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December 18, 2005
Va. Symphony's Falletta is up for a Grammy
Virginia Symphony Conductor JoAnn Falletta has received her first Grammy nomination for a work she recorded by American composer Kenneth Fuchs.
Falletta's nomination is in the category of Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra. The work is Fuchs' "Eventide," a concerto for English horn, harp, percussion and string orchestra. It was written for Thomas Stacy, English horn soloist with the New York Philharmonic, and recorded earlier this year with Stacy and the London Symphony Orchestra.
"Eventide" is a gentle, one-movement piece that really shows off the English horn, an instrument that's similar to a clarinet but gets its evocative sound from a round, bell-shaped bottom end. Against a soft palette of string sounds, Fuchs weaves the English horn melody derived from parts of two American spirituals, "Mary Had a Baby" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot."
After listening to the recording, I was impressed with Falletta's ability to create an almost haunting texture from the strings while allowing the English horn part to float beautifully on top. Though an American work, it reminded me of English compositions such as Ralph Vaughan-Williams' "A Lark Ascending" or the works of Frederick Delius. Let's hope the Virginia Symphony will program this work in future seasons.
The recording also features two other Fuchs works, both given their world premieres under Falletta's baton. When "An American Place" was first presented in March by the Virginia Symphony, Fuchs came to town for the world premiere. The third piece on the recording, "Out of the Dark, Suite for Chamber Orchestra After Three Paintings by Helen Frankenthaler," was first presented at New York's Juilliard School in 1985. Falletta and Fuchs met while pursuing doctoral degrees there.
One sour note was that the recording listed Falletta as Buffalo Philharmonic Music Director, the other orchestra she conducts. Though her connection with Virginia Symphony was mentioned in the liner notes, it seems to me her 12-year association with the Hampton Roads orchestra should have gotten more prominent attention.
Falletta frequently champions American music in the programs she puts together for the Virginia Symphony. But this month, she's presenting another unusual program in a rarely heard Mozart version of Handel's "Messiah." The final performance will take place at 2:30 p.m. today at the Ferguson Center for the Arts on the Christopher Newport University campus in Newport News.
Handel's "Messiah" was first presented in Dublin in 1742. Mozart's version presented in 1788 was the first major revision of the popular Handel oratorio. He added more string parts and rearranged the composition in a fuller style more contemporary of his day.
Falletta chose the Mozart version as part of this year's 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. Tickets are $22-$40 available at the CNU box office. Call 892-6366 for information.
David Nicholson can be reached at 247-4794 or by e-mail at dnicholson@daily press.com.
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The Virginia Symphony Orchestra with a complement of 79 professional musicians under the direction of Grammy-nominated Music Director JoAnn Falletta performs 140 concerts annually, reaching 200,000 concert goers every season in venues throughout the region. Our education and outreach programs reach 53,000 students and adult learners every year. The Virginia Symphony Orchestra is the cultural cornerstone of the performing arts in Hampton Roads.
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