Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was the eldest of the great Viennese classical composers and was the teacher of both Mozart and Beethoven. Our concert features two of his symphonies. He composed the Symphony No. 27 at a young age, under 30. It consists of three movements, with a fast-slow-fast structure, like the Italian opera overtures of the time. These were then called sinfonias, hence the name of the later multi-movement orchestral genre. The middle movement is particularly beautiful, with a so-called ’siciliano’ form, a Sicilian shepherd's dance. Symphony No. 76 in E-flat major was composed in 1782, when Haydn was still court conductor and composer to the Eszterházy noble family. This work has four movements and includes a minuet. Between the two symphonies, our orchestra will play one of Mozart's outstanding chamber works, the Clarinet Quintet for string quartet and clarinet. The clarinet's sound is very beautiful and sophisticated, it is therefore often played by multiplying the string parts and adding a contrabass, thus transforming the chamber work into a clarinet concerto.
János Rolla, who will conduct our orchestra as a concertmaster, graduated as a violinist from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in 1968, taught by Dénes Kovács. In 1969, he won 3rd prize at the Hungarian Radio Violin Competition. Since its foundation in 1963, he has been the concertmaster and artistic director of the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, during which time they have toured around the world, released countless recordings and performed with the world's most famous musicians. He received numerous awards, most importantly the Kossuth Prize, the Bartók-Pásztory Prize and the National Order of the Legion of Honor of the French Republic. He is Honorary Professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. János Sándor, clarinetist was awarded the title "Orchestral Musician of the Year" several times as the member of the MÁV Symphony Orchestra.
PROGRAM
Haydn: Symphony No. 27 in G major
Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581 (transcription for chamber orchestra)
Haydn: Symphony No. 76 in E-flat major
FEATURING
János Sándor - clarinet
