Conductor Guntis KUZMA
CHAMBER MUSIC
The classical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and perhaps the last of the great Romantics, Richard Strauss, in a single programme. In Mozart’s day the serenade was a popular genre of musical greeting to be played on a fine early evening; by Strauss’s time the serenade had gradually become an exotic luxury, to be given a form in keeping with the age.
After a long interval the LNSO’s woodwind players have joined forces once again in a sizeable instrumental ensemble, and now we shall have the honour of hearing the splendid members of the LNSO flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn sections make music together. This coming together is being guided by an excellent professional, the assistant to the LNSO’s chief conductor, Guntis Kuzma.
For this concert marking their revival, the LNSO woodwind players have chosen the serenade and two eminent composers – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss.Mozart’sserenades vary greatly in mood, and one of the most generous and beautiful of them is undoubtedly the so-calledGran partitawith its incredibly lovelyAndante.Richard Strausswrote several works for 13 wind players, and this LNSO programme includes the Serenade in E flat major, Op. 7, composed in 1881 – the composer was then 17 years old.
Guntis Kuzmais an outstanding clarinettist who in recent years has turned to studies in symphonic conducting and has already proved himself in a number of concert programmes with the LNSO andSinfonietta Rīgaas a sensitive accompanist of soloists in performances of instrumental concertos and as a skilled leader of a symphony orchestra.