On April 26 from 19.00p.m. in the city concert hall will sound the outstanding music of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – “Russian Easter: Overture on Liturgical Themes”, op. 36 and Gabriel Fauré – Pavana, op. 50 and “Requiem”.
The brilliant soloists: Kristina Oltean (soprano), Petar Danailov (baritone) and Municipal Choir “Gena Dimitrova” Pleven, with conductor Diana Ruseva, together with Symphonieta-Vratsa under the baton of Ivan Iliev, will transport us with the impressive program of the concert “Composers and Faith” between the earthly and the heavenly.
In a casual conversation with conductor Iv. Iliev and soloist Petar Danailov, the musicians expressed their pleasure in working with the Vratsa Symphony and the opportunity to be part of the magnificence of the music that sounds in the concert program.
Special project
“The works were created in a close period of time, but the color of the works is different, colored by the nationality of the composer,” said conductor Ivan Iliev.
For the baritone P.Danailov, returning for the concert in Vratsa opens the box of memories – his first appearance on stage in his musical career was precisely in Vratsa, during the time of the conductor Valery Vachev, in an aria from “La Traviata”.
From the interview in the attached sound file, you will learn more about the magnificence of “Requiem”, about the humility in the music of the composers, which sounds in their works, so originally recreated by them.
The grandeur of the concert will be confirmed by the participation of the Pleven choir “Gena Dimitrova”. A true splendor on the eve of the Easter holidays is presented to us by the Vratsa Symphony. You will hear more in the attached sound file:
Here is information about the authors and works:
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 – 1908) was a Russian composer, pedagogue, conductor, public figure, music critic, member of the Mighty Five – a creative union of composers Balakirev, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Cui. His overture “Russian Easter: Overture on Liturgical Themes” is a unique work for Russian symphonic music. Rimsky-Korsakov himself gave a detailed description of the work in “Chronicle of my Musical Life”: “The very long slow introduction of the Easter Overture on the theme “May God Rise” alternating with the church theme “An Angel Wept” seemed to me at first like a prophecy of the ancient Isaiah about the resurrection of Christ… the trumpet solemn archangel’s voice alternated with the sound production of a joyful, almost dancing bell ringing, alternating with the reading of the gospel gospel. The common theme, Christ Risen, which forms the second theme of the overture, appeared amid the trumpet voice and bell-ringing, forming also a solemn conclusion.’
The composer, organist, pianist and pedagogue – Gabriel Fauré is among the bright representatives of the French musical culture of the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The elegant piece Pavana, Op. 50 was created in an orchestral version in 1887, with the composer subsequently adding an invisible choir to accompany the orchestra.
Requiem, Op. 48, D minor is one of Gabriel Fauré’s most famous and performed works. The composer worked on this work from 1887 to 1900, creating three original versions.
In Vratsa, on 26.04, we will hear the second (in 7 parts, 1893), for mixed choir and chamber orchestra with the addition of 2 bassoons, 2 horns and 2 trumpets.
It is believed that the reason that prompted the composer to create a requiem was the loss of his parents, as well as the composers Liszt and Frank, who had a strong spiritual influence on him. But the composer himself claimed in his letter that his motive was purely creative. The lyricism and intimacy that the music brings embody in sound his idea of recreating from beginning to end the belief in eternal rest.
Tickets for the exclusive musical event on 26.04 at 19.00. in the city concert hall, are already on sale in the “Mushroom” next to the Hemus building.
