New Jersey Symphony Presents Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony This Weekend

By: Mar. 21, 2014
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The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra presents Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony on a program of Romantic music this weekend, March 21-23 in Newark, Red Bank and New Brunswick. NJSO Concertmaster Eric Wyrick makes his annual solo appearance with the Orchestra performing Strauss' Violin Concerto. The program also includes Goldmark's In Springtime; Gerard Schwarz conducts.

Performances take place on Friday, March 21, (8 pm) at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark;Saturday, March 22, (8 pm) at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank and Sunday, March 23, (3 pm) at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. A Classical Conversation about the music on the program begins one hour before each concert.

"Every time [one of the NJSO's own musicians performs a solo], we see a special sort of inspiration within the Orchestra," Music Director Jacques Lacombe says. "To feature one of their colleagues as a soloist adds a very rich and special element for all the musicians."

Lacombe notes that it was Wyrick who suggested unearthing the Strauss concerto. "Eric has been willing to explore less-known and new repertoire," the music director says. "Strauss is not in the main repertoire for violin, and I am very pleased that Eric came up with the idea of playing this piece, which Strauss wrote before he was even 20 years old. This gives our season-long tribute to Strauss another touch-the opportunity to see where he started."

"Goldmark was very Romantic composer whose music people will be glad to discover," Lacombe says of In Springtime's writer. "In terms of aesthetics, the piece is close to [that of] young Strauss, and [it makes for] a bright, young and hopeful first half of the concert program.

"Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony is a big contrast. The symphony is an icon among Russian works. It deals with so many different aspects of war and the key of struggles of the 20th century; it looks to the more complex history of the last century and the impact it has had on us."



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