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TRAFALGAR 1805

Opus 25


"A marvellous piece of music"

ADMIRAL SIR ALAN WEST, GCB, DSC, ADC, FIRST SEA LORD AND CHIEF OF THE NAVAL STAFF


''One of the most enduring tributes to Nelson''

Stephen Bumfrey, THE BREAKFAST SHOW. BBC RADIO NORFOLK

'' I did try to contact you to say how much he [Sir Malcolm Arnold] enjoyed your music''

email sent 24 october 2006 by Anthony V.Day, Hon VCM

"Fully evocative of the naval victory...finely crafted...a telling climax"

Michael Drake, EASTERN DAILY PRESS


Trafalgar 1805


MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA conducted by KONSTANTIN KRIMETZ

TRAFALGAR 1805 was given its world premiere by the Norwich Philharmonic Orchestra in St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich on November 5th 2005

The scoring is as follows:

Piccolo, 2 Flutes , 2 Oboes, Cor Anglais, 2 Clarinets, Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoons, Double Bassoon, 4 Horns, 3 Trumpets (1. dbl Cornet), 3 Trombones, Tuba, Timpani, Percussion (2 players), Harp, Piano, Strings

Duration 12 mins.

The following programme note accompanies the CD ALW 001


The idea of writing an overture to celebrate the bicentennial of the Battle of Trafalgar came to me in June of 2004. I had just heard the premiere of my opera Marianne Dreams in London. Living in Norfolk as I have since 2001 it seemed a natural thing to do, and my ambition was boundless, some might say reckless - to write a modern-day 1812. The 1805 overture. It had a certain ring to it. There were a few faint-hearts who doubted that I could pull it off in time , but they didnŐt know me. Six months later , the score was finished. I was surprised to find that my new overture was the only such orchestral work of its kind. My thoughts turned inevitably to the most obvious home for the piece - the time honoured , part tongue-in-cheek, part serious festival of all things grandly British, the Last Night of the Proms.

Trafalgar 1805 is far from being the jingoistic war-horse that some have anticipated, however. There is triumph and jubilation in the closing bars, certainly, but it is a bitter-sweet joy , won through the lifeblood of one of England's most adored national heroes. To our cynical 21st century minds Nelson was a vain showman who cheated on his wife. He was also a man of immense courage, vision and personal charm, who could reduce a roomful of men to tears with the strength of his passion. That he loved and cherished Emma Hamilton is in no doubt, nor that his men wept openly on hearing of his death at the hands of a French musketeer. One can perhaps spare a moment to think of this poor man, acting for his country and his Emperor and despatched without mercy by enraged British marksmen.

The horror and cruelty of naval combat was the inspiration for a passage containing some of the most violent music I have ever written. An upward rush through strings and woodwind, three duelling high trumpets circled by boiling violin passage-work is followed by a shot , a brief silence , and then a chord expressing utter catastrophe, a cataclysm of mythic proprtions. There were a number of things in my mind here, but foremost was the image of the Santissima Trinidad, the gigantic Spanish flagship, destroyed in seconds by a deadly cannonade ,pitching, crumpling and disintegrating into matchwood . It must have been a terrible sight.

There is a programme to Trafalgar 1805, although the music is also in essence a one-movement symphony in classic sonata form. The score is marked with the following eight section headings:

1 NORFOLK

2 NIGHT WATCH

3 HEART OF OAK ( melody by William Boyce )

4 PRAYER

5 EMMA

6 ENGLAND EXPECTS...

7 BATTLE

8 DEATH AND VICTORY

My father served as a naval officer in the North Atlantic in 1940-5. He suggested that I use the popular song Hearts of Oak by Garrick and Boyce. By making it one of the work's three leading themes, and particularly in its apotheosis as a dead march, I have sought to give equal worth to the ordinary seamen whose valour, endurance and humanity towards the wounded French (many British lives were lost in brave rescue missions in the storm that followed the battle, a fact not generally known) gave Nelson the crowning victory of his short life.

I was very fortunate to have some of the finest players in the world, under the inspiring baton of Konstantin Krimetz, for this premiere recording.

Producer : Lubov Doronin Sound Engineer : Pavel Lavrenenkov .

Recording mastered at Studio 5, Moscow State Broadcasting House. Management:: Dmitri Silnitsky for iGram Entertainment



CD on sale now from Prelude Records, St. Giles, Norwich


for each CD sold 50p will be donated to Seafarers UK, formerly King George's fund for sailors.







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manuscript of Trafalgar 1805

a page of the full score of Trafalgar 1805


Links


  • Norwich Philharmonic Society

  • BBC Radio Norfolk

  • Trafalgar 200

  • SeaBritain2005