MOZART & FRIENDS
Ensemble 360
Crucible Playhouse, Sheffield
Tuesday 8 September 2026, 7.00pm
Tickets:
£23
£14 UC, PIP & DLA
£5 Students & Under 35s
BOCCHERINI Oboe Quintet in D minor (10’)
MOZART Adagio for Glass Harmonica (5’)
BOLOGNE Sonata No.1 in B flat for 2 Violins (10’)
HAYDN Flute Quartet No.1 in D (15’)
SÜSSMAYR Quintet for flute, oboe, violin, viola and cello in D (18’)
MOZART Quintet for glass harmonica, flute, oboe, viola and cello (15’)
Celebrate Mozart and his lively circle of friends with Ensemble 360 in a delightful evening of music for winds and strings, including two works showcasing the unworldly sound of the glass harmonica.
This remarkable instrument has an ethereal, angelic tone, which fascinated and inspired Mozart. Rarely-played today, the instrument was invented by Benjamin Franklin and was popular in the 18th century. Its sound is created by the player moistening their fingers with water and gently touching the glass bowls rotating on a horizontal spindle.
Music from Mozart’s friends include a sonata full of wit, virtuosity, and graceful charm by Joseph Bologne, a swordsman and pioneering composer who was, briefly, Mozart’s neighbour in Paris; and a bright, elegant quintet by Franz Xaver Süssmayr, who famously completed Mozart’s unfinished Requiem following the composer’s death.
Save 20% when you book for 10 or more Music in the Round Sheffield concerts in one transaction.
Save 10% when you book for 5 or more Music in the Round Sheffield concerts in one transaction. Find out more.
BOCCHERINI Luigi, Oboe Quintet in D minor Op.55 No.6
Allegretto commodo assai
Minuetto
Boccherini’s chamber music was extremely popular in Paris at the end of the eighteenth century. He was working in Madrid at the time, and had a lively correspondence with the composer and publisher Pleyel who had settled in Paris in 1795. In July 1797 Boccherini wrote about “an excellent oboist called Gaspar Barli not only has an extraordinary sweetness but draws the finest sounds from the highest register of his instrument.” Barli was the court oboist to Charles III and Charles IV of Spain and was for this remarkable player that Boccherini wrote a set of six quintets for oboe and strings. When Pleyel published them in Paris the same year, he clearly had an eye on maximising sales: they appeared as ‘Six nouveaux Quintetti pour flûte ou hautbois’, and they are often still played on the flute, as well as the oboe that Boccherini intended. The D minor Quintet is in two movements, both in the home key. The first has some attractive harmonic quirks while the second is a formal but very engaging Minuet which also has hints of the Spanish fandango.
Nigel Simeone © 2012
“Ensemble 360… renowned for its virtuoso performances, bold programming and engaging interpretations.”
The Guardian
