If you are ready to venture back to a live performance, we have just the thing: a one-hour concert of inspiring and fun music! I hope you’ll join us. The concert begins with a short work by Samuel Barber, then at the peak of his renown. His Second Essay was written just as the United States was entering World War 2, when the outcome was far from clear. Beginning with a lonely flute and a softly threatening bass drum, and building to a triumphant climax for full orchestra, it seems to convey a sense of strength and confidence that better times are ahead.
Franz Schubert’s third symphony is a bubbly, exuberant work, packed full of musical jokes. Unlike Beethoven’s symphonies, it is not a powerful, dramatic struggle with insurmountable forces, but rather a celebration of joy, wit and beauty. The last movement always makes me think of a roomful of puppies, bouncing off the wall and yelping with joy. Let me know if you agree!
We close with the Bacchanale from Saint-Saens’ opera Samson and Delilah. You may not recognize the title, but you’ll recognize the music. Written as a ballet break in the opera, it conjures enough naughty exoticism to secretly thrill a nineteenth-century Parisian opera matron. Flesh and sin and dancing, oh my!