Piano and Sax
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
Two piano concertos and two works for saxophone will compete for your favor this evening. And, of course, other works from usual and unusual suspects...
Morton Gould’s “American Symphonette” No. 2 and George Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture” get us off to a homegrown start this evening. Notable are the two major piano concertos we offer for your enjoyment: in our second hour the composer himself is the featured soloists in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, supported by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski; we close with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22, the amazing Sviatoslov Richter on piano, with Riccardo Muti leading the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Spicing up the evening’s fare are two less conventional works, both featuring the saxophone. Canadian saxophonist William Street commissioned Malcolm Forsyth’s saxophone concerto, “Tre vie” (Three Roads), for an international sax congress in Italy in 1992; the Italian title honors the occasion, and three of the movements honor ancient Roman byways—the Appian Way, the Flaminian Way, and the Salarian Way. Olivier Messiaen died while Forsyth was working on the piece, so the second movement honors Messiaen. Jean Francaix’s quirky “Little Quartet for Saxophones” cleanses the palate and pleases the ear. A diverse and engaging four hours!
Morton Gould’s “American Symphonette” No. 2 and George Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture” get us off to a homegrown start this evening. Notable are the two major piano concertos we offer for your enjoyment: in our second hour the composer himself is the featured soloists in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, supported by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski; we close with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22, the amazing Sviatoslov Richter on piano, with Riccardo Muti leading the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Spicing up the evening’s fare are two less conventional works, both featuring the saxophone. Canadian saxophonist William Street commissioned Malcolm Forsyth’s saxophone concerto, “Tre vie” (Three Roads), for an international sax congress in Italy in 1992; the Italian title honors the occasion, and three of the movements honor ancient Roman byways—the Appian Way, the Flaminian Way, and the Salarian Way. Olivier Messiaen died while Forsyth was working on the piece, so the second movement honors Messiaen. Jean Francaix’s quirky “Little Quartet for Saxophones” cleanses the palate and pleases the ear. A diverse and engaging four hours!
