The Hallé – Fanfare for the Hallé
Johnny James, Managing Editor
HUW WATKINS Fanfare for the Hallé (World Premiere)
RICHARD WAGNER Die Meistersinger: Suite
BRAHMS Symphony No.1
Sir Mark Elder CONDUCTOR
The first concert in the Hallé’s Winter Season will see Sir Mark Elder conduct two glorious works by Romantic masters as well as a world premiere by Huw Watkins.
Celebrating their return to the stage, the Hallé will open with a brand new fanfare written for the orchestra by British composer Huw Watkins. The bright mood continues with Wagner’s Suite from his comic opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. With such variety and apparently endless flow of melody, it’s a life-enhancing work full of blazing sonorities and characteristic invention.
Closing the concert is Brahms’ First Symphony, which emerged after 20 years of struggle as the German composer wrestled with writing a symphony worthy of Beethoven – ‘that giant whose steps I always hear behind me.’ By the First’s conclusion, Brahms proved himself a true successor, nowhere more so than in the finale with its radiant horn tune (transcribed from Swiss alpine horns) and main theme, daringly referencing the Master’s ‘Ode to Joy’ from the Ninth Symphony.
Appropriately for a season of firsts, this will be the first time that Sir Mark has conducted this Brahms symphony with the Hallé.
As with all nine concerts in the season, Fanfare for the Hallé will be streamed on Vimeo at thehalle.vhx.tv.
