The Santa Barbara Symphony opens its 66th season — and begins fulfilling its solid new contract — with a pair of Mediterranean-flavored concerts at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, in the Granada Theater.
Maestro Nir Kabaretti will conduct, with the acclaimed violinist Francesca Dego soloing in the concerted work.
The program — assembled under the banner proclaiming Festa Italiana! — contains the Overture to Giuseppi Verdi‘s opera “La Forza del Destino” (1862); Niccolò Paganini‘s “Violin Concerto No. 1 in D-Major, Opus 6” (1816); Pyotr Tchaikovsky‘s “Capriccio italien, Opus 45” (1880); and Felix Mendelssohn‘s “Symphony No. 4 in A-Major, Opus 90, ‘Italian’” (1833).
This lovely and passionate program divides comfortably into two parts. Part One is devoted to music by Italian composers, and reminds us, with exquisite tact, that what we call “classical music” was pretty much an Italian invention, and that all of our modern stringed intruments — violin, viola, cello, double bass — come from the country Metternich once dismissed as merely a “geographical expression.”
The Verdi overture should serve to remind us that Italy was also the origin of what the world calls “opera.”
Part Two expresses the ecstatic discovery of Italy by composers coming from much colder, much more repressive countries. Arriving in Italy from Berlin or Saint Petersburg must have felt, in the 19th century, like arriving in Florida or Southern California from Michigan or Winnipeg.
Both the Mendelssohn and the Tchaikovsky go way beyond colorful travelogues — there is an undeniable feeling of exuberance, of personal liberation, as if the composer was getting out of prison. But they couldn’t stay there.
If they wanted to fulfill their destinies — not to mention make a living as composers — they would have to return to their own countries, to take up the burden of being a Jew in Christian Europe, or a homosexual in heterosexual Tsarist Russia.
Finally, the six violin concertos of Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) are a treasure trove of beautiful melodies and elegant settings, and the fact that the concertos are largely unplayed in our times is symptomatic of the spell the somber Teutons have cast over our concert halls.
Between them, Paganini and Liszt invented the romantic virtuoso (Liszt was the first pianist to play with his profile, rather than his back, to the audience), and Paganini’s concertos were all written with himself in mind as the violinist.
Paganini was a consummate showman, and, as Robert Craft said of Racmaninov’s 2nd and 3rd, the Paganini concertos must be seen to be heard.
In the hands of Liszt and Paganini, the soloist in a concerto became the protagonist in a drama. This is an experience that has been sadly lacking in concerts, lately, and all praise to Francesca Dego and Maestro Kabaretti for making it available to us again.
The generous local music lovers who have sponsored this concert include Montecito Bank & Trust (principal sponsor); Susan Aberle, Gail Beust, Barbara Burger and Paul Munch (selection sponsors); and Anne Smith Towbes (dinner sponsor).
Single tickets to these concerts are $29-$135, and they can be purchased from the Granada box office, 1214 State St., by calling 805-899-2222, or online at www.granadasb.org.
Call 805-898-9386 (subscriptions and renewals). To get the symphony’s entire 66th season, visit www.thesymphony.org/performances.
— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributing writer. He can be reached at gerald.carpenter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are his own.