Principal Player Focus: John Constable

John Constable, the London Sinfonietta’s Principal pianist and YouTube clip enthusiast is March’s featured Principal player.

When did you realise you wanted a career in music?

John Constable, London Sinfonietta Principal pianist

At school.  All I ever wanted to do was to play the piano and listen to music.

 What was the first recording you bought?

I don’t remember the first recording I bought myself but I well remember two that I was given by my parents; Artur Schnabel playing Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto and Victoria de los Angeles singing The Maiden and the Nightingale by Granados.

 What piece of new music changed you?

The Whale by John Tavener, the first piece I played with the London Sinfonietta which started me on this fantastic journey with my marvellous colleagues.

 What piece of music brings a smile to your face when you see it on your music stand?

Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro.

 What has been your favourite London Sinfonietta experience?

There have been so many marvellous experiences that it is impossible to pick just one! I suppose it has to be a tie between our first ever tour of Europe with Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio and David Atherton and our performances of the Quartet for the End of Time in the Italian Chapel on Orkney in a building built by Italian prisoners of war and so close to Scapa Flow.

 What is perfection?

Something which every performer aspires to but knows they well never reach.  There is always something more one could have done with the music.

 What is your most valued posession?

Something which is not a posession at all. My family.

 And finally, which London Sinfonietta concert are you most looking forward to in 2012?

It has to be In Portrait: Harrison Birtwistle on 24 May.  Harrison Birtwistle has been such a central part of our concert giving from very early days and the concert will be conducted by David Atherton, our founder!

John’s next performance with the London Sinfonietta will be on Friday 23 March in Glasgow where we’ll be perfoming a double-bill as part of the Minimal Extreme Festival.  Click here for more details.

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Principal Player Focus: Joan Atherton

Joan Atherton, London Sinfonietta Principal second violin

In our second Principal Player Focus, the London Sinfonietta’s Principal second violinist Joan Atherton tells us about touring to the Arctic Circle, her most valued possession and which London Sinfonietta concert she’s most looking forward to in 2012…

What was the first recording you bought?

When I was ten I received a record token for Christmas.  I chose Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite (attracted by the pretty cover) and would spend many hours dancing to the music.

What has been your favourite London Sinfonietta experience?

It’s difficult to pick one just one because there have been numerous good ones. I particularly enjoyed a ten day tour of Norway in January 1994, when we went to many places including the Arctic Circle.  Everywhere we played the local people were so hospitable and the landscape at that time of year was breathtaking; the sky exhibiting different shades of blue and turquoise.  I enjoyed the tour so much that I chose to go back the following year with my two daughters on our annual skiing holiday.

When did you realise you wanted a career in music?

I was about twelve, but at that stage I wasn’t sure in which direction I would go.  I loved singing, playing the piano accompanying my friends and adored orchestral playing and chamber music.

Who or what inspires you?

My late father, who taught me the piano, was a great mentor.  Today, I’m inspired by my wonderful colleagues.

Who would play you in a film of your life?

Meryl Streep

What is your most valued possession?

My Italian violin (Mantegatia) made in Milan in 1764.  I once accidentally left it in a restaurant in Basel and was distraught when I realised.  Fortunately, when we returned, the violin was where I’d left it.

And finally, which London Sinfonietta concert are you most looking forward to in 2012?

I’m looking forward to In Portrait: Harrison Birtwistle on Thursday 24 May at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, when we’ll perform Cortege.  We have challenging solos to play and the piece, which was written for us, has become like an old friend.  It’s also an opportunity for me to catch up with my brother David who will be conducting the rest of the concert.

Joan Atherton’s next performance with the London Sinfonietta will be in Wolfgang Rihm at 60, on Tuesday 24 January.

Principal Player Focus: Mark van de Wiel

London Sinfonietta Principal clarinettist, Mark van de Wiel

Over the coming months we’ll be profiling a selection of the London Sinfonietta Principal players, giving you the chance to learn a little more about the people you watch on stage at our concerts.  This month, Principal clarinettist Mark van de Wiel tells us about his favourite London Sinfonietta experience, what piece of music makes him smile, and what inspires him…

What was the first recording you bought?

I can’t remember that, but I can remember the first recordings I listened to as a child on LP’s belonging to my father, of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, and Mahler’s First Symphony.

What has been your favourite London Sinfonietta experience?

Our week in Sydney during January 2003 when we started out with lunch for the whole group at Doyle’s fish restaurant on Watsons Bay and played a wide range of repertoire in the Sydney Opera House over three concerts, was very special.  However, playing Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time in the Italian Chapel on Orkney a few years ago was probably the most special of all. We played this very emotional piece twice, at 10 pm and then 11.15 pm, I think, emerging after midnight- and it was still daylight.  An amazing experience!

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve been asked to do in a musical work?

To sing down the clarinet while its bell rested on top of a timpani, adjusting the angle of the bell and making fast pedal changes to the drum with my right foot, all at the same time, in Vinko Globokar’s Dedoublement.

What piece of music brings a smile to your face when you see it on your music stand?

Ligeti’s Piano Concerto. It’s very difficult, but great fun and exhilarating to play- and I know that my trying to negotiate the ocarina solo (which the clarinettist is required to play) will always amuse my colleagues….

Who or what inspires you?

My colleagues and my students.

What piece of new music changed you?

Ablauf, by Magnus Lindberg, for clarinet and two bass drums. It was the first piece I performed with extensive use of such techniques as multiphonics, quarter tones, and simultaneous singing and playing, and encouraged me to make this type of music a major part of my career.

Who would play you in a film of your life?

It would have to be myself. Nobody else would accept the part.

And finally, which London Sinfonietta concert are you most looking forward to in 2012?

In Portrait: Harrison Birtwistle, on 24 May, which contains so much great music, including Cortege, which was written for us, and the marvellous Five Distances for Five instruments, for wind quintet.

Mark van de Wiel’s next performance with the London Sinfonietta will be in Wolfgang Rihm at 60, on Tuesday 24 January.

Developing the Double Bass Concerto

Enno Senft, soloist in the world premiere of Dai Fujikura’s Double Bass Concerto on 5 November, talks about his close involvement in its composition.

Enno Senft and Dai Fujikura in rehearsal (image © Briony Campbell)

The Double Bass Concerto grew out of a close collaboration between Dai and I.  After  performing two of Dai’s  challenging ensemble pieces, Fifth Station and Blue Sky Falling, I was excited as well as daunted by the idea of him writing a bass concerto for me. We met at my house looking for inspiration for Dai’s creative mind. I first freely demonstrated the instrument’s more conventional characteristics- its timbre, resonance, harmonics, gentle dynamics, and colours in the middle register.  Then I moved to more experimental, extended techniques, for example treating the bass like a big guitar  (many taxi driver’s preferred description of the bass!), using arpeggio chords, fast tremolo and slap effects.

Dai’s lateral approach to the instrument encouraged me to get carried away with suggestions like changing the tuning of the instrument altogether, extreme tremolo effects on high treble harmonics (imitating an electric guitar) and playing both parts of the stopped string. I forgot in this process that Dai videoed all of this, but certainly remembered when the score of his first preliminary solo piece ES  landed on my music stand! This piece introduced many of the ideas that later became the material for the Double Bass Concerto.  Now I faced unprecedented technical challenges, partly brought about by myself!

Subsequently, we worked closely together to find realistic solutions which make musical sense and fit with Dai’s aesthetic language.  In some ways, the new techniques used in the Double Bass Concerto has meant that learning the concerto has been like learning a new instrument.

I believe that Dai has created a truly innovative concerto that tells its own story and well as realising the full potential of the solo double bass.

Enno Senft, London Sinfonietta Principal double bass

Click here to hear extracts of Enno and the London Sinfonietta rehearsing the Double Bass Concerto.