THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 8, 1997 TAG: 9702070123
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 58 lines
THE IRREVERENT and vivid ``Carnival of the Animals'' by Camille Saint-Saens, complete with amusing, nonsensical verses by Ogden Nash, will be the highlight of a concert at 3 p.m. Sunday at Willett Hall.
Duo-pianists Ralph Markham and Kenneth Broadway will perform with the Hungarian Festival Virtuosi, a group of 12 strings, flute, piccolo, clarinet and percussion.
The program also will include Mozart's ``Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,'' Samuel Barber's ``Souvenirs,'' Viennese waltzes by Johann Strauss Jr. and Franz Lehard, and Hungarian dances by Johannes Brahms.
``Carnival of the Animals,'' sometimes called the composer's ``great zoological fantasy,'' was written in 1886 when Saint-Saens stopped in a small Austrian town to relax after a particularly stressful concert tour of Germany. As the story goes, he wrote the piece as a present for the annual Mardi Gras concert organized by the celebrated French cellist Lebouc.
Except for a section called ``The Swan,'' Saint-Saens refused to allow the work to be published or performed during his lifetime because he feared it would tarnish his reputation as a serious composer. Today he probably is best known for this composition.
``Carnival of the Animals'' often parodies other works. One hears Offenbach's can-can slowed to a crawl in ``The Tortoises,'' and Berlioz' fairylike ``Dance of the Sylphes'' is ponderously played by the double basses in ``The Elephant.'' In ``Fossils,'' the borrowed tunes include Saint-Saens' own ``Danse macabre'' as well as ``Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.''
The verses by Nash were, of course, written after the composer's death in 1921.
The Barber composition, also featuring the duo-pianists, was the composer's tribute to Palm Court music popular on bandstands of resorts and hotels from 1870 to 1914.
The Sunday afternoon concert is part of the Portsmouth Community Concert Association's 58th season. Admission is by season ticket only, but memberships are on sale at the Willett Hall box office and will entitle the holder to admission to this concert, the Black Mountain Male Chorus of Wales on March 16, and a bonus concert on May 9 featuring Portsmouth saxophonist Tommy Newsom as guest soloist with the Airmen of Note, a U.S. Air Force jazz band. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS GROUP
Duo-pianists Ralph Markham and Kenneth Broadway will play ``Carnival
of the Animals'' with the Hungarian Festival Virtuosi.
WANT TO GO?
What: Duo-pianists Ralph Markham and Kenneth Broadway with the
Hungarian Festival Virtuosi
When: 3 p.m. Sunday
Where: Willett Hall in Portsmouth
Price: Admission is by season ticket only. Memberships, which
cover three concerts, are $35 for adults and $27 for students and
are on sale at the Willett Hall box office