Offerings from the Boulder Symphony and Boulder Chamber Orchestra
By Peter Alexander April 24 at 8:40 p.m.
The Boulder Symphony agrees to disagree for its upcoming Curiosity Concert (3 p.m. Saturday, April 26 at Grace Commons; details below).
Curiosity Concerts are aimed at children ages four to 12, but structured to appeal to the entire family. For April 26, the musical content revolves around a playful showdown between Mozart and “Snooty, Professor of Musical Snobbery.” Through their debates and the sharing of favorite pieces and styles, they will explore the diversity of musical preferences.
The program under the direction of Devin Patrick Hughes features selections from a wide variety of both classical and popular pieces, including portions of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance” from the Gayane ballet suite, “Fireworks” from Harry Potter and “Enter Sandman” by Metallica.
The music is selected to illustrate various styles, including sad contemplative music, musical madness, the description of weather in music, and how instruments can sing like a human voice. Pop and classical styles will be contrasted with the same tune played in both styles, and the characteristics of film music will be demonstrated.
The 45-minute program will be preceded and followed by an “instrument petting zoo” provided by Boulder’s HB Woodsongs, allowing children to see and try instruments.
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Spring Curiosity Concert: “Agree to Disagree”
Boulder Symphony, Devin Patrick Hughes, conductor
Program includes music from:
- Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
- J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major
- Nicholas Hooper: “Fireworks” from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings
- Mozart: Presto from the Divertimento in D major, K136
- Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings
- Beethoven: Grosse Fuge
- Khachaturian: “Sabre Dance” from Gayane
- Richard Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus spake Zarathustra)
- Mozart and Metallica
3 p.m. Saturday, April 26
Grace Commons, 1820 15th St., Boulder
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The Boulder Chamber Orchestra will wrap up its current season of Mini-Chamber Concerts featuring pianist Jennifer Hayghe as artist in residence Saturday (7:30 p.m. April 26; details below).
The program, titled “Chamber Music Diamonds in the Rough,” features four works that are not often performed, in part because of their unusual instrumentation. Two of the composers—Aram Khachaturian and Max Bruch—are known for works that are featured on standard orchestral programs, but the other two—Mel Bonis and Nikolai Kapustin—are unfamiliar to American audiences.
In fact, the music of Mélanie “Mel” Bonis is currently undergoing a period of rediscovery after many years of obscurity. Born in 1858, Bonis taught herself to play piano and entered the Paris Conservatory at 16. She was in the same class with Debussy, and studied composition with César Franck.
Bonis gave up music for a number of years when her parents arranged her marriage to an older businessman who disliked music, but returned to composition later in her life. Composed in 1903, her three-movement Suite en trio for flute, violin and piano is one of the works she wrote after her husband’s death..
Known for his “Sabre Dance” from the ballet Gayane, his Piano Concerto and other orchestral music, Khachaturian wrote only two pieces of chamber music, both of them during his student years at the Moscow Conservatory. The Trio for violin, clarinet and piano features folk tunes and styles throughout, including highly ornamented passages in the first movement and variations on a folk-like melody in the finale.
The German Romantic composer Max Bruch is best known for his Scottish Fantasy and two concertos for solo violin with orchestra. He wrote his Eight Pieces for clarinet, viola and piano in 1910, when he was 72, for his son who was a professional clarinetist. He used the same combination of clarinet and viola in another work he wrote for his son, the Concerto for clarinet, viola and orchestra in E minor, op. 88.
Kapustin was born in Ukraine in 1937 and studied composition at the Moscow Conservatory. He discovered jazz around 1954 and became known as a jazz pianist and played in a jazz quintet and big band. His music combines elements of classical, jazz and pop styles, but he always insisted that he was a composer, not a jazz musician. “I never tried to be a real jazz pianist,” he once wrote. Composed in 1998, the Trio for flute, cello and piano is one of his most popular chamber works.
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“Chamber Music Diamonds in the Rough”
Jennifer Hayghe, piano, with Rachelle Crowell, flute; Kellan Toohey, clarinet; Hilary Castle, violin; and Erin Patterson, cello
- Mel Bonis: Suite en trio, op. 59
- Khachaturian: Trio for violin clarinet and piano
- Max Bruch: Eight Pieces for clarinet, viola and piano
- Nikolai Kapustin: Trio for flute, cello and piano, op. 86
7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26, Boulder Adventist Church
Sharps & Flatirons 