INTRODUCING THE CONCERT
Enigmatic Fables, Virtuosity & Dissonance T H I S W E E K E N D ' S C O N C E R T S bring together three works of varying
musical ideals, from three countries, written across a timespan of threequarters of a century — from Brahms’s last symphony, of 1885, to a more modern work created by Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů in 1959. Adjusting for variances as to what is played on which concert across the weekend, the program is rounded out with Hungarian accents via Béla Bartók’s brilliant First Piano Concerto from 1926. Neither of the works by Martinů and Bartók featured this week can claim to have won a regular place in the concert hall. Yet both should be welcomed as a rare opportunity to hear these works, offering a better understanding of each composer’s mindset and artistry. Martinů gained much acclaim in America while staying here in the 1940s — and wrote much music (including six symphonies) that gained great popularity at the time. After his return to Europe, he continued to compose prolifically to the end of his life, but remained a political exile and never returned to his Czech homeland. There are Czech roots to be heard in his music, including this week’s Parables, but they are hidden, Share your memories like the complex thinking that connects this of this performance and particular work to its literary origins. join the conversation online . . . Over the years, Bartók’s First Piano facebook.com/clevelandorchestra Concerto has given way in popularity to twitter: @CleveOrchestra the Second and Third — although it might instagram: @CleveOrch be argued that the First is, in fact, the most genuinely Bartókian in its uncompromising modernity. His later music mellowed, but from a time he traveled city to city as a brilliant and controversial pianist, this piece shows he was not yet ready for autumnal colors. Guest pianist Yuja Wang tackles this complex and compelling concerto. Guest conductor Jakub Hrůša concludes the concerts with Brahms’s late great Fourth Symphony. Here Brahms, ever the magician of melody and harmony, crosses some lines toward modern dissonance, but with ease and aplomb. We are comfortable in this tanginess of sound, comfortably cozy, warm, yet alert. —Eric Sellen
Severance Hall 2016-17
Introducing the Concert
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