“Macbeth", Symphonic Poem, Op. 23 (1888)

“Macbeth”, Symphonic Poem, Op. 23 (1888) By Leon Botstein Written for the concert Shakespeare! Romanticism and Music performed on Sep 26, 1993 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. During the 1880s the enormously gifted young Richard Strauss underwent a musical transformation that drew him away from the more classical traditions favored by his father,…

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“Hamlet", Overture-Fantasy, Op. 67a (1888)

“Hamlet”, Overture-Fantasy, Op. 67a (1888) By Leon Botstein Written for the concert Shakespeare! Romanticism and Music performed on Sep 26, 1993 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Hamlet was the last of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky’s symphonic poems based on Shakespeare and other literary sources. The idea of doing Hamlet first had been suggested in…

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Botstein Focus on a Masterwork, Brahms's Fourth Symphony

Botstein Focus on a Masterwork, Brahms’s Fourth Symphony By Leon Botstein Written for the concert Focus on a Masterwork: Brahms’s Fourth Symphony performed on April 30, 1993 at Carnegie Hall.  This concert brings to the contemporary audience a reminiscence of a time in the history of music when the piano was the primary means of…

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Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 (1885)

Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 (1885) By Walter Frisch, Columbia University Written for the concert Focus on a Masterwork: Brahms’s Fourth Symphony performed on April 30, 1993 at Carnegie Hall.  Especially in its formidable E-minor outer movements, Brahms’s Fourth Symphony presents a gruff exterior to its listeners. As such, it has never…

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Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16 (1909; rev. 1949)

Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16 (1909; rev. 1949) By Richard Hoffman, Oberlin Conservatory Written for the concert Focus on a Masterwork: Brahms’s Fourth Symphony performed on April 30, 1993 at Carnegie Hall.  Despite — or because of — a series of bitter disappointments during the years 1908 and 1909, both in his personal life…

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Unjust Obscurity?

Unjust Obscurity? 02/26/1993 at 08:00 PM – Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center Concert Notes Overture from the Music to Shakespeare’s Tragedy, “King Lear” (1859) – Leon Botstein Unjust Obscurity? – Leon Botstein La Mort de Tintageles – Philip Hale Concerto for Piano Left Hand – Leon Botstein Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 15…

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Overture from the Music to Shakespeare's Tragedy, "King Lear" (1859)

Overture from the Music to Shakespeare’s Tragedy, “King Lear” (1859) By Leon Botstein Written for the concert Unjust Obscurity? performed on Feb 26, 1993 at Carnegie Hall.  The evolution of concert music in Russia and Eastern Europe during the late nineteenth century can be understood as governed by a continual tension and uneasy symbiosis between…

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La Mort de Tintageles

La Mort de Tintageles By Philip Hale Written for the concert Unjust Obscurity? performed on Feb 26, 1993 at Carnegie Hall.  The Belgian writer Maurice Maeterlinck, the author of Pelléas et Melisande and the 1894 play Le Mort de Tintagiles is remembered today more for his influence on music than for his literary achievement. Few…

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Concerto for Piano Left Hand

Concerto for Piano Left Hand By Leon Botstein Written for the concert Unjust Obscurity? performed on Feb 26, 1993 at Carnegie Hall.  Franz Schmidt’s music has always been the object of fanatical advocacy by a small group of connoisseurs. His opera Notre-Dame (1904), the oratorio The Book of the Seven Seals (1937), the four symphonies…

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Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 15 (1907)

Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 15 (1907) By Leon Botstein Written for the concert Unjust Obscurity? performed on Feb 26, 1993 at Carnegie Hall.  Before the mid-twentieth century-the era of Penderecki and Lutoslawski-the two greatest figures in the history of music in Poland were Frederic Chopin and Karol Szymanowski. Like Chopin, Szymanowski was…

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