All journeys have a beginning. For Johannes Brahms and Ethel Smyth, it was Serenades that marked their first orchestral steps. Akin to full-blown symphonies, they are works rich in melody, turbulent in emotion, and ever-hungry to explore new musical directions.
Written under the spell of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, the young Brahms pays respect to the great classical traditions whilst also making his own defiant symphonic statement of intent. In turn, echoes of Brahms nestle within Smyth’s distinctive voice. At times her Serenade is almost chamber-like in its delicacy, but great eruptions of brass and orchestral drama wait around every corner.
Exploring how lighting might illuminate not only musicians on-stage but the inner-workings of a symphony too, we leap from the shadows into a maze of dazzling contrasts.
Walking around New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and more began conjuring the sounds of seasons in Thea Musgrave’s mind.