Windham Orchestra: The Planets
Sunday, March 27, 3 pm, Latchis Theatre, Brattleboro
The Windham Orchestra presents two ideas of “space”: outer space represented by Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite The Planets, and acoustic space represented by the late Bennington College composer Henry Brant’s work On the Nature of Things. Completing the program will be concertos featuring the winners of the Orchestra’s Concerto Competition for Young People.
The Windham Orchestra is very grateful to Omega Optical for sponsoring this concert
Tickets $15, students and seniors $7.
PURCHASE TICKETS ON-LINE at BrattleboroTix
Call or stop by the Brattleboro Music Center, 802-257-4523.
Or visit Maple Leaf Music in Brattleboro
PROGRAM
Johann Strauss - Thunder & Lightning Polka Featuring Youth Orchestra
Gustov Holst - The Planets
Domenico Dragonetti - Concerto for Double Bass (1st movement) - Featuring Martin Jaffe, Bass
Vaughan-Williams - Suite for Viola and small orchestra - Featuring Rachel Finlayson, viola
Tickets $15, students and seniors $7.
PURCHASE TICKETS ON-LINE at BrattleboroTix
Or by calling the Brattleboro Music Center at 802-257-4523.
READ MORE:
Windham Orchestra Presents The Planets
Brattleboro - On Sunday, March 27 at 3 pm, under the star-studded canopy of the Latchis Theatre, the Windham Orchestra will present “The Planets.”
The Orchestra, led by Music Director Hugh Keelan, will present two concepts of “space”: outer space represented by Gustav Holst’s enduringly popular orchestral suite “The Planets,” and acoustic space represented by the late Bennington College composer Henry Brant’s work “On the Nature of Things.” Johann Strauss II’s electrifying “Thunder & Lightning Polka” brings the audience solidly back to Earth as the Orchestra is joined by a youth orchestra, comprised of students from local elementary school bands and the BMC’s Music in the Schools stringed instrument instruction program, for this piece.
Completing the program are two concertos featuring the 16-year-old winners of the Orchestra’s 25th Annual Concerto Competition for young musicians: Domenico Dragonetti’s Concerto for Double bass featuring Martin Jaffe of Northfield Mount Hermon, MA; and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Suite for Viola and Small Orchestra featuring Rachel Finlayson of Etna, NH. The youth competition has been generously funded since its inception by Brattleboro violinmaker Douglas Cox.
“The Planets,” Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of this suite is named after a planet in our Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as assigned by Holst. All of the planets are represented, with the exception of Earth, which is not observed in astrological practice.
“Holst had a fascination with astrology and the associations from mythology that the planets carry. Of course, these elements are interrelated: Mercury the planet is small and travels very fast (hence the fleet-of-foot messenger), Mars looks red (bloodshed), Venus appears clear, gleaming and beautiful in the sky…and so on, stranger and more remote out to icy Neptune,” observes Keelan. “In Holst's music we meet a set of vividly painted characters, fascinating characteristics, human and god-like qualities, not so much a scientific exploration of our solar system.”
Mars, the Bringer of War is a relentless, unforgiving juggernaut of fighting and destruction. The Romans saw astronomy’s “Red Planet” as the god of war. From this mythology came the astrological associations with virility, paternal authority, and the sign Aries. We hear an implacable rhythm that counts 1-2-3-4-5 over and over again in almost every bar. At the end, that rhythm is hewn to pieces before our very ears, the fragments lying dead on the ground.
Mars loved the goddess Venus, the Bringer of Peace, who exemplifies astrologically exactly the opposite characteristics: beauty, love, fertility, the signs Libra and Taurus. The two movements together are a perfect musical expression of complementary natures.
Mercury, the Winged Messenger is the first fast music of the suite, light, always with something to report or bring. The music tells us that Hermes'/Mercury's winged heels never touch the ground. Mercury is astrologically associated with Gemini.
Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity overflows with good nature and generosity. One tune is like a handholding circle dance, some music winks with good-natured mischief, other music shouts out “Over here! Come join in the fun!” and one famous tune seems to tell us that revelry and abundance are to be taken very seriously, and represent a necessary and truthful part of life. These attributes are also of the sign Sagittarius.
The music from here on in takes unexpected turns, starting with the gatekeeper to some very strange worlds: Saturn. The Bringer of Old Age was Holst's favorite music from The Planets. Saturn, associated with Capricorn, speaks of inevitability, karma and the specter of death with at times a harshness that imperceptibly melts into some degree of acceptance and warmth, maybe.
Uranus, the Magician, is allied with the sign Aquarius. This is wonderful music, raucous and showy with spells, illusions, puffs of smoke, trapdoors, and gaudy distractions. The music suggests we are dealing with a trickster, a charlatan, but the culminating vanishing act is truly inspiring and frightening. Against our will we are enthralled by this magician's skill.
Neptune, the Mystic. It is harder to count 1-2-3-4-5 to this than it is in Mars, but a closing symmetry is formed with the return of 5/4 meter. Neptune relates to Pisces, to iridescence, allusion, delusion, extremes, all that is intangible. The music is the first instance of a 'fade out' in classical music, and Holst calls for an offstage women's chorus to close the cycle, repeating and getting softer to the point of inaudibility. In this performance the Orchestra uses the great Estey organ in the First Baptist Church instead.
“I hope Holst would be delighted at the thought of this work being performed under the cobalt heavens of the Latchis Theater's ceiling, with its constellations and astrological signs!” reflects Keelan.
American composer Henry Brant (1913-2008) taught at Bennington College in Vermont for 24 years. “On the Nature of Things” is a spatial orchestral tone poem derived from 'Scene 4--Lucretius' in Brant’s spatial opera “The Grand Universal Circus (1956).”
Brant was a composer fascinated by two things: blending and combining sounds with extraordinary practical finesse, and concert works where groups are spatially removed from one another. The distinct instrumental groups we encounter in “On the Nature of Things” are: a trio of flute, clarinet, bassoon; strings (without basses); a solo horn; a duet of flute and glockenspiel; a line of double basses; and solo oboe. Both audience and performers have to figure out the relationship of these groups' individual musics to Lucretius' work.
The Windham Orchestra has a proud tradition of educating and encouraging young musicians, which is particularly evident in this concert, which features a youth orchestra and the two winners of the Orchestra’s concerto competition for youth. In addition, local schools have been invited to a special children’s version of this performance on Thursday, March 24, at the Latchis Theatre.
Join the Windham Orchestra for “The Planets” on Sunday, March 27, 3 pm, at the Latchis Theatre on Main Street in Brattleboro, Vermont. There will be a reception at Adagio Trattoria following the concert. For more information about the Windham Orchestra visit www.windhamorchestra.org.
Tickets $15, students and seniors $7.
PURCHASE TICKETS ON-LINE at BrattleboroTix
Call or stop by the Brattleboro Music Center, 802-257-4523.
Or visit Maple Leaf Music in Brattleboro |
