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Details
King's School Macclesfield
Alderley Road
Prestbury
Macclesfield
Cheshire
SK10 4SP
England
Programme
Jennifer Higdon – Dance Card (movements)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major, K.364/320d
Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony no.7 in A major, Op.92
Performers
Christopher Jones – violin / director
Kay Stephen – viola
Northern Chamber Orchestra
Other concerts in this Series (+)
Programme Note
If nature inspires our February concert, dance inspires this one. Wagner proclaimed Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony as ‘the Apotheosis of the Dance; the Dance in its highest condition; the happiest realisation of the movements of the body in an ideal form’. Beethoven himself cited his Grand Symphony in A as ‘one of my best works’. At the risk of hyperbole, the symphony’s rhythmic vitality, forward drive and sheer joy make it one of the finest creations of Western art music.
Music of the dance pervades the 21st century too. The contemporary American composer, Jennifer Higdon, wrote Dance Card in 2015. In her programme note she describes the piece as a celebration of the joy, lyricism and passion of a group of strings playing together, observing that each of the five movements can be performed as a separate work. The NCO plays a selection.
It is sometimes forgotten that Mozart was an outstanding violinist. His Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola is really a double concerto in which each instrument plays an equal part. Filled with drama more reminiscent of his operas, it is an astonishing achievement, not least because Mozart was only 23 when he composed it. Christopher Jones (violin) and Kay Stephen (viola) make a welcome return following their virtuosic performance of Lera Auerbach’s Sogno di Stabat Mater at St Michael’s Church last season. Christopher also directs the entire concert from the violin.
