Events

As one might expect, Beethoven’s first symphony follows many of the traditions and “rules” inherited from Haydn and Mozart–the symphonic masters of the day. Even so, Beethoven’s unique voice and defiance of the expectations of his time shine through in many ways—starting with the opening chord (which dodged the symphony’s C Major key that audiences would have expected) and continuing through an unusually slow introduction to the finale. Stephanie Childress begins the program with Britten’s Simple Symphony, an energetic and cheerful work whose movements include titles such as “Playful Pizzicato” and “Frolicsome Finale.”

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.

Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen is a profoundly mournful and beautiful work; written for 23 strings in the final days of World War II, it is the composer's lament for the destruction of, in his words, “Germany’s 2,000 years of cultural evolution.” Its concluding theme is a musical homage to the funeral march from Beethoven’s “Eroica” symphony. Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 is the first of his final three great symphonies, one for which “refined elegance” might be an apt descriptor. It’s a rare treat for clarinet lovers: with oboes absent from Mozart’s score, the clarinets take on an unusually prominent role.

This Upbeat with Alasdair features a conversation between Alasdair Neale and composer Anna Clyne. The Music Festival co-commissioned Clyne’s new work, Woman of the Mountain, and will perform it on August 3. Clyne describes the piece as “evoking the journey of an extraordinary woman immersed in the natural world, climbing toward a mountain’s summit in search of love.”