Here’s another batch from the Dallas Symphony backlog. Here I write about works by Debussy, Pintscher, Ravel (pictured–so handsome!), and Dukas.
Tag Archives: Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Franck, Schumann, and Dvořák
Here is a program I wrote about for Dallas Symphony last season, on Franck’s Le Chasseur maudit (“The Accursed Huntsman”), Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. I have a big backlog of Dallas programs that I haven’t added here, so I’m just going to put them up when I have a spare moment or two.
Also, it gives me a chance to re-share my favorite portrait of Dvořák.
Lutoslawski, Mozart, and Brahms
I wrote about Witold Lutoslawski (pictured at his piano), specifically his Concerto for Orchestra, as well as Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27, Mozart’s final work in that form, and Brahms’s Fourth (and final) Symphony. A slightly altered version of these program notes accompanied a recent Dallas Symphony concert.
Two Wolfgangs
“The Requiem is beautiful, like everything Mozart made, but it’s also profoundly scary. It sucks your measly soul into its wild dark maw and swallows it whole.”
Later today (Sunday, November 20), I’m going to see the St. Louis Symphony and Chorus perform Mozart’s Requiem, about which I am very excited. My friend Patty is singing, which is always a pleasure, and I’m going with my longtime pal Cat Pick, also always a pleasure. I didn’t write the program notes for this concert, but as it happens, I did write about Mozart’s Requiem for the Dallas Symphony a couple of seasons ago. Here’s an oldie-but-hopefully-goodie: Wolfgang Rihm’s Trio Concerto and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem. These notes were originally published in a somewhat different form, in the spring of 2015, but I hold the copyright, so here they are in their original incarnation.
Harlem Nocturne: A Night at the Cotton Club
Hitchcock composers, Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Bernard Herrmann with Alfred Hitchcock
Long time, no blog post. I’m pleased to report that I’m now writing program annotations for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, in addition to my beloved St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Here is my first assignment, for their Pops program: a concert featuring some of Hitchcock’s finest composers, including the immortal Bernard Herrmann, on whom I have developed a late-life crush. In unrelated news, I have a new dog named Edith. She is absolutely perfect in every way.
Click to access hitchcock_-_insert_6_final.pdf
René Spencer Saller 