The Southwark Consorts of Winds

The following music we have played is available from publishers

• Antonin Dvorak - Legends 6 & 7 arr. Roger Cawkwell
• Arthur Honegger - Pastorale D'Ete
• Alexander Borodin - Polovtsian Dances
• Bela Bartok - Two Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm
• Edward Elgar - Serenade
• Antonin Dvorak - Legends 5, 8, and 10, arr. Graeme Kay
• Gustav Holst - Moorside Suite
• J P Souza - Liberty Bell
• Guy Woolfenden - Serenade for Sophia
• Ludwig van Beethoven - Wind Octet, Opus 103
• Antonin Dvorak - Slavonic Dance, Opus 46, No. 8
• Mozart - Serenade No. 12 In C minor K384A (formerly K388)
• George Gershwin - Scenes from Porgy and Bess
• Issac Albeniz - Tango
• Johann Strauss Jnr. - Die Fledermaus
• Carlos Gardel arr. David Epps - Three Tangos

Dvorak was born in 1841, the son of the local butcher and publican in Nelahozeves. His exceptional musical gifts were recognised, and he studied in Prague from the age of 16, soon earning his living in the Czech National Theatre Orchestra, under Smetana's direction. Dvorak received the Austrian prize for composition and Brahms, one of the adjudicators, encouraged him and became a personal friend.

He first visited England many times between 1884 and 1896. He spent three years (1892-1895) in the USA, as director of the new National Conservatory in New York. Back home, Dvorak then became director of the Prague Conservatoire.

Dvorak's Legends have the opus number 59 which places them early in the 1880s. The Legends are full of a warmth and mellowness that speaks of a composer enjoying his maturity. Like the Slavonic Dances, the Legends were originally for piano duo, and were orchestrated by Dvorak himself. They have been arranged for double wind quintet and double bass.

This piece, by the Swiss born composer Arthur Honegger, was originally written for small orchestra. It was intended to evoke the mood of summer, and something of the langour of hot bright days can be heard in the opening and closing bars, with singing melodies over a throbbing and repetitive accompaniment. This is contrasted with a lively, French-sounding, middle section which uses folk-like melodies.

Russian composer Alexander Borodin originally wrote his Polovtsian Dances as part of his opera Prince Igor, although he was unable to complete it before his death in 1887. The set of dances, scored for a full orchestra with harp and percussion, are probably his most widly-known and popular work. This arrangment of the introduction and the first three dances give an intimate chamber-music view of this extravert work.

Bela Bartok began writing easy piano pieces for his son Peter around 1933 which eventually grew into his celebrated collection of piano studies Mikrokosmos. The final pieces in the set are not for beginners, however, culminating in the "Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm" featuring unfamiliar time signatures such as 2+2+2+3/8 and the like. Tonight we are going to hear versions of numbers three and two (in that order) played without a break. Dance three contrasts flowing folky motifs with declamatory fanfare-like material and dance two opens with a chugging rhythm (in seven) announced on the horns, alternating with spiky melodies and rushing scales.

Although not formally published until 1892, the Serenade is believed to be a reworking of a suite Elgar had written some years earlier, before he had firmly set his sights on a career as a composer. Apart from the Wand of Youth suites, it is therefore probably the earliest of his compositions to survive into the standard repertoire. Certainly, it has a youthful charm while at the same time displaying indications of the skills Elgar developed as he progressed towards musical maturity. It is reportedly the first of his compositions with which he professed himself satisfied.

The opening bars of the first movement will be familiar to most, particularly to listeners to a classical music station which uses it as introductory music. It is however the central Larghetto which is generally accepted as containing the finest and most mature writing. The work remains among the most frequently performed of all his music.

Dvorak was born in 1841, the son of the local butcher and publican in Nelahozeves. His exceptional musical gifts were recognised, and he studied in Prague from the age of 16, soon earning his living in the Czech National Theatre Orchestra, under Smetana's direction. Dvorak received the Austrian prize for composition and Brahms, one of the adjudicators, encouraged him and became a personal friend.

He first visited England many times between 1884 and 1896. He spent three years (1892-1895) in the USA, as director of the new National Conservatory in New York. Back home, Dvorak then became director of the Prague Conservatoire.

Dvorak's Legends have the opus number 59 which places them early in the 1880s. The Legends are full of a warmth and mellowness that speaks of a composer enjoying his maturity. Like the Slavonic Dances, the Legends were originally for piano duo, and were orchestrated by Dvorak himself. Graeme Kay has arranged the Legends for double wind quintet with contra bassoon. He has used Dvorak's own orchestration as a guide to tone colours.

Scherzo, Nocturne, March

In 1927 Holst was commissioned to write a competition piece for the BBC and the National Brass Band Festival Committee. The result was The Moorside Suite. Here it is played in an arrangement for wind ensemble by Geoffrey Emerson.

The suite has three movements, and upon a first listen, one hears a noticeable sophistication that was lacking in the military suites. The first movement seems almost reserved in its impact. The rhythm definitely darts about, but it doesn't really go towards any harmonic climax. It leaves the listener almost trapped in an intellectual game of sorts. The second movement, the 'Nocturne' is written beautifully with its descending thirds and sixths. It is a warmth that Holst was just beginning to discover, perhaps only matched by 'Love on thy heart' from the Seven Partsongs for female choir, or the Lyric Movement. It almost seems like a mature response to 'I love my love'. The last movement is reminiscent of the 'Marching Song' from Two Songs without Words.

This piece has a significance to British audiences quite different from that originally intended. So, remember that this is about a nation achieving its freedom, and banish other associations.

This piece was written to celebrate the birth of the composer's first grandchild, in 2001. It consists of three movements. The Intrada sums up the happy event of Sophia's arrival, and is in a forms A-B-A structure. The Dance which follows taps into the rich culture of Sophia's Jamaican relations. The finale plays on the juxtaposition of two contrasted moods, first reflective and then happier.

The Octet was written in 1792, shortly before Beethoven moved to Vienna, for Archduke Maximilian Franz, who was also Elector of Cologne and who, in keeping with the custom of the age, employed eight excellent wind players to entertain him at dinner. It was not published until 1830, which is why the opus number of 103 is so high and implies a later work.

The first movement is in sonata allegro form and uses traditional harmonic progressions. The movement employs a very brief development section and recaps in a traditional manner. In the first movement, the oboe spins out a charming theme, the rhythm of which permeates the entire movement.

The second movements opens with a beautiful oboe melody that could be an arioso out of an Italian opera. The bassoon enters and joins the oboe, to create an operatic soprano and baritone duet. This movement is in three part song form.

The minuet is a preview of the later Beethoven scherzo both rhythmically and melodically. The trio hosts a dialogue between the clarinet and horns in which the characteristic colour of these instruments is beautifully contrasted.

The final movement is very playful and energetic. The instrument sounds weave a colour texture with runs, arpeggios and syncopated chords. The second theme contains the outline of the Hymn of Joy.

In 1878 Dvorak's publisher Simrock commissioned a set of eight "Slavonic Dances" for piano duet. Subsequently orchestrated by the composer, they were his first major success. Although based on Czech folk music, they are original compostions. No. 8 in G minor, marked presto, is a furiant, a fast dance in triple-time with phrasing that suggests duple-time. We will perform an arrangement for octet, a sonority reminiscent of Dvorak's Wind Serenade Op. 44.

• I. Allegro
• II. Andante
• III. Menuetto in Canone Đ Trio in Canone al rovescio
• IV. Allegro

The classical wind octet consisting of pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns came into prominence in the 1780s, when the Austrian emperor Josef II established the Kaiserlich-Kšniglich Harmonie. Quickly copied throughout the princely courts of the Hapsburg empire, its principle function was to play background music for informal occasions. The repertoire consisted of original pieces with names like "Divertimento" and "Serenade" and arrangements of orchestral pieces. (There are contemporary arrangements of Mozart's later operas and even of complete Beethoven symphonies).

Mozart's Serenade in C Minor was probably composed in July 1782 and must have come as a great shock to an audience expecting a little night music. Instead of the unison introduction giving way to a lighter treatment, the first movement is dramatic and ominous throughout. The mood relaxes in the slower second movement, which is in the relative major. However, the third movement minuet returns to the minor key. Its trio takes the form of an inverted canon, whereby each entry is an inversion of its predecessor, although Mozart never lets this technical trick get in the way of the music. The final movement is a theme and variations, again in the minor key, until right at the end when, being Mozart, the sun finally comes out.

Arranged for wind octet by Andrew Skirrow

In the black community of Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina, the crippled Porgy and Crown compete for the love of Bess. Eventually Porgy kills Crown, and sets out to find Bess in New York where she has been lured by Sportin' Life, a drug dealer. This octet arrangement of Gershwin's 1935 opera includes such favourites as 'Summertime' and 'It ain't necessarily so'.

To follow

To follow

To follow