| Noël! Noël! |  |
Celebrate the true spirit of Christmas with this unique and joyful concert experience
Featuring the Brandenburg Choir and Orchestra
"[The Brandenburg Choir is] one of the finest choruses one could put together in this town."
The Sydney Morning Herald
A heart-warming program of Christmas-inspired music from across five centuries which includes both familiar favourites and rarely performed delights.
Bringing it all to life is the Orchestra and the hand-picked Brandenburg Choir. A very special time to share with the ones you love.
Although the Noël! Noël! concerts are not available as part of Brandenburg Season 2006, if you are a subscriber you may purchase as many tickets as you wish for the three City Recital Hall Angel Place concerts at the special price of $59.50 (that’s a generous saving on the A Reserve single ticket price).
Program
| Gauntlett Plainchant Hildegard von Bingen Handl Sammartini Fernandez Corelli Palestrina Vivaldi A Christmas reading Carols Gruber Carol |
Once in royal David's City Hodie Christus natus est Columba aspexit Resonet in laudibus Pastorale from "Christmas" Concerto Alma redemptoris mater Movements from "Christmas" Concerto Alma redemptoris mater Concerto for lute in D major, RV 93 Quelle est cette odeur agréable? It came upon the midnight clear Christmas Night The Coventry Carol Stille Nacht O come all ye faithful |
| Classic 100 Mozart | |
To celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, ABC Classic FM, in association with the
Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, put that question to the nation's music lovers earlier this year.
From a movement from a symphony to an aria from an opera, a section of a quartet or part of a mass,
the votes came flooding in and now the results from the survey have been used to compile The Classic
100 Mozart - the definitive guide to the nation's favourite 100 Mozart moments.
Don't miss the opportunity to be part of musical history when the top Mozart moments will be revealed for the first time this November by the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra in a live concert to be broadcast nationwide by ABC Classic FM from the stage of the City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney.
Join the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, ABC Classic FM presenters and special guests for an unforgettable concert experience as we count down to Australia's most favourite Mozart moment.
BRANDENBURG SERIES 2006, Concert 5
| Mozart Triple Forte | |
Director and soloist, fortepiano Paul Dyer
Guest soloists, fortepiano, Neal Peres da Costa and David Blunden
Soloist, baroque double bass, Kirsty McCahon
"Dyer’s extreme sensitivity coloured almost every aspect of the performance... an effervescence that transcended"
The Courier Mail
| Mozart | Concerto No 7 for three fortepianos in F, K242 |
| Dittersdorf | Concerto No 2 for double bass in D |
| Mozart | Rondo for solo fortepiano in A minor, K511 |
| Mozart | Symphony No 40 in G minor, K550 |
The joy, the spirit and the grandeur of Mozart
Join us as we mark a very special moment in our history, with a concert to honour the birth of Mozart and the debut of our own, specially commissioned fortepiano – an exact copy of Mozart’s own Viennese instrument.
The opening concerto for three fortepianos and orchestra will see the City Recital Hall stage overflowing with musicians in a riot of fun, dazzling keyboard interplay and youthful imagination.
The Rondo in A minor is a poignant, melancholy and stirring piece, full of gentle lyricism. Paul Dyer dedicates this solo performance to the generous donors of our new instrument, Dr John and Mrs Mary Holt.
Mozart’s most famous symphony No 40 never fails to grip audiences with it’s dark, swirling first movement and grows from there into a work of great emotional power and intensity. And in his rarely performed concerto for double bass, Dittersdorf takes a usually unobtrusive instrument and creates a vivacious work of surprising lyrical beauty.
| Ensemble 2 - Classical Chamber Nights | |
Inspired by the beautiful chamber music of the Classical period
(Quintet for Classical Clarinet) is perhaps the most perfect piece of chamber music ever written and one of Mozart's finest inspirations.
The Australian Brandenburg Ensemble celebrates the Mozart year 2006 with some of the most beautiful chamber music of the Classical period, ranging from Mozart, the supreme composer of the Classical period, to the elegant Boccherini who was born before Mozart but died after him, and a rarely heard early quartet by Rossini, the greatest Italian composer of the early nineteenth century. When we think of Mozart and Rossini we think of operas - The Marriage of Figaro, The Barber of Seville - and in the case of Mozart, the symphonies and concertos written on a grand scale. This program showcases some of their more intimate music with soloists from the orchestra on instruments from the period - fortepiano, flute, strings and clarinet.
Boccherini's Quintet in E minor for fortepiano was written at the very end of the eighteenth century, in 1799. Always highly individual, Boccherini's filigree writing, full of charm with occasional sudden fiery outbursts is perfectly suited to the translucent sound of the fortepiano, still a relatively new instrument at that time.
For Rossini, Mozart was 'the admiration of my youth, the desperation of my mature years, the consolation of my old age'. This string quartet was one of six written in 1804 when Rossini - a child prodigy like his hero, Mozart - was only twelve years old. Sparkling and melodic, the unusual texture with separate parts given to the cello and double bass allows both instruments to shine.
Two Mozart works take us from his early maturity in 1777 with the Flute Quartet K285, famous for its poetic middle movement, to the period of complete mastery at the end of his short life. His magnificent Clarinet Quintet was composed when he was at the height of his powers, in 1789, for the sonorous basset clarinet, a normal clarinet with extra notes at the bottom of its range. It is perhaps the most perfect piece of chamber music ever written and one of Mozart's finest inspirations.
Program
| Boccherini | Fortepiano Quintet in E minor G.415 Op 57 No 3 |
| Mozart | Flute Quartet in D Major K285 Clarinet Quintet in A Major K581 |
| Rossini | String Sonata No 2 in A Major |
Players
Lucinda Moon, violin
Ben Dollman, violin
Shelley Jamison, viola
Jamie Hey, cello
Kirsty McCahon, bass
Melissa Farrow, flute
Craig Hill, clarinet
Paul Dyer, fortepiano
For Sydney performances, your ticket includes the performance and a complimentary drink at interval. Musicologist Alan Maddox, will also provide an on-stage music discussion during the performance.
BRANDENBURG SERIES 2006, Concert 4
| Handel’s Heroes | |
Guest soloist, soprano Hélène Guilmette (Canada)
Guest soloist, baroque harp Marshall McGuire
"Marshall McGuire... is plainly a musician of exceptional imagination and flair"
The Times London
| Handel | Arrival of the Queen of Sheba from Solomon, HWV 67 |
| Handel | Aria: Non disperar from the Opera Julius Caesar |
| Handel | Aria: V'adoro pupille from the Opera Julius Caesar |
| Handel | Concerto Grosso Op 6 No 6 HWV 324 |
| Handel | Recit and Aria: E pur cosi… Piangerò la sorte mià from the Opera Julius Ceasar |
| INTERVAL | |
| Handel | Concerto Grosso Op 6 No 5 in D Major HWV 323 |
| Handel | Aria: Sweet Bird from L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato |
| Handel | Harp Concerto Op 4 No 6 |
| Handel | Aria: Tornami a Vagheggiar from the Opera Alcina |
Handel at the height of his powers
Handel’s operas and oratorios are full of complex, compelling characters and grand, heroic emotions – jealousy, seduction, rage, revenge and loss.
Also featured are two of Handel’s glorious opus 6 Concerti Grossi and his tender, exquisite Harp Concerto – pieces which demonstrate an equal mastery of instrumental music.
BRANDENBURG SERIES 2006, Concert 3
| The Brandenburgs | |
"The real star was the ABO itself"
The Australian
| Bach | Brandenburg Concerto No 6 in B flat, BWV 1051 |
| Bach | Brandenburg Concerto No 5 in D, BWV 1050 |
| Bach | Brandenburg Concerto No 3 in G, BWV 1048 |
| Bach | Brandenburg Concerto No 1 in F, BWV 1046 |
Be inspired by four famous concertos from the Master, JS Bach
Paul Dyer’s passion for these incredible concertos – masterpieces of invention, where every musician on stage is effectively a soloist – inspired him to create the Brandenburg Orchestra.
Concerto No 6: a rich, sumptuous piece utilising only low strings, brilliantly woven into velvet textures, restless canons, extended passages of incredible virtuosity and finally, a spirited dance.
Concerto No 5: the first harpsichord concerto, featuring fiendishly difficult, whirlwind passages of cascading sound and gorgeous flute and violin melodies.
Concerto No 3: a dazzling dance for strings that brims with exhilaration and zest for life; alive with a rush of sounds and textures.
Concerto No 1: a grand finale rich in tonal colours; the brashness of hunting horns, exquisite solo passages for violin and oboe which leap from the stage, culminating in a jubilant, euphoric third movement.
| Kincoppal Concert | |
The Brandenburg Ensemble in Concert in the chapel at Kincoppal - Rose Bay, School of the Sacred Heart.
Concert Details:
Sun 18 June at 6pm
Drinks on the Harbour Terrace from 5pm
Bookings / enquiries:
Trish Burns 0411 85 65 45 | Therese Robinson 9371 7373
Program
| Purcell | Incidental music from "Indian Queen" & "King Arthur" |
| Marais | Pièces en trio Suite no 5 in E minor |
| Torelli | Sonata for Trumpet Strings and Continuo in D Major |
| INTERVAL | |
| Telemann | Paris Quartet No 2 in a minor |
| Boccherini | Quintet for Guitar and Strings no 1 in D minor, G445 |
| Boccherini | Quintet for Flute and Strings in D major, Op17 no1 G419 |
| Ensemble 1 - Theatrical Baroque | |
Inspired by the music of the London theatre
One moment Purcell's music is full of startling harmonic changes and daring chromaticism, at another breezy and tuneful.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries London was a magnet for European musicians keen to compose and perform for its rich and influential citizens. The restoration of the monarchy in 1660 with the hedonistic King Charles II brought an explosion of musical opportunities. London audiences flocked to the theatre after the Puritan ban on stage plays was lifted, and although they were not keen on opera they expected to hear a lot of music - overtures ('curtain tunes'), dances, entr'actes, songs, and airs. It heightened the mood and added to the drama, but much of the incidental music was there purely to entertain. This program captures the flavour of London's theatrical life towards the end of the seventeenth century, beginning and ending with arguably the greatest homegrown English composer, Henry Purcell. Much of his best work was in the incidental pieces he wrote for plays. At one moment his music is full of startling harmonic changes and daring chromaticism, at another breezy and tuneful.
These examples of Purcell's incidental music, as well as the famous 'storm' music from The Tempest by Matthew Locke, feature various combinations of instruments from the Brandenburg Ensemble players and contrast with some seldom heard chamber music by Baroque composers active in London's theatre scene. We hear Handel's rival, the famous opera composer Giovanni Battista Bononcini, in more intimate mode with a sinfonia for strings from 1687. Gottfried Finger was Purcell's exact contemporary and was influential in introducing to England the ensemble sonata for unusual combinations of instruments. The Fantasia, for strings without basso continuo, was one of the leading forms of English chamber music throughout the seventeenth century and this programme includes two by Purcell for violins, viola da gamba and cello.
Program
| Purcell | Overture from Timon of Athens Aire in D minor from King Arthur Curtain Tune from Timon of Athens Symphony from King Arthur Aire in G Minor from Abdelazer Aire and Jigg in G Major from The Gordion Knot Unty'd Trumpet Tune from The Indian Queen Fantasias Nos VII and IX Overture from Bonduca Trumpet Tune from King Arthur Slow Aire & Aire from The Virtuous Wife Trumpet Tune from The Indian Queen Chacone from The Fairy Queen Trumpet Tune from King Arthur |
| Bononcini | Sinfonia in C Major from Sinfonie da chiesa a quattro Op 5 No 1 |
| Finger | Sonata in C for trumpet, oboe and violin |
| Rosenmüller | Sonata in E minor |
| Locke | Curtain Tune from The Tempest |
Players
Lucinda Moon, violin
Ben Dollman, violin
Shelley Jamison, viola
Jamie Hey, cello
Anthea Cottee, gamba
Kirsty McCahon, bass
Kirsten Barry, oboe
Leanne Sullivan, trumpet
Tommie Andersson, theorbo/guitar
Paul Dyer, harpsichord
BRANDENBURG SERIES 2006, Concert 2
| Sublime Baroque | |
Guest director and soloist, baroque oboe Alfredo Bernardini (Italy) Soloist, baroque viola Monique O’Dea
"Baroque instrumental bliss"
The Sydney Morning Herald
| Corelli | Concerto Grosso in D, Op 6 No 4: historical reconstruction of colla parte scoring for strings, wind and brass |
| Albinoni | Oboe Concerto in D minor, Op 9 No 2 |
| Telemann | Viola Concerto in G |
| Brescianello | Chaconne in A major |
| Handel | Concerto Grosso in B flat, Op 6 No 7, HWV 325 |
| Bach | Orchestral Suite No 4 in D, BWV 1069 |
The dazzling rhythms and exquisite harmonies of the late baroque masters
Alfredo Bernardini is an artist at the forefront of a new generation. His rebellious, innovative and cutting-edge style is sure to cause a sensation when matched with the Orchestra’s own prodigious talents.
Corelli’s Concerto Grosso Op 6 No 4 is a gorgeous, fiery work, which, for the first time in Australia, will blaze into life with the addition of trumpets, oboes and bassoons.
Telemann’s concerto for Viola explores the rich, mellow expressiveness and sparkling virtuosity of this rarely featured instrument. And the famous slow movement from Albinoni’s Oboe Concerto never fails to instil in audiences a sense of wonder and spiritual calm.
As a grand finale, we present Bach’s stirring Suite No 4 – a marvellously expansive work, brimming with dazzling rhythms and ravishing textures and culminating in a climax of unabashed joy.
BRANDENBURG SERIES 2006, Concert 1
| Magnificent Mozart | |
Featuring the Brandenburg Choir & Soloists with the boy trebles of St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney
"[The Brandenburg Choir is] one of the finest choruses one could put together in this town"
The Sydney Morning Herald
"Performances never less than joyous and decidedly rapturous"
The Sydney Morning Herald
Mozart Laudate dominum from Vesperae solennes de confessore, K339
Mozart Symphony No 41 in C, Jupiter, K551
Mozart Coronation Mass in C, K317
Mozart Ave verum corpus, K618
Four stunning masterworks celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth
Mozart’s Laudate dominum and Coronation Mass are both imbued with the same exquisite, floating lyricism and sense of human drama that fill his sublime operas. They masterfully intertwine the earthly and the divine, touching intimacy and grand choral spectacle.
Written six months before his death, the Ave verum corpus is not only a transcendent flow of sound, pathos and melancholy, but also an intense expression of Mozart’s own religious beliefs.
And the superb Jupiter Symphony is a reminder of Mozart’s incredible intellectual power and capacity for musical invention. It is a towering, triumphant and highly influential work which represents the pinnacle of Mozart’s symphonic compositions.