Renowned Austrian conductor Hans Graf joins the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for works by European masters, January 25-27 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. On the program are Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3, "Scottish," as well as Mozart's Symphony No. 34. Pianist Kirill Gerstein will perform Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major. See below for complete program information.
Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major reflects the composer's opinion that a concerto should be "light-hearted and brilliant, and not aim at profundity or at dramatic effects." Though Ravel composed the bright, jazz-infused work to demonstrate his own technical prowess, fatigue and overexertion prevented him from doing so, and ultimately, it was the pianist Marguerite Long who gave the work its overwhelmingly success debut in Paris in 1932. Kirill Gerstein, who made his Baltimore Symphony debut in 2005, returns to perform this concerto.
"When God in heaven takes up panorama painting you can expect something terrific," wrote 21-year-old Mendelssohn of the Scottish landscape. "Everything looks so stern and robust here, even if it all is half obscured by steam or smoke or fog." Scotland so inspired Mendelssohn that he wrote not one masterwork, but two: the first, his Hebrides Overture, was completed shortly after his return from the country, while Symphony No. 3 was only completed in 1842. Dubbed the Scottish Symphony, the work does not take up traditional Scottish tunes, but nonetheless evokes the drama of the highlands, the darkly lush beauty of the countryside and the storms that marked much of the composer's time in Scotland.
While Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony was born of admiration for the country, Mozart's Symphony No. 34 emerged from utter distaste for both his surroundings-his native Salzburg- and its inhabitants. In a relatively small, unsophisticated city and in the service of the demanding Prince-Archbishop Colloredo, the 24-year-old Mozart felt unable to achieve his potential, writing despairing letters to his family. Just as he was writing his Symphony No. 34 in 1780, he received a commission from Munich to compose an opera, Idomeneo, and with the commission came the hope of leaving Salzburg behind. With its opening fanfare, dramatic harmonies and intimate second movement, Symphony No. 34 anticipates not only Idomeneo, but other of Mozart's great operas, and served as the composer's farewell to the city he so despised. -- www.baltimoresymphony.org
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