3rd Sunday Concert

The music responded with freshness and cheek to the spirit of social renewal that characterised the ‘Golden Twenties’. Paul Hindemith concocted a highly amusing Wagner potpourri that defied the solemn Bayreuth cult. The experimental Erwin Schulhoff drew inspiration from jazz. Matthias Bucher compiled the ‘Hot Suite’ for trombone and orchestra from Schulhoff’s pieces.

Kurt Weill, composer of the ‘Threepenny Opera’, took stock of this turbulent era in his Second Symphony, subtitled ‘Fantaisie symphonique’, which he worked on after fleeing Nazi Germany. The opening piece presents another highlight of the ‘Golden Twenties’: Mozart was just 20 years old when he wrote the magnificent ‘Serenata notturna’.

Programme

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Serenade No. 6 K. 239 ‘Serenata notturna’
I. Marcia. Maestoso

Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)
Overture to *The Flying Dutchman*, as
a poor spa band might play at 7 o’clock in the morning
at the fountain

Erwin Schulhoff (1894–1942)
Hot Suite

Kurt Weill (1900–1950)
Symphony No. 2 ‘Fantaisie symphonique’