great romantic symphonies from the metropolitan orchestra

The Metropolitan Orchestra (TMO) conducted by Sarah-Grace Williams finishes its 2012 season with its largest orchestra for the year, presenting music that it new to its repertoire. It will be the first time TMO has performed a Brahms symphony, when they perform his Symphony No 1 in C minor opus 68, alongside Schubert’s Symphony Number 8 in B minor ‘Unfinished’ , D 759.

TMO has almost completed its Beethoven cycle. With this programme it looks to the next era in symphonic writing. Brahms struggled with his first symphony, writing it on the heels of the colossus that was Beethoven’s 9th symphony. Taking more than 14 years to complete, it has lived in the shadow of its older more ebullient older sibling but has earned recognition in its own right becoming a much revered element of the orchestral repertoire into the 21st century.

Schubert’s Symphony number 8, (sometimes known as his 7th symphony) was left incomplete with just two movements, even though Schubert lived for further 6 years and wrote other music in that time. Like Mozart’s Requiem, the story behind the music abounds with mystery and it may never be known just how much of the music was written by Schubert.

It’s been a busy year for TMO. Its 2012 appearances have included concerts at the City Recital Hall, the Sydney Opera House and The Concourse, Chatswood with David Helfgott and James Morrison.
SCHUBERT Symphony no. 8, in B minor ‘Unfinished’, D 759.
BRAHMS Symphony no. 1 in C minor opus 68
Tickets $35, $30 conc and $15 for children under 16
Bookings www.metorchestra.com.au/tickets or 1300 150 465