Dmitri Shostakovich, Incidental Music from The Bed Bug, Op. 19

Dmitri Shostakovich, Incidental Music from The Bed Bug, Op. 19 By Gerard McBurney Written for the concert Russian Futurists, performed on Jan 25, 2008 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Vesevolod Meyerhold (1874-1940) was one of the most important theater directors of the twentieth century. His influence spread in every direction, even beyond Russia. Modern…

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Gavriil Nikolayevich Popov, Symphonic Suite No. 1

Gavriil Nikolayevich Popov, Symphonic Suite No. 1 By Laurel E. Fay Written for the concert Russian Futurists, performed on Jan 25, 2008 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Like his friend Dmitri Shostakovich, Gavriil Popov (1904-72) was a graduate of the Leningrad Conservatory, where he studied composition with Vladimir Shcherbachov. Popov was an early and…

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Arthur Lourié, Chant funèbre sur la mort d’un poète

Arthur Lourié, Chant funèbre sur la mort d’un poète By Klara Moricz, Amherst College Written for the concert Russian Futurists, performed on Jan 25, 2008 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Chant funèbre sur la mort d’un poète [Funeral Song on the Death of a Poet] by Arthur Lourié (1891-1966), a setting of Anna Akhmatova’s…

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Vladimir Shcherbachov, Symphony No. 2, “Blokovskaya”

Vladimir Shcherbachov, Symphony No. 2, “Blokovskaya” By David Haas, University of Georgia Written for the concert Russian Futurists, performed on Jan 25, 2008 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. When Shcherbachov’s Second Symphony received its premiere on December 14, 1927, more than a few music critics of Leningrad admitted preferring it to young Shostakovich’s Second…

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Russian Futurists

Russian Futurists 01/25/2008 at 08:00 PM – Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center Concert Notes Russian Futurists – Leon Botstein Chant funèbre sur la mort d’un poète (1921) – Klara Moricz, Amherst College The Iron Foundry, from the Ballet Steel, Op.19 (1928) – Laurel E. Fay Symphonic Suite No. 1 (1932) – Laurel E. Fay Symphony…

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Human Elements

Human Elements By Leon Botstein Written for the concert Human Elements, performed on Nov 18, 2007 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. It is ironic that the four composers on today’s program, whose work ranges from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth, should be inspired by one of the most ancient theories of human…

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Carl Nielsen, Symphony No. 2, “De fire temperamenter” (The Four Temperaments)

Carl Nielsen, Symphony No. 2, “De fire temperamenter” (The Four Temperaments) By Fred Kirshnit Written for the concert Human Elements, performed on Nov 18, 2007 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. While listening to the American Symphony Orchestra this afternoon, take a moment to scan the second violin section. Somewhere in there may be the…

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Paul Hindemith, Theme and Variations, “Die vier Temperamente” (The Four Temperaments)

Paul Hindemith, Theme and Variations, “Die vier Temperamente” (The Four Temperaments) By Adrian Corleonis, Fanfare magazine Written for the concert Human Elements, performed on Nov 18, 2007 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Standard accounts of Hindemith’s Four Temperaments have the choreographer, Léonide Massine, calling the composer’s attention to Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s depictions of,…

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Frank Martin, Les quatre éléments (The Four Elements)

Frank Martin, Les quatre éléments (The Four Elements) by Byron Adams, University of California, Riverside Written for the concert Human Elements, performed on Nov 18, 2007 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. “Forgive me if I ask you an embarrassing question. I am making up my programs for the winter of 1963-64. Do you…

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