CSO Curator's Series: Poulenc, Mozart, Pärt

Poulenc Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone FP 33a

Mozart Mozart's Serenade No. 11 in E♭ major for Winds K. 375

Arvo Pärt Silouan's Song

Prepare yourself for crisp, clean, and neoclassical wit. Composed by French composer Francis Poulenc in 1922, then revised in 1945, Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone is a playful work in the spirit of Les Six: a group of early 20th-century composers who lived in Paris and shook things up in the French orchestral scene. Carrying brass swagger and a mockseriousness, Poulenc keeps his sonata elegant underneath the humour of it all.

Composed in 1781 for St Theresa’s Day, Mozart’s Serenade No. 11 is written for wind octet. Elegant, courtly, and charming, Serenade No. 11 is a conversation between pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and horns. Entertaining rather than dramatic, it feels like it’s on the precipice of a beginning.

Inspired by the writings of the Orthodox monk St. Silohuan, Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s Silhouan’s Song instils a deep stillness. Composed in 1991, the work is based on a religious text characteristic of Pärt’s tintinnabuli works, a style he invented himself. Simple and unadorned, much like the monk lifestyle, this music is slow, meditative, and prayer-like: built from simple means but carrying immense weight.