Outliers

Wonderfully uplifting and appealing music, if less often heard in concert, is the essence of Resonance Ensemble’s first concert for 2023. Christchurch’s innovative orchestra Resonance Ensemble has established a reputation for bringing the finest and more unusual corners of the repertoire to Christchurch audiences.

Outliers features four works which, although familiar to many, are considered to be almost outside the standard repertoire.

The final galop from Rossini’s William Tell Overture may be one of the most well-known and exciting pieces of music ever written, but the rest of the overture, not to mention the whole magnificent five-hour-long opera which follows, is rarely heard. But the overture’s astonishingly innovative and original character make that final galop all the more charismatic and electrifying. The five cellos of Resonance Ensemble bring a fresh perspective to its extraordinary opening episode followed by one of Rossini’s most frighteningly realistic storm sequences. The orchestra’s superb flute and cor anglais players then indulge us with a Swiss yodelling song, before that final triumphant galop.

Gounod’s Ballet Music from Faust was not originally part of his most famous opera’s first performances. Come along to the concert to hear the rather extraordinary inside story of how this exceptionally varied and appealing music came to be written.

A third orchestral extract from opera comes in the form of the Dance of the Hours from Ponchielli’s only well-known opera La Gioconda. But even this colourful and dramatic opera is rarely heard apart from this famous dance that ends Act 3. Many in the audience will recognise sections of the Dance of the Hours that have appeared in popular songs, advertising jingles and a certain classic Disney movie.

But perhaps the work which is most deserving of the label ‘outlier’ is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8. Coming immediately after the mighty Seventh Symphony and several years before the great choral Ninth with its iconic Ode to Joy, it’s easy to forget that No. 8 is Beethoven’s most innovative and experimental symphony and certainly one of his greatest. Written in 1812 and full of stunning and original music, Symphony No. 8 is the shortest of Beethoven’s mature symphonies. Although hardly an unknown work, this symphony will come as a revelation to many in the audience.

All of these works will come to life with Resonance Ensemble’s usual flair and dynamism in the stunning acoustic of Christchurch’s wonderful concert venue, The Piano, at 3.00pm on Sunday 26 March. Come along for some enthralling musical discoveries on a path less travelled.