Ensemble Mini

When he founded the Ensemble Mini in 2010, conductor Joolz Gale set out to bring large scores to life with small ensembles. He wanted to perform with fewer than 20 musicians what would otherwise require 60, 80 or even more musicians. For his venture, he enlisted leading members of the best orchestras. While many were sceptical about his plans, audiences were amazed by the results. The arrangements of massive works such as Mahler's Tenth not only sounded more transparent, allowing many a detail to appear vividly that might have been lost amidst the large sound; they also captured the play of colour that contributed to the original's effect, and they captured its atmosphere. These transcriptions have nothing pedagogical about them, but rather verve, knowledge, and intellectual enjoyment. The musicians hold the original form in their mind's ear and they know how to apply the art on which the effect of music is essentially based: that of suggestion.

After Mahler, Strauss, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Bruckner and Bartók, the ensemble now turns its attention to the final two of Stravinsky's five symphonies. Both were written during critical times. The Symphony in C in four movements was begun in Paris after his sister-in-law, daughter, wife and mother had died within the space of eight months; it was continued in an Alpine lung sanatorium and completed in the USA. Stravinsky later said that he still remembered in which phase of World War II each respective movement was composed. The power of art is proven in its independence from the disastrous course of history: encouraging those who arrange the music to highlight its poignancy, a quality close to Stravinsky's heart in any case.