St Petersburg, Concert Hall

The Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra


PERFORMERS:
The Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra
Soloist: Gabriela Imreh (piano)
Artistic Director and Conductor: Daniel Spalding


PROGRAMME:
Johann Sebastian Bach – Leopold Stokowski
Aria in G Major for Strings
Prelude in E Major

Vittorio Giannini
Concerto grosso for Strings

Astor Piazzolla
The tango Adiós Nonino for piano and strings

Leonard Bernstein
Suite from the musical West Side Story (arrangement for piano and strings by Daniel Spalding)

George Gershwin
Lullaby

Antonín Dvořák
String Quartet No 12 in F Major The American, Op. 96 (arranged for strings by Daniel Spalding)

Aaron Copland
Hoe-Down from music for the ballet Rodeo

The Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra is a vibrant, distinguished ensemble with a long established international reputation for excellence. Praised for its “innovative programming” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the orchestra’s electric performances are often described by the press with comments such as “captivating” (London’s Observer), “dazzling” (Palm Beach Daily News), “exciting” (San Francisco Examiner), “breath-taking” (Bermuda Royal Gazette) and “magnificent” (San Bernardino County Sun). Composed of some of the Philadelphia region’s foremost musicians, the group was founded in 1991 by music director and conductor Daniel Spalding. Under his baton, the orchestra has performed numerous concerts at Center City in Philadelphia, as well as in unusual venues throughout the region designed to reach new audiences. The orchestra’s vast repertoire encompasses Baroque to modern music. Programmes often include new discoveries of lesser known works, world premieres and arrangements written especially for the Philadelphia Virtuosi, as well as standard repertoire, sometimes performed with creative visual effects such as special lighting or stage movement. Since 1996, the Philadelphia Virtuosi has been in constant demand outside its home city and is often on the road. The orchestra has performed at New York’s Lincoln Center, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Columbia University’s Miller Theater, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, Colorado’s Vilar Performing Arts Center, the Bermuda Festival, and on three extensive tours to South America. During the past few seasons, the orchestra travelled many thousands of miles with performances in California, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, New York and many states in between. In 2010 they made their debut in Mexico and their European debut at the prestigious Nomus International Festival in Serbia. In November 2014 the orchestra will make a grand tour of Russia with visits to St Petersburg, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall and five other major Russian cities.
The Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra is also known for its impressive series of recordings on the Connoisseur Society label and on Naxos. Pianoforte (UK) described their debut CD, which was a Grammy finalist, as “a real success... a delight, full of fresh ideas... highly polished,” and the American Record Guide called it “powerful... highly entertaining and exciting.” Their recording of the music of American composer George Antheil for the Naxos American Classics Series (including the enigmatic Ballet Mécanique) was “Editor’s Choice” for Gramophone, chosen as “CD of the week” by BBC Radio 3 and London’s Observer, and as one of the top 10 classical CD’s of 2001 by the Chicago Tribune. It was also a best-selling album in the UK and one of Naxos’ best-selling CDs in the USA. Their CD of American composer Howard Hanson, also for Naxos, received the Third Annual Writers’ Choice Award for Best CD in 2006 from Positive Feedback Online, and a second CD of the music of George Antheil for New World Records also received tremendous reviews from the world press. PVCO’s most recent recording features world premieres of several works by American composer Jeffrey Jacob on New Ariel Records.


The Philadelphia Virtuosi have no permanent members. The Virtuosi is a flexible group expanding into a small symphony orchestra at times, while at others it is streamlined into a smaller string ensemble. Compiling a programme for such an ensemble is never easy. With the development of the orchestral repertoire in the 19th century, the number of works being written for chamber orchestra fell sharply. That’s why we are always looking for new music, and sometimes when necessary we produce arrangements or commission new works. Moreover, when compiling programmes we aim to focus on Philadelphia’s incredibly rich cultural legacy. Johann Sebastian Bach’s Aria in G Major for Strings and Prelude in E Major will be performed in an arrangement by Leopold Stokowski. These arrangements were produced when Stokowski was Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and considered it one of his main tasks to popularise the music of Bach. These works have always been our ensemble’s “calling card”.
Vittorio Giannini was born in Philadelphia. He was an outstanding American neo-Romantic composer. When Daniel Spalding first heard Giannini’s Concerto grosso immediately included it in a programme of his own performances with the orchestra. Concerto grosso is a work that is complex to perform and to understand; in places it sounds harsh but it also has the incredibly beautiful adagio in the central movement.
Ástor Piazzolla was, for a long time, on the peripheries of classical music. It is only today that we are beginning to understand that his music, despite all of its magical beauty and sensitivity, is very intricate indeed. The tango Adiós Nonino for piano and strings is a very special and deeply personal work, written by the composer soon after his father’s death. The arrangement of the tango was produced after Piazzolla’s death by one of his orchestra’s musicians – the cellist Ernesto Bragato.
The arrangement of Leonid Bernstein’s Westside Story was produced by Daniel Spalding. The reason for creating this work was an unusual one. Many years ago, when we were just forming our ensemble, Spalding saw the ballet Carmen Suite and immediately fell in love with it. Soon after, Carmen Suite was included on the Philadelphia Virtuosi’s debut disc. This recording brought the ensemble international acclaim and was nominated for a Grammy award, reaching the final round. We have had several successful tours with this programme and received repeat engagements to perform it with the same musicians. There were no other works for a similar ensemble in our repertoire, and so Spalding produced an arrangement of Bernstein’s Westside Story. This new version for strings and piano was written in the summer of 2014, especially for this tour.
The second part of the programme begins with the magnificent Lullaby by George Gershwin. It is an unusual and refined piece in which Gershwin’s artistic credo is fully revealed: to write serious music that remains unusually light in terms of perception. It is no secret that Gershwin always wanted to be considered a serious composer. There is the famous story of how Gershwin turned to Maurice Ravel, asking him for some lessons in composition. They say that in response Ravel asked how much Gershwin earned and, on hearing the answer, declared that he definitely needed no lessons in composition. George Gershwin would probably have had a sense of pride if he knew that today attitudes to his music are very serious indeed. Today he rightly occupies his place in the American “holy trinity” of the 20th century – Gershwin, Copland and Bernstein.
Although Antonín Dvořák was not an American composer, the inclusion of his American Quartet is absolutely justified. Dvořák’s journey to the New World created a huge impression on him. He travelled right into the very heart of America – the state of Iowa, where pioneer farmers were battling against the wild nature of the land. Two of Dvořák’s works composed under impressions of his travels – Symphony No 9 (New World) and American String Quartet – have become some of the most important and most popular in our repertoire. In itself the quartet is a symphony in miniature. Spalding added a bass part to it, leaving the main part of the score unchanged. In each movement of the work one can distinctly see the American influence, while in the melody one can hear echoes of folk music, which to some degree heralds Copland’s later works.
Aaron Copland, like no-one else, was able to convey the very essence of the American music style. Copland’s Hoedown is a musical picture of life in the Wild West. Exciting, vibrant and energetic, it is a fitting ending to our programme.
Gabriela Imreh

 
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