PBS TV: Great Performances: The Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2017

[Dwyer]

PBS TV: Great Performances: The Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2017 August 18 at 9PM on PBS. (Check local listings.)

Led for the second time by German pianist and conductor Christoph Eschenbach, the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic returns for its 14th open-air concert, with a program inspired by fairy tales and myths, in Austria’s Imperial Schönbrunn Palace Gardens. The Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2017 airs on Great Performances, Friday, August 18 at 9PM on PBS. (Check local listings.)

Fairy tales, myths, legends and sagas are closely entwined with many composers and compositions. They have served as inspiration, models and sources for many musical works, several of which have been selected for this concert. Some are new and some are old; some are German, Bohemian, and Russian; some are based on literary models and one is a composer’s opinion about a myth.

The concert soloist is renowned soprano Renée Fleming who performs two arias from operas by Antonin Dvořák: the famous ‘Song to the Moon’ of the water nymph Rusalka and the aria of the sorceress Armida from the operas of those names, as well as three songs by Sergei Rachmaninoff: “Twilight,” “Sing not to me, beautiful maiden” and “Spring Waters” . . .

Schönbrunn Palace was never, of course, an actual fairy tale location, but rather the summer residence of the Hapsburg Emperors, and also between 1805 and 1809, the residence of the French Emperor Napoleon. Nevertheless, for many visitors, the palace and its surrounding park have always represented a supposed fairytale world, a modern–day legend with a worldwide presence.

The full musical program is as follows:

Dvořák – Carnival Overture

Dvořák – Zha Stihlou Gazelou (At dawn, as I merrily pursued a slender gazelle) from “Armida”

Dvořák – “Rusalka” Song to the Moon

Tchaïkovsky – Rose Adagio, “Pas d’action” from “The Sleeping Beauty”

Rachmaninoff songs (with Renée Fleming):

Twilight – Sing not to me, beautiful maiden

Spring waters

Humperdinck – Prelude to “Hansel and Gretel”

John Williams – Hedwig’s Theme from “Harry Potter”

Stravinsky – Devil’s Dance, Berceuse + Finale from “The Firebird”

Encore: Strauss; Wiener Blut (Viennese Spirit)

pbs.org/wnet/gperf/vienna-philharmonic-summer-night-concert-2017-concert/7024/

 

[johnnyc176]

Yea Dvorak! Thanks for the heads up!