Stevenage Symphony Orchestra

Conductor: Phillip Brunton
presents

7:30pm, Saturday 16th January 2010

St Martins Church, St Martin's Road, Knebworth,
Hertfordshire, SG3 6ER

Tickets £9 (£7 concessions) available from
Gower House Furnishings, 135d London Rd, Knebworth,
the orchestra via e-mail, or telephone 01727 858714

Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade

Rimsky-Korsakov took his inspiration for Scheherazade from "The Tales of the Arabian Nights". This concerns the mighty Sultan Sharyar who enjoyed his nuptial pleasures without the risk of acquiring a life-long nag by the politically-incorrect (but temptingly convenient?) expedient of having each wife executed the morning after. However, Scheherazade enchanted him with wondrous tales, each of which she craftily left unfinished at the night's end (rather like the old Saturday matinee “cliff-hangers”). Left desperate for more, Sharyar repeatedly had to stay the execution, finally admitting defeat.

The music of Scheherazade is like a magic carpet: it can transport you to another world. However, half the fun of watching a conjuror is trying to guess the trick, so let's dig under just a little. The four movements tell of the stories :
- The Sea and Sinbad's Ship
- The Tale of the Kalendar Prince
- The Young Prince and Princess
- Festival at Baghdad - The Sea & Shipwreck