages to follow his keen interest in ornithology.
Symphony No.8 Beethoven is conducted by
a
Vernon Handley and Haydn’s ‘Nelson’ Mass
characteristic of vivacious spontaneity.
by Kenneth Lank.
sitting’,
it
definitely
possesses
every
The third movement, which is a Minuet and
Trio, certainly sets out in a characteristically
forceful manner and seems to have a strong
flavour of Haydn about it, not least of all con-
Symphony No.8 in F. Major
veyed by the woodwind’s false entry at the end
Beethoven 1770-1827
of the Minuet (sternly corrected by the horns).
Allegro con brio
This is the kind of joke that Beethoven liked
Allegretto
and it depends on the character of one’s sense
Tempo di menuetto
of humour whether one regards it as fun or
Finale: Allegro
not. But, regardless of one’s sense of humour,
Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony is sometimes
one cannot fail to appreciate the beautiful con-
called ‘The Little F Major’, but Beethoven
trast between the lyricism of the Trio and the
himself called it ‘Eighth Grand Symphony’.
The comparative simplicity of the material and
the conciseness of its treatment is, one supposes, what makes certain critics feel that this
is a small symphony compared with some of
the other more lengthy and insistent ones. It
was composed in 1812 and was first perform-
ed in 1814 with the Symphony No.7 in A and
that curiosity, the ‘Battle of Vittoria’. It was
not well received by the public and the reason
for this, said Beethoven, ‘is because it is so
much better than the other, No.7’. For some
people the Beethoven of the Eighth
Symphony, where the influence of his master,
Haydn, is more noticeable, is as great a com-
poser,
if not
greater,
than
the
sometimes
hysterical self-conscious giant who appears in
the Fifth, Seventh and Ninth Symphonies.
William Mann has suggested that in No.8 we
may feel that he is contracting the ‘spacious
Beethovenian
world
into
the
Haydenesque
frame’.
forcefulness of the Minuet.
The magnificent Finale, which is brilliant and
vigorous to a degree, is a curious amalgam of
sonata and rondo forms. The first subject immediately
movement.
sets
A
the
pace
rather
and
spirit
of the
slower-paced
tran-
sitionary passage takes us to the second sub-
ject, which is lyrical and expressive. Beethoven
keeps the movement so well in motion that it
takes
an extraordinary number of staccato
chords to finish it. Could this be another joke?
It is possible: Sir George Grove used to call
No.8 the ‘Humourous’ Symphony and went
into very personal detail about the musical
jokes contained in it. The point is that since
musical jokes were looked upon with fondness
by
composers
like
Haydn,
Mozart
and
Beethoven, they can be accepted without concern, but to quote William Mann again, ‘We
need not look for the comic side of other
passages in No.8 when Beethoven is being
perfectly serious and poetic’.
The first movement begins with a lively theme
shared in turn by first violins and clarinets
a leisurely theme for the first
which, with
INTERVAL
violins, forms the first subject. A transition
passage with fine harmonic changes leads to
the second subject played on the violins in octaves. A link of thirty-five bars based on staccato figures finally gives way to another theme
of a flowing and lyrical character heard on the
Tickets for the concerts on Sunday 21 March
and Saturday 27 March are on sale in the
foyer during the interval.
Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra brochures
flutes and oboes in octaves. This material is
price 25p are on sale this evening, also key
then developed and re-stated with the com-
rings at 75p in the foyer.
poser’s characteristic wit and invention.
The airy piquant second movement is unique
among
the
whole
of
Beethoven’s
works.
Though Berlioz was wrong when he said that
it had ‘fallen from heaven straight into the
brain of its composer, and had been written at
Mass in D.Minor (The Nelson Mass)
Haydn 1732-1809
The Nelson Mass was first performed in Eisenstadt in September 1798, but when Nelson and
Lady Hamilton passed through Austria in
1800 they stayed at Eisenstadt Castle and the
Mass and Te Deum were probably amongst
the
works
performed
at
arranged in their honour.
soon
afterwards
that
concerts,
audience. The orchestra hopes to welcome a
family audience to this concert in the Civic
Hall (half price tickets at all prices are
Certainly it was
available to young people aged 16 and under).
several
the
Mass
became
generally known in Austria and Southern Ger-
many under its present title.
considerably. Two of them employ a large
woodwind group including clarinets. One has
clarinets,
trumpets and drums, while the
Nelson Mass, apart from voices, strings and
organ, has three trumpets and timpani. The
absence of a large woodwind group, the main
key of the music and the clarity of the writing
gives the Nelson Mass a bite which, even in a
composer as refreshing as Haydn, remains out
of the ordinary. When the work was first
published in 1804, a faulty copy was used and
some reason the
solo
to attract some ‘new’ supporters through this
concert
Haydn wrote six Masses between 1796 and
1802 and the orchestration of the works varies
for
The Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra hopes
organ part was
eliminated and flute, two oboes and bassoons
added. This arrangement gained some
currency but it is the original version that will
be performed today.
and
asks those of you who have
friends and acquaintances who have not yet
attended a concert by the orchestra to perthem to attend this concert. The
orchestra, Johnny Morris and John Forster
suade
promise an enjoyable afternoon’s music.
The Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra’s 61st
‘Enterprising’ concert takes place on the 27
March at 7.45 p.m. The main work in the
programme is Holst’s great PLANETS Suite.
This concert also provides the opportunity to
hear one of the most phenomenal pianists of
this century — Cecile Ousset. Anyone who
heard her perform Rachmaninov’s Third
Piano Concerto in the 1979/80 season can
vouch for the remarkable gifts of this truly
attractive artiste. Hear her again this season in
Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto. With such
an accomplished performer, a sparkling work
1.
Kyrie Eleison
and one of the most sympathetic accompanists
2
Gloria In Excelsis
in
3.
4.
‘Qui Tollis’
Vernon Handley, we are guaranteed a
memorable performance of this work. Also in
‘Quoniam Tu Solus’
the
5.
Credo
6.
‘Et Incarnatus’
7.
°‘Et Resurrexit’
8
Sanctus
9.
Benedictus
10.
Agnus Dei
11.
‘Dona Nobis’
programme is a first performance of
Adrian Williams’ work Tess — based on Tess
of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. This
has been commissioned by the orchestra with
financial support from South East Arts
Association. With Vernon Handley, Adrian
Williams will give a Seminar on the new work
at 2 p.m. All concert ticket holders are
welcome to this and to the final rehearsal at 3
p.m.
GUILDFORD
ORCHESTRA
PHILHARMONIC
On Sunday 21 March at 3 p.m. the Guildford
Philharmonic Orchestra will present a family
concert, sponsored by SEIKO Time (U.K.)
Ltd. The programme will include Mozart’s
‘Haffner’ Symphony, The Water Music —
Handel, and Walton’s ‘Facade’. The main
work in this concert is PETER AND THE
WOLF which will be narrated by JOHNNY
MORRIS. The concert will be conducted by
John Forster. The same performers presented
Peter and the Wolf in the Devonport Hall,
Cranleigh on 27 February and received an
enthusiastic
reception
from
a
capacity
Sunday 21 March at 3.00 p.m.
Saturday 27 March at 7.45 p.m.
Civic Hall
Civic Hall
The ‘Haffner’ Symphony
Water Music
Facade
Tess
Mozart
Walton
Peter and the Wolf
Adrian Williams
(first performance)
Handel
Piano Concerto No.3 in F Major
Suite ‘The Planets’
Holst
Prokofiev
(narrated by JOHNNY MORRIS)
Prokofiev
CECILE OUSSET, pianoforte
Conductor: JOHN FORSTER
VERNON HANDLEY, conductor
This concert is sponsored by SEIKO TIME
Seminar with Adrian Williams
and Vernon Handley at 2.00 p.m.
(UK. LTD.
Children aged 16 and under will be offered
tickets at HALF the usual price.
Concert ticket holders admission free.
GUILDFORD PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
DIRECTOR OF MUSIC/CONDUCTOR
VERNON HANDLEY
First Violins:
Cellos:
Leader: Hugh Bean
Donald Macdonald
Trumpets:
Geoffrey Thomas
Clifford Haines
Philip Brothers
Christopher Bearman
David Appleyard
John Stilwell
Pat Reid
Sheila Beckensall
Judith Edwards
Vito Gambazza
Kathleen Hamburger
Robert Lewcock
Linda McLaren
Peter Newman
Susan Penfold
Martin Pring
Second Violins:
Nicholas Maxted Jones
Pauline Sadgrove
Tina Macrae
John Hursey
Janet Reed
Basses:
Michael Lea
Keith Harling
Michael Fagg
Dugald Lees
Adam Precious
Harold Nathan
Flutes:
Marie Louise Amberg
Henry Messent
Timothy Callaghan
Catharine Hill
Douglas Fraser
Colin Keyse
Ruth Knell
Ann Macdonald
Ronald Tendler
Harold Walsh
Violas:
Christopher Wellington
William Hallett
Oboes:
Andrew Cauthery
Victoria Wood
Clarinets:
Hale Hambleton
Victor Slaymark
Bassoons:
John Orford
Jean Burt
Anna Meadows
Frederick Campbell
Horns:
John Harries
Peter Clack
Malcolm Williamson
Ron Harris
Julius Bannister
Dennis Scard
Leonard Lock
Timpani:
Roger Blair
Concerts Manager:
Kathleen Atkins
Concerts Assistant:
David Groves
The audience may be interested to know that
the violin sections are listed in alphabetical
order after the first desk because a system of
rotation of desks is adopted in this orchestra
so that all players have the opportunity of
playing in all positions in the section.