RSO’s New Season A Celebration Of Music & Its Maestro

RIDGEFIELD — “Celebration!” is the theme of Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra’s 2001-02 season, and rightly so as the RSO brings a celebration of marvelous music to each and every concert.

Under the baton of Sidney Rothstein, RSO’s music director and conductor, the first of this season’s concerts promises to live up to its title, “Virtuosity!” — in the composers — Dvorak, Hubay and Sibelius — in the soloist — violinist Charles Castleman — and of course in the musicians. RSO’s “Virtuosity” will be performed on Saturday, October 13, at 8 pm, in the Anne S. Richardson Auditorium at Ridgefield High School.

Each of the compositions by these Romantic era composers is termed a folk melody. In fact, during this era European composers frequently incorporated folk melodies into concert music.

Dvorak’s feeling for the folk idioms of his native Czechoslovakia and his innate gift for melody produced some of the most appealing music of the nineteenth century, of which his Slavonic dances are among the most delightful. Slavonic Dance No 8, Opus 46 will be performed on October 13.

Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 speaks eloquently of the grandeur and natural beauty of his native Finland. The work has been described as “a furiant, a lively Bohemian folk dance.”

 Charles Castleman, a prize-winner in Tchaikovsky and Brussels competitions, will play Scenes from the “Csarda” (“neighborhood tavern”) by Jeno Hubay, a Hungarian who was also a violin virtuoso of his time. While there are 14 short scenes in the “Csarda” (and only one having to do with a tavern), Mr Castleman will play four of them.

The scenes span Hubay’s professional life from 1879-1929 and each includes a virtuosic cadenza section, a slow melody and a swirling, unfettered dance which accelerates towards a wild conclusion. Two of them, the third “Maros vize” (“The waters of the Maros River) and the fifth “Hullamzo Balaton” (“The Waves of Lake Balaton”), evoke a maritime feeling. In another, the eighth “Azt mondjak” (“So the story goes”), Hubay pays tribute to Hungary’s storied past. “Hejre Kata,” (“To your place Katie”) number 4 is, as Charles Castleman says, “a cherished work for a number of violinists; in transcription, it has even found its way into the woodwind and brass repertory.”

“Hejre Kata” has special meaning for Mr Castleman as well; one might say it jump-started his long, successful career on the violin, being a true “wunderkind.”

“I performed it many times on national TV as a child prodigy on, for example, the Arthur Godfrey and Jackie Gleason Shows,” he explained.

Future Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra concerts scheduled at Ridgefield High School include  “Magic Carpet Ride,” a Family Concert on Sunday, November 4, at 4 pm; “Viva Verdi,” on Saturday, December 1, at 8 pm, with Heather Thomson, soprano, Perry Price, tenor, and the Connecticut Master Chorale; “High Energy,” on Saturday, February 2, at 8 pm, with Western Jazz Quartet; and the finalé, “Russian Romanticism,” on Saturday, April 13, at 8 pm, with the pianist Andrew Armstrong, pianist.

A new series is being debuted this season at the smaller, more intimate Ridgefield Playhouse. RSO will perform “Music by Mozart” on Saturday, January 5, at 8 pm, with guest pianist Rui Shi, and then a performance with the violinist Sherry Kloss on March 24 at 3 pm. Ms Kloss will also be presenting a Strings Master Class during the second half of her program.

For tickets and further information on performances by the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, including directions to the high school and/or the playhouse in Ridgefield, call 203-438-3889 or visit the Web site RidgefieldSymphony.org.