Program Notes for the SLSO's first Chamber Music Livestream: Musical Smirks
This is a program of rogue moments, of creators letting loose.
tales from backstage, at the hall, and in the community
with the st. louis symphony orchestra
- Mar 1, 2021
- 4 min
Program Notes: The Heart of the Matter
In this program, composers challenged by love, life, and death test their mettle.
- Nov 6, 2020
- 4 min
Program Notes: Stravinsky & Tchaikovsky
The composers on this program speak quite distinct musical languages, yet the spark for all three pieces is the same: love.
- Oct 28, 2020
- 4 min
Program Notes: Music for Winds
As a collection of instruments, the wind quintet should not get along. Oddly, this mismatched group makes beautiful music.
- Oct 28, 2020
- 4 min
Program Notes: Mendelssohn, Montgomery, and Frank
Jessie Montgomery’s Strum and Gabriela Lena Frank’s Leyendas both dance with abandon.
- Oct 27, 2020
- 4 min
Program Notes: Schubert's Octet
The music on this program understands this all-too-human complexity.
- Oct 27, 2020
- 4 min
Program Notes: Debussy and Ravel
This program features works from this golden age of the harp.
- Oct 23, 2020
- 4 min
Program Notes: Night Music
Day eases into an unsettled night.
Strauss' Sextet from Capriccio; Mazzoli's Vespers for Violin; Schoenberg's Transfigured Night.
- Oct 23, 2020
- 4 min
Program Notes: Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence
Music can be a time-travel device or a teleportation machine. A chord progression might whisk you back a decade or two...
- Oct 21, 2020
- 2 min
Nathalie Joachim's Dam Mwen Yo
For composer Nathalie Joachim "home" conjures the voices, strength, and fearlessness of women, and the cello sings their song.
- Oct 18, 2020
- 4 min
Program Notes: Metamorphosen
This program connects to our current world: there is a lot of anxiety, sadness, and division, and this music gives comfort to heal our souls
- Oct 11, 2020
- 4 min
Program Notes: Beethoven's Eroica
The ‘Eroica’ is full of hope, and this is the right piece to begin making music together again.
- Jul 3, 2020
- 2 min
SLSO Songs of America | "Amazing Grace"
One of the most recognizable tunes in America, “Amazing Grace” has a complex history.
- Jul 3, 2020
- 2 min
SLSO Songs of America | "St. Louis Blues"
The lament—“My man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea”—became the inspiration for the “St. Louis Blues.”
- Jul 2, 2020
- 2 min
SLSO Songs of America | "A Change Is Gonna Come"
A deeply personal song about fear and doubt and faith and hope, this civil rights anthem would have deep and lasting influence.
- Jul 1, 2020
- 2 min
SLSO Songs of America | Lyric for Strings
A barrier-breaking figure in the overwhelmingly white field of classical music, George Walker was an American compositional giant.
- Jun 30, 2020
- 2 min
SLSO Songs of America | "The Easy Winners"
“The Easy Winners” of this rag’s title are the athletes who come out on top with seemingly little effort.
- Jun 29, 2020
- 2 min
SLSO Songs of America | "America the Beautiful"
Malena Smith: I believe that there is a vivid element of hope, both lyrically and melodically, that I connected to.
- Mar 9, 2020
- 11 min
Program Notes: Adams Conducts Adams
Friday, March 27, 2020, at 10:30AM Saturday, March 28, 2020, at 8:00PM John Adams, conductor Jeremy Denk, piano BEETHOVEN Fidelio...
- Mar 3, 2020
- 7 min
Program Notes: Youth Orchestra Performs Symphonic Dances
Sunday, March 15, 2020, at 3:00PM St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra Stéphane Denève, conductor Gemma New, conductor Anna Zhong, violin...