(string section)
Leader, Laurance Turner
Conductor, Gideon Fagan
A. S. Arensky (1861-1906), a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov, is one of the most interesting of minor Russian composers. His ' Variations on a theme of Tchaikovsky ', in its original form, was scored for violin, viola, and two cellos, a combination producing a suitably elegiac tone colour. It was rearranged for the normal quartet as a more practical ensemble, and was later arranged for string orchestra.
The theme is taken from_ Tchaikovsky's beautiful song ' Legend
('Christ in His Garden ').