Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto
Before most pupils had returned to school after the Half term break, our GCSE Music pupils and some of our Music Scholars headed off to Birmingham to see Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto performed by the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall.
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is the flagship of musical life in Birmingham and the West Midlands, and one of the world’s great orchestras. Based in Symphony Hall, the CBSO typically presents over 150 concerts each year in Birmingham, the UK and around the world, playing music that ranges from classics to contemporary, film scores and even symphonic disco. With a far-reaching community programme and a family of choruses and ensembles, it is involved in every aspect of music making in the Midlands.
The concert was conducted by Ryan Bancrof, who has won both First Prize and the Audience Prize at the prestigious Malko Competition for Young Conductors in Copenhagen. Since September 2021 Bancroft has been Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra performed Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with soloist Oliver Janes who has been the CBSOs’ Principal Clarinet player since 2014. This was a real highlight for our GCSE Music pupils and Scholars as they are studying Mozart’s Third Movement as their set work for the written GCSE Music Examination. Pupils commented that their visit to Symphony Hall really helped bring their set work to life.
The orchestra also performed the exciting minimalist piece, ‘The Chairman Dances’ by John Adams, a style also covered in the GCSE Music Syllabus.
The concert closed with ‘Symphonic Dances’ by Rachmaninof. This triptych of pieces is presented as three moments in a day – Midday, Twilight, Midnight – but it takes no great mental leap from this to the work’s subtext: the passage of human life. The first dance, Midday, surges forwards on a wave of propulsive rhythms and is rich in musical allusion.
The Concert Concerto posed the questions: A colourful celebration of a great orchestra? A fabulous dream ballet? Or simply the greatest symphony Rachmaninoff never wrote?
Whatever the answer, it was a fantastic performance, enjoyed by all and a great experience for our GCSE Music pupils and Scholars.