Description

The Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra invites you to join them for their most exciting season yet!  They will launch their season with two 20th century concertos, beginning with Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor.  It was Elgar’s last notable work, composed in the aftermath of World War I with the melody hastily scribbled down after coming out of sedation from a tonsil operation. The concerto was ill received due to a lack of rehearsal time and subsequent disastrous premier by the London Symphony Orchestra.  It wasn’t until the 1960’s, when a recording by Jacqueline du Pré made the contemplative and elegiac concerto a smash hit and captured the attention of the world.  Our very own Dorothy Braker will be offering her interpretation of the work in a performance not to be missed.

The second concerto is the virtuosic Concerto for Orchestra by Béla Bartók.  Though quite symphonic in form, Bartók called the piece a concerto because of the way unique combinations of instruments are used in a soloistic way.  Premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in December of 1944, the work was an instant success and is a cornerstone of the symphonic repertoire. The five movements explore European folk music, unconventional harmonies, artificial scales and ever-changing meters to give you a textbook example of how inventive early 20th century music was going to be.  All of this in a very approachable and enjoyable package that you are sure to want to hear over again.