In our 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons Septura will be presenting an exciting range of programmes.
Alongside our ever-popular An American in Paris, Christmas with Septura, and Kleptomania programmes, we will be performing five new programmes, each moulded round a particular theme or concept: Easter with Septura, Neoclassicism Reimagined, Human Nature, Ode to Joy, and One Equal Music.
Septura explore a great transatlantic relationship, charting a course from Debussy’s Préludes, through Ravel’s Mother Goose, to his friend Gershwin’s Piano Preludes, Songbook and iconic An American in Paris, especially arranged for brass and solo car-horns.
Programme:
Ravel Mother Goose
Debussy Préludes
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Gershwin Three Piano Preludes
Gershwin Songbook
Gershwin An American in Paris
The seasonal celebration of Christmas has been the inspiration for so many great musical masterpieces, and brass instruments are a vital part of this festive musical fabric. In this concert Septura focus on some of the highlights of the rich Christmas canon. Where years of repetition have dulled the impact of these wonderful works Septura illuminate them afresh, casting them in a brand new light through the unique and uplifting sound of the brass septet.
Programme:
Schütz Das Word ward Fleisch
Brahms Chorale Prelude on Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
Praetorius Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
J.S. Bach Christmas Suite
Handel Highlights from Messiah
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Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Suite (with or without narrator)
Strings reign supreme in chamber music, their extensive repertoire expressing the breadth and depth of the human condition. Three peerless examples – Elgar’s youthful Serenade, Walton’s turbulent Sonata, and Shostakovich’s masterful Eighth Quartet – are magnified by the uniquely powerful sound of the brass septet.
Programme:
Elgar Serenade
Walton Sonata
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Shostakovich Eighth Quartet
The piano’s rich repertoire is tempting for transcribers, and Rachmaninov‘s Duets, Debussy’s Préludes and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition are certainly no exception. Images inspire a huge range of colours from these composers, and using all of the techniques in Septura’s vast arsenal these are brightly illuminated.
Programme:
Rachmaninov Duets, Op. 11
Debussy Préludes
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Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition
Three great 20th-century composers turned to the past, re-imagining the music of the 18th Century, each in their own inimitable way. Septura illuminate these neoclassical masterpieces afresh, in new transcriptions of Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Strauss for brass septet.
Programme:
Prokofiev Suite from Op.12
Stravinsky Pulcinella Suite
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Strauss Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Nature has often provided composers and librettist with a way to reflect on aspects of the human condition. Love and loss are portrayed with nature’s help in works by three great composers: Blow’s Venus and Adonis, the first English opera; Fauré’s genre-defining mélodies; and Tchaikovsky’s iconic ballet, Swan Lake.
Programme:
Blow Venus & Adonis
Fauré Mélodies
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Tchaikovsky Swan Lake
Marginalised, neglected, ignored for centuries, and only now coming to the fore. The fate of brass chamber music mirrors that of the female composers of the past. Our counterfactual history redresses both balances: placing the music of two female composers, Barbara Strozzi and Clara Schumann, alongside that of their historically more celebrated male contemporaries; and imagining that these women had written for brass.
Programme:
Gabrieli Exultavit cor meum
Barbara Strozzi Il Primo de Madrigali
Lassus Lagrime di San Pietro
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Mendelssohn Organ Sonata in C minor
Clara Schumann Piano Sonata in G minor
