Ania Filochowska, Violin, Kuang-Hao Huang, Piano

01/09/2013 12:15, Preston Bradley Hall

Praeludium and Allegro Fritz Kreisler

Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Major Johannes Brahms

Scherzo Tarantella Henryk Wieniawski

Spanish Dances, No. 8 Pablo de Sarasate

Chicago Cultural Center Michigan Avenue between Randolph and Washington Streets

Dmitry Shostakovich - Sonata for Cello and Piano in d minor, Op. 40
Dmitry Volkov (Cello)
Yury Shadrin (Piano)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Meditation, from 18 Pieces, Op.72
Dmitry Volkov (Cello)
Yury Shadrin (Piano)

Lise de la Salle Plays Rachmaninoff

01/31/2013 20:00, Walt Disney Concert Hall

Lise de la Salle Plays Rachmaninoff
Jan 31-Feb 2 at 8pm
Walt Disney Concert Hall

When Sergei Rachmaninoff and his family left Russia and its Revolution in 1917, he was famous as a composer, conductor, and pianist. Boston and Cincinnati promptly offered him the music directorships of their orchestras, but Rachmaninoff committed himself to the career of a traveling virtuoso to support his family, and composed almost nothing for nearly a decade. The Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, composed after his four piano concertos, quickly became one of Rachmaninoff’s most popular pieces, as a performing vehicle for himself and as a treasure trove of great tunes, particularly the inspired inversion of Paganini’s theme in the luscious 18th variation.

Artists
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gianandrea Noseda, conductor
Lise de la Salle, piano

Program
Rachmaninoff: Isle of the Dead * Except Friday
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3

Limited Special Offer!
Visit LAPhil.com/Rachmaninoff3 and use code LAPHIL13 to get 20% off select seats* for February 1 at 8pm.

*Subject to availability. May not apply to previously purchased tickets.

111 South Grand Ave Los Angeles, CA 90012

Johann Sebastian Bach - Chaconne from Partita in d minor, BWM 1004
Chia-Ching Shen (Piano)

Chen Yi - Ba Ban
Chia-Ching Shen (Piano)

Forgotten Birthdays

December 31, 2012. Forgotten birthdays. Throughout the year we’ve celebrated dozens of composers, the great ones, whose work form the foundation of western musical tradition, as well as some minor ones along the way. We try to do it on the weeks of their birthdays, but that creates a Caravaggio, Rest on the flight to Egypt problem: we don’t know when some of the composers were born! Here’s an incomplete list of very influential composers who never made it on our pages for that very reason: Josquin des Prez, who was born sometime around 1450, the supreme master of the Renaissance polyphonic form; Thomas Tallis, one of the greatest early English composers, born around 1505; Orlando di Lasso, sometime spelled as Orlande de Lassus, born around 1530, a Franco-Flemish/Netherlandish composer as Des Prez and also a great master of polyphony; Giovanni Gabrieli, the Venetian born around 1550 and the master of San Marco; Tomás Luis de Victoria, the most famous (and important) Spanish composer of his time, who was also born around 1550; Dietrich Buxtehude, born around 1637, one of the most interesting German Baroque composers of the era preceding Johann Sebastian Bach’s; and there are many more.

We’ll write about these composers in the future, but in the mean time here’s from one of our personal favorites, Tomás Luis de Victoria. It’s a short piece for four voices called O vos omnes (Oh, all ye) and it comes from his liturgical setting, Tenebrae Responsories, which is celebrated on early mornings of the last three days of Holy Week. It’s performed by The Tallis Scholars (here, courtesy of YouTube).

The angel playing the violin, above, is by Caravaggio, from his Rest on the Flight into Egypt. He painted it around 1597 in Rome, about 10 years after Victoria left the city, where he lived and studied the previous 20 years, to return to his native Spain.

Happy New Year to all!