Classical notes: Upcoming Tucson concerts you shouldn't miss

When we think of Mozart we usually hear his light, playful tunes in the depths of our memory.

Which is what makes his 40th Symphony, written in the G minor key, so intriguing.

The 26-minute symphony, one of only two that he wrote in a minor key, has flashes of anxiety and darkness, especially pronounced in the opening.

“When you hear the symphony, you recognize it immediately but you’re hearing something that feels bigger, more important,” said Tucson Symphony Orchestra Music Director José Luis Gomez, who will lead the orchestra in a performance of the 40th on Saturday, Nov. 6, and Sunday, Nov. 7, at Catalina Foothills High School.

Gomez programmed Mozart’s 40th on the heels of the orchestra playing his 41st Symphony “Jupiter” last month as part of its Classics series. The two symphonies were among three that Mozart composed in 1788 and the last ones he wrote before his death in 1791.

“It’s one of those symphonies that you don’t get tired of listening to,” Gomez said.

Mozart wrote two symphonies in the G-minor key — the contemplative and complex 40th and the more Mozartean Symphony 25, composed when he was 17.

The 40 opens as if it’s getting the last word in on the 39th Symphony, with a flurry of violas that go from fast tempo to slower.

“It’s like I’m teasing you and it makes you anxious and then relaxes you,” Gomez said.

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The program for this weekend’s concerts also include Liszt’s “The Black Gondola” and Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll.” Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Catalina Foothills High School Auditorium, 4300 E. Sunrise Drive. Tickets are $47-$71 through tucsonsymphony.org

Also this weekend:

The Hermitage Piano Trio will perform a recital on Wednesday, Nov. 10, with Arizona Friends of Chamber Music as part of the Tucson presenter’s Evening Series.

The Hermitage, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary as one of only a handful of full-time piano trios in the U.S., is making its first Tucson appearance since 2015.

A year into their partnership, the Russian-born, U.S.-based trio — violinist Misha Keylin, cellist Sergey Antonov and pianist Ilya Kazantsev — got their big break after the The Washington Post praised them as “three of Russia’s most spectacular young soloists” who performed with “such power and sweeping passion it left you nearly out of breath.”

The trio picked up three Grammy nominations in 2020 for the debut album of Rachmaninoff piano trios including No. 2 in D minor (“Élégiaque”), which is on their program for Wednesday’s concert. They also will perform Spanish composer Joaquín Turina’s Piano Trio No. 2 in B minor and Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor.

Wednesday’s performance begins at 7:30 p.m. at Leo Rich Theater, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets are $32, $10 for students through arizonachambermusic.org. The performance also will be live-streamed. For access details and cost, visit arizonachambermusic.org/listen

Both TSO and Arizona Friends require audience members to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID test taken within 72 hours of the performance.