Casual Classics brings personal music in intimate setting

Jan 5, 2007

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow 326-3136

Spokane Casual Classics at the Met, now on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, offers a selection of four highly personal compositions in an intimate setting. The concerts, where Eckart Preu, winner of the 2007 PRSA Communicator of the Year award, shares anecdotes about the music with the audience, will be Saturday, Jan. 13, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 14, at 3 p.m.

Maestro Preu conducts the program entitled This Time It's Personal! It begins with Metamophosen by R. Strauss, which was written in 1945 during the daily air raids over Germany, which the composer called a catastrophe for which there can be no consolation. Out of his grief came this personal expression of beauty and destruction, hope and despair, pain and love.

Bruce Bodden, principal flutist of the Spokane Symphony, is the soloist in two remarkable pieces for flute and orchestra: Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Martin's Ballade for Flute, String Orchestra and Piano. The latter piece reflects Swiss composer Frank Martin's search for a personal musical language, in which he expresses his sense of beauty and tone.

Bruce Bodden has been Principal Flute of the Spokane Symphony since December 1990. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music and took graduate courses in music at Boston University. In addition to playing in the Spokane Symphony, Bodden is an adjunct professor of Flute at Eastern Washington University, and coaches the Symphony's Junior Chamber Artists and Young Chamber Players.

The final selection for the concert is Beethoven's Symphony No. 8, which reveals a different side of the composer. Rather reflecting his often stormy personality, this piece shows the Beethoven's sense of humor, while remaining true to his musical voice.

This concert is underwritten by Symphony supporter Phyllis Kelsch.

Tickets are $13, $19, $21, & $25; Call the Spokane Symphony Ticket Office at (509) 624-1200; tickets are also available, with service charges, through TicketsWest at 325-SEAT, 1-800-325-SEAT and www.spokanesymphony.org.