Northern Chamber Orchestra with Lara Melda, piano Online, Sunday 28 February 2021 – Sunday 7 March 2021 Gioachino Rossini (1792 – 1868) - Sonata No 3 for strings in C major I Allegro II Andante III Moderato Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945) – Romanian Folk Dances Sz.56 I Joc cu bâtǎ. Allegro moderato II Brâul. Allegro III Pê-loc. Andante IV Buciumeana. Moderato V Poargǎ româneascǎ. Allegro VI Mǎrunţel. Allegro VI Mǎrunţel. Allegro vivace Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) - Piano Concerto No.27 in B-flat major, K.595 I Allegro II Larghetto III Allegro Rossini’s six string sonatas were written in Ravenna during the summer of 1804. The composer was just twelve years old and staying at the home of amateur double bass enthusiast Agostini Triossi – hence the prominent role that instrument assumes. The ease and generosity with which the melodic material unfolds in his sonatas suggest that Rossini did not have to overly exert himself to produce these marvels. Here, we play the third, in C major, which culminates in a movement marked Moderato. Here Rossini’s instructive title misleadingly conceals a basic yet dazzlingly headlong set of variations with the double bass taking a brief, one-off spotlight. During his lifetime Bartók collected and classified more than 14,000 folk melodies of Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, Croatian, Turkish, Bulgarian and North African origin. Much of his original work, produced with his friend and colleague Zoltán Kodály, took place in the years preceding World War I. After the war, the changing political map of Eastern Europe made it increasingly difficult to travel to the various ethnic regions that they found so rich in folk heritage. Bartók was particularly drawn to the Romanian folk traditions, feeling that they had been more isolated from outside influences and were therefore more authentic. He was also attracted to the variety and colours of instruments used in the music– violins, peasant flutes (panpipes), guitar and bagpipes. His Román nepi táncok, a set of seven Romanian dances, was written for piano in 1915, arranged for violin and piano the next year, and for salon orchestra in 1917. The material had been collected in 1910 and 1912 among the Romanians living in areas of what was then Hungary. Bartók’s folk dance arrangements typically do not follow the original tempos, he makes the fasts faster, and the slow ones slower. The last of Mozart’s piano concertos was composed early in 1791. Almost three years separated this from the previous ones – a somewhat unusual situation, as a new piano concerto appeared at regular intervals in Mozart’s working life. Also unusual is the content, not that it is anything but Mozart at his very best. Rather it is unexpectedly simple when compared to the dramatic gestures in the C minor, the heroics in the C major and the celebrations of the Coronation concertos. The simplicity is in the basic statements and in the relationship between soloist and orchestra: it is not a contest but a dialogue in the form of chamber music. The performers are equals sharing a musical experience on the most intimate terms. There is both sadness and serenity in the first movement’s opening; an acceptance of the inevitable, perhaps. There is also humour and, in contrast, a degree of tragedy in the sombre harmonies, but this is barely perceived. Mozart’s true feelings are below the surface of the music – the obvious is discarded in favour of the subtle: the whole work is, in fact, an enigma unresolved by the last movement’s apparent high spirits. The shadows of mortality are an ever-present background in the drama. Lara Melda, piano Lara Melda won the BBC Young Musician 2010 competition, performing Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 in the final round with Vasily Petrenko and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Cardiff. Since then, she has also performed Mozart Piano Concerto K466 and Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. [For an extended biography, please visit https://www.laramelda.co.uk/biography] The Orchestra Violin I Double Bass Nicholas Ward James Manson David Routledge Louise Latham Flute Shirley Richards Conrad Marshall Violin II Oboe Simon Gilks Rachael Clegg Sarah Whittingham Jane Evans Viola Bassoon Richard Muncey Llinos Owen Michael Dale Rachel Whibley Cello Horn Cara Berridge Naomi Atherton Barbara Grunthal Jenny Cox We would like to thank the Friends of the Northern Chamber Orchestra for their generous support of our concerts. For more information about becoming a Friend, please visit www.ncorch.co.uk/friends
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