Mozart and Brahms

Conductor Jen Winley helms this concert paying tribute to artists who inspire other artists, including Mozart’s homage to his mentor J.C. Bach, performed by Jayson Gillham, and Brahms’ First Symphony.

• Fauré’s 1919 Masques et Bergamasques was originally written as theatre music, inspired by the clownish Commedia Dell’Arte troupe at the heart of Verlaine’s poem Clair de Lune. This suite of good-humoured theatricality was cheekily described by one of Fauré's contemporaries as ‘Mozart imitating Fauré’.

• Performed by Australian-British pianist Jayson Gillham, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.12 is brimming with characteristic warmth and melody. The second movement pays homage to Johann Christian Bach – Mozart’s mentor and hero – who had died the year before.

• The opening of Brahms’s First Symphony is astonishing – it seems to have already been playing when we, the audience, intrude upon its crashing chords. In this way, it’s similar to the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth. Indeed, the influence of Beethoven is palpable in this symphony, and yet, with its buttery lyricism and boisterous momentum, its signature is thoroughly Brahms’.

Duration: approx. 2 hours including interval