PERFORMANCE PREVIEW

March 18, 2023

March 31 - April 1, 2023

The musical time machine that is the Louisville Orchestra makes stops in two eras of the 20th century in March — with a March 18 Pops concert in Whitney Hall that celebrates the glittery pop smashes of the 1980s, and classical concerts March 31 and April 1 that feature two star composers of the first half of the 20th century — who sound almost nothing alike. A pretty wide divergence.

But not to worry. As Louisville Orchestra Music Director Teddy Abrams likes to say, “The good news is, our orchestra can play it all.”

BIG HAIR, DON’T CARE

Under the baton of LO Pops Conductor Bob Bernhardt, the orchestra goes gold plated in Decades: Back to the ’80s, delivering the hit songs that dominated the charts, filled stadiums and owned Top-40 radio air. It’s likely many listeners will know all 19 hit songs, from “Power of Love” to “Higher Love,” and re-meet all the characters that gave the age its edge, from “Betty Davis Eyes” to “Material Girl.”

It's all about the time.

As in: Do you remember who sang “Time After Time?” Or which period movie featured the song, “I’ve Had the Time of My Life?” See! It’s the songs you know. Answers: Cindy Lauper and “Dirty Dancing.”

The Back to the ‘80s show is dreamed up and orchestrated by Jeff Tyzik, with singers Paul Loren, Brie Cassel, Colin Smith and instrumentalists Shubh Saran and Jacob Navarro covering the hits.

Tyzik has collaborated with artists such as Chris Botti, Tony Bennett, Wynonna Judd, Leslie Odom Jr., and Doc Severinsen, so it’s no surprise his shows range from classical to Motown to Broadway, and, of course, the ‘80s.

The orchestra is encouraging concert goers to live it up, and relive it all, by hauling out period outfits – “Oh, I can’t wear that!”

Sure you can.

And one more for you: The previously mentioned “Power of Love,” was a hit for Huey Lewis and the News, and was featured in what 1985 movie?

Hint: If you have the Flux Capacitor App on your smartphone, you can set the dial for 7:30 p.m. on March 18, 2023, at Whitney Hall to go Back to the ‘80s

Opposites Attract

Composers Bela Bartók and Serge Rachmaninoff lived in almost identical time periods. Bartók was born in 1881 and died in 1945. Rachmaninoff lived from 1873 to 1943. They are paired in a March 31 concert at the Paul Ogle auditorium at Indiana University Southeast, and again April 1 at The Kentucky Center. The orchestra frequently appears at the Ogle, which is noted for its excellent acoustics. Visiting conductor Christian Reif leads the symphony in both concerts.

Except for musical genius, the shared time of the two composers is almost all Rachmaninoff and Bartók have in common. Listeners will find a great contrast. But that could make for an interesting show.

One day in his apartment in Budapest, young Bartók heard his housekeeper singing a song with a kind of haunting melody and note progression of a kind he had never heard before. He quizzed the girl who said she’d learned the song from her grandmother, who lived in a remote village in Hungary. Bartók was transfixed and set about on what became a lifelong quest to discover and catalog the folk songs of his native land. And as Bartók grew into a prominent compositional career, the sounds of his native land may have imbued his music with distinctive colors.

In the opening notes of Bartók’s “Violin Concerto No. 2,” a harp mysteriously introduces the violinist, who comes in on low strings, dark and earthy, but beautiful. From there the concerto takes on speed — often slashing and clashing. And difficult. It sounds like Bartók.

Taking on the Bartók challenge is rising violin soloist Alexi Kenney. Born in Palo Alto, Calif., and now living in New York City, Kenney is recipient of the 2020 Borletti Buitoni Trust Award and an Avery Fisher Grant. He’s been nicely reviewed by the New York Times.

But Bartók is tough — on players and audiences. During his lifetime, music intellectuals hailed his compositions, and admired the way he veered into modernity. But audiences did not warm so much to his music.

He was championed more in the United States than in Europe. Probably the peak of Bartók’s popularity came at the very end of his life. In 1943, Boston Symphony conductor Serge Koussevitzky visited Bartók in New York and commissioned him to write a “Concerto for Orchestra,” which became Bartók’s most celebrated composition. In those final years, Bartók was

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES:

Decades: Back to the ‘80s

March 18 | The Kentucky Center

Rach & Bartók

March 31 | The Ogle Center at IUS

April 1 | The Kentucky Center

Tickets & Info: LouisvilleOrchestra.org physically fading. He couldn’t make his hands write the notes. He devised a kind of shorthand that his son could read, and together they fleshed the marks into notes.

But Bartók’s music has never lost its fire. Today, Bartók’s string quartets have soared in popularity — often performed here in Chamber Music Society of Louisville concerts.

A Beautiful Ending

The other half of the Ogle concert is easier, with Serge Rachmaninoff’s “Symphony No. 3.” Though he overlapped in time with Bartók (and Stravinski and Schoenberg), Rachmaninoff remained steadfastly anchored in the music traditions of the 19th century. Virtuosity is paramount, and beauty carries his heart.

Writing to a friend about his famous piano concertos, Rachmaninoff explained, “I intend to ‘sing’ a melody on the piano as singers do, and to find a suitable accompaniment which would not drown out the theme.”

Rachmaninoff started out as a star pianist in Russia, but made a daring escape to the United States, where he found his hand composing and conducting, as well as at the keyboard. Safe to say he found more joy in the Hollywood Bowl, than dodging guards at the Russian border.

And audiences could feel it.

“I try to make music simply and directly that which is in my heart at the time I am composing,” Rachmaninoff told an interviewer. “If there is love there, or bitterness, or sadness, or religion, these moods become part of my music — and it becomes either beautiful or bitter or sad or religious.”

For more information about these performances and to buy tickets, visit louisvilleorchestra.org .

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