Bruce, Barber, Prokofiev

It’s finally here, the opening of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra Masterworks Season. This weekend, October 4th, 5th, and 6th at Symphony Hall, the orchestra will be performing with renowned violinist Augustin Hadelich.

The Concert features a world premier by a composer named David Bruce. The name of the piece is Night Parade and the music was commissioned by the San Diego Symphony.

Following the parade is Hadelich on Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto. From its lyrical opening movement to its sarcastic and virtuosic conclusion, this is a piece of music worth listening to--repeatedly.

The 800-pound gorilla in the symphony hall would be Prokofiev’s 5th Symphony. “The Fifth, which I conceived as a symphony of the greatness of the human spirit, a song of praise of free and happy mankind, may be said to conclude an entire creative period,” Prokofiev said in My Works During the War.

It is my opinion that the San Diego Symphony thrives on 20th Century music so it is with much anticipation that I await this weekend.