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Nielsen Symphony No. 5
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WSO at the HG Wells |
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2008/2009 Season's Highlights
In 1897, Woking
Orchestral Society was formed. The name was changed in 1972 to Woking
Symphony Orchestra, which continues to perform three main concerts plus a
family concert each year.
Our 2009-9 season
is full of exciting and adventurous repertoire almost all of which was
suggested by members of the orchestra. In November we featured the 4th
Symphony of Gustav Mahler, which contains one of his most beautiful slow
movements and ends with a song, a setting of “The Heavenly Life” from “Das Knaben Wunderhorn”, a collection of folk poetry that was a continual source of
inspiration to the composer. Oliver Nelson joined the orchestra in this
concert, to play Dvorak’s Violin Concerto, a work which exists slightly in the
shadow of the very well-known Cello Concerto, but a work full of wonderful
tunes and imaginative orchestration. This concert also celebrated the
centenary of the birth of Woking’s most famous composer, Dame Ethel Smyth,
with her Overture to “The Wreckers”.
In March 2009, we
were delighted to welcome back Amy Turk, Woking Young Musician of the Year
2008, to play Debussy”s Danses Sacree et Profane for harp and strings.
This concert also included Britten’s Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, which are
surely amongst the most evocative sea music ever written. The concert
was
completed by the only symphony composed by Cesar Franck, a rich and deeply
romantic masterpiece. I have long been a great admirer of the music of the Danish composer Carl Nielsen and in June we will perform his Fifth Symphony, a very powerful and heroic piece written just after the end of the Great War but with its shadow looking ominously over it. Bela Hartmann is the pianist in the mighty and powerful First Piano Concerto of Brahms, a work of symphonic scale and ambition. All in all, a season that I hope will provide much pleasure and stimulation.
2009/2010 Season's Highlights
The 2008-9 season presented some challenging works for both orchestra and audience, most particularly the 5th Symphony of Carl Nielsen and the Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes.
We live in the 21st century so the music of “last century” is that of the 20th century, only ten years ago it would have meant the music of Brahms and Tchaikovsky. I feel that it is the duty of an orchestra such as WSO to perform masterpieces from the 20th century as they are as much a part of our musical heritage as the music of Beethoven and Brahms. Having said that our first concert in November is unashamedly popular in its repertoire featuring the Piano Concerto of Grieg (with Woking Young Musician of the Year runner-up Gamal Khamis as soloist) and Tchaikovsky's dramatic and colourful 4th Symphony.
To address the balance, the March concert features two twentieth century masterpieces both of which in many ways sound like romantic music, Strauss's sublime and valedictory Four Last Songs and Sibelius's final symphony, his Seventh. The soprano in the Strauss is Olivia Robinson who made a great impression this season with her performance of the song finale of Mahler's 4th Symphony and we are also featuring the winner of Woking Young Musician 2008. Emmanuel Bach who will be playing The Fantasy on Themes from Gounod's Faust by the Polish violin virtuoso Wieniawski.
Another great violin concerto features in our June concert, Prokofiev's 2nd which has one of the most magical slow movements in the entire violin repertoire and will be played by the dazzling virtuoso Geoffrey Silver. The concert also includes the first great English symphony, Elgar's First which lifted English music from the lengthy slumber that it had fallen into since the death of Purcell.
Roy Stratford, Conductor |
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