Tchaikovsky's Tempest
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
One good turn deserves another: when the young Tchaikovsky saw success with his "Romeo and Juliet" Fantasy Overture, he followed it up with another Shakespearean work, the "Tempest" Fantasy. This wasn't just a knockoff, however — Tchaikovsky used the opportunity to expand his musical language and get his feet wet in the murky waters of impressionism. We'll hear a suitably stormy performance tonight from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Neeme Järvi.
Now, you may have heard of "Opera Without Words"; we'll hear some non-opera (also without words) by the composer of some of opera's greatest hits, as Riccardo Muti leads the La Scala Philharmonic in Giacomo Puccini's "Capriccio Sinfonico." Music by Sir Arnold Bax, George Frideric Handel and Carl Stamitz is also heard tonight, and we'll bring it all to a close with a salute to cellist Steven Isserlis on his forty-eighth birthday, as Isserlis performs Rachmaninoff's Cello Sonata in G Minor.
Now, you may have heard of "Opera Without Words"; we'll hear some non-opera (also without words) by the composer of some of opera's greatest hits, as Riccardo Muti leads the La Scala Philharmonic in Giacomo Puccini's "Capriccio Sinfonico." Music by Sir Arnold Bax, George Frideric Handel and Carl Stamitz is also heard tonight, and we'll bring it all to a close with a salute to cellist Steven Isserlis on his forty-eighth birthday, as Isserlis performs Rachmaninoff's Cello Sonata in G Minor.
