Rhapsodies in Blue
Saturday, October 7, 2006, 8 PM Insights from the Conductor, 7 PM |
Sunday, October 8, 2006, 7 PM Insights from the Conductor, 6 PM |
The three major works that put Jazz in the Concert Hall. Ensemble Monterey Chamber Orchestra recaptures the brash, uninhibited sound of these 1920’s classics. Prepare yourself – it won’t be anything Arthur Fiedler or Montevani ever played!
Rhapsodies in Blue presents the three pivotal works which put jazz in the concert hall for the first time. Written within a five-year period, they introduced the uninhibited, brash spirit of a new era. Rhapsody in Blue was originally written by George Gershwin for the Paul Whiteman Jazz Band in 1924. Presented in its original version, it sheds the sophistication of later orchestral transcriptions and takes on a wildly exuberant, honky-tonk character, which vividly portrays its tin-pan-alley origins. It is a treat not to be missed. Darius Milhaud’s Creation of the World, written only one year before the Gershwin, sets an African creation myth to a jazz ballet, which at first is beautifully slow and lyric, and then careens wildly out of control in one of the great musical stampedes of all time. Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera (1928) is the work, which put German Cabaret music on the map. As much a social parody as a musical one, it popularized the genre of degenerate characters such as “Mac the Knife,” whose immortal ballad is included in the concert version.
George Gershwin
Rhapsody in Blue performed in the original 1924 jazz band version with Pianist Stephen Tosh
Darius Milhaud
The Creation of the World. The African creation myth told in a jazz ballet
Kurt Weill
Suite from the Threepenny Opera. When truly degenerate music became cool
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Stephen Tosh is first and foremost a composer of serious modern classical music and enjoyed an active year of premieres in 2005, including Ensemble Monterey Chamber Orchestra’s premiere performances of his Covenant of Light. He began serious composition at the age of 14 and has always enjoyed an active interest for his work in the Salinas and Carmel areas. Sponsors and commissioners of his work over the last 30 years include Hidden Valley Music Seminars, Hartnell College Theater, Ensemble Monterey Chamber Orchestra, the Cabrillo College Choral Department, and Pacific Repertory Theater | ||
| Since 1981 when he and his family moved to | ||||
George Gershwin |
Stephen Tosh |
to Paso Robles, he has expanded his audience to | ||
| include the Central Coast. One of his favorite | ||||
homes and sponsors in this area are Unity Chapel of Light and Pastor Jim Schrotel. Mr. Tosh has created a large selection of works, including four symphonies, two piano sonatas, a clarinet sonata, a string quartet, a piano quintet, a woodwind quintet, three trios, three concertos, three operas, a piano suite, six song cycles, pieces for pipe organ, ten musicals, and countless other works. His talent as a pianist and composer and versatility in commercial and classical idioms have allowed him to remain a full-time professional musician all his adult life. He has worked as an organist and choir director for many churches and temples. Barbara, his patient and talented wife, is also a musician, as is his brother David. With his mother Jean and the glamorous cat Tiger to complete the ensemble, they all live happily together in Paso Robles, California. |
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