NZSM Orchestra: Rural Romance

Te Kōkī, New Zealand School of Music presents the second orchestral concert for 2014. The NZSM Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Young will perform:

Lilburn – Drysdale Overture
Fauré – Pelléas et Mélisande (Prélude, Fileuse, Sicilienne)
Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, with Jian Liu – soloist
Dvořák – Symphony No. 8 in G major

Lilburn's 'Drysdale Overture' is one of his earliest works, dating from his days as a student at the Royal College of Music in London. Dedicated to his father, the overture celebrates and recalls in music 'Drysdale', the family hill-country farm in the central North Island where Lilburn was born and grew up.

The Fauré 'Pelléas et Mélisande' suite is a beautiful set of short pieces re-orchestrated from incidental music the composer had written for Maurice Maeterlinck's play of the same name.

Beethoven's 'Piano Concerto no. 3 in C minor' was completed in 1800, and clearly outlines his creative path. It is the first of his concertos to use a minor key and the first one that clearly separates Beethoven from the conventions of Classical period music. In this concerto, the composer produced a more varied and dynamic work rich in the turbulent emotions for which he was to become (in)famous. The piano style was less ornate, more muscular, challenging the technical range of the ‘new’ pianoforte instruments. The soloist in this concert is NZSM's Head of Classical Piano Studies, Dr Jian Liu.

Dvořák composed and orchestrated this four-movement symphony in 1889 on the occasion of his admission to Prague Academy. His dedication in the score reads: 'To the Bohemian Academy of Emperor Franz Joseph for the Encouragement of Arts and Literature, in thanks for my election.' Dvořák himself described the work as "different from the other symphonies, with individual thoughts worked out in a new way" and is regarded by commentators as cheery and lyrical, drawing its inspiration from the Bohemian folk music that he loved.