Thomas Fritzsch, Katharina Dargel & Michael Schönheit
Gewandhaus Leipzig, Mendelssohn-Saal (Leipzig)
Instrumental concerto or symphony? Fortunately, if you don’t want to commit yourself, music history has a suitable genre: the »concertante symphony«. It originated in the 18th century when there were simply too many instrumentalists to dedicate a solo concerto to them all. Without further ado, orchestral and soloistic forms of music-making were combined in the»‘Sinfonia concertante«, which emphasises an »ensemble within an ensemble«, so to speak, without having to abandon the collective idea and demands of a symphony. The perfect opportunity for the Hamburg Camerata, which is organising its 2024/25 season under the motto »Camerata concertante«! True to the idea that even a chamber orchestra is only ever the sum of many individuals, an entire wind solo quartet emerges from the orchestral circle of colleagues in the »Sinfonia concertante« (probably wrongly) attributed to Mozart. And after the string section has separated in the rarely performed Serenade by the German-Italian former Mozarteum professor Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, everyone comes together again in Mozart’s »all-time favourite«: the famous G minor Symphony K. 550.