Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

The Australia Ensemble’s choice of an arrangement of Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 1 in C minor for violin, cello and piano duet to end its September Saturday night concert is not an act of unauthorised theft from a repertory more suited to larger forces. The arrangement is by Mendelssohn himself from an orchestral score first composed by this precociously gifted musician when he was fifteen and reconsidered by him six years later as a chamber piece.

The performance of J.S.Bach’s A major Sonata for flute and keyboard follows up the Australia Ensemble’s re-introduction in 2013 of this composer’s music to its programs in those cases where the composer’s fully written-out parts for all instruments avoids the need to use continuo forces. It also allows the Ensemble, playing modern instruments in a stylistically informed manner, to present certain works acceptably and refreshingly.

Arthur Benjamin was a Sydney-born composer and pianist who taught many distinguished musicians in London, including Benjamin Britten, and made a secure reputation with his own compositions. His typically adroit and shapely Clarinet Quintet, however, has become a novelty in his own country.

Roger Smalley, an Australian composer of great distinction, also adds something new to this concert with his very concise and skilful Trio for clarinet, viola and piano.

Featured non-Australian music: Mendelssohn, Bach

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website or by phone on (02) 9385 4874

Featured Australian Works

Featured artists

• Performer Australia Ensemble