MCO’s Ethereal can be heard on Wednesday 18 June 7:00pm at 75 Reid Street, Friday 20 June 7:30pm at The Twyford, Saturday 21 June 2:30pm at Mallacoota Golf & Country Club and Sunday 22 June 11am at Lakes Entrance Mechanics Hall.
WA Mozart (1756–91)
Flute Quartet No 1 in D Major K285
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Rondo
Mozart’s best known chamber works are for string quartets and quintets; however, he did compose several pieces where the strings would work with a guest soloist from the wind family, be it flute, clarinet, oboe or horn. These chamber pieces for wind were composed before he wrote the “Haydn quartets” and were often developed in sensitivity to the innate performing characteristics of the featured guest.
In 1777, when Mozart was in Mannheim, German surgeon with the Dutch East India Company, and amateur flautist, Ferdinand De Jean commissioned Mozart to compose “three short, simple concertos and a couple of quartets for the flute”. Not all these pieces eventuated, with this Quartet No 1 being the first of three completed works. Stylistically, these quartets prominently feature the flute while the strings give superb accompaniment, while the flourishes and tone illustrate the emerging classical period, even though traces of the lingering baroque remain.
Note that movements two and three are ‘joined’, so there won’t be a pause.
Adapted from Kai Christiansen (earsense.org) and allaboutmozart.com
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
String Quartet in C minor Op 18 No 4
I. Allegro, ma non tanto
II. Scherzo. Andante scherzoso quasi Allegretto
III. Minuet. Allegretto
IV. Allegro
Beethoven was working to produce his first string quartets (Opus 18) as Haydn was completing his final works, and Mozart’s string quartets lay before him. Their influence is clear in the structure and formal elements of these pieces, although Beethoven was driven to innovate and set his compositions apart. He did this by injecting a broader spectrum of emotional moments, with light-hearted movements next to deep, introspective passages.
Quartet No 4 is unique amongst this first set of six pieces as it’s the only one in a minor key, C minor, which is the same key he used for his earlier “Pathétique” piano sonata (and would later use for his fifth symphony and final piano sonata). One of the most popular quartets, this one is full of drama revolving around the gravity of its ruling minor mode.
Adapted from Kai Christiansen (earsense.org) and lvbeethoven.com
Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)
Flute Quintet (arr Lee Bradshaw from Flute Sonata in D major Op 94)
I. Moderato
II. Scherzo: Presto
III. Andante
IV. Allegro con brio
Prokofiev wrote the flute sonata in 1943 after being evacuated from the Soviet Union during World War II, saying he “wanted to write a sonata in delicate, fluid classical style”. It was premiered the following year on flute and piano before Prokofiev himself arranged it for violin and piano. The subsequent popularity of the violin arrangement has generally overshadowed the originally composition for flute, especially as it’s Prokofiev’s only work for flute.
For flautists though, this piece is revered for how it showcases the instrument’s wide variety of colours, thanks to the diversity of pleasing and intriguing melodic themes, biting motives, and deeply tender moments.
Joshua discusses Lee Bradshaw’s arrangement of this piece in the interview here.
Adapted from Danielle Stevens (2014, flute4u.com) and masteringtheflute.com