LEGEND

LEGEND is an exploration of musically rendered myths, symbols, tales, and folklore. Toru Takemitsu crafts the miraculous “rain tree” from a short story by Kenzaburō Ōe, while George Crumb animates Wassily Kandinsky’s liminal “Blue Rider” painting. Gabriela Lena Frank presents the legendary figure of the “llorona” in her “Andean Walkabout” string quartet, while a traditional Bulgarian folk song tells a haunting tale about a conversation between a lamb and an animal farmer. Judith Weir relates a humorous cautionary fable by J.P. Hebel, while Henry Cowell invokes the cosmic god of motion in Irish folklore, Manaunaun. Both Clara Schumann and Luciano Berio imagine the infamous sirens from Greek mythology. Francis Poulenc embraces the enchanted, surreal world of children’s fairytales. Henry Purcell spins the tragic fate of Dido, while Franz Schubert synthesizes three poems into a story about a shepherd unsettled by his solitude. Rounding out the program are Claude Debussy’s mysterious “Sunken Cathedral” prelude and colorful, characterful Cello Sonata.

Program:

Henry Cowell: "The Tides of Manaunaun" from Three Irish Legends

Claude Debussy: La cathédral engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral) from Preludes Book 1

Franz Schubert: The Shepherd on the Rock

Luciano Berio: Thema (Omaggio a Joyce)

Clara Schumann: Lorelei

Intermission

Judith Weir: “Incidents in Traffic” from Really?

Toru Takemitsu: Rain Tree Sketch

George Crumb: "The Blue Rider" from Metamorphoses Vol. 1

Francis Poulenc: La Courte Paille

Gabriela Lena Frank: Canto de Velorio from Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout

Henry Purcell: Dido’s Lament from Dido and Aeneas

Traditional Bulgarian Folk arr. Krassimir Kyurkchiyski: Zableyalo mi Aguntse

Claude Debussy: Cello Sonata

Artists:

Alexandre Tchaykov, piano

Yekaterina Lynch, soprano

Lior David, piano

Jesus David Milano Melgarejo, clarinet

Maya Irizarry Lambright, violin

Xenia Deviatkina-Loh, violin

Benjamin Bartelt, viola

Amy Jong, cello

Olivia Cho, cello

Host or Publisher Spectra