Kodaly, Liszt, and Dvorak

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The third concert takes us to the Bohemian countryside and its environs. Kodaly’s popular Galanta Dances, inspired by the music of his hometown in Hungary, display the brilliant playing of principal clarinetist, Rane Moore.

The Liszt Second Piano Concerto introduces the extraordinary pianist Lucas Debargue to Boston. I was listening to the winners of the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition—including our own local star, George Li, a frequent performer with the BPO and BPYO—when by chance my ear fell on the fourth-place winner. You can do the same thing by going on YouTube. You will probably have the same experience I had: sheer amazement. A self-taught genius, there is an uncanny intelligence and communicativeness that I have come across very rarely.

“I have no hesitation,” wrote the great musicologist Sir Donald Francis Tovey, “in setting Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony along with the C Major Symphony of Schubert and the four symphonies of Brahms as among the greatest and purest examples of this art form since Beethoven.” In the heat of composing it, Dvorak wrote, “Wherever I go I think of nothing but my Seventh Symphony, which must be capable of stirring the world.” -Benjamin Zander

Zoltán Kodály Dances of Galánta  -16 minutes

• Zoltán Kodály wrote this piece based on folk music from Galánta (today this a town that is part of Slovakia.) Dances of Galánta was inspired by and takes its themes from books of Hungarian and nomad dances written in the 1800s. The piece was written as a commission for the 80^th anniversary of the Budapest Philharmonic Society.
• Hear Dances of Galánta on YouTube with Vladimir Jurowski conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Franz Liszt Piano Concerto no. 2 -21 minutes

• In his lifetime Franz Liszt was known as a great piano virtuoso.  He wrote Piano Concerto no. 2 during the years of 1839 to 1840 called his "virtuoso period" the years he was touring Europe and performing publicly. 
• The draft of Piano Conceto No. 2 remained unperformed for ten years until Liszt revised it several times. Liszt was known for revising his compositions. He used his income from performances to buy back all his published music so that he could continue to make improvements to it.
• Piano Concerto no. 2 was first performed on January 7, 1857 in Weimar, Germany by Liszt's student Hans von Bronsart. 
• French pianist Lucas Debargue who garnered international attention through is performance at the 15th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, will be performing the concerto with the Boston Philharmonic.

“There hasn’t been a foreign pianist who has caused such a stir since Glenn Gould’s arrival in Moscow in the midst of the Cold War, or Van Cliburn’s victory at the Tchaikovsky Competition.” -Olivier Bellamy, Le Huffington Post

• Lucas Debargue has been the subject of a documentary Lucas Debargue: To Music
• Listen to Lucas Debargue in concert performing Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-major on YouTube

Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 7 - 35 minutes

• Antonín Dvořák's Symphony no. 7 has been called “Dvořák's greatest symphony," by Dvořák expert John Clapham.
• Inspired by Johannes Brahm’s Symphony no. 3 Dvořák began writing his Symphony No. 7 in 1884 the same year that the Royal Philharmonic Society  elected him as an honorary member and coincidentally asked him to write a new symphony.
• The piece debuted in 1885 at St. Jame’s Hall in London with Dvořák conducting.
• Listen to Dvorak Symphony no. 7 played by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony

All dates, repertoire, venues, and artists subject to change.