Vector Wellington Orchestra Subscription Series Three

Vector Wellington Orchestra Subscription Series Three:
The Toy Box

Haydn Symphony No 60 in C major, Il Distratto
Chris Gendall Triple Concerto (world premiere)
Debussy The Toy Box (La boite a joujoux)

Marc Taddei Conductor
NZTrio
Jackie Clarke Actor

Noted New Zealand actor Jackie Clarke joins Vector Wellington Orchestra to narrate a rarity by Debussy, The Toy Box. Like his famous Children’s Corner suite, The Toy Box was inspired by Debussy’s love for his daughter Chouchou, who was nine at the time. In a letter to her, Debussy said it evoked, “your songs and your laughter and all that noise which sometimes makes you an unbearable little person, but more often charming”. Written as a children’s ballet, The Toy Box has been adapted so that Clarke tells a classic tale of a dancing doll, a soldier and a pulcinello, in a similar manner to Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. Debussy’s score is full of a sense of magic and fantasy that will appeal to all ages.

Chris Gendall is the VWO’s 2011 Composer in Residence. His commission features the NZTrio as soloists in a 20-minute Triple Concerto that also puts the orchestra’s brass players in groups around the audience.

It was a nice opportunity to expand on the classical model, Gendall says. “Using antiphonal brass spaced around the hall complements the onstage action,” he says. “It puts the music into three dimensions.”

“You have the dynamic between the three chamber musicians, and the dynamic between the trio and the orchestra. I just wanted to create another dimension by adding the brass. They’re not going all the time, but they add a little extra magic.”

Gendall likes to set up a dramaturgy for the piece in which the music itself plays the characters. Like an opera, the music sets up situations that lead to the next episode, yet there is no story as such.

“There are latent emotional connections but I like to let the music create its own drama.”

The concert opens with Haydn, regarded as the “father of the symphony”. Generations of composers have followed his classic model, but Haydn was equally skilled at subverting the very genre he perfected. In 1774, he took incidental music he had composed for a French play, Le Distrait, and created a quirky six-movement symphony, Il Distratto, full of wild imagination and humour.

“This concert is all about theatre, and I’m excited to have gifted NZ actor Jackie Clarke present ”Toy Box”. Debussy’s music for it is such a total delight. Haydn’s witty 60th symphony was also written with the stage in mind and I love it! Finally, I’m thrilled to present Chris Gendall’s Triple Concerto. It’s certainly theatrical, and spreads the mighty VWO brass around the hall.”
– Marc Taddei, Music Director

Friday 31 August
Masterton Town Hall 7.30 pm
Free pre-concert talk by Marc Taddei 6.30pm

Saturday 1 September
Wellington Town Hall 7.30 pm
Free pre-concert talk by Marc Taddei 6.30pm

Tickets from Ticketek 0800 842 538,www.ticketek.co.nz Service fee will apply.

ENDS

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