At just 24 years old, Strauss is at the top of his game in a counter-intuitive portrait of the notorious lover
Don Juan — not the libertine, but a world-weary hero searching for the perfect woman. The music is intense, though not without passages of sensuous love music.
Copland’s Concerto swings in the hands of New York Philharmonic’s brilliant Principal Clarinet, Anthony McGill, while the DSO and DSO Chorus, led by Fabio Luisi, enthrall with a quintessential Romantic subject: the battle for the soul of Faust. You’ll recognize the protagonists by their music — heroic, lyrical, infernal — and be moved by the tenor solo and all-male “mystical chorus” exalting woman-eternal.
Read More
Superstar violinist Maxim Vengerov, “the greatest living string player in the world today” (Classic FM),
returns to dazzle Dallas with the technical fireworks of Brahms’s Violin Concerto that has inspired the
admiration and awe of audiences for well over a century. Sibelius’s First Symphony, painting with darker shades of the musical palette and evoking the atmosphere of his beloved Finland, rounds out this concert.
The Symphony No. 3 is unmistakably Rachmaninoff — with soaring melodies, shattering climaxes, and the dark rumblings of his signature Dies irae from the Mass for the Dead. But once the clouds have lifted, the Symphony ends in jubilant, life-affirming exclamations.
Read More
In a tongue-in-cheek quip, Brahms described his Second Piano Concerto as “a tiny, tiny pianoforte
concerto, with a tiny, tiny wisp of a scherzo.” Approaching the dimensions of a symphony, full of
nobility and brilliance, the monstrously difficult work will be performed by the world-renowned Austrian pianist, Rudolf Buchbinder.
Is Tchaikovsky’s searing final work — shrouded in mystery — his farewell to the world? You will decide. The music begins in the bassoon’s lowest register — dark and melancholy, with tumult and anguish to follow, but also a waltz with an offbeat rhythm.
Read More
Stravinsky’s Firebird has it all: a prince, 13 princesses, the Firebird’s magic feather, and an evil ogre and his hellish minions! You’ll feel the music’s vibrant colors and rich harmonies, glittering and pulsing with fantastic effects, leading to the gossamer Lullaby and a shimmering Finale proclaiming a happily-ever-after. Concertmaster Alexander Kerr solos in Mozart’s sparkling Concerto No. 5, complete with a Turkish march.
Read More
A concert of differing moods from composers writing nearly a century apart. Elgar’s introspective Concerto reflects with intensity his despair about the world after the Great War that destroyed millions of lives. You’ll hear echoes of Bach, a sublime Adagio, and a finale conveying profound emotions. Beethoven, feeling nearly rambunctious in his sun infused Fourth Symphony, sends you home on an uplifting note.
Read More
Prokofiev’s most popular Symphony, composed before the end of World War II, found the composer — hounded by Stalin’s Central Committee of the Communist Party — watching his back. Fiery harmonies reveal 20th century sensibilities, where big climaxes alternate with haunting melodies, brass and percussion explosions with exquisite lyricism, tragedy with triumph, sweeping you towards the gripping conclusion. DSO Principal Flute David Buck solos in Nielsen’s Concerto, showcasing not just the flute, but also in dialogue with “fellow instruments.”
Read More
This concert features two iconic composers and their masterful works that showcase how they subverted the styles of the time and pushed the genre forward. Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute is the delightful prelude to his lyrical and joyous Piano Concerto No. 21. Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, one of the most famous and popular symphonies in the history of classical music, brings the concert to a dynamic close.
Read More