This Sunday afternoon it's a concert from last December at Verizon Hall, with guest conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and pianist Hélène Grimaud in a performance with The Philadelphia Orchestra featuring the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1, and the Symphonie fantastique of Hector Berlioz. The concert had been performed only days earlier at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and the reviews were sensational.
Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 reflects the composer's effort to combine the piano with the orchestra as equal partners in a symphonic-scale structure, in emulation of the classical concertos of Mozart and Beethoven. Ms. Grimaud's performance was memorable.
Berlioz completed his revolutionary Symphonie fantastique just three years after the death of Beethoven, and used the orchestra in new and revolutionary ways to tell a semi-autobiographical story of obsessive love, hallucination, and death. More information about the symphony here...
During intermission, WRTI's Susan Lewis speaks with Michael Tilson Thomas, and Jim Cotter chats with Ms. Grimaud. Not to be missed! That's this Sunday, August 31 from 1 until 3:30 pm. Gregg Whiteside is producer and host.
PROGRAM:
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Hélène Grimaud, piano