Pianist David Korevaar and violinist Zoë Beyers anchor this evening of music featuring Franz Liszt’s solo piano transcription of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, a work which had a profound influence on Mahler’s First Symphony, and the passionate Violin Sonata by Mahler’s British contemporary, Edward Elgar.
Pianist David Korevaar
May 15 – Wednesday at 7:30 PM
Chamber Music Concert – Dairy Arts Center
Britten – Phantasy Quartet for Oboe and String Trio, opus 2
Victoria Brawn, oboe
Suzanne Casey, violin
Lauren Spaulding, viola
Zachary Reaves, cello
Elgar – Violin Sonata in E minor, opus 82
Zoë Beyers, violin
David Korevaar, piano
Beethoven arr. by Liszt – Symphony no. 4 in B-flat Major, ups 60
David Korevaar, piano
No composer had a more decisive influence on the musical development of Benjamin Britten than Gustav Mahler. Not only would Britten go on to arrange the second movement of Mahler’s Third Symphony in 1941, he would help make Aldeburgh a hotbed of Mahler scholarship and research, a second home to leading Mahlerians Donald Mitchell, David and Colin Matthews and Paul Banks. Britten’s Phantasy for Oboe and Strings is a teenage work of breathtaking precocity, heard here in a performance led by oboe virtuoso Victoria Brawn.
Edward Elgar and Gustav Mahler were truly kindred spirits. Both great composers were also leading composers who became hugely influential public figures and yet somehow remained eternal outsiders. Elgar’s Violin Sonata, one of his last works, comes from the World War I years. It’s music of great beauty and dark passion.
No composer had a more profound influence on Mahler than Ludwig van Beethoven, and as we approach Beethoven’s 250th Anniversary in 2020, we take time this year to examine the link between these two great symphonists. Throughout MahlerFest XXXII, we are also exploring the art of orchestration and arrangement, examining Mahler’s arrangements of the music of Beethoven, and arrangements of Mahler’s music by other composers. This concert concludes with a performance of Liszt’s staggeringly virtuosic piano transcription of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, a work which had a profound influence on Mahler’s First Symphony, by David Korevaar.
Oboist Victoria Brawn