Post by erik on May 22, 2021 12:10:28 GMT -5
One of the most famous meetings of Shakespeare's stage genius with the world of classical music is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Tchaikovsky: ROMEO AND JULIET FANTASY OVERTURE
William Shakespeare is arguably the best known playwright that ever existed; and his hundreds of plays have consistently held their places in all the major performance stages of the world, not to mention the times they have inspired movies directly based on them. But what may be his most popular stage is the tragic tale “Romeo And Juliet”, the story of two young lovers who happen to be in families at war with one another in the Italian city of Verona. This timeless take of doomed romance spawned many films, including the famous 1968 Franco Zeffirelli version, as well as an American Broadway musical, “West Side Story”, reshaping the story as a love story set amidst a war between ethnic gangs in New York City (this version was also filmed, with great success, in 1961, and is being remade in 2021 by Steven Spielberg). In terms of classical music, it has been the subject of more than a few works as well, including a “dramatic symphony” by Hector Berlioz, and an ultra-popular 1934 ballet by Sergei Prokofiev. In between those two was a more compact “fantasy overture” by Peter Tchaikovsky, arguably the single most popular composer to have come out of Russia. The work, which runs 20-22 minutes in concerts and recordings, was first conceived by the composer in 1870, but, due to extreme initial criticisms, run through two different revisions over the succeeding ten years, until the final version saw its first performance in 1880. The work begins very poignantly with harp and strings, accentuating the impending encounter between the titular characters, but then it becomes extremely dark, moving into the key of B Minor, as it depicts the huge fighting between the Capulets and the Montagues with typically large orchestral forces, including bass drum, mass trumpets and trombones, timpani, and crashing cymbals, until it finally ends with its violent crescendo and the end of the lives of the tragically doomed lovers. Tchaikovsky’s work is essentially a symphonic tone poem, in the manner of Franz Liszt and (later) Richard Strauss); and along with his last three symphonies and his three ballets, plus the “1812 Overture”, it is among his most popular orchestral works.
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/LEONARD BERNSTEIN (Deutsche Grammophon)
Included:
SYMPHONY NO. 5 IN E MINOR, OP. 64
Tchaikovsky: ROMEO AND JULIET FANTASY OVERTURE
William Shakespeare is arguably the best known playwright that ever existed; and his hundreds of plays have consistently held their places in all the major performance stages of the world, not to mention the times they have inspired movies directly based on them. But what may be his most popular stage is the tragic tale “Romeo And Juliet”, the story of two young lovers who happen to be in families at war with one another in the Italian city of Verona. This timeless take of doomed romance spawned many films, including the famous 1968 Franco Zeffirelli version, as well as an American Broadway musical, “West Side Story”, reshaping the story as a love story set amidst a war between ethnic gangs in New York City (this version was also filmed, with great success, in 1961, and is being remade in 2021 by Steven Spielberg). In terms of classical music, it has been the subject of more than a few works as well, including a “dramatic symphony” by Hector Berlioz, and an ultra-popular 1934 ballet by Sergei Prokofiev. In between those two was a more compact “fantasy overture” by Peter Tchaikovsky, arguably the single most popular composer to have come out of Russia. The work, which runs 20-22 minutes in concerts and recordings, was first conceived by the composer in 1870, but, due to extreme initial criticisms, run through two different revisions over the succeeding ten years, until the final version saw its first performance in 1880. The work begins very poignantly with harp and strings, accentuating the impending encounter between the titular characters, but then it becomes extremely dark, moving into the key of B Minor, as it depicts the huge fighting between the Capulets and the Montagues with typically large orchestral forces, including bass drum, mass trumpets and trombones, timpani, and crashing cymbals, until it finally ends with its violent crescendo and the end of the lives of the tragically doomed lovers. Tchaikovsky’s work is essentially a symphonic tone poem, in the manner of Franz Liszt and (later) Richard Strauss); and along with his last three symphonies and his three ballets, plus the “1812 Overture”, it is among his most popular orchestral works.
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/LEONARD BERNSTEIN (Deutsche Grammophon)
Included:
SYMPHONY NO. 5 IN E MINOR, OP. 64