Queensland Symphony Orchestra closed the 2023 season with their tenth and final Maestro concert, featuring a program of musical works under half an hour each, from Classical heavyweights Rossini, Mozart, Schubert, and Prokofiev.
Conducted by QSO Chief Conductor Umberto Clerici, Micro Masterpieces began with Rossini’s overture to The Barber of Seville – brief, bubbling, mischievous and comical, it is instantly recognisable from popular culture as well as its origins in Rossini’s opera buffa (comic opera). There is nothing like hearing a classical piece played live, with all the nuance and power of an orchestra in the singular moment of live performance, and my increasing familiarity with classical repertoire only elevates that enjoyment. Always an engaging and energetic conductor, Clerici crouched low as he conducted the more dramatic sections of the famous overture.
Rossini’s light-hearted overture was followed by Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 in E flat, one of the final three symphonies that Mozart wrote in quick succession. Maestro Clerici noted that this concert signalled the beginning of a mini-cycle of the last three Mozart symphonies, rarely played by the QSO, and that this cycle will continue until 2025. Again, Clerici moved constantly across the podium, stepping and reaching, his gestures hitting their peak in time with the bows of the strings musicians.
Mozart’s symphony began speedily and cheerfully, the first movement a shimmering Adagio – Allegro, followed by swaying, dramatic strings in the second movement, Andante con moto. The third movement,Menuetto: Allegretto, included a minuet and trio and a melody based on a popular drinking song of the time, while the fourth and final movement, Allegro, was jubilant, passing melodies between the instruments.
After an interval, Micro Masterpieces resumed with Schubert’s fifth symphony, composed when Schubert was only 19 years old. Tension climbed in the charming Allegro first movement, while the Andante con moto second movement was drifting and dreamy. The third movement, Menuetto: Allegro molto, was darker, stormier, and more dramatic, and the fourth movement, Allegro vivace, returned the audience to the light and liveliness of the first movement.
Before the final piece, Maestro Clerici spoke to the audience about the musical journey of QSO’s 2023 season, focusing on classicism and the first school of Vienna with composers like Hadyn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Maestro Clerici commented that 2024 would see a shift towards the Romantics and neoclassical composers, like Stravinsky and Bartok.
Prokofiev’s first symphony – one of the shortest in the canon, at around 15 minutes long – wrapped up both Micro Masterpieces and the 2023 season for the orchestra. Popularly referred to as the Classical symphony, Prokofiev’s work was inspired by the classical technique of Mozart and Haydn, adding playful dissonances to build a quick, bright, and exciting symphony that breezed past to the end of the concert.
Queensland Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Umberto Clerici, closed their dynamic 2023 season with a quartet of micro masterpieces influenced (or composed) by Mozart, weaving 150 years of music into one journey through the Classical era.
Micro Masterpieces was performed at the QPAC Concert Hall from 17 – 18 November 2023.
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