The DeBartolo Performing Arts Center’s Leighton Concert Hall recently hosted the Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra as they played Mozart, Brahms, and Mendelssohn.

Winner of the 2010-2011 Concerto Competition, clarinetist Nettie Pyne performed a solo in symphony orchestra’s first piece of the evening, Mozart’s “Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra K. 622 (1791).” This concerto was one of the last pieces Mozart composed before his death.

Pyne played the difficult piece flawlessly, drawing in the audience instantly. Violinist Colleen Mansfield, a freshman business major, said that she enjoyed the work of this famous classical German composer and the experience of accompanying a soloist.

The orchestra next played “Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn, op 56a.” This piece was a difficult 10-part piece, beginning with the “Chorale St. Antoni,” progressing through 8 movements, and ending with the “Finale – Andante.”  The stirring adante was a fitting ending to a lengthy piece. Haydn composed “Variations on a Theme, op 56a” in the summer of 1873, and it was first played by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

The performance ended with Mendelssohn’s dramatic “Symphony No. 3 in A minor, op. 56 ‘Scottish.’” Cellist Leo Hall, a freshman, described the dynamics of the piece.

“It’s great because it’s a good combination of tempos and rhythms,” he said.  “And although it’s challenging, it sounds great in the end.”

Clarinetist Rebecca Roden, a junior music and philosophy major, said that Mendelssohn’s piece was her favorite piece of the three selections. She appreciates Mendelssohn’s “expressive but often classically structured pieces.”

Roden especially enjoyed the third movement of the Symphony No. 3 as well as the clarinet duets in several sections of the piece. Roden commented that she appreciates the composer himself.  “He seemed to be a genuinely nice man with an intact family and a happy family,” she remarked.

Those who enjoyed the Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra’s excellent concert should consider the Venice Baroque Orchestra, scheduled to perform at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center on April 9.

Madeline is a freshman in WF who thinks we should have more chocolate in the dining hall and a larger art museum on campus.  Contact her at mgillen@nd.edu