Recent events might make you think that the only seasons around here are “Very Hot” and “Very Rainy”, but the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera is going to try and convince you tomorrow that there are four seasons – and not just Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, either. CSO kicks off its 2018-2019 season tomorrow with a series of Latin and Latin-inspired musical works.
The headliner piece on CSO’s program – a tribute to Hispanic Heritage Month – is a new commission by renowned trumpeter Douglas Hedwig, who relocated to Chattanooga several years ago. Mr. Hedwig played with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for almost three decades and taught at the Julliard School; since retiring from performing, he has racked up a series of awards and honors for composing. His new Fanfare Alegre: Dia de la Fiesta is designed to evoke the spirit of an Iberian/Hispanic community fiesta (celebration).
Next on the program is George Gershwin’s Cuban Overture, inspired by that composer’s own vacation in Havana in 1932. After taking a two-week winter holiday in Cuba, Gershwin was unable to get the Cuban rhythms out of his head, and six months later produced the Cuban Overture for a stadium concert by the New York Philharmonic. (That concert was infamously oversold, leaving 5,000 people trying to get in, so the piece soon made another appearance in a concert at the Metropolitan Opera.) The overture’s stirring music includes a few Easter Eggs for fans of classic Latin records, including quotations from hit songs of the day and the folk song “La Paloma”.
After intermission comes Astor Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (“Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas”) for violin and orchestra. A series of elaborate and evocative tangos, this piece is considered one of Piazzolla’s masterworks. The sensuous music is a must-hear for any visitor to Argentina, and can be heard in clubs and concert halls alike. The violin soloist will be 21-year-old Eduardo Rios, a Peruvian former child prodigy now studying at the Colburn School in Los Angeles.
The program will close with the symphonic suite La noche de los Mayas (“The Night of the Mayas”) by Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas. Originally composed as the soundtrack for a 1939 silent film set in Mayan times, the highly evocative score has had a long and rich concert hall life. Its four movements paint different scenes and events: the first evokes a landscape dominated by towering volcanoes and pyramids; the second, a feast night spiced with dancing and ratcheting percussion; the third, a journey through multiple soundscapes; and the fourth, an evening ceremony culminating in a wild sacrificial dance that many have likened to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
The Chattanooga Symphony & Opera opens its 2018-2019 season on Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. performance at the Tivoli Theatre.