Thinking about the Roman Empire
Violinist Grace Park to play with the New Mexico Philharmonic
American violinist Grace Park will perform Max Bruch’s concerto in G minor with the New Mexico Philharmonic on Saturday, May 18.
Slated for Popejoy Hall, the concert draws the season to a close with music by Mikhail Glinka and Ottorino Respighi, as well as Aram Khachaturian.
Today, Bruch is generally known only as the composer of works for the violin. In addition to the Violin Concerto in G minor, the popularity of which continues, and, to the annoyance of the composer, overshadowed much of his other work.
As a native of Los Angeles, Park began violin at the age of 5 where she trained at the Colburn School of Music. She continued her studies at Colburn Conservatory and New England Conservatory for her bachelor’s and master’s of music degrees. She lives in New York.
Park performs on a 1717 Giuseppe Filius Andrea Guarneri on loan from an anonymous sponsor.
Born in Armenia, Khachaturian was famous for writing for ballet. He was the first Soviet composer to write for film.
The orchestra will also play his “Spartacus” Suite No. 2.
“It has a love scene that is very famous,” said Roberto Minczuk, conductor and artistic director. “It has been used in movies.”
Its adagio was used in the 2006 computer animated film “Ice Age: The Meltdown.”
Respighi’s “Pines of Rome,” a tone poem for orchestra in four movements, premiered in 1924 in Rome. It is the Italian composer’s tribute to scenes around his country’s capital, some contemporary and some recalling the glory of the Roman Empire. Each movement depicts a setting in the city with pine trees, specifically those in the Villa Borghese gardens, near a catacomb on the Janiculum Hill and along the Appian Way.
“It was built when Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire,” Minczuk said. “When the soldiers came back from battle, they would parade through the gardens.
“It’s very epic music,” Minczuk continued, “the sort of thing you hear in movies like ‘Gladiator’ and ‘Fantasia 2000.’ ”
The concert will open with Glinka’s overture to “Ruslan and Lyudmila,” an opera written between 1837 and 1842. Glinka was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country.
“It’s a very famous, virtuosic piece for the entire orchestra,” Minczuk said, “a lot of running scales. It’s very uplifting.”