The Sydney Symphony Orchestra and soloists play Three Concertos

 

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra and soloists play Three Concertos

SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

ROBERT PIKLER, conductor

RCA Red Seal VRL1-0078

1976 Australia

Side 1

(a) CONCERTO FOR BASSOON AND ORCHESTRA IN B FLAT, K.191 (W. A. Mozart)

(i) Allegro

(ii) Andante ma adagio

(iii) Tempo di minuetto

JOHN CRAN, Soloist

(b) CONCERTO IN ONE MOVEMENT FOR OBOE AND ORCHESTRA, Op. 45 (Eugene Goossens)

GUY HENDERSON, Soloist

Side 2

CONCERTO FOR TRUMPET AND ORCHESTRA IN E FLAT, 1803 (Johann Hummel)

(i) Allegro con spirito

(ii) Andante

(iii) Rondo

GORDON WEBB, Soloist

Producer: ERIC CLAPHAM

Technical Operator: BARRY SMITH

Recorded at the A.B.C. Music Studio, Sydney, Australia

This record is one of a series featuring Australian orchestras and ensembles together with colour reproductions of Australian paintings.

**BASSOON CONCERTO IN B FLAT, K.191

Mozart (1756–1791)**

The Bassoon Concerto was written in 1774 when Mozart was eighteen, for the Baron Thaddäus von Dürnitz, an amateur bassoonist. We can be quite sure that the musical Baron thoroughly enjoyed playing it himself, as he also requested Mozart to write him a minuet. It is typical also of the composer that he thoroughly enjoyed writing the first concerto although, of the five of the series, it is the only one which has survived.

It is beyond doubt a happy three-movement work, with lively Mozart Allegros at beginning and end, and a beautiful Andante sandwiched between the two Allegros. Alfred Einstein calls the Andante “the Marriage of Figaro.” The English critic, Michael Waller, once described this concerto movement as “rich and full… a superb wind solo passage ranging from deep Russian bass to the notes of falsetto.”

**OBOE CONCERTO (in one movement), Op. 45

Eugene Goossens (1893–1962)**

Eugene Goossens had been one of the most remarkable musical families of all time. He was the third Goossens generation to achieve fame, and his father and grandfather before him, once a public house performer at the Earl of Beaconsfield’s Middle Temple, became one of the most famous English musicians of his day.

Eugene himself combined a long and distinguished career as composer, conductor and director of Australian music. From his position as head of the Eastman-Rochester School (New York) and Belgian engagements, he came to London in 1931. There, London critics regarded him as “one of the most interesting modern English composers,” even though he had been born in Belgium. In 1938 he was appointed principal conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and in 1947 he succeeded Sir Eugene Goossens as conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

In 1956 Goossens was conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Director of the NSW Conservatorium of Music and introduced numerous new works to Australian audiences in these capacities. It is now legend that Goossens gave the Peter Hall theatre its name because of the generosity of filmmaker Hall’s father and the influence of the composer’s brother. Late in 1957 a series of events culminated, however, in Goossens’ resignation from his Sydney posts and his eventual departure for Europe. He died in 1962.

Published in 1927 by the A. and C. Goossens Chamber Music series in London, the Oboe Concerto remains one of his most remarkable and attractive smaller works. The concerto is written in one movement in three distinct sections: fast — slow — fast. It begins in a rather brisk manner, in which the oboe plays a modal, highly ornamented melody and is more rhythmically adventurous and tonally modern than the later sections. This opening music leads to a more tranquil section, built on a beautiful theme first announced by the oboe and continued by the strings.

The final part begins abruptly and is again fast and slightly agitated. The elaborate oboe writing is throughout accompanied by a brass and drums group.

**TRUMPET CONCERTO IN E FLAT (1803)

Hummel (1778–1837)**

Hungarian Johann Nepomuk Hummel, as a youth, lived in Mozart’s household for two years, while the great master taught him free of charge. He was one of the most outstanding piano virtuosi of the period. He held important positions in Europe: he was head of the Stuttgart court orchestra and in 1804 accepted the position of Konzertmeister at Weimar. From 1816 he was Kapellmeister to Prince Esterházy (where Haydn’s Kapellmeister position had lapsed).

A prolific composer, Hummel wrote operas, masses, and a great deal of piano music. As his pianistic writing became progressively more florid, his orchestral writing diminished in importance — the Trumpet Concerto is his most played orchestral work.

The Trumpet Concerto, written for Anton Weidinger, the inventor of the keyed trumpet, is the work that established Hummel’s popularity. It has more brilliance and display than Haydn’s trumpet concerto, but lacked the older man’s sense of flair.

The landscape by Lloyd Rees (b. 1895) is a view over Wierr Creek and Orago Road, 9 miles south-west of Melbourne, painted in about 1930 and showing some 75 meters of Victoria landscape. Reproduced by courtesy of the Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria.