Music to overcome troubles and celebrate reopening

Matthew Bronstein

ARTISTS

Gregory Hughes Conductor
Matthew Bronstein Horn

PROGRAM

COLERIDGE-TAYLOR: Symphonic Variations on an African Air
STRAUSS: Horn Concerto No. 1
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7

“You can’t possibly hear the last movement of Beethoven’s Seventh and go slow.”

— American pianist and comedian Oscar Levant, trying to talk his way out of a speeding ticket

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WHAT’S INTERESTING ABOUT THIS CONCERT

• Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Symphonic Variations is based on the African-American spiritual I’m Troubled In Mind, a song about overcoming troubles and grief through faith.

• Richard Strauss wrote the Horn Concerto No. 1 for his father, Franz Strauss, a professional horn player in Munich. However, the young composer made the concerto too difficult for even his father to play, so the work had to be performed by one of Franz’s pupils!

• Composers Franz Schubert and Richard Wagner considered the second movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony to be the Greatest. Music. Ever. The music is enchanting and deeply heartbreaking. And yet, the other movements of the symphony are some of the most joyful music Beethoven ever wrote! The symphony is full of life, energy and excitement—the kind of piece an orchestra needs to prepare for with lots and lots of coffee.