Herbert Blomstedt conducts Mozart and Bruckner featuring pianist Martin Helmchen
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA
The prominent American-born Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt, a frequent and welcome guest of the BSO, is joined by German pianist Martin Helmchen for one of Mozart’s most joyous concertos, No. 17 in G. One of few Mozart piano concertos he probably didn’t write for himself to play, No. 17 may have been written for and premiered by his student Barbara Ployer in June 1784. Bruckner wrote his warm, majestic Fourth Symphony in 1874, but like many of his works the composer subjected it to extensive revision. The 1880 version of the score premiered by Hans Richter in Vienna in 1881 was one of the greatest success of Bruckner’s life.
Program Notes & Works
Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K.453
The soloist’s florid melodic line reminds us that no instrumental form is closer to opera than the concerto, with the soloist as protagonist.
Symphony No. 4, Romantic
Bruckner offered an unprecedented (for him) programmatic subtitle to his Fourth Symphony: “Romantic.” Whatever the motivation, it was his first success, conducted by Hans Richter with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1881.
