Rimsky-Korsakov May Night Overture
Copland Appalachian Spring
Brahms  Symphony No 1 

24 May 2025 7.30 pm

Julius Mauldin, Jasper Lecon, conductors

Copland's orchestral suite began life as a ballet telling of 19th-century American pioneers building a new  farmhouse. It is full of American tunes, including the  well-known Shaker song, Simple Gifts (later to become  "Lord of the Dance"), which Copland incorporated into  the music. He may have been thinking of a water source in the title but with a little poetic licence it falls nicely  into our seasonal theme this year.

So overawed by Beethoven's symphonic genius was he that it took  Brahms 21 years to pluck up courage to unveil his first  symphony yet it proved such a triumph that it was once  referred to as Beethoven's 10th. Buoyed by the success, Brahms' Second followed swiftly. It has stood  the test of time and the comparisons with Ludwig!