HOW TO GO
What: "Romantic Titans"
Where: The Schuster Center, Second and Main streets, Dayton
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 12-13
Cost: $9-$59
Tickets/more info: (937) 228-3630 or www.daytonphilharmonic.org
FYI: Neal Gittleman will conduct a pre-concert discussion at 7 on both evenings
The music of Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will be showcased Friday and Saturday at the Schuster Center as the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra presents “Romantic Titans,” the second Classical Series concert of the season.
The program will feature Beethoven’s striking “Piano Concerto No. 2,” Brahms’ complex “Symphony No. 3” and Mozart’s jubilant overture to his 1791 opera “The Magic Flute,” his final work. As the concert nears, the DPO recognizes the correlations between these amazing artists.
“Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart are a part of a seamless tradition, so the interconnections and influences are all over the place, particularly in the case of Brahms who was in the first generation of composers who really made it their business to know their music history,” said DPO music director Neal Gittleman. “Brahms knew his Mozart and Beethoven backwards and forwards, and while Brahms always sounds like Brahms, there are little embedded nuggets of Wolfe-isms and Ludwig-isms throughout his musical output.”
“Symphony No. 3,” which premiered in Vienna in 1883 and is the shortest of Brahms’ four symphonies, is a diverse piece, a bold yet soothing work encompassing various themes.
“The single most striking trait of Brahms’ Third is how surprisingly calm it is,” said Gittleman. “That’s not to say it doesn’t have Beethoven-style movements of high drama, because it does, but it has a kind of autumnal feeling to it, warm, happy but with a hint of melancholy.”
Gittleman is particularly fond of the symphony’s soft endings which can be problematic in terms of program placement. He says some composers usually prefer featuring the symphony in the first half rather than the finale, but he stands by his assessment that the piece is more suited as a closer.
“It’s one of the most perfect, most beautiful endings of any symphony there is,” he said. “Possibly because the Third is the least ‘muscular’ of the Brahms symphonies, it was the last one I fell for. But when I fell for it, I fell hard. I love them all, but if I had to pick just one, I’d pick the Third!”
“Piano Concerto No. 2,” composed before “Piano Concerto No. 1” and influenced by Mozart as well as Joseph Haydn, is the signature piece of the concert, continuing the DPO’s mission to perform all five of Beethoven’s piano concerti this season. The 1801 composition will be performed by Terrence Wilson, a virtuoso pianist and a graduate of the Julliard School. Wilson has performed professionally since the age of 14, and was the recipient of the Julliard Petschek Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. “Piano Concerto No. 2” will be a relatively new piece for him, which heightens his eagerness to explore its three movements, particularly the second, slower movement.
“The concerto is full of all the characteristics of Beethoven in terms of dramatics, character and its classical form,” said Wilson. “It also contains some of the elements heard in Beethoven’s later concertos. However, when he wrote it, I think he was still working through certain challenges but by no means is it a flawed piece. It’s just more challenging interpretively. For example, in the slower movement, I think somehow Beethoven was really searching in a way that was ahead of its time. The challenge is to bring about an interpretation that allows the slower movement to be as forward-looking as it is yet part of a cohesive whole.”
Wilson also believes “Piano Concerto No. 2” has been overshadowed among Beethoven’s concerti. He hopes patrons are open to discovering its beauty.
“I think sometimes there is a certain excitement when making the case for a piece that is undeservedly neglected,” he said. “The emotional journey of this concerto provides an equal dose of drama, melody, rhythm and joy. It’s everything that we expect from a great composer like Beethoven.”
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