Ralph Kirshbaum performs Dvořák’s dramatic Cello Concerto

Nov 9, 2011

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow 464-7071

SPOKANE— Spokane audiences will hear one of the world’s great cellists, Ralph Kirshbaum, perform Dvořák’s brilliant Cello Concerto with the Spokane Symphony, conducted by Maestro Eckart Preu.  The program will also feature Zoltan Kodaly’s Dances of Galanta, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1. Two performances will be held at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 8 p.m. and again on Sunday, Nov. 20 at 3 p.m. A pre-concert talk about the music will be held in the hall one hour before each performance.

Kirshbaum will be teaching a Master Class on Friday, Nov. 18 from 3 to 5 p.m. at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox. High school and university students will be performing. This event is open to the public.

In addition, this concert has been recommended as a special Date Night, which means you can add a special Date Night package to your tickets for only $15. This will include two glasses of champagne and a luscious dessert to share.

The concert begins with Dances of Galanta by Zoltán Kodály, a tone poem inspired by the popular café music of Galánta, a small Hungarian town which was once a center of sophisticated Gypsy musicians. The work consists of five brilliantly orchestrated melodies arranged so that the final measures of one dance serve as an introduction to the next. Most of the dances feature an orchestral soloist; a clarinet in the first dance, a flute in the second and an oboe in the third. The fourth dance pits the violins against the upper winds, while the final dance ends with a cadenza for clarinet that is “rudely” interrupted by the rest of the orchestra for a rousing conclusion. DETAILS…

Antonin Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor is truly dramatic, focusing as it does on the emotional rather than the technical, with the cellist not pitted against the orchestra, but rather enhancing it. Written as a tribute to his sister-in-law, Josefina Kaunitzová, it includes a reference to his song “Leave me alone,” which was her favorite. The Concerto also demonstrates Dvořák’s incredible gift for melody, not only in the basic thematic material but also in the “connective tissue” that holds together this great musical work of art. DETAILS…

Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C minor has been called Beethoven’s Tenth. Although rigorously classical in form, it unfolds with increasing intensity to culminate in a climatic finale. The first movement poses a musical question – actually more of a demand – that remains unresolved until the final movement. It is one of the most spine-chilling introductions in all of classical music, made more so by the contrasting secondary theme, a trio for the oboe, flute and cellos. When the tensions of the first movement are resolved with the resounding C major chorale-like melody, it is reminiscent of Beethoven's excited finales. DETAILS…

Ralph Kirshbaum, cello - The distinguished career of Texas-born cellist Ralph Kirshbaum - which encompasses the worlds of solo performance, chamber music, recording, and pedagogy - clearly places him in "...the highest echelon of today's cellists" (Los Angeles Times). In addition to performing with the Spokane Symphony, Kirshbaum will be teaching a Master Class while he is in Spokane. DETAILS…

Ticket prices for either performance begin at $14 and are available in advance at the Spokane Symphony Ticket Office, located at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox, 1001 W. Sprague, or by calling 509-624-1200. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.spokanesymphony.org. Tickets are also available at all TicketsWest outlets.

This concert is sponsored by the Mary Jewett Gaiser Endowment Fund. The Master Class is sponsored by AAA.