wide, empty spaces (music for bansuri and piano)

Commissioned by The New World Symphony (Michael Tilson Thomas, Artistic Director) for Jack Reddick, NWS Flute Fellow 2021.
Recorded at Air Edel Studios, London

Bansuri - Jack Reddick
Piano - Toby Hession

www.tobyhession.com

wide, empty spaces

Missa Brevis (2018-2019)

wide, empty spaces (part 2)

wide, empty spaces (part 1)

The Peterborough Canticles
Commissioned by Peterborough Cathedral Old Choristers' Association.
Song of Mary 0:00 , Song of Simeon 05:14
First performance: 8 June 2024.
Tansy Castledine | conductor
Christopher Strange | organ
The Choir of Peterborough Cathedral with members of the Old Choristers' Association

The Peterborough Canticles

Recorded live at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, UK
28th November, 2017

Cambridge University Sinfonia
Toby Hession (conductor)

Mendelssohn – Symphony No. 5 in D, ‘The Reformation’, Op. 107

1.	Andante – Allegro con fuoco 
2.	Allegro vivace
3.	Andante 
4.	Andante con moto – Allegro vivace – Allegro maestoso

1830 would mark the tercentenary of the Augsburg Confession – a founding doctrine of Lutheranism, and one of the most significant documents of the Protestant Reformation. It was expected that lavish celebrations would take place across the Prussian Kingdom; yet even before the then King, Frederick William III, had announced them, the twenty-year-old Mendelssohn had decided his music would be featured. In December 1829, he began work on his ‘Reformation’ Symphony, with plans to have it finished by January 1830, leaving four months to tour before the festivities commenced in June. However, a bout of ill health (including measles contracted from his sister, Rebecka) meant that the symphony was not completed until May 1830 – too late to be included in the Augsburg Festival. Cynics have suggested that the real reasons for the young Mendelssohn’s exclusion from the festival were rooted in anti-Semitism, but fellow composer Eduard Grell had composed a more ‘conservative’ work for male chorus, which was felt to be more in line with the demands of the celebrations. 

Mendelssohn would, in fact, have to wait until 1832 to hear his work performed, it having been turned down my numerous orchestras in the interim, on the grounds of it being too ‘learned’ or, according to Larry Todd, “too protestant”. Ultimately, Mendelssohn regarded the work as a silly piece of “juvenilia”, and refused to have it re-performed. It was not until 1868 that it was heard again, some 20 years after the composer’s death. Hence, despite it being the second symphony that Mendelssohn composed, its posthumous publication is responsible for its numbering as ‘5’.

The outer movements of the work have been regarded as a commentary on the turmoil of Catholicism and the glory of Protestantism, respectively. A slow introduction, built around an ascending scale motif known as the ‘Dresden Amen’ (later employed by Richard Wagner in his 1882 opera, Parsifal), leads into a heavy, tumultuous Allegro section that gradually builds in heat and pace, reaching an almost Beethovenian climax on the verge of catastrophe. Similarly, the final movement also opens with a slow introduction, but this time we hear the Lutheran Chorale Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott – as the hymn-strains grow ever-stronger, the music bursts into a triumphant homage to Johann Sebastian Bach (the composer whose work Mendelssohn would go on to champion for much of his life). The entire symphony concludes with a striking, unison sounding of the chorale theme to finish. 

Between these two movements come a light, Ländler-type movement, showcasing the winds of the orchestra, and a slow, yearning Liede ohne Worte (‘Song without Words) – an example of Mendelssohn’s gift for writing long, spun-out melodies. This movement also incorporates the famous ‘Dresden Amen’, and makes reference to the themes of the first movement, both explicitly and subtly.

Mendelssohn - Symphony No. 5, Op. 107 - III And IV

Mendelssohn - Symphony No. 5, Op. 107 - II

Mendelssohn - Symphony No. 5, Op. 107 - I

Recorded live in the Chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge
10th February, 2018

Clare and Trinity College Music Societies
Toby Hession (conductor)

Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6 in b, ‘Pathétique’, Op. 74

1. Adagio - Allegro non troppo
2. Allegro con grazia
3. Allegro molto vivace
4. Adagio lamentoso

CCMS/TCMS • 2018 • 02/10 • Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 30 and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 'Pathétique', Op. 74

Symphony No. 6 'Pathétique', Op. 74 – II. Allegro con grazia

Symphony No. 6 'Pathétique', Op. 74 – I. Adagio — Allegro non troppo

Recorded live at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, UK
25th November, 2017

Cambridge University Sinfonia
Adelaide Yue (piano')
Toby Hession (conductor)

Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 3 in c, Op. 37

1. Allegro con brio
2. Largo
3. Rondo (Allegro)

Musicologists continue to be uncertain about the year in which Beethoven composed his Third Piano Concerto. Whilst many agree that is was 1800, it seems strange that at its premiere, some three years later, the score remained incomplete – Beethoven’s companion, Ignaz von Seyfried, was charged with turning pages at the premiere, and remarked anecdotally that the pages were mostly blank, but for a few hieroglyph-type scrawls that served merely as clues. He later described how Beethoven laughed hysterically when he recounted his nervousness at turning blank pages… 

What is known is that the work was premiered in an enormous Beethoven marathon concert in Vienna. Two other works were given their first performances in the same concert – the Second Symphony, and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives. As if this wasn’t enough, Beethoven threw his First Symphony in too, first heard a year previously. Beethoven’s pupil, Ferdinand Ries (who would perform the Third Concerto a year later in 1804) described how the rehearsals, which began early in the morning, were shambolic. The orchestra comprised mostly amateur players, since the best players in Vienna had all been booked for a competing performance of Haydn’s The Creation the same night. By all accounts, morale was restored by the time of the concert, thanks to Beethoven’s patron, Prince Karl Lichnowsky, having treated the tired players to a feast of breads and cold meats at lunchtime. 

The Third Concerto is frequently seen as a turning point in Beethoven’s musical style, marking a gradual transition from his early, Mozartian roots to a more personal style characterized by a dark, brooding language – perhaps the Beethoven we are more familiar with. That said, this particular work still owes a lot to his great Viennese predecessor, paying clear homage to Mozart’s 24th Concerto, K. 491 (also in C minor). The opening themes of both concerti have a suspicious resemblance to one another, and Beethoven imbues much of the first movement with subtle references to the older work. Even in the cadenza, Charles Rosen has pointed out examples of ‘borrowing’ from Mozart. Yet, the movement is still highly original, filled with characteristic Beethovenian drama from the first note.

In stark contrast to the bombast with which the first movement ends, the second movement is an oasis of tranquility, set in the remote region of E Major. Most striking is the sound of muted strings, which gently resonate with the piano, before a magical, fantasia-like passage commences, featuring a tender duet for flute and bassoon. Immediately follows the lively rondo-finale – a movement that manages to be simultaneously agitated and humorous in equal measure. Beethoven seems to nod to Bach in this movement, not only in his inclusion of a brief fugue, but in his highly inventive treatment of the material – he leaves no permutation unexplored.

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 37 - III. Rondo (Allegro)

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 37 - II. Largo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMgRan7gcRs

Recorded live at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, UK
28th October, 2017

Cambridge University Sinfonia
Toby Hession (piano')
Natalia Luis Bassa (conductor)

Grieg – Piano Concerto in a, Op. 16

1. Allegro molto moderato
2. Adagio
3. Allegro moderato molto e marcato – Quasi presto – Andante maestoso

“I’m playing all the right notes – just not necessarily in the right order…”

So said Eric Morecambe of his legendary 1971 performance of the Grieg Concerto, under Maestro André Preview. And indeed, it would be difficult to write a note for this work that did not Morecambe and Wise, for it is primarily this association that accounts for the enduring popularity of the work. Yet even before this seminal performance, the Concerto had long been one of Grieg’s most popular works, with its easily-memorable themes, and rustic folk qualities.

That a tone of youthful innocence imbues the music is hardly surprising, considering that Grieg was just 24 years old when he composed the work, during a summer retreat to Søllerød, in Eastern Denmark. Despite being an excellent pianist himself, Grieg chose to work closely with pianist Edmund Neupert in shaping the solo part. It was ultimately Neupert, to whom the work is dedicated, who gave the premiere of the work in April 1869, to a warm reception. Even the great Franz Liszt, during a meeting with Grieg in Rome in 1870, spoke favourably of the work – having sight-read it perfectly in front of a large audience of musicians and critics. 

A heavy timpani roll opens the first movement, before the pianist cascades down the piano with the famous opening cadenza. The opening movement is in a watertight sonata form – a bucolic, almost pastoral main theme in A minor forms the backbone of the work (particularly in the cadenza), giving way to a more lyrical theme in C major, played first by the ‘celli (although Liszt suggested to Grieg it might sound better on the trumpet…), before the pianist gently elaborates upon it. After a particularly virtuosic cadenza, the movement ends with a gesture that resembles closely the opening.

In stark contrast with the opening movement, the second movement unfolds as a fantasia-like passage in the distant key of D-flat major. A gentle, lilting theme, again assigned to the ‘celli (and again, preferred by Liszt on the trumpet…) leads to a stoic horn call that announces the entrance of the pianist. The second movement leads directly into the third movement, which takes its point of departure from the halling – a Norwegian folk-dance. Indeed, it is perhaps in this movement that one can most clearly hear the folk-influence that dominates much of Grieg’s music – it is almost easier to imagine its themes played by a small band of fiddles, rather than a 9’ concert grand piano. The dance is never far away, even in the introspective middle section of the movement; in the end, the music has to expend its energies in a fast, vivacious scherzo coda.

Despite the view of many that Grieg’s only concerto is a work to be taken and played quite seriously, I prefer to look at this work as possessing a youthful exuberance not found in Grieg’s later piano music. The virtuosity of the later Lyrische-Stücke is of a very different sort to the flashy, at times Lisztian fireworks of the concerto, and I hope to bring across that aspect of the work.

Grieg: Piano Concerto, Op. 16 - I. Allegro molto moderato

Recorded live in the Chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge
10th February, 2018

Clare and Trinity College Music Societies
Masayuki Tayama (piano)
Toby Hession (conductor)

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 in d, Op. 30

1. Allegro ma non tanto
2. Intermezzo: Adagio
3. Finale: alla breve

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 30 - III. Finale: alla breve

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 30 - II. Intermezzo: Adagio

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 30 - I. Allegro ma non tanto

Quintet for Piano and Winds
I: Sonate (0:00)
II: Ballade (6:52)
III: Rondo (13:19)

Recorded at Clare College Cambridge, Saturday 5th May 2018

Flute: Jack Reddick
Oboe: Pip Elmer
Clarinet: John Tothill
Bassoon: Zac Moxon

Piano': Toby Hession

This work was never conceived as any sort of explicit pastiche – rather, it serves as a point of confluence between the languages and styles of several different twentieth-century composers, but in particular, four: Malcolm Arnold (1921 – 2006), Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963), Maurice Ravel (1875 – 1937), and Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 – 1975). From this list alone, it is possible to see that the piece was influenced most strongly by French music – and this becomes even more apparent upon listening. Additionally, these French pretentions are reflected in the spellings of the movement titles – Sonate, Ballade, and Rondo.

The opening movement is robust and heavy, with a generally serious outlook. Its French influence is certainly never far away (the harmony is imbued with fluctuating levels of octatonicism throughout, most prominently in the ‘development’ section), but there is also a nod towards the English folksong trope, as captured especially in the resolute peak of the first subject group. The exposition and development sections are clearly demarcated in the music, but the ‘development’ section perhaps resists playing such a typical role – less-inclined to focus on high-intensity invention, it is instead tasked with sustaining the high musical energy of the quartal codetta.

Rather than being a ‘ballad’ in the textbook poetic sense (i.e. a narrative poem of short stanzas), the second movement is simply a gentle, nostalgic song. It draws upon the etymology of the word ballade, too, from the Provençal ‘balada’, meaning ‘song to dance to’ – and is closely aligned through its lilting 12/8 meter with the Loure, a slow French-Baroque dance originating in Normandy. The Chorale is not consciously based on any pre-existing tune, but adds to the bucolic, folk-like transparency of the music; however, a very conscious tonal scheme does exist in the movement. The opening in D-flat major is followed by a new melodic idea initially in F minor; the Chorale, being in A major, leads back to a restatement of the opening in D-flat major by virtue of a pivot about C-sharp / D-flat. These three tonal regions outline an augmented triad, in which each region is separated from the other by an equal distance. Furthermore, the augmented triad can be extracted from the whole-tone scale – a characteristic mode of early-twentieth-century French music.

To call the last movement a Rondeau (with French spelling) would have been an oversight, since the term refers specifically to one of the forms fixes of fifteenth-century French poetry, and bears very particular structural connotations; Rondo is a term more common in musical usage, and universally understood. The main Rondo theme is practically a homage to the lighter side of Shostakovich, but the movement overall draws more heavily than ever on Poulenc, not just in its harmonic language but also in its patchwork-like structure. It draws together themes from both of the first two movements into a four-minute frenzy of almost unstoppable energy – only the triumphant return to the first-movement theme can succeed in curbing the tempo – and, in direct contrast to the opening movement, the Rondo is deliberately jovial, light and humorous. The return of the ‘B’ theme almost completes a sonata-rondo form – but alas, it is not to be, as at the music breaks down into a final push towards its conclusion.

Quintet for Piano and Winds (2018)

'Ye That Know The Lord is Gracious'
NEH477 (Rustington)

Music: C.H.H. Parry (1848-1918)
Words: Cyril Alington (1872-1955)

Final Verse & Descant: Toby Hession (b. 1997)

Recorded at Choral Evensong at Clare College, Cambridge
28th October 2018

NEH477 Rustington: Final Verse & Descant (arr. Hession)

Missa Brevis (2018-2019)
for Choir and Synthetic Orchestra

Gloria
Sanctus / Benedictus
Agnus Dei (soprano soloist: Lottie Greenhow)

Recorded at Clare College Cambridge, Sunday 3rd February 2019
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Graham Ross (conductor)

with heartfelt thanks to Michael Bell, Jordan Murray and Jack Reddick

to purchase score and audio material, please visit www.tobyhession.com

Agnus Dei (Missa Brevis)

Sanctus / Benedictus (Missa Brevis)

Gloria (Missa Brevis)

Triptych
for Solo Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra

I: Rhapsody (0:00)
II: Fanfare (7:57)
III: Rondo (12:32)

Recorded in the Robin Orr Recital Room, West Road Concert Hall, 14th June 2019

Clarinet: John Tothill
Conductor: Toby Hession
Clare College New Music Ensemble

Triptych (2019)

... one holy light, one heavenly flame

Text: Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)

Commissioned by Choir & Organ Magazine

Recorded at Choral Evensong in the Chapel of Clare College, Cambridge, 26th January, 2020

The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Conductor: Graham Ross
Organ: Ashley Chow

www.tobyhession.com
www.clarecollegechoir.com
www.grahamross.com

... one holy light, one heavenly flame (2019)

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4mDxfXZT_w

Auld Lang Syne (arr. Toby Hession)

Piccolo, Flute, Alto Flute, Bansuri, Shakuhachi, Clarinet | Jack Reddick
Piano', Audio Editing | Toby Hession

www.tobyhession.com

Auld Lang Syne (arr. Toby Hession)

www.tobyhession.com

Toby Hession (b. 1997) is a British conductor, collaborative pianist and composer, currently on the Music Staff of Scottish Opera. He trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (Opera School 2019-21) and is a prize-winning graduate of Clare College, Cambridge (BA 2015-18 and MPhil 2018-19). He is a proud alumnus of the Georg Solti Accademia and Chetham's School of Music.

Toby's music is published by Edition Peters, and has been recorded and performed around the world by ensembles including The King's Singers, Voces8, The Aurora Orchestra, The Phoenix Chorale, Ensemble Perspectives, The National Youth Chamber Choir of Great Britain, Inner Voices, and the Choir of Clare College Cambridge. 

For enquiries, visit www.tobyhession.com

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