Week of February 23, 2009

Houston Symphony

Hans Graf & Brett Mitchell, conductor
Jon Kimura Parker, piano
Mark Hughes, trumpet

Listen (hour 1)
Listen (hour 2)


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Program:
Shostakovich: Tahiti Trot (Tea for Two)
Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1
Picker: Old and Lost Rivers
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2 (Little Russian)

Description:
Outside Houston are bayous that fill up with spring rains every year and then, in the summer sun, disappear. There's a wistful road sign east of town where two large bayous converge: "Old and Lost Rivers." That place and that sign were all it took for Tobias Picker to create one of the most serene and hauntingly beautifully pieces of orchestral music in recent memory.

Engin U. of Manhattan Beach, CA correctly identified Vesko Eshkenazy's encore as the Russian folk song "Black Eyes" or "Dark Eyes".  Congratulations, Engin!"

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