The Chattanooga Symphony & Opera continues the Sunday afternoon Chamber Series with music from Prokofiev, Mendelssohn, and CSO Principal Double Bass Taylor Brown performing Bottesini’s Double Bass Concerto No. 2. The concert takes place on Sunday, Jan. 15, at 3 p.m. at the Read House Silver Ballroom.
Review for the performance:
The concert opens with Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony which debuted in 1913 conducted by Prokofiev himself. Composed completely away from the piano, his idea for this symphony, he writes in his autobiography, was to retain his contemporary style but write in the style of Haydn. “It seemed to me that if Haydn had lived in our day, he would have retained his own style while accepting something of the new at the same time. That’s the kind of symphony I wanted to compose.”
Heralded as the ‘Paganini of the Double Bass,' virtuoso Giovanni Bottesini began as a violinist. When the only music scholarship he could find was on the double bass, he prepared for the audition in a matter of weeks and won the scholarship. He would later become a renown opera conductor, chosen by Verdi to conduct the premiere of Aida in Cairo.
Taylor Brown, CSO principal double bass, performs Bottesini’s Double Bass Concerto. “I’m looking forward to performing in a new and challenging capacity with my colleagues of the CSO,” said Mr. Brown. “It’s been such a long time since I’ve appeared as a soloist and I’m so thankful that Music Director Dan is giving me the opportunity.”
Finishing the program is Mendelssohn’s String Octet. Composed when Mendelssohn was only 16, “…certainly, there is fire in the beginning… The music ‘zips along brilliantly’ in the Scherzo,” writes Eric Bromberger in the LA Philharmonic Program Notes. Mendelssohn himself marked it Allegro leggierissimo – “as light as possible.”
“I’m looking forward to being back on the podium for this Chamber performance," said CSO Music Director Kayoko Dan. "With a smaller ensemble we can focus more on the details and make great music.”
Seating is general admission and tickets are $28 with discounts for students and educators. Tickets can be purchased by calling the CSO Box Office at 267-8583 or online at www.chattanoogasymphony.org
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