“Down with programme notes! The audience should be left to its own thoughts and should not be forced to read.”
    - Gustav Mahler

This page is only for those who do not share Mahler's puritanical view! It contains the notes that were written for concerts given by the Portobello Orchestra from 2005 onwards. Please feel free to use them in whole or part for any occasion. If you wish to use them verbatim please cite us as the original source.


Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006) Serenade for small Orchestra Op26
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) The Wise Virgins (Orchestrated by William Walton)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Symphony No 1 in C Major Op21
Symphony No 2 in D Major Op36
Overture: The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43
Concerto for Piano Violin and Cello Op. 56
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61
Georges Bizet (1838-1875) Carmen Suite
Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) Nocturne (orchestrated by N Rimsky-Korsakoff)
Max Bruch (1838-1920) Violin Concerto in G minor Opus 26
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) Concerto Grosso in G minor Op6 No8, The Christmas Concerto
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) Romance in F minor for Violin and Orchestra Op11
Symphony No 8 in G Major Op 88
Jean Francaix (1912-1997) Sept Dances de Les malheurs de Sophie (1935)
Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 - 1759) Arias for Counter tenor
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Symphony No 99 in E flat Major
Symphony No 101 in D Major "The Clock"
Matthew King (b1967) Portabellissima!
Edward MacDowell (1860-1908) To a Wild Rose
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) Symphonic Movement “Blumine”
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1848) Symphony No 1 in C Minor
The Hebrides Overture, Op 26
Piano Concerto No 2 in D minor Op. 40
Violin Concerto in E minor Op.64
Overture to Athalia Op74
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Violin Concerto No. 2 D Major, K. 211
Concerto for flute and orchestra in G major K313
Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat Major, K. 417
Symphony No 40 in G minor, K. 550
Modest Mussorgsky (1830-1881) Dawn on the Moscow River
Hubert Parry (1848 – 1918) An English Suite
Symphony No3 in C Major: The English
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) Peter and the Wolf (1936)
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) Vocalise Op 34 No 14
Joachim Raff (1822-1882) Sinfonietta for 10 wind instruments op.188
Max Reger (1873-1916) Variations and Fugue for Orchestra on a theme by Mozart op 132
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) Sinfonietta on Russian Themes, Op. 31 (1884)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) Symphony No 2 in A minor Op 55
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Symphony No. 4 in C minor (Tragic)
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Symphony No. 3 in Eb Major - The Rhenish (1851)
Dimitri Shostakovich (1797-1828) Waltz No 2 from the Second Jazz Suite
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) Serenade for 13 Wind Instruments Op 7
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Slavonic March in B flat minor, Op. 31 (1876) (Marche Slave)
Souvenir d'un Lieu Cher Op 42 (1878)
Suite No.1 Op. 43 (1878-9)
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) The Lark Ascending (1921)
Prelude on an Old Carol (1952)
Peter Warlock (1894-1930) Capriol Suite