Norwegian National Youth Orchestra’s

chamber orchestra

Festival Academy of Bergen

Following their absorbing journey through winter landscapes at last year’s festival, the chamber orchestra of the National Youth Orchestra of Norway returns for a mouthwatering programme in the atmospheric surroundings of the University Aula under esteemed Norwegian conductor Arvid Engegård.  

In the dramatic, turbulent, joyous and propulsive final three symphonies by Mozart we begin to hear the struggles and victories that would characterise the great symphonies of Beethoven, Mahler and beyond. Mozart’s No. 40, the middle of his final trilogy, is a compelling, energetic journey through contrasts to unification. When he wrote his Chamber Symphony No. 1 in the same city, Vienna, Schoenberg set out to achieve the same clarity and density as Mozart. It may sound like a Rubik’s Cube, but every single bar of the piece bursts with life and argument.  

In between the two comes a work from the composer whose ecstatic music has woven its way through the Festival programme, Olivier Messiaen. The final movement of the composer’s four-part orchestral work L’Ascension is an etheral, contemplative meditation on Christ’s ascent into heaven that like every work from this composer, reflects his strong faith and draws its audience into a deeply contemplative realm.

Top image: Norwegian National Youth Orchestra's chamber orchestra. Photo: Ole Wuttudal

Supported by

Contributors

• The Norwegian National Youth Orchestra:
  Peetu Karjalainen flute
  Hilda Marie Gjesdahl, Helmi Liinamaa oboe
  Anna Bracke English horn
  Vera Cecilie Xiang Aadland, Tekla Nilsson, Aksel Vürst clarinet
  Tor Gabriel Hjønnevåg Saggau-Holm, Antonia Kim Nestaas bassoon
  Zacharias Frato, Ida Marie Haarstad horn
  Nojus Apynis, Liza Specht, João Martins, Gabin Montet, Christina Fredrikke Berg, Guilherme Lourenço Reis 1st violin
  Aleksander Zetterstrøm, Sigve Lieberg Stieng, Andreea-Maria Faitas Dumitrel, Julie Waaler Skogrand, Elena Contreras Abengochea, Maciej Fijałkowski 2nd violin
  Meeri Mäenpää, Johanne Leathem, Hanna Kristin Kvelland, Sara Baier Evensen viola
  Freja Apelkvist, Hedda Robson, Valentine Oster, Benedikte Dalgas cello
  Ahouo Ros Werenskiold Mandan, Haonan Ding double bass

• Arvid Engegård conductor

Works

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
  Symphony no. 40 in G minor, K. 550
  1. Molto allegro
  2. Andante
  3. Menuetto: Allegretto
  4. Allegro assai

• Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)
  From L’Ascension
  Prière du Christ montant vers son Père 

• Arnold Schönberg (1874–1951)
  Chamber Symphony no. 1, op. 9
  (1 movement in 5 sections)
  1. Sonata. Allegro
  2. Scherzo
  3. Development
  4. Adagio
  5. Recapitulation and finale

*Updated duration: The concert is approx. 1 h 15 min, and not 1 h 30 min as stated previously. Updated 22 May.