Dobson Symphony Orchestra

Overture to "Russian and Ludmilla" (1842).............................. Mikhail Glinka

When Mikhail Glinka was born in a provincial Russian town in 1804, there was no such thing as Russian classical music. Beethoven was as much the musical model for St. Petersburg as he was for Vienna, and Russian folk melodies were strictly for peasants. Glinka changed all that and became revered by the generations that came after him - including Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov - as the "father of Russian music."

Russian and Ludmilla was set to a colorful and fantastic fairytale by the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, another friend of Glinka's. The tale tells of the beautiful Ludmilla, pursued by three suitors and abducted by the evil dwarf Chernomor; finally after many trials and the undoing of assorted magical spells, she is rescued and won by her true love, the noble Russian.

Glinka's musical score was beautiful and imaginative, and Russians soon embraced it. In the West, however, this opera is known only for its dazzling overture. In a well-crafted sonata form, it is above all a showcase for the violinists, who must fly through their many notes at a fierce Presto pace. The warmly romantic second theme, sung by the violas and celli, is taken from Russian's second-act aria as he dreams of Ludmilla on the battlefield. A vivacious coda tells us this opera will have a happy ending.

Nimrod from "Enigma Variations" (1899)....................................Edward Elgar

Elgar's Variations for Orchestra on an Original Theme, better known simply as the Enigma Variations, was the breakthrough work that launched his reputation as a composer of international stature. The Enigma Variations were premiered on June 19,1899 under the direction of Hans Richter, and were dedicated "to my friends pictured within." The work immediately intrigued audiences with its thirteen portraits of friends and family, along with Elgar's own self-portrait finale.

Regarding the Enigma theme itself, Elgar wrote in the notes for the first performance: "The enigma I will not explain - its 'dark saying' must be left unguessed, and I warn you that the apparent connection between the

Variations and the Theme is often of the slightest texture; further, through and over the whole set another and larger theme 'goes' but is not played." In a letter to his friend Jaeger, labeled "Nimrod" in the Variations, Elgar wrote, "I have sketched a set of Variations on an original theme: the Variations have amused me because I've labeled 'em with the nicknames of my particular friends...that is to say I've written the variations each one to represent the mood of the 'party'—I've liked to imagine the 'party' writing the variations him or herself...I've written what I think they would have written...it's a quaint idea and the result is amusing to those behind the scenes and won't affect the hearer who 'nose nuffin'."

Nimrod the 9th variation, is a portrait of his best friend Augustus E. Jaeger. - August Johannes Jaeger, a good friend with the music publishing house Novello (Nimrod is the biblical "mighty hunter," a pun on "Jaeger," which means hunter in German)

Leroy Anderson Favorites (2005)..........................................arr. Calvin Custer

Blue Tango • Belle of the Ball • The Syncopated Clock • Serenata

Leroy Anderson has been called the "most famous unknown composer" because his music has rooted itself in American culture, becoming as iconic as the flag and apple pie. He was born into a family of first-generation Swedish immigrants. In 1919, he began his music and piano studies at the New England Conservatory of Music. At Harvard, he studied composition, and later served as the director of the Harvard University Band. At the same time he was also an organist, instrumentalist and conductor in Boston. His arrangements in Boston and New York were noticed by Arthur Fiedler, then music director of the Boston Pops, who asked Anderson to compose original works for that orchestra. This suggestion led to Jazz Pizzicato, followed that same year by Jazz Legato. Anderson was married in 1942; they moving to Connecticut and raised four children there. During the war, Anderson worked as a translator and interpreter. During this time he composed one of his most popular works, The Syncopated Clock, while working at the Pentagon. Arthur Fiedler premiered all of Anderson's works until 1950. These included, Chicken Reel, the famous and now seasonally revived Sleigh Ride, A Trumpeter's Lullaby, and Bugler's Holiday. Anderson also worked as an orchestrator and arranger for the Boston Pops during these years sometimes conducting his own works. Anderson then signed a contract with Decca Records, which brought out the first performances of pieces such as the 1952 top-of-the-charts hit Blue Tango, and Plink, Plank, Plunk] Anderson continued to compose and conduct his music until his death. He was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1988. 2008 celebrates the 100 year anniversary of Anderson's birth.

Mars from "The Planets" (1916)....................................................Gustav Hoist

The Planets was composed while Hoist was employed as music master at a school in Dulwich and at St. Paul's Girls' School. It was the first and only work of its kind that he produced; between 1900-14, he had written mainly choral pieces. Under the influence of Wagner, Strauss, Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky, the French composers, and additional Russians, Hoist started to sketch No. 1: Mars, The Bringer of War, just as the first World War began. Insistent on the stupidity of war, with all its horrors, the composer opened The Planets with this movement of relentless and brutal power. The entire work bears the feel of vulgarity, pleasantly accompanied by the richness and emotional warmth of humanity.

With the exception of Earth and Pluto, each planet in our solar system has its own movement in Hoist's composition. Mars opens the work in a broad ABA form, each section rising to a climax, concluding with a crashing unison of the entire orchestra.