Beethoven
Symphony 9 in D Major, Opus 125 (Choral)

Beethoven’s Choral Symphony raises issues that are even vaster than those found in the Eroica and the C Minor. Its gigantic structure sets it apart from all other essays in the form, and in it Beethoven achieves an almost unique blend of seriousness, profundity and cheerfulness. Eleven years divide the Choral from the Eighth Symphony, and during this period he composed some his great masterpieces, the Missa Solemnis and the last piano sonatas. The material which forms the basis of the symphony is scattered throughout Beethoven’s notebooks and there is evidence to show that he wanted to set Schiller’s Ode to Joy as early as 1793. The first movement, allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso, begins with the nebulous musical material suggestive of the vastness of space; an emptiness that is as much spiritually lonely as it is cosmically massive. Gradually, fragments gathered from this void coalesce, the bassoons give direction to the indeterminate sense of key and the first subject emerges in a strong unison D minor. The process is repeated, but now leads to B flat in anticipation of much of the second subject material. A brief sweeping transition theme in the woodwind prepares us for music of quite a different kind. The fragmentary themes which constitute the second group are in marked contrast to the terseness of the first subject, their movement is predominantly combined and varies in mood from the consolatory to the energetically emphatic. The exposition is not defined by the customary double bar and repeat of Beethoven’s earlier symphonies. His manner of beginning the development at first leaves us in some doubt as to his intentions, fir the first subject returns in all its mystery and the matter is only clarified when the music takes a new turn through D minor to G major. We are now set on the development which concentrates on the first subject, extending and expanding its culminating phases. The climax is reached at the crucial point of contact between development and recapitulation when the first subject appears in a blazing D major. The music then proceeds on its normal course until the coda, which has the character and proportions of a second development. The mighty and tragic movement ends with a unison version of the first subject. The fugal first theme of the scherzo first appeared in Beethoven’s notebooks as early as 1815. Here he provides an eight bar introduction – built from the rhythmic figure with which the theme begins – to carry us from the tragic end of the allegro to the quiet, taut driving rhythms of the scherzo. Listen to the use Beethoven makes of silence and also the unexpected timpani entry; he always wrote deliberately and purposefully looking beyond the immediate effect, and the consequences of such events reveal themselves in due time. The five-part fugue which follows the introduction is hardly the kind of music one would expect in a scherzo, and in fact Beethoven did not so name the movement. It contains elements of the old minuet, it has a trio, uses sonata form, the material is developed and there is recapitulation. The broad C major second subject is introduced by the woodwind against the strings’ continuation of the fugal matter. In the development there are shifts of rhythm from three to four bar groups and in the recapitulation the initial fugal conception is not repeated. The trio – common time, D major – is set in motion by oboes and bassoons, with a melody of child-like simplicity. This is answered and repeated by the strings before we return to the scherzo. As it prepares us for a second return to the trio, Beethoven curtly dismisses the idea, bringing the movement to an abrupt close. The slow movement is a set of variations on two alternative themes. The first of these is a beautifully long drawn melody in B flat, the second, warmer, quieter and more homely is in D major. Each is treated in three richly ornamented variations before the trumpets rouse us, momentarily, and set us forth upon the mysteries and beauties of the calm untroubled coda. The Adagio ends in unruffled calm; the finale sets out with a fine hullabaloo from the wind, which calls forth a rebuke from the bass strings, quasi recitative. The wind breaks in again and once more comes the rebuke of the basses – not thus. Now the first themes of the previous movement are passed in review in a search for an appropriate tune for the Hymn of Joy. The opening movement is rejected as too unpleasing, the scherzo is tried and appears to be no more acceptable, only more cheerful, and, regrettably, even the adagio is thought too tender. Having rejected all as inadequate the woodwind hint at a new idea, the first premonition of the Joy theme, which the basses agree forms the basis for negotiation. Rapturously they announce the new chant and gradually the whole orchestra joins in. But a change of course returns us to the movement’s opening outburst which is answered this time by the human voice. The theme of Joy returns and becomes the subject for a set of variations which begins at once with one for the solo quartet and another for the chorus. The music then changes to a dance of Turkish character – triangle, bass drum, cymbals, grunting bassoons and articulate wind band. Two more vocal variations follow and are separated by a fugal (instrumental) episode. Next, at the words “You millions I embrace you”, Beethoven introduces a new subject which he develops with the Joy theme in a double fugue. A final exultant variation brings back the Joy theme in what is very nearly its original shape.

Joanna Burton
Soprano

Joanna Burton was born and educated in Durham. She read Modern and Medieval Languages and was a Choral Exhibitioner at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, before going on to study with Johanna Peters at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she was awarded the Sir Frederick George Painter Prize for Singers. Joanna now studies with Lillian Watson.

Joanna has trained with British Youth Opera, appearing as Elsie Maynard in The Yeomen of the Guard at The Linbury Theatre, as Diana in Orpheus in the Underworld at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro workshops with Sir Thomas Allen at The Linbury Theatre. Described by The Times as “… a fine singer and virtuoso comic actress…” in Menotti’s The Telephone, Joanna has recently performed Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Opera Holland Park, and the same role in the opera scenes at Wexford Festival Opera. She also sang the role of Zaby in Auber’s Manon Lescaut at Wexford, and was awarded the Gerard Arnhold Festival Bursary for most promising young artist. For Chelsea Opera Group she has sung Rose in Lakmé at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and she created the role of Meryl Martel in Sirius on Earth with the Almeida Opera and Aldeburgh Festival to great acclaim. With ETO Joanna has performed the roles of Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos, Adele (cover) in Die Fledermaus and last season she performed Ginevra in Ariodante. She recently made her debut with Opera North as Young lover / Il Tabarro, Playmate / Der Zwerg and Infanta / Der Zwerg (cover).

On the concert platform Joanna has sung Christmas programmes including extracts from La Bohème (Mimi) in Birmingham Symphony Hall and the Bridgewater Hall, Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate at the Greenwich Millennium Night celebrations, and the same work in a Mozart programme before the Princess Royal. She also took the title role in Handel’s Athalia in New York. She is a regular guest artist with several choirs and orchestras and, together with Ryland Angel, founded the Paris-based Queen’s Baroque Ensemble, with which she continues to perform regular solo and duet programmes of seventeenth and early eighteenth century repertoire, some of which have been recorded for international television. Her work in the early music field has also taken her to Germany, where she has performed solo Rameau cantatas as well as the roles of La Musica, La Messaggiera and Ninfa in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. Most recently Joanna was a soloist in the world premiere of Rafal Augustyn's Symphony of Hymns at the Warsaw Autumn Festival.

At the request of Dame Felicity Lott, Joanna sang at the ceremony at the French Embassy in London at which Dame Felicity was awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur, and gives regular recitals throughout the UK of Lieder, Mélodies, and British and American song.

Future plans include further work for Almeida Opera and concerts at the Royal Albert Hall.

Kathryn Turpin
Mezzo soprano

Born in Mid Wales, Kathryn Turpin read History of Art at Cambridge before studying at the Royal College of Music. She made her Royal Opera debut in January 2000 as Lady de Hautdesert Gawain and her other appearances have included Margaretha Genoveva for Garsington Opera, Mercedes Carmen for the Raymond Gubbay production at the Royal Albert Hall, Lucretia The Rape of Lucretia, and Morgan le Fay Gwyneth and the Green Knight for Music Theatre Wales, Djamileh for Les Azuriales Opera Festival, Carmen for Diva Opera, Ulisse Deidamia and Ramise Arminio for the London Handel Festival, Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro in Neuchatel, Prince Orlofsky Die Fledermaus in Stockholm, Madam Popova The Bear for L’Atelier Lyrique de Franche-Comté, and Dinah Trouble in Tahiti for The Opera Group and Opera Project.

Kathryn Turpin’s extensive concert engagements have taken her to major venues throughout the UK, Europe and the Far East working with orchestras including the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, the CBSO, Hanover Band, London Mozart Players, London Sinfonietta, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Orchestre de Besançon, Orchestre National de Lille, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of conductors such as Matthew Best, Martyn Brabbins, Richard Cooke, Peter Csaba, Elgar Howarth, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Simon Rattle and Sir David Willcocks. She has broadcast on Classic fM and Radio 3 and her recordings include Copland In the Beginning and the Duruflé Requiem with the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge.

Nicholas Sales
Tenor

Nicholas's Opera performances for 2004 include a critically acclaimed Count Almaviva The Barber of Seville for Opera North, Ramiro La Cenerentola and Belmonte Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Diva Opera (including a performance in the newly-restored Teatro La Fenice, Venice); Paolino Il Matrimonio Segreto for Les Azuriales Festival and Narciso in Rossini's Il turco in Italia for Buxton Festival.

In 2003 he played Count Almaviva The Barber of Seville and Ferrando Così Fan Tutte for The Opera Project, covered Paolino Il Matrimonio Segreto for Opera North, played Bastien in Mozart's Bastien and Bastienne and Fernando in Haydn's L'isola disabitata for English Pocket Opera, Paolino Il Matrimonio Segreto for the Les Azuriales Festival, and several of the lead tenor roles for The Carl Rosa Company's UK tours.

Other recent opera work has included Don Jose Carmen and Alfredo La Traviata for Nottingham Festival Opera; Nemorino L'elisir D'amore for Midland Music Makers Opera; Nanki-Poo in The Mikado, Colonel Fairfax in The Yeomen of the Guard and Marco in The Gondoliers and Rafe Rackstraw HMS Pinafore for The Carl Rosa Opera Company's 2002 and 2003 UK tours.

Oratorio work includes most of the lead tenor roles performing at major venues throughout the UK, most recently Handel's Messiah at The Royal Hall, Harrogate; Mendelssohn's Elijah at Ripon Cathedral, Haydn's Creation in Birmingham's Symphony Hall, and in 2004 will be singing Beethoven's Choral Symphony at Southampton's Guildhall Derby assembly Rooms and Elijah at Harrow School amongst others.

His extensive concert experience has seen him perform throughout the UK and Europe including two large-scale concerts in 2002 in which he was guest tenor with the National Festival Orchestra and Nottingham Festival Orchestra and chorus, performing the music of Mario Lanza.

He was delighted to be invited to travel to Riga, Latvia in October 2004 to sing the role of Don Ramiro for two performances of La Cenerentola with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and soloists from The Latvian National Opera. Other concert work has included a trip to Tokyo with Pavilion Opera and opera galas in Guernsey, Brussels and London, and in August 2003 he had the pleasure and privilege to meet and to sing for Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras! Forthcoming opera work includes cover, Jupiter Semele for English National Opera, cover, Gianetto La Gazza Ladra for Opera North and Tamino, Die Zauberflöte for Diva Opera.

Adrian Powter
Baritone

Born in Cambridge, Adrian Powter studied at the Royal Northern College of Music. He began his career at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and in 2000, created Philip in Harrison Birtwistle’s The Last Supper at the Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin, a production that was later presented by Glyndebourne Festival and Touring Operas and on London’s South Bank. Other roles have included Jupiter Peleus and Thetis and Lion Pyramus and Thisbe for Opera Restor’d, The Forester The Cunning Little Vixen for Surrey Opera, Guglielmo Così fan tutte for Opera Project, Figaro The Marriage of Figaro for Longborough Festival Opera, Dr Falke Die Fledermaus, Giuseppe The Gondoliers and Pish-Tush The Mikado for Carl Rosa Opera Company and Marullo Rigoletto for Mid-Wales Opera.

Concert work has seen Adrian Powter appearing throughout the UK at Blackburn, Bury St Edmunds, Canterbury, Durham, Hereford and St Davids Cathedrals and at the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, and St John’s, Smith Square as well as with the English Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. International engagements have included Zebul Jephtha with the Darmstadt Hofkapelle, Messiah with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Rome and the first performance of the orchestral version of Julian Phillips’ Swift Partitions for Muziek in de Maartenskerk in The Netherlands. His broadcasts have included Opera Works, a series of masterclasses with Dr Jonathan Miller, for BBC 2 and Friday Night is Music with Catherine Bott and the BBC Concert Orchestra for BBC Radio 2.

Adrian Powter’s future engagements include The Abbot Curlew River for the Opéra de Rouen, The Apostles at the Chichester Festivities, Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music in Porto and a Christmas Gala for the Singapore Lyric Opera as well as a wide range of concerts throughout the UK. Adrian Powter is delighted to be returning to Southampton Philharmonic Choir following his performance in the Spring Symphony earlier in the year.

David Gibson
Conductor

David Gibson began his musical training as a chorister and Lay Clerk in Chichester Cathedral Choir. As an Organ Scholar, he later studied music at the universities of London and Sussex. He has worked extensively as a pianist and organist but has been a freelance conductor for the past twelve years, working with many of the top orchestras in the country, including the Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, London Mozart Players and the New London Sinfonia, which he founded in 1987. In 1991 he was appointed Assistant Director of Music and Chorus Master of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Since then he has worked for them as Guest Conductor, performing all the major G & S works together with Die Fledermaus and Orpheus in the Underworld throughout the UK. He is currently Musical Director of the Southampton Philharmonic Society, Basingstoke Choral Society, the Occam Singers and, since 1999 the Croydon Philharmonic Choir..

In 1994 he was appointed Musical Director of European Chamber Opera and took up a similar post with Opera Holland Park in 1996. He has also conducted extensively for Travelling Opera with repertoire including Carmen, Don Giovanni, La Traviata, Rigoletto, Magic Flute, Barber of Seville, La Bohème, Tosca, Madam Butterfly and Un Ballo in Maschera, performing in Singapore, Hong Kong, France, Italy, Barbados, and the USA.

Other engagements have included a return visit to the Barbados Opera Festival, a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Philharmonia and a series of concerts with the London Mozart Players as part of their 50th Anniversary. This included a world premiere of Michael Nyman's Suite from Drowning by Numbers. David has also worked as Musical Director in the West End for Raymond Gubbay in the highly successful D’Oyly Carte production of The Pirates of Penzance at the Queen’s Theatre.

Recent successes include further concerts with the London Mozart Players, a Michael Nyman opera at the Bridewell Theatre in London and a memorable performance of Belshazzar’s Feast with the New Queens Hall Orchestra. In 2002, he took up a new post as Director of Music of the Surrey Festival Choir, founded by Vaughan Williams.

He has recently been appointed Musical Director of the British Philharmonic Orchestra, performing in major venues throughout the UK and 2003 saw the release of a debut CD with the Occam Singers. Future plans include conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the Britten War Requiem in 2005.