DPO season opener features guest violinist Yevgeny Kutik
IF YOU GO
Three colorful, romantic and dramatic masterpieces provide the foundation for the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” Masterworks Series concert Friday, Sept. 28 and Saturday, Sept. 29 at the Schuster Center. Opening the evening will be Debussy’s “L’isle joyeuse (The Joyful Island),” initially inspired by an Antione Watteau painting revelers departing for the mythical island of Cythera, birthplace of Aphrodite, goddess of love. The piece was later transcribed by Italian composer Bernardino Molinari, whose layered orchestration incorporates strings, harps, a large percussion section, and full wind and brass to showcase an otherworldly component.
“Molinari championed Debussy’s orchestral music and was his friend,” said DPO Artistic Director and Conductor Neal Gittleman. “The piece is also an orchestration of a
at an Exhibition”(Masterworks Series); “Bruch and Mussorgsky”(Sundae Classics Series)
Where: Schuster Center, Second and Main streets, Dayton
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday (“Pictures at an Exhibition”); 3 p.m. Sunday (“Bruch and Mussorgsky”)
Cost: $12-$65 (“Pictures at an Exhibition”); $12-$44 (“Bruch and Mussorgsky”)
Tickets: Call Ticket Center Stage at (937) 228-3630 or visit daytonperformingarts. org virtuoso piano piece.”
The second part of the concert features guest artist Yevgeny Kutik, a dynamic RussianAmerican violinist hailed for his mastery of the violin and its repertoire. In fact, The New York Times described him as having “an old-fashioned rhapsodic style, which is magnified by his rich, sweet tone.” Kutik, seen two seasons ago with the DPO, returns for Max Bruch’s gorgeous Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor. The concerto, a pinnacle of Bruch’s career, is known for its clear design and lovely melody.
“This is an extraordinarily romantic and truly beautiful piece,” Kutik said. “There’s a reason it’s one of the most famous and beloved works in the violin repertoire. Interestingly, it was an immediate hit when it (debuted), which isn’t often the case with some composers. Sometimes it took a while for certain pieces to grow in popularity. … Every time I play this piece I feel that I grow with it.
“I really had a truly wonderful time with the DPO last time. The (Dayton) community is so dedicated to the arts and the (Schuster Center) is superb. I also enjoyed working with Neal who is amazing. Performing with the DPO is a wonderful way to make music.”
“I thought it would be nice to open the season with a violin soloist and I really wanted to bring back Yevgeny Kutik,” Gittleman said. “I replaced the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the much-beloved Bruch Violin Concerto. It was a sentimental choice. It’s the first concerto I ever conducted with the DPO back in November 1994. It was my audition concert!”
The program concludes with “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky. The piece stems from Mussorgsky’s reaction to the 1874 death of Russian architect and painter Viktor Hartmann, one of his very dear friends. Assisted by Vladimir Stasoff, a Hartmann associate, the composer created a piano suite depicting the paintings in his friend’s honor. In 1922 Boston, Maestro Serge Koussevitzky notably commissioned famed French composer Maurice Ravel (“Boléro”) to orchestrate Mussorgsky’s piano piece. “Pictures at an Exhibition” constructs a musical narrative that follows a walk through a gallery as the audience “sees” an exhibition of 10 paintings, which incorporate a “promenade” theme. The music feels so accessible to all ages that the DPO will perform two of the movements in its annual PhilharMonster concert in October.
“‘Pictures’ exists in several different forms,” Gittleman noted. “Mussorgsky wrote it as a work for solo piano, a series of virtuoso character pieces inspired by various works of art by his friend Hartmann which had been displayed at an art exhibit. It’s Ravel’s orchestration that turns a piano showpiece into an orchestral showpiece. Everyone gets a chance to shine, even instruments that usually don’t get solo turns in the orchestra (such as) alto sax and tuba. There are also some hidden features buried that are fiendishly difficult to play. And it ends with ‘The Great Gate of Kiev,’ one of the most rousing pieces in the orchestral repertoire. Every other time I’ve performed the piece I’ve always done it with projections of the pictures – what pictures there are, anyway. Most of Hartmann’s drawings, paintings, and stage and costume designs are lost. Only a handful survived. (But this time), we’re just playing the music. I think we may put a one-page insert in the program with nice color reproductions of the pictures for people who are really curious. But I want people to ‘look at the music’ rather than trying to ‘hear the pictures.’”
Bruch and Mussorgsky are also the subjects of the DPO’s Sundae Classics Series concert Sunday, Sept. 30 at the Schuster Center. Hosted and conducted by Gittleman, the format is similar to last season’s Classical Connections Series, though the explanations are a bit briefer, allowing more time for the music. A casual Q&A session with Gittleman will follow the performance in the Wintergarden along with a free scoop of Graeter’s ice cream.