String Orchestra of the Rockies: Beethoven’s “Serioso”

SOR’s winter concert brings the talents of their musicians to center stage in a powerful program of vibrant string masterpieces. Beethoven's "Serioso" quartet, Op. 95 (arranged for orchestra) is one of his most intensely turbulent and anguished works, also one of the shortest of his quartets. One hears his deep despair and loneliness as he struggled with his increasing deafness and his distress at Napoleon's second invasion of Vienna as he continued to live and work in his beloved city while it was under siege. The depth and richness of the full string section enhances the complexity and sonority of the compositional techniques in this work. The program also includes two unusual works dedicated to children by Vivian Fine and Bartók and concludes with the ebullient virtuosity of Leo Weiner's Divertimento #2, an engaging composition based on Hungarian folk themes.