Selections from the ballet Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893 will be performed by the Fredericton Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Heather Dunham. It was the last ballet that Tchaikovsky wrote, a fairy tale ballet centered on a family’s Christmas Eve celebration. It has become a classic for the Christmas season. The selections include the Overture Miniature, Danse Chinoise, Danse des Mirlitons, Danse de la Fée-Dragée, and Danse Russe Trepak.
From Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons the violin concerto in F minor depicting Winter will be performed by the string section with soloist Nadia Francavilla. This unusual concerto in three movements from the early Baroque is almost a farcically description of shivering cold, horrid winds, teeth chattering and foot stomping to keep warm in the first movement. The slow contrasting second movement shows a poet going to his fireside sitting contentedly while outside the rain wets hundreds of unfortunates. The third movement is as wildly descriptive as the first: walking carefully on ice, the falling with the ice breaking. Soon the south wind induces a thaw, briefly reminding us of summer, but then the “winds in conflict” return to end this remarkable concerto.
Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson has become a Christmas standard. Composed in 1948, it was first recorded in 1949 by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, and in 1950 lyrics were added by Mitchell Parish.
"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", also known as "Let It Snow", is a song written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne in July 1945. It was written in Hollywood, California during a heat wave as Cahn and Styne imagined cooler conditions. Numerous popular singers have made the song famous over the years.
- Sam Arnold
