Dima Slobodeniouk conducts Tchaikovsky and Dvořák featuring pianist Beatrice Rana
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA
Exciting Italian pianist Beatrice Rana plays the towering Piano Concerto No. 1 in her BSO debut in concerts led by Russian conductor Dima Slobodeniouk. One of the most popular and evergreen concertos in the repertoire, Tchaikovsky’s piece never fails to please with its combination of virtuoso fireworks and soaring melody. The concert concludes with Dvořák’s darkly majestic Symphony No. 7, which reveals both his love for his native Bohemia and the influence of his mentor, Johannes Brahms.
Program Notes & Works
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Opus 23
Tchaikovsky’s now wildly popular first piano concerto had a rough start. He had hoped it would be premiered by his friend Nikolai Rubinstein, but Rubinstein declared it “worthless and unplayable.” Hans von Bülow gave the highly successful premiere in October 1875 in Boston.
Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Opus 70
Since it was only the second of his symphonies to appear in print, it was published as “No. 2.” But the manuscript described the work as Dvořák’s “6th Symphony”—and it was actually his seventh!
