Joseph Haydn, Symphony no. 83 "La Poule" (The Hen)
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Concerto for Birds and Orchestra "Cantus Arcticus"
Sara Carina Graef, "Yakona"
Claude Debussy, La Mer (The Sea)
Follow us on a journey through nature as we celebrate The Land, the Sea, and the Birds.
The concert begins with Haydn's Symphony No. 83, "The Hen". Listen closely and you may hear these barnyard friends in the music.
We continue our trek through nature with Einojuhani Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus: Concerto for Birds. The piece begins with birds from northern Finland and culminates with swans migrating. The composer ingeniously created the illusion that the listener is watching a huge flock of swans approaching. Wonderful!
After a brief intermission we continue with Sara Carina Graef's "Yakona" written for our own Newport Symphony and commissioned by our good friends, Bill and JoAnn Barton of the Yakona Nature Preserve and Learning Center. The composer tells us, "In this piece we offer our commitment to holding this sacred place in our hearts and to give it a place in the hearts of others."
The concert concludes with Claude Debussy's wondrous La Mer. The sea is truly alive in this piece. Each movement brings a different characteristic of the ocean to life. We begin at dawn before playing in the waves and culminate with a conversation between the wind and the sea.
