March 4, 2025
The third movement (Allegro molto vivace) is a thrilling, triumphant march, full of energy and momentum. After the deep emotions of the earlier movements, it builds to a rousing, powerful climax that feels like the grand finale. The music surges to a victorious conclusion—one so convincing that many assume the symphony is over. “What usually happens…
February 19, 2025
Saad Haddad (b. 1992) Fantasia for Strings (2025) It all starts with 16th century composer Thomas Tallis, who spent his career in the service of English monarchs Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. Within his vast catalog is a 1567 tune “Why turn’th in sight” that caught the attention of composer Ralph…
August 10, 2022
Zoltan Kodály (1882–1967) Dances of Galánta (1933) If Zoltan Kodály ever resented his chronic second-banana status to friend and colleague Béla Bartók, he never let on. But it must have rankled. Bartók biographies invariably describe how, in his salad days, he traipsed through the backwaters of Eastern Europe, Edison cylinder recorder in tow, in search…
May 18, 2022
This weekend’s EPIC FINALE concert was a fitting exclamation point on the season, as audiences got to hear Viet Cuong’s Next Week’s Trees (live and in-person, not on a screen!), Nathan Chan’s beautiful rendition of Elgar’s Cello Concerto, and Tchaikovsky’s triumphant Symphony No. 5.
April 21, 2022
Viet Cuong (b. 1990) Next Week’s Trees (2021) “Light is an invitation to happiness,” wrote beloved poet Mary Oliver in “Poppies”. We could all use such an invitation about now. We’ve been through a period of darkness, of present dread and future fear, a time of foreboding and separation. But such things don’t last. The…
March 21, 2022
Everyone loves a good fairy tale, featuring dashing heroes and heroines, evil villains, and imperiled protagonists, navigating their way towards a hoped-for happy ending. Shared from one generation to the next, these cautionary tales occupy a special place in popular culture and they have inspired some of the most appealing and memorable music ever written. …
August 3, 2021
Even the legendary Russian Romantic composer struggled with writer’s block, self-doubt, and the occasional lack of inspiration. By California Symphony I am written out, my head is empty, my time is past…”—Tchaikovsky While composing his Fifth Symphony, Tchaikovsky consistently doubted his ability to write. He began working on the piece in the spring of 1888…
August 3, 2021
Behind every great composer is… a great patron. Without the financial and emotional support of Nadezhda Von Meck—the woman Tchaikovsky corresponded with for 14 years and yet never met—the first Russian composer to achieve international acclaim might never have made it. By California Symphony Nadezhda von Meck was the widow of a wealthy railroad magnate,…
August 3, 2021
Hindsight has a funny way of making past successes seem effortlessly inevitable. (Kind of like fate?) But when Tchaikovsky wrote his Fifth Symphony, he had no way of knowing whether the work would be popularly received at its premiere (it was), or that it would still be performed over a hundred years later and adored…
February 28, 2020
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64 On May 19, 1888 Tchaikovsky wrote his brother Modest that “now, little by little, with difficulty, I am beginning to squeeze the symphony from my benumbed brain.” He squeezed throughout the summer, and on August 14 sent this succinct message to…
