Cho-Liang Lin plays Samuel Barber with FWSO.
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Symphony’s Finale
Violinist Cho-Liang Lin joins the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in its final concert of the season. He’ll be playing Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto. This work was composed in 1939 for a Russian violin prodigy who, upon seeing the spacious, lyrical first two movements, asked the composer for a flashy finale to show off his technique. Barber complied with a brief whirlwind of a third movement that had the soloist complaining that it was too difficult, which ultimately led to the man who commissioned the work demanding that the composer return his advance. It didn’t debut until 1941, and its unforced simplicity and quintessential American-ness have made it into a favorite in the repertoire.
Two remorselessly driven works by Ravel offer up a contrast to Barber’s concerto. Bolero, famously described by its composer as “a piece for orchestra without music,” is an exercise in orchestration by one of history’s greatest masters. Its hypnotic, maddening repetitions of the same melody build slowly to an electrifying finish. The same can be said for his La Valse, a savage parody of Viennese waltzes that was composed after Ravel had witnessed firsthand (as an ambulance driver) the destruction visited on the city of Vienna by World War I. Rounding out the program is conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya’s own suite of music from Manuel de Falla’s ballet The Three-Cornered Hat. It’s yet another way the Peruvian maestro has put his own distinctive stamp on our orchestra.
The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra concerts are Fri-Sun at Bass Performance Hall, 555 Commerce St, FW. Tickets are $13-72. Call 817-665-6000.
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