Overture Magazine: 2017-2018 Season September-October 2017 | Page 33

SYMPHONIC STORIES the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the National Philharmonic. Skoraczewski’s repertoire includes works from the Baroque era to the present. His debut CD, Cello Populus, is a collection of contemporary solo pieces with works by Hindemith, Ligeti, Crumb, Penderecki, Saariaho and Lutosławski. Praised as “a truly exceptional album that leaves listeners eagerly waiting for another installment,” the recording earned attention that led to Skoraczewski’s winning Baltimore’s presti- gious Baker Artist Award in 2013. His second recording with pianist Michael Sheppard, Cello Phantasia, features music by Schumann, Franck and Rachmaninoff. Together with violinist Igor Yuzefovich, they’ve recorded pieces by Brahms, Shostakovich and Schoenfield as the Monument Piano Trio. As a recitalist and chamber musician, Skoraczewski has appeared in series includ- ing Chamber Music by Candlelight, Music in the Valley and Music in the Great Hall. He has also appeared at Weill Hall, Barge Music Festival and Merkin Hall in New York City. He is currently artist-in-residence at An Die Musik. Skoraczewski began his musical education at the age of six in Warsaw, Poland, studying with Zbigniew Liebig and Andrzej Zieliński. As a scholarship recipient at the Peabody Conservatory, he studied with world- renowned cellist Stephen Kates. Skoraczewski plays a 1702 Carlo Giuseppe Testore cello, generously on loan from Marin Alsop in memory of her mother, Ruth Alsop. Dariusz Skoraczewski last appeared with the BSO in June 2017, performing Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Lisa Steltenpohl, leader. About the Concert DANSE MACABRE Camille Saint-Saëns Born in Paris, France, October 9, 1835; and inspired such spine-tingling works as Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique and Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain. The French composer Camille Saint-Saëns was not immune to this temptation, and in 1874, he produced the amusing version we’ll hear tonight, Danse macabre. Usually, Saint-Saëns was a thoroughly serious composer devoted to classically constructed symphonies, church music and operas. But there was also an antic entertainer in his psychological makeup, which inspired his popular musical spoof Carnival of the Animals, and Danse macabre definitely belongs to this world. During the 1870s, the composer was writing a number of descriptive tone poems —Phaéton, Omphale’s Spinning Wheel, La Jeunesse d’Hercule —that used to be very popular on concert programs, but are now largely forgotten. The shortest and lightest of them, Danse macabre proved to be the hardy survivor. A crazy little poem by Henri Cazalis pro- vided the scenario; Saint-Saëns quoted it in his score. “Zig and zig and zag, Death sets the rhythm / Striking a tombstone with his heel / Death at midnight plays a dance / Zig and zig and zag, on his violin / One hears the rattling bones of the dancers / But psitt! Suddenly the dance ceases / They push each other, they flee, the cock has crowed.” The harp strikes midnight, and Death tunes up his violin. However, its E string has been lowered a half step, producing a raucous sound: the uncomfortable interval traditionally known as “the devil in music.” We then hear two themes, a whirling waltz melody and a creepy tune that descends by half steps; near the end of the piece, Saint-Saëns cleverly has them played simultaneously. At the end, the oboe portrays the crowing cock. To represent the rattling bones of the dancing skeletons, Danse macabre introduced the xylophone to symphonic music. It was so new to European musicians that the composer actually wrote into the score where it could be purchased! died in Algiers, Algeria, December 16, 1921 SUNDAYS @7:30PM CHAMBER MUSIC BY CANDLELIGHT Featuring members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra SEPT 17, 2017 OCT 15, 2017 NOV 5, 2017 JAN 28, 2018 SUNDAYS @3:30PM SEPT 24, 2017 Felix Hell, Organ OCT 8, 2017 Amadi Azikiwe, Viola NOV 12, 2017 Robert Cantrell, Bass-Baritone JAN 14, 2018 Philadelphia Brass For more inf ormation call 443.759.3309 or visit CommunityConcertsAtSecond.org Marlow Guitar International presents JOHN E. MARLOW GUITAR SERIES SEASON 2017-2018 OCT 2, 2017 Richard Miller - BRAZIL Guests: João Figueirôa (guitar) & Débora Watts (voice) NOV 18, 2017 Meng Su - CHINA JAN 20, 2018 Ana Vidovic - CROATIA FEB 24, 2018 Lukasz Kuropaczewski - POLAND MAR 24, 2018 Rhythm Future Quartet - USA APR 21, 2018 Pepe Romero - SPAIN RESERVE YOUR SEATS Visit MarlowGuitar.org & choose your seats today! Or call 301-799-4028 Membership available. Instrumentation: Two flutes, piccolo, two The ghoulish theme of the midnight Witches’ Sabbath was especially alluring to many 19 th -century Romantic artists FREE TO ALL oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp and strings. S E P – O C T 2017 / OV E R T U R E 31