Sergei Prokofiev's first violin concerto isn't programmatic music, written to tell a story or to conjure up specific images, but John Macfarlane can't help imagining them.
The piece is like a dream, says Macfarlane, who will step out of his usual spot, as concertmaster for the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, to play the featured solo in the concerto at Saturday's Philharmonic concert in The Victory.
The composer wanted the music played in a "sognando," Italian for "dreamlike," style, notes Macfarlane, "but there's nothing in particular that Prokofiev said he was trying to describe with this piece. You sort of have to come up with it on your own," explains Macfarlane.
"I have very specific imagery in my mind. It's not narrative in the sense of a coherent story - that's part of the dreamlike quality. It just jumps back and forth between different moods."
For Macfarlane, "in the second movement it sort of sounds like you're being chased by something in the dream. Then there are heroic moments and there are heavy, almost rock 'n' roll moments. It goes between so many different moods and colors, it's really a fascinating piece."
It's Macfarlane's first time playing the concerto. He also looks forward to the second half of the program, when he'll return to his concertmaster's seat for Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 4.
"The Brahms 4 is one of the reasons we become classical musicians," says Macfarlane.
His own career as a classical musician began when he was 3, and began studying violin at the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City, Iowa. At 28, he's in his fifth year as concertmaster for the
Evansville Philharmonic. He also is first violinist for the orchestra's Eykamp String Quartet, concertmaster for the Owensboro (Ky.) Symphony Orchestra, and an artist-in-residence at the University of Evansville.
He regularly plays as a substitute with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and he is a member of the IRIS Chamber Orchestra, which he rehearsed with last week in a suburb of Memphis, Tenn.
In summers he has played with the Aspen (Colo.) Music Festival and served as concertmaster for the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colo.
Macfarlane spends a lot of time in his car getting between rehearsals and performances, "but I also fly a lot," he says, always keeping his violin, an Italian instrument made in 1710, with his carry-on luggage.
"It's good to be busy," says Macfarlane, especially when you're playing good music.
Saturday's concert, opening with Antonin Dvorak's Scherzo capriccioso and then the Prokofiev concerto, concluding with the Brahms Symphony No. 4, fits that bill, says the violinist.
"I think the program is very exciting."
