RSO’s 2015-16 Season Features a Rarely Performed Masterpiece

A Rare Treasure and Treat

The Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming 2015-16 Season features some of the best-known, best-loved, and simply best, or greatest, works ever written for orchestra.  Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Mozart’s “Haffner” Symphony are among those compositions that are considered “best” in every sense of the word by concertgoers.

But the RSO is also performing a piece that is heard much less frequently, but truly is in the same class as the above mentioned masterworks.        

Richard Strauss was an 84-year old man when he wrote his Four Last Songs in 1948.  They were, in fact, the last pieces of music he ever wrote.  Suffused with a rare autumnal beauty, they are simply put, among the most gorgeous pieces of music ever written.  With texts by the German authors Hermann Hesse and Joseph von Eichendorff, they harken back to Strauss’ roots in the 19^th Century, and with a lush simplicity speak movingly of impending passing with calmness, acceptance and completeness.               

Requiring a large, virtuoso orchestra and a talented soprano to sing them, the Four Last Songs are performed relatively infrequently.  The RSO is proud to present this masterwork with Metropolitan Opera soprano Jennifer Black in their season-ending performance on May 14^th, 2016, paired with Gustav Mahler’s powerful First Symphony.        

Subscribe today to the RSO’s 2015-16 Season and enjoy five concerts of the greatest music ever written in world-class performances!  Tickets are going fast, don’t wait to ensure best seating!  For more information, visit the RSO’s website at www.RidgefieldSymphony.org.  And to subscribe contact the RSO Box Office at 203-438-3889.