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The
Classics Two Russians,
With Love
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Sovereign Performing Arts
Center
8:00 PM
Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No. 1
Yuja Wang, soloist
Rachmaninoff
Symphony No. 2
Click here for Program Notes.
Our first concert begins
with what is often considered the most famous piano
concerto—Tchaikovsky’s First. Amazingly, this masterwork was
initially rejected by its dedicatee, the famed Nikolai
Rubenstein, who found it “poorly composed and unplayable.”
Fortunately, the world thought otherwise—it became an
international favorite, and later even Rubenstein revised
his opinion. Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony, last heard in
Reading at the conclusion of the 2001-2 season, was
something of a personal triumph for the composer.
Rachmaninoff had been severely depressed after the colossal
failure of his First Symphony. Thanks to some early
psychotherapy, Rachmaninoff recovered sufficiently to return
to composition. Both his Second Piano Concerto (1904) and,
in 1908, this featured piece met with near-universal
acclaim. You’ll probably recognize many themes from pop
tunes, particularly “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again”, that
were liberally appropriated from Rachmaninoff’s score.
CONCERT SPONSORED IN PART BY
Wachovia
SOLOIST SPONSORED IN PART BY
Dr. & Mrs. Charles Lusch
The Struggle for
Peace
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Sovereign Performing Arts
Center
8:00 PM
Vaughan Williams
Symphony No. 6
Debussy
Prelude Afternoon of a Faun
Bruch
Violin Concerto in G Minor
Christopher Collins Lee, soloist
Click here for Program Notes.
“The Afternoon of a Faun”
brings Impressionism to the concert hall. Today, we often
associate Impressionism with great painting (and indeed,
please be sure to see the Reading Public Museum’s superb
Degas exhibit this Fall!), but through masters such as
Faure, Ibert and (in this concert) Debussy Impressionism
also became a major influence in modern music. The Bruch
Violin Concerto is a masterpiece of romantic rapture,
immensely popular from its introduction in 1867. This work
will be performed as a special request from the late and
beloved RSO board member John Henry Funk. Vaughan Williams’
Sixth Symphony dates from 1948; it reflects the stark
challenges of the postwar world—what President Kennedy would
later characterize as “a hard and bitter peace.” Within its
first year the symphony was performed more than one hundred
times, and has since become a staple of the orchestral
repertoire.
In tribute to the Reading
Public Museum's Impressionism exhibit, Maestro Constantine
has programmed Debussy's beloved "Afternoon of a Faun", a
notable work of orchestral impressionism.
The Reading Symphony Junior String Orchestra, led by
conductor Richard Ney, will open the concert performing a
selection from Dvorak's New World Symphony. These young
musicians in Grades 4 through 8 form the core of the future
RSYO. Hear them live in concert!
CONCERT SPONSORED IN PART BY
Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Bengtson
SOLOIST SPONSORED IN PART BY
The Sternbergh Concert Fund of
the Reading Musical Foundation
Mainly Strings
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Sovereign Performing Arts
Center
8:00 PM
Holst
St. Paul’s Suite
Poulenc
Organ Concerto
Rändel Wolfe, soloist
Dvorák
Serenade for Strings
Click here for Program Notes.
Three works that show the
glory of the RSO string section—two of which are RSO
premieres! The Holst “St. Paul’s Suite” was composed in 1912
for the St. Paul’s Girls School in Hammersmith, London. This
suite was originally composed for a string orchestra, but
later revisions also included percussion as well. Holst
taught at the school for more than twenty years, including
the period when his most famous work, “The Planets”, was
introduced. Francis Poulenc’s Organ Concerto , composed in
1938, calls for an exceptionally talented organist, a great
string section, and masterful tympani. Poulenc was part of
an influential group of Parisian artists called “Les Six”,
composers who led major changes in French musical style
between the world wars. Dvorak’s Serenade for Strings is
second in popularity only to Tchaikovsky’s string serenade;
this 1875 composition is well-known to concert audiences,
almost as familiar as the New World Symphony.
CONCERT SPONSORED IN PART BY
Arrow International
and National Penn Bank
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Sovereign Performing Arts
Center
8:00 PM
Mussorgsky
Night on Bald Mountain
Korngold
Violin Concerto
Jonathan Carney, soloist
Copland
Suite from "Appalachian Spring"
Click here for Program Notes.
Audiences of the 1930s and
40s regularly heard Mussorgsky’s “Night on a Bald Mountain”;
we’re pleased to present this thrilling and powerful work ,
which deserves greater attention today. Those with memories
of the movie Fantasia will immediately recognize the music.
Speaking of movies, Erich Korngold composed for dozens of
classic films, including “The Sea Hawk” and “The Adventures
of Robin Hood”. He also wrote a romantic and exceptionally
popular violin concerto, to be performed with the RSO by the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster, Jonathan
Carney. We also feature Aaron Copland's American masterpiece
"Appalachian Spring" and an added bonus of a cameo performed
by some members of the Reading Symphony Youth Orchestra
performing with the RSO! What a treat! Don't miss it!
CONCERT SPONSORED IN PART BY
Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Maier II
M&T Bank
Kozloff Stoudt
Three Views of
Classical Music
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Sovereign Performing Arts
Center
8:00 PM
Prokofiev
Classical Symphony
Saint-Saëns
Cello Concerto No. 1
Yumi Kendall, soloist
Mozart
Symphony No. 40
Click here for Program Notes.
The long-awaited return of
Prokofiev’s “Classical” Symphony to the RSO shows one view
of classical music—a modern pastiche of the eighteenth
century style. This symphony was composed by Prokofiev as a
student exercise, but gained nearly-immediate popularity.
While reminiscent of Mozart’s era, it’s stylishly modern—and
deceptively difficult. Saint-Saens’ cello concerto is more
in line with the general public’s view of classical
music—really, romantic era music—with lush melodies and
challenging solo passages. We will end with the oldest of
the evening’s three compositions: Mozart’s Symphony #40, a
late work reflecting his mature style. The somewhat somber,
stressful tone of the symphony reflects the chaos of the
middle-aged Mozart’s world—and indeed could be seen as a
precursor to similar emotions in the Vaughan Williams Sixth
Symphony, performed earlier this season.
CONCERT SPONSORED IN PART BY
Leesport Financial, Enersys,
RSO League and Pennsylvania
Council on the Arts
Shostakovich at
the Beginning
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Sovereign Performing Arts
Center
Brahms
Tragic Overture
Bartók
Viola Concerto
Roberto Diaz, soloist
Shostakovich
Symphony No. 1
Click here for Program Notes.
Brahms’ Tragic Overture
doesn’t follow a particular programmatic theme; Brahms named
this 1880 work the “Tragic” to differentiate it from his far
merrier “Academic Festival” Overture, composed about the
same time. It’s one of Brahms’ most dramatic short works,
and a welcome return to our stage. We also welcome the
return of Roberto Diaz to the RSO, in what promises to be a
memorable interpretation of Bartok’s Viola Concerto. Bartok
wrote this concerto in 1945, while suffering from the last
stages of leukemia. Sadly, he did not live to see it
performed; William Primrose, principal viola of the
Philadelphia Orchestra, gave the first performance in 1949.
We conclude the season with an astonishing student
composition, Shostakovich’s remarkable First Symphony. This
1925 work (written when Shostakovich was just 19) created an
instant international reputation for the composer; it
contains much of the wit of the Prokofiev “Classical”
Symphony, while also displaying a sense of foreboding about
what would become a haunted career, plagued by tyrannical
purges, devastating war, and decades of repression.
CONCERT SPONSORED IN PART BY
Carpenter Technology Corporation
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