Andris Nelsons conducts Augusta Read Thomas, Beethoven, and Liszt featuring pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA
Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the BSO and a frequent collaborator, the French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, in a passionate and virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 2 by Franz Liszt — who himself was considered the most brilliant performer of the 19th century Romantic era. These concerts open with the American premiere of Augusta Read Thomas' Dance Foldings, which Thomas describes as “like jazz big band with Stravinsky ballets.” Closing the program is Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, one of the composer’s sunniest and most congenial works.
Pianist Mitsuko Uchida has unfortunately had to withdraw from these concerts due to a recent back injury. Her multi-year collaboration performing the Beethoven concertos with Andris Nelsons and the BSO will now begin in the 2022-2023 season. We are grateful that French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, a frequent BSO collaborator, is available to perform in these concerts in her place.
Program Notes & Works
Dance Foldings
Like much of her music, Augusta Read Thomas' Dance Foldings is energized by the dynamics of bodies in motion—though in this case those bodies are protein molecules.
Piano Concerto No. 2
This Second Concerto, like the First, was drafted in 1839, when Liszt was living in Italy and about to embark on a decade of frantic touring and concert-giving and laying the ground for the legendary reputation that followed him for the rest of his life.
Symphony No. 4 in B-flat, Opus 60
Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony wonderfully combines a relaxed and lyrical element with a mood of exuberantly aggressive high spirits.
Make A Reservation for Prelude
Indulge in a delicious 3-course plated meal, courtesy of our newest dining experience in Higginson Hall—Prelude.