New Bristol Sinfonia - Archive

New Bristol Sinfonia present an evening of beautiful music.

Tonight's concert features a real contrast of beautiful music. Our first piece is Mozart's Overture to the Magic Flute. The opera has become one of Mozart's most famous works, and it was his last completed opera before he died aged only 35. The opera is written in the German tradition of Singspiel ("song-play") which means it incorporates talking as well as singing. The Overture was written after the rest of the opera, and it starts with three majestic chords which signal the Masonic themes which are used throughout the opera. The Allegro follows the traditional fugue form, and the return of the chordal fanfares interrupt this theme briefly before it returns, bringing the Overture to an exuberant end.

Our next piece is Vaughan Williams' beautiful Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. He wrote this after a 3-month pilgrimage to Paris to study with Ravel and sharpen his orchestral technique. This experience obviously had a profound effect on Vaughan Williams and he scored the Fantasia for large string orchestra, chamber orchestra and a string quartet. He did this deliberately to make the orchestra into a community - with the large orchestra being the "universal", the chamber orchestra being the "community" and the quartet as "members of the family". He wanted to reflect the acoustic of a large cathedral, with sounds being heard from all round. The theme is taken from the English Hymnal which Vaughan Williams edited and which took up two years of his life. It is an awe-inspiring piece.

Tonight's final piece is Bruckner's Symphony No. 7. Bruckner was sixty years old when he tasted public success for the first time. At the debut of his 7th Symphony in Leipzig, the standing ovation lasted over 15 minutes and the press were dumbfounded by it. "How is it possible that he could remain so long unknown to us?" wrote one Leipzig critic. Bruckner was notoriously insecure about his talents and it is incredible that he kept going for long enough to achieve fame. The influence of Beethoven's 9th Symphony gave Bruckner his model for large-scale symphonic structure. Six of his symphonies start with the same mysterious beginning, and the 7th Symphony was no exception. Bruckner was also troubled by premonitions of Wagner's death and indeed he did die while Bruckner was finishing the Adagio of this Symphony. When he heard of this, Bruckner wrote and extraordinary, quiet yet wrenching coda to the movement which he referred to as "the funeral music for the Master". The First Movement uses several long slow themes to convey the mood. The Adagio begins with music for the Wagner Tuba - a fitting tribute to the Master. The Scherzo is brilliantly athletic, with playful themes, and leads into the Finale which begins and ends with revisited themes from the First Movement.

Concert

Date: Saturday 18 October, 2008

Programme:

• Mozart : Overture Magic Flute
• Vaughan Williams : Fantasia on Thomas Tallis
• Bruckner : Symphony No 7

Conductor: James Lowe

Time: 7.30pm

Venue: Victoria Rooms, Clifton, Bristol. Click here for a map

Tickets:
We recommend booking in advance with our Box Office: 0117 983 5922. (Cheques are accepted and there is no booking fee.) Pre-booked tickets will be posted to you or can be picked up at the door.

Most seats for this concert are numbered and can be reserved in advance. Click here to see a seating plan of the Victoria Rooms. The Box Office can advise on which seats are available and which have the best view.

The ticket prices are:

• £13 (£11 concessions) balcony
• £10 adults (£8 concessions) stalls
• £5 students
• £2 children/school parties

Pre-concert talk:
James will be presenting a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm. This is open to all and entry is free.