Beethoven Five

Conductor: JOHN GIBBONS

Guest Leader: JULIAN LEAPER

 

Mozart - Overture - The Magic Flute

Warlock - Capriol Suite

Schumann - Komzertstuck for 4 horns

Roussel - Sinfonietta, Op. 52

Beethoven - Symphony No. 5

 

Beethoven’s mighty Fifth Symphony boasts the most famous opening in all music – four imposing notes that demand attention as we are plunged into the composer’s great musical journey from darkness to light.

 

Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute is also a journey from darkness to light wrapped within a fantastical fairytale. The brilliant overture contrasts the solemn music associated in the opera with the priesthood led by Sarastro with the flighty and energetic music associated with his nemesis the Queen of the Night.

 

Dave Lee has been principal horn with the Royal Opera House, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Michael Nyman Band. He leads the WSO horn section in Schumann’s ‘tour-de-force’ Konzertstuck.

 

Konzertstuck is a ‘tour de force’ showing off the amazing potential of the new valve-horns and exploring its entire, multi-faceted character: from military fanfares to suave cantabile writing befitting possibly the most romantic of all instruments. The finale is full of jubilant virtuosity for soloists and orchestra combined. This is truly a work that demands to be heard live in concert.

 

Peter Warlock is the pseudonym of the music critic Philip Heseltine. A pioneer of re-evaluating early music, his Capriol Suite is based on French Renaissance Dances found in Thoinot Arbeau’s Orchésographie, a manual of Renaissance dances.

The French theme continues in the short 1934 Sinfonietta for Strings by Albert Roussel, a naval officer and composer from Normandy.