BEETHOVEN 7

Mozart  Marriage of Figaro Overture, KV 492
Strauss  Duet Concertino for Clarinet, Bassoon & Orchestra, TrV 293
Widmann  Con Brio Overture
Beethoven  Symphony No. 7, Op. 92

Mozart’s Figaro Overture maintains a manically jolly mood throughout.  Strauss’ late Duet Concertino for Clarinet and Bassoon is a masterful and brilliantly crafted homage to his beloved Mozart.  In Con Brio, Widmann creates a fury and rhythmic insistence using the same instrumentation as the Beethoven’s 7th and 8th symphonies with lean means.  The momentum of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony is unstoppable: the steady build-up of intensity captures the listener in its headlong energy – one of the all-time greats!

“Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony had a tautness of energy, sometimes touched with fierceness that kept one on the edge of one’s seat.” – Michael Dervan, Irish Times