Melbourne Symphony Orchestra: Song and Dance

PROGRAM
Bonis Legendary Women, three pieces for orchestra
Kodály Dances of Galánta
Anna Clyne DANCE: for Cello and Orchestra
Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio Espagnol

Australian horn player-turned-conductor Peter Luff partners up with the MSO to lead us through this eclectic dance party of a program.

• French composer Mélanie ‘Mel’ Bonis was highly regarded in her time, but, as with many women in classical music, her presence has been largely obscured over the course of history. Fitting, then, that she should uncover three Legendary Women in this haunting piece of swirling harmonies and quiet strength.
• Kodály is perhaps best remembered for inventing the Kodály method – a system known by primary school students and Sound of Music lovers all over the world – where notes of the scale are associated with hand signals (do, re, me etc.). Kodály’s other major contribution to music was his celebration of Hungarian folk melodies on the orchestral stage, such as these beguiling and memorable dances from Galánta, a town on the train line from Budapest to Vienna.
• British Anna Clyne is a young Grammy-nominated acoustic and electro-acoustic composer. Inspired by a poem by Rumi, Clyne’s impressive concerto is performed by MSO Associate Principal Cello Rachael Tobin. Dedicated to her father, DANCE spins us through many moods of dance: from contemplative minimalism with soaring melodies, to lashings of industrial rhythmic urgency.
• With boisterous percussion and jovial brass, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol showcases the virtuosity of individual instruments in the orchestra through a vivid amalgamation of Spanish dances and Russian gypsy music.