Splendour in the symphonies

In the world of music, symphony orchestras reign supreme for their power and scale, their richness and complexity of tone and, above all, for their ability to sweep listeners away on gentle waves or lashing storms of sound.
Slated for Bangkok’s 15th International Festival of Dance and Music are a pair of special concerts, the first symphonic, the second of an operatic nature.
On September 18, the Helikon-Opera Orchestra of Moscow will prove why they are so highly rated.
Since 2002 the orchestra has been directed by the theatre’s chief conductor Vladimir Ponkin. As a Golden Mask laureate, the highest award for music and theatre in the motherland, this maestro has scaled the heights of symphonic splendour.
As a guest conductor he has worked with such ensembles as the BBC Orchestra, the Stockholm Radio Orchestra, the Cantelli Orchestra of Milan and the City Orchestra of Bergamo.
Ponkin will lead the orchestra in three famous works. First up is Symphony No 3 by Tchaikovsky. This lush work, with its intricate layers of wind instruments, strings and horns, stands out in the composer’s career as the only one of his seven symphonies in a major key and the only one to contain five movements.
Second on the bill is “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky. This suite in 10 movements (plus a recurring, varied promenade) was composed for piano by the Russian composer in 1874.
The suite is his most famous piano composition, and has become something of a showpiece for pianists wanting to show their skills. Numerous recordings, especially Maurice Ravel’s arrangement, have enhanced its popularity.
Bringing the concert to a rousing climax is a version of “Polovtsian Dances” by Alexander Borodin. Few pieces of music have had such enduring appeal and been recorded in so many different genres. Echoes of Borodin’s melodies have turned up in hip-hop and heavy metal songs, in jazz tunes, Hollywood soundtracks and jingles for ads.
To give the piece even more power and personality, a chorus will accompany the orchestra.
On September 27, as part of the worldwide celebrations to mark Verdi’s bicentennial, 30 leading musicians from the Orchestra Teatro Regio di Parma will perform in Bangkok, along with two of the greatest voices in contemporary opera, singing some of the most famous masterpieces by Verdi.
The Portuguese tenor Bruno Ribeiro has taken stages by storm all over Europe and North America with his powerfully expressive voice and soprano Annamaria Dell’Oste is an accomplished diva, who has won rave reviews for her heartbreaking renditions of operatic classics at Berlin’s Deutsche Oper, the Opera National de Paris and the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome.
Together with the Orchestra Teatro Regio di Parma, one of Italy’s greatest orchestras, they will be taking music lovers on a fantastic voyage through all the greatest arias and duets of Verdi, from “La Traviata”, “Don Carlos”, “Il Corsaro” and the prelude from what many consider his magnum opus, “Aida”.

The festival is sponsored by Bangkok Bank, Bangkok Hospital, B Grimm, Dusit Thani Bangkok, Indorama Venture, The Nation Multimedia Group, Beiersdorf (Nivea), SCG, Singha, Thai Airways International, Tourism Authority of Thailand and Toyota Motor Thailand.

SWEET, SWEET MUSIC
The Helikon Symphony Orchestra performs on September 18 and the Orchestra Teatro Regio di Parma on September 27, both at 7.30pm at the Thailand Cultural Centre.
Tickets are Bt700 to Bt2,500 at ThaiTicketMajor.
For more details, see www.ThaiTicketMajor.com or www.BangkokFestivals.com.