Programme:
Saint-Saëns – Piano Concerto No. 5 (‘The Egyptian’).
Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade
Conductor: Jose Aparicio
Soloist: Shan Liu (Piano)
Our matinée concert opens with teenage piano sensation Shan Liu, a student at Auckland’s Westlake Boys High School and one of New Zealand’s most promising young musicians, playing Camille Saint-Saëns’ colourful Piano Concerto Number 5. Written while the composer was in Egypt, the piece, subtitled ‘Egyptian’, is an exotic reflection of the East inspired by the Nile, distant temple chants, and warm North African nights.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s beloved orchestral showpiece, Scheherazade, draws on the magical stories of the celebrated Arabian story collection One Thousand and One Nights. The vengeful Sultan, convinced of the duplicity of all women, vowed to execute each of his wives after the first night, until he marries the young Scheherazade, who protects herself from death by telling him interconnected tales for 1,001 nights. Listen out for the Sultan’s heavy brass theme from the first movement slowly merge with Scheherazade’s beautiful violin and harp voice as bitterness turns eventually to love in this fascinating fairytale.
No passports are required for this journey to faraway lands in this rich programme that celebrates music’s power to transport us anywhere in the world.
