The Program

Fanfare from La Peri by Paul Dukas. This is a short brass fanfare for full orchestral brass section. La Peri (“a fairy spirit”) is a ballet composed by Dukas in 1911. This work is best described as Romantic tonal harmony with a French flair.

Dance Rhythms, Op. 58 (1954, pub. 1955) by Wallingford Riegger. Riegger was born in Georgia and grew up in Indianapolis and New York. Before devoting himself entirely to composition, he was principal cellist with the Saint Paul Symphony Orchestra and conductor of various orchestras in Germany before the World War I, and teacher at various American Colleges in the 1920s. Many of his works received special recognition, among them the Paderewski Prize in 1922, the Coolidge Prize in 1927, the New York Music Critics’ Circle Award and the Naumburg Foundation Recording Award, both in 1948.

Though Dance Rhythms was written for a full orchestra in a concert setting, the energetic character of the piece reflects Riegger’s long working relationship with modern dance pioneers Martha Graham (1893-1991), Doris Humphrey (1895-1958) and Hanya Holm (1893-1992).

Knoxville: Summer of 1915 by Samuel Barber. A 1947 work for soprano and orchestra, with text derived from a short story by American author James Agee, concerning his own childhood in Knoxville, Tennessee in the early 20th century. Barber’s lyricism evokes this rural idyll, but where modern life soon intrudes.

There’s an excellent article on this piece at Wikipedia.

[Intermission]