Eckart Preu, Conductor
Cécilia Tsan, Cello
FLORENCE PRICE
Concert Overture No. 2
DVORÁK
Cello concerto
MUSSORGSKY (RAVEL)
Pictures at an Exhibition
A night of emotional warmth and vibrant colors awaits audiences in this concert program, tailor-made to combat the dark, cold, mid-February winter blues. Concert Overture No.2 by Florence Price, with its welcoming themes from popular Spirituals and more than a passing nod to American patriotism, will get things going. The passion continues when Long Beach Symphony?s own Cécilia Tsan takes center stage in Antonín Dvorák?s ardent cello concerto, beloved both for the deeply felt emotion it evokes in audiences and for the showmanship and mastery it showcases in its soloist. Modest Mussorgsky?s vivid Pictures at an Exhibition completes the evening?s program. Originally composed for piano solo, the stunningly creative work was later arranged for full orchestra forty years after Mussorgsky?s death by Maurice Ravel to immediate and enduring high praise. From the wistful whimsy of The Gnome to the kibbitzing of Two Polish Jews and concluding with the majesty of The Great Gate of Kiev, Mussorgsky?s musical visualization of a Russian gallery of paintings always delights.