Main Performers | Alexandra Wood - violin, Stevie Wishart - hurdy-gurdy |
Set List | 'Symphony No.40 in G Minor, K550', Mozart, 'Spinning a Yarn', Dobrinka Tabakova 'Meld', Benedict Mason |
Performance Notes | The Aurora orchestra performed a Proms first by playing 'Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K550', Mozart, without a score - from memory. Admired by Schumann for its 'Grecian light and grace', Mozarts evergreen Symphony No. 40 combines rhythmic verve and dance-like elegance, streaked with stormy drama.
For a performance in Vienna, the composer added parts for two clarinets an instrument at the time still largely absent from the orchestra. Bulgarian-born Dobrinka Tabakova goes one further in her recent Spinning a Yarn, in which the rustic hurdy-gurdy takes a solo role alongside the violin.
Benedict Mason experiments with much more besides in his BBC commission, Meld at once an enigma and a spectacle, that confounds what we think of as an orchestra, of a concert, and even of music itself. Prepare to be surprised
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BBC commission and world premiere of 'Meld', Benedict Mason. This work required complete quiet in the whole building as it was performed around the entire auditorium, from the gallery to the boxes on all levels, to the arena floor. Every single door to the auditorium was opened for the performers to travel around the building. This included all of the entrance doors to the stalls, Loggia boxes, Grand Tier boxes, Second Tier boxes, Circle doors and Arena doors.
There was no interval.
The event was broadcast on BBC Radio 3. |
Related Archival Material | Proms Guide (RAHE/1/2014/53), Programme (RAHE/1/2014/92), Posters (RAHE/2/2014/41), Proms Mini-Guide |