NMPhil to take listeners on a musical journey with 'Scheherazade'
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Jan. 6—Love, seduction, death and survival abound in the New Mexico Philharmonic's latest musical journey.
The orchestra will perform "Scheherazade: A Musical Masterpiece" on Saturday, Jan. 14, at Popejoy Hall.
The concert will open with Richard Strauss' tone poem "Don Juan."
The musical tour-de-force leaves the story line to the listener, ripe with beautiful solos.
"His music is so difficult, very technically demanding," said conductor and music director Roberto Minczuk.
"When we have auditions, almost all the musicians have to play 'Don Juan.' Richard Strauss narrates the adventures of Don Juan. Mozart wrote an entire opera about Don Juan — "Don Giovanni." It's the Casanova. Strauss makes great use of the brass instruments."
The program continues with British composer and conductor Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's "Ballade." He achieved such success that he was referred to by white New York musicians as the "African Mahler" when he toured the U.S. in the early 1900s.
"We're discovering all this wonderful music by Black composers," Minczuk said. "It's beautiful music, so well-written for the orchestra."
The concert concludes with the shimmering music evocative of the legend of Scheherazade, the wife who fended off her certain death by telling amazing stories for 1,001 nights.
"Scheherazade" combines two features typical of Russian music in general and of Rimsky-Korsakov in particular: dazzling, colorful orchestration and an interest in the East, which figured greatly in the history of Imperial Russia, as well as Orientalism in general.
"Rimsky-Korsakov is one of the greatest geniuses of orchestration," Minczuk said. "It's got everything; it's got adventure and it's exciting."
The solo violin, played by concertmaster Cármelo de los Santos, takes the role of the princess.
"He's just a world-class, outstanding violinist," Minczuk said.
"It's one of the most beautiful symphonic works. The New Mexico Philharmonic hasn't played it in many, many years."
A free pre-concert talk is slated for 5 p.m.
'Scheherazade: A Musical Masterpiece'
Presented by the New Mexico Philharmonic
WHEN: 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14; 5 p.m. pre-concert talk
WHERE: Popejoy Hall, University of New Mexico, 203 Cornell Drive NE
HOW MUCH: $35-$90, plus fees, at nmphil.org
