Saturday 17 January 2026 7.45pm
Princes Hall, Aldershot, GU11 1NX – Venue Information
Guest Conductor: Lewis Gaston
Soloist: Gabriel Thomas (Clarinet)
Stravinsky: Jeu de cartes
Weber: Clarinet Concerto No. 2
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2
As the FSO welcomes in the New Year, we welcome the return of guest conductor, Lewis Gaston, who most recently presided over our concert of Scandinavian and Russian music in March 2024. We are also excited that our very own Principal Clarinet, Gabriel Thomas, (who studied clarinet with Victoria Samek through the Pimlico School Special Music programme, a unique project which taught gifted young musicians) will be the soloist in our performance of Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 2. In 1811, Carl Maria von Weber met and worked with the Munich court clarinetist, Heinrich Baermann, for whom he composed the Concertino in E♭ Major and the two concerti. From December 1811 to March 1812, Weber went on tour with Baermann, playing the clarinet works, and it was some of the final concerts on this tour that established Weber’s reputation with the public, critics, and royalty. The second clarinet concerto premiered on Christmas Day 1813 with Heinrich Baermann as soloist.
Our concert opens with the music from Jeu de cartes (game of cards), a ballet in “three deals” by Igor Stravinsky based on a libretto he co-wrote with Nikita Malayev, a friend of his eldest son Théodore. It was commissioned in November 1935, written late the next year, and premiered by the American Ballet at the old Metropolitan Opera House in New York in April 1937 with the composer conducting. The ballet is based on a game of poker, an idea which did not occur to Stravinsky until after August 1936, when the story took shape. The main character is the deceitful Joker who fancies himself unbeatable owing to his ability to transform into any card.
Jean Sibelius began writing his Symphony No. 2 in D major in 1901 in Italy, shortly after the successful premiere of the popular Finlandia. Sibelius said of it “My second symphony is a confession of the soul”. While critics were divided, the public generally admired the piece and its grandiose finale was connected by some with the struggle for Finland’s independence; it was even popularly dubbed the “Symphony of Independence” as it was written at a time of Russian sanctions on Finnish language and culture. Finnish composer Sulho Ranta said, “There is something about this music – at least for us – that leads us to ecstasy.” We hope that our audience will share something of that ecstasy.
