Orchestra 143 - Bach to Schubert

Orchestra 143

We hope you will find on this page all the information you need about Orchestra 143; if not please email orch143@gmail.com.

Background

Orchestra 143 was founded in December 2002 to fill a perceived gap in the musical scene on Sydney's North Shore. While it was possible to find high quality performances of chamber music and of the large orchestral repertoire, there were few if any ensembles regularly performing music for smaller orchestra. Hence the formation of Orchestra 143, which is devoted to the music of the baroque, classical and early romantic period – specifically, from 1685 (birth of Johann Sebastian Bach) to 1828 (death of Franz Schubert). Orchestra 143 seeks not only to perform works by the great composers of this period – Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert – but also to acquaint its audiences with interesting music by lesser known composers such as C.P.E. Bach, Corelli, Arriaga, Bellini, Boyce, Stamitz and Wassenaer.

Forthcoming performances

All of the Orchestra 143 concerts for 2010 will take place in the delightful atmosphere of St James' Anglican Church, 15 King Street, Turramurra. The church is a 10 minute walk from Turramurra railway station. Parking is available in surrounding streets. Please note that following audience feedback, we will have an earlier start time this year, with all concerts commencing at 2.30pm.

March 2010

Our first concert for 2010 will be on Sunday 28th March, commencing at 2.30pm, featuring conductor David Angell with soloists Andrew del Riccio (trumpet) and Camille Mercep (soprano).

Anonymous (formerly attributed to J.S.Bach), Overture for Strings in G minor, BWV 1070.
George Frideric Handel, Concerto Grosso in B minor, Op.6 No.12.
Georg Philipp Telemann, Trumpet Concerto in D major (Andrew del Riccio, trumpet).
George Frideric Handel, three arias for soprano and trumpet (Camille Mercep, soprano; Andrew del Riccio, trumpet)
- "Desterò dall’empia Dite", from Amadigi di Gaula.
- "Let the Bright Seraphim", from Samson.
- "Piangerò la sorte mia", from Giulio Cesare.
Johann Sebastian Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No.6 in B flat major, BWV 1051.

Tickets available at the door: adults $20, children 16 years and under $5.

Future concert dates for your diary: Sunday 6 June 2010 and Sunday 7 November 2010. To join our email list and receive early information about these concerts, please contact us at orch143@gmail.com.

Recent performances

September 2009

The H project: a programme of music by composers whose names begin with that letter. (Why not?)

George Frideric Handel, Concerto Grosso from Alexander's Feast.
Franz Anton Hoffmeister, Viola Concerto in D major (Alex Todicescu, viola).
Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Fantasie, Op.94, for solo viola, string orchestra and two clarinets (Alex Todicescu, viola).
Franz Joseph Haydn, Symphony No.58 in F major.
William Herschel, Symphony No.5 in F minor.

Alex Todicescu is one of Sydney's leading instrumentalists, and we are privileged to have him join us for this concert. Alex will perform the Hoffmeister viola concerto, one of the most fresh and delightful of early classical concertos, and the Hummel Fantasie, based upon a theme by Mozart. Our second Haydn symphony for the year features a movement which the composer denoted "menuet alla zoppa" , which translates as a "limping minuet". The symphony, though little played, contains some of Haydn's quirkiest and most inventive music.

July 2009

Works for small orchestra by Mozart and Vivaldi, as well as solo and chamber music from the period 1685–1828.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony No.1 in E flat major, K16.
Antonio Vivaldi, Concerto for four violins in B minor, Op.3 No.8 (Cameron Hough, Pam Hepworth, Natalie Adby, Froukje Werlemann-Godfrey, violins).
Franz Schubert, String Quartet No.14 in D minor, "Death and the Maiden": second movement.
Johann Sebastian Bach, Partita for unaccompanied violin in D minor, BWV1004: Sarabande.
Georg Phillip Telemann, Fantasia for solo violin No.9 in B minor.
Felix Mendelssohn, Octet for strings in E flat major, Op.20.

May 2009

Symphonies by Mozart and Haydn; a Bach cantata; Scarlatti keyboard sonatas transmuted by the English composer Charles Avison.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony No.21 in A major, K134.
Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata No.56, Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen (Morgan Pearse, bass).
Charles Avison, Concerto Grosso after Scarlatti No.3 in D minor.
Franz Joseph Haydn, Symphony No.42 in D major.

One of Mozart's delightful middle-period symphonies is contrasted with the darkly chromatic opening of Bach's Cantata No.56, "I will gladly bear the Cross". Charles Avison was an English composer who capitalised on the popularity in his day of Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas by arranging some of them into a dozen concertos for strings. These have been recently rediscovered and have been enthusiastically taken up by many specialist Baroque ensembles.

In this 200th anniversary year of Haydn's death, Orchestra 143 presents two of his Sturm und Drang symphonies. We begin with No.42, a work which sacrifices some of the vivacity of many other compositions from this period of Haydn's life in favour of tightly constructed faster movements and a gentle, hymnlike andantino. In both respects this work looks forward to the great symphonies of Haydn's maturity.

December 2008

Orchestra 143 December 2008

A Christmas concert with the Joubert Singers.

Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Messe de minuit.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Concerto for flute, harp and orchestra (Christine Draeger, flute; Verna Lee, harp).
Arcangelo Corelli, Concerto grosso Op.6 No.8 in G minor, Christmas Concerto.
George Frideric Handel, Choruses from Messiah.

Christmas music from the baroque period – Charpentier's setting of the Christmas midnight mass; a concerto by Corelli, specifically written for the same occasion; and extracts from Handel's greatest oratorio. The Mozart concerto, while not strictly a Christmas work, is delightful, sparkling and admirably suited to the season.

June 2008

Music by Bach, Pergolesi and others.

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Stabat Mater (Simone Easthope, soprano; Victoria Wallace, alto).
Johann Sebastian Bach, Orchestral Suite No.1 in C major, BWV1066.
George Frideric Handel, arias from Orlando and Messiah (Matt Thomas, baritone).
Count Unico Wilhelm von Wassenaer, Concerto Armonico No.3 in A major.

Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, for two female voices with string accompaniment, was one of the most universally admired works of the eighteenth century, and still retains its hold on audiences. By turns sorrowful, dramatic and consoling, it is perhaps the most famous of many musical settings of the thirteenth century(?) poem depicting the Virgin Mary's sufferings at the foot of the Cross. The Concerto Armonico, one of a set of six, provides an appropriate companion piece to the Pergolesi, having been for many years attributed to Pergolesi himself. It was only as recently as 1979 that the concerti were proved to have been written in the eighteenth century by one Count Unico Wilhelm von Wassenaer; they were published anonymously since at that time it was socially unacceptable for a member of the nobility to be known as a composer.

Bach's greatest achievements in the field of orchestral music are the six Brandenburg concertos and the four orchestral suites. The first suite, scored for oboes, bassoon and strings, opens with an Overture comprising a majestic opening with a complex contrapuntal sequel, and continues with a set of dances ranging from the familiar minuet and bourrée to the more rarely encountered forlane and passepied. To complete our programme we welcome baritone Matt Thomas to perform arias from Handel's operatic and oratorio repertoire.