2010-2011 Season, Concert 3
Vaughan Williams, Szymanowski, Elgar
Vaughan Williams Tallis Fantasy
Szymanowski Second Violin Concerto
Ilya Kaler violin
Elgar Enigma Variations
Vaughan Williams was a composer very deeply invested in projecting the spirit of his native land onto the world’s musical stage. The beloved Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis takes a theme by the great English Renaissance composer and weaves it into a very 20th century setting, in which three groups of strings combine in an astonishing, almost bewildering variety of texture and invention.
The Polish composer Karol Szymanowski is a fascinating figure in the history of music. He allowed himself to come under a great variety of influences in his life, some of them very exotic indeed, like his fascination with Arabic music. Near the end of his life he sought ultimate inspiration in the folk music of his native country. In his last years he wrote a handful of captivating masterpieces that are among the musical treasures of the Central Europe in the twentieth century, and the Second Violin Concerto is one of the jewels from this late period. Its lush, intoxicating, yet astringent sounds will make an immediate impact on all who have yet to come under its spell. The great Russian violinist Ilya Kaler, a major exponent of this soaring, dauntingly difficult concerto, has made an acclaimed recording of the work and will be making his Boston Philharmonic debut with these concerts.
The Enigma Variations has always been the best-known and most beloved work of Elgar’s. At times it is wistful, at times riotous, and always Elgar is engaged with the deepest, most genuine of feelings. The richness and variety of its orchestration makes this piece a particular delight for the players too, and the work’s unabashed Englishness, together with that of the Vaughan Williams Tallis Fantasy, gives Mr. Zander the opportunity — one that he rarely takes — to indulge in a little sentiment for the land of his birth. |
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Thursday, February 24, 2011
Sanders Theatre
Discovery Series, 7:00 pm
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Jordan Hall
Pre-concert talk, 6:45 pm
Concert, 8:00 pm
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Sanders Theatre
Pre-concert talk, 1:45pm
Concert, 3:00pm
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Ilya Kaler |
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2010-2011 Season