Alasdair’s Finale
Date
Thursday • May 2 • 7:30 pm
Venue
Woolsey Hall
In his grand finale concert as music director, Alasdair Neale pairs Mahler’s First Symphony with two works by American composer Florence Price:
The Music
Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 1, “Titan”
Florence Price
Ethiopia’s Shadow in America
Andante Moderato for Strings
From Maestro Neale:
“I first heard Mahler’s first symphony at around age 13 or 14, if memory serves. It made a tremendous impression on me at the time and it’s been part of my life ever since. “The symphony is the world,” Mahler once said. “It must embrace everything.” True to his word, Mahler gives us the works: From the frozen-landscape opening to the white-hot intensity of the finale, from the knee-slapping country dance of the second movement to the bizarre minor-key version of Frère Jacques that opens the third movement, Mahler’s daring originality is something to marvel at—all the more impressive because it came from the imagination of a 28-year old in his first symphonic outing.
For the balance of the program, I’ve turned once again to the work of Florence Price, whose music has been something of a theme during my time as Music Director. I’ve decided to reprise a particular favorite—Ethiopia’s Shadow in America—alongside a work new to NHSO audiences, an arrangement for string orchestra of the Andante Cantabile movement from the second string quartet, a work that amply displays her special lyrical gift.”
