“The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra is primed to shock its audiences with some ‘naked’ music in its Classical Masters Festival: The Music of Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart, which will run Friday through Aug. 28 at Bass Hall,” writes Punch Shaw in Wednesday’s (8/17) Star-Telegram (Texas). “ ‘It is like you are cooking with fewer ingredients and making a leaner meal. Every flavor stands out …,” says FWSO music director Miguel Harth-Bedoya.… That is because the music presented in this annual, pre-season festival, which is a continuation of last year’s theme, comes from an era (the so-called Classical period) that marks the embryonic stages of the development of the orchestra that audiences know today. The orchestras of Mozart’s and Haydn’s times may have had only about 30 or so players, as opposed to modern orchestras, which often have more than 100 players. The orchestras used for the FWSO festival will use 39 to 57 players, about half of what audiences would see with works from the early 19th century to the present.… In addition to symphonies … the concerts will also present concertos and pre-performance recitals that feature FWSO principal musicians and … Vadym Kholodenko, the FWSO’s artistic partner.”
Posted August 19, 2016
