Concierto de verano

Knighted in 2022, Sir Stephen Hough is a composer and author in addition to being one of the world’s finest pianists. For this concert, he will perform two solo piano pieces (including one he wrote) before joining with Festival Musicians for Antonin Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2. Dvořák fills his Quintet with Bohemian song and dance elements that he wrote himself in the traditional style. It’s a happy piece that was instantly popular and still is, and it’s easy to hear why: a variety of alternative motifs, ranging in emotional quality, but always returning to graceful and joyful melodies.

Edvard Grieg wrote his Piano Concerto in A minor at the young age of 24, and it’s no wonder it’s his only one–it’s about as close to perfection as a concerto can get. From the thunderous opening, to the many lyrical melodies in the first movement, the heartbreakingly beautiful second movement, and the joyful and thrilling third, it’s a tour de force from start to finish. The program opens with Gabriela Ortiz’s Antrópolis, a piece inspired by the music of Mexico’s nightlife, rich with rhythms and melodies from bars, nightclubs, and dance halls.

Many of Mahler’s symphonies depict a triumphant journey from darkness into light . . . but not this one. This is Mahler’s Tragic symphony–a name he gave it himself. The end is bitter, catastrophic, devastating, and hopeless. But it’s also a work of transcendent beauty, longing, and tenderness. Mahler described one passage as “shadowy memories of my life pass before me, like long-forgotten ghosts of departed happiness.” Please note that this program will last just under 90 minutes.

This concert offers an unusual piece: a concerto for violin, cello, and piano, performed by Festival Orchestra musicians. Few composers have tried this format, but of course Beethoven succeeded. The themes are fairly simple for Beethoven, but–then again–so is the first movement of his Moonlight Sonata, and no one complains about that. Throughout the piece, Beethoven finds elegant ways to give each instrument solo turns with the various melodies, including throughout the sunny finale. The program opens with Jessie Montgomery’s Strum, a piece that, in the composer’s words, “draws on American folk idioms and the spirit of dance and movement.”