Last August Toronto composer Oskar Morawetz's Sinfonietta For Winds and Percussion, completed in 1965, won the coveted Critics' Award of the International Competition at Cava dei Tirreni in Italy, competing with over 100 works entered by composers all over the world. This Sunday afternoon, January 15th, radio listeners will be able to hear this prize work when it is performed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Seiji Ozawa, at 3.03 est/4.03 ast. (On FM Wednesday, Jan. 18th, at 11.03 p.m.). The program will also include the Chopin Piano Concerto No.2 in F Minor, Opus 21, featuring pianist Andre Watts.
The Sinfonietta has also been performed by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. It is in three movements: Allegro non troppo, Adagio pesante, and Allegro vivace. The first is a rhythmical free fantasy; the second, sub-titled Elegy, was written during the last months before the composer's father died, and is dedicated to his memory. The third is toccata-like in its continuous motion.
Reviewing its first performance in Montreal last February, Eric McLean of the Star described the work as "writing of a kind that we find very rarely among today's composers -
orchestral music of a particularly skilful kind, in which nothing is accidental
and everything sounds as he imagined it. The texture is rich and it is obvious
that he has an expert knowledge of the capabilities of the instruments."
