Videos
The Evanston Symphony Orchestra is proud to provide videos to educate you about the pieces we perform and, at times, the soloists who will be performing. The video(s) below are examples only and do not represent performances by the Evanston Symphony Orchestra unless noted.
Dvořák
Concerto for Violin III
Violinist Kyung Wha Chung and the Berlin Radio Symphony under the direction of Riccardo Chailly play the finale of Dvorak's Violin Concerto.
Irina Muresanu, Violin,
Enescu Part 3
Our soloist, Irina Muresanu, in the finale of a special arrangement of the Romanian Rhapsody No 1 by Enescu.
Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 5 in E Minor
A performance by Leonard Bernstein and the Boston Symphony of Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony taped in 1974. The beautiful second movement begins at 16:30, the third movement waltz at 30:50, and the triumphant finale at 37:05. If you put the curser on the red line just below the picture, you can move to any time desired.
Our Soloist
Irina Muresanu, violin
Romanian violinist Irina Muresanu has won the hearts of audiences and critics alike with her exciting, elegant and heartfelt performances of the classic, romantic and modern repertoire. The Boston Globe has come to praise her as "not just a virtuoso, but an artist" and the Los Angeles Times has written that her "musical luster, melting lyricism and colorful conception made Irina Muresanu's performance especially admirable" while Strad Magazine called her Carnegie/Weill Hall performance "a first-rate recital". Irina Muresanu's performances have been frequently cited as among the Best of Classical Music Performances by the Boston Globe, and her recital in the Emerging Artist Celebrity Series was named one of the Top 10 musical events by the TAB Magazine.
Early on Ms. Muresanu achieved international acclaim as an outstanding young soloist, recitalist and chamber musician winning top prizes in several prestigious international violin competitions including the Montreal International, Queen Elizabeth International, UNISA International String, Washington International, and the Schadt String Competition. She is the winner of the Pro Musicis International Award, the Presser Music Award and the Arthur Foote Award from the Harvard Musical Association.
Ms. Muresanu has performed in renowned concert halls throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Her recent solo engagements include concerts with theBoston Pops, the Miami Symphony Orchestra, the Williamsburg Symphonia, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (Geneva), the Syracuse Symphony, the Metropolitan Orchestra (Montreal), the Transvaal Philharmonic (Pretoria, S. Africa), the Romanian National Orchestra, theOrchestre de la Radio Flamande (Brussels), the Boston Philharmonic, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, theNew England String Ensemble and among others. She recently premiered Thomas Oboe Lee's Violin Concerto from composer Thomas Oboe Lee written especially for her, the recording of which is due to appear soon on the BMOP/sound label.
Other recent projects include working with pianist Michael Lewin on a release of William Bolcom's Violin and Piano Sonatas onCentaur label. The recording was funded by a Copland Recording Grant. In Europe, her recording of theGuillaume Lekeu and Alberic Magnard late Romantic Violin and Piano Sonatas with pianist Dana Ciocarlie for theAR RE-SE French label has sparked enthusiasm. Fanfare noted the recording with "singing and soaring...[a] sizzling performance". Ms. Muresanu has also recorded the world premiere recording ofMarion Bauer's Sonata for Violin and Piano with pianist Virginia Eskin on Albany Records, and a CD featuring chamber works ofErich Korngold released by the VPRO Radio Amsterdam. Adding to her other competition laurels, Ms. Muresanu was granted a Special Commendation award for her recording of Schoenberg's Fantasy for Violin and Piano at the 3rd International Vienna Modern Masters Performers Recording Competition.
An active chamber musician, Ms. Muresanu has appeared in such festivals and venues as Bargemusic in New York; theRockport Festival in Massachusetts; Bay Chambers concert series and Bowdoin Festival in Maine; theStrings in the Mountains and San Juan Music Festival in Colorado; Maui Chamber Music Festival in Hawaii, Reizend Music Festival in Netherlands; Festival van de Leie in Belgium; and the Renncontres des Musiciennes Festival in France. Ms. Muresanu has been a member of the Boston Trio since 2002 and she regularly performs with the Andover Chamber Music Society and the Walden Chamber Players.
Irina Muresanu currently serves on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory and has taught in the Music Dept. of Harvard and MIT. Her ensemble, the Boston Trio, is Ensemble-in-Residence at the New England Conservatory, the institution at which she received the prestigious Artist Diploma degree and a Doctorate in Musical Arts degree. A native of Bucharest, Romania, Ms. Muresanu resides in Boston, MA with her husband, son and dog. She plays an 1856 Giuseppe Rocca violin and a Charles Peccat bow courtesy of Mr. Mark Ptashne.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
2:30 pm
Pick-Staiger Concert Hall
50 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston
The pomp and pageantry of Imperial Russia was centered in Saint Petersburg, which saw the premieres of both Glinka’s overture, the earliest Russian work performed today, and Tchaikovsky’s passionate Fifth Symphony, a summit of Slavic music. Dvořák’s tuneful Violin Concerto will feature Romanian-born Irina Muresanu.
Program
Glinka
- Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla
Dvořák
- Concerto for Violin in A Minor
- Irina Muresanu, Violin
Tchaikovsky
- Symphony No. 5 in E Minor
Tickets
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Friday, March 1, 2013 at 1:30 PM
North Shore Retirement Hotel
1611 Chicago Ave., Evanston
FREE.
Program Notes
by David Ellis
OVERTURE TO RUSSLAN AND LUDMILLA
Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857)
Mikhail Glinka is commonly referred to as “the father of Russian music.” However, the eminent musicologist Richard Taruskin has pointed out differences in the interpretation of Glinka’s achievement:
“…the Western view that regards him as the first authentically national Russian composer versus the native view that sees him as the first universal genius of music to have come from Russia - is a critical one.”
Whether he was truly a universal genius, Glinka’s first opera, A Life for the Tsar (1836), was definitely the first Russian opera to dispense with spoken dialogue in favor of music throughout. And Tchaikovsky believed that the Russian symphonic school was all descended from Glinka’s Kamarinskaya “just as the whole oak is in the acorn.” Unfortunately, Glinka’s character was of no particular distinction; in reviewing the first English language biography Professor Taruskin concludes that “Glinka’s life, except as it relates directly to his work, is not worth reading about.”
Russlan and Ludmilla was Glinka’s second
opera, completed in 1842. The five minute overture is the
earliest Russian work still part of the standard symphonic
repertoire. Its brisk opening theme is a perfect opening for
either the opera or a symphony concert, and the lyrical second
theme highlights the cello section. However, the most striking
orchestral part is that for the timpani, which ushers in both
the recapitulation and the coda (this overture is in the same
sonata form as heard in a Mozart or Haydn symphony).
CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA IN A MINOR
Antonin Dvořák (1841–1904)
Antonin Dvořák, the most performed of all Czech composers, wrote three concertos. That for the cello was one of his last works and is generally believed to be the greatest for that instrument. His piano concerto is a much earlier composition and is seldom performed. The violin concerto was premiered in 1883 and is highly regarded by many musicians, yet is not played as frequently as the true mainstays of the violin concerto repertoire.
Dvořák began the composition of the Violin Concerto in 1879, just after the premiere of Brahms’ Violin Concerto with Joseph Joachim as soloist and dedicatee. Dvořák completed the concerto in late 1879 and dedicated it to Joachim, but Joachim never performed the work in public, possibly because Dvořák refused to amend the end of the first movement.
Allegro ma non troppo. The structure of the first movement is unusual because following the normal exposition and development, the recapitulation is replaced by a brief 12 measure passage marked Quasi moderato, which serves as a transition directly into the second movement. This deviation from normal concerto structure also eliminates any cadenza for the soloist, which may be the reason that Joachim never found the time to perform the concerto publicly.
Adagio ma non troppo. The slow movement is of great beauty and of a scale equal to that of the opening movement. Because they are played without pause their combined length is about 20 minutes.
Finale: Allegro giocoso ma non troppo. The
brilliant finale emphasizes Dvořák’s
Czech nationalist side; his first set of Slavonic Dances was
published just before he started work on the
concerto.
SYMPHONY NO. 5 IN E MINOR, OP. 64
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Tchaikovsky composed the first four of his six numbered symphonies in the 11 years between 1866 and 1877. It was another 11 years before the completion of his Fifth Symphony in 1888. He was beset with doubts that he was written out as a composer, with nothing left to say. The lasting popularity of this symphony shows how mistaken these sentiments were. This is the most traditionally classic in structure of any of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies. It employs a standard Germanic orchestra without any percussion beyond the timpani, yet sounds much “bigger” than the symphonies of Schumann or Brahms.
Andante- Allegro con anima. The opening theme, played by the clarinets, functions as a “motto” generally believed to represent fate. It is an introduction to the first movement and to the symphony as a whole, and after it subsides the true principal theme of the first movement is heard on the bassoons and clarinets. The movement as a whole is passionate and frequently frenzied, but dies away in total gloom.
Andante cantabile, conalcuna licenza. The opening theme provides one of the most important horn solos in any symphony, and probably the most familiar, as it was stolen for a pop hit titled “Moon Love” in early 1940s. This theme is succeeded by an even more impassioned second theme on the strings. The “motto” theme interrupts the beauty, but the first theme returns on the strings with horn accompaniment. The climax of the movement is marked by the second theme, climbing higher and higher until the “motto” breaks in again and shocks the music to a halt.
Valse: Allegro moderato. This melancholy waltz is interlude between the other larger movements, but the “motto” sneaks in softly on the bassoons just before the end of the movement.
Finale: Andante maestoso-Allegro vivace-Moderato assai e molto maestoso. The three tempo markings correspond to the three major sections of the finale. The andante maestoso presents the motto, but now in E Major, as an analogue to the introduction of the first movement when it was in E Minor. The allegro vivace is the brilliant majority of the finale and builds up to a loud drum-roll and a pause, which causes many audience members embarrassment should they applaud at this point. The “motto” now returns moderato assai e molto maestoso loudly and in a now fully triumphant E Major. The rapid final few measures are highlighted by the return of the main theme of the first movement played fff by the trumpets.
