SCO Winter Gala Concert

A wonderful concert to welcome the Winter season.

An uplifting concert to welcome in the Winter season.

Come with us on our European tour to Spain, Italy Hungary and Germany

We open with J S Bach’s Passacaglia. Originally an organ piece it has been arranged by tonight’s conductor, Robin McEwan, for our wind section. Probably composed early in Bach’s career, it is one of his most important and well-known works. The passacaglia originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is based on the phrase that we hear at the beginning of the piece in the horns. A series of variations on this theme follow.

Next, our string section will play the Christmas Concerto by Arcangelo Corelli, scored for a ‘concertino’, solo violins and cello with ripieno strings, beloved of this era. Enjoy the dynamic contrast this creates in the 6 alternating fast and slow movements. It is perhaps the best known of his 12 concerti grossi and was composed to be played on ‘the night of Christmas’ — a lovely way to look forward to the festive season ahead.

Brahms’ Hungarian dances are among his most popular works. The first half of the concert concludes with possibly the best known of them all — Dance Number 5 in G minor, which based on a piece composed by Hungarian composer Béla Kéler.

After the interval comes Brahms’ fourth and final symphony which links us to our first piece as the final movement is also a passacaglia — very rare in symphonies. The only one of Brahms pieces to end in a minor key, it has been described as being “like a dark well; the longer we look into it, the more brightly the stars shine back”

The programme for the evening is: –

J S Bach (arr McEwan) — Passacaglia
Arcengelo Corelli — Christmas Concerto
Brahms — Hungarian Dance No. 5

INTERVAL

Brahms — Symphony No. 4

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Performers

Sheffield Chamber Orchestra (Robin McEwan - Conductor)

Programme

• Johann Sebastian Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor BWV 582 orchestrated for wind, brass and timpani by Robin McEwan.
• Arcangelo Corelli: Concerto Grosso in G Minor Op.6, No.8, ‘Christmas Concerto’ for Strings.
• Johannes Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor
• Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E Minor Op.98