National Symphony Orchestra: Summer Lunchtime
National Symphony Orchestra
Karen Ní Bhroin conductor
Bradley Creswick violin
Presented by George Hamilton, RTÉ lyric fm
Copland Fanfare for the Common Man
Leroy Anderson Jazz Pizzicato
Morricone arr. Angela Morley Cinema Paradiso
Copland Danzón cubano
Sondheim arr. Noel Kelehan ‘Send in the Clowns’ (A Little Night Music)
John Williams Fiddler on the Roof
Copland Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo
Anticipating America’s Independence Day celebrations, an invitation to escape into the high romance and epic drama of the New World with a whistle-stop tour of Broadway, Hollywood and Harlem, a visit to a roisterous rodeo and a sultry sojourn in Cuba.
With a growing profile in the United States, one of Ireland’s most exciting young conductors, Karen Ní Bhroin, returns to the National Symphony Orchestra (having made her professional debut with them in 2017) in the company of the ‘passionate involvement and virtuoso technique’ (The Independent) of violinist Bradley Creswick.
Aaron Copland’s thrillingly muscular orchestral anthem, Fanfare for the Common Man, and colourful Danzón cubano tributes America and its exotic near neighbour. Leroy Anderson’s playful Jazz Pizzicato for plucked strings is a joyful salute to New York’s jazz heartland, Harlem.
From Broadway, comes a tune-filled medley from John Williams’ evocative Fiddler on the Roof and Stephen Sondheim’s exquisitely forlorn, waltz-infused signature song, Send in the Clowns, while Ennio Morricone’s Cinema Paradiso pays a glancing but heartfelt homage to Hollywood in a sumptuous arrangement for violin and orchestra by Angela Morley.
Borrowing from American folk tunes and described as ‘the story of [Shakespeare’s] The Taming of the Shrew cowboy-style’, Copland’s colourful and witty ballet music Rodeo is a vivacious portrait of frontier life in 19th century America. The Four Dance Episodes are a virtuoso display of orchestral colour and exuberance, its ‘Hoe-Down’ finale an energetic rustic dance with a traditional Irish reel at its heart.
Presented by National Symphony Orchestra