Lyric Romanticism

Saturday, May 9, 2009 at 8 pm
Lincoln Theater, University of Hartford
200 Bloomfield Avenue
West Hartford, Connecticut

Ravel: Valses Nobles et Sentimentales
This work was originally written for piano in 1911 and first performed in that form at a concert in which all pieces were played anonymously. No one came away unscathed as critics tried to champion their friends works and dismiss those of their rivals. Ravel’s supporters were unaware of the inclusion of this new work and went about deriding all they heard, much to Ravel’s consternation and, ultimately, amusement. Ravel orchestrated it in 1912 for a ballet, Adelaide, or the language of the flowers but it is more often heard in the concert hall. There are seven movements and an epilogue that are played without interruption. Ravel based his work on the Viennese waltz infused with his very personal harmonic coloring.

Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Samuel Barber (1910 – 1981) wrote this setting of James Agee’s poem in 1947. The poem describes the memories of a child growing up in an American town. Barber dedicated this work to the memory of his father who died during its composition. It is interesting to note that Agee’s poem was set in 1915 at a time when his own father was in ill heath and the two writers, who were also the same age, seem to have found a depth of inspiration around the creation of a work that looked back to childhood at a time when they must have been preoccupied with the end of their father’s lives. Barber’s composition is in his most lyrical vein, full of nostalgia and dreamlike in its beauty.

Hanson: Symphony No. 2 (Romantic)
The concert concludes with the Symphony No. 2 (“Romantic”) of the American Howard Hanson. Hanson has often been referred to as the “American Sibelius” and admitted to being influenced by the Finnish master. One can also hear influences of his teacher, the Italian Ottorino Respighi. Hanson was the director of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York and had some success as a composer. His second symphony is his best known work, commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony and first heard in 1930. It is music of the Post-Romantic period, well-crafted and brightly orchestrated.