wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

You guessed it. We’re traveling to Cuba during our first hour. The music? 'Danza negra' from Ernesto Lecuona’s "Danzas afro-cubanas"; Gershwin’s "Cuban Overture," composed after a short trip to Havana in February of 1932; the native Cuban composer Leo Brouwer’s "Cuban Landscape with Rumba"; a traditional Afro-Cuban lullaby; Copland’s "Danzon cubano"; and finally, from Victor Herbert’s "Suite of Serenades" we hear the third one, the 'Cuban.' Off to another time and place: Arnold Shoenberg’s "Verklarte Nact" (Transfigured Night) transports us into a soundworld only he could have conceived, its orchestral version brought to us by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

During the second half of the evening, we hear Ronald Brautigam as the featured soloist in Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, Lev Markiz conducting the Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam. Believe it or not, this work was written when Felix was a mere thirteen years old, and it demonstrates a skill in handling a string orchestra that not even the Wunderkind Mozart could match at the same age!

Kevin Volands wrote his String Quartet No. 6, "Hunting: Gathering," on commission for the Kronos Quartet, which we hear in performance tonight. Born in South Africa, Volans explores in his work many African compositional techniques and musical ideas, weaving them together or overlaying them to form one continuous journey, with some glances towards the European masters along the way.