The Paducah Symphony Orchestra kicks off its 2016-2017 season this Saturday. George Eldred and Maestro Raffaele Ponti preview the first concert on Sounds Good.
Saturday’s performance begins with Johan Wagennar’sCyrano de Bergerac Overture. Ponti says he discovered the piece while researching Carl Nielsen, a contemporary of Wagennar. Produced in 1905, Ponti says he finds the overture pushes the ear rhythmically and harmonically.
The symphony orchestra will next move to a tone poem by Richard Strauss titled Death and Transfiguration, which Ponti describes as transforming. “This is like a real life experience that [Strauss] puts pen to paper of what it would be like to die. And what an amazing thing,” Ponti said.
Pianist Thomas Pandolfi joins the performance for Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto. Pandolfi also performs a recital on Sunday.
