Surbiton Symphony Orchestra Presents Night Music by Mahler and Dvořák

The Surbiton Symphony Orchestra and Conductor Peter Le Tissier return to St. Andrew's Church with a programme of music combining nocturnal themes, shadowy omens, and brilliant sunlight.

A work bursting from open to close with imagery and energy of the natural world, Mahler's 7th Symphony (often subtitled 'Song of the Night') has often puzzled critics even as it has delighted audiences from its first performance. The opening music, describing the 'mood and character' of a boat journey on an Alpine lake, begins with grand and ominous weight an opening movement of deep power and bright sunshine. Contrastingly, the middle section of the symphony contains three movements - two marked 'Nachtmusik' ('Night Music') and one marked 'Shadowy', from which the piece gets its subtitle. Music of incredible inventiveness creates variously mysterious and menacing moods which contrast with an almost overwhelming romantic lyricism, famously featuring romantic guitar and mandolin. A finale bursting with energy and brightness rounds off one of the composer's finest and most imaginative works.

Pairing this journey from dusk to dawn, the orchestra opens with Antonín Dvořák's early Serenade for String Orchestra. As in Mahler's symphony, the serenade form suggests romanticism and nocturnal intimacy in one of Dvořák's finest early works, full of the lyricism and boisterous energy with which the composer would much later be associated in works like his 'New World' symphony.

The orchestra would be delighted to welcome you once again to what will be a spectacular performance!