MARC PIOLLET, conductor
JONATHAN BISS, piano
WEBER
Overture to Der Freischütz
BEETHOVEN
Piano Concerto No. 3
BARTOK
Concerto for Orchestra
Beethoven’s Third Concerto demonstrates considerable daring in terms of form and redefines the usual balance between soloist and orchestra. Difficult not to make a connection with the conquering spirit of the “Eroica” Symphony. It is performed here by Jonathan Biss, grandson and son of well-known musicians who at barely thirty years of age has made a name as a well-rounded musician.
For Serge Koussevitzky, at the time music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra was quite simply “the finest work of the last twenty-five years.” In it the Hungarian composer reveals all the virtuosity an orchestra is capable of, engaging the various instrument groups in dialogue with the rest of the ensemble, in five movements that gradually make their way to an affirmation of life.
