Philippe Jordan conducts Borodin, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev featuring Yefim Bronfman, piano
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA
Swiss-born conductor Philippe Jordan, music director of the Vienna State Opera, makes his BSO debut in this all-Russian program alongside a BSO audience favorite, Israeli-American pianist Yefim Bronfman. Bronfman is soloist in one of the most beloved and challenging concertos in the repertoire, Rachmaninoff’s sparkling and lush Piano Concerto No. 3. Opening and closing the program is colorful music from the stage. The brilliantly orchestrated overture to Borodin’s incomplete opera Prince Igor (1887) evokes the dramatic sweep of the Russian legend and history that are the opera’s foundation. One of Prokofiev’s most recognizable and popular scores, the Shakespearean ballet Romeo and Juliet features character pieces from the delightful to the threatening, here distilled into an orchestral suite.
Featuring
Program Notes & Works
Overture to Prince Igor
When Alexander Borodin died suddenly at age 53, his historical opera Prince Igor remained far from finished. Almost immediately, his friends Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov began fleshing it out.
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Opus 30
For pianists, Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto stands as the ultimate challenge. Its herculean technical demands, titanic scale, and emotional richness scared off such seasoned virtuosi as Joseph Lhévinne, Arthur Rubinstein, and Sviatoslav Richter.
Suite from Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet represents a giant step forward in Prokofiev’s evolution as a ballet composer, a remarkable synthesis of the "five lines" of his musical personality.
