The score of the ballet Spartacus was completed in 1954 and tells the story of a slave rebellion led by the hero against Roman domination. A robber by trade, he was taken prisoner and sold to a trainer of gladiators. The opening scene of the ballet shows Crassus buying prisoners including Spartacus and his wife Phrygia.

At a wild orgy, Crassus’ wife Aegina forces Spartacus and another gladiator to be blindfolded and fight each other to the death. Although Spartacus is the victor, he is distraught at having killed a fellow prisoner and on returning to barracks, he urges the other slaves to fight for their freedom.

In the second act, Spartacus vows to free his wife Phrygia from the clutches of Crassus, which he does during a banquet. Whilst the guests are celebrating, Crassus is told that Spartacus and his band of slaves have surrounded the villa and he and Aegina attempt to escape but are captured. Spartacus insists on fighting Crassus in single combat, and although Spartacus gains the upper hand, he spares Crassus and sends him contemptuously away.

The third act shows Aegina, who, with the help of the traitor Harmodius, seeks to avenge her husband’s humiliation. The plot consists of plying the slave army with women and wine to weaken them. The final battle sees Spartacus surrounded and captured and his body is impaled on legionary spears as Phrygia looks on.

Mahler : Symphony No 1 'Titan'

This symphony was originally a symphonic poem with five movements and in two sections. Although it did not have a title, its source can be found in the literary work of Jean Paul, an early romantic writer. The later title of the work, 'Titan' refers to Jean Paul's novel of that name which describes the struggle for the aims of intellectual freedom or pleasure.

The symphony was first performed in 1889 in Budapest - however it was not immediately acclaimed by all. In a letter to his friend, Mahler wrote that the premier performance had caused ‘a mixture of furious disapproval and wildest applause’ amongst the audience, however he added ‘orchestra extremely satisfied with symphony as result of barrel of free beer’.

Mendelssohn : Ruy Blas Overture

The story line is set in late seventeenth century Spain under its last Hapsburg monarch, Charles II. The plot concerns the revenge of the noble de Salluste, who was dismissed form court in the first act. His revenge also encompasses Ruy Blas (the final “s” is pronounced in this case), a man of the people whom the Queen has raised up to be a reforming Prime Minister to save Spain.

The political dimensions of the story did not escape the early audiences, with its criticisms of the corruptions of aristocratic regimes and the reign of Louis-Philippe (1830-48) in France.

Mendelssohn became involved when the Leipzig Theatre decided to perform the play in early 1839 and contacted Mendelssohn for some music. Unfortunately, they left it rather late, informing the composer only six days before the opening night. Fortunately, Mendelsohn treated this as a challenge and two days later presented the theatre with the complete score of the overture. He also provided a romance and a duet for the play itself.

The overture begins with a four bar stately invocation from the wind, followed by agitated murmurings form the strings. The wind repeats the invocation, throwing in a diminished seventh chord for good measure. The strings respond with some more murmuring. The wind return, reinforced with a drum roll from the timpani, and the main tune of the overture can now begin.

Mendelssohn uses three tunes in this overture. The first, played by the flutes and violins, is an elaboration of the earlier string murmurings. This is followed by a chromatic bridge passage, interrupted by the invocation, this time at fortissimo. This leads to the smooth second tune on the cellos, clarinets and bassoons, accompanied by Spanish style strumming from the rest of the strings. Then comes the final sprightly tune, still in the bassoons and violins, later jointed by the flutes.

Although the three tunes are different in their mood and style, they follow the same harmonic progression. Each time, the tunes rise first to an Eb, then a G and finally a top C (Ab for the third tune). Mendelssohn has thus made it easy for himself to mix up the tunes. The result is a cocktail which has some real romantic fizz.

When Mendelssohn died in 1847, a large statue was erected outside the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, where Mendelssohn had conducted the Gewandhaus orchestra. But in 1936, the stupid bigotry of the Nazis commanded that the statue be destroyed. However, in 1993 a new statue of Mendelssohn has arisen outside the newly opened Neues Gewandhaus.

Mendelssohn was also an enthusiastic player of chess.

Jerome Moross : Theme from 'The Big Country'

In addition to writing musicals, ballets and concert works, Moross worked in Hollywood on innumerable films from the 1930’s onwards. The Big Country is the best known of these film scores – winning an Academy nomination.

The year 1791 was highly successful for Mozart except for one minor detail: he died at the end of it. But the year began with his dance music selling like hot cakes. Then he became the nominated successor to Leopald Hofmann as Kapellmeister of St. Stephan’s cathedral in Vienna, a highly paid position (Hofmann was to die in 1793). On top of this Salomon had engaged him for 1792 to follow Haydn for a lucrative season in London. His opera “The Magic Flute” played to full houses and “La Clemenza di Tito” achieved success in Prague. Finally there was the unfinished Requiem.
The Clarinet Concerto was written in the midst of all this activity and was almost the last piece that Mozart completed. (It was followed only by the “Free Mason” cantata and, of course, the incomplete Requiem).

Mozart’s love affair with the clarinet, however, goes back to 1777 when he first heard the famous Mannheim orchestra, “an army of general”, which featured the instrument. For in Mozart’s day clarinets were still newcomers to the orchestral scene. Handel had included them on a couple of occasions but it was Stamitz family (uncle and two nephews) that gave them a regular feature in the orchestra at Mannheim. Mozart was as enchanted by their sound as he was by the daughters of Herr Weber that he also met at Mannheim – he was later to marry Constanza Weber.
Back in Vienna Mozart became good friends with the clarinet virtuoso Anton Stadler (1753-1812) whom he used to refer to as “old beetroot face”. Very soon clarinets featured more and more in Mozart’s music: the Kegelstatt Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano of 1786, the Clarinet Quintet of 1789 and this concerto.

However, clarinets came in various forms (and still do). Mozart used the mellow sounding bassett horns for “La Clemenza di Tito” and the Requiem (though many performances today still use the harsher sounding regular clarinet) and this concerto was originally written for the bassett clarinet. This is the same as an “A” clarinet with an extension to allow it to descend four extra semitones.

The concerto was first performed in Prague on 16th October 1791 by Anton Stadler himself. Mozart was then back in Vienna. He never heard it performed for seven weeks later he was dead.

The overture reflects many of these aspects; beginning with a solemn opening, before a breathy and excited theme epitomising the lively and playful characters of Papegeno and Papegena and finishing with a triumphant flourish of good over evil.

Allegro Maestoso ~ Adagio ma non troppo ~ Tempo di Minuetto

The Mozart Concerti for flute were written during a trip which took the 21 year old composer to Mannheim and Paris in 1777-8.

The famous Mannheim orchestra’s composition and its disciplined approach to playing were held in the highest esteem and Mozart was given the opportunity to work with the best musicians of his time.  Whilst in Mannheim, Mozart wrote two flute concerti, the D major K314 which was originally an oboe concerto transcribed for flute, and the G major which is performed today.

At first, Mozart had to force himself to compose or was making excuses that he had so many duties to fulfil in Mannheim.  Later he confessed to the real reason behind his behaviour; he actually did not like doing it, since he ‘could not stand’ the flute.  Nevertheless, two master works were created, neither of which shows signs of toil or lack of enthusiasm.

Allegro ~ Larghetto ~ Allegretto

The  ‘Coronation’ Concerto owes its popular subtitle to a performance by Mozart during the time of Leopold II’s Coronation in Frankfurt am Main in October, 1790.  Mozart began composing the work in 1787 however, and gave its premiere in Dresden in 1789.

The first movement opens with an orchestral tutti in which the main musical ideas of the movement are presented.  The orchestra begins quietly with suppressed energy.  During the composition of the work, Mozart changed the orchestration and added parts for trumpets and timpani, which are included perhaps to give the orchestral sound the impression of noble grandeur. 

Mozart’s original cadenzas, and indeed sections of the pianists left hand material do not survive in manuscript as it was Mozart’s custom to improvise these in performance, and most modern performances are based on the first printed edition.    The second movement is opened by the soloist.  In this unique movement everything is subordinated to Melodic expression.  The  finale, again introduced by the soloist is full of rich virtuoso passagework for the soloist, and is teeming with melodic invention.

(i) Moderato (ii) Adagio sostenuto (iii) Allegro scherzando

Rachmaninov first visited Britain in 1899 with such success that the Philharmonic Society invited him back to play his first piano concerto. He accepted the invitation but said that he would prefer to write a new concerto which would be worthier of London’s attention.

Before he began the new work, however, Rachmaninov had to overcome a period of mental depression which had stemmed from the failure of his first symphony. To cure this lack of self-confidence, he was persuaded to visit Dr. Nicholas Dahl, a psychiatrist and hypnotist. After nearly four months of daily treatment under hypnosis by Dahl, Rachmaninov began the concerto. "Although it may sound incredible, this cure really helped me. The material grew in bulk, and new musical ideas began to stir within me. By the autumn I had finished two movements of the concerto."

The partially finished work was performed in Moscow in December 1900 and Rachmaninov added the first movement in the following spring, gratefully dedicating it to Dr. Dahl.