Philharmonia Orchestra
Part of: Perspectives: Marin Alsop
Performers
Philharmonia Orchestra
Marin Alsop, Principal Guest Conductor
Alexandre Kantorow, Piano
Program
TCHAIKOVSKY Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3
BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra
Encores:
LISZT Isoldes Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (after Wagner) (Alexandre Kantorow)
BERNSTEIN Overture to Candide
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.Listen to Selected Works
At a Glance
This concert presents three of the most popular and colorful pieces of the 19th and 20th centuries. As with Shakespeare’s play, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet is an early work in its creator’s oeuvre, but by the time Tchaikovsky added the final touches, he was a seasoned composer. This “fantasy overture” runs just under 20 minutes, but the drama and melodic invention the composer packs into that time frame make us feel we have experienced a full-scale symphony. Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 is one of the most endearing concertos in the 20th century concerto repertoire, mixing prankishness with dreamlike lyricism. Full of brilliant virtuoso display and witty banter, it has always been a favorite with pianists, including Prokofiev himself. Bartók’s epic Concerto for Orchestra—the most ambitious and popular of his large-scale works—is a journey from despair to elation, composed when the composer was dying of leukemia, yet one of his triumphantly affirmative works. The combination of classical structure and Eastern European folkloric content recalls numerous Bartók pieces, but rarely does it sound so seamless. The orchestration, which features numerous solos and concertante ensembles, is brilliant even for Bartók.