The Â鶹ԼÅÄ Philharmonic returns to Hanley with an evening of triumphant music, beginning with what is arguably Vivaldi's best known work - The Four Seasons. This group of four violin concerti gives a wonderful musical expression to each season of the year, and Jack Liebeck joins the orchestra to lend his expertise to this most vivid musical evocation of nature's transience.
Hungarian composer Béla Bartok was in his early twenties when he began to find inspiration in native folk traditions. He travelled widely in his own country and the surrounding region, immersing himself in the exotic scale combinations and sparsely beautiful melodies in the music he discovered. He fed this passion into the wonderful Romanian Dances we hear this evening, which were based on tunes from Transylvania and originally composed for piano.
Tchaikovsky completed his Serenade for Strings in 1880. His love of Mozart's music is said to have inspired him to pursue his own career - he was said to have been fascinated by Mozart's music at just 5 years old. In fact, so moved was he by Zerlina's aria "Vedrai, carino" in Don Giovanni, that his mother showed him how to play it on the piano. Tchaikovsky was inspired by his idol for the rest of his life and he intended the first movement of his Serenade to be an imitation of Mozart's style - the highest form of flattery, and delivered with his own unique talent.
