The Full Works Concert - Tuesday 9 December 2014
Brahms, Ravel, Mozart and Walton are the great composers whose works make up tonight's Concert.
Tonight, Jane Jones presents Brahms's beautiful, autumnal Clarinet Quintet. Written in the summer of 1891 – only a year after the composer's premature decision to retire – the Quintet was composed whilst Brahms was holidaying at the spa town of Bad Ischl, and there’s a strong sense of mellow nostalgia to the work as if the composer has chosen to look back over his life.
DISCOVER: Brahms - Clarinet Quintet in B minor >
Ravel originally wrote Ma mère l'oye, 'Mother Goose' as a piano duet for two children - Mimi and Jean Godebski, aged 6 and 7. Ravel dedicated this work for four hands to the children. The five pieces where were later orchestrated are: Pavane of Sleeping Beauty, Little Tom Thumb, Little Ugly Girl - Empress of the Pagodas, Conversation of Beauty and the Beast and The Fairy Garden.
Mozart's piano concertos are sometimes criticised for being less exciting than their classical counterparts, but Alessio Bax and the Southbank Sinfonia have been bringing a new lease of life to these concertos, making the most of the clean lines as well as the cheekier moments hidden within the score. The result is youthful, beautiful music, peppered with Mozart's trademark tunes. The smiling dialogue between piano and orchestra adds to the sense of fun in the music. Listen to the Allegro movement of the Piano Concerto No. 27 to hear a brilliant fusion between the soloist and the orchestral players.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No.27
Piano: Alessio Bax
Simon Over conducts the Southbank Sinfonia
William Walton: Henry V Suite
Christopher Warren-Green conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra
Johannes Brahms: Clarinet Quintet No.1
Clarinet: Alessandra Carbonare
Violin: Luc Henry
Viola: Nicholas Bone
Cello: Muriel Pouzenc
Maurice Ravel: Ma Mere L’Oye
Myung-Whun Chung conducts the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra
