Latest news with #MozartOboeConcerto
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Transported to idyllic world
NZSO principal oboe Robert Orr. PHOTO: SUPPLIED An excited audience packed the King's and Queen's Performing Arts Centre on Saturday evening to hear an exceptionally polished performance by the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra under the inspirational conductor Benjamin Bayl with guest oboist Robert Orr. Three works from the Western classical repertoire transported the audience to an idyllic world of stability, exuberance and wealth as portrayed by three prodigious composers of the 18th and 19th centuries. The highlight of the event was the Mozart Oboe Concerto given a stunningly beautiful performance by Robert Orr. Orr's exceptional breath control over long lyric phrases held true over increasingly technically demanding solo obligatii. Orr richly deserved the prolonged applause. The reduced orchestration of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749) befits the concert chamber. Composed for extraordinarily large forces as incidental music in the days before loudspeakers were a thing, it invites its audience to celebrate peace by right, royally dancing the night away despite the fizzled fireworks display. Its catchy rhythms, rousing grandeur and the strength of the DSO's wind section created a successful performance. Schubert's 4th Symphony, ''The Tragic'', has a Bryon-esque opening. It wallows in poetic gloom before the following movements emerge grandly frenetic. Reprieve comes in the briefly sweeping menuetto. Schubert is better remembered for his chamber works. The Tragic is built on standard classic composition techniques in which a small amount of thematic material is, to put it simply, echoed down and up the melodic scale through the various timbres of instrumental groups before upping the tempo with inverted thematic material. All credit to all sections of the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra and to the conductor for keeping the delivery crisp, energetic and tight while testing stamina. The whole event was a sublime escape, leaving the audience feeling all the richer for the experience.
Otago Daily Times
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Oboist joins DSO for matinee series
NZSO principal oboe Robert Orr will head south to perform Mozart's Oboe Concerto with the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra in its two "Sublime Schubert" matinee concerts this weekend. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Lovers of woodwind are in for a treat this weekend, when leading New Zealand oboe player Robert Orr joins the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra for its "Sublime Schubert" matinee series concerts. Wellington-based Orr, the principal oboe with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, will perform as soloist in Mozart's much-loved Oboe Concerto — renowned for its achingly beautiful melodies and light-hearted, lively passages. The Mozart Oboe Concerto will feature alongside two other great works of the Classical era — Handel's Royal Fireworks Music and Schubert's Symphony No. 4 "Tragic" in the matinee concerts, to be held on Saturday at 5pm and Sunday at 3pm, at the King's & Queen's Performing Arts Centre. The concerts will be conducted by acclaimed Australian conductor Benjamin Bayl, making his first appearance with the DSO, and bringing fresh energy to these important works. Although nicknamed "Tragic", Schubert's fourth symphony is filled with bubbly vitality and sublime melodies. Schubert's composing career lasted fewer than 20 years, but he produced an enormous number of compositions. However, due to Beethoven's prominence at the time, Schubert's fourth symphony, completed in 1816, didn't receive a public premiere until 1849, more than two decades after the composer's death.
