Please note this event is not presented by Strathmore and tickets are exempt from Strathmore’s refund/exchange policy.
Program
Ludwig van Beethoven - Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43
Leonard Bernstein - Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium), with Noah Bendix-Balgley, violin
Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93
Alberto Ginastera - Four Dances from Estancia, Op. 8a
Masterworks IV is a conversation about love, wisdom, art, and enlightenment. The musical exchange highlights vibrant and energetic textures and sounds, from Beethoven's imitations of the metronome to a virtuosic violin solo performed by Noah Bendix-Balgley, and heavy percussion from Bernstein and Ginastera.
Like his contemporary Mozart, Beethoven embraced the progressive thinking of the Enlightenment era (1645-1815) very seriously. He intended for his music to create a conversation about a new way forward for self-governing societies. He wrote The Creatures of Prometheus as a ballet based on the myth of Prometheus bringing wisdom and art to humans, thus symbolizing the birth of a civil society. The piece is full of energy from beginning to end, unfolding in an exhilarating and vigorous musique parlante – music that speaks eloquently without words.
Bernstein's Serenade for solo violin and orchestra describes a banquet attended by ancient philosophers. The music depicts a dinner conversation about love. Phaedrus opens the symposium with a lyrical oration praising Eros, the god of love, heard through the violin. Aristophanes sees love as satisfying a basic human need. Bernstein's memoirs note that the fourth movement is the most moving speech: Agathon's panegyric embraces all aspects of love's powers, charms, and functions.
Serenade has become a staple of the violin repertoire. Noah Bendix-Balgley is the First Concertmaster of the Berliner Philharmoniker and tours both as a chamber musician and as a soloist. His clear and heartfelt personal sound has reached and moved listeners worldwide.
Beethoven's Eighth Symphony is generally light-hearted, with musical jokes running throughout. The composer changed the traditional minuet movements into scherzos, which became central to the symphonies of later composers. Scherzos are, by definition, humorous. They thwart conventions and delight both the player and the audience. In the Eighth Symphony, Beethoven's scherzando character runs through all four movements of the symphony. As with various other of Beethoven's works, the symphony deviates from Classical tradition by making the last movement the weightiest of the four, instead of the first.
The Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera achieved much success in the late 1930s as he synthesized indigenous music of his homeland with techniques of the twentieth century. Estancia's four movements reference Argentine folklore through instrumentation and technique. A single day on a large ranch tells of a young couple's longing, romance, and love, the exuberance of macho gauchos (cowboys), and the beauty of the pampas - vast grasslands.