From the Musical Heart of Europe

Conducted by Michel Singher, Espressivo-- a small, intense orchestra-- will perform works from the musical heart of Europe.

Program:

Anton Webern Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 10
Leoš Janá?ek Concertino, with piano soloist John Orlando
Franz Schubert Octet in F major, D. 803

Tonight's program posits a geographical influence on sensibility: three composers matured in the Danube River Basin under the reign of the House of Habsburg, straddling where Western Europe absorbs Slavic influences from the east. This oriental wind blows warm and cool, eliciting a smiling musical language sprinkled with tears. A poignant ambivalence of harmonic mode, never quite major, never quite minor, is intrinsic to the music of Schubert; in Janacek, the idiom is enriched with folk elements foreign to Western scales; Webern transcends tonality (major/minor is thus irrelevant), but a late-Romantic, sweet/sad Viennese yearning underlies and belies his formal astringency. No Strauss waltzes or Lehar operetta tunes tonight, but feeling and sentiment aplenty.

Michel also will give some Osher Lifelong Learning Institute talks about the works on September 22 and 29 from 10am - noon: https://ucsc-osher.wikispaces.com/classes

Another way to prepare for the concert is to listen to some select youtube recordings of the works:

The eight-minute work “Five Pieces for Orchestra” by Schönberg’s apostle Anton Webern refines the gamut of orchestral timbre into sonic epigrams. This recording is by Robert Craft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4nzwbZvCZQ

Santa Cruz’s own John Orlando will be piano soloist in Leoš Janá?ek’s quirky, fun “Concertino”. This particular recording is by Firkušný/Kubelik: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm5oaN3a0iE

This recording of Franz Schubert’s melody- and soul-drenched Octet Op. 10 is by Musicians from Marlboro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DnhjeBN5A8