Next broadcast
The Music of Budapest, Prague, and Vienna
March 7, 2012, 9:00 pm
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presents The Music of Budapest, Prague, and Vienna through March 29th. On Classical WETA’s next NSO Showcase program on March 7th, you can hear Christoph Eschenbach and Ivan Fischer conducting music from all three cities. Maestro Eschenbach concentrates on the glories of Vienna with Johann Strauss’ Overture to Die Fledermaus and the Kaiserwalzer, while Ivan Fischer honors Budapest with Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, and Prague with Dvorak’s Symphony No.8.
(Maestro Eschenbach will conduct the National Symphony Orchestra in an all-Bartok program including the Miraculous Mandarin Suite and Bluebeard’s Castle on March 8th . On March 9th, he’ll lead the NSO in a concert titled “Hungarian Dances” featuring music by Bartok, Kodaly, and Liszt. These are just two examples of some of the Kennedy Center’s varied offerings honoring the “Magic Triangle” of Budapest, Prague, and Vienna.)
Featured artists:
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
Ivan Fischer, guest conductor
Featured music:
Johann Strauss, Jr.: Die Fledermaus—Overture
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
(recorded September, 2010)
Bela Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
Ivan Fischer, guest conductor
(recorded February, 2009)
Johann Strauss, Jr.: Kaiserwalzer
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
(recorded September, 2010)
Antonin Dvorak: Symphony No.8 in G Major, Op.88
Ivan Fischer, guest conductor
(recorded January, 2010)
Previous broadcasts
NSO Showcase
February 1, 2012, 9:00 pm
Christoph Eschenbach and two guest conductors take the podium in February’s NSO Showcase. The program opens with Glazunov’s Concert Waltz No.1, conducted by Neeme Jarvi. Kirill Karabits then leads the orchestra in Shostakovich’s Second Violin Concerto featuring the young Armenian violinist Sergey Khachatryan, 2005 first prize winner of the Queen Elizabeth competition in Belgium. The crowning work of the evening will be Bruckner’s rarely-performed 6th Symphony, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach.
(Maestro Eschenbach will conduct the National Symphony Orchestra in Bruckner’s 9th Symphony and Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto with soloist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall February 9-11.)
Neeme Jarvi, guest conductor
Kirill Karabits, guest conductor
Violinist Sergey Khachatryan
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
Alexander Glazunov: Concert Waltz No.1 in D Major, Op.47
Neeme Jarvi, guest conductor
(recorded May 2011)
Dmitri Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No.2 in C-sharp Minor, Op.129
Kirill Karabits, guest conductor
Sergey Khachatryan, violinist
(recorded January 2011)
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No.6 in A Major
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
(recorded October 2010)
NSO Showcase
January 4, 2012, 9:00 pm
NSO Showcase begins the new year with the old, and the new. Mendelssohn's Overture to Ruy Blas, composed in just three days, opens our January 4th program, followed by Franz Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony No. 8. (The last weekend in January, Christoph Eschenbach will lead the NSO in Schubert's Symphony No. 9, "The Great.") Then, violinist Leila Josefowicz performs the Washington DC premiere of a violin concerto by English conductor and composer Oliver Knussen, presented as part of "Crosscurrents," a 2009 celebration showcasing more than two dozen works by living composers. A graduate of the Curtis Institute, Ms. Josefowicz is a strong advocate of new music, and was awarded both an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2007 United States Artists Cummings Fellowship. She'll be returning to the NSO January 12-14, 2012 to play Steven Mackey's Beautiful Passing under guest conductor Hannu Lintu. Our NSO Showcase program concludes with Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 1, led by guest conductor Kirill Karabits.
Kurt Masur, guest conductor
Jakub Hruša, guest conductor
Oliver Knussen, composer and guest conductor
Kirill Karabits, guest conductor
Violinist Leila Josefowicz
Felix Mendelssohn: Overture to Ruy Blas, Op. 95
Kurt Masur, guest conductor.
Rec. April 28-30, 2011
Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759 ("Unfinished")
Jakub Hruša, guest conductor
Rec. March 25-28, 2010
Oliver Knussen: Violin Concerto, Op. 30
Leila Josefowicz, violin soloist
Oliver Knussen, composer and guest conductor
Rec. May 7-9, 2009
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No.1 in E minor, Op.39
Kirill Karabits, guest conductor
Rec. January, 2011
NSO Showcase
December 7, 2011, 9:00 pm
Four works led by four different conductors make up our Wednesday, December 7th NSO Showcase program. NSO Music Director Christoph Eschenbach leads off with a concert overture by Robert Schumann. Composed shortly after completing his sunny "Rhenish" Symphony No. 3, this work is Schumann's dramatic musical nod to Freidrich Schiller's tragic play, Die Braut von Messina ("The Bride of Messina.") Then, Russian pianist Nikolaï Lugansky joins the NSO and guest conductor Thomas Dausgaard for Beethoven's G major piano concerto, the last piano concerto Beethoven wrote for himself to perform in public.
Former NSO Principal Conductor Iván Fischer conducts a lovely serenade by fellow countryman, Hungarian composer Leó Weiner. Written in 1906 when Weiner was only twenty-one years old, the piece garnered two major prizes for the young composer. Our NSO Showcase program concludes with Prokofiev's Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor, Op. 111, led by guest conductor Neeme Järvi. Shortly after the great success of his fifth symphony in 1945, Prokofiev suffered a minor heart attack, compelling him to severely restrict nearly all activity, including writing music. Still, he persevered, and despite blinding headaches, composed his Symphony No. 6 in response to the end of WWII. The work's premiere in Leningrad was one of the few occasions Prokofiev appeared at a public performance after the diagnosis of his heart condition. He later survived official censure by the Stalin regime, which, due to public pressure, eventually reversed itself and awarded Prokofiev the Stalin Prize in 1951. Sergei Prokofiev died on March 5, 1953, the same day as Joseph Stalin.
Robert Schumann: Overture to Die Braut von Messina, Op. 100
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
Nikolaï Lugansky, pianist
Thomas Dausgaard, conductor
Leó Weiner: Serenade, Op. 3
Iván Fischer, conductor
Sergei Prokofiev: Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor, Op. 111
Neeme Järvi, conductor
