Out of the Silence:A Celebration of MusicProgram Four

The centerpiece of Program Four is the Symphonie concertante in G by Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges.

The son of a slave and a planter in French Guadeloupe, Chevalier de Saint-Georges was not only the first known classical composer of African ancestry, but also an accomplished violinist, champion fencer and colonel of the first all-Black military regiment in Europe.

Bookending his composition are orchestral arrangements of Solitude and Sophisticated Lady, two mid-century masterpieces by the inimitable Duke Ellington, and the Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta by Béla Bartók, subject of the 1995 festival.
 

The Orchestra Now, conducted by Leon Botstein

Duke Ellington (1899–1974)
Solitude (1934; arr. Gould)
Sophisticated Lady (1933; arr. Gould)

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745–99)
Symphonie concertante in G Major, Op. 13 (1782)                                
Allegro
Rondeau
Cyrus Beroukhim and Philip Payton, violins

Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945)
Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta (1936)
Andante tranquillo
Allegro
Adagio
Allegro molto