NM Phil wraps season with 2 concerts
The New Mexico Philharmonic is wrapping up its 2017 season with a nod to Mother’s Day and a Bach marathon.
Today’s Mother’s Day concert, at the ABQ Bio-Park Zoo, will feature a breezy blend of Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers” from “The Nutcracker Suite,” Bizet’s “Carmen Suite,” music from Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story” and more. Families are encouraged to bring a picnic lunch, blankets and chairs.
Next Sunday, the Phil will end its classics concert series at the National Hispanic Cultural Center with an all-Bach program featuring American pianist Katie Mahan.
“We’re doing a couple of the keyboard concertos and a couple of the Brandenburg Concertos,” conductor and violinist David Felberg said. “The pieces are all quite different and varied.
The musicians will perform the Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1 and 3. Musicologists regard the six pieces as some of the best orchestral compositions.
The first Brandenburg is “the biggest one,” Felberg said. “Not only does it have strings; it’s got a woodwind and brass section. It’s the largest one in the set. It adds great color and life to the piece.”
Bach penned the third Brandenburg in nine parts.
“There’s quite a variety of textures and character,” Felberg said.
Bach most likely wrote compositions for himself.
“Bach was a phenomenal keyboardist — organ, harpsichord or whatever was around,” Felberg said.
Considered one of the greatest ever written, the Piano Concerto in G minor is also among the first ever composed for keyboard. As usual, Bach withheld the fireworks for last, beginning and ending with a fugue.
Pianist Mahan possesses a broad repertoire; she’s known for her interpretations of