< World Premiere > MAX REGER : Motette „O Tod, wie bitter bist du“, Op. 110, Nr. 3 (for unaccompanied SSATB div. choir) Sunday 10 November, 1912 – Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany Kirchenchor St. Lukas, dir. Georg Stolz Edition Bote & Bock, 1912

< World Premiere > EDWARD ELGAR : Violin Concerto, Op. 61 Thursday 10 November, 1910 – Queen's Hall, London London Symphony Orchestra, cond. Edward Elgar Fritz Kreisler, Violin solo “The violin was Elgar’s own instrument and his 'Violin Concerto' is almost like a personal confession: it was ‘too emotional’, Elgar admitted, adding that he loved it nonetheless. The Spanish inscription he wrote opposite the title-page – Aquí está encerrada el alma de . . . . . (‘Here is enshrined the soul of . . . . .’) – offers an Elgarian enigma, to which the most popular solution is that the soul belonged to Alice (five letters, corresponding to the five dots) Stuart-Wortley, a friend for whom Elgar invented the name ‘Windflower’ (a wood anemone, one of the first signs of spring), which he also attached to two of the gentler themes in the opening movement. Elgar sketched a number of ideas in 1905 after reading a newspaper interview with Fritz Kreisler, in which the 30-year-old violinist said highly flattering things about Elgar’s music, and wished he would write something for violin. Elgar eventually got down to composing the concerto in earnest in 1909, and Kreisler gave the first performance at the Queen’s Hall in London on Monday 10 November, 1910, with Elgar himself conducting. Later on, Kreisler seems to have lost his initial enthusiasm for the work, made cuts, and resisted all attempts to persuade him to record it. The solo part is one of the most exhausting in the repertoire – a veritable compendium of bravura violin techniques, in which Elgar, despite all his inside knowledge, sought the help of W. H. Reed, later to become leader of the London Symphony Orchestra. Reed and Elgar (at the piano) gave a run-through to a select group of listeners before the first performance proper. Kreisler also made small suggestions that were incorporated in the published score. In his interview, Kreisler had ranked Elgar with Beethoven and Brahms. Elgar met the challenge, and his 'Violin Concerto' combines the singing quality of Beethoven’s with the symphonic drama of Brahms’s.” — Adrian Jack

< World Premiere > FERRUCCIO BUSONI : Piano Concerto, Op.39 Thursday 10 November, 1904 – Beethoven-Saal, Berlin Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, cond. Karl Muck Ferruccio Busoni, Piano solo Breitkopf & Härtel, 1906

< World Premiere > THOMAS DANIEL SCHLEE : Carnet poétique, Op.39 (for unaccompanied SATB div. choir) Tuesday 6 November, 2001 Chapelle Notre-Dame-des-Anges, Paris Ensemble Vocal Français, cond. Gilbert Martin-Bouyer Editions Henry Lemoine, 1997 Texts: from “Gabardine de l’Hymette” by Patrick Frégonara

< World Premiere > ERNST PEPPING : Der 90. Psalm (for unaccompanied SSATBB choir) Sunday 4 November, 1934 – Wuppertal, Germany Bachverein Barmen, dir. Gottfried Grote B. Schott's Söhne, Mainz, 1934 (BSS 34061)

< World Premiere > FRANK MARTIN : Messe pour double Chœur a cappella (1922) Saturday 2 November, 1963 – Hamburg, Germany Bugenhagen Kantorei, cond. Franz Brunnert Bärenreiter Verlag, 2014 (BA7594) “This mass, composed in 1922 (except for the 'Agnus Dei' which dates from 1926), was a work of my own free will, without commission or remuneration. Indeed at that time I knew of no choral conductor who could be interested in it. I never submitted it to the Society of Swiss Musicians for performance at one of their annual events. In fact I had no desire to have it performed as I was afraid it would be judged on a purely aesthetic level. As far as I was concerned it was a matter between God and myself. The same was true later on for a Christmas oratorio. I felt that religious fervour should remain private and not be influenced by public opinion. So much so that this composition remained in a drawer for forty years, included as a formality in my list of works. It was there in 1962 that the conductor of the Bugenhagen-Kantorei in Hamburg, Mr. Franz W. Brunnert, saw it mentioned and asked me to send it to him for perusal. He and his choir gave the first performance in the autumn of 1963, 41 years after it was composed. All the aforementioned shows clearly that, even though I wrote the mass for a large number of voices, it is music of an inward nature.” — Frank Martin

< World Premiere > THEA MUSGRAVE : By the River (for unaccompanied SATB div. choir) Sunday 1 November, 2020 – Snape Maltings, Suffolk National Youth Choir of Great Britain, cond. Ben Parry Text: Mary Ursala Bethell (1874-1945) Novello & Company, Ltd. 2019 (Nov297479) “Make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being.” — Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

< World Premiere > WERNER WOLF GLASER : Motette über Sprüche des Angelus Silesius (for unaccompanied SATB div. choir) Wednesday 1 November, 2006 – Tjernigov, Ukraine Dmitri Bortnjanski Chamber Choir, dir. Otfried Richter Edition Suecia, Stockholm, 1990 (SUE 367) “... In his extensive output, Glaser developed a modernist tonal language, based on his studies under Paul Hindemith. His confident handling of melody and his inspired treatment of form bear witness to the fluency of his inspiration and to his attainment of a personal style of craftsmanship. Momentum and elaboration techniques were among the guiding starts of his imagination. His distinctive characteristics also included a sense of expressionist gesture. He prefered to achieve the expressive quality of his music by short, strict means instead of allowing the tonal material to overflow. Glaser greatly valued the capacity of the musical language for conveying intensity in pared-down, controlled figures.”

< World Premiere > KALEVI AHO : Rejoicing in the Deep Waters Wednesday 1 November, 1995 – Lahti, Finland Lahti Symphony Orchestra, cond. Osmo Vänskä

< World Premiere > PETER MAXWELL DAVIES Strathclyde Concerto No. 10 : Concerto for Orchestra Wednesday 30 October, 1996 – City Hall, Glasgow, Scotland Scottish Chamber Orchestra, cond. Peter Maxwell Davies Boosey & Hawkes Ltd., 1997 (HPS 1312) "The Concerto for Orchestra ends the cycle of ten 'Strathclyde' concertos, which I have written for the principals of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra over a period of several years. It extends virtuosity to all members of the orchestra — even back-desk players find themselves suddenly spotlit, playing chords alone in the first movement." — Peter Maxwell Davies (1934–2016)