Overture Magazine: 2017-2018 Season March - April 2018 | Page 26
RACHMANINOFF ’S TRANSCENDENT FANTASY
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In the Allegro first movement, Weber
seizes our attention immediately with a
bold and dashing orchestral exposition,
which builds excitement for the delayed
entrance of the soloist. And the clarinetist
lives up to all this anticipation by beginning
with a plunge of three octaves from a
keening high note to the instrument’s
deepest chalameau register. The extreme
differences in tonal quality of the clarinet
are exploited throughout this concerto.
Exciting as that movement is, it is
actually the slow movement and finale
that are the concerto’s highlights. In
the G-minor second movement, Weber
carries his soloist into the world of opera
and makes him a great singing diva. The
clarinet’s magnificently arching phrases
echo pure bel canto singing; late in the
movement, it launches a tragic recitative
passage we could almost put words to.
In his last movements, Weber always
sought maximum brilliance. That’s
certainly the case here with his Alla polacca
finale, in the style of a vivacious Polish
dance. This is fiendishly challenging music
for the soloist, but in the midst of all the
virtuoso fireworks, Weber also finds time
for some charm and sweetness.
Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes,
two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets,
timpani and strings.
SYMPHONY NO. 2 IN C MINOR
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Born in Votkinsk, Russia, May 7, 1840;
died in St. Petersburg, Russia,
November 6, 1893
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24
OV E R T U R E / BSOmusic.org
As Russian composers strove to create
a distinctive national voice in the
seco