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Written in 1891, the year before Dvorak began his sojourn in America, Carnival was second of a three-overture set and was originally titled “Life.” It was played at Carnegie Hall at Dvorak’s introductory concert in America.  The peasant nature of Karelia was deliberate – Sibelius’ intention was to capture the quality of naive, folk-based authenticity. The nationalistic character of the music is evident in each of the four movements extracted which form the Suite. Shostakovich remarked about his Symphony No.9 that “musicians will like to play it, and critics will delight in blasting it.” The initial reaction of his peers to the new symphony was generally favorable. Stalin did not like it. Soviet critics censured the symphony for its “ideological weakness” and its failure to “reflect the true spirit of the people of the Soviet Union.” You will have an opportunity to judge for yourselves. What better description of Les Preludes than that of the composer himself:…

D’un Matin de printemps (“Of a Spring Morning”) was composed during the last months of the composer’s short life. Boulanger had already made a name for herself as the first woman ever to win the Prix de Rome. Stricken with a terminal illness at age 24, her final works convey the intimate and mature compositional voice that explore color and harmony. One of Poulenc’s friends said of him: “There is in him something of the monk and the street urchin.” The Gloria brilliantly expresses these characteristics, with its charismatic fusion of solemnity and mischievous exuberance. Poulenc described the process thus: “While writing it I had in mind those Crozzoli frescoes with angels sticking out their tongues, and also some solemn-looking Benedictine monks that I saw playing football one day.” César Franck Symphony in D minor is perhaps the greatest symphony written by a French person in the latter half of the…

Michael Abels’ More Seasons is a modern interpretation of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, specifically “Spring” and “Summer,” but with a “maniacal, Minimalist abuse” of the original themes, as Abels himself has stated. It’s often described as “Vivaldi in a Mixmaster.” A review of the first performance stated that Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto “is the most admirable, singular, artistic and complex Beethoven concerto ever.” Written in 1855 at the age of 17 and never played during his lifetime, Bizet’s Symphony in C was “discovered” in 1933. It has been in the symphonic repertoire ever since due to its beautiful melodies, rich orchestration, and elegant charm. Schedule, tickets, and more info at DSSO.com