Paavo Järvi Conductor
Christian Schmitt Organ
Debussy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Connesson Concerto da Requiem, Concerto for Organ and Orchestra (U.S. premiere)
Prokofiev Symphony No. 5
Program Notes
When he premiered his Fifth Symphony in 1945—conducting it himself in the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory—Prokofiev considered it the culminating accomplishment of his career, conceived “as glorifying the grandeur of the human spirit … praising the free and happy man—his strength, his generosity, and the purity of his soul.” Others had even higher praise: after the U.S. premiere by Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony, Prokofiev was pictured on the cover of Time magazine, and Koussevitzky called the work “the greatest musical event in many, many years. The greatest since Brahms and Tchaikovsky! It is magnificent! It is yesterday, it is today, it is tomorrow.”
This dramatic work caps a program of brilliant colors and unusual instrumentation. Guillaume Connesson’s Concerto da Requiem, alternately macabre and ethereal, is the perfect showcase for the endlessly versatile 6,000-plus pipes of Verizon Hall’s incredible Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ. And Claude Debussy’s dreamy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun features harps along with unusual string shadings, including mutes, pizzicato (plucking), and playing sul tasto, where the bow is used over the end of the fingerboard—unique sounds perfectly suited to conjuring up images of nymphs frolicking in a glade.
This program is part of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ Experience, supported through a generous grant from the Wyncote Foundation.