Happy Easter!

Now that spring is surely here to stay, it's no longer necessary to worry about whether concerts will be canceled-- due to snow, at least. I do remember a couple of snowy Easters from the past, but those were up north in Connecticut, where no weather is considered unusual. We will now concentrate our hopes for dry weather for our evening outdoor concerts on Knoxville's Market Square May 7th, and in Maryville's Theatre in the Park May21st. Although our Ijams Nature Center concert in September has NEVER been rained out in 28 years, springtime weather can be much touchier. Last season's Maryville concert saw both audience and orchestra members bravely ignoring the elements until a big honkin' downpour put an end to it. There is a rain date for the Maryville show, (the next night), but mark my words, WE WON'T NEED IT.

People don't usually think of Easter music the way they do about Christmas music, but in general it is a much more staid style. Haydn's Seven Last Words from the Cross is a very appropriate choice, with several different arrangements available. Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture is a bit more grandiose. Rachmaninov's Vespers, written on the eve of Rachmaninov's departure from Russia, is THE most beautiful a capella choir writing ever. Collections of music for this holiday (here is one) often include Dvorak's Stabat Mater, which was performed here in February. I feel lucky to have been introduced to this work.

Easter. And Queen. There's not a lot of overlap there, I am specializing in awkward segues today. From the 70s to the 90s Queen specialized in smooth segues (like the ones in Bohemian Rhapsody, the third largest-selling single in British history), creating a body of work that isn't served well by either the “prog-rock” or the “classical rock” label. Their sonic palette was gigantic, and their harmonies were cartoon-like in their complexity and precision. All of this is to say that THEY WERE REALLY COOL. Who am I fooling, you know what I'm talking about. Like Elvis Costello said, “writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” This “Night at the Races” will be THIS SATURDAY April 11th at the Civic Auditorium at 8:00. The production, The Music of Queen! is the creation of Windborne Music, an entity which has in their stable of productions geared towards symphonic audiences not just Queen, but in addition the music of Whitney Houston, U2, the Rolling Stones, The Who, Michael Jackson, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles and Pink Floyd. Their schedule is full, with each of these shows criss-crossing the continent.