Santa Monica Symphony Memorial Weekend Concert Features Works by Veterans

By Lookout Staff

May 23, 2018 -- In addition to being renown 20th Century composers, Maurice Ravel, George Butterworth and Ralph Vaughan Williams had one thing in common.

The Frenchman and two British citizens were World War I Veterans.

On Sunday at 7 p.m., the Santa Monica Symphony will perform the classical trio's works during its Annual Memorial Weekend Concert at Santa Monica High School's Barnum Hall. The concert is free.

The evening begins with Ravel’s "Le Tombeau de Couperin," with each movement of the work dedicated to the memory of a friend of the composer who had died in the war.

Also on the program is Butterworth's best known work, "The Banks of Green Willow," a short pastoral idyll that "symbolizes the nostalgia for the long-lost halcyon Edwardian age before the war," concert organizers said.

The Symphony also will perform Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 3 “Pastoral,” which "confronts the horror of war and more importantly, resonates with the sounds of peace, calling for love and hope in the world," organizers said.

Thee concert will conclude with Sapnish composer Manuel de Falla’s "Ritual Fire Dance" written in 1915, one year after the outbreak of the war.

The Symphony will be led by Guido Lamell, the Symphony's music director and conductor.

A pre-concert lecture by the evening's host, Rich Capparela, will be held at 7 pm.