HCMC – Concert Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso Number 1

Sat 26 Oct 2019, 8 pm
HCMC Opera House
No. 7 Lam Son Square, D.1, HCMC

From the organizer:

On October 26, the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet, Symphony Orchestra and Opera [HBSO] will present a program of music by composers of various nationalities in co-operation with the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Friendship Organizations and the Ho Chi Minh City’s Vietnam – US Friendship Association.
The two main works will be Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso Number 1 and Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring for 13 Instruments.

Shorter works by Vaughan Williams and Tchaikovsky will begin and conclude the program.
Alfred Schnittke was a 20th century German-Russian composer who, after writing many film scores, was attracted to the idea of mixing light and ‘serious’ music in the same composition.

The concert begins with Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. It was premiered in 1910, when Vaughan Williams was 38, and lasts about 15 minutes.

The concerto grosso (‘big concerto’) was a musical form developed at the end of the 17th century, mainly by the Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli. Its purpose was to unite several soloists, instead of just the one as in a traditional concerto. So Schnittke combined these ideas, of mixing light and serious music, and of having several soloists and a small, Baroque-sized orchestra, in his Concerto Grosso Number 1, which premiered in 1977. Two of the best-known Vietnamese violinists, Bui Cong Duy and Chuong Vu, will appear together in the Saigon Opera House to present the work. It has six movements and features a tango as well as other forms of ‘light’ music. It lasts around half an hour.

Watch a performance of the concerto by artists from the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra:

The Appalachians are a range of mountains in eastern North America, and Appalachian Spring for 13 Instruments is a work by the American composer Aaron Copland. It was originally a ballet, and was premiered in 1944 with the famous choreographer and dancer Martha Graham in the leading role. After its successful premiere, Copland was asked twice to write versions for full orchestra. Finally he produced an orchestral suite retaining the original 13-instruments in 1972. The Saigon performance will consequently include several eminent soloists, such as cellist Meritorious Artist Nguyen Tan Anh, Pham Vu Thien Bao (viola) and the HBSO orchestra’s concertmaster Tang Thanh Nam.

Watch a performance of the piece by artists from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra:

Then, at the end of the concert, we will hear selections from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Suite.
“Swan Lake” was one of Tchaikovsky’s most successful work for ballets, but he never made an orchestral suite from its music as he had planned. This suite was made after his death by an unknown composer.
The concert will be conducted by Christopher Zimmerman, the Music Director of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra in the US.

Tickets

Tickets for this attractive concert are from 300,000 to 650,000 VND, with a special price of 80,000 VND for students.
Booking and delivery: 028 38237419, Ms. Ngoc: 0903604539
At HCMC Opera House, 7 Lam Son Square
Online Booking: www.ticketbox.vn