St Petersburg, Concert Hall

Bach. Grieg. Pedrollo. Mendelssohn

Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra
Conductor and Soloist: David Walter (oboe)

 


The programme includes
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Concerto for Oboe and String Orchestra
Edvard Grieg
Five highlights from music for Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt
Transcribed by David Walter
Arrigo Pedrollo
Concerto for Oboe and String Orchestra
Felix Mendelssohn
Quartet Op. 12, No 1
Transcribed by David Walter

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach composed over fifty harpsichord, piano and organ concerti to string accompaniment as well as writing for the flute, oboe and cello. The  Concerto for Oboe and Strings in E Flat Major was written in 1765 in Berlin when the composer was fifty years old. The music is both original and inspired. The extended oboe solos find a response in the equally well developed and inventive ritornellos of the orchestra. The form of his concerti – something the composer inherited from his father – is imbued with a new spirit. Several solos in the first section and the whole of the second section are written in the Empfindsamer Stil (“sensitive style”), but a mere step away from romanticism, and the final minuet stands apart for its tender and intimate tone.


Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt is a loose adaptation of Norwegian fairytales. This enigmatic work was destined to become not only one of the greatest achievements in Scandinavian theatre but a symbol of the birth of a new style as well – symbolism.
In 1874 Ibsen asked Edvard Grieg to compose music for his play Peer Gynt. He considered the role played by musical accompaniment to be incredibly important, and the playwright often had a clear vision of what was required and at exactly which points. Making large cuts in the scenes of Peer’s travels, he counted on Grieg’s music taking the place of the missing text. Grieg declined to follow Ibsen’s strict instructions and yet he nevertheless composed music of equal greatness to the drama. Later he used it to create two suites, freely combining episodes from all five acts of the play.
For his own transcription, David Walter selected five highlights from both suites (in the play they are concentrated in Acts III and IV). These fragments were Morgenstemning (Morning Mood) and all four parts connected with women characters in the play – Åses død (The Death of Åse), Anitras dans (Anitra’s Dance), Ingrids klage (Ingrid’s Lament) and Solveigs sang (Solveig’s Song).


Italian composer Arrigo Pedrollo (1878–1964) is known in his native land as a composer of a symphony conducted by Arturo Toscanini and twelve verist operas, among them Delitto e castigo (Crime and Punishment). Today, however, Pedrollo’s most frequently performed work is his Concertino for Oboe and Strings (1960) which he composed late in life. In this miniature piece, it appears as if the composer is looking back at the path he has travelled – from late romanticism to classicism – and demonstrating how harmonious this transition can be. Pedrollo’s use of a wind instrument is, possibly, also a tribute to his father, an organist and wind orchestra conductor.


Felix Mendelssohn worked on his String Quartet in E Flat Major, Op. 12, between 6 and 14 September 1829 in London having only just completed a major tour of Great Britain. The quartet is named the First as it was published just somewhat earlier than his Second Quartet, which had already been written in 1827. The task the composer set himself in this work was not a simple one – to unite fully all the sections of the concerto into one and imbue each part with one and the same idea. The first section is thus lyrical from start to finish. The second section (scherzo) is denoted as a canzonetta (short song). The slow third section is the most classical, although in the finale (an impulsive and impetuous saltarello) romantic moods return with renewed vigour. Mendelssohn then does something that had never been done before at the time – he repeats the secondary theme and the ending of the first section, augmenting the music’s lyrical expressiveness.
Anna Bulycheva

Age category 6+

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