Today is a travel day, so you might or might not get a post this afternoon. Then, once I can upload the photos from my iPhone, I can catch up a bit with the concerts. Last night I saw the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, conducted by Yuri Temirkanov with Leticia Moreno, violin soloist. One interesting thing about this orchestra is that, since the 1930s, they have had two, count 'em, two conductors. The famous Yevgeny Mravinsky from 1938 to 1988 and Maestro Temirkanov from 1988 to the present. Honestly, the city of Saint Petersburg, which has been named Saint Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad and Saint Petersburg again, changes its name more often than the orchestra changes conductors.
The Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, under various names, premiered seven of Shostakovich's symphonies, concertos by Prokofiev, the Symphony No. 6 by Prokofiev, and in 1955, with David Oistrakh as soloist, the Violin Concerto No. 1 by Shostakovich. And a lot of other stuff, of course. But one could expect that last night's program which included an overture by Glinka and that same Shostakovich violin concerto as well as Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, would be played with a certain authority. And so it was!
To whet your appetite this is the first piece on the program, Glinka, Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila performed by the, at the time, Leningrad Philharmonic in 1965, conducted by Mravinsky. Blogger won't embed, so just follow the link:
THE MUSIC SALON: classical music, popular culture, philosophy and anything else that catches my fancy...
2 comments:
Sounds like the right orchestra for a superb program! I know more than before about how to take a vacation just from reading your travel journal this past week or two....
Will, this is the first extended vacation I have ever taken in my life, unless you count touring with a flute player, playing concerts every night. Apart from the concerts, which I planned out in advance, I've just been doing whatever felt interesting every day and resting up in between!
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