Event

Lake Union Civic Orchestra: Bruch and Bruckner

Why wait for Valentine's Day? Start celebrating right now with music from the Romantic era.

Bruch and Bruckner were neighboring countrymen from Germany and Austria. Both were born into the same generation of composers during the era of Austro-German Romanticism. Even their names sound similar. But their most well-known compositions, featured in this program, are quite different.

Max Bruch's lyrically seductive first Violin Concerto, with its gypsy-tinged finale, exploits nearly everything that the violin can do in the hands of a master. And our dazzling young soloist, Marié Rossano, plays it with stunning musicality.

Anton Bruckner's Symphony #4 "Romantic" emerges from the morning mists of a string tremolo with a magical mystical horn call that determines the character for the entire score, including resplendently rustic Austrian hunting scenes and gallantly heroic brass fanfares.

As a choirboy, Bruckner was in awe of the amazing organ at the Augustinian Monastery of St. Florian with its 4 manuals, 103 stops and 7,386 pipes. At 24 he was appointed as organist there, and in fact, is buried in the crypt underneath that same organ at his own request. If you've never had the opportunity to hear or see this mighty pipe organ in its gilded and frescoed baroque basilica, this symphony will allow you to imagine it in all its glory because Bruckner's orchestration is modeled after the sound of his majestic primary instrument.

So don't wait for Valentine's Day. Be sure to join LUCO now for this fabulous musical celebration.

Max Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 4, "Romantic"

Marié Rossano, violin
Christophe Chagnard, conductor

Single tickets: $15 general admission, $10 seniors and students (62 and older), 12 years of age and under free.

Three concert series seasons tickets for 2010-2011 are available through our website, www.luco.org.