Fandango!
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
Boccherini’s “Fandango” Quintet for Guitar and Strings in D (with a sistrum and castanets added for spice) flavors our first hour with a taste of his adopted city, Madrid.
Italian-born Luigi Boccherini moved to Spain in 1770, eventually ending up as a court composer in Madrid. His music was quintessential Classical in style, however, and he rarely used Spanish melodies or dances in his compositions. The fandango of this quintet doesn’t show up until the last half of the last movement, but it is distinctive enough to have earned the quintet its nickname. Pepe Romero is the guitar soloist, performing with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble under Iona Brown.
As if we needed an excuse to play Stravinsky’s “Firebird,” we are using the occasion of conductor Franz Welser-Most’s birthday (1960) to bring you the entire ballet music score; he leads the London Philharmonic.
Last but not leastMendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony (No. 3 in A Minor), as Peter Maag cajoles the London Philharmonic into a bravura, fresh, and spontaneous performance. Mendelssohn himself gave this work its nickname, writing about his visit to the Palace of Holyrood where Queen Mary had lived and been crowned Queen of Scotland.
Italian-born Luigi Boccherini moved to Spain in 1770, eventually ending up as a court composer in Madrid. His music was quintessential Classical in style, however, and he rarely used Spanish melodies or dances in his compositions. The fandango of this quintet doesn’t show up until the last half of the last movement, but it is distinctive enough to have earned the quintet its nickname. Pepe Romero is the guitar soloist, performing with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble under Iona Brown.
As if we needed an excuse to play Stravinsky’s “Firebird,” we are using the occasion of conductor Franz Welser-Most’s birthday (1960) to bring you the entire ballet music score; he leads the London Philharmonic.
Last but not leastMendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony (No. 3 in A Minor), as Peter Maag cajoles the London Philharmonic into a bravura, fresh, and spontaneous performance. Mendelssohn himself gave this work its nickname, writing about his visit to the Palace of Holyrood where Queen Mary had lived and been crowned Queen of Scotland.
