Vasteras Sinfonietta, Simon Crawford-Phillips

Programme:
Mendelssohn - The Hebrides, Op. 26 (overture)
Tarrodi - Zephyros
Ligeti - Concert Romanesc
Dvorak - Silent Woods
Brahms - Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor, Op. 102

A programme of wind, waves and forest murmurs from Sweden’s dynamic Vasteras Sinfonietta, featuring Lawrence Power and Paul Watkins under the baton of chief conductor Simon Crawford-Phillips.

Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture is a famously vivid evocation of the surging seas around the Isle of Mull, captured by the composer in Tobermory in August 1829. The God of the west wind in Greek mythology was the spark for Andrea Tarrodi’s magical tone poem Zephyros, while Dvorak’s spell-binding Silent Woods for cello and orchestra grew from his duet series ‘From the Bohemian Forest’.

Myth and folklore remain central to the Transylvanian region where György Ligeti grew up and he recalls at the age of three hearing an alpenhorn player in the Carpathian mountains. His brilliant Concerto romanesc is infused with this sound-scape and its folk music. We end with Johannes Brahms, who retired to the mountains and lakes to compose each summer. His Double Concerto Op. 102 is a jewel in the crown of his late masterpieces, symphonic in scale, with the intimacy of chamber music.