Previous Concerts – 2013
‘European Counterpoint’
Saturday March 23rd
Venue: Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School, Performing Arts Centre, Ivanhoe
Guest Artists – Natsuko Yoshimoto | Violin and Imants Larsens | Viola
Smetana |
The Moldau |
Mozart |
Sinfonia Concertante |
Franck |
Symphony in D |
Smetana’s programmatic masterpiece, which describes the journey of the river Vltava, is the second and best known of his six symphonic poems from the setting ‘My Country’ that constitute Smetana’s grand patriotic cycle.
Sinfonia Concertante is Mozart’s crowning achievement in the field of the concerto genre. Here in an Italianate aria of heartbreaking beauty, the soloists become two operatic divas.
Franck’s grand symphony is an apotheosis of post-Wagnerian Romanticism and a fine example of a work concerned with thematic transformation and cyclicism
‘Trumpet Glory’
Saturday June 29th & Sunday June 30th
Venue: Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School, Performing Arts Centre, Ivanhoe
Guest Artist – Tristram Williams | Trumpet
Piazzola |
Tangazo |
Liebermann |
Trumpet Concerto – Australian Premier |
Hummel |
Trumpet Concerto |
Holst |
A Somerset Rhapsody |
Rachmaninov |
Waltz from ‘Symphonic Dances’ |
Piazzolla’s oeuvre revolutionised the traditional and conservative tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music. In Tangazo, Piazzolla’s trademark string scrapes and glissandi gives the dance an air of erotic menace.
Liebermann’s Trumpet Concerto (an Australian premiere), is a masterful work of neo-romanticism that balances bravura and gorgeous musical ideas. Hummel, a student of Mozart, takes the modified trumpet on a journey of idiomatic figuration and harmonic adventure.
A Somerset Rhapsody conjures up images of a pastoral country becoming filled with human activities and Rachmaninov’s Waltz, from his Symphonic Dances sets a decidedly nocturnal scene, but with a sense of fantasy.
‘The Music Makers’
Saturday September 14th & Sunday September 15th
Venue: Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School, Performing Arts Centre, Ivanhoe
Guest Artist – The Ashton Smith Singers
Elgar |
The Music Makers |
Mozart |
Symphony No.40 |
Keillor |
The Young Lutheran’s Guide to the Orchestra |
In The Music Makers, Elgar took his libretto from a poem by Arthur O’Shaunessey, whose works, in the late 19th century, were then fashionable. Elgar includes quotations from a number of his earlier works: The Enigma Variations, Sea Pictures, The Dream of Gerontius, and both symphonies, leading listeners to feel that this work is familiar, rich and fervent.
Mozart’s ‘great’ Symphony No. 40 transports the listener with an astounding display of athletic chromaticism, mellow relaxation and a profusion of enchanting melodies.
Keillor’s work, entitled ‘The Young Lutheran’s Guide to the Orchestra’, pokes fun at each orchestral instrument, exploring reasons why most are unsuitable for a Lutheran, who might be considering a career as a musician.
‘Fanfare for the Common Man’
Saturday December 7th
Venue: Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School, Performing Arts Centre, Ivanhoe
Guest Artist – Jody Fisher | Guitar
Coates |
The Three Bears Phantasy |
Rodrigo |
Fantasia para un Gentilhombre |
Arnold |
Serenade for Guitar and Strings |
Copland |
Symphony No. 3 |
Eric Coates natural melodic gift earned him a reputation as a composer of light music and was a highly successful composer of film music. His Three Bears Phantasy was dedicated to his son as a fourth birthday present.
Joaquin Rodrigo was an indefatigable champion of the music of his native Spain. Rodrigo composed the concerto at the request of guitar virtuoso Andres Segovia, who was evidently the ‘Gentleman’ referenced in the title.
Copland’s Third Symphony is regarded as one of the most significant and demanding in the orchestral genre. His ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ is one of his best-known works and Copland chose to insert the fanfare into the last movement of this Symphony.