Alexandria, Va. -- This Sunday, Feb. 13 at 2 p.m., “The President’s Own” Marine Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Maj. Ryan J. Nowlin, will feature the unlikely pairing of violin and cello in Johannes Brahms’ final work for orchestra, as well as another unlikely pairing: the music of Joseph Haydn juxtaposed with the much more contemporary music of Anna Clyne who drew inspiration from Haydn’s Symphony No. 60.
The orchestra performance will take place at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria. This is a free, non-ticketed event.
Program and Notes
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“The program will feature the virtuosic abilities of our Associate Concertmaster Gunnery Sgt. Sheng-Tsung Wang and our Principal Cellist Staff Sgt. Charlaine Prescott in Brahms’ amazing double concerto,” Nowlin said. The Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor, first performed in Cologne in 1887, was the last orchestral work Brahms wrote, and first reviews for the work were mixed. Over time, the work has become much more loved and an oft-performed selection.
The second half of the concert features two works composed almost 250 years apart but have a common bond. Haydn’s Symphony No. 60, nicknamed Il distratto, originated as an overture and incidental music for a French theatrical comedy of the same name. Contemporary composer Anna Clyne composed her work, Sound and Fury, using Haydn’s Symphony No. 60, as well as William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, as inspiration.
Clyne described her process: “To begin, I listened to Il distratto many times, and on a single sheet of paper I wrote down the key elements that caught my ear, which ranged from rhythmic gestures to melodic ideas, harmonic progressions, and even a musical joke…. I chose between one and four elements from each of the six movements and developed them through my own lens— layering, stretching, fragmenting and looping. Whilst experienced as one complete movement, Sound and Fury is also structured in six sub-sections that follow the same trajectory of Il distratto.”
“Clyne takes the themes and ideas of Haydn and puts them through an amazing kaleidoscope; an unlikely pairing indeed!” Nowlin added.
Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center is located at 4915 East Campus Drive in Alexandria, VA. Free parking is available in the adjacent garage. Please note that masks and COVID vaccination or negative COVID test within 72 hours are required for all in-person concerts. All programs are subject to change.