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VSO 75th Anniversary Masterworks Series Concert01:11PM / Monday, November 09, 2009
BURLINGTON, VT. - The Vermont Symphony Orchestra will present the second of its 75th Anniversary Masterworks Series concerts on Saturday, December 5, at the Flynn Center in Burlington at 8:00 p.m. Anthony Princiotti will conduct the VSO in this marvelous program that includes Respighi’s Trittico Botticelliano, Brahms’s Symphony No. 3, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2, “Little Russian.”
Italian-born Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) was a noted composer, musicologist and conductor. At an early age he learned piano and violin from his father, a local piano teacher. In 1900, a year after receiving his diploma in violin, he went to Russia to be principal violist in the orchestra of the Russian Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg, where he studied intensively with Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1908 he turned primarily to composition. Respighi was an enthusiastic scholar of Italian music of the 16th-18th centuries. Trittico Botticelliano (Three Botticelli Pictures), a blend of classical and romantic composition written in 1926, is Respighi’s musical interpretation of three paintings by Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli: “Spring,” “The Adoration of the Kings” and the famous “Birth of Venus.”
German composer Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) began his career as a virtuoso pianist. He wrote Symphony No. 3 in the summer of 1883 in Weisbaden where his young love, contralto Hermine Spiess, lived. Brahms composed for piano, chamber ensembles, for symphony orchestra and for chorus. In a departure from his first two symphonies, Symphony No. 3 reflects a more personal and intimate side of the composer. The opening and closing movements reflect the influence of his long-time connection to Romantic composer Robert Schumann and wife, noted pianist Clara Schumann, and to Mendelssohn.
Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), Russian composer of the Romantic era, was born into a middle class family and trained as a civil servant. In 1862, against the wishes of his family, he entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he gained a formal Western-oriented training in music. Tchaikovsky composed his Symphony No. 2, “Little Russian,” in 1872, while visiting a favorite refuge, his sister’s estate in rural Ukraine. This joyous composition draws on his love of Russian folksongs, including a variant of the stormy “Down by the Mother Volga,” a tragic wedding march based on “Spin, My Spinner,” and in the finale, a set of variations on the Ukranian melody, “The Crane.” Tchaikovsky wrote that credit for the finale should go to Peter Gerasimovich, the elderly butler in the household, who sang “The Crane” to Tchaikovsky while he worked on the symphony. In Tsarist days, “Little Russia” was the name given to the Ukrainian region.
A free pre-concert discussion, “Musically Speaking,” will be moderated by Brian Harwood and will feature Tony Princiotti. The discussion begins at 7:00 p.m. and provides entertaining insight into the evening’s music, composers, and musicians.
Concerts by the VSO are made possible in part by the State of Vermont and individuals, businesses and foundations throughout Vermont. Northfield Savings Bank is the Masterworks series co-sponsor. Vermont Public Radio is the co-sponsor for the 2009/2010 season and WCVT-FM is the 2009/2010 media sponsor. Additional support is provided by the Concert Artists Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, and the Lintilhac Foundation. The December concert is also made possible in part by Willie Racine’s Jeep and Lake Champlain Ferries.
Pro-rated subscriptions for the four remaining Masterworks series concerts range from $55 to $215, and $32 for students. Single tickets for the December concert start at $16. For additional information or tickets, please call the FlynnTix Regional Box Office at (802) 86-FLYNN (863-5966), the VSO office at 800-VSO-9293, extension 10, or visit the VSO website at www.vso.org. |
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