July 19, 2024

Sometimes you just gotta pull out all the stops….full throttle, no holding back.
 
Several months ago, the Chautauqua Symphony invited me to do a concert with them. I was told the soloist would be the wonderful guitarist Bokyun Byun playing Rodrigo’s classic, “Conceirto Aruanjez.”
 
It doesn’t get more Spanish than Aruanjez, so we had the idea to create a Spanish-themed program. This is where the stop pulling comes in.
 
The most famous Spanish classical music is, ironically, written by the French, think “Bolero” of Ravel as one example…cultural appropriation at its best, and yet another way classical music is confusing. These French composers wrote out of sheer love, admiration and fascination with Spanish culture though, and since they are neighbors, it’s not too much of a stretch to reach something approaching authentic, or at least adjacent.
 
Along with “Bolero”, Ravel also wrote a work called “Alborada del Gracioso” first conceived in a set of piano works and later orchestrated by the composer. This work opened our program, all stops full on. Bo delivered a stunning Aruanjez to follow, some actual Spanish music, by an actual Spaniard. We stayed in that vein, Spanish Music by a Spanish composer, with a suite from Manuel da Falla’s ballet “Three Cornered Hat” or “Sombrero des Tres Picos” in Falla’s native Spanish….again, all stops open.
 
The French connection returned to close the concert with Chabrier’s classic “España” a work I heard one of my colleagues wryly describe backstage as “the best piece of Spanish music ever written.”
 
It’s always a pleasure for me to make music with my friends and colleagues in the CSO, some of whom I have known for over a quarter of a century. It was a wonderful evening.
 
Next for me is another program with Chautauqua’s Music School Festival Orchestra, a program in remembrance of my dear friend and colleague Marlena Malas you passed away last year.
 
NEXT UP
 
July 29, 2024
 
Music School Festival Orchestra
Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater
8:15 p.m.
 
SMYTH            Overture to “The Wreckers”
STRAUSS         A Suite from Der Rosenkavlier
ROTA               I due Timidi

#chautauquasymphony #bokyunbyun
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