NSO: Steven Isserlis & Peter Whelan

National Symphony Orchestra
Peter Whelan conductor
Steven Isserlis cello
 
Mozart The Magic Flute Overture
Haydn Cello Concerto No. 2 
Dvořák Serenade for Wind Instruments
Mozart Symphony No. 36, Linz 

Peter Whelan – ‘an artist of delicate but unmistakable mastery’ (San Francisco Chronicle) and one of the most dynamic and versatile exponents of historical performance of his generation, makes the first of two NSO appearances this season with the charming old-world beauty of Dvořák’s Serenade for Wind Instruments and Mozart’s majestic Magic Flute Overture and grandiose but intimate Linz Symphony.

Master cellist Steven Isserlis has made Haydn’s D major Cello Concerto his own, with sparkling solo passages and playful exchanges surrounding a singing central movement.

Did you know?

The Magic Flute was the last opera Mozart composed. He conducted its premiere less than 10 weeks before his death.

Although cast with a Slavonic accent, Dvořák’s Serenade was inspired by hearing Mozart’s Gran Partita.  

Mozart’s Linz Symphony was composed in four days. It was the first of his symphonies to begin with a slow, expressive introduction.

Listen out for…

The trombones in The Magic Flute Overture – the only time Mozart used them in a purely instrumental work.

How the cello takes up and ornaments the elegant, leisurely theme introduced by the orchestra in Haydn’s extended first movement.

The traditional march that opens Dvořák’s Serenade and the twinned Czech folk dances that animate the second movement.

The novel use of trumpets and timpani in Mozart’s second movement

Presented by NCH