The Evening Concert

Music of Griffes, Brahms and Bartok....Jeremy Denk is the soloist

"Exotic" is the adjective that best describes portions of tonight's "Evening Concert" with Ravel's "Bolero" and Ginastera's "Harp Concerto".

It's no surprise that the music of Vivaldi, Handel and Bach sound similar as they were born within 10 years of each other, with Handel and Bach born in the same year (1685)!

A Brandenburg concerto and a cantata by Bach, "Bolero" by Ravel, the 2nd Symphony frmo Brahms, and other famous and not-as-famous works on this week's "Evening Concert".

How different, yet how similar string quartets can be, both the compositions themselves and the groups that perform them, tonight being no exception with a quartet by Janacek and one by Mendelssohn...

The 2nd Piano Concerto came 22 years after the "1st Piano Concerto". Brahms was the soloist at the premiere in November of 1881.

To Sibelius, Mahler expressed the belief that "The symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything."*

Conductors put together 'programs' that have a sometimes apparent, sometimes not theme. Tonight's is "Program Music", music without words that has a title and attempts to convey a musical description of something...like "The Sea" or "Fate".

They'll play quartets by Haydn, Beethoven, and John Adams (the composer, not the ex-President!)

The week starts with a string quartet from Carnegie Hall (by Haydn), a symphonic poem from Symphony Center (by Debussy), two symphonies from Davies Symphony hall, and more...