Academy of St Martin in the Fields: re:connect — Overcoming Distance

One of the world’s premier chamber orchestras, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields invites you to reconnect with classical music in this intimate, pre-recorded digital concert of stirring masterpieces. The re:connect series was launched in response to the current moment, with socially-distanced concerts filmed at St Martin-in-the-Fields  church in London’s Trafalgar Square and streamed online. re:connect—Overcoming Distance opens with selected pieces for solo instruments, including Olivier Messiaen’s Abîme des Oiseaux (Abyss of birds), featuring a solo clarinet. This work is the third movement of Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (Quartet for the End of Time) composed while Messiaen was a prisoner of war during WWII. The music of J.S. Bach is also featured in this program, including a movement from a solo cello work and Brandenburg Concerto No. 4. The program concludes with Mozart’s daring Symphony No. 29, an expansive work with an underlying sense of agitation and unease that occasionally breaks to the surface. Under the auspices of music director and virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell, the Academy is celebrated for its fresh interpretations of symphonic repertoire and chamber music with its small, conductor-less ensemble.

Program
J.S. Bach: Sarabande from Suite No. 5 for Cello solo
Messiaen: “Abîme des oiseaux” from Quatuor pour la fin du Temps for Clarinet solo
MacMillan: Interlude from ‘Since it was the day of Preparation…’ for Horn solo
J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049
Copland: Quiet City
Mozart: Symphony No. 29 in A major, K. 201

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