I used to write about each symphony I went to. It's been a while since I've done that -- partially I got busy with life, partially symphony performances were interrupted by the pandemic. I saw several virtual shows, which was convenient but lacked the all-encompassing nature of an in-person performance. The latter started up again last season, and have continued into this season. Due to other conflicts, my attendance so far this season has been lighter than normal, but I have tried to swap out my tickets when I've had a conflict to go to a different show.
Such was the situation this past weekend. I had swapped some other tickets for the Saturday morning coffee show. I like it's "countries of the world" motif. When we arrived, we discovered that a Wynton Marsalis violin concerto, which had been written with his wife, Scottish violist Nicola Benedetti (of Italian heritage, obviously) in mind, was being postponed. The reason was that Ms. Benedetti herself was supposed to be the featured violinist, but she had taken ill. After the programming changes, here's what we saw and heard:
Claude Debussy, March econssaise sur un theme populaire (Scottish March on a Popular Theme) - complete with opening bagpiper!
Ernest Chausson, Poeme, op. 25 - inspired by a Russian love story
Maurice Ravel, Tzigane - inspired by Hungarian gypsies
Claude Debussy, Iberia from Images - seven years in the making after the composer spent one afternoon in Spain.
Maurice Ravel, La Valse - the composer set out to compose a waltz as an homage to Johann Strauss, but ended up with something both bigger and darker.
Both S and I liked every piece, which doesn't happen often, so I thought I'd share. Maybe you can take yourself on a musical journey around the world!
