If your household budget doesn’t stretch to include overseas travel, don’t despair, Noosa Orchestra invites you to board a flight of musical fantasy to discover A World of Music.
The orchestra’s autumn concert is themed around the concept that travel enriches and broadens our minds.
You’ll hear three masterpieces that were composed or written abroad:
· Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante – inspired by his time in Mannheim (Germany)
· Haydn’s “The London Symphony” 104 – written while performing in London
· Schönberg’s Medley from Les Miserables – words by Victor Hugo while exiled on Guernsey Island
Mozart and Haydn were Austrian musicians and classical composers of the late 18th Century who were able to travel extensively to places such as London, Italy, Germany and France.
This gave them the freedom to broaden their musical horizons by being involved with other cultures, societies and musicians.
Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante is a new music genre that evolved from the Concerto Grosso where composers of the Baroque period wrote for a small solo group pitted against a large string ensemble.
Mozart, however, essentially composed a symphony which gives voice to a small solo group (concertante), the violin and the viola. Noosa Orchestra’s Chrissy Davis will be on violin together with Dan Williams on viola.
Chrissy describes the first movement as a conversation between the violin and the viola: one asks the question and other answers it.
“The viola has a lower tone, the most beautiful colour of sound, whereas the violin is a bit higher and brighter,” she said.
The second movement is imbued with Mozart’s grief for his mother who passed.
“It’s a very beautiful piece, it has a sombre feel to it. A lot of emotion,” Chrissy said.
The last movement offers a happy and bright conclusion.
“It’s like we’ve got past that anguish or emotion, those deep feelings, and we’re moving on.”
In addition to this ‘developed Concerto Grosso’ form, Mozart expressed new ideas gleaned from his visit to Mannheim and Paris.
Noosa Orchestra conductor Antoni Bonetti said the Baroque period had dynamic contrasts in the form of ‘terrace’ dynamics, but the Stamitz family residing in Mannheim developed the very long crescendo called the ‘Mannheim Rocket’.
According to Antoni: “Mozart uses this technique very successfully over a pedal-point with a 20-bar crescendo at the beginning of his Symphonie Concertante.”
Haydn was invited by the well-known entrepreneur Johann Peter Salomon to visit London on two occasions to perform and compose. The last of his 100 symphonies is called the London. In it he draws on folk-like melodies and effects, including imitating bagpipes; and passages that have a Turkish ‘flavour’ featuring triangles, cymbals and bass drum.
The concert concludes with a medley of seven stirring songs from one of the most popular and successful musicals of all time, Les Miserables. Be uplifted by rousing chord changes and soaring melodies. This musical piece will take the audience on a journey through the musical’s biggest and best tunes including I Dreamed A Dream, On My Own and Do You Hear The People Sing?.
EVENT DETAILS:
What: Noosa Orchestra and Ensembles presents: A World of Music
When: Saturday 20 April (Cooroy) and Sunday 28 April (Noosaville). Start time: 2.30pm.
Where: Cooroy Memorial Hall | Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Hall (Noosaville)
Tickets: Adults $35 | Students (18+) $15 | School age $10 (plus booking fee) eventbrite.com or $40 at the door (cash only).
