February 26, 2022 | Rachmaninoff Concert Hall (Philharmonia-2)
Subscription Series No. 100: “The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia”
Soloist – Pyotr Gladysh, cello
Conductor – Alexander Soloviev
Ravel. «Spanish Rhapsody»
Stravinsky. «The Firebird» Suite (1919)
Popper. Hungarian Rhapsody for cello and orchestra, Op. 68
Gershwin – Bennett. «Porgy and Bess», symphonic picture
On February 26 in the Philharmonia-2 Hall the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia will be directed by Alexander Soloviev, winner of the Dimitris Mitropoulos International Competition in Athens, chief conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theater St Petersburg, docent at the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, former member and one of the leaders of the NPR Conductor Training Group, conductor of the Bolshoi. He will present a many-faceted program of works written in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The concert will start with the Spanish Rhapsody (Rapsodie espagnole) by Maurice Ravel, the brilliant master of orchestral scores. Almost never citing folk music, the composer so artfully rendered its spirit that Spaniard Manuel de Falla was amazed by the “really Spanish character” of the Rhapsody. It will be followed by Stravinsky's Firebird Suite from the ballet written for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and the composer's first triumph.
Then the audience will hear an opus by David Popper, Hungarian composer and cello virtuoso, known in Europe as “the king of cellists”, His Hungarian Rhapsody for cello and orchestra is close in style to Ferenc Liszt's pieces of the same name and has quotes from them. The cello solo will be played by Pyotr Gladysh, awardee of international competitions, principal of the NPR cello group.
The concert will end with the symphonic picture Porgy and Bess, a potpourri compiled by Robert Russell Bennett (a friend and assistant of George Gershwin) of most brilliant fragments of Gershwin's legendary opera keeping strictly to the composer's orchestration.