Programming

This Liszt and Rachmaninoff concert commemorates composers who created symphonic poems from thought provoking paintings. Inspired by Böcklin’s painting of a small boat on the unwelcoming sea near an island, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s The Isle of the Dead portrays the menacing waves concluding with a jubilation of reaching the island. Franz Liszt’s victorious Hunnenschlacht was devised from Battle of the Huns painting. Camille Saint-Saëns’s Danse macabre portrays the skeletons dancing on their graves with unique usage of the xylophone for clattering bones. Finally, the YSO is a proud to perform the world premiere of William Popps’ The Galleries.

Camille Saint-Saëns – Danse macabre

William Popp – The Galleries (World Premiere)

Sergei Rachmaninoff – The Isle of the Dead

Franz Liszt – Hunnenschlacht (Battle of the Huns)