“ ‘Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme’ means ‘The Middle-Class Gentleman,’ ” writes Mary Kunz Goldman in Tuesday’s (10/28) Buffalo News. “The playwright Molière wrote the broad comedy in 1670 as a private entertainment at the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV. It was performed with music by the French Baroque master Jean-Baptiste Lully.… Colorful as that occasion must have been, the performance taking place at Kleinhans Music Hall this weekend is reaching back in history to give it a run for its money. The Irish Classical Theatre is joining the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and LehrerDance for an updated look at ‘Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme,’ with incidental music written for the comedy in the early 20th century by Richard Strauss.… BPO Music Director JoAnn Falletta is conducting the music, which will be recorded for Naxos.… Adding to the excitement, the concertmaster from the Cleveland Orchestra, William Preucil, is coming in to serve as concertmaster for the occasion. The BPO is still seeking a permanent concertmaster, and Preucil asked if, for the Strauss, he could do the honors.” Falletta comments, “I think that connection to human nature is what brings us all together. It’s what makes music speak to us, whether it’s Lully or Strauss or John Adams.”
Posted October 28, 2014
