Classic touches mark symphony's Russian program

Elgin Symphony Orchestra music director Robert Hanson has assembled an inspired program for this weekend's fifth Classic Series concerts of the season.

The composers are Serge Prokofiev, Modest Mussorgsky, P.I. Tchaikovsky and Alexander Borodin, and the works are among their most famous and most popular with audiences. What's unique is that they're seldom heard in the same program, which opened Friday with matinee and evening performances.

Operas form the basis of two of the works: Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov" and Borodin's "Prince Igor," with Leopold Stokowski's so-called "Symphonic Synthesis" of six scenes from "Boris" the centerpiece of Hanson's program.

Hanson has thoroughly studied Stokowski's original draft score from his Philadelphia Orchestra years (1912-36) and the ESO music director has done careful retouching of the orchestration, such as the number of brass and woodwind players, the use of chorus (which Stokowski later added to this suite) for the opera's opening scene and the famous Coronation Scene.

A nice Hanson touch is augmenting the traditional cathedral bells heard in the Coronation Scene with an antiphonal bell played from a high catwalk at the rear of Hemmens Theatre.

The chorus also figures prominently in the concluding work, the famous Polovtsian Dances from Borodin's "Prince Igor," a much-loved opera from a man who composed precious little music (his career as a research chemist took priority). Anyway, Borodin's well-known suite from "Prince Igor" includes the opening "Dance of the Young Girls" (later adapted as "Strangers in Paradise" for the 1953 Broadway show "Kismet"), and the rousing "General Dance" for the finale.

The concert opened with Prokofiev's brief "Classical" Symphony, written in the 20th century but with 18th century roots in Haydn and Mozart; and the second half of the program began with Tchaikovsky's ever-popular programmer, the Shakespeare-inspired "Romeo and Juliet" Overture-Fantasy. This 20-minute piece contains one of the most memorable love themes ever written, plus plenty of Montagues vs. Capulets "feud" drama to satisfy any music-lover's desire for visceral musical pleasure.

Elgin Symphony Orchestra

What: Robert Hanson conducts an all-Russian program; with the Elgin Choral Union and the University of Illinois-Chicago Choir

Where: Hemmens Theatre, 45 Symphony Way, Elgin

When: 8 p.m. Saturday; 3:30 p.m. Sunday

Tickets: $25-$63. Call (847) 888-4000, or visit elginsymphony.org.