麻豆社

Pythagoras said 鈥淭here is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres鈥�. This concert explores the connections between music, geometry and space 鈥攑uzzled over by philosophers, scientists and composers alike 鈥� with a programme of pieces spanning over three centuries.

The programme starts and ends with music by William Herschel, who discovered the planet Uranus and became the first President of the Royal Astronomical Society. Not content with just one field, Herschel was a prolific composer and his Eighth Symphony is packed with cosmic beauty and telescopic depth. After its lively first movement, the orchestra rotates into something quite different 鈥� the music of American composer Missy Mazzoli which she describes as 鈥渕usic in the shape of a solar system鈥�. Mazolli鈥檚 鈥楽infonia (for orbiting spheres)鈥� makes inspired use of unusual instruments, such as the harmonica, and begins the concert鈥檚 spherical triptych. Later this will be completed with 鈥淪pheres鈥� by Robert Laidlow, music that grapples with Pythagoras鈥� notion of a firmament moving according to celestial harmony, and 鈥淪phere鈥� by Emily Howard 鈥� an exploration of geometric space for orchestra.

In the middle of the concert there is a world premiere of music for piano and orchestra. Laidlow鈥檚 鈥淲arp鈥�, written for soloist Joseph Havlat, catapults the music far beyond the solar system into the very depths of space. Translating into music a theoretical warp-speed drive based on Einstein鈥檚 General Relativity, the music crushes and stretches its way into another galaxy. Upon arrival, we find something familiar: Benjamin Britten鈥檚 鈥淣ow The Great Bear and Pleiades鈥� and music from the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, for which the orchestra is joined by tenor Alessandro Fisher.

As the concert completes its orbit, the music of Herschel returns; we finish with the remaining two movements of his Eighth Symphony.