The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has a new series of narrated concerts called “Beyond the Score”. We went to one yesterday. The music featured in it was Mozart’s last piano concerto, K. 595. (If you click on the link it leads to information about it plus a video of another concert in this series)
We heard about them from the narrator and producer, Gerard McBurney. He recently moved here from England with his family to be Creative Arts Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. We met them through my children’s violin teacher because their children also take lessons from him.
The concert began with the orchestra and soloist on stage as usual, but also Gerard, another actor and a big screen. As photos and paintings of Vienna, Mozart and other people of his time were shown on the screen, Gerard talked about Mozart’s life at the time he wrote this concerto. Gerard would share a few things and then the actor would read from a letter or journal entry written by Mozart or one of his contemporaries. As well as talking about Mozart’s life, Gerard described the piano concerto in detail. He would talk about a phrase or motif and then the orchestra and soloist would play it for us. Parts of the concerto were similar to some songs Mozart wrote at the time. A soloist came on stage to illustrate those. it was fun and interesting – I’ve never been to a multi-media presentation with a live professional orchestra before! Continue reading »
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