Marcelo Lehninger, conductor
Vadim Gluzman, violin
TCHAIKOVSKY Marche Slave, Op. 31
PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36
Dubbed "formidable," "technically assured," and "emotional," Brazilian-born Marcelo Lehninger makes his debut as guest conductor of the Colorado Symphony with violin soloist Vadim Gluzman. Lehninger, recently appointed Music Director of the Grand Rapids Symphony, brings his diverse repertoire to the slate with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to begin and end the concert with Marche Slave and Symphony No. 4. In between is Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2, featuring Israeli-born Gluzman. The piece opens with hints of Russian folk music but swiftly transitions with Spanish flare and a nod to influences in the castanet-laden third movement. Marche Slave, or Serbo-Russian March, is an apt starter, a tone poem that was originally written to benefit injured Serbian veterans after the Serbo-Turkish War of 1876-78. The grand finale, Symphony No. 4, among Tchaikovsky's most popular works, is a meticulously structured meditation on fate in four movements.