Madison Symphony Orchestra: Peak Performance
Overture Center-Overture Hall 201 State St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Friday (7:30 pm), Saturday (8 pm) and Sunday (2:30 pm), March 9-11
The otherworldly sounds of Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth are the highlight of this Madison Symphony Orchestra concert conducted by Carl St. Clair. The orchestra will tackle Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto. Richard Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony will take you on a musical journey through the Bavarian Alps.
press release:
Mar. 10, 11, 12, 2017: Peak Performance
Carl St. Clair, Conductor
Tine Thing Helseth, Trumpet
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Egmont Overture
JOHANN HUMMEL Trumpet Concerto*
RICHARD STRAUSS An Alpine Symphony*
The exhilarating music of the Egmont Overture was commissioned by playwright Johann Wolfgang von Goethe for his play Egmont about a Flemish nobleman by the same name. Goethe specified to Beethoven that the Egmont Overture should be a “Symphony of Victory” for his lead.
In Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto, he cleverly interweaves fanfares with beautiful melodic lines, showing off the new keyed trumpet’s ability to play stepwise and chromatic passages. A staple of the trumpet repertoire, Trumpet Concerto is well recognized as one of the premiere pieces for solo trumpet.
An Alpine Symphony is a single-movement work that expresses both the joy and challenge of spending an entire day hiking on a mountain. Most likely inspired by the fond memories Strauss had of hiking in the Bavarian Alps as a young boy, it stirs images of an impending storm through occasional dark rumblings from the tubas and trombones, and wandering woodwind lines.