Category Archives: Music
LSO Master Works 4 – Program Notes
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 8th March 2026The following are the program notes I wrote for the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra’s March 28 concert. Tickets can be purchased here. Price Symphony No. 1 Florence Price (1887–1953) was an important American composer and pianist. She was born Florence Beatrice Smith to Florence (Gulliver) and James H. Smith on April 9, 1887, in Little Rock,…
› Read the full entry
LCO Program Notes – Revised
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd March 2026The program of the Lubbock Chamber Orchestra on March 14 has expanded and the performance order has been altered. Accordingly, I have updated the notes for the performance. The only new information is the Handel section. Tickets can be purchased here. Copland Appalachian Spring Appalachian Spring was commissioned in 1943 by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge as a…
› Read the full entry
LCO Program Notes – March 14, 2026
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th February 2026The following are the program notes I wrote for the Lubbock Chamber Orchestra’s March 14 concert. Tickets can be purchased here. Copland Appalachian Spring Appalachian Spring was commissioned in 1943 by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge as a ballet for choreographer Martha Graham. The scenario portrays a young pioneer couple beginning their married life in rural Pennsylvania,…
› Read the full entry
Death and Rebirth
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 30th January 2026In writing about Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem, I mentioned how that inevitable event (death) had occasioned so much beautiful music. Hence, facing the depth of winter, I decided to assemble some of the most profound examples of macabre music. Henry Purcell (1659-1695) remains Britain’s greatest composer. His Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary is…
› Read the full entry
What the Bad Weather Stopped the LSO From Playing
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th January 2026The Lubbock Symphony Orchestra’s scheduled concert on Saturday, January 24, was cancelled by the frigid storm that originated not too far from town. It then proceeded to spread east, paralyzing a good part of the country. I can’t recall an LSO concert being cancelled for any reason. The program notes for the annulled performance are…
› Read the full entry
Program Notes for Schumann and Brahms
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th January 2026The program notes I wrote for the February 28, 2026 performance of Schumann’s Overture, Scherzo, and Finale and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem are below. Tickets can be purchased here. Schumann: Overture, Scherzo and Finale Robert Schumann’s Overture, Scherzo, and Finale was composed in 1841 and heavily revised in 1845 after a lukewarm reception at its…
› Read the full entry
Beethoven’s Birthday
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th December 2025The epochal composer was born today or perhaps yesterday in 1770. He was baptized on Dec 17 and by inference born the previous day. Regardless, his appearance during the brief span allotted to him by nature or nature’s god (56 years) changed the world for the better like few other humans since our species emerged…
› Read the full entry
Program Notes: Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 5th October 2025The program notes for the upcoming Tchaikovsky/Rachmaninoff Concert (Nov 6, 2025) are below. Tickets can be purchased here. Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 1 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) wrote seven symphonies – the six numbered ones plus the Manfred Symphony. The first of these was written in 1866 when he was 26 years old. Its gestation was…
› Read the full entry
Great American Composers – Aaron Copland
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd August 2025Aaron Copland (1900–1990) was born on November 14, 1900, in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of five children in a Jewish immigrant family. His first musical experiences came from his older sister Laurine, who gave him basic piano lessons. By age fifteen, he had decided to pursue music seriously. He immersed himself in opera scores…
› Read the full entry
Lubbock Chamber Orchestra – Ladder to the Moon
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th August 2025The LCO will present the three works described below at its inaugural concert of the season, scheduled for September 19, 2025, at the Crickets Theater. For tickets go here. Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings – 1st MovementPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was the first Russian composer to achieve fame outside his native land. Despite the success of many…
› Read the full entry
