A Masterpiece by Debussy
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
Claude Debussy, re his Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp: “I don’t know whether this should make one laugh or cryperhaps both!” So listen and smile, with a tear in your eye.
“The Girl with the Flaxen Hair” (La fille aux cheveaux de lin) is surely a favorite for most young pianists; however, we begin with the Brodsky Quartet performing a version arranged for string quartet by their first violinist, Michael Thomas. Debussy’s trio sonata, performed this evening by flutist Barthold Kuijken, violist Sara Kuijken, and harpist Sophie Hallynck, is considered by many to be his masterpiece. Whether you agree or not, you will certainly delight in its grace and beauty.
Arminda Villa-Lobos, the composer’s wife, tells us that Segovia had asked her husband for a guitar concerto for years, but when the “Fantasia concertante” at last appeared in 1951 with a dedication to the famous guitarist, he wouldn’t play it, as it had no cadenza.
Arminda and Segovia prevailed upon Villa-Lobos to provide a cadenza, which he finally supplied in 1956, when he renamed the piece, now calling it a concerto, and the work premiered with Segovia as soloist and composer as conductor. Tonight we hear Goeran Soellscher on guitar, performing with the conductor-free Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Richard Goode is the featured soloist as we hear him join the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in a brilliant go at Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 18.
Don’t touch that dial! Mid-evening will bring you some of the best performers of recent years in Beethoven’s “Archduke” Piano Trio in B-flat as pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy, violinist Itzhak Perlman, and cellist Lynn Harrell join forces. After Rudolfo Bonucci stars in Locatelli’s Violin Concerto No. 8 in E Minor, we’ll hear two takes on the last judgement. Vocalist Esther Lamandier accompanies herself as she sings “Tebeh Dino,” a traditional Aramaic version; then JoAnn Falletta conducts the London Symphony in Jerome Moross’s ten-movement ballet score, “The Last Judgement,” portraying the story of Eve, her downfall, resurrection, and eventual exoneration.
“The Girl with the Flaxen Hair” (La fille aux cheveaux de lin) is surely a favorite for most young pianists; however, we begin with the Brodsky Quartet performing a version arranged for string quartet by their first violinist, Michael Thomas. Debussy’s trio sonata, performed this evening by flutist Barthold Kuijken, violist Sara Kuijken, and harpist Sophie Hallynck, is considered by many to be his masterpiece. Whether you agree or not, you will certainly delight in its grace and beauty.
Arminda Villa-Lobos, the composer’s wife, tells us that Segovia had asked her husband for a guitar concerto for years, but when the “Fantasia concertante” at last appeared in 1951 with a dedication to the famous guitarist, he wouldn’t play it, as it had no cadenza.
Arminda and Segovia prevailed upon Villa-Lobos to provide a cadenza, which he finally supplied in 1956, when he renamed the piece, now calling it a concerto, and the work premiered with Segovia as soloist and composer as conductor. Tonight we hear Goeran Soellscher on guitar, performing with the conductor-free Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Richard Goode is the featured soloist as we hear him join the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in a brilliant go at Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 18.
Don’t touch that dial! Mid-evening will bring you some of the best performers of recent years in Beethoven’s “Archduke” Piano Trio in B-flat as pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy, violinist Itzhak Perlman, and cellist Lynn Harrell join forces. After Rudolfo Bonucci stars in Locatelli’s Violin Concerto No. 8 in E Minor, we’ll hear two takes on the last judgement. Vocalist Esther Lamandier accompanies herself as she sings “Tebeh Dino,” a traditional Aramaic version; then JoAnn Falletta conducts the London Symphony in Jerome Moross’s ten-movement ballet score, “The Last Judgement,” portraying the story of Eve, her downfall, resurrection, and eventual exoneration.
