Friday-Sunday, October 30-November 1
Michael Stern, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin
STUART MURRAY TURNBULL Odyssey (world premiere)
BRAHMS Violin Concerto
R. SCHUMANN Symphony No. 4
Our adventure continues with the second world premiere of the season, aptly called Odyssey. Conductor Michael Stern is on the podium to lead the orchestra in this colorful, twinkling and imaginative showpiece by British composer Stuart Murray Turnbull. You’ll hear delicate dancing from the strings, sparkling mallet lines, intricate woodwind flourishes and shifting rhythms throughout for a refreshing contemporary vibe.
Whether a piece was written two months or 200 years ago, good music and good artistryis always in style. That is most certainly the case for both Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto and Robert Schumann’s Fourth Symphony. One of the foremost violinists of our time, Gil Shaham, returns to Helzberg Hall to play Brahms’ only violin concerto. Steeped in the old-world tradition of great players, Shaham effortlessly articulates swift passages and sings with his instrument. He is ideally suited to play Brahms’ Violin Concerto with its extraordinary melodic runs, breathtaking double-stops and considerable technical demands.
Schumann’s Fourth Symphony is an intense, dramatic and sensational tour de force. It has a sheer, focused power that makes you feel invincible. The same motif, or idée fixe, keeps coming back again and again — adding cohesion as well as building suspense for the whole piece. Unexpected twists and turns will keep you on the edge of your seat, from the dark, mysterious first notes to the euphoric finale.
