KAREEM ROUSTOM
Dabke
Born: 1971, Damascus, Syria
Composition History: Dabke is Roustom’s arrangement of the third movement of his A Voice Exclaiming, commissioned in 2013 by the Providence, RI-based Community MusicWorks and FirstWorks for the Kronos Quartet and musicians of Community MusicWorks. Dedicated to the memory of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish and scored for triple string quartet, A Voice Exclaiming premiered on Nov. 8, 2013 in Providence.
Instrumentation: strings
CSO Subscription Performances: These performances are the work’s CSO premiere.
JOAQUÍN RODRIGO
Concierto de Aranjuez for Guitar and Orchestra
Born: November 22, 1901, Sagunto, Spain
Died: July 6, 1999, Madrid
Composition History: Joaquín Rodrigo composed Concierto de Aranjuez at the suggestion of the guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza in early 1939. Sainz de la Maza gave the piece its premiere in Barcelona on November 9, 1940.
Instrumentation: solo guitar, 2 flutes (incl. piccolo), 3 oboes (incl. English horn), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, strings
CSO Subscription Performances: Four previous subscription performances, including the premiere, in January 1987, with guitarist Angel Romero, Jesús López Cobos conducting, and the most recent, in November 2013, with guitarist Pepe Romero (brother of Angel), Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conducting. In addition to playing the CSO premiere of the Concierto, Angel Romero returned to perform the work, again with Maestro López Cobos, in May 1992. Pepe Romero also played the piece twice—first in December 1995 with Maestro López Cobos, and then in 2013 as noted above. Guitarist Christopher Parkening joined Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops for May 2003 performances of the work.
GEORGES BIZET
Symphony No. 1 in C Major
Born: October 25, 1838, Paris
Died: June 3, 1875, Bougival, near Paris
Composition History: Bizet completed the Symphony No. 1 in 1855, when he was 17 years old and studying at the Paris Conservatoire. It laid unknown in the Paris Conservatoire library until 1933, when it was “discovered” by a French musicologist. Shortly thereafter, in 1935, it received its world premiere in Basel, Switzerland.
Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings
CSO Subscription Performances: Seven previous subscription performances. Eugene Goossens conducted the CSO premiere of the work in March 1936; Paavo Järvi led the most recent, in March 2010. Jesús López Cobos led the Orchestra in its 1990 recording of the work, for Telarc, and Max Rudolf conducted the 1969 release for Decca.