Beethoven 6

Louise Farrenc
Overture No. 2 in E flat major 7’

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major 30’

INTERVAL: 15 minutes

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 6 in F major, ‘Pastoral’ 40’

Tianyi Lu conductor
Elizaveta Ivanova flute
Alis Huwsharp

Over the course of the 1820s and 1830s Louise Farrenc enjoyed a growing reputation not only as a performer but also as a composer of keyboard music. Critics both in her native France and further afield (Robert Schumann, for example) praised her stylish writing and craftsmanship. By the mid-1830s she had decided to test her mettle in a new compositional arena: orchestral music. 

In 1834 Farrenc composed two concert overtures, the second of which – the Deuxième Ouverture à Grand orchestre in E flat major – was finished in early December and given its premiere the following year. It is conceived on a grand scale to match its considerable orchestral forces, with an imposing slow introduction that begins in E flat minor and seems to conjure the overture to Mozart’s Don Giovanni in the dotted rhythms and troubled silences of its first few bars. Will we ever make it to the major key promised in the work’s title? Even in the first few bars of the Allegro it’s not altogether clear, with minor harmonies continually throwing spanners into the musical works. Here, too, there is something operatic about the energy, the bustling textures and even the beautifully lyrical wind themes when they finally appear. (Paris was, after all, a city in thrall to its opera houses in the 1830s, as Meyerbeer ruled the roost and Berlioz battled to get his works staged.) As the overture continues, Farrenc dares to reduce the orchestral forces at times to a bare minimum, chamber-like passages thrown into sharp relief when the might of the full orchestra reappears. The music concludes with a theatrical final flourish in its home key. 

It seems that Farrenc’s husband Aristide made efforts to get both this overture and its companion in E minor published by the distinguished Leipzig firm of Peters – but, unfortunately, the project never came to fruition. Nevertheless, the E flat Overture was performed, from manuscript, in Paris (several times) and also in Copenhagen, where it was so warmly received in a concert at the Royal Theatre that it was repeated by request at the Danish Court just a few days later. 

^{Programme note © Katy Hamilton}

1 Allegro
2  Andantino
3 Rondeau: Allegro

Elizaveta Ivanova flute
Alis Huwsharp

The assertion that Mozart detested the flute is one that refuses to die. True, in 1778 he had damned it as ‘an instrument which I cannot bear’, but he may well have been venting his frustration having failed to fulfil a commission for ‘three short, simple concertos and a couple of quartets for the flute’, and consequently being paid less than half the agreed fee. Nevertheless, the flute was to become an integral sound in so much of his finest music – many of the late piano concertos would be unthinkable without it – and had he really hated the instrument, he would surely have baulked at its appearance in the story and, indeed, the title of his penultimate opera.

All the same, it has been tempting to infer his lifelong aversion to the instrument from a dissembling letter home from Mannheim to his disapproving father, and his next engagement with the flute would be just as personally disappointing, even as it endowed flautists with another work of surpassing beauty and melodic richness. From Mannheim early in 1778, Mozart and his mother travelled to Paris, where he gave composition lessons to Marie-Louise-Philippine, the harpist daughter of the equally euphoniously named if not entirely honourable diplomat Adrien-Louis Bonnière de Souastre, Comte de Guînes. The Count was himself an amateur flautist, and Mozart wrote to his father that he ‘plays the flute incomparably’, and that his daughter ‘plays the harp magnifique’. De Guînes commissioned Mozart to write a double concerto for himself and his daughter, which was completed that April. The composer failed to collect payment up front, however, and when he turned up at the Count’s residence, he was fobbed off by a housekeeper, who offered a risible fraction of the fee for the concerto and the lessons, which Mozart indignantly refused. He returned to Salzburg that September bereaved by his mother’s sudden death in July, a chastened, unpaid and unhappy young man.

The concerto is a prime example of Mozart’s meticulous craftsmanship, even when the task at hand was not one that appealed to him. The 18th-century harp was smaller, lighter and less versatile than today’s instruments, and Mozart writes for it as if it were a keyboard. His instinctive ear for sonority results in a range of combinations of solo instruments and orchestra and a cascade of winning melodies in both the march-like Allegro and the closing Rondeau. It is surely the exquisite central Andantino, though, that has ensured the work’s position as a cornerstone of the repertoires of both flute and harp.

^{Programme note © David Threasher}

INTERVAL: 15 minutes

1 Pleasant, cheerful feelings which awaken in one on arrival in
the countryside (Allegro ma non troppo)
2 Scene by the brook (Andante molto moto)
3 Merry gathering of country people (Allegro) – 
4 Thunderstorm (Allegro) – 
5 Shepherds’ song: glad feelings with thanks to the Godhead
after the storm (Allegretto)

‘No-one can love the countryside as much as I do,’
wrote Beethoven. And no composer has ever evoked
the countryside more successfully than he did in his celebrated ‘Pastoral’ Symphony, written in 1808. He loved to go for long walks among the hills and woods around Vienna, and nearly every summer was spent away from the city which he had made his home in 1792 – usually in some neighbouring village such as Heiligenstadt or Baden. These first‑hand experiences were then transformed into a work that is readily recognisable as a symphony despite the programmatic title of each of the movements. In this respect it differs from other works of the period, notably Justin Heinrich Knecht’s Portrait musical de la nature (1784), which Beethoven may have known, and which includes a storm and a final song of thanks but is not designed as a standard symphonic structure.

Beethoven’s earliest ideas for such a work date back to the end of 1803, when he jotted down a folk-like dance theme that eventually appeared in the third movement of the symphony; a little later he sketched an idea for what he described as ‘Murmuring of the brooks’. It was not until early 1808, however, after he had finished working on his Fifth Symphony, that he started detailed work on the ‘Pastoral’, using a fresh sketchbook for the purpose.

While working on the symphony, he kept reminding himself that he should not try to paint a picture of the countryside but evoke feelings associated with it, and wrote down comments such as ‘Sinfonia caracteristica – or recollections of country life’, and ‘All tone painting in instrumental music loses its value if pushed too far’. Such comments are extremely rare among his sketches.

His other main musical problem was to reconcile the notion of pastoral tranquillity, essentially peaceful and static, with the driving thrust and sense of continual development that is characteristic of symphonies in general. He did this by retaining the standard forms of symphonic movements – sonata form (first two movements), minuet-and-trio (third movement) and sonata rondo (finale) – while reducing the amount of development within movements, juxtaposing contrasting ideas rather than building gradually on each idea.

The one exception to this scheme is the fourth movement, the Storm. And what a storm! Everything is disrupted, chaotic, unpredictable, with extraordinary rumblings in the cellos and basses – nearly but not quite in unison with each other – to portray the onrushing tempest, followed by jagged motifs for lightning, and the entry of a shrill piccolo near the end for the howling wind, where the power of the Storm is reinforced by the sudden entry of trombones. Although the storm seems like an extra movement, it is structurally comparable to an introduction to a finale (albeit far more extended than the one in his ‘Eroica’ Symphony, for example). Thus it still bears some relationship to standard symphonic form.

In contrast to the Storm, the first movement is thoroughly gentle, with hardly any use of minor keys at all and much emphasis on the chord of the subdominant (B flat), which always tends to reduce rather than increase tension. You can easily perceive the sense of relaxed contentment that pervades the movement. As Beethoven himself said: ‘Anyone who has even just an idea of country life can imagine what the author [intends], without many headings.’

The second movement portrays a gently flowing brook, while near the end we hear the calls of three birds: nightingale (flute), quail (oboe) and cuckoo (clarinets), all actually named in the score. While the nightingale and cuckoo are obvious choices, the quail is more surprising, unless you know that Beethoven had a few years earlier composed a song, ‘The Quail Call’, in which the quail is perceived as calling us to worship and thank God. Thus the second movement becomes nature’s counterpart to the shepherds’ song of thanksgiving in the finale.

The merry gathering in the third movement needs no explanation. Particularly amusing, however, is the trio section of this minuet-and-trio form, where Beethoven portrays an amateur village band in which the oboe enters two beats late, while the bassoon is only capable of playing three notes and omits the rest of the bass line.

Another country sound is heard at the beginning of the finale, where Beethoven uses a ranz des vaches, or herding call, such as was often heard in alpine regions at the time. This motif is then cunningly incorporated into the main thematic material of the movement.

The titles of the work and movements, as given above, are those Beethoven sent to his publisher Breitkopf & Härtel. Some, however, were modified by the publisher without authority, and have only recently been restored after circulating for many years in their corrupt form.

^{Programme note © Barry Cooper}

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Book tickets for just £8 using promotion code NOWYOU https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/evr6gw

Biographies

Tianyi Lu conductor

Tianyi Lu is an internationally recognised conductor whose collaborations with leading orchestras and opera companies worldwide have established her as one of the most distinctive artists of today.

This season’s highlights include her returns to the London, Monte-Carlo and New York Philharmonic orchestras, Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Stuttgart Staatsorchester. She also makes debuts with the Baltimore, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, New Zealand and Vienna Symphony orchestras, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Civic Orchestra of Chicago, as well as a UK tour with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

Recent seasons have seen her make her BBC Proms debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sol Gabetta, alongside engagements with leading ensembles including the City of Birmingham, Frankfurt Radio, Melbourne, San Francisco and Sydney Symphony orchestras, Philharmonia Orchestra, the Hallé, Orchestre National de Lyon, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra and New World Symphony Orchestra. She is a former Dudamel Fellow, she made her Hollywood Bowl debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2021 and her Walt Disney Concert Hall debut in 2023.

Following first prizes at the Sir Georg Solti and Guido Cantelli Conducting competitions in 2020, she was appointed Conductor-in-Residence of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, a position she held until the end of the 2023/24 season. She previously served as Principal Conductor of the St Woolos Sinfonia in Wales and Assistant Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She studied orchestral conducting at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, from which she graduated in 2015, and is an alumna of the Hart Institute for Women Conductors at Dallas Opera.

Alongside her conducting career, Tianyi Lu is a passionate advocate for leadership, inclusion and the power of music to strengthen communities. 

Elizaveta Ivanovaflute

Since 2022 Elizaveta Ivanova has held the position of Associate Principal Flute of Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, having previously held the same position with the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra (2017–22).

She was born in 1997 into a musical Estonian family and began her musical studies at a young age. After initial lessons on the piano, she started to play the flute aged 12. From 2009 until 2014 she studied in St Petersburg, latterly at the Conservatory with Olga Chernyadeva and Ksenia Kuelyar. She subsequently studied in Basel with Felix Renggli.

In 2023 she won First Prize at the Geneva International Competition, one of several competitions where she has won prizes; others include the Crusell, Cluj and Maxence Larrieu Flute competitions.

She is a member of the St Petersburg Winds, which has won prizes at several chamber music competitions in Russia. She also regularly performs in other chamber music groups, as well as appearing at international festivals. In 2024 she was selected as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist.

 Alis Huwsharp

Alis Huws is a former Official Royal Harpist (2019–24) and now works as a freelance soloist, orchestral and chamber musician. She regularly gives recitals across the UK and internationally, having performed at prestigious venues worldwide. She has an exclusive recording contract and her latest EP, Cosy Nights by the Fire, is out now on all streaming platforms. 

In 2024 she was named on Classic FM’s 30 under 30 ‘Rising Stars’ list; other recent highlights include performing as a soloist with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall and appearing on the Gramophone Award-nominated album of Britten’s Canticles with tenor James Way.

She champions living composers, and has given several world and UK premieres, including a new work by Alice Beckwith for tenor and harp commissioned for her and Mark Padmore. She is also set to premiere a Harp Concerto by Cameron Biles-Liddell with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

She performed at the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III at Westminster Abbey. Other high-profile engagements include the Welsh National Service of Prayer and Reflection for HM Queen Elizabeth II, the Royal Opening of the Senedd 2016 and 2021, the Welsh National Thanksgiving Service for VJ Day and the opening of the Welsh Government’s offices in Berlin.

Alis Huws was made an Honorary Associate of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, her alma mater, in 2022. There, she studied with Caryl Thomas, before studies in Amsterdam with Erika Waardenburg.

BBC National Orchestra of Wales

For over 90 years, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the only professional symphony orchestra in Wales, has played an integral part in the cultural landscape of the country, occupying a distinctive role as both a broadcast and national orchestra, and serving as an ambassador of Welsh culture, regularly performing music created in Wales and championing Welsh composers and artists.

Part of BBC Cymru Wales and supported by the Arts Council of Wales, BBC NOW performs a busy schedule of concerts and broadcasts, working with acclaimed conductors and soloists from across the world, including its Principal Conductor, the award-winning Ryan Bancroft.

The orchestra is committed to working in partnership with community groups and charities, taking music out of the concert hall and into settings such as schools and hospitals to enable others to experience and be empowered by music. It undertakes workshops, concerts and side-by-side performances to inspire and encourage the next generation of performers, composers and arts leaders, and welcomes thousands of young people and community members annually through its outreach and education projects.

BBC NOW performs annually at the BBC Proms and biennially at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, and its concerts can be heard regularly across the BBC – on Radio 3, Radio Wales and Radio Cymru. On screen, music performed by BBC NOW can be heard widely across the BBC and other global channels, including the soundtrack and theme tune for Doctor Who, Planet Earth III, Prehistoric Planet, The Pact and Children in Need.

Based at BBC Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff Bay, BBC NOW utilises a state-of-the-art recording studio with a camera system for livestreams and TV broadcasts to bring BBC NOW’s music to a broader audience across Wales and the world. For more information about BBC NOW please visit bbc.co.uk/now

BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Patron
HM King Charles III ^{KG KT PC GCB}
Principal Conductor
Ryan Bancroft
PrincipalGuest Conductor
Jaime Martín
Composer-in-Association
Gavin Higgins

First Violins
Martin Gwilym-Jones guest leader
Gwenllian Hâf MacDonald
Terry Porteus 
Suzanne Casey 
Alejandro Trigo
Carmel Barber 
Anna Cleworth
Žanete Uškāne
Kerry Gordon-Smith 
Emilie Godden 
Ruth Heney **
Gary George-Veale

Second Violins
Kirsty Lovie # 
Sheila Smith
Michael Topping
Beverley Wescott
Lydia Caines **
Vickie Ringguth
Roussanka Karatchivieva
Joseph Williams
Jane Sinclair
Anna Szabo
Eleanor Gilchrist

Violas
Tetsuumi Nagata
Laura Sinnerton 
Robert Gibbons
Mungo Everett-Jordan
Anna Growns 
Catherine Palmer
Dáire Roberts

Cellos
Jennifer Langridge ‡
Raphael Lang
Sandy Bartai
Alistair Howes
Rachel Ford
Keith Hewitt

Double Basses
David Stark *
Alexander Jones #
Emma Prince
Ben Havinden-Williams

Flutes
Matthew Featherstone *
John Hall †
Lindsey Ellis

Piccolo
Lindsey Ellis †

Oboes
Steve Hudson *
Amy McKean 

Cor anglais
Amy McKean †

Clarinets
Nicholas Carpenter *
Lenny Sayers +**

Bass Clarinet
Lenny Sayers †+**

Bassoons
Jarosław Augustyniak *
David Buckland

Contrabassoon
David Buckland †

Horns
Tim Thorpe *
Flora Bain
Isabella Ward-Ackland 
John Davy

Trumpets
Corey Morris †
Robert Samuel

Trombones
Donal Bannister *
Dafydd Thomas †

Bass Trombone
Darren Smith †

Tuba
Ramon Branch

Timpani
Phil Hughes

Percussion
Harry Lovell-Jones

* Section Principal
† Principal
‡ Guest Principal
# Assistant String Principal

The list of players was correct at the time of publication

Director Lisa Tregale
Head of Artistic Planning and ProductionGeorge Lee
Orchestra Manager Liz Williams
Assistant Orchestra Manager Nick Olsen **
Orchestra and Operations Coordinator Eleanor Hall
Orchestra Personnel ManagerKevin Myers
Orchestra Librarian Naomi Roberts **
Stage and Technical Manager Josh Mead +
Assistant Stage and Technical Manager Richie Basham
Artists and Projects Manager Victoria Massocchi **
Producer Mike Sims
Broadcast Assistant Emily Preston
SeniorAudio Supervisors Simon Smith, Andrew Smillie
Education Producer/Chorus Manager Rhonwen Jones
Education Producer Beatrice Carey
Head of Marketing and Audiences Sassy Hicks
Marketing Coordinator Amy Campbell-Nichols
Growth Marketing Coordinator Angharad Muir–Davies
Digital Producer Angus Race
Marketing Apprentice Mya Clayden
Production Business Manager Lisa Blofeld
Business Coordinator Georgia Dandy **

+ Green Team member
** Diversity & Inclusion Forum