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Musical road trip: Head to the birthplace of Western classical music with 'Germany and Austria'
The New Mexico Philharmonic will perform its final 鈥淧ower Concert鈥� on Sunday, March 10, at Immanuel Presbyterian Church.
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The New Mexico Philharmonic will perform 鈥淕ermany and Austria,鈥� its final 鈥淧ower Concert鈥� on Sunday, March 10, at Immanuel Presbyterian Church.
The series is geared toward introducing young audience members and their families to classical music, the orchestra and the instruments.
Musical road trip: Head to the birthplace of Western classical music with 'Germany and Austria'
鈥淚t鈥檚 a wonderful way to introduce classical music,鈥� said Roberto Minczuk, New Mexico Philharmonic music director. 鈥淚 talk about the piece. I talk about the instruments. I get to interact with the audience.鈥�
The musicians will play works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johannes Brahms and Johann Strauss.
The philharmonic will perform two movements from Brahms鈥� 鈥淪ymphony No. 1,鈥� which took him 21 years to write because he was so afraid of being compared to Ludwig van Beethoven.
Mozart鈥檚 familiar 鈥淓ine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music),鈥� an emblematic piece of classical music, also is on the program.
In a catalog of his works, Mozart lists 鈥淎 Little Night Music鈥� as having five movements. However, only four movements remain, the first minuet having been lost. So it remains an incomplete string serenade the size of a symphony that epitomizes both the genteel vivaciousness of the classical period and the composer鈥檚 blend of simplicity and fluency.
Strauss penned his famous 鈥淏lue Danube Waltz鈥� during a post-war economic depression. The composer wrote a joyful waltz song to lift Austria鈥檚 spirit. Strauss recalled a poem by Karl Isidor Beck (1817-79) where each stanza ends with the line: 鈥淏y the Danube, beautiful blue Danube.鈥�
The music celebrates the city of Vienna and the river that runs through it. The waltz, the dance craze of its day, captured the cultured elegance of the Habsburg Empire.
鈥淪trauss was one of Brahms鈥� favorite composers,鈥� Minczuk added.
German and Austria formed the cultural hotspots of the day and the birthplace of Western classical music.
