The list of concerts for the new season at the City Hall has come out and there look to be some interesting programmes coming.

The Halle are probably the best provincial orchestra in the country, and when it comes to the music of Elgar there is no-one to touch them. We will be treated to Mark Elder conducting the Enigma Variations in the opening concert. One of the first recordings they made together was The Planets by Holst, together with Colin Matthews's Pluto. This last was a Halle commission, and I heard on the radio that scientists have discovered another planet some considerable distance from the orbit of Pluto. I wonder if we can look forward to a new work from the Halle for this?

We are being given a concert of film music, with much of the music coming from the pen of John Williams. It took a bit of finding out that two of the items on that concert did appear in films. Those of you used to hearing Ron Goodwin's The Trap - as used for the BBC coverage of the London Marathon - might be surprised to learn that it was the theme from a film starring Oliver Reed back in the mid 60s. A further surprise comes from the discovery that the French film Jean de Florette uses the Verdi overture La forza del destino.

The Moscow Philharmonic will be coming with a programme of Berlioz (King Lear overture), Shostakovich (Cello Concerto No 1 with Tim Hugh as soloist) and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony which was last performed in 2001. The orchestra will be conducted by Yuri Simonov.

Mozart is represented by the familiar and the unfamiliar. I suppose that his re-orchestration of Handel's Messiah would count as the unfamiliar (December 2nd).

Also in December is a concert celebrating the centenary of the university of Sheffield. As well as music from Elgar and Walton, we can look forward to the world premiere of George Nicholson's Concerto for Orchestra.
George Nicholson took up the post of Senior Lecturer in Composition at Sheffield University in January 1996. His list of works includes a flute concerto, commissioned and premièred in 1994 in Zürich by James Galway; a cello concerto (for Moray Welsh) and a chamber concerto, both commissioned by the BBC; three string quartets; the orchestral song-cycle 'Blisworth Tunnel Blues', 'The convergence of the Twain' and '1132' for chamber orchestra; and a variety of chamber works, vocal pieces and piano music. (Information from the University's web site).

More info regarding the concerts next year will follow in due course.

New Season's Highlights at the City Hall (continued)
The New Year's programme starts with a concert from the Johann Strauss Orchestra under Christopher Warren-Green with what is described as a "Johann Strauss Gala". I'm not sure what music is included in this concert, but there is a similar concert the previous week in Newcastle and that is advertised :
".. delightful blend of music, dance and song is filled with Strauss family favourites including; Blue Danube Waltz, Radetzky March, Tritsch Tratsch Polka, The Laughing Song from Die Fledermaus, Bandit Galop, Pizzicato Polka, Wiener Blut Waltz, Egyptian March, Tales From The Vienna Woods and many more. Johann Strauss Orchestra directed from the violin in traditional Viennese manner by Christopher Warren-Green With sparkling soprano Charlotte Kinder. Johann Strauss Dancers in beautiful costumes of the period. Choreography Mandy Demetriou."
At the beginning of February Manchester Camerata are bringing the last three symphonies by Mozart. Conducted by Douglas Boyd, this is a programme due to be performed in a short tour at the beginning of February.

Later this month there is a rare work by Mozart, Davidde Penitente. This oratorio sets new words to some of Mozart's existing music - the setting was by Mozart, so it doesn't count as plagarism, more like recycling. In this case the new work uses an unfinished mass that Mozart had written for Salzburg to provide the chorus with music, and Mozart wrote new music for the soloists.
As well as the Mozart, the concert includes two works by Richard Strauss; his second horn concerto and his suite from Der Rosenkavalier. The orchestra is the RLPO under Gerard Schwarz.

More Mozart is to be heard on March 3rd in a concert given by the London Mozart Players directed by Howard Shelley. He will be playing two popular concertos - 20 and 21, as well as conducting the first Sheffield performance of Rosetti's Symphony in G. The concert also includes the Mozart Divertimento K136.


Later in the month, on Thursday 16th March sees another visit to Sheffield by Valery Polyansky and the Russian State Philharmonic Orchestra in an all Russian programme - Prokofiev's First Symphony, Shostakovich's First Piano Concerto (with Tatyana Polyanskya as soloist) and Rachmaninov's Third Symphony (the one with the reference to Shenandoah to my ears).

Also in March is the Halle's second visit in the season, this time conducted by Andre de Ridder in a programme of Beethoven's First Symphony and Sir Michael Tippett's Child of Our Time with the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus. This is scheduled for Saturday March 25th.

The following afternoon sees a guitar recital given by the highly talented Greek virtuoso Eleftheria Kotzia. You may recall we were hoping to hear her performance of the Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez in the last City Hall series, but she was unable to appear. This programme includes a mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar - as well as the Tarrega Recuerdos de la Alhambra we will also have a performance of Tango by Dyens, which is a piece strongly associated with Eleftheria.

Moving on to April brings two concerts by chamber orchestras. The first (6th April) has the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy. The opening piece is the Schoenberg Verklaerte Nacht - "Transfigured Night"

For those who think that all Schoenberg sounds like a plumber has dropped his bag of tools this piece will come as a pleasant surprise. For those who like late Romantic music this should be one of the highlights of the season.
Also on the programme are the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto (soloist John Anderson) and Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings.
Also in April are the varied styles offered by the European Union Chamber Orchestra in their concert on April 20th. This begins with a performance of Haydn's 26th Symphony - Lamentations - and continues with Mozart's Piano Concerto no 12, soloist John Lill) Bartok's Rumanian Folk Dances, Barber's Adagio for Strings and ends with Grieg's Holberg Suite. Mark Gothoni is the conductor.

The final concert in April sees the return of the RLPO and Gerard Schwarz in another all Russian programme. The Russian Easter Overture has not appeared in the schedules at the City Hall since 1957, so this is indeed a rare treat. This will be followed with the second of Prokofiev's Violin Concertos (soloist Ryu Goto). The concert closes with Shostakovich's Symphony no 8.

The Budapest Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tamas Vasary visit again on 6th May in a programme which features Liszt's Les Preludes. This is followed by Nina Kotova playing the Dvorak cello concerto. After the interval two popular suites are offered: Suite no 1 from Grieg's Peer Gynt ( the one with Morning and In the Hall of the Mountain King) and Stravinsky's 1919 version of his Firebird Suite.

The final concert in the season has Mark Elder bringing the season to a close with the Halle in Mahler's Third Symphony . For this concert he is bringing the Halle Choir.

The new brochure is now available, resplendent with a view of the skylight on the front cover.

I picked up a copy at Calow Classics on Abbeydale Road this morning.