The Goldberg Ensemble with Leon McCawley
THE GOLDBERG ENSEMBLE
Director: MALCOLM LAYFIELD
Soloist: LEON McCAWLEY
(piano)
This symphony, one of three which Mozart wrote in 1774 when
he was only 18, shows a melodic invention and integrated construction
far ahead of anything written up to that time. It became and has
remained one of Mozart's most popular early compositions.
Scored for strings, oboes and horns only it shows a notable advance
in Mozart's own composing style: there is a greater intensity,
less purely decorative writing, the strings are treated with greater
wit and point and the wind with more subtlety. The opening Allegro
dispenses with any formal introduction and plunges straight into
the main matter with a theme striking in its overlapping phrases
and octave leaps. The Andante has the delicacy of chamber music
writing with the added richness of the wind, while the Minuet
is full of contrast, alternating between Mozartian grace and almost
Beethovian violence. The finale, a genuinely spirited Allegro,
contains the most dramatic development that Mozart had written
so far.
Mozart was himself especially attached to this symphony. He revived
it for performance in Vienna seven years later and reused some
of the material in one of his piano sonatas and in the Sinfonia
Concertante for violin and viola.
In 1782 Mozart wrote three piano concertos for his own subscription
concerts. The A major concerto K.414 is generally regarded as
the finest of the three. Its flow of ingratiating melody has endeared
it to performers and listeners alike. The first movement contains
three main subjects, first an elegant eight bar melody, then a
march-like theme, emphasised by pizzicato bass; the third graceful
theme is introduced by the violas.
The Andante is in D major but it is meditative in mood. It is
said to have been intended as a tribute to Mozart's former teacher,
J. C. Bach, who died in 1782. The rondo finale is a cheerful allegretto,
with a trilling first subject followed by a smooth melody, which
turns out to be the most important in the movement. After the
cadenza, the piano and strings engage in a dialogue marked by
two portentous pauses before the first subject rounds off this
charming work. Programme notes by Michael Kennedy
INTERVAL
Gerald Finzi composed the Eclogue for piano and strings in the 1920's, revised the work in 1940, but sadly was never to hear it performed in his lifetime, the first performance being given by Kathleen Long with the Kalmar Orchestra conducted by John Russell on 27th January 1957 at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Eclogue is one of several short pieces, the introit for violin and orchestra, prelude and romance for strings, whose outer movements were either destroyed or never composed. The meditative lyricism in this work creates a poignant atmosphere, which hallmarks Finzi's music.
By the time he was 20, Schubert had written five symphonies,
as well as a large number of songs, masses and other works. His
first symphony was composed in 1813 and No. 5, the last of his
early symphonies, was written in 1816 not long after he had decided
to give up his post as assistant schoolmaster, which he had not
particularly enjoyed, and to devote himself entirely to composition.
Perhaps this accounts for its generally light-hearted and joyful
character and it has become one of his most popular works. After
four introductory bars the opening Allegro is built up out of
two delightful and playful themes, with little time spent on serious
symphonic development, in the style created by Beethoven, although
Schubert admired him tremendously. It has been claimed that the
beautiful song-like Andante owes something to Schubert's precursors,
Haydn and Mozart, but the lovely melody and the unexpected harmonies
and modulations are all Schubert's own. The Minuet, a very energetic
Allegro molto, is in the minor, with a more gentle Trio in the
major. The final Allegro vivace has a delightful rondo-like theme,
which skips along full of joie de vivre and occasional touches
of humorous
bombast to a spirited finish.
Programme notes by Ruth Lachmann except where otherwise indicated.
