Adams, Rodney Bennett, Strauss

The Chairman Dances, also known as ‘Foxtrot for Orchestra’ was written by John Adams in 1985 while he was working in his opera ‘Nixon in China’. With jazzy stylized inflections, the rhythms and colorful orchestration in diatonic harmonies this work – which does not exceed a quarter of an hour – aims to illustrate Chairman Mao Tsé Tung dancing with his beloved Chiang Ch’ing, the fearsome Madame Mao. In 1988, the north-American composer Richard Rodney Bennett premiered his two-movement Concert for Marimba. The work was commissioned by the famous percussionist William Moersch who also was the soloist in the world premiere of the concert on March of the same year. Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streich was composed between 1894 and 1895 and is Richard Strauss’ fourth tonal poem. As the title suggests the work conveys the merry pranks of a Middle Ages German popular hero in a succession of sound images all linked together by a funny yet deep sense of dramatization.

Percussion | André Dias

OSP – Portuguese Symphony Orchestra

Principal Conductor | Joana Carneiro

John Adams | The Chairman Dances

Richard Rodney Bennett | Concert for percussion and orchestra

Richard Strauss | Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche