Guillaume Connesson (1970-) Sextet (1998)

City Recital Hall September 5th 2016 Omega Ensemble Ensemble in Residence City Recital Hall Natsuko Yoshimoto (violin), Neil Thompson (viola), Maria Raspopova (piano), Alex Henery (double bass), Matthew Bubb (oboe) and David Rowden (clarinet) Audio recording by ABC Classic FM Andre Shrimski - Music Producer Andrew Edgson - Sound Engineer Omega Ensemble gratefully acknowledges their support Videographer - Bruce Terry Sextet (1998) Guillaume Connesson (1970-) Guillaume Connesson is a French composer whose music borrows freely from wherever he finds colour and interest – from disco to techno, from the concert hall to film, from the Viennese masters to his fellow countrymen. Cosmopolitan in source and style, it is the product of a curious, well-listened and well-trained ear. Connesson has won numerous important awards, including the Nadia and Lili Boulanger Prize in 1999 and the Grand Prix Lycéen des Compositeurs, and has received commissions from orchestras and chamber ensembles across Europe and the United States. Currently a Professor of orchestration at the Conservatoire National d'Aubervilliers-la Courneuve, Connesson’s instrumental casting is always superb and often surprising. Of this Sextet, the composer writes: “Composed for my friends, Eric Le Sage and Paul Meyer for a New Year concert, this Sextet was written with festivities and entertainment in mind. The first movement “Dynamic” is a series of variations, which multiply the rhythmic processes inherited from repetitive American music. The central “Nocturnal” section is a soft and painful confidence sang by the clarinet amid a harmonic backdrop of strings and piano. Finally, “Festivities” creates a sense of joy and excitement (with an allusion to Schubertʼs “Trout”). The score ends with a “cadential” joke.”