Where the Water Flows

Sheffield Chamber Orchestra's 75th anniversary concert features a collection of works connected with water, including the world première of Dominic McGonigal: ‘Sunset at Sea’.

Dominic’s work has been described as having “great textures and a perfect sense of spacing and pacing” and his ‘Ave Maris Stella Takes Flight’ recently won the Palimpsest Competition at Canterbury Cathedral. Come and hear what he has conjured up for us all this time.

Mendelssohn’s overture ‘Die schöne Melusine’ loosely illustrates a German legend of a Melusine, or a water-nymph who who marries a Count Raymond, on the condition that he never enter her room on a Saturday as that is the day she takes on the form of a mermaid.

Then we have Wagner’s ‘Siegfried Idyll’ which was composed as a birthday present for his second wife Cosima who awoke to its opening melody on Christmas morning 1869 — probably the most loving piece in the whole of the classical music repertoire.

Hamburg’s intimate links with its river Elbe are reflected in Telemann’s Water Music from which Sheffield Chamber Orchestra will play two movements representing Thetis, a Greek sea goddess.

Seascape by Ruth Gipps, performed by ten of the wind section, conjures up the beauty as well as the stormy nature of the sea round these shores including a wonderfully rich rhythmic, percussive central section.

William Sterndale Bennett was born in Sheffield in the early 19th century and when you’ve listened to his piece ‘The Naiades Overture’ you’ll not only understand why he was admired by both Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn but you’ll also wonder why he and it are not better known.

The final piece for the evening will be the ‘Nordseebilder’ waltz, which was inspired by Johan Strauss’s visit to the North Frisian island of Föhr. The slow introduction suggests a calm sea scene, while swirling waves are captured in later themes. The coda incorporates a 'sea storm' scene, with furious chords and fierce brass instruments suggesting the North Sea at the time of a severe gale.