Paul Hindemith: Kammermusik Nr. 2 (Klavierkonzert)
Kammermusik Nr. 2 reflects Paul Hindemith’s knack for recontextualization and revival—evoking something modern and old at the same time.
Author: Benjamin Pesetsky
Benjamin Pesetsky is a composer and writer. He serves on the staff of the San Francisco Symphony and also contributes program notes for the Philadelphia Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason: Cello Sonatas by Bridge, Britten, Khachaturian, and Shostakovich
The four cello sonatas on today’s program are all interconnected. Frank Bridge was Benjamin Britten’s teacher, Britten and Dmitri Shostakovich were friends across the Iron Curtain, and Shostakovich taught Karen Khachaturian. They are also linked by the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who recorded the Bridge and Shostakovich sonatas with Britten on piano, and to whom the Britten and Khachaturian sonatas are dedicated.
Franghiz Ali-Zadeh: Nağıllar (Fairytales) for Orchestra
Franghiz Ali-Zadeh was born in 1947 in Baku, Azerbaijan, on the coast of the Caspian Sea. Nağıllar was inspired by the flying carpet adventure in One Thousand and One Nights.
Sergei Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 100
Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 is filled with warmth and measured optimism. It seems to acknowledge the heaviness of the Second World War while looking ahead to the future, and recognizing what was worth fighting for.
Alberto Ginastera: Harp Concerto
Ginastera’s Harp Concerto was commissioned in 1956 by Edna Phillips, the principal harpist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the first woman to be a member of that orchestra.
Across the Stars: The Music of John Williams
In the late 1970s, John Williams restored the preeminence of symphonic film music, which had declined with the growing popularity of rock and pop soundtracks in the 1960s. Working with directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, he played an essential role in the blending of New Hollywood auteurism with nostalgia for Golden Age cinema.
Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird
Just a few years before The Firebird premiered in Paris, Igor Stravinsky was an undistinguished law student in St. Petersburg wishing he was a composer instead.
Charles Ives: Selected Songs
In 1922 Ives self-published 114 Songs, a collection of nearly all the vocal music he had ever written.
Stephen Foster: Selected Songs
Stephen Foster was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the Fourth of July, 1826, and by most accounts became the first American to make a living solely by writing music. His songs are part of the foundation of both American classical and popular music, and have influenced musicians ranging from Antonín Dvořák to Bob Dylan.
Robert Schumann: Dichterliebe, Op. 48
1840 was Schumann’s year of song. Working from May 24 to June 1, he wrote 20 songs, setting poems from Heinrich Heine’s book of Lyrisches Intermezzo.