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<title>Gershwin Meets Beethoven with the Humboldt Symphony - Humboldt State Now</title>
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	<h1>Gershwin Meets Beethoven with the Humboldt Symphony</h1>
	
	
		
		
		<p class="dateline">Dec 05, 2011</p>
		

		<p class="storyIntro">	<p>The Humboldt Symphony performs popular pieces by Gershwin and Beethoven and other works on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon, Dec. 9 and 11.</p></p>

		 <span class="img-right-small"><img src="http://www.humboldt.edu/gamma/NOW_images/2011-1202-Symphony.jpg"   alt="2011-1202-Symphony.jpg " /><br />A student in the Humboldt Symphony practices her french horn.</span>

	<p>George Gershwin&#8217;s symphonic tone poem &#8220;An American in Paris&#8221; is his most famous work, after &#8220;Rhapsody in Blue.&#8221; &#8220;You hear the sounds of the Paris streets of the 1920s, even the taxi horns,&#8221; said Humboldt Symphony conductor Paul Cummings. &#8220;It has elements of jazz, blues and ragtime&#8212;popular styles heard in a cabaret but in a symphonic setting.  Gershwin was gifted at making this music work for orchestra&#8212;and in this piece especially, he did it with his orchestration as well as his composition.&#8221;</p>

	<p>The Humboldt Symphony performs the version called &#8220;An American in Paris Suite&#8221; as arranged by John Whitney, which is basically selected from the original.</p>

	<p>Gershwin himself described it as &#8220;a light, jolly piece, a series of impressions musically expressed&#8230;It&#8217;s not a Beethoven symphony, you know.&#8221;</p>

	<p>Beethoven&#8217;s Egmont Overture is not a symphony either, but in compact form it exemplifies the majestic power of his music.  &#8220;It&#8217;s a great example of Beethoven&#8217;s mastery of musical form and structure,&#8221; said Cummings.  &#8220;There&#8217;s a logical flow to this music that had a major impact on 19th century composers.&#8221;</p>

 <span class="img-right-small"><img src="http://www.humboldt.edu/gamma/NOW_images/2011-1202-Symphony2.jpg"   alt="2011-1202-Symphony2.jpg " /><br />The Humboldt Symphony brass section rehearses.</span>

	<p>This overture was composed for a play by Goethe, dramatizing the heroic sacrifice of the 16th century Flemish Count of Egmont, who took a stand against oppression and paid for it with his life.  Beethoven&#8217;s overture was so effective in expressing this theme that it became the unofficial anthem of the 1956 rebellion against Soviet control in Hungary.</p>

	<p>&#8220;Beethoven uses the entire orchestra to great effect,&#8221; Cummings said. &#8220;The writing in this overture features the instruments at their best.  Woodwinds are especially called upon to be expressive. It&#8217;s a very exciting piece.&#8221;</p>

	<p>The Symphony program also includes the first and second movements of Alexander Borodin&#8217;s Polovtsian Dances, which all the dances from Act II of the play <em>Dance of the Polovtsian Maidens</em>. &#8220;There are a variety of moods in this music, depending on the character each dance depicts,&#8221; Cummings said.</p>

	<p>The Brook Green Suite by Gustav Holst is entirely a string orchestra piece. &#8220;All the instruments have independent voice,&#8221; Cummings observed, &#8220;and there&#8217;s some wonderful counterpoint.&#8221; Known as Holst&#8217;s most accessible work, the Brook Green Suite was the last of his music that Holst heard performed.</p>

	<p>Humboldt Symphony performs on Friday, Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 11 at 3 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the <span class="caps">HSU</span> campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the <span class="caps">HSU</span> Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to <span class="caps">HSU</span> students with ID. Directed by Paul Cummings, produced by <span class="caps">HSU</span> Music Department. <a href="http://HSUMusic.blogspot.com"><span class="caps">HSUM</span>usic.blogspot.com</a>.</p>
			


	
	
	
		
        

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