American Beauty

The Camerata’s much-anticipated meeting with one of Greece’s finest conductors, Loukas Karytinos, promises us a magical musical journey through the United States’ sublimely beautiful classical music repertoire. During the turbulent 20th century, Neoromanticism, minimalism and symphonic jazz were all key elements in the musical production of the New World.

In January 1938, Samuel Barber send the great Arturo Toscanini his “Adagio”, a slow and deeply moving work for string orchestra. Toscanini returned the work to the composer without comment. Barber’s initial disappointment turned to surprise, however, when he found out later that the celebrated conductor had already recorded the work and was preparing to perform it live: the premiere took place on November 5 the same year, and was broadcast live on the radio. With its sweet melancholy that develops into monumental passion, the “Adagio” was destined to become perhaps the most popular orchestral work of the 20th century.

In 1949, the famous jazz clarinetist, Benny Goodman, commissioned a clarinet concerto from Aaron Copland. Although Goodman left the choice of style to the composer, Copland opted to use jazz as his starting point, given that he was writing for one of the greatest jazzmen of the era. According to Copland himself, his “Concerto for clarinet” stands out for its “subconscious mix of popular elements from North and South America”. However, its extremely demanding virtuoso solo part may have been a little too much for Goodman, since the clarinetist requested a series of changes which made the piece easier to play. Now, one of the greatest clarinet virtuosi of our own era, Spyros Mourikis, has accepted the challenge of playing this most difficult of works.

George Gershwin is one of the most emblematic figures in American music: multi-talented, skilful and ambitious, he created the absolute fusion of jazz and symphonic music. His “Lullabies” (1919) is a youthful work for quartet whose tender melody owes something to the spirituals tradition.

The Camerata continues its engagement with the music of Philip Glass, one of the world’s greatest living composers, with the superb “Third Symphony” (1995), a work of symphonic dimensions written for 19 solo strings. The virtuoso score incorporates all the elements of Glass’s minimalism and culminates in a masterful third movement which typifies the sweet melancholy and singular expressiveness of the composer’s slow movements.