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Kindred Spirits Orchestra and its conductor and music director Kristian Alexander have developed a fame for imaginative programming that continues with The Best Present, their subsequent live performance. Daniel Vnukowski will host the efficiency that spotlights visitor artist Jonathan Crow, concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
The programme for the live performance on December 9 will, naturally, embody a concentrate on the violin, with the addition of a Stravinsky piece that has an enchanting story behind it, and an epic Bruckner end.
The Live performance
The programme contains three works: Stravinsky’s Circus Polka: For a Younger Elephant, Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3.
Stravinsky’s Polka For Elephants
Igor Stravinsky wrote Circus Polka: For a Younger Elephant in 1942. Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus had contracted choreographer George Balanchine to create a ballet for his or her elephant troupe in 1941. Balanchine referred to as Stravinsky to ask him if he’d be part of the undertaking.
As Balanchine (quoted in George Balanchine: American ballet grasp by Kristy, Davida, 1996) would recount, he referred to as to ask Stravinsky to put in writing a ballet for him. When the composer requested for whom, he answered “For a couple of elephants.” Stravinsky’s solely query was, “How previous?”
When Balanchine answered that the pachyderms can be fairly younger, Stravinsky agreed.
A considerable charge additionally, presumably, went a way in the direction of persuading the Russian, who had newly arrived within the US. He wrote the work in only a few days for piano, finishing it in February 1942.
Nevertheless, by the point the ballet really took to the stage with its elephant dancers, Stravinsky was not concerned. Prolific movie composer David Raskin organized his piano rating for organ and live performance band. Balanchine had choreographed the work for a forged of fifty elephants (in pink tutus) and 50 dancers, starring his then-wife ballerina Vera Zorina and a cow elephant by the title of Modoc.
It premiered in April 1942 at Madison Sq. Gardens. Whereas he didn’t attend the premiere, Stravinsky met Bessie, one of many performing elephants, and shook her foot. The viewers was appreciative, however typical for Stravinsky, preliminary opinions have been combined, though he was little doubt accustomed to his music being labelled as “musical lunacy” by critics.
The 1942 live performance band model, carried out by america Marines Band:
A few years later, Stravinsky made his personal association for orchestra, which was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1944. Charles de Gaulle was reportedly a giant fan of the work, and helped to unfold its recognition in Europe.
On the balletic aspect, it’s been re-choreographed for an all-human forged by Balanchine himself, together with a brand new model by Jerome Robbins for the New York Metropolis Ballet. It has develop into a daily repertoire piece.
The piece is charming and kooky, deceptively easy in some passages, however nonetheless retaining Stravinsky’s trademark harmonic language. Regardless of its title, solely two bars of the work are written in a recognizable polka rhythm. It’s the rhythm, in fact, that Stravinsky performs with all through the composition. Stravinsky denied it himself once in a while, however many writers have identified similarities to Marche militaire No. 1 in D main by Schubert within the last sections of the piece.
Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2
Béla Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2, BB 117 was written from 1937 to 38, and was the composer’s solely violin concerto carried out throughout his lifetime (the “first” being printed posthumously).
It was a turbulent time, and Bartók was affected by the rise of fascism, which made him a goal in pre-war Hungary. He wrote it in three actions for violinist Zoltán Székely, who he had continuously collaborated with. It premiered in Amsterdam in 1939. The composer, fed up with the rising Nazi regime and its affect in his native Hungary, left for america quickly after.
The concerto incorporates twelve-tone themes, whereas not written fully within the twelve-tone approach. It has come to be valued as one of many biggest violin concertos written within the twentieth century.
Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3
Anton Bruckner devoted his Symphony No. 3 in D minor, WAB 103, to Richard Wagner. Actually, it’s typically referred to as his “Wagner Symphony”.
The manuscript itself has one thing of a deadly historical past. When he accomplished it on December 31, 1873, he had two copy scores made. One model was given to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in 1874, however whereas they rehearsed it, they ultimately rejected it for efficiency. One model was misplaced in Leipzig in the course of the Second World warfare. Revisions have been made in 1874, 1877, and 1889, and there are a number of variations repeatedly carried out at this time.
At the moment, it’s usually thought-about his breakthrough work, however it was a infamous catastrophe for the composer at its premiere of a revised model in 1877. The unique conductor died all of the sudden, and Bruckner, regardless of his inexperience with orchestral conducting, insisted on stepping in.
The musicians of the Vienna Philharmonic despised Bruckner, and heckled him all through the rehearsals. (Notably, the orchestra had turned down Bruckner’s provided dedication of his second symphony.) The viewers on the premiere laughed and shouted out insults, and lots of walked out between the actions — together with a younger Gustav Mahler.
Whereas orchestras of the day rejected what they noticed as an especially troublesome piece of music, the symphony that has been vindicated by time, and at this time, trendy audiences recognize its innovation and complicated textures.
The Live performance
The live performance additionally features a silent public sale to help music training and the humanities, a prélude: pre-concert recital by flutist Brooke Ramos White, and pre-concert speak. Throughout intermission, there might be a Q&A with Jonathan Crow and Daniel Vnukowski, and a post-concert reception to mingle.
Discover tickets and extra details about the December 9 live performance [HERE].
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Anya Wassenberg is a Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an skilled freelance author, blogger and writing teacher.
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