Schubert's 'Unfinished' Symphony, Vinten, Elgar

Composer / conductor Michael Vinten (left) and saxophonist Simon Brew (right).

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Wellington Chamber Orchestra
conducted by Michael Vinten: soloist Simon Brew (alto saxophone).
Schubert's 'Unfinished' Symphony, Vinten Saxophone Concerto, Elgar Froissart Overture
Sunday, 1 April: 2:30pm
St Andrews on the Terrace, Wellington

Press Release Starts:

Schubert's famous Unfinished Symphony will have a slightly less unfinished performance in Wellington on Sunday, 1 April.

Musical director and composer Michael Vinten will conduct the Wellington Chamber Orchestra in a programme that includes Schubert's Symphony No 8 in B Minor with a third movement which he has completed himself, based on sketches left by the composer.

"Schubert wrote nearly as many incomplete symphonies as complete, six and seven respectively," Vinten comments. "It is still something of a mystery as to why he never completed this one in B Minor although he frequently allowed work on other pieces interrupt his larger scale compositions. It is likely that he simply never got back to it."

Franz Schubert was just 31 years old when he died in 1828. His B Minor Symphony has been regarded as a master work and remained in the orchestral repertoire ever since, usually performed in its two-movement, Unfinished state. A 'classical' symphony conventionally has four movements. The German composer did leave some clues for a third movement - 20 orchestrated bars, a piano sketch and a partial melody. It is this that Michael Vinten has used as a basis for a completed 'Scherzo and Trio' which the Wellington Chamber Orchestra will perform in this concert.

Vinten's dual role as composer and conductor will be confirmed in a second piece in the afternoon concert when saxophone soloist Simon Brew performs Michael Vinten's Concerto for Alto Saxophone with the orchestra. "This piece was the result of a promise to SImon to write a short work especially for him. It has turned into a five movement concerto," Vinten explains. "Simon premiered the concerto last year with the Wellington Youth Sinfonietta who commissioned the piece. It was also included in the NZSO-SOUNZ Readings in November 2006." Brew, a performance graduate of Massey University's Conservatorium of Music, is also a member of the Wellington-based ensemble Saxcess, and principal saxophone for the Central Band of the RNZAF.

The Wellington Chamber Orchestra's programme will also be completed by a third work, the Froissart Overture by Edward Elgar, chosen in honour of the 150th anniversary of the English composer's birth.

The concert will take place at St Andrew's on the Terrace in Wellington, 2:30pm on Sunday, 1 April. Tickets are available from Ticketek, from orchestra members or at the door.

ENDS

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