LUCO: Liszt, Martin, Ives
$18 ($13 senior/student)
Christophe Chagnard, music director
Stefan Jones, assistant conductor
Liszt – Die Ideale
Martin – Concerto for 7 Winds
Ives – Symphony No. 2
One of the most original and daring programs LUCO has ever presented! Assistant conductor Stefan Jones chose Liszt's Die Ideale (The Ideal), a tone poem based on the writing of Schiller (the author of Beethoven's text for the 9th Symphony), and the result is a riveting and passionate musical journey created at the height of the Romantic period.
Swiss composer Frank Martin is a highly underrated composer whose music is consistently beautifully inspired and very crafted. With his wind concerto, he pushes the boundaries of what is possible with multiple soloists. LUCO will feature its own members playing solo (here we go!:) flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn trumpet and trombone! It takes a lot of craft to make such a large soloists' ensemble sound coherent and balanced, and Martin succeeds magnificently!
It took no fewer than 50 years for Ives' 2nd Symphony to be premiered after its creation. He composed it between 1897 and 1901 while in his twenties, but felt so alienated from the American musical establishment that he withdrew it. Its five highly contrasting movements and many partial quotes of famous American tunes immediately seduced its first audience and the premiere in 1951 and secured its place as an American classic.