Programme
Fantasia (Purcell); Dies Irae *NEW WORK* (Arion Pons); Ancient Airs and Dances Suite no.3 (Respighi); Kyrie for the Solemn Mass of Easter Day *NEW WORK* (Patrick Shepherd); Lachrimae (Dowland); Palladio (Karl Jenkins)
In a departure from the orchestra’s usual programme of featuring music from a wide spectrum of musical eras, this concert limits its focus to early music and contemporary music, with the added twist of music written using, as its base, earlier music. The links between early music and the music of today may not seem entirely obvious at first glance but the intervening periods of renaissance, classical and romantic music clearly established the tonality and structure of keys which early music did not possess in the same structured way (relying on the church modes) and which atonalism and twelve-tone systems renounced. The paring back of rich extended harmonies is also a feature of minimalism. So for this concert we draw on the music at opposite ends of the development of Western music. Of course, there is a rich romanticism in the Ancient Airs and Dances Suite no. 3 by Respighi and a strongly diatonic grounding, as well as very minimalist rhythmic and melodic development, in Karl Jenkins’ Palladio. The Purcell Fantasia is a straight transcription, as are the Dowland Lachrimae except it was taken from the original lute tablature, but Arion Pons’ Dies Irae and Patrick Shepherd’s Kyrie for the Solemn Mass of Easter Day both give a modern twist to old tunes.
