LSO Discovery

1. Theme
2. Oration
3. March
4. Exercises
5. Commination
6. Chorale
7. Waltz
8. Polka
9. Resolution

Benjamin Britten was born into an ordinary family in Lowestoft in 1913. His father was a dentist and his mother a gifted amateur musician. After lessons with leading British composer Frank Bridge, Britten gained a place at the Royal College of Music and immediately started to make a name for himself.

The Temporal Variations were written for a concert of new music in December 1936. The first performance perhaps suffered from being under-rehearsed; Britten had only finished the score three days previously and the piano part was still in sketch form. The work was then put away for revision and promptly forgotten about until after Britten’s death 40 years later.

After a statement of the theme there are eight variations in an array of contrasting styles. Far from being a light early work, the variations are now seen by some as a powerful anti-war statement.

_{Note by Rachel Leach}

Yusef Lateef was born in Chatanooga. At the age of five his family moved to Detroit and Yusef, then called William, found himself surrounded by jazz. He took up the tenor saxophone and flute and by the age of 18 was making a living playing in swing bands.

In 1949 he toured with Dizzy Gillespie and began studies in composition at Wayne State University. Around this time he also converted to Islam and changed his name.

His profile and fame grew steadily from then onwards; he began playing many other woodwind instruments including oboe and bassoon (unusual for a jazz musician) and Eastern instruments such as Chinese wooden flutes, koto and arghul.

Subsequently his compositions started to take on a more Eastern flavour and he began to be described as ‘the first world musician’ or a ‘new age composer’. His core influences, however were always rooted in jazz.

_{Note by Rachel Leach}

Mozart is now considered to be one of the greatest composers who ever lived and the central figure of the classical period. He was born in 1756 and found fame early on when his father, Leopold, a composer and music teacher, recognised his son’s amazing musical gifts. Mozart wrote his first pieces at the age of five, his first symphony at eight and an opera aged eleven. At around 17 he got a job as court composer in Salzburg and started producing music on a daily basis.

Mozart wrote violin sonatas throughout his early life and transformed the humble format. This one (performed today as an arrangement for oboe and piano) was written in 1779 whilst the composer was still in Salzburg. It features the expected three movements (fast, slow, fast) but from the very beginning there is more equality between the players than usual and a huge variety of melodic and rhythmic invention throughout.

_{Note by Rachel Leach}