Scheherazade

Grażyna Bacewicz Overture (First SLSO performances)

Alban Berg Violin Concerto 

Intermission interviews with:

Anna Sułkowska-Migoń, conductor

Beth Guterman Chu, SLSO Principal Violist

Leila Josefowicz, violin

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Live from Powell Hall at the Jack C. Taylor Music Center, this is the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Tonight, guest conductor Anna Sukowska Migon will lead the orchestra in a program that opens with the first SLSO performance of Gradzina Batsevich's overture. The concert continues with Alban Berg's violin concerto featuring violinist Lila Josefowicz. After intermission, the concert will conclude with Nikolai Brinsky Korsikov's Shaherazad Symphonic Suite Opus 35. Good evening. I'm Rod Milam, and welcome to another live broadcast of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's 2025-26 season on St. Louis Public Radio and Simocast on Classic 1073. You can listen to us online, see a copy of tonight's program notes, and much more at stlpr.org slash symphony. During our intermission, we'll have a chance to speak with Anasukowska Migon, SLSO principal violist Beth Gudemanchu, and Leela Josefowicz. Joining us right now is our guest commentator, Jonathan All. Good evening, Jonathan. Good evening, Rod. Our first work on tonight's program is by a composer who's likely new to most listeners, although she lived in the first part of the 20th century.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

That's true, and while she's well known in her native Poland, Gracina Bacsevic has received little attention in the U.S. until recently, one of her champions being tonight's guest conductor, Anna Gsukowska Migon. Bacsewicz came from a musical family and began her studies in 1919 at a conservatory in her hometown of Wuj. Five years later, at the age of 15, she enrolled in the Warsaw Conservatory, studying composition, violin, and piano. In 1932, she received a grant to study composition in Paris with famed composer and teacher Nadia Boulanger, and also studied violin with Andre Touré and Karl Flesch. When Batsewicz returned to Warsaw in 1936, she served as concertmaster of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. While that may be surprising for someone who is capable of having a solo career, it was an excellent role in which to learn the inner workings of a symphony orchestra and further her composition career. In addition, the orchestra's conductor, Gregor Fleidelberg, was also a composer and encouraged Bocsewicz's composition work. Botsewicz's performing career was interrupted by the German occupation of Poland, putting an end to public music performances, but she was still able to compose during that time, and her overture of 1943 was one of several works written during the occupation. She fled Poland in 1944, and it wasn't until after Poland's liberation that the work was premiered on September 1st, 1945, by the Krakow Philharmonic during the Krakow Festival of Contemporary Music. Botsevic went on to compose a large body of works, including symphonies, concertos, chamber works, and piano pieces, but the overture, her first orchestral work, has proven to be the most popular. Botsevich's overture is a jam-packed six-minute romp. It gets underway with a timpani figure, using the same rhythm as the opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which is also Morse code for V for Victory, with a lively string accompaniment. There's a more lyrical on Dante middle section featuring flutes, perhaps recalling Botsevich's French training, and the work concludes on a brilliant note with a return of the opening Allegro figure.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

You can see a copy of tonight's program notes at stlpr.org slash symphony. You're listening to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra live from Powell Hall on St. Louis Public Radio and online at stlpr.org.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

A few words about our guest conductor Anna Sukowska Migon. She was born in Krakow, Poland, and studied violo at the Frederick Chopin University of Music and conducting at Christoph Pendoretsky Academy for Music. A series of prestigious conducting programs and competition wins, including the Dallas Opera's Heart Institute for Women Conductors, working with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, and the Taki Alsop Conducting Award was capped by first prize in the 2022 La Maistra Competition and the Namy Yarve Prize at the 2023 Gestad Conducting Academy. Since then, Solkowska Migon has appeared regularly with all of the major Polish orchestras and is increasingly in demand throughout Europe and the UK, with recent highlights including debuts with the Deutsche Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic, Bairn Symphony Orchestra, and others.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

We now have the entrance of our guest conductor Anna Sukowska Migon. She's expected to address the audience before the performance of Garzina Batsevic's Overture.

Grażyna Bacewicz's Overture

SPEAKER_04 4:42

Good evening. Now the most stressful thing, speaking in English. I knew you have amazing orchestra, but I didn't know that in Saint Luis are so friendly people. That's fantastic. Yeah. I I just want a short super short thing why I asked orchestra management to to propose Grasina Batavic Overture. I'm from Poland and she was from Poland. She was a kind of superwoman in her times. She died in 1969. So her whole career was in the 20th century. But she was a phenomenal violinist. And in the beginning she had a career as a listener, but she also started a composition. And she won the college in Paris with Nadia Bolangia. That was a chance before the Second World War because of Poland, because Poland later was in the Soviet Union. She traveled, but only let's say in Europe in that time that was something. And her pieces were really well known. But uh when she died in Poland we played her music, but she wasn't, you know, popular enough. So lately, in the last five ten years, it is more and more about her. And why she wasn't so popular, you need to know her pieces are not easy. So she was demanding, but they are excellent. So that's why we can play tonight her overture, and I hope so that after tonight concert you will remember that from Poland we don't have only Frederick Shoppen and um Karol Szymanowski. That's also a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Unfortunately was the tragic death of Menon Gropius, the daughter of Gustav Mahler's widow Alma and architect Walter Gropius. Berg spent time in the Gropius home and grew very fond of Menon. When he heard of her untimely death at the age of 18 from polio, he paused his work on Lulu and began feverishly composing the concerto as a requiem to her, finishing it in an astonishing four months. On the title page, Berg inscribed to the memory of an angel. Berg was a member of a Viennese trio of composers, along with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Weibern, who, among other things, experimented with new musical language in the early part of the 20th century, especially serialism. The foundation of Berg's violin concerto is a 12-tone sequence, or row, containing the open string notes of the violin as the first, third, fifth, and seventh notes. However, the composer did not feel bound to stick strictly with that sequence and managed to incorporate a Bach chorale and an Austrian folk tune also into the work. The concerto is in two movements, each containing two sections. Berg scholar Hans Redlich posited that the first movement is a portrait of Menolengropius, and the second represents the catastrophe of death and transfiguration in heaven. In the opening on Dante, the soloist plays the open notes of the violin almost as if one was tuning. This tuning motif appears throughout the work. A scherzo-like second section features an Austrian folk tune, The Lendler, a bird in a plum tree. Introduced by the horn, there's also some thought that this tune also alluded to a second angel, Berg's illegitimate daughter, who was the same age as Menon. The second movement opens violently with dissonant chords in the orchestra, followed by an accompanied cadenza-like section with the violin fluctuating rhythm. At the climax, comes in a rhythm that Berg used in his operas Vatzek and Lulu, and then comes in a Daggio section with the introduction of the Lutheran chorale Es Istgenung, It Is Enough, which Bach used in his cantata 60, O Eternity, Thou Thunderous World. There's a return of the folk tune giving way to the chorale, and the concerto ends peacefully with the tuning motif from the opening. The concerto was premiered on April 19, 1936 in Barcelona for the International Society of Contemporary Music. Louis Krasner, the dedicate tee, was the soloist, and Hermann Sherman conducted. Unfortunately, Berg did not live to see the premiere. He contracted a blood infection from an insect sting and died on December 24, 1935. Although he did get back to his work on his opera Lulu, it remained incomplete at his death.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

You can see a copy of your own program notes of tonight's performance and much more at stlpr.org/slash symphony. You're listening to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, live from Powell Hall on St. Louis Public Radio and online at stlpr.org.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

A few words about tonight's featured soloist, a favorite of living composers, violinist Leela Josefowitz, has premiered many concertos written especially for her. A highlight of her collaborations with the SLSO includes a Grammy-nominated recording with former music director David Robertson of Shaherazad.2 by John Adams, a work she premiered with the New York Philharmonic and the composer in 2015, and has since performed worldwide. Last year, she made a highly anticipated reunion with Adams for Shaherazad.2 with a Hala Orchestra, and in May she will premiere Yuri Rinvere's Concerto for Violin, Harp, and Orchestra with the Cleveland Orchestra. Other premieres have included Matthias Pincher's Essenanza with the Cincinnati Symphony and many other works as well.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

The orchestra has tuned, and we have the entrance of Anna Sukosko Nigan and our soloist Lila Josefowitz, and we'll have a performance of our next piece on tonight's work. We may hear from our soloist before the beginning of this piece.

SPEAKER_06 18:08

Thank you so much. I love playing in St. Louis with this incredible, incredible group of musicians. So I really wanted to say just a couple of short things about the baird, which might just well be my very, very favorite 20th century violin concerto. And it's one of the most profound and dramatic pieces, I think, that exist in classical repertoire. It was written for Manon Gropius, who was uh the architect Walter Gropius' daughter, as well as Alma Mahler's daughter, Alma Mahler being Gustav Mahler's widow. Eric was very close to them and was very, very, very saddened to hear of Manon Gropius' death of Polio at age 18. She is the angel in memory of the angel. And so this piece is for her. But the eerie part is as well that this was his last work that he wrote. And um, I don't think he was aware at the time that he wrote it that he wouldn't be alive much longer. But it ended up being sort of her her requiem as well as his requiem. But just a couple of words about each movement. Um the first movement is so sweet and nostalgic and joyful, and we are sort of wrapped up in the Viennese waltz, which is rustic and sort of edgy with some fire and flare. In my mind, it symbolizes youth and vitality and rambunctiousness and and um a bit of mischievousness and and naughtiness, um, and really uh a love of life. And the second moment is uh a very, very different kind of feeling entirely. Maybe the symbolism of the uh the army of sickness or the the soul getting overtaken uh by death in this rhythm. This is what you hear throughout this movement. And it is really uh visceral, visceral thing. There's a high point in which perhaps is the moment, and then there's a very, very, very beautiful and very surreal and abstract uh moment after this where I think um the resurrection is taking place in which he incorporates the Bach chorale as it is Unook, which is it is enough. And then there's a more incredible abstraction of maybe between existential, between living and and and non-living. And then there's a place that's notated in the score that I have to visually lead the violence in um uh a group joint procession or maybe um uh a rally um to say we uh we are with this young woman, we are Saturn and we are together in this, and uh we are for life, and uh we will miss her and we we mourn her. This is what I have to to lead towards the end of the piece, and then the very, very end of the piece, there is the chorale, and then the the beautiful line of the um maybe the soul from the double bass to the cello, all the beautiful principal players here with which we have here, and the viola and the concert master David, and then I take it to the very top here. So this piece is really saying things that words never I think can say, and I'm just overjoyed to play it for you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 50:05

We just heard Auburn Berg's violin concerto featuring violinist Leah Josepowitz, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra was led by Cast Conductor, and I'm supposed to be gone.

SPEAKER_01 50:15

And the conductor hugging Leila Josepowitz including that performance. And I'm still taking himself on taking the home for taking many, many pounds. The customer gun is not stepping down from the podium to put the map in the colour, and the finger, and for us to be able to continue the people as a individual step, it's acknowledging the orchestra, acknowledging the audience and taking hands with the customer gone as they bought together in front of our audience.

SPEAKER_00 51:00

The audience teleport on their feet applauding and looking for a little front stage of both our test conductors as well as the floor for people. Good that both of them are acknowledging that. We'll get to hear them, uh hear from them directly in words during our intermission, which is coming up very shortly.

SPEAKER_01 51:48

And they are both leaving the stage again as the orchestra sits. Whether the applause will continue for another appearance.

Interview with Anna Sułkowska-Migoń, conductor

SPEAKER_00 51:56

Apparently not. A reminder, you can follow along at home with your own program notes by going to stlpr.org slash symphony. Once again, during our intermission, we'll have a chance to speak with Anas Wukostka Migone, Beth Guterman Chu, as well as Leela Josephowitz. I'm Rod Milam along with Jonathan All, and you're listening to a live broadcast of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra on St. Louis Public Radio. Live from Powell Hall at the Jack C. Taylor Music Center, this is the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. I'm Rod Milam, and along with me is Jonathan Aul.

SPEAKER_01 52:30

And joining us now is our guest conductor, Anasukovsky Migone. What a wonderful first half of the concert. Thank you so much. This is your SLSO debut. How has been working with the Symphony and with Leela Josephowitz this week been going?

SPEAKER_04 52:43

Yeah, you know, I I'm always uh saying that debut for me, it's much more stressful uh with a rehearsal because the first rehearsal is a real debut. But the people here are so friendly, and you know, of course, we need to do our job. So always this first five minutes, they are looking at you, they are checking what you know what you can do and how do you work. But I think we find ourselves and we understood each other. And Leila is oh my goodness, she's brilliant. You know, we were in touch before we discussed. That was my first time when I contacted this concerto, which is super difficult. So I was super happy that she was able and she wanted to share with me a story about this piece, her story about this piece because she has so much experience, so that was really, really helpful. Orchestra is oh my goodness. And they are great, but they really also want to share music and they are super open-minded. So that was I don't know what to say easy, but that was a super joyful time.

SPEAKER_01 53:52

So you opened the program with the Bratsewicz's overture. You're such a champion of music from Poland. How do you think that paired with what was else on the program this evening?

SPEAKER_04 54:01

You know, it it's easier for me now because I I had a couple seasons which I already done, so uh orchestras all uh open more to my propositions right now. It's also always like that. When you are young, you know, you have to wait. But they were super uh happy about Batsevic. And uh later we propose couple uh couple composers, which are really close to my heart. You know, I am Sloven, let's say, so it's also much more nicer for me if I can just show my musicality and uh yeah, then we approach this report to our together.

SPEAKER_01 54:41

Your first love was for the viola. What prompted you to set that aside and pursue conducting?

SPEAKER_03 54:47

You know, first of all, that's why I'm always smiling to viola section, because uh I know how hard it is, you know. This instrument is like best lovers, but you never you never know how it sounds and with viola, I couldn't find myself as a solist.

SPEAKER_04 55:05

And I realized during studies that I have no possibility to probably pass well exam to orchestra because I love chamber music, but I was so stressed before auditions that I couldn't express myself. And then in the meantime, I started conducting because my father is a conductor and he said, Hey Anna, you have too much time. I see, you know, you should develop yourself as a musician. And I remember I wanted to quit, you know, it was too many things to do. But after first exam, when I met with orchestra, I finally was happy on the stage. And then I made a decision. I finished Master with Viola, but I made a decision I will be a conductor.

SPEAKER_01 55:47

The second half of our concert is Shaheraza, the Ramsky Korsakov, a basic repertoire big piece. What are you hoping that the audience will get out of your performance of this in the second half?

SPEAKER_04 55:59

You know, always I'm thinking about as a team. So every performance is different because I don't play, I conduct, but they have this possibility to have this beautiful time, and that's what I like to do that we connect each other, but I hope the audience will feel that we share moments that not every time is the same because of cooperation and eye contact, and that's what I really hope to see.

SPEAKER_01 56:30

Well, thank you so much. Anasukovsky Migone will let you get on with the second half of the concert. Thank you very much.

Interview with Beth Guterman Chu, SLSO Principal Viola

SPEAKER_00 56:36

Thank you. Joining us right now is SLSO principal of Violas, Beth Guterman. Welcome to the studio, Beth. What's it feel like to have the guest conductor being squarely on the side of your section of the orchestra tonight?

SPEAKER_05 56:49

You know, I knew I liked her from the very first moment she started conducting us. And now I sort of understand why a little bit more. Yeah, she's been fantastic this entire week. The orchestra really just sounds so beautiful and so characterful when she's in front of us.

SPEAKER_00 57:07

So that's really good that you're able to share that with our guest conductor tonight. And also we understand that our guest violinist that we just heard from as well, she's been here so often. What's it like having her back in the orchestra tonight?

SPEAKER_05 57:20

Leela is one of the most dynamic, charismatic, moving artists of any instrument alive. I mean, every note she plays is so powerful and full of intention and integrity. And this piece in particular, maybe she'll be in here to talk about it, I don't know, but my gosh, she has a very long history with this piece, studying it with the incredible Felix Gallimere, who was very close with Berk. So I can't imagine hearing this piece played better more effectively. I was in tears in every rehearsal. Just basically what I'm saying is Leela is incredible.

SPEAKER_00 58:03

So, what do you think about this uh brand new redesigned hall? Your brand new home.

SPEAKER_05 58:09

It's incredible. You know, from the first day we got here, it was just such a joyful thing for us. I think our our management and staff worked extremely hard these last two years to make life as easy as possible for us when we were on the road. But walking into our expanded backstage, I mean it must be like 50 times bigger than it was. So whereas before we were sort of in a dank basement, all of us in this tiny room together, now we have these incredible lockers, places to practice, to congregate together in small areas and big areas. Our life backstage is so incredible. And I had the incredible pleasure of being off for a week recently. I came to a concert. I was able to come see the magic flute. My son was singing. He was one of the three boy soloists. But aside from that, I got to experience the flow of energy in the door, going up those spiral staircases, everybody drinking together. It was wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 59:11

Let's give you more chance, uh, mom, to talk about her son. What was that like watching your son up on this renovated stage in this renovated arena and watching him perform?

SPEAKER_05 59:20

Oh, it was incredible. Yeah. This one, I have three. He's in the middle, he plays violin too. He's in the YO, the youth orchestra here. So he is in Powell Hall almost as much as I am. But uh it was incredible getting to hear him sing such beautiful music, something I grew up basically watching movies of, like it was Disney. I think he was living my dream without even realizing what he was doing. So it was it was a very moving experience for me.

SPEAKER_00 59:48

You weren't on stage at the same time? Did you wish that you were on stage or did you prefer to just watch it?

SPEAKER_05 59:52

I did. I had been out of town earlier in the week playing a concert in Boston. So I wasn't here for his rehearsals or anything. He did it all by himself. It was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:03

Have you had a chance to perform with him professionally before?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:06

I haven't, now that you mention it. I have not.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:09

Okay, well, now we can have the Beth and Benji show. Yeah, yeah. You can have you can have your own uh your own thing together. I'll bring that I'll bring that up to uh Stefan when I see him next week. Absolutely. So we've talked before about how you're an Abbott Chamber musician, and you did some traveling in February, which we just talked about. What did you do?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:26

So in Boston, I was playing a concert with my former teacher, Kim Kashkashi, and she is one of the most renowned violists in the entire world and one of the best teachers ever. She is continuing her performing life but retiring from teaching. So she brought some of her most distinguished and favorite students to come play with her in Jordan Hall on a recital. And that was extremely moving to me and powerful seeing her and seeing all of the good she's done in the world.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:55

Well, we could talk for a very long time about many different subjects, but we have to let you get back and go back to work and finish the rest of the concert. Thank you very much, Beth Guterman Chu, principal violist for the Saint Less Symphony Orchestra.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:06

Thank you so much. It's always a pleasure to talk.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:09

And joining us now is tonight's featured soloist violinist Leela Josephowitz. And my goodness, what an amazing performance of the Berg Violin Concerto. It feels like it's equal parts, technically demanding and emotionally demanding. Is that accurate?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:25

For sure. The gestures and the things that he wrote all have an extremely clear message. There are directions and words in the score that say echo or shadow or with love or with passion or viciousness or you know, so there's so many directions, but really it's all about the emotion of the piece and extremely visceral and uh and and and deep and profound feelings that come with um and sensations, physical sensations that come with um this incredible piece that really is about uh life and death and and resurrection. So what a subject to play about. And so I figure with uh you know with this much to play about, I better be committed to every note that I play. So that was my goal.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:21

When you're performing it, are you thinking about Menongropius, or are you thinking about uh lost angels that maybe so many people have have had in their own lives?

SPEAKER_06 1:02:32

I think I'm thinking about uh kind of all of it, but I'm so busy and and and taken with with just communicating this. I mean, in some ways, if I think of loved ones who have passed, or if I get too too real about uh actual people, it becomes so emotional that uh it actually might interfere with my delivery of the of the messages, which are so strong and and and so so meaningful and so powerful to communicate to others. So, you know, the goal for me is to understand how to communicate these these feelings and these colors and and um to get that really communicated. So but yes, I mean I'm I'm thinking about just the fragility of life and how sensitive we are and how life uh does not stop for you, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:29

Well you you met you met those goals tonight and they it all felt very, very real. So the Berg feels like it's on the the newest edge of the standard repertoire. You have been such a champion of new music and contemporary music. Do you see the Berg as kind of the the pivot transition point between you know the the storied standard repertoire for violin and what's going on today?

SPEAKER_06 1:03:52

Oh, I mean, certainly it's a piece that has impacted all violin concerti that have come after it. Um there are some like Bartok, Berg, Stravinsky. These composers, I mean, we can't imagine music today without these composers, but I think the thing about this specific piece is um the the risks that he took as a composer were so vast and and so big. I mean, he really had an a set of ideas and he followed them to the very, very extreme. So this is something I respect so much in a composer that they're not kind of worried about the perception of their ideas. They just go completely for them. So I I love that. But this orchestra, I just have to add, I know it's we have to stop in a second, but like I mean, this orchestra has is just such a jaw-dropping, phenomenal group of musicians, and they just bring this piece and my playing to a different level.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:56

Well, to wrap up then, what was it like working with a conductor that you've never worked with before and who had never conducted this concerto before? What was that like?

SPEAKER_06 1:05:03

It was kind of amazing because, you know, I studied this when I was 16 with a person that knew Berg well. Um his name is Felix Gallimere, and he premiered a lot of Berg's music. And for me to be able to pass this along to other younger musicians is super important to me.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:22

Leela Josefowitz, it was a pleasure speaking with you. It was a pleasure having you on stage at Paul Holligan. Thank you so very much for bringing your talents to St. Louis.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:30

Oh, I'm so thrilled to be here. Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:33

Our concert tonight concludes with Nikolai Rymsky Korsakov's Shaherazad Symphonic Suite, Opus 35. Jonathan Rymsky Korsakov's Symphonic Suite was a result of the composer's fascination with the Middle Eastern folklore collection 1000 and One Nights.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:47

The composer frequently drew on folk songs and musical elements considered exotic in Europe at the time, but some of the stories in that collection date back centuries ago, beginning with tales spun by poets and And professional storytellers out in the marketplaces of ancient Egypt. 1001 Knights was popular in Europe more than a thousand years ago. The stories in the collection follow characters such as Alibaba, Aladdin, and Sinbeth, featuring a story within a story and a Herodot, well, that's no exception. So the story begins with a powerful Sultan who, believing in the falseness and faithlessness of all women, kills his wife after declaring her unfaithful. Then he proceeds to marry a new virgin each day, but beheads her the next part. He finally runs out of women eligible to marry, except for his advisor's daughter, Shaherazad. On her wedding night, Shaherazad tells the Sultan a story, continuing until dawn, and then stopping at a cliffhanger moment. Instead of beheading Shaherazad, the Sultan asks her to continue the story. And this thing repeats itself for 1,011 nights when Chaharizad is finally out of stories. But by then, the Sultan is smitten and makes her his queen. In this work, Rimsky Korsakoff didn't create a strict program of music to match a particular story, so the movement titles are quite broad. The Sea and Sindbad Chip, The Story of the Calendar Prince, The Young Prince and Princess, a festival in Baghdad, the sea chip re conclusion. In his autobiography, My Musical Life, Rimsky Korsakoff wrote, The titles for the four individual sections were intended only as hints to direct, but slightly the individual listener. All I had desired was that the hearer, if he liked my pieces of some five music, would carry away the impression that it is an oriental narrative of some numerous fairy tale wonders, and not merely four pieces played one after the other and composed on themes common to all four movements. Why then, if that be the case, does the suite bear the name Shaharazad? Because this name and the title The Arabian Knights connote in everybody's mind the East and Fairy Tale Wonders. Besides, certain details of the musical exposition hint at the fact that all of these are various tales of some one person who happens to be Shaherazad entertaining therewith her stern husband. The composer did create two signposts at the beginning: an aggressive brassy theme representing the Sultan, and a hypnotic theme in the violin representing Shaherazad. Variations of those themes continue throughout the work. It concludes with the voice of Shaherazad and the violin fading upward to a final serene chord in the orchestra. Rimsky Korsakal composed Shaherazad during the summer of 1888 on the shores of a lake, and it was premiered November 9, 1888 in St. Petersburg, conducted by the composer. The extended violin part throughout Chaharazad will be played tonight by concertmaster David Halen. You can hear a conversation with him in this week's noted podcast available at slso.org.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:54

A reminder you can follow along at home with your own program notes. All you have to do is go to stlpr.org slash symphony. You're listening to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra live from Powell Hall on St. Louis Public Radio and online at stlpr.org.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:09

And David Halen is standing right now, and as he is leading the orchestra through the tuning procedure as we're waiting for Shaherazad to begin this evening. Nikolai Rensky Korskov was born in 1844 in Russia. The first performance of this piece was November 9th, 1888, in St. Petersburg, conducted by the composer. The first SLSO performance was on March 11th, 1910. Max Zak was conducting.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade

SPEAKER_00 1:09:37

And we have the entrance of our guest conductor for the evening, Annas of Kosovo Me Gone, and we're getting ready for our final work for tonight. Nikolai Rinsky Corsakovsky Shaherazad Symphonics Week opened 35. This is the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra on St. Louis Public Radio. You just heard Nikolai Remsky Korsakov's Shaherazad Symphonic Suite Opus 35. The single symphony orchestra was led by Anna Sukovska Migon. The violin soloist was concertmaster David Halen.

SPEAKER_01 1:56:15

And David Halen asked to stand for applause and uh getting a hug from our conductor as well. Now the entire orchestra is standing as conductor. Anna Sukovska Migon is acknowledging the orchestra, acknowledging the applause, and now stepping away from the stage. In a delightful read of Rimsky Kortskov's Czeherzad in front of the audience here at Powell Hall, many of them are on their feet as the ovation continues here at Powell Hall. And our conductor, Anastukoscumigan, is now back again, thanking David Halen, asking him to stand for additional applause to the extensive violin solos that we heard. Also acknowledging our principal cellist, Danny Lee, as well this evening, uh acknowledging our harpist, Megan Stout, now our associate principal flutist Andrew Kaplan, principal oboeist Elena Dirk taking a bow, as is principal clarinetist Scott Andrews, other Woodwinds as well, and our principal pestoonist Andrew Cunio also has to stand, and our principal hornet Roger Caza as well getting individual acknowledgement this evening as well. A lot of the trumpet solos were performed by George Goad tonight, getting us a standing ovation there. Our trombone section also being acknowledged. Now all of the woodwinds are standing this evening in Pow Hall as the applause continues. All five of the horn players are now standing as well. Additional applause and recognition. All of the rest of the brass section, the trumpets, trombones, and tuba in the back right section of the stage. All of the percussionists are now acknowledged for their work this evening. Archifers are as well. The double basses! They get their own stand-up. Now the cellos looks like we're going through the string section. Now all the desks of violas are standing as well. And all of the violins as well. And the rest of the winds on brass and percussion join them for the orchestra standing as well this evening.

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And it looks like our guest conductors coming back out for one more round of applause, um, acknowledgement of the crowd and of the orchestra as well. She extends a podium. She takes her bow and once again receives more beats and knowledge actually from the audience and the orchestra standing once again.

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And this is her first performance with the SLSO, and based on tonight's performance and the audience reaction, I'm gonna guess that this is not her last.

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I I guess not, and I think she'd be very happy to come back as well. And I'm very glad that we got a chance to speak with her as well as other members of the Orchestra and our guest violinists tonight. You're listening to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. We're live from Powell Hall on St. Louis Public Radio, Simulcast on Classic 1073, and online at stlpr.org. You can hear this concert in person tomorrow afternoon at 3 at Powell Hall. More information is available at slso.org. This evening we heard the following works: Nikolai Remsky Korsikov's Shaherazad, Symphonic Suite, Opus 35. Before that was Alban Berg's Violin Concerto, featuring violinist Leela Josefowitz, and we began the evening with Grajina Betsevich's overture.

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You're invited to join St. Louis Public Radio for the next broadcast of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra next Saturday, March 21st at 7:30 p.m., when music director Stefan Deneve will lead the orchestra in John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine. Kevin Putz's Contact Triple Concerto for two violins, bass, and orchestra, featuring Time for Three, including violinists Nicholas Kendall and Charles Yang and double bassist Ronan Meyer. And John Williams' excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Adventures on Earth from E.T., and selections from Star Wars Suite. That's the next broadcast of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Saturday, March 21st at 7.30 on St. Louis Public Radio.

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We invite you to share your thoughts about our live broadcasts of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra season. You can find us online at stlpr.org and on social media. Just search for and like the St. Louis Public Radio Facebook page. The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra broadcast is produced by Mary Edwards with audio engineered by Kyle Pike. Additional assistance is provided by Yvonne Frindel, Paul Schiavo, Greg Monteneux, Eric Dundan, Maggie Bailey, Rachel Madison, Gino Belasi, Madeline Painter Tala, and Alex Rice. Also, a special thank you goes to all the members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Local 2197. Live broadcasts of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra are a production of St. Louis Public Radio.

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I'm Jonathan Al.

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And I'm Rod Milan. Please join us again next week.