Discovery

Word has got around that Richard Gill is one of the most entertaining conductor-educators in Australia today.

He’s passionate about music and when it comes to “unpacking” the music of the great composers, that enthusiasm emerges at every turn. Which is probably why this series regularly sells out.

Ask the fans and they’ll tell you that Discovery concerts have a way of bringing the music alive and leaving you with fresh insights and new ways of listening. Richard Gill has a knack for revealing the mysteries of music without spoiling any of the magic.

Each concert, he’s joined by the talented young musicians of the Sydney Sinfonia and their Orchestra mentors in a program that presents one composer’s music in detail and gives you a chance to discover an Australian voice. Because, after all, we’re not making music if we’re not making music!

DISCOVER CLASSICAL MUSIC WITH RICHARD GILL FOUR 90-MINUTE CONCERTS WITHOUT INTERVAL AT CITY RECITAL HALL ANGEL PLACE MONDAY AND TUESDAY | 6.30PM

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Discover Tchaikovsky

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Richard Gill and the Sydney Sinfonia reveal the lyrical impulse of Tchaikovsky’s ballet music in three exquisite moments from Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker.

Tchaikovsky’s greatest masterpieces were written for the theatre. Discover the lyrical impulse of his music when Richard Gill unpacks three scenes from his ballets Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker.

Inspired by the Benedictine Abbey of New Norcia in Western Australia, Peter Sculthorpe’s tiny piece for brass and percussion joins the chanting refrains of a Latin hymn with tribal drumming.

Discover Tchaikovsky then join us for Russian Rococo (November) and our Tchaikovsky Spectacular (December). There’s more Tchaikovsky earlier in the year with Serenade for Strings (June) and the First Piano Concerto(October).

SCULTHORPE New Norcia
TCHAIKOVSKY Sleeping Beauty: Panorama
TCHAIKOVSKY Nutcracker: Arabian Dance and Pas de deux

Richard Gill conductor

Discover Mahler

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Join Richard Gill and the Sydney Sinfonia to discover the musical voice of Gustav Mahler.

LISTEN TO SAMPLES

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If ever there was a composer worth unpacking it would be Gustav Mahler, notorious for his enormous orchestras and large-scale structures.

So have Richard Gill and the Sydney Sinfonia bitten off more than they can chew? Come along and discover Mahler’s more intimate side with two songs: ‘When my sweetheart is married’ and ‘The two blue eyes of my beloved’. A movement from a Brahms symphony gives the context for Mahler’s ambitious musical ideas.

Discover Mahler, and join us in 2010 for the first year of our Mahler Odyssey with Vladimir Ashkenazy: Mahler 1 and Mahler 8 (February), Mahler 5 and Mahler’sSong of the Earth(May), Mahler 4 (November) and Mahler 3 (December).

MAHLER Songs of a Wayfarer:
‘Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht’
‘Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz’
BRAHMS Symphony No.3: 3rd movement

Richard Gill conductor
Samuel Dundas baritone

AUDIO PLAYER LISTING

Track 1 – MAHLER Songs of a Wayfarer: Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht (When my beloved is married)
Track 2 – MAHLER Songs of a Wayfarer: Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz (The two blue eyes of my beloved)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone, with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rafael Kubelik
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 449 735-2
Track 3 – BRAHMS Symphony No.3: Poco allegretto
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur
PHILIPS 476 2815

Audio kindly supplied by Universal Music.

Currently available from iTunes: Mahler

Discover Schubert

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Join Richard Gill and the Sydney Sinfonia to discover the glorious singing spirit of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony.

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Richard Gill isn’t going to gossip about why Schubert never finished his Eighth Symphony (no one quite knows, although scholars love to speculate). He’s more likely to show you how Schubert’s expansive melodies and long-range harmonies work together to create one of the most gloriously lyrical symphonic movements ever written. And we introduce a new work written specially for this series by young composer Phil Jameson.

Discover Schubert then hear the “complete” Unfinished Symphony in Dance of the Imagination in June.

SCHUBERT Symphony No.8 (Unfinished): 1st movement
JAMESON The Wind in the Hemlock (PREMIERE)

Richard Gill conductor
Celeste Haworth mezzo-soprano

AUDIO PLAYER LISTING

SCHUBERT Symphony No.8 (Unfinished): 1st movement (Allegro moderato)
Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Georg Solti
DECCA 448 927-2

Audio kindly supplied by Universal Music

Currently available from iTunes

Discover Stravinsky

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Discover Igor Stravinsky in neoclassical mode when Richard Gill unpacks the music he was writing in 1920s and 1930s Paris.

Stravinsky thought his Symphony in C was “unmysterious and so easy to hear on every level” – this is his nod to Haydn and Beethoven. But the ballet Pulcinella is where neoclassicism began: recomposing music by Pergolesi and others to show the 18th century as viewed through modern eyes. Following the success of his Morgentanz in 2008, Andrew Howes returns to the Discovery Program with music for the voice.

STRAVINSKY Symphony in C: 1st movement
STRAVINSKY Pulcinella: Minuetto – Finale
HOWES Everybody Sang (PREMIERE)

Richard Gill - Conductor
Celeste Haworth - Mezzo-soprano