Some of the best oboe playing you'll hear anywhere
BBC Record Review
Sinfonia Viva – Derby
24 September at 19:00
Joseph Bologne | Symphony No.2 in D Major, Op.11
Mozart | Oboe Concerto
Hannah Kendall | …I May Turn to Salt
Mozart | Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra
Nicholas Daniel OBE | oboe and conductor
Sophie Rosa | violin
Wenhan Jiang | viola
Mozart’s only Oboe Concerto has an unusual history. It was lost for more than 100 years and only rediscovered in 1920 in a pile of scores in an archive in Salzburg. But there’s nothing forgettable about this music. As exuberant and fresh as any concerto Mozart composed, it has a theatrical energy that will make you feel like you’re taking your seat for a night at the opera – or just being carried away on a fresh Summer breeze. Who better to perform it than one of Britain’s best-known oboists and a master of this repertoire, Nicholas Daniel OBE, in his first concert with Sinfonia Viva.
Nicholas turns conductor for the rest of our concert, which features two pieces he is known for championing. He conducted the UK premiere of …I May Turn To Salt by British composer Hannah Kendall earlier this year in London, and this concert will be only the second time it is performed in this country. That London premiere also featured tonight’s opening number, the Symphony No. 2 in D Major by one of Mozart’s 18th century contemporaries, the composer, virtuoso violinist and champion fencer, Joseph Bologne. This is upbeat music is sure to put a smile on your face, with a melody that, even if you’re hearing it for the first time, you’ll feel like you’ve known it all your life.
The climax of the concert is a chance for two of our string players to step forward and shine. Sophie Rosa (violin) and Wenhan Jiang (viola) perform Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra, described by Gramophone Magazine as “an iconic work for many Mozart lovers, and arguably the greatest music he wrote in Salzburg”. A fabulous mixture of the light and dark in Mozart’s music, the vivacious final movement is nevertheless guaranteed to send you home with a spring in your step.