Program Notes for Virginia Symphony Orchestra Classics #8 - 24-26 ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

the Fifth Symphony is, as Ms. Falletta points out, an essentially affirming work. Certainly it reflects Prokofiev at the height of his career: healthy, productive, and writing splendidly. Its première in Moscow in January 1945 was the high point of his career in the USSR. Extended notes by Laurie Shulman about each of the compositions on this concert are available on the Virginia Symphony web site, www.virginiasymphony.org. Overture to Maskarade Carl Nielsen Born 9 June, 1865 in Nørre-Lyndelse, Denmark Died 3 October, 1931 in Copenhagen, Denmark Denmark’s most celebrated musical figure, Carl Nielsen, only composed two operas, Saul and David (1898-1901) and Maskarade (1904-6). Outside Denmark, they are rarely performed, but both operas have been recorded several times, and the sprightly overture to Maskarade is Nielsen’s most popular orchestral work apart from his six symphonies. He based the opera on an 18 th -century comedy by Ludwig Holberg (1684-1754), a Norwegian philosopher, playwright and historian known as the "Molière of the North." (He is the same author who inspired Edvard Grieg’s Holberg Suite.) The overture shares the lighthearted atmosphere of Nielsen’s comic opera, and the tunefulness of his many songs, which remain popular in Denmark. We may think of this lively curtain raiser as a Danish analogue to
Bernstein’s beloved Candide overture: barely five minutes of champagne-popping high spirits. Maskarade is a fun-loving sendup of 18 th -century convention. Nielsen scored the overture for three flutes (third doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, bass drum, and strings. Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.16 Edvard Grieg Born 15 June, 1843 in Bergen, Norway Died 4 September, 1907 in Bergen The route to Norwegian nationalism Norway’s celebrated musical son, Edvard Grieg, was sent to the German city of Leipzig when he was 15 to study at the Leipzig Conservatory. One of his piano teachers there was the great virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles. Though Grieg was not happy in Leipzig, he became immersed in the very lively musical culture that mid-ninteenth-century Germany offered. Before settling permanently in Norway, he also spent time in Copenhagen, where Niels Gade was the most influential composer. Beginning in the 1860s, however, Grieg began to take a strong interest in the folk music of his homeland. Thenceforth his music took on an increasingly Norwegian slant. Today, Grieg is regarded as the most important composer that Norway has produced, and the father of Norwegian nationalist music.
Page 1 and 2: Program Notes for Virginia Symphony
Page 3: definitely singing sweetly to him w
Page 7 and 8: The second and third movements dive
Page 9 and 10: Pacific Theatre followed in August.
Page 11: Despite the palpable "Russian-ness"

Program Notes for Virginia Symphony Orchestra Classics #8 - 24-26 ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?