Our
March Masterworks repertoire provides a wide mix of styles, including works by two vastly different American composers. I'm
really enjoying getting to know John Adams' The Chairman
Dances: Foxtrot for Orchestra
from his 1985 opera
Nixon in China.
There's
a fine complement of
percussion that sets up a
groove that you can't ignore.
The machine like rhythms and the masterful use of orchestral colors
will still be pleasantly on
your mind in the days following the concert.
Samuel
Barber's Violin Concerto
is, hands down, the most
beloved American
violin concerto, despite a
rather rocky beginning.
It wasn't enough that Barber
was forced to flee Switzerland because of the oncoming
Nazi menace, delaying composition of the third movement, AND his
father was ill. No, it seems
the dedicatee's mentor found the work too “easy” and demanded
revisions. After a big
harangue, the work was finally premiered by
someone else, exactly
75 years ago. The
first and second movements are highly lyrical
with sweeping orchestrations. The moto perpetuo
finale is a rollicking romp;
a typically Barber-ian mix of
intricate virtuosity and cockamamie tunes that will
keep you on the edge of your seat-- and on the verge of laughter. The
tympani states the opening theme, for Pete's sake! Guest
maestro Jacomo Rafael Bairos and violin soloist
Elena Urioste have
an endearing chemistry, and
Elena is from Hartford, so naturally I'm a fan…
Closing
the concert will be Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an
Exhibition. The
piece is filtered through the
orchestrating lens of Ravel, who
took an already legendary piano work in 1922 and turned it into one
of the most memorable orchestra showpieces ever. It
is somehow fitting that we are performing Pictures
here just a few days after the tragic death of British rock
keyboardist Keith Emerson. His band, Emerson, Lake and Palmer (ELP)
performed a freely adapted
version --including lyrics!--
of the work in the early 70s. His
artistry brought Mussorgsky's
tunes (and
those of many others) to a
whole new audience.
I hope you are in our audience, this coming Thursday and/or Friday at 7:30 at the Tennessee Theatre.
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