Rounding out the program are Elgars piece for strings, Brittens first musical composition and Mozarts familiar and iconic symphony.The recently formed ensemble included a virtuoso string section, whose skills Elgar very intentionally put on full display.However, the effect is only sometimes antiphonal in the Baroque manner, the solo lines being more often interwoven into the overall texture.The haunting theme first heard on solo viola in the introduction was said by the composer to have been a quotation of one he heard sung in the distance while on holiday in Wales.
![]() The choice of ensemble seems to suggest a link to the Schoenberg First Chamber Symphony (1906), which Britten was certainly aware of at the time. It was perhaps because of this that many of Brittens RCM professors deemed the work unsuitable for performance (the RCM and the Second Viennese School did not mix in the heady days of the 1930s). Despite this, it would be Brittens only work from his student days to be performed at the college, even though the premiere had taken place some two months earlier at a MacnaghtenLemare concert (an enterprising avenue for new British works performed at a small theatre in Notting Hill Gate). For all the perceived influence of Schoenberg (is the opening horn solo directly related to the Chamber Symphony) the overriding feeling, especially in the second movement, is restrained pastoralism. Titled Variations, the second movement would be one of the few occasions where Britten would follow on from his musical forebearers; (does one hear a Lark Ascending at one point) though this is possibly no surprise in a work dedicated to his teacher, Frank Bridge. Perhaps unsurprisingly Brittens approach to form in the Sinfonietta is very original, very mature. In the opening movement the opening bars (possibly just the opening clarinet melody) present the themes that will provide material for the whole work. We can view the opening movement as in sonata form, but with a second development replacing the conventional recapitulation a Britten favourite from the 1930s (and from other times, String Quartet No.2 etc). Carrying on the formal innovations and thematic economy, the second movements theme for the variations is taken from the second subject from the first movement (first found in the flute at fig. It is perhaps the third movement, Tarantella which can be visibly seen and heard to be the most Brittenish with its choice of dance form, though possibly not worn comfortably, linking it directly to the Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (1937). Again, the formal scheme is unusual, with many of the themes from the previous movements returning, to a form of summation. The opening horn solo returns to herald a move to a tonal centre of D, the first subject returns to form the background to the pizzicato fugato section. Sinfonietta is undeniably Benjamin Britten, though perhaps one of the final works by the boy composer. Although forward looking, it probably has more in common with the Simple Symphony then the Frank Bridge Variations or Les Illuminations. However there is plenty to admire in this work, if not for the remarkably confident instrumental writing and handling or formal schemes; then for the rhapsodic beauty of the second movement. Instead, he borrowed as he wished from every tradition, writing music that is as unfailingly colorful and exquisitely crafted as it is undogmatic. The composer exploited the opportunity thus presented by providing three contrasting movements, a classically elegant allegro, a lyrical slow movement, and a finale filled with bravura fireworks. However, no record of either project coming to fruition seems to exist, and it remains unclear whether Mozart ever actually heard the works played. What is beyond question is that in these works the composer achieved a crowning symphonic synthesis of everything he had learned over a lifetime crowded with study, performance, and creative output.
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