Concerto of Russian masterpieces

The concert opens with an overture that’s more famous than the opera it is from – the overture to Mikhail Glinka’s opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila.”

“It’s a very long opera, complex somehow,” said Oriol Sans, who is guest conducting the orchestra in the Saturday, April 13 concert at Popejoy Hall.

	If you go WHAT: The New Mexico Philharmonic with guest pianist Daniel Goiti and guest conductor Oriol Sans WHEN: 6 p.m. Saturday, April 13 WHERE: Popejoy Hall, UNM Center for the Arts HOW MUCH: $19.50, $35.50, $46.50 and $68.50 in advance at ticket offices in the UNM Bookstore and the Pit, at select area Albertsons supermarkets, online at www.nmphil.org and at www.unmtickets.com, by calling 925-5858 or at the door

“Many orchestras play the overture because it is very showy. The strings have to play fast scales and the music at the beginning is very upbeat, happy. It’s only five minutes but it sets the tone.”

Glinka is considered the father of modern Russian music.

The work closing the concert is Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphonic suite “Scheherazade.”

Rimsky-Korsakov’s suite and Glinka’s opera are linked because both are rooted in fantastical stories, Sans said.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s comes out of stories of the famous “Arabian Nights.” The story collection has given the world “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves,” “The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor” and “Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp.”

“To me, it’s a success because the orchestral colors are very lush and I think the audiences love that. And it has great melodies,” said Sans, a native of Catalonia, Spain, who lives in Ann Arbor, Mich.

“The way Rimsky-Korsakov combines the orchestral colors and the melodies makes it a masterwork. And rhythmically it’s very vital.”

The third work on the program is Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

Daniel Goiti, an acclaimed Romanian pianist, is making his American orchestral debut with this performance. Goiti first performed the concerto 16 years ago and over the years he’s played it 35 times.

“It is a very important piece in my repertoire as it is one of the most in-demand works in Romania and abroad,” he said in an email to the Journal.

“In this work, Tchaikovsky is able to completely balance and intertwine the dramatic and grandiose passages.”

The work, he added, has lyrical and meditative themes that are full of singing lines and can be conveyed to the audience through an emotional, refined rendering.

Goiti has maintained an active international career as a soloist and recording artist as well as holding the post of professor of piano at a music academy in Romania.

Sans said he will return to New Mexico on April 21 to guest conduct the Santa Fe Symphony in works by Tchaikovsky, W.A. Mozart, and Antonin Dvorák.