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Columbus Indiana Philharmonic: Music Of The Masters

Conductor Goes Back For The Future

David Bowden is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. For their upcoming spring concert, Music of the Masters, David went back to a piece that he worked on while pursuing his doctorate at IU's Jacobs School of Music. The program juxtaposes that work with Brahms.

The Program

"Brahms' Serenade No. 2 is a unique work from early in his career," Bowden explains. "String focus is on the violas and cellos. The violins take a hike. My graduate school document focused on emphasizing the particular beauties of the piece and at the same time putting a few of what you might call the weaknesses in the shadows. It's a gorgeous work that I just love.

"We couldn't resist adding even more Brahms for the first half of our concert, so we've included three of his shorter pieces. Brahms wrote a set of Hungarian Dances and they were so popular that his publisher asked for a second and then a third and fourth set. They're great pieces with a vitality and energy that's also combined with real depth. Curiously enough, Brahms chose to orchestrate only three of them, numbers 1, 3 and 10, and those are the ones that we're playing."

Music For The Season

"An April concert wouldn't be complete without at least a nod to the season. We're making a full bow. We'll be playing Robert Schumann's Spring Symphony. There has actually been some controversy about Schumann as a symphonist with some critics saying that he really didn't know how to orchestrate, but I think our performance will answer any doubts."

Youth Has Its Way

"One of the special features of this concert is a performance by Max Rogers, a young saxophonist. He's the winner of the 2009 Brown Instrumental Scholarship. Max is a freshman at Indiana University studying with Otis Murphy. He'll be playing a work by the French composer Paule Maurice called Tableaux de Provence, a very attractive piece of little vignettes."

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