The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s regular concert season traditionally goes on hiatus during December, but that doesn’t mean the orchestra and chorus aren’t kept busy. Far from it, as a quick survey of the coming month’s concerts clearly demonstrates. Let’s take a glance at what’s happening just this week.
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| Amanda Stewart and Steven Franklin Photo courtesy of the SLSPO |
The festive mood begins on Thursday, December 5, at 7:30 pm as Steven Franklin (Principal Trumpet) and Amanda Stewart (Associate Principal Trombone) curate a program of “Fanfares and Festivals” as part of the “Live at the Sheldon” concert series. Along with eight of their fellow SLSO brass players plus Alan Stewart on percussion, they’ll treat you to five centuries of music for brass and percussion. The oldest music on the program is suite from “The Danserye,” a 1551 collection of 60 toe-tappers by Renaissance composer and publisher Tylman Susato (c. 1510/15–after 1570). The newest is the world premiere of a low brass quintet by Franklin.
The evening promises to deliver a wide variety of sounds as well, from the reverential (Francis Poulenc’s “Four Short Prayers of St. Francis of Assisi”) to the rousing (the selections from Susato’s “The Danserye”). The SLSO has a very solid brass section. This should be a great opportunity to hear them in action in the much-admired Sheldon Concert Hall.
On Friday and Saturday, December 6 and 7, the action moves to the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall at Washington University’s 560 Music Center for “A Baroque Christmas.” Guest conductor Patrick Dupre Quigley leads the SLSO in music of Bach, Telemann, Corelli, and Vivaldi. Associate Principal viola Alejandro Valdepeñas is the featured soloist in Telemann’s Viola Concerto in G major, while Ann Choomack takes the virtual spotlight in Vivaldi’s Piccolo Concerto in C major, RV 443.
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| Alejandro Valdepeñas and Ann Choomack Photo courtesy of the SLSO |
Bach is well represented with Sinfonia from the second of the six cantatas that make up his “Christmas Oratorio” along with the Sonata from his appropriately titled Cantata BWV 31, “Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret” (Heaven laughs! Earth exults) and the lively Orchestral Suite No. 3 (BWV 1068).
That last one was written for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, Bach’s employer from 1717 to 1723. The Prince was fond of dance music, so the suite was also likely a hit with the him. It’s being an appealing collection of dances preceded by a short "French overture" (the name referring to the form's origins in the ballets of Jean Baptiste Lully) with its characteristic majestic opening followed by a lively main section. Bach's mastery of counterpoint gives the music a bit of weight, but even so, the terpsichorean roots of this work are as obvious as they are delightful.
Those roots are especially apparent in the last two movements, the sprightly "Bourée" and "Gigue." The former was a dance that was especially popular at the court of Louis XIV of France, eventually morphing into a classical ballet step known as the pas de bourèe.
Arcangelo Corelli’s contribution is his justifiably popular Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6 No. 8. It’s known as the “Christmas Concerto” because the first page of the score bears the inscription “Fatto per la notte di Natale” (“made for the night of Christmas”). Although the twelve concerti grossi of the composer’s Op. 6 weren’t published until after his death, No. 8 was composed in 1690 and played that Christmas for Corelli’s patron and friend Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni.
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| Celtic Woman Photo courtesy of the SLSO |
To close out a very musical week, the Irish vocal/instrumental group Celtic Woman brings their “White Christmas Symphony Tour” to the Stifel Center on Sunday, December 8, at 7:00 pm. Lloyd Butler conducts the SLSO in an evening that “combines centuries of Irish musical tradition with the thrill of a full symphonic orchestra, highlighting the artistry of the internationally recognized quartet.”
The group was created in 2004 years ago as a “one off” for a concert in Dublin that was such a hit that it immediately sparked an American tour and an international following. Two decades later, the group’s catalog of CDs, DVDs, and even jewelry is impressive and the popularity of their concerts shows no signs of waning.
But wait—there’s more! And I’ll tell you all about it in next week’s preview. Stay tuned.
