by Daniel Hathaway
Salvatore Sciarrino’s Piano Concerto: Il sogno di Stradella and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”) shared Thursday evening’s Cleveland Orchestra program on November 30 at Severance Hall, conducted by Fabio Luisi and featuring pianist Jonathan Biss. Perhaps the two works were related on a deep, metaphysical level. Perhaps they merely provided extreme contrasts in scale. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
When pianist Jonathan Biss pitched the idea to the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra of commissioning five composers to write new concertos, each inspired by one of Beethoven’s five concertos, he thought it was a “pie in the sky” suggestion. Much to his surprise the SPCO ran with the idea. “It’s so exciting because I could imagine an organization thinking, ‘Great idea but it’s just too daunting,’ but they were undaunted by it,” Biss said by telephone.
The pianist said that he was equally surprised at the rate at which the Beethoven/5 project expanded. “It’s mushroomed beyond what I could have ever imagined. Something like fifteen different orchestras have joined as partners with one concerto or another, and The Cleveland Orchestra is a co-commissioner of this one.”
On Thursday, November 30 at 7:30 pm at Severance Hall, Fabio Luisi will lead the Cleveland premiere of Salvatore Sciarrino’s Piano Concerto: Il sogno di Stradella with Jonathan Biss as soloist. The concert will also include Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”). The program will be repeated on Saturday, December 2 at 8:00 pm. Tickets are available online. [Read more…]