Haydn or Rosetti?

Steven Gross and Randy Gardner

Everyone loves a mystery and even classical music has some.  What killed Mozart?  Why did Beethoven take such pains with his "Diabelli" Variations?
   The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra is plugging into that -- to some extent at least -- on their concerts at 2 p.m. Oct. 18, at Memorial Hall downtown and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 22 at Anderson Center in Anderson Township.
   Call it a minor mystery, but who wrote the Concerto for Two Horns that has been attributed to Franz Joseph Haydn?  Was it perhaps his brother Michael Haydn?  Or Italian composer Antonio Rosetti?  Recent scholarship favors the latter.
   Haydn or not, it will be performed by Steven Gross and Randy Gardner. both members of the CCO horn section.  Gross is director of  the wind, brass and percussion program at the University of California at Santa Barbara.   Gardner is professor of horn and chair of the winds and brass department at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Dennis Janson

Also on the program, to be conducted by CCO music director Mischa Santora, are Argentine composer  Alberto Ginastera's "Variaciones concertantes," Op. 23, and excerpts from Stravinsky's ballet "Pulcinella" as adapted by Santora.  Narrator for "Pulcinella" will be Dennis Janson of WCPO-TV.
   The Nov. 22 repeat at Anderson Center will comprise the Haydn Concerto and "Pulcinella" Suite only.
   Ginastera's "Variaciones concertantes," composed in 1923, show the influence of European composers such as Stravinsky and Bartok, but  sometimes with a Latin flavor imparted by rhythm or use of instruments associated with Argentine music.  Each variation features one soloist or one section of the orchestra.
   Tickets are $15 and $25, one child free with each ticketed adult.  In honor of U.S. service men and women, the CCO will provide free admission to the 2 p.m. Memorial Hall concert for active duty personnel and their immediate families.
   Call (513) 723-1182, order online at www.ccocincinnati.org, or buy them at the door.