Civic Orchestra of Victoria - 15th March
Hi everyone! I have daffodils blooming outside my window as I write you this, so it seems appropriate that I’m telling you about a spring concert. The theme for this one is “Stage & Screen”, so you’ll hear some drama.
Franz Schubert — Zauberharfe Overture (The Magic Harp)
This is often known as the overture to Rosamunde, which was a play, as was The Magic Harp. It was written to be performed in Vienna, where this kind of play was apparently very popular at the time. This has been a favorite of mine for a long time, although I don’t think I’ve ever performed it before.
Sergei Prokofiev — Lieutenant Kijé
Prokofiev wrote this music for the soundtrack to a film about a man who never existed, except as a slip of the pen and then as a convenient scapegoat, and later turned it into an orchestral suite. This is classic Prokofiev- sarcastic, funny, and cinematic.
The film is available online with English subtitles, and I enjoyed it because its entire purpose is to make fun of both a czar and petty bureaucracy, although I’ll warn you that I lost a few brain cells while watching it:
It’s also one of the few orchestral works in existence that calls for a saxophone.
Gabriel Fauré — Pavane
I performed a version of this that involves a choir last year with the Sooke Philharmonic. This one does not involve a choir, though it still involves a really nice horn solo, which is the main reason that I like it. The second violins are kind of just along for the ride as pizzicato accompaniment here.
Aram Khachaturian — Masquerade Suite
Khachaturian was an early 20th century Georgian composer, who is mostly known for writing some cool dances. This is one of his most famous works, which he wrote as incidental music for a play. It sounds like something that Danny Elfman could have written to me, in a way that I’m really enjoying. There are a lot of very fun frantic nearly-out-of-control moments in this suite as well as beautiful languid ones.
This concert will take place at 2pm at the Dave Dunnet Community Theatre in Oak Bay, with a pre-concert talk from our music director at 1pm. You can read more and get your tickets here.
I don’t usually do this in these newsletters, but I have a lot of concerts coming up April and May, so it seems worth listing them here. I’ll still write a newsletter a couple weeks before each of them.
27 April: Sooke Philharmonic
17 May: Brahms’ Requiem, which will be as a memorial to beloved figure George Corwin; I don’t know if the public will be invited.
24 May: Civic Orchestra of Victoria
Also, for those of you who were wondering, my exam went well. It was a positive experience, the judge gave me some good feedback, and I earned a score that falls into the First Class Honours category.
Thanks for listening!
Melinda