LSO Discovery

Friday
Lunchtime Concert: Relaxed performance
_{Friday 26 February 2021 12.30pm}

_{Friday 26 February 2021}
LSO Discovery Lunchtime Concert

Eduard Pütz Blues for Benni
Alejandro Civilotti Solitudes (movements I, III & V)
Astor Piazzolla Tango Oblivion
Andy Akiho Karakurenai
Arvo Pärt Spiegel im Spiegel

German Clavijo viola
José Moreira double bass
Sam Walton percussion
Caroline Jaya-Ratnam piano
Rachel Leach presenter
Angie Newman BSL interpreter

This performance is broadcast live on youtube.com/lso.

Available to watch for free for 90 days from broadcast. Recorded at LSO St Luke's in COVID-19 secure conditions.

Subtitles courtesy of StageText.

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Eduard Pütz

Blues for Benni

✒️1991 ⏰5 minutes

Eduard Pütz was a German composer and music teacher. His music was often written with student performers or children in mind, and throughout his career his chief goal was to blur the lines between jazz, pop and classical music. This charming piece was written in 1991. The Benni in the title is Benjamin von Gutzeit, a jazz viola player who transcribed and arranged Pütz’s ideas for viola and piano. After a commanding introduction, the music relaxes into a gorgeous bluesy melody, which at times sounds strangely familiar. There is a bit of drama during the middle section before the smooth blues returns for the ending.

_{Note by Rachel Leach}

Alejandro Civilotti

Solitudes (movements I, III & V)

✒️2011 ⏰6 minutes

Alejandro Civilotti was born in Argentina and grew up immersed in the world of tango. His father was a tango singer, and Civilotti’s first instrument was the guitar. As a young man he played with a tango ensemble, made several recordings and toured Latin America. From 1977 onwards he began to study other forms of music and worked with one of Argentina’s greatest classical composers, Alberto Ginastera, and then the great Nadia Boulanger in Paris. His music is an eclectic mix of styles and influences, but it is also often strongly ‘Spanish’ – the country he now calls home.

_{Note by Rachel Leach}

Astor Piazzolla

Tango Oblivion

✒️1982 ⏰3 minutes

Astor Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and performer. He was born in Buenos Aires but brought up in New York City, where he began to learn the bandoneon (a type of concertina particularly popular in Argentina and Uruguay) on the urging of his homesick father.

As an adult he returned to Argentina and made a living by playing in tango bars during the night and writing ‘classical’ music during the day. After studying with the legendary Nadia Boulanger in Paris he finally committed himself fully to the tango and during the 1970s and 80s he found increasing fame for his nuevo tango style – tango mixed with jazz and classical elements. This wasn’t fully appreciated in Argentina, however, where they have a saying, 'Everything may change except the tango!'.

Oblivion is one of Piazzolla’s most popular pieces due to its inclusion in a 1984 Italian film. It is in a more traditional style than many of his 1980s works.

_{Note by Rachel Leach}

Andy Akiho

Karakurenai

✒️2007 ⏰4 minutes

Andy Akiho is an American composer and percussionist living and working in New York City. Akiho first became interested in music aged nine when his sister showed him a drum set. He went on to study at the University of South Carolina, Manhattan School of Music and now Princeton where he is currently pursuing a PhD. While at university, Akiho became fascinated with the steel pan and travelled to Trinidad, without knowing anyone there, to learn all he could about the instrument. It now features in many of his compositions including, originally, this one.

This piece is from a set of works inspired by synesthesia – the neurological condition in which information meant for one of the senses stimulates several of the other senses. Here, Akiho’s music is a musical interpretation of 'karakurenai' which is the Japanese word for ‘crimson red’.

_{Note by Rachel Leach}

Arvo Pärt

Spiegel im Spiegel

✒️1978 ⏰8 minutes

Arvo Pärt was born in Estonia and grew up with little musical contact from outside of the Soviet Union. He has created a musical movement all of his own which is often described as 'holy' or 'spiritual' minimalism. Speigel im Speigel translates as 'mirror in the mirror', and it is now one of the most famous pieces by a living composer, having been featured in many films. Pärt describes it as 'tintinnabuli', which means 'the ringing of bells', and says he focuses on a melody made from single notes of a scale accompanied by a bell-like simple harmony made from a triad (a stack of three notes pitched a third apart).

_{Note by Rachel Leach}

Artist Biographies

Germán Clavijo
^{LSO Viola}

Born in Argentina, Germán Clavijo trained with Ljerko Spiller in Buenos Aires and subsequently at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Jack Glickman and Rachel Podger.

As a chamber musician he has studied with David Takeno and members of the Vellinger, Takacs, Melos and Amadeus Quartet. He has also attended masterclasses at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. Germán was awarded the Dorothy Adams Prize and the Deutsche Bank Pyramyd Award, among others, and has participated in several chamber music festivals.

He has recorded for Classic FM and the BBC, as well as for Radio Nacional and TVE (Spain). He has worked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Opera House and the Ensemble Modern. Germán was Principal Viola of the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada and Artistic Director of the Ensemble Instrumental de Granada.

José Moreira
^{LSO Double Bass}

Born in 1995, José started playing the bass at the age of 12 with Alexandre Samardjiev and later with Manuel Rêgo. He moved to London in 2015 to study at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Luis Cabrera and Rinat Ibragimov, where he completed his bachelor degree in 2017. During the 2017/18 season, he became a member of the academy of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

José took up his position in the Double Bass section of the LSO in April 2019. During his career, he has played with orchestras such as the Royal Opera House, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra and Orquestra XXI.

Sam Walton
^{LSO Co-Principal Percussion}

Sam joined the LSO as Co-Principal Percussion in 2012. He has performed with many UK orchestras including the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, London Sinfonietta and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. As a chamber musician, Sam is a member of the Colin Currie Group, the Colin Currie Quartet and the LSO Percussion Ensemble. He is also Principal Percussion for the John Wilson Orchestra.

He has performed on various movie soundtracks including Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and plays in a variety of West End shows. He is percussion tutor for the European Union Youth Orchestra.

Caroline Jaya-Ratnam
^piano

Caroline Jaya-Ratnam read music at Cambridge University, where she held an Instrumental Award and a Choral Exhibition award. Following her Masters degree she was appointed Junior Fellow at the Royal College of Music.

Caroline is in particular demand as an accompanist. BBC Radio 3 performances include numerous In Tune broadcasts, while television appearances include accompanying international opera singers Rolando Villazon, Danielle de Niese and Bryn Terfel. She is the recipient of several national accompanist prizes and has given duo recitals at the Wigmore Hall and Royal Festival Hall. She has appeared at the BBC Proms with the London Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Orchestra, and has broadcast live as a concerto soloist from the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Caroline is a freelance repetiteur for the English National Opera and Glyndebourne. As a singer she tours with Synergy Vocals, specialising in Steve Reich. She is a Professor at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

Angie Newman
^{BSL interpreter}

Angie Newman has worked extensively across music and deaf education for many years. Her knowledge and expertise in these areas, combined with her skills as both a British Sign Language interpreter and a musician, enable her to make music more accessible to young deaf people and adults, bridging the worlds of deafness and music, something she feels passionate about.

She has worked for six successive years with the BBC interpreting family Proms, including CBeebies Proms. She works with a variety of leading orchestras in the UK, including the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and many others, interpreting for their education and community programmes.

Angie loves to relax by walking, cycling, playing the piano and violin, and practising yoga.

In today's concert, Angie will be adapting her British Sign Language interpretation to include more visual and gestural elements.