‘Four Seasons’ Will Be Featured In Next RSO Concert

RIDGEFIELD — Who would guess that Frederick the Great of Prussia, with his military acumen, would be a composer as well? Well, he was, and his court at Potsdam was one of Europe’s most impressive musical centers of the time.

His Symphony No. 2, as well as Haydn’s Symphony No. 49 (“La Passione”) and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons are on Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra’s concert program, Sunday, March 16, at 3 pm, at The Ridgefield Playhouse for Movies and the Performing Arts.

Presented by Union Savings Bank and sponsored in part by Jeanne Cook, the concert will feature the violinist Charles Rex who, according to The New York Times, “[plays] deftly and with a silvery sound.”

According to Courtenay Caublé in the RSO program notes, “Frederick the Great might not have been the sole composer of his Symphony No. 2, as his usual method of composition was to sketch in the melodic line and the bass line and then turn his sketches over to one of his staff composers (who just might have been J.S. Bach’s son, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach) for completion. However, we do know that we will be enraptured by Charles Rex’s rendering of Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons.’”

Although this will not be Mr Rex’s first performance of this classic – audiences in Lincoln Center heard his rendition and raved, as did Sidney Rothstein, RSO music director when he appeared with Mr Rex in previous concerts – it will be special.

A conversation with Charles Rex explains why: “Whenever you approach a great classic piece, you try to find fresh ways to present it, especially a piece like Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons,’ which may be the first attempt to paint a picture with music. So, each time I play it, I devise methods to make the music represent the picture.”

Mr Rex’s performance is the last in this season’s RSO The Playhouse Series. On April 12, at 8 pm, at Ridgefield High School, the last concert in the subscription series will feature timpanist David Wonsey and works of Mendelssohn, Peck and Beethoven

Tickets are $45 and $25. For further information call the RSO box office at 203-438-3889.