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Morning to Evening

featuring guest cello soloist Joe Davies performing

outstanding music by Kaija Saariaho and C.P.E. Bach

with playful bookends by Joseph Haydn - his Morning and Evening Symphonies

 

12th July 2014

 

We begin with Haydn’s Symphony No. 6 ‘Le Matin’: ‘a very good place to start!'  It’s a vibrant soundtrack for the morning written at the dawn of the Classical era, and indeed the dawn of the symphony.  Haydn had just started working at the Esterházy Palace on Vienna in the spring of 1761, and was keen to impress his employer, so there are many prominent solo passages for violins, flute, bassoon, cello and double bass.

 

Cellist Joe Davies shall take centre stage in the wonderfully eccentric Concerto in A Minor by  C.P.E. Bach.  The first of his three cello concerti, it is full of infectious nervous energy in their outer movements and tender lyricism in central ones.  They were so successful that Bach made versions of this work for flute (or oboists) and even harpsichord soloists.

 

Before the concerto Joe takes on the air of a butterfly in Kaija Saariaho’s ephemeral Sept Papillons (7 butterflies).  A finish composer now working in Paris, Saariaho has recently had success with three operas in the last 15 years, the first of which - L’Amour de loin – immediately preceded this work.  Written in 2000, Sept Papillons’s short images offer an intimate examination of life on an insectile scale. 

 

The evening will come to a fitting close with more exciting Haydn – his Symphony No. 8 ‘Le Soir’.  The finale of 'Le soir' doesn't sing you to sleep (it wasn't a title Haydn used), rather it is a fantastic display of energy.

Joe Davies

cellist

Joe Davies is a London based cellist and composer with a special interest in performing contemporary music. This summer, he graduated with a double first in music from Cambridge, where his tutors included Richard Causton and Robin Holloway.

 

He is a masters student with Melissa Phelps at the Royal College of Music, where he holds a John Lewis Partnership Award. Joe's postgraduate studies are also generously supported by a Trinity College Travelling Studentship. His previous teachers include Guy Johnston and Nicholas Jones, with whom Joe studied at Chetham’s School of Music. Joe plays a 2011 Guadagnini model cello made by Robin Aitchison.

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