George Gershwin’s ‘An American in Paris’ is a cheerful and humorous overture portraying the impressions of an American visitor strolling about the city. The hustle and bustle of continental street life (complete with real taxi horns!) blends with nostalgic elements of jazz and blues in this entertaining cameo.
Erich Korngold emigrated from Austria to the USA during the 1930s, establishing himself as a film composer who brought symphonic techniques to the studio. By 1947, the year of his violin concerto, he was doing the reverse: the concerto is built on themes from his film music. Full of soaring melodies and rich harmony, it was sometimes seen as rather sentimental and old-fashioned compared with the music of Stravinsky and Bartok, but today we can appreciate its beauty and romanticism without apology.
Prokofiev who, like Korngold, was also an accomplished composer for stage and film, composed seven symphonies over the course of his far-from-easy career. The seventh symphony was completed in 1952, the year before he died, in an attempt to improve his finances by winning the Stalin Prize. Written in a more ‘simplistic’ musical style, the work combines a nostalgic, slightly melancholy tone with elements of his successful ballet writing and a cheerful, energetic finale designed to impress the judges.
more about City of Cambridge Symphony Orchestra
The City of Cambridge Symphony Orchestra started life in 1973 as the Harston String Orchestra. Later, as a result of a change in venue, it became the Barton String Orchestra. In 2000 Leon Lovett took over as conductor and shortly afterwards, the orchestra changed its name to the Cambridge String Players. Under his baton, the orchestra has appeared regularly in West Road Concert Hall and in other venues around Cambridge. In addition to playing works for strings, the orchestra increasingly invited wind players to join it to perform works from the symphonic repertoire. Recognising this change of emphasis, the musicians decided that the orchestra needed a new name and in September 2008, it became the City of Cambridge Symphony Orchestra. In February 2012 Robert Hodge became CCSO’s new conductor.