Sergei Prokofiev: Overture on Hebrew Themes, Opus 34
Led by the clarinetist Simeon Bellison, the Zimro Ensemble grew out of the Jewish art music movement. Prokofiev agreed to write a piece for them based on Ashkenazic melodies.
Category: Houston Symphony
Antonio Vivaldi: Winter from The Four Seasons
You can hear the icy snow and the “harsh breath of a horrid wind.” Rarely if ever before had instrumental music so vividly depicted real-life scenes.
George Walker: Lyric for Strings
George Walker’s Lyric for Strings elegizes his grandmother, who was born into slavery but lived long enough to see her grandson solo with the Philadelphia Orchestra.