Semester 1 Recital - 22nd June

The Concerto in E major is difficult to date. As so often, we are missing any sources written by Bach himself. Like the 'Brandenburg' concertos, it probably originates from Köthen, a vibrant court where the tone was set by instrumental music. But it could also date from Leipzig, where from 1730 Bach led the local Collegium Musicum, with whom he performed a lot of secular music in the famous Café Zimmermann. Whatever the case may be, we can assume that the scanty couple of surviving violin concertos are merely the tip of the iceberg, and that numerous other orchestral works have been lost or still await discovery.

Bach based the piece on the Venetian concerto model in three movements, but gave it his own twist, as each movement has an un-Italian characteristic. For instance, the Allegro was given an ABA structure, like most of the Baroque arias, whereby the first section returns with great embellishment after a contrasting second section. And like in many of Bach’s arias, the soloist frees himself from the ensemble ‘before his turn’, in brief anticipation of his solo.

The final movement resumes the exuberant mood of the opening to the rhythm of a passepied – a three-part Baroque dance. It is a refrain with couplets, a rondo, which is a form seldom seen in concertos. It is perfectly proportioned. The refrain and the couplets consist of sixteen bars, except for the last couplet, which is twice as long. Bach uses this extra space to follow a remote harmonic path, repeating the catchy theme once again, after a breathtaking gap.

Featuring Roy Zhang as soloist

Roy is currently in year 7 at Carey Grammar.

Roy started learning the violin in 2018 in Prep. (Audrey To 2018 - 2019) (Christine 2020 - 2022) (Trent 2023 - present)

Roy was a member of the Junior Chamber Orchestra since 2021 and the joined the Senior Chamber Orchestra in 2024

Roy's past solo performances include:

- Eisteddfod prize winner: Millionaires hoedown by Herman Clebanoff (2023)

- Eisteddfod prize winner: Czardas by Vittorio Monti (2024)

- Soloist (Violin 1): Violin Concerto for two violins RV 522 by Antonio Vivaldi with the JCO (2024)

- Soloist: Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi (Summer III: Presto) with the SCO (2024)

Roy performs on his own violin made in 1923 by Ernst Heinrich Roth and a pernambuco bow made by Matthias R. Penzel.

Antonio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) wrote 27 concertos for solo cello. At the time, the instrument was in its infancy, and it was unusual for great composers to write works specifically for solo cello. Indeed, none of the concertos were published during Vivaldi’s lifetime: they had been written specially for his young female students at the Ospedale della Pietà, where the composer was employed in Venice, and were therefore not widely known. However, Vivaldi clearly saw the potential in the new instrument, otherwise he would not have gone on to write so much material for it; after the violin and bassoon, it is his third most popular solo concerto instrument. 

The sheer number of concertos allows the full emotional range of the cello to be explored, though Vivaldi stays relatively low in its register, fully exploiting the instrument’s rich and sonorous bass. Contrary to popular beliefs that Vivaldi is repetitive, the concertos are packed with Baroque innovations; virtuosic passages feature lively arpeggios, rapid semiquavers and much rhythmic diversity. This period also saw a heightened use of syncopation, and a real emphasis on melody rather than the monodic music that had preceded it: we see this through Vivaldi’s employment of arpeggio, progression, augmentation and ornamental variation.

Featuring Noel Zhang as soloist

Noel is currently in grade 4 at Carey Grammar.

Noel started learning the cello in 2020 in Prep. (Zachary Armstrong 2020 - 2021) (Trent 2022 - present)

Noel has been a member of the Junior Chamber Orchestra since 2024

Noel's past solo performances include:

- Eisteddfod prize winner: La Folia by Antonio Vivaldi (2023)

- Eisteddfod prize winner: Humoresque by Antonín Dvořák (2024)

Noel performs on a 1/4 size KG 80 cello.

Antonio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) wrote over 350 concertos for solo instrument and strings, with a large number of those being for violin. Notable violin concertos by Vivaldi include the Six Violin Concertos, Op. 6, and this Violin Concerto in A minor.  Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe, giving origin to many imitators and admirers. He pioneered many developments in orchestration, violin technique and programmatic music. He consolidated the emerging concerto form, especially the solo concerto, into a widely accepted and followed idiom.

This popular concerto has become over the years the marker for many students of their progression from mere student to serious player.

Featuring Mia Chen as soloist

Mia is currently in grade 5 at St Catherine's School

Mia started learning the violin in 2020 in Prep. (Trent 2020 - present)

Mia's past solo performances include:

- Eisteddfod prize winner: Happy birthday by Claus-Dieter Ludwig (2023)

On May 1 1761, Haydn got the appointment that made his career when Prince Nicholas Esterházy hired him as his vice-Kapellmeister. The Prince had another promising young musician, Alois Luigi Tomasini (1741 - 1808), hired at the age of 16 as a valet du chamber, but also such a fine violinist that Nicholas sent him to Venice to receive the best violin training. Haydn shrewdly wrote as many as four concertos for Tomasini to show their boss that his trust in both of them was well-founded. (Both served the Esterházy family for life with Tomasini the trusted concertmaster of Haydn's orchestra.)

In 1949 Haydn scholar H.C. Robbins Landon discovered the manuscript of this concerto in the Abbey of Melk. It was written no later than 1771, and in most commentators' estimation is the equal of the D Major Cello Concerto -- in other words, the first great violin concerto of the classical age. In 1961, another copy of this concerto surfaced in the Marcello Library of Venice. It posed an editorial problem: while the Venice copy was obviously meant for the use of a string orchestra, the Melk manuscript had an incomplete horn part and mentions an oboe part (though none was found). Fortunately, the manner in which those instruments were used at the time was rather standardised, and so Anton Heiler and Robbins Landon were able to reconstruct them.

In this concerto Haydn shows some of the innovations he was bringing to the symphony form at the same time. Although it can be said that there is one predominant theme in the first movement (Moderato), Haydn varies it to produce a version that serves as a contrasting second theme group. Haydn observes a standard format of exposition without a solo part, then another with the solo, but he also adds new material for the soloist during this section. The violin leads off a creative development section.

Featuring Sean Tseng as soloist

Sean is currently in year 9 at Camberwell Grammar.

Sean started learning the violin in 2018 in Prep. (Trent 2018 - 2025)

Sean joined the Senior Chamber Orchestra in 2022. 

Sean performs on his own c. 1910 violin labeled, "Nicolaus Amatus Cremone Hieronym filn fect. 1651'' and a W. E. Dörfler pernambuco bow.