The Gustavus Symphony Orchestra is pleased to welcome Gustavus flutist Barbara Leibundguth to the stage on Sunday, November 9, for its Fall Concert in Björling Recital Hall. The concert, conducted by Ruth Lin, will begin at 1:30 p.m. and admission is free.
The Symphony’s program for Sunday’s concert will open with Otar Gordeli’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra (featuring Flutist Barbara Leibundguth). Composed in 1958, the concerto is written in one continuous movement. The late critic Nicholas Slonimsky, writing in a review of an early recording of the Concerto, commented that Gordeli’s specialty was music “derived from the Caucasian melos.” The Asian element “is conspicuous, and the harmonization is typical of traditional Russian treatment of exotic materials.”
Following a brief intermission, the Symphony will return to the stage and perform Franz Schubert’s 9th symphony, the Symphony in C Major, D. 944, often referred to as “The Great C Major.” Believed to be composed in 1825-26, the 9th symphony was the last symphony Schubert completed before his death at the age of 32. Considered his finest work for orchestra, the symphony is also one of the most difficult. In the early years after Schubert’s death, some orchestras refused to play it due to its difficulty and its length — approximately 55 minutes. After hearing its first performance, composer and pianist Robert Schumann was reported to have remarked that Schubert’s 9th symphony was the finest instrumental work written since the death of Beethoven.
This fall concert by the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra with Conductor Ruth Lin and Flutist Barbara Leibundguth will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 9 in Jussi Björling Recital Hall on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus. The performance is free and open to the public.
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