October 17, 2026 – The concert was brilliant. Each piece had glorious, creative music. The conductor, Xian Zhang, was a thrill to watch. She is athletic as well as leading every instrument’s every note and with meaning. In this program each piece is fully beautiful in its own way.

Zoltan Kodaly was known for his studies and recording of his Hungarian folk music. Dances of Galanta (1933) is entirely in the Romani tradition.  He traveled Hungary and also foreign countries, but he kept his commitment to the roots of the music. His selected piece was Romani. This music has a plan: starting with a slow section, called lassu; then a quick rhythm takes over. That is called friss. It is an open and powerful music. The clarinet stars in the lassu section. The whole orchestra was giving us the best of each instrument. As the music develops as though it is traveling through the emotion and energy. The music turns itself to syncopation, takes it into the last friss section, and the audience caught the moment of the quit, tense ending.

Rococo Variations, Opus 33 (1876) by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky,expands his emotions and thrills. It was built on theme and variations. Tchaikovsky never runs out of the variations. He might take part of a variation in order to invent another. There are triplets as though one can hear them and also see them. The music dances in a variation as though the ballerina changed her fast turns to a leap. In a reinstatement to give strength to building an outside deck, the violins play as though a gentle song carries them onward. Oddly, but delightfully, the Rococo Variations, take every 32nd note so fast. Running the cello, the music celebrates the theme and variations, and Tchaikovsky wins again. Pablo Ferrandez was the cello soloist. He added so much to the Rococo Variations. One must say that the beauty of Ferrandez’ playing was difficult to describe- such beauty. He played Bach’s Saraband from Cello Suite, No. 1 in G major. The music was strong and delicate. The end was a breath.

Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 in G major, Opus 88 (1889) is truly beautiful. A cello appears in a lyrical  Allegro; it was something bright and con brio. The Adagio turns the first movement in-side out. The strings play, and then the flute takes us up to the country to breathe. Allegretto grazioso, the third movement, truly does move as it has taken a flexible body in a waltz. As the Symphony No. 8 draws to its climax, two trumpets announce the fanfare and again the lovely cello. The music in the middle movements are living a love affair as something happens to the audience. They sway, just a little. They let their heads breathe and watch. It is Dvorak. It is his personal music.