Classical music fans in Houston, Texas are excited with the beginning of the 2022/2023 concert season as the world class Houston Symphony Orchestra will be performing in Jones Hall, with our exciting new director, Maestro Juraj Valčuha, taking the helm in his initial season in Houston. On this weekend, the second weekend of the new season, there is a special treat with the great virtuoso violinist, Joshua Bell, as soloist in the Sibelius violin concerto. My wife, Sheralyn, and I are very excited and feel blessed to be in attendance in Jones Hall this Saturday night, September 24.
Along with the Sibelius violin concerto will be one of my favorite symphonies, Dmitri Shostakovich’s exciting and emphatic Symphony #5.
This from the Houston Symphony Orchestra website: “After Shostakovich’s music was publicly denounced for failing to conform to the Soviet ideal, his Fifth Symphony was a work on which his life depended—literally. The monumental creation he produced was a crashing success, appeasing the establishment, thrilling audiences, and crackling with covert defiance. Music Director Juraj Valčuha draws out every nuance of this all-time-great masterpiece, superstar Joshua Bell performs Sibelius’s sparkling Violin Concerto, and the concerts open with a world premiere from one of today’s most celebrated American composers, Nico Muhly.”
Shostakovich dramatic 5th Symphony was scored in D minor with four movements: 1. Allegro non troppo; 2. Allegretto; 3. Largo; and 4. Allegro non troppo.
As usual, when the fetching Mrs. B and I go to a Houston Symphony Concert, I like to give you a sample of the pieces we will hearing. So, please, turn up the volume and play in full screen to enjoy some great music.
Jean Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor, Movement 3, Allegro ma non tanto:
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony #5 in D minor:
Classical Music With Big Mike 