CONCERT 2: June 26, 2025, 19h00. Playhouse Opera Theatre
Conrad van Alphen, conductor
Andrey Baranov, violin
KZN Youth Orchestra: Curtain-raiser
Lalo: Symphonie Espagnole, Op. 21 in d minor
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6, Op. 68 in F Major, “Pastoral”
Following a curtain-raiser appearance by the KZN Youth
Orchestra (including Sheep May Safely
Graze by Bach, Themes from Scheherazade,
Palladio, and O Fortuna), Conrad van Alphen, the internationally-acclaimed South
African-born conductor, takes the KZN Philharmonic podium for the second
concert of the season. Maestro van Alphen will essay two concert standards, by
Lalo and Beethoven.
Plunging into the heart of the programme, the celebrated Russian violinist Andrey Baranov steps into the solo spot to put his stamp on Édouard Lalo’s virtuosic Symphonie Espagnole. Notwithstanding its official title, the exotically-scored work is a fully-fledged violin concerto, with its full quotient of ‘wow factor ops’ to set an audience’s communal pulses racing. Lalo structured his five-movement show-stopper as a hybrid concerto-symphony, lavishly spiced with Spanish infusions.
Sarasate, the virtuoso of the day, premièred the work on February 7, 1875, just weeks before the première of Bizet’s opera, Carmen.
Beethoven openly described his Sixth Symphony as a reflection of feelings about being in the countryside, replete with birdcalls, a rainstorm, and happy peasants. He nicknamed the work “Pastoral”, and even noted in the score the names of specific species of birds when he wrote imitations of their calls. After the incredible intensity of the Fifth Symphony, this one is full of serenity, peaceful contentment, and the untroubled enjoyment of nature.
Unique in Beethoven’s symphonies, the composer gave each of the five movements an explanatory title: Awakening of Happy Feelings on Arriving in the Country; Scene by a Brook; Joyful Gathering of the Country Folk; Thunder. Storm; Shepherds Song; and Happy and Thankful Feelings After the Storm. One of the best beloved masterworks in the global concert repertoire, the “Pastoral” stands tall as one of the great paeans to nature in Western Music.
Tickets available at Quicket. For more information contact info@kznphil.org.za.
To visit the KZNPO website, click on the advert at the top right-hand side of this page or visit www.kznphil.org.za
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