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Music Notes: A Russian Music Spectacular
By
David Amos
SAN
DIEGO— The
Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra will present a concert featuring well-known
music of Russian composers.
This program will take place at the synagogue’s Cohen Social Hall on Tuesday,
April 11, at 7:30 p.m.
Nineteenth
century music, what we refer to as the Romantic Period, gave us a tradition of
concert music that has become the center of the entire
repertoire. More of practically everyone’s favorite list draws heavily from
that time. It marked a departure for composers who up to the end of the
1700s wrote music more to please the royal sponsors than to reflect their deep
emotional feelings. This changed with the musical innovations of the
mature Beethoven, Schubert, and all the others who followed them. Music became a
vehicle of self expression; hence, the term “Romanticism.”
The Romantic Movement also incorporated other social elements of the time: The
strong trends of nationalism, and the growing fascination with
exoticism, the interest of cultures, music, and traditions from places other
than one’s own. For the latter, you only need to recall such famous musical
examples as Scheherazade, Capriccio
Espagnol, Jota Aragonesa, Caucasian Sketches, Capriccio Italien, Rhapsodie
Espagnol, Islamey,
and countless other works.
The TICO concert will feature three Russian works, all contrasting in mood and
character, starting with the Concert Waltz
No.1 by Alexander
Glazunov. Although Glazunov lived well into the 20th century, he
composed in the traditional Romantic style of his more celebrated predecessors.
During his heyday he was considered the most important Russian composer and
teacher alive. He even met George Gershwin at a social event in
New York. Gershwin wanted to take composing lessons from him, but it never
materialized.
The
program continues with one of the most spectacular works in the symphonic
repertoire, the famous Pictures at an
Exhibition by
Modest Moussorgsky. This composer did not live too many years, and his musical
output was not that extensive. Nevertheless, so many of his
works have left a strong artistic impact. All we need is to recall two important
works: the epic opera Boris Goudonov and
the tone poem
Night on Bald Mountain (which was
later re-orchestrated by his friend Rimsky-Korsakov).
Originally
composed for the solo piano, Pictures
is a major showcase for virtuoso pianists, being a wonderful concert vehicle of
technical acrobatics,
and an audience pleaser. But, it has also been adapted, or orchestrated for full
symphony orchestra by a variety of other composers and conductors.
The most often performed of these orchestrations is the one by Maurice Ravel,
who was able to capture its very essence with a rich variety of solos
and interesting instrumental combinations.
Ravel is unique, together with a select group of composers such as Berlioz,
Rimsky-Korsakov and Stravinsky, who not only had the gift of composition,
but also of orchestration, the ability and skill to know which solo instruments
or which groups sounded good together or alone in a symphony orchestra,
depending on the mood of the music and the melodies, rhythms, and harmonies
being used.
The
music takes the listener through an art exhibition of works by the artist Victor
Hartman. Moussorgsky was fascinated by these portraits, and chose
some of them to bring them to life through music. He joined them with a theme of
“walking music” or Promenade, which
takes us from one movement
to another. Some of the more familiar titles include The
Old Castle, Bydlo (A Polish Ox Cart), Goldberg and Schmuyle (Two Jews having a
heated discussion), Catacombs, Baba Yaga (The Hut on Fowl’s Legs),
and the most recognized, the spectacular The
Great Gate of Kiev.
It
also contains instruments not usually heard in a traditional symphony orchestra,
an alto saxophone, baritone horn (a sort of small tuba), and various
other percussion and orchestral effects.
The
second half of the concert is devoted to a single work, the monumental Violin
Concerto in D Major by Tchaikovsky. When it was composed
in the late 1800s it was called “unplayable” because of its great
technical challenges. The violinist for whom it was composed refused to play it!
But
today, it is performed routinely (if at times not very well) by practically all
concert violinists, and is considered one of the most lyrical and beloved
works of the violin concerto repertoire.
The
guest soloist for the TICO concert will be the distinguished violinist Felix
Olschofka. Born in 1974 into a family of musicians and artists, Mr.
Olschofka is becoming one of the leading concert violinists of his generation.
On a regular basis, he gives recitals in all major cities and music festivals
in Europe, South America, South Korea, Mexico, and the United States. He
performs all types of instrumental combinations: solo recitals, solo
concertos with orchestras, and chamber music recitals. His repertoire includes
music from the Baroque Period to today’s contemporary music, with
his specialty being the Viennese masters.
Since
2003, Mr. Olschofka has been on the faculty of the School and Music and Dance at
San Diego State University, as Professor of Violin. In recent
years he has been the assistant concertmaster of the Brandenburg Philharmonic in
Germany, concertmaster of the Terre Haute Symphony in Indiana,
and Associate Instructor of Violin at a school that is near and dear to me,
Indiana University.
For more information about this concert, ticket information, group rates, or
directions to Tifereth Israel Synagogue, call 619-697-6001.
.