TCHAIKOVSKY – ROMEO & JULIET FANTASY OVERTURE

RICHARD STRAUSS – 4 LAST SONGS (soloist Lisa Moffat)

RIMSKY KORSAKOV – SCHEHERAZADE

TCHAIKOVSKY – ROMEO & JULIET FANTASY OVERTURE

We open our concert with the Romeo & Juliet Overture-Fantasia (TH 42, ČW 39) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893). Like Berlioz and later Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky was deeply inspired by Shakespeare’s now famous love story and his composition includes a rumbustious Montague vs Capulet strife theme, complete with sword-depicting, clashing cymbals.

RICHARD STRAUSS – FOUR LAST SONGS (soloist Lisa Moffat)

We are delighted to share the concert platform with the accomplished, Scottish lyric soprano, Lisa Moffat, to perform the elegiac Four Last Songs (Op posth) by Richard Strauss (1864-1949). These beautiful songs, composed in 1948, superimpose soaring soprano melodies over a full orchestral accompaniment, while their evocative titles point to the composer’s growing awareness of his own mortality: Frühling (spring), September, Beim schlafengehen (when falling asleep) and Im Abendrot (literally, in the evening glow).

RIMSKY KORSAKOV – SCHEHERAZADE

The concert will conclude with the symphonic suite Scheherazade (Opus 35) composed in 1888 by Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908). This colourfully-orchestrated piece reveals a fascination with the Islamic cultures bordering Russia, and features the tale of One Thousand and One Nights. In the composer’s own words, “a kaleidoscope of fairy-tale images” leads to a final confirmation that Scheherazade has won over her sultan’s heart.