The Evening Concert

This week's "Evening Concert" starts with Liszt's "Transcendental" Etudes, continues with the 'transcendent' "Sensemaya" by Revueltas, and includes the 'transcendance' of dissonance by Mozart in the "Bassoon Concerto".

I love lists of 'rankings'! Dvorak's Piano Quintet is ranked 15th while Beethoven's Septet is ranked 62nd in a poll published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2008. Are those rankings justified? Tune in tonight to hear both. Sorry, there's no ballot to vote upon!

Where did the "Don Juan" legend start?  Quick research indicates it comes from a play written in Spain in the early 1600s, the era of Cervantes and "Don Quixote", and was originally titled (in English translation) "The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest." Tonight you'll hear Richard Strauss' 'take' on the legend....

Unscientifically so, many people prefer music in minor keys because it has a stronger emotional effect on them. Tune in tonight to test the hypothesis!

In 1806 German poet Christian Schubart published a book (Ideas for an Aesthetic of Music) on the "affective" characteristics (emotional impact) of the 'keys' of music, for example, C Major, G Minor, etc. Tonight's program should be "bright", with many pieces in the key of D Major, described by Schubart as: "The key of triumph, of Hallejuahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing. "

The genre of the "Orchestral Suite" was very popular in Baroque Germany (the years of Bach, Telemann and others). Even though Bach showed "far less interest" in the genre, his "Suites" have garnered the greatest long-lasting fame.

Four evenings of orchestral music recorded live in concert....Bach Orchestral Suites, a Haydn Cello Concerto, and more. Won't you join us?

Our first two works tonight each have two violins as part of the group, music of Korngold and Kirchner. The second hour is more eclectic, music of Poulenc, Kodaly, and Bach.

Storytelling via music and dance (Petrushka) and via a new "Violin Concerto" (Scheherazade.2).

Tonight's San Francisco Symphony program is a "travelogue": France, England, Russia, Scotland....