Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

[Krummhorn]

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra was in town last night at Centennial Hall, on the UofA campus in Tucson, AZ.

Bramwell Tovey was the Conductor and the piano soloist was Jon Kimura Parker.

The opening orchestral piece was commissioned by the VSO and composed by Edward Top.

The Program:

Totem (Edward Top)

• Angst
• Rite
• Mosh

Piano Concerto in A minor, Op 16 (Edvard Grieg)

• Allegro molto moderato
• Adagio
• Allegro moderator molto e marcato

Symphony 5 in B-flat minor (Sergei Prokofiev)

• Andante
• Allegro marcato
• Adagio
• Allegro giocoso

Totem was a very interesting piece for this listener. As was explained, the composer uses various 'other' instruments for effect. Really enjoyed this piece, as did the almost sellout audience.

This group really has it altogether for their performances ... and very responsive to direction from Mr. Tovey, who himself shared some very interesting program notes before the performance.

This group will be on my 'must see' list if they ever return to our performance hall. If you get the chance to attend one of their programs, I'm sure you wont be disappointed.

Kh ♫

 

[Chi_townPhilly]

Nice archetypal program there... short piece, Concerto, (presumably intermission) and then concluding larger-scale work.

Prokofiev 5 might not be one of the first pieces one would think of when hearing the phrase "seminal 20th Century orchestral score," but it was described as such by long-time Chicago Symphony Orchestra program annotator Phillip Huscher. I certainly won't quarrel with that statement. Prokofiev's work is something that I've appreciated a lot more over time. [I feel that way about Schumann, too...]

Sounds great that you had a chance to hear all of this live.