The London Philharmonic Orchestra offers a programme of Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Mozart and Dvořák when it visits Eastbourne’s Congress Theatre for an afternoon concert on Sunday, February 23 at 3pm.
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. Lovely
00:06this afternoon to speak to Matthew Lynch, who before too long, Sunday, February 23rd
00:11in fact, heads to Eastbourne's Congress Theatre with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. And
00:17it's a really appealing sounding programme and clearly it's an absolute art, isn't it,
00:22putting a programme together. You inherited one piece to which you suggested Dvorak 9.
00:29Why Dvorak 9?
00:31For me, Dvorak 9 is one of my absolute favourite symphonies. I think Dvorak was a composer
00:37who just got better and better with age. And so when he was at this time writing his final
00:42symphony, he wrote a piece of just such incredible quality in terms of its structure, in terms
00:49of the beauty of the themes, and just the quality of orchestration, the way he puts
00:55the instruments together. And I felt that this symphony worked really well with the
01:01Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto because they both have a quite a sunny disposition, especially
01:08in the famous second movement of Dvorak and also very famous second movement of the Mozart
01:14Flute and Harp Concerto. There's this beautiful, loving warmth that comes through in both of
01:21the pieces and I thought juxtaposing them would be a nice comparison of how this warmth
01:30is framed by the other movements.
01:31And that's your role, to look for those links. That must be challenging but fun too.
01:39It can be very challenging. I spend a lot of time sat at my computer thinking about
01:43programming, but I have to say this programme sort of just felt right. This wasn't one that
01:48I spent hours agonising over. It just, when they suggested the Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto
01:57to me, Dvorak 9 seemed to pop into my head and the more I thought about it, the more
02:02it seemed like a perfect fit.
02:06And rounding it off, you have a piece again of your choosing, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
02:12Yeah. I chose this piece, I've done it several times before and I absolutely love it. It's
02:17short, it's bright, it begins very exciting, it's a perfect concert opener. And it
02:26luts in nicely in front of the Mozart because Chevalier de Saint-Georges, originally his
02:31original name was Joseph Bologna, was working in Paris, a little bit older than Mozart,
02:37a little bit before Mozart. And so he wrote this piece as the overture to an opera and
02:43it would have been played in Paris, the same as Mozart's Flute and Harp Concerto, which
02:47he wrote for a father and daughter pair of soloists in France.
02:53It sounds perfect. And you were saying the other consideration you have is the fact that
02:57this is an afternoon concert, which is different to a evening one, isn't it?
03:03It can be. And I think in these afternoon concerts, it's really nice to feel, to have
03:10music that's enjoyable, really has enjoyable themes and where the audience will go out
03:18humming the melodies of the concert.
03:20Perfect. Well, really lovely to speak to you. Thank you for your time and have a
03:24super time in Eastbourne. Thank you.
03:26Thank you very much.