Music from the "crazy years"

in 20th century Paris

There is rebellion, sarcasm, dry wit and hard work in Sergei PROKOFIEV’s First Violin Concerto. The opening has shimmering delicacy, the middle section has infectious energy; the soloist sounding like a mesmerizing gypsy fiddler with many string crossing and double/triple stopped chords as the rhythms threaten to send the music off the rails. The finale reveals a pensive and beautiful grazioso as the work comes dreamily to an ethereal close. Karina Moss-Hollands (violin) will do all this, and more.

19 June 2024

FOR creatives in the early Twentieth Century, Paris was a magnet. The post-war years, “the crazy years”, drew writers like Hemingway, Yeats and Pound. Artists developed dadaism, surrealism, cubism and futurism. It was the home of Picasso, Modigliani, Duchamp, and Satie, Ravel and Stravinsky.

Nadia Boulanger began teaching composition at the Paris Conservatoire: her first American pupil was Aaron Copland.  Realising that a ‘modern’ style was not attractive to many audiences, he deliberately wrote ‘accessible’ and popular music, creating what many consider to be the sound of American music. His ballet Appalachian Spring and Fanfare for the Common Man display optimism, grandeur, and sentimentality and, above all, are built on memorable melodies.

George Gershwin arrived in 1928, hoping to study with Nadia Boulanger, but she refused him, afraid that classical studies would ruin his jazz-influenced style. He composed An American in Paris, while staying at the Majestic Hotel, capturing the sound of the Paris taxis as they circled the Place de l’Étoile.

A study in form, rather than melody or harmony, Ravel’s Bolero began as a one finger tune on the piano. “Don’t you think this is insistent?” he asked a friend. “I’m going to try and repeat it a number of times without any development, gradually increasing the orchestra as best I can.” He predicted that orchestras would refuse to play it. History shows otherwise.

The guest conductor for this concert is Chris Hunt, well-known to Central Coast Grammar School families.

When and where:

Central Coast Grammar School Performing Arts Centre, 2.30pm, Sunday 7 July 2024.

Buy your tickets here.

Tickets are also now on sale for the final two concerts of the year. Full details about the programs are available on the Performing Arts website.