ESO Concert June 7^th 2025

As promised here are my programme notes for the ESO concert on June 7th at Grey Friars Kirk at 7:30 pm. The conductor is a guest conductor Kentara Machida Led by Shenna Jardine who has a solo part in Orkney Wedding. The soloist for the Prokofiev Violin Concerto is Viktor Seifart. The notes are quite brief due to printing costs. I would normally write extended versions of the notes but given the brevity of the pieces it hardly seems worth it this time. Anyway may be see some of you at the concert. Also if anyone plays in an amateur orchestra and you are looking for someone to write the programme notes please contact me at my local e-mail address. 

chrisf19572002@yahoo.co.uk

Cuban Overture George Gershwin (1898-1937)

In 1932 Gershwin visited Havana for a short break. The irregular rhythms and exotic percussion instruments, such as the maracas, bongos and gourd associated with Cuban music, inspired Gershwin to write this overture. It is a tri-partite work A-B-A consisting of a lively opening section which makes use of the exotic percussion instruments and Cuban rhythms. The second section introduced by the oboe is a typical Gershwin blues melody, which evokes sultry Latin American nights. The first section is repeated with variations, ending the overture on a lively note. The overture was premiered in August 1932 at an all-Gershwin concert in New York and became an instant success.

 Violin Concerto No 2 in G minor Sergei Prokofiev (1891 – 1953)

I Allegro moderato, II Andante Assai, III Allegro ben marcato.

In 1935 Prokofiev was preparing to resettle in Russia, but he realised that in order to appease Stalin, he would have to abandon his earlier Avant Garde style. This led to a change which he termed back to simplicity. Alongside other pieces such as Peter and the Wolf and the Lieutenant Kije suite, he composed his second violin concerto.

The first movement begins with a lamenting statement in G minor by the solo violin based on a five beat pattern. The listener is thrown off balance by the entrance of the orchestra in a different tonality and the movement continues filled with edgy biting sarcasm. A more lyrical second theme is introduced hinting at the possibility of reaching some sort of tonal stability but the restless mood continues. The movement ends shrouded in mystery, with muted horns and pizzicato strings. In contrast to the first movement, the second movement is a lyrical one where the violin is accompanied by pizzicato strings. It is a virtual ballet scene without dancers. At the end the soloist plays pizzicato whilst the orchestra plays the main melody. The sunny innocence evaporating into darkness. The final movement is a wild exhilarating dance filled with biting sarcasm and demonic shrieks, reminiscent of Mahler. As the movement progresses it becomes rhythmically unstable. Towards the end, the violins’ furious music is accompanied by the thud of the bass drum.

 Prokofiev composed the piece for his friend the French violinist Robert Soetens. It was premiered on 1 December 1935 in Madrid by the Madrid Symphony Orchestra. It was the last major piece that Prokofiev composed before he returned to Russia.

Four Scottish Dances Malcolm Arnold (1921 – 2006)

1 Pesante II Vivace III Allegretto IV Con Brio

This piece was composed in 1957 for the BBC Light Music Festival. It was inspired by but not based on Scottish country folk tunes and dances. The first dance is in the style of a Strathspey, a dance in 4/4 time, featuring dotted rhythms and Scotch snaps. The second is a lively reel. The third dance evokes a calm summers day in the Hebrides, and the suite ends with a lively fling. The dances as a whole invoke Scotland (or at least Arnold’s idea of what Scottish music should sound like). It  makes use of Arnold’s skill in devising complex rhythms.

 

“An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise” Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016).

Peter Maxwell Davies established a reputation as an Avant-Garde composer in the 1960’s. However in 1970 he settled in the Orkneys, where he decided to help the locals with their music making and published a number of works, which complement his more complex works. Maxwell Davies attended a wedding in 1978 and this inspired the current piece, which has the dramatic entrance of a bagpipe player in full Scottish regalia at the end. He describes the work as follows

 “It is a picture postcard. We hear the guests arriving, out of extremely bad weather. This is followed by a processional and a first glass of whisky. The band tunes up and we get on with the dancing, which becomes ever wilder, until the lead fiddle can hardly hold the band together. We leave the hall into the cold night. As we walk home across the island, the sun rises to a glorious dawn. The sun is represented by the highland bagpipes, in full traditional splendor.”

The work was commissioned by the Boston Pops Orchestra and was premiered on May 10 1985. It has become one of his most popular pieces and is performed on a regular basis.

 

 

Danzon No 2 Arturo Marquez (b 1950)

Arturo Marquez is one of Mexico’s finest living composers. As with many of the other composers in this concert, he established his reputation as an Avant-Garde composer. However after composing his first Danzon in 1990, he was drawn to the original style and fell in love with Latin ballroom dancing music. The Danzon is the official dance of Cuba, that evolved from the habanera. It is a slow formal dance, requiring set foot work around syncopated beats. The dance incorporates elegant pauses whilst the couples listen to virtuoso instrumental passages, played by a charange or tipica ensemble.

The dance begins with a slow introduction by the clarinet accompanied by the claves that Gershwin called ‘Cuban Sticks’. A duet between the oboe and clarinet ensues. The orchestra changes the mood and becomes more forceful. A piccolo solo leads into a lyrical section led by solo violin. This draws to a close and the dance becomes more boisterous than before. With the music on the brink of pandemonium, the orchestra unites in repeating a single note continuously, ending with an exciting conclusion.

Needless to say the piece has become one of Arturo Marquez’s most popular and it has been dubbed the second Mexican National Anthem.

Chris Finlay May 2025.