Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Performers
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle, Chief Conductor
Program
WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
THOMAS ADÈS Aquifer (US Premiere, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral"
Encore:
DVOŘÁK Slavonic Dance in C Major, Op. 72, No. 7
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately 100 minutes, including one 20-minute intermission.At a Glance
This concert presents three colorful, imaginative works from different eras, including the US premiere of a new piece by celebrated British composer Thomas Adès. Wagner’s sensuous, overpowering Tristan und Isolde provoked scandal and controversy when it first appeared in 1865, both for its libretto and its music. Tristan’s unprecedented harmonic instability had an enormous impact on music history, representing both the culmination of Romanticism and the beginning of modernism. Adès’s Aquifer is a dynamic single-movement piece that alternates powerful orchestral fortissimos with moments of mysterious stillness. Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony—subtitled “Pastoral Symphony, or Recollections of Country Life”—is a celebration of nature, a detailed depiction of brooks, birds, sunny weather, bad weather, village reveries, and much else, complete with labels despite Beethoven’s disclaimer that the work was about “feelings” rather than pictures.