Good Old Standards

Don Juan and Romeo and Juliet. Two titles that strike fear in the hearts of violinists everywhere. If you wonder why classical musicians practice so many hours, you should come to the Tennessee Theatre on Thursday or Friday night at 7:30, and experience these two monumental works (and staples of the audition repertoire for many instruments). As a bonus, you will get to experience Mozart's D minor Piano Concerto K 466, and blue cathedral by Jennifer Higdon. Our guest maestro this month is Eckart Preu, Music Director of the Spokane Symphony, and Alon Goldstein returns as piano soloist.

It's fascinating to browse through this old (1911) Encyclopedia Britannica to read about musicians when I'm posting a blog. Since we are performing it, I thought I'd investigate Richard Strauss' 1888 tone poem Don Juan. Although some of the volumes in this set have hardly if ever been opened, it became apparent that the page for Strauss was dog-eared! (but certainly not in this century). It says, "Strauss, Richard (1864-  )," and labels him as “a 20th-century Berlioz with a vastly wider musical knowledge and equipment.” They are quick to point out, however, that Strauss ripped off the Brits, claiming that a tune from his tone poem Aus Italien came from Naples, when it actually originated in Saint John's Wood. Come to think of it, this encyclopedia kind of trashed Don Juan as a work of a young man without a mature center, but glowingly praised works that followed, like Death and Transfiguration and Don Quixote. Thankfully, Strauss' obvious command of the orchestra as a single collective instrument in the work is not overlooked. (Jeez, cut him some slack, guys, he was TWENTY-FOUR when he wrote this!) Remember, Richard Strauss is not related to the Viennese Senior and Junior Johann Strausses, and Richard is pronounced "Re-card."

Sergei Prokofiev was a 10-year-old boy playing chess and studying music with Reinhold Gliere in the Ukraine when this encyclopedia was published, so there really isn't much point in pulling out the "P" volume. Suffice it to say that Prokofiev's command of the orchestra is right up there with Strauss'. As ballet music goes, only Tchaikovsky's or maybe Stravinsky's music can compete. The selections that have been chosen from the two suites scarcely need dancers to tell the story. 

I'm sure there's a lot to say in that book about the Mozart concerto we're playing, too, but it's getting late and I have to "shed some wood" on that Strauss! And just so you know, Jennifer Higdon is from Seymour, but if you type "Jennifer H" in on Google, her name comes up first. Just sayin'.