CGCO welcomes conductor-composer Bertie Baigent for the first time to conduct our 2024 season finale featuring Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony
Programme
Debussy: Prélude à l'Après-Midi d’un Faune
Ravel: Pavane pour une Infante Défunte
Mozart: Bassoon concerto
Beethoven: Eroica Symphony
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Adult tickets: £18
Concessions: £13
Under 16: £8
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Debussy: Prélude à l'Après-Midi d’un Faune
Known in English as Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Debussy’s symphonic poem for orchestra was composed and first performed in 1894, its debut in Paris. The composition is one of Debussy's most famous works, considered a turning point in the history of Western art music, as well as a masterpiece of Impressionist composition. Pierre Boulez considered the score to be the beginning of modern music, observing that "the flute of the faun brought new breath to the art of music."
The work is scored for three flutes, two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets in A and B♭, two bassoons, four horns, two harps, two crotales and strings. At first listening it seems improvisational and almost free-form; however, closer observation will demonstrate that the piece consists of a complex organization of musical cells, motifs carefully developed and traded between members of the orchestra. A close analysis of the piece reveals a high amount of consciousness of composition on Debussy's part.
Ravel: Pavane pour une Infante Défunte
Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess) is a work for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, written in 1899 while the French composer was studying at the Conservatoire de Paris under Gabriel Fauré. Ravel published an orchestral version in 1910 using two flutes, an oboe, two clarinets (in B♭), two bassoons, two horns, harp, and strings.
Ravel intended the piece to be played extremely slowly – more slowly than almost any modern interpretation. The critic Émile Vuillermoz complained that Ravel's playing of the work was "unutterably slow". However, the composer was not impressed by interpretations that plodded. After a performance by Charles Oulmont, Ravel mentioned to him that the piece was called "Pavane for a dead princess", not "dead pavane for a princess".
The orchestral score was published in 1910. The premiere was given in February 1911 in Manchester, conducted by Sir Henry Wood. Reviewing the concert, the critic Samuel Langford called the work "most beautiful" and added, "The piece is hardly representative of the composer, with whom elusive harmonies woven in rapid figuration are the usual medium of expression. In the Pavane we get normal, almost archaic harmonies, subdued expression, and a somewhat remote beauty of melody."
Mozart: Bassoon concerto
The Bassoon Concerto in B-flat major, written by Mozart in 1774 when he was 18 is the most often performed and studied piece in the entire bassoon repertory. Nearly all professional bassoonists will perform the piece at some stage in their career, and it is probably the most commonly requested piece in orchestral auditions.
The concerto was his first concerto for a wind instrument. Although it is believed that it was commissioned by an aristocratic amateur bassoon player Thaddäus Freiherr von Dürnitz, this is a claim that is supported by little evidence. Scholars believe that Mozart may have written five bassoon concertos, but that only the first has survived.
Beethoven: Eroica Symphony
One of Beethoven's most celebrated works, the Eroica symphony is a large-scale composition that marked the beginning of the composer's innovative "middle period". Composed mainly in 1803–1804, the work broke boundaries in symphonic form, length, harmony, emotional and cultural content. It is widely considered a landmark in the transition between the Classical and the Romantic era. It is also often considered to be the first Romantic symphony.
There is significant evidence that the Eroica, perhaps unlike Beethoven's other symphonies, was constructed back-to-front. The theme used in the fourth movement, including its bass line, originate from the seventh of Beethoven's 12 Contredanses for Orchestra, and also from the Finale to his ballet The Creatures of Prometheus. Beethoven used the same theme as the basis for his Variations and Fugue for Piano in E♭ Major, now commonly known as the Eroica Variations due to the theme's re-use in the symphony. It is the only theme that Beethoven used for so many separate works in his lifetime, and each use is in the same key of E♭ major.
The first movement's main theme has been traced back to the bass line theme of the Opus 35 variations by way of intermediate versions found in one of Beethoven's sketchbooks. In the second movement, the combined tonality (melody and bass) of the Opus 35 theme's first four bars appears in slightly altered form as the funeral's march's second theme. That same tonality then appears unaltered as the scherzo's main theme.
Bertie Baigent
Bertie Baigent came to international attention as the winner of the Grand Prix, Classical Prize, and Symphonic Prize at the International Conducting Competition Rotterdam 2022, following his ‘imposing’ and ‘spectacular’ performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 and the world premiere of Joey Roukens’s Night Flight with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
Bertie was born in Oxford and learned the cello and piano before moving towards conducting and composition. He read music at the University of Cambridge and subsequently studied conducting at the Royal Academy of Music with Sian Edwards. As an assistant conductor Bertie worked closely with artists such as Lahav Shani, Sir Mark Elder, and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla on major international tours; he also served as cover conductor for the Dallas and St Louis Symphony Orchestras.
St. Peter’s Church, Notting Hill
The venue for our concert is St Peter's Church in Notting Hill, a building of notable architectural quality, listed Grade II*. The interior of the building is very elaborate, with many of the pillars boasting gilded capitals.
To get to St Peter’s Church using public transport, the closest Tube Station is Notting Hill Gate. The closest Bus Stop is PT-Stanley Gardens and PS-Chepstow Villas.
On-street parking outside the church is limited to RBKC resident permit holders, with some prepay spaces also available.
Address: 90 Kensington Park Road, London, W11 2PL