Event

program:

I
ARENSKY
Variations about a Tchaikovsky`s theme Op35

SHOSTAKOVICH
Chamber Symphony , Op110
Largo
Allegro molto
Allegretto
Largo
Largo

II
JOSÉ LUIS NIETO
Concierto para piano y orquesta de cuerda, Op. 14

FALLA
Siete canciones populares españolas
(transcription for chamber orchestra: Andrei Nikitin)

Moscow Sinfonietta Chamber Orchestra
www.moscowsinfonietta.com
solist: José Luis Nieto, piano

Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861 – 1906), was a Russian composer and pianist. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was the greatest influence on Arensky’s musical compositions. Indeed, Rimsky-Korsakov said, «In his youth Arensky did not escape some influence from me; later the influence came from Tchaikovsky. He will quickly be forgotten.» The perception that he lacked a distinctive personal style contributed to long-term neglect of his music, though in recent years a large number of his compositions have been recorded. Especially popular are the Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky for string orchestra, Op. 35a – arranged from the slow movement of Arensky’s 2nd string quartet, and based on one of Tchaikovsky’s Songs for Children, Op. 54.

The SHOSTAKOVICH’s Chamber Symphony , Op110 was written shortly after two traumatic events in the life of the composer: the first presentation of debilitating muscular weakness that would eventually be diagnosed as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and his reluctant joining of the Communist Party. According to the score, it is dedicated «to the victims of fascism and war»; his son, Maxim, interprets this as a reference to the victims of all totalitarianism, while his daughter Galina says that he dedicated it to himself, and that the published dedication was imposed by the Russian authorities. Shostakovich’s friend, Lev Lebedinsky, said that Shostakovich thought of the work as his epitaph and that he planned to commit suicide around this time. The work was written in Dresden, where Shostakovich was to write music for the film Five Days, Five Nights, a joint project by Soviet and East German film-makers about the bombing of Dresden in World War II. The quartet was premiered in 1960 in Leningrad by the Beethoven Quartet. In the liner notes of the Borodin String Quartet’s recording of the quartet in 1962, critic Erik Smith wrote: The Borodin Quartet played this work to the composer at his Moscow home, hoping for his criticisms. But Shostakovich, overwhelmed by this beautiful realisation of his most personal feelings, buried his head in his hands and wept. When they had finished playing, the four musicians quietly packed up their instruments and stole out of the room.