Can something that sounds alive be old? And historical, if it still moves us today? This matinee presents seemingly familiar music in a new light: crystal clear, energetic, contemporary. Four works from the 18th century, composed between courtly festivity and enlightened esprit, are at the heart of this concert – and with them two extraordinary artistic personalities who stand for lively authenticity: the great stylist of early music Ton Koopman, making his debut with the Symphony Orchestra, and Albrecht Mayer, perhaps the most prominent oboist of our time.
His unerring sense of structure, colour and affect have made Ton Koopmann an icon of historical performance practice. For him, music is not a museum treasure, but a living expression that can constantly reinvent itself. In this attitude, he finds a congenial partner: Albrecht Mayer, soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic, who with his luminous, singing tone penetrates all facets of Mozart’s Oboe Concerto in C major with charm, lightness and inner depth.
However, the programme begins with Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, composed in the first third of the 18th century, whose four movements combine Baroque splendour and dance-like elegance. The well-known second movement, Air, has lost none of its impact in its floating timelessness. Mozart opens the second part of the concert: his »Serenata notturna«, composed in 1776 for the Salzburg Carnival, is a musical nocturne in the literal sense: brightly sparkling, peppered with surprises, sometimes courtly, sometimes ironic. Haydn’s Symphony No. 98, composed during his first stay in England in 1791/92, then brings classical formal thinking to the point – with wit, clarity and the penetrating emotionality that characterises his late work.
Music that still moves and energises today as it did 250 years ago, in a matinee that is not just a concert, but a musical journey through time that builds bridges between centuries – and shows how timeless music can be when it is brought to the stage with love, skill and curiosity.
PERFORMERS
Symphoniker Hamburg orchestra
Albrecht Mayer oboe
Ton Koopman conductor
PROGRAM
Johann Sebastian Bach
Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Konzert für Oboe und Kammerorchester C-Dur KV 314
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Serenade in D major, KV 239 »Serenata Notturna«
Joseph Haydn
Sinfonie B-Dur Hob. I:98
