New Zealand Symphony Orchestra present
NZSO Soloists
Vesa-Matti Leppänen director
TELEMANN Burlesque de Don Quixotte
SALLINEN Some Aspects of Peltoniemi Hintrik’s Funeral March (arr. for string orchestra)
GRIEG Two Norwegian Melodies
FOOTE A Night Piece
SIBELIUS Impromptu
MENDELSSOHN String Symphony No.10
Presented as part of the Otago Festival of the Arts
The NZSO Soloists explore time and place in a chain of gem-like pieces for string orchestra led by Concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppänen. This is your chance to enjoy the interplay and spontaneity of your orchestra in some intimate moments.
We don’t generally think of Baroque music as being especially humourous, but Telemann is early music’s class wit. His Don Quixotte vividly depicts the adventures of the hapless knight, including the scene with the windmills.
The Scandinavian trio of Sallinen, Grieg and Sibelius have more gravitas. Sallinen rings the changes on a folk-tune funeral march in his strong and simple style. Grieg looked to folk music too, and transcribed two lyrical melodies for strings. Sibelius transformed some of his piano music into an orchestral Impromptu, maintaining a sense of spur-of-the-moment fantasy while expanding on his original.
Sibelius’ contemporary, the American composer Arthur Foote composed A Night Piece that, like Sibelius’, seems to be music drawn from thin air, an ‘impromptu’ song for the flute of Bridget Douglas. Composed in 1918, it has an art nouveau elegance and a dusky melancholy.In 1813, Felix Mendelssohn completed a set of symphonies for strings which combine the vigour of baroque music with the dancing grace of Mozart. These delightful pieces are still played with pleasure today. All this would be unsurprising, except that Mendelssohn was 12 years old when he composed them. As Beethoven noted that year, Mendelssohn showed promise!
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