Copland.
‘FANTASTIC SYMPHONY’
8 p.m., Robinson Center Music Hall. $17-$58.
In its final Masterworks performance of the season, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra takes on a love-filled program. Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” opens the concert. Originally written as a ballet, but later rearranged by the composer as an orchestral suite, the piece, like other famous Copland ballets, draws heavily on folk tropes. Richard Strauss’ energetic “Don Juan” follows. The tone poem, inspired by a sympathetic portrait of the legendary libertine, puts serious technical demands on the orchestra. Finally comes Hector Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique,” a work the then-unknown composer dreamed up in order to impress a famous actress of the day. It succeeded. The two were married a year after the actress heard the symphony, first performed in 1830. The ASO reprises its program at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Robinson.