Top classical music trio the Wiener Instrumentalsolisten (Vienna Symphony Virtuosi) will play in Grahamstown on Tuesday 16 September.
Top classical music trio the Wiener Instrumentalsolisten (Vienna Symphony Virtuosi) will play in Grahamstown on Tuesday 16 September.
The ensemble is made up of members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Viennese Opera Houses, and currently consists of Rudolf Gindlhumer, Konrad Monsberger and Karl Eichinger.
Founded in 1978, they play chamber music with an emphasis on solo performance.
In addition to performing baroque and classical music, the ensemble performs contemporary works and jazz-inspired pieces.
Solo flautist Gindlhumer, a long-standing member of the Vienna Symphony Virtuosi, has contributed to workshops in China, South Africa and Russia.
He regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician both in Austria and abroad as a member of the Vienna Volksoper, as well as teaching the flute at the Conservatory in Vienna.
Monsberger is the solo signal trumpeter of the Vienna State Opera and member of the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra.
Similarly to Gindlhumer, he has been a member of the Vienna Symphony Virtuosi, and has also given workshops in the above-mentioned countries.
Eichinger, a pianist, has considerable experience as a soloist, chamber musician, and correpetitor.
As a member of the Vienna Symphony Virtuosi he has undertaken many international tours, including to South Africa, Spain and China.
He also has two solo CDs to his credit.
The programme includes works by Mozart, Haydn, Jenö Takács and Werner Pirchner.
The concert will take place in the St Andrew's Drill Hall at 7.30pm.
Tickets are available at the door and are R90 (adults), R70 (pensioners), R50 (tertiary students).
Schoolgoers and Grahamstown Music Society members get in free.
Vienna Symphony Virtuosi concert programme
“From Austrian Baroque to the 21st century”
Kaiser Leopold I. von Habsburg (Emperor of Austria) – “Balletti Prima Aria”
Courante – Sarabande – Variatio – Gavotte – Allemande – Gigue
Like many Austrian emperors Leopold I was a presentable musician and composer which he proves in his “Balletti prima Aria” for flute and basso continuo.
Joseph Haydn – Allegro from the Trumpet Concerto and Divertimento C-Dur for Piano solo (Allegro – Andante – Menuett)
Next to Mozart and Beethoven, Joseph Haydn is known as one of Vienna's top composers.
More then a hundred symphonies, piano sonatas, many quartets for strings and other compositions came from his pen.
His Trumpet concerto is one of the most famous works for trumpet and piano, while the “Divertimento in C major” is one of six so called “divertimentos”; small sonatas with an entertaining character.
Anton Diabelli – Sonatina op.151 Nr.1 for Trumpet and Piano
Andantino cantabile – Scherzo. Allegro – Rondo. Alllegretto
Anton Diabelli was an Austrian composer and musician living during the musical reign of Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert.
The Sonatina op. 151 for Trumpet and piano is an arrangement from a piano sonata in G major done by Frigyes Varasdy.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Sonata in C-major for Flute and Piano, KV 13
Allegro – Menuett – Menuett en Carillon – Allegro
A legendary composer, Mozart created six Sonatas for piano and flute (or violin, KV 10-15) in his early youth while visiting London from 1764 to 1765.
Intermission
Arnold Schönberg – Six little pieces for piano op.19
Schönberg was an Austrian composer, painter and leader of the second Viennese School (also consisting of Anton v. Webern, Alban Berg). Schönberg’s approach, both in harmony and development, has been very influential in 20th century music.
Jenö Takács – Exile Pieces for Trumpet and Piano
Al’ Ungherese – Old Mississippi – Hungarian Wedding Dance – American Rhapsody
Jenö Takacs was a world famous piano teacher, born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
His “Exile Pieces for Trumpet and Piano” were composed in the 1970s. Takacs passed away in 2005 at the age of 103.
Werner Pirchner – “Instead of a tombstone for the brother of my father, who was murdered, when he refused to shoot hostages” for Flute solo
Werner Pirchner was born in Tyrol in 1940; he was a composer, jazz-musician and poet.
He played various instruments, and his compositions are a mixture of different styles and sounds.
Friedrich Gulda – “Play Piano Play” Nr.9 for Piano solo
Born 1930 in Vienna, Gulda was one of the most important pianists of the 20th century.
In his compositions he managed to connect both classical music and Jazz.
His composition “Play, piano play” is very popular.
Erwin Schulhoff – Sonata for Flute and Piano
Erwin Schulhoff, born in Prague in 1894, was a composer and pianist. He was influenced by Antonin Dvorak, and Max Reger, but was also fascinated with jazz, the Second Viennese School and Dadaism.
His compositions are a mixture of these different styles.
The “Sonata for flute and Piano” is a piece full of virtuosity and charming rhythm.
