Orion Weiss and Festival Musicians Play Tchaikovsky and Dohnányi

Pre-Concert Chat at 5:45 PM
Lawn Paver Bar

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Theme and Variations in F Major, Op. 19, No. 6   

Ernst von Dohnányi 

Piano Quintet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 1

Please enjoy the Summer Season listening list compiled by Peter Henderson, Festival Principal Keyboard. Read and Listen here

Pianist Orion Weiss opens this chamber concert with Tchaikovsky’s brilliant, technically demanding, yet often overlooked Theme and Variations. Inspired by French tunes, it showcases Tchaikovsky’s skill in taking a charming, graceful theme and creating eleven inventive variations ranging from melancholic to playful, while ending in a powerful finale. Following, Weiss joins Festival musicians for Hungarian composer Ernö Dohnányi’s first Piano Quintet, a work that received perhaps the highest phrase Brahms ever offered to another composer: “I could not have written it better myself.” Brahms even played the piano part in the piece’s first performance.

Alasdair’s take on the program:

Like many of you, I suspect, I’ll be hearing all of the music on this concert live for the very first time.  But we’re in very good hands, and I know that my friends and colleagues on stage will create a magical evening of music for us all.