Southern Arizona Symphony opens 'Musical Journeys' with trio of Tucson soloists

Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra is crisscrossing the globe with its season of “Musical Journeys.”

“America, Germany and Russia” are the first stop this weekend, featuring a trio of big-name Tucson soloists: Tucson Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Lauren Roth, cellist Theodore Buchholz and pianist Fanya Lin.

SASO Music Director Linus Lerner will be at the podium for performances at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, at SaddleBrooke’s DesertView Performing Arts Center, 39900 S. Clubhouse Drive; and 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13, at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 7575 N. Paseo del Norte on Tucson’s northwest side.

The concert opens with American composer Charles Ives’ “The Unanswered Question” before side-tripping to Germany for Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the guest soloists. The journey ends with Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade,” inspired by the tales of the Arabian Nights.

Lerner said the concert celebrates milestone anniversaries for each of the composers.

150 years

This year marks the 150th anniversary of Charles Ives birth. Lerner said his experimental work poses “the ultimate question of existence” for which there seems to be no clear-cut answer.

“The world now is in war again; we haven’t learned from history,” Lerner said. “What is the meaning of our existence if we don’t make it better, we make it worse?”

220 years

And, it’s been 220 years since Beethoven published his Triple Concerto in 1804.

Buchholz, who teaches at the University of Arizona and was a member of the TSO, suggested the piece to Lerner.

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“It’s very innovative for the soloists,” Lerner said, noting that Beethoven struck a balance of textures, something that was unusual for early 19th-century composers. “Beethoven managed very well to create moments for each instrument.”

But the cello is the most prominent, especially in the lyrical virtuoso passages in the second movement.

“Beethoven is a master of balance and form on this piece,” Lerner said. “It’s really wonderful.”

This weekend’s concert comes a week after Roth played Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the TSO — the only time she played with the orchestra this season after taking a one-year sabbatical to be the assistant concertmaster with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Georgia.

180 years

Lerner included “Scheherazade” to celebrate the 180th anniversary of Rimsky-Korsakov’s birth.

The orchestral suite is based on the Middle East folktales of “One Thousand and One Nights,” aka “Arabian Nights,” in which the sultan vows to take a new virgin bride every night and execute her the next morning. His last wife, Scheherazade, decides to spare herself by telling her brutal husband a series of interconnected tales. Because each story ends with a “to be continued” cliffhanger, Scheherazade buys herself 1,001 nights.

“The orchestra colors of this piece is phenomenal,” Lerner said. “We really have a sense of the storytelling in this piece, very much folk, exotic, inspired melodies. When the bassoon comes in ... the scales that he uses ... brings you to the center of the piece.”

Tickets for SaddleBrooke are $35 through dvpac.net. Tucson tickets are $28 through sasomusic.org.